Jimmy, AJ and Joe stop in to Bellaire, MI to check in with our old friends at Short's Brewing, and my how things have changed. Is Bellaire still a quiet Hamlet or a Beer Mecca? And is the slogan still "Michigan Only, Michigan Forever"? (hint: both times, check the latter.) Enjoy a visit with some old friends. Cheers!
A Family puts down roots: Big Elm Brewing.
Talk about a family business: Christine and Bill Heaton met as co-workers at Victory Brewing back the early 2000's, and now as a Wife and Husband team, they own run their own production brewery in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. Big Elm Brewing's beer is beyond terrific, and their story - one of family, sacrifice, and no small amount of courage (and also some really awesome dogs) - is even better. Think you know MA beer? Not until you've tried Big Elm. Take a look!
Big things happening at Breckenridge.
As many of you are aware, there are big things of all different kinds are happening, and have been happening, at Breckenridge Brewing - folks who we consider to be Dear Friends of ours in Craft. We first covered them in Denver in 2009, not long after we began producing regularly. We had a glorious hang at their ballpark pub and met Captain Earthman. Then there was the infamous BBQ 'Buddha Keg' Incident from later that year.
Truth is, the folks at Breckenridge Brewing are friends who've treated us like family, time and time again; they've even taken care of Mark and I as guests of theirs during the Great American Beer Festival in 2010 and 2014. We adore them, we love their beers, and we always believed in their mission.
So we were as surprised as any when it was announced this year, just after they completed their stunning new $40 million dollar campus in Littleton, CO, that they were being purchased by "Big Beer" (ABInBev).
So what's the new normal at Breckenridge? Is the culture the same? Are our friends still there? We stopped in recently, to see what's happening - have a look; what you see may just surprise you. Cheers!
The old 'happy tap truck' in the foreground (it stars in one of our old episodes with them); their new facility in the background.
Oh, how we Long (Island) for Sand City Brewing!
Mark, Jimmy and Squigs take the short journey from NYC to Northport NY, on Long Island; a beautiful little village with a historical part of the very bones of New York City. Also where, right in the middle of Main Street, Sand City Brewing is making craft beer that... well, it pretty much blew our minds. Click below for more about this great place and these TERRIFIC beers that will soon be much, much harder to get. This is a #WalkDontRun alert, people! GET THEE TO NORTHPORT!
Frank McNally, Kevin Sihler, and Bill Kiernan, Co-Owners of Sand City.
This was just the start of DELICIOUS.
Headed back to the Berks, RIP Trader Moe's. (Let's go to the Tavern!)
Guess where we're headed this summer? Western Mass, anyone? Jimmy will be performing at the Berkshire Theatre Festival again, continuing his practice of Musical Theatre Dentistry this time in Little Shop of Horrors - and besides sweet notes and sadism, you know what that means: More visits to MOE's! But Josh Cohen, always an innovator, had another another offering rather close to Moe's Tavern that we need you to remember heading into the Dog Days...join us in looking back at - Trader Moe's. Cheers!
Update: Sadly, Trader Moe's has closed just a few months ago... but Moe's Tavern is still going strong. Join us at Moe's!
Broadway Brews Hamilton: Release Party!
It's already late up on the roof deck of Beer Authority in Midtown Manhattan, but who cares: Let's tear it up!
Time to celebrate - the first incarnation of The Broadway Brews Project has come full circle. What a journey! The plan was made, and the beer was brewed; now it's time to party. Join our Broadway Brewers and their bretheren in the cast of Hamilton an American Musical for the release of Rise Up Rye, brewed with Gun Hill Brewing in honor of Graham Windham and the Eliza Project. Biggest hit show of a generation, sure: But how will the beer taste? Click play and find out.
SPECIAL THANKS TO: The good folks at Beer Authority; Harry Berberian, from Graham Windham, and the GW volunteers; Hollis Scarborough-Rodriguez, for her party planning genius (as well as her hubby Percy); and our crackerjack shooting crew of Ben Leibert, Dane Agostinis, and Squigs.
Broadway Brews Hamilton: BREW DAY!
It's a chilly day in the Bronx. And as our Hamilton Brew Crew gathers in Times Square outside the Richard Rodgers Theatre for their ride north, their compatriots up at Gun Hill Brewing company are 'mashing in' the beginnings of an experimental Rye beer that is set to change the relationship between Craft Beer, Broadway and charity...forever.
But this process cannot complete without the help of Javier Muñoz, David Guzman, and Kamille Upshaw. Click ahead for a peek behind the scenes - and the creation of Rise Up Rye. The release of this beer is Saturday night, 4/30!
(A percentage of sales of #RiseUpRye will go to @GrahamWindham, in support of the #ElizaProject. This is the #BroadwayBrewsProject!)
