Latest / The Brewery Underground Podcast | Craft Beer Interviews, Reviews and Beer Travel / Oktoberfest Beer: Märzen, Festbier & Brewery Conversations | Episode 90

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Oktoberfest Beer: Märzen, Festbier & Brewery Conversations | Episode 90 · The Brewery Underground Podcast | Craft Beer Interviews, Reviews and Beer Travel

• 0:00
  Stand by for the Brewery Underground podcast.
• 0:36
  What do you think about Oktoberfest season?
• 0:38
  Guy who's been to Germany should know Oktoberfest is actually in
• 0:42
  September, correct? So I.
• 0:43
  Mean it is. Absolutely, yeah.
• 0:45
  Which makes so we're. Only we're about 6 weeks, 5
• 0:48
  weeks away from September, believe it or not.
• 0:50
  No, no, I'm no about 8 weeks. Oh man, yeah. 8 weeks.
• 0:53
  I forgot about July buddy. I was right.
• 0:55
  I was going right into August. Right, actually, actually, yeah,
• 0:58
  we're, we're about 8 1/2 weeks. Yeah.
• 1:02
  Well, look, Mike, our schedule is booked through July, so I've
• 1:04
  already skipped over July. By the time this airs, or if it
• 1:07
  errors, because, you know, I might.
• 1:08
  Honestly. I'm thinking bury this in the
• 1:11
  backyard. You're going to send us a cease
• 1:13
  and desist? We have so much to.
• 1:15
  Contribute This is, this is. This is all we do.
• 1:19
  We're such amateurs. When Oktoberfest season rolls
• 1:22
  around, what's the go to for the hill tappers?
• 1:24
  When it comes to Oktoberfest, you got some favorites.
• 1:27
  Yes, and look, and 1st off, I'll say this, no matter where you
• 1:30
  are, I must stand by this. I'm standing by this.
• 1:34
  No matter where you live, if you want to get a good Oktoberfest
• 1:37
  beer, no matter what you think of the beer company Sam Adams
• 1:41
  Oktoberfest is delicious. Buddy, you, you and I are
• 1:44
  lockstep on it man I agree. I was hoping to say.
• 1:47
  I stand in line. I am one of the first people to
• 1:50
  stand in line at the grocery store each year to get a six
• 1:54
  pack when they come out on the first day that is out.
• 1:57
  Last year here I was at Publix the very first day that they had
• 2:01
  Oktoberfest and that was like August 28th or something.
• 2:04
  And I'm like, I don't care. I don't care how early it is.
• 2:07
  I know going there and I mean it's.
• 2:09
  Available pretty much anywhere, but let me tell you, as just a
• 2:13
  mass produced Oktoberfest beer, you can't go wrong with it.
• 2:16
  It's pretty good. It's the OG it is.
• 2:19
  It is. We got a buddy, Calvin, who
• 2:20
  goes. He'll buy a case of it at the
• 2:22
  end of the season or a couple of cases so it gets him through
• 2:25
  like the spring and the summer until it comes back out again.
• 2:28
  Nice, well played. Locally here in Louisville we
• 2:31
  have, you know, obviously because this is how we started.
• 2:34
  So we have a ranking we may disagree on #1 we kind of go
• 2:39
  back and forth on #1I tend to think that the number one local
• 2:44
  Oktoberfest beer is by a place called Monica Brewing.
• 2:48
  Ionic makes great beers, but their Oktoberfest is called
• 2:51
  Kaiser von Schnitzelberg, great name.
• 2:54
  And I think that is probably one of the best.
• 2:57
  And they they can it so you can buy it locally in Cannes.
• 3:02
  And we also think that the Gallant Fox, which is a place we
• 3:05
  were hoping that we could take you guys soon, Gallant Fox has
• 3:08
  one called Fox Tober Fest. It's number one.
• 3:11
  That's number one. That's his favorite, that's
• 3:13
  number one. So those are great up in the
• 3:17
  Cincinnati area. I think Braxton's October Fuel
• 3:20
  is delicious, really good. Fall City.
• 3:23
  You familiar with Fall city beer?
• 3:25
  Back Back when we were growing up, fall city meant cheap,
• 3:28
  terrible beer. But then what happened was they
• 3:31
  became a brewery when the, you know, the fad came along.
• 3:35
  And now Fall City makes some really great beers.
• 3:37
  They have one called Autofest O TTO Fest and that was definitely
• 3:42
  a top beer for us. And then both Against the Grain
• 3:46
  and Goodwood, both Louisville breweries have amazing
• 3:49
  Oktoberfest and Donka Shane by W 6th out of Lexington.
• 3:52
  It's a little bit mild for an Oktoberfest, but super
• 3:56
  drinkable. So if you want like a lighter, a
• 3:58
  more drinkable Oktoberfest, excellent.
• 4:00
  Well, last year I I found and Oktoberfest that I did not think
• 4:05
  was possible that I liked a little bit better than Sam Adams
• 4:09
  founders had a barrel aged Oktoberfest.
• 4:14
  There was about 10% and it was off the charts.
• 4:18
  And I found it really through happenstance.
• 4:21
  Scott and I were going to be doing, we were going to do a
• 4:24
  Oktoberfest episode where we're going to go out and find
• 4:26
  different variations of Oktoberfest beer.
• 4:29
  Yep. And I'm at the beer wine store
• 4:30
  down the street from my house and I look over and I'm like
• 4:33
  founders Oktoberfest. And all of a sudden I look and
• 4:35
  I'm like barrel aged. And, and when we have founders
• 4:40
  on, we talked to them about it and I think they came out with
• 4:43
  it in like 2021. And Scott, didn't they say they
• 4:45
  were going to do like a new variation this year?
• 4:48
  I don't think they're going to come out with that particular
• 4:49
  one. But man, if you guys see it, I
• 4:52
  know you were talking earlier about barrel age being sort of
• 4:55
  hit and miss. That thing, that thing.
• 4:57
  My God man, that was one of my favorite beers of the year.
• 4:59
  It really was all hit. Wow, Yeah.
• 5:03
  Only like that beer was that beer for you, Steve was only
• 5:06
  surpassed by that vibacious juicy, right?
• 5:08
  If I remember. Yeah, at least, at least for a
• 5:10
  time it was. Like my second favorite beer of
• 5:12
  the year, Huh, It was that game. OK.
• 5:15
  Yeah, we'll definitely be on the look of it coming August,
• 5:18
  September. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.
• 5:20
  It's so weird. You don't want to hate about
• 5:22
  Oktoberfest coming out early. And I like Sam's Oktoberfest.
• 5:25
  I really like their summer ale too.
• 5:27
  Those are the two I like from them.
• 5:28
  The summer is really crushable. It's got that lemon zest too.
• 5:31
  I love that. And the Oktoberfest follows.
• 5:33
  I'm just like, can we just get a little later in the season?
• 5:36
  Yeah, because, listen, it may come out in August, but I'm
• 5:38
  still, it's still 100° in August.
• 5:43
  I'm not ready to shift to the fall until October itself.
• 5:47
  Yeah, I'll buy it, but then I'm not going to drink it for a few
• 5:50
  weeks, you know, at least. Yeah, there's got to be in
• 5:52
  September. Yeah, you got to save some
• 5:54
  because basically it's kind of like Christmas, you know, the
• 5:56
  Thanksgiving, Christmas and all of a sudden, boom, it's over and
• 6:00
  you get get October maybe 20th and you're not seeing hardly any
• 6:04
  Oktoberfest left out there. You know, you may still see it
• 6:07
  in in some restaurants, but you're definitely not going to
• 6:10
  see hardly any of it in the stores anymore.
