Welcome in, craft beer lovers! World Beer Cup winners are out, Stone changes hands again, and 21st Amendment is getting revived on the East Coast. Flex is drinking a guava-heavy sour, Greg and Erica crack into a hazy from Sacramento, and somewhere along the way a brewery wins gold for a beer made with pig heads. There’s also a listener call about flat beer, a near HR incident involving Yuengling, and a Tesla that decided it was done babysitting its drunk driver.

Beers We’re Drinking:

1. Flex is drinking Alphabetical Order Pink Guava Gose from Component Brewing.
2. Greg and Erica are drinking Bear Hug Hazy IPA from Touchstone Brewing.

Flex sticks his foot in his mouth and manages to insult Yuengling directly to someone who works for MillerCoors and has to walk it back in real time. A voicemail about a flat kölsch turns into a quick reminder that bad beers still happen, even at good breweries. Brian from Madison tries to strong-arm Flex into finally attending a real beer fest while Erica calls out Fontana Jim and the logistics of last-minute brewery meetups. Greg introduces a medal-winning beer brewed with pig heads, which somehow turns into a full discussion about eating pig brains and where the line actually is. And Busch Light Apple has been spotted in the wild.

Booze News:

1. Evil Genius buys 21st Amendment and brings it back to distribution.
2. Firestone Walker and Duvel take over Stone Brewing.
3. Trumer’s transition from Gambrinus leads to layoffs ahead of Firestone takeover.
4. World Beer Cup winners roll in with OC breweries showing up strong.
5. Tesla pulls over its own drunk driver on autopilot.

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Flex: Instagram: @flex_me_a_beer

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Today we've got World Beer Cup winners.

Huge news in the brewery buyout world, even huger news in the brewery

buyout world and top 75 beers for losing weight fast. Let's go.

Welcome in everybody. Apologies to your ears and

thanks for joining us here on the Craft Beer Republic.

I am Greg and I am being joined by Mr. A beer over in the Midwest.

What's up fella? It's me. I'm in the Midwest, the Fresh Coast.

I'm just in a wily mood tonight. Oh, Wile E coyote. Yeah. Kind of.

Are you excited that the movie's coming out finally?

You know, I was gonna bring that up, but I know it was.

It's not a Wile E coyote show. That's true.

But, yeah, I mean, I'll go see it. I'm sure the kids would want to

see it. I'm sure they would. And joining us from the Not Fresh

Coast, but from the middle of California. Oh, our good friend.

In the salty sailor Erica. What's happening? Hi, friends.

Yeah, it's been a minute. It's great to see you.

You haven't aged a day since I last saw you, and, um,

it's great to be here. I probably look about 120 days older

than the last time you were on here. No, you look you look great.

Not over 100 even. Removed from your head.

You look great. I think it was removed the last

time she was on here. What? That was in, like, September? Yeah.

I'm just messing around. Yeah. Everyone listening is like,

what are you talking about? I did have a bump removed from

my head. In fact, the day I had it removed,

I think Eric who was on the show, oh. Maybe I was. That's right.

And I wasn't supposed to drink and I did anyway.

So that's why you've been so smooth ever since. My my memory is awful.

Yeah, well, everyone is disgusting now. Thanks for, uh, jumping in.

Everybody follow us on the socials at @CraftBeerRepublic

@CraftBeerRepublic. Com, @necknosh dot com.

Go get some pretzels and, uh, treats for your next getting drunk fest

and all that good stuff, I guess. Uh, top listing city shout out

to this is a weird one. Mesquite, Texas. Okay.

Hey, Mesquite. Barbecue capital. Of the world question mark. Yeah.

I was gonna say, do they actually do barbecue or is it just a fun name?

I don't know. It's fun. Yeah. We'll, we'll,

we'll at least in our imagination think that they do barbecue there.

I had some amazing Texas barbecue when I went to Austin,

uh, a few weeks back. And that definitely lived up to

the name. Yeah. You went to the barbecue place I

sent you to, right? Um. At meanwhile brewing the food truck.

No, I didn't go to that one. Meanwhile, was really rad, though.

Good. Good recommendations. What a cool spot.

Um, but we went to, you know, there's a Franklin's barbecue,

which is like everybody stands in line all day, blah, blah, blah.

But then just this other, I couldn't even think of the

name of it right now, but that our tour guide recommended.

And he's like, this is actually where the locals like and it's so good.

I had some, um, what's that called? The giant rib on a cow.

