Latest / Brian Thomas / Brian chats with Vets and Brews - 10/9/2026
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: It is 732-55-CARE-CD Talk Station. If you know me, you
- 0:04Speaker 1: ever listen to the morning show, you know I do
- 0:05Speaker 1: anything I can for the American veteran and active duty
- 0:08Speaker 1: service people. God bless each and every one of you
- 0:10Speaker 1: for signing the bottom line and defending our nation and freedoms,
- 0:14Speaker 1: which is what I believe in. And somebody else who
- 0:16Speaker 1: believes in that, Matt Damaris from Vets and Brews in
- 0:18Speaker 1: the studio, along with Del, the king of the beer diet.
- 0:22Speaker 1: I am. I'm going to make you talk about that
- 0:24Speaker 1: because that's hilarious. Matt, it's great seeing you back in
- 0:27Speaker 1: the studio again. Adele, of course. Remind my listeners the
- 0:30Speaker 1: whole concept of Vets & Brews.
- 0:32Speaker 2: Vets & Brews, I collect online donations, $ 10 online donations.
- 0:35Speaker 2: I use that money to buy a vet a beer.
- 0:37Speaker 2: Whatever is left over from that $ 10 goes to Patriot's Landing,
- 0:42Speaker 2: which is a veteran wood shop down in Kentucky that
- 0:46Speaker 2: handcrafts the flag boxes that are the only ones sold
- 0:49Speaker 2: at Arlington National Cemetery.
- 0:50Speaker 1: That's a great operation.
- 0:52Speaker 2: It's awesome.
- 0:52Speaker 1: And if you look up Patriot's Landing for my veterans
- 0:54Speaker 1: out there who, you know, maybe looking for some support group,
- 0:57Speaker 1: maybe you want some hobby, maybe you like woodcraft, they
- 1:00Speaker 1: have a beautiful building with a shop and everyone just
- 1:05Speaker 1: has a wonderful time and they share a fellowship experience
- 1:08Speaker 1: while they're also, you know, pursuing the mission. It's a
- 1:10Speaker 1: Christian based organization, but they're all about helping the American
- 1:13Speaker 1: veteran and extending out beyond that too. They had an
- 1:16Speaker 1: elderly woman there whose husband was a veteran, and she
- 1:19Speaker 1: stumbled on in there one day, and she's been working
- 1:21Speaker 1: with them ever since, making woodcraft items. It's great.
- 1:23Speaker 3: Yeah, I actually made a box myself. I'm a nine-year
- 1:26Speaker 3: Army veteran, so I did. I was a counterintelligence agent
- 1:28Speaker 3: in the Army.
- 1:29Speaker 1: See, you know, I should have thanked you for your service.
- 1:33Speaker 1: Darn it.
- 1:33Speaker 4: So, yeah, I've been there. I've done the box. It's
- 1:35Speaker 4: a great experience for veterans.
- 1:37Speaker 1: Yeah, that's all I've heard was great things about it.
- 1:39Speaker 1: All right, so both benefit. The veteran gets the beer.
- 1:41Speaker 1: Patriots landing gets the leftover and we all benefit from
- 1:44Speaker 1: it collectively. Now, what do you, you've got some events
- 1:46Speaker 1: coming up. There's a reason you're here. And I know
- 1:50Speaker 1: if you're capable of supporting vets and brews, this great organization,
- 1:53Speaker 1: you could be a sponsor of the events. What's going
- 1:55Speaker 1: on with that?
- 1:56Speaker 2: Honor bus, man. It's our fifth year doing it here
- 1:58Speaker 2: in Cincinnati. Uh, we've got two buses basically for honor bus.
- 2:01Speaker 2: I fill up two school buses a Saturday before veterans day.
- 2:04Speaker 2: This year, it's going to be on November 7th. Uh,
- 2:07Speaker 2: we go to three local breweries that are celebrating veterans
- 2:09Speaker 2: day events. We, Give the veterans a t-shirt, buy their
- 2:14Speaker 2: beers at the breweries, feed them, and just have a
- 2:16Speaker 2: good time. I mean, you've been on it.
