Welcome in everybody and Happy New Year and shit.

It's the craft beer republic. Thanks for drinking.

Thanks for joining. I am Greg and being joined by

the freshest of the coasters and that's flex. What's up big fella?

Happy new year. Happy New Year to you.

Another year gone and another one just beginning or something.

You're so, I don't know, optimistic, philosophical. Glass half full.

Some shit I don't know sometimes. Yeah.

And we roped her into another week. And that's Mel Mel. What's happening?

I am just excited for 2025 and all the fun stuff to come this year,

guys. I couldn't imagine starting the

year any better than doing this. You're telling me? Yeah.

What's 25, 20, 25 slogan can be like 2025 can't get worse than 2024.

I mean, have we not been saying this for five years? That's true.

It just keeps getting worse. Oh, yeah. New year, new me.

Absolutely not. 2019. You know, that was.

Oh, what a time to be alive. The good. Old days. You know.

Funny. Hold on. Let me get some business out of

the way. I'm gonna talk about that, uh,

crappy republic at Flexy. Rate Beer underscores in between

and at Beer Girl. Underscore Mel give us all follows

and all that good shit and shout out to. Ooh, bear with me here.

Cuyahoga falls, Ohio. Yeah, that's so right. Okay.

That's how you know I'm not making it up. Don't you watch Tommy Boy?

I was gonna say, is that where Tommy Boy was from? Is it? Yeah.

No. So they were in Sandusky. Sandusky, Ohio. But there was a.

Girl he liked. Her brother lived in Cuyahoga Falls

or something. I did not realize that. Yeah. How funny. Yeah.

I remember that. I love Tommy Boy. I almost thought, though,

it was Tia Carrera, though, from, like, Wayne's World.

That was from Cuyahoga Falls. Definitely not.

Okay, so I'm wrong, guys. Cause she's from, uh. God damn it.

She's from Hong Kong. Zhang I know, but whatever.

Vanessa, look it up for us once again, please. Like, Vanessa.

Has become our de facto fact checker. Vanessa knows everything.

She literally, actually really does. Kowloon Bay is what it was.

Oh, shit. That sounds familiar. Oh, it was the love interest

from Tommy Boy. The girl. From. You actually saw.

And you're like, you're from Kowloon Bay.

And she said, I was born in Kowloon Bay.

I probably shouldn't use the accent, but no, probably not. Yeah, not.

Not anymore. It was. Courting. It was. I was courting. It was.

Right. Yes. The love interest lady from Tommy

Boy was from Cuyahoga Falls. No, no, her brother was her brother.

Mom lives in Cuyahoga Falls. That's what it was. Gosh darn it.

Now I gotta watch the movie. He was like a cop or a detective.

Because Tommy was like, remember when me and your brother used to go and

steal bear claws and eat them two at a time or something like that?

And they would get lodged right in this region here. Right here.

And he said, oh, yeah, he's a cop now. In Cuyahoga Falls, right? Yeah.

Your fucking movie memory is ridiculous. It's like 90s comedies.

Yeah. That's like peak. You could still remember things

cause you weren't drinking yet. Years, right? Yeah.

I had a lot of brain cells. Yeah, I am I revealing too much flex

if I, like, tell people that we get sick at the same time and we're,

like, laid out at the same time and we're like, oh, we've.

Talked about this. Yeah. I'm like, hey, what are you watching?

Like, let's watch something together and then we'll watch old movies.

You know, I've actually thought about that because I want to watch, uh,

Empire Strikes Back. Yes. I'm so in. I want to do, like, a watch it

with somebody that's not with me. If that sounds. So. So me. Weird.

I don't, I don't know. Is that weird? We're doing it now. Okay.

I don't know if we've talked about this, but one time,

Mel and I were sick. Right. And we watched. Did not have.

Covid. Master of the universe. At least one of you didn't.

I don't maybe I have vertigo. I can't remember.

It definitely wasn't Covid. Vertigo. I get it.

But yeah, we watched Masters of the universe.

We watched dodgeball. So good. And we would be like, all right.

Starting it. And we, like, count down like three,

two, one and then start it so that we could catch all the same parts.

We were like, literally watching it together, but like on our deathbeds.

You guys are so romantic. It was fun. But we're like, just brother and

sister though, so we're really not. It's never like a relationship.

We're just not like that at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like.

Like who else watches Masters of the universe with you?

Like, what girl is going to watch Masters of the universe.

That's pretty accurate. Nobody that might potentially

have sex with him, that's for sure. Definitely not.

You know, definitely never gotten laid before. Masters of the universe.

Masters of the universe. I mean. You're kind of cute with all.

Your muscles out, but. Jeez, man. Nice hoverboard. Oh, shit.

All right, before we get into any more Mel, you want to kick

us off with some beverages? Yeah, if I can get an assist

from you, Greg, I'd love to. Let's fucking do it. Ah! My dear.

Oh, I love my beer. I love my day. I love my beer. I love my.

So I'm keeping it true to state. And I'm staying in New York.

And today I have Southern Tier Brewing Company.

I'm sure most of you guys know Southern Tier.

