Tales From the Cask Craft Beer Podcast

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!

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Category:Tales From the Cask -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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!

Direct download: talesfromthecask243.mp3
Category:Tales From the Cask -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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!

Direct download: talesfromthecask242.mp3
Category:Tales From the Cask -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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!

Direct download: talesfromthecask241.mp3
Category:Tales From the Cask -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

It’s been way too long since we went a-cidering, so this week we are very lucky to have Andrew Blake and Aaron Lanctot from Blake’s Hard Ciders in town! We chat with the lads about the explosion in the number of craft cideries, the latest news from their cidery in Armada, MI, and we get to sample both Archimedes and Snapdragon!

Before we get the cider, we have your news starting with Westword’s wry and deceptively titled opinion piece craft beer is dead — your favorite delicious style killed it! Next up, AdWeek (via Frank C!) shares that (no really, this is funny) Bud Light sent a hilarious cease-and-desist scroll to the makers of ‘Dilly Dilly’ Ale, followed by Forbes asking can a South Korean craft beer crack the U.S. market? and then The Motley Fool offering advice on how to invest in the beer industry. In honor of our guests we have NPR revealing that craft hard cider is on a roll and we wind down with CNet (courtesy of @SFringer!) transporting us to a Star Trek-themed Captain's Holiday beer!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked”what beer-related emoji would you like to see?” This week we ask ”do you know any craft cideries near you and if so who are they?”

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!

Direct download: talesfromthecask240.mp3
Category:Tales From the Cask -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

You demanded it, and now he’s back in his triumphal return: beer writer Bryan D. Roth! Bryan relates his latest adventures in beer and real life and how they sometimes intersect. Plus he samples some super brews with us: Full Sail 8 Pound Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Alpha Hop Society Barrel-Aged Sour Brown Ale, and Wicked Weed Barrel-Aged Milk and Cookies!

The news keeps on coming, and it begins this week with The Washington Post showing us that more bars are booting corporate beer from their taps and doubling down on craft. Next we have The Denver Post introducing an organization that wants the craft beer community to do more than just drink responsibly, followed by another instance of MegaMergerMania via The Denver Business Journal reporting that a Spanish beer maker is buying 30% of Colorado's Avery Brewing. We close with Food & Wine singing the praises of the news that  The Flaming Lips and Dogfish Head are collaborating on a beer, and Gizmodo revealing that  Google has decided that Android users deserve full beers!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked “who your dream brewing collaborators would be and what style of beer would they make?” This week we ask ”what beer-related emoji would you like to see?”

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!

Direct download: talesfromthecask239.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

What better time for coming together than Thanksgiving? We have so much to be thankful for, especially the incredible collaboration brew Olde Rabbit’s Foot, brought to us this week by our friends Sara Miller from Olde Hickory, Robert Owen from Duck Rabbit, and Shawn Densmore from Foothills! Plus our guests share more holiday treats: Olde Hickory Christmas, Foothills Craft Happiness Sustenance, Duck Rabbit Wee Heavy, and Duck Rabbit Rabid Duck!

Before the sipping, we have lots of news this week, starting with The Chicago Tribune’s opinion that the boom in sugary pastry stouts shows that the craft beer industry may be forgetting what beer tastes like. Next up Brewbound reports that Left Hand Brewing has filed a lawsuit against White Labs over allegedly contaminated yeast, then Politico shows us that the Senate tax bill would benefit beer and citrus, and Forbes (courtesy of Frank C!) lays out a road map to 15 craft breweries. We climb aboard with Extra Crispy and a cruise ship brewmaster who makes beer with seawater, while The Chicago Tribune takies us to a Wisconsin pub that offers free beer until the Packers score, and we close with KTVT (Dallas) and a beer named after one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen.

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked “do you think it’s a little pretentious to use terms like “nil” when talking about soccer in American sports reporting?” This week we want to hear “who your dream brewing collaborators would be and what style of beer would they make?”

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!

Direct download: talesfromthecask238.mp3
Category:Tales From the Cask -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Thanksgiving is coming early this year, and we have the beers to pair with that turkey, featuring the always spectacular Anchor Christmas Ale courtesy of our friend Brandon Foglio! We get a few minutes with Brandon to talk about the 2017 release, and then we retire to the bar and sample some of the Sierra Nevada Holiday Haze IPA and our very own Savannah Heat Spicy Wheat collaboration brew made with Smith Mathews from Southbound Brewing!

We have a cornucopia of news for you this week, starting with CBS tagging along on Sierra Nevada’s annual pilgrimage to sniff out the country’s best hops! Next up Bloomberg interviews Budweiser’s ex-marketing chief on the world of weed, followed by CNBC prognosticating that craft beer should enjoy 5 to 6 percent growth, and The New York Times offering to pair beer with that Thanksgiving bird. We close with The LA Times showing us that beer for athletes is the post-workout snack you always wanted, and WCPO in Cincinnati (via intrepid newsman Frank C) reporting that a craft brewery will sell Columbus Crew-themed beer to help keep that MLS club from moving to Austin!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked “if marijuana were legal in your state (or if it is), do you think it would/does affect your beer consumption?” This week we ask “do you think it’s a little pretentious to use terms like “nil” when talking about soccer in American sports reporting?”

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!

Direct download: talesfromthecask237.mp3
Category:Tales From the Cask -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

With this cold damp weather here in Mayberry, we are jonesing for the warmth of sunny southern California and our buddy Wil from Coronado Brewing delivers it! Wil shares the news from San Diego and some terrific beers to boot: Salty Cove Gose, Coastwise Session IPA, and Early Bird Cold Brew Milk Stout!

We have a new spin on MegaMergerMania this week via The Motley Fool reporting that megacorp Constellation Brands wants drinkers to get a different buzz (and it’s not beer!). Next is MSN profiling what happens when whiskey meets craft beer, and Inside Science revealing that geneticists have unlocked the secret of rose and honey scents in beer. We close with Design You Trust unveiling cool beer cans that show the Pantone color of the brew inside!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked “now that you know the Astros won the World Series, if you were the mayor of Houston, what beer would you have bet with the mayor of LA?” This week we would like to know “If marijuana were legal in your state (or if it is), do you think it would/does affect your beer consumption?”

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!

Direct download: talesfromthecask236.mp3
Category:Tales From the Cask -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

We are always excited when Sierra Nevada brings us a new treat, and this week’s no exception! Jenn checks the warehouse and finds that the all-new Fresh Hop IPA 12-pack cans are here! They feature a Session IPA, IPA, Double IPA, and just in time for the holidays, a fresh hop version of the famous Celebration IPA!

We want to school you this week, beginning with some etymology and The American Heritage Dictionary Blog on the evolution of the words ale and beer! Next we have some history courtesy of intrepid field reporters Steve and Frank with NPR’s examination of the other Reformation or how Martin Luther changed our beer, followed by science from CBS MoneyWatch revealing that climate change is hurting craft breweries. We wind down the week with CBC showing that drinking a beer can help you speak a foreign language and CNBC’s chat with Sam Adams' Jim Koch on the secret to his $200 bottle of beer!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked  “if you were mayor of your fave Major League Baseball city, which beer would you bet with your opposing mayor?” This week we are asking “now that you know the Astros won the World Series, if you were the mayor of Houston, what beer would you have bet with the mayor of LA?”

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!

Direct download: talesfromthecask235.mp3
Category:Tales From the Cask -- posted at: 6:00am EDT