We are keeping it local this week when we are joined by John Oldendorf from Raleigh’s Clouds Brewing! John tells us all about the brewery and lets us try a terrific lineup of beers: Wolkenbrau, Precipitation, Mission to Marzen, El Hefe, One Eye Pale Ale and Crimea River!

We begin the newstime with excitement from PA via the The Reading Eagle reporting that beer distributors will be able to sell six-packs starting Tuesday, followed by The LA Times’ totally rad travelogue mapping out how to plan a craft beer crawl along the Metro Gold Line, and then Patch reveals that Surly is going to release a new 'Thanks Obama' beer on Inauguration Day. Next up is Bloomberg’s piece on Japan’s rural towns luring tax from Tokyo with beef and beer and we close with The Motley Fool admonishing us no, marijuana legalization isn't crushing craft beer.

Instead of a #caskquiz this week, we are introducing a #caskcontest: help us create a new slogan for our all-new t-shirts! Cool Tales swag will follow to the winner!

 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 or friending on Untappd @talesfromthecask, 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 or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

We are so lucky to be working with our friends from Sierra Nevada! Why so? Because as always, they are bringing us new treats for a new year! It’s our old buddies Tommy Gannon and Dave Kemper, and with them we are trying three all-new goodies: Sidecar Orange Pale Ale, Tropical Torpedo Tropical IPA, and the delectable Beer Camp Golden IPA!

How about news from the midwest this week? We start with Forbes in Philly telling us if you like your local beer week you're going to love beer year, followed by The Detroit Free Press showing us how top Michigan craft brewers aim to take over the country. Next up is The Chicago Tribune thinking that your next beer may taste like a cocktail, and we wind up with The USA Today teasing that the actual Keurig for beer is coming!

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 or friending on Untappd @talesfromthecask, 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 or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

It’s a Happy New Year from the three of us at the bar this week! We ring in 2017 with some beers from Allagash, Boon, Starpoint, and Foothills that were hidden in Tony & Jenn’s secret stashes! These treats include a 2012 Allagash Interlude, a 2013 Boon Kriek Mariage Parfait, a 2014 Starpoint Whiskeytown, and the amazing 2016 Foothills Simcoe Double IPA Hop of the Month!

New news for 2017 as we begin with Thrillist not Rickrolling by announcing that Rick Astley is launching his own beer, followed by Forbes revealing how your DNA can predict your beer preferences, then The Independent UK goes hunting for foraged beer. Next we have Daily Meal in Denver with brewers who have created a ‘Pussy Riot’ Beer for Inauguration Day, SmartAsset listing the best cities for beer drinkers – 2016 Edition, Business Insider is providing everything you need to know about beer, in one chart, and we close with Mashable showing us Australia's oldest living prime minister who really knows how to chug a beer!

For last week’s #caskquiz which we are continuing this week we want to know what predictions you have for beer in 2017!

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 or friending on Untappd @talesfromthecask, 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 or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

For the final episode of the year the tales crew is together one last time for some brunch and post revelry pairings. We were joined by guest Mike Burns who oversees several area restaurants with locations throughout the triangle that serve breakfast/brunch with a Louisiana twist. Knowing that Tales is on an endless quest to uncover the most festive food and beer pairings, Mike provided some spectacular fare for us to match with some post-new years celebration beers and ciders to ease you into 2017. We sample Southbound Shakedown Street, Session Lager from Full Sail with some first class Shrimp and Grits. We also got our cider and beignet fix with Blake’s Archimedes cider.

We wind the year in news down with a barrage of stories including a Chicago Tribune  analysis of how rare rare really is? , New Spanish Hops Growers!, We take a look at how Crux Fermentation Project is looking at social media. From there we head north to Eau Claire and discuss two very old breweries collaborating for a momentous anniversary, 21st Amendment let’s us in on the Art of naming beer. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at examples of new regional styles and finally, Vinepair gives us a lesson on bottle conditioning and the real “champagne” of beers.

For last week’s #caskquiz we wanted to know your fave beer-related thing from 2016 and this week we are asking what predictions you have for beer in 2017!

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 or friending on Untappd @talesfromthecask, 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 or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

We survived another Holiday Spectacular, and it took us a week to clean the bar! To celebrate, we have some whales we have been holding from Anchor, Trinity, and Sam Adams! We start with a 2001 (that’s right, 2001!) Magnum of Anchor Christmas Ale, followed by Trinity Hopped Toddy, and then we go deep with the astounding 2011 Sam Adams Utopias!

