Latest / The Brewery Underground Podcast | Craft Beer Interviews, Reviews and Beer Travel / Cedar Glade Brews: Murfreesboro Craft Beer & a Rare Estonian Ale | Episode 101 Part 1

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Cedar Glade Brews: Murfreesboro Craft Beer & a Rare Estonian Ale | Episode 101 Part 1 · The Brewery Underground Podcast | Craft Beer Interviews, Reviews and Beer Travel

0:00
Stand by for the Brewery Underground podcast.
0:36
I wish the good news is there's no countdown this time.
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So we're we're live, baby. That's good.
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Whatever my podcast live. And, and we've got the the
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geniuses behind the brewery that we're sitting here today.
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The. Geniuses.
0:57
The geniuses we've got I. Have moved.
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The bruises. Maybe he has, one of us has, I'm
1:02
not sure. I might be talking about one of
1:04
you. Is that why parentheses the the
1:06
geniuses? Yeah, T.
1:09
H. E OK, I like that.
1:11
I like that. Yeah, we've got Jonathan and
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Robert. The.
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The Masterminds Masterminds behind Cedar Glade Bruce One of
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them does a very, very good job at making sure everybody knows
1:23
that this place not only exists but makes great beer.
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The other one makes great beer. It's.
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Actually #1 number. Two feel like, yeah, that's a
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great way to put it. I feel like that's a good just.
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We'll let the audiences figure out who that is.
1:35
Chose that seat because you wouldn't have his face in the
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camera I'm. Like everybody waved to the
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camera. Yeah, we're gonna.
1:45
No, nobody's safe. Nobody's safe.
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I feel like Robert. Moved the camera slightly, just
1:55
enough so he was out of frame. But, gentlemen.
1:57
Thank you. Thanks for coming on the show.
1:59
Thanks for. Being here, Hey,
2:00
congratulations. Yeah.
2:02
Thank you. And it's and.
2:05
It's great we get to celebrate it here with you guys and thank
2:07
you for having. Us, we should have got a cake.
2:11
You know what, I did think about getting one on the way here, but
2:13
it took so damn long to get here rid of the rain.
2:15
I was like, no. When he picked the One Night to
2:18
Have Tornado Award, it was. Not.
2:19
Like a month ago, yeah, in November.
2:22
Nothing, nothing surprises me but.
2:24
Nothing is gonna stop this pot. No, tonight, Not even.
2:27
We got beer. Tornado Watch.
2:29
We're here. The funny thing, like if I was
2:30
headed to like a wedding or something through the web, like
2:33
yeah, I'm not going, but the like, I'm going to see the guy.
2:36
Driving the muscles but. Everybody once said can we do it
2:41
another time? Can we skip it?
2:42
Nope, not didn't come out once for the we're coming.
2:45
I had. Faith.
2:45
I knew that wasn't going to happen.
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I want to talk about Cedar Glade taking over Murfreesboro and the
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Brewer and the Brewer scene. OK.
2:54
You guys are fantastic. Thank you.
2:55
I appreciate that. So, you know, growing up here, I
3:00
grew up in Smyrna and went to school at NTSU and drank a lot
3:04
of beer in College, of course. And, and actually even back
3:09
then, I, we were the people that I lived with, we were into
3:13
trying new beer, right? So we weren't just, I mean, we
3:17
were, but we weren't just pounding natty ice.
3:20
Yeah, we did. But we did other things too.
3:24
Right, other things also, right. And anyway, so, you know, Mayday
3:29
opens up and I remember it well. And, and, you know, Ozzy did
3:33
something totally different that Murfreesboro hadn't seen and
3:37
went on the tour. He let it, it was wild and weird
3:40
and fun. He didn't hug me because I
3:43
wasn't, you know, I was the wrong persuasion.
3:45
But anyway, whatever. And we had a good time And, and
3:49
you know, they were, they were a staple here in the borough 12
3:53
years open. And when when they, you know,
3:57
Panther Creek came right, you know, came after them and they
4:00
were open for a little while and we came after Panther Creek and
4:05
now middle ground has opened as well.
4:07
And and so when mayday closed, I mean, it hurt y'all.
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Yeah, I mean it did. It hurt my heart and and you
4:16
know, I felt like I lost something.
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I'm even Owen owning A competitor, quote UN quote.
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Right, sure, But that's what's great about craft beer is are we
4:26
competitors? I mean.
4:27
Yeah, in a way. But really we're friends and
4:30
we're we're we're, you know, elaborators a lot of times.
4:34
And, you know, we borrowed grain from them and you know what I
4:38
mean? I mean, it's like we're just a
4:39
community. And so that one, that one hurt.
4:43
But but Ozzy has come back in and he he comes here every
4:47
Tuesday, does Singo with us. And you know, I've asked him if
4:51
he misses all the rest of it. He's like, I won't say exactly
4:55
what the expletive is, but no is the end of that.
4:58
That's. Par for the course.
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Yeah, and you know, he gets to come in, have fun, be part of
5:02
the community and then go home. You know, to your point, Steve
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and I would make this Murfreesboro trek every year.
5:08
Now he just lives down the road so it's easier.
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But I live in Nashville and to have multiple breweries in an
5:14
area makes that more enjoyable. Yeah, you guys being here and
5:18
may they being here and like when there's more there that's
5:21
the gives you a reason to go. That I've, I've preached that
5:24
since we opened that you're exactly right.
5:26
You know, if I have the opportunity to come to
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Murfreesboro and hit, you know, Mayday and we were in a in a
5:32
row, right, Mayday pants are US, yeah.
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And then middle ground, if you could make that little circuit,
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it was a good day. Absolutely.
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And it was a full day for us. I'd come grab him and again he's
5:42
up the street. But man, we'd be here all day.
5:44
We'd come here and bang around. And these guys have been doing a
5:48
podcast a little bit longer than us.
5:50
We've been doing it about two years.
5:51
I mean 6-7. Yeah.
5:53
Thank you. There's about 6-7 I have.
5:59
Four teenagers, please do not. Oh my God, you've got a rough
6:03
right now. I bet that's hitting hard.
6:05
Yeah, it's. Brutal.
6:07
Anyway. Yeah.
6:09
But but the coolest thing is to see, like we always talk about
6:12
this. I feel like if you listen to all
6:15
of our podcasts, we say the same thing, the camaraderie that you
6:19
all have for each other. Yeah, it is so fantastic.
6:23
Yeah, yeah. We celebrate each other.
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I mean, one of the things when we first opened Cedar Glade, if
6:28
you've never been here, we have our beer on tap.
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Robert does a phenomenal job. He's an extremely talented
6:35
Brewer. We are very, very, very
6:38
fortunate to have him, for sure. He's smart, he's creative, but
6:42
he's technical at the same time, right?
6:43
Like he's not just a Wildman, you know?
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But we also said we can't and won't brew everything.
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And there's some, there's some great beer out there, some
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local, some, you know, we pull in from international whatever.
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And so we have our big can cooler, right?
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So we've got over 100 selections in the can cooler, non Elks, you
7:03
know, ciders, seltzer's, kombucha's, whatever.
7:06
And so our our goal was always to be a beer destination, But
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what we had to let go of was the, the pride, if you will,
7:16
right the what's the word? I'm looking.
7:19
For like the mentality or. Yeah, it's OK to sell someone
7:22
else's beer in our brewery. Yeah, right.
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So we're not so arrogant as to think that you should only come
7:30
to our beer, to our brewery to buy our beer.
7:32
Sure. And and so it's, it's been
7:35
awesome. And because of that, we get to
7:38
be friends with all the other breweries because we carry our.
7:41
Carry our beer. Yeah, well, and there's and, you
7:45
know, and you guys, you guys do have a lot of styles.
7:48
I mean, there's there's Cedar Glade has something for everyone
7:50
when you come in. But there there's some sort of
7:54
pride in saying like, you know, OK, if you don't want something
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that we have that you know, that that we brew, maybe there's
8:01
something that's not to your liking or whatever.
8:03
You've got a lot of other selections, or maybe you've
8:05
tried all of our beer and we want to try something.
8:07
Else something else I mean. Office and.
8:09
You just didn't want to support the place.
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It's like, yeah, come on. I just walked over there and she
8:14
had a bottle of something, which I go, where the hell did you get
8:16
that? Did you sneak it in or
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something? She goes, we got it right here
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from the cooler. Fantastic.
8:20
Yeah. But do you, do you feel like
8:22
though, because there's so much growth that has quit on in this
8:26
area, Murfreesboro, do you feel like you're becoming an
8:28
extension of Nashville where it's almost like, man, we're all
8:33
becoming more connected? You're not from around these
8:36
parts, are you? Murfreesboro He's.
8:40
From. Smyrna.