They've gotten pretty widespread over the years,

and today I have their Chestnut Praline Imperial Ale. It's 8.6%.

And because it's still that weird holiday week where we're

just eating cheese and drinking beer and eating candies,

that or fudge or whatever that people are handing to us, I figured.

Why not? And drinking beer. That sounds like a fun time.

Um, I decided I decided to keep with it, and I'm sticking with

my malty caramel kind of beer. But, y'all, this one's a treat.

It is exactly what they say it is. You get a lot of praline, a lot of

caramel on the nose tasting it. I love my beer. This is dessert.

This is like a pecan. You say pecan? Yeah.

Even though it's praline, I don't know what the difference is.

I say butter butter pecan. Butter pecan. Butter pecan. Pie.

Um, it tastes like a pecan pie. Like one of those rich, sugary.

Like pecan like crusted. They do like a little brulee on top.

That's a little tart. Okay. Yeah, it's fucking delicious.

I have no specs on it whatsoever. I have some it's, uh, 8.6%, like you

said, 12 IBUs, 3.79 an untapped. And they say it's the holidays

draw near and excitement grows for the first snowfall.

Gather together with chestnut praline imperial ale.

With each sip, the warm, buttery flavor of toasted chestnuts

glazed with sweet caramel will transform any wintry day into a

cozy celebration of the season. From our Southern Tier family to

yours, we wish you nothing but joy and sweetness this holiday season.

That's very accurate, especially the buttery part.

But is that what a chestnut tastes like? Does anybody ever roast know.

Chestnuts. Chestnuts. For real? We only eat bacon wrapped chestnuts

here. Mhm. Oh, you eat them though? Like I've never had a chestnut

in my life. Same. Yeah. Like a. Water chestnut. No. Water chestnut.

Yeah. I mean, that's like what I eat. Like bacon wrapped water chestnut.

It's not real. That's not the same thing,

right? No water. It's like a water crust. Yeah.

The things in, like, Chinese food. Crust is different.

What's a water chestnut? I don't know.

The water crust is like the thing in the Chinese food that's crunchy.

No, that's a water chestnut. What do you call it?

Watercress is like a super green. What? Yeah, 100%.

Someone with a phone look it up. I'm googling as we speak.

Either way, this is. Similar, but they differ in flavor.

Mm. Uh, yeah, they are different. Either way, this is delicious.

And it's holiday. And it makes me want to go out

in this one degree weather. Negative one. Actually I lied.

Oof! The fuck is wrong? Uh, you know, be cozy outside.

Negative one with a praline beer. Water chestnuts and chestnuts.

This is word for word. What Google says are completely

different things. Well, you know, potato. Potato.

Yeah. Exactly. Uh, unlike sweet chestnuts,

which are the fruit of a tree. Water chestnuts are part of the root

structure of a grass like plant that grows underwater in marshes.

So, Mel, I think we were thinking of the same

thing when he said water chestnut. Uh, and it's very different than

a chestnut. Chestnut. But but like who roast chestnuts

on an open fire? Please leave us a comment or call in.

Right. Yeah. Only the guy who wrote that song.

No one else. 805. Beer. Whatever. Five. Five. Three.

Eight. Beer. Yeah. There we go. I don't think I've ever actually

seen a real chestnut before. I don't think I have either. Me?

Same. Yeah, but. I like the taste of this is what

they taste like. Like, is it like a walnut or

something? Oh, is it like walnut? That's like walnuts.

It's really like. Yeah. Like pecan or like a a more higher

fat content nut, I would say so, yeah, I, I could see it being a

walnut and candied walnut. Yeah. Well the walnuts I'm allergic.

So it's always a fun time. How's your life insurance policy?

Greg. Oh, see, I'm not deathly allergic.

I just my tongue swells up and hurts really bad.

And then I talk like this until it finally goes back down. Yeah, yeah.

Coconut does it to me sometimes, too. Walnuts. Coconuts. Yeah.

I can always tell when the coconut in a stout is real or fake.

Hey, is this real coconut? Yeah, it sure is. Yeah.

This is definitely real, guys. Yeah. It's fun.

In fact, one time on the show, way back when, Scott brought a

coconut stout over and it was like, hey, I brought a beer for the show.

And I was like, all right, sweet. I guess we'll find out how real

it is. And like, you could sort of hear it.

As the show went on, it was like, hey, I'm Norma.

Hey, I'm a little less normal. I think. Yeah. That's terrible.

AFSCME Beer chorus. Anyway, I have to say,

I feel like an idiot. Um, I used to work in produce.

I've seen plenty of chestnuts in my day.

We used to get them in every year. Every Christmas.

You ever roast them over an open fire?

No, but we would just throw them out because nobody would buy them.

Because no one's ever actually had one. Right, right.

Then they have to stay refrigerated. Oh. Do they?

And even when they do, they just mold up really good. Yeah.

That's one of those things that, like, someone wrote a song about it

and it had it not been for the song, chestnuts would have died out

a million years ago and no one would have ever eaten one.

Yeah, Vons would have never carried them.

Now, you mentioned roasting over an open fire. The God.

