The DC Beer Show

We have a jam-packed episode of The DC Beer Show, the podcast where we dive deep into the world of craft beer in the nation's capital. Our hosts, Michael Stein, Brandy Holder, Jacob Berg, and Jordan Harvey, cover a few key events and recap Snallygaster.

First, Jordan sat down with the owners and head brewer of BabyCat Brewery in Kensington, Maryland. Terry Redmond and Sam Mussomeli talk about their vision for the hyper-local brewery in a town that was, until recently, dry. Head brewer Phil Zanello explains how he wanted to make beers from a fresh perspective, focusing more on beers that people love to try.

BabyCat will celebrate its first anniversary and its first annual Halloween Party on October 28. It's Sam’s favorite holiday, and there will be live music, food tents, costumes, and prizes. Admission is free, and no ticket is required. BabyCatBrewery.com for more.

The teams out a few other key events, and Jim Bauckman of Grow and Fortify joins them to give you the scoop on the Baltimore Craft Beer Festival, November 4th, from 12-5. This annual celebration of Maryland’s growing craft brewing industry showcases more than five dozen local breweries and their excellent portfolios of ales, lagers, ciders, and meads. The Baltimore Craft Beer Festival features live judging of the Maryland Craft Beer Competition’s “Final Table,” live music, local food trucks, shopping from unique vendors, and much more. Get your tickets now! BaltimoreCraftBeerFestival.com form more.

Also coming up is Last Call: American Beer in a Changing Climate at the Smithsonian American History Museum, with small bites and short pours of beer, including from Wheatland Spring. Guest speakers include Andrea Stanley, founder of Valley Malt in Massachusetts, Victoria Garza, the Latin American sales manager at Yakima Chief Hops and co-founder of the Migrant Beer Collaboration, Denise Ford Sabadogo from Montclair Brewing Company in New Jersey, and Morgan L. Crisp, co-owner of Seven Clans Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina, a woman-owned, Cherokee-owned brewery. Tickets are $40 and available at Eventbright.

Finally, Brandy and NRG's Greg Engert spoke on the DC Beer Stage at Snallygaster about the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture, the non-profit funded by the proceeds of Snallygaster. Learn more at ArcadiaFood.org.

So grab a cold beer, get comfortable, and join us for another fantastic episode of 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
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.

Jacob Berg [00:00:06]:

Welcome back to DC. Beer show, everybody. We are DCBeer.com at DC beer across social media. Brandy, so nice to see you. What are you drinking this evening?

Brandy Holder [00:00:15]:

Hi, Jake. Hey, everybody. What I'm not drinking is all of the Snelly beers that I was drinking. Sadly, Set snatty is over, but right now well, not currently right now, but earlier I drank a pumpkin spiced brown Ale PSB from my dear friends over at Streetcar 82. It is a whopping 5.8%. Yeah, you heard that. And you know how I feel about Brown Ales, so I'm pretty happy. What are you drinking, Mr.

Brandy Holder [00:00:48]:

Stein?

Michael Stein [00:00:49]:

Well, Ms. Brandy, I'm drinking ancho Kints. It's an easy short name. Kints. Gorgeous, deep flavor, beautiful botanical gin thing going on. I honestly thought of you, Brandy, when I was trying this because I was like, OOH, this is kind of Forest Flory for me, but I bet Brandy would love this. But it's dry cider and it's truly dry, and it reminds me of, like, Happy Trees, the Sidra Verde. It's that classic.

Michael Stein [00:01:20]:

Back to the well we go. The Isasteggi, the other Bosque Sidra names I can't remember right now, but it's just wonderfully dry. And as a person with diabetes, it's only 4 grams of carbohydrates per, which, you know, save like, an Isastegi cider, which has 0 gram of carbohydrates per whatever ounces. It's pretty remarkable. Jordan, what are you imbibing this fine evening?

Jordan Harvey [00:01:49]:

So I've yet to get over the fact that Snowy is gone, so shout out to NRG and the folks over at Blue Jacket. I'm having their flagship tonight lost weekend, the Citra IPA 7%. Got to do something local for the folks. Jake, what's your take? What are you having?