8:41
He's from Smyrna, Murfreesboro. If you ask a lifelong
8:44
Murfreesboro resident and you were to suggest that they were a
8:47
suburb of Nashville, they'd probably punch you.
8:49
In the well, you know what? And I I.
8:50
I'm just telling you I. Agree with that, but I'm talking
8:53
about from a I've. I've been here since 1998.
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I've just seen. You're you're almost
8:58
naturalized. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
9:00
I so so just from a perspective of how big the area is becoming
9:05
though. Yeah, and, and you're right.
9:07
And, and Murfreesboro has to acknowledge that honestly.
9:10
I mean, you know, when people come to visit Nashville and
9:13
Nashville has become such a tourist hub over the last Yep,
9:16
really 20 years, 15 years for sure.
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Our hope right, as as a Murfreesboro destination, as a
9:24
Murfreesboro location, our hope is that those people that visit
9:26
Nashville come on down the Interstate and visit us too.
9:30
Yep, right. And it sometimes it happens,
9:31
sometimes it doesn't. And sometimes we get people that
9:35
just come to Murfreesboro. Yep.
9:37
I mean, we've got a lot to offer here as well.
9:40
And I and I think we do have a little chip in our on our
9:42
shoulder here in town. And and no, we are not a suburb
9:46
of Nashville. Place No.
9:47
But it is we're kind of a suburb of.
9:50
But it's becoming more gross. It's good.
9:52
It's good. You know you can drive 20
9:54
minutes to get more good beer, yes?
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You know, and get away from that downtown scene if if you know if
10:01
you're if. I have never seen a woo girl in
10:03
Murphy's. Go ahead.
10:04
That's true. Yeah, since they're all 90 years
10:06
old and driving 20 miles an hour in the left hand lane.
10:09
Hitting on the way. Up here, I mean, like it was, it
10:11
was raining. We, we have, there's a beer that
10:13
we want to share with you guys later on.
10:14
And there's a, there's a fun reason for it, but brass tag, we
10:18
forgot it. Mitch and I had to turn around
10:20
in the rain, drive back and on the way back, I think the car in
10:25
front of us hit 24 miles an hour maybe.
10:28
And of course it was like 1 lane every turn.
10:31
Yeah. And every turn, no bumper on the
10:33
back of the car. So something happens.
10:35
What do you know? What do you know?
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And your. Stalker fairness.
10:38
It was raining, it was hard to see, but 20 miles an hour.
10:41
Come on like there's another. Maybe they're Murfreesboro.
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It's. Hey, yeah, that's.
10:45
Probably true, but that's that's just Murfreesboro.
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No, I it's just Murfreesboro. I think again, a compliment
10:50
maybe I'm trying to you know. Butter us up, butter.
10:55
Us up a little bad, you know, but no, I've, I've been, I've
10:59
lived in Rutherford County, Laverne, whatever, since, I
11:02
don't know, 2004. Yeah.
11:04
I've seen so much growth. Yeah, so has we're.
11:07
That's what I mean. I mean, Murfreesboro is it.
11:09
Murfreesboro in itself has become its own entity.
11:13
Well, it's it. Yes, you're right.
11:15
And what's wild, you know, Rutherford County.
11:18
So Smyrna, Laverne, Murfreesboro, Eagleville, the
11:21
the four main, Yep, towns. Rutherford County is approaching
11:26
it. It may have even already crossed
11:27
400,000 people. Yep.
11:29
Wow. Within the county, it's it's
11:30
huge. Well, what, the 4th or 5th
11:33
largest in the state? Yeah.
11:34
Exactly right. Holy crap.
11:35
And really. Yeah.
11:36
Rutherfordsboro or Rutherford? County, yeah, wow.
11:38
OK. And I think we're behind
11:40
Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis and Chattanooga.
11:43
Whoa, I think that's what. We're behind, huh?
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And so, but even here and this is this what I don't get?
11:52
There's two breweries open right now.
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Yeah. Now our friends over at Hot
11:56
Springs, they carry our beer. They're doing some other things,
11:58
right. They made beer for a while.
12:00
They're doing some other things now they're doing some Co
12:02
packing and stuff like that. They carry our beer now and but
12:06
as far as brewing beer actively on a, you know, fairly daily
12:11
basis, it's. You do.
12:14
You do have somebody new coming to town.
12:16
We do, right? Yeah.
12:17
I don't know what that time for me, but it's pretty soon.
12:19
They're about a year out as well.
12:20
About a year. OK, Smack dab, smack.
12:23
Dab Yeah, Jeff and those guys were buddies as well.
12:27
In fact, at Oktoberfest, our booth was right next to theirs.
12:29
That's. Great.
12:30
That's great. Yeah, they're good folks, and
12:32
they made good beer Nice. So they're gonna have a cool
12:35
location in our downtown area, just on the square.
12:39
Right off the square. And I think it's cool.
12:41
So you're again, we're adding more breweries back now it's
12:44
more of that destination kind of area, right?
12:46
Making Hocus spend the day out in Murfreesboro and yeah, hell
12:50
you get, you know, you get bold enough, you go out to Manchester
12:53
and you. Don't have no joke, you just
12:56
spend a day out there. I.
12:57
Love that place. LeBron and crew down there are
12:59
doing a great job. Yeah, doing a great job.
13:04
Their beer festival is, is is one of and you guys have one
13:06
coming to us too, say in February, right?
13:09
You mentioned. Yeah, Yeah.
13:12
Well. February.
13:13
Before we get into what you guys have, can you kind of explain to
13:15
us about that a little? Bit February 28th, the inaugural
13:19
Cabin Fever. Yeah, Beer Festival.
13:21
Murfreesboro has not really ever had a true, just dedicated beer
13:26
festival. We've had some things that have
13:27
tried and maybe it's like beer and BBQ or whatever.
13:31
And so we're we're doing it. It's a winter warmer style.
13:34
We'll have tents up. It's gonna be just right over
13:36
here on this stub of a street adjacent to us.
13:40
And so Jay Pritt, Jonathan Pritt down there from Common.
13:44
Jon's helping us out a little bit.
13:46
And our friend Devin Russell, if y'all remember Devin, she used
13:49
to be at at Mayday. Yeah, yeah.
13:52
Yeah, yeah, she's helping as well.
13:54
And and we're gonna, we're gonna do it.
13:57
We need sponsors. So if you're watching this and
13:59
you love beer and you have a business, we need sponsors
14:02
packs. That's a good idea, yeah.
14:04
And it's such a, it's gonna be a good spot.
14:06
I mean, like, right. Like there's space over there.
14:08
Yeah. To be.
14:09
Able to. So we're figuring we have we
14:10
have room for about 35 breweries there.
14:13
Yep, 4 food trucks and we're gonna have different vendors.
14:16
We're gonna have a cigar lounge. We're gonna have all kinds of
14:20
fun stuff. That's gonna be and the timing
14:22
is perfect because it's in its name properly too, right?
14:24
That's it. We get the hell out of the
14:26
house, man, It's great. There's really no beer festivals
14:29
until spring. I guess that's right.
14:33
And we don't have winter warmer anymore either, so.
14:35
I know, perfect. It's almost like we plan.
14:39
Oh dude, you're. Filling the gap.
14:41
That's right. That's it.
14:43
It's got. Fun.
14:43
I always love it like when when somebody walks into a.
14:47
Owner. OK, somebody walks in here.
14:50
What do you want them to take away?
14:53
Like what do you want them to go home and go?
14:55
This is when I look at Cedar Glade as being.
14:56
It's a great. Question.
14:57
That's a great question. And we're we're fairly unified
15:01
on that. I mean, obviously we want them
15:03
to have a great time. Yep, right.
15:05
We want them to feel like they, we want them to very, very
15:12
quickly feel at home. Right.
15:15
Because I don't know if you guys have experienced this.
15:17
You walk into a brewery somewhere and you walk in and
15:20
you don't kind of, you kind of don't know how to operate in
15:23
there. Yeah.
15:24
Go up here in order. Do I wait here?
15:26
Do I need to go sit down first? Do I need to claim a seat?
15:28
Do I need to wait to claim a seat?
15:30
Like you have all these questions and you don't kind of
15:32
know how to operate. Yeah.
15:33
So the way we designed it, when they walk in like you walk up
15:37
to. It's fun center.
15:38
Yeah, and and that's on purpose. And you can be approached from
15:40
multiple angles too. So I mean any side of the bar.
15:43
That's right, they come and meet you.
15:44
And, and our beer guides, and we call them beer guides, by the
15:47
way, because remember, we've got over 100 selections, right?
15:50
So sometimes you need some help figuring out what you want.
15:52
Yeah, they are trained to say to engage somebody when they walk
15:56
in, ask their name and and as quickly as possible make them
15:59
feel at home. For me, belonging is the number
16:03
one thing, right? You belong here, right?
