Beer With Strangers

This week, Shawn Hager and Tony Russo talk homebrew beginners, Maryland beer law, robot beer tastings and the importance of independent beer. Lots of other stuff too

This week, Doug and Tony talk about using wild yeast to homebrew, the pros and cons and the differences in malts. They also cover how canning is helping business big and small and some of Maryland's legal problems with beer legislation. Also, gentle reminder, Saturday is Learn to Brew Day. Maryland craft beer lacks a top-down approach The most interesting news that came out of the recent Reform on Tap meeting was that the failure of the legislature might be an executive failure as well. Earlier this year, the Maryland Legislature passed a bill that would have all-but-killed the craft beer industry in the state. How Much Does Malt Matter in Your Beer? In the last year, we've made impressive leaps in terms of malt in beer. We found a standard method for extracting malt flavor. We designed the Base Malt Flavor Map, which creates a common language everyone along the supply chain, from growers to maltsters to brewers can use. Flying Dog puts expansion plans on hold, cites state's regulatory practices You n

This week's show notes include stories about why brew pubs are great bets for big breweries and small ones too, the Independent Label movement to buy Budweiser and why nitro beers are so much fun. Why big breweries want to go local We don't have to travel far back in our beer time machine to revisit the year when Goose Island Beer Co. still had only one brewpub, its venerable but not exactly cutting-edge Clybourn Street location. That was 2014, three years after Goose Island's sale to Anheuser-Busch InBev. Russo: Nitro-infused beer just another toy for craft enthusiasts Setting aside the more obvious things like quality and economic benefit, what really sets craft beer apart is a sense of play. If you have tried a lot of craft beers, or even if you have just read a lot of craft beer descriptions while out to dinner, you have seen some odd combinations. Brewers Association Jokingly Seeks To Buy Anheuser-Busch, With A Serious Goal In Mind Craft brewing's lobbying association announced today that it's lau

This week Doug and Tony talk Porters season, craft beer independence and exporting the brewpub idea for breweries big and small. In the Home Brew FAQ we talk about finding the right balance during fermentation. The stories that inspired our conversation are below. Feel free to reach out to us with questions or suggestions. Russo: Fall is brown beer season; here's why that's a good thing In really broad terms, beer follows the season. Prevailing temperatures notwithstanding, if you think of spring beers as a little more yellow, summer as a little more golden, fall as a little more amber and winter as black, we're pushing through the end of the amber and moving toward black. Bitter rivalry: conflict brews as craft beer makers take on big firms A civil war is brewing in the normally convivial craft beer fraternity, as anxiety grows about the threat posed by multinational companies' insatiable thirst for every last drop of the market. Heineken and Molson Coors are both "associate members" of the Society of I

This week Shawn pinch hits for Doug to talk about brewing pumpkin beer, whether a brew room is important for your house, and vegan flocculants.