The DC Beer Show

Welcome back to The DC Beer Show, where hosts Mike Stein, Brandy Holder, and Jake Berg, along with their special guest Greg Engert, give you the ultimate preview of the highly anticipated Snallygaster beer festival in this exciting episode!

We start with a tantalizing overview of what’s brewing for this year's Snallygaster. This year’s fest promises to feature a unique mix of international beers that aren’t easily found locally, making it a huge draw for beer enthusiasts.

Jake Berg points out that Snallygaster brings diverse beer selections and supports a good cause: fundraising for Arcadia Farm. Mike Stein reflects on last year’s event and emphasizes the value of networking, learning, and experiencing the craft beer industry up close. Panels packed with insights and an array of unique, rare beers aim to make this year even better.

We learn about some breweries pouring at Snallygaster, like Peter Allen and CLAG from Ohio. Plus, Greg Engert hints at some fascinating potential collaborations and special events, including Churchkey's 15th-anniversary bash. Who doesn’t love an opportunity to taste some obscure German beer styles and maybe even stumble upon a gravity cask or two?

Weather plays a crucial role too, with good forecasts boosting ticket sales. Despite past rains, attendance has remained strong, proving how dedicated Snally fans really are. Oh, and let's not forget those themed swag items—this year’s early '80s MTV theme is bound to be a hit!
Our hosts also share their current beer favorites, with Mike savoring an English stout and Brandy rallying for more brown ales (hashtag #brownalesforBrandy). Everyone is drinking something special, from Marlene’s Berlinerweisser to Montucky Cold Snack, setting the laid-back tone for the lively discussions.

As we wrap things up, there's a nod to the various behind-the-scenes efforts. Kudos go to key organizers like Tim Lu and Bruno Simoes for making Snallygaster a standout event, year after year.

So, grab a cold beer, get cozy, and tune in for a preview packed with fun, facts, and flavors as we gear up for the Snallygaster extravaganza on The DC Beer Show!
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Creators & Guests

Host
Brandy Holder
This southern girl got a late start in the beer world, but with such a bold and intoxicating personality behind the name, booze was destined to be a part of her endeavors.
Host
Jacob Berg
Jake’s beer education began when his dad brought home a 6-pack of Brooklyn Lager in the mid-90s. It was love at first sip.
Host
Mike Stein
Michael Stein is President of Lost Lagers, Washington, DC’s premier beverage research firm. His historic beers have been served at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the Polish Ambassador’s residence.
Producer
Richard Fawal
President of DC Beer Media LLC and Publisher of DCBeer.com and The DC Beer Show

What is The DC Beer Show?

The official podcast of DCBeer.com! This is a show about breweries: the business, the beer, the craftspeople who run them and the drinkers who love them. Join us as we speak with brewers, brewery owners, and all kinds of folks involved in the craft beer scene.

Jacob Berg [00:00:05]:
Welcome, everyone, to the DCB Show. We are @DCBeer across social media. Mike Stein, what's in your Stein this evening?

Michael Stein [00:00:13]:
Well, hey, Jake. I'm having, Marlene, original Berlinerweisser by Schneeeule, Berlin's famous brewery. Very excited to see them again at Snallygaster this year, broadening our beer perspective all the way up to North Germany in Berlin. Brandy, what what are you having?

Brandy Holder [00:00:35]:
Hi, mister Stein and Jake, my fave fellas. I drank a Born Bohemian, which, as you know, is one of Denizens' flagship beers. It's, it's, Pilsner, lager Pilsner with za' tops. It's very refreshing, very lovely. And then I was so happy to learn as I was going through my shrunk or shrank German word, full of beer that I had a couple of cans of Dynasty's 838 Stout hiding back there. So that is what I just finished. Yes. Love this stout. Love you, Fabio. Love you, Dynasty. So that's that's what I drink tonight. Jake, what's up?

