I was at one of the breweries at the festival and I was just holding mini flex.

And one of the guys pouring was like, what are you carrying around?

I was like, Oh, this is flex.

And he just looks at me even more confused.

I was like, so we do a podcast.

Wait, this is my co-host.

You gotta make it out.

So we bring flat flex everywhere we go now.

And he's like, uh, all right.

Like not amused.

Didn't think it was funny.

That doesn't sound like a fun guy.

Yeah, I was like, your beer's not good anyways, so whatever.

Yeah, seriously.

Skip.

Next booth.

Welcome in everybody.

It's the craft beer Republic.

Thanks for drinking.

Thanks for joining.

I am Greg.

I am being joined by that big buff and in 3d this time.

Flexi himself.

What's up bud?

I'm still kind of flat through the screen, but uh, that's true.

Yeah.

It feels like forever since I've talked to you.

I know it's been like a weird reset with the GABF schedule and like we haven't it's been a few weeks and I don't know if people knew we were on like a hiatus even though like we weren't because the episodes drop every week but right yeah we just recorded a couple extra and I did some magic and yeah but alas I'm really happy to see you and I you big fella that's so sweet of you and here to break up the sausage fest

You're all welcome.

And to also corroborate my stories about GABF, it is she who is still recovering the saltiest of all the sailors, Head of the Nosh.

What's happening?

I feel like I should give you guys a few more minutes just to kind of like rekindle that flame and

It'll rekindle over and over throughout the episode.

It's pretty natural.

It's fine.

Yeah.

And every episode.

I mean, let's be honest, did the flame ever unkindle?

No, that's not a thing.

No.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right guys?

Yeah.

Our love is like the Canadian wildfires because I'm pretty sure they're still going up.

Ouch.

Sorry, Canada.

I was going to say it was like the Olympic torch, like it just burns forever or whatever.

Yeah, that's a lot more positive.

Yeah, it's uplifting and whatnot.

Most players just better stay away from dildo, that's all I'm saying.

Yeah, no burning down dildo.

That is going to be part of our world tour.

First stop, dildo.

Second stop, Finland.

All right, if you guys are on the socials, make sure you follow us at Craft Beer Republic at neck underscore nosh underscore LLC and flex me a beer underscores in between.

Huge shout out to our top listing city of last week, and I have never seen this pop up before, but Raymond, Ohio.

What's up, Raymond, Ohio?

OK, what up, Midwest?

Let's go.

Yeah.

What do they say what you know how do they have you like weird?

You know Midwest II things like you guys do in Wisconsin.

I don't know Ohio is weird cuz it's like It's midwet like Indiana's Midwest, too Yeah, the further south you go it gets real like it gets real south real quick And Ohio is very similar to that so it's probably on that border to have like almost the South I

Yeah, because technically I think Indiana was like back in the old confederacy.

It was actually a southern state.

Oh.

I think so.

I might be wrong.

Any history nerds out there, you let us know.

But anyways, shout out to Raymond, Ohio, whatever south or north you're in.

All right, before we get underway with so much thought, of course, Erica and I are going to recap GABF.

And Flex.

Flex was there too.

I was there.

In spirit and paper.

We're going to recap GABF.

We've got some booze news to get to, a little bit of news flight too, some big- You haven't said that in a long time.

Booze news?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I haven't said that in a long time.

I'm a big fan of that one.

I like that.

I need to get back to that.

I can just call it the full pour on booze news.

Anyways, news, nonetheless, and all that stuff.

Before we get into anything important... Before we get into all that, let's get into some hydration.

Thanks to Erica.

And I believe you brought this down on your trip when Flatflex first emerged.

Oh, is that one?

I think so.

The old debut of Flatflex.

The old emergence of Flatflex.

There's always a way to tie in the Flatflex, isn't there?

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Thanks to Erica.

Her and I are both drinking Delusional, a juicy double IPA from Werther Brewing up in Bend, Oregon.

It's eight and a half percent, has 55 IBUs, has a 381 on untapped out of 426 ratings.

And they say Delusional isn't an India pale ale.

It's an insane pale ale.

Oh, look out.

We try hops not once, not twice, but three times with a massive amount of citra and mosaic hops to slap you in the face with tropical fruitiness and huge notes of citrus.

They should have said insane notes of citrus.

Oh, I've done better.

Opportunity missed.

Hops are citra, mosaic and mosaic.

All right.

There you go.

I'm glad they didn't call it a hazy.

It doesn't have the color of a hazy.

They went juicy.

Thank you for appropriately naming your beer.

Yeah, that was smart.

Something I, uh, we tried this in the tap room when we were visiting Bend over.

I think it was Easter.

Bend over?

Bend over.

How did I tie those two together?

I caught it, but I was drinking.

I'm so glad Flex picked that one up.

bend over the weekend.

Did you?

Yeah, that's a good weekend.

So yeah, and I was I was mistaking it for a hazy and then I realized it said juicy.

And then that made sense because once again, it doesn't look like hazy, but it's delicious.

This is actually what like almost six months old in the can.

And I could the aroma is just I love that like citra aroma as you pour it.

I could catch it right away.

The triple dry hop will do that.

Yeah.

So good.

Lots.

And you're right.

It's like exactly six years or six years.

Six months.

Call this an archive beer.

It's exactly six months old, according to the bottom of the can.

And yeah, hasn't lost anything.

A lot of citrus on the schnauz.

The tongue follows.

And with a fair bit of dank resin on the end to round it out and make it a little nod to the West as well.

Definitely, I think it's even worth a little more than a 3.81, but definitely at least that 3.81.

