Excited to drink a beer with you fellas? Yeah. Super excited.
Welcome in, everybody, to the Craft Beer Republic. Thanks for drinking.
Thanks for joining. I am Greg, and I am being joined
by the best smelling Royal Rumble winner this side of the Mississippi.
And that's flex. What's up, big fella?
Uh, I did not win the Royal Rumble. Oh, uh. Hallelujah.
It is raining men up in this bitch. Whoa, whoa.
What kind of show are we talking about here?
Well, here with with our special guest today. Yes.
That's just what I'm referring to. I got you. Well, you're not wrong.
It is raining men. Uh, you know, flex, you ask,
and you shall receive. A couple weeks ago, you mentioned we
need to get interim Brian on the show. And here he is in the flesh.
The smartest beer drinker we know. Enter. Brian. What's happening?
Oh, not too much. I'm just here to support you guys.
See what I can do to help the team. Like a good intern does.
He actually might be the smartest man we know.
He's probably the smartest man we know. He's a real life lawyer.
Not just a pretend on the podcast lawyer.
So, uh, thanks for hanging with us. Thank you for having me.
I have been looking forward to this day. It's been a minute.
For for many years now. I would say at least a year. Yeah.
Since the last time I lost a bet to flex and had to send him beer.
Oh, yeah, that was World Cup. Yeah, yeah.
But just so you know, you're still not getting paid for this.
This is still an internship. Fair enough.
Even if you've been promoted. Wait, wait, I got promoted.
Well, to on the air intern, I guess I don't know.
Uh, follow us on the socials at Craft Beer Republic at Flex me beer
and Brian, smarter than all of us and doesn't have any socials,
so don't follow him. Uh, 853. Beer. All that good shit.
We got a lot to get to today. I've been fucking globe trotting.
We're bringing, we're bringing, we're drinking a beer that I brought
back and got some news to talk about. And let's just get right fucking
into it, if you guys don't mind.
I love my dad. Oh, I love my beer. I love my bear. I love my beer.
I'll talk about the trip in a second. But we are drinking Wondrous
Brewing's Gromky. It is a West Coast pilsner,
5.7% and their big ass. Description West Coast Pilsner
hopped with mosaic, Roca and Nelson. You tricked me on that.
I thought it was actually going to be pretty. Pretty big description.
No, but I love the description. Uh,
there's one thing you know about me. It's is how much I love a good
fucking West coast. West Coast Pilsner. Yes!
I was so excited to see this on the menu.
Sometimes I think if you walked into a brewery and they had a hazy pale
and a West Coast pilsner on tap, you'd probably just blow your
load all over the place. I'd have to clean my pants after
that. Yeah. I get a lot of citrus on the schnoz.
You're so much better at this than I am.
But, like, some great fruity notes. I get that, uh, southern hemisphere
juicy stone fruit kind of deal. Yeah. Which is what I taste. More on yield.
I'm getting more of that southern hemisphere.
I love Roca. It's so good. Underrated. Not used enough.
Does well in light beers like a West Coast Pils, but also does
well in like, a hazy IPA. Really stands up to itself.
Are you getting, like, a peppery note on the back end?
I'm kind of feeling like a little. Let's see here.
I can see that almost like a hint of spice on the finish.
Yeah, yeah. I don't know about you. I like this a lot.
I had a few of these when I made my visit.
I was like, I gotta bring some cans home.
Well, they probably get better as you go along. That is for sure.
But no, this is really good. Thanks for sharing. Absolutely.
I was up in, uh, the Bay area, San Francisco area for some work
last week. And so this is wondrous brewing,
if you guys remember. I found I basically stumbled my
way in there. I don't know, six months ago,
happened to be staying nearby and got some cans.
And that was the trip where I was running super late and didn't have
time to check my bag at the airport. And you left the cans?
The cans by the trash cans? Yeah. And I begged the TSA agent,
please take these home and drink them. And I can't do that, sir.
I was like, just. I'm not putting these in a trash can.
They are sitting next to the trash can.
You must take them home and drink them for me.
I'm gonna choose to believe they were taken home. So what?
I do stuff like that. I try to get something that I know
the wife will probably not hate. So you can have like one.
So like that was a hazy I always try to bring like a hazy or a sour.
That's that's more her jam. They didn't have any hazy.
In fact, they didn't even have any hazy on tap, which I was fine
with when I was there. Um, kind. Of shocking, though. It was kind of.
I was surprised, but they did have a couple of IPAs they had, if you count
the pilsners and all that stuff, they probably had like six different
lagers on the board. Wow. They had. Yeah, they had a they had a Mexican.
They had this, they had a dark they had a bock.
I mean I was like, Jesus Christ these guys,
these are like real beer nerds, not haisbro beer nerds. It was fantastic.
Beer flavored beer making a comeback? Yeah. Beer flavored beer for sure.
There's nothing wrong with that. So, anyways, uh, I was glad I was
able to finally get some of this shit back here and have it on the show.
I have really enjoyed just about everything I've had from them,
whether in the taproom or in cans, that I had to leave in the airport.
Um, have not been disappointed. So glad to give them a nice
little plug on the show. Hopefully it drives the millions
and millions. So. And that's, uh, that's up in, uh.
I believe you meant to say the millions and millions.
There you go. Of our fans. So and, you know, that's that's
psycho bear territory up there. And I thought.
Like, oh, I should hit up Psycho Bear and see if he wants to meet me for a
drink. But you didn't. Die or what? Hey, I don't want to die, B,
I don't have any contact information for him, like he leaves.
