Snallygaster 2025 Preview

In this conversation, Greg Engert discusses the upcoming Snallygaster festival, its significance for local breweries, and the evolving landscape of import beers. He highlights the importance of local food sourcing, the training of veteran farmers, and the festival's role as a major fundraiser for Arcadia Farm. Engert also shares insights on the feedback from previous festivals, the diverse serving formats expected at Snallygaster, and the growing popularity of cider. The conversation touches on the challenges breweries face, especially during the summer, and the strategies employed to keep the festival fresh and engaging for attendees.

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Creators and Guests

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

Jordan Harvey

As a born and raised Georgian, lover of music, and HBCU advocate, Jordan’s affinity for craft beer kicked off after being exposed to the craft beer scene in Pennsylvania and the legendary beer scene in Europe.

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! Everything you need to know about the people, places, and brews that make the DMV America’s best beer scene, including the best local places for eats, brews, trivia, live music, and more! Learn about the latest trends in craft beer – from the beers, to the breweries, to the business – from the editors of DC Beer.

Jake Berg (00:06)
Welcome everyone to the DC Beer Show. are at DC Beer across social media. Mike Stein, what's in your Stein tonight?

Mike Stein (00:15)
I'm drinking a cider from Sojourn Fermentery. It's delightful, nice and dry, full of tannin. Jake, what are you drinking this evening?

Jake Berg (00:25)
I've got here Ocelot's Flipside Italian Pilsner. Clocking in at 4.4%, super crushable, just like a nice restrained dry hop. Spalter Select, probably Sapphire as well. ⁓ Yeah, more of this please. I've got one, I wish I had three. Jordan, what are you drinking tonight?

Jordan (00:50)
afternoon, folks. I am actually having a Helleslager from one of my favorite hot factories, Trillium, actually. I'm on some Helleslager enjoying the nice impending fall weather. ⁓ Greg, thanks for being with us today. What are you having, sir?

Greg Engert (01:08)
⁓ I am having the Inevitable Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest, which of course changes every year based on the collaboration. This one's with Storta Baker from the far north of Germany. Amazing fest beer, really awesome. And for you Trillium fans, you know, we have a big event coming up on Thursday. Maybe we can talk about that later,

Jordan (01:30)
Jake, what are you looking forward to outside of the impending number of Oktoberfest that we have coming

Jake Berg (01:37)
Well, we've got two DC beer events coming up this Sunday. That's the 21st, our first ever, a world premiere, DC beers first ever beer share in Montgomery County at Owens Ordinary, right on Rockville Pike, also right across the street from the Metro station. ⁓ Come check it out. I know that sometimes we make fun of buying beer in Montgomery County on this show because Montgomery County...

is weird about alcohol among other things but it'll be a good time and hey Montgomery County this one's for you. Second, a week after that so the 28th, the Sunday after, at Wonder Garden a fundraiser for the DC Rape Crisis Center we've got a bunch of breweries donating beer, swag, come check it out, details, DC Beers Instagram account.

is the best place to go for that. Should be a good time. Thanks always to Brandy, the Women's Brew Culture Club for helping to put this together and to Wonder Garden for hosting and the breweries and beer bars, beer stores, restaurants for donating. Cool.

Jordan (02:51)
Mike, what are you looking forward to this week? I know there are a number of Oktoberfest and other festivals that are coming our way as fall is here by the time this show, hopefully fall will be here. If not, it'll be here in my world because I'm a huge fall person. But Mike, what are you looking forward to?

Mike Stein (03:09)
Well, we've got a number of Oktoberfest around town locally, ⁓ certainly at Blue Jacket, at Lost Generation, at Hensforth. ⁓ And then again, at the end of the month, we're going to see the ⁓ because September is ⁓ American Craft Malt Month, Micro Malt Month. We're going to see them up in Baltimore trying to make it to maxes for the last Tuesday in September for all of these Maryland brewers using Bear Branch Malt.

But of course, I'm incredibly excited for snallygaster and we have ⁓ Greg Angert on with us and we're really looking forward to talking about snallygaster ⁓ So Greg, I'm gonna I'm gonna give you an intro even though we've already asked you what beer you're drinking Greg Angert is beverage director and partner at the neighborhood restaurant group owners of locally Blue Jacket and Church Key in DC and rustico in Alexandria. And if you're further south of us

They also own and operate Bruce St. X in New Orleans. Greg, welcome back to the show, my friend. How are you?

