Attention Craft Beer Republic listeners.
As we enter January, we face a terrifying annual epidemic.
Dry January.
Say it isn't so, Greg.
Sadly, it's true.
Flex.
That's right.
Every year, millions of craft beer drinkers make the questionable choice to stop drinking
craft beer for an entire month.
A month.
A month without hops, without malts, and.
A whole month without the joy of cracking open a cold one with friends and a salty string
of pretzels around your neck.
It sounds inhumane.
It doesn't have to be this way.
Together, we can fight this.
We must fight.
That's why we've created the Craft Beer emergency Hotline.
If you or someone you love is considering dry January, call us.
Operators are standing by, but fading quickly.
To remind you of the joy of fresh pints and to talk you through your darkest kombucha
cravings, call 805-538-BEER.
That is 805538-BEER.
Because no one should have to suffer.
Alone for the cost of one to maybe 25 pints a week.
You can provide hope to a struggling ipa, a neglected sour or a lonely lager.
Think of the hops this January.
Drink responsibly.
Ish.
But don't dry up entirely.
Because no one's ever been inspired by a story that starts with, I drink kombucha for 30
days.
Save a beer, save a life.
Call now.
Operators might be standing by.
Hiccup.
Welcome in, everybody, to the Craft Beer Republic.
Thanks for drinking, thanks for joining, and happy New Year.
I am Greg, and I am surprised as everyone to be enjoyed by the new year cherub himself.
And that's Flex.
What's up, big fella?
Hey.
You know, some things came up and then they went down and then they came up and then they
threw up and everything got sorted out.
It's all good.
Everything got flushed.
Yeah, everything got flushed out.
And then Flex's more than qualified.
Fill in.
And now just hanging out to party.
Everyone's favorite salty sailor.
That's Erica.
What's happening?
Hey, friends.
A lot less pressure now that Flex is here.
I can just screw up all that I want.
Happy to be.
Zero pressure.
I put zero pressure on anybody.
Erica was, like, prepping her short shorts and everything.
She thought she's going to have to fill in for you.
Seriously.
I got out the scissors and started doing squats.
That's adorable.
Yeah, but the pressure's off, so we're good now.
Thank you all for jumping in on this first recording of the new year.
I'm officially the new year.
Yeah.
Excited to be hanging out with all y'all.
It's always nice to start the new year with a party.
So here we are.
Business.
Follow us at Craft beer Republic, at Flex Me a beer underscores in between, and of course,
@necknosh underscore LLC for all your salty goodness.
Shout out to our top listening city of last week, Medford, New Jersey.
Hey, they love us.
Yeah.
The alcohol laws suck, but the people are great.
Thanks for listening.
Awesome.
Yeah.
Before we get anywhere into the show, I have to warn everybody listening at home, apologies
in advance if you hear people getting murdered or the construction zone or whatever it is
that's going on next door to me.
My neighbors are, like, remodeling some shit, and there has been saws and jackhammers and
all kinds of shit, so I'm hoping.
I'm hoping it doesn't come through.
Well, I haven't heard a single thing yet, so I think that's a good sign.
Yeah.
I'm looking out my window.
I think they stopped for dinner or something because I don't see any action right now, but
it has been so fucking obnoxious.
Nothing like being on a conference call.
And I was like, okay, thank you.
Some work they got going on.
Yeah.
Honking some horns for fun.
Roger Rabbit over there just going crazy.
So, honestly, it's our fault.
We redid our.
I think I told the saga of the pain in the ass of redoing our kitchen last year.
Not redoing, but, like, refacing our cabinets and stuff.
And the neighbor was.
Was looking at.
She's like, this is great.
You know, I want to do it and whatever.
And she's cheap.
And so she decided that she could handle it herself and was like, I'm gonna do it all by
myself.
So she started with the cabinets.
She, no joke, took each and every one off, sanded it, painted it, sanded it, painted it.
Like, did it the right way.
It looked good.
And once she figured out she could do that, she was like, oh, I'm going to rip up my tile
and put down some laminate.
And so that's what they're in the process of right now is ripping up tile.
And I'm like, oh, my God, just hire somebody.
Yeah.
So much.
Works like a mess.
Yeah.
Like, maybe if I didn't have a job, I would undertake a project like that, but it's like,
fuck, I got to work all day and then go, like, tear up.
Right?
It sounds way too much.
I would never do something.
Yeah, and you'd definitely be doing until midnight, you know?
Pissing everyone off if he had to go to work and then come home and crack open the sander
and.
Yeah, exactly.
So it's a Festivus miracle that she's not.
Not doing anything right now.