• 6:12
  Do you guys transit and it's they run parallel a little bit,
• 6:15
  but there's a crossover between Oktoberfest beers and the
• 6:18
  pumpkins. The pumpkins come out a little
• 6:20
  bit later, as they should. They should come out much later
• 6:22
  too. You guys pump it more on
• 6:24
  October. Yeah, drink a lot of pumpkins,
• 6:28
  but I think we'll all agree. And if anyone listening doesn't
• 6:31
  know, Party Source in Northern Kentucky, right across the river
• 6:35
  from Cincinnati and in Newport, KY, is the greatest liquor store
• 6:41
  on the planet that I've ever been to anyway.
• 6:43
  But they have a build your own 6 pack aisle that is unparalleled
• 6:47
  that I've ever seen. And I went in there around
• 6:50
  September and like half of that aisle was just Oktoberfest
• 6:55
  beers. And I was so excited.
• 6:57
  I ended up building a 12 pack because I just wanted to try
• 7:00
  everyone's beer. And we're huge fans of Wooden
• 7:03
  Cask. And I've never seen them have an
• 7:06
  Oktoberfest beer, but they and I don't usually go for the pumpkin
• 7:09
  ale's too much. It's just a little too much
• 7:11
  spice for me versus an Oktoberfest beer.
• 7:14
  But they had one. And since we love Wooden Cast,
• 7:16
  cuz what's gonna happen? I bring all those back and then
• 7:18
  he comes over and then we just get like I have like a flight
• 7:21
  and we just kind of pour half glass and we split beers to try
• 7:24
  them. And we ended up trying their
• 7:26
  pumpkin beer and it was, it ranked high for us.
• 7:29
  It was really good. So I'm a little bit more open to
• 7:31
  it now. Since then, my daughter, because
• 7:34
  she knows I love Wooden Cask and knows I love Oktoberfest.
• 7:37
  She found a Wooden Cask Oktoberfest beer.
• 7:40
  She bought me a six pack and brought it to me.
• 7:42
  And I'll say this, Wooden Cask Oktoberfest ranks high.
• 7:45
  Once again. They do not let us down.
• 7:47
  If anyone goes to the Cincinnati area, please give Wooden Cask a
• 7:51
  try. I, I think they're, in fact, I
• 7:54
  was in about two years ago. They also have the tap room on
• 7:58
  Newport on Levee in in addition to their other location.
• 8:02
  And I was in there and I was talking to the guy and I said, I
• 8:04
  think you guys are one of the least talked about great
• 8:08
  breweries in this area. And he looked at me and he said
• 8:11
  our owner knows that. He said he just stands on what
• 8:14
  we do. He said he doesn't worry about
• 8:16
  it. He feels like the brand is good
• 8:18
  enough where people are going to come in and they're going to get
• 8:20
  the beer and we're going to continue on.
• 8:22
  And I'm like, yeah, I mean, they don't get talked about that much
• 8:25
  up there. I don't.
• 8:26
  But what happened? We didn't go there.
• 8:29
  We, we made a choice look, because they're not far from
• 8:33
  darkness. And we, we all love darkness.
• 8:36
  We've, you know, we've kind of taken them on.
• 8:38
  So we go there as much as we can.
• 8:39
  We go to Braxton and Darkness. But right between Braxton and
• 8:42
  Darkness is Wooden Cask. So, you know, next year, if
• 8:46
  we're going back up there, we, we need to not miss Wooden Cask.
• 8:49
  Yeah. Well, we went to the new W 6
• 8:52
  location because we wanted to knock that off our list because
• 8:55
  we hadn't been there. Sure.
• 8:57
  Yeah. Wooden Cask was on on that whole
• 8:59
  thing. And next year we will.
• 9:00
  And I want to. I want to also say one other
• 9:02
  thing about darkness. I'm starting to be convinced
• 9:05
  that they're being there twice. That darkness is going to become
• 9:09
  on that Listerman level for me of, yeah, I don't know where
• 9:14
  else in this area I'm for pound. Then I'm going to find the most
• 9:18
  consistent good beer. And I feel like darkness is
• 9:21
  going to be on that level for me.
• 9:23
  About one or two more times I go there, I'm gonna be like, Yep.
• 9:26
  Yep. Yeah.
• 9:27
  Look, I love when I go to a place to find the big breweries.
• 9:30
  Awesome. But find the little hole in the
• 9:33
  wall and I can still, look, they've, you know, they haven't
• 9:35
  really expanded that much, so I can still consider them a bit of
• 9:37
  a hole in the wall. They're small, but man, they
• 9:40
  produce great stuff, you know, and they have improved the
• 9:43
  facility since I've started going there.
• 9:44
  But yeah, they're just on point. Yeah, that was my first time it.
• 9:48
  That will be one of those ones that's going to be on the list
• 9:50
  every time we go if. We can their their eyes is like
• 9:54
  charming. It's, you know, it's got some
• 9:55
  charm to it being a little place.
• 9:56
  Yeah, and we, you know, we center everything, not
• 9:59
  everything, but when we go there, there's always a ball
• 10:01
  game or two involved. So they're near the ballpark,
• 10:04
  which is convenient as well. So we do that and do the
• 10:06
  ballpark, which is what we did this past trip too.
• 10:09
  So can't wait to get back. And she's been a couple Times
• 10:11
  Now. And by the way, I know I thought
• 10:14
  I'd had, I was going back to look on my untapped app on the
• 10:18
  Sully scale, the Spitz Lamont scale, whichever one I am, I've
• 10:22
  had their pumpkin ale. Yeah, yeah, I've had their
• 10:24
  pumpkin ale. I've rated it about two years
• 10:26
  ago and it looks like I liked it.
• 10:30
  So I've had their pumpkin ale, but doesn't look like I've had
• 10:34
  their. I have not had their
• 10:36
  Oktoberfest. But you were drinking the new
• 10:38
  Porter earlier, right? Yeah, he's got it right now.
• 10:41
  Yep, I had that about three years ago and liked it.
• 10:44
  Yeah, yeah, the listen, First off, wooden cast a beautiful can
• 10:48
  art, you know, it looks prestige.
• 10:50
  Yeah, you know, it's really nice.
• 10:51
  And when I saw their their Oktoberfest one, it had the the
• 10:55
  white and blue checks and still had their emblem on there.
• 10:58
  I mean, just it just it's a beautiful stuff.
• 11:01
  So but yes, So yes, you enjoyed their the wooden cast
• 11:04
  Oktoberfest, yes. Yes.
• 11:06
  No, I haven't had it. I have not had.
• 11:07
  I have not had their October. The pumpkin though, yeah.
• 11:10
  I've had the pumpkin out, yeah. Which was?
• 11:12
  And I'm and I'm. Yeah.
• 11:14
  And I'm hit and miss on pumpkin ales.
• 11:15
  When we were talking about earlier, you know, last year
• 11:18
  when I stood in line to get the Sam Adams, their pumpkin beer
• 11:23
  was sitting right next to it. I did not get it because I've
• 11:26
  had it before and I'm not the biggest fan of it.
• 11:29
  I probably would get it again. I'll tell you who does a really
• 11:33
  good pumpkin beer that now and they serve it throughout the
• 11:36
  year. Scott knows which one I'm
• 11:38
  talking about here in Nashville. Blackstone does the best pumpkin
• 11:43
  beer that it's a pumpkin ale. They do the best one that I've.
• 11:46
  I think I've probably one of the best ones I've ever had.
• 11:49
  Interesting. I'll tell you when it comes out,
• 11:51
  we'll send, we'll send you a couple.
• 11:52
  And it's, it's just simple. It's not anything crazy or it's
• 11:56
  got a little spice to it. And dude, it's it's, but I've
• 12:00
  given a few fives on untapped. That's a five.