Greg Engert (04:15)
I'm great. It's always great to be back and see you guys Jordan Mike Jake and of course our buddy Richard ⁓ Missing Brandy, but I'm sure I'll catch up with her some sometime soon. But yeah, love you guys and it's great to be back

Jordan (04:21)
Okay.

Mike Stein (04:28)
Wonderful. Well, first off, Snallygaster 2025 is October 11th and this is the 13th iteration, the 13th year. So Snallygaster, arguably the most diverse beer, wine, cider, non-alcoholic festival presentation of the people in craft beer and craft cider, craft wine. But it's a benefit for Arcadia Farms, which is a nonprofit organization.

Can you tell us about Arcadia Farm, what Arcadia does and what Snallygaster does for them?

Greg Engert (05:00)
For sure. So ⁓ Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture started back in 2011. Michael Babin, my partner who founded Neighborhood Restaurant Group in 1997, ⁓ created this incredible nonprofit that does so much for the local ⁓ food system.

Arcadia has been working tirelessly since 2011. So as of next year, it'll be 15 years in to really just provide amazing food to underrepresented and underserved neighborhoods in the DC area. So we serve as this kind of like a food hub where we buy local, ⁓ locally grown produce and bring it to underserved communities that don't have

access to the kind of food that they absolutely should sell it at great prices. And that's really that's been one of the first goals. called mobile markets. And we go out to lots of neighborhoods. The other goal is to educate kids from all over the region at Arcadia farm to make sure that they know about where food comes from, why it's important, why a balanced diet is important. And then the other thing that we've done more recently is to train veteran farmers.

at Arcadia. So veterans coming back looking for for new careers as they come back. We've been training them as well. So it's massive and Arcadia serves as the single biggest fundraiser for ⁓ Arcadia every year. Snallygaster does. So you know we're able to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars to donate to Arcadia annually from the sales ⁓ at Snallygaster.

Mike Stein (06:49)
You were on the pod in 2023 and we talked about how imports were struggling a little bit, but the feeling was that some enterprising folks would recognize that there were gaps in the market and look to place their products, niche products, you know, coming outside of the country with select bars and restaurants and retailers stateside.

Have you seen this continuing to happen over the last two years since the last time we talked about imports?

Greg Engert (07:17)
Um, yes and no. mean, I think the import market, I mean, if you follow BrewBound and everybody else, the import market is massive for beer in America, but they're talking about Modelo and Corona and things like that. When it comes to real beer, beer that's made by independent producers, people who care about the products and are passionate about the product, I think it's still, you know, slow going. But, you know, I think, like I said before, I got into this because of

import beer. I got into this because of incredible families of small producers who have been producing ⁓ just really impeccable beer for hundreds of years oftentimes or less, but like that make incredible beers with narrative, remarkable beers that you want to get back to time and time again. so at Neighborhood Restaurant Group, we have been committed to that for the last 20 years and will remain committed to it. ⁓

in perpetuity, whether or not it's cool or not. And so it has been, I'll be honest with you, it's been harder to get certain import brands because a lot of distributors are cutting back, but ⁓ we still find a way. And I think kind of more to your point, what we found is that there is a market in America for really interesting import beers and lager brewing is what I'm sure we'll talk about later has gotten to a point where

we can bring in these small craft brewed lagers from all over the place, Czech Republic and Franconia specifically now, and know that there's going to be a home for it. That people are going to come in and go, what's that lager? They're going to be interested in it. So in some ways the movement that these imported brewers spawned, which is 100 % what happened in the 80s and 90s. And then they kind of like, you know, they created a monster they couldn't control and American craft beer has been so big.

On the back end now, I feel like people are kind of like going back to the imports, especially when it comes to lager beer and getting reintroduced to it. And we're only so interested to be able to do that.

Jordan (09:27)
between the imports and the domestic producers and providers will have a stallygaster. What type of serving vessels can we expect to see? we looking at gravity kegs, cast 16 ounce cans, or other atypical formats? What are we looking at for stallygaster?

