Home Brew Rock Stars Podcast

Yo! So how’s everybody doing? COVID-19 continues to change our routines and lifestyles as we are now facing mandatory ‘shutter in place’ and closings. Hopefully everybody has plenty of home brew and brewing supplies to ease their minds.  If you’re like us, you’re most likely filled up on coronavirus news reports and getting all streamed out on television, so why not change it up; pour a home brew, settle in and listen to Home Brew Rock Stars as we try to get through. In Part 2 of “Jazzin’ Up with Mr. Beer” we continue with David Benson talking about home brewing, Mr. Beer & other non-traditional types of brewing and his Jazz music recordings. David, Brent, Kent and Mike taste and review a home-brewed Tank #7 (Boulevard Brewing) clone brewed by David. A 7.7% farmhouse ale brewed in David’s Pico brew system. We also sampled an Imperial Rye Cream ale David made weighing in at a hefty 9% ABV (it's bigly!) - great back story here! Our sponsor Pig Minds Brewing provided us with a peaty & smoky Wee Heavy the

Dia Duit, (PRONOUNCED - dee-ah gwit) and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Welcome back to HomeBrew Rockstars. A fitting greeting as it is Irish meaning "God to you". We Hope you are enjoying your St. Patricks Day. Since our last few episodes a lot has changed in our world, as COVID-19 seems to be in all the news and on our minds. “Social distancing” has become a catch phrase along with hoarding of disinfectants, hand sanitizers, masks and… toilet paper? What the hell is everybody going to do with all the toilet paper? Come on people, really? I’m more worried about having enough home brew! Since there are no sports to watch it’s time to just “relax and have a home brew” (thanks Charlie); so crack open a good one, start up a new brew, or just settle in and listen to Home Brew Rock Stars. In Part 1 we call “Jazzin’ Up with Mr. Beer” we invited David Benson to the Bat Cave studio to talk about home brewing, Mr. Beer & other non-traditional types of brewing. David is also a jazz musician and we play some of his music

How hops it? Welcome back to HomeBrew Rockstars! All home brewers, no matter what level we are at were once newbies to home brewing. At first it seemed daunting to just get a finished drinkable product, but the more we brew the more comfortable we become. We gain new brewing knowledge and tricks with each brew session along with discussing with other home brewers. Some lessons we derive from our mistakes, those setbacks are usually remembered the best! In this podcast we call the Newness - Part 2, we continue with our guest Pete Domino to talk about ‘newness’ of home brewing, relocating back to the Midwest (right next door to Sears, the poor bastards!) Pete, Brent, Kent and Mike taste and review a home-brewed Brown Ale made by Pete and his brewing partner in crime, Jason Sears, that they brewed for the Forest City Brewers February club competition. This was a cool event where 19 brewers received identical brew kits consisting of set grains, hops and yeast to then they let their own ‘brew flags’ fly and make t

Greetings and welcome back to Home Brew Rock Stars! We come out of a short hiatus while Sears took a long overdue trip to the Yucatan Peninsula for some much-needed R&R. Plenty of sun, sand, ocean and of course beer. Doesn’t get much better than that while the snow and cold assaulted our home turf. Now that we’re all back in the Midwest and Sears has had an attitude adjustment (the jury is still out), we have a new episode of Home Brew Rock Stars. Be sure to listen in as we are in the process of tweaking our format and focusing more on home brewing based on what you listeners have been telling us. Really we do listen to you and WANT to hear from you. Some exciting podcast news was published recently. On February 19th Feedspot included Home Brew Rock Stars into their top 10 list as A Top Home Brewing podcast! Go here to see who we stack up against  As always we appreciate if you make sure to Like us, Follow us and RATE US! In this podcast (part 1 fo 2) we invite Pete Domino to the Bat Cave studio to talk b

Now that xmas gifts are opened and you're staring at that new brewing gear and gadgets to check out, it's time to brew some home brew for 2020! This episode we're joined again by Bob "my bud" Marske to explore the "State of Home Brew" in America, where we've been and where we're going as brewers of our own beers. Have you hit a lull? Has the excitement of a full boil lost its luster? Or are you entrenched in a brewing project nearly every weekend? No matter your brewing status, always try to remember that an active engagement with brewing is the best way to really understand and appreciate beer. The waiting is the hardest part (said Mr. Petty-RIP). The cast also reviews (and tastes) some awesome holiday craft beer that you'll wanna put in your fridge for the "playoffs"! What's that? Ah - Playoffs? Don't talk about - playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game! ...well a spicy xmas beer sounds like a good game plan! Tasters in this show include Anchor Christmas Ale, Deschutes Jubelale Win