Jacob Berg [00:02:10]:

Jordan, I am going to have to agree with you because I have here Blue Jackets Relentless, which is a 7% hazy IPA hopped with Jordan, you and my favorites nectaron as well as a little bit of mosaic proceeds from four pack cans of this beer as well as buying it on draft at Blue Jacket and other NRG spots. Go to support Planned Parenthood because abortion access is DCAF. So thank you, blue jacket. The NRG team for Snally. Thank you also for these beers. All right, before we get into the stuff, this upcoming Sunday is Denizen's last day in Silver Spring. That kind of sucks, and hopefully we will see some of you there.

Jordan Harvey [00:03:02]:

Yeah, for sure. On Friday. Tonight I have solicited all of my fellow nerds to participate in a game night at Denizens just for the last hurrah. I'm not sure how many games we'll actually play because I'm sure it's going to be packed, but we're going to at least try to do so. So if you see a group of nerds huddled with a katan board, it is. I come by and say hello. Anything else fun going on this weekend? Halloween is just around the corner. You guys tracking anything?

Brandy Holder [00:03:36]:

Halloween is the best holiday I was so busy with Snelly that I actually haven't even decorated for Halloween yet. But I know that there are a lot of Halloween things going on. There's stuff over going on. Atlas and DC Brow. But I'm pretty sure there's a huge blowout over at Baby Cat, right?

Jordan Harvey [00:03:56]:

Oh, yeah. It is their anniversary, or it's it's the largest costume party Kennington has ever had, and they have beers to complement. Largest party. So definitely if you are looking for something to do a week from actually next Saturday, not even a week from today. A week and a day, eight days from today at the time. This is October 20, I had a great conversation with the folks over at Baby Cat Brewery. My fellow Marylanders, I have Terry Salmon. Phil, how are you guys doing tonight?

Terry Redmond [00:04:33]:

Great, Jordan. Yeah, having a good day.

Jordan Harvey [00:04:36]:

Most folks have heard about Baby Cat, but for those that haven't heard about Baby Cat, terry, I'm wondering if you could give the folks a spill. Who is Baby Cat? Where are you guys at, and what do you guys do?

Terry Redmond [00:04:46]:

So we are located in the town of Kensington, and we've been open hair under a year now, and we're a community brewery. Phil Zanello is our head brewer. And the vision, the concept, and the mood of Baby Cat has all been driven by Sam Musumelli, who I guess the better parts of three years ago reached out to me. We had had a relationship before. We had worked together in the past, and kind of when the pandemic came about, sam really wanted to kind of down the road, maybe four, five, six years down the road, start a brewery. And so he was coming to me for advice. I had kind of a little bit of a mentor relationship with him, and we started kind of working through some scenarios, and pretty soon we were meeting weekly. And finally I'm like, are you interested in partnering on this? And he's like, that's the only way my wife will let me do this.

Terry Redmond [00:05:52]:

So that was kind of the beginning. I said, we should do it. We should do it big, and we should do it in Kensington. And then at that point, that just launched everything. Kensington was a dry town until really about 2019, when the state granted them eight alcohol licenses. We were fortunate enough to get the Eigth. The location where we're in is kind of a converted auto repair shop, and it had a big roll up garage door. It had two big windows in the front, and it was kind of tucked away under the railroad tracks in this little kind of obscured area, and it just had this really cool vibe.

Terry Redmond [00:06:36]:

So we kind of started talking to the landlord about it and told him our vision. We wanted a community brewery. We didn't want to do food. We wanted to allow patrons to bring their own food. Family friendly, welcoming to everybody. It's just been completely well received, and it's been overwhelming, kind of the support of the community has been tremendous. The support of the town has been incredible. Our first hire was Phil Zanello, who was working as a head beer or a lead brewer sorry.

Terry Redmond [00:07:12]:

At lone oak. But essentially what this is is it's Sam's vision, sam's passion, and we found just a cool little town that we both I live in Kensington. Phil recently moved to just outside Kensington, and Sam lives right just outside Kensington. So it's just a really cool spot that it's beer, really rewarding, and really kind of really a pretty awesome project to take on and just see how it's all come about.

Jordan Harvey [00:07:43]:

Yeah, and definitely, like, right by the tracks, the space that you guys have and all the hard work you guys put into it. I've been encouraging folks to go out there as often as I can because me being just outside of Kensington myself in the wheaton silver spring area, baby cat is right there. So it's perfect for me. Sam, turning to you with this kind of being your love child, it seems that you were kind of the initial brains behind the operation. What pieces of yourself have you brought to baby cat?

