Latest / Bards and Barrels / BONUS: The Opening Crack - Dungeon at First Street Brewing

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BONUS: The Opening Crack - Dungeon at First Street Brewing · Bards and Barrels

0:14
SPEAKER_00: It's time for the opening crack, the sideshow to the D show we normally do, where we taste and rank some epic brews.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: How are we doing this evening, fellas?
0:23
SPEAKER_00: This is weird.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: We're not in the basement.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they thought somebody finally has let us out.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: That's what happened.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: We've left left the dungeon.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: Or Melissa kicked us out.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: One of the two happened.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: I don't know which one.
0:32
SPEAKER_02: One's gonna recognize this episode, not the basement.
0:34
SPEAKER_02: No actual crack.
0:36
SPEAKER_04: Like what are we doing?
0:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what is this?
0:38
SPEAKER_04: I bet I grabbed a can for you and just fine.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: It's fine.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: Uh but with that said, no crack tonight because we're actually on location for the first time for the opening crack.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: We are at First Street Brewing in Hastings, Nebraska.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: And joining us for the episode today is the owner and brewmaster for First Street Brewing, Nathan Haft, and fellow DD player and dungeon master, Tony Kavan.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: We'll get to how Tony connects all this here in a little bit, but uh he's gonna be a huge part of the show.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: You just wait, it's gonna be awesome.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: So we do have a beer with us, Nathan.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to introduce the beer a little bit and we'll chat about that.
1:10
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so we're actually this is a little bit of a sneak preview for you guys because this beer probably won't be fully released until September.
1:17
SPEAKER_04: We have done this beer in the past, but it's our Assumption Saison.
1:21
SPEAKER_04: Uh if you haven't noticed with our other beers, we tend to name things after roads around Hastings and Assumption Road.
1:27
SPEAKER_04: Uh so the Assumption Saison, obviously uh Belgian style, made with ginger and chamomile in it.
1:35
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was one of those things where just kind of wanted to pull back to kind of the agricultural roots of the style and just do something interesting with a different herbal approach.
1:47
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
1:47
SPEAKER_04: Uh and it's been one of my favorites ever since my first brewed in my garage.
1:51
SPEAKER_04: Uh and we bring it back every once in a while.
1:53
SPEAKER_04: We it's been gone for probably two years now or a little more.
1:57
SPEAKER_04: Uh so we're just bringing it back.
1:59
SPEAKER_04: Um it's you know, 6.8% in alcohol and just real easy drinker with a nice sort of herbal upfront and then a slight funkiness in the finish that's pretty indicative of a Belgian beer.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: I mean, in terms of beers that we've tried on the show, uh like we've we've had both ends of the spectrum.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: We've gone from pickle beers that are, you know, somebody threw you know Brian in a lager and called it a pickle beer, and you're like, oh, this is disgusting.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: We've been up to like whiskey barrel aged double IPAs and things like that.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: This one is very good.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: I agree with like your your easy drinking on this, because it just like right off the top of my head, if I'm thinking of Saison, like I'm automatically thinking, just in terms of our challenge rating for those of you out there that have listened before, it's like it's gonna be up toward the other end, and then you take that drink and you're like, God, this is this is a beautiful beer.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you.
2:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I enjoy it.
2:47
SPEAKER_04: We enjoy making it.
2:48
SPEAKER_04: I am particularly a big fan of Belgian style beers.
2:52
SPEAKER_04: Uh, a lot of brewers would call them yeast-driven beers because a lot of your flavor is coming from the yeast that's used in brewing it.
2:59
SPEAKER_04: Um I I just think they're beautiful beers.
3:01
SPEAKER_04: Um, and we're actually going to be doing a sort of a celebration of them here at the brewery uh October 19th.
3:08
SPEAKER_04: We're doing an event for the first time ever called the Farmhouse Fete.
3:11
SPEAKER_04: And it's all about Belgian-style beers.
3:14
SPEAKER_04: We'll have us, Lost Way, Thunderhead, and Upper Room all doing Belgian beers.
3:20
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and the idea is for me, you know, okay, when people try to make a Nebraska, and I'm doing air quotes, perfect for when you're on the radio.
3:30
SPEAKER_04: Uh when they try to make a Nebraska beer, they generally are gonna make some kind of lager or some kind of clone of bushlight or something.
3:38
SPEAKER_04: And to me, I would really love to see Nebraskan brewers embrace uh Belgian styles, Saison or the farmhouse styles as they're as they're known, um, as something that is that we can make our own, just because we're an agricultural state.
3:56
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
3:56
SPEAKER_04: You know, uh uh these these beers, like not every Saison is a farmhouse ale, but I mean every Saison is a farmhouse ale, but not every farmhouse ale is a Saison.
4:05
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
4:06
SPEAKER_04: There's beer to guards, other things like that.
4:08
SPEAKER_04: But those styles came out of agriculture.
4:12
SPEAKER_04: Uh this the Saison was named so because of the seasonal workers.
4:16
SPEAKER_04: Uh it was what the farmers would brew for the workers because the water wasn't potable.
4:21
SPEAKER_04: Now back then it was like 3%.
4:22
SPEAKER_04: And of course we we had to change that.
4:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we were like 3% now.
4:28
SPEAKER_04: 6.8, that's much better.
4:30
SPEAKER_04: Um so I I'm it's something that we're trying to do.
4:33
SPEAKER_04: I can tell you we've got the farmhouse fat.
4:35
SPEAKER_04: I know at least upper room, and I'm hoping Lostway and Thunderhead will do it as well.
4:39
SPEAKER_04: Um, Michael and I are both trying, we're making an attempt at doing a Nebraska farmhouse ale.
4:45
SPEAKER_04: Uh the only requirement I put on it was 20% corn in the grist, because that's what we grow a lot of here, you know.
4:51
SPEAKER_04: Uh and all that's gonna do is probably thin the beer out a little bit and give it a little bit drier profile, uh, which for a saison is perfect.
4:58
SPEAKER_04: You know, if you think about what a somebody working out in the fields is gonna drink, something that's crisp and dry on the finish is gonna be really nice on a hot day, you know?
5:07
SPEAKER_04: So he and I are both doing that.
5:08
SPEAKER_04: I'm hoping the others will jump in on it as well.
5:10
SPEAKER_04: I would love to see it become a trend with Nebraska brewers that we could make it a style indicative of our state, because we are an agricultural state.
5:19
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
5:20
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
5:21
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, and then the Saison, you know, it's this assumption Saison is just pretty.
5:26
SPEAKER_04: It has that that chamomile gives it a round kind of fruit flavor, the ginger gives it a bit of spice.
5:32
SPEAKER_04: Uh and then uh if you if you notice it or not, the the yeast of a of a Saison typically gives it almost like a bubblegum overtone.
5:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
5:40
SPEAKER_02: I love how balanced it is because even though the ginger's in there, it's there's a little spice, but it's not a bite.
5:46
SPEAKER_03: Right.
5:47
SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't I can't feel it on the back of my tongue, and sometimes that gets stuck there.
5:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, this doesn't.
5:52
SPEAKER_03: There's yeah, there's just enough of it there that you do notice it and appreciate it.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: Yes, absolutely.
5:57
SPEAKER_04: That's what we really wanted.
5:58
SPEAKER_04: We really try to go for like a almost a touch of heat from the ginger, but just enough to like let you know ginger's there.
6:05
unknown: Yeah, yeah.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: Is chamomile like a common beer herb?
6:09
SPEAKER_04: I don't think a lot of people use it.
6:11
SPEAKER_04: No.
6:11
SPEAKER_04: Um tea.
6:12
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
6:13
SPEAKER_04: Okay, I was trying to think of where I think chamomile from.
6:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
6:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
6:16
SPEAKER_04: Uh chamomile tea.
6:18
SPEAKER_04: Um I have seen in the past several brewers in Nebraska do hibiscus saisons, which are very pretty as well.