I really enjoy this one.

And 8.5% will get nice and warmed up for the show.

That's perfect, yeah.

Those are some algorithm numbers right there.

Absolutely.

Daddy like.

How is that triple dry hop on that, by the way?

Because my least favorite thing about triple dry hop beers is, uh, you almost get like that film in your mouth, like after smoking a cigar, you know, and then you kind of got that smoky leftover.

That's kind of how I get with the triple dry hops on the IPAs.

Yeah, I'm not getting, I know what you're talking about.

It's kind of like when you drink a super like earthy dry wine too.

Yeah.

Like the tannity feeling.

Um, I'm not getting it.

Are you?

No, a little dankness, but not necessarily something that, yeah, lingers and hangs too much.

It's perfect.

It's tasty.

Yeah, I like this.

And I'd say the eight and a half is pretty well hidden.

You get a little bit of warmth, but not eight and a half warmth.

So don't accidentally pound a couple of them or do accidentally or intentionally pound a couple.

It's bend over weekend, everyone.

Hey, bend Oregon.

Bend Oregon should have a like an over festival.

So it's the bend over.

Good night.

Yeah, they really should.

They really should.

And we're kind of genius, man.

I'm not even gonna lie.

Yeah, I think you need to start that opportunity.

Well attended.

I really do.

Eric is like, I'm going back home to see my family.

Oh, we're not like that.

I mean,

No, no, I mean like, you know, trip home.

Wow.

I should not have brought the family into this.

Two separate things.

Trip home, drop off the kids, and then go to the bend over festival.

Now I'm digging holes.

Awesome.

And the only way to climb out of that is with an awkward transition.

Segway.

Yeah.

Oh dear.

It's a forger.

I don't know.

Let's move on.

All right, enough of bending over for now at least.

So last, well, I guess, man, week and a half ago, GABF.

By the time this drops, basically two weeks ago.

Yeah, dang.

GABF was going down in the old Denver.

Two things I'm going to talk, I'm going to save for next week.

Two things I'm going to save for next week.

First, I did a little research outside of Denver.

I'll save that.

And also, Eric and Mayer may not have been iced.

We're going to save that story for next week as well.

Oh, Lord.

That's right.

I feel like there's a lot to unpack, so we'll separate these two.

It's a good idea.

So GABF, my first time there.

Never been before.

That's usually what first time means.

Yeah.

I knew we needed flex here already.

We're like well educated.

Just a little bit of relief over here.

That's right.

Yeah.

Hasn't had enough flex last few weeks.

Now it's need someone to put put me in my place.

So my first time there, never been there before.

Fucker.

Uh, gotten to Denver a couple of days before GABF did some eating and drinking beforehand.

Got some good recs.

Thanks to, uh, Devin and Brian.

Uh, first of all, Ace, if you guys are in Denver, go to Ace.

They have the fucking best wings.

So good.

That's some good beers on tap too.

Anyways, so outside of GABF, I visited Our Mutual Friends Brewing.

That's what it's called, Our Mutual Friends Brewing.

I like that.

It was great because every time we told somebody we're going to Our Mutual Friends, they're like, oh, they're going to go over to their friend's brewery.

That's awesome.

It happened multiple times, like at one point I was telling the group, our group that we'll get to in a second, and McDreamy was telling his sister, was like, yeah, so they're gonna go over to their friend's brewery.

I was like, ah, you know what, it's fine, it's too much.

Just let it go, yeah, before I got to the point where you're just like, let it go.

Yeah, we've all been drinking, it's too much to explain.

Yes, we're going to our friend's brewery.

That is, oh my gosh, I just made the connection because he was telling me that, yeah, I believed you were going to your friend's brewery as well.

Spoiler alert, I did not.

So I went to our mutual friend's brewing, also went to Cohesion thanks to Chaz over at Malibu Brewing.

I was like, you got to go to Cohesion.

I've heard about them, yes.

First of all, our mutual friends was great.

We kind of had the gamut of styles there and everything was really, really good.

Cohesion was really good.

It's very light lager, German, kind of Bierstadt slash Inegrin-esque, where everything's under 5%.

It's all lager-y stuff.

It was really good.

If you're looking for like a nice light lager all day fucking football beer, that stuff was good.

And of course we made a stop at Bierstadt as soon as we got into Denver because it's the fucking jam.

Had a bunch of, yeah, had a bunch of slow pour, had some sausages.

They have German food there.

Anyways, hung out there for a while.

So I went to the Denver Zoo.

All right.

Enough of that.

Let's get to GABF.

Oh yeah.

They're like a drum roll for this.

Yeah.

Buckle up buttercup.

Yeah.

So the group consisted of the two of us here.

Uh, my wife, her husband, McDreamy, McDreamy's two sisters, their friend, Jacob, uh, Erica's best friend, Aaron and her brother who are married and my brother.

Yeah.

Not Aaron's brother.

You're right.

I'm just saying, cause we did the whole bend over thing.

I'm clarifying.

Continue.

I think I got everybody right.

Uh, I think you did.

Okay.

Oh, my friend Carrie.

Sorry, Carrie.

Yep.

Yes.

Um, quite the group.

So Thursday you guys went, well, first Wednesday we got in there first.

It was just the three of us, me, you and the wife.

And like, we got in and checked out your booth and, uh, checked out the setup.

Thursday was when it all went down and, uh, you guys were slinging pretzels.

And how was, how was Thursday like crowd wise for you?

Thursday was a little quiet.

Um, yeah, not, not, I mean, and that makes sense.

Right.

