Podcast

Ep. 20: The Operation Shutdown Shutdown

~ Bearcat ~ Leave a comment

In Episode 20, the final episode (more on that below), I am joined by friends of the show Ed Grohl and Easy Pretzel (Dave).

In this episode, Ed works really hard not to say awesome four-thousand times, we discuss if Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall is greater than Thriller, Harrisburg Beer Week’s Little Big Beer Fest, Dave considers barnstorming Hunapuh Day in Tampa, and Bearcat waxes philosophic about the ephemeral nature of short lived beers and sourcing the local culture into beer.

What were we drinking:

Dave: Saison Dupont, Bourbon County Bourbon Stout (2016) by Goose Island Beer Company
Ed: Tired Hands + Omnipollo Pineapple Milkshake, Florida Ave IPA, Mega Mix IPA
Bearcat: It’s Complicated Being a Wizard by Burlington Beer Co., HopSlam Bell’s Brewing and Nugget Nectar by Troegs Independent Brewing

We held a bottle share and we drank a ton of great beers:

Who’s on First — J. Wakefield Brewing
Phantom Chair — Fremont Brewing
Native Two — Tree House Brewing Co.
I See the Vision (Prickly Pear & Passion Fruit) — Burlington Beer Company
BuiceJox 2.0 — Sole Artisan Ales
Beatitude Passion Fruit Tart Saison — Council Brewing Company
Interlude (2015) and Pettygrove’s Chance — Allagash Brewing Company
Saison Premiere — de Garde Brewing
Hell Broth — Off Color Brewing
Kaleidoscope — Birra Toccalmatto
Mad Elf (2003) — Troegs Independent Brewing
Cave-Aged Ommegang Abbey Ale (2008) — Brewery Ommegang
Parageusia2 — Tired Hands Brewing Company
Grand Cru (2014) — AleSmith Brewing Company
Thirtieth Anniversary Grand Cru (2010) — Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Twilight of The Idols — Hill Farmstead Brewery
Brush & Barrel Series Culmination — Long Trail Brewing Company
Ola Dubh 1991: Vintage Limited Edition Series — Harviestoun Brewery
Collaboration No. 6 — Barrel-Aged Blend — Boulevard Brewing Co.
Last Buffalo in the Park — Funky Buddha Brewery
Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout (2014) — Cigar City Brewing
Bourbon Barrel Cru (2016) — Hardywood Park Craft Brewery

Special thanks to Joel, Chelsie and Derek, Tierney, Nicole and Tony, Darryl for coming and sharing some fantastic beers. Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Easy Pretzel for hosting.

Link Dump:

Hunahpu Day Cigar City
#DrinkItNow
Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager
Harrisburg Beer Week
Little Big Beer Fest (Buy your tickets now! This will sell out.)
Untappd 3.0
Derek Bell and The Operation Shutdown
October Beer
Brew Gentlemen’s Diversity
Pittsburgh Beer Fest
Voodoo Brewing — Homestead
East End Brewing Co.

Be sure to stick around for the After Show where we will be discussing: the the shutdown of Operation Shutdown, diversity in location for breweries leading to diversity of employees and customers, and our impending launch of It’s Friday Somewhere which we are very excited for and hope you follow us there.

Finally, a serious and heartfelt thank you to everyone that ever came on the show or helped me with the recording. Special thank you to Ffej Herb, Tierney of Stouts & Stilettos, Sara Bozich, Fetish Brewing, Jeff Kupko, Chelsie and Derek, Theo Armstrong, Al Kominski and Bryan D. Roth.

Also… Thank you for listening. So many of our listeners have taken the time to not only listen but to share with others and provide feedback. I cannot tell you how much this is appreciated.

Ed, Dave and I are really excited for the new podcast and we hope you are too. We are going to be doing some great new stuff and we think you will really like it.

Thank you again to everyone that listened. Please join us as we start this new podcast in the coming weeks.

Cheers!

Ep. 17: Turf Wars and Vacuum Reviews

~ Bearcat ~ Leave a comment

In Episode 17 of the Operation Shutdown, I welcome back friends of the show Easy Pretzel, and Ed Grohl. We discussed: waiting in the cold for a four-pack, some recent stories about the coming turf war in craft beer, a few breweries that are closing or are for sale, and Ed gives our listeners a vacuum recommendation.

Operation Shutdown cover art 3

You can listen by clicking the bar immediately below or by subscribing on iTunes.