There is no handbook to opening a brew supply store; no guides, no advice to seek out or business plans already generated. Welcome to an episode discussing How to Start Up a Home Brew Supply Shop with our guest BOB “my bud” Marske from 815 Gardens and Brewing. We get into the ins and outs, peaks and valleys, and rabbit holes of putting together a home brewing supply offering, including determining your demographics, suppliers, influences and clientele. It's all about word-of-mouth to get it going and find out what your customers really want, like tapping into the local home brew club, holding tastings and brew days and networking the community! Tis the season for Christmas Beers as we review a nice current and accessible list from 52brews.com thatincludes a wide variety of spiced up winter and dark treats for your holiday celebration. We also do some tastings from Pig Minds Brewing "The Jude Abides" Milk Shake IPA (Yum), Begyle Brewing Imperial Pajamas Stout barrel-aged with coffee (dreaminess!), Struise Pan

We welcome back guest Ron Derry Jr., a.k.a. "Legenderry", to discuss extreme beer collecting. Ron is an avid collector, especially Barleywines and Barrel-aged by products. The Home Brew Rock Stars crew review a beer event bucket list in the US and abroad, and they dig in for an interesting, if not humorous discussion on how, when where and why beer collecting is such a big thing. Bucket list events include Russian River Intinction Sauvignon Blanc, Schönramer Pils, New Anthem Songs Unsung and Steez, Modern Times Barrel-Aged Stouts and Great Taste of the Midwest. We also do some beer tastings: Revolution Strawberry Straight Jacket - Barrel-Aged Barleywine 2nd Shift Liquid Spiritual Delight - Imperial Stout Brasserie de Rockefort Trappistes Rochefort 10 - Belgium Quad  Pig Minds Brewing Fall for Revenge- Winter Amber with Aged on Sour Cherries Fresh Hop Home Brew (Brente) California Lager -  features 33 ounces of Cascade and Chinook hops fresh off the bine that were added to just 5 gallons (Chinook in the mash)

Home Brew Rock Stars welcomes guest and fellow homebrewer, Ron Derry Jr., as this 'tis the season moment calls for a discussion on honey and its value to the many uses in beer and mead. Mr. "Legenderry" offers his experience with both brewing with honey, and seeking out some of the best honey-brewed beer and mead in the United States. One other interesting fact and coincidence is that beta acids found in hop cones kill mites, a major pest for honeybees. Some other honey history and factoids: The use of honey in something akin to beer could go back 9,000 years The U.S. alone produces more than 300 types of honey The Honey Board estimates there are between 115,000 and 125,000 beekeepers in the United States, most of them hobbyists with fewer than 25 hives. (c.2017) American brewers used 25.4 million pounds of American honey in 2015 Beer tastings include a couple of sweet "Legenderry" meads, Pig Minds-Good Ole Rye, Revolution-Honey Jacket, Hatch Distillery-Limoncello and Collective Arts-Audio/Visual Lager...sp

Trick or Treat? That's what we're finding out in this show about Fall Beers, what to drink, brew, why and when. The dead rock stars of recent memory (Rick Ocasek, Eddie Money, Robert Hunter...) lead us into the temptation of Halloween 2019, and a fun revision of The Official Halloween Night Handing-out-Candy Drinking Game (revised for beer drinkers from the original from SheKnows). For example, kids that complain about candy selection...drink a "sour"! Remember our home-brewing commercial pilot pal, Jeremy Krieger, from episode 55? He rejoins Mike, Kent and Brent for an appropriate discussion of Fall Beers of 2019 and they talk about their favorite beers to brew, and/or have brewed, during the fall season. Featuring a tasty one-year aged Brown Sugar Porter (clocking in at 8%) and wood aged with whiskey soaked staves from Bardstown Bourbon "makers" that set the "mark"...tasty shit! We also drink some commercial beers, including: Pig Minds  - Oktoberfest 3 Floyds - Zombie Dust Burnt City - Two Headed Boy Goos

This podcast episode features a commercial pilot that homebrews, Mr. Jeremy Kreiger. We explore the history of beer flights (who's got the good ones around the world), flying with beer (how to pack it in your luggage) and talk to Jeremy about being a pilot and a home brewer...how traveling influences that hobby and where to find cool beers and breweries. Jeremy tells all about some of the best destinations to go drink beer, order beer flights and eat chicken sandwiches. We also drink beer (of course) featuring beer from our great sponsors and Jeremy's personal stash of Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, including: Pig Minds - Down with the 815 (Hazy IPA) Goose Island - Bourbon County Stout (2013) Prairie Kraft Brewing - Paper Wings (NEIPA) Lanikai Brewing (Hawaii) - Pillbox Porter Our sponsors at Artale & Co. have also announced upcoming tastings for the fall season, as well as Pig Minds will soon be releasing Fall for Revenge and Joe Daddy! #drinkitup 0000004B 0000004B 00004939 00004939 001DEC00 001D