Oh, just beef rib. The dino. They call them dino ribs.

Dino ribs. Oh yeah. So good. Anyways, when I saw mesquite,

I was thinking of dino ribs. Yeah, I had a lot of beef on

that trip, let me tell you. Lots o beef. Oh, good for you.

It's what's for dinner. It is. What's for dinner anyways?

Not a beef show. No. Not yet. Not. Give it five minutes.

Uh, let's see what Flex he's drinking over there.

In a world where craft beer is king, a world where muscles are bigger

than growlers. Only one tongue can guide us.

One man, one tongue, one Tongue-jobber.

In this world, we must find out what is Flex drinking?

Hello ladies and gentlemen. Today Flex is drinking alphabetical

order from Component Brewing Company. It is there down in Milwaukee.

Um, just a little bit before you hit downtown and, uh,

started in a warehouse still in the same warehouse,

but in a bigger portion of it. And they make pretty solid beer.

Uh, this one here is a pink guava goza.

I don't know if I said that already. I have terrible memory. 5.5% ABV.

And this was done for their seventh anniversary.

I can't remember when their seventh anniversary was.

I do think it's summer. No, it can't be summertime.

It's got to be relatively new. So forget I said that. Okay.

The can reads Made in Milwaukee, uh, collaboration,

a collaboration between two startup brewer friends, a staple beer for

one of those friends breweries. A tradition carried on after

that brewery is gone. We've taken what Milwaukee loved

about alphabetical order and added flaked wheat to it for

additional body and mouthfeel. Tart, intensely fruity and

undeniably tasty. We hope you enjoy this refreshed

version of a local sour favorite. Super tiny words on the can that

was very difficult to read. Untapped here says, uh.

It's brewed with £500 of pink guava and sea salt. Wow. So.

Wow, I haven't taken a sip of this. I'm super excited for it.

I'm really ready to hate the people that collectively rated it a 362.

So we'll dig, uh, the old nose buds in there. That's a nice looking beer.

It's got nice color to it. It looks glorious.

Like what you would think, guava. I've never seen guava juice, but I

think that's what it would look like. Can't believe Mr. Produce Man has

not seen guava juice. But yeah. I've seen guava, you know,

because that's produce but not the juice itself.

Uh, of course, what you would expect on the nose

buds heaping wads of guava wads. Uh, damn. My Midwest coming out, huh?

Well, without further ado, we'll warm up the old Tongue-jobber here.

Oh. This is why Erica came back. It was a very weak warm up.

I have beef. See? Now it's a beef show.

Back to the beef. That's how I feel about this beer.

This is delicious. It's like sinking your palate into a,

like, fresh, ripe guava. Mhm. Yeah. I wish it was a little bit more tart.

It is super dry on the end. The flaked wheat definitely

upped the mouthfeel. And you really get that sea salt

on the back end of it. Mhm. Uh, this is super enjoyable and

refreshing. Nice. My. Yeah, my only take on it would be.

I wish it was just a little more tart. It's fair.

But all in all, the guava on it is amazing. It's outrageous.

It's just kind of tastes like guava juice.

That's usually my number one complaint that it's not hard enough.

Not hard enough. Yeah. So that's what my complaint is here.

362. You know, I'd probably say 375. You know.

So I guess I can't hate this rating too much. Sure.

Uh, very, very tasty. Very tasty. Uh, it would definitely be in

that four range if the tartness was kicked up a notch.

But you know, potato, potato. You take the high road.

I'll take the low road, everyone. Well, very nice there. The crevasse.

Yeah. With our mighty juice. Exactly. Something like that.

Tenacious D. Yeah. Uh, a couple of weeks ago,

I mentioned, and I will hold my word to this, that if I see Apple

Busch light Apple in the wild, I will buy it and have it on the show.

And I think I also mentioned, uh, Chew was getting three of those cans.

Non-Murderer John texted me today right before we started the show

with a picture of Busch light Apple. God damn it.

Is this the shit you guys were talking about? I saw it.

I just saw it at target and ran. Uh, thank God I don't live near

Non-Murderer John. I was gonna say, don't tell me

he's going to send you a camera. Right? Don't give him any ideas.

We're not that far from each other, but far enough that I would not

visit his target. So, um, we'll see how that goes.

Yeah. Yeah. Apple in the wild. It's everywhere around here.

Like grocery stores and whatnot. Just like huge. And Yuengling too.