16:06
And people make fun of me because I get so passionate
16:10
about this part of it. But I don't like saying everyone
16:14
is welcome at Cedar Glade. I don't like that right?
16:17
Now hear me out. Instead, I say everyone is
16:21
wanted at Cedar Blade. Yeah.
16:22
And there's a big difference in me saying, oh, you're welcome to
16:25
be here or no, I want you here. There's a massive difference.
16:29
One of them almost seems like if you want to be here, you can.
16:33
That's up to you. The other one is we want you to
16:35
become to come here. You belong here, and we want you
16:38
to be here because you're valuable.
16:40
No one. 'S ever told me that before?
16:44
I got to Hank you if you need it.
16:49
I'll have a conversation from my dad to us.
16:51
Mike, I mean, there's no reason that the show Cheers was so
16:53
successful. Yep.
16:54
You do want to go where everybody knows your name.
16:56
Who doesn't, of course. Exactly.
16:58
Yeah. You want who and who's your norm
17:00
here? Hey Norm, do you have a norm
17:02
here? You have a norm here.
17:03
You have a. Couple of norms, Steve, I'm.
17:06
Steve, that is. Steve, We have another Steve,
17:08
OK. And I don't know where Steve's
17:10
from, but he talks funny. Norm.
17:12
Yeah, he was. He's a normal.
17:13
Transplant. Yep, he's a mayday transplant.
17:15
We have. We have the Woodards, of course
17:18
they're regulars. The Hollies.
17:20
I, I hate starting to name names cuz I'm, I'm gonna forget
17:22
somebody important. The Callahans.
17:24
I mean, we have, we have several that are that are our norms.
17:28
Nice. Who?
17:29
Grady. I can't hear you, Grady.
17:32
Of course, Grady. Yeah, Emma that sits down at the
17:35
other end and brings her dog. In all the time.
17:37
So yeah, we got, we got several norms.
17:39
That's so cool, man, I love that.
17:41
And and we have beers in front of us.
17:43
We have cedar gladiers in front of us tonight and we've kind of
17:48
been drinking cedar Glade brews all night.
17:49
Like we, we all brought beers and I'm, I'm mad, but not mad
17:53
that we haven't been able to open them yet, right?
17:55
I. Just got all cedar glade.
17:56
You guys so hospitable to us like we had the we had the the
18:02
OK Boomer, which was a a super solid brown ale.
18:07
Big UPS. That was that was super good
18:10
maniac pale Ale. You guys his first.
18:11
In fact, we opened with that one.
18:12
That was the that was you guys his first beer brewed.
18:15
It was solid pale ale and then I think from there now you guys
18:20
had a different one, I think who had the fest, who had the We
18:23
both started, we both started with.
18:25
The fest I had one else. You had one as well.
18:26
OK, man, I'm missing out on that one.
18:28
OK, I was just talking. We got time, I guess.
18:30
You guys still have any some of that left?
18:32
OK, you still got a He only made three.
18:34
Sorry. Oh God, that is a.
18:38
That would be what it is, yeah. So.
18:40
The best for you, and we were talking about this early.
18:42
It's pleasant to see it this late in the season.
18:44
Still on the board. Yeah.
18:46
Find an Oktoberfest. That's a big point.
18:48
Talk to that. So he was, it was very important
18:51
to him this year that we brewed a a much larger batch of that
18:54
than we have in the past. Yep.
18:57
And not and not release it in June.
19:00
No, no. Do you know?
19:04
I'm trying to. Yeah, but I brewed the same
19:06
amount that I did last year. But we held it a little longer.
19:10
No. OK.
19:11
Are you sure? No, that's the same.
19:13
Do we have it this long yesterday?
19:15
We sure did. I think he was just.
19:16
Trying to help you out. He was.
19:18
He was, but I. See, I see the good.
19:19
I like, I like to give him a hard time cuz he's my boss.
19:22
That's right. So we do brew a bigger batch of
19:26
it and we like to carry it a little longer.
19:29
But we also don't release it super early.
19:31
We. Release it?
19:32
No, we release it when it's supposed to be released.
19:34
When it's supposed. We do our Oktoberfest or the
19:36
week of right instead of releasing it a whole month
19:39
early. People, we drink it the whole
19:41
time. We release it late and when
19:43
everyone else has ran out, we still have some.
19:46
Well, I mean, it's on time, not late, right?
19:49
They are, yeah. And like when a lot of people
19:52
release early, they're fighting for shelf space somewhere,
19:54
right? You guys not have to worry about
19:56
that or you just stays right here.
19:58
So that's so. That's and do you have them in,
19:59
Do you have them in cans over there in the cooler too?
20:01
The fast drive only. We can can it in the.
20:04
Like in the collar? Yeah nice, but not solely it in
20:06
like 6 packs or anything like that.
20:07
OK. Well, that's fair.
20:08
So we do can some stuff and we stick mostly to our flagship.
20:13
Yeah, we can actually do custom beer.
20:15
We we just, we did a wedding, y'all?
20:16
This was the coolest thing ever. So this couple comes in, they
20:19
bring their own honey, and they brewed beer with Robert.
20:23
And when they brewed the beer with Robert, they designed the
20:27
label. We canned it out for them.
20:29
And that was their party favorite.
20:31
That's. Cool, yeah.
20:33
Holy shit, how much did you make of that?
20:35
I'm sorry, how much did you make of that?
20:37
We did A1 barrel batch for them and so we kegged out some that
20:40
they served at the wedding and then they had, what, 9 cases, I
20:44
think, yeah, but nine cases, I think it was 9.
20:46
So they got their hand out party favors at the end of their day.
20:48
They go on it. How well you knew it they did.
20:51
That's a wedding I'd go to. That's incredible.
20:53
I understand. I didn't do anything that cool.
20:55
Favorite part of the whole thing, though, is they come in
20:58
and they're like, we're gonna make this honey beer.
21:00
But you know, his dad only drinks Coors Light, his dad only
21:04
drinks. I bet we heard that 100 times
21:07
right that only that. Was the big worry.
21:09
Well dad had like 7 of the Huntington well 6.
21:15
They blew the keg. They blew.
21:16
The keg they. Blew the 6th within 45 minutes.
21:19
I think they said no. Way good.
21:20
For you went straight to cans. Yeah.
21:23
And the dad father-in-law was drinking cans after that.
21:26
Love it. Do they do they come back and
21:28
want more like like, hey, we're gonna have to do this again so
21:30
we can get more of. It I bet he made a customer he.
21:33
Right, a single Coors Light is what I was told.
21:35
Awesome, right? Are they local?
21:37
Do they live like Murfreesboro? Local The.
21:39
Couple lives in Washington DC but her family is is local.
21:43
Gotcha. OK, so there's the connection
21:44
then? Yep.
21:45
You've got a customer for life. You've got somebody.
21:47
Next time they're in town, they know they're gonna stop by here.
21:49
Hey, I'm gonna put you on the spot a little bit.
21:52
So we've established that Murfreesboro is a great place to
21:55
come. Do you feel like you all have
21:58
be, have you wanted to become? And do you feel like you've
22:01
become a destination brewery for crap Brewers for crap beer
22:06
people? That's a hard question.
22:08
That is a hard question. Yeah.
22:10
So I, I think we're working on it.
22:12
Yeah. I don't think we're there yet.
22:15
You know, I, when I think of a destination brewery, I locally,
22:19
right? I definitely think of Barik
22:22
because of their reputation and, and just the quality of the,
22:25
the, the, I mean, honestly, the cool shit that they make.
22:28
I mean, they're just, they're very, very good technical
22:30
brewery. I think of probably.
22:37
Not though, Common John out there, Yeah.
22:39
Especially since it's. A destination, yeah, Yeah, it's
22:42
a little bit out there. Yeah, you have a great.
22:44
Space half killer as well. It's like you have to, you have
22:47
to drive out there to get to it, right?
22:49
It's conscious effort. It's great space.
22:51
Yeah, they do great. Beer great.
22:52
Food they big. Events.
22:53
Great. Service.
22:54
Yeah. Great events, Yep.
22:55
So I think if half. Killer as well.
22:58
Are in there. You know, I put some of the
22:59
Knoxville breweries in there, some of the Nashville breweries
23:02
as well. Especially if you like, if
23:04
you've had homestyle ever right, you want to eventually make it
23:08
over to Bearded Iris. You know what I mean?
23:11
Zul definitely falls in that category in Knoxville.
23:14
What a cool location. But let me say this though, if,
23:17
if I, if I know people that are coming in, you know, town in
23:20
Nashville and they're going, OK, give me some places that I need
23:24
to go other than in Nashville. Right.
23:28
I am mentioning you guys. We're we're, I think we're
23:30
getting there. Yeah, I think we're getting
23:32
there. And I think I think some of that
23:33
is reputation. I think some of that is the fact
23:35
that we serve at so many different events and you know,
23:40
our goal is always to pick up a new circle that we've
23:43
influenced. Do you know what I mean?