Well, while it's quiet, I'm just gonna tell you guys what I'm drinking over here.
Oh, it smells so good.
I am drinking.
Thanks not Murderer John for the hookup on this one.
I am drinking Monkish Brewing's Nelsey.
It's a hazy pale ale, double dry hopped pale ale showcasing the dink Nelson Savin hops 5.9,
which to me solidly puts it into IPA range, but who's counting?
Come on.
Six is an IPA.
Yeah, it's 5.9.
Yeah.
Okay.
Touche.
And a very respectable 4.32 on Untapped.
Nobody's.
Nobody's surprised about that number.
No, I mean, I.
We talked about this a couple of weeks ago.
I.
Some breweries get the, like, the name brewery Bump, like, you know, Monkish or Treehouse
or.
Or any of those.
But let's find out if it's worth it.
The schnoz is like fruit punch.
It smells so good.
It's so.
Like the Nelson shines so hard.
It's tropical and fruity and just.
I can't wait to dig more than just my tongue or my.
More than just my nose.
Hey.
And more than my tongue.
It's a family show.
New year.
New you, Greg.
Oh, this is.
I mean, you guys can see how perfectly hazy this is.
Oh, it's wonderful.
Some real nice lacing on it.
It is the smart, smoothest mouthfeel this side of Mississippi.
A lot of times, pails, even hazy pails don't quite achieve that Smooth, pillowy, soft mouth
feel like the IPAs can just because they have a lower malt bill and whatnot.
This fucking nails it.
Pillowy, soft, the Nelson shines.
It is fruity.
It is fragrant.
It is so good.
And I'm sad I only have one.
Say I'm jealous over here.
Sounds awesome.
Yeah.
Thanks to not Murderer John for the hookup every now.
And I.
And I love Nelson Hopps.
That's just.
I know.
Probably the best hop around.
Yeah.
You're.
You're a Nelson ho for show.
That Nelson too.
I think I've told this story.
I used to hate Nelson Hobbs.
Or I thought I hated Nelson Hopps.
Because the very first all Nelson beer I had was absolutely disgusting.
Yes.
And I was like, oh, these are fucking garbage.
And then it turned out to be a shit beer.
Right.
Turned out to be a shit beer, so.
Here we go.
You tried it again.
Yeah.
I'm glad I got back on that horse.
Otherwise you never know.
All right, we haven't.
We have a.
Dude.
It's so weird.
So a little peek behind the curtain.
When we recorded our last episode it was with Mel and it was literally a day before we
would have normally recorded the episode, so.
All right.
Yeah.
Wasn't that long ago.
I feel like it's been a month and a half.
Like it feels to New Year's like a year.
Yeah, like.
Yeah, 100.
It's been so long.
I.
The holidays are just nuts.
But anyways, how was your guys's holiday?
Erica's fresh off a vacation and where she couldn't drink and then holidays and how shit
over there.
We.
We keep our Christmas super mellow.
We don't travel.
We tell our families to stay away.
Oh adopt me.
So I know and I feel bad for all the other people.
Like went to this in laws and then this one and then this.
Because Christmas is ours.
It was so chill.
I was the laziest I've been in a really long time.
But we just got back from a crazy two week trip to Egypt and United Arab Emirates.
So really we needed that downtime and yeah, just chilled and drank some good beers and ate
good food and had some nice family time.
I have to ask, how was Egypt?
And I.
I preface this with Scott recently went to Egypt and fucking hated it.
Yeah.
And then there's not a lot of booze available.
So we.
We did the bougier end of things.
Right.
We had like the private transfer and the private guide and we wanted things really safe
too.
We have kids.
So it was a really comfortable trip along that way.
And then like we stayed on a cruise ship for half the time, a smaller one.
Cause we did a Nile river cruise.
There was alcohol on the cruise ship.
Obviously the options are not that good.
No, there was like a Sam Adams at one point I think we got ahold of and.
But yeah, not so bad.
You and McDreamy killed their entire supply of same Adams.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
It was just like keep them coming and you know, and then we just like did more cocktails,
wine, stuff like that.
But no, I mean just incredible like seeing the pyramids and just feeling like the energy of
just how ancient and 4000.
It's just really even hard for me to imagine once in a lifetime trip.
And to see like a wonder of a world.
It's crazy.
And our guide just made it come alive so that was so cool.
Yes.
It was really cool.
And you guys went with, like, another family or something, Right.
And not Egypt.
We did Egypt, and then UAE was Abu Dhabi's with our friends live there, and they just
pretty much toured us.
We did Formula one races and the Eminem.
You went to, like, Ferrari land, right?
