Everything’s bigger in Texas, and that includes the awesome ciders from Austin Eastciders! Sales gurus Brad McKeever and Ryan McAulay join us in the bar and relate the story of the cidery, the scene in East Austin, and then they share delicious ciders with us: Original Dry, Blood Orange, Pineapple, and Texas Honey!

Much to Chip’s delight, econ news leads the week via The New York Times which asks will Trump’s tariff trade policy fit into a can of beer? Next we have Newsday showcasing an 'Atlas of Beer' that surveys beer culture around the world, followed by two BrewDog stories: one in The Sun reporting that BrewDog is facing backlash over its ‘new’ cheaper Pink IPA beer for girls and the other from ABC News on BrewDog’s crowdfunded craft beer hotel opening this summer in Ohio! We wind up the week with Forbes showing that  hard cider sales slipped and then rebounded!

Then we have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked ”what’s the funkiest alcohol sales rule where you live?” while this week we are asking “do you think that the tariff on aluminum will change your beer purchases?”

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us , following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

This week we are so excited to introduce an old friend from a new partner brewery - it’s Greg Leone from Michigan’s Roak Brewing! Greg gives us all the skinny on the doings in Royal Oak and tells us how much he misses living in NC! Plus: shorts! Then we get to sample three crazy good brews: Live Wire IPA, Devil Dog Oatmeal Stout, and HopGazer IPA!

Craft beer and health are at the top of the newshour via Fox News revealing that craft beer drinkers have healthier habits than non-craft drinkers. Next up The Financial Times reports that the US craft beer slowdown has sent the hops market from boom to bust. We close with The Chicago Tribune showing us that craft beer icon Three Floyds' brewery will triple in size and The USA Today shining the spotlight on craft brewers who are seeking to involve more African Americans.

Then we have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked  “what’s your go-to beer after your workout?” This week we want to know “do you do things like drink diet non-alcoholic beverages or eat low-calorie foods to allow yourself the space to drink craft beers? If so what?”

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us , following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

We are so in the spirit of Valentine’s Day this year, and the great folks at Crispin, Lost Abbey, and Hardywood are there for us! They have some great red tastes for us this week, including Crispin Rose Cider, Lost Abbey Framboise Amarosa Barrel-Aged Raspberry Sour, and Hardywood Raspberry Stout!

We have a follow up story in the news from that terrific piece in The Atlantic last month courtesy of Bloomberg offering up craft brewing as a model for helping the middle class. Next KNSD San Diego reports that Stone Brewing is taking on 'big beer' giant MillerCoors for use of the 'Stone' Brand, followed by The Seattle Times revealing that Seattle-based PicoBrew is going professional with its Z series beer-brewing machine. We close this week with The Boston Globe pouring us post-race beers with electrolytes and Live Science’s trip in the wayback machine to show ancient ale: or the oldest beer in Greece dating to the Bronze Age!  

Then we have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked “if you could combine two beers (or styles of beers) for flavor what would they be?” This week we want to know “what’s your go-to beer after your workout?”

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us , following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

We all know about the medicinal properties of craft beer in moderation, and who better to discuss them with than our friends Scott Goudy, Samuel Itin, and Neal Nealing from Medthink Communications! We chat about what the lads do at Medthink and and get to try some big stouts: Evolution Rise UP, Foothills Sexual Chocolate 2018, and Lagunitas Cafe Con Leche! Plus we learn that they are budding podcasters!

It was really hard to cull the news this week! We being with Business Insider’s profile of a former biotech executive left her day job to open her own brewery. Next up The WaPo Wonkblog ventures their opinion that Budweiser’s Super Bowl ad is a plea to its fleeing customers, followed by The BBC reporting that North Korea is launching an  'exclusive' new beer. We close the news with Munchies suggesting that you punish yourself with a pepper spray-flavoured craft beer!

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us , following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

It took us years of patient asking, and this week Jenn closes the deal and brings in our retailer friend and frequent contributor Bruce McKim! Bruce tells us his origin story, talks about the evolution of craft beer retailing, and shares some of his cool can/bottle collection! Plus he has some taste treats including Wicked Weed Angel of Darkness 2015, Mikkeller/Three Floyds Salmon Pants, Dogfish Oak Aged Vanilla World Wide Stout, and the just-released Wicked Weed 5th Anniversary Still Sour with Apricots!