23:44
Yeah. And we do a lot, a lot, a lot of
23:47
that, yeah. And so I think we're getting
23:50
there, yeah. I don't know that we'll ever.
23:52
It's sort of like, do you? How do you approach the edge of
23:55
a? What's the?
23:56
Black hole. No, no, no.
23:58
And geometry like you can never get into the.
24:01
Circle. Or like it just I think we're
24:03
approaching it. I think adding the additional
24:06
stuff that you've got, the other Brewers and other beer and
24:08
stuff, look, you could stay here all day and have a different
24:11
beer every single time. That's that.
24:13
I think that would qualify as a destination and.
24:17
That's part of the. That's by design, sure.
24:19
And you mentioned earlier too, I think the big compliment is when
24:22
you walk in here, the folks that are working here, they know
24:26
their stuff. And I I think that helps your
24:30
reputation go even to another level.
24:33
For sure, Robert, Talk about, talk about that for a second,
24:36
about what we do with the beer gods to make sure that they can
24:40
actually be beer gods. Like how in depth do you want me
24:44
to go? I don't know how long their show
24:46
is. I want a beer.
24:49
Hey, thanks guys. We we had some fans rupees are
24:52
leaving. So thanks guys.
24:55
Bye guys. Sorry, like are you?
24:57
When when you're when you're releasing a new beer, are you
25:00
like, are you guys running your beer gods through the
25:04
informational process? Are you guys tasting it?
25:07
Like what? What happens when a new beer
25:09
gets released? Yeah.
25:10
So I'll say this on the beers that I make.
25:13
And anytime we have new beers in the cooler that we, you know,
25:17
purchase and bring in, we do whole tastings.
25:20
So we bring everyone in, we talk about the beer, what it is,
25:25
Don't tell them what they should expect.
25:27
Let them taste it first and they can have their own sensory
25:31
evaluation of it. Good.
25:33
And then we talk about it. OK.
25:34
So, so rather than this beer has notes of this and it tastes like
25:38
this, like it's just, it's a clean slate like you, you ask,
25:42
what is it that you taste? Sometimes.
25:44
Is that what you asked? Or, well, well, if we were all
25:46
to do, let's say I'm developing whatever kind of beer, Yeah.
25:50
And I give three samples, different variations of that
25:55
beer. And everyone at this table is a
25:58
part of that sensory panel. I'm not going to tell you what
26:01
you should be tasting. Maybe I have certain things in
26:04
there that I have written down, like you're going to have this,
26:07
this, this. Yeah.
26:09
I don't want to plant that in your head.
26:11
I want you to be able to pick that out.
26:14
You to pick that out. You may pick up something
26:15
different. You may nail it.
26:18
It doesn't matter. And he'll never tell you this,
26:20
but Robert is exceptional at this.
26:22
And, and number one, he's got a, he's got a phenomenal palate, so
26:27
he can pick apart stuff. That is.
26:28
Extremely well and what he'll do, he's leading all those
26:32
tastings now. And so we'll sit over there and
26:35
and you know, there's six beer guides him and me usually.
26:38
And so we'll pour out a sample of everything.
26:42
Everybody will taste it. We'll all kind of look at each
26:45
other for that first reaction, right?
26:47
Like, oh, oh, whatever. Who's?
26:49
Going to speak first to who? Likes it or who hates?
26:51
It Yeah. And usually I'm the first
26:54
loudmouth. It just kind of happens that
26:56
way. And it's usually, oh, that's
26:58
terrible or oh, that's great, whatever.
27:00
And, and then we just start talking like, what are you
27:04
picking up? And he usually, almost always he
27:06
will wait and be the last person to speak.
27:10
And then as he speaks, we're all like, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:13
And, and yeah, by the end of that, the beer gods have
27:17
internalized, most of them have untapped.
27:19
So they'll take notes in their untapped.
27:20
Right. Yeah.
27:21
And, and then at the end of it, they're like, OK, like they're,
27:24
they're comfortable recommending that beer.
27:27
That's a good idea. That's awesome.
27:29
That's a good idea, it really is.
27:30
And they're planting a seed in their head.
27:32
And yeah, you're. Hearing their feedback,
27:33
honestly, yeah. We've all talked about this so
27:36
much. How much do you guys pay
27:38
attention to the untapped app and ratings?
27:41
I don't, yeah. I don't do untapped, it drives
27:45
me insane. Sometimes it hurts my.
27:47
Feelings. So I will say not the comments
27:52
or the ratings, I don't care. Right.
27:55
But I can't rate a beer on there.
27:57
It is way too hard. Yeah.
28:00
Like for me as a Brewer, I can't do it.
28:03
There's no rule that's. I think the problem is what's
28:07
what's considered a four? What's considered a four like?
28:10
That's why I. Feel true and are you rating it
28:12
based on how much you like it or are you rating it based on this
28:18
is a really great example of a pale ale or they've totally lost
28:22
the mark on the stock, whatever? Or this IPA is hoppy to bottle
28:25
caps, yeah. Yes, that's that's the big
28:28
bigger problem with it in the discussion we've all had, and
28:32
with other Brewers too. It's like the beer can have a 4
28:36
1/2 overall rating if the guy goes.
28:39
I don't like pilsners. Right, dude?
28:42
One of the best beers we've ever made.
28:44
Native Creatures. You guys have probably had it,
28:47
yeah. It's over there bottles right
28:49
now too I think. Yeah, so it's truly, it's one of
28:51
the best beers we've ever made. It's incredible, right?
28:53
And, and I'm OK saying that about our own beer because it
28:56
really is incredible. And we had a group in here one
28:59
night and I, I welcomed him in. It was kind of a little club or
29:02
whatever. And I took him a bottle of
29:05
Native Creatures, right? And I said, welcome to our
29:06
brewery. And I poured him each a sample.
29:08
Two of those jokers rated it A1 because they just didn't like
29:12
that it was a little bit funky. Oh my God, I'm like.
29:16
I'm. Like man, yeah.
29:18
That's right. Give me that.
29:19
Beer back. You don't deserve that beer.
29:21
No. Take them away from that.
29:22
It's just. Yes, it's they're idiots.
29:25
It's terrible, my feelings. It's funny, we've talked about
29:29
this and, you know, after doing the podcast, I know for me
29:33
personally, I and, and, and over time, I, I felt this way anyway.
29:39
And the more I get to know all of you guys and the passion and
29:42
the hard work that you do, I have a line of demarcation that
29:47
if I'm not liking it, I, I've never gone on an untapped app or
29:52
anywhere and say I don't like the spear because I don't like
29:54
IP as, I like IP as, but I, I just don't even, I, I won't even
30:01
rate it below a certain sector because I don't know if that
30:04
necessarily impacts you guys. I don't want it to impact your
30:08
business. That's Samaritan.
30:11
I don't. Know that it does.
30:12
I don't look at it. Yeah, Yeah, it literally.
30:16
I give you can say this much thought.
30:19
Yeah. Yeah, any of that.
30:21
Yeah. Well, let's talk about leaves.
30:22
I would have really. Look at this, yeah.
30:24
Well, you brewed all these, yeah.
30:27
All these in front of us. We're not going to rate them
30:29
tonight. No, no, no.
30:30
We're going to wait till We're going to wait till we get home.
30:33
That way I'm out of punching room.
30:36
I'm like, I'm right next to the. Brew right now.
30:39
But we've got very colorful beers in.
30:41
Front of us, very nice looking. Yeah, I want to, I want to run
30:44
through them. This is, this is the, the two
30:47
best parts of any podcast, any beer podcast. 1 is, is knowing
30:50
what's in you guys's head and getting that out into the space.
30:53
And the second one is being able to enjoy the fruits of that
30:56
labor that you guys put together.
30:57
So being able to enjoy this, the, the colorful beers that we
31:01
have tonight in front of us is 1.
31:02
It's an honor to us. But two, we're grateful for it
31:05
because just the opportunity to try so many different styles of
31:09
beer is fun. So what side do we want to start
31:12
with and and how do we want to do this?
31:14
Well, I think we want to start right here.
31:15
OK, Why? That's Plum.
31:18
I know, but why? It's light.
31:21
All right. What do you where would you
31:22
start? Triggered the seltzer, yeah.
31:24
It's a high alcohol though so it's light.
31:27
All right, let's do what? OK.
31:29
You're better at this than I. Am Come on, we're.
31:32
See how we banter with it, Yeah. That it's not.
31:36
Johnny turned his hat around. So let's start.
31:38
With not. Beer.
31:39
All right, here we go. OK, all right, so take the light
31:41
pink one got pink. As you guys know, seltzer has
31:44
become a thing, right? And it's, it's actually probably
31:47
falling off and we said we need to make our own seltzer, OK.