We didn't go to Ferrari land because the fastest roller coaster in the world has been shut
down for, like, a long time.
Yeah.
And it's supposedly a huge disappointment to go there otherwise, but we did a lot of other
things there, and everything there is just extreme.
Right.
And extravagant.
So it was.
It was quite a contrast to, like, all these ancient ruins.
Yeah.
How was the Eminem concert?
So nostalgic.
Oh, my gosh.
We had so much fun.
I forgot that you went to that.
Yeah.
And that.
That was really cool.
We.
We weren't as close up to Eminem as we were Maroon 5, and I would have definitely had it
the other way, but the people we were with really wanted to be close to Maroon 5, so that's
cool.
But was that part of the original plan, or is that something that just so happened to be
happening?
It's part of your Formula one ticket.
You get into the concert.
The concerts are for the Formula one attendees.
So I guess, like, Beyonce was there one year, and I don't know.
So I guess his Marshall Mather's mom died a few days before the concert.
I didn't know that.
Yeah.
Super recent.
His voice wasn't the best, and we.
I didn't know why.
He's, like, at the end, like, sorry for my voice.
And then I found out later that that was probably why.
Dude had probably been bawling.
But it was still just so much fun.
And, you know, we had to wait a long time in line for beer, so.
Of course.
And.
Oh, it was Heineken.
The one beer line.
It was Heineken, you guys.
But I was that desperate.
I.
I mean, if it's Heineken or no alcohol, I guess desperate times slap behind me.
I'll take three.
Sorry.
I'll take my Heineken.
Give me one.
Or whatever's free.
Whatever's free.
But, yeah, just.
I could talk for days.
It was.
It was an amazing trip, but it's awesome.
Holiday was chill.
So nice.
Really good.
What about you, Flexi?
You better top it with a vacation.
Yeah.
We went to Mars.
All right.
You win.
At work, we had the busiest month ever recorded in the history, of course.
So that was kind of fun.
Very exhausting on everybody's part who worked There.
Christmas Eve is pretty solid.
I after Christmas Eve at the shop, we usually grab a couple six packs out of the fridge.
Somebody will grab a bottle of bourbon and we'll all just kind of hang out in the back, you
know, have a couple drinks, chill, talk about how crazy everything had been last couple
weeks.
And it just kind of wind down.
So somebody took Eagle park set list off out of the cooler and well, love Eagle park, but
something about this beer just makes me have the worst hangovers.
So I kept myself to two beers at work because I knew we're going to my mom's house for
Christmas Eve.
She also bought a six pack of set list because she knew I was coming over.
So I went to my mom's house, my younger brother, grilled steaks, they were phenomenal.
My mom made some really good pulled pork cheesy potatoes.
Really, really nice dinner.
Kids love all the presents.
Everything worked, worked out really nicely.
And I ended up having two more set lists at my mom's house.
So fast forward to the next morning.
Sure.
Shit hangover.
Four beers within like four hours.
And I had a headache until like 11 o'clock on Christmas day.
And I needed some Advil, needed a little bit of water.
Donut.
Yeah, it was, it took care of it.
But it was just enough to be like why is this doing this every time I drink it?
I can drink any IPA ever and I'm fine.
And in this one it just kills my head.
But so Christmasy was pretty fine.
Christmas Day was really nice.
Super lazy.
We didn't go to my in laws to like 2:30.
And again going over there, it's just really chill, drinks, presents, a nice dinner, had
some tenderloin.
And then of course we had the cannibal sandwiches.
That's right.
And probably had about gross three or four of them myself.
No shits or anything afterwards?
No.
Why would you get shits if you're eating raw meat?
That's why.
Top quality, high quality meat brown fresh by us.
Like we literally do it.
But yeah.
So Christmas was fine.
And then fast forward into New Year's.
I saw midnight for the first time on New Year's since having kids.
And then my neighbors, the Coneheads decided to light fireworks off from Midnight to
midnight 40.
Oh them so hard.
I was so upset.
Wow.
So my wife was gonna sleep downstairs with the kids.
They wanted to have like this downstairs slumber party.
I worked too hard.
I needed to sleep in bed.
After 25 minutes of this, I stomped downstairs in my underwear ready to go outside and yell
at these People for what they're doing, you know, a little intimidation factor.
Sure.
And nothing intimidates like a man in his underwear.
It was like my love, it was.
Like six degrees out too.
So like if this guy's outside and six degrees underwear, he's pissed.
Also probably not very impressive.
Six degrees in your underwear.
Well, you know, it's dark out.
My wife kind of like called me, call me down.
She was like, it's New Year's, just let them do this.
Is why we need wives.