Jacob Berg [00:01:20]:
I've got here, one of the hypiest craft lagers from west of Mississippi. It is a Montucky Cold Snack. People in the beer biz have been, big upping this brand for quite some time now. I would say it's got kinda that, like, banana bubble gum, coarse yeast, but it's a little bit moreish than Coors Banquet. Would I illegally transport it across many states like Smokey and the Bandit? I don't know. But, like, could you drink 3 of them? Yeah. You absolutely could even on a weekday when we podcast. Alright. Before we get into our action packed super cool guest, I believe it's Streetcar 82's 6th anniversary coming up this weekend, and we've got a beer share at City State where they'll be pouring their take on 3 Stars Peppercorn Saison on Sunday, 8th. You should be there. RSVP, you know where.

Brandy Holder [00:02:20]:
What else is happening at that beer share, guys?

Michael Stein [00:02:23]:
It's a big one. Fill us in, Brandy.

Brandy Holder [00:02:26]:
So to be honest, it was kind of random and kind of exciting. So the representative from Lions Gate Films reached out to DC Beer and asked if they could come to our beer share. And I'm like, oh, you guys like beer? I love that. But, they're coming to promote their new movie, "The Killer's Game," and, they're coming giving out swag, movie tickets, and I think everyone's getting really jazzed about it. So that's kinda cool. It's gonna be, a very unique beer share, but we're gonna have the most amazing fun and get some cool movie swag from it. So I'm jazzed about it, and we get Peppercorn Saison, which is crazy. Who thought that was gonna come back? Not me. But here we are, and I'm kind of excited about it. And by kind of, I mean very, because I probably still have this original 3 Stars poster of Peppercorn Saison hanging in my basement.

Michael Stein [00:03:21]:
I did not have Peppercorn Saison returns in 2024 on my 2024 DC Beer bingo card, but here we are.

Jacob Berg [00:03:32]:
Speaking of brewery swag, a good place to go and get brewery swag is a festival on Pennsylvania Avenue where there are over 170 breweries pouring. That festival is Snallygaster, and we've got Greg Engert of Neighborhood Restaurant Group and, of course, Churchkey, Bluejacket, The Sovereign, and many others on the show. Welcome back to the show, NRG managing partner and beverage director, Greg Engert. Greg, what are you drinking this evening?

Greg Engert [00:04:04]:
It's funny you should ask. I'm actually drinking, Hill House, which is our annual Oktoberfest style beer that we make at Bluejacket. It's not even on the shelves yet, but I was able to grab a pre release can, station grade.

Jacob Berg [00:04:19]:
Very nice, very nice. Are we gonna see any gravity kegs of that around Bluejacket? Perhaps at the Oktoberfest coming up?

Greg Engert [00:04:25]:
Yeah, exactly. At Oktoberfest, I think we're gonna have, like, like, 8 or 10 different gravity kegs of different German style beers. So Hill House, Pattern Sky, Self Portrait, for the company. Yeah, we we typically try to get everything into gravity keg for our Oktoberfest event, which is awesome. And not to jump any additional questions you may have, but this is also the year that we're gonna finally see the return of some Franconian gravity kegs from Franconia, obviously, showing up. So, not for Oktoberfest, but for Snallygaster and other appearances. That should be pretty fun.

Jacob Berg [00:05:05]:
That is excellent news. I know that we talked about this last year, and much discussion was focused on, the pandemic and supply chains and the like. Is that getting somewhat better? It's clearing up?

Greg Engert [00:05:19]:
I wish I could say yes. I I mean, it probably is. But, honestly, what happened was Sebastian Sauer, who I think all of y'all know very well from Freigeist, he is one of my best friends, and he's a mover and shaker in the German beer industry. So he actually he brings in a ton of beer from, like, Belgium and you know, he's, like, kind of an importer over there, and he moves a lot of beer around. So he knows all the major players in Franconia, and he was basically like, I can just make this happen for you. And so he did via Line Ventures, which, you know, they kinda took over for Shelton Brothers and started to help us get the the kinks on the water. And they're on the water now. They're coming over. We're getting beers from Ichorn, Will or Ville, and, and and most excitingly, I think for me, Knobloch, which is, one of my favorite Franconian lager producers. So and we've never had their beers in gravity kegs before, so very exciting. I think we're gonna pour some at a fit maybe in a bet before Snally, but then we're gonna save some personality as well. So, yes, that is all back for you this year, Jake.

