[intro music] Welcome in, everybody! It's the Craft Beer Republic! Thanks for drinkin', thanks for joinin'! I am Greg, I am being joined by the buffest buff on the Fresh Coast, and that's Flexy. What's up, big fella?

Oh, the Fresh Coast thing, I like that.

I can't get- I'd never heard about it until like a couple months ago when you brought it to my attention, and now I can't get over it.

It's great! It's great branding.

It is good branding. Like, over here we're on the West Coast, and we're like, "Hey,

West Coast, it's the best coast," and all that shit. I'd never heard of the Fresh Coast.

I mean, it's relatively new to me. I know Three Sheep's Brewing here does a beer called Fresh Coast, and I never put it together. And then it was on like a Visit Wisconsin billboard one day.

Oh, brilliant. Smart. Some marketing guy needs a raise.

But no, I'm well. I'm back from St. Louis.

Yeah!

I did a little vacationing.

We got some St. Louis things to talk about.

Yeah, it's some minor research, you know, and yeah, I can't wait to talk about it.

I can't wait to ask you about it. I'm intrigued. So, we'll get to it. Follow us, socials, Craft Beer Republic, @flexmebeer_ in between. We got a lot to get to, not only did Flex take a little trippy-poo down to St. Louis, hang out with Nelly down there.

Everybody's been saying that, by the way.

Come back with a band-aid on your eye. But we got a- I was going to say voicemail. It's not even a voicemail. It's a recording. We got a question from some friends at another podcast. We'll get to that. Some booze news and so much moss. So, if you guys don't mind,

I'm going to get into some hydration because it's a weird day for recording the show. It's an off day. Schedule's fucked up and I am thirsty as hell.

Oh, thanks to Vanessa. Hi, Vanessa. Hi, Vanessa. She brought this down from her travels when she stopped in a couple weeks ago. She brought me Great Notion Brewing's ThumbSplitter. It is a West Coast pale ale. 5%- That's painful. Yeah, actually. I mean, think about the name, ThumbSplitter. Yeah, gross.

No. 5% has a 381 on untapped, 2,600 ratings. Not the friendliest ratings. They say ThumbSplitter- It's a pale. It's not like a hazy IPA or a double. It's a fucking hazy pale.

It's not even a hazy, it's a West Coast pale. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. West Coast pale. Well,

it just gets extra hate for that. They say ThumbSplitter is an aroma-driven West Coast pale ale brewed to be light and crisp. We dry hop this small but mighty crusher with mosaic and Simcoe hops. So, classic hops, classic style, perfect for when it's hot as balls out like it is right now. I'm going to dig in. It's everywhere. Real light on the schnoz. I feel like maybe I'm getting a little citrusy, a little pine. You know,

just kind of your classic light pale smells. Yeah, it looks great. It looks very refreshing.

Very refreshing. Very clear. Clear as it should be. Heck yeah. Oh, the tongue jobber yields flavorful results. You get a lot of the piney, and I don't mean this in an IPA sticky kind of way, but in a light, crispy way, like a pale should be. You get that pine bitterness up front, a little bit of citrus in there, and it finishes super dry. And I don't think this is going to last very long. Very easy to drink. So, on a scale from one to daddy,

how would you rate this? Give it a junior, whatever that means. That's weird, but we'll start a new ranking system. I was like, what's between zero and daddy? I don't fucking know.

Yeah, I mean, 3.81. Look, if you grade it against the style, that's a little on the low side. I'd inch it up a little closer to four, I think. It's a great example of a crispy West Coast pale. You fuckers who need a hazy IPA every day of your life. Yeah, who are those people? Yeah, I don't know. No shots fired at you, Flex, I swear. That's crazy.

Hey, shout out to Charlottesville, Virginia, for being our top listening city of last week.

Maybe they started listening because we talked so much shit about West Virginia. I think so. I think they were really on board with our West Virginia hate and all the mountain people shit. Yeah, the mountain people, man. Yeah, and all their... I feel like I'm going to wake up one day and my calves are just going to be getting like gnawed up. Some guy with a huge beard. Yeah, it was like they came horse and buggy and trailer. I sort of just picture the miner from Thunder Mountain, the ride Thunder Mountains, you know, "The wildest ride in the wilderness." He's just gnawing on your thighs. Except I don't think they speak like English. I think they just speak like mountain gibberish. Like Appalachian.

Yeah, exactly. I don't think that's a real language, but it is now. Yeah, something like that, but they still make the same noises, right? It's like being in Louisiana and people have that like, yeah, what do they call that? It's got a name to it. I don't know. Somebody from Louisiana tell us. Yeah. It's like the guy from the water boys and all, but I'm pretty sure that's what the mountain people do. Yeah. Just, you know, with the, the minor, minor that is in the job, not small, but with a minor twang to it. Yeah. Yeah. If any mountain people have a technology and wifi and want to listen to podcasts. Yeah. Let us know we're wrong. It'll never happen because they don't do that. Anyway. Hey, mountain man. How dare you say that about me? You're a baseball fan, at least enough. I love baseball. Yeah. Well,

big Brewers fan, you know? Yeah. Well, yeah. Did you watch the home run derby last week?