Sam Mussomeli [00:08:17]:

Well, the overall kind of vibe of the place and what the tap room is and what the feel of the place is was something that I've been planning unbeknownst to myself for a long time, probably eight years. And like Terry said, about three years, I started getting real serious. And once I was given the go ahead to go off on it, I pretty much went off on it. And there's a lot of things that I see that I just wish other places were, and I feel like I've made our place everything that I felt like those places were kind of lacking. I wanted it as warm and as homey and as inviting and as like, you just don't want to leave as possible.

Jordan Harvey [00:09:13]:

And to that point about it being very homey and not wanting to leave, I think what you guys did with the tap room is just exceptional. So I've been to a number of breweries in my day, and most of them, they just kind of have the standard bar stools, the standard counter, standard taps. They might have a couch mite. That's a big mite. But most times it's just those steel chairs, hard floor, not really that aesthetically pleasing. You guys, on the other hand, have just so much character. So I think you've done an exceptional job with that. I also noticed you guys were building out a brand new deck that I believe is ready now.

Jordan Harvey [00:09:52]:

Is that correct? Is the deck live now, or is it going live soon?

Terry Redmond [00:09:57]:

It's pretty live. It's pretty live right now. It's not approved, but it's pretty live.

Michael Stein [00:10:02]:

It's live.

Sam Mussomeli [00:10:05]:

Don't say the word alive, but live.

Jordan Harvey [00:10:08]:

Okay, when do you guys when would it be open to the public? Officially.

Terry Redmond [00:10:15]:

We'Re hoping to get approval this week. So we had to get two kind of components done. We had to get the electrical approved well, the electrical done and the electrical approved. And then the county required this survey, which was incredibly expensive right at the end of the project. So we had a survey company out there today making sure the deck was properly placed on the property line and not infringing on the park property, which is adjacent to our space. So we feel pretty confident that by this weekend, we'll have county approval.

Jordan Harvey [00:10:55]:

Got you.

Terry Redmond [00:10:56]:

But it should add about 50 seats to the location where we have the patio. Now we have the deck, we have the hidden garden, we have the kind of the lawn and the wood chip area. So our outdoor space can probably accommodate close to 100 and 5170 people, which.

Sam Mussomeli [00:11:16]:

Is pretty awesome with 100 person indoor tap room, too.

Jordan Harvey [00:11:20]:

Yeah, most certainly. Sign me up. I can help approve the deck. Phil turning to you with your experience at Lone Oak, were there any particular beers you were excited to brew or bring to the Kensington area, or was it just more of a we'll keep it safe because this is a pretty, dare I say slow? Like, what was your thoughts about behind brewing?

Phil Zanello [00:11:42]:

Oh, no, it's just for baby cat. I wanted to scrap everything I'd done at Lone Oak and I just wanted to use my experience at other places and just brew something that I like and Sam likes and Terry likes and then at the same time kind of keeping it with sections that people haven't experienced yet. So we do like everyone these days. If you go to a brewery, you'll probably see people doing Lagers and then Hazy IPAs and then Tower Beers. And we do have some of those sections or groups available in there, but we also want to do something a little bit different. And we don't just brew something because it sells. We brew something because we like and then we want the public to experience, too. So we do have an Alt beer that is something that we felt like it should be like a flagship and it's really good.

Phil Zanello [00:12:43]:

And we do other beers that breweries don't do, like a rock beer. We have that currently right now. And then we are also experimenting with seasonals and we have a bunch of one offs that we're hoping to do in the future. So it'll be like an ongoing so every time you go to the tap room, you'll find something new. At the same time, we keep perfecting our recipes and just trying as best as we can to provide something that's like super easy drinking. I think almost all of our beers are on the lower ABV Side, so if you go in there, you're probably going to find something that you like to drink. Having said that, we have a 15% beer that's coming out next weekend for our anniversary party.

Jordan Harvey [00:13:34]:

Is that a barley wine you guys are doing? Is that a barrel age stout or what does that look like? People have to come and see what's the skinny on that one?

Terry Redmond [00:13:41]:

What do you think, Sam?

Phil Zanello [00:13:42]:

Should we tell them or should they?

Sam Mussomeli [00:13:43]:

Yeah, have at it.

Terry Redmond [00:13:44]:

We should tell them.