6:25
SPEAKER_04: Um, I just really liked the interaction between chamomile and the yeast that's used for this.
6:30
SPEAKER_04: Just because chamomile, like if you've ever had chamomile tea, it has almost like a round apple kind of flavor.
6:36
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
6:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
6:36
SPEAKER_04: Uh and I thought that fit well with the the yeast that sits in this beer.
6:40
SPEAKER_03: So it's a little bit smoother of a flavor, too.
6:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it doesn't quite punch you as much as like a hibiscus would.
6:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: All right.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: So uh thank you.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: This is an excellent beer.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: And we'll cut we'll cut we'll come back around to this here in a little bit.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but talk a little bit about like First Street in the community of Hastings, because you guys have done a great job of bringing the community together, probably more so than any other place in town in a lot of ways.
7:04
SPEAKER_04: You know, we try.
7:05
SPEAKER_04: I I've said this quote before, and I think I actually said it to you guys last time we were here.
7:10
SPEAKER_04: As a brewery, obviously our goal is always to make the best beers we can.
7:14
SPEAKER_04: But above and beyond that, our purpose is to build community.
7:18
SPEAKER_04: Um, so it's it we're always looking for ways to pull people together over a great beverage.
7:25
SPEAKER_04: Um, whether it's doing a concert in the back here, we just had a bags tournament out on the street.
7:30
SPEAKER_04: We actually partnered with the First United Methodist Church where they had a bags tournament out front.
7:35
SPEAKER_04: It was so much fun.
7:36
SPEAKER_04: Uh whole families just hanging out, having a good time.
7:39
SPEAKER_04: Um, we've done outdoor concerts, we've got a barbecue festival coming up.
7:44
SPEAKER_04: Um it's just all about creating opportunity for people to come together.
7:48
SPEAKER_04: And luckily, the city has really been behind the idea, and they're actually working really hard to make more and more of the spaces downtown into areas where people can just come and be.
8:01
SPEAKER_04: You know, like they're trying to uh like our street here in front of the brewery, they're trying to turn it into an entertainment district to where it makes it as easy as possible for us to close down the ends of the streets, turn it into pedestrian only, and open things up so people can just hang out and have a good time.
8:17
SPEAKER_04: Right.
8:17
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
8:18
SPEAKER_04: Uh and that's you know, we've been here eight years now.
8:20
SPEAKER_04: It'll be eight years in October.
8:22
SPEAKER_04: That's crazy.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: I can't believe that, but that's awesome.
8:23
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, and it uh it's you know, it's it's an ongoing thing for us.
8:27
SPEAKER_04: Always looking for ways to bring people together.
8:29
SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, there's nothing we can't solve over a good beer.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: Sure, absolutely.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: So and you can do lots of things.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: So you do like you've done the bags tournament, do the brew is out here, which is our local uh beer festival that happens in Hastings.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: You have a chapter of the American Outlaws here, I believe, for watching uh uh the United States national soccer teams, men's and women's.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: You can come down here and watch them.
8:51
SPEAKER_04: Uh but point five K.5K, yes.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: One of my personal favorites.
8:57
SPEAKER_04: Our our.5K, so uh real quick how that came about.
9:00
SPEAKER_04: We had an employee named Brittany uh uh who moved away to Michigan uh just a couple years ago.
9:06
SPEAKER_04: Uh she was with us for many years, and she came to us and had seen a.5k somewhere, and she was like, We need to do this.
9:13
SPEAKER_04: I was like, All right, you figure out how to organize it and we'll do it.
9:17
SPEAKER_04: And we all work together and figure out a way to do a.5k, which is literally a run around the block or a couple of blocks here.
9:24
SPEAKER_04: Love that.
9:24
SPEAKER_04: And what's really funny is the first year, because we run through the alley by Dutton Lanezon here, and the very first year we didn't think anything about it, we just set up cones and let people run around.
9:32
SPEAKER_04: Well, you get partway through the alley at Dutton Lane, and they've got a gigantic driveway because they have all these trucks that come and drop stuff off.
9:39
SPEAKER_04: So people were actually cutting through the driveway because 0.5k was too far.
9:48
SPEAKER_04: So the next year we did it, we closed off that section except for a small walkway, and then we invited, I think it was for that year, the first year it was the Hastings Literature Literacy Program.
10:00
SPEAKER_04: Uh and we had them stand there, and if you gave them a donation, then you could use Cheater's Alley, as we call it.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome, yes.
10:08
SPEAKER_04: And so we're like, all right, if you're gonna cheat, well, at least somebody gets the benefits from it then.
10:12
SPEAKER_01: And I believe I won the.5k two years in a row.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: Oh, the the non-competitive, untimed race.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: But if we all started at the same time and I got back first, you still won.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: Which I did, I won.
10:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
10:26
SPEAKER_04: I think Mitch is the only one who actually like ran hard with the chip.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: He tried to he tried to chase me.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: And he was so I was running from him because he's a big dude.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: Are you saying you didn't stop for the chips at the halfway point?
10:37
SPEAKER_00: Because when we walked it, I stopped for the chips halfway and it ruined my time there for a little while.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: I I did not, but just as an aside, I had just come back from a a half iron man in Boulder that I did that year and had done no sprint training.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: And when I got done, I I uh aggravated um uh Achilles tendinitis in my right leg, and it was like eight months before I could run again.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: No, sorry.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: Hurt himself at a.5k.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: Should have stopped.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: Sacrifice for the wind, though, man.
11:06
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
11:07
SPEAKER_04: Well, so the funny thing is though, is that we're we were just had a conversation with Brittany recently uh um because she does come back to Hastings every once in a while, and we're like, we're thinking about bringing back the 0.5k, uh, but we're we're gonna call it the Brittany Memorial 0.5K.
11:25
SPEAKER_04: I was like, Britney, we're gonna put your face on a shirt and it's gonna say the Britney Memorial 0.5K, and then underneath the picture it'll say, I'm not dead yet.
11:34
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let's let's bring this back to DD because this is the whole reason we're here tonight.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: And Tony has been way too quiet at that end of the table for the most part.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh the next one's the first time anybody's ever said that.
11:47
SPEAKER_01: He's really quiet.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm just opening the door for you.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you just wait.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh so your next event or one of your next events that you're doing down here is you're gonna start playing some DD.
11:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so we we have always had different groups show up and play DD at the tap room.
12:01
SPEAKER_04: It's really funny because I remember early on, Dale, who's gonna be one of our DMs for this event, uh, I remember him showing up in the tap room and he was like, Hey, so I don't know if it'd be okay, but I have a group that plays DD, and uh, would it be alright if we played here?
12:15
SPEAKER_04: And I was like, dude, yeah, come on in.
12:17
SPEAKER_04: Like, whatever.
12:18
SPEAKER_04: You can play up front, or a lot of times they actually play back here where we're currently sitting, uh, just because it's a little bit quieter than the tap room can be.
12:24
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
12:25
SPEAKER_04: Um, and so they've been doing that, and um the way this idea came about is Jesse and I had just gone to one of the typical beer events where we're serving people two ounces at a time, and they're like, Oh, that's that's a great beer, and then we never talk to them again.
12:43
SPEAKER_05: Sure.
12:43
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and you always hope at those events that maybe that entices people to come to your tap room, but I've done so many of them, and it always just feels like it's not creating a connection, or at least a connection that I want it to.
12:56
SPEAKER_04: And so we're like, what can we do?
12:58
SPEAKER_04: You know, like our 0.5k or things that bring people to our tap room, they seem to create more connection with others and get them more to understand what we're doing here.
13:09
SPEAKER_04: And so we're driving back from one of these events, and I'm like, okay, what can we do that's just a more interesting way to bring people together over beer or over just whatever beverages we make?
13:20
SPEAKER_04: And um I thought about the you know, Tony's been leading a couple different DD groups, and then Dale's group here, and I know a couple others, and I was like, you know what?