It's was another year at the Screw City Beer Fest in Rockford, IL with the Forest City Brewers serving home brew. This year the home brewing club served up a whopping 30+ home brews (see list below). Home Brew Rock Stars created a home brew lounge, complete with a couch pit, mustache rides ("stache your glass") and 18 interviews with some of the home brewers that served their beer. We were hoping to get all the home brewers on the mic, but we ran out of time (and we may have gotten a little drunk, in mostly a good way), so apologies to those we missed - we'll look forward to featuring some of those that didn't make it on this podcast in future shows. Regardless, all the the home brewers brought their best as you con see in this list of yummy treats below...#drinkitup  

Beer Festivals are rampant in the US and we preview one of the hottest tickets in the Midwest, Screw City Beer Fest 2019, which sells out each year in under an hour. Co-founder Aaron Sleger fills us in on what's new for their 9th annual festival, with a fun look back on the early days of this in-demand beer tasting event and a bit of forecasting for the 10 year anniversary coming in 2020. While Screw City won't change too much from 2018, last year's move to the new location along the Rock River in Rockford, IL was a popular move for the festival and will again be the site for some 50+ breweries from the biggest craft brewers and up-and-comers in the Chicago and surrounding region, with several other nationally known brands. The  beer line-up at post time included more than 270 styles, including an unprecedented 30 home brews that will be on tap (about 150 gallons) from the Forest City Brewers Home Brew Club - that's not a misprint! We also do some beer tastings from some of the breweries that will be at the f

Welcome to HomeBrewRockStars episode #52 and where we’re talking Beer Brewed in CHI-Town, good ole Chicago, the windy city on the big lake, and one of, if not the most booming major craft brewing metropolitans in the world, definitely in the US. Chicago now ranks #1 in the country for craft breweries and it's not slowing down anytime soon. The crew, along with our Chicago beer expert, Mr. Aaron Sleger of Artele & Co. dive into what's under construction and what's trending big in the Midwest's capital city. We also do some beer tastings, of course, from a few Chicago area breweries such as Hubbard's Cave, Fresh One Hop (Mosaic) IPA, Pollyanna Pils (German Style Pilsner), Buffalo Creek Brewing's Xerxes Chocolate Bacon Stout and MARZ Chela Negra, a black Mexican lager with awesome black on black artwork (see pic below). We also listen to some samples of music from Larry Carlton/Robben Ford, Live in Tokyo, featuring jazz, blues, rock, and funk from two of the most prolific session guitarists in history. The t

As we often do on this podcast, this episode explores the connection of music and beer, the great songs about beer, beer names inspired by thee music world, and we do our best to pair summer music tours with beer styles. Our beer tastings are personal picks of craft beer names that would make a great name for a band, including Pig Minds Brewing's "Southy Bitch Slap", Crystal Lake Brewing's "Too Much Cologne" Founders Brewing's "Green Zebra", and a fabulous Pipeworks/Amager Collaboration called "Electric Rattlesnake"...all taste as great as they sound;) 10 Music-Inspired Beers (c/o Anita George–PASTE) North Coast Brewing - Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale 9.3% - Inspired by the legendary jazz pianist, the brewer donated a portion of the proceeds to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Known to be sweet with a spicy kick, raisins, bananas and apples are among some of its tasting notes. 21st Amendment Brewery’s Back in Black IPA  6.8% - Actually inspired by Paul Revere and his historic midnight ride.

if you like UFO’s, Astronauts, Space Travel, Black Holes and beer, the theme for our 50th episode is music and beer in space as the US celebrates the 50th anniversary of the day a we put a man on the moon. We drink from a list of space themed beers, chat remote with "unsilent" Jay" and listen to samples from the new album from Name the Moon called Space Force. That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." MIXTAPES: We talk about a record producer named Mickey Kapp, who after forging a somewhat improbable connection with several Mercury 7 astronauts, went on to provide later space explorers with customized mixtapes to listen to during their historic flights thanks to José Jiménez, a fictional comic character with a thick south-of-the-border accent who was created by the comedian Bill Dana. Mickey died at 88 on June 11 at his home in Carmel, Calif. SPACE DRINKIN?: Two of its astronauts had flown three sheets to the ozone in 2007, NASA formally banned crews from imbibing in orbit. It’s equally s