Sam Mussomeli [00:13:45]:

It's a Russian imperial stout. Russian imperial stout that we actually I guess you could say we split the batch. So a portion of it went in the can straight from the uni tank. Straight from the tank or from the bright. And then the other portion of it we aged on some American white oak soaked in whiskey. So it kind of gave it a little bit more like of a dark cherry and a lot of vanilla kind of flavors to it. But it also has, like, this big chocolatey roasty backbone. It's really good.

Sam Mussomeli [00:14:32]:

I don't really drink 15% beers anymore, but I will be drinking this one.

Jordan Harvey [00:14:39]:

Okay. Yeah. I don't know if 15% is a good shift beer to have all day, so I don't blame you. I don't blame you for that. The people want to know, do you guys think you'll ever get into distribution or not? And if not, why?

Sam Mussomeli [00:15:00]:

Really? I'll just flat out say it. That's not a goal. It never was. From the beginning. There's no desire to take over the know. I forget who it is. Phil might know, but it was a famous wasn't, Sam, but they said it at CBC, where it's a quote that says, I envision a United States where every small town has its own brewery.

Terry Redmond [00:15:31]:

And they brew I think it's Charlie Papazian.

Sam Mussomeli [00:15:33]:

Was it Papazian?

Terry Redmond [00:15:35]:

Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I think that was part of his wanted. He wanted it to be kind of an open kind of society, if you will, where people shared all the recipes and that's happened, and he also wanted to be every little town had their own brewery, which is kind of where we are.

Sam Mussomeli [00:15:56]:

That's kind of a desire for us, too. And the town is really kind of taken ownership of the brewery. It's not Baby Cat Brewery in Kensington. It's Kensington's Brewery to everybody that comes.

Terry Redmond [00:16:09]:

There, which is but I will tell you, Jordan, it's a really interesting question, because even Phil and I were talking about it. We're we're having such a good time doing this, and everything you read, everyone you talk to is like all the enjoyment just floods away as soon as you get into distribution. The flip side of that is you have people coming in all the time, like, hey, we'd love to get your beer down here. We'd love to get your beer here. Sometimes it's like, we're just starting a business. We're in millions of dollars of debt. And you kind of think, well, yeah, let's go down that road. But every time the fallback is we're having too much fun to kind of start making work a headache every single day.

Terry Redmond [00:16:57]:

So, like Sam said, and we've been pretty adamant, uh, we don't want to rule the world. We just like to have a little corner that we've made pretty cool and helped a community to find a meeting place. That's what we'll say about that.

Jordan Harvey [00:17:17]:

Yeah. And I would say I think you've succeeded earlier this year's. St. Patty's Day is any proof of that concept or summer fest? I think the community I think they were starving for that place to go, to have, like, that neighborhood spot to get great beer. I saw some rumblings on social media about a Halloween party. Is that what's coming up this week? Sam, you've been excited about this for a while. You want to tell us about the Halloween?

Terry Redmond [00:17:49]:

First of all, it's Sam's favorite holiday. He thinks it's a holiday, so we don't want to tell him any different.

Sam Mussomeli [00:17:56]:

It's not.

Phil Zanello [00:17:59]:

It's the one year anniversary holiday. That's what it is.

Terry Redmond [00:18:02]:

Yeah.

Sam Mussomeli [00:18:03]:

Well, basically the tap room was ready probably two weeks before we opened. So I figured I asked the town, hey, do you guys ever do a Halloween party? And they said, no. And I said, can we claim it? They said, go ahead. I said, all right. It's on October 20, eigth, Saturday. We are having an all day Halloween anniversary. It's our first anniversary, and it will be Halloween weekend every year. Moving forward, costumes pretty much recommended or required.

Jordan Harvey [00:18:43]:

Any prizes for?

Sam Mussomeli [00:18:45]:

Yes, absolutely.

Terry Redmond [00:18:47]:

Great question.

Sam Mussomeli [00:18:48]:

Big prizes. Not like, oh, you get a free beer. We're talking three figures.

Jordan Harvey [00:18:57]:

Is it the 15.1%?

Sam Mussomeli [00:19:01]:

Three figures with a dollar sign in front of it? Jordan and no decimal point.

Jacob Berg [00:19:11]:

Or a.

Sam Mussomeli [00:19:12]:

Gift card with a designated value to it.

Jordan Harvey [00:19:16]:

Got you.

Terry Redmond [00:19:17]:

If you put in the decimal point, it's going to be three figures.

