Beer Edge

Neil Witte, Carla Jean Lauter, Josh Noel, John Holl, and Andy Crouch catch up on the beer industry in 2020.

Show Notes

Looking back on 2020, one of the things I miss most is getting together with other folks in the beer industry, trading gossip and news, arguing a bit, and laughing over beers. Back in March, right before the long quarantine set in, my partner John Holl and I traveled up to Portland, Maine to speak at a beer conference. On the night before the conference, John and I hit up some of our favorite breweries around Portland, including Allagash where we ran into draft beer genius and longtime industry stalwart, Neil Witte, who was also speaking the next day. We headed back into town, where we met up with fellow beer writer, Carla Jean Lauter, at Novare Res. We debated, argued, and celebrated beer for hours before retiring to a local dive bar for round after round of karaoke. It turned out to the last real night out that any of us have had this year.

In this conversation, John and I get the gang back together, with Neil and Carla joining us. We’ve also invited our buddy Josh Noel of the Chicago Tribune back on the show. Josh is the author of the excellent, Barrel Aged Stout and Selling Out about the sale of Goose Island to Anheuser-Busch InBev. Folks, Christmas is coming up and this book makes a great holiday gift for your loved ones.

Carla is a beer writer based just outside of Portland, Maine, and the creator of the Is This Beer Name Idea Ok?, a flowchart that may save your brewery some serious social media fallout. And Neil is a Master Cicerone, a former Draft Quality Ambassador for the Brewers Association, and independent draft specialist and owner of TapStar.

We'll have part two of this conversation available in our next episode.

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What is Beer Edge?

A weekly dive into the business and culture of beer. Hosted by Andy Crouch and John Holl, The Beer Edge podcast provides listeners with unparalleled insights into the beer industry. Our mission is to provide consumers and industry players alike with a fresh and unfiltered look at the world of better, flavorful beer. We seek to capture the essence and passion of brewers, both big and small, foreign and domestic, each of whom has a distinctive and colorful story to go along with the beautiful beers they produce.