I did. Did you watch the beginning of the home run derby last week? I missed it. I heard about it. I felt too awkward to go back and view it. Probably smart. Well, I'm going to make you feel awkward as fuck in a second, but as a Dodger fan, I liked the home run derby this year. Good stuff. I thought of you immediately. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

Crazy. Can you not a sports show or a Dodger show? Yeah. Sometimes. Crazy. That's the first Dodger player to win a home run derby. I was surprised to hear that. I mean, to be all the money that they spend on people. Yeah. I mean, we're not known for our bats. We're known for hiring great hitters who come to die. And now you're like, Oh, Manny, what's his face? And when we had Manny wood going on and that didn't pan out very well. And I don't know. They just, they're always better hitters before they come to the team. But finally, finally we got a home run derby. But the best, I think to come out of that entire performance was the performance of the star Spaniard banner by one Ingrid Andrus,

who I'd never heard of before. I have no idea who it is. Not a fucking clue, but just happened to be walking by the, the old TV when this came on and I'm not going to make you listen to the whole thing, but, um, here's her rendition.

- There's more.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave And the home of the brave Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave - Yeah, so good times.

Let us know what you guys thought about that.

Was that your favorite star-spangled banner ever?

And then a question for all you listeners out there who are in Southern California,

more specifically Orange County.

I, we all know that I go down there a bunch for work and I try to do some research everywhere, brewing.

Where else have I gone?

Green cheek, all kinds of good shit.

I have been spending a ton of time in Orange County lately.

I need your brewery recommendations.

Let me know if there's something I haven't been to that I missed in like a smaller something or other.

Bonus points if it has food because I'm usually knocking out a two-for-one dinner situation after I've been working all day.

So hit us up, you know, Crappy Republic or something like that.

Let me know if there's anything I gotta try down there 'cause I'll be spending some time.

- Some quality time.

- Yeah.

All right, before we find out about your St. Louis trip,

I gotta mention Magic Mind.

We've been talking about this for a few weeks.

You guys should remember by now,

coffee is delicious and I love it,

but having four cups a day was probably too much.

So I started getting Magic Mind into the mix.

Easy to drink, one little shot,

just keep it in the fridge and boom,

between cups one and two, you know,

helps make the coffee last longer.

Improves my coffee experience, if you will.

I drink less, it helps extend the caffeine,

all that good stuff.

Most importantly, I have been taking it on trivia days when we go out with Deb and intern Brian to play trivia.

- Come on, so you're like, you're PD-ing?

- Yeah, man, I gotta fucking performance enhance my trivia game.

- Did I say PD-ing?

- I think you did.

- P-E-D-ing.

- Yeah, exactly.

I'm Lance Armstronging the trivia games.

- That's brilliant.

- Someone's got to and I'm not gonna say it doesn't work 'cause it does.

Call it cheating, call it what you will,

but it keeps the focus going, so I'm all about it.

- Just hope the next time you pull in for trivia,

they're just gonna have a cup sitting at your table.

- Sir, we're gonna need to test you.

Like, go ahead, no steroids in here.

- Just random my ass.

- Yes.

You've been doing trivia?

- No, no trivia for me.

- Picking up a new trivia game just because of that?

- The biggest benefit I've seen for myself is I just have terrible memory.

- Yeah, I feel that.

- I don't know if it's early onset dementia or just-- - Alcoholism.

- Alcoholism, being a husband and a dad,

but I have noticed that my memory is coming back and I'm not forgetting to bring what my wife asked me home for dinner.

I'm not forgetting to pick up the last minute things.

- Wash your hands before you put your gloves on.

- Right, but yeah, I've definitely been finding like the little things are coming back and to where most people,

that doesn't sound like a huge deal for me, it's-- - Oh, huge for me too, yeah, I don't,

like I said, I think last time we talked,

I was like, I don't make lists as much as I should or write things down as much as I should.

I should, but MagicMind helps me get away with it sometimes.

- There's times where I have leftovers in the fridge and I'm supposed to take them to work for lunch and I can't even remember to do that and it's in my refrigerator, so.

- New slogan, MagicMind helps me eat lunch.

Million dollar idea.

- Yeah, but for real, I have seen quite the benefits with my memory and the taste, it's-- - Dude, I'm telling you, it does not taste bad at all.

- And it grows on you too.

- Yeah, and for me, no sugar is a huge bonus.

I don't do the sugars, I don't do the carbs except for beer.

What else?

They have all natural ingredients,

keto-friendly, nut-free, vegan, paleo-friendly,

has matcha in it.

I think that's like the main flavor is the matcha flavor we're picking up on there, so.

If any of this sounds good to you or you got some trivia games you need to PED for-- - Matcha, matcha man.

- The matcha man, ooh, yeah.

Yeah, if you need to PED before any trivia games or anything like that, go over to magicmind.com/craftbeer.

No we're public.

- Get yourself some Magic Mind,

it's the cream of the crop, yeah.

- Ooh, yeah, brother.

- From the matcha man.

- Use promo code craftbeer20.

- That'll get you a 48% off your first subscription.

I can't do that impression for long.

Or 20% off a one-time purchase.

Craftbeer20 at magicmind.com/craftbeer.

- Ooh, yeah.

- All right.

- Get you some Magic Mind.

The green always rises to the top.

- But alas, not a matcha man show.

- No, or a matcha man show either.

All right, let's find out about your trip down to shit beer mecca.

- Oh, so you just wanna start with that, all right.

- I don't know, all right.

How was your whole trip?

But I do wanna talk about it.

- Well, the whole trip was, it really was fantastic.

- I've never been.

- It was almost like one of those Disney,

like there's so much shit to do in St. Louis.

And the hotel we stayed, like first off,

the trip down there was boring as fuck.

The drive was easy, but it was boring as fuck.

'Cause you go through like central to like western Illinois,

where the only thing you pass in four hours is the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge.

- Oh, okay.

- Yeah, right?

Like, oh, hey, that's pretty cool.

Except you see that like 20 minutes into Illinois,

and then-- - You got four more hours.