- 2:18Speaker 4: Oh, it's a good time.
- 2:19Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 2:21Speaker 1: Not being a veteran, I don't get as good of
- 2:24Speaker 1: an experience out of it as the veterans because you
- 2:26Speaker 1: guys look like you're all having one hell of a
- 2:28Speaker 1: great time. It's fun. It's like a college fraternity reunion
- 2:30Speaker 1: or something like that. You know what I mean? Smiles everywhere.
- 2:33Speaker 4: Some more than others, right?
- 2:34Speaker 1: Well, that's true.
- 2:35Speaker 4: I'm like the chief cat herder.
- 2:38Speaker 3: I've got two buses full of veterans that are making
- 2:41Speaker 3: three stops at breweries. I've got to make sure by
- 2:43Speaker 3: the end of it that they're all accounted for.
- 2:45Speaker 1: Well, there's beer at the destination, the various breweries you
- 2:47Speaker 1: go to, but there's also beer on the bus.
- 2:49Speaker 4: Absolutely.
- 2:49Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. Lots.
- 2:50Speaker 1: Bus beers. Lots of beers. Don't go away. We've got
- 2:53Speaker 1: more details on this, the fun and games, and in sponsorship, too.
- 2:56Speaker 1: It's vetsandbrews.com. The word am, not an ampersand. Vetsandbrews.com. Hope
- 3:01Speaker 1: that works for you. I struggle with this morning show
- 3:03Speaker 1: computer from time to time, but I'm staring at the site.
- 3:06Speaker 1: Honor Bus Sponsorships. Between $ 100 and $ 1, 000 makes you a sponsor,
- 3:10Speaker 1: and they can sure use the help. Don't go away.
- 3:12Speaker 1: We've got more. 740-55-KERCETALK-STATION. Having fun with Matt and Del
- 3:17Speaker 1: in studio for Vets and Brews, which you can find
- 3:19Speaker 1: online at Vetsandbrews.com. Now, we already solicited sponsors, which they
- 3:22Speaker 1: can go to Vets and Brews and help out with
- 3:24Speaker 1: the event. It's actually events. There's two buses or two
- 3:28Speaker 1: venues this year, Cincinnati and Columbus, right?
- 3:29Speaker 2: Yeah, for the first time ever, we're kind of branching out.
- 3:32Speaker 2: I'll be up in Columbus heading up that bus, and
- 3:34Speaker 2: then Del's leading the bus down here. Two buses down
- 3:37Speaker 2: here in Cincinnati. So more vets, more breweries, more fun.
- 3:40Speaker 1: Well, and more fundamentally, pin-up girls. This is, you know,
- 3:45Speaker 1: you say, well, we got a flyover this year. We're
- 3:48Speaker 1: doing this. And Del's like, yeah, it's a bit. And
- 3:50Speaker 1: we got pinup girls. I'm like, what?
- 3:52Speaker 2: Yeah, I looked into that one.
- 3:53Speaker 1: Good old school 1940s style pinup girls.
- 3:56Speaker 4: There you go.
- 3:56Speaker 2: They'll be there to take pictures with the veterans at
- 3:58Speaker 2: High Green. That's our first stop from 12 to 130
- 4:00Speaker 2: on the 7th. And that's where the flyover is going
- 4:04Speaker 2: to happen, the national anthem. Yeah, we got a pilot
- 4:07Speaker 2: group out of Louisville. So we want the public to
- 4:09Speaker 2: come out, meet these veterans, shake their hands, and watch
- 4:12Speaker 2: the flyover, get pictures with them.
- 4:14Speaker 1: I like that idea. So let me think here. The
- 4:22Speaker 1: start time is what I'm struggling with again. I wanted
- 4:24Speaker 1: to remind folks about the start time. I'm going to
- 4:26Speaker 1: have Danny to the extent he can put all this
- 4:28Speaker 1: link or put the links up at 55KRC. com website. But
- 4:31Speaker 1: what kind of people need to be at the venue?
- 4:33Speaker 1: Because we're going to get to how veterans get on
- 4:35Speaker 1: the bus here in a second. But what's the start
- 4:37Speaker 1: time so people can know if we're planning purpose?