I think there's a little more industry people, um, you know, folks that just aren't the party crowd.

Um, so it was, it's a day to get our feet wet for sure.

Um, so yeah, it was just a introduction getting kind of the, the flow of things.

Friday is when, and you guys weren't there for being in front Friday.

It was fricking wild.

We just nonstop.

you're

hammered just already falling over in the street one girl fell into one of those like Guardrails like you see it like wrestling events in the 80s.

You know nice knocks it completely over Falls over it and then it gets up and like keeps laughing.

I was like fuck.

What are we walking into this is a One of those big gulps and like a mmm

Oh man, there was a lot going on.

So then we get in there and it was definitely crowded.

Uh, it was just a different vibe than Thursday.

It was very, uh, I'm here to get fucked up vibe on Friday night, uh, I felt.

Um, but that was also the night that we ran into Wendy and Tipsy Socks and Allie, uh, Gordy Drinks Craft.

Experimental.

Gordy.

Hopped up Synchromist.

Um,

Who else was in that crowd?

And Steph introduced us to one of her brewer friends from Utah.

Helper Beer, which we reviewed on the podcast about six weeks ago.

Yeah.

So she's like, here, this is Greg.

He's the one that likes bougie beer.

She thinks I talk shit about Utah beer.

I do not talk shit about Utah beer.

I talk shit about Utah.

Utah.

Yeah.

Utah beer.

I've not had a bad beer from Utah.

I haven't had a lot of beer from Utah, but I haven't had a bad one.

It's fun to joke about their laws.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's like New Jersey.

And then be very exaggerate of the law.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Anytime Steph drinks something, I'm always like, oh, is that 3%?

Right.

But that's not a commentary on the brewery, that's on the Utah Laws.

Anyways, but yeah, so he was a funny guy.

He was fucking chittered.

It was a crack up because he was just talking shit about Steph the entire time.

Oh yeah, and he was going to send us all beer, so we should call him out on that.

Yeah, I was like, we reviewed beer on the podcast and I'm sending you more.

I'm gonna send you some of this.

You like this?

Do you like this?

Bring it.

We need to hold him to it.

Yeah.

Don't don't piss us off.

We'll talk shit about you.

We are authorities on beer.

We are the law.

Sounds like an insurance commercial.

Um, what else?

So then, so that was Friday.

Friday was kind of a shit show.

Saturday, two sessions.

Uh, the first one was for members and I thought the member session was going to be more like beer nerd.

Let me try this beer and talk about it and kind of thing.

Saturday.

So the more, there's two sessions out of the morning and the evening, the morning one, I guess not morning, like noon or whatever.

That was pretty morning for me that week.

Uh, the morning one, Shannon and I came over and slung some pretzels so you guys could go drink it up a little bit.

And that was probably the drunkest of all the sessions, I think.

I thought Friday was going to be the worst.

Saturday morning was the worst.

They were pretty drunk coming up to the booth.

You guys handled the booth pretty much the whole time.

As we were cruising the festival, I was like, you're wearing necklaces, you're wearing our necklaces.

I was like, man, they're selling them.

I didn't really notice the totally hammered probably because I was starting to get a little hammered just because it was time to do it.

It's, it's what we're there for.

So, uh, yeah, Saturday morning to me, and maybe it's just cause I was sober cause I was, you know, selling shit sober adjacent.

Um, maybe I noticed it more, but I just felt like everyone was pretty shitter that day.

And it was like 1230 and they're stumbling up to the table.

It's like,

It was definitely different than expected.

Do you think anybody pre-games?

They must have.

I think Friday they had to.

Friday they were so drunk so early.

There's no way they didn't pre-game.

And it didn't start until five.

So what are you going to do from noon to five?

Drink.

That's a valid point.

You're going to drink.

And those tasting glasses were tiny.

Even if you're just popping from, you know, person to person, you cannot drink enough like that fast.

I mean, they had to pre-game.

Well, and you know, there's like the normal, I don't know, what would you call it?

Like two, three ounce tasting glasses, whatever they were.

Most festivals, I'm telling people don't fill it up all the way.

This festival, I think they're only allowed to pour an ounce at a time.

I'm like, Hey bud, can I get a little bit more?

So I don't have to go wait in this long line without any beer.

Like I was begging for beer at some points.

Ridiculous.

Now, and then the members had bigger glasses.

You notice that?

Yeah, they were slightly bigger and they were a little more generous during that session with their pores.

And they were, they were bigger glasses cause we had to like calibrate our, uh, hold my beer necklaces to their larger glass and they were like at least twice the size.

So I think they got a little bigger pores.

Um, but still if they were not, when then they ran out by the Saturday night, everyone was running out.

Yeah.

Bigger pores, but it also, it showed that they got bigger.

Um, and then Saturday night was, um, I don't know, it was surprisingly slow compared to Saturday morning.

Agreed and the music wasn't quite what like Friday night had grunge.

It was awesome Saturday morning or whatever that that wasn't bad if I remember right, but like Saturday morning.

There was no band.

That's why there was nobody That's what it was.

Okay, that's was so it would have been nice to have some music but Saturday night Yeah, really quite have the vibe I think so so the neck nosh booth was in what they called the backyard which was right across from the stage and like the Thursday night music was a little grating and

Trombone?

Yeah, trombone.

And then Saturday night was not the best either.

It was a little rough on the old Ojos.

Yeah, it was.

Wait, Ojos Varayas, aren't they?

Yeah.

Her ears.

Ojos?

I forget.

It's something like that.

German, it's Oren.

Okay, I'll take that.

There's a J in there.

Somewhere.

But in the Spanish one.