It's been almost 50 years since we put a man on the moon, and it's almost time for our 50th episode on Home Brew Rock Stars ... hmmm, I wonder what that will be about?! To celebrate, we thought an episode with some of our favorite moments from the first 48 episodes seemed appropriate. There have been so many that we'll probably do another favorite moments again, but the clips in episode 49 were a lot of fun. To start, we share a clip from one of our first "Real or Fake" segments with guest Eric Johnson. Then we explore the meaning of "Grundrel" with Zak Rotello and some tunes from Miles Nielsen and the rusted Hearts. Then we revisit our "holiday hangover' episode with some silly stories, followed by a couple of memorable segments with resident home brew/mead maker/tie-dye artist, Mike Bohn. About the halfway point we replay a hilarious Real or Fake band names segment with guests Brian Mastrangeli and Cory Wicklund from TUNDRAS ... which was no doubt one of the funnest shows we ever recoroded! And speaking of

A bottle rocket for your thoughts?! For our 48th episode as we approach another 4th of July, the crew discusses why 'Merica likes their freedom, and their beer. We dip our toes into some facts about the 4th of July, how our forefathers started our celebration of independence (of who many were home brewers themselves), feature and taste a few beers for Independence Day and continue our 'Merica theme with some new music and do a fun quiz game called Patriot Beer God (how red, white and blue is you're beer intellect?). Did you know congress didn't actually vote for independence on July 4, and the Fourth of July didn't become an official holiday until over a century after America declared its independence? Listen . close and you'll find out a lot of fun facts about how and why we celebrate our freedom. Plus, we'll do a few beer tastings like Yankee USA IPA from Wisconsin Brewing Co, Revolution's Freedom of Speach, Buckledown's Miles Nielsen and the Rusted Hearts Lager and Liberty IPA from Anchor Brewing (which w

It's officially summer when the BBQ grills get used (and abused) and the beers go down quick in the heat of the moment. The team tackles some grilling tips on how to make the summer cookout a little better (and safer), plus some tips on the best craft beers to sip on when your grilling up some chow. And we review a story of a homebrewer that connects his beers with Net Neutrality (from Andrea Wyrich at DailyDot) We also do some tasting of a few summer craft beers that tend to go down well when you're flipping your meat and veggies over the hot coals (...watch it!). For example, those burgers and brats will taste even better with a Southy Bitch Slap Red Ale from Pig Minds Brewing, or just as soothing would be the the Berliner Weisse from New Glarus. We also taste a sumptuous summer raspberry ale called Summerly from Pollyanna. And of course when possible, top the experience off with a homebrew - for this we had the pleasure of trying Jason Sears' Smash IPA, a smooth easy drinker and well done for a rookie brew

If you're fave NBA or NHL team is still in the finals, then we've got the best beer pairings for you. Just about any beer would probably be good during a pro basketball or hockey playoff game (especially home brew), but these should be readily available for the homers and fun to seek out for this special occasion. We also review some beer pairings for NBA & NHL teams from Victoria Pratt of Porchdrinking.com, Lee Breslouer of Thrillist, a Milwaukee Bucks drinking game from Matt Mueller of onmilwaukee.com, a NHL Drinking Game from Walter Gawron of drinkinggamezone.com and some chicken wing marinades from Marshall Ottina sportsbarmarketing.com. All while drinking and reviewing our own NBA BEER PAIRINGS: Schlitz - pairs with Milwaukee Bucks Firestone Walker Union Jack IPS - Golden State Warriors LaBott’s Blue Canadian Pilsner - Toronto Raptors Pig Minds Always the Hardway (“Penny Hardaway”) And our NHL BEER PAIRINGS: Sam Adams Summer Ale - Boston Bruins Schlafly Northeast IPA - St. Louis Blues Anchor Steam

Collaborations with breweries are a home brewers dream event. It's a day that home brew clubs get to learn from the big boys, and in this case, learn what different yeasts (listed below) can do to a common wort. The feeling can be , and should be mutual for the brewery, as well. That's what the Forest City Brewers did with G5 Brewing in Beloit, WI. The outcomes were enlightening as this podcast will surely reveal. First and foremost, a special thanks needs to be sent our to G5 Brewing and head brewer Tim Goers. Although they were sitting and waiting for "shutdown" permits to be distributed so they coud go public, they didn't hesitate to do this collaboration. In fact, Tim was incredibly generous with his time and provided an great day for all the home brewers that attended (and went home with the most affordable beer they've ever fermented). Brew day was super fun, and the Home Brew rock Stars team was able to talk to many of the home brewers, as well as head brewer Tim Goers, for a long interview about his b