So I went back upstairs and they proceeded to light them off for 15 more minutes.
And then the worst part was.
I shouldn't say the worst part, but like the cherry on top is so they have like two boys
and then they have a four year old daughter.
And this chick was just running around the backyard like it was noon on a summer day,
screaming, hooting and hollering, playing, having a good time.
So not only do you have these fireworks lighting off and you hear the hissing of the wick
or the fuse, you know, all the fireworks and in between that, then you just hear some kids
screaming your lungs out, having a good time.
And.
Oh, it was a lot.
It was a lot to take in.
Wow.
You know what?
It sounds like you could use a beer.
Yeah.
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 Jobber.
In this world, we must find out what is flax drinking.
I couldn't let this man go sober any longer.
No.
You know, and that was quite a segue because the beer I'm drinking now is actually one of
the beers I purchased to partake in on New Year's Eve.
Okay.
Instead I threw it at the neighbors.
Yeah, I bought a couple triple IPAs and I'm drinking this one from Drown Lands in New York.
Warwick Leaf, Warwick Farms.
Or no, it's not.
Yeah, yeah, Warwick.
Yeah.
So they're from.
Yeah, Mel sent me a few of those.
Yeah, they're wonderful brewery.
We've been getting a good amount of their distro for like the last six months.
And just like yours, Greg, this is premium Nelson salmon hops.
It is called Tara Nelson and it is a triple a hazy IPA.
10.5% ABV.
Real simple, untapped description.
Hazy triple IPA that highlights Nelson Sovereign hops, giving it bright tropical whiny
notes akin to Sauvign Blanc.
417, 604 ratings.
Pretty new.
I'm assuming I'm not from New York, but I would assume that's a Pretty new beer on the old
schnoz.
Definitely tell it's Nelson.
You get a lot of that, which I've never smelled gooseberry before.
What about schnauberry?
But every time I, I smell a Nelson beer, I can never get my finger or my.
Or my tongue on what.
What I'm smelling.
And I imagine that's the gooseberry.
I'll buy it.
I don't know what the I'm smelling.
That's why I couldn't.
I'm like, it smells tropical and delicious.
Yeah, it's.
It's gooseberry.
I think we're going to warm up.
Deal.
Some joby.
So here we go.
Do it.
I love the amount of carbonation on this.
It is true.
It is akin to a Sauvignon Blanc.
Definitely get like some white wine notes to it.
Not too much of like a gooseberry aroma to a flavor.
And I know you usually get like a lot of white grape notes to it, but it is whiny.
Like, I enjoy it because you still get that hoppy dankness on the back end.
And the carbonation is wonderful.
It's like the perfect amount.
19.99 for the four pack.
I wasn't happy, but it was worth it.
That's pretty high for Milwaukee.
Yes, it is.
It is.
That's why I had to throw it out there.
But I was pleased with my choice.
Again, these guys do great things.
Happy to get them and yeah, just keep looking forward to drinking more shit by them.
Nice.
Well, I don't know why we didn't do this, you know, years ago, but Google says a gooseberry
smells slightly acidic, yet sweet with a fresh tart and slightly floral aroma, often
compared to a mix between green grapes and currants.
That's exactly what this smells like.
Is everything you just read.
Yeah.
It's a scent commonly associated with certain white wines like Sauvignon moi.
So it's due to its tangy green character.
We, we, we, we.
Very nice.
Well, good.
Where were we?
Oh, holiday stuff.
Yeah.
Holidays happened and I.
You know what?
I like Erica's whole like, that we're staying home and fuck everybody else mentality.
I've been trying to instill that into my wife.
She is a little more guilt ridden than I am.
And by a little, I mean extremely.
She's like, no, we gotta see everybody.
This year I kept it to three groups of people.
One of them came to our house.
Nice.
And then the other two, we had to travel and I did not allow them to be on the same day.
That's Pretty good balance.
How far is your travel?
The longest trip is 20 minutes.
Oh, that's not bad.
Is that her sister?
Yeah.
Honestly, her sister and my mom are about equal distance in terms of timing.
So it's about.
So first.
First night, Festivus dad and associated people came over.
We're supposed to go to a restaurant that kind of blew up.
So they came over here.
The restaurant blew up, the plans blew up.
Even funnier if the restaurant blew up.
Yeah.
What a wild time.
Serving too many nachos.
And then Christmas Eve, we did her sister.
And then Christmas Day, we did my mom's house.
And it was.
I hate going multiple places.
It's my weird childhood trauma from 900 houses with all divorced parents and stuff.
But it was as close to good as we can get it, I think.
So I was not the most angry I've ever been at Christmas.