Jacob Berg [00:06:32]:
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. The people love to see it. And by people, I mean, me walking around drinking sub 5.5%, you know, just like 11 Plato, Central European lager is, you know, for that Snallygaster, it's like hot dogs and mustard.

Jacob Berg [00:06:46]:
It just

Jacob Berg [00:06:47]:
goes goes well together.

Brandy Holder [00:06:48]:
I'm looking forward to the swag this year. I'm wearing my Snallygaster hoodie, one of my Snallygaster hoodies. So I'm all all about the color, and I see that the there's been so many colors, incorporated to this year's theme. And last year's very eighties, nineties vibes. So I'm curious to see the swag this year because I'll probably, Abhi, get a a snally thing.

Greg Engert [00:07:11]:
You know what, Brandy? I'm so glad you brought that up. It's funny. Like, that's something that we don't talk a lot about, and yet we spend a disproportionate amount of time on. All the swag that we do at Snally is, like, it takes us months, like, back and forth, even just to your point, like, coming up with, like, the theme for the year. You know, this year was very, like, early 80s. I think I went to them, and I was like, Let's do, like MTV 1984, and our our design team is incredible. Chris Mullins and Tony LaFalce, they were like, yep, got it. And as you know, like, when you work with, like, marketing teams and designers, if you can come up with something that they're interested in, it's gonna be amazing. And I think that that's kind of what we're always looking for every year. It's like, we have a lot of cool ideas, but if you can find something that they're pumped about like this, they just jump all in. And so we have some really cool swag coming out, and and these guys put in so much work. It it's really cool every year, to see it happen.

Brandy Holder [00:08:20]:
I can't wait to see it. Are there gonna be a Snally themed umbrellas? Because, you know

Greg Engert [00:08:25]:
How dare you say that?

Brandy Holder [00:08:26]:
Hey. You know what? Wait. No. We're going to talk about this. This is a sourced object. But

Greg Engert [00:08:32]:
It is.

Brandy Holder [00:08:33]:
What what do the Snally gods have in store for us? Because, Greg, let me tell you. I I've been going to Snally since the days of Union Market parking lot. Yeah. Alright? There have been many, many, many, many rainy days, Snallies. There have been many sunny, beautiful Snally days. Honestly, it hasn't affected my happiness at Snally. I had a happy Snally time no matter what the weather. But I'm just curious, like, if people are, like, betting. You're like, this would be the thing to bet on. This would be the beer nerd thing to gamble on.

Greg Engert [00:09:06]:
I could tell you what, you know, it's it's so funny you you bring this up. And I I think it's really something interesting to talk about. So we we just sold out, VIP today, actually, which is a little later than last year, but it's right on target for the previous year. Right? So I think to your point, Brandy, like, we we didn't obviously host Snally in 2020. In 2021, we came back with a bang. It was amazing. Beautiful weather. 2022, beautiful weather.

Brandy Holder [00:09:38]:
Yes.

Greg Engert [00:09:38]:
23, ticket sales were nuts because of those 2 years of beautiful weather. And now it slowed a bit because I think people are waiting, which totally makes sense to me. And but, you know, it's funny. Even, like, yesterday, when the weather cooled a little bit, and and kids are back to school, summer seems to be over, we're moving into fall, post Labor Day, our tickets sales just start skyrocketing. So if it remains looking good and 2 weeks out we have a nice weather forecast, it's going to be bananas. If not, we'll see what happens, but but also to your point, it's fun either way. You know what I mean?

Brandy Holder [00:10:19]:
It is.