We have more fun news in the craft beer world this week, beginning with Science! VinePair shows us a Brooklyn scientist and his two-headed monster turning craft beer into whiskey! Next we have The New York Times visiting the buzz in Stockholm with craft beer featuring less buzz, followed by The Bozeman Daily Chronicle debuting cooperative craft breweries as a new approach to revitalizing small towns. We wind up with Food & Wine telling us why you really need a new scratch and sniff beer guide!

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us, following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

So the sunny lands were a bit snowy last week, and we were trapped away from the bar! Thank goodness it melted and we were able to rejoice with delicious new treats from Upland Brewing! The lineup was outstanding: Prim Barrel-Aged Fruited Sour, Revive Barrel-Aged Fruited Sour, and the Crimson Wood-Aged Sour!

You take a week off, the news piles up! We begin in The Atlantic where we learn that craft beer is the strangest, happiest economic story in America. Next up is The New York Times offering two big brewers joining the New England I.P.A. craze, followed by strategy+business and their question can craft beer continue to tap into growth? We wind up the week with Civil Eats’ visit to foraged craft beer and Wired’s dateline Jan. 24, 1935: first canned beer sold!

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us , following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

We are all back in the little bar and we have a New Year’s treat thanks to our good friend Kat Dougan with Founders Brewing! Kat drops by to share all the doings from Founders, and she shares some terrific beers with us! They are the All Day IPA, Azacca IPA, Sumatra Mountain Brown Imperial Brown Ale, and the Breakfast Stout!

Chip returns to the news desk with Paste asking what is "independent" beer worth to you? Next we have Ozy in Thailand revealing that craft beer is illegal there … but rebel brewers are fighting back, followed by The Drinks Business dropping by a Canadian bar that charges $15 for Bud Light to promote craft beer. We close up with MassLive’s list of the 5 craft beer personality types and The Chicago Tribune reporting that Lyft is launching a Chicago craft beer to offer ride discounts!

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us, following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

Happy New Year Tales Fans!  We are ringing in 2018 with a new round up of beers with show regular Connor Desmonds.  He brings us the latest innovations including the latest spring seasonal Hop Bullet and new year round offering Hazy Little Thing. We then jump straight into the latest 12pack 4 way Variety pack containing a twist sure to be greeted with joy if you are a coffee lover.  

You may notice Chip’s absence this week but Tony and Jenn step up to the news desk with some lighthearted stories to start the year.  We learn about barley being grown at the International Space station and follow one man’s journey to survive on nothing but beer for a week.  Many of us donned our beer jackets for New Years Eve but we discover scientific evidence on why this is a bad idea.  We also follow the latest coffee/beer collaboration news as Dunkin Donuts releases a beer to celebrate the winter solstice. 

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked ”Have you ever been to an ax throwing bar or would you go to one?” This week we ask ”What new beer are you most excited to see/try in 2018” 

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us , following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

We can’t believe we are 5 this year with our Holiday Spectacular! As always, we have so many of our friends from the year stop by with some of their astounding whales to share for the good cheer of the yuletide! Joining us is a murderer’s row of guests including Jon, Connor, Matt, Thomas, Greg, Dave, Jake, Tim, Nikko, Beth, Marlise, and Wil, plus longtime listeners and contributors Brian and Scott! We had a very special appearance by Hoda! And of course, the two who were there at the beginning, Aubrey and Joe!

We offer up just a wee bit of news this week before the festivities! Forbes reports that passage of the new tax bill brings lower levies to brewers.Then we have (just for Tony) NY Upstate’s exciting spoiler reveal that the next Ommegang/Game of Thrones beer is an epic barleywine!

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us, following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

And a very Happy Festivus to all our friends!

It’s almost time for our Holiday Spectacular, and while we are getting ready for the festivities we share some spectacular treats from Foothills, Ballast Point, and Lagunitas! They are the Foothills People’s Moravian Porter, Ballast Point High West Victory at Sea, and Lagunitas Willetized Coffee Stout!

Good cheer and good news in the beer world abound this week, beginning with The Boston Globe and the exciting announcement that Sam Adams is the new official beer of the Red Sox! Next up some econ via The Cheat Sheet who show us an historical look at the price of beer, followed by Vice and the sad news that a Beyoncé-inspired beer is no more. We close with KDKA Pittsburgh toasting scientists who have figured out how to turn beer into petrol and Food & Wine visiting a craft beer-focused axe-throwing bar!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked ”do you know any craft cideries near you and if so who are they?” This week we want to know ”would you go (or have you gone) to an axe throwing bar?”

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us, following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!