My memory is so poor. The city I live in like the

little village square. They don't have a big Christmas,

uh, celebration every year. It's called Dickens Day.

And there was a restaurant in the village that would have chestnuts

roasting on an open fire. Did you ever partake? No.

Because who does that? You know, like. People that like.

Charles Dickens do? Yes. Dickens day. Maybe Charles Dickens liked nuts.

Who knows? Maybe they just like a good Dickens.

Amen, brother. Yeah, but you know what?

Not a Dickens show. Took the words right.

Out of that. Like the Dickens. Also like a chestnut.

You know who doesn't? It's only gonna get worse from here.

Let me move us along. Because I have so many more bad jokes

to make. I thought that was so good. And nobody. No, no, no.

Here's the problem. The problem was it was good and

appreciated. It was good and I wanted to add

on to it, but I figured it would only get worse if I did.

So we'll let you be the killer of that, and we'll move on and keep our

respect. Our self respect. Easy. Easy segue. Yeah. Fair enough.

Very not awkward at all. We started to mention this

before we got into Mel's beer. We were talking about like, hey,

if it'll only be pre-COVID, it could be 2019 all over again.

Back in the good old days. Mhm. We were having this discussion.

It was Brian and somebody else and myself were having this

discussion recently. When was the peak of craft beer.

And I said 2016 Brian said 15. What do you guys say.

I would say too many were new in 2015, 2016.

And I would say the peak, which is sad, was like 2019,

I don't. And then Covid hit. Yeah, I mean, definitely change

things. And then it changed things. It changed things.

But then I think we had like a real resurgence.

So I think like 2015, 2016 is not the peak.

I think that's when it really got started and started to take off.

2019 was getting to the peak, but I do think there was a

resurgence in 2021. Yeah, but then it kind of went back

down again. Now it's. Way like. What. 21 was like, we're free.

We can be outside, let's get fucked up.

And 2020 like because it was an essential business.

So people were like, what can we do aside like only go to breweries but.

But like think about the innovation and stuff like

nothing's happened since. Cold IPAs. Right. Like nothing.

Nothing's really new since, like the big things in 19 were

hazy IPAs. 19, 20. 2020 was like the over fruited sour.

You're right. Yeah. You know what happened to 450 North?

Are they still kicking or. Oh, I got a TiVo ad for them the

other day. And I was like, nah, I'm good.

Yeah, I'll take my fruit in other ways. Pass on them.

Um, but yeah, I mean, there's really. What else can you do in beer?

Right now it's so expensive. And honestly, like, the Gen Z is not

drinking beer like they're too health conscious. Beer is dying with us.

Mhm. Or at least craft. Well, I'll go to my grave with it.

I mean let's hope not. But yeah it's definitely has a lull.

But I think again that has a lot to do with the economy right now.

And like the product is so expensive. So you don't really have the

option to experiment as much as you might want. True.

But I will say the beer I'm drinking tonight, which I'll get to shortly.

Four pack, only $15. Whoa. Not bad for California.

I say, where'd you buy that? Here. Yeah.

No, I went to my favorite bottle shop. Trader Joe's? Hell, yeah.

Got myself a deal. You know what we're talking about it.

Check that date. Oh, I. Will. Well, let's call the pen. Here we go.

He calls to the bullpen for. Beer. I know it's fresh because it's a

collab. Uh, it was canned on 12, six, 20, 24.

So as I drink it, it's only, uh, it's less than 20 days old.

Less than a month? Absolutely. So I am drinking made West's

collaboration. It's a whole collaboration series.

It's called Short Lived. This one is with Highland Park

Brewing. And sometimes it's a hazy. Sometimes it's a West Coast.

It depends who they're collabing with.

This one happens to be a hazy 7%, has a 408 on Untappd.

Very highly rated, they say hazy IPA jam packed

with El Dorado and citrus hops. The short lived gem has a

tropical profile with pineapple, citrus Undertones and a smooth,

silky mouthfeel, and the hops they use are El Dorado,

Citra and Citra. Creo. Mm the schnoz. Glad they didn't. Jelly pack it.

Yeah. Because there is a difference. The schnoz is straight up like juicy

fruit. Tropical goodness. Mhm. And when I say juicy fruit I

mean the gum like it's it's everything you think of man.

It's been a minute since I had that. Mhm. Do people still say that.

It's been a minute. I do. I mean we're old so. Yeah we're old.

Yeah. It's an old thing to say. I'm sure the cool kids don't say it.

But we're. We're old. Do they still make juicy fruit?

I have no idea. I know fruit Stripe got, uh.

It's dumb. Fruit stripe was the best,

except the flavor lasted for about 3.5 seconds. Oh, so good.

But it was good. While it lasted. Juicy fruit was the same.

It reminds me of Pee-Wee Herman. Juicy fruit when. He was like. Mhm.

Like, there was like a dye in it. He gives it to the one nemesis.

Oh, yeah. It looks like it's like. A dye coming out.

He's like, yeah, really good. Right? And he's like, is it so good,

pee wee? And then it's like, all blue,

like dripping. He gives it to his. Chubby, fat. Annoying neighbor.