• 12:03
  I've given that. Really.
• 12:04
  Wow, yeah, yes. And I love it.
• 12:05
  It's. A bit of a spicy kick, but it's
• 12:07
  not, it's not that. It's not that pumpkin spicy kick
• 12:10
  that you get. There you go.
• 12:12
  This is way, way, way over here where it's really annoying and
• 12:16
  you don't want to drink of any of it or more of it.
• 12:19
  It's just right in my opinion, where you really enjoy it and
• 12:24
  it's just a good brew. Yeah, I.
• 12:25
  Don't want to be drinking a carrot cake?
• 12:27
  Hang on. No, I would drink a carrot cake.
• 12:31
  I take that back. I love carrot cake.
• 12:32
  I would drink that. I would drink a carrot cake,
• 12:35
  Sir. So my so my question.
• 12:42
  Well, Scott mentioned the seasonal beers and we know that
• 12:45
  there is a season that's coming up soon.
• 12:47
  It's called the season of Oktoberfest.
• 12:49
  Yeah. Is that we?
• 12:51
  Dropped a variety 12 pack which included four German style
• 12:55
  beers. So we had an Oktoberfest, we had
• 12:57
  a Pilsner, we had a Kolsch and we had a Dunkel.
• 13:01
  And then actually Oktoberfest season coincides pretty nicely
• 13:05
  with our five year anniversary. So we'll be looking to do was it
• 13:10
  4, three different types of German style beers, three or
• 13:14
  four more styles. So we're going to be dabbling in
• 13:17
  some, you know, Berliner Vice, maybe, you know, something
• 13:21
  Bakish, I don't know, maybe something, I don't know Marzen,
• 13:25
  I don't know, maybe. But yeah, we, I mean, especially
• 13:28
  being in Cincinnati with such a like a huge German contingent,
• 13:31
  like it is something that we really push for because, you
• 13:34
  know, we're really proud of our heritage is here in Cincinnati.
• 13:38
  So we couldn't not try. So, well, and I was going to say
• 13:42
  that, you know, I've been to the Oktoberfest Cincinnati downtown
• 13:45
  a few years ago. I was there and I hadn't been
• 13:47
  for a while, but umm, I definitely need to get back.
• 13:50
  So yeah, expand on that a little bit, because I would imagine
• 13:53
  that almost every brewery has to have something Oktoberfest
• 13:58
  related in a city like Cincinnati, just knowing what
• 14:01
  the demand is. Yeah, and not just during
• 14:04
  Oktoberfest season, but being from Cincinnati, you know, Bach
• 14:07
  Fest is a huge season. Again, it's kind of like rooting
• 14:09
  yourself in the roots that you have or the heritage that are
• 14:13
  that are in the city. So German beers are definitely,
• 14:16
  you know, pinnacle here. And you have a lot of places, a
• 14:20
  lot of breweries around the city that do damn good for style
• 14:23
  beers. Like West Side comes to mind.
• 14:24
  Third Eye does some great stuff. Bring does some great stuff.
• 14:27
  You know, we want to be able to be on that level.
• 14:32
  We want to be mentioned with those guys when German beers
• 14:35
  come up in conversation in this communities.
• 14:38
  Yeah, German styles in this city are just so vastly important
• 14:41
  because we know that's what people are looking for,
• 14:43
  especially really from, I'd say mid-july through October.
• 14:47
  Probably. I mean, you'll have Fock fears
• 14:50
  in February, March, and then those will go and then you'll
• 14:53
  have your summer and then basically, yeah, it's
• 14:55
  Oktoberfest. Basically, it's Oktoberfest, and
• 14:57
  that's the craziest part, right? You know, for the first few
• 15:00
  years we would tell ourselves we're not going to be those
• 15:03
  guys. We're not going to be those
• 15:05
  guys. That drop off.
• 15:07
  In the middle of July. And then what was it 2 years
• 15:10
  ago? We were sitting there like,
• 15:12
  damn, we might have to be those guys.
• 15:14
  Not bad. So yeah, it it's, it's, it's
• 15:19
  definitely, we started with Dark Fest beer and now we're gonna
• 15:23
  dabble with the Marzen this year.
• 15:24
  So we're excited. We obviously live in a different
• 15:26
  time than when Marzen's were created originally and they used
• 15:30
  to what they'd have to do them in March and they'd store them
• 15:32
  in the Cellars or whatever all summer and that.
• 15:34
  When do you guys have to start putting or start brewing things
• 15:38
  for the Oktoberfest season? I've already brewed every like
• 15:42
  everything's already brewed in tanks.
• 15:44
  Yeah, OK. Yeah, yeah.
• 15:46
  Way ahead of the game. Fest is done.
• 15:50
  That's in the tank in the next the next batch of Oktoberfest
• 15:53
  and Dunkle's already planned for next week, Yeah.
• 15:56
  Really. Hurry.
• 15:57
  Hurry down. You're.
• 15:58
  Not kidding when you said July. Yeah, yeah, No, it's, I don't
• 16:01
  know if we'll necessarily release it, but we have it.
• 16:04
  Yeah, if it's all be all, be ready.
• 16:06
  Because in order to get the mixed toll pack assembled on
• 16:10
  time, when we want to drop it, we have to have everything done
• 16:13
  by a surrender bronze. Like everything has to be done
• 16:15
  so he can take it to our packaging guy, get everything
• 16:17
  boxed up and look pretty. And like, that's the biggest
• 16:20
  thing when you're dealing the 12 packs of the, the first time we
• 16:23
  did last year, we deal with that.
• 16:25
  It's you have to make sure everything's done right around
• 16:28
  the same time because, you know, as you guys know, beer has a
• 16:32
  shelf life. And you want to make sure when
• 16:35
  you put those those beers into the 12 pack, they have
• 16:39
  longevity, right? And create longevity through
• 16:41
  completing them all at the same time.
• 16:44
  Just makes it a little bit. Yeah.
• 16:45
  We've laughed, we've laughed about Oktoberfest season on past
• 16:49
  episodes, you know, like last year, because we're going, OK,
• 16:52
  when when we're going to see the first Oktoberfest beer sitting
• 16:55
  out on the shelves. And it's like, you know, right
• 16:58
  there at the end of August, you know, you go in the stores and
• 17:02
  you might see maybe some Sierra Nevada or of course Sam Adams
• 17:07
  that are popping up and you go, it seems like those those bigger
• 17:11
  breweries are really putting in the more pressure and demands
• 17:14
  for all the other breweries. I believe by the way, they
• 17:17
  started this trend. Yeah.
• 17:19
  And we, you know, you kind of you want to make sure that
• 17:22
  you're you're falling in that realm, right?
• 17:24
  You want to make sure the consumer like can get their
• 17:28
  hands on them at the appropriate time because if you're a little
• 17:31
  too early, people kind of give you the side eye.
• 17:33
  And if you're too a little too late, you know, you're kind of
• 17:37
  scrambling to even get a portion of what you should.
• 17:42
  There's definitely a sweet golden arrow or area that I
• 17:49
  think changes every year. It does.
• 17:52
  It feels like, Yeah, Consumers laugh.
• 17:55
  I was like, well, it's your kind of your guys's fault.
• 18:00
  It totally is. If nobody bought it in July and
• 18:02
  they waited till September, it wouldn't come out till
• 18:04
  September. Right.
• 18:06
  It's it's funny, I saw one of our local beer guys, Zach Holly,
• 18:11
  posted a picture last night of him drinking a pumpkin ale.
• 18:14
  And I'm like, dude. What's the?
• 18:15
  Pumpkin ale out, Yeah. And we know Zach.
• 18:18
  Yeah, we know, Zach, this is old.
