After our triumphal road trip to Sierra Nevada’s new Mills River NC brewery, we return to our little bar with Mims Distributing On-Premise Area Sales Manager Craig Thomas! Craig shares his insights into the beer sales world, and some great stories from his career so far.

Then we go all-IPA this week, with terrific examples from San Diego and Carrboro NC! The SD brews are from Coronado Brewing with their Idiot IPA, and we have 2 from Green Flash: Imperial IPA and Le Freak IPA.

We also debut a new hyperlocal from Starpoint Brewing in Carrboro, the stellar Surfin’ Buddha IPA!

The news ranges from the UK to baseball stadiums across the USA! We start with an NPR piece that dovetails nicely with last week’s chat with Bill Manly about how west coast brewers like Sierra Nevada have to tweak NC water to match western mountain flavor. That’s followed by a new look by the NBWA at the fact that there are now over 4,500 breweries in the US, a revealing take from The Guardian on the UK craft beer revolution, more on how craft beer in cans just keeps crushing it via the Denver Post, and Fox News finding 5 craft beers that won't destroy your waistline. We finish up with a shocking report from the Washington Post on where to find the best beer in major league baseball that features a really cool interactive graphic that you can use to compare stadiums!

We have great feedback and several answers to the  #caskquiz “what beer was your fave from Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp collaborations?” Next week we ask “what fall beer are you most looking forward to drinking?”

We love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, tweeting us @talescask, following our Instagram @talescask, posting on and liking our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TalesFromTheCask or emailing written or audio messages to talesfromthecask@gmail.com! And please rate & review us in iTunes if you haven’t done so!

We hit the road this week with our friends from Sierra Nevada and take you on an exclusive look at their new brewery in Mills River, NC! We were there for the grand finale of the 2014 Beer Camp Across America Tour, and we were able to get Bill Manly, the Sierra Beer Ambassador off the bus and into the brewery to talk about all things Sierra!

Once we got back to our bar, we tried 4 brews from the Beer Camp Collaboration 12-pack: Myron's Walk with Allagash Brewing, Alt Route with Victory Brewing, Chico King - 3 Floyds Brewing, and finish strong with Maillard’s Odyssey with Bell’s Brewing. Plus, we had an intern!  

Many interesting stories await you in the beer world this week. The Washington Post reports thatcorn is getting a new look from brewers, we check out a blog posting (and a Venn diagram!) from Timeout Chicago regarding the use of women’s images in selling beer, we travel to Ho Chi Minh City via The Boulder Daily Camerawith brewer Alex Violette, and Norway's far north with The BBC, examine the West Coast drought with Everything On Tap and finish with the Men’s Journalon Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp Tour.

We have fun and informative answers to the  #caskquiz “what beer apps are you using?” Next week we ask “what beer was your fave from Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp collaborations?”

We love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, tweeting us @talescask, following our Instagram @talescask, posting on and liking our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TalesFromTheCask or emailing written or audio messages to talesfromthecask@gmail.com! And please rate & review us in iTunes if you haven’t done so!

We go digital this week with the founders of PintLabs, a subsidiary of SteadyServ! They talk about how they met, the origin of their company, their website BreweryDB.com  and the cool beer apps Brewery Map and Pocket Beer.  

These guys love great beer like we do, so we deliver the goods from Sierra Nevada with their Vienna Lager and Flipside Red IPA, and the incredible AleSmithX Extra Pale Ale!

This week our news sources span the globe, from Russia to Hotlanta! We start with The Washington Post which revealswhere the biggest beer, wine, and liquor drinkers live in the U.S., check in with Mother Jones who publish a scathing piece onBud and Miller having issues dealing with the craft beer craze, learn from Russia Today thatChina’s beer market may be bigger than the US’s by 2017, travel with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to atasting of all of Samuel Adams “extreme beers”, and wind up with CSPNet and discoverthe leading purchase drivers among craft beer drinkers.

We are still getting answers to the  #caskquiz “what is the most exotic ingredient you have tried in a beer?” and have new ones to this week’s #caskquiz “what was your fave summer brew this season?” Next week we ask “what beer apps are you using?”