- 4:39Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll have the schedule on the Vets & Brews
- 4:41Speaker 2: Facebook page. We're usually about an hour, hour and 15 minutes.
- 4:45Speaker 2: The first stop's always longer because we do the national anthem.
- 4:48Speaker 2: We have to get everybody checked in. So High Grain
- 4:51Speaker 2: Brewing's our first stop from 12 to 1.30. Then we'll
- 4:55Speaker 2: be going down to Brink and ending up in Third
- 4:57Speaker 2: Eye in Sharonville.
- 4:58Speaker 1: Okay. All right, so somebody's listening out there going, well,
- 5:00Speaker 1: I'm not going to participate in the Vets and Brews event. Actually,
- 5:03Speaker 1: I can go to any one of the bars along
- 5:05Speaker 1: the route at the given time.
- 5:06Speaker 4: And see what's going on.
- 5:07Speaker 1: And that's what we're really hoping a lot of people do.
- 5:09Speaker 3: Even if a veteran's around that wants to come and
- 5:13Speaker 3: get support and show some support, they literally will buy
- 5:16Speaker 3: them beer too, even though they're not on the bus.
- 5:18Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's the thing. You don't have to be
- 5:19Speaker 1: on the bus to help out here or participate in
- 5:21Speaker 1: any way, shape, or form. Because there are a finite
- 5:24Speaker 1: number of seats on a school bus, whether it's one
- 5:25Speaker 1: or two, you've got a limited number. So how do
- 5:27Speaker 1: veterans sign up to get on the tour?
- 5:30Speaker 2: Yeah, we have a link on the website. I think
- 5:33Speaker 2: it's like an event button or upcoming or something like that,
- 5:36Speaker 2: but you'll see. Yeah, roll call. So it's a registration
- 5:39Speaker 2: for veterans. Anybody can sign up. Once we get all
- 5:43Speaker 2: of our sponsors together, we'll just start drawing names randomly
- 5:46Speaker 2: to see who can go. And you get to bring
- 5:47Speaker 2: a guest. It doesn't have to be a veteran. It
- 5:49Speaker 2: can be a civilian. So each veteran gets to bring
- 5:52Speaker 2: a guest with them, and we'll fill the seats up
- 5:54Speaker 2: and get it going.
- 5:55Speaker 1: Now, can an individual just donate and be a sponsor?
- 5:58Speaker 1: Let's say you got $ 100 on you. He's like, here,
- 5:59Speaker 1: I want to be considered a sponsor. Absolutely. What's that
- 6:02Speaker 1: net you? What's that net? Do you get on a t-shirt?
- 6:04Speaker 1: Because I saw the t-shirts. You're going to print those
- 6:06Speaker 1: up after you get the sponsors together.
- 6:07Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody, all of them get on a t-shirt. Depending
- 6:10Speaker 2: on the level that you're on, we have logos on
- 6:11Speaker 2: there and stuff. We'll send you a list of the
- 6:13Speaker 2: people that register. That way you have contact and you
- 6:16Speaker 2: can say thank you for your services.
- 6:17Speaker 1: How many beers you bought over the years, guys?
- 6:20Speaker 2: Over 3,500 last time I counted, but it's been probably
- 6:23Speaker 2: six months.
- 6:23Speaker 4: We're probably 4,000.
- 6:24Speaker 2: You're over 4,000. 4,000, 4,500, something like that.
- 6:27Speaker 1: Update the site, man. It's hard to count that. 3,400.
- 6:31Speaker 4: Those are rookie numbers.
- 6:33Speaker 1: Someday it'll just say billions and billions. That'd be amazing.
- 6:36Speaker 1: It's like the old McDonald's days. 10 million sold. That
- 6:39Speaker 1: was last week.
- 6:39Speaker 2: We'll get a lot in this year because we have
- 6:41Speaker 2: three buses now, two cities.