• 18:20
  Yeah, I saw that too. Yeah.
• 18:23
  What's it crazy, guys? Urban are ain't for the pumpkin
• 18:26
  beer. What man you know?
• 18:28
  Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah.
• 18:30
  So you guys can't dictate how long that's from us.
• 18:33
  You guys, You're not doing pumpkin nails.
• 18:35
  No pumpkin nails for us. That's not one of the fun things
• 18:38
  you wanted to, no. Not.
• 18:40
  Lodging. They're challenging, that's for
• 18:42
  sure. The duration of Oktoberfest for
• 18:45
  your beer, though, that really just dictates on like you, you
• 18:47
  brew it X amount, right? And then when it's gone, it's
• 18:50
  gone kind of thing. Yeah, you're not making any
• 18:52
  more. And that's we've got so much, we
• 18:54
  got to find out amount and that's it.
• 18:56
  I I that's as a small business, as a small brewery, like we
• 19:00
  don't necessarily have the luxury of, you know, brewing a
• 19:03
  bachelor and it not selling and us have to.
• 19:05
  Dump it. Yeah, cuz that's about a couple.
• 19:08
  Yeah, if we brewed it a little too late seasonally and it's
• 19:12
  amazing like that Bureau of sell, sell, sell.
• 19:14
  And then right when the season changes, it stops.
• 19:16
  Selling it's it's almost. A. 100% cut off.
• 19:19
  It is the weirdest thing you will ever see.
• 19:21
  Yeah, it's it's very fascinating to watch.
• 19:23
  So yeah, once we once the sit like Oktoberfest, once those are
• 19:27
  gone, they're gone. I still.
• 19:28
  Wanted to touch? Go ahead.
• 19:30
  So Rick, we just the last just to touch on the pumpkin thing
• 19:32
  real quick. I still, there's a place I go to
• 19:34
  still has Schlaflees pumpkin on the show from last year and I
• 19:37
  love Schlafly. But I think it's to your point,
• 19:39
  maybe they made too much or somebody bought too much.
• 19:42
  The season ended and it sits there now and nobody wants when
• 19:45
  the season comes around, you can't get enough of it.
• 19:47
  Yeah, yeah. And then, yeah, once you start
• 19:50
  seeing like those Great Lakes Christmas animals, you're like.
• 19:53
  Yeah, yeah. We know what a big deal that is
• 19:56
  for them up there too. Yeah.
• 20:04
  And we just released a Sauerkraut Oktoberfest, which is
• 20:07
  a once a year type thing. It's very, very small amount,
• 20:10
  but it's something that we do every year and it's something
• 20:12
  that we've become known for, at least locally and we still do
• 20:16
  things like that. You get Steve, did you get the
• 20:19
  transfer? Was it, was it on tap when you
• 20:25
  were at the tap room? The Sauerkraut.
• 20:28
  It was not, but we, we wanted to jump in the Oktoberfest a little
• 20:32
  more on the on the podcast because here we are in
• 20:35
  Oktoberfest season. And I was really fascinated, as
• 20:38
  I mentioned when I came in there because I did have the
• 20:41
  Butterscotch Oktoberfest and I think you also had your other
• 20:44
  traditional Marzen in there as well.
• 20:47
  And I was curious as to the idea behind a butterscotch
• 20:51
  Oktoberfest because I would never thought about that.
• 20:54
  And I thought, wow. And, and I could taste the
• 20:56
  butterscotch, but I thought it was a great combination with the
• 21:00
  Oktoberfest beer. And in fact, we were at a place
• 21:04
  called Deep South Growlers, which is a tap room here in
• 21:06
  Nashville. And one of the locations are
• 21:09
  right around the corner from Scott's house.
• 21:11
  And Abby Anderton, who is the daughter of one of the owners, I
• 21:14
  was telling her about it and she's like, that sounds
• 21:17
  tremendous. Talk about that.
• 21:19
  The idea behind the Butterscotch Oktoberfest?
• 21:24
  Yeah. I think that was, I want to say
• 21:27
  that was either the first or second year that I worked there.
• 21:29
  We kind of developed that one a little bit.
• 21:30
  That was that was a little bit based off of a lot of times,
• 21:34
  especially at that point in the brewery, brewery we would
• 21:36
  release a base of something and then some variation off of that.
• 21:40
  And so often when we would release plan our release
• 21:43
  schedule, we'd say, what's the, what's the thing that we want to
• 21:45
  try a small amount of? And I think the goal with that
• 21:48
  one was kind of like the, the like butterbeer, like Harry
• 21:51
  Potter, like that, that idea of like a light and kind of like
• 21:55
  sweeter version of like a traditional style.
• 21:58
  I think we talked about caramel for a little bit and then we
• 22:00
  talked about butterscotch. And I don't remember
• 22:04
  specifically why we landed on butterscotch, but it was kind of
• 22:06
  a we'll give this a try. And I think the first year we
• 22:09
  probably only made. I don't know like the.
• 22:13
  Like a couple barrels worth of that, and now at this point,
• 22:15
  it's almost split down the middle with the traditional
• 22:17
  Oktoberfest and the Butterscotches.
• 22:19
  We always make sure that we have that on draft and we also make
• 22:21
  sure we have it on cans at this point.
• 22:23
  Eric, do you remember how we landed specifically on
• 22:25
  Butterscotch? Yeah, well, I think it was
• 22:28
  probably just experimenting with things, you know, and I know
• 22:33
  that it's really fun. There's a kind of a funny Side
• 22:35
  Story to this guy's is that we've done we're we're about to
• 22:38
  have our what is it 6th or 7th, maybe 6th Oktoberfest that we're
• 22:44
  having on September 20th. And but you know, we've made the
• 22:48
  butterscotch for three or four years, I think, and maybe maybe
• 22:52
  the pretzel version for one or two years.
• 22:55
  And same with the sauerkraut. So we have a essentially we have
• 22:58
  a flight of those those beers. But the funny joke, ongoing joke
• 23:02
  about the butterscotch is that we use, you know, real
• 23:05
  butterscotch to make to make those beers on top of the Mars
• 23:08
  in. And I've gotten ribbed and and
• 23:12
  pinged by not only other Brewers, but by, you know, craft
• 23:16
  beer enthusiasts online because butterscotch can be known as an
• 23:21
  off flavor aroma. Like you, you made a bad beer
• 23:25
  kind of thing. And I and I've always had to say
• 23:27
  no, we we intentionally are putting butterscotch in there
• 23:30
  and doing that as a beer. So it's like one of those, it's
• 23:34
  like one of those flavorings or, or kinds of ingredients that
• 23:39
  that it can be known as an off flavor in there, but is the real
• 23:45
  deal. So like apples would be the same
• 23:47
  thing. That can be an off flavor and
• 23:49
  that kind of thing, you know, horse blanket, you know, or, or
• 23:54
  farmhouse kind of things there. There can be things that are,
• 23:57
  you know, actual off flavors. But when we tried the
• 24:01
  butterscotch, it was kind of a funny thing because I was
• 24:03
  getting pinged and and still to this day get pinged a little bit
• 24:06
  about, Hey, man, is that a, did you guys put butterscotch in
• 24:09
  there? Or is it just you're, you made a
• 24:11
  bad beer and tried to, it's real.
• 24:16
  I mean, it's real butterscotch. So but but people like it.
• 24:20
  And to Anna's point there it, it's just, you know, part of our
• 24:25
  experimenting and trying to have fun with it and do some
• 24:29
  different things, not just, hey, we're, you know, going up
• 24:32
  against, you know, who are the guys like the Germ main German
• 24:35
  houses like Polliner and, you know, the guys that have been
• 24:39
  making Marzins or Fes beers for hundreds of years.