- Yeah, the rest is just like no shit,

like nothing but flat farm fields.

- Oh.

- Like it was horribly boring.

But you hit the Mississippi,

and then instantly you're in Missouri and St. Louis,

'cause it's just right over the border.

And our hotel was 15 minutes outside of downtown,

and just about everything we did except for one thing was nine to 14 minutes away.

- Nice.

- The downtown, for being like a major American city,

not busy, I had no driving anxiety driving downtown.

- Oh, yeah, 'cause we talked about that before.

- Yeah, it was really easy to navigate,

and it was really nice, really nice.

And then people kept saying stay away from East St. Louis,

'cause I guess that's the rough area of St. Louis.

- Is that where Nellie hangs out?

- I don't know, but I never felt threatened, I guess.

You never know where the bad side of town is,

and yeah, it was just really good time overall.

- You consider yourself a St. Lunatic now?

- No, no.

- Fair.

- If somebody would wanna go back there,

I would consider it.

- Okay.

- It was that good of a time.

- I'd like to go, I've never been.

- Yeah, I would highly recommend it.

I mean, there's the Arch, Union Station,

it's more of like a family, kid-friendly kind of thing,

but that was day one for us, was the Arch,

which to me, I've never been to a national park,

I've never been, I've never seen a monument before,

like a national monument.

- Never been to D.C.?

- No, so this was like, it was really surreal for me,

it was my favorite part of the trip.

- Nice.

- To stand and look at something that's 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide, and knowing they built it like 60 fucking years ago, and trying to like,

fathom how it was all constructed,

and yeah, it was just like a wonder to see.

I was like, taken back.

- Yeah, that is cool.

- Kind of cheesy lameness right there.

- Right.

- So yeah, so day two, right?

You wanna hop right into day two here.

- This is what I, can I set it up a little bit?

I don't wanna embarrass you, but you were a little-- - We were tourists!

- Well, you were-- - We were tourists!

- No, no, you were a little apprehensive to tell me you were going to the Budweiser factory tour thing.

- Was I?

I don't know.

- I'm pretty sure I was pretty open about it.

- I mean, you started, you kind of sheepishly mentioned it,

and I was like, dude, if I was in St. Louis,

I would totally go there too.

- Well, you know, it's like, this is the way I put it to some friends, I said, it's like being like, atheist,

and walking into a church, and like, starting a fire,

you know, like, that was the feeling for me,

it was like walking into this brewery,

especially 'cause we talked so much shit about shit.

- So much shit.

I did take it all in, though.

It was, it's just in the outskirts of downtown,

and it's a 100-acre lot.

- Jeez.

- Like, they own a fuckton of land there.

And some of the streets and whatnot throughout the brewery are still like the old cobblestone, which is kinda neat.

- That's cool.

- There's a couple areas throughout Missouri that still have that, which were kinda neat.

So we walked into the brewery, and first of all,

it was almost impossible to find parking,

because they have a huge beer garden,

and people are constantly going there for tours,

like every 15 minutes, they're doing a tour,

and the visitor parking is nowhere near adequate,

I guess is the word, so we probably,

we actually lucked out, we only drove around the parking lot for probably like 12 minutes,

and then we caught somebody coming out of a tour,

and it was nice, especially 'cause it was fucking pouring hurricane barrel on us, 'cause we got stuck in that too,

I don't know if I ended up telling you that,

but that day we got like four inches of rain.

- Wow.

- So that was, yeah, that was interesting.

It was very interesting.

So anyweas, pop into the brewery, huge shop on the right,

they have a three-hole mini golf course in the lobby,

so like while you're waiting, if you got kids,

it was like a part two.

It was nice, it was a fun time there.

And then they'd run three tours,

they have the Dayfresh tour, they have the Brewmaster tour,

which was sold out, and then they have a VIP Clydesdale tour, which they didn't run on the day we were there, otherwise we would've done that for the kids, 'cause that was what they wanted to go there for, so we did the Dayfresh tour,

long story short, not even making it short,

tour starts out, they give you all the information of Adolphus Bush, and his growing up and becoming,

and then his daughter or something met Bush,

or you know what, I really didn't pay too much attention to that part, so yeah, they give you the whole history of it, and then you start at the Clydesdale Stables,

which was cool for the kids, and the building they were in,

some really cool stained glass scenery,

there was this huge brass chandelier that had hops,

and it had a crown on it, it was really cool,

it was really old, you go from there,

and then you go into their, this is one of my favorite part of the tour, I talked to you about this, right?

- Oh yeah.

- The Beechwood barrel aging process, as they call it,

which sounds fancy and great and all,

'cause they said they're one of the only breweries to still age their lagers with beechwood in the tanks,

and really all it does is take up surface area,

so like the carbonation can flow better.

- Well, they're not even barrels, they're beechwood chips.

- They're like, I mean, they're not chip chips,

they're like actual pieces of beechwood.

- Well, a chunk of wood, yeah.

- Shraps, I would say, but the fact that they're telling you all this to make them sound very fancy-like,

they said, oh yeah, you know, it sits for three weeks,

and ages for three weeks, and it's set at 52 degrees in the room, in the tanks, or whatever,

and it was actually very cold in there after being in the rain.

- Oh yeah.

- And I'm just sitting here thinking to myself,

you know, like, people are probably just really taken back by all this.

- Oh, wow, three weeks on the beechwood, huh?

- But I'm like, this is, you guys really,

this is just lagering.

- It's not even a good lager, it's only three weeks.

- They're lagering their lagers.

And they just call it the Beechwood barrel aging process,

which, when they said they were gonna take us into their barrel aging thing, I was like,

oh, maybe this is where they age all the goose islands.