Well, that's good.
That's baby steps, you know.
Yeah.
And one of my highlights was hanging out with you guys with Mel and Shred and Sam.
Hope I'm not forgetting anybody else.
Yes.
That was Steph.
Or.
Sorry, Melissa.
Steph.
Wow.
I can't believe I confused Stephan.
Sorry.
With Steph and Shred.
That was fun.
Yeah, that was.
That was a good time.
In a little Graham Group Christmas extravaganza.
Yeah.
Obviously it was as memorable.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
We were supposed to.
We stayed on for what, like, three and a half hours?
Oh, at least.
Yeah.
We keep.
We kept having to restart our sessions because we run out of free time.
And Stefan probably was the most schweisty, as you say.
And she kept restarting it for us.
I was impressed with how well she could.
It got a little dicey towards the end.
At the end.
The last one was, like.
One was a little hard.
Where's the link?
Right.
Yeah.
She sent three links.
Yeah.
I give her credit.
I was impressed.
Yeah.
The wife and I were supposed to hang out with Mel, and it totally our fault.
We got busy and we had to not do it, but we'll make that up.
But that was.
It's fun.
It's fun hanging out with the people you want to hang out with.
Yeah, right.
Especially when you can't, because everybody lives here and there and whatnot.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And I got a voicemail from the homie Chew Beer, but he hooked it up.
We didn't do pozole palooza this year, but he brought me some fucking pozole, like a big
old container.
And that was very nice.
Met up with him on Festivus and he hooked it up.
Fat, probably a big old container.
Pozole.
We went to the store, bought some cabbage and some, you know, tortilla chips.
His hot sauce that he does with that.
Here's how homemade it is.
The hot sauce.
I was just going to ask.
Is it his own homemade hot sauce?
Yeah, it's homemade.
Came in a Ziploc bag.
Oh, my gosh.
And like, we finished the bazzoles and still had some hot sauce left over.
And I was putting that on pizza.
All kinds of stuff.
So good.
So.
Aren't you supposed to provide your own Tupperware for this situation?
You are, but he came to me, so I.
I got to get him back his Tupperware, so.
All right.
Something if Greg had to bring his Tupperware.
Makes you wonder how chew get the pizzole right.
He just carries it to my end.
His hands.
Yeah.
He's wheezing the juice.
Yeah.
Anyways, the juice.
Yeah.
Well, speaking of chew, let's, let's.
Let's check in with Santa Chu over here.
Hello.
No one is available to take your call.
Please leave a message after the tone.
Groovy, groovy, jazzy, funky, pounce, bounce, dance as we dip in for melodic seal.
Yo, what up, homies?
It's true.
Your beer.
And that song is Cantaloupe by us three, homie.
Back in the days.
That came out like a long time ago.
So that shows your age.
Just kidding.
That song was banging back day.
It was a what hit wonder.
I knew that song more as Flint Fantasia, not Cantaloupe.
I don't think he even says cantaloupe in the whole song.
But he does say Flint Fantasia.
So calling in to say Feliz Navidad.
Happy New Year.
Feliz ano nuevo, big dog.
Another year down the drain, homie.
Hopefully this year is prosperous for all of us.
I know it is for Greg.
I saw what kind of car Greg is driving, homie.
And I'm not going to say anything other than I'm a little jelly.
Little PB and J, homie.
Little peanut butter and jelly.
Very proud of your accomplishments, Greg.
Anyways, homie, I got to meet up with my boy Greg over Christmas Eve.
Was it Christmas?
No, Christmas.
The day before Christmas Eve.
Dropped off some pozole for my homie.
Didn't have pozole palooza this year.
Put in a little hiatus.
Next year.
It's gonna happen.
We're gonna make it happen.
It'll probably be bigger than normal, so we'll see what happens.
Also, I Had some other stuff to say and I forgot, man, while you guys were talking, that
belt, that cooler wrestling belt.
You better not wear that around me, Gray, because you might get body slammed, homie.
I get body slammed.
Or you might.
I might have to put you in a figure four leg lock.
I mean, the camel clutch, you have to be ready.
That's from Glow, but yeah, I'm an.
Old camel toe clutch.
80S, early 90s maybe.
You know, last time I stopped watching wrestling was the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
After that, I.
I grew.
Kind of grew up, I guess.
You know, I found chicks more attractive than.
Than buff guys.
Except for Flex.
He kind of tickles my pickle, if you know what I'm talking about.
All right, Flex.
Hopefully when I do see you, I'm going body slam your ass, homie.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah.
All right.
This is true.
Your beer.
Feliz Navidad.