You would think the news would slow down for the holidays. Nope! We start with The Chicago Tribune reporting that A-B InBev’s Goose Island is going global with pubs and brewhouses in 6 countries (and Philly), followed by The Wall Street Journal listening for  Anglican church bells ringing in beer o’clock, and Forbes telling you how to get a career in beer. Next we have Popular Mechanics showing how any food can be turned into beer, and then Paste has two for us, both the best beer and booze trends of 2016 and a tasting of 3 whiskeys distilled from craft beers, and we close with Thrillist delivering us a craft beer nerd getting owned by a legendary brewer.

For last week’s #caskquiz we wanted to know your favorite historically-themed beer and this week we are asking what your fave beer-related thing was from 2016!

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 or friending on Untappd @talesfromthecask, 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 or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

Is it Santa? Is it? Not quite yet! It’s our 4th annual Holiday Spectacular! We are joined in the bar with love and good cheer by our friends Jenny, Rick, Thomas, Bryan, Glen, Colleen, Brian and Jacque, Scott, Chris, Carl, Mark, and of course the two who started it all with us, Joe & Aubrey!

In a lavish exchange of bottles, some cellared for years, We shared our whales and spread merriment. This years list included:

Carolina Brewing Company Quad

Carolina Brewing Company Imperial Stout

Ballast Point Peppermint VAS

Ballast Point Employee Release BA Stout

DuClaw Retribution 2014

Foothills BBA Sexual Choc 2014

Ommegang BA Three Philosophers

Hardywood BA GBS

Compass Rose Spiced Belgian Pale Ale
Sierra Nevada Brux

Deschutes Black Butte XXVI

Shorts Juicy Tree

Clown Shoes Itasca LoonDragon

Adroit Theory Black IPA

We do a quick look at a few news items before the merriment begins! First up MegaMergerManiaTM continues via The New York Times as Asahi has agreed to buy beer brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev for $7.8 billion! Next up is The Mother Nature Network helpfully suggesting how to pair craft beer with vegetarian fare, followed by DNAInfo giving us a second chance to taste rare beer made from black truffles, then CNN offering the world's best beer-brewing countries, and we close with The HuffPo demonstrating a DIY glow-in-the-dark beer made with a jellyfish gene!

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 or friending on Untappd @talesfromthecask, 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 or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

We are getting ready for our Festivus/Chrismukkah spectacular next week, so we have been decking the halls, trimming the tree, and relaxing with great brews from New Sarum, Sierra Nevada, and Wicked Weed + Jester King! The terrific brews are New Sarum Session IPA, Sierra Nevada Trip to the Woods Bière de Garde, and the Wicked Weed/Jester King Collaboration Red Atrial Barrel Aged Sour with Raspberries!

You know we loves us some history, and this week our friends from New Sarum Brewing in Salisbury NC combine it with terrific beers! Our friends Edward Moscardini, brother Gian Moscardini, and their brewmaster Andy Maben join us at the bar to talk about their brewery, discuss the relation of the two Salisburys, and taste some awesome beers with us! Our lineup includes Hurley Park Blood Orange Wheat, Old Stone House IPA and the fourth quarter seasonal Horchata Milk Stout!

Can you believe it’s been almost a year since we visited Tim Reichert at Fainting Goat Brewing? Neither can we! They just celebrated their one-year anniversary so we head down to join the fun! Tim gives us the latest news from Fuquay-Varina, and we share a terrific sampler of Butthead Brown Ale, Dark Hoof Dunkelweizen, Brewquay Double IPA, and Red Ale with Serrano Habanero and Cacao Nibs!

Thanksgiving is all about traditions, and ours is having our foodie friend Kristen Baughman share awesome Thanksgiving and beer pairings! Kristen discusses her return to the Triangle and her terrific new venture, Tabletop Media Group! Then we get down to business with our pairings, featuring:

We are thankful for the news, well, some of it anyway! First up is the sad news via The New York Times that a Canadian brewery is cutting a retiree perk of free beer for life, followed by The Burlington Free Press featuring Jeff Baker's Thanksgiving beer picks, and then Fortune reporting that the maker of Corona is seeing its stock tumble after Trump’s victory. Next up via our friend Marvin Bahr is a story from Food and Wine revealing that Rodenbach is bringing its oldest and newest beers to America, then VinePair provides us a pair:  a study finding that a beer a day is good for your heart plus a primer on the difference between making beer, wine & spirits, and we wind up with ZDNET’s piece on researchers who claim a quantum computing breakthrough, and explain it using beer!