- Right, yeah.

- Or something, like, I was just expecting to walk into this warehouse room with just shelves and shelves and shelves full of, like, bourbon barrels.

- Yeah.

- Not just super large tanks, metal tanks,

that they're just lagering lagers.

- Yeah, that tracks.

- Right, so, they take you from there,

and then you get to go into, like, the outskirts of, like, the brewing work area, you know,

'cause everything's glassed off and you can't really see it.

And they have some relics and some antiques,

so, like, when the brewery first started,

and they have these really neat,

neat four-story long hop chandeliers.

- Oh, nice.

- And they're just, like, hop vines, and it's really cool.

And everything this guy got was from a big fan of, like, the World Fair, I guess.

A lot of stuff in the brewery was purchased there.

- That's cool.

Yeah, so, then you go from there,

and you essentially just go from the brewing area,

and they take you to the bottling plant,

or, like, the packaging plant.

And they package, they brew and package,

like, 32 different beers there.

None of them were Goose Island, or, like, anything craft,

like, Elysian, or anything like that.

- I think those are still brewed at their places.

- Yes, yeah, which, so, I was really curious about that,

'cause they have all these bottles and cans behind a glass on the wall to show everybody, like,

"Hey, this is everything we do here." And I was very, very meticulous to, like,

go through every can and bottle to be, like,

okay, like, what is actually done here?

What's actually done elsewhere?

So, yeah, so, I was kinda neat, too.

So, then you take seven escalator flights up to go to the bottling floor, where they tell you all about the bottling process, you know, whatever.

And then, at the end of the tour,

it's called the Day Fresh Tour,

because you get a beer off the bottling line that was brewed within 24 hours.

- Has it fermented?

- Yeah.

- Oh, okay.

- And it has gone through second fermentation.

- Oh, okay, so it's not, like, brewed yesterday.

It's gone through all the Beechwood stuff and whatnot.

- Right, it's gone through, yeah, it's, like,

it got packaged within the last 24 hours.

- Gotcha, okay.

- Yeah, not necessarily brewed, but, yeah,

so, like, you get the bottle, and it's still, like,

warm coming down from second fermentation.

So, it was pretty neat in that aspect.

And then, they take you back down and walk you into the beer garden, and you get a free beer.

And then, the only other time on the tour you do get beer is, like, halfway through,

and they run you through, like, the brewing process.

- Oh, okay.

- Well, the lady was going through it,

and she said, "Oh, any questions?" You know, she's talking about how they brew Bud Light and Budweiser, and then the difference between Bud Light and Budweiser,

and what they do and what they don't do.

And I said, I was just curious.

I was like, "Hey, like, is there any specific hop varieties?" 'Cause she said they own three hop farms around the country.

I can't remember if it was three or four.

- And they contract way more than that, too.

- Right.

So, then I said, "Is there, like, any specific hop bill "that they use for Budweiser or Bud Light?" - That's a really good question.

- And the lady was like, "Oh, yeah, they use a lot of hops.

"Yeah, they grow a lot of hops." And that's when she started going in about the hop farms and all around the country where they were.

And I'm like, this didn't answer my question at all.

- Not one bit.

- I definitely tried to hold back in a lot of my-- - Nerd.

- Not so much, I don't know, I'm not so much of a beer nerd.

Like, I know some things.

- You know enough.

- Just being like an asshole, I guess.

I definitely held back.

- You had to hold back the snark?

- Yeah, definitely a few times.

- That would've been hard.

Like, "Hey, what kind of hops do they use?

"Are they specific?" "Well, we own tons of hop farms." "Yeah, so what do they grow at those hop farms?" - Right.

- I would've had a problem not being snarky,

which is why my wife constantly punches me.

- I'm assuming they just grow a fuck ton of hops and then they just-- - Whatever's easiest to grow, probably.

- Right, or it's just like a fucking blend of all of these going in because they don't care.

- Right.

- I don't know.

- But I do have to say, at that halfway point when you learn about all that,

they have Bud Light and Budweiser on tap and you get to choose between Bud Light and Budweiser.

And I said, "Hey, I haven't had a Budweiser "since I was 19 years old and thought it was "the worst fucking thing on the planet." I said, "I will have a Budweiser." And, fresh Budweiser on tap, it was pretty dang good.

- All right.

- Like, I'm not gonna lie.

My wife had-- - Crisp and lager-y, or?

- Very clean.

- Okay.

- Very clear, very crisp and lager-y,

and it didn't have like that super breadiness.

Like, you ever have a Miller Light or something like that?

- Yeah.

- And it's just very bready.

The way I describe it to people is like liquid saltine cracker.

Like, that is the flavor I get from Miller Light.

And this fresh Budweiser didn't have any of that,

so I was very taken back and shocked.

And my wife, who doesn't drink at all,

she was like, "Oh, what do you want?" She's like, "Oh, just get a Bud Light." So we got a Bud Light.

Of course, I drank it.

And comparing the both,

the Bud Light was like super over-carbed.

- Oh.

- And it almost actually felt fuller than the Budweiser.

- Huh.

- And the flavor on the Budweiser was like cleaner and just crisper, and I was kind of shocked 'cause I thought I would like the Bud Light more.

- I wonder if they over-carbed the Bud Light so you don't taste it.

- I don't know, but it just, it did not hit.

- Interesting.

- And I was just like, oh, you know,

just like a domestic light beer, like pretty easy drinking.

- Yeah.

- And I was like, man, I'm really sad I finished the Budweiser first,

and then I had to finish it with the Bud Light.

