In not-at-all breaking news, it is apparently February. When last I wrote, it was as far from New Year’s Eve as it is now; life moves pretty fast. I do feel somewhat guilty for the evident fact that it’s things that make me grumpy which most-easily rouse me from my happily-distracted existence and make me actually publish something.¹ I’m in a damn-near-perpetual state of meaning to write something, but as the only-occasionally-wise Jayne Cobb once said — in an episode of Firefly which is just over ten years old but now seems oddly prescient of the current omnishambles in the European meat industry — if wishes were horses, we’d all be eating steak.

Even more unfortunately — given the considerable efforts put in by my co-host and producer extraordinaire, George — the podcast has been even more neglected than it looks. We’d recorded episodes and dispatches as far back as the middle of last year which still haven’t been ‘aired’.² Life-moving-fast would always get in the way of me posting them when I wanted to and should’ve done, which would then kick in truly maladaptive and dim-witted procrastinatory circuitry in my brain that somehow fools itself into thinking that maybe the answer to annoying delay is more delay.

Speaking (as I slightly was) of the calendar rolling around, the arrival of 2013 prompted us to record a Year In Review episode. Getting back in the saddle (to inadvertently return to the horsemeat topic) was great fun, but I’d be intolerably remiss if I didn’t finally also upload the Lost Episodes. So I’ll do that in a couple of compendium posts before getting on with the show proper — because I am as much of a pedantic completionist as I am a scatterbrained procrastinator.

So here they are for the non-zero numbers of people who have (graciously) hassled me for them, and as not-actually-that-out-of-date historical documents in their own right. As always, direct downloads are available (here and here, respectively), there’s a podcast-specific RSS feed, and you should be able to get us on iTunes. George and myself can also both be reached on the Twitterthing, or you can leave comments here or on the Bookface.

s02e05: West Coast IPA Challenge and Matariki

— Show notes:

• (0.01) Hugely experimental, this one. Bear with us. And let us know if we should try this kind of thing more often. We’d love to take the show on the road to Beervana…
• (6.05) Half-way through 24/24, George and I sat down on the big couch in the then-very-spacious Garage Project brewery, and had an Oskar Blues’ ‘Gubna’ IPA, which I initially described as smelling like “angry peaches”, which set Pete’s brain turning.
• (6.17) Serendipitously, I’m wearing said same t-shirt as I finally post this.
• (7.22) George may be foreshadowing a Year In Review pick, here.³
• (9.03) Interviewee (or at least bystander): Peter Moran.
• (12.00) Interviewees: Shannon Quirke, Amy Shand. Beer-blending like champs.
• (15.50) Interviewee: Matt Kristofski of ParrotDog.
• (16.30) Jo Wood was brewing the day we podcasted with him and Mike Neilsen.
• (21.20) It was Galbraith’s Grafton Porter.
• (24.35) Interviewee: Neil Miller.
• (27.45) Interviewee: Dave Wood.
• (30.20) Cue the music: ‘Shopping for Explosives’, by The Coconut Monkeyrocket. Audio editing done in Audacity. Habitual thanks to both. Unlike most recording sessions, we were sitting on George’s couch, rather than at his giant dining table. Hence the reference.

s02e06: Craft Beer College

— Show notes:

• (0.30) Interviewees: Steph Coutts and Jonny Day of Craft Beer College. And, full disclosure: long after this sit-down, I actually started working with them as an occasional host of tastings.
• (1.30) Beer of the Week #1: Emerson’s ‘APA’.
• (4.40) Amazingly, and brilliantly, the Shoe Museum is actually a thing.
• (5.40) Beer options.
• (8.45) Weirdly, an NZQA-accredited course in craft beer has popped up. I’ve yet to form a firm a opinion as to whether or not that’s a good thing.
• (11.00) Origin stories, as it were.
• (12.20) “Social excitability” is Steph’s brilliant euphemism for the chemical effect of alcohol (in moderation). I do hope it catches on.
• (16.55) Seriously, Beastwars rule. In many ways.
• (22.00) That makes three people with Beer Diaries, at least.
• (24.00) Volunteering in (many) beer-related contexts. Which you really should do some time, if you haven’t. (And if you have; cheers!)
• (33.00) Beer of the Week #2: Rodenbach Vintage. Because yay sours.
• (37.00) My photo did the colour absolutely no justice at all, sadly.
• (38.40) Huh. There’s Hallertau ‘Funkonnay’, again. How conspicuous.
• (40.40) My ramble about Lindeman’s ‘Cuvée René’ Gueuze attempts to capture this kind of reaction, wordless and sound-effect-y as it is here.
• (43.50) The background noise is chocolate being opened. Sorry, we didn’t save you any.
• (44.50) Craft Beer College, and consumer education — plus the usual (but completely justified!) jabs at the beer-marketing business.
• (55.50) Recommendations: Yeastie Boys ‘Her Majesty 2012’. It’s possible that I knew the Secret Ingredient at some point, but I have — true to form — lost it. Garage Project ‘Kava Coconut’, which was tonnes of fun — disclosures, disclosures… — at Hashigo’s Pacific Beer Expo. Kereru ‘Moonless Stout’, which really is lovely for a session-strength stout — and should be around a lot more in the latter half of this year, since Chris has a new premises and big shiny steel tanks on the way. Mikkeler ‘Texas Ranger’, a chipotle-and-everything bottle of gorgeousness. And go on, have some Kula Shaker nostalgia.
• (1.03.00) Seriously, too: Nokabollokov. Good god damn.
• (1.04.00) Beer of the Week #3, or technically maybe not: Liberty ‘C!tra’. And there’s us talking about Beer of the Year. Which does make me really keen to get the Year In Review up. One more Lost Podcast Archive, then we will…
• (1.10.10) But first, cue the music: ‘Shopping for Explosives’, by The Coconut Monkeyrocket. Audio editing done in Audacity. Habitual thanks to both. And to Steph and Jonny’s cat.

1: Though, speaking of which, I really should go to town on the Wellington City Council’s astonishingly-loaded questions in their “survey” on alcohol law reform issues. Tactically,that should probably wait until after my application for a Duty Manager’s certificate and the off-license at work both go through. (But when did I ever pay attention to such sensible tactics, I ask you.)
2: Uploaded. Beamed. Podified. Whatever.
3: In all honesty, I’ve forgotten. But it rings a bell.