What we were drinking:

Ed: Pork Chop Sandwiches by Voodoo Brewing
Dave: Fruit Infused Water by Capital Region Water Company and Costco
Bearcat: Kettleface by St. Boniface Brewing Co. and Columbia Kettle Works, Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA by New Belgium

Follow up: A quick update from Ep. 16 regarding Tattered Flag Brewing Middletown and Troegs Independent Brewing.

Link Dump:
Logging Camp (Maple IPA) by Columbia Kettle Works
Pork Chop Sandwiches!
The Coming Turf War in Craft Beer
Six Breweries for Sale or Closing in Oregon
Westvleteren XII (Westy XII)
Delirium
Delirium Cafe
Is the Pittsburgh craft beer market tapped out?
Dancing Gnome Brewery
Mindful Brewing Company
11th Hour Brewing Co.
Brew Gentlemen of Braddock and their “Year of No.”
Millworks, Harrisburg
Ever Grain Brewing Co.
Stone Double Bastard Bigger Longer Uncut (Scotch Barrel Aged Strong Ale)
Untappd Digital Boards in Bars
NTN Trivia
LegenDairy Episode of Operation Shutdown
Boneshire Brew Works
Goose Island Bourbon County Proprietors (2014)
Ed’s New Vacuum — Bissel ClearView Pet Vacuum
Garage Racer IPA by Rubber Soul Brewing Co.
DINKs
Wonderlic Test
Shower Beer
Sprint Football
Franklin Pierce (NOT Easy Pretzel’s favorite President)
Sapp/Clifton Hit Ed Note: For the record Sapp was a dirty player.

Be sure to stick around for the After Show.

You can listen by clicking above or find The Operation Shutdown on iTunes. If you use iTunes, please consider subscribing. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with a friend.

Cheers!

Ep. 16 Beer in Review

~ Bearcat ~ Leave a comment

In Episode 16 of the Operation Shutdown, I welcome back friends of the show Easy Pretzel, and Ed Grohl and we are joined by special guest Jeff Kupko. We discussed our favorite beers from 2016, Troegs Independent Brewing Company’s transparency, obligations to their customers, and their abysmal parking lot, as well as our thoughts after a shared happy hour at Tattered Flag in Middletown, and Ed’s love for everyone and everything.

Update: Tattered Flag reached out to me via direct message after listening to the episode and had the following to say: ” I just wanted to let you know that after I heard a complaint, that night, I did check it, I’ve actually been constantly checking that beer since before we put it on tap, nervous that the sourness was a sign of infection. I’ve had weekly tasting panels, and today after listening to you guys I had another professional brewer try it. We are not getting infection taste but your review and others on Untappd have my attention. It’s a 50/50 love hate in the brewery with that beer.”

Tony (the brewer) offered for us to come back and visit along with a sit down to discuss the beers. I have taken him up on the offer and invited him to appear on a future episode of the Operation Shutdown. I want to offer my appreciation for Tony reaching out and writing to me directly and to reiterate that our time TF was really great and if you go (and you should go) be sure to check out the double IPA.

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Easy Pretzel’s haul from an epic Smokey and the Bandit style run to the North East.

You can listen by clicking the bar immediately below or by subscribing on iTunes.

What We Were Drinking:

Resolute BBA – Brothers Craft Brewing
Rebel Raw – Boston Brewing
Pumpkinator Imperial Pumpkin Stout – Saint Arnold Brewing Company (Editor. Gross)
Java Cask – Victory Brewing Company
Kevin Kevin Sour IPA – The Veil Brewing Company
Recurrent – Wicked Weed Brewing Co.
Jai Alai IPA – Cigar City Brewing Co. 

Some of Our Favorite Beers From 2016:

