Grit & Grain Podcast

Episode 160: Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

Nestled quietly in the margins of Oktoberfest and fresh hop season, pumpkin beers lay waiting to provide a reprieve from the punchy wet hopped IPAs and robust Marzen lagers. This week, we quickly sample 15 different pumpkin beers currently on the shelves. What pumpkin beers are our favorites? Which ones are kind of weird? Which ones stand the test of time, despite numerous years in production and the emergence of new competitors? Sheath your ego. Quell your pride. Embrace the pumpkin spice. It is here for you. It is here for all of us. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and if you have found the “Rocky Horror” inspired, Gourdammit, Janet! You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 160: Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Episode 159: Mansions and Museums in the Mecca of Hops

This is super special! We all know Yakima is known for its incredible hop agriculture, but what many folks may not know is that the modern hop industry has its roots a little closer to Tacoma. This week, we are lucky to be joined by Shelly Schlumpf, president of the Puyallup Historical Society at Meeker Mansion. As a long-time veteran of public service in the Puyallup area, Shelly has spent her career helping folks connect more with their community and history and has turned her sights onto hops. Her team and the City of Puyallup are embracing our favorite resinous flower with a new living museum dedicated to the history and agriculture of hops in the Valley, and to the work of famed Oregon Trail pioneer Ezra Meeker to catalog what became known as Hop Culture in America. Tune in for details on this amazing project, some fantastic Ezra Meeker facts, and a story of actual buried treasure that you won’t believe! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and suggestions for what you’d like to drink at the forthcoming Hop Museum in Puyallup. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio. We would also appreciate it if you could leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 159: Mansions and Museums in the Mecca of Hops appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Episode 158: Homebrew Competition Season!

That’s right! Besides being fresh hop season, pumpkin season, and festbier season, it’s also homebrew competition season. We’re lucky to be joined this week by Dustin Striplin from the Browns Point Homebrew Club to talk about their iconic Lights Out! Dark Beers Only competition making its return. With him is Phil Saurer, representing both Browns Point and the still young Peninsula Fermentation Society, to introduce their brand new All-American Homebrew Competition, featuring only American-developed styles of beer. Tune in to hear what sort of work goes into running these events, the challenges organizers face, and if you’re a brewer yourself, jot down the info you need to register for these two exceptional competitions and get critical feedback on improving your beers at home. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and where you can enter your Lucky Charms marshmallow dry-hopped mead. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 158: Homebrew Competition Season! appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Episode 157: Fresh Hop Season Preview

We are just about a week away from the most wonderful time of the year for Pacific Northwest beer nerds — fresh hop season!  The chaotic, beautiful, and fleeting annual period where hops are plucked from the bines they grow on and thrown straight into beers while they are still dripping with aromatic oily goodness. We are spoiled to have so many fantastic breweries that make incredible versions of these beers each year and we figured we would take a week, crack a few beers, and go through some ones we’re most excited for (shout out to our buddy Austin Patjens for publishing his own fresh hops wish list on the day we recorded!). Grab a notepad and tune in for the scoop on which breweries we’ll be hunting for this season. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite fresh hop beers from the past. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 157: Fresh Hop Season Preview appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Episode 156: Live from Brew Five Three Beer and Music Festival!

It’s that time of year again! Brew Five Three Beer & Music Festival, Tacoma’s biggest beer taster-glass gathering, kicked off in a new location this year, the historic Armory building, and we were lucky enough to be invited back for another live show. We get into some highlights of the festival, our favorite beers of the day, and our best buddy and beer festival specialist, Gini Sommer, hops on the mic to talk about her work leading up to the big event. Tune in for all the live show shenanigans and be sure to follow Tacoma Arts Live for future Brew Five Three news. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite you tasted at Brew Five Three. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 156: Live from Brew Five Three Beer and Music Festival! appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.