31:50
And I said, I said, I said that. And then I said, but we're not
31:53
going to make a seltzer unless it is a seltzer.
31:57
And so this is 8% ABV. We're going to dial it back on
32:01
the next batch to seven because I think we scheduled.
32:04
It's already back there. Yep.
32:05
And and then we flavor it with our Berliner syrups.
32:08
So this is a watermelon, so it's a base seltzer, and then we put
32:11
syrups in it at the top. So this is watermelon, OK?
32:13
Yeah, right. Cheers, cheers.
32:19
It's very good, and it's not that.
32:20
There's not like the watermelon's not overpowering.
32:23
There's a hint of it, which is what makes it really good.
32:25
Yeah, the seltzer taste that you get at a lot of different places
32:30
isn't pronounced. It's there.
32:32
It's there, but it is it goes down in a different way.
32:37
Yes. Have you, I'm sure you've tried
32:39
the 7% version of it? I have not.
32:42
OK, it's back there. That's good.
32:44
I was just wondering. Yeah, well.
32:46
Yes, I've tasted it, but I haven't tasted it with the
32:49
syrup. Yeah, OK, Yeah, OK.
32:51
I still have a pretty decent amount of the 8% left that.
32:53
We're gonna go through so 8% too much.
32:56
You guys are saying you're gonna dial it back a little bit.
32:58
Just a little. OK, just a little.
33:00
I don't have a problem with it. I don't know either.
33:01
I think it's. I think it's good.
33:03
It doesn't. Taste 8%.
33:04
I don't taste. I don't taste a problem.
33:06
That's the problem. Yeah.
33:07
It's a little sneaky, guys. Yeah, OK.
33:11
So we went. We went to the Hot Chicken
33:13
festival this past year, this this July, really good.
33:16
And we were serving hot, serving beer, selling beer as people
33:20
were eating hot chicken. And that was That was the first
33:22
time we had this out. Yeah.
33:23
And you're. Eating hot chicken, drinking 8%
33:27
seltzer. One of our employees that one of
33:29
our guys that fills in and helps us with events and stuff.
33:32
I looked over and he had had, he had had three of us in about an
33:35
hour, you know, and I'm like, hey, buddy, that's, that's 8%.
33:39
Seltzer don't be here. Probably need.
33:40
To pull back and he's like, I'm fine.
33:42
He had one more that he didn't finish and he was like, and I
33:47
mean, I'm like, you're going to need to sit down and like,
33:50
you're you're falling, you're dropping stuff.
33:52
You just need to right? He sat down for two hours.
33:56
Seltzers. But but based on the seltzers
33:59
that I've had, this is a lot more drinkable than the ones
34:02
I've had. Absolutely, yeah.
34:06
It's not as it's not, oh, I'm sorry, go.
34:08
Ahead, you know, just say, how is it to make a cider kind of
34:10
compared to a beer? Is it a lot less work?
34:12
Is it more work in some ways? It's way less work, yeah.
34:17
Yeah, because there's there's zero mash.
34:20
So I'm basically just taking sucrose and maltose and just
34:26
boiling it for a little bit just to sterilize it essentially.
34:30
Make simple syrup. Yeah, it's really it.
34:32
Yeah. You're making simple syrup.
34:33
Transfer it to a fermenter, put a whole bunch of yeast nutrient
34:36
in it, add your yeast and let it red and.
34:39
Because all the sugar in there that's.
34:41
It. You get 8%, let it.
34:43
Red and I wanna give a shout out to our friend Chico Dupass over
34:48
at Ebony and Ivory in Knoxville. Nice.
34:50
Yeah. So Chico helped us with this
34:52
recipe a little bit and we tried 1 batch and it was not good.
34:57
And he came. He came in and was like, well
34:59
here's where you messed up. Yeah, he got us on on to the
35:02
right yeast and the right nutrient.
35:04
And that matters. Great, so have y'all ever had
35:06
any Ebony and ivory stuff? Yeah, in fact, I think, I don't
35:09
know. Were they at the last Common
35:10
John Festival? I know they were with the one
35:12
the year before and one before that.
35:14
Yeah, the. Oakens, too.
35:14
They're gonna. Have one of their beers in my
35:16
refrigerator, right? Now, yeah, they're really good
35:18
stuff, really good work. Yeah, we were next for a couple
35:20
of months ago and I actually got to stop over there.
35:22
Yeah. And.
35:23
Great tap room patio, Yeah. Gorgeous.
35:25
Really nice place, yeah. And then really good beer.
35:27
Yeah. Yeah, big fan.
35:29
So what's next then? What's the Are we going with the
35:31
plum or are we going? To plum next, unless you go
35:35
chocolate. Do you want to do chocolate milk
35:36
next? It's light chocolate milk.
35:39
Yeah, I'd say we just go, just go and order.
35:41
Straight down, straight down. All right.
35:42
Let's do it. So what's next?
35:43
Is this plum chocolate milk stout?
35:45
This is. MTSU Chocolate Milk Stout.
35:48
Version three I think this is. Prototype.
35:51
Prototype. There will be a four.
35:53
OK, all right, all right, So talk about.
35:54
These. It may or may not be the final
35:56
one. We'll see.
35:57
Yeah, we'll see. So what's the MTSU significance?
36:01
So, John, I can speak about the MTSU chocolate milk, which
36:06
apparently a huge safe will. Yeah, So MTSU is truly, they've
36:11
won worldwide acclaim for their chocolate milk.
36:13
So they have a farm, they have their own cows, they have their
36:16
own dairy, they have their own pasteurization equipment, all of
36:19
that. And I don't know where, where
36:21
exactly they get it because they haven't told us.
36:23
They just give us the powder and whatever powder it is that they
36:27
homogenize into their milk that makes their chocolate milk
36:31
incredible. They give us some of that.
36:34
And Robert was tasked with designing a recipe to showcase
36:38
that and to get it as close to chocolate milk as beer can still
36:43
be. You know what I mean?
36:44
Absolutely, definitely still a beer.
36:46
And. I want to tell you that is a
36:47
tough task, yeah. That's so good.
36:51
Like how? Long, like, there's got to be a
36:53
lot of planning and stuff that goes into that before you even
36:55
like, do the first thing, right? Yeah, in the brewery.
36:58
Yeah, I mean, there was tons of research going into it because
37:01
when you talk about stouts and you hear chocolate stouts,
37:07
chocolate milk stouts, you think chocolate milk stouts?
37:12
Yeah. Yeah, not chocolate I.
37:14
Love this analogy, Stout, where this is going?
37:16
Yeah. Right.
37:17
Yeah. So that's why I had to
37:18
differentiate what I was doing. And so when you look at the
37:21
color of it, it's not. Chocolate.
37:23
Milk like a really dark stout, right?
37:26
So I tried to make something that's a little more cloudy
37:30
instead of a super I can. See that?
37:34
Yeah. But it is still within the
37:35
acceptable color range. It is just barely it's.
37:39
Right at the. Very bottom and I seem to
37:42
remember version. Maybe I'm wrong, but I seem to
37:46
remember Prototype 2 being a little sweeter.
37:50
Than this. Or was that 1 was definitely
37:52
sweeter? Prototype 1 was definitely
37:54
sweet. I remember prototype one being
37:55
sweet. Prototype 2 was a little less
37:57
sweet than that. We probably went a little too
38:01
much to the beer. Side I got you.
38:03
So this is kind of you feel, you feel this is kind of bringing
38:06
you back towards the middle between 2:00.
38:07
And three, yes, so from here, yeah, I think the lactose is
38:11
fine, the color. He'd like it a little darker so
38:18
that we can feel comfortable calling it a stout.
38:19
I said it. There you go.
38:20
All right. Cool.
38:23
The other thing is. So I doubled.
38:26
So Jonathan mentioned that we use the actual powder that MTSU
38:30
uses in the chocolate milk, right?
38:33
I doubled the amount that I used from prototype two to three,
38:38
didn't really make a difference. Well, the reason is that
38:42
chocolate powder is designed to go into milk and it's heat
38:46
treated. I add this on the cold side
38:51
because when you heat treated, there's all sorts of different,
38:54
we'll just say compounds in there that thicken up like in a
38:59
thick milk, right? And I don't want a very thick.
39:04
Yeah. Coagulated beer.
39:07
It still needs to be able. To pour through a tab.
39:08
Yeah. So I'll put it on the cold side,
39:11
doubling the amount of. Powder didn't.
39:12
Do much on the chocolate side. So this next batch we're gonna
39:16
add cocoa nibs, probably at the end of the boil.
39:20
Maybe some cold side additions to enhance that chocolate
39:24
flavor. Yeah.
39:26
Very cool. OK.
39:27
So we're. We're getting close.