Oh, oh, gotcha.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

So here was my, my take.

People were asking me like, how was it as a festival?

Would you go again?

I've had many people ask me that.

And my take is I would absolutely go again, especially, you know, like with the right group.

So like if, you know, the group wanted to go again or, or even bigger, you know, like, uh, Coley and, and, uh, Flexi, the real Flexi or whatever.

The real you, the 3D you.

Wanted to go, I would absolutely go with a group.

Here was my take on the beer though.

Overall, not the best beer I've ever had in my life.

Yeah, it's not, it's very generic for the most part.

I was trying to think of my favorite and they were just some like, um, you know, Prairie had a, uh, I think it was a rainbow sherbet or something.

And then Weldworks had some cool cheesecakes.

So it was kind of like that out there stuff.

But yeah, you're definitely not like, wow, I had the most amazing pale ale.

I mean, they're, they were all right, you know?

So you're just cruising around just trying to just keep the cup full.

The first thing you said with a Prairie artisan, that rainbow sherbet is like a shelfie.

Oh is it?

What's that?

Yeah, it's like a flagship, like you can find it almost anywhere when it's released.

Oh, so in California it's not so common.

So that makes me wonder if people just kind of put their big beers out like that.

So the wife and I, we basically were like, hey, let's go try... They divided it by sections, like Pacific Northwest and South and East and whatever, Northeast.

So let's go try a bunch of breweries we've never even heard of before.

Let's do some real research here.

And we got so many breweries in, and we were just begging to go back to California.

Like, let's go have some good shit.

Wow.

Here's what I think happened.

Festivals like Firestone Walker Invitational and Loggerville out here, they are invite only.

GABF, if you want to fucking slap down a check and show up with some kegs, they'll take you no matter who you are.

And I think we ran into a lot of people trying to get their name out there and willing to pay the entrance fee to get in the GAB.

Does anybody know the entrance fee for that?

Like for a brewery?

No, I'm sure I could look it up somewhere.

Honestly, don't know.

Yeah, I heard that it has gotten more expensive and they had less breweries and that queue that they had.

So if you waited in the general line, they used to like just have everybody line up.

And then at the same time, you got your ID scan and everybody let in.

But they had they did it, you know, a little smarter this time and had like this, you know, get your ID scan.

They could queue up and wait.

But that holding tank area,

took out a ton of space for breweries.

Um, so that was one thing, but yeah, I mean, we used to have so many Sacramento, great Sacramento breweries represent there, uh, this year, not so much.

So I think it's a good number.

I think the bill, like they're building it back up right after COVID, this is only the second.

year they've had it since.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Second year since COVID.

So they're building it back up.

So the attendance is a little bit lower.

But also, yeah, it's not going to be your like big, big heavy hitters.

And the people pouring are volunteers mostly.

For the most part, yeah.

Breweries can choose to send reps to pour, but they don't.

They just send kegs and volunteers.

The funny thing is like you'd see drunk beer nerds talking to the volunteers like they work for the brewery.

Oh right.

Oh man this IPA is so good like you must try it.

And like yeah.

People actually talk like that in public.

When they're hammered, they absolutely.

Oh yeah.

And they're like trying to pump them for information and not getting the fact.

Yeah.

Trying to schmooze the brewer, but little do they know it's some drunk dude that lives down the street who's volunteering so he can drink for free.

Free tickets.

Yeah.

Oh, Lakefront Brewery.

Um, is that's in Wisconsin.

I don't know.

Is it anywhere near you?

It's in Milwaukee.

Yeah.

It's like, it's like the biggest craft brewery in the state, I believe.

They had a huge end cap, so I was wondering, they had probably at least, I don't know, maybe 10 beers.

Yeah, I had that Lagosa Rita.

Right by our spot.

That's some good stuff, actually.

Lagosa Rita was good.

Yeah, they do, you know, they're like, not traditional styles so much, but they'd stick to their guns, what they've been doing for the last 30 years.

Yeah, I think the perfect summary of like the quality of breweries that were there,

It was me, the wife, and Jacob going around.

We got there, and he was floating.

He was on a little bit of a break, and so we're like, hey, let's go drink some beers.

So he picked a couple breweries, and they were both not fantastic.

And he was even like, yeah, these aren't that great.

And I was like, what do you like?

And he goes, I like X and Y and blah, blah, blah.

I was like, you like a good IPA?

He goes, yeah.

I said, hazy or clear?

He goes, both.

I was like, all right, come with me.

So we went over to California, I was like, this is Pure Project.

Here's a good representation.

Have anything that they offer.

And then he goes, oh, you're right, this is really good.

And right next door to Pure, this is Radiant.

Radiant, yeah.

Have anything they have to offer.

Oh, nice.

Yeah.

I mean, that row right there, that row was insane.

It was Pizza Port,

pure, radiant, and Russian River, all right next to each other.

It's like, how is the rest of the festival going to compete with this one row?

Agreed.

We hung out there for a while.

I was going to say, I'd probably just hang by the pier tent and just...

They were always the first one to kick all their kegs.

You'd walk by like an hour in, all their kegs were kicked.

That's not a shocker.

Everything you've sent me from them, that's not a shocker.

Yeah.

Radiant was kicking most of their kegs.

Russian River must've brought a lot of beer because they always had a line and they weren't kicking every, they were kicking one or two per session, but they weren't kicking everything.

My favorite was like all the out of towners who are out of towners for Californians.

All the people not from California who saw Russian River and you hear them go, Oh, Russian River.

And then like beeline for like, yeah, yeah.

For sure.