Oh, that's so funny. The taste follows the.

The nose is tropical. It's juicy. It is very light on the tongue.

Perfect amount of carbonation. Not over, not under.

Just sits there and then goes away as soon as you swallow. Heyo!

Uh. The cannot is like what? What doesn't say Southern California

about. Right? It's perfect. It's gorgeous. SoCal or Florida?

One of the two. Hey, how dare you! It's not Florida. I take offense to.

They all have palm trees. I don't know, but how dare you?

I am offended. Sorry. Uh, hey, I know flex has dabbled

with, uh, weed seltzers before, right? Right. Have you Mel.

Have you done any dabbling? Yeah. So I, like, took a break from beer

for a while and then of course, you know, like, I didn't, like,

totally want to be sober. That sounds awful. So. Yeah.

But I did, I did, I tried I actually really liked the cycling frogs

and they were that's the brand. And they were like a, um,

a CBD and a THC combo, but it was like five and five,

so it was a lighter one. Okay. But I could have one and just be

like, fucked up and just be like, I'm high as shit and was like,

are you okay? And I'm like, yeah, I. Don't know, am. I?

I'm like, yeah, I'm fine. He's like, well, you haven't

said a word in like three hours. I'm like, no.

He's like, you're like staring at it like.

Like you're staring at the wall. And like you're like,

are you mad? That's crazy. Yeah. It was just like, we're.

I don't know. What to say to people. He'd be like, we went to, like,

a wedding. Like. And I was like, adamant.

Like I was like, I am not drinking for this whole month.

And then I drank. And then he gave me, like,

a higher proof one. I don't know how you call it like

when there's more THC in it. So I was. It's called higher dose.

It had like a warning on it and it was like drink a quarter of this.

Warning if your name is Mel. Yeah. Drink slowly. Anyone drink a quarter.

Wait 45 minutes if you don't. Feel the five is not enough.

Yeah, so I drank one of those cycling frogs on the way down

because it was like an hour and a half from where we live.

And then I was like, I feel pretty good.

Like I got to get through this wedding.

I drank a quarter of the other one, and I was like, stuck in my seat

at a table and everybody's like, why are you dancing?

And I was like, I'm good. I like, don't feel good.

And I was like, get me the fuck out of here, I gotta go.

Were you, were you like, paranoid or what? I just felt like I didn't.

Yeah. Yeah. Like I couldn't be like my

social self. And this. Was like a. Huge wedding.

And I was just like, yeah, no. And it wasn't like a fun table

either. So, like,

everybody was sitting there. So that was a. Problem, I think.

I think if I was like around fun people, I probably would have

gotten up, but since they weren't and I was like, I'm fine with it.

Like, I'm not the leader of the pack today. And I was like.

Get me out of here as fast as you can.

I never want to see these people again.

They're my family, by the way, so I had to see them. But.

Mel, if you ever want to get Stoney, let me know. We'll have a good time.

So much fun. Well, I mean, I knew the gummies

and all that stuff. It's funny you say Cycling frog,

because I got an ad. I swear this is not sponsored.

I got an ad from untapped, and it was like, hey,

do you want to try this THC seltzer? It's free if you pay for shipping.

Yeah. Fuck it. So it was cycling frog. I like those.

Ones, though. Yeah, and it was there. Yeah, it was there. Black currant.

Yeah. The taste, the taste was fine. Like it's good.

I've had other weed drinks. Not a seltzer, but I've had, like a

weed. Beer and like a weed soda. Someone gave me this.

Snoop Dogg has a weed. Soda tastes. Fucking awful. It was so bad.

But this was actually pretty delightful in the taste.

The wife and I split. It is five milligrams THC.

So we didn't get real high, but. No, but. It's like a level kind of.

You're feeling good. You're cool. Like, that's why I was, like.

I could chill like this all day. But the other one, which was like,

maybe 20mg. Oh, God. 20. That's a lot. 20. 20 is a. Lot.

Yeah, I only. Drank a quarter of. It. Like I. Had I had two sixes before.

I drank. That's right. I drank one six and I was like,

waited like 45 minutes to an hour. Not long enough. Yeah.

And I also would be. Feeling something by now.

So I cracked the second one. Oh, man, I was fucking high as shit.

I even messaged Greg the next day. That's right. Yeah.

I said, man, I didn't know what was going on. I don't smoke weed.

Smoke weed every day. Smoke weed every day.

I did when I was way younger, but like I haven't.

And I've been a nurse for almost 20 years, so, like,

we get drug tested. I don't oh yeah. I don't do any other drugs.

So, you know, I just cocaine. But yeah.

I mean, that's like three days in your system. Right? Right. Yeah.

Do it on vacation at the beginning. It's done.

So I've heard, so I've heard. But that's why I'm. Like, a drinker.

You know what I mean? Like 12 hours and it's gone.

Right. I like to. Feel a little nice for the night,

and. But I'm not opposed to them. Like, I think people need to unwind.

And however you need to do it, just pay attention to what it says.