Jordan Harvey [00:19:20]:

Yeah.

Sam Mussomeli [00:19:21]:

Well, with a decimal point, it could be five, potentially.

Terry Redmond [00:19:25]:

So we are hoping for a big turnout. Jordan we are so psyched about this event. And Sam has, like, if you spend any time with him, he's going to bring out his previous Halloween costumes that go back probably 15 years. And everyone is like bananas. And he is all in. So I know it's a fun holiday for him. We're super excited. Not only have we been open a year, but just to have really Kensington's only Halloween party.

Terry Redmond [00:20:03]:

And we're going to have bands there. We're going to have fire trucks. Yeah, the fire trucks. We'll have things for kids. It should be an exhausting day for us, but it'll be fun as hell.

Jordan Harvey [00:20:17]:

All right. Yeah, no doubt. And I'm sure it'll be extra fun for those that drink that 15% Russian Imperial.

Terry Redmond [00:20:25]:

Exactly.

Jordan Harvey [00:20:26]:

So definitely get your hands on that and keep your eyes peeled to Baby Cat Brewery on social media. That's where we can see all the events that they have come down the pipe as well as the awesome beers that Phil is cranking out. So just to give you guys your flowers for not only bringing a great craft brewery to my area and also to the wonderful state of Maryland, but also not just sticking with the general mold of I mean, I haven't talked to every brewery in America, but most of the one I've talked to, they don't have a pumpkin beer, an alt beer, a Russian imperial, a kolsh, and some hazy IPAs just to complement that on tap. So, awesome lineup. Thank you guys for taking the time out of the day to be on the DC Beer show. Cheers, gents, and have a good night.

Terry Redmond [00:21:14]:

Thank you, Jordan. And you've been a great supporter of ours. And this is our first podcast, so it's been super cool, and thanks for inviting us.

Sam Mussomeli [00:21:23]:

You've been a great host.

Terry Redmond [00:21:24]:

You've been awesome.

Phil Zanello [00:21:25]:

Thank you very much.

Sam Mussomeli [00:21:26]:

Thanks for call the support.

Jordan Harvey [00:21:27]:

Yeah. Happy to have you guys. And I will continue to support. Keep changing out the good beer. Definitely make your way to Kensington to support my good friends over at Baby Cat. They got some wonderful surprises, and costumes are welcome. So if you have a costume that'll win the day, go prove it. Go to baby Cat for the Halloween party.

Brandy Holder [00:21:45]:

Mike, I want to ask you a question, and Jake and Jordan, how much do you miss? I know, I know we did a lot of work, but it was great work, and we didn't do as much work as the NRG people because they freaking crushed it, and they were like a well oiled machine. But I was so mean. Honestly, words are escaping me right now. I was so happy about having the DC beer stage, seeing everybody join us, not only the panelists, the amazing panelists that we had, but the guests walking by and listening, our friends, and I think we call did a solid job. And I want to say thank you to Greg and Bruno and Tim and Stephanie for having us there. I know that they had a lot of nice things to say, as well, but I cannot wait for next year. So if you saw us at Snelly, make sure you share those photos with us and give us your feedback on our panel.

Michael Stein [00:22:57]:

Brandy, I got a question to ask you. Truth, are you a chef? Because you keep feeding me soup. I'm cutting onions in here. It's real dusty up in this kitchen right now. I'm just getting a little sniffly thinking about Snally, but I have to give a massive shout out to our friend Amber, the one and only, for making us look good. She just shared on the DC Beer group chat beautiful images that she was shooting on Snally Day but also Snally Weekend. You'll see those trickling out on social media. Brandy, thank you for making us look so good on IG and across all platforms, but I didn't even notice.

Michael Stein [00:23:42]:

I saw Jordan, you were kicking it with Ale Sharpton and some other notable members of our beer community. And I was just like, damn, I have FOMO. And I was there on, you know, I missed Friday. I missed Sunday. So I'm already missing something that happened not even a week ago when you'll hear this podcast, DC Beerland freaking ditto.

Brandy Holder [00:24:04]:

Yeah, Jordan was hanging out with a beer godmother, and I was like, how did I just meet her after, you know, we were on stage. Jordan was walking around doing his thing and being mingles, which is normally what I do, but I'm glad one of us was doing it. So second to being thankful for Amber. Love Amber. Love Amber. Love you, Amber.