Greg Engert (09:41)
All of it, yeah exactly. you know we'll have obviously the half barrel keg, we have the six little keg. ⁓ We have bottles and cans, ⁓ which has been more. mean back in the day, I remember early Snally gaspers, it was all draft because that's what people wanted, that's what people shipped. But now, you know, we get a little bit more bottles and cans, especially for rare stuff. That just happens to be the package it goes into. ⁓ We'll have a cask here and there, although you know, I mean, I think we've talked about this in the past as well.

Keeping cask beer at the right temp as the festival goes on has been challenging. So we don't do as much as we used to and what we would have liked to do. And maybe one day we'll get back into that. But I'm happy to report that we have gravity kegs coming back in this year. So, you know, the naturally fermented gravity kegs from Franconia, from the likes of Munchenbacher, Knoblach. ⁓ I believe we have some Greece.

possibly some Kiesman, think we have Nickelbroi, no Spezial, but we'll have them on draft. So we have all these tiny little rustic breweries from Franconia in and around Bamberg, between Bamberg and Nuremberg, sending us some Gravity Kegs and that's going to be amazing. So I'm really happy to have that back because it's been a number of years since we've done with to get those.

Mike Stein (10:47)
Hmm.

Jake Berg (11:06)
So each year, one of the things I really appreciate about SNALi is that a survey goes out to attendees and participants. And so guess my question was, is what was the feedback like on last year's survey? Anything actionable about it or kind of like status quo? Anything new, unexpected?

Greg Engert (11:29)
I would say it was pretty much status quo. I'm happy to report, although maybe it's not as fun for you or the listeners. I think the one thing was that the people were very appreciative that we controlled the weather for it not to rain as it did back in 2023. But yeah, know, mean, listen, we've been doing this for 13 years. We've been doing it, think, for eight years now, seven or eight years on Pennsylvania Avenue.

I think we have an equation that works. You know what mean? Like we figured it out. We know the right amount of beers, the right amount of brewers. I think we have the layout down. And, know, just for the record on this too, it's really important. the amount of beers that we serve and the amount of brewers from which we serve and the layout of the tents is really specifically designed to keep lines down. Right. The more beers you have available and the more tents you have available means that people spread out more.

And that's really important. think sometimes people are like, why are they afforded 50 beers? Like that's too much or something. It's like, no, it's actually because it means that you should not have to wait very long to get a beer. know, so a lot of these decisions have come to, well, listen, we've locked into most of them over time, but we've learned as we went, we paid attention. And I think that that's been big. ⁓ But also the cool thing about Snallygaster is we have a festival that we're investing in every year.

Right? we are able to set aside a certain amount of money to keep adding to make it better. Right? So like some of the things that people always ask about, which makes sense is can we have more bathrooms? Yes. And so every year, we have to keep this within reason because this is a fundraiser, but every year we're adding more bathrooms, more bathrooms. We're adding more shade every year. We're adding more seating every year. So I feel like we're just really kind of nibbling around the edges.

of a great festival and just trying to make it a little bit better. But you know, I mean, we've really figured out a way to get everybody in. I mean, think last year we had VIP in the door in 22 minutes. I think we had all GA in the door in 29 minutes. I mean, it's kind of crazy what our team is capable of doing. Tim Lew, Bruno Simois, who run our beer department at NRG, plus Steph Holland.

Laura Brennewhof and we have this incredible team that does it well. yeah, I mean, we're getting great feedback and we're working on it, but I feel like we're in a pretty good spot.

Jordan (14:04)
I guess with that good feedback and the additional bathrooms, in addition to your ⁓ newly announced weather machine, ⁓ what other new additions can people look forward to for Snallygaster? I think I have four Snallygasters under my belt, so I'm still a bit of a, I guess maybe a sophomore now. ⁓ But just what can long-time Snally supporters or first-time Snally supporters look forward to for Snallygaster 2025?

Greg Engert (14:12)
Thanks. ⁓

I think one of the things is that we're not changing a lot. I think we, I loved last year, the weather cooperated. I thought it was the best year yet. And so we're not really changing all that much to be honest with you. mean, it's like 25 food vendors. were rotating again, but we're, we're keeping some of the greats like Soka, Butcher coming down from, from Mocha. Like they're going to be there again. You know, we'll have a lot of good stuff there. We're going to have Trouble Funk and Pie Tasters playing.

