Aleheads (Podcasts)

     Right when you think you have cornered all the avenues on keeping up with your hobbies and interest, podcasts! Damn you Dan Mazzio, between Facebook, blogs, websites, tasting room chatter, and beer apps I get plenty of info about the business I love. Since I started in nova just keeping up with what is hot week from week has gotten impossible, now I can kill time driving listening to almost anything via my iPhone. A good friend of mine recently started a podcast that's two guys having a good time talking about shit that makes them laugh. I have been tricked into getting into the banter, but a call in is impossible, it's recorded. Padric, of Dan & Padric, mentions he is into listening to podcasts, so with only 7 episodes so far, I wandered into the beer section. Imagine that!
    The first station I stumbled across was three guys who didn't seem to know anything about beer. In the first 5 minutes they hated on their boss and said fuck 1000 times, Tarantino style. The second selection that popped up was Aleheads, with an interview of Greg Koch, founder and CEO of stone brewing company. This year Greg released the enjoy by series, in which he discussed the importance of beer getting to the public in a timely fashion. Enjoy by is a series that is meant to be had fresh. If you see one out of date, and you drink it, that's not the fresh offering that stone intended. Like most brewers, Greg lays the blame on all that is evil in beer squarely on the distributor, nice guy. It's always the shit that rises to the top on that matter. As an employee of a distributor, I place the blame on the retailer. There needs to be more education, which needs to be a team effort between the supplier and distributor. If you are curious about what education I am referring to, comment below.
    Overall I can see hear hard it is to develop rhythm and voice doing radio. Engaging an audience constantly, and not talking yourself into dead ends. Greg Koch wouldn't shut up, but I will tune in to Aleheads again tomorrow AM. I found myself laughing, thinking how bored you have to be, or what you do to stumble into podcasts. I shall use it to break up trying to figure out what my pandora mood is and to avoid fm radio.

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Plead the 5th (Dark Horse Brewing)

    This beer seemed to be all my customers wanted to buy for the first two months of my NoVa experience. This imperial stout is the finale of the winter stout series only usurped by it's barrel aged brother. Cherry picking customers want this and only this. It's bad business for the brewery and wholesalers when customers don't support the core items (crooked tree, boffo brown, etc.). When making an imperial or double beer, the ingredients are often doubled and the pricing has to be reasonable not leaving much margin for the brewery. The full margin of the core beers are what generate the profits that allow breweries to craft beers of this grain bill.

    I have had every beer in this series, and the fore smoked stout was equally as impressive as the prior stouts. I am still trying to put in words the experience of a good smoked stout. The traditional way of making a smoked beer is to layer the grain in between moss, then cooking at a medium temperature. The moss and smoke gives the beer a real earthy bitter twinge, sort of a similar experience of hops, acidic. The plead the 5th came in and went out quickly. Some people at work didn't even know that we had it or knew anything about it. I gave a bottle away to a friend of mine at work, and love to share exciting treats like this. I drank one, which was very alcoholic in taste, and fuzzy on the tongue. I plan on aging the last two. Dark Horse is exactly that but I predict if they keep making solid beers like this they will be a force to be reckon with very soon. Follow them at http://www.darkhorsebrewery.com/