39:29
I think the mad scientist, hey, it's.
39:30
It's all R&D, yeah. Funny though, because I think
39:34
about, I think about how fun are these conversations that you
39:37
guys have? Where you going?
39:38
You know what? It's not dark enough to be a
39:41
stout. And I'm like.
39:42
Yeah, it is. It's fine be.
39:45
Whatever we want be a. Flyer.
39:47
It really, it really talks about the pride that you put in as a
39:50
bird. Yeah, and watching them banter
39:53
back and forth, right? Stupid.
39:56
Like they can we can we capture. That.
39:58
All day, every day. All the time.
40:00
By the way, maybe you've mentioned this before.
40:01
How long have you guys worked together now?
40:04
Over three years, yeah, just just over 3.
40:06
And. And Robert, Robert is incredibly
40:08
technical. Yeah, he's, he's gone to school
40:11
for it. Like he knows the science and.
40:13
And I have learned more about beer science from him, yeah,
40:17
than I ever intended to. And, and so now he'll talk to me
40:21
and I can follow him. And every now and then I'll
40:23
throw something out there and be like, well, what about this?
40:25
And he'll be like, no, that's not going to work.
40:27
Yeah. Oh, yeah, maybe that that'll
40:29
work. Yeah.
40:30
He's like, or what my favorite is when he goes.
40:34
I don't, I'm not sure if that'll work or not.
40:36
Yeah. But you can tell he's
40:38
processing, you know, So sometimes it takes an idiot
40:42
there's. Always a lot of processing.
40:43
Yeah, sure. I don't want this.
40:45
I don't want this to go off. Like I can't throw this one out
40:48
immediately. I don't want this to go too far
40:51
off of where you guys, you know, camping, you guys.
40:54
We were talking about some of our favorite podcast episodes
40:57
earlier and one of them was Hopping Frog in Akron, OH.
41:02
Nice. He and I went to and then we had
41:04
them and then we had them on the podcast and the three guys that
41:08
we had the owner and like the. Marketing guy.
41:13
I forgot Jonathan and John and Zachary.
41:15
And then he was also, and then the third guy we had on, he was
41:20
more of like the ambassador. But my point is this, all three
41:24
of them have worked together for so long.
41:27
And I and I said to Scott before the podcast, I said, bam, we got
41:31
three people coming on. Hopefully it's not too many
41:34
people, you know, where we're trying to, they were perfect
41:38
because they were all intertwined with each other.
41:40
And that's what I see and that's what I what I see.
41:43
You 2 guys where you're intertwined and it's so
41:45
fantastic to see. Well, tremendous amount of
41:48
respect, first of all. And and I let as best I can, I'm
41:52
a little bit of a control freak, Yeah.
41:54
But best I can, I let Robert stay pretty loose over there.
41:58
You know, like he he has the freedom to try things.
42:02
I'll tell him I want to do this, this and this.
42:04
And then he'll say, OK, we can do that one here, that one here,
42:07
that one here. But in the meantime, we're also
42:09
going to do that, that and that. You know what I mean?
42:12
Yeah. And it.
42:13
And it just works. Yeah.
42:14
It's a good dynamic. Yeah, there's there's layers,
42:17
layers to everything. Yeah, as the Europeans say,
42:20
there's. Given you guys the ultimate
42:22
compliment, you 2 guys are what makes Cedar Glade so great.
42:25
Thank you. Yep.
42:26
You you guys put a video together for us ultimately for
42:30
them, for their for their anniversary, for their was it 6
42:34
years? Five years.
42:35
Five years. Gosh, so long ago, 100 episodes,
42:40
five years. But you guys, you guys sent us
42:43
over so we could present it to them and it you 2 to that point,
42:47
the banter between you 2 is just fucking hilarious.
42:49
It was like you'd ask you Robber Blake.
42:52
Yeah, Maybe 10, maybe 12. Yeah, 6/7.
42:56
There we go. You started it fault based, but
43:02
no, but I think that tone a lot because we didn't know you guys
43:06
and so it was hilarious. And then they had sent the the
43:09
video and then the outtakes too. Like what they said she was like
43:12
This was so damn funny. It's just back and forth banter.
43:15
It was. Yeah, it's all the freaking
43:18
time. Yeah, I'm just telling you.
43:20
All the time. I know it.
43:21
Yeah, I know it well. It's on.
43:23
Well from my side it's on purpose.
43:25
Yeah, only cuz he's my boss. Yeah, all.
43:28
Right. I'm sure I can get him where you
43:29
can. We really do.
43:31
And you know, MTSU, we do a beer of the game for all their
43:35
football games. And so there's a, there's a
43:37
fellow named Joe that comes over and shoots a, a promo video for
43:41
us every time. And he couldn't come this last
43:45
time. And so he sent like whoever like
43:47
works under him or whatever. Yep.
43:49
And she is the one that puts together, does the the final
43:53
production or whatever. And she she was like, the videos
43:56
turn out fine, but the stuff that I don't put in the videos,
44:00
the outtake. Stuff that's the better stuff.
44:03
She goes a. Whole folder of y'all's.
44:05
Nice. And I'm like, oh.
44:07
Yeah. I'm so happy, Ellen, what's in
44:09
and I'm so happy you sent them, right?
44:10
You could have just kept them and just sent the 1 and I was
44:12
like, oh this is good, this is really good I.
44:15
Love it I. Messes up so much.
44:18
He messes up so much. Messes up he.
44:20
Messes up all the way and. The first couple of those videos
44:23
that he did, he was the stiffest dude ever.
44:25
And I'm like, man, yeah, the guy was.
44:27
A couple of beers, a camera you got to you got.
44:30
To warm up. Man, he's got to give a shot,
44:32
Tequila. Exactly.
44:33
It usually he does good. He does good.
44:36
It does. Now.
44:36
It takes him a little bit to warm up, but he does good.
44:39
Is that coffee in there, by the way?
44:40
That's water. It is water.
44:42
It's coffee, coffee, water. I thought it was.
44:44
Coffee. Water.
44:45
It's just water. It's usually beer, but I figured
44:50
why not you? Like.
44:52
That I almost got a big jar, a glass of water, but I was like,
44:54
let me give my mug and represent, yeah.
44:56
There you go, cool mug I like flavor of.
44:58
Water, thanks for calling me out.
44:59
Local artist makes our mug club OK do it.
45:03
New artist every year that when they renew they get a new mug.
45:07
They nominal seto. Scotch.
45:10
So this is our third iteration of different artists.
45:14
That's really cool. Nice mugs.
45:15
Nice. Thanks you, you guys.
45:19
You guys were all. Here.
45:20
January. Yeah, back in January, the
45:23
episode released in jail, you guys were doing like a dry
45:25
January or something. That's.
45:26
Right, Dawn. Poor Mitch.
45:29
I know, and it's not to pick on Mitch because we listened to the
45:31
episode. My body surprised me quickly.
45:34
I was. I was.
45:35
Listening to that episode, I was working out and I'm listening to
45:39
it and I'm like, Oh my God, I know this episode is is over,
45:43
but save Mitch. Yeah, I hope he's.
45:46
Okay, this is hard, right? It was it was just kind of a
45:49
blur for me. I was just diving in when I
45:51
could. My body chose a different.
45:54
Path, which is like you guys, good.
45:56
I'll be right back. Hey, we have a couple more of
45:58
those if we like. More, you know, I mean, it'll
46:01
help me when I eat hot chicken. So.
46:05
I will say as as a listener, it was a great episode.
46:08
It really was. It was, it was super fun.
46:10
It was sweating. Like it was like, like that was
46:13
the first. Forehead in his head to see the.
46:15
Get up, walk to the. Bathroom.
46:16
Yeah, it was an adventure. My body was just like, hey man.
46:19
Warning warning, you doing what are you?
46:23
Thinking and then I took another drink.
46:25
Well, and the and the the fun thing about Jonathan is it's
46:28
like, I mean you're you're always just go with the flow
46:31
kind of stuff, but you always have a plan in the event that a
46:34
plan's not there. Yes, so and I remember walking
46:37
in and we were talking like Mitch and I were talking one day
46:39
and we were like, you know, dry because one of us brought up the
46:44
idea of a dry January and the other person was like, I mean
46:47
that could work. But like there's you know, it's
46:49
it's happened. It does a lot or whatever.
46:51
Like what if we put a twist on it?
46:53
What if we kind of called it like dry ish January, and you
46:55
had a good term for that later on in the episode, but like, and
46:58
like, well, let's let's let's call up cedar Glade.
47:01
I was like, let's see if we could do something at at cedar
47:04
glade. And so like we walked in that
47:06
day, like you were like, let's do it for sure.
47:08
Like you already had things like let's go.
47:10
And we walked in and we're like, well, you know, what do you want
47:13
to do? And I was like, well, you know,
47:14
our our kind of thought was to do this whatever, but and you
47:17
were like, yeah, that could work.