- Are we gonna have to do a show where we drink Bud and Bud Light just to do it?

- I don't know, I do whatever you tell me to do.

- In that case.

- But I'll tell you what, I did,

so you know, we got back from the trip,

you know, Friday, we went Monday through Friday,

and I had one of those day fresh Budweisers Friday night,

and I had the second one 'cause my wife got one as well,

and I had that one Saturday night.

I hate to say it, like I'm such a hypocrite.

- Not that bad.

- They were very, they were enjoyable, like very enjoyable.

- Last time I had a Budweiser, I was like,

oh my God, this is fucking garbage.

And we say it all the time, like-- - Right, yeah.

- Give me a banquet over a Budweiser any day,

but it's been, I'll admit, it's been many a year.

So maybe I need to fucking pwn it out.

- But I tell you, when you're at the source,

and I think that's what a lot of it was,

when you're at the source.

- Yeah, it's fun, it's-- - I think it's different,

especially when you get that day fresh beer that was, you know, packaged within 24 hours.

It hits.

- Yeah.

- Shit, now you're going to St. Louis.

- I mean, it's like any fresh beer that you get, right?

- Yeah, the fresher the better.

- Fresher the better.

- For the most part.

I Googled, according to Google,

they use a variety of hops,

including Hollertau, Saaz, Tettenhanger,

and I think this part, with some European hops,

plus high alpha and non-Germanic types,

such as Willamette in the mix.

So those are just some that they think.

That's from beerandbrewing.com.

- My guess is no one really knows except for Budweiser.

- Right, 'cause I'm thinking they just grow 'em,

like, mass-produced,

and then they just fuckin' crop 'em and ship 'em,

and hey, here's a truckload of hops.

- Hops.

I hear they recently put more hops in the recipe.

Well, very nice.

- Yeah, that was my time at Budweiser,

and then, again, I thought of you the entire time I was there, right?

I really did.

- I'm honored.

- So at the end of the tour, you know,

they take you into the beer garden,

and you get a free pour,

and they had Bud Light,

they had Budweiser.

God dang it, I can't remember the third beer.

And then they had-- - Bush.

- Elysian Space Dust.

- Oh, did they?

Did you get a space dust?

- So.

Because of the 8.2 ABV.

- Right, working that algorithm.

- And I figured I already had a Bud Light,

I already had a Budweiser.

Couldn't remember what the third beer was,

so it's not even that good.

- Am still.

- And I figured, you know what, fuck it,

I will get the space dust.

And I hated every fucking teeth shattering,

taste bud burning, bitter sip of it.

It was horrible, absolutely horrible.

- So ABV aside, you'd rather have a Budweiser than a space dust.

- I think I'm at that point, yes.

'Cause it was terrible.

- Yeah.

- I even sat down, and I got, I don't know,

maybe a quarter into the beer.

And I said to my wife, I said oh man,

I really wish we could have ordered from the bar,

you know, and then I might have to get another beer because this is just terrible.

- Oh gosh, bye bye enamel.

- Yeah, so then yeah, so I texted you the first day we were down there.

- Yeah.

- And I said we went to like two or three places,

and everywhere we went it was just all ABV.

Anheuser-Busch products were everywhere, like.

- They run that town.

- You always look for like, you know, craft when you're in small spots or restaurants,

and the only craft in quotes that they had was like Goose Island stuff.

- Of course.

- But the Goose Island Beer Hug Hazy IPA.

- Oh, that's right.

- Was very good.

I had that on tap at dinner the first night,

and it was very good, actually.

And I hated myself again.

- Felt so dirty.

- Hated myself half this trip.

- Sounds like it.

Gonna need therapy from this trip.

- After the space dust shit, I did go to the bar,

and I bought a Neon Bear,

which is another IPA from Goose Island.

It was more like a West Coast-y,

but I had to get the space dust taste out of my mouth.

- Sure, that makes sense.

- So that one was okay.

It wasn't as good as the Beer Hug, but.

- Okay.

- It's like five or six bucks for beers at their beer garden.

- All right, not the worst.

- Again, not the worst.

Like you're not gonna ask me like eight, nine, $10 for a Goose Island or a Budweiser.

Pretty solid.

I was kinda happy about that, too.

- Like I said, I'd go.

I'd do the Dewar.

Why not?

- You know, I would recommend it.

It was a fun time.

- Yeah, there you go.

- So besides Budweiser.

- Yeah, I was gonna say, beyond that.

- I fancied myself a few local breweries.

- Okay.

- There's this brewery.

It has two locations that we ran past.

I didn't stop here, but I did have some of their beers.

- Okay.

- It's called Schlafly.

- Oh, yeah, I've heard of them.

- Okay, so you've heard of them.

- I think I've had them before, actually.

- They're pretty, they're like the most average.

Like it wasn't bad, right?

But like nothing was outstanding.

- But not really good either, yeah.

That's kinda what I remember.

- They had their Pale Ale, which was like an English mild Pale Ale.

- Oh, yeah, not my jam.

- But it was like the most average English Pale Ale and the most inoffensive.

- So it was like malty, but because it was so average,

it wasn't like too malty, and it was like just enough to be like, okay, I could drink this beer.

- Right, I could drink it.

- And they actually had that on tap at our hotel,

so that's where I had that.

- Okay.

- And then I had their Hazy, which I can't remember what it was called, but I bought that at the zoo.

- Okay.

- They had some cans of Schlafly at the St. Louis Zoo,

which was amazing.

And again, it was like 5.7 ABV or something,

and it wasn't great.

- But it was.

- But you could drink it, and I drank it.

So then we actually did stop for a beer at Four Hands.