Do they have all their big names there or what?

Yeah, they had Pliny and like Dribble Dry Hopped Pliny and a couple of Sal.

I mean, you know, it was it was stuff you've mostly heard of and a couple of their smaller things that don't get distro so much.

So, OK, yeah, that's good.

I mean, it's Fresh River.

They had some good beer, of course.

Yeah.

They had some cool stuff, though, like the the silent disco.

OK, that's the first time I tried the silent disco.

Have you ever done one of those flex?

I've seen people do them.

OK, there's a brewery here that does it.

And it actually looked like a lot of fun.

It's way more fun than it looks.

Once you get those headphones on, you're like in another time zone and you do not give a shit about anyone around you.

You are having the best time ever and you can like flip the stations.

And I mean, I have video.

Everybody is listening to just the same thing.

You did not take video.

I absolutely did.

Holy.

No, that's that is sacred ground right there.

You do not video the silent disco.

I think that's written somewhere.

Your brother put me up to it.

Did he?

What an asshole.

Yeah, that guy.

He's huge.

He might beat me up if I didn't listen to him.

He is.

That's true.

I would absolutely do anything he told me to do.

He's scary.

Remember, he drank a whole keg in like two days.

Jesus.

He's huge and he's my hero.

But, um, that silent disco, I, I recommend any listener out there.

If you ever have an opportunity to try a silent disco, my sister-in-laws were like, you're coming with us.

And I'm glad I found it on the last night because I would have, I'd be like, we're shutting down neck notch, everybody.

So everybody doesn't just listen to the same thing.

You have like three or four stations and then there's a DJ there kind of like, you know, mix mixing up.

I didn't realize there was options.

Yeah, that makes me not like it.

I wish there was just like the one song everybody could vibe to.

I don't know, because sometimes that song just kind of sucks.

I don't know.

I'm just saying you're not wrong.

Yeah.

And then you can see you don't know what color you're on, like it's red, blue or green or whatever.

And then you can see what other people are on.

You're like, oh, they're on red.

I wonder if I'm red.

Am I in the same, you know, and you're just kind of jamming.

Then you see like you're bumping at the same beat.

Yes, you're on red, too.

That's awesome.

So it's so fun.

Oh, my gosh.

I love me a silent disco.

Okay.

That was like the longest line of the entire place.

Was that sound long?

Wait, you're not the, uh, you're not the only one.

So, um, yeah, I think that's pretty much it for GBF.

I will say shout out to, and I took a picture of this place.

I wouldn't forget it.

Vaughn Eber brewing out of Portland amongst all the mediocre beer that I was drinking.

Um, they had some amazing wild fermented sours and, uh,

I was so glad I stopped by and the guy was like, yeah.

And he didn't work for the place.

He goes, yeah, you should try this one.

I was like, yeah, I'll try it.

And he goes, and he'd be like that.

We got this other one.

They had two.

They were both amazing.

I was like, oh, we're coming back.

And I tried to get Erica back there and like anybody I could get.

And I think, I don't know if it's Erica or somebody else.

By the time we got back, they were like already out of it.

I believe so.

Yeah, that was the case.

Yeah, I was sad.

It was really good.

I'm not surprised they were out.

It was clearly one of the best in that area.

Hey, shout out to you and Shannon, though, for likes to come in and taking over the booth, even though like I had.

I mean, that was just so cool.

And you guys helped out a ton and you were shouting out the.

Yeah, it was.

It was awesome.

I'm so glad you guys.

Yeah, I had no idea you guys did that either.

That was fucking awesome.

Yeah, it was cool.

I just, I told him, I was like, go fucking drink.

Cause so peak behind the curtain, Erica got tickets for having a booth there, a certain amount of tickets and had some leftover.

So one way or another, we ended up being at every session.

Uh, you know, like Friday we were, we were there late, but we got there and then we'd bought tickets to two of the four and then we ended up going to the other two because of those tickets.

And I was like, fuck it.

Why don't, why don't you guys go enjoy yourselves and we'll, we'll sell some carbs and

It was good, it was fun.

Drunk people are hilarious, so we had a good time.

They're pretty fun for the most part.

Plus, I like handling cash.

Yeah.

There's something nice about counting out cash and having it all face the same direction.

He was just sitting there waving it in the air.

I'm like, put it away, Greg.

You're supposed to put it in the box.

No, I will not.

Anyways, did I miss anything?

Any special shout outs or anything I missed from GABF?

No, I think that's a pretty good.

I mean, there's just so much we could talk about.

It was a for for like really like fun and exhausting days.

And we did it.

We we nailed it.

Yeah.

And then before GABF on Friday, we went to Rare Beer Pints for Prostates.

That's right.

Hung out with Davis.

Yeah, that's right.

You guys called me.

Yeah, we checked.

Yeah, we tried Davis wanted to FaceTime him Yeah, so we we got the FaceTime going but then we didn't realize how fucking loud it was in the building It was fucking loud.

We couldn't hear a word you were saying.

I was like, oh poor flex He's which is funny cuz I could hear you guys clear as day.

Oh

Oh, I figured you could.

We were yelling because it was so loud.

Not a fucking clue you were saying the entire time.

I just know Davis was bummed out that I wasn't wearing, or that I was wearing a shirt.

We all were.

That's what he was bummed out about.

Yeah, it wasn't just Davis, let me tell you.

hung out with Davis and Brian and his friend Greg who we've all met before so that was fun and then his son was there also who works for Avery as like an educator he just drinks beer and tells people about it I was like the best fucking job in the world best job in the world asshole

They were great people though.

It was really fun to meet them.