The main stage because they are local DC bands that I love, we all love, and we want to just keep giving them support. A new band coming in this year called the Smashing Times, which are incredible. They're going to be great. A little bit of expanded kid zone, which is fun. More and more, I think that families really drive hospitality, and they should, and they should be welcome. And so I think we're leaving it a little bit more to our family zone, which is going to be...

Fantastic. beyond that, I mean, we're really just doing it right. And the other thing I'll say is that, you we have such a rapport with our brewers, you know, 175 strong. They keep coming back. ⁓ you know, most brewers came last year. Most brewers are coming this year. So the fact is that you can come to Snallygaster and drink ⁓ hundreds of beers and talk to the people that make it.

All day long and and so that's what I'm really excited about every year. We have more and more brewers attending From you know from the US but also overseas I mean like Clara tiray whose dad Daniel opened tiray brewery in the north of France on the Belgian border in 97 She's coming this year One of the best producers of farmhouse sales and beyond in the world not just northern France or Belgium They're coming. So that you know

I think that's what's always new is like the amount of bruise you're going to get to run into and be like, my God, I can't believe you're

Jordan (16:32)
Yeah, and I mean, I completely get it. mean, again, I've enjoyed Sally every time I've been even when it rained, right. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I mean, there's no need to do so. ⁓ But we'll ask, you know, Sally Gaster tends to take over the whole DC area. And there are a number of events and stuff that I'm sure people want to hear about. But I'm sure some locals are wondering, ⁓ is there I guess, has there been an effort or ⁓ any dialogue between some of the local breweries?

to kind of get them ⁓ more attendance at Stanley Gaster.

Greg Engert (17:02)
Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's the hardest part of our jobs. And when I say our jobs, mean, Tim and Bruno's job, literally. I mean, you guys can imagine, can you imagine having to do this and having to like, say yes and no to be, I mean, it's so hard, especially because the pressure is to introduce new breweries, like you mentioned, which we feel every year. mean, we're introducing like,

25 to 30 % new breweries every year because that's what keeps it also fresh. Like you said, like what's new, that's what's new. And we have so many great friends in the DC brewing industry. We wanna include them, we also are Virginia, Maryland too. Like we've never kind of been like just about DC. So trying to include all these breweries, it's very difficult and we're on a rotational basis.

if I can say one thing about Stanley Daster is that the brewery list is changing every year. So for sure, some of the brewers will absolutely end up at Stanley Daster next year. And unfortunately, it'll be at the loss of some other ones.

But make no mistake, mean, like we designed Sally Gastro to be an international beer fest. It's not a local beer fest. It's just not, it's just not, is. And we have some local brews there, of course, our friends and family and people that we love, but ⁓ it is trying to be something, you know, that's not just local. And so because of that, it's pretty hard, you know.

Jordan (18:32)
Yeah.

Yeah, I don't envy you. So I understood. But I felt the need to ask.

Greg Engert (18:38)
Yeah, that's a question

Jake Berg (18:42)
I want to take a break from Snally the Festival and sort of ask about the events around and leading up to. And so there are general mission tickets still available, FYI, everybody. But in the past few years, Thursday night, Wednesday night, Friday night, we've seen NRG properties put on a handful of events featuring some of the breweries.

And as we know, they bring a couple beers to Snally, but this gives them a chance to bring a few more. What's in the works for that sort of like the week or the half a week leading up to Snallygaster?

Greg Engert (19:23)
So ⁓ obviously we have a lot in the works, but believe it or not, pinning some of these brewers down to exactly what they're sending and how much is another thing that you probably don't envy us of. It's hard to do. So it's a lot of last minute stuff that happens. ⁓ yeah, you can count on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday night events leading all the way in, probably actually starting on Tuesday, ⁓ which will be announcing soon. But yeah, it'll be at.

sovereign, blue jacket, shelter, a tershki as usual. like Jake mentioned, you know, like just really leaning into some of these breweries that send us a little extra fun stuff. yeah, so that that that list will probably come out in two weeks time. And it's always a fun time for people to get revved up or sally, but also if you can't make it for some reason, it's a way to taste a lot of really cool beers from some of the best brews that we have. And I will also say that, you know,

This is the time of year where Monkish and Fidens sends us a bunch of cans that we can sell retail. And so we're looking at a Monkish drop ⁓ before Snally and a Fidens drop right after, like we did last year. So a lot of great on-premise drinking and then a lot of great cans to take home.