• 24:42
  And Oh my goodness, they're so delicious.
• 24:45
  And they give me Brewers jealousy and all that kind of
• 24:49
  thing. So just, you know, just be able
• 24:50
  to mix it up and hopefully we're still living in the world where,
• 24:54
  you know, people come to small breweries and tap rooms to try
• 24:57
  something different, you know, and if you've come there and,
• 25:00
  you know, Scott, I saw that you were drinking Apollo 13 IPA,
• 25:03
  which is one that we've pretty much made from the beginning.
• 25:06
  Of course, that recipe, the one that you're drinking out of that
• 25:09
  can is a whole lot different than the original one that we
• 25:13
  first made. The reason why we called it
• 25:14
  Apollo 13, it was after the Apollo 13 mission because it was
• 25:19
  a near disaster the first time we brewed it.
• 25:22
  And, you know, we still like to have fun with it.
• 25:25
  And they're all four of the, you know, the regular Mars.
• 25:28
  And they love drinking that one, especially off a draft.
• 25:31
  It's real tasty. And butterscotch and the pretzel
• 25:33
  and the sauerkraut. The sauerkraut.
• 25:36
  And Steve, I'm kind of happy you didn't get to try that one
• 25:38
  because it definitely smells better than it tastes.
• 25:45
  I would have tried it through. I'll try almost anything.
• 25:47
  I would have tried it, my friend.
• 25:49
  I would have tried it I. Think that one tastes better
• 25:51
  than it smells? That smell is the nose on that
• 25:53
  one is strong. You put that one up to your nose
• 25:56
  and you're like, I'm not so sure about.
• 25:57
  This does a little bit of sauerkraut go a long way, and
• 26:00
  when you're brewing that. It dies and you know, it's,
• 26:03
  it's, it's, yeah. Making, making it that day is
• 26:08
  always funny because every time we we pull it out, we're like,
• 26:10
  what are we? What are we doing over here?
• 26:12
  What are we doing? Are.
• 26:16
  Are there other? Are there other?
• 26:18
  Oktoberfest. Version beers that you're going
• 26:20
  to have out during the season here.
• 26:22
  Those are our four. Those are our 4 ones that we
• 26:24
  usually do. We, we kind of release our
• 26:27
  Oktoberfest in tears. We first released released just
• 26:30
  the base and then the butterscotch and then the second
• 26:33
  round that we brew, we pull off the pretzel and the sauerkraut.
• 26:36
  We have a flight release and then the third release in
• 26:39
  September is set for the actual Oktoberfest event that we have
• 26:42
  at the end of that month. So we try to keep things rolling
• 26:46
  with the butterscotch throughout and the pretzel sauerkraut is
• 26:50
  definitely a one time thing. But other than that, I don't
• 26:52
  think we've I don't think we've tried anything else.
• 26:54
  And I and we kind of, but I don't know that we're going to
• 26:57
  do anything else this year anyway.
• 26:59
  I think it's great. You've got multiple variants of
• 27:01
  it, though, not allowing people to do that.
• 27:02
  It's just the 1. And I love the idea of the
• 27:04
  butterscotch. I haven't had it, but I think
• 27:06
  it's a really nice pairing, yeah.
• 27:09
  It ends up working out and I think it literally was just a,
• 27:12
  sometimes we're looking at some extra ingredients we have or
• 27:15
  sometimes there's an idea that came along.
• 27:17
  One of our former employees said what if we put sauerkraut in
• 27:20
  there and they said we'll give it a try and see what it tastes
• 27:22
  like. So we'll try and do things once,
• 27:24
  you know, and, and it worked out pretty well.
• 27:28
  Is there an ingredient that you guys think would go well on a
• 27:30
  Marzen Logger? That's a good question.
• 27:37
  You mentioned caramel. I would think that might be
• 27:39
  would be OK too. I think that might be a nice
• 27:41
  pairing, like a nice, you know, Marzan or something.
• 27:43
  God, I don't know. Maybe a little bit of chocolate,
• 27:48
  you think? Maybe just a little bit.
• 27:50
  Yeah, we put, we put chocolate in beers for for sure before.
• 27:53
  Yeah, yeah. I never would have guessed
• 27:56
  sauerkraut though, but I would I would try it in a heartbeat.
• 28:06
  You know, we are basically now in Oktoberfest season and I got
• 28:11
  a bit of an early start. Meanwhile, it's August 13th.
• 28:14
  But you're not wrong. I know I got a bit of an early
• 28:17
  start. I've drank a couple of
• 28:19
  Oktoberfest beers, drank one on the Hop and Frog podcast, their
• 28:23
  Oktoberfest, which by the way, was a fantastic two-part
• 28:28
  episode. People, if you're listening to
• 28:29
  this and you haven't listened to the Hop and Frog Podcast and
• 28:33
  Akron, because we went up there a few months ago and we had a
• 28:37
  couple of those guys on there. They were absolutely fan damn
• 28:41
  tastic and they were very passionate about what they do
• 28:44
  and that that is it's a champion and ship podcast, right?
• 28:47
  There it really is. I've been editing that this week
• 28:50
  and man, I can't get enough of it.
• 28:51
  I I'm excited for people to listen to it.
• 28:53
  Those guys were awesome. Yes, very, very awesome.
• 28:57
  So I had an Oktoberfest beer so far from them, and I also had an
• 29:02
  Oktoberfest beer when I went to Johnson City Brewing that I'll
• 29:06
  talk about in a second. But you've had some Oktoberfest
• 29:08
  already, right? Yeah, so the first one I had
• 29:11
  this year was on July 5th, So 4th of July weekend, I was over
• 29:16
  at Chris Finn's house and you and you say, well, how did you
• 29:18
  get an Oktoberfest that early? Well, you know, our friend
• 29:21
  Calvin, he stashes, he'll buy cases of the Sam Adams
• 29:24
  Oktoberfest at the end of the season so that they'll last him
• 29:27
  until the next season. Well, he was he was getting
• 29:30
  close. So he's got to start drinking
• 29:31
  these old ones from last year. So the one I drank on July 5th
• 29:34
  was from last season's batch, if you will.
• 29:38
  But I was like, all right, so that was the first one I had
• 29:40
  this year, this season. But then, yeah, Deep South
• 29:44
  Growler had one. I was over there a few weeks ago
• 29:46
  and they had one called Leader Hosen, Leader Hosen, Leader
• 29:48
  Hosen by Cigar City. So that was probably my first
• 29:51
  official for this season. Oktoberfest.
• 29:55
  And it was a Marcin man and it was really good.
• 29:58
  And then since then I've had many National Brewing Company
• 30:01
  fest beers and not a lot of assortment.
• 30:04
  I have not bought gone out and bought a bunch yet to bring
• 30:07
  home, but that's, that's coming. I mean, it's, it's it's here.
• 30:09
  The fast beers I get because they tend to be a little
• 30:11
  lighter, but the pumpkins can be heavier so that those are a
• 30:15
  little harder to drink when it's warm.
• 30:16
  But who cares, right? This, this is scary.
• 30:20
  Let's drink. If they're there, they're good
• 30:21
  beers, we'll drink them. Yeah, you know why not?
• 30:24
  Let's. Try them.
• 30:25
  We complain, but they they keep coming out early and earlier.
• 30:28
  That's right, let's just try them and check them off.
• 30:30
  That's right. And then I also want to make
• 30:34
  mention, because we have talked about it so much on this podcast
• 30:37
  about all the PB and J beers that are still out there, the
• 30:41
  new ones that are coming about, you know, I had a recent one
• 30:45
  from our our friends at Tailgate Brewery.
• 30:48
  Actually, you were there. I was there.
