Beer Buzz Radio - Introducing Friends to Craft Beer, Preview of Little Yeoman show.

On the August 28th episode of Beer Buzz brought to you by Mother’s Brewing Company, we had a live Q&A show in which we discussed how we got into craft beer. More importantly, we discussed how to introduce your friends to craft beer, particularly those friends who like their light American lagers and do not want to try new things. We had a couple of great phone calls and some questions fired at us via email. All-in-all, it worked out to be a great show.
Make sure you tune in to KBFL 99.9 FM 1060 AM or listen live on TAGsgf.com every Sunday at 4 pm so you can be a part of our live shows. You can also listen to the podcasts on TAGsgf.com or find them on iTunes.

This week, our guest will be Chad Frederick from Little Yeoman Brewing Company in Cabool. They’re a very small outfit. Whenever anyone says “Farmhouse Brewery,” I think of Chad and his small operation. They make some fantastic beers, though. We’ll talk with him about what he’s brewing these days, what it’s like to be a small-scale professional brewer, and why you have to go and see him at his brewery to get a taste of his beer.

Listen to August 29th’s show here.

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On our August 21^st episode of Beer Buzz brought to you by Mother’s Brewing Company, we had special guest Mike Sweeney of STLhops.com.  Mike’s an expert on the St. Louis beer scene and has a lot of great information on fantastic places to grab a beer.  Plus, the low-down on upcoming breweries, why he likes session beers, and a discussion of the Great Taste of the Midwest Festival and why you should go next year.

Beer Buzz is Springfield’s only local craft beer radio show, and is sponsored by Mother’s Brewing Company, and airs every Sunday at 4 PM on KBFL 99.9 FM (1060 AM) and streams live on TAGsgf.com. 

Listen to the show here.

Cheers!

Great Taste of the Midwest - Highlights and thoughts a few days later.

My brother, Joe, and I just visited Madison, Wisconsin for the 25th annual Great Taste of The Midwest beer festival, put on by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild.  Depending on your source, the festival had somewhere between 500 and just over 900 beers available, though I'm inclined to believe the correct number is somewhere in the middle, leaning towards 800.

The festival was, of course, a blast, and we enjoyed sampling tons of interesting beers, but what struck me most about the festival was the unapologetic experimentation offered by brewers.  From spicy chile beers from Buffalo Brewing Company in St. Louis to a cashew nut brown offered by Founder's Brewing Company, it was easy to think that experimentation was the order of the day.

And why not?  As a brewery, your fans get to try your usual beers every day.  You need something to reward them for making the trip (and taking the expense) to come see you at what could be the single hardest festival into which to gain admission.  The club only sells 6,000 tickets per year, which sell out in the first day, and each ticket costs $50.

Don't balk, though.  If you get a chance to go to this festival, do not pass it up, as it is worth all the trouble and more.  The beers available range from the high number of bourbon-barrel aged beers to some hop monsters which made no excuses for being completely out of balance.  There were also a ton of well made sour ales and some really creative and delicious session beers.

Beer Buzz Radio - Joe Stange, journalist and very thirsty pilgrim

On the August 14^th episode of Beer Buzz, my guest was my brother, Joe Stange, who is a freelance beer journalist and beer blogger at thirstypilgrim.com.  Joe also co-authored the book Around Brussels in 80 Beers.  In our conversation, Joe and I cover quite a few topics, including Belgian beer, why Belgians don’t understand Americans’ obsession with styles, and what bugs us about American beer culture.  Also, we touch a bit on Belgian sour ales.

Listen to the podcast on TAGsgf.com. You can hear Beer Buzz live every Sunday on KBFL 99.9 FM 1060 AM here in Springfield, or stream it live on TAGsgf.com or via the Radio Springfield app for iPhone.  You can also follow the show on twitter @SGFBeerBuzz.

Enjoy the show.

Beer Buzz Radio - Todd Frye from The Homebrewery - Homebrewing, Homebrew Competition Announced at the Sertoma Summer Sizzle

We were joined in the studio live on August 7^th by Todd Frye, owner of The Homebrewery in Ozark, Missouri.  In our conversation, Todd announces that their store is moving.  We also talk about the upcoming homebrew competition at the Sertoma Summer Sizzle, and we discuss how to get started brewing on a budget.  We also answer a caller’s questions about the history of PBR and how a home brewer might successfully make a similar beer at home.

Beer Buzz airs every Sunday at 4 PM on KBFL 99.9 FM and 1060 AM.  It also streams online at the same time on TAGsgf.com.  You can always find the podcasts the following day on TAGsgf.com.

As an aside, we’re always looking for show topic ideas.  Have one for us?  Email it to me at sgfbeerbuzz@gmail.com or find me on twitter @sgfbeerbuzz.


Listen to the show here.

Cheers!

Beer Buzz Radio Preview - Todd Frye from The Home Brewery, Haiku Beer Reviews, and Your Questions Answered Live

We’ll be doing our first live Q & A show this weekend, so warm up your emailing and dialing fingers. We’ll have Todd Frye from our local homebrew shop, The Home Brewery, on hand to answer brewing questions, beer questions, and any other questions you can think of.

To submit your questions ahead of time, I recommend emailing them to me at sgfbeerbuzz@gmail.com. We’ll discuss as many of your questions as we can on the air.

There will also be a discussion on Mother's Brewing Company's tasting-room-only beer, PG-13, which comes out today.

We’ll also announce the winner of our Haiku Beer Review contest for this week. If you haven’t submitted your entry yet, make sure you do so before Sunday.

The show airs Sunday at 4 PM on KBFL 99.9 FM 1060 AM here in Springfield, and can be found streaming on TAGsgf.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers!

Beer Buzz Radio - Mother's Brewing Co.'s Jeremy Wicks, Beer Review Haikus, and Beer and Food Pairing

This week’s show is a great one. We had our friend Jeremy Wicks in from Mother’s Brewing Company to talk beer and food pairing and how to serve Mother’s beer. Also, we all write our own beer review haikus and put out the call for yours.

Send in your beer review haiku to @sgfbeerbuzz on twitter.com or sgfbeerbuzz@gmail.com for your chance to win a free Mother’s growler. Remember, haikus are poems which have three lines. The first and third lines have five syllables, while the second line has seven. Here are a couple of examples, penned by us on the air. These haiku beer reviews refer to Sandi Wheat made by our sponsor, Mother’s Brewing Company.

Sandi Wheat, by Jeremy Wicks:
Not quite Belgian wit
Not quite American pale
Now I’m damn thirsty.

Ode to Sandi Wheat in its first Ozarks Summer, by Ben Stange:
Cool, subtle grapefruit
washes heat waves from my tongue.
Sandi Wheat, save me.

Click here to listen!

Beer Buzz Radio - Stan Heironymus, Hops, and the STL beer scene

OK, so I’m about a week late in posting this link, but at least I’m getting around to it. I hosted my first radio show on July 24th on KBFL 99.9 FM 1060 AM. The show is Beer Buzz, brought to you by Mother’s Brewing Company. Our first guest is none other than Stan Heironymus, author of Brew Like a Monk, Brewing with Wheat, and an upcoming book titled For the Love of Hops. We discussed his upcoming book, the properties of hops and how they relate to beer enjoyment, and the quickly exploding St. Louis beer scene.

A little about our guest:

He’s been a homebrewer since 1989, and a beer writer since 1993. He’s been a journalist for over 40 years, and he’s an incredibly nice guy. Listen in to our conversation, and let me know what you think. You can email me at sgfbeerbuzz@gmail.com with show feedback.

Listen to the show!