It’s Complicated Being a Wizard DIPA – Burlington Beer Company
Helms Deep – Three Taverns Brewery
Juicy – Hill Farmstead
Even More Jesus – Evil Twin Brewing
Green – Tree House Brewing Company
Double Dry Hopped Galaxy Fort Point and Fort Point – Trillium
Gbop – New England Brewing
Coconut Porter – Broken Compass Brewing
Toof Toof Ache Ache – The Veil Brewing
Morning Wood – Funky Buddha Brewery
El Jefe – J. Wakefield Brewing
Liminal Moment – South County Brewing Company
Joose Juicy – Ever Grain Brewing Co.
Tickle Me Nelmo –  Mission Creek Brewing Co. (Editor: Extra points for 2nd coolest name ever.)
Excommunication – Max Lager’s
PNC – Firestone Walker
Oro Negro (BBA) – Jackie O’s
Barrel Aged Devil’s Abyss – Jagged Mountain Brewery
Nimble Giant and Barrel Aged Flying Mouflan – Troegs Independent Brewing
Tweak – Avery Brewing Co.
InTenSity BBA Barleywine – Hoppin Frog Brewery
Mexican Cake – Westbrook Brewing Co.
Simcoe Nerd – Sole Artisan Brewing
Lacto Calrissian Sour Double IPA – Pizza Boy Brewing Co. (Editor: Coolest Name Ever.)
Tropical Bitch – Flying Dog Brewery (Editor: Even thought its not good.)
Santé-16! – Brasserie Fantôme

Link Dump of Other Stuff We Discussed:

Frank Pepe’s Pizza
Sole’s Society
Bearcat’s Lacto Calrissian Post
Sour Murren River (Code Name Allison) Pizza Boy Brewing
LegenDairy IPA and Ep. 13 The LegenDairy Podcast
Michigan Maple Jesus – Evil Twin
Tattered Flag Brewery and Still Works
Beer Busters Podcast (Editor: It’s a very well done podcast.)
Steph and Richard Heffner from The Beer Busters Podcast
Tactical Nuclear Penguin – Brew Dog
Sink the Bismarck – Brew Dog
Tottenham Hotspur
Warwick Hotel (AKA – The Wick)

Be sure to stick around for the After Show where we discuss: Rogue One (No spoilers… I promise), The Pinstripe Bowl, Ed is drunk (again) and so am I.

You can listen by clicking above or find The Operation Shutdown on iTunes. If you use iTunes, please consider subscribing. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with a friend.

Cheers!

Post Script:

If the episode is a little choppy when you are listening I apologize. I had some technical difficulties during the recording but I think this episode turned out pretty well despite the issues. I am working on a solution to eliminate this in the future. (Podcasting is hard.)

A quick aside: The LegenDairy Milk Shake IPA by Pizza Boy Brewing discussed at length in Ep. 13 of the Podcast made a Top Ten list for 2016. Thank you to BreweriesInPA.com.

Thank you to everyone that appeared on the show over 2017: Fetish Brewing, Sara Bozich, Tierney Pomone, Ffej Herb, Chelsie Markel, Al Kominski, Bryan D. Roth, and Jeff Kupko.

But the biggest of appreciation is for you, the listeners. I can’t say how proud I am of the fact that the show grew from single digits to 200+ listeners in just 15 episodes. I am very thankful for each and everyone of you. I hope that you continue to listen through 2017 and beyond.

Also Easy, Ed, and I have some big plans in the works for the near and not so near future involving the podcast. I am very excited for what the future will bring and we can’t wait to share it all… when the time is right.

From Easy, Ed, and I we wish you health, happiness and good beers in the new year. Cheers!

Ep. 14: Bourbon Barrel Aged Splenda

~ Bearcat ~ Leave a comment

In Episode 14 of the Operation Shutdown, I welcome back friends of the show Easy Pretzel,  and Ed Grohl to discuss bourbon barrel aged beers, Black Friday as a craft beer holiday, and Easy’s Splenda intake.

bcbs-2016-label

Beers and Coffee We Drank:
A Night on Ponce by Three Taverns Brewery
#BOC Black Label by Voodoo Brewery
Starbucks with Nonfat Milk and Three Splenda

Link Dump:

Gentrification of Food
Chicken + Beer
Brew Gentlemen
Braddock, PA
Roundabout Brewery
Appalachian Brewing Company
Pittsburgh Toilet
Bourbon Barrel Aged Impending Descent by Troegs Independent Brewing
Shady McGrady’s
Shady’s Twitter Trolling
Hunger-n-Thirst
White Hill Cafe “Where Professionals Drink”
Don’t Drink Beer (The Internet’s Best Beer Blog)
Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon
Columbian Coffee Crystals
Hildy’s Tavern
Boneshire Brew Works (We will be getting Alan on in 2017… Right Alan?
The Wrecking Bar
The Porter Beer Bar
Max Lager’s

Be sure to stick around for the After Show: We discuss Easy and Ed’s recent trips to watch football games where Easy spends all is money on a 12 pack of beer and Ed drinks on the kindness of strangers and big corporate beer like a hobo.