Voicemails. But, like, I don't. I don't have his gram or
anything like that. So what's his gram would just be?
Psycho bear. Maybe. Well,
Psycho Bear doesn't need to be found. He finds you. You're not wrong.
I'm surprised he didn't already know I was up there. So, uh.
Anyways, Psycho Bear, we need grandmas or something so
I can hit you up. When? When I'm up in your hood again.
Do you think he sends telegraphs or something?
Maybe smoke signals from the forest? He's a bear, after all.
Uh, our friends over at Beer and Bikini hit me up, and, uh,
a few, I don't know, months ago, I think I talked about this.
Helped him with some podcast gear, some. Some nerd shit.
And, you know, they've been thanking me for that.
And they said someone hit him up and told them that their show
quality had been sounding good. So she was just thanking me and
she jokingly started calling me King Greg.
And I was like, bow down to King Greg.
And it came around to this whole, uh, King Greg and his loyal subject flex.
And I said, nay, flex, the director of the Health ministry.
Oh, I'll take that. Yeah, it divulged from there and
became quite the stupid coming up of names. But I wonder if we need names.
I mean, it's the craft beer Republic. I don't know that I want to be a
king, but, you know, maybe. I mean, you're kind of the king.
Head of republic. President. El presidente de republic,
head of health ministry. Flex. Yeah. I'll be. Whatever.
I'm not, uh, you know, very picky. Yeah.
The only reason I shy away from that is it sounds a little too boozy.
I don't want to be called the commissioner or some shit like that.
It just makes me think of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
when he says that, uh, he is the Earl of Preston,
and then he is the Duke of Ted. Uh, that's the only thing that
rings a bell for me. I like Duke. How about a kick ass Duke?
Tenacious D fans out there? I guess not. All right.
I know some of the tracks. Yeah. Uh, and then also,
I think this was last week, we were talking about the whole
ABV on cans situation. Yeah. Maybe it was two weeks ago and
got a lot of feedback on this. First, the drinking lawyer sent me
some links. Brian sent me some stuff. Um, Boris from Petals and Pints
sent me some stuff. Apparently this is a hot topic with
everybody, and I'm glad because you and I had no idea what was going on.
No, nothing at all. Yeah, Brian sent me a shit that I had
to have ChatGPT read for me because it was all lawyery and nerdy. And.
And the one thing I decided to comment on, I was like, oh,
I read this like this. Brian's like, nope,
you're 100% wrong, dumb fuck. And put me in my place in a good way.
Cause I'm stupid. But Boris was saying that, uh,
ABV on bottles and cans depends on if you're distributing the beer or not.
Uh, this goes along with A-b-c laws per state,
but the TTB signs off on all labels if they're going to be distributed,
even self-distributed distributed. Um, the requirements for labels
changes based on how much you produce a year.
So Boston Beer is held to a standard that somebody like
Petals and Pints isn't. Makes it a lot easier for smaller
breweries to get out there and to get out there faster and to
get through the approval process in a much shorter time versus
the big guys. So, okay. Is that a decent summary of the
law stuff you sent me? I think so. I think that one of the things
that I had sent was they only have to put the ABV if it's over
a certain threshold. I think it might be over 5% or
something like that. Which I was surprised about because,
you know, You know, there's a lot of lighter beers that have.
Yeah, the ABV on them. I mean, I think it's kind of in
line with the general public policy against overconsumption, right?
So like, you go to a restaurant, if it's a beer that's over 8%,
they can't give it to you in a pint. They have to give you a
ten ounce pour or whatever. So I think that's part of the reason
they want you to know if you're going to drink something that's high
ABV and they don't really give a fuck if you're just crushing cause.
You can't get drunk off a Coors Light or a MC ultra.
It got me thinking about, you know, you go to somewhere like, say,
B-dubs. You know, you order a beer and
usually they'll say like, oh, do you want the small or the big?
You want the 16 or the 22? But they would never 22 something.
That's 10%. Right. So can they if that, you know, is a
max of like a ten per ten ounce pour. Can they 18 ounce pour it for do.
They even have anything that heavy there.
Yeah I don't I doubt it I don't think they have anything that's
better than Coors Light there. But, I mean, I think they're they're
IPAs are probably the highest thing. They probably they probably. Have.
Like a hazy little thing or something, which is around seven.
So I just. Went like seven. Yeah, yeah.
Can you, can you double up a high ABV beer like they, they don't
quite double, but they double up lower ABV beers. That a thing.
Where you can order one for you and one for Shannon. I guess.
Yeah. Shannon's not drinking that. It's all for me.
So anyways, I hope that someone answers the stuffs.
Yeah, I do wonder if it's a state by state thing though, because,
uh, that beer I was drinking, I think it was a lakefront beer.
They're like the largest craft brewery in Milwaukee, and they,
uh, produce a shit ton and distribute a shit ton.
So the fact that there was nothing on the the can or the
packaging kind of blew my mind. Yeah, I think it is state by state.
Like the part I was referring Greg to is the California
Business and Professions Code. Okay, so there's a there's a whole
chapter on, uh, alcohol producers and distributors and lawyers, too.
They're not the same chapter. That would be kind of weird.
But, yeah. Kind of weird. Yeah, but, um, the language is
difficult, at least for the layman. I feel like half of it's just
created so that they have to hire people to read it for them.
Yeah, that's the whole concept. Yeah. You know, just kind of obscure
it so that the general public doesn't know what's going on or
where to find it. Pretty. Pretty standard,
but it keeps me employed. Something you have to learn in
law school? Uh, actually,
they don't really teach you a whole lot of local or state law.