Jordan Harvey [00:24:29]:

And truly, I did have the opportunity to mix and mingle, but it was only because you guys put together marvelous panels. So definitely keep monitoring the DC Beer space. You'll see a lot of especially if you are subscribed to our patreon, you'll see a lot of that content come out because the hops panel, the Mix for Meditation panel, the Women in BIPOC panel, it's just excellent. So I appreciate that collectively and really driven by you three wonderful folks. And shout out to Papa Beer as well.

Jacob Berg [00:25:02]:

But wait, there's more. I'm here with Jim Bachman from Growing Fortify, talking about the Baltimore Craft Beer festival. Jim, take it away.

JIm Bauckman [00:25:11]:

Jake, I really appreciate you having me here. Yeah, we're stoked on the Baltimore Craft Beer Festival this year. Come out and celebrate with us at Canton Waterfront Park on Boston Street in beautiful downtown Baltimore, looking right over the Baltimore Harbor. We've got a really wonderful event planned for Saturday, November the fourth. We'll be having a great time from noon to 05:00 p.m. At this beautiful park. And the event is going to be a great one. We've got 50 Maryland Breweries.

JIm Bauckman [00:25:37]:

We've got some heritage brands like Heavy Seas, the Brewers, Art Brewers, alley brands that have been around for almost three decades producing and slinging Maryland beer. We've got some great up and comers. We've got brands like Sapwood Sellers joining us, idiom out of Frederick. And then we've got some really great breweries in planning who are not yet hosting people in their own tasting rooms, but are bringing their beers to market, showcasing what these brands look like and telling you what their future is going to be in the next few years. So really great opportunities to try more than 200 beers from more than 50 breweries. We've got live music throughout the event. We have three great live bands, natalie Brooks band. We have Joe Keys and the Late Bloomer Band.

JIm Bauckman [00:26:19]:

And then we have a great band called the Derailleurs that will be there. We'll have a wonderful guest. MC our friend Finn, better known as the Poor of Baltimore, will be giving everybody some play by play from the main stage, introducing our bands. He'll also have a really fun time this year, helping us to announce the winners of the 2023 Maryland Craft Beer Competition. The final judging for that competition takes place at this festival. You get to watch the judges try all of the best in class beers that were there. And then we will announce who the overall winner of the competition is. They get a really cool trophy.

JIm Bauckman [00:26:54]:

They get to show it off with everybody at this great party. And then when you're there, we've got local vendors for you, artisan vendors, different kinds of retailers from around the Baltimore area. And then we've got wonderful food trucks and food tents that will be there serving up food that everybody wants. We've got two tiers of tickets this year. The Beer Geek Festival Pass is available for folks who would like to enjoy an hour and a half of leisurely sampling before the big crowd gets there. You get early access to any kind of limited release or exclusive beers that will be offered. You get an upgraded glass, very nice Belgian glass versus a little sampling glass. And you get the opportunity to rub elbows with folks who are going to be a little bit more pinned down by people asking them questions and telling them how much they love their beer.

JIm Bauckman [00:27:40]:

Throughout the event, we also have a regular tasting pass that allows guests to come in from 130 on to enjoy samples, and all of those details and passes can be found@baltimorecraftbeerfestival.com.

Jacob Berg [00:27:54]:

We've got one more event coming up for you the same weekend as the Baltimore Craft Beer Festival. The day before that, Friday, November 3, is Last Call american Beer in a Changing Climate over at the American History Museum, the Smithsonian could have some pretty cool special guests, including some beer from Wheatland Spring. And guests Andrea Stanley, founder of Valley Malt in Massachusetts, up in Holyoke victoria Garza, who is the Latin American sales manager at Yakma. Chief hops in Yakma, Washington. She also is the co founder of the Migrant Beer Collaboration, which honors the labor and expertise of American hop workers in the Pacific Northwest. Denise ford sabadogo from montclair brewing company in montclair, new jersey. She and her husband have West African and Caribbean heritage in their backgrounds, which means think of beer with different kinds of grain, phonio, sorghum even. And then perhaps the addition of hibiscus, which we should be familiar with.