Now that Yuengling is in Wisconsin. Oh. That's right.

Uh, there's just palette displays of it everywhere. End cap displays.

It's kind of annoying. I bet. Yeah, it's a lot. Yeah.

Did I get to tell the story on here? I can't remember.

Uh, about the lady I talked trash to about Yuengling at work?

No, I don't think so. Oh. Get this. So I was closing work one night, And

this nice little old lady came in. She wasn't old,

but she was older. Okay. And, uh, I had to go up front to

hit the liquor button because the cashier was, like, 16.

And the lady had a 12 pack of Yuengling.

And I said, oh, yeah, a lot of people, you know.

Just going nuts about this stuff. And she said, yeah, we don't,

you know, I haven't seen it yet. My husband really wanted it.

And I said, yeah, I said, it's just pretty okay beer.

And I said, I've had that Yuengling flight stuff that's in our cooler

that next to it, it's like again, the Michelob Ultra version of

Yuengling, like two grams of carbs, 90 calories, etc., etc..

And I said, yeah, it was kind of trash.

And she's like, well, I've had it and I don't think it's trash.

And I said, no, it's trash. She said, well, I work for

MillerCoors. Oh. Oh my goodness. I said, well, I'm very sorry for

maybe insulting your workplace, but I still think it is just

pretty okay. Beer. Also, please don't cut off our,

uh, distribution supply. Yeah. And I had to tell her too.

I said, what really broke my heart was back

in 2021 when you guys discontinued, discontinued High Life Light.

And she said, no, no, no, it came back and I said, yes,

I know it came back and I bought some and it was lovely.

And she said, Maybe I'll have to bring some in here.

Oh, way to make amends. Flex. That is how our encounter ended.

And I just thought it was hilarious that I was dissing the product to

somebody who works at the company. Did you catch a name for this?

Not old, old lady. I did not, but she was sweet.

She was kind. She bought the Yuengling because

her husband wanted to try it. And I will still go out there and

say it is just a pretty okay beer. Yeah, it's just fine. Yeah.

It's it's fine. Like it's better than Budweiser

and all the other stuff, but. Yeah, but it's, you know, it's.

Not tons. No, not not by any means. Yeah. It's just fine.

Have you had it Erica. No. I honestly still don't think

I've had a Yuengling. Yeah. Like, it's one of those things that I

wouldn't recommend chasing it, you know? Yeah. That's that's whatever.

Last time I was in Florida, which, you know, I talked not at

all about on the show. Uh, I, you know, I had it because it

was there and I was feeling like a lager and. Yeah, it's fine. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Middle of the road. It's a pretty okay beer.

It's a pretty okay beer. Probably why I haven't tried it.

There's probably always something better on tap when

I've been on the East Coast. I mean, you gotta try it, though,

just to figure out that it's pretty okay. Yeah. Yeah. Who knows?

Maybe we're wrong. So, uh. All right, Brian,

your homie in Wisconsin. Madison. Brian. All right. Madison.

Brian called in and left us a little voicemail. Let's check in. Hello?

No one is available to take your call.

Please leave a message after the tone. Hey. What's up?

@CraftBeerRepublic Brian from Madison calling in.

Uh, wanted to jump on the voicemail train here.

Uh, last one was left by Chew. Uh, talking about being a little

nicer and, uh, I agree, but not when it comes to flat beer.

Um. Crisis averted. Great beer from working draft brewing

here in Madison. Uh, they're a good. Never had a bad beer from them.

Opened up a kolsch recently, and first taste was great.

Every taste after that was just really flat, flat, flat quick.

I know CO2 is getting expensive. Hopefully people aren't, uh,

aren't trying to save some money. And that was bad.

I think, uh, you know, I'm in the same boat as you guys, right?

You want to give everybody the benefit of the doubt.

I've had great beers from them. This one just, you know,

just missed the mark a little bit. Um, also, Flex, this is your annual

reminder. Great taste of Midwest. August August 7th. Um.

Get your life in order. Get your shit together.

No more excuses. I'll get us tickets, man.

Let us know. Let me know when you want.

When you want to get out, man. We'll, uh. We'll do it up, right.

It's gonna be a good time. I'll get a ticket.

Don't even worry about it. Just get off of work.

The schedule with the wife. It's always a good weekend.

You guys take care. Bye. Dude, if you're not, I want to go.

That's the. Worst part. Are they really expensive?

Uh, no. They're really expensive. Oh, they, like, sell out in,

like