Greg Engert [00:10:20]:
I'll tell you, this is a really cool, statistic. We track all of the entrances. And last year, we were like, it's raining. We sold out, you know, 8,000 people. And it was like, I wonder how many people are gonna come. I think we had a 98.3 percent entrance rate, which was actually higher than 2022 even though it rained. So that's the cool thing about Snally. It's like, when people, like, they buy their tickets ahead of time, like, they come. Yeah. They're coming either way. You know what I mean?

Michael Stein [00:10:54]:
So I think one of the things that folks like to talk about a lot is some of the changes in terms of the breweries that happen year in, year out at Snally, and then, you know, we had this conversation last year about how do you keep this fresh and keep it moving. Who are some of the the new breweries this year, even if they took, like, a year or 2 off, who you're excited to have or have back?

Greg Engert [00:11:17]:
Typically, we we we like to rotate in about 15 10 to 15%, I think, at this point of new brewers, just to, like I said, like, to keep it fresh. And and honestly, like, a bunch of brewers can't make it, or decline for other reasons. We could talk about that as well. So, you know, this year, I think we're excited. We have, a lot of brewers returning, but we're really excited to have Peter Allen on hand, and actually coming to town, which is very cool. CLAG out of Sandusky, Ohio. It's a really fun brewery that's that's gonna be great. Messoram from, Montreal. They're awesome and coming. And, you know, some breweries like Blaugies from, Hainaut province, Belgium right on smack on the border, they're sending beer, but they're also coming. So Pierre-Alex is coming, which is really cool as well. So those are some of the ones that, obviously, I already mentioned, like those German brewers that we're gonna have, in gravity tag, which is super cool. So there's a bunch of really cool new ones.

Jacob Berg [00:12:23]:
I'm super excited to see Lisa Allen or, whomever from here, Allen.

Greg Engert [00:12:29]:
Yes. Just tell you, I think.

Jacob Berg [00:12:30]:
That's incredible. And it's a great opportunity to showcase, hometown talent for DC Brewers. Obviously, you know, Ro Gunzel's work at at Bluejacket is is worth showcasing as well as some other locals. I'm wondering who said they were unable to come, and if you don't wanna name names, who would be a dream get for you?

Greg Engert [00:12:54]:
Yeah. Well, yeah, I think, you know, GABF, as long as that's going to continue to go on, I don't know. It's like seems like it's changing every year, so it's hard to know, exactly how it's going to continue to be. But, they're they're back on this weekend, like, every year now. It's just 2 years in a row. I thought they were the 1st weekend before, but now they're on this weekend. So, you know, beer shot is sending beer, but they're not coming. You know, whereas they would have absolutely come in the past. We're not getting cohesion this year or, like, cerebral based on that. So that's unfortunate. So I I can say that, you know, that's one that's one part of that. And then some other ones, like, I think probably one of the most notable ones that that geeks will notice is that Floodland is not coming after coming for, like, 3 or 4 years in a row. You know, I think they're just, like, clamping down on travel. They're a small brewery, you know, so, unfortunately, they're not gonna be around this year. But I'll and I'll say in general, you know, Tim Lu, our beer director, and Bruno Simoes, our assistant beer director, they they do a lot more, traveling and and appearances at Fest than than I do at this point, And they really can take credit for Snallygaster more than I can at this point. I mean, they're absolutely incredible humans and phenomenal people to work with. And they have an engine that I've not seen. They just crush it every year. You know, I think as they've been going around to other fasts, they've noticed that not as many people are traveling, which not to be, you know, to dwell on the issues or just I wouldn't even say issues, but craft beer is just kinda getting back to where it once was. You know, a lot a lot of people talk about, like, craft beer is, like, it's dead or it's, you know, it's hurting. It's still a lot better than it was when I got started 20 years ago, I'll tell you that. So, you know, I mean, it's it's slowed down. It's probably slowing down to, like, a a reasonable pace. But what reasonable means is that, like, yeah, a lot of these brewers can't travel to festivals like they used to. So I think because of that, we're seeing a little bit of a slowdown. All that said, we're seeing more international brewers. I mean, I mentioned Blaugie is like, Yeah, we'll come. And, the guys from Track out of Manchester are coming. You know, so it's like it's it's it's a weird time in craft. I mean, I we can't say that enough on, you know, in general, when we see each other, but on this podcast too. It's like it's strange, right? Some of these domestic brewers might not travel, but the international brewers are looking for reasons to travel, so we're kind of making up for one with the other, and, it always seems to come together and be amazing no matter what, which