- Okay.

- They do that Voltron series, right?

- Yep, had that not too long ago.

- The tap room was neat.

It was, I shouldn't say tap room,

'cause it's a whole fuckin' brewery plant.

But the tap room was cool, it was small.

They did have three floors, I believe it was the first one,

second one, and a rooftop.

And of course, 'cause we were there at noon on a Wednesday,

it was just the first floor, which was kinda lame,

because they tap different beers on the second floor,

and they do have that on their menu.

So I was kinda bummed out that some of the beers on the second floor I wanted, but couldn't get 'em.

- Yeah.

- So I ordered their Imperial IPA, it was called Warhammer.

It was supposed to be an Imperial Hazy.

They coulda went with like an Imperial Juicy Hazy.

- Oh, yeah.

- You know, it was a little heavy on the malt,

but it's like 9%.

Solid enough beer to drink, it was good.

- Got the job done.

- I tried their Lemon Berliner that they had on there.

It's super, super, super light.

Super low on lemon flavor, too.

But I did take like two four-packs to go.

I bought a hoodie, I cracked the four-packs when I got home.

I'm glad I bought them.

I actually found their fifth series of the Voltron beer at a grocery store.

So I snagged that as well.

- Nice.

- So four hands was solid.

The best beer that I had, which I'm actually drinking now,

so if you want to queue up the most asked question,

let's ask it.

- 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 Jobber.

In this world, we must find out what is Flax Drinking?

- All right, so it was on the last evening we were there,

and this is the brewery I had my heart set on the entire time, 'cause it was only about two miles away from our hotel.

And it was called Heavy Riff Brewing.

- Okay.

- It is a music-themed beer, a brewery, I guess.

- Makes sense.

- Can't get that from Heavy Riff.

It was really cool.

It's literally in a fucking neighborhood.

Like how Wisconsin here, you're probably not used to this.

We have like corner bars, right,

that are just stuck inside neighborhoods.

- Oh, yeah, we don't have that here.

- Yeah, and so this is a brewery.

And it was kind of wild, 'cause we parked in front of a guy's house,

he was weed-whacking his front yard.

And we just walked across the street,

and there's Heavy Riff's patio with their huge mural,

their logo, which their logo's super simple,

but I think it's super gnarly.

A whole brick building, the patio, brick columns.

- Nice.

- Just some patio, like a bunch of patio tables actually.

They had like three TVs out there.

And then you walk around, and inside was very like '70s.

Yeah, I never lived in the '70s,

but like very '70s reminiscent.

Like it was dark, it was almost like,

better than like a speakeasy.

- Oh, okay.

- Like it was kind of like that vibe with the lighting.

They have all these guitars and tour posters,

like all along their walls.

The bartenders, or beer tenders,

were super awesome, super kind.

Just, yeah, it was just a wonder.

My biggest regret of the trip was not being able to spend more time there.

- High praise.

- The beer I drank there was called Disco Apocalypse.

And that is what I'm drinking here now.

The can, it's like a hop disco ball.

- Oh, yeah.

- Ish.

- That's kind of cool.

- Yeah, it's just super cool.

The can's not glittery,

but like it's black with some white specks and-- - It's eye-catching.

- Yeah, it really is.

So it is a shocker, Greg, right?

A hazy year in New England.

- Don't tell me.

- But here's where it gets different for me.

It's more of a session IPA.

So it's 5.7%.

- Okay.

- The can reads, as does Untappd,

tonight's the night I'm gonna make you mine,

gonna dance right unto the edge of time, Jackson Brown.

This hazy IPA hits you first with a pleasant hop aroma,

followed with a very pleasant juiciness with the perfect balance of mosaic and El Dorado hops.

Untappd has this as a 3.84.

I don't wanna one-up you on your 3.81,

but again, I think it's a lot because of maybe the ABV on this.

- Sure.

- 'Cause of the aroma, it's light, right?

It's like faint, but it is hop-forward.

It has got a little bit of that citrus rind.

It's super, you could get refreshed just smelling this beer.

- Oh, I like that.

- It smells so fresh.

- So fresh and so clean, clean.

- Love it.

So then on the old tongue jabber.

- Here we go.

- It is as light as you would expect, like a session IPA.

- Perfect, great for summer.

- The carbonation is light, right?

It's just enough to get that crispness and the flavor.

It's not, I guess, like hop burn,

but on the lightest, lightest level.

- Hop burn?

- It's like what you're smelling, right?

And then you get that real fresh, faint,

like fresh orange flavor in the midst.

And it is just absolutely,

on a 85 degree St. Louis day,

these shits fucking go down.

- They slap?

- Oh man, this was, I took one sip of this beer when I sat down and I said, "Oh my God." It was the best beer I'd had all week.

Kids were getting ornery.

Wife hates being at breweries because well, what does she do there?

I just wanted to try everything else they had on the menu.

Every beer is like music themed.

They had like the big journey sticks and something concert roll through a couple weeks ago.

- Nice.

- And they brewed a beer for the concert.

And they even had all the band logos like on the can.

- That's cool.

- So it was like a legit, not a sponsorship,

but they were a partner.

- Yeah, like for the concert.

So if you're ever in St. Louis and you're ever curious about where to stop or definitely stop at Heavy Riff.

- Sounds delicious.

- That was the trip in a gist.

You know, we did some more things,

but nobody really cares to hear.

- I'm just sad there were no penis hotels.

- No, it was just a really, really simple hotel.

It was a clean, clean hotel.

- I've just come to expect dick hotels when you're on vacation.

That's all I want to hear.

- Give me three months.

- Okay.

- Here comes the fallacies.