• 30:50
  I witnessed it. Yes, the PB and J on crusties
• 30:54
  sour snack and that one was that was a sour fruited from
• 30:58
  tailgate. That one.
• 30:59
  It was pretty good. I had one from Common John that
• 31:02
  was also a a pretty decent one as well.
• 31:05
  I had that from Mr. Brews and then, well, I guess I got to get
• 31:09
  into my trip. Here we go.
• 31:11
  I'm going to buckle in. Buck.
• 31:12
  Listen me, buckling in. Got it, got to get into the
• 31:15
  trip. So it took a recent road trip to
• 31:18
  East Tennessee and my first stop now though the whole trip was
• 31:21
  supposed to be going to the Speedway Classic in Bristol, TN
• 31:25
  to see the Reds play the Atlanta Braves.
• 31:27
  But on the way, my first trip, my first time ever, you had been
• 31:31
  before I had to stop at the world famous.
• 31:35
  You have to. And zoo, of course.
• 31:37
  It did not disappoint. I I got there on a Thursday
• 31:40
  afternoon. I could tell you it was about
• 31:42
  110° outside when I got there. Yeah, that's that's about right.
• 31:47
  In the in the middle of summer. I mean, I, I just remember
• 31:50
  getting there and thinking, I've been driving for a few hours
• 31:52
  and, and this is going to be a perfect spot to get some beer.
• 31:56
  Not a lot of heavy beer because I'm driving.
• 31:58
  And now it's also time for lunch.
• 32:00
  And thank God they had some food there.
• 32:02
  But yeah, so when I did get there, I remember you were, you
• 32:06
  were leading up to a couple days beforehand.
• 32:08
  You kept saying you know you're about to have your thousandth
• 32:12
  check in of a beer on Untapped. I think I was more excited about
• 32:16
  it than you were. Well, you love stats.
• 32:18
  I love. I do, yeah.
• 32:19
  Yeah. Well, I know the thousand, the
• 32:21
  1000 is a is a pretty good number.
• 32:23
  So I was excited for you. Comparatively, by your standards
• 32:27
  and many others, it's not that high.
• 32:28
  But you know what? It's a high number.
• 32:30
  I guess it's a high number and it's a number.
• 32:33
  Yes, yeah, it's a high number. So it's it should be applauded.
• 32:36
  OK. Well, thank you.
• 32:36
  Thank you for applauding everybody.
• 32:38
  But no, I planned it. I said all right, I got to make
• 32:41
  it special. So I went there.
• 32:43
  I got a flight and I made sure that my thousandth check in was
• 32:48
  the PB and J mixtape Strawberry from Sewell.
• 32:52
  That's amazing. And ladies and gentlemen, it did
• 32:55
  not disappoint. It did not.
• 32:58
  It did not disappoint, I believe.
• 32:59
  Let me let me take a a quick look.
• 33:02
  I'm pretty sure though I know what I rated it on the old
• 33:05
  untapped app. I rated it a 4.50. 4.5.
• 33:09
  On untapped. That is stellar.
• 33:11
  That is high territory. That is high territory, yeah.
• 33:15
  There aren't many that get up in that range, are there?
• 33:17
  Yeah, I've had a few this year. I've had a few this year.
• 33:21
  You're drinking good beer. I'm drinking good beer.
• 33:23
  Ironically, a lot of them have been from school.
• 33:26
  Well, we're seeing a little bit more here, right?
• 33:29
  A little bit dribs and drabs here and then you getting there
• 33:32
  obviously helps that too. I don't think so, yeah.
• 33:36
  But it was a it was a good time, you know, got a flight from
• 33:39
  there and that was the only mix tape that I got that day because
• 33:42
  you know, I was like, you know, we've talked about this before
• 33:45
  and I can't say if the strawberry would have been one
• 33:48
  that that some of you go, I only would want this on a flight.
• 33:53
  It's a little bit too sweet. A flight is fine.
• 33:55
  Maybe I would, I would probably take that one and a 16 ounce
• 33:59
  pour, you know, 16 ounce can. I think that was pretty good.
• 34:01
  Well, look, you're running through the flavors, aren't you?
• 34:04
  You've had. Pete, Yeah.
• 34:06
  Right. You've had the regular, which I
• 34:07
  think is great. You've had strawberry, you had
• 34:10
  blueberry, you had blueberry last year.
• 34:12
  You're you're running through them all.
• 34:13
  You've had Peach and I haven't even had Peach yet.
• 34:16
  Yeah, I know. Well, I also have to make
• 34:19
  mention, you know, in all fairness, it wasn't just that
• 34:22
  when I got on a flight, I got their Mexican lager, which I
• 34:25
  also liked and I was, I got their American lager.
• 34:28
  It was couch time, which was pretty good.
• 34:31
  And in New England, hazy IPA, small vices.
• 34:35
  So I really mixed it up that day on on my flight when I went to
• 34:40
  Zul and I really enjoyed my trip there.
• 34:42
  I don't remember, did you take a picture, I'm sure you did of the
• 34:44
  flight? I did, yeah.
• 34:46
  Probably a lot of color variation in there, right?
• 34:48
  There was, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 34:50
  It has to be really good at that, by the way, especially and
• 34:53
  with what you described, like there's got to be some color
• 34:55
  variation in there. Yeah.
• 34:57
  And and I gotta say, I know at the end of the year when we rank
• 35:00
  our top 10 breweries, new breweries that we've visited so
• 35:03
  far this year, I have a feeling that Zul will probably be high
• 35:06
  up on that list. Yeah.
• 35:08
  Yeah, and not to not to throw out any rumors, but good chance
• 35:12
  we might see some more of it in town soon.
• 35:15
  You never know, OK? We'll see what happens there.
• 35:18
  Yeah, you never know. But yeah, I brought yes.
• 35:21
  And you brought me some bat, which I appreciate.
• 35:23
  You brought me back tiny umbrellas.
• 35:25
  And that Betty, that Peach cobbler?
• 35:27
  The Betty's Peach cobbler, yes, which I just had.
• 35:32
  I also ranked that at 4.50. That is, that is is really good.
• 35:35
  It's really sweet. It is really good.
• 35:37
  On Untapped and as you talk about, you also had talked about
• 35:41
  a couple of the others that that I brought back to all good stuff
• 35:45
  from Zool and an observation from Zool.
• 35:48
  First off, some of the most friendliest people visiting that
• 35:51
  that that that I've ever been around at a brewery.
• 35:55
  Now most people the breweries are all cool and everybody is
• 35:57
  just cheery to be there and everything else.
• 36:00
  And I had my shirt on representing so that caught it
• 36:02
  had. To be nice to you, talk about
• 36:04
  them if they. Were yeah, you know, yeah, there
• 36:06
  were some nice people there and. But.
• 36:08
  But I think I told you this observation that I had is I
• 36:12
  don't remember going to a brewery before where you saw
• 36:16
  people that had boxes sitting in front of them of beer ready to
• 36:20
  go. Like they, you know, they sell a
• 36:22
  lot of good beer and, and I saw at least seven or eight people
• 36:26
  there had their boxes loaded up already and they're ready to
• 36:29
  take off with them as soon as they're gone.
• 36:31
  And I'm like, this place really, really doesn't upgrade.
• 36:34
  Yes, yeah, that, that is the ideal place for for that.
• 36:37
  You go in, you take everything they have in the cooler, and you
• 36:40
  take it home with you wherever home might be.
• 36:42
  That's right. That's right.
• 36:44
  So I'm guessing a lot of those people aren't from that area.
• 36:46
  Just like, you know, when we go through there, it's like I got
• 36:48
  to get stuff to take home because I don't live here.