Michael Stein [00:15:42]:
is cool. So

Michael Stein [00:15:43]:
Yeah. It's really weird living in the future.

Michael Stein [00:15:46]:
And

Michael Stein [00:15:47]:
and what and what I mean by that is, not too long ago, Sebastian Sauer was at was at Shelter at in the Roost and doing Kölsch service. And I was like, oh, I can't make it Sunday. Can I, you know, are you gone? You'll probably be gone by the time I can free up on Monday. He said, no I'm here, so we went and hung out, we had some beers, but it was wonderful to see him just be like, yeah we did Kölsch service on a Sunday, it was wonderful, this is as it should be. And I was like, oh cool, are you gonna go do that? And he was gonna hit some more American cities, but it was funny to hear him get some inside baseball talk about, like, oh, we should do Kölsch service now, and then next month, September, October, November, And he was like, you don't need a reason. We just do Kölsch service. Anytime I'm in Cologne in Köln, we just do Kölsch service. That's what happens, and it was so wonderful to see his tall, beautiful German self in DC and just having a great time and drinking in the beer Kölsch service. And I I remember, like, 10 years ago meeting him at Churchkey on a random I don't know if it was a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, but the same concept. And and to echo your point, Greg, massive massive congrats to you, Bruno, Tim, the team for having incredible yeah. You know, one Sunday

Brandy Holder [00:17:00]:
you're doing it at

Michael Stein [00:17:01]:
Freigeist, yeah, another Sunday it's Halfway Crooks, and another Sunday it's Bierstadt Lagerhaus, like, the continual churn of quality events is amazing. It's wild.

Greg Engert [00:17:11]:
I think it's like, 10 years ago. I think that so what you're getting at is that, like, when Sebastian came to town, he wasn't doing Kölsch service. Like, he was, like, popping out historic German beer styles, you know, like, been crazy weird beers that, like, people were flocking to then and nobody would drink now. It's like living in the future, living in the past, what is past is prologue. It's so cool to see this all evolve. And when people try to talk about, like, the death of craft beer and stuff, it's like, it's so clearly not because things are still in motion, you know, and and that's what's and like, we were talking about, like, Jake was saying, we have gravity kegs coming back to Snally for the first time since pre-pandemic. That sounds good to me. You know what

Jacob Berg [00:17:54]:
I mean? Yeah.

Greg Engert [00:17:54]:
I think

Jacob Berg [00:17:54]:
nature is healing. That's that's what we wanna hear.

Greg Engert [00:17:57]:
Yeah. By the

Jacob Berg [00:17:58]:
way, I take great I take great offense to obscure the obscure German beer styles dig because I had a Lyttkenhiner in Baltimore last month. So

Greg Engert [00:18:08]:
You were the first the first and last person to have that beer probably there.

Jacob Berg [00:18:11]:
Yes. And it was it was not even a Sebastian Sauer beer. It was a Mike Earl beer. Shout out to Mike Earl over at Silver Branch who's got a Rauch beer on at Diamondback right now.

Brandy Holder [00:18:22]:
If we're going to live in the present but reminisce about the past, what about our Brewers Brunch? Because that used to be my favorite. Mallard, are we doing a Brewers Brunch at Mallard?

