It’s time to fire up the grill this week with those renowned pitmasters Don Chartier & Ethan Boylan from Lagunitas! The lads come to town to cook for our team and serve up some tantalizing brews to pair with the food: Born Yesterday Pale Ale, 12th of Never Ale, and Eroica Flemish Farmhouse Ale!

It’s World Series time and of course it’s intersecting the beer world courtesy of The LA Times’s report that LA Mayor Garcetti's World Series bet is rankling L.A.'s craft brewing community! Next we have guidelive showing how craft beer hopes to brew diversity beyond the stereotypical bearded white guys. We then move to Food Republic asking would you drink Dead Sea salt beer? and we wind up with Chicagoist’s opinion on what Chicagoland craft beer goes best with classic Halloween candies?

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked “if the BA crowd-sourced buyout goes through….what should AB-Inbev be renamed?” This week we want to know “if you were mayor of your fave Major League Baseball city, which beer would you bet with your opposing mayor?”

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’s double jeopardy in the bar this week courtesy of our friends Jake Taylor and Spencer Kilgore from Ballast Point! The guys share the latest scoop from San Diego and tell us all about the new Virginia brewery, which is now open to the public! Plus we have more BP goodness with the Fathom IPA and the Sour Wench!

Exciting MegaMergerManiaTM news leads us this week from craftbeer.com relating the new tongue-in-cheek effort to crowdsource a purchase of behemoth A-B InBev! Next up VinePair examines the clickbait headlines blaming millennials for killing craft beer. We close with Ozy taking us where farmers are turning into craft beer brewers and Mikkeller announcing its collaboration with filmmaker David Lynch!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which posed the question “have you ever used beer for medicinal purposes and if so what ailment?” This week we want to know “if the BA buyout goes through….What should AB-Inbev be renamed?

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 have a new guest from an Olde friend, as in Sara Miller from Olde Hickory! Sara joins us to reveal all the latest from western NC and has two incredibly delicious treats for us: Wheatwine and the intrepid pioneer Daniel Boone Barrel-Aged Imperial Brown Ale!!

There’s topical news for Tony & Jenn after their trip to Denver! It’s in The Full Pint with some suggestions for an overhaul for the Great American Beer Festival! Next we visit our friends from Chippewa Falls via The New York Times on Leinenkugel, an old brewery learning new tricks. We close with Atlas Obscura (via our buddy Frank C) revealing a craftbeer named by a neural network and WCSH (in Portland ME) asking could a new beer help women going through menopause?

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which posed the question “what airport is your favorite for craft beer?” This week we want to know “have you ever used beer for medicinal purposes and if so what ailment?”

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 most definitely southbound this week - as in Savannah’s amazing Southbound Brewing courtesy of our friends Smith Mathews and Carly Wiggins! Carly lets us in on the latest from the brewery while Smith is hard at work helping craft a delicious fall treat with us. And of course he has to tackle the three questions! As a bonus, we try three beers that go well in a flight: Starpoint I Yam What I Yam, Southbound Picture of Nectar, and Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme!

Real beer life intersects nicely with the news beginning with The Denver Post’s belief that perhaps craft beer is facing an identity crisis as the Great American Beer Festival arrives in Denver. Next we have The USA Today listing the best airports for craft beer lovers (perfect for Tony & Jenn as they travel) followed by Ozy’s cool piece on craft beer and steam trains in the UK! We wind up with NPR delving into the taming of the brew or how sour beer is driving a microbial gold rush and Paste (via intrepid field reporters Steve L & Frank C and Darrell D) ranking 176 of the Best DIPA/Imperial IPAs!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which posed the question “who is the closest craft brewery to your house and how far is it?” This week we want to know “what airport is your favorite for 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!

We are traveling through time and space courtesy of the Delorean this week to bring you Eric and Bret Kuhnhenn from Kuhnhenn Brewing! Tony and Jenn fire up the Mr. Fusion and head to Warren, MI to visit Eric and Bret, learn all about the brewery, and bring back the astoundingly delicious whale Raspberry Eisbock!

With Chip back, the newsroom presented him with a plethora of beer business news beginning with Motley Fool asking has AB-InBev finally had its fill of craft beer? Next up Forbes reports that despite slowed growth, craft beer's economic contribution has jumped 20%, and then Visual Capitalist presents cool graphics showing which cities are fueling America’s craft beer boom. We close with Boise State Public Radio revealing that slower growth for craft beer is leaving Northwest hops producers with a surplus and NPR (via our friend Steve L) on the next big thing in beer: a small taproom!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which posed the question “what’s your craft beer name from the Twitter game featuring your grandfather’s job and a word you don’t understand?” This week we want to know “who is the closest craft brewery to your house and how far is it?”

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!

Chip is on sabbatical this week so Tony and Jenn track down one of the few Sierra Nevada employees who has yet to be interviewed for Tales!  Connor tells us how he got into the biz and what is new with Sierra, including a fun collaboration with a local celebrity chef!