Feliz Nuevo.
To 2020 five more beers and more in between the thighs.
Early.
I had to watch Pizar.
What does that even mean?
All over the place.
I feel like he just freestyles when he does this.
And I love it.
I absolutely love it.
I think he blacks out while he's recording and then comes to afterwards.
Even if he didn't, he should claim.
Yeah, yeah.
So.
So thanks again to the homie Jubir for the delicious pizzazz.
I have a.
He's like, hey, post a picture and tag me.
I was like, all right, I have a picture on my phone.
I still haven't posted yet.
I'm such an asshole.
I'm.
As we discussed with Mel a couple weeks ago, I'm so bad at posting.
That was our New Year's resolution, was to be better about posting.
So I'll get that posted or storied or some shit or other.
So thank you for the pizzols.
It's delicious and all that good stuff.
Police Navi Winos.
It's Christmas and New Year's put together.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, it's totally a word.
Oh, you kind of nailed it.
80553, beer.
That's the number to call if you want to leave us voicemail before we get some news.
Let's make a call to Pen and find out what Eric is drinking over there.
Foreign for beer.
Right on.
So I have a Christmas gift that I received from the Santa Suds swap that's put on by Ellie
Rose and Gumbo mud.
Oh, okay.
So you see probably all over the gram.
A bunch of folks receiving packages around the holidays and the sud swap.
So it's like My third or fourth year participating.
Super fun.
So it's.
You have a secret Santa and you have to send them some beers and vice versa.
So I got mine from Dan's Craft Beer Adventures, Someone I hadn't known of or followed prior
to this, so that was cool.
And probably closer to your neck of the woods.
Flex, because this is Lupelin.
Okay.
Schism is the beer, which I.
I love because it's a great song by Tool.
Favorite Tool songs.
Might be the only Tool song I know.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
It's a good one.
It is a black ipa, which I know you love.
Greg, too.
Not enough black IPAs in the world.
Not enough.
Definitely not enough.
It is 7.9%.
Greg would call that 8, but it's.
7, basically a triple for me.
It is quad, right?
Yeah, it's like a quad.
It's a 3.8, and it says schism.
It's bad for a black IPA.
Yeah.
Pretty decent.
I mean, I just.
I love them.
It's that whole conundrum of people rating them because they don't like black IPAs, so they
rate them low.
People are dumb.
A split or division between strongly opposed sections or parties caused by differences in
opinion or belief.
How can something be black and pale?
Cascadian dark.
Alex.
Or is it India Black Ale?
Let's let the others argue about it while we enjoy a beer.
This beer is rich, dark, and hoppy.
We call it good.
Let's drink.
And it's very dark, and it had a really nice, fluffy white head and some great lacing on
it.
It's been sitting for a minute.
It smells kind of bready and smoky.
If those are interesting.
I know any, like, chocolatiness.
That's my favorite thing about black IPAs.
You get a little chocolate in there.
Maybe that's.
Yeah, that's what it is.
I'm not trying to influence your chocolatey.
Would be a little better maybe, description than smoky, but kind of tastes smoky to me,
too.
So I don't know.
There's a lot going on with this beer.
It's roasty.
It's very.
It's got a lot of bitterness, and it lingers.
It's got a lot of dank that kind of hangs on.
There's.
There's a lot of flavors going on.
As it warms up, it's even more and more.
And the can is really cool.
I mean, I'd give it 3.8, which I think it actually fits, by the way.
I don't want to say anything out loud, but hats off to Your Internet tonight, it's really
holding up.
There it goes.
Just tanking.
Just.
I just knocked on wood.
Me too.
I am not ashamed to say one of my favorite of all time was actually from Stone in their
enjoy by series.
One year for Valentine's Day, they enjoy by 414 or 2.
214, I can't remember what year.
And it was a chocolate ipa and they called it a chocolate ipa.
It was a black ipa.
So good.
Over at Knotty Pine does a really good one once a year and love me a good black ipa.
Yeah.
What's that?
That brewery that's on the water in San Diego that you had told me to go.
They have some really like a really good black ipa I think I had there.
Just delicious.
And a great view.
And a great view, which makes everything just like it.
Yeah.
Another notch.
Eppig.
Epig brewing.
They have a waterfront location.
It is so nice just to hang out and stare at the boats and have some beers and like a block
down the beach, I guess the harbor there kind of.
Yeah.
There's a sausage shop.
You can get some sausages and good stuff.
I've been to San Diego in a couple years and I am Jones in for it.
Jones in for some sausage.
Sausage and beer always.
It's a good day.
Yeah, it is a good day.
All right, a little news forget here.