And in law school, they teach you kind of the basics of,
like, constitutional, okay, like civil procedure, but they don't
really teach you regular state law. But the first thing you do when
you're working on a case is you go try to find the statute that applies.
So whether that's family code, whether that's welfare and
institutions, code, business and professions.
You know, there's there's codes for everything. Government code.
I don't want to get too nerdy about it, but basically.
We asked you the question. And they're all free online.
You can go to the, you know, the California State Legislature
and you can find all your codes. And, you know, if you really
want to lose yourself for a day, week, year, whatever,
go check out some codes for fun. Woo! But it's like half of law school just
figuring out how to read that shit. Yeah. Like that's what I'm saying.
Yeah. They just teach you. I mean, they just teach you how
to think like a lawyer. And really,
all of law school is about one thing. It's training you to pass the
bar because that's what makes the law school look good.
They want the bar passage rates up, and then you pass the bar and
then they're like, okay, good to go on your lawyering. Yeah.
Go do lawyer things now. Yeah. Go fucking law it up already.
I am the law. So in law school,
you're not actually like, focusing on a specific area of practice?
Uh, no. So the first year. Like, doctors will do,
like some general stuff, and then they're like, hey,
we're gonna be a heart surgeon, and they'll focus on the heart surgery.
Stuff, like, somebody's going to be a pilot,
and they're like, we're gonna have you drive around in a car. Yeah.
Uh, well, you're good at that. All right, here's a plane, right?
Yeah, I, I wish it was like that. Um, but the law school,
the first year of law school is all the same for pretty much every,
at least all the ABA like, nationally accredited schools they have.
You take the same stuff, like you're taking civil procedure,
criminal law, property, torts, which is like civil lawsuits type stuff.
Um, you take you take all that stuff. No.
Um, and then once you get that out of the way,
then you can start taking things that you maybe want to practice in.
Um, but, you know, the the goal remains the same.
Just pass all the all the tests and get through the bar.
Although I loved law school, law school was great.
I did a lot of drinking. Did a lot of.
I was gonna say you were at Santa Barbara.
So I went to undergrad at Santa Barbara and law school down in
San Diego. Oh that's right. Either way,
you did a lot of drinking. Yeah, I was, uh,
my apartment was near the Gaslamp, so we had a good time.
We've talked about those days, like the, um, monkey paw neighborhood.
Neighborhood? Yeah. Good old days. The good old days of early craft
beer and getting hammered. Uh. All right, well, nerd shit,
that's our nerd segment for the day. Not a nerd. Show. Not a nerd show.
Well, it's kind of a nerd. Yeah, I'd say it's borderline.
Yeah, it's fairly nerdy. Um, so. Yeah.
So send all your questions to mail at craft beer.com, and we'll
see if we can get intern Brian. And we'll set up a donation page
because lawyers aren't free these days. Yeah.
And we still don't pay him. No, we pay him so much money.
He gives us pro boners. Yeah, I would do this for free any
day of the week. Such a nice guy. That's why we have them.
We don't deserve the niceness. I definitely don't,
I'm kind of a dick. Like, I've been learning that more
and more. Like day in and day out. I'm just like a huge dick. Sure.
Your wife lets you know plenty. Yeah. That's true.
I can't even shake that one off. No, there's. No arguing that one.
All right, before we move on to some news, let's answer some questions.
In a world where craft beer is king, a world where muscles are bigger than
growlers, only one ton can guide us. One man, one ton. One ton jobber.
In this world, we must find out what is flax drinking?
Well, well, well, uh, today, uh, flex went back to his old
stomping grounds. Uh,
I got me some phase three brewing. I used to drink the shit out of
these guys between, like, 2020 and 2023 until they grew and
over sold out, uh, lost, like, three of their brewers and could
tell the difference in how bad the beer was, and. Oh, yikes. Oh, yeah.
I stopped buying them for about two years.
I thought that was just because it got expensive.
No, it was a mix between the taste of the beer and the price and everything
about it. Uh, but. So here we are. We're diving back into them,
trying them out, and I picked up Velvet Vortex,
a 7.7%, uh, Double hazy IPA, double dry hopped as well.
This one contains nectarine and mo mocha.
I know we've talked about this. That's how I say Motueka. Mocha Waka.
Waka. I think that's right. That seems right to me.
Sounds right. Just doesn't. I don't know, doesn't feel right.
Uh, untapped has it at a collective 414. Holla.
Uh, Milwaukee area code, uh, only 767 check ins.
So it's got to be relatively new release,
and it reads Double Dry Hopped Hazy double IPA that highlights
two hops from one of our favorite growing regions in the world.
New Zealand notes of calamansi juice. Um, okay.
Uh, stone fruit and green pineapple on top of a base beer built from
frothy wheat and creamy oats. So funny that, uh,
untapped says this because on the can it says Brewer's notes
tropical fruit and fresh limes. So. All right, little, uh,
we'll see what we got here. I don't know what the fuck
column calamansi juice is. Calamansi. Calamansi clamato.
Yeah, It's definitely not that. I'm looking it up.
Looks delicious. Yeah. It is. I mean, the color is phenomenal.
It's, uh, that pale straw. Very hazy. Nice head. Uh, very nice lacing.
The smell is kind of reminiscent of, like, a Nelson hop, um, where you
kind of get like that goosey berry, kind of like tangy hop character.