13:28
SPEAKER_04: We got a lot of people who like to do this in Hastings.
13:30
SPEAKER_04: What if we just tried to do something big in that arena?
13:34
SPEAKER_04: And so I called Tony as we're driving back.
13:37
SPEAKER_04: I think it was like eight o'clock at night or something like that.
13:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, something like that.
13:40
SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, hey Tony, I got this, I got this idea.
13:45
SPEAKER_04: What if we did like a really big DD campaign?
13:49
SPEAKER_04: And I think I actually said like, I think maybe like five tables, like five different DMs, but the overarching story eventually comes together in a way that we can bring it all into everybody's part of the same thing.
14:02
SPEAKER_04: And he was like, uh I don't know.
14:05
SPEAKER_04: Well, you go ahead.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so Beth and I were also driving, and I don't remember where we were coming back from, but were you coming back from the same event we were at?
14:15
SPEAKER_04: Did you come help us?
14:16
SPEAKER_01: I think we were at a show at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: We had so we had just left another, you know, facet of my nurtery uh uh musical theater, and we're driving back, and I think that's when you called.
14:27
SPEAKER_01: And and so Nathan says, Hey, you know, we want to do this event.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: We're just kind of thinking about it, like what would that look like?
14:33
SPEAKER_01: And I'm driving the car thinking, oh man, that sounds like a lot of work, and I don't know who we'd get for all the DMs, and I'm like, man, I don't know.
14:40
SPEAKER_01: And so at the end of that conversation, I'm like, well, let me think about it, I'll get back to you.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: And then I just thought about it the whole drive home, like my wife, God bless her soul.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: She's she's trying to like have a conversation with me, and I'm just like off in la la land, and I'm thinking, okay, so if we did, okay, so and then I went from, man, that sounds like a lot of work.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: I don't know where we, you know, how we would pull that off, to ten seconds later, I'm thinking to myself, okay, well, one table could go up there, another table could sit like you know, right here in the backspace, and then you know, we I think we can put five tables in there.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: And so the next day, I think I start blowing his Facebook Messenger up with ideas.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: And uh uh I had I had just come back from an event.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: I went last July to uh Newcastle, uh UK, and played at D ⁇ D in a castle.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: Um was an amazing experience, and then my wife and I, for our 25th anniversary, actually went to the first ever United States hosted uh castle event.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: And so I I felt like after being at that one in the UK, I after talking to Nathan and thinking about it, I thought, okay, I think we can do this.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: But at those events, each table is completely separate, and they don't do like there's no as far as I'm aware, there's no tie-in ever between any of the tables.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: So I thought, okay, well, how can we make that work here?
16:00
SPEAKER_01: And uh well then it had to be some kind of like karma or fate or something.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: But like shortly after that, I see the trailer for the Vecna Eve of Ruin book that's come, you know, that just came out.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, okay, so I did some deep diving on the internet, you know, some spoilers and stuff like that, and I thought that's the framework we can work in.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: Vecna, the evil litch, you know, the whispered one or whatever you want to call him, is trying to unmake the universe and recreate it in his own image, and the and the players have to go find different MacGuffins basically to stop him.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: I thought we could take that idea, each table then will get a mission to go find a specific thing, and then we can have it all come back and tie it together at the very end.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: And so uh so Beth is like Beth is listening to me just ramble on, you know, like it's one of those things where I'm laying in bed at I mean you guys all play DD.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Do you all DM too, or just uh so have you ever had the thing where you're you're just like laying in bed about to fall asleep, and then you get an idea and you're like, oh man, hold on.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: And then I could so I'm like, you know, poking my wife, hey Beth, wake up.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: I got an idea.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: She's like, oh my god.
17:07
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna write this down because otherwise I'll wake up in the morning and be like, I had the best idea.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: What was that?
17:13
SPEAKER_01: So um, and then so one of the DMs is uh my neighbor, Tyler.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: I taught him to play DD, and then I was fortunate enough to play at the first one shot he ever ran, which turned into a mini campaign.
17:25
SPEAKER_05: Nice.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh and then so I knew Tyler right away.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: Neil uh Shepard, who is a part-time employee here.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna be one of the other DMs.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: And I taught his sister Laura to play DD.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Neil already knew.
17:39
SPEAKER_04: She's been our DM several times for one shot.
17:42
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for one shot.
17:43
SPEAKER_04: That's cool.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: In in a in a one-shot where it was uh a traveling band, all bards.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: All bards.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we did except except me, I played an Echo Knight because everybody else was in on the joke but me.
17:57
SPEAKER_04: No, the way this happened is I've got I've got nephews who play DD with their cousins and such all the time.
18:03
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and so when they come and visit, I always try to set up a one-off campaign.
18:08
SPEAKER_04: Like la the first time we ever did it, it was my brother-in-law Tim and his oldest son Gus, that we all sat around and did a campaign together that you were the DM for.
18:17
SPEAKER_04: And it was hilarious.
18:18
SPEAKER_04: Like I always I have a bard character that shows up in Tony's worlds.
18:22
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and so I usually play him.
18:25
SPEAKER_04: But then my nephew played a paladin for that one, and then his dad played a sorcerer who thought he was Merlin traveling backwards three times.
18:39
SPEAKER_04: Uh but then the next time it ended up being Gus and his brother Cal coming to visit, and so we set up a one-shot, and Laura was gonna DM it, and they we pick them up uh from Omaha.
18:51
SPEAKER_04: They get off the plane, we get in the car, and they're like, Okay, we've thought about this.
18:55
SPEAKER_04: It's like the first thing they say to me, we've thought about this.
18:58
SPEAKER_04: We're gonna do oops all bards, but don't tell Toadie.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay.
19:03
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so they show they show up and they're like, oh, we're all playing bards, and right away, so I've got this Echo Knight character I've built, and right away I'm like perfect.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: I'm the roadie and the head of security.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's his whole wanted always wanted to sing, but just never had the chops for it.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: But like he's a huge music nerd, and it it just it just ran off from there.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, so uh uh Laura.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Laura's little brother Neil is gonna DM one of the tables.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: But outside of Taylor or Tyler and Neil, I was like, man, we need to find some other DMs.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, you talked about the American Outlaws.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: We're here watching a soccer game, and these two people show up we've never met before, Robbie and Ashley.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: And Ashley is an athletic trainer, I think, for the high school, and uh Robbie is a teacher, and we're sitting here watching soccer, and they see like the flyer that we had up, and Robbie's like, wait a minute, you guys are gonna play a DD campaign here, and I'm like, Yeah, like do you play?
19:58
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Oh man, I play, I DM, I whatever.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: And so we start talking, and after about 10 minutes talking to the guy, I'm like, Hey, do you want to DM a table?
20:06
SPEAKER_01: Like, I feel like that would be a pretty solid uh choice there.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Okay, well he says, What do you have you thought about session zero yet?
20:13
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, man, I'm just trying to get the thing organized.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I got a PowerPoint for session zero all ready to go, and he pulls it up on his drive, and I went, Congratulations, you're you're hired for nothing.
20:24
SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, nobody, you know, none of us getting paid.
20:26
SPEAKER_04: He set up our Discord.
20:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he's done everything.
20:29
SPEAKER_04: He's just like, I'll take care of it.
20:31
SPEAKER_04: It's done.
20:31
SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, okay.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: And then the and then Dale, who's gonna, I think, DM your table.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, Jody Barr, who works here.
20:39
SPEAKER_04: Uh it's her nephew-in-law.
20:41
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
20:42
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
20:42
SPEAKER_04: So it's her niece's husband.
20:44
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
20:44
SPEAKER_04: Which is hilarious because Jody's not that old.
20:47
SPEAKER_01: No.
20:47
SPEAKER_01: So Jody gives me Dale's phone number and says, hey, why don't you text him and see if he'll do it.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: So Dale's never met me before, except maybe seeing me in passing here.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, hey, you want to DM a table at this thing we're gonna do?
