George and I recently had the pleasure of sitting down — for a record number of Beers Of The Week, amidst all the banter — with Stu McKinlay, notorious pants-wearer, and one half (give or take) of the Yeastie Boys. We crash-tested whether fresh is best, sampled some ill-fated beers from the Great Drought era, and heard the origin story for several individual beers and for the unique operation itself — before turning to industry-wide issues like collegiality in the beer business and the culture of consuming alcohol. (Some local wildlife joined in as Special Guest Stars, with Zola the dog providing various thumps and scuffles, and myriad native birds adding a backing track.)
As always, a direct download is available, 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; feedback is absolutely always welcome — I’m also about to start working on providing a few more subscription and download options so any input on such mechanical details is extra-welcome. Cheers!
— Show notes:
- (0.38) Get the coloured-pants references out of the way right out the gate, and welcome friend of the show Stu McKinlay, Yeastie Boy.
- (1.55) “Bagonza” is way better than “Suhguhbuhguhnnnn-zah”, to which I resorted in previous episodes, when sponsor’s initials were awkwardly appended to the acronym.
- (8.50) Beer of the Week #1: Pot Kettle Back, 2ed. #freshisnotbest
- (18.00) I’m trying to find the link to Yeastie Boys’ explanation of the Great Yeastie Drought — which set the bar for open and honest communication from a brewery — but it seems to’ve been splatted when Posterous closed down. These are the perils of the modern internets, I suppose.
- (19.45) Moments of Zola are just wonderful, and I say this as a committed Cat Person. If superadorable puppies are you thing, follow George on the Tweets for a daily dose.
- (22.55) Beer of the Week #2: Digital IPA, plus microbial guest(s).
- (24.55) I spent a good part of the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out clever ways to rescue these beers, from a retail point of view. They would’ve been worth it.
- (25.40) Beer of the Week #3: Gunnamatta, likewise accidentally remixed.
- (28.40) I’ve learned a lot about music by Googling beer names from Yeastie Boys.
- (29.45) I loved Hud-a-wa’ — and the confusion its name caused.
- (32.30) At time of writing, ‘Perch’ is my third most-checked-in beer, claiming a place in a crowd otherwise populated by predictable freebies I get from work. And Gunnamatta.
- (40.50) Stu’s probably here anticipating a friendly-but-philosophical debate on “origin-fudging”, which we never really got around to in this episode. Another time, for sure.
- (41.20) Beer of the Week #4: Firestone Walker ‘Double DBA’, which truly was face-meltingly awesome. Seriously mind blowing and delicious.
- (44.20) John Palmer’s website (and book) is admirably simply-named How To Brew. The entire first edition is online for free, which is just awesome.
- (46.20) Shit Beer Geeks Say: “…but in a good way.”
- (49.30) Tea. So much tea.
- (55.10) Untappd ratings’ inappropriateness was on my mind as I uploaded this, too.
- (56.55) Prison Brew sounds amazing. Let’s stage this again, someone, please.
- (58.30) Beer of the Week #5: Rex Attitude, vaguely vintaged, which George bravely re-tries after his ordeal way back in s01e03. I love its origin story, and hereby apologise for perpetuating the not-quite-right one for ‘Men’n Skurrts’.
- (1.10.40) Five Yeastie Beers for Five Yeastie Years, a.k.a. Dioramarama, really does deserve a post of its own. But I am, as always, appallingly far behind with such things.
- (1.11.45) Yeastie Boys Tea Party / Yeas-tea Something. Mere days away! Wellingtonians, mark your calendars; non-Wellingtonians, book travel. George and I have quiz-related duties on the night, but will make sure to stop by before and/or after.
- (1.15.30) Beastwars were unsurprisingly awesome. Get familiar with them a.s.a.p..
- (1.18.40) Recommendations: The original ‘G.A.o.B.’, by Rowland S. Howard, and A Tribe Called Quest, probably on Rdio. And any steaming service is welcome to my tip-jar idea. I just want it implemented.
- (1.22.45) Beer of the Week #6: Townshend ‘Flemish Stout’. We did have this a few episodes ago, and I’m entirely on board with Stu’s generalised praise for Martin. I don’t have a photo of the 750s, sadly; I should grab some for my stash.
- (1.28.00) In praise of sessionability, for all sorts of reasons.
- (1.31.00) The various ways PBE encouraged sensible drinking are a real factor in its loveliness as a festival. I also owe you all a festival-roundup. (A non-podcast one, at least, our surprisingly-balanced assessment of Beervana was our last episode.)
- (1.33.30) Pete Brown on alco-pops, a.k.a. “ciders”.
- (1.38.40) See, e.g., Victoria Bitter and Crafty Beggars.
- (1.40.10) 90% of the random thumps, and 100% of the slurping noises, were Zola.
- (1.40.30) Cue the music: ‘Shopping for Explosives’, by The Coconut Monkeyrocket. Audio editing done in Audacity. Habitual thanks to both.
Until I find a magical moment to fix the blog (now on tumblr) here is the Great Yeastie Drought explanation, reporsted by BeerNZ… http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=3b3bc70834f11ac03e46f957b&id=cebe479f17&e=4f4f25cf6d
That’s the one. Thanks, Stu.
Dear Readers, fear not the scary link; click through and read a standard-setter for business communication. I’m all for openness, even when it hurts — out of embarrassment and sympathy, as here, or out of frustration and anger.
Had a lot on my mind at that time… it was good to get it out, even if there was threat of legal action over it.
Thoroughly enjoyed this episode (not that I haven’t enjoyed the others).
I fondly remember the buzz at Bar Edward for the PKB launch, and how exotic both the beer and the event seemed. And yet now a tap takeover of tea beers might raise one eyebrow, but not both!
Haha… well said! I raise my cuppa to you Alasdair.
I’d love to recreate that room,with all those people, and think of how times have changed (almost infinitely for the better).
Awesome podcast with all sorts of memories from the recent/distant past 🙂 .
The FW Union isnt actually a Union, in that the barrels arnt actually connected in union. In the Burton Union beer ferments in a barrel and as it ferments up it spills out through a swan neck pipe through a trough and into another barrel. The FW ‘Unions’ work by beer just fermenting in a barrel. The FW barrels are designed to give oak character too where as Burton Unions don’t. Cool but really very different, despite the publicity.
Ah, good to know. Always extra tricky when people say they’re recreating historical things and then don’t quite. Cheers for the details!