I was pleased to see his eyebrows shoot up during his first sip, and I caught him murmur “this is good” as he placed the glass back on the bar.

Beervana Podcast

Audioblog: The Vienna Dialogues

The Wiener has landed! Just before Thanksgiving, pFriem debuted their version of a 19th-century Vienna lager like Anton Dreher would have made. It was a tremendous beer, and I’m delighted to say I was a collaborator. This is the story.

Audioblog: Re-imagining a Classic

When we talk about great beer cities, the name Atlanta rarely comes up. After a visit to five excellent breweries in town—New Realm, Bold Monk, Monday Night, Halfway Crooks, and Elsewhere—I was convinced it should.

Audioblog: Lagers And Quads (and IPAs) In Atlanta

Larry Bell announced that he was selling his 36-year-old brewery, Michigan’s Bell’s, today. The language was weird and somewhat concealed the actual details. Yet unlike so many bloodless M&A announcements, the reason may have everything to do with the difficulty of this sale.

Audioblog: Kirin Just Bought Bell's Brewery. Why Is Bell's Concealing That Fact?

On today's show, we beam into Jeff’s book tour and take you to a live recording of a stop he made at Guinness’s Open Gate Brewery in Baltimore, MD. This was a planned stop on the tour, and Jeff, brewer Sean Brennan, and Guinness “ambassador” Ryan Wagner spoke in front of an audience when he was in Baltimore.

Show 151: Live in Baltimore!

In a rather shocking development, the mailbag overfloweth! Long-time readers know that our begging for comments is a regular feature of the show, and we’ve been supported by a few reliable regular commenters. Since our last show, however, the emails have been flying. We have so many that we’ll devote the whole show to them today. You are a smart and observant bunch, and these are great questions.

Show 150: Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Gloom of Night

The Beer Bible 2nd Edition will be available a week from today. Here’s the skinny on everything that’s new. It’s a lot!

Audioblog: All the Changes in the New Beer Bible

Not long ago, listener Dan Cuzzocreo wrote us with this request: “I've really enjoyed the episodes you have done on a particular beer style. I'd love to hear more episodes in this vein, especially about important but less trendy styles, and in particular I was curious if you might consider doing one about brown ales.” Well Dan, you asked, and today we deliver. There is no style less trendy—nor badly-named—than brown ale, but today we’ll dig into its roots and see if we can’t discover why it was once a beloved tipple in both the US and UK. Brown ales forever! Photo: The Yorkshire squares of Samuel Smith

Show 149: The Nonstop Thrills of Brown Ale

Writers and brewers have identified most of the useful frameworks we use to understand beer. An important one, often hinted at but never fully explored, is national tradition. It’s never been more important to understand, though—especially now amid the birth of the American tradition.

Audioblog - Beer's Rosetta Stone: National Tradition

If you speak to anyone in the service industry these days, the conversation eventually turns to the ongoing worker shortage. Increasingly, people don’t want to work as restaurant servers or dishwashers—or brewers or keg-washers. What’s going on? Today we have a special Beeronomics edition of the show, wherein Patrick will give us the scoop. He’ll provide an overview of the labor industry, explain what drives worker shortages, and how salaries fit into the equation. Picture: Farmers Brewing

Show 148: Beeronomics - The Worker Crunch

Today we’re going to try something new. Over on his blog, Jeff has an ongoing series called “Making of a Classic,” which investigates why certain beers have become world standards over the decades. They contain a bit of history, a bit of ethnography, and often a bit of technology. We’re going to kick things off today with a beer you’re all familiar with: Guinness Draught. It seems as unchanging as it is ubiquitous, yet it has gone through tremendous change since its early origins at the start of the 19th century. As a special treat, we also have the voice of the man who created the final, and current, version of the beer.

Show 147: Making of a Classic - Guinness Draught

Pliny was a bright light in the fog. Despite its hurricane of flavors, it was more focused, refined, and elegant than other IPAs of the day. With the benefit of time, we can see that it reset expectations about what was possible, pointing to the future we now inhabit.

Audioblog: The Making of a Classic - Pliny the Elder

Each year, people traveling to Portland reach out to Jeff for advice about which breweries to visit. Starting in 2018 he thought it would be easier just to write a post on his website with his recommendations. After several weeks of field research, he finally revealed the 2021 edition of the list on Beervana. Today we’ll discuss his recommendations and I’ll add my own comments and corrections. Blog post with the selections: https://www.beervanablog.com/beervana/2021/7/29/portlands-best-breweries-2021

Show 146: Portland's Best Breweries

Of all the interesting stuff that has appeared at this site over the past 15 years, nothing was more important than the forty-odd posts from brewers and one cidermaker that constitute the Coronavirus Diaries series that ran on the site from March 2020 to this May. They’re now available as a book.

Audioblog: “Coronavirus Diaries” Now Available as a Book

On Monday, Molson Coors announced it was ceasing production of a bunch of minor brands it owned, including one that hurts Oregonians’ hearts: Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve. It was a beer that helped make the city Beervana, but also a remnant of a dying era.

Audioblog: An Epilogue for Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve

About the art, culture, economics and business of beer and brewing with hosts Jeff Alworth (The Beer Bible, The Secrets of Master Brewers) and Oregon State University economics professor Patrick Emerson.

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