You can listen by clicking above or find The Operation Shutdown on iTunes. If you use iTunes, please consider subscribing. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with a friend.

Cheers!

Post-Script:

After 14 Episodes I am really starting to feel like the show has taken on a certain form. I do think that by and large the later episodes are an improvement over the prior ones. But as I prepare for 2017 and a whole new run of podcasts I would love to hear from you, the listeners. I would love  to know what you think of the show.

What can we do better?  What kind of guests would you like to see? What topics should Easy, Ed, and I pretend to have an authoritative voice about in the future? Which world leader would you think is most likely to end up on the show accidentally and do you think they actually like Fruit IPAs?

Hit me up in the comments below, via email BearcatOnBeer@gmail.com or Twitter @BearcatOnBeer.

Ep. 12: This Podcast is Overrated

~ Bearcat ~ Leave a comment

In Episode 12 of the Operation Shutdown, I welcome friends of the show Easy Pretzel and Ed Grohl.

Operation Shutdown cover art 3

In this episode we discuss underrated and overrated things in and around within Craft Beer including: your buddy’s half assed home brew, beer fests, PC overreaction to beer labels, and my deep hate for YouTube beer reviews. Links to some truly shitty YouTube beer reviews below.

 

Beers we drank:
Molson Golden
Focal Banger, The Alchemist
Double Jack, Firestone Walker (To be discontinued)
Who’s On First?, Jake Wakefield Brewing
Troegenator BBA (2016), Tröegs Independent Brewing
Swamp Witch and Rage Quit, Sole Artisan Ales 
Presidente Cerveza

Link Dump:

Buffalo Bills Ass Luge (NSFW link)
Blue Monk, Buffalo, NY (Now Closed)
Toronado Bar, San Diego CA
Taco Mac
Portsmouth Brewery 
District 9
Jack Abby Brewing
Tom Brady’s Foot Locker Commercial
Bud Dry (Why ask Why?)
Bud Bowl V

Be sure to stick around for the After Show; it was a total mess but a good time.

You can listen by clicking above or find The Operation Shutdown on iTunes. If you use iTunes, please consider subscribing. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with a friend.

Cheers!

Ep. 10: I Want To Spray Paint Your Bottle

~ Bearcat ~ Leave a comment

In Episode 10 of the Operation Shutdown, I welcome special guest Chelsie Markel from Stouts & Stilettos and It’s a Brew Life to discuss design in craft beer, fingerless gloves, a little about Harrisburg Beer Week, and her new blog.

headshots-website-chelsie

A quick aside about this post… It has a ton of links about the breweries we discuss and I tried to keep them in the order we discussed.

A big thank you to Chelsie for coming on the show. You can follow Chelsie on Twitter @dzyngrl. Also be sure to check out her new blog It’s a Brew Life and read her stuff at Stouts & Stilettos.

What We Were Drinking:

Crooked Stave Wild Sage
Almanac Beer Co. Tropical Platypus
The Alchemist: Focal Banger and The Crusher (Thanks to listener @Brookaveli and Dave for hooking me up with this beer.)

Breweries We Discussed:

Troegs Independant Brewing
Dogfish Head
Flying Dog Brewery (Ralph Steadman)
Highway Manor Brewing (Camp Hill, PA)
Creature Comforts Brewing Co.
Sole Artisan Ales
Roundabout Brewery
Fetish Brewing Company
Maine Beer Company
Russian River Brewing Company
Deschutes Brewing
Stone Brewing Company
Free Will Brewing Co.
Tired Hands
Green Flash Brewing Co.
Otter Creek Brewing Co.
Clown Shoes
3 Floyds Brewing Co.
New Belgium Brewing Co. (Fat Tire)
Appalachian Brewing Company
Golden Avalanche Brewery (Kutztown)

Other Links:

Oh Beautiful Beer
Brewed in the Burg by GK Visual
Harrisburg Beer Week
The Eternal Tap in St. Mary’s, PA
Death of Flagships: But Why?
A Tribute to a Mentor and a Friend
Market Cross; Carlisle, PA

House of 1000 Beers; New Kensington, PA

Beer Busters Podcast

Be sure to stick around for the After Show in which we discuss writing a beer blog, the design ideas behind Bearcat On Beer and The Operation Shutdown.

You can listen by clicking above or find The Operation Shutdown on iTunes. If you use iTunes, please consider subscribing. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with a friend.

Cheers!

Would You Like To Take That In The Can?