So, uh, daddy likes. And, uh, without further ado,
we'll warm up the old tongue jobber and we'll dabble in. Oh, here we go.
Do you feel privileged to watch the tongue jobber in action?
It is impressive, right? Okay, so. You can see why he's still married.
To see that live. I don't know, uh,
what green pineapple is. Maybe they're referring to,
like, unripe pineapple. Probably. I get that.
Um, I definitely get the fresh limes. Uh, it's weird getting a lime flavor,
but not getting, like, the tartness of lime juice.
Uh, very, very low end hop bitterness here.
Uh, low carbonation and the mouthfeel.
It's also like light bodied but pillowy at the same time,
if that makes sense. Ish. Whatever these guys, uh, they're
doing now, they dialed it back in. I would say this is a fantastic beer.
Well that's good. Yeah. I'm very excited that I, uh,
took the jump. Took the leap. I, um, found out what calamansi
calamansi juice tastes like, which they in parentheses call
the Filipino lemonade. So it must be from the Philippines.
Okay. Since it has similar flavors to
a mandarin orange, but is as sour as much as it is sweet.
The calamansi has a distinct sugary citrus scent, an orange
like aroma with a hint of lime. The juice is tart and lightly sweet.
Okay, that kind of makes sense on the aroma now. Okay.
But yeah, it sounds like I want to try some calamansi juice now.
Yeah, I've never heard of it, but I'm.
I'm down to give that a shot. Yeah. Definitely want to stick my
tongue jabber in that hell? All right, well, uh,
we'll move on then. Sweet transition. Greg. High five. Yeah, yeah.
You are the king of transitions. No one makes it more awkward.
Uh, before I forget, because I already did.
Top listing city of last week. Marlton, new Jersey.
I think that's a new one. Marlton, new Jersey.
I would be willing to say that's not even a real place. Yeah.
Prove us wrong, Marlton. Somebody from there send us an email.
Marlton. Seems like every week new Jersey
gives you a new top listing city. It's weird. Right?
I don't know what it is about new Jersey.
You put up a billboard or something? No, but that's genius. You should.
You should get a genius. Get one in Marlton. How about.
Thanks? Marlton from Craft Beer Republic.
Something tells me Marlton is such a small town.
They don't even have room for a billboard. Right.
Or they just have the one that. Just says Welcome to Marlton.
It's like on the other side it says. Thanks for visiting Marldon.
Now entering, now leaving. Tell us what's in Marldon.
Has anybody been there? Let's see. Marlton, new Jersey population
10,403 as of 2022. And that's smaller than where I live.
The craft brew. Craft beer republic. Yeah, all of them listened in twice.
Twice. Thanks, Marlton. Yeah. Maybe not.
All right, let's let's do the news. Can you.
Can we, uh, pass around a little beer while I kick this off?
Has anybody heard of the beer bar tornado up in San Francisco?
I have. Have you been there? I've eaten tornadoes before.
What is it? Tornado in food form. Yeah, it's like a taquito.
Or like a flauta. Oh, really? I've never heard.
It called that. Tornadoes. It's like the off brand, I think.
Oh, is that like a super white person thing or. Yeah. It's gotta be. Okay.
Cause I believe it or not, am super white. Oh, we know.
The tornado I know was in San Diego. I don't know if they were affiliated
or something. Yeah, I don't know. It's funny because when I first
saw the headline, that's what I thought of too,
because I know the one in San Diego. This is the one in San Francisco.
The iconic San Francisco Beer bar is up for sale with a list
price of 1.75 million, according to a listing on compass.
The bar acknowledged plans to sell as the owner and founder Dave Keens,
prepares to retire. He says in true tornado fashion, we
plan to celebrate Dave's innumerable, innumerable contributions to the
world of craft beer scene. With ten days of great events,
great beer and great people. Please join us as we regal 38
years of hazy memories and prepare for many more. So hazy. Hazy.
Did you know what enumerable means? I know it means incapable of Being
humored. Huh? Genius. Damn it! He's good. Dave says it so seriously.
Hey, look, I just gotta say, by the way, back to Marlton,
new Jersey, because I can't stop thinking about this.
Um, Google says one of the best places to live in new Jersey.
So that's a low bar to cross, but okay.
The only city in new Jersey not to smell like trash, right?
So that's I mean, that's a good sign if we have,
like, uh, some of the best residents in new Jersey listening,
you know. We've got the best. The best listening to the craft beer
public. Thanks, besties. Here we go. Yeah. Moral Etonians. Moral Etonians.
So, are we in on buying tornado, or is that. Yeah, 1.75 mill.
You wanna just get half or. I mean, I do like the third.
Okay. Yeah, Brian's a lawyer. He's got that kind of money. Yeah.
Flex. You want in on the other third? I'm not a lawyer. Yeah. Let's do it.
Yeah, well, we'll be rich. Yeah. Yeah.
Cause nothing like beer right now to get rich in AI.
That doesn't sound right, but I'm in. I think we're hitting the peak,
guys. Yeah. Finally. Right. Finally hitting. The peak.
All rise. It's only up from here. All right, IPA continues.
Well, we talked about pricing and selling and all that stuff a
couple weeks ago, but this article says the IPA
continues to dominate craft styles. Sales of IPAs top $2.27 billion
in 2024. Heck yeah. Yeah. They have almost half the share of
the craft beer segment at 49.41%. IPA dollar sales increased 1.8%
with sales topping, like I said, 7 billion, an increase of more
than 40.4 million year over year. The average case price of IPA
was 46.34 and 85 cent increase. Only two other top ten craft
styles posted dollar sales growth in 2024 growth. Excuse me.