We love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, tweeting us @talescask, following our Instagram @talescask, posting on and liking our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TalesFromTheCask or emailing written or audio messages to talesfromthecask@gmail.com! And please rate & review us in iTunes if you haven’t done so!

We are winding down the summer brews this week!  We found some beers even Jenn and Tony haven’t tried including West Sixth Lemongrass Wheat, Westbrook Old Claw, and Foothills July IPA of the Month!

We go high tech with our news stories this week and discuss the growing craft beer culture at tech companies, sending yeast to space with Ninkasi, and brewing beer from yeast collected from an ancient whale bone!  If you haven’t taken your summer vacation yet, we also report on the Top 10 Emerging Beer Cities and follow up on our reports about beer being sold in college stadiums.

There are some great responses to last week’s  #caskquiz “what is the most exotic ingreidient you have tried in a beer?” Join us in winding down the summer for this week’s #caskquiz “what was your fave summer brew this season?”

We love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, tweeting us @talescask, following our Instagram @talescask, posting on and liking our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TalesFromTheCask or emailing written or audio messages to talesfromthecask@gmail.com! And please rate & review us in iTunes if you haven’t done so!

We are into new releases this week from Germany and California! We start with the refreshing Edelstoff from Munich’s Augustiner, then ramp up with LagunitasLittle Sumpin’ Extra, and make a strong finish with the incredible very limited-edition Sierra NevadaBeer Camp Across AmericaWest Coast Double IPA!

There is more news spanning the globe this week. We start by concluding our World Cup coverage with a story from The Wall Street Journalof a sad tale of thieves spoiling the German celebrations. We keep sporty with The Boston Globe’slook at the baseball All-Star game and new self-serve beer machines, talk about how beer is more and more in the mainstream media with stories about LA Beer Week from LA Weekly and Sierra Nevada Beer Camp from the Asheville Citizen- Times, and take 5 great craft beer vacations via TheStreet.com.We finish our travels with NPR andMaine seaweed beer and The Idaho Statesman reporting onthe growing demand for Idaho barley.

We have great tweets and pictures this week with responses to last week’s #caskquiz “what is your favorite place to drink a beer?” Please join us for this week’s #caskquiz “what is the most exotic ingredient you have tried in a beer?”

We love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, tweeting us @talescask, following our Instagram @talescask, posting on and liking our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TalesFromTheCask or emailing written or audio messages to talesfromthecask@gmail.com! And please rate & review us in iTunes if you haven’t done so!

We travel through time this week (listen and see what we mean!) with a fan favorite, the always fun Joe Zonin from local brewing heroes Carolina Brewing Company! CBC is celebrating its 19th birthday in July, and we join them at the legendary Raleigh, NC restaurant that bought their first keg all those years ago! This week we taste their Carolina Summer Ale and the delicious 19th Anniversary Imperial IPA!

The news is plentiful in the beer world this week. BostInno has a story aboutwhat happens in your mind when you drink beer or coffee, while Paste Magazine shares 4 awesome TED talks about craft beer. Lehigh Valley Live clues us in to what you need to plant in your garden to brew beer, Plastics News reveals that Sidel has created a plastic beer bottle that looks like glass, and we wind up with a sad story about a reporter from the NY Daily News who watched the World Cup match between the US and Belgium and how he was soaked in beer & drowned in sorrow in the aftermath.

We have great tweets this week with responses to last week’s #caskquiz “what is your favorite canned beer?” We will take this week’s #caskquiz “what is your favorite place to drink a beer?”

We love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, tweeting us @talescask, following our Instagram @talescask, posting on and liking our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TalesFromTheCask or emailing written or audio messages to talesfromthecask@gmail.com! And please rate & review us in iTunes if you haven’t done so!

What a great show we have for the 4th of July featuring those heroic podcasting patriots, Fitz & Mike from “On Tap with Fitz and Mike!” They share their unique insights and incredible singing voices with us, all while trying 3 delicious brews: AleSmithNut Brown Ale, BoonGeuze Mariage Parfait, and The Alchemist Heady Topper.

Lots of interesting news is out this week. We start with the Wall Street Journal and their story on how the large brewers are looking for a big summer, we find out that a beer slushy maker is the answer to The HuffPo’s prayers, listen in as NPR matches US versus Belgium beers in honor of the their World Cup contest, chuckle at My San Antonio’s takedown of the “food babe,” and welcome Missouri to the club of states that allow single-bottle beer sales.