Davis was awesome.

Hung out with him a little at GABF too, because he was volunteering on Saturday.

But yeah, just three floors of motor oil.

It was a lot.

It was fun.

And the food was actually really good too.

They had like a barbecue buffet.

Really good food.

But by the end of it, I was like, fuck, can I just get a Pilsner in here?

Like, is there a lager I could drink or something?

There's only so much of this motor oil I can put inside of me.

Totally.

Yeah, we did find one place that was pouring a hazy IPA.

I think they missed the memo or something, but the last half an hour, Shannon and I just kept going like, hey, can we get a little IPA?

They're like, yeah.

They clearly didn't recognize us because they kept telling us about it every time.

Like, oh, yeah.

Six and a half percent.

We're like, oh, sounds great.

I'd like to try that, please.

Tell my friends about it.

It would have been great if they didn't tell you and then like you took a sip of it and you're like, wow, this tastes like about, about six and a half percent.

Is that right?

A lot of mosaic in here.

I can taste it.

Yeah.

It's the berry notes guys.

Yeah, that's what it is.

Yeah.

Rare beer was fun.

Just a good, good fucking time.

Oh man.

In Denver.

I love me some Denver.

That's great.

I think that covers it.

Now, I'm going to read everybody the results of the winners of Great American Beer Festival.

Oh, okay.

Crap, no, I'm just kidding.

That'd take forever.

You know, I'll put a link.

I know, it's a shit ton.

Yeah, I think I can put a link up in the show notes.

I'll do that for everybody.

I saw somebody post, like, they're from a certain state, and they were circling all the winners from their state, and there was like 27 pages of winners.

Probably.

I'm just like, holy ballsacks.

Like, that's...

How many types of beers are there?

Apparently a lot.

I will real quickly run down the brewery of the year winners.

They do it by size of brewery, so the 501 to 1,000 barrel brewery of the year was Balter Beer Works out of Knoxville.

1,001 to 2,000 barrels was Third Eye Brewing out of Sharonville, Ohio.

This one I was surprised pleasantly to see.

Liquid Gravity Brewing got the 2,001 to 5,000

We were sitting at our friend's brewery.

We're sitting there watching the awards, and Liquid Gravity came on.

They won a few awards, and then all of a sudden they won the Brewer of the Year.

I was like, holy shit, look at those guys.

Dang.

Good for them.

Yeah.

5,001 to 15,000 barrels was Whibby Brewing out of Longmont, Colorado.

15,001 to 100,000 barrels was St.

Arnold out of Texas.

Pretty popular in Texas.

Yeah, I mean they're they're out here slightly and then brewery group brewery and brewer of the year.

You guys heard of this Allagash Brewing?

Yeah, Allagash.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Here and there.

Yeah.

A little bit.

Good for them for breaking through this year.

Yeah.

And this was kind of cool.

So the zero to 250 barrels brewery and brewer of the year went to Shred Beer Co.

in Rockland, California.

That's here.

That's brand new.

Yeah.

Not only is it brand new, but one of the co-founders, Amy, is the- Came from Slice.

Sorry.

She came from Arrow Lodge.

Okay, and then one of them came from Slice.

There's some controversy around that brewery.

Oh, really?

Interesting.

Well, Amy at Arrow Lodge did some fucking fantastic beer, so excited to get up there and try me some Shred.

That is so cool.

You guys need to make a visit.

We haven't even been out there yet, but I always think a shred.

I'm like, I got to go there.

I got to tag.

Is that the controversies?

You pissed that they took his name.

He's probably got that copyright.

Yeah.

There's some copyright issues going on.

Although he's got the second D in it.

That's your only one D in the brewery.

Yeah.

All right.

Yeah.

Got to get that double D. More D. Always better.

Yeah, get a little more D in the bend over festival.

Yeah, we haven't had Devon in a while.

I gotta represent.

Yeah, someone's got to, girl.

All right, we've been flapping our gums over here long enough.

Let's let's answer the most important question of the night.

In a world where craft beer is king.

A world where muscles are bearded.

At least it's not the slow version.

Only one tongue can guide us.

One man.

Four hours later.

One tongue jobber.

In this world, we must find out what is flax drinking.

All right so I did a little homework and I knew we were recording today so I was like you know what I went to the zoo coming back home the beer stores on the way home from the zoo I said all right I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna get some beers for tonight right like like a good co-host would.

Right yeah.

Sometimes I like to think I'm a good co-host.

Putting in the hours.

Yeah you know just a little bit.

My first beer ever from these guys I'm kind of shocked.

transient artisan ales out of Bridgman, Michigan, which is shocking that this is the first one because they're right across the pond, you know.

They're in England?

In here we call Lake Michigan in Wisconsin.

So like I said, they're out of Michigan.

It's a pale ale, an American pale ale it says on the can.

It's 6% ABV and the beer is called Cromulent.

I don't know what that word means.

Didn't look it up.

I don't know if it's a real word if anybody knows it please a Star Trek kind of thing I thought it coneheads oh But they go when they go back to the home planet they go back to Remilac, but for some reason I

So apparently I've looked this word up before because it was purple in my Google search.

That's weird.

Yeah.

Acceptable or adequate.

OK.

Well apparently it's more than that because untapped over 7000 check ins has a 4.01.

So I'd say that nice that is above Cromwell.

Yeah.

More than sure.

And a real quick description.

It says this beautiful American pale ale is Embiggened by copious amounts of mosaic and Simcoe hops, and I love that word copious.

It's just a little side note Yeah, so this is very aromatic

when we dig the schnoz in there.