And if it warns you to drink a quarter, maybe drink less than a

quarter, maybe drink an eighth of it. And then and my.

Warning is, is not 45 minutes. I've always told people, if you're

doing edibles hour and a half, you give yourself an hour.

You should start to feel it. But if if you don't like,

legitimately, wait an hour and a half and then if you really don't feel it,

then okay, go for the rest of it. But like that's when it really starts

to have I told you guys the whale story. I don't think about this.

I don't think. So. So we we dabble. We dabble with the gummies.

The wife and I. And we were down in San Diego

one time. This is like their first trip after

Covid and we usually do five at a time. Like take five, go to bed.

It's the perfect amount. You get a little high, you get a

lot of sleepy. It's fantastic. We had a whole day of, uh, beer

research. We had the dog with us. We found this hotel that is in

the bay. We had a balcony that overlooked

the water. It was fantastic. And we had a gummy,

and we had a five each. And after about, I don't know,

an hour, maybe two hours. We had a couple beverages with us.

She goes, hey, you want another gummy?

And I was like, yeah, let's, let's, let's do it.

So now we're hitting ten milligrams, which for us is like real stoney,

but not like, you know, incoherent. Yeah, exactly.

We can still function, but, like, we're real. Stoney, I think.

Ten is the perfect level. Ten. Like, if you want to get high,

high? To me, ten is perfect. If you just want to, like,

have a nice low grade buzz and go to bed. Five is perfect.

That's that's for. Me. And and the other thing I'm going to

add to that is just like if you're bringing that to the party too.

Like if you bring a nerds rope or something.

Like, please don't just leave it on the table, right?

Please tell people what it is. Yeah. Because that that happened at a party

and. Like, come on. Not for me. No. Who actually just came and brought,

like, some, like, seltzer cans down and, um, he's a candy whore.

Like, he loves sugary candy. So if he. Sees his whole.

Food horror. Just. Everything. Yeah, but, like, specifically candy.

Like sugar. Sugar. So if he sees, like,

nerds or something like that, he's going at it.

So he's into this thing and then, you know, like, nobody saw him doing

it. He's just eating it, eating it. And he's like,

did some real good candy in there. And they're like, what candy do they.

He was like, it was like a nerds rope. And they were like.

How much did you eat? And he had eaten like a good half

of it. And he was like a statue. That's so good for. The entire night.

And this one girl that's in our social circle is a talker.

And he was like, I could hear everything.

He's like, but I couldn't do anything.

And I just, like, laid next to her. I sat on this couch,

listened to her the entire time, and I couldn't say a word.

He's like, I took it all in. I have it here. She was like, yeah.

It it it lasted a really long time. Like I was like, we gotta go, babe.

I'm like, he's like, I can't drive. And I was like, I can't drive.

I'm drunk as hell. So I was like,

I guess we're just sitting here. That night, I drank the two sixes.

I woke up at two in the morning and I was still wobbly to the bathroom.

Oh, yeah. That's the worst. When you're, like, stoned as

fuck and you wake up at like, 230 and you're like, oh, yeah.

Yeah, it's it sticks with. You. He had no idea though.

So that's why I was like, that's so unfair.

Like he wasn't planning on drinking or any, you.

Know, like. That's funny. Yeah. What a bad first impression.

Unless he did it before. I mean, he's. Definitely.

Smoked a ton of fucking weed and, like,

done probably everything that I. But you know, when you're going as

the DD to a party and then like you think you have some candy

and it's just like laid out with like all the desserts, right?

Like maybe cut it up to, like. Pieces and then people might know.

You know, then people might know. But it was kind of funny.

But it was also kind of like scary, a little bit like I was like,

are you okay? Because especially if you're not.

Expecting it, I'm. Sure other. People ate it too.

But people were like, landing like face down in the grass,

like unable to move. I was like, what the fuck kind

of weed is this? That's fancy. Weed. Nobody could move weed.

Yeah, well, so the. New kind of weed. Right?

So anyways, we're in San Diego, we're on this balcony.

We have the second gummy, it kicks in, and just as it kicks in,

we're feeling really stony. All of a sudden,

I hear it's like noise. I was like, what the fuck is it?

Sounds. Are there whales in the bay? And so, like, we start looking out

and there's a pod of whales going in through the bay, and it was the

most glorious thing we've ever seen. And I'm sure it was like 80 times

more glorious than it would have been because of how stoned we were.

And it was to the point where I was like,

we are seeing the same thing, right? Like there are actually whales

coming through. It was amazing. And I'm sure if we were so sober,

we'd be like, hey, that's cool. There's whales.

But yeah, it's a lot of people are like, you

didn't really see whales, did you? Like, I don't know,

I don't care. It was fantastic. I'm pretty sure either way, you.

Have a great story. Yeah, it's a great story. It's fun.

We were stoned out of our minds. Hell, yeah.

Unless anybody's listening, that's, like, related to her.

She doesn't do that stuff. Only me. Because I'm a bad person.

Sounds like a great way to ring in the new year to 2025 with, like,

whales puffing, like spouting and breathing next to you and saying.

Whales, I love you. Can I pet the whales?