Jacob Berg [00:28:59]:

Also Morgan Al Crisp, who's one of the co owners of Seven Clans brewing in Asheville, North Carolina. It's a woman owned, Cherokee owned brewery. So there's going to be small bites as well as five ounce samples of beer. But wait, there's more, because Brandy and Jordan, along with some of the folks from the Women's Brew Culture Club, helped pick hops from the Smithsonian Victory Gardens outside the American History Museum. And then DC home brewers have brewed two beers featuring Cascade, Nugget and Willamette damn it, hops. So anyway, we'll put that up on the show notes, but if you go to Americanhistory Si.edu, you can get information there. We will definitely see you there as well. We have one more special guest.

Jacob Berg [00:29:51]:

We sat down in between our Snally gaster panels. Our very own Brandy, along with NRG's head of beer, Greg Engert, sat down for a craft. Take it away.

Brandy Holder [00:30:03]:

What are the highlights of this year that maybe were different from last year that you are enjoying and maybe want to implement next year?

Greg Engert [00:30:12]:

Every year, this is the 11th year we've done it. We always look at it and say, like, what can we do better? And we send out an email that asks people like, what do you think? How did it go? And everything else. And some of the things we did this year, you might not even notice, but we put all of the food, like in the center. We were very deliberate about communicating where it was tripled the amount of water that we have. And then we were very deliberate about where we put that. We spent extra time talking about how to get people in faster. So for anybody who gets that email that says, what would you change? We actually read them and we do change things based on that. So, yeah, those are some of the things.

Greg Engert [00:30:52]:

But we're just lucky. Every year, more and more brewers come here. They spend their time and their money to come here and hang out with folks, which I think makes it even more fun and send us incredible beers that we can't believe we can get. So it's amazing. And adding the DC Beer podcast stage was a dream. You guys are also very responsive and organized.

Brandy Holder [00:31:16]:

So we have a great little team and we call really are volunteers at DC beer. We really don't get paid for anything, but we do this because we are big craft beer nerds. And not just nerds, but we are advocates. We know that a lot of work and dedication and love go into making good beer and making a good experience for the beer drinkers. And we recognize that with the Snallygaster every single year.

Greg Engert [00:31:45]:

It's incredible. So many people come out for it still. And of course, it is our single biggest fundraiser for Arcadia center for sustainable food and Agriculture every year. It's a nonprofit that Michael Babbin, our founder and CEO, started back in 2011. It does incredible work for food and people in the DC area and beyond. And we're honored to work with them. And it's great. Literally, the money made here goes to them, and some people get that others don't.

Greg Engert [00:32:14]:

But I think it's really important that we talk about that. It's very cool.

Brandy Holder [00:32:18]:

I don't think you guys realize, I just learned this this morning, that even the merch and everything goes toward everything, right?

Jordan Harvey [00:32:27]:

Yeah.

Greg Engert [00:32:28]:

Everything left over. Yeah, that's what we do. And it's always been the biggest thing we started. And the organization has grown so. Well, it's been amazing. So, yeah, it's fun to do that. We're really honored to have this and even just to be at the space. That's the other thing I think people don't realize is, back when it used to rain all the time, we were next to nat's stadium or in union market.

Greg Engert [00:32:49]:

Yeah. And now we've been out here for, I think, five or six years, and we're never going back. It's an incredible place to be.

Brandy Holder [00:32:56]:

Everyone. Cheers to NRG. Cheers to snally. Happy snally everybody. Happy Snelly.

Greg Engert [00:33:03]:

This was great. We'll expand this next year and keep doing it. I just want to say, DC beer has been amazing. Richard, Brandy, you guys do incredible work. Jake and Mike, obviously, and so many other people, we really appreciate what you do. I know it's a labor of love, but it's a big part of this, and I was excited for that. I wanted the brewers here to know about DC beer and to know that that exists in a like, not every city has an organization like this, and I think it's very special. So thank you very much.

Jacob Berg [00:33:32]:

Thank you, Brandy. And thank you, Greg. Engurt. Thank you so much, Greg engert and the NRG crew also, thank you to Sam, Phil, Terry and the baby cat crew. Everybody, trick or treat. Safely. Have a happy, healthy, lovely Halloween. Pair it with candy.

Jacob Berg [00:33:49]:

Tell us what you like about it. Beer and candy go well together. Add us on social media. We're at Dcbeer. DCBeer.com. Be well to each other. Everybody back at it soon.

Jordan Harvey [00:33:58]:

Thanks. Bye bye.

Brandy Holder [00:34:10]:

Don't be home. Don't touch.