Mike Stein (20:45)
love seeing that Absalom cider is right at the top of the list and I know that's because the list is alphabetically but they but they weren't there last year and so it's great to see really high quality American cider producers ⁓ also at Snally this year.

Greg Engert (20:53)
Ha ha.

sure. And Patois I'm hoping to get next year from Virginia, but we love cider. And you know, it's funny too, because we do a churchy beer academy, which we've been doing for years now since the pandemic, which is

an online course that we offer, it's annual, and every quarter we release a different box of beers and then I do a class on it online that we share, but also it involves a lot of interviews with different brewers and producers. And this last time I was able to talk to Charlie Burt from Onchow. He's based up in Pennsylvania at their center making facility and we featured Hereford Gold

from Oncho and Oliver cider. And this is a scrumpy, wild, funky cider shipped over from Hereford to DC blended with a downright American, but dry cider that Oncho makes and then releases here for gold. And tasting that cider reminded me how much I love cider and how much I'm just so excited about cider. So I'm glad you brought that up, Mike, because I think that...

It is it's remarkable anybody who drinks good cider when they have it. They're like blown away And they can't believe it. They're like, wow, I can't believe I don't drink more of this And so that's the goal now for 25 and 26 is we got to drink more good cider

Mike Stein (22:34)
I'm on board.

Greg Engert (22:35)
Thank

Jake Berg (22:37)
So I note once again, because Pennsylvania Avenue is only available when Pennsylvania Avenue is available, that Stanley Gaster is set against the Great American Beer Festival the same day. Does Blue Jacket submit beers to GABF? Does Brewery St. in New Orleans plans to do so, plans to do so for the World Beer Cup? Scariest.

Greg Engert (23:02)
We don't, but I will say, just so everybody knows, that this has been our weekend longer than it was GABF's weekend. They moved it to this weekend after we had had it for many years. like, you you're like, why are you doing this week at GABF? I'm like, we were on this weekend. So like, you know, and to your point, Jay, cause we've talked about this in the past. Like we can't, we can't move it. There's lots of security details that go into it. Like this is our weekend. We're on it. Like that's it.

Like last year, mean, like we wanted to change it for Yom Kippur and they would not allow it. So, you know what mean? Like we're here. Unfortunately, GABF has moved to this weekend, which is annoying. But that's certainly not the reason that we don't send beers to GABF for that or for World Beer Cup. I think honestly, we just, for us, we were worried about the state of the beers by the time they got there. It's kind of a...

a crapshoot about when they arrive and how they're judged and everything else. know, Ro Gunzel, who's our director of brewing operations at Blue Jacket and at Brewery St. Axan has been with us since 19, or sorry, since 2017. You know, he had a lot of experience with JVF and with World Beer Cup and with Left Hand and Great Divide. And we just always are kind of just a little concerned about how our beers are going to show on the timing.

And so we just never really got into it. And honestly, I kind of wish we did or could now, but it's been so many years that I think we're kind of like, it's just not something that we do, which is not ⁓ unlike a lot of places now. I think that they're getting fewer and beers submitted, unfortunately. But I do think some of it has to do with the fact that it's in Denver every year ⁓ and maybe not as easy for East Coast brewers to send beer or to go there for it.

Jordan (24:58)
Yeah, that makes sense. And I guess like to that end, and it's probably hard for you guys to get out to the Midwest or the middle of the country. Easier for East Coast brands to get to the East Coast. But this summer, it seems like everyone was everywhere else but DC. But NRG kind of kept the party going. You guys had a number of events and tap takeovers at your respective NRG spots. Was that like a conscious decision? Or was that kind of just something that like the chips just fell in your lap?

⁓ Because even I think you teased the fact that you guys have an upcoming Trillium event. ⁓ So is that like a conscious decision to kind of take advantage of the seeming gap in events throughout the DC area? Or is that just say, this is our playbook, this is what we're doing?