Number five was Golden Ales which I was surprised to see. Golden nails.
I don't like golden nails. Yeah, not a huge fan.
Just whatever. Golden ale fan? Yeah, I can take it or leave it.
If it's a good one, I'll drink it. To me, it's just like a not hoppy
pale ale. Yeah, I like the. I like the more Belgian styles.
If I'm gonna go golden like a Belgian triple or.
Yeah, or like a shower. Right. Uh, let's see what you did there.
Uh, and number number seven on the rise.
Uh, pale lagers up 1%, which I'm. I'm for a pale lager. Right.
You know, the the IPA thing makes sense to me, though,
just because I think people are just wanting bang for their buck.
Like, not only are they delicious, but usually you get a get a
higher ABV range in there, usually between like six and
seven for even like a single IPA. So somebody doesn't want to pay
more to get drunk. It makes sense. Yeah, I would be interested to
see what the breakdown is between West Coast and Hazy.
Yeah, I wish they would have separated that,
because I would say that more West Coast's are canned than hazy,
especially from the bigger breweries. I think the bigger of the bigger
breweries bucking that trend, like Sierra Nevada with hazy little thing.
They're fucking killing it with hazy little things, right? But yeah.
I would almost say hazy is ousting West Coast.
I mean, I think popularity within the the flavor profile within.
Yeah. Drinkers I think is probably. Especially within the craft world.
Yeah. Like I'm just thinking of like
I'm just trying to think of local stuff that like the bigger guys
that distribute and like the main IPAs are all hazy Related.
Well, and we're skewed because we're we're out here in California,
so we get a lot more West Coast. It's true.
And, you know, back east, Deb and I went last fall, and we did Maine
and New Hampshire and Vermont and everything's hazy over there. Yeah.
You're not going to go to a tree house and pick up a West Coast,
right? Yeah. Do they even make one? I don't know, they must.
Uh, I didn't get to tree House. I did get to Alchemist.
And they had a they had a couple West Coast IPAs and some cool lagers,
too. I was pretty. Surprised at how good that stuff
would be there. Yeah. Everything was good.
Everything was really good. And the heady topper on cask was,
uh, pretty, pretty solid. Was it flat? No. It was.
It was definitely not as effervescent as the canned, but it wasn't flat.
It was pretty solid. That's my big thing with cask is
like, I don't I don't want a flat beer.
Yeah. Doesn't doesn't bother me. It really doesn't. It's not my jam.
Like you ever, uh, fall asleep drinking a beer,
and then you wake up and you still have half your glass full,
and you just wake up and you chug it. I wish I could tell you I did
not do that three days ago. But you do it right.
But I absolutely did it. Yeah. And I totally am.
Like, wow, you get a lot more of that beer flavor.
Not so much of like, the what's going on with my mouth.
Well, it's funny, I actually did it with the Gromky.
The first beer we were drinking. I brought that four pack back to the
hotel when I was up there and had, I don't know, maybe a quarter of it,
and kind of passed out in the bed and woke up at like two in the morning.
I was like, oh, I still got most of a beer. I don't want to waste it.
You don't waste it. No, do not waste it. Chug chug chug.
Maybe not the best idea I survived. Not the worst idea.
No, I actually felt fine. Um, well, speaking of IPA,
you mentioned IPAs being a good bang for your buck.
We're going to drink an IPA that bucks that trend.
It's called the Penn.
Who calls to the bullpen for beer? Year.
So fresh off the heels of our conversation.
I don't know, two ish weeks ago, I was talking about how I was
talking to Boris over at Petals and Pints about missing fly Jack
and those lower cal carb ABV. We're talking about session shits,
right? Yeah. Session. And that that movement that went on
for a while for like the lower carb and lower cal beers and especially
like IPAs seem to have a year of people really trying to innovate.
And then they petered out. It seemed like Covid kind of petered
out. Petered out. Is that a thing? I think so, yeah. Okay. No. Okay.
I keep looking to this market. I'm like, I don't know, please.
Well that's why I asked. I'm like, I don't know if I've
ever heard that term. Can confirm petered out.
I think maybe it's a West Coast thing I don't know. Weird.
I'll get my Peter out. I immediately thought of Dick,
but. Of course you did. But not a dick show. So I. Sometimes.
But Deb's not here. That's true. It's less of a dick show.
Uh, so anyways, in honor of all that, we are drinking.
And Brian found this. He brought this in because of
our conversation, we're drinking El Segundo Spark Plug Light IPA.
It is 4%. They say the younger sibling to
power plant similar hot punch, but in a small package.
This light IPA is the perfect beer to throw back in January.
The hops are Amarillo, Simcoe, Centennial and it has a 366 on
untapped. Which is generous. Sorry, I'm drinking this beer
under protest. Uh, this is. I'm glad you said it first.
This is basically just one step up from those athletic,
non-alcoholic beers. Really? You know, it's not the worst
thing I ever drank. I've had worse beers than this.
But I will say you can't compare it to power plant. No.
Power plant's a triple. And it's hoppy as. Fuck. Yeah.
I, I get almost no hop flavor in this.
In fact, the number one flavor that shines for me is biscuity.
Uh, breadiness. Biscuity malt. a little bit of.
Maybe you could find a tiny, tiny bit of that stone fruit.
Maybe. Maybe I'm still. Looking a little citrusy,
a little citrusy on the nose. The nose is okay.
It kind of makes you think it's gonna taste good.