We have great tweets this week with responses to last week’s #caskquiz “what is the oldest beer in your cellar and how old is it?” And don’t forget to reply to this week’s #caskquiz “what is your favorite canned beer?”

We love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, tweeting us @talescask, following our Instagram @talescask, posting on and liking our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TalesFromTheCask or emailing written or audio messages to talesfromthecask@gmail.com! And please rate & review us in iTunes if you haven’t done so!

After Tony & Jenn’s live remote and Chip’s coastal excursion last week, we are back in the Sunny Lands in our little bar! And we know you are following the World Cup, so we celebrate with our own Tales TankardTM beer competition! The challengers are Palma Louca and Xingu from host Brazil, Germany’s Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen, France’s La Goutte D’Or Chateau Rouge, Belgium’s Rodenbach Caractère Rouge, and from the Netherlands La Trappe Quadrupel. Who advances? Listen and find out!

We do a deep dive in the interwebs for the news this week, starting with FinancesOnline’s look at beer prices in different countries around the world, the USA Today examining colleges considering beer sales in stadiums, and finish up with a report from Brewbound regarding dastardly shenanigans in the global aluminum market and a House bill to address them.

We have several tweets this week with responses to last week’s #caskquiz “what’s your favorite #sundayfunday or brunch beer?” And please reply to this week’s #caskquiz “what is the oldest beer in your cellar and how old is it?”

We love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, tweeting us @talescask, following our Instagram @talescask, posting on and liking our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TalesFromTheCask or emailing written or audio messages to talesfromthecask@gmail.com! And please rate & review us in iTunes if you haven’t done so!

We're taking the show on road this week!  Chip is on vacation so Tony and Jenn pack up the gear and head over to Crank Arm Brewing Company to enjoy some brews and have some great conversation with Brewmaster Michael Morris.  Michael shares his beer story, talks about the inspiration for his ingredients, the recurring theme across his beer names, and some of the exciting things happening at Crank Arm Brewing Company.

We sample several Crank Arm Brewing creations including Whitewall Wit, Unicycle Single Hop Pale Ale, Hopaway Hoppy Belgian Saison, Rydeaway Saison with Rye Malt, hefebiken, and Trail Bandit Peanut Butter Stout.

We have some great news items for you this week.  We talk about Lagunitas' new taproom in Chicago, new beer regulations that will help craft brewers in New York, a blogger battle "victory" against Anheuser-Busch and other big brewers, and 13 craft beers to serve at your wedding.

We also share some great responses to last week's #CaskQuiz and toss out a new question for you.  This week's #CaskQuiz question is, "What is your #sundayfunday or brunch beer?"

We love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, tweeting us @talescask, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing written or audio messages to talesfromthecask@gmail.com! And please rate & review us in iTunes if you haven’t done so!

It was a dark and stormy afternoon - perfect for trying great summer special brews in the comfort of our favorite bar! This week’s lineup is terrific! We start with Foothill Brewing’sJune IPA of the Month: Jasmine. Next we have a special Sierra Nevada beer from their new brewery in Mills River, NC - Rain Check Spiced Stout! It’s the brewery’s answer to the merciless wet weather that plagued and slowed construction of the new site since breaking ground in April 2012. We finish up with a great beer from Rogue - their Marionberry Braggot!

We split our news segment in two this week, with domestic and international parts. In the US, we learn that a revolution in beer lies in a return to the Middle Ages, we visit the best beer gardens in America, and we finish with a story about brewers canning beer versus bottling it. Internationally, we find that Russia has a plan to limit beer bottle size, we travel to the most expensive cities for a beer, we ask for a beer in many languages, and we see why it’s not a good idea to drive drunk on a beer cooler.

We have several tweets this week with responses to last week’s #caskquiz “What beer would you drink near a body of water?” Join us for this week’s #caskquiz “Where is your favorite place to have a beer in the summertime?”

We love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, tweeting us @talescask, posting on and liking our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TalesFromTheCask or emailing written or audio messages to talesfromthecask@gmail.com! And please rate & review us in iTunes if you haven’t done so!