Greg Engert [00:18:37]:
So here's the thing. For me to ask, we mentioned Bruno and Tim, but, I mean, so many other people to kind of, like, buck up on Sunday after this whole all these shenanigans is, like, pretty difficult. That's why we've held off from doing it in the past. I mean, you know, most brewers start to come to town on Thursday. We do some fun stuff all week, and then Thursday it starts, Friday it's big, Saturday it's big, Saturday after party. You guys have all been there. Sunday, everybody kind of, like, dies for the day, you know. So I can pretty much say that there's no way we'll do over as much. However, however, 2 weeks after Snally, we have, Churchkey's 15th anniversary event. So I think that's gonna be on the 26th. We haven't announced it yet, but we're gonna be showcasing a bunch of really cool 15th anniversary beers that people have been brewing for us and with us, chilling, Sierra Nevada, Oxbow, The Veil, Monkish, all that stuff is coming out, and we're gonna have a big party, a blow out at church camp on the 26th. So maybe I should be talking to these guys about, some kind of brunch for that if the brewers are in town. So

Brandy Holder [00:19:50]:
Yeah. That's a good idea.

Michael Stein [00:19:52]:
So you mentioned brewers getting in for Snally on Thursday. Are any of them going to go at to Bluejacket and perhaps do any collaboration beers with Bluejacket at Bluejacket?

Greg Engert [00:20:05]:
I can say yes, but we're still trying to figure that out. It's hard because it's a balance of schedules, and Ro Gunzel, you mentioned before, our director of brewing ops, his team, Colin and Tim, like, it's crazy busy. Like, we're kind of coming into fall, so we're hit taking off. We're packaging a bunch of beer for Bluejacket or for for Snally. But, we typically do do at least 1 to 2 collabs, and we're working on those now. So we're we are I can't say definitively what we're doing, but we are we're trying to, like, pin it down. And, we always brew, you know, 2 collabs. Like, Thursday, Friday, like you said, we'll do 2 2 beers that will come out after.

Michael Stein [00:20:49]:
You mentioned Blaugies, and then you also mentioned track. I noticed a few more Brits coming this year, not just Track, but also Cloudwater, more. And the return of I mean, you know, we're all OG beer geeks here. Ridgeway, who I mean, I've been drinking Ridgeway since, like, the, I don't know, mid to late nineties. Santa's Butt, all of the Very Bad Elf series, do you think they'll be bringing any real ale? Will we see some casks, some firkins?

Greg Engert [00:21:24]:
Yeah. That's it's we're talking about that right now. I mean, I think, possibly. I'm so glad that y'all noticed that. Like, we that's something personality. I think sometimes when we have to pour less of the hundreds of local brewers that there are, obviously, we only do 175 brewers, so not everybody can be involved. A lot of times we're making way for international brewers, right? Because we we believe, rightfully, that they do things differently, and they can show us things that we can't get from brewers locally. Not that they're better or worse, but it's just fun to have different perspectives, different flavors, things like that. So, yeah, Ridgeway, Cloudwater, more beer, Justin, Hawk, really close buddy of mine will be in town for this. But all that said, I'm not sure if we're gonna do ferkins just because we all know that an hour or 2 in, even with, like, a blanket on it, it's not necessarily the best way to showcase their beers. And so if they're coming all the way over from the UK, we're probably gonna serve stuff in, you know, a container and key keg. That said, most of these guys are putting the beers in the kegs, naturally carbonated like they're filling Firkins anyways. So, like, you know, unfiltered, unpasteurized, naturally carbonated. So it's close enough, but the pop and circumstance, probably not as much. When we do the gravity kegs from Germany, it's just those things are light. They're they're airtight. Those they make a lot more sense for a fast, and they tend to be smaller. We don't typically get pins from the UK. So when we get 13 gallons of Firkin beer, it's like the first 5 gallons are gonna be amazing. The rest because you guys remember, we used to do that at Snellie all the time. And it it it by the end, it wasn't the best way to showcase the beer. So

Brandy Holder [00:23:16]:
I mean, suggestion here, you can do Firkin' Friday as the Friday pre Snally event with all of the orders and stuff.