- 6:43Speaker 1: It's going to be nuts. Well, throughout the year, let's
- 6:46Speaker 1: pivoting away just for a moment here about the, the
- 6:47Speaker 1: upcoming events, but throughout the year, you're doing this. This
- 6:50Speaker 1: is how you end up with 4,000 beers delivered. You
- 6:52Speaker 1: just sort of keep your eyes peeled when you're out
- 6:54Speaker 1: and about at bars or people walk up to you.
- 6:57Speaker 1: And how does that work?
- 6:58Speaker 2: Uh, it's usually me walking up to them. You know,
- 7:00Speaker 2: I'll see like a hat on or some kind of shirt,
- 7:02Speaker 2: maybe a tattoo that, and I'll say, Hey, are you
- 7:04Speaker 2: a veteran? Or I'll ask the bartender, like, do you
- 7:06Speaker 2: have any veteran regulars here? And they'll tell me, and
- 7:09Speaker 2: I go over and tell them what I'm doing. They're
- 7:11Speaker 2: usually like, Oh, man, it's okay. Don't buy me a beer.
- 7:13Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, but if I don't buy you
- 7:14Speaker 2: the beer, I can't give Patriots Landing the money. So
- 7:17Speaker 2: you have to accept it's already been purchased for you.
- 7:19Speaker 2: It's donated.
- 7:20Speaker 1: That's awesome.
- 7:21Speaker 4: Listen, Matt's bald. He's tattooed. He's got a beard. A
- 7:25Speaker 4: lot of people don't walk up to him in a bar.
- 7:27Speaker 4: So he's got to approach them.
- 7:29Speaker 1: That is true. You have a slightly intimidated look about you, man.
- 7:33Speaker 1: Got to be honest with you. You're the kind of
- 7:36Speaker 1: guy that guys like me need as a friend.
- 7:39Speaker 4: He's a great friend.
- 7:40Speaker 1: I got a buddy of mine, and back in his
- 7:43Speaker 1: younger days, and this can reveal something he's told me,
- 7:46Speaker 1: he used to do, shall we say, collections work for
- 7:50Speaker 1: some untoward organizations. Big guy, like 6'6, muscles out the yin-yang,
- 7:56Speaker 1: and we all partied up and put in bay one year.
- 7:59Speaker 1: And some guy just walked up to me and started
- 8:01Speaker 1: mouthing off to me and trying to threaten me. Like,
- 8:03Speaker 1: I didn't do anything. This guy was just being a jerk.
- 8:06Speaker 1: And I turned around and I said, hey, Jay. His
- 8:09Speaker 1: whole hulking figure turns around and the guy looks at him.
- 8:12Speaker 1: He tore off out of the bar.
- 8:14Speaker 4: Jumped in the lake.
- 8:15Speaker 1: Bodyguard. Don't go away. We've got more to talk about
- 8:18Speaker 1: with Vets and Brews. And plus, I'm going to press
- 8:20Speaker 1: Dell on in light of the fact that it's Friday
- 8:23Speaker 1: and we're having some fun here in the name of
- 8:25Speaker 1: veterans on the beer diet. Don't go away. It's 745
- 8:27Speaker 1: right now, 55 KRC, Neapolitan Station. 751-55-KRCD Talk Station. Brian
- 8:32Speaker 1: Thomas here with the Vets & Brews crew. We've got Dell.
- 8:35Speaker 1: We've got Matt. We've got a website, VetsAndBrews.com. And we've
- 8:38Speaker 1: got a question mark. Who in the hell are Vets & Brews,
- 8:41Speaker 1: said the folks in Columbus, when you put your foot
- 8:42Speaker 1: in the door up there because you're doing a two-bus
- 8:44Speaker 1: event here in Cincinnati, Columbus. You mentioned the flyover. You
- 8:47Speaker 1: mentioned the critical point, the pin-up girls that are going
- 8:49Speaker 1: to be there taking pictures of the vets. But getting
- 8:52Speaker 1: your foot in the door and getting involved with this,
- 8:54Speaker 1: there's a bar out there that's going, wait a second,
- 8:56Speaker 1: how come they're not in my place? The repurposed flag
- 8:58Speaker 1: box from Patriot's Landing. You've turned those into donations. So
- 9:02Speaker 1: somebody could call you, a bar owner could call you
- 9:04Speaker 1: and say, hey, we need to get one of those
- 9:05Speaker 1: donation boxes in our place. I'd like to help out.