And then you drink it. Yeah. The nose is just basically what they
described it as. It's a light IPA. I mean, I think if this was if I
think if this was super cold and I was slamming it on a hot day, it
would not be I would be okay with it. Probably be a little better. Yeah.
But like if you're trying to ease your way out of Dry January, which.
I see Brian holding his glass and it almost looks like water.
It is pretty light. Yeah, it's super light. Holy smokes.
Yeah, very light in color. Has some decent lacing.
Um, but yeah, I like like we were saying,
biscuit is the number one flavor. I'm picking up on this one.
And and El Segundo is usually really good. Yeah. I mean.
Especially when it comes to hops. And that's kind of their thing.
West coast. You know when you this is like
El Segundo making a beer with one arm tied behind their back.
I think so. Yeah. This is, uh, not, well,
representative. Representative of that.
Would you consider it the, uh, one man or a one legged man in an
ass kicking contest of a beer? Is that what you a little bit?
A little. Bit? If somebody handed this to me
after I ran a marathon, I would probably throw it back at them.
I was expecting you to say like I would at least drink it then, right?
I was expecting to. But, uh, maybe. Good for mid marathon.
Nice and light. Low ABV. Yeah, yeah. You know,
like your mile six refresher? Yeah. Carb up a little bit. Yeah, exactly.
So anyways, the one thing this doesn't say is like,
is this a low cal, low carb, like fly jack and all that stuff?
It doesn't say obviously it's going to be at least a little bit lower
with the low ABV like that, but, um. Sorry, El Segundo. We tried.
We tried bring back animus. Yeah. So, uh, speaking of hot breweries,
Sapporo Stone is restructuring their team.
They're getting rid of 2% of their employees and 1% of their
job descriptions. Um, citing a challenge in the
beer market. Sapporo Stone brewing has
undergone a restructuring that has cut 1% of all roles.
In addition to trimming 1% of its jobs, they have also eliminated
its e-commerce business and will no longer ship beer or merchandise
or merchandise. Really? I thought that was kind of
interesting. That so I understand the beer thing,
but like, hey, I want a t shirt. No, go to Amazon. Right? Exactly.
So can we can we break that down a little bit?
Because I was a little bit confused. You said they're getting rid of
2% of their employees and 1% of their job descriptions. Yeah.
So like do they just take people's job descriptions from
them and just say, okay, you're just you're a nondescript
employee now. I guess it's weird. That did confuse me, too.
Yeah, it confused me. 2% of total employees,
1% of all roles. So? So they must be combining roles.
Okay. Is my best guess. This is like an office space.
Like we fixed the glitch exactly type thing.
Yeah, they will no longer be paying Milton. Goddamn people person.
Hey, uh, what would you do if you won a million bucks? Two chicks.
At. The same. Time, man. That's one of my favorite ones.
You think two chicks would double up on a dude like me? Dude.
For a million bucks, they would. That is my favorite line.
The fact that that guy can get that out without laughing.
Um, I think you sent this to me. Flex Pringles. Yeah.
Is going to be releasing Miller Lite beer flavored Pringles. Hell yeah.
Well, not Miller Lite flavor. It was beer can chicken.
Yeah, that's what the flavor is. But it's supposed to be Miller
Lite beer can chicken flavor. So yeah, but it's not going to
be like Miller Lite. I'm sure it's more like a
sponsored collaboration. Um, but you bet your ass I'm
gonna buy these fucking Pringles. I love Pringles.
Anytime there's a new Pringle flavor out in the stores, I nab it up and I
try it, and I eat the whole can. Whether it's good or bad,
I don't give a shit. What your favorite flavor.
Um, they came out with a carnitas. Oh, Pringle.
And it tasted just like eating carnitas.
That's kind of weird, actually. And it was amazing.
And then I never saw them again. Too good to be true. Yeah, yeah.
But usually, um, for, like, the standard flavors, I'll go, like,
salt and vinegar. Yeah, that's. A big fan of that one.
Or the sour cream and onion. See, I don't like that one.
I don't like the cream and onion. Yeah. Oh, especially. Pringles.
I like that one. Super unpopular opinion.
I don't like sour cream and onion chips at all. Mhm.
Like any brand. Really. Ruffles has good sour cream and onion
too. And that's like the big flavor. Everybody loves sour cream and onion.
Yeah. What's the ruffles. One that's like cheddar and onion
or cheddar and. Cheddar and sour. Cream. Cheddar and sour cream.
Yeah. Yeah. They're orange. Yeah. They're orange. So good.
My oldest daughter gobbles those up like they're going out of style.
Her and I are gonna hang out. Those are so good. I like the.
Like, three bags in the cabinet at all times.
I'm a big fan of the, uh, kettle chips. The the. Oh, yeah.
Either the black pepper. Yeah. Like the salt and pepper. Yeah.
Or the jalapeno. Oh, jalapenos. Ah, yeah. We just had those.
We went out for sandwiches the other day and we split a bag of
kettle cooked jalapeno chips. Super duper solid.
So good I haven't. Let me tell you. You brought up the salt and pepper
chips. Salt and pepper popcorn. Corn. Ooh!
I'm telling you, it's a game changer. Popcorn person. Neither am I.
Oh, but when it's salt and peppered, it's like a completely different
item. It's amazing. I'll eat a whole fucking bag of it.
Wow. Yeah. I especially my least favorite
popcorn is movie popcorn. I'm not a fan.
Like the butter movie popcorn. Butter to me, makes me sick.
