All Things Beer

A White Christmas with Jason McKibben

Just in time for the holidays we offer up a fascinating conversation with Jason McKibben of North High Brewing. Listeners in Central Ohio know Jason as the Brewmaster and Co-owner of North High Brewing, but his career in the brewing industry also includes stops at Anchor Brewing, where he was the Production Director, and Budweiser, where he spent 12 years in a variety of positions including a stint as manager of the research pilot brewery in St. Louis. In this wide ranging conversation, we cover topics as varied as medalling at the World Beer Cup, brewing with local ingredients, North High’s embrace of the brewpub model, studying with Charlie Bamforth at UC Davis, a behind the scenes look at the iconic Anchor Christmas Ale, and an insider’s perspective on Budweiser. Along the way we find out what they do at Bud’s Research Pilot Brewery, and sample a vintage bottle of White Christmas, a white dog whisky distilled from the 2012 batch of Anchor Christmas Ale.

Halloween at Jackie O‘s on 4th

Our friend Johnny Clift from Jackie O’s on 4th joins us for a special Halloween-themed episode. Johnny shares stories, past and present, on one of Ohio’s most beloved breweries, and we take a closer look at his vision for their new Columbus outpost, Jackie O’s on 4th. Along the way we savor a vertical flight of the iconic black walnut infused imperial stout, Oil of Aphrodite, starting with the base beer and working through various barrel-aged variants. In keeping with the Halloween theme we discuss haunted places in Athens, the annual Athens Halloween blowout, Frank Zappa, and the best monster inspired rock songs of all time.

Summer Homebrews

After a summer break the All Things Beer podcast is back with an episode devoted to homebrews. We welcome back recurring guests Hans Gorsuch and Chris Mercerhill to discuss and dissect the fruits of our labor, including a hefeweizen, two different saisons, a biere de garde, and a wet hop harvest ale. Our conversation touches on topics like decoction mashing, the use of herbs and teas in brewing, aquaponic farming, mixed fermentation, the Great American Beer Festival, new yeast varieties, and brewing with home grown hops.

All Things Bock

In this episode we take a deep dive on strong German lagers from the bock family (doppelbock, maibock, weizenbock, eisbock). We trace the history of this style back through the mists of time to the city of Einbeck and it's reinvention as a lager in 17th century Munich. Then we head out to Edison Brewing in Gahana, where they are pouring a bock, a doppelbock and a maibock, for a conversation with owner Wil Schulze and brewmaster Victor Ecimovich. Victor shares some of his wisdom learned in brewing traditional beers over many years at breweries including Millstream (Iowa), Goose Island (Chicago) and Hosters (Columbus). The final segment features friend and award winning homebrewer Jamie Gentry for a discussion on homebrewing  bocks. 

Fruit Lambics with Dan Reeve

In a follow up to Episode 18 (Going for the Gueuze) we welcome back Dan Reeve for more discussion of Belgian Lambics. In this episode we explore Lambic variants beyond gueuze, with a focus on lambics conditioned on fruit. Along the way we enjoy and describe Krieks from both Cantillon and Drie Fonteinen, as well as Cantillon's Rose de Gambrinus (featuring raspberries). We discuss the microbiology behind Lambic fermentation and Dan discusses his successes and failures at homebrewing Belgian-style sours. 

Craft Malting

Matt Cunningham from Rustic Brew Farms in Marysville, Ohio joins us to talk about the malting process. A fourth generation farmer, Matt got into the malting business in 2014 as a way to diversify the crops grown on the family farm, at a time when there was no malting and very little barley being grown in Ohio. In this episode we discuss details of the malting process, agronomics, European vs North American strains of barley, the challenges of running a small business, Czech Tmaves and Metallica.

Westvleteren or Bust...In Search of the Ultimate Quad

Does the prospect of crisscrossing a foreign country in search of one of the world’s most sought after beers sound enticing? If so join us on a virtual tour of the Trappist Breweries of the Low Countries in search of the rare Westvleteren XII. Along the way we do our best to sample the best Quads and Belgian Dark Strong Ales that Europe has to offer. To finish things out we share a homebrewed Belgian Dark Strong Ale, featuring foraged black walnuts. 

Glassware Gameshow

We are joined by Land Grant brewer Justin Reik and Canadian connoisseur Chris Mercerhill for an informative, irreverent journey through the land of beer glassware. Couched in a gameshow format each of us brings a mystery beer to the show that highlights the characteristics of a specific glass. If that isn’t enough we each pick a song that sonically exemplifies our chosen beer-glass pairing. Sit back for an extended romp through the world of glassware, with frequent tangents into the realms of music, science and travel.

Winter Warmers and Festive Holiday Ales

‘Tis the season to be jolly, and in this episode we do our best to spread some holiday cheer. We look at the evolution of the Winter Warmers and other winter seasonal offerings stretching from the dark ages to the modern day. We are joined by Barley’s brewmaster Angelo Signorino, who has been at forefront of the Ohio craft beer scene for nearly three decades. Angelo shares the history of the much beloved Barley’s Christmas Ale and surprises us with a delicious double oatmeal stout aged in maple bourbon barrels. Along the way we sample holiday beers from Samuel Smiths, Anchor, Land-Grant, and Columbus Brewing Company.

Saisons

In this episode we are joined by homebrewer and Pat’s Pints Podcast veteran Hans Gorsuch for an in depth discussion of saisons. We discuss the history of the style going back to its farmhouse roots, and dissect one of the world’s truly iconic beers, Saison Dupont. We explore variations on the style that go beyond Dupont, including brett saisons and mixed fermentation ales. Along the way we highlight excellent saisons from Ohio breweries including Rockmill, Branch and Bone and Jackie O’s. We finish with tips for homebrewing saisons.