- 9:07Speaker 2: Yeah, those have slowed down. We're mostly doing QR codes
- 9:10Speaker 2: and stuff.
- 9:10Speaker 4: Like that now.
- 9:11Speaker 2: Because a lot of people don't have cash on them.
- 9:13Speaker 2: You know what I mean? It goes lower and lower.
- 9:16Speaker 2: But the QR codes, you set those out, people will
- 9:17Speaker 2: scan them all day. But yeah, we'll work with anybody, man.
- 9:20Speaker 2: We want to spread the word however we can.
- 9:22Speaker 1: However you can, and I hope that the word is
- 9:25Speaker 1: spread far and wide. So get one of the donation boxes,
- 9:27Speaker 1: or apparently the QR code. I don't QR code, man.
- 9:30Speaker 1: It's like, you know, Machete, don't text. Brian, don't QR code.
- 9:34Speaker 1: I hate those damn things. Anyway, let's go over to
- 9:37Speaker 1: talk about Dell. What's with the beard dye? No, this
- 9:43Speaker 1: is hilarious. We've only got a couple minutes left anyway.
- 9:46Speaker 1: I've never heard about this before, but I know you've
- 9:48Speaker 1: talked about it. But for many years you did this.
- 9:51Speaker 3: Yeah, starting in 2019, I decided, you know, because I'm
- 9:53Speaker 3: a beer guy through and through, and I'm like, you know,
- 9:55Speaker 3: I want to be authentic. I want to make sure
- 9:57Speaker 3: when I talk about these styles of beers, like the
- 9:59Speaker 3: IPAs and the stories. behind them, things like that, you
- 10:01Speaker 3: always talk about Lent and how these monks always, you know,
- 10:04Speaker 3: they only drink.
- 10:05Speaker 4: Beer and they did it to Lynn.
- 10:06Speaker 1: Trappist monks. Yeah.
- 10:08Speaker 3: So I, one year I was like, you know, I'm
- 10:10Speaker 3: going to myth bust this. I'm going to do it myself.
- 10:12Speaker 3: I think I can do it. I'd been fasting and
- 10:13Speaker 3: doing keto and stuff.
- 10:14Speaker 4: So I was like, you know what? I think I
- 10:16Speaker 4: can do this. And I did it and it went viral.
- 10:19Speaker 3: And now I've been on, you know, 500 feet, 500
- 10:22Speaker 3: shows in 50 different countries from Jay Leno and Fallon to,
- 10:26Speaker 3: you know, the today show.
- 10:27Speaker 4: And, It's crazy.
- 10:28Speaker 1: Okay. So give us an illustration of the start and
- 10:32Speaker 1: then the finish because it sounds like drinking beer every
- 10:36Speaker 1: single day would be very fattening. Contrary is true though. Absolutely.
- 10:41Speaker 1: I started, I lost X number of pounds. Yeah.
- 10:43Speaker 4: So typically I did.
- 10:44Speaker 3: It for six years in a row and I would
- 10:46Speaker 3: say that, you know, on average I lost like 45 pounds.
- 10:49Speaker 3: So it's only 46 days long, right? So Lynn is
- 10:51Speaker 3: 46 days long. And so I'm almost losing a pound
- 10:54Speaker 3: a day. So, you know, but there's many days where
- 10:56Speaker 3: I would have like one or two beer. I wasn't
- 10:58Speaker 3: I wasn't getting drunk. I wasn't sitting there and drinking,
- 11:00Speaker 3: you know, constantly like stouts in the morning, breakfast stouts.
- 11:03Speaker 4: And, you know, things like that because it gets monotonous, man.
- 11:06Speaker 3: You know, you could try every beer style you can
- 11:08Speaker 3: you can think of, but it just it doesn't it
- 11:10Speaker 3: doesn't satisfy you like food.