• 36:50
  Yeah, that's true. I mean, there were there were a
• 36:52
  couple of people there. There was a a gentleman that the
• 36:56
  two guys that were sitting there, I actually asked him to
• 36:59
  take my picture in front of the Zool sign and they were from
• 37:02
  there. They say they didn't, they
• 37:03
  didn't get to breweries too often, but they love Zool.
• 37:06
  And then there was a there was another couple who kind of
• 37:10
  talked my ear off for a few minutes.
• 37:11
  I wish I could remember their names.
• 37:13
  They said they were going to listen to their to this podcast
• 37:15
  if they did shout out to you guys.
• 37:17
  I think they were from somewhere over towards the East Coast, but
• 37:21
  they were talking about the Nashville breweries and they've
• 37:24
  been to Nashville and they were asking me about recommendations
• 37:27
  as well. So really for me, what was a was
• 37:30
  going to be kind of a quick trip, about an hour, maybe 45
• 37:33
  minutes to an hour. It turned into about an hour and
• 37:35
  a half. But man, I enjoyed it and I
• 37:37
  loved every minute of it. Good.
• 37:38
  Another one was brewery experiences, right?
• 37:40
  Yeah. Oh, definitely, definitely.
• 37:42
  We always loved the brewery experiences.
• 37:44
  So that was yeah. So that was my field trip to
• 37:48
  Zool. To Zool Man, another one you
• 37:51
  checked off the list and that was like you said, that was high
• 37:54
  on the list. Very high on the list.
• 37:57
  You know, they've got two locations in Knoxville and I've
• 37:59
  never been to the other one. Hardin Valley, I've not been in
• 38:01
  there. I always go to that downtown.
• 38:02
  One that you went to. Yeah, yeah.
• 38:04
  So very glad to have gotten a Zool and certainly I'm sure I'll
• 38:09
  be back there soon. But from Zool, I was on the East
• 38:13
  Tennessee way over the East Tennessee.
• 38:15
  Kept going, kept going. Well, there was, there was some
• 38:18
  plans on this day because I was going to meet up with some
• 38:22
  friends the next day, you know, so we had an Airbnb and we were
• 38:25
  going to go do some things. But I, I had to spend the night
• 38:29
  in Johnson City, TN and I'd only been in that area once in my
• 38:33
  life. And so I planned it out.
• 38:35
  I wanted to go to Johnson City Brewing, the home of our good
• 38:39
  friend Eric Latham. Eric Latham, Yeah, the man who
• 38:43
  wears 1000 hats and does 1000 things.
• 38:46
  And when he comes back on here again, we're going to talk to
• 38:48
  him about all those things. We are.
• 38:50
  We're going to talk to him all about it.
• 38:52
  But yeah, I didn't get a chance to see Eric.
• 38:54
  Now they've got a couple locations in Johnson City.
• 38:57
  There's one, the one that I went to in the downtown area.
• 39:00
  It's my understanding he's not in there as often as maybe as
• 39:03
  their other location and he's off doing a lot of other things
• 39:06
  as well. But it was cool going into their
• 39:09
  their downtown location and it reminded me like a of a little
• 39:13
  cheers bar. There were so many friendly
• 39:15
  people in there. And The funny thing is there
• 39:17
  were some locals in there, but they're also people in there
• 39:20
  that were ready. They were there already, like I
• 39:23
  was getting ready for the baseball game, you know, that
• 39:25
  weekend that I got a chance to talk to you for a while and, you
• 39:29
  know, have a lot of share a lot of good stories with that drink
• 39:33
  a lot of great beer. Yeah.
• 39:34
  Yeah, he'd been in there. And I think I'd said this
• 39:37
  somewhere along the way that I'd forgotten I had been there to
• 39:41
  that location. And at some point I was like, oh
• 39:42
  wait, I have been there at one time, so.
• 39:45
  And then I remembered it's a cool little spot in there.
• 39:48
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, it sure is. And we have to thank Eric
• 39:51
  because he gave us some beer while we were there.
• 39:54
  In fact, I texted him and I was like, hey, Eric, I'm at you're
• 39:57
  here. And I didn't think he was going
• 39:59
  to be in town. And then as I was leaving, the
• 40:01
  guy behind the bar so well, Eric just called me and said give
• 40:05
  that guy some beer. And I'm like, well, OK.
• 40:07
  All right, so and you gave me some too, so thank.
• 40:11
  You got some beer? I got some beer.
• 40:14
  Thank you, Eric for the beer. Yeah, thank you very much.
• 40:16
  But yeah, had it, had some good beer from there, had their Sea
• 40:20
  Salt Lime lager also. We talked about Oktoberfest and
• 40:24
  I think we're going to get him on soon.
• 40:26
  They do a lot of different variations of Oktoberfest.
• 40:29
  Here's one I would have not have thought of in a combination.
• 40:33
  Butterscotch Oktoberfest. What a combination.
• 40:36
  I like the sound of it. Yeah, what a combination.
• 40:40
  It was good, you know, did not take away from what you would
• 40:43
  expect in Oktoberfest, what an Oktoberfest beer would taste
• 40:47
  like. And you could taste the octo or
• 40:49
  you could taste the butterscotch, but it wasn't, it
• 40:52
  wasn't like overpowering where it took over the beer.
• 40:55
  It was just right. And so, yeah, it was really
• 40:58
  enjoyable to drink that. See that that would lend itself,
• 41:01
  if it wasn't 100° outside to like a nice fall beer too,
• 41:05
  right? Yeah, I would think.
• 41:06
  Yeah, sounds really good. Yeah, and they've got some other
• 41:10
  variations, I know, and hopefully we'll be talking to
• 41:13
  him about that of some other variations of some Oktoberfest
• 41:17
  beers. Steve, what have you got?
• 41:22
  Well, guys, you know, we're about to kick off and I know
• 41:25
  we're in the early stages, I guess, of Oktoberfest season.
• 41:28
  And I found this in Cannes here in Nashville.
• 41:31
  It is the Hop and Frog Oktoberfest.
• 41:35
  Nice. Yeah, I am.
• 41:38
  I am a Oktoberfest guy. I I would love trying almost any
• 41:43
  variation of an Oktoberfest beer and this is the first one.
• 41:47
  In fact, I had it the other night and was really good.
• 41:49
  But this is the first Oktoberfest beer that I've had
• 41:52
  from you guys and so great to kick off the season for it.
• 41:55
  Heck. Yeah, I can tell you something
• 41:57
  special about that. It's 100% German ingredients,
• 42:01
  which is pretty special. Yes.
• 42:02
  I'm fond of saying the only thing we couldn't bring in was
• 42:05
  the. Water want to.
• 42:07
  Work on that. That would be a little more
• 42:08
  difficult. German, and it has, it has a
• 42:11
  cool flavour because of that traditional flavour.
• 42:13
  You know that malt that they have over there is different.
• 42:16
  The story about that beer that Steve's drinking right now.
• 42:19
  Couple years ago, group of our friends got together and we did
• 42:21
  a blind tasting on nothing but Oktoberfest beers.
• 42:24
  We had 18 different beers, so everybody just brought different
• 42:27
  things. And I'm not kidding.
• 42:29
  That beer one in a blind test, multiple rounds, that beer one
• 42:33
  out. Wow, yes.
• 42:35
  I believe. It Yeah, Wow, that's awesome.
• 42:37
  It did. And there were some other beers
• 42:40
  in there, and I have them on my list here, like I Anger or
• 42:43
  Steiner was in there. Really.
• 42:45
  Yeah. It's like my absolute favorite.
• 42:47
  I just love angers. Yep, they were Hacker, Shore,
• 42:51
  Shiner, Polliner, and even Sam Adams was in that blind tasting.
• 42:54
  So to win in a blind is even better, I think, because you
• 42:58
  don't know what you're getting to.