Whales are fascinating. They smell. Berries, taste. Like snozberries.

I love that movie. I know. You do. Yeah. Loitering Littering.

And, uh, since this is like, technically the New Year's episode,

I was going to ask you guys, do you have any New Year's

predictions for the beer world? Ooh. This one goes to come back to me.

You know what? Yes. Like, please. That's my wish. Every fucking year.

Monica and I at pedals were gonna make another one.

And then now she's no longer at pedals, so it's like. Oh, really?

Oh, that was my chance for goes. Shit. Um.

Also, maybe, uh, stop labeling hazy IPAs that aren't hazy and

just call them juicy. Oh, please. Maybe that can be a new thing

for 2025. Accurately labeling your fucking

beers. Right. Um, how about let's. Just get the camaraderie back and

everybody post just a touch more? Because I don't want to see ads

anymore. I know I'm not posting and I

should be. I'm so bad at posting. I've just been so busy with

school and kids and. Life, like. But I want to. Start posting.

Lazy. Yeah, I get really lazy. Flexy is the worst dude.

But like maybe we should all try to post like. Every two weeks.

Yeah. What if we posted. Once every two weeks?

So we've been trying. Yeah. Like I've been trying to do like

a picture of beer in between the show post because I'm like, people

don't care about the show posts. I just do it because I feel like

I should. But it's like, I think people would

probably rather see the beer posts or the hanging out posts or whatever.

Yeah, let's get back together. Craft beer community.

So much content in the last year and I just get too lazy to just fucking.

And I haven't, like, zero like. Sunscreen buttons. You know.

Flex only posts if he's at Disney World. I like it.

I don't like how like I love Disney's Tired.

I do the same thing every time. This is boring. Blah.

So let's let's try to do that. Everybody commit to like one post

every two weeks and then like let's try to get it together.

Like maybe once this year. That's what I would.

I like that. Let's work on that. I think. It's doable.

And in honor of flex, can we call 2025 the year of the Gosa?

Can we? Oh, yeah. Just bring. It back. Bring it back, bring it.

Back, bring it. Back. It's so good. It's so fucking good. Uh. Anyways.

All right, before we get to some news, let's find out what flex

is drinking over there with some important questions.

In a world where craft beer is king, a world where muscles are bigger

than growlers, only one tongue can guide us.

One man, one tongue, one tongue jabber.

In this world we must find out what is flex drinking. Will, will, will.

I wish people could see us. I know. Well, today, in honor of Greg.

He just loves, loves that. Wisconsin has called this, uh,

I'm drinking a beer called the Fresh Coast.

Ah, they're gonna say cheesehead. No. Uh, fresh coast from Three

Sheeps Brewing Company. They're up in Sheboygan, which is

about an hour and 15 ish minutes north of me. And that's Wisconsin.

Hour and 15 minutes north, not California.

Hour and 15 minutes north. Oh, so it's an actual hour and

15 minutes. Yeah, that would be like four

blocks in California. I was gonna say a mile and a half,

but. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Let's say four bucks. Yeah. Um.

Not, you know, not a it's a respectable Untappd rating.

It's, uh, 3.74 over 21,000 ratings. Wow. That's a lot of ratings.

It's a flagship from them. It says Juicy Pale Ale, brewed with

Citra, mosaic, and Amarillo hops. One of our most popular beers.

It's only 4.8%. It's very, very crushable on the

nose. There's not much. It's a little bit hoppy. It's about.

It's a little bit hoppy. You don't really get too many

flavor notes out of there. So then we warm up the old tongue

jobber here, get few citrus notes up in there. Very light bodied.

Light on the notes. No bitterness? No. Just a fantastic crushable light.

Flagship beer. Um. Something you can drink all

summer long? All year long. Really? Fantastic color to it.

It's a little see through. There's a few tidbits in there.

Like it's almost unfiltered. Really, really wonderfully well done.

It's not overly hoppy to where you're getting that, you know,

filth on your tongue that we talked about before. Like the cigar.

Yeah. Skunky hot breath. Right? Yeah. Just really well done.

It's just a super duper crushable beer. Yes. And I love the name of it.

Yeah, I do too. Lake Michigan is the Fresh Coast.

Which I'd never heard until Flexy. Yeah, let's get it.

It's totally a made up thing that doesn't exist. It's.

It's pretty real. I guess I didn't know it either.

It's really. You. Plus the camera. I gotta show you this.

I mean, the can's cool. It's like the three different

shades of blue, you know? It's like you're looking out at

the water. Like the water. Like how it gets.

Deeper, deeper and darker. Here is like the Wisconsin coast.

And then it's the water. And I. Like it. Oh, yeah. It's a fun.

It's a fun cam. You know, I actually was in Florida

last week. Just. No I know. Well, I chose to go there on purpose.

Yeah. But I went to a brewing company,

but they weren't brewed there, so it was a little bit odd.

But the like, the way they presented the brewing

space was freaking awesome. They, like,

would take these old doors and, like, whatever the beers were,

they would paint the can art cannot on the door, and so they would lay

them out like upright full door. Um, and so like that's how you

order you like do 123, four, five, six, seven. Oh like door.