~ Bearcat ~ 1 Comment
No... I will have it right here
In the can? No, I think I will just have it right here.

For Episode 4 of The Operation Shutdown, I welcomed back friends of the show Easy Pretzel and Ed Grohl.

We also welcomed Bryan Roth. Calling Bryan a beer blogger seems trite when that is what I pretend to do. Bryan has the journalistic chops of working in newspapers. He writes for Beer Advocate and Good Beer Hunting, when not writing for his blog This Is Why I Am Drunk. You can follow him on Twitter at @BryanDRoth.

Bryan joined the show to discuss his recent post about canning and the media coverage canning receives.

It was a wide ranging conversation about everything from “Why canning is important or overrated? to “Are brewers using canning distribution to accelerate towards selling out?” In fact, the only thing about canning we did not discuss was this banned commercial from Bud Light Lime.

I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we did making it.

Show notes:

Bryan D. Roth’s definitive work on canning. Please read this. We discuss it quite a bit.

Craft Beer’s Big Dilemma: Hold Out of Sell Out? 

Do Craft Breweries Fail?

Many beers were consumed during the making of this podcast including:
Pizza Boy Brewing Magic Under…Where? 
Pizza Boy Brewing Murren River
Pipeworks Brewing Co. Ninja vs. Unicorn
Half Acre Beer Company Vallejo
The Alchemist Focal Banger
Sole Artisan Ales Giant Juice Box
Oskar Blue Passion Fruit Pinner
Lone Ranger Brewing Addie’s Revenge

You can listen by clicking above or find it on iTunes. If you use iTunes please consider subscribing. If you enjoyed this podcast please consider leaving a review or sharing it with a friend.

Cheers!

Operation Shutdown Podcast Ep. 3: For the Love of Crap Beer

~ Bearcat ~ Leave a comment

I am joined once again by friend of the show Ed Grohl for the latest episode of The Operation Shutdown Podcast. This time we discuss our most hated and favorite “crap beers.”

Operation Shutdown cover art 3

If you want to complain directly to Ed about his terrible opinions you can find him on Twitter @EdGrohl.

Show Notes/Links:

Ringwood Yeast

Derek Bell

Falbo’s in Latrobe

Duquesne Beer

Natty Boh

You can listen by clicking above or find it on iTunes. If you use iTunes please consider subscribing. If you enjoyed this podcast please consider leaving a review or sharing it with a friend.

Cheers!

Operation Shutdown Podcast Ep. 2: Wearing Uggs for Tom Brady

~ Bearcat ~ 2 Comments

For episode two, I welcomed good friend of the show, Easy Pretzel, to The Operation Shutdown Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @EasyPretzel.

Operation Shutdown cover art 3

We discussed:

You can listen by clicking above or find it on iTunes. If you use iTunes please consider subscribing. If you enjoyed this podcast please consider leaving a review or sharing it with a friend.

Cheers!

The Operation Shutdown: Episode 1 — Going Big

~ Bearcat ~ Leave a comment

Last night I recorded Episode 1 with friend of the show JP. (He has nothing to plug.)

To be clear, this podcast is not my best work and not just because this is only the second recording. For the middle third of this podcast we have a bit of an echo in the recording. It comes on around the 15 minute mark and lasts until the final 20 minutes of the show. I worked to scrub it out but… well… I am just not able to fix it.

This episode is just under an hour… JP and I had a lot to talk about. We discussed Pizza Boy Brewing’s best beer, some very hot and very good chili pepper beers, the Pittsburgh Pirates season, the Cubs, some World Series predictions, and the Home Run Derby.

Operation Shutdown cover art 3

This echo is making my ears hurt!

Show notes:

Bourbon Barrel Aged Sunny Side Up Stout — Pizza Boy Brewing

Crime — Arrogant Brewing

Punishment — Arrogant Brewing

Josh Bell — The Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Club

Special thanks to this week’s sponsors: Stouts & Stilettos and Mayflies & Big Flies
(The bill is in the mail guys.)

You can listen by clicking above or find it on iTunes. If you use iTunes please consider subscribing.

I am really sorry about the techical difficulties in the middle. If I didn’t think there was some good stuff in here I would have scrapped the recording and just moved on, but I think if you take the time to push through the echo, it is hopefully, worth it.

I can tell you that I have figured out the specific glitch and it should not happen again. Which probably means I will have to fight a new and different glitch the next time.

Cheers!