• 42:59
  Be. Fair.
• 43:00
  We probably. Charge more for ours than most
• 43:02
  of the other people because you know we we don't skimp on any
• 43:06
  ingredients so that's wonderful that we could actually win that
• 43:09
  blind tasting. It makes me feel good.
• 43:10
  It's kind of it's justifying for what we do because we use more
• 43:14
  ingredients than most people, you know, getting more flavor
• 43:17
  than most people, but also more cost.
• 43:19
  And I I love them. So I we don't stop.
• 43:22
  But yeah, there's sometimes when we wish we could be more cost
• 43:25
  effective. But when you win contests, when
• 43:27
  you beat 18 other Oktoberfest, right, including a anger.
• 43:31
  Oh my. God, Yep.
• 43:32
  It's like the leading one from Germany in my book.
• 43:35
  Yep. And like I said, multiple
• 43:36
  rounds. So it was was it wasn't a it
• 43:38
  wasn't a fluke. Wow, you ran the gauntlet and
• 43:41
  you won. Wow.
• 43:43
  Thank you man, it makes me feel good.
• 43:44
  You made my night. Absolutely.
• 43:46
  Thanks for sharing, that's good. We were going to talk about
• 43:49
  Oktoberfest, you know, beer at some point during this podcast.
• 43:53
  Since we're doing it now, you know, it kind of evokes some
• 43:56
  other questions. We talk about this all the time.
• 43:59
  What do you guys think about Oktoberfest season?
• 44:02
  This seems like it starts earlier and earlier every year.
• 44:06
  I mean, are you are you in on it or like, you know, it's driven
• 44:10
  by the marketplace? I would love to I would love to
• 44:12
  know what you guys thoughts on are.
• 44:14
  Well, it's definitely driven by the marketplace.
• 44:17
  Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean everybody wants to get out there
• 44:22
  first. I think that that's where where
• 44:23
  that all started. So distributors are wanting to
• 44:26
  get it so they can get on the store shelves first before the
• 44:28
  other other guys do. And so now it's just kind of
• 44:31
  expected. I mean, I think the benefit the
• 44:34
  consumer gets maybe a little bit longer period of that product,
• 44:38
  but some of them get a little upset too when they see it on
• 44:40
  the shelf and it's July. Yeah, yeah.
• 44:43
  It's there's always something to be said.
• 44:44
  We always say something about it.
• 44:46
  Meanwhile, I go get it. Right.
• 44:47
  Right. Exactly.
• 44:48
  Exactly. So it's kind of nice to have it
• 44:50
  come out like a month earlier than you'd expect and then you
• 44:52
  have an opportunity to buy it a second time.
• 44:53
  That's kind of. Yeah, I guess my only the
• 44:55
  downside of that is if it goes away too quickly and it's still
• 44:59
  the middle of even October, if it lasts that long, that's kind
• 45:02
  of the downside of it. But I'm not going to sit there
• 45:04
  and let it sit on the shelf. I'm going to get it.
• 45:05
  I'm going to drink it. Yeah, I mean, as a brewery that
• 45:08
  does a lot of different styles of beer, do you do you feel like
• 45:12
  the style of Oktoberfest? There's a lot of people that are
• 45:16
  coming in and this time of the year they are expecting it.
• 45:18
  And if they're not seeing it, they're walking away
• 45:21
  disappointed. So you got it's consumer demand,
• 45:23
  right? Oh.
• 45:24
  Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, Yeah, you definitely got
• 45:26
  to have it. I credit Sam Adams ultimately.
• 45:29
  There you go. They were the ones that always
• 45:31
  seem to have it out first. They.
• 45:32
  They paved the way for us. I have great respect for people
• 45:36
  like them and the close local one that did that for us is
• 45:39
  Great Lakes. You know, they've been around
• 45:40
  for I think 35 years. Got to throw them respect every
• 45:43
  time I can man cuz they they paved the way for us.
• 45:46
  They were charging more than. You know that.
• 45:49
  Anyone had ever charged for beer before?
• 45:50
  It was really awesome and tons of flavor and we just we took it
• 45:53
  to the next level. Wendy, you guys, cuz you know,
• 45:55
  like I said, I obviously saw this in a beer store.
• 45:58
  In fact, I was just South of me. I live South of Nashville and I
• 46:02
  went on a beer and liquor store about a week ago and I was on
• 46:06
  their Facebook page. I'm like, you have any Hop and
• 46:08
  Frog down there? And like we absolutely do.
• 46:10
  When I walked in and they had several different variations.
• 46:12
  But when I saw that Oktoberfest, I said this is going to be
• 46:15
  perfect for the podcast you. Made a beeline right for it.
• 46:20
  You had to, I had to. When do you start sending out
• 46:23
  cans of Oktoberfest during the year?
• 46:25
  That'd be exactly a question, probably right.
• 46:27
  That's in July. Yeah.
• 46:30
  Can you believe it? It's hard to believe.
• 46:32
  Yes. Well, I mean, it's just because
• 46:34
  when you think about the the the timeline, you know, from when it
• 46:37
  gets picked up from us and then gets to the distributor and then
• 46:39
  the time they get to the stores and then till he gets on the
• 46:41
  shelves. I mean, there is a little bit of
• 46:43
  a time frame in which all that needs to happen.
• 46:45
  So that ensures, you know, an August shelf date.
• 46:49
  But some are a little faster than others.
• 46:51
  So yeah. Do you, do you have to start
• 46:54
  brewing that in March or can you wait a little later for that?
• 46:57
  Or do you just go ahead and get it out of the way as early as
• 47:00
  possible? No, we do it a little bit.
• 47:02
  I do, you know, it's funny. I knew you're probably going to
• 47:04
  ask when do we start brewing that like off the top of my
• 47:06
  head, I don't remember. I feel it's it's a little later
• 47:09
  than March, though. I do know that you.
• 47:10
  Don't have to storm the loggering tunnels anymore,
• 47:12
  right? You've got, we've got technology
• 47:15
  now where we don't do that right, Right.
• 47:16
  No tunnels involved. Right.
• 47:19
  Yeah. 300 years ago, yeah. And I know there's so many
• 47:23
  breweries out there, they do a lot of different special
• 47:26
  Oktoberfest events, you know, maybe once a year.
• 47:28
  Do you guys do anything like that or, or is it just more,
• 47:31
  hey, here it is, you know, here it is in our tap room and enjoy
• 47:34
  the Oktoberfest during the season.
• 47:36
  That's what we don't do an event around, yeah.
• 47:39
  It's more just enjoy it for the whole season.
• 47:41
  Yep. Yeah, it's been a long time.
• 47:43
  We, we do other large events around other beers that have
• 47:47
  kind of developed a cult following around the brewery and
• 47:49
  then beyond. But Oktoberfest, I think it was
• 47:51
  a long time ago. We, we, we had like a a German
• 47:54
  band, like a polka band come in and, and all that.
• 47:57
  We did it like one or two years and it was fine.
• 48:01
  A certain group of, you know, people had fun.
• 48:02
  But yeah. We've.
• 48:03
  We've moved on to some other crazy parties that we had
• 48:06
  throughout the year well. There's already a lot of German
• 48:09
  type festivals around here too, which I think is, I mean, heck,
• 48:12
  we all go to them. So I mean it's like, you know,
• 48:14
  at that point it's like, hey here, just come and enjoy our
• 48:17
  beer, enjoy the food and you know, at your leisure.
• 48:20
  Don't feel like you got to come on a certain day to be able to
• 48:23
  have fun. As we like to say, it's a it's a
• 48:25
  festival at the brewery every. Yeah, celebrate every day.
• 48:31
  That we're throwing a beer fest every day.