Lots of tropical notes.

I'm getting mostly hopped up mango.

It's pretty wild.

Tiny hints of guava, not super duper-y guava, but enough that it's there.

So we dig in here with the old, it's been a while.

Still works.

Great color on that.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

So bright.

Okay.

So this really is phenomenal.

You're right.

The color on the beer is like for a pale party that it is pale.

It is fantastic.

Um, and the flavor, a lot more pineapple here on the old tongue jobber, a lot of the mango fades.

And it's just, it's like a real delicate flavor, like exactly what you would expect out of a pale.

And there's, on the schnoz, there's a little bit of that malt character to it, as you'd expect out of a pale.

But it is,

Nowhere on the palate and it is fucking phenomenal.

Nice.

Um, this is a really well done beer and there's a reason that it has such the rating that does the high rating that this is fantastic.

And you want to talk flex algorithms?

Yes.

This, this can, it's just, uh, well, very simple.

Yeah, very simple, but very... Mesmerizing.

Appealing.

Yeah.

Appealing, it's like trees, but... But not... I don't know, it's great.

And $12.89 for a four pack of 6% beers.

So, I'd take that.

I'd take that any day.

That fits the algorithm there.

Yeah, so transient artisan ale, you are Flex Approved.

Make yourself, or make your way across the pond more often.

Yeah, congratulations.

This actually, I haven't seen them around often.

I think this is maybe like the second or third time I've ever seen their stuff at my shop, at least.

You know, I'm pretty lazy and don't make it out too far.

But you went to the zoo today, and I'm sorry, but that video of the hippo, like you were right there.

Yeah, you go right to the glass.

Yeah.

And it's just right in front of you.

That's where they always are.

That's amazing.

It's great.

I've never seen that.

Hippos are my favorite animal.

So like when our zoo made that exhibit, I just about came everywhere.

They get really aggressive too, don't they?

Yeah, like the meanest animals in Africa.

They are the most dangerous land animal.

Yeah.

I know that.

Even though they hang out in the water.

And they can't swim.

Yeah, exactly.

When we were at the Denver Zoo trying to kill time before we could check into our hotel, we were over at the elephant area and it was great because one of the elephants just had the... Here you go, Deb.

Fucking biggest boner ever.

Just...

Like that thing... Did you send her a picture?

I should.

Oh my god dammit I should have.

Go to dev6.com, check it out.

That thing was swinging... No posting elephant dicks.

That's a special paid section.

That thing was swinging to the ground and the best part about it was not just that I was impressed, but there was this mom there with her kid.

The kid seemed bored and was like staring at something else and she goes, you know, whatever the kid's name is, like, Billy, Billy, come on, look at the elephant.

I'm like, you're calling him over to look at his fifth leg, like maybe...

Maybe give him a second to cool off a little bit before you call the kid over.

It was kind of funny.

Awkward.

Get ready for a conversation, mom!

Yeah, right?

Apparently an elephant's vagina is like the length of a human's small intestines, then.

That's what it sounds like.

Mmm.

At least.

Times two.

Yeah, it was giant.

Erika's looking puzzled.

Your small intestines, if they're like unraveled, are like 26 feet long or something like that.

It's something insanely long, yeah.

Dang.

Yeah.

So if you got this thing hanging to the ground, ugh.

Dude, it was legit almost touching the ground.

We're talking about elephant dicks.

Well, they're proportional.

I mean, if, you know, one part's this way, you gotta have a proportional... That's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Unless that single elephant really just plays just the tip.

I don't know.

Oh, God.

Really don't... Yeah.

You know what I'm gonna do?

I'm just gonna keep us moving right along here, everybody.

Wow.

Get the paddles.

I do want to quickly mention that October 14th, Brittany over at Naughty Pine is doing another charity night for Maui and helping the whole Maui situation.

So if you're in the region, go over to Naughty Pine, October 14th.

Go check that out.

Proceeds go to, I forget the name of the charity, sorry, but to help Maui and she'll post more about it.

I just heard about it today as we record and I don't even know if I'm supposed to share it yet.

All right.

Newsflight.

Sign the bill, Phil, is a beer collaboration among a ton of breweries in New Jersey.

Phil is the governor there.

And he's had a bill on his desk to help ease restrictions against breweries for months now.

And it's just sitting there.

So now

Just like they did the wildfire beer in California, and now they're doing the Maui one.

New Jersey is doing a collab beer called Sign the Bill, Phil.

I like it.

That's brilliant.

Yeah.

Fuck you, Phil.

You fucking weirdo.

I like it.

And Virginia, they have now allowed craft breweries

to have the option to self-distribute their own beer.

Thanks in addition to Virginia's budget by the State General Assembly, Virginia's Department of Ag and Consumer Services now has a division, the Virginia Beer Distribution Company.

So instead of just like erasing laws that says you can't self-distro, they actually created their own distro company so you can self-distro.

And you just claim it's through the Virginia Beer Distribution Company.

It's got a loophole.

It's probably much easier to pass than repealing something.

So

Yeah, that's cool.

I get it.

You can self-distribute up to 500 barrels of beer annually through the VBDC's license.

So they estimate that 100 breweries will self-distribute under 500 barrels, and that can bring $6.9 million in revenue annually to the state.

So it only makes financial sense.

You hear that New Jersey?

Yeah.

Financial sense.

Financial sense.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

Who would have thunk it?

Here's a story we've been following for a while now.

Tilray, who bought a bunch of brands from Anheuser-Busch, finally closed on Monday for the price of $83.4 million.