Greg Engert (25:43)
It's a little of both, it absolutely is about us trying to make some headway in very difficult times. mean, on the one hand, somebody like Hill Farm said has a little bit of beer in the summer for us, and it makes sense for them to travel when they do. On the other hand, I mean, the beer business is struggling.

across the board from breweries to, ⁓ you know, retailers and bars and restaurants, bottle shops, you name it. So we're all struggling to try to figure out a way to like, to keep up. And I mean, a great example of that is Hillfarmstead, right? Like this is a world renowned brewery, oftentimes called the best in the world, that ⁓ relies on Canadian tourism for a lot of their business. I mean,

Greensboro, Vermont, the Northeast Kingdom, it's smack dab on the Canadian border. And they're down a lot because Canadians aren't coming over. And not just because of terrorists, but because of the, you know, some of the ill will that's been kind of sent their way. so, ⁓ you know, I mean, you guys know this, like, it's not like international tourism is booming in DC.

right now, I who would come to DC right now? But you know, like of all places. And so, yeah, I mean, I think we're always struggling in the summer. It's always hard to make money in the summer, but this summer especially, we're really trying and we've always focused on the summer for certain beer events. You know, back in the day, sovereign pre-pandemic, we used to do the summer of Sour series, which was like every Wednesday night in the summer, would pop.

Jordan (27:04)
Ha ha ha

Greg Engert (27:30)
different bottles from Cantiona, Jerry Fontanen and kegs and things like that. And so, you know, we've had a history of that, but yes, to your point, we definitely were going for it this year. Like have a big Cantiona event. Hill Farm said we got Trillium coming up at Thursday ⁓ at Churchkey. We have a big dinner at Mallard. So it's certainly intentional. And I think a lot of the producers know where we're coming from. So they're like, yes, yes, we're in. We understand. We're going to hook you guys up.

Mike Stein (27:59)
curious on that respect because we've been to shelter a number of times and enjoyed and there was a check all Czech Republic imported beers and then there was food to pair along with it. And we've known historically like I think it was 2017 that the Brewers Association put out, you know, if you have food in your taproom, be it a food truck, a kitchen on site, which of course is more challenging than a food truck or a vendor pop up.

People stay longer. They drink more beer. They bring their family. It's better for business to have food alongside beer. I'm curious if there was ever any ⁓ Surprises ⁓ To you so when I for the Czech takeover, which is wonderful. We had it all these imports Siberia and Khrost and all wonderful. It was great But so the pork knuckle the Czechs famously have a dish pork knuckle

which is just a mountain of meat and it's not the easiest thing to do, especially if you're obviously veggie or vegan, it's a no-no, but were you, I was surprised that that kitchen item went first, cause I was only, you know, an hour or so after opening and it was gone. Have you had similar surprises with these food and beer, you know, events?

Greg Engert (29:08)
Yes.

Bye bye.

Yeah, I mean, well, that's the fun thing about it is that we know, I heard about that from you specifically. And I was like, of all people to not get the pork knuckle, it is not fair that Mike Stein misses. But so here's the thing. First off, it starts with our team on the ground. Like the roost and shelter and all the constituent food stalls are so incredible. Rachel Marie is our director of operations. She oversees the front and back of house. She's a chef by trade.

but a really talented manager of people obviously, but also a hospitality driven person. And she came to us from a slice joint in New York City. So when we opened Greater Lansing, we met Rachel. She is our partner in slice joint. She opened that with us and then she is the partner in slice joint in DC. And even after we had to close those New York City operations based on the pandemic and our partners up there.

⁓ She's been with us and she does an incredible job. And so when we go to her and say, Hey, we're doing a Czech beer event. Sebastian Sauer from Frygeist, all of our friends. He is the most incredible dude. mean, like he makes incredible beer. He travels the world, but he's an amazing importer and exporter of beer. So he's the one who got us all those Czech beers. He found all of his friends in Czech and said, Hey, I have a great place for you to send your beer. They're going to care for it. They're going to nurture it. They're going to make sure it's beautiful and delicious for the guests.

And that's how we got ⁓ Kroost and Klok in Siberia. ⁓ But he also knows that when we get those beers, I can go to Rachel and say, hey, let's do some Czech dishes. And then she goes to all of her chefs, ⁓ Julia, Armani, Hannah, and these guys, it's just like, hey, what should we do? They came up with this pork knuckle dish and everybody was like, nobody's gonna order it. It's too weird. Why would they get it? And it sold out.

to your point, Mike, in like 30 minutes. And so you'll be happy to know that for our Oktoberfest, which is coming up on September 27th at Shelter, we're introducing a German pork knuckle dish and there's gonna be ample amounts. So I promise you, it will not run out before you get there.