20:57
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Who are you?
20:59
unknown: You know?
21:01
SPEAKER_01: So he agrees to it.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: We chat a little bit, he agrees to it, and then that night that we opened registration, we all the next night we came down here to have like a DM, like convene the writer's room, if you will, to talk about a few things and to try and draft tables.
21:13
SPEAKER_01: How are we gonna put everybody at a table?
21:15
SPEAKER_01: And uh we were, we had two openings left, and we didn't want to finalize the tables without giving it a few minutes.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: So somebody's like, well, geez, you know, let's just we're plugged into their projector system here, and we got the spreadsheet up, and somebody's like, throw on YouTube, and let's just, I don't know, let's just watch some stuff for a little bit.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: And he goes to get on it, and uh somebody says, Hey, have you ever heard the uh uh It Wasn't Me barbershop quartet version?
21:41
SPEAKER_01: And everybody's like, Oh yeah, I love that.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: I let let's watch that.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: So five people, we've never sat in a room together at the same time, watching, I don't remember what the name of that group is, but the barbershop quartet of It Wasn't Me, and we're all like, Oh yeah, we've all seen this before.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I don't know how we did it, but we put the exact right group of nerds together.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Accidentally, and here we are.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: So I think I think we've got some really great DMs, uh, and I think we're gonna have just an absolute blast of a time, and we are gonna we're gonna learn so much this year, I think.
22:15
SPEAKER_04: And I think we so as we were all talking about this, we're talking about like everybody who's listening knows what we're doing.
22:19
SPEAKER_04: We should probably start with so this is gonna be a six-month campaign.
22:24
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's only one Thursday a month.
22:26
SPEAKER_04: Uh, but the idea is it's a six-month campaign, a thing to kind of get everybody through the winter.
22:32
SPEAKER_04: Like some uh you talk about community initiatives, one of the other things we do is we run a cribbage league during the winter.
22:37
SPEAKER_04: Uh just because it's every Sunday we get together and play cards and everybody gets to hang out, and it makes winter go by so much faster.
22:44
SPEAKER_04: So we're like, what can we do that we're all gonna be inside and we can all do something that will just make winter go by quickly?
22:51
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
22:51
SPEAKER_04: Uh and this was just a another way of doing that.
22:54
SPEAKER_04: So it's gonna be a six-month DD campaign, one one night a month, and there's gonna be a lot of sort of extra little things.
23:01
SPEAKER_03: And Phil, you were playing in this, right?
23:03
SPEAKER_02: I uh got in.
23:04
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I did.
23:05
SPEAKER_04: Which is why we can't talk about too many.
23:07
SPEAKER_04: I know, I'm sorry.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: I hovered over that registration leak, so I was waiting.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: So I uh that raises a question though.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: So it it didn't quite work out with Brad and I to join, so we're just happy to help promote for sure.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: But Phil got in.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: And Phil, what what was the thing that was most enticing to you?
23:24
SPEAKER_00: Because we the three of us have played DD now for three four years.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: I I don't even remember now.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: But like but this is like your first for foray into not playing with our normal group.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: What was enticing about doing this?
23:36
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, in quite a while.
23:37
SPEAKER_02: I haven't played with another group.
23:39
SPEAKER_02: Um well, a couple of reasons.
23:41
SPEAKER_02: A beer.
23:42
SPEAKER_02: Um secondly, the concept of like multiple tables coming together into kind of a larger campaign, and then also getting to meet other players that I don't normally play with and that don't know my play style.
23:58
SPEAKER_02: Like it'll be fun, I think, to to experience that.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: That's what I was looking forward to.
24:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think it's gonna be I think it's gonna be a fun dynamic.
24:07
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
24:07
SPEAKER_04: Uh and I think it's there's gonna be opportunity uh because of the way we've set things up, which and this is Tony and Laura and everybody kind of coming together, coming up with ideas, but you know, the the bar area in the tap room, that's gonna be the the tavern at the end of time.
24:23
SPEAKER_04: So it's Laura's gonna be bartending, but she's gonna be bartending in character.
24:28
SPEAKER_04: In character.
24:28
SPEAKER_04: Which is gonna be funny to see how that works for our normal patrons.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: She already told me that she doesn't think she'll be able to code switch in her brain fast enough.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
24:38
SPEAKER_01: So everybody, she's been workshopping voices, so everybody's just gonna get the crazy old witch at the bar.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: Like so, if you're just like on your way through town, never been at First Street before, let's stop in and have a beer, try this place.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna walk into Laura in costume doing the Laura Big Muriel.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: Let's go to her from the code, you know, like yeah.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and and if you know Laura at all, she's she goes, there's no halfway with Laura about anything, and so she's gonna go full send on it, I'm sure, and it's gonna be great.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: And that was that was one of the things, you know, we didn't, you know, we we thought, okay, well, we can tie all the tables together with a with a story, but then how do you get there's no time for interaction.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: Like like you're like somebody at your table can't come over to somebody at my table and like role-play a character with them.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: But endless, I is I think the name Laura settled on is Endless, the Endless Tavern.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: Um she came up with this idea.
25:30
SPEAKER_01: So basically, when you walk through the back door here and you go up to the bar there, suddenly your character now, the meta of the whole thing is that you know, if you go up in character and you can talk to other players as if they're their characters, that's a place where you can go and while you're getting a beer, you can, hey, what's going on at your table?
25:47
SPEAKER_01: You guys, you know, what's you know, how can we is there some way we can help?
25:50
SPEAKER_01: Like, how do we do that?
25:51
SPEAKER_01: And basically, Laura's got like a reward system, so the more in character you are, she will reward that with you know tokens or bobbles.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: She the other day she printed off, I think it's 40-some pages of magic item cards.
26:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: She's like, I gotta go get laminate, you know, I gotta go get laminate sheets, you know.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, where are you gonna find that many?
26:12
SPEAKER_01: Like you're gonna end you're gonna clean Walmart out.
26:14
SPEAKER_01: But so she's got some of that stuff that's gonna be going on.
26:17
SPEAKER_01: Um so I think it it'll be a really fun uh extra sort of interaction, you know, like that.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: So one of the, you know, when I was at DD in a castle, one of the things I took away from that was we'd have our play sessions, and then they had a bar at the castle, and then that's where everybody convened in the evenings to talk about, like, so you'd you'd you'd talk to somebody from another table, you'd be like, So what's going on at your table?
26:39
SPEAKER_01: Like, well, and it's just the depending on who your DM is, it's just the various levels of psychic trauma they're creating, you know, for these people, right?
26:47
SPEAKER_01: And uh there was one other group that we seemed to be on the same schedule with, and I felt like I was part of two adventures because we'd get done with our adventure and we'd all like race to the bar to be like, So what happened to your table today?
26:58
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, and they'd be like, What happened to yours?
27:00
SPEAKER_01: And I think we can do that, you know, here, but like in real time as you walk up to get another drink.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: And like I said, Laura's gonna, she's got some ways to uh that she's gonna try and incentivize that for you.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: I I love that because in in my limited experience with playing in one shots, it's so hard to wrap your mind around a character and like dive into who they are.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: Like we're getting to that in our big campaign that we just picked back up.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: We're now in year three of that one, and I finally feel like I can be my character, but in a one shot that's it's just so hard because you haven't spent any time with that.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: So it's like being able to pick that up from the table and take it out of the room is a fan freaking tastic idea, and I love that.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I uh like I said, I think we either accidentally or because of fate put together the right group of people to come up with this.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: And um so yeah, what my hope is is that for for people who maybe are new to this who've never done it before, or are maybe a little nervous about doing funny voices or role-playing a character in front of other people, it it think about it more like immersion therapy.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: You know, and if we incentivize that, and if everybody's doing it, then everybody hopefully will feel more comfortable, you know, to do that kind of thing.
28:12
SPEAKER_03: So you're gonna have a whole room full of nerds, so it's a safe space.
28:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, 100%.
28:18
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that, and maybe this is what you're gonna say, but one of the things about First Street that I love is, and I've heard Nathan say this before this is the island of misfit toys, where like, like you said, you got a cribbage league, but then you'll have, you know, uh, you did a pickleball tournament out there once, right?
28:36
SPEAKER_01: And some of those folks were serious.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
28:38
SPEAKER_04: Like it was watch out for those pickleball players.
28:41
SPEAKER_04: Like it was You're seriously playing on the street where I laid out tape to define the parameters of the court, and the court is curved because you're on the street and they're all super serious about it.
28:54
SPEAKER_04: I'm like, uh this is weird, man.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: But then, you know, at the same time, then you can have you know this, a D we're gonna play a D campaign.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: Like, I I feel like First Street is a place that that everybody can find, you know, everybody can find a seat here.
29:11
SPEAKER_04: We won't, you know.
29:12
SPEAKER_04: We've always like Jesse and I, my wife and I, we've always, you know, we always have wanted to create our own cheers, you know, and that's what this is.
29:20
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
29:21
SPEAKER_04: This is the place where everybody can hang out and just be whoever they are, and that's cool.
29:25
SPEAKER_04: Uh that's that's the whole idea.
29:27
SPEAKER_04: Like the island of misfit toys.
29:28
SPEAKER_04: That's always my favorite line, just because we're all quirky in in all kinds of ways.
29:34
SPEAKER_04: Um and there's space for all of us to be that way here, you know.
29:38
SPEAKER_04: Uh some like some of my favorite moments are people who wouldn't necessarily normally be comfortable out uh hanging out in a tap room someplace.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: We've got so many people who come to our tap room that I don't know, if we were just a regular bar somewhere else, I don't think they'd be here.
29:53
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
29:54
SPEAKER_04: And I I love it because it makes everything so much more interesting and so much more fun.
29:59
SPEAKER_00: So I guess the question I have is it without having done this yet, still I mean it's not here, yeah, but it was received extremely well.
30:07
SPEAKER_00: Do you plan to do this again next year?
30:09
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, our our hope is to make it a seasonal thing.
30:11
SPEAKER_04: So we'll do it uh each year.
30:13
SPEAKER_04: Obviously, storylines will change, and I mean, so for for people listening, we sold this out in 27 hours, uh, which we only had 30 spots, and that was in it was kept intentionally small for a big event um because we weren't sure.
30:30
SPEAKER_04: One, the interest, and then two, how to manage it.
30:33
SPEAKER_04: So this year I think there will be a lot of learning.
30:35
SPEAKER_04: Um, I think the guy the the group that we've brought together has already brought together so many cool ideas that I think go above and beyond a normal DD campaign.
30:48
SPEAKER_04: Uh, which I mean, so my DD experience, I I played when I was, you know, in middle school and I came back to it later in life mainly through Tony's Nerdery.
30:56
SPEAKER_04: Uh you're welcome.
30:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
30:59
SPEAKER_04: And uh so I I I show up occasionally in his world, but uh worlds, I guess.
31:05
SPEAKER_04: But um yeah, I just I I think there's a lot of opportunity, and there's way more people who play DD than you than we know.
31:13
SPEAKER_04: Uh and it's just everybody's kind of come out of the woodwork, and it's been really cool.
31:17
SPEAKER_04: Uh and I the thing I love about DD, and the thing that I love that my nephews and my niece are are all into it, is it's and I think you've Tony often described it this way, it's shared storytelling.
31:29
SPEAKER_04: You know, it's people coming up with stories uh on the fly, and that's so neat because it's people using their imaginations, it's them finding ways to express themselves.
31:40
SPEAKER_04: Uh that doesn't involve a screen, and it's not it is nothing passive about DD.
31:46
SPEAKER_04: You are an active participant.
31:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, totally.
31:49
SPEAKER_04: And that's super cool.
31:50
SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, if you're a little more introverted, you can you can totally be this, you know, the the character that doesn't say much but walks softly but carries a big stick.
32:00
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm a barbarian and I'm not very smart, so I'm just here for the you know the beat down.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: And and so you can totally there's a place for you there if you wanna I mean I'm preaching to the choir here, but you know, like what one of the things that I really like about DD, and I know we're getting a little off the beaten path here, but one of the things I love about DD is, and I heard somebody describe this, was if there's a group of people and you're trying to like real people and you're trying to understand maybe their viewpoint, then create a DD character and play that viewpoint, and suddenly you find yourself, oh hey, you know, it it's not a perfect uh way to learn about somebody else's experience, but it is a way to gain a viewpoint, you know, for something like that.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I I played a warforged uh character uh warforged paladin once, and uh Turk was the name, and Turk was non-gendered because he's a he's a machine, you know, and I'm doing it now, I'm gendering him again.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: But like when I would play that character, it and people would be like, well, what is what does he think?
33:04
SPEAKER_01: And I'd be like, point of order, my creator cared too much about me to saddle me with the biological imperatives of just wishing meat sex.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: So like I'm not a he, and then you know, but it was a way to try and gain perspective on something, and I think DD is great.
33:19
SPEAKER_01: I I heard a story from from somebody uh that they were playing with somebody who had a really bad stutter, but they could sing without stuttering.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: So they but they wanted to play DD, and so they created a bard character who could only sing, and they said she was awesome, and it was just a way to it was inclusive and a way to include that person.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: Like I just I, you know, going back to community, I just DD is a great way to bring people together, you know, and the way we're gonna do it here, have a beer, tell a story together, maybe learn something about ourselves and each other.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: And uh yes, I'm hoping to continue doing it as years go on, but who knows?
33:58
SPEAKER_04: Right, I never know.
34:00
SPEAKER_04: I mean, when we were first putting this together, it was like, do you think we could get 30 people who would want to do this?
34:06
SPEAKER_04: And then by the end of it, we're like, oh god, 30's not enough.
34:10
SPEAKER_04: Right.
34:11
SPEAKER_04: And then we're we're like, you know what?
34:12
SPEAKER_04: It's year one.
34:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, let's just see how this goes.
34:15
SPEAKER_04: We're gonna we're all gonna learn a lot.
34:17
SPEAKER_04: Uh and hopefully people want to come back and do it again.
34:20
SPEAKER_04: And if there are more people beyond the people who want to come back, then great.
34:24
SPEAKER_04: Uh we we've got ideas on how to expand on that, but we we've got a long way to go before we even think about that.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: I keep doing that.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: I keep thinking about stuff.
34:32
SPEAKER_01: Well, we'll do this, and I'm like, that's step 95.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: We're on step three right now.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: Right.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: Like, calm down, Tony.
34:37
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's just the way my brain works.
34:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm already running off on my own direction again.
34:42
SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
34:42
SPEAKER_00: Well, you guys, it it gives me goosebumps just to play a very small part of this, and I wish you nothing but the most success in this.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: Because I think it's gonna be awesome.
34:49
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, I'm I've got high hopes.
34:51
SPEAKER_04: I I think we've got a fun group of people who've signed up.
34:54
SPEAKER_04: Um, and again, it's just gonna be it's gonna be fun to be here on those Thursday nights, I think.
34:59
SPEAKER_04: For sure.
35:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: So all right, so let's let's come back to the Assumption Saison.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh and normally at this point in the show, we're coming up with beer names and taverns for everybody.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but since we're in a little bit different setting this time, uh Nathan, let's uh I want I want you to give your beer an alignment and we'll have a little interesting discussion about whether the rest of us agree or not.
35:21
SPEAKER_04: Well, okay, so you're talking about the Assumption Saison in particular.
35:24
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
35:24
SPEAKER_04: Um as you said, it is an easy drinking beer, but at the same time, it it there is a funk to it because it is uh Belgian style.
35:35
SPEAKER_04: So I would go with uh chaotic neutral.