Since Connor is a known whale hunter we track down a few hard to find beers for him including a Three Floyds Floy Division II IPA, Hardywood’s Cuvee Gold and Barrel Aged Chico-Style Wild Ale.  He also brings us a Rue D’Floyd to try!

Tony jumps behind the news desk to talk about a Beer for Horses, how much beer Wisconsonians really drink and the latest scientific breakthroughs in brewing.  In honor of our guest’s homeland, we also discuss a new signature beer from Purdue!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which posed the question “what’s your craft beer name from the Twitter game?” This week we want to hear more responses so remember the formula: your grandfather’s job and a word you don’t understand!

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 return from all our various road trips with new treats this week from Windmill, Sierra Nevada and Ellison Brewing! After catching up on the excursions for work and fun, we try some IPAs: Windmill Exit Buddy IPA, Sierra Pronto IPA, and Ellison OFP IPA!

We got a week off from #MegaMergerMania, and it returns via Beer Street Journal (courtesy of our buddy @sfringer) with a brutal day as A-B InBev lays off hundreds of employees in “The High End”. Then we pivot to more fun news, starting with radio station WAMU (thanks to our friend Frank C!) returning to our recently met obscure local fruit, the Pawpaw, a hipster banana, followed by CNBC on how a three-person NC craft beer brewery surged to national fame in just four years. We then share a cool new game from Twitter in Food & Wine that reveals how to name your own craft beer, techdirt reporting that UK craft beer trademark applications have doubled in ten years  and we close with NPR treating us to kelp finding its niche in the craft beer scene!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which posed the question “What’s the strangest thing you have fished out of a pint of beer?” This week we want to know “what’s your craft beer name from the Twitter game?”

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 pack up the travel case and head to Broadway(Street) in Durham to visit second time guest Matt Pennisi. This time Matt is fully permitted and up and running as he gives an update on what’s happening all things Durty Bull. We sample Durty Bull Lager, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Blackberry Sour and Bourbon Barrel-Aged Baltic Porter.

In a seemingly rare week without #MegaMergerMania, Jenn and Tony lead us off with some gear you must procure before heading to German Octoberfest celebrations. We discuss a beer to honor late a late Michigan state punter and report on the continuing court case where Kona Brewing finds itself on the defendant’s chair.  We’ve got some big news for NC State fair goers sure to please those in search of a frosty malt beverage this fall. We finish things up with a progressive idea hoping to take hold in Toronto, particularly for those who enjoy a beer in the park.

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked” Have you ever homebrewed? What style was your first?”

This week we’re dying to know ” What’s the strangest thing you have fished out of a pint of beer?” #caskquiz

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’s contest time in the bar as we host our 2nd annual Homebrew contest! Joining us on our panel of judges are fan faves Aubrey Herbert & Jake Taylor! Here are our results!

1st Place- Chris Nadeau with Trips up North Black IPA

2nd Place- Carl Hoverstad with Syksyn Saison

3rd Place- Heath Perkins with Amber Alert Hoppy Amber Ale

We also are awarding a special jury prize for best label to John Beal II for Purrrgatory Pale Ale!

Before the merriment we have news beginning with The HuffPo reporting BrewDog is now giving its staff a week's paid 'Pawternity' leave! Next we have The Calgary Herald showing that Alberta's craft beer policy is causing collateral damage, followed by Draft Magazine asking why are so many breweries selling their beer in 15-packs? We wind up this week’s news with UPI revealing how scientists turn brewing waste into fresh yeast to make more beer and The Independent telling you how to bathe in brew at the world’s first beer swimming pools!

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked “how much do you usually pay for a six-pack of beer?” and this week we want to know “have you ever homebrewed and what was your first style?”

It’s also time for our 2nd Tales Homebrew Contest! We want to try your best homebrew and there are two categories: true to style and the wildcard! With our recent travels, we are extending the deadline one week! It’s now August 28, 2017! For more details click here!

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 heading for the hill country of Indiana with our good friends Doug Dayhoff and Dusty Howe from Upland Brewing! The guys talk to us about Upland’s origins, it’s expansion into North Carolina, and then they share some great beers with us: Champagne Velvet, Wheat, Coastbuster, Iridescent and Hopsynth!

The world of craft beer intersects the world of weed in the news via Business Insider revealing a beloved craft-brewer is brewing marijuana beer! Next up The Denver Post shows that craft beer is the new weapon in a New Mexico sports rivalry, followed by Think Progress’s opinion that beer is the greenest beverage. We wind down with Craft Brewing Business rocking out and drinking local beer with the band Foreigner and The HuffPo detailing how a six-pack of craft beer ends up costing $12.

We have your responses to last week’s #caskquiz which asked “what’s the most creative thing you have thought of or done while drinking a pint?” and this week we want to know “how much do you usually pay for a six-pack of beer?”

It’s also time for our 2nd Tales Homebrew Contest! We want to try your best homebrew and there are two categories: true to style and the wildcard! With our recent travels, we are extending the deadline one week! It’s now August 28, 2017! For more details click here!

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!