47:18
And he was like, here's what I'm thinking.
47:20
And I was like, OK, he was like, let's get through drudge
47:22
January. We have these ideas.
47:23
He goes, and then we've got some stuff we can bring out after the
47:26
fact. And I was like, OK, let's do it.
47:29
Yeah, and I don't think any of was new until about 5 or 10
47:32
minutes before we hit record what we were gonna be drinking
47:35
that day. Yeah, it was a great surprise.
47:37
It was so good, John. Just like we've got mushroom
47:40
drinks. Yeah, I was like, what?
47:42
And he was like, just you'll be fine with it.
47:44
Don't worry about it. Was great it.
47:46
Was yeah, it was a fun ass episode.
47:48
We just didn't take into account that we were out drinking the
47:51
night before probably. I forgot that again.
47:55
Yeah, we had wings and a bunch of cheap beer and stuff and then
47:58
whatever happened just didn't work with I feel like that.
48:01
Did not have any effect on what I was drinking.
48:04
The next it was the mushrooms. I just think my body had its own
48:07
choices. I just know when I listened to
48:10
it, I was like, we gotta save Mitch at all.
48:13
Yeah. Oh.
48:13
My God it. Was one of the funnest episodes
48:16
that I think I've ever done and it was a dry ish or yeah
48:19
January. I as I get older, I get more of
48:21
my one of my side of the family's genetics that's
48:24
sensitive to things. So.
48:26
I. Don't know what's gonna happen
48:27
later. So, you know, I think those
48:29
drinks just had, I was one of the like lower percentage people
48:33
that should approach those. Next time, now you know and
48:36
knowing just. Happy battle.
48:38
That's right. You know.
48:39
You have some battle. Don't listen.
48:40
If nobody's listening to that episode, don't listen to it.
48:42
Is this? Awesome.
48:43
Or sure it is. It is.
48:44
Great, I was there. You're gonna put it in the suit
48:46
for fun. It was very entertaining.
48:47
We had one of the best just mixed kinda kind of concoctions
48:51
after the. Podcast, too.
48:53
That was his idea. Yeah, that was that was it was
48:56
the. I remember that What?
48:57
Was he? Yeah, it was.
48:59
Inders red it was. From.
49:01
Flanders red, right? No, it was the.
49:04
It was the giveaway bottle beer that.
49:06
Yeah. Mixed with.
49:09
No, no, it wasn't. It was the what's the cherry,
49:12
the cherry beer that they gave that you get in the you go into.
49:15
The Cherry Bat or Not or Balaton Cherry from Chattanooga's
49:21
Dynamic Ales. It was dynamic Ales.
49:23
So we you had busted that open. We drank and we're like, oh man,
49:25
this is really good. And then you busted open a Batch
49:28
1 theory from Southern Grist, and it was extremely sweet.
49:31
And you were sitting there, you were just kind of like.
49:33
I was tasting them both. That's right.
49:35
And then like it just the mad scientist, he kind of just Yep,
49:38
Yep. He just walks around.
49:39
That was, I remember seeing it was like slow motion.
49:41
He picks the cherry beer out and he pours it and says he kind of
49:46
just like does this and take a sip.
49:47
He's like, he walks over John and he goes take a sip of this.
49:51
Reward in my eyes. Is he good?
49:57
Yeah, that's. Tough big ups to you man.
49:59
Is that considered a COO Bay? I guess I can't remember.
50:04
If there's a quantity or not, I hate that word.
50:06
For the record, I don't know. I don't.
50:07
Even know what the word means so.
50:09
Together. Right.
50:10
I don't know, it's a blend. What is this one?
50:13
I don't wanna play. On this one.
50:15
This one smells like great, but it's not great.
50:17
It's not great. It's plum so.
50:18
First of all, it's a little, it turned out, a little darker.
50:21
Than this is Jonathan's beer. Yeah, this is me.
50:23
So it's actually purple, but it's a really dark purple.
50:26
I love purple. So a friend of mine, Missy
50:31
Leigh, puts on a party every year.
50:32
It's a, it's a live Clue party. And so it's over at the Oaklands
50:36
mansion. We play Clue and they, she, she
50:39
gets different people from the community to be the characters.
50:42
Well, back in 2022, I was Professor Plum.
50:45
And so we now have all of the former plums have the Plum
50:49
Society and we raise money. And this past year it was for
50:52
Kiwanis Club. And so I said she, she always
50:57
taps us to get, you know, just have some beer for the party or
50:59
whatever. And she was like, what would you
51:01
guys think about making a, a, a beer for the party?
51:04
And I was like, we can do a plum beer.
51:07
And so we start talking and he's like, yeah, we can do a, you
51:10
know, just a blonde ale, put some plum in it, whatever.
51:13
And I'm like, we're going to turn that shit purple.
51:16
He's like. That's not how that went.
51:18
Yeah. Jonathan's like we're making a
51:21
plum. Beer.
51:23
And I'm like, all right. Why and?
51:27
Then you said how we could do it, and then I said turning it
51:30
perfect. Well, you said we're doing it.
51:32
There was no questioning if we can or what we like.
51:35
We're doing a plum beer. He's trying to be.
51:41
Like there's no trying, there's only two trying.
51:44
To keep planned, yeah, but. You're just telling all the rest
51:47
of the stories. I'm gonna shut up.
51:50
But to me. Shut up.
51:51
He'd do it. You need to shut up.
51:54
He told me what he wanted, He helped me with the color, and I
51:57
mean, heck yeah. We made it happen and he made a
51:59
purple beer. Well, plum initially love.
52:04
It oh, it smells good. Let's take initially what?
52:06
It smells purple. It really does.
52:08
It smells. It smells.
52:10
Purple who are not the cops and somebody asked you what flavored
52:13
Kool-aid do you like and you respond with grape right you're
52:16
you're the cops I. Know and how.
52:17
Often do you like purple drink right you're.
52:19
OK. And how often do you say I have
52:21
a plum? Craft beer.
52:23
That's right. I don't know.
52:24
Yeah. But this does taste purple.
52:26
Taste purple. It smells.
52:27
Purple it. Does.
52:28
I know my favorite Kool-aid was red by the.
52:31
Way yoga pops. No, it's no red.
52:34
Kool Aid's the worst Kool. Aid What?
52:36
Purple. Blue.
52:38
Is good. It was not red.
52:40
What makes your poop blue? What?
52:44
How much Kool-aid do? You drink, you drink the good
52:47
stuff, like lots of sugar in it, right?
52:49
Yeah. Yeah.
52:49
Have you never had the the ocean water or?
52:51
Whatever. Yeah.
52:52
Sonic Ocean Water Blue. Same man.
52:54
No, I don't look either. So yeah, basically you drop a
52:58
mushroom in it. Right.
53:00
Yeah, I think it was on. Drinking partners.
53:03
It was like ocean. Water shit.
53:05
Yeah. I really like it.
53:07
I like it. But it was tasty.
53:08
It was like, good. Thank you.
53:09
Thank you SO. This is awesome.
53:11
So I'm at a I'm at a networking event.
53:13
We're talking about the party and talking about making a, a
53:16
plum beer or whatever. And somebody was like, well,
53:18
what about all the other characters, you know?
53:20
Are you gonna make a something themed around Colonel Mustard
53:23
and Mr. That's right, because this is related to the Clue
53:25
game. Yeah.
53:26
And I said, well, all of those characters, if one of them would
53:29
like to open their own brewery and make their own beer, they're
53:32
welcome to do that. Vanzelian, we're making farm.
53:35
Beer. Nobody wants that mustard beer,
53:37
do they? No, no.
53:39
Terrible, wouldn't it? It would be.
53:40
Awful. This is tasty though.
53:41
Like yeah, what do you work where?
53:43
Do you get in the plum flavor? From what?
53:44
Are you? Yeah.
53:45
So initially when I started looking at at the recipe, I
53:48
wanted to build a good base beer.
53:51
That was important to me because I don't want that bad product
53:54
out right. So I wanted a good base beer and
53:57
then flavor it a little bit with plum color, purple, whatever.
54:01
So I started looking into like plum, like using actual plum,
54:07
freezing it, throw it in there and then maybe using purees.
54:13
But the problem is it turns the beer more brownish red color.
54:19
So I didn't want to do that, you know, based on the, I've never
54:22
used it before. So based on the research, that's
54:24
what I found out. So we then I started looking at
54:29
food coloring and then maybe just doing a little bit of
54:32
extract and that's really what it came down to.
54:36
I put a little bit of plum extract which.
54:38
Gave me. That that that plum hint put a
54:41
little too much purple coloring in there, but it looks great.
54:46
Is this too? Is this too purple?
54:48
You know. Right.
