All About Beer On-Air

In a few hours, I'm going to peddle over to Zoiglhaus Brewing in the lovely Lents neighborhood of outer Southeast Portland. Patrick and I will settle down with brewer and co-founder Alan Taylor to talk about his long road to establishing that brewery. We'll be looking for universal lessons that come from when you go through this entire process. Things like:

• Figuring out what kind of brewery to open and whether it will be successful.  
• Deciding on a type of brewery and budget, and finding funding.
• Finding a location.(Lents!)
• Working with the city, complying with regulations.  
• Designing, buying, and installing equipment, designing and outfitting the pub.

Why am I telling you all this? Because when this podcast goes live, it will be under the auspices of a new venture we've joined: All About Beer On-Air. It's a portfolio of podcasts the magazine by the same name is hosting. The format will stay the same, except that we'll be throwing in some ads along the way (or speaking them ourselves, or something--that part isn't quite clear yet). We're using this upgrade as a way of trying to upgrade our own content, so expect more stuff like the interview with Alan. As always, there will be both beer geekery and economic analysis on offer. (I do intend to have Alan mention Berliner weisse and the importance of Brettanomyces. As a Berlin-trained brewer with a special interest in the style, he is one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet.)

One other podcast is already live, and it's pretty fascinating. Editor John Holl did an interview with Boston Beer founder Jim Koch, and what makes it compelling is how combative and uncomfortable Koch seems throughout. I have done hundreds of brewer interviews in my life, and I know that 95% of them lead to a meeting of the mind between brewer and interviewer. We don't play gotcha journalism; we just want to know how you make your beer. But Koch never seems comfortable, and he challenges John on nearly every question. He's prickly, contrarian, and offers very different opinions than you normally encounter. It makes for great listening.

As for the Beervana Podcast mentioned above, I'll let you know when it goes live and where you can find it.