- We'll be back in the dick pool.

- Oh, that's amazing.

I can't wait.

I want to meet you at the dick pool.

Sword fight.

Okay, like I teased at the top of the show,

Beer and Bikini Podcast has sent us a clip.

So they asked on their gram for any topics for their show or any questions.

So I asked them, what's your favorite beer slang or word for being drunk?

Do you have a favorite word for being drunk?

- So I have some different words.

I have a friend, my best friend,

my bestest friend in the whole world.

We use the word schnockered.

- You know, I never heard that till my mom said it to me like a decade ago.

And I was like, what the fuck is that?

She goes, I think it's Midwestern.

- Yeah, I think she's right.

'Cause before we were like, when we were young,

I would spend the night at his house a lot,

and we were there for New Year's one night,

or one year, and everyone, of course, adults were drinking,

and him and I were just playing video games in the basement.

And we had water or Sprite or something like that,

and we was taking shots of that to be festive.

And I'm telling you, we were like kids,

and we would just be like, oh, we're getting schnockered.

- And micro-wasted.

- That continued as we got older.

We would get the Welch's grape juice,

but we would get it just 'cause we fucking liked drinking it 'cause it was delicious.

And then we'd just joke about getting schnockered.

And now when we're older and we actually drink,

we're together, we're like, we had schnockered.

- Yeah, you got real schnockered.

- Right, but usually I prefer hammered.

- Yeah, I do shittered a lot, or ham-skied.

- I do hammed more than I do ham-skied.

- Okay, I think shittered's probably my number one go-to.

- Wrecked, I do like wrecked. - Wrecked is good, yeah.

- I've been using that one a lot lately.

- Someone recently said tossed, I like that.

- I've heard that one.

- Yeah, how's it going?

So anyways. - Catching a jag.

- I've not heard that one.

- I had this old guy who used to work for me and he came in one day and he was moving a little slow.

And I said, "Hey, Dan, what's going on, man?" He said, "Oh, caught a jag last night." I said, "What the fuck did you just say?" - Sounds like he's dancing.

- I just drank a little too much.

He's like, "You know, it's called catching a jag." - How old are you?

- But I do appreciate that term.

- Yeah, that's good.

- Dan was old.

- Sounds like it.

Pulling some shit out from the Great Depression.

So anyways, I asked them on the Beer and Bikini podcast what their favorite was.

So go listen to the show if you wanna hear what their favorite was.

They turned around 'cause I said,

"I'm gonna steal this idea of asking people "for like questions and stuff for the podcast." They turned around, they actually recorded a question and sent it to us.

So here is their question for us.

It was so much fun, in fact, that Craft Beer Republic,

which is also a really good podcast that I listen to,

they said, "We might need to steal that idea." And I said, "Then let me record our questions for you "and send it to you." So if you're listening, this is our questions.

So A's question is, "From Beer and Bikini,

"if you're stranded on a desert island "and you could take one six-pack of beer "with an ice chest, what would it be?" - And the cooler has infinite ice,

meaning it will never get warm.

- Oh, that's good, man, that's good because they could just sip it like one every month for six months. - Yeah, whatever works.

- So from Beer and Bikini, from Jay,

my question is, "What has been your favorite "vacation destination and why?

"And did it involve beer?" - All right, so first question,

one six-pack to bring on a deserted island with a cooler that never gets cold.

I'm going something pale ale-ish.

I think we all know that about me.

Probably a hazy pale ale.

There's one I have in mind and the name is escaping me.

It's from Radiant Brewing.

It just popped into my head right now.

I was like, "Oh yeah, I remember that one." I think I even had it on the show.

I could probably go back through our archives and figure out which one it is,

but I'm gonna definitely say a hazy pale for me.

- Okay, I'm thinking if I'm on a desert island,

six-packs, you usually don't get too many double IPAs or Imperials, which you'd think you'd want some bang for your buck.

- That's true, yeah.

- But if it's hot, I'm thinking Eagle Parks, Helles Lager.

- Oh, smart.

- Like just something really nice and light and crispy.

And if it's a deserted island, it's probably tropical.

- Yeah.

- Right, so I'm thinking 80, 85 degrees.

- All the time.

- Give me something light and crispy.

- Yeah.

You know, if we were smart, we'd be like utopias.

I'd take a six-pack of utopias,

'cause that shit's like 48%.

- Well, see, I'm thinking of something that actually comes in a six-pack, right?

- And I'm also thinking of something that's delicious.

- Right, right, right, yeah.

Nobody wants what goes through garbage disposals and then ferments.

- Yeah, they dry aged on garbage wood for years.

And then the other question, favorite vacation spot and was beer involved?

First of all, beer is always involved.

- Yeah, even when I go to Disney,

I look for beer wherever I can.

- Right, exactly.

I mean, one of my favorite vacations was Spain.

It was great.

That's where I had duff beer.

- Yeah, that's right.

You said probably wasn't copywritten.

- Yeah, I'm sure they sold that shit, yeah.

100%, but that was before my craft beer days.

Like my favorite trip as a craft beer drinker,

I mean, love San Diego.

Colorado's always great.

Denver's full of great beer.

And everywhere we go now, we map out breweries.

That's a hard one.

- My favorite kind of vacation destination is beach, all inclusive.

So I don't consider beer if we're doing that.

It's just whatever they have, I'll drink whatever they have.

I have a dream destination and that's to come to San Diego.

- Yeah, buddy, I'll meet you there.

- The best beer around, seems like.

- Yeah.

So that would probably be mine.

It would be definitely based around beer.

- Oh, I mean, what else is there?