54:49
For your it looks black almost. Yeah, you want it to be.
54:53
You want it to be less dark, like lighter.
54:56
A little lighter, OK, I mean, the head's cool because the
54:58
head's kind of lavender. Yeah, like, yeah, I know it's
55:00
worth. Yeah.
55:01
And then and then like the flavors there, obviously you
55:03
even on the film. Right.
55:05
It's like a tint of purple on the film, too, Yeah.
55:07
Yeah, I would like it. I would like it about like if
55:10
you had it on a paint chip, right.
55:12
I'd like it like 1 shade lighter.
55:15
Yeah. And this was the first time that
55:16
I've ever added any sort of food coloring to a fermenter.
55:20
So this was uncharted territory and.
55:24
We got close. It's got to be fun to experiment
55:25
though, yeah. Like being able to do stuff like
55:27
that. It was fun.
55:29
Yeah. You know, if I had reserved
55:30
some, I'd put a flashlight under it.
55:32
Hey, yours didn't last long. They no, they only made feel
55:36
good. They only made.
55:37
Four. That's all right.
55:38
They don't have any more left. We're out.
55:40
Yeah. Do you get to?
55:41
Experiment a lot in the back the small batch stuff, even when
55:44
it's not even a full. Fledged idea yet?
55:46
Nice. Yeah, Yeah.
55:49
Now you can see a little gradient from the harsh the
55:52
light hit of the light, but you can see a little bit.
55:54
Looks a little. Like, more reddish round from
55:58
over here, yeah. That was not what I was
56:00
expecting it to look like. It's.
56:03
A1 that's. Exactly what I thought A.
56:05
Bright, harsh light. It's like a gradient there.
56:08
You can see at the very top, like 20%.
56:10
That's the yeah. Your question, yes.
56:14
And that's gotta be fun, right? Yeah, I mean, that's really what
56:17
gets my, we'll say in quotes, artistic expression out, right.
56:23
So I get to experiment with flavors and aromas and just like
56:26
really have fun with it. Yep.
56:27
So you know, especially with us putting out 12 new taps, I'm
56:33
able to, I mean we release a new small batch.
56:37
Every single week. Every single Wednesday.
56:39
Oh, man. And Jonathan, for the most part,
56:43
doesn't really care what we're putting out, just as long as
56:46
it's a beer. Yeah, so I get to, you know,
56:49
research and develop whatever kind of beer and put it out.
56:53
Yeah. Are those a lot of times just
56:56
one offs like hey we're into a small batch and then and are
56:59
there some that we like have returned because they've been so
57:02
good too? Yeah, unless it's a hit.
57:04
So like the the OK, we were brown L that's going to come
57:07
back. So I'll.
57:08
Make. I'll make a.
57:09
Please make a little bit of tweaks to it, but it's coming
57:12
back for sure. Yeah, Cool.
57:13
Hell yeah. I mean, the featherweight may
57:15
come back. Like that's a good one.
57:17
But we made an ESB, so kind of our origin story centers around
57:20
an ESB and a Belgian double. So it that was on a previous
57:24
episode, but you know that ESB will be back relatively soon in
57:29
the next next I'll. Order stuff for it.
57:32
Next dude, Yeah, I know. I love that one.
57:34
My God, that's. Fun to have an ESB because not a
57:36
lot too man it is ESB my. Favorite style so far?
57:40
Good. Yeah.
57:40
And don't they typically tend to be lower in ABV?
57:43
Yeah, yeah, three to four sometimes.
57:46
Right. Some of them ours hits, what was
57:48
it like 4-9 or five one or something like that is.
57:51
Yeah, it's running five. Yeah, I don't remember exactly,
57:54
but. Love those and I.
57:56
Love and I love talking to and Brewers do the same thing too
57:59
it's like when you talk to owners and had Brewers and like
58:01
what's your favorite that Stokehouse did this like Chad
58:03
with Stokehouse. Yeah, ESB, What is it?
58:06
I mean, it's just like it's a style of beer that it, it's a
58:10
long lost style. It's been around forever and
58:13
then it's gotten overshadowed by adjuncts of fudge and coffee
58:17
and. Chocolate and nuts and.
58:19
And donut stouts and stuff like that.
58:20
As you know, the other one everybody loves, ESP the other.
58:23
Unfortunate part is that puts the word.
58:25
Bitter at the end. Yeah.
58:28
Yeah, talked about that too. Commercially it's it's a
58:31
challenging thing to sell. Because.
58:34
I don't want bitter. Beer I'm like, but it's always
58:35
mild. It's more bitter than me.
58:37
Y'all. Yeah.
58:38
It's like, let's go back to. Yeah, right.
58:40
It's column. 100% yeah, if you've ever had one for if
58:43
anybody's like worried about that and you get and you try
58:46
you're like fuck, it's not what that is at all right it's.
58:49
Like it's every VA on the face of the planet is more bitter
58:52
than that, you know? What I mean?
58:54
Is there something you guys have not brewed yet that's on your
58:57
radar that you're going we need to brew this?
59:00
We were just talking about 1. Barley wine, yeah.
59:04
Hell yeah. So I have I actually just
59:08
started working on a recipe for kind of like a funk house
59:16
farmhouse table beer that we've never done before.
59:21
Low ABV. It's low ABV.
59:23
It's going to be a mixed culture of sorts.
59:27
I've never done that before. I've done mixed culture beers
59:29
but not like a super low alcohol mixed culture table.
59:34
Beer. I'm excited about that.
59:37
Barley wine, a Belgian golden strong ale that we're going to
59:43
do God bless. These are all kind of high ABV
59:47
stuff. Too, Are you planning on going
59:48
on the high end of the? When you were doing what
59:51
everybody to come to Cedar Glade.
59:53
I've and most of the barn soda and this is the hot take for me,
59:56
but like most of the barley wines I've tasted are very much
1:00:01
like if you take like 120 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head and you
1:00:04
age it for like 5 years, you're going to get a very high ABV
1:00:08
barley wine. I just barley wines for me are
1:00:11
so high on the ABV scale and it's just like it's hard to sit
1:00:15
there and drink it because I mean they're good, they really
1:00:18
are good, but they just feel so heavy so.
1:00:21
Are you guys gonna be on the higher end of the ABV when it
1:00:24
comes to a barley wine or are you gonna do something a little
1:00:26
bit lower? Cuz I feel like there's an
1:00:28
appetite for something on the lower end of the scale for a
1:00:31
barley wine, but not too many people do that.
1:00:35
So we're limited in Tennessee to 10.1%.
1:00:39
Yeah, nobody can go. Around right exceptionally.
1:00:42
No one has. Ever.
1:00:44
Loved we're going to. Get it at.
1:00:45
Exactly 2.1 It's gonna be amazing.
1:00:47
Got such a skill, such a. Skill the Tennessee 10.
1:00:50
Yeah, amazing. Yeah.
1:00:52
But here's The thing is barley wine is not meant to be drank
1:00:57
like other beer, right first. Of all, it's supposed to be
1:01:00
sipping. And it takes you a while.
1:01:03
Yeah, and it does. That's fair.
1:01:04
So. If you put it in a glass, like,
1:01:06
like our Tulip glass over there. Right.
1:01:08
So 8 oz, 10 oz, whatever. Not more than that.
1:01:12
Yeah, right. And you take a sip of it when
1:01:14
it's cold, and then you cuddle it a little bit, and you take a
1:01:17
sip of it when it's a little warm.
1:01:19
You know what I mean? Sure.
1:01:20
And you just enjoy it, and you're gonna hit that right
1:01:22
temperature where it just opens up exactly where you want it,
1:01:25
and that's when you drink it. Yeah.
1:01:28
And for some barley wines that I've had, it is all the way at
1:01:31
Room 10. Really.
1:01:32
Yeah. And some of them it's, you know,
1:01:34
colder than that. Yeah.
1:01:35
Whatever. But I love a barley wine.
1:01:39
There's nothing better than a barley wine and A and a fire and
1:01:43
a freaking cigar. Oh man.
1:01:45
Oh. Absolutely in my language.
1:01:46
Dude, it is. Yeah, that is.
1:01:47
Heaven on earth right here. Yeah.
1:01:49
So what's ETA on this bond? I'm looking.
1:01:51
Forward to that, yeah. It it'll we're a little ways out
1:01:55
on that. It it'll be this time next year,
1:01:57
OK, Yeah, yeah. So the plan was to have it this
1:02:01
year and we had some technical issues and so we weren't able to
1:02:05
do it. But next year, we're planning on
1:02:07
doing it in conjunction with the Leaper's Fork Tennessee Whiskey
1:02:11
barrels agent in there. And it's gonna be a it's gonna
1:02:15
be a killer. That's.
1:02:16
Calling for a campfire night, right?
1:02:17
There. Oh yeah, that's awesome.