First of all, I thought I'd mention that I went through the stats and I pulled up.
I did stat run from first of last year to the end of last year because I wanted to see what
was our most listened to show of the year.
And any guesses?
I got none.
No, we did a lot of shows.
It was episode 400.
No kidding.
Yeah.
Dan and Scott came back around and no kidding.
Nice little throwback there.
Wow.
I.
I thought it was gonna be like one of the interviews or something.
Yeah.
I was thinking about that episode the other day because something came up.
I heard like an Admiral's commercial here and I was like, oh, that was fun as hell.
Get a sausage.
That's a lot of dudes in one episode.
We hear you guys.
All right.
Yeah.
Four dudes, one pod.
It was.
It was a lot.
So.
But it was a good have to recreate.
Apparently the people.
The people have spoken or have downloaded.
Now, it doesn't say that they didn't turn it off three seconds in, but the people have
downloaded.
So there you go.
If they were smart, they would have turned it off.
Yeah, the smart ones did.
As we all will know by now, President Jimmy Carter passed away a Few days ago.
And I just bring it up because I read this article that reminded me and was meant to remind
everybody of like what Jimmy Carter did for beer and for craft beer especially.
Sure, yeah.
He's the one that legalized home brewing in 1978, which led to the founding of Sierra
Nevada.
And of course, I'm sure Sierra Nevada has led to the opening of like most craft brewery
sets and all that.
So I'm not going to read the whole article, but it was from the Wall Street Journal for
anybody wants to read it.
It's called How Jimmy Carter Jump Started the Crappy Revolution.
Dude was born in 1924.
24.
100 years old.
So hats off.
Well, hats off.
Cheers.
Wasn't he 99?
Was he 100?
He was 100.
It was October of 24 to December.
Some guy joked at work that said, wow, dude couldn't even make it to 2025.
Jeez.
Too soon.
Jesus Christ was 100 years old, man.
Yeah.
That makes me think of like, okay, going to Egypt, there was an Egyptian God called Bess
and he was like the God of beer.
And they had him.
He was kind of a crazy looking dude.
That would be like on some of the hieroglyphics and stuff.
So anyways, I'm thinking like he should be our God of beer.
Right?
Like, come on.
Yeah.
Thank you for Jimmy Carter.
I mean.
And the reason he legalized it was because his brother was into brewing.
Okay.
He had like his own brewing company.
A little nepotism, but you know, so see that in politics plenty.
So, you know, constantly.
Big case of who gives a fuck.
Pabst enters contract brewing agreement with Anheuser Busch.
What?
Yeah.
So it's been Miller Coors forever.
Has been brewing pbr.
Well, now it'll be Budweiser.
Interesting.
Yeah.
I'm sure all the rednecks won't realize it and they'll keep drinking their PBR and one day
they'll shoot their cans.
Who knows?
Saw this story today right before we started recording.
Had to add it to the show.
WWE takes minority ownership stake in Hulk Hogan's real American beer brother.
Weird.
Yeah.
The partnership reveal coincides with WWE's flagship Pro flagship program Monday Night Raw
moving to Netflix starting this week.
As part of the deal, the real American beer logo will be featured on the ring mat corner on
episodes of Raw going forward as well as other WWE assets.
Former wrestling star and all around ass face Hulk Hogan and a team that.
Oh, damn it.
Sorry, I made that up.
That wasn't there.
And a Team that included Anheuser Busch InBev vet Terry Francis as CEO launched Real
American Beer in June of 2024.
The 4.2% ABV Light Logger generated $1.7 million in off premise sales year to date.
Through December 21, WWE will provide Real American beer social and digital support,
including original short form content that will be distributed across WWE's social and
digital channels.
The brand will also have access to WWE's trademarks, wrestlers and personalities for in
store point of sale materials and promotional displays.
Only Flex will get this, but I'm really hoping we see a CM Punk Real American beer display.
Yeah.
For Erica and the rest of the NA version.
Yeah.
CM Punk is a straight edge.
He doesn't drink or do drugs or anything.
Oh, okay.
He's a wrestler.
So anyways, Flex, yo.
I put the story in for you.
You almost didn't make the show.
I'm glad you did.
Thank goodness.
Is it a list?
We have a list.
Oh, I love start off the new year.
I hope, I hope it's one of them top 10 beer Lists of the year that we don't know any of the
breweries.
It's not far off.
It's five must try IPAs from 2024.
Okay.
And I've reviewed the list and none of them were started in 2024.
I mean, maybe some of them were, but some of them are quite old.
So let me know if anybody's had any.
Shout out to number five here.
Highland park brewing out of L.
A.