35:39
SPEAKER_00: I I agree with that.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking it had to be chaotic too, actually.
35:43
SPEAKER_02: I was between chaotic good and chaotic neutral, because it is delicious as my cup is empty.
35:50
SPEAKER_03: I was I was thinking more on the lawful good side.
35:54
SPEAKER_03: Like with that the floral notes and like the the smooth, like a little bit of a bite of the ginger, like keeping it fresh.
36:01
SPEAKER_04: Alright.
36:01
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
36:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
36:02
SPEAKER_04: Tony?
36:03
SPEAKER_01: Man, I don't know.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: I I was gonna say chaotic good, also, just because if you're talking about you know, a farmhouse beer, um, but it does have all of the it's got the floral notes, the and correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Belgian beers, don't they do a lot of wild this one isn't but don't they do a lot of wild kind of things?
36:26
SPEAKER_01: So I mean that just describes just you're just opening up to the random events of the universe.
36:32
SPEAKER_01: There's a triangle.
36:34
SPEAKER_04: What are the toys of the thing?
36:35
SPEAKER_04: You're required to play a snippet of Johnny Cash right now.
36:39
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
36:41
SPEAKER_04: Folsom prison.
36:42
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, uh, but you know, it's to the it's for the masses to to feed the farm workers, so that sounds like chaotic good to me.
36:49
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I definitely like the chaos part of it, mainly because uh in every one of my Belgian-style beers, I will start them at a specific temperature.
36:58
SPEAKER_04: But the thing that's fun about a Belgian-style beer is the yeast that you're using loves to get weird on you.
37:04
SPEAKER_04: And so if you I'll start it at a certain temperature, and then after the first two days, I'll raise it, and then I'll raise it again, raise it again, and I'll let it go as hot as it wants to get because that's when you get the really interesting esters that come out of what the yeast is doing.
37:19
SPEAKER_05: Sure.
37:20
SPEAKER_04: So there is an element of chaos to brewing Belgian-style beers.
37:24
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and I really I love that aspect of it because um it's never gonna be exactly the same.
37:30
SPEAKER_04: Like it's gonna be within parameters, but there's always gonna be a little possibility of something weird happening.
37:35
SPEAKER_04: And different.
37:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
37:37
SPEAKER_03: You roll the dice.
37:38
SPEAKER_03: It's literally either rolling a wild magic table for that.
37:42
SPEAKER_04: We've got a we've got a tripel brewing right now, and it's it's currently jumped up to about 73 degrees, which for this style of beer is getting pretty warm.
37:50
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and that's where just a lot of magic happens with uh with a Belgian beer.
37:54
SPEAKER_04: Like there's so many interesting things that can happen.
37:56
SPEAKER_04: I'm excited to try that.
37:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's not great.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll we'll be back in a little while.
38:01
SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, and we like I think we've talked about this before, but we'd love to have you guys back for one of the nights when we're playing.
38:06
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
38:06
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
38:06
SPEAKER_04: I think it'd be a lot of fun, either you know, after the campaign is done or maybe beforehand, just pulling some people together who are playing and interview them.
38:14
SPEAKER_04: True.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: I think that would be great to brief with everybody.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: Would be really cool.
38:17
SPEAKER_04: I mean, you got one player already.
38:19
SPEAKER_02: That's true.
38:19
SPEAKER_02: My opinion doesn't matter.
38:21
SPEAKER_02: People don't want to hear from me.
38:23
SPEAKER_03: That's just one table.
38:24
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, that's true.
38:25
SPEAKER_04: I know.
38:26
SPEAKER_04: It's gonna be really fun to see what kind of interaction happens and just where people go with it.
38:31
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
38:32
SPEAKER_04: You know?
38:32
SPEAKER_04: I think that's the exciting thing about it.
38:34
SPEAKER_04: We have no idea where this is gonna go.
38:36
SPEAKER_04: We have a small idea of where this is going to be.
38:39
SPEAKER_01: We have 11% of a plan.
38:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, what's what's great is seeing the different DM styles.
38:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh like I'm a very just like I write an outline, and it's like I gotta get from point A to point Z, and I'm I leave a lot of space in the middle to just see kind of what happens.
39:00
SPEAKER_01: And and some some other folks are like, oh, I I've spent all day writing.
39:03
SPEAKER_01: You know, I've got I'm ready for if they do this and if they do this, and I'm like, oh, I guess I'm not different styles.
39:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, 100% different styles.
39:11
SPEAKER_01: So that's gonna be super fun.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh we have so many great ideas.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: I you guys need to come back when it's all done, and we even if you don't record it, we'll just nerd out about it.
39:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm down for that.
39:22
SPEAKER_03: Headed into the last lesson when you're finally like, ah, I love it when a plan comes together.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, or I'm like, oh, that didn't work.
39:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, it's fine, we'll roll with it, you know.
39:31
SPEAKER_01: The giant meteor forms in the sky.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh next thing we want to do, uh, and this is pretty typical on our opening crack episodes, is we we assign a challenge rating to a beer.
39:42
SPEAKER_00: So uh one uh it's a scale from one to twenty, uh, which is your typical challenge rating in DD, as we all know at this table.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh one on the one end is gonna be like cremails, uh, maybe your bud lights and stuff if you want to go that far.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: On the other end, double IPAs, Imperial stouts, things like that.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: So this is coming from the viewpoint of somebody just picking up this beer.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: What do you think the challenge rating would be?
40:03
SPEAKER_00: And whoever wants to kick us off can go first.
40:06
SPEAKER_02: Uh so uh I would say uh for maybe uh someone that is not well versed in the craft beer realm, if they were gonna pick this up and try it, I still feel like it's super approachable.
40:18
SPEAKER_02: Um it has a good yeast flavor, so that would kind of depend on the drinker, I think.
40:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
40:25
SPEAKER_02: But I would probably put it around I feel like nine, ten-ish.
40:30
SPEAKER_03: Like it's pretty approachable, but I was gonna go eleven because like it's got that little bit of craft beer-ness to it that you kind of have to understand you're drinking a craft beer, but the flavors in it are not what you would normally think of when you think craft beer.
40:46
SPEAKER_03: It's floral and ginger, like those are really approachable, but for somebody who doesn't necessarily drink craft beer.
40:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we've tried some wild flavors.
40:54
SPEAKER_02: This doesn't pack one of those, like it wouldn't turn someone off because of kind of an out there flavor.
40:59
SPEAKER_02: These are very pleasant.
41:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
41:01
SPEAKER_03: And this, for the record, for you guys, this is not good or bad.
41:04
SPEAKER_03: Like, no, no, no.
41:05
SPEAKER_03: So this is like all beers are good.
41:07
SPEAKER_04: It's just where does it fall on?
41:09
SPEAKER_04: Well, I will say I think uh especially in Nebraska, uh, Belgian beers seem to be more difficult for people to approach, mainly because they just don't know what they are.
41:20
SPEAKER_04: Sure, sure.
41:21
SPEAKER_04: Uh and it is a different flavor profile.
41:24
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I've never had I've never really had a Belgian beer that tasted like anything like an IPA or uh or a pale ale or you know, or just one of the more standard styles.
41:36
SPEAKER_04: Uh so it is something that generally seems to be a little tougher for the general public to approach.
41:41
SPEAKER_04: So I would put it more like a 13 or so.
41:44
SPEAKER_04: Because I don't I I agree the flavor profiles are are pretty nice and approachable, but at the same time that funkiness just seems to be hard for people.
41:51
SPEAKER_04: The style.
41:52
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, which I don't get because I think they're some of the most amazing beers.
41:56
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
41:56
SPEAKER_04: The name of the style, too.
41:57
SPEAKER_04: Saison, it's kind of a scary scary one.
42:02
SPEAKER_00: It's like if this was a dark beer, like I could just see people going, no, not for me.
42:05
SPEAKER_00: Right.
42:06
SPEAKER_00: That's just that mental block.