Number three, door. Number three. That's kind of neat. It was really.

Yeah, it was really cool. I was like a little unimpressed

that the beer wasn't brewed there, but I guess they are brewed in

Pennsylvania. But they had one that was called

oh God, what was it called? It was like an Ecto cooler,

basically, but I don't remember what it, what it was actually called,

but it came out number six. It was door number six.

You're not lying about that. Really? Yeah. What a good.

Guess. Voodoo brewing. Craft brewing if you're out there.

Have you heard of. Have you heard of it? Voodoo.

I was in Fort Myers. Voodoo? She wasn't with me. I don't.

Voodoo me. I haven't heard of them. Pretty big Brewery over on the

East coast. Where are they? They're not in New York.

Never heard of them. I've heard of them.

I don't think I've had anything. I mean,

it was very ecto-cooler tasting. And like, they they did a good job,

but like, the the art. I was so impressed.

Whoever is painting the doors, if you're listening,

you did a great job. Nice. Anyway, you cannot reminded me

of that because they had, like, a few different scenarios. Cool.

Okay, good. Cool story. Mel. Good chat. Way to go.

Apparently there's a. Couple voodoo breweries.

There's one in Las Vegas. There's one in Pennsylvania.

Yeah, that's what I mean. I've had one of their like.

So it wasn't that exciting that it. Was in Florida. I was there. Oh, man.

It was like an Imperial Lager or something. Oh. It was all right.

Yeah. Great. The beer was all right. It wasn't like. But the art was cool.

The the the doors were very cool. I was impressed by them.

They didn't have a sticker placed. Gotta love a good door, you know?

That's what I always say. Hey, you know what?

Not a door show. That's a good. Door. You did your job.

Lord, you opened. And you closed. Oh, what else could you ask for?

Easy there. Don't do too much, kid. Yeah, it's got some real Monsters

Inc vibes. The doors. It did. Yeah, yeah. Uh. All right.

A little news before we get up out of here.

Brewers Association in their 2024 recap.

Um, did not fail to mention the fact that for the first time,

closing closures, craft brewery closures outpaced openings.

In 2024, 399 breweries closed, while only 335 new breweries opened.

Well, sounds like they have 399 problems, but a bitch ain't one.

Touche. Come on. I was trying to think of a beer that,

like, name that sounded close to bitch. I was like, but a Belgian one.

Not funny. Three dogs, raging bitch. There you. Go.

Uh, last year, 495 breweries opened and 418 closed.

This is the first year that closures outpaced openings.

We'll see how that trend continues. And look, we've talked about this

a bajillion times on the show. Closures aren't always a bad thing.

For so long, I think so many breweries were getting by on the fact

that they were the only brewery in the area that was producing alcohol,

and it was like, look, you want to get drunk, come down to the brewery,

and now it's like, yeah, now it's like, you got to make good beer.

You just have to make good beer or people aren't going to come,

right? Plain and simple. Uh,

Castle Island has acquired Cambridge Brewing's intellectual property.

Norwood, Massachusetts based Castle Island Brewing Company has acquired

the IP of Cambridge Brewing Company. The deal closed last Tuesday,

three days before CBC was set to cease operations.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Carved out of the deal is CBC's Kendall Square Pub, which will close

well December 20th, which has already happened even as we record this.

In August, CBC founder Phil. Bannatyne announced plans to wind

down operations after 35 years, permanently closed the brew pub

and retire Castle Island. Founder and CEO Adam Romano told

Brewbound that talks with Bannatyne, please stop using his last name began

shortly after the announcement. He said beyond the emotional

components, which I don't need to explain to anybody in the industry, I

think the brand's got a lot of legs. They make a phenomenal beers that

should not just be put into a filing drawer for the rest of eternity.

The Cambridge name has some provenance and some equity and can

travel, which is not something we intend to immediately tend to do

immediately, but hopefully down the road if there's demand for it.

More than anything, we just didn't want to see it get shuttered.

So, you know, keeping a good thing going. Shuttered. Shuttered.

Uh, Diageo reportedly exploring selling the formerly P Diddy backed

Ciroc vodka. Oh, boy. Oh, I. Could read the story,

but I think it's pretty obvious. Uh, if it's P Diddy vodka,

who the fuck wants it done? Yeah, here's real slippery.

I mean, how much key do you need? Uh, well. Apparently.

He just asked Diddy. My my favorite part. You need.

Baby oil? Actually, yeah. My favorite part about the whole

baby oil thing is he claimed he got it from Costco and Costco,

put out a statement and was like, we don't even sell that, right?

I did enjoy that part. It's so good. Not only did he not get it from us,

we don't even sell that shit. We are not associated with Diddy.

Oh. So good. Uh, we'll end it on this one.

And this actually relates pretty good. Back to Mel.

A woman ran the New York City Marathon while drunk.

Yes, we saw that this year. I actually saw her.

And so did Lou. Oh, really? Yeah. I had not heard about this.

I came across this by accident. The story was from almost a month

ago, and I was like, oh my God, this is an amazing story.