Their double dry hopped pillow.
It was number five.
Sounds soft.
It's very soft.
Cleopatra, Caius farm brewery from Caius farm brewery.
That's out of Connecticut.
I can't pronounce things.
Erica's trip, kind of.
That's true, I guess.
Yeah.
Cleopatra, Connecticut.
Oh, Cleopatra.
I get it.
Yeah.
You know, they don't talk about Cleopatra there because they don't care about the same
people we do.
That's really interesting.
She's all I care about when it comes.
Yeah, right.
This one's been around forever.
I had the opportunity of getting one a few years back.
Sip of sunshine from Lawson's finest liquids.
I've only ever seen it.
I've never had it.
I had it once.
It was.
It was tasty.
Would drink.
It's called 10 out of 10.
Would drink again from Pillow and Oats in Beacon, New York.
And I don't know if you guys have heard of this one before, but green from Treehouse
brewing out of Massachusetts.
Oh.
Who are they?
I don't.
Yeah, I don't know, some.
Some little old brewery on the east coast there.
So.
Yeah, most of these I don't think are new to 2024 list, man.
Yeah.
Who made this list?
Forbes.
Where do they get.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They just know rich people.
Rich people.
Yeah.
Go back to your money stuff.
I don't know.
Yeah, they were paid to list these.
Breweries probably, though I don't think Treehouse needs that type of.
No, definitely.
Or any.
If you like beer.
You know what the fuck Treehouse is.
Yeah.
Which I've never had a tree house.
Oh, never ever?
No, never have I ever.
All right.
Hey, Devon intern Brian, the next time you're in that hood, we're going to have to bring
back some treehouse for Erica.
There we go.
The problem with Treehouse though, I know this from both Deb and Brian as well as not
Murder John, is you can't just go buy a four part four pack and leave.
You can't single cans, right?
No, no case.
You have to buy a whole case.
Case at a time.
Baby, there is.
There is no messing around a treehouse.
Oh, that I didn't know.
Yeah, and you can do like a case of all one thing.
Or like what John did was some sort of like pre built mixed case and he's like, I just.
I came out with some beers and here they are and there happens to be a hazy pale.
So he gave it to me.
Okay.
So, yeah, it's.
It's kind of weird.
Someday you might have to be a Tavour, but.
Yeah, I don't.
I don't think they need the help of Tavor.
No, they definitely.
I'm just figuring like how I would get a hold of one, but.
Yeah.
Well, maybe.
Maybe if DNB or not Murder John heads back that way we can.
We can get a couple of.
Hook it up.
Yeah.
So I've had.
I've had one from Zach.
Zach sent me one.
Oh, Zach.
Shout out Zach.
I had another from a friend of a friend who got.
He's like a guy who does day trips to Treehouse, buys a ton of beer and then just flies
back home.
That's it?
Yes.
And he's not a pilot, is he?
No, no, this is not pilot friend.
Okay.
Just buys a plane ticket, goes to Treehouse and comes home.
Yep.
All right.
Does he like shove cans up his ass to get him on the plane?
No.
How intense are we talking here?
Just brings an empty suitcase with him.
All right.
Fly southwest free.
That's what he does.
All right.
I bet he makes a killing off of those, too.
Or did for a while.
I don't know if people care anymore.
He really just drinks it all.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, he does.
Yeah, he's.
He's not like a mule or like a third party seller or something.
He just literally goes there to get the beer for himself and then to share with friends and
that's all right.
Well, good for him.
He actually talked to his wife.
He was telling me the story when I met him.
Talked his wife into having their honeymoon in, like, the Boston area.
Yeah, nothing's his romance like Boston.
So then he could drive, you know, like two hours or whatever it is from there to go to
Treehouse and get a shit ton of beer and then come back home.
Yeah.
Mornings at Duncan and afternoons at Treehouse.
Crazy.
That's the life.
It's something.
All right, let's get on up out of here.
Hey.
Happy New Year, Vanessa.
Hey, Vanessa.
Happy New Year, Vanessa.
Yeah.
Or Felice Nueva on you.
Oh, God.
I got.
She'll tell me how bad that was.
Don't.
Don't worry.
She speaks Spanish too.
All right, follow us all on the socials at Craft Beer Republic, at Flex Me a beer and at
Necknosh, LLC, underscore LLC, 805538, beer 2337.
Do not support dry January if it's the last thing you don't do.
I think that's everything, Erica.
Thanks for hanging.
If you're.
If you're bored next week, come back around.
All right?
All right.
We'll see what's going on.
All right.
Hope everyone out there staying very well hydrated.
And on that note, good night, everybody.