The Beer Diary Podcast premiered in May 20111 and ran (sporadically) over the next five years. My co-host and producer was George Langlands; my longtime friend who was also responsible for the original pen-and-paper Beer Diary itself. Looking back a decade later, I’m proud of what we did and think the episodes make a unique document of a key moment in the story of beer in New Zealand — centered in and usually focused on Wellington, but by no means limited to there.
It was popular and, strange to say it myself, influential. We loved that we had listeners at all points inside the industry and among the general public. Many people gave us their time as guests, and for that I’m hugely grateful. George also did an excellent job with its production and editing — especially given our meagre resources; sponsorships were never on our radar.
“Sporadic” really is the word for the release schedule though, and that’s on me and my bad tendency to procrastinate even from things I really love doing.2 A few episodes were lost, others hugely delayed. But I think they’re worth keeping, and I’m glad to archive them here.
The podcast’s feed and iTunes link still work, and the blog posts that contain each episode are indexed below — most with detailed and time-stamped show notes. And never say never, you know? Something might just appear, as they say, wherever you get your podcasts, in the future.
Past episodes:
Season five — July 2015 – onwards:
- s05e05: Crowd, Fun, Ding
- s05e04: Garage Project @ 91 Aro Street (a lost episode)
- s05e03: Beth Brash, Beervana Manager (a lost episode)
- s05e02: Dave Wood & Denise Garland
- s05e01: ‘3G Coverage’ ― Garage Project, GABS, and Gastrophysics
Season four — July 2014 – May 2015:
- s04e08: 2014 Year in Review, with special returning guests Jono and Hadyn
- s04e07: (A lost episode)
- s04e05 & s04e06: Live from Beervana 2014! — with Matt Kirkegaard, Luke Robertson, and Denise Ratfield
- s04e03 & s04e04: Women & Beer — a very special two-part takeover
- s04e02: Dry July
- s04e01: Friend Of The Show
Season three — April 2013 – April 2014:
- s03e09: 2013 Year in Review
- s03e08: What We Did On Our Holidays
- s03e07: Jono Galuszka (plus a bonus brief Moa Update)
- s03e06: Stu McKinlay, Yeastie Boy
- s03e05: Licensing wrangles and Beervana afterthoughts
- s03e04: The (postponed) pre-Beervana hostful
- s03e03: Beer Names (and Festivals, again) with Hadyn Green
- s03e02: Baylands Brewery
- s03e01: A Very Good Friday
Season two — May 2012 – March 2013:
- s02e09: 2012 Year in Review
- s02e08: Emerson’s acquired by Lion
- s02e07: Wellington in a Pint & Beervana 2012
- s02e06: Craft Beer College
- s02e05: West Coast IPA Challenge and Matariki dispatches
- s02e04: Reintroduction / Recap
- s02e03: Jo Wood (Liberty Brewing) and Mike Neilsen (Tuatara)
- s02e02: Australia
- s02e01: Collaboration
Season one — May 2011 – March 2012:
- s01e09: 2011 Year in Review
- s01e08: Strong Beer
- s01e07: At the Masons Arms with Kieran Haslett-Moore
- s01e06: Beer Awards and Festivals
- s01e05: The Garage Project
- s01e04: Midstrength Beers
- s01e03: Winter Beers
- s01e02: Beer Marketing
- s01e01: Grey Market Imports
- As I mentioned in my ‘About the Diary’ post, there was an initial disconnect between the when things were posted here and the date they were tagged with; it was meant to reflect the original handwritten notes, but that idea quickly fell apart when other things — and especially the podcast — started appearing here.
- Going through each post and updating the code for the embedded player, seeing so many apologies-for-the-delay… that was an interesting encounter with myself. I’m working on it.