Jake Berg (31:29)
That is most excellent. I want to keep it central Europe for a moment and go back to the Sierra Nevada October Fest because they're working with a brewery in Strassland, which used to be East Germany and is on the Baltic. ⁓ Do you think Sierra Nevada has run out of actual Bavarian breweries to ⁓ work with? Like, why aren't they collabing on a Baltic porter with this brewery?

Greg Engert (31:58)
⁓ That's a great question. I don't think they have, of course, because I believe there are 700 breweries in Bavaria, so they have plenty of time there. mean, not like the 6,000 or so that were there 150 years ago, but they have plenty to go. I think that they're just moving around. And I think it's cool that they're up in the North. What I think is even cooler, though, is that this year's version, if you guys haven't had it yet, it's true Fesbier.

Jake Berg (31:58)
Your thoughts.

Greg Engert (32:27)
It is, it's golden. ⁓ It's dry. It's hoppy. And it's, it's, it's unfiltered. I mean, you can see it in the glass. It's like, it's got some rusticity to it, which I love. And I, I think that it's a, it's a really cool ⁓ version of the beer. You'd almost think it was going to be like even more hoppy because it was from the North, you know, almost like it was going to be like Javer-esque, but it's got the bitterness to it. Absolutely delicious beer.

You know, I think we were talking about earlier, maybe before we started, ⁓ one of the things I love about beers like, you know, this year about Octoberfest is that it's so affordable. And it reminds me of Notch Brewing Company, they'll be at Snellegaster, and Chris Loring. And one of the things about Chris Loring that he always said about contract brewing, obviously, when Notch started back in 2010, you know, the six years before they started brewing on site, but still most of the beer we see from Notch down here is contract brewed, I believe it's zero gravity.

and masterfully so is that he wanted ⁓ to make beers, he wanted proof of concept, right? Like before he asked a bunch of people to invest in his brewery, he wanted to make sure it was great, but he really believes contract brewing allows him to offer beer at affordable, working class pricing. And we see that with not even down here where we get their beers. And I think that's a really interesting thing to think about and talk about in this day and age.

How is a small brewery, do you not just compete? Because it's not about competing. He actually believes that a beer should, you know, a 12 pack should be $14.99. You know, how do you do that if you're not massive? And I think, you know, contract brewing is one of the ways.

Jordan (34:10)
Greg, I want to say thank you so much for just the insight, the honesty, the transparency and all the details for the upcoming Stallygaster. I think it'll be the 13th Stallygaster 2025. That'll be October 11th. It'll be Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C. It'll kind of be hard to miss. But where can people find tickets and how can people support NRG?

Greg Engert (34:32)
Thanks Jordan and thank you all so much for having me again. It's go to snallygasterdc.com. We have general admission tickets. We'll get you in at 2 p.m. You'll get four hours of unlimited tastes of beer, but also wine, cider, non-alcoholic drinks and cocktails. Two bands of stages, ⁓ know, two stages of bands, DJs and everything else. Great food trucks. ⁓

family fun, it's gonna be an day. October 11th, 2025, Saturday, I'm Sally Gaster. So come on by, we can't wait to host you.

Jordan (35:11)
Yeah, and I'd be remiss to not do this. Hopefully one year we'll have Monday night there as well. Or a year in near future. I'm a big Monday night fan. from Georgia. Big Monday night fan. So I gotta advocate for Monday. I gotta advocate for Monday night.

Greg Engert (35:22)
I know, money is great. They might just, they're

gonna jump in front of the local brewers now. That's the problem. ⁓

Mike Stein (35:30)
That's it.

Jordan (35:31)
Honestly, the

local breweries can dig and target me for that one, Monday night is phenomenal and I gotta shout out Atlanta.

Greg Engert (35:34)
All right.

Jake Berg (35:38)
Cool. Thank you so much, Greg. I think you just sold a bunch of six packs of Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest and that's just for the people on this podcast as opposed to the listeners out there. Probably sold a couple more that way too. ⁓ We're at DC Beer across social media. As you know, Oktoberfest season, Snallygaster season, you'll see us out and about. us, us ⁓ at DC Beer and we'll see you all later. Greg, thank you as always and ⁓ we'll see you soon.

Greg Engert (36:05)
Let's go.