It gives me the shits. Not me. I do enjoy it.
Oh, all I want is popcorn. If I'm gonna go popcorn,
which I rarely ever do. Just give me the popcorn with a
metric ton, a heart shattering amount of salt in it. That's what I want.
Salty ass popcorn. I like the cheese popcorn.
You remember when we were kids growing up? Like the tins? Yeah.
The gross ass tins were three different flavors.
Well, but I like the one the like the cheddar cheese. The cheddar cheese.
Yeah. White cheddar. You know. White cheddar was better because
it didn't fuck up your fingers. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the,
um, the sweet. The caramel corn. Caramel corn.
I was just gonna ask if you guys. I didn't know if that was just,
like, a midwest thing. The caramel corn? No.
I remember as a kid getting the big ass tub from, like,
Kmart for Christmas or something, and it was, you know, split in three.
You had original, which nobody wanted,
the cheddar, which was the best. And then the caramel corn,
which for me was like the middle. So here there's a really popular.
It's popular to mix the cheese and the caramel in, like, a bag or a tin.
Yeah, as a kid, I wasn't about that. Okay, I love it.
I bet I would like it. I'm all about, like,
sweet and savory now. Yeah. As a kid, I'm like, yeah,
cheese and caramel. No, it's like when you're a kid,
you think it's gross, but the older you get,
you're like, grow the fuck up. It's delicious. Grow up.
When I was a kid, I thought onions were gross.
Now I realize that they provide flavor to almost every dish.
And they're so fucking delicious. I'll eat a plane.
Like I'll be chopping onions. I'll just start snacking on
pieces of onion. That's. Dude. That's gross. You're gross.
So I used to hate onions. Not an onion show, but I used to
hate onions. On our honeymoon. Let's peel. That back.
Uh, sweet little taco stand that was on the corner of our resort. Mm.
And they were like shaving the pork right off the spit for tacos.
It was amazing. And, uh. First time I ever had, like,
you know, cilantro and onions just on a taco.
That's the only way to eat a taco. Right. I agree 100%.
That's the only way I order them now. Uh, it changed my life.
And like, white onions, I think are amazing.
Yellow onions or Spanish onions? You know. Whatever. Onions.
I know they're not sweet onions. Yellow or Spanish. Ah. One thing.
I've never heard them called Spanish before. Yeah, it's a real thing.
Yeah. Have you heard this? I will. I've heard of it.
Yeah, I will live with it. Sweet onions I do not like. Really?
Red onions are the fucking pits. Oh, I love red onions.
If you want to ruin a dish, you put a red onion in it.
I'm not gonna eat it. Well, you need certain onions
for certain dishes. Like I would never put a red
onion in a taco, but like a red onion on a burger or a sandwich,
unless it's a grilled onion, then I'm going back to yellow or
sweet. No, no, just white onions. I buy. I buy the Costco.
This is really falling down a rabbit hole. I buy the Costco.
Yellow onions. You know,
a big old giant bag of them. Yellow, to me, is like,
the most universal. I can put them on tacos, put them on
burgers, sandwiches. It's all good. That's how I feel about a white
onion. It's the only one I'll eat,
so just put it in everything. Like the. Racist onion.
I know I was waiting for somebody to say it.
Uh, the local Japanese restaurant that we really like to go to.
For some reason, it was ever since, after Covid,
like the whole pandemic, they started putting red onions in everything
instead of white or yellow. So like, you order fried rice
and it's got red onions in it. You order their lo mein,
it's red onions. And it's really blows my mind going,
no. So I just ordered it with no
onions because I'm a little bitch. The sushi place.
The wife and I really like to go to. They have a dish that we actually
request raw red onions on top of, and it makes it so much better.
It's a good sushi dish but. Mhm mhm mhm. Mhm.
Onions on the sushi. Oh yeah. And we only thought of it because
there's another one that we like that had the red onions on it.
And this one doesn't come in roll form like they,
they shape it and then they dot them all over the plate.
And there's just a ton of little pieces.
And one time we're like, hey, can you put some raw red onion on there?
And they looked at us like we're heretics. But they eventually did it.
And it's delicious. Now we do it every time and they
probably still hate us for it. Interesting. It's good stuff.
Anywho, not an onion show. And by the way, uh, those Pringles
that we talked about half an hour ago. Those will be available in May.
I forgot. Nice transition. They're coming out in May.
That ad does not say chicken. It very small.
It says beer can chicken. Oh on the can itself the can of
chips. But in their little. Yeah. The headline is Miller Lite beer
flavored Pringles are coming. Uh, I thought it was weird that
they're coming in May. It feels like a Super Bowl item.
It's like a memorial day. I feel like this item should not
ever come out. It sounds like a super shit item,
but, um. You're gonna buy it,
and we're gonna try it. No, you're gonna buy it and tell
me about. I'm gonna buy it,
and you're gonna buy it, and we'll eat them on the goddamn show.
And you're gonna hate how much you love them.
Like chicken in a biscuit. Crackers. Nobody wants to admit that they
like chicken in a biscuit. Never had those.
Oh, you're missing out. I mean, in real.
I've had a chicken and biscuit situation, but not.
You never had the cracker. I've had those crackers,
and they are excellent. Are they? Yes, they are, but nobody wants
to admit that they're good. I'm admitting it. You just.
You keep eating them. It's like two. Tastes like the chicken noodle.
I'm sorry. Not even chicken noodle. Chicken flavored noodle that you
get at the shitty diner down the street that you can't stop eating,
even though it's neon green. Like some matzo ball soup.