42:07
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
42:09
SPEAKER_04: Which we have fought that so much, and it's really funny, just because I've got to tell the side stories.
42:13
SPEAKER_04: We love tangents and DD, right?
42:16
SPEAKER_05: Right.
42:16
SPEAKER_04: So when we first opened, we only had two beers on tap.
42:20
SPEAKER_04: And I think I told you guys this story when you came through before.
42:22
SPEAKER_04: Uh, we had our our Queen City Kolsch, which it was just batch number one because it wasn't quite my Kolsch at the time, uh, and our our back alley porter, which is everything roasty and delicious in the world.
42:33
SPEAKER_04: And I really thought, because we're in Nebraska, that the Kolsch would be like the number one hit, but no.
42:40
SPEAKER_04: Back alley porter, across the board.
42:42
SPEAKER_04: And I would say for the first three or four years that we were open, that was my number one selling beer.
42:48
SPEAKER_04: Uh which and but we still had that where people would be like, oh no, I don't do dark beers.
42:53
SPEAKER_04: And I would just be like, oh, okay, well, do you do you drink coffee?
42:57
SPEAKER_04: And they were like, well, yeah, I drink coffee.
42:58
SPEAKER_04: I'm like, oh, okay.
43:00
SPEAKER_04: Do you do you like chocolate?
43:01
SPEAKER_04: And they're like, Of course I like chocolate.
43:03
SPEAKER_04: I'm like, well, okay.
43:05
SPEAKER_04: And I pour a little and I hand it to them.
43:06
SPEAKER_04: I'm like, stop looking at the color and taste it.
43:09
SPEAKER_04: And they were like, oh, this is really good.
43:11
SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, yeah.
43:12
SPEAKER_04: This is a good thing.
43:13
SPEAKER_04: Stop judging the beer.
43:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, oh yeah.
43:16
SPEAKER_04: That's my favorite backhanded compliment.
43:18
SPEAKER_04: Oh, this is actually good.
43:21
SPEAKER_04: I'm really glad your expectations were nice and low.
43:24
SPEAKER_04: Uh but I always tell everybody, don't judge a beer on its color.
43:28
SPEAKER_04: If you if you don't like a particular style of beer, it's not the style you don't like, you just haven't met the right one yet.
43:34
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
43:35
SPEAKER_04: Because every brewer brews differently.
43:37
SPEAKER_04: Uh Trevor at Thunderhead, when I was first getting started, he gave me so much great advice, and he was such a good friend to us, and still is.
43:44
SPEAKER_04: That's why he's part of our farmhouse fet.
43:47
SPEAKER_04: Um, he was like, Man, I will give you my peach wheat recipe.
43:53
SPEAKER_04: I will give it to you because when you brew it, it will not taste like what I brew.
43:57
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
43:57
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
43:57
SPEAKER_04: Because every brewer has a different approach.
43:59
SPEAKER_04: We all have.
44:00
SPEAKER_04: Different styles of brewing.
44:01
SPEAKER_04: Like, uh, I mean, I've always brewed my popular blonde, is a coffee blonde ale.
44:06
SPEAKER_04: I've brewed that since we opened.
44:08
SPEAKER_04: And then, like, two or three years ago, all of a sudden everybody was like, I've got to do a coffee blonde.
44:13
SPEAKER_04: And everybody started brewing them.
44:15
SPEAKER_04: And so I had so many Nebraska brewers reach out, like, so this coffee thing, how do you do that?
44:20
SPEAKER_04: And I was like, Oh, well, here's what you do.
44:22
SPEAKER_04: And I just, you know, I told them because I was like, you know, you're not gonna brew it the same way I do.
44:27
SPEAKER_04: Your beer's gonna be different than mine.
44:28
SPEAKER_04: And that's that's fun.
44:30
SPEAKER_04: Community ev even within the beer community.
44:32
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I I have said repeatedly, I don't think I would I like I I grew up in Orlando, Florida.
44:38
SPEAKER_04: I went to school in Nashville and I stayed there for about 15 years.
44:41
SPEAKER_04: It's where I met my wife, and she's originally from this area, and that's how I landed back here, just because everybody always goes, Why are you here?
44:51
SPEAKER_04: So we came to Hastings.
44:54
SPEAKER_04: We had always joked when we were living in Nashville that if for some reason we were to move to Nebraska that we would move to Hastings.
45:00
SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, nine years ago we had a reason to move.
45:04
SPEAKER_04: And uh I worked as a uh doing data architecture and data science at the time, so I was a programmer.
45:09
SPEAKER_04: Uh didn't matter where I lived, just as long as I got my work done, right?
45:12
SPEAKER_04: So we looked in Omaha and we looked in Kansas City because both had really large tech communities at the time, and just nothing lined up, nothing fit.
45:20
SPEAKER_04: And it was like, well, we always said Hastings, and everything lined up.
45:27
SPEAKER_04: Uh and we moved here, and within a month I was like, yes, I love this.
45:34
SPEAKER_04: And I also thought, you know what's missing here?
45:37
SPEAKER_04: It's a brewery.
45:39
SPEAKER_04: There hadn't been a brewery here since uh pre-pro well since prohibition.
45:44
SPEAKER_04: Uh and I was like, this is something that I could add to our community.
45:49
SPEAKER_04: And it didn't work out for a long time.
45:50
SPEAKER_04: I was just programming and brewing in my garage and having fun.
45:54
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and then big uh all of a sudden, 2015, things lined up.
45:58
SPEAKER_04: This building came available for sale.
46:00
SPEAKER_04: It was the first building we ever wanted, and uh everything just lined up and it worked out, and that led to what we're doing here, you know.
46:09
SPEAKER_04: And I had a point to all this, and I'm trying to remember what it was.
46:12
SPEAKER_02: Community of community, community of community.
46:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so the uh the tangent went too far.
46:22
SPEAKER_04: Uh well, being a Nebraska brewer is brilliant because we are a community.
46:30
SPEAKER_04: The guild, we we are the Nebraska Craft Brewers Guild.
46:33
SPEAKER_04: Um, we all love working together, we love each other's beers.
46:37
SPEAKER_04: It is so much fun to trade ideas.
46:40
SPEAKER_04: Most people don't get to see it, but when you go to those beer events where you're drinking two ounces at a time, uh the brewers are often walking to each other's tables with little bottles going, Hey, try this.
46:51
SPEAKER_04: It's all the stuff we're working on, sure, and we're just sharing ideas back and forth.
46:56
SPEAKER_04: It's so much fun to be a brewer in Nebraska because yeah, we're each other's competition, but craft brewing in Nebraska makes up less than four percent of all the beer sold in Nebraska.
47:08
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
47:09
SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's there's a lot of beer sold in Nebraska, and we're less than four percent.
47:14
SPEAKER_04: That's insane.
47:14
SPEAKER_04: That is crazy.
47:16
SPEAKER_04: So anytime any brewer that is making beer within the state does better, we all do better.
47:23
SPEAKER_04: It's a great thing for us.
47:25
SPEAKER_04: For sure.
47:25
SPEAKER_04: So we you know, it's it's like being in a DD campaign, except we all are brewers.
47:30
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
47:31
SPEAKER_05: Oops, all brewers.
47:32
SPEAKER_05: Oops, all brewers.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh Tony, challenge rating.
47:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, I forgot.
47:38
SPEAKER_00: Oh, steer the ship, steer the ship right over it.
47:41
SPEAKER_01: Steer the ship back to Riddland Bay.
47:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh I I was gonna go with a 15.
47:45
SPEAKER_01: And and and the reason for that is when I try one of Nathan's beers, I always think of my brother, who I love very much, but Josh, he doesn't drink a lot, but when he does, he's a Bud Light guy.
47:56
SPEAKER_01: And I about the time you put that in front of him, he's gonna he's gonna taste it.
48:01
SPEAKER_01: And that floral bouquet, which I think is fantastic, it's interesting.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: Like Nathan said, it's a nice rounded flavor.