We're not going to SeaWorld.

- No, come on.

Padres, come on, come on.

- Oh, unless they're doing beer fest night at the Padres,

then we're going to that.

- Fair enough.

- That is fantastic.

- Fair enough.

- Thanks for the question, guys.

Beer and Bikini on the 'Gram and of course the podcast.

Go check them out.

All right, we have a couple of news stories to get through before we run up on outta here.

The Brewers Association CEO, Bob Pease, is going to retire and they're already searching for a replacement.

He's going to last basically until the end of the year.

- Pete Cues?

- Pete Cues?

- Yeah, so they can mine their P's and Q's.

- Uh-huh, Bob Pease.

- Edit point.

- It's not looking good for Hulk Hogan.

Once again, he's being accused for being racist.

- Oh, man.

- This time, it's around his beer, Real American Beer.

An influencer alleges that Hulk Hogan's Real American Beer fired her because she's black.

Social media influencer, Essence Jenea,

I believe that's Jenea, apologies if it's not,

alleged in two TikTok posts that Hulk Hogan's Real American Beer fired her after one day on the job because she's black.

In one post, Jenea claimed that she was fired and replaced by a white brand ambassador the next day.

She wrote in a social media post,

POV, Hulk Hogan paid you to be a brand ambassador and canceled your contract the next day because he realized you were a black brand ambassador.

Real American Beer issued a statement denying the allegations.

They say we are deeply troubled by the false rumors circulating on social media that a brand ambassador hired by a third-party marketing agency was terminated by Hulk Hogan for racial reasons.

Real American Beer simply terminated a short-term relationship with third-party marketing agency.

Hulk Hogan was not involved in that decision and race was not a factor.

I'd like to believe you, but Hulk Hogan does have a history.

- Yeah, it's a track record.

- Yeah, there is a track record there.

Good news for anybody in Pennsylvania.

If you drink those garbage RTDs,

Pennsylvania shoppers will soon be able to grab their favorite canned cocktail from previously beer and wine only outlets.

The Pennsylvania Senate approved Senate Bill 688,

which allows spirit-based RTDs under 12 1/2% to be sold from certain retail outlets,

such as restaurants, hotels,

that already sell beer and wine products with the same or lower alcohol contents.

The bill just needs to be signed by the governor.

- It increases drinking, so let's go.

- Yeah, there you go.

And this one was sort of for you and your love for drinking at Disney World and dick hotels.

- I do love Disney World.

- Yes, you do.

Drunk Disney bear canceled over derogatory offensive name.

A drunk animatronic bear who was a Disney World fixture for over 50 years has reportedly been canceled over concerns he could offend alcoholics.

- What park was this at?

- I believe it's Magic Kingdom.

- Okay.

- Liver Lips McGrowl did not make an appearance when the country bear Jamboree returned last Wednesday following a seven-month refurbishment.

The attraction, which features 18 animatronic bears performing country-style Disney songs,

first opened in stores in 1971 and has been a mainstay of the theme park for decades.

Disney decided to cancel the character because their phrase "Liver Lips" could be offensive to alcoholics.

- Come on.

- The decision to remove Liver Lips McGrowl was driven by concerns over the character's name.

The term Liver Lips-- - It's the McGrowl part that gets me.

- It's also really a tongue twister.

The term Liver Lips is considered derogatory and offensive, it reported.

The term is associated with excessive alcohol consumption and the resulting liver damage.

The phrase is deemed to be insensitive and outdated,

prompting Disney's decision to modify the character.

Others have suggested that the corporation may have been squeamish about the term because Liver Lips has been used as a racial slur against African-Americans.

I've never heard that before.

- I've never heard of that, ever.

- And if that's true, then they should probably rename him.

The bear has been replaced by Romeo McGrowl,

who looks identical to his predecessor,

including the protruding lips,

but sports a sky blue jumpsuit and blonde quiff.

It is one of a number of changes that Disney has made to its attraction in recent years amid concerns over modern sensibilities.

- Is it possible to offend an alcoholic?

- Too drunk to find out.

- That was the first thing that crossed my mind.

If I was an alcoholic,

the last thing I'm gonna do is be offended.

- Right, oh, that bear is making,

that fake bear is making fun of me.

- Yeah.

- Also, do they admit that they're alcoholics?

- Exactly.

They're just gonna yell at you for calling them an alcoholic.

- Right, exactly.

So how could they be offended?

- That's the only thing that offends them,

unless his name is Alcoholic McGrawl.

- Or it'd be like,

"Paul, I think you're drinking too much these days, McGrawl." You know, then.

- Right, right.

- Other than that, yeah.

- Disney's, they got light.

Like, they got real bad.

- Yeah, but hey, don't wanna offend the alcoholics,

but if you wanna drink around the world,

go ahead and get shit-faced at Epcot.

- Right, liver lips.

- When you're there next time,

just start calling people liver lips as they're drinking around the world.

- I do like drinking at Epcot.

- Yeah, unless that really is a racial slur.

I've never heard that before.

- I've never once heard that before.

- Maybe we should not be saying that out loud on the podcast.

- Cut it.

- Cut it out, edit, point, I guess.

I should Google that.

Now feels like a good time to get the fuck out of here before we actually do offend somebody.

I'm gonna hit some music.

I'm gonna say, make sure you check us out,

craftbeerrepublic.com, @craftbeerrepublic,

and of course, @flexmeabeer, underscores in between.

You wanna leave us a voicemail, 805-538-beer,

or of course, mail@craftbeerrepublic.com.

I think that's everything.

Hope everyone out there is staying very well hydrated.

And on that note, goodnight everybody!

(banging)