It is. It's like the noodles. Like, if you get, like, a good, like,
deli noodle. Chicken noodle soup. Mhm. That bready matzo ball quality.
Wonderful. That's what the chicken and the
biscuit is like. I will say interim Brian and Deb
are people that I trust culinarily. Some people will tell us like, hey,
this place is great or this food is great. I go, yeah, thanks. Whatever.
When you guys say like something's really good, usually trust it.
You guys. I appreciate that. I feel like we're on similar
culinary wavelengths. I think it's because if something
shitty will tell you that, too. You will also tell if it's a
shitty and if it's good for only one specific item. Like Deb.
I won't say the name, but the Mexican place that opened Semi-recently.
Yep. Deb's like foods. Whatever. Margaritas are fantastic. Yes.
Go for the margaritas and chips. And she's not wrong.
The food's a little hit and miss. Margaritas are great.
And not expensive either. The margaritas, I mean. Uh.
All right, let's end it on this one. Drunk man's penis freezes to the
icy pavement during a bar fight. Wait, what?
Any guesses where this took place? I don't know. I'm just I don't know.
Does it get that cold in Florida? Sad for him. I'm gonna go.
Wait wait, wait. Drunk man's penis freezes to the
ground during a bar fight. All right, uh, I'm gonna go
Massachusetts. Okay, flex. Any takers? I'm gonna say Minnesota.
All right, you guys are on the right track, but wrong country.
This happened in Canada. Oh, I was closer. Yeah. True.
Uh, a drunk man's penis froze to the ground outside a of bar in
Canada while he was being restrained for fighting during a night out.
Blake McPhee reportedly got drunk and started arguing with other bar
goers at the East Village pub and eatery in Fort McMurray, Alberta
on January 12th. Flex was closer. As the dispute spilled out onto the
street and into subzero temperatures, things got physical and several
security guards attempted to restrain him.
I want to know how his dick spilled out. Oh, we get there. Okay.
In fact, right here, as he struggled against security,
his pants fell down, causing him to become fully exposed to the elements.
That's when his manhood got stuck to the icy pavement.
McPhee was seen on video fighting with numerous security guards while
they waited for the police to arrive. An eyewitness told the news that
the rowdy bar goer kicked a security guard in the groin just
before he was pinned to the ground, where he was held for 20 minutes
to remove him from the ice. They forced him up and left some
skin behind in the process. Ouch. Kind of makes you wonder where it
was stuck now. Was it like the top? Was it the head? Was it?
Was it up tucked? So they got some underneath skin.
I'm very curious about where this froze. These things matter.
Uh, he posted on Facebook. Man, I don't know how I get myself
into these fucked up situations. Guess that's what I get for
being a drunk lunatic at a bar. Still don't understand why it
was necessary to rip my fucking drawers clean off while I'm
being arrested with three cops and two security dicks on me.
But that's okay, he wrote. Gone are the days a feller can get
his wiener frozen fucking solid to the ground without it going viral.
Anyways, glad I can be of some entertainment.
And back to making headlines. Gonna go crawl inside a hole and cry
myself to sleep now. P.S. sorry Ma. I'm just picturing his dick
looking like the kid's tongue in Christmas story.
That's all I could picture as I read that story. Has anybody seen flick?
Oh, man, that, uh. Poor guy. I mean, idiot.
But I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
If you pour hot water on his dick, would it shatter?
There's only one way to find out. It's not glass, Brian.
But it's just as hard. Oh, man. I was thinking maybe if you're
huddled on the ground like that, maybe, like body heat would
maybe keep it warm enough. Or warm up the ground.
Negative degrees out. But I guess not if it's negative
degrees out. Yeah. You think I would know that?
You know, I live in Wisconsin. I think I'd get my dick stuck to
the pavement numerous times. Well, just every time you go for
a fight, make sure you cinch up that belt. Yeah. Who wears belts?
Not this guy. Not fucking. I live on. I live on the edge, man.
If my pants come down, I'm getting stuck.
Or if that means he was also freeballing too.
Like there was just no backup to make sure his dick did not stick
to the icy ground. Right. I don't know, maybe he was just
wearing sweatpants and, I. Don't know,
like he went to the strip club. Like, do you remember when you
used to pants guys in high school? You remember sometimes when they
were wearing athletic shorts. You get the underwear with it and
everything comes. Out bargained for. So maybe that happened. Maybe.
Yeah. You think. We're. Wearing some Canadian Walmart
sweatpants? And. Yeah, we're thinking way too
much about this guy's dick. I thought this wasn't a dick show.
Well, boy, was I wrong. Yeah, you have a story like that, it
kind of becomes a halfway dick show. At least a little bit of a dick show.
Yeah, we're all stars now in the dick show. All right, that's it.
Let's let's let's leave it on that. Let's leave it on frozen dicks.
Oh my God, I'm sorry everybody. Brian shows up and we end.
What I. Call frozen dick. Dick. Dick. Down, dick!
Oh, quickly hitting some music. Uh. Follow us. Oh, by the way.
Hi, Vanessa. Oh. Hey, Vanessa. Follow us. Vanessa.
The socials at Craft beer Republic at Flex media.
Beer underscores in between. And don't follow Brian because
he can't be followed. 805538 beer two 3337 craft beer.
Com I think that's everything. Do anything.
Next week you want to hang out? Yeah, I'll come back.
Yeah, let's do it. Drink some more beers.
Uh, hope everyone out there is staying very well hydrated.
And on that note. Good night. Everybody.