48:08
SPEAKER_01: That is gonna freak him out hard.
48:12
SPEAKER_01: And uh uh so that's why I'm thinking that's a little more on that show.
48:17
SPEAKER_01: On that end.
48:18
SPEAKER_01: And one's gotta always, you know, I was I'm the prices right guy here.
48:21
SPEAKER_01: What was the highest bid?
48:22
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm gonna go a little bit.
48:23
SPEAKER_01: Up over on that.
48:25
SPEAKER_04: Well, and that's again, that's why I would love to see more breweries.
48:29
SPEAKER_04: Like when we make a lot of Belgians, but they don't sell the way our other beers do because people don't know what they are, and they they can be scared of them.
48:38
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
48:38
SPEAKER_04: But they're beautiful, they're wonderful beers, and they're the kind of beer where you can sit and savor it.
48:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah you know what I mean?
48:46
SPEAKER_04: Uh and they're like any craft beer, some more than others, but most craft beers are the kind of beers where as you're drinking it, as it's getting more towards room temperature, it's actually opening up.
48:58
SPEAKER_04: It's actually allowing for more flavor to be perceived and to be enjoyed.
49:02
SPEAKER_04: Um, I love that.
49:03
SPEAKER_04: I love that kind of thing in a beer.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: So I think after listening to all of you, I I have bounced around in my head with like five different numbers.
49:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh this is why we normally make Roscoe's.
49:14
SPEAKER_00: Go first, yes.
49:15
SPEAKER_00: Go with my gut.
49:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh I I'm gonna give this like a nine.
49:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I love this beer.
49:20
SPEAKER_00: I could drink three more of these, no problem.
49:22
SPEAKER_00: All right.
49:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think uh this is gonna be kind of weird, but if you're the kind of person that likes like blue cheese, like you like that funky taste, you would love this beer.
49:32
SPEAKER_00: Just because it's like that funk is not foreign to you at all.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: And I I love it.
49:35
SPEAKER_00: I hate blue cheese, but I like this.
49:37
SPEAKER_00: Different kind of funk of sh of course.
49:38
SPEAKER_00: But I but I mean if if it's just one of those you have one of those palettes where you like interesting things, this is a wonderful beer for that kind of person.
49:45
SPEAKER_04: You know, we haven't done this in a long time, but we we did one of my buddies was one of the managers at the high V in Grand Island, and for a couple years there we were able to do this beer and cheese pairing, and it was super interesting because we would take two cheeses for each beer.
50:01
SPEAKER_04: And what it really helped illustrate was how your perception of flavor changes.
50:07
SPEAKER_04: So you'd eat one cheese and then try it with the beer, we'd have them cleanse their palates with either a pretzel or something, and you'd eat the other cheese and try the same beer, and it would be a completely different experience.
50:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
50:19
SPEAKER_04: Uh and it was so cool and so fun to do it that way.
50:22
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
50:23
SPEAKER_04: Just because it's, you know, I love food, I love beer.
50:27
SPEAKER_04: Same.
50:28
SPEAKER_04: It's like it's the different pairings, the combinations are so phenomenal, and just so many different things you can do with it.
50:34
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
50:35
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
50:36
SPEAKER_04: Any final thoughts before we get out of here, guys?
50:38
SPEAKER_04: Are we supposed to name a tavern?
50:40
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we were gonna skip that for this one.
50:41
SPEAKER_00: Do you want do you want to name a tavern?
50:43
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, and they're serving it at endless.
50:45
SPEAKER_02: That's true.
50:45
SPEAKER_02: We've already got the endless.
50:46
SPEAKER_03: It's like we've already got it.
50:48
SPEAKER_03: Can I call it an endless?
50:50
SPEAKER_01: What?
50:50
SPEAKER_03: What are you gonna call the beer at Endless?
50:53
SPEAKER_01: So I put I I asked Laura, or I told Laura, I guess, I said, you know what you should do is you should just make little things to put over the names and just rename all of them.
51:03
SPEAKER_01: And then she said, she said, I'm not gonna be able to switch voices.
51:06
SPEAKER_01: I'm definitely not gonna be able to switch that in my head.
51:09
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh, I can see how that would be something.
51:12
SPEAKER_01: But given beer challenge ratings, now I'm thinking, I gotta create a whole series of monsters for my table that are all have like beer-related names.
51:25
SPEAKER_01: Like is the is the back alley porter, you know, a saurus.
51:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh is that I'll see now.
51:33
SPEAKER_01: I was expecting that.
51:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm way better at improv than that most of the time.
51:36
SPEAKER_04: I was thinking like sworthy kind of because that that's a dark rich beer that just be like, hey.
51:46
SPEAKER_04: The back alley beholder.
51:47
SPEAKER_04: The back alley beholder.
51:49
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, yes.
51:50
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you want to write that.
51:52
SPEAKER_00: Write that down.
51:53
SPEAKER_01: Back alley beholder.
51:54
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I just so now that's what I'm thinking.
51:56
SPEAKER_01: I that'll be my obsession the rest of the week now.
51:59
SPEAKER_03: Phil, we we need you to keep track of these and like let us know.
52:02
SPEAKER_02: Oh, oh, absolutely.
52:03
SPEAKER_02: We'll live in Discord on those nights.
52:07
SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you guys for coming on the show.
52:09
SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate it.
52:10
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, this gives uh your players and all of our listeners a little insight into what's going on here in Hastings.
52:14
SPEAKER_03: Uh and where can we learn more about the campaign in general and stay up to date with uh how the campaign is progressing?
52:21
SPEAKER_01: Hold on, I'm typing back Ellie Boo Holder.
52:23
SPEAKER_01: I can only do one thing at a time.
52:25
SPEAKER_01: There's a Facebook page called the Dungeon at First Street that Which sounded like a great idea when I so First Street DD was already taken somewhere.
52:34
SPEAKER_01: First Street Dungeons and Dragons was already taken, couldn't get it.
52:37
SPEAKER_01: So the dungeon at First Street, I got that one, and then the we lost the Instagram page we had for it because apparently it didn't meet their terms of service, and the only thing I can figure is that they weren't quite sure what that meant.
52:50
SPEAKER_00: This is not this is not a BDS empire.
52:53
SPEAKER_00: I promise you right now.
52:58
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's the dungeon at first street, the dungeon at first street, uh, all one word on Facebook.
53:05
SPEAKER_01: And uh my wife teaches media arts at Central Community College, so I'm I've already put it on her to pictures video from the campaign night.
53:13
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna try and share a bunch of these.
53:15
SPEAKER_03: We're gonna try and I are upset.
53:16
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, it's gonna be outside of the room.
53:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we wanna we want to keep up to date with these campaigns.
53:22
SPEAKER_03: Uh and Nathan, where can we learn more about First Street?
53:24
SPEAKER_03: Where can we find it?
53:25
SPEAKER_04: First Streetbrewing.com or we're on all the socials as First Street Brewing Company.
53:30
SPEAKER_04: Cool.
53:30
SPEAKER_04: You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.
53:32
SPEAKER_04: I don't really do a lot on Twitter.
53:34
SPEAKER_04: I won't mainly I mainly appreciate what other people do on Twitter.
53:38
SPEAKER_04: Uh but we do a lot of stuff on Instagram and on Facebook.
53:41
SPEAKER_04: Um and you know, we're always trying different things.
53:44
SPEAKER_04: Um, so it's you never know what you'll find.
53:46
SPEAKER_04: Yep, cool.
53:47
SPEAKER_00: All right, that's gonna do it for this uh episode of the opening crack.
53:51
SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned for more beer reviews in the future.
53:53
SPEAKER_00: You can check out our regular show, Bards and Barrels, anywhere podcasts can be found.
53:56
SPEAKER_00: You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube at Bards and Barrels.
54:00
SPEAKER_00: Until next time, may your dice be hot and your beer be cold.