Just before the holidays — so apologies for the delay but, you know, holidays — George and I sat down for a ramble with Jono Galuszka, journalist, beer-and-music nerd, former bartender and barista, and occasional drummer. We discuss the many and varied joys of homebrewing, the at-last semi-reliable appearances of good beer in unexpected places, and (inevitably) a bunch of music. We had a venue change for this episode, so the background dog-shuffles have been replaced with regular overhead airplanes.

You may also note that B.O.T.W. #4 is a (non-boycott-breaking) Moa Sour Blanc. It prompted a predictable little side-ramble into their current situation. We’ve excised it from the main episode and present it below as a DVD Extra / after-credits scene. I allude a few times to a work-in-progress catch-up with post-IPO Moa, and I’ll try to get that done this week. (Meanwhile, I still really miss the Imperial Stout.)

As always, a direct download is available (plus one of the Bonus Bit), 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:

• (0.50) I do say this every week, but still. Check out the Coconut Monkeyrocket.
• (2.30) Beer of the Week #1: Jono’s own [un-named] Belgian golden ale. The other-yeast variant apparently turned out okay, too.
• (12.30) Friends-of-the-show cross-referencing: Stu McKinlay and Jo Wood.
• (15.00) Geoff Griggs’ regular Marlborough Express column. ‘Beer minimum of respect’ is the column that Jono and I had particularly in mind.
• (17.00) Michael Forbes and Shane Cowlishaw’s Beerhive blog.¹
• (19.00) The gear’s all here, but I haven’t yet managed to fire it up. I’ve been gardening.
• (19.30) Beer’s recent ‘normalising’ turn — session beers and four/six-packs. Also, the Hallertau-Liberty mini-conglom is officially The Beer Fountain.
• (23.10) Beer of the Week #2: Stewart Brewing ‘Top Of The Hops’. Which was definitely tasty, but that extra (accidental?) point of booze counts against, in context.
• (27.00) Good beer outside the main centres — and getting around big-brewery-lockdown contracts. And good beer in “non-beer” bars.
• (29.30) Further friend-of-the-show cross-referencing: Hadyn Green.
• (30.10) Neil Miller’s Beer & Brewer blog, which does indeed include the Backbencher and Thistle pieces Jono mentions.
• (33.10) The Beer Diary Podcast basically started with Emerson’s Pilsner. It probably really is time to revisit it in detail. (He says, making a mental note. And a real note.)
• (34.20) Beer of the Week #3: Jono’s own [un-named] Chili Pale Ale.
• (45.40) Jono’s day job, his blog (and its original incarnation, so you can trawl the back catalogue), and his Twitter account (to save you spelling it).
• (47.00) The WilliamsWarn, the (super-slick) bread machine of homebrewing.
• (51.40) Beer of the Week #4: Moa Sour Blanc.
• (54.30) Spiegelau glass de-brief. And I’m having a PKB in the IPA one, now.
• (1.00.30) Recommendations: Session IPAs (the aforementioned Semiconductor, XPA, etc.), good cider (not the RTDs in drag which are flooding the market). Rodenbach Grand Cru and/or Vintage. Drinking “out of season”. Summer Sommer — which has actually run out in the meantime, but will be back. And try Export Citrus.
• (1.10.00) Also: play more games. Tabletop Day is coming up, again, too.
• (1.11.20) Music: Arctic Monkeys’ ‘AM’, Richard Hawley, and BBC6. Plus Beastwars and the All Seeing Hand.
• (1.19.00) Beer Thanksgiving: 1) Dave Wood (overlord of SOBA and Hashigo, and open-hearted beer geek), 2) Martin Craig (Pursuit of Hoppiness editor and former blogger), and 3) George Langlands himself, lovely chap that he is.
• (1.22.30) Belatedly happy holidays! I still owe you all a fuzzy-microphone photo.
• (1.22.50) Cue the music: ‘Shopping for Explosives’, by The Coconut Monkeyrocket. Audio editing done in Audacity. Habitual thanks to both.

1: Interesting that Fairfax / stuff.co.nz has so much good beer-related content online, and increasingly good stuff, yet is still an offender in the Use Beer To Illustrate Moral Panic cliché stakes. ↑