And those brands, they picked up once again, Shock Top,

Blue Point, Breckenridge, Red Hook, Highball Energy, which had already closed.

Gross.

Widmer Brothers, 10 Barrel Brew Company, and Square Mile Cider Company.

Wow.

The best part, over the weekend, as soon as it was leaked or disclosed or whatever, 10 Barrel Brewing, out the balcony of their brewery, put a huge sign that said, 10 Barrel Brewing Company, now with less Anheuser-Busch.

Okay.

It was great.

I don't know.

I liked it.

Yeah.

And did this whole post about how they're glad to not be under the A.B.

umbrella anymore.

And I thought that was really funny at the same time.

Like, hey, you were the fucks that sold.

Right.

Maybe it's new ownership.

Who knows?

So anyways, I guess they didn't like being under the AB umbrella there.

So good job to all you guys.

So I didn't realize this.

I guess technically by the definition, they're craft again.

I did not think Tilray was considered a craft, but I guess they are.

So shock top is craft beer, everybody.

Oh, wow.

Gross.

Yeah, go get you some shot have any more beers than they uh They had like a lemonade one and then just like did they the Belgian white?

Mean there's like the orange Belgian wit that everyone has thrown up over they have more than just that I Remember, I'm having some kind of like lemonade almost like a shandy thing.

Oh, I don't remember If I've had it, I don't do anything more than that.

I don't think so I think they had like an apple something at one point.

I Can they get away for the fruit?

I didn't realize they were a brewery.

I thought Shock Top was like a type of beer from a brewery until you guys talked about it like not that long ago.

No, I think Shock Top is like Blue Moon.

Yeah.

You know where everyone calls it just Shock Top or Blue Moon.

That's exactly what it is.

But I think they have other... I think at one point they had an apple something.

I remember it being in a bottle with red instead of orange.

One time in like 2000 and... It had to be like 2010 or 11.

So 2000 and late.

And it was when the pumpkin beers were just making a rise.

Yeah.

And Blue Moon came out with one.

And I said, you know what, I'm going to try this because I really, I really enjoy the late front.

The lakefront brewing does a pumpkin lager up here and it is like the best thing since sliced pumpkin pie.

And I was like, yeah, I'm going to try this blue moon one.

And it tasted like nothing, nothing.

It tasted like absolutely nothing.

Wow.

One of the sickest I've ever seen.

Someone is getting hammered on blue moon pumpkin, not shock top, but blue moon.

It was, uh,

Yeah, so it's a blue moon.

Yeah, I had blue moon.

Yeah.

Yeah, didn't Lakefront have that pumpkin lager at their booth?

Oh, did I completely?

I tried it.

I'm pretty sure I did.

Oh, it's so good.

And their Oktoberfest did have the Oktoberfest.

I know.

Yeah, it's good.

Lagoza Rita was my favorite.

Yeah, that was good, too.

So it was right there was the only one that was right there.

So I'd run off and like, OK, like front hook me up.

Here we go.

We'll go back.

I know.

We needed to come by more often and refill your cups.

You guys did all right.

I needed to focus.

Part of the problem was the fucking little pours.

They're so tiny.

It's like, I'm getting this for someone who can't leave their booth.

It's going to evaporate by the time I get, yeah, exactly.

By evaporate, the guy bringing it might have drank some.

Right.

Splish splash.

Oh, look at that.

Half of it's gone.

What do you know?

A California judge upholds the Stone-Molson-Coors trademark verdict and denies a new trial.

If you guys remember, I mean, since Stone has been Kraft, they were in a lawsuit over Molson-Coors and the whole Keystone thing and the can look like it said Stone.

Anyways, Molson-Coors requested a new trial, tried to throw out the verdict, and a judge has upheld the decision.

Forgot stone only got 56 million dollars of like the 200 something they requested.

I was like oh, yeah, that's right They didn't get that much money in the end Idiot yeah remember when they offered you beer after they had sold Yeah, we can cut that out.

I just didn't respond.

I didn't want to be mean Thanks for the beer, but we're not gonna talk about on the show because you're not I

I think we've said this on the show, we can talk about it.

The amount of shit we would get from beer nerds just wasn't worth free beer.

I'd take free beer if you just want to send me free beer, but I'm not going to talk about it.

I think they wanted us to talk about it.

Respectable.

Yeah.

Stone's biggest issue with their marketing with influencers

God, I just called myself an influencer.

You did.

They kept over and over sending stone IPA.

Just like, oh, we repackaged it.

It's in a new can.

It's like, you guys, we've all been drinking this since 1997.

No one needs a refresher on stone IPA.

Send us something new so we can be excited about it and post about it.

No one cares that you bought someone's artwork and put it on the fucking stone IPA can.

Still tastes like stone IPA.

That's not a good thing or a bad thing.

It's just a thing.

And we've all fucking had it.

And the people you want us to promote to have definitely had it.

How about something new and exciting?

Just saying.

Is that true?

No, I think that's great.

Please tell us more how you feel.

Yeah.

Get honest.

And then.

And then.

All right.

And then, and then, and then.

No more and then.

Alright, I think that's everything.

I love you guys for that one.

All right, I'm gonna hit some music over here.

I'm gonna say hello to Vanessa.

Oh, what up, Vanessa?

Hey, Vanessa.

And I'm gonna tell everybody to go check us out on the socials, at Craft Beer Republic, at Flex Me, Beer Underscores in between, at Neck Nosh LLC, also The Underscores, CraftBeerRepublic.com, 80553 Beer, that's 2337.

I do think that's everything.

Hope everyone's staying very well hydrated.

And on that note,

Good night, everybody!