Um, Justine Wang, 26, took an unconventional approach

to the New York City Marathon by consuming alcohol throughout the

26.2 mile course documenting documenting her experience on TikTok.

Yeah, she responded. Wow. She reported drinking several

shots of liquor and a few beers, all while maintaining hydration

at every water station. She completed the marathon in

five hours and 36 minutes, expressing no regrets and

emphasizing the joy of spending time with friends and spectators,

she explained to the news outlet that she decided to take a much

more relaxed approach to her, to her NYC experience, after finding

out she had also been accepted to run in the Chicago Marathon, which took

place three weeks earlier. Exactly. And just so you guys all know,

to get, like, an idea of what New York is like,

it is all five boroughs. And in every borough there are so

many spectators that are there to party like they're the ones watching

and they're like, we got beers, we got this, we got they have

everything for the runners. So like,

there's a lot of opportunity to drink because people are. Was that.

When I ran the Disneyland. Marathon? Not in Disneyland afterwards at

like 4 a.m. when you finish, they give you a you can buy a

beer for like 30 bucks, right? But like in New York, like constantly

there people are trying to. And this year Lou took his

foodie approach and he. Actually likes he. Did his pizza.

Yeah he did. Kidding me. No, he did. Not undersell this.

The videos were fantastic. He did it. He got like White. Castle.

In one borough. He got pizza. I had like pickle juice for him.

Like. Yeah,

He just did not train whatsoever. Still did better than I would

normally do training. So kudos to him.

But like he did and like every store he went, he even like looked

for like a phone charger for me because I was like, fuck my

phone while running. Yeah, yeah. He's like,

I'm going into a couple stories. He's like, got nothing for you.

I'm like, shit. Um, but like, he was like,

he would jump in and they'd be like, are you running?

And he's like, yeah, I'm like, I want some pizza.

And they're like, got you free. Oh, it was hooking it up. Yeah.

He loves he. Was in heaven. He had a. Blast, a blast.

He probably got some meat on a stick at the end, but. I think.

There was a video of him eating a gyro at one. Point.

Yeah, I always send it to you. I will continue to do so.

But like, well, there's the gyro. There's definitely I think there

was multiple pizza videos. Yeah, I think there were like

4 or 5 videos in total. At a hotdog cart on the side of

the street. Two, like he pulled over in the car.

That was a different time. But yes. Yeah, that was a different race.

But yeah, we we did. And he was like, just like beckoning

to the person to come over and bring us the hot dogs while we

were in traffic. And they did. He's like two this, that,

whatever, ten bucks. And they're like 12 and he's

like ten, motherfucker. And they gave it to him and they're

like, fine, fuck you. Really? Yeah. But you know, like, I think that

if you can do something like that and just enjoy the five hours that

you're out there. Yeah. Fuck it. You know, like, why should anybody

be mad at her for, like, drinking? Good for. You. Oh, yeah. Do it.

I don't know what's more impressive, though.

Lou's ability to run marathons or his ability to eat while running

marathons and not throw up. It's a weird thing.

It's it's a it's a it's. A both it's a combination.

It's a real. Yeah. One two punch. It's a. Combination.

I'm always like very impressed with what he does. Yeah.

And how fast he can do it too. Like oh yeah I did two half marathons

and after both of them I was like, you know what I don't want to do

right now? Eat. Oh, yeah. Or anything. Else? No.

I don't even. Want to walk. Yeah, I remember after the first one,

they're like, everyone have an orange slice.

I was like, go fuck yourself, give me some water and leave me alone.

Like, I don't want an orange slice. What is this? Youth soccer.

Orange slices. Bananas. Yeah. Where's my apple slices?

That was always halftime at, uh, during high school football games.

They would just have boxes of oranges and bananas, and they'd just be

throwing them around the locker room. Jeez. Yeah. No, thanks.

Gotta get them electrolytes, I guess. So it's a potassium. Uh.

All right, I think that's that's pretty much everything.

Let's, uh, let's hit some music. Let's head on up out of here. Mel.

Thank you. For two weeks in a row. Yeah. So happy you guys had me.

I love you guys so much. Thanks for having me while I was

on school. Break. One more year, and then maybe it'll

make me a regular. Who knows? Time. Timing worked out perfectly.

You were drinking a little bit, and, uh, The.

Let us know when you're when you're drinking again. Oh, yeah.

Good question. Yeah. That'll be what. Like 19 weeks from now? Yeah.

Let's schedule some drinking time with. Somewhere around there.

Yeah, because we need it. It's been a blast.

We've we've missed hanging out with people, but more importantly,

we've missed hanging out with you. Agreed. I love you, boys.

Yeah, we love you. Uh, follow her on the socials at

Beer Girl. Underscore Mel. Follow us at Craft Beer Republic.

And of course, flex me at beer underscores in between 805538.

Beer is the number. Mel at craft beer Republic. Com.

Uh, I think that's just about everything.

I hope everyone's staying very well hydrated. And on that note.

Good night everybody. Bye, Vanessa. Oh. Bye, Vanessa.

Hi, assholes. We are. Five.