- 11:12Speaker 1: Well, and I'll be honest with you. Even though it
- 11:14Speaker 1: involves food, I think the keto diet itself is monotonous
- 11:17Speaker 1: because I got to the point where it was like, okay,
- 11:19Speaker 1: I'm eating bacon again, or I'm eating more cheese. It's
- 11:22Speaker 1: always the same damn thing. There's only so much you
- 11:25Speaker 1: can do with it. And then you reach the point where,
- 11:27Speaker 1: and this is the important part I think about keto.
- 11:30Speaker 1: Keto will help you lose the weight if you just
- 11:31Speaker 1: stick to it and you eat regularly. You get to
- 11:33Speaker 1: the point where you just don't want to eat anymore.
- 11:35Speaker 1: Food is not appealing if it comes from that little
- 11:38Speaker 1: limited category. You're just saying beer in and of itself
- 11:41Speaker 1: is big and varied as all the beers are in
- 11:43Speaker 1: the world. Having access to all of them is still
- 11:46Speaker 1: a pain.
- 11:47Speaker 3: Dude, I mean, I got extreme. I literally, because I
- 11:50Speaker 3: needed different textures, I would take beer and freeze them
- 11:52Speaker 3: into popsicles, right? Just to have something to kind of
- 11:55Speaker 3: chew on because you lose, like, you know, you're not
- 11:58Speaker 3: chewing anything. You're only drinking beer the whole time. So
- 12:00Speaker 3: I would do crazy stuff like that.
- 12:02Speaker 4: Warm it up and have it warm like a coffee,
- 12:04Speaker 4: like a stout. Like, I mean, it was crazy.
- 12:06Speaker 2: I would fail at this because I have a couple beers.
- 12:08Speaker 2: I want a slice of pizza. Well, you see.
- 12:09Speaker 4: That's what everybody always says.
- 12:10Speaker 1: Right, yeah. I understand all that.
- 12:13Speaker 2: What did you eat the first time when you're off
- 12:15Speaker 2: of it?
- 12:15Speaker 4: Like, what's your first meal?
- 12:16Speaker 3: You have to really watch what you eat because you're
- 12:18Speaker 3: not processing food for that long. So literally, you could
- 12:21Speaker 3: just get rid of it. If you ate something, it
- 12:23Speaker 3: could stop up your intestines. It's really bad.
- 12:26Speaker 4: It's called refeeding syndrome. So they learned about that during, like,
- 12:29Speaker 4: the Holocaust and during, like, prisoners of war, speaking to veterans.
- 12:32Speaker 1: I think it suffices to say if you're considering going
- 12:35Speaker 1: down this road, the road that Dell went down in
- 12:37Speaker 1: terms of the beer diet, have a conversation with your
- 12:40Speaker 1: physician before you do that.
- 12:41Speaker 4: My doctor loves me.
- 12:44Speaker 1: 755-55-KRC-TALK-STATION-VETS-AND-BRUISE.COM. Help them out in any way, shape, or form.
- 12:49Speaker 1: Sponsor the event. Show up at any one of the bars.
- 12:52Speaker 1: Try to get on the bus. There's a lottery for that,
- 12:55Speaker 1: but veterans sign up at the website so you're on
- 12:57Speaker 1: the bus, hopefully, and to the flyover. Oh, did I
- 13:00Speaker 1: mention Pin Up Girls?
- 13:01Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 13:01Speaker 1: I did bring that up.
- 13:02Speaker 4: A few times.
- 13:02Speaker 1: Fantastic.
- 13:03Speaker 2: I'm going to send her this. She's going to love it.
- 13:05Speaker 1: I wish you all the best, guys, and thanks for
- 13:07Speaker 1: your service to our country and ongoing service.
- 13:09Speaker 4: Absolutely.
- 13:10Speaker 1: It's 756-55-KRC-D Talk Station. Up at the top of the
- 13:12Speaker 1: air news, Magistrate Susan Lukin. Vote Lukin. We need her
- 13:16Speaker 1: on the juvenile court judge bench. please vote Luke, and
- 13:20Speaker 1: she'll be on to join the program, and then we'll
- 13:21Speaker 1: hear from Jack Windsor from the Iowa Press Network at 8.30.
- 13:23Speaker 1: I'll be right back.