Greg Engert [00:23:24]:
We do that every Friday, every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at Shelter Churchkey, and Bluejacket it anyways. I mean, that's what I'll say is like, if you don't get firkins of Ridgeway, IPA, ESP at Snally, we'll have it at Churchkey that weekend. You know what I mean? So, like, that's that's that's cool at least.

Brandy Holder [00:23:45]:
I was gonna say real quick, thank you for acknowledging the local brewers because, you know, we are on the receiving end of a lot of comments. And we always say, you know, Snally Greg is has the opportunity because of his connections and his long time in in the industry to bring in all of these breweries that we don't tend to get to have. And, you know, it's I do appreciate you acknowledging the local breweries who may feel left out. I don't think it's anything personal.

Greg Engert [00:24:15]:
Oh, it's absolutely not anything personal. It's it's a horrible position to be in. Can you imagine? Like like, that's it's hard. We do rotate. Like I you know what I mean? Like like Silver Branch is back this year after not being in last year. You know what I mean? Like, so like we do our best to like try to to to help out our friends. But at the same time, Snallygaster is not a local beer fest, and never is gonna be, never should be. And if it comes down to making room for beers like from Franconia you've never had before, we have to do that. I I I just that that's that's the nature of our fast, and I think most people understand. And I and I appreciate you guys are really good yeomans, for us and and great, like, people who can spread the word on that. But, you know, it's hard. It never feels good. But I do think it's cool because we're trying to, like, rotate people back through. Like I said, like, Silver Branch is back this year. We love that brewery. We love those guys. They make amazing beers. So, yeah, we're we're always thinking of it.

Jacob Berg [00:25:20]:
I think that's the beauty of Snally. We we often forget that, you know, it's a fundraiser for Arcadia Farms, and that is fundamentally doing good. Because outside of that, the beer world is so broad that you have to have Franconian gravity fed beer, and you have to have Mancusian or Manchesterian or beers from Ridgeway. I had 2 Ridgeway beers today, and it just reminded me how broad the world of beer is. And to your point, Greg, I would much rather have the 2 beers that I had at a bottle, the imperial stout and the export stout, than I would gallons 6 to 13 out of a cask. Knowing how good gallons 1 through 5 are, it just doesn't make sense. Right? And so

Greg Engert [00:26:03]:
you have

Jacob Berg [00:26:03]:
to do the logical thing. And I would also add, Brandy, not to ever have you be, you know, the the punching bag for local brewers or have DCB or us take the blame, but anytime we go back to those brewers and go, but have you had, the Georgian broil, or have you had a Ridgeway export Stout, or have you had and if it's in good faith, it's always, yeah. You're right. I would love an an export stout from Ridgeway. I would love a Keller beer from Boudinheim.

Greg Engert [00:26:32]:
The other thing I would say, guys, which I think is, like, really important is and I've written about this for craft beer brewing. It's like, where are people getting inspiration these days? You know, or or just learning how to make a beer correctly. You know what I mean? I think that it's harder and harder to find imported beer anywhere, but when I think of like, you know, I was just talking to, Kelly Young from Velocity Girl because we're actually we're gonna brew a beer with him. We're just talking about, you know, if you wanna make a Dunkle, what's that based on? You know, like if you just go to a random brewery and say like, what what's this Dunkle based on? I mean, Internet, technology probably, you know, just like finding stuff, but like, isn't drinking Iager Alt Virus Stenkel or Andex? You know what I mean? Like, this is the these are the things I wonder about, or when people, like, start brewing rock beer. Have you had Shlenkerla? Have you had it recently? Because and again, I'm only sharing this because I know for a fact it's harder and harder to find any of these beers today. So it's like, I I think Snally is also a great opportunity for people to taste a bunch of stuff that they can't necessarily get all the time. And when you think of like, oh, like, I love making lager. Well, if you come to Snally and you drink some of these Franconia lagers, it might, like, blow your mind and and make you think like, oh, wow. Like, you know, as a brewer or a home brewer or like just like a festival goer, like, wow. How do I do that? You know? And and that used to be easier to do when there was more imports, but there's not as much now. So, like, I think that that's cool. And, also, you go to Snally, whether you're pouring or not, the opportunity to meet and hang out with so many brewers and and and just, like, interact and talk through ideas for, you know, beer making but or just process or or ingredient sourcing is is incredible. I mean, it's just like so if we get 250 brewers in DC for a weekend, that's everybody's win, you know, beyond just Arcadia, NRG, Snally. It's it's a it's an amazing time for everybody to take advantage of.

Michael Stein [00:28:36]:
It's only everybody's win if you actually listen to what Blaugees does and do a proper step mash.

Greg Engert [00:28:42]:
Right.

Brandy Holder [00:28:44]:
I will say, in addition to what Greg just said, last year on the Snellie stage, I was geeking out the whole time I was on stage because we had a star studded series of panels. And I was on stage, and I was like, geek be are geeking out, because, like, I'm so happy that I get to talk to these people, and and not only do the brewers get to geek out, but it's it's, like, non brewers and beer geeks overall just to get to, like, beyond in the same area as them. Like, how cool is that? And, like, shoot the shit or drink a beer together. And I I just that that honestly was the highlight of my entire snalley last year. Not even just the stage, but just having the opportunity to be interviewing these people that I admire and look up to in the beer industry. It's incredible. So

Greg Engert [00:29:33]:
And we're and we're gonna do that again. I mean, DC Beer is definitely gonna be back running the podcast each. We're not gonna have it as close to a music stage as last time, so you can hear it. We're gonna figure it out. But, yeah, I mean, it's like it's so cool. And, like, we have some other, you know, Steal This Beer podcast. They just reached out to me today. They're like, can we come down and work with DC Beer and be on the stage? I'm like, hell yeah. Like, we can come up with so many ways to do this and keep interviewing amazing people. And then you guys kept, you know, releasing these awesome episodes afterwards. I mean, it's cool. I feel like we're we're really taking advantage of having all these, cool personalities in in the same place. So thank you for that, and we can't wait to do that again.

Michael Stein [00:30:16]:
Yeah. Thank you so much, Greg. And you listeners, take advantage of it too. General mission tickets still available. Again, this is for a good cause. Arcadia Farms. Greg, as always, thank you so so much.

Greg Engert [00:30:28]:
Yes, guys. It's great to see you.

Michael Stein [00:30:30]:
And thank you, Tim and Bruno. We know everyone is out there working hard. We can all sleep with the windows open. We can drink marasins and fest beers and even pumpkin beers, I guess, if that's your thing. It's not for me. But you enjoying it, doesn't hurt me in any way, so fine, I guess. What else do you all got going on?

Jacob Berg [00:30:50]:
English stout, Jacob. English stout. I got not one, but 2 export styles from JP at Hop Cask and Barrel. Shout out to JP, manager of Hop Cask and Barrel, for bringing in the Ridgeway goodies. Brandy, what's on your agenda?

Brandy Holder [00:31:07]:
Beer wise or event wise? Because, you know, my women's brew Kölschure club, we're doing trivia at, other half, the middle the middle Indus of the month, but come back on that one. I am looking forward to the return of brown ales. I will say someone just gifted me a lovely box of Cigar City's brown ale. Out of nowhere, I was very excited because they know they knew my favorite type of beer was brown ale, and they couldn't find any because this is the world that I live in. So they went out and bought out, bought a box of cigarsity brown ale, so I'm thoroughly enjoying those. So, guys, if and women and theys and thems and wes and us, make more brown ales for Brandy. Thank you. I'll see you at Snally.

Michael Stein [00:31:54]:
Hashtag brown ales for Brandy. Alright, everybody. We're at DC Beer on the socials. Everybody be well. There's so many events coming up this fall. Dcbeer.com/events. And of course, we're on Patreon. You should come visit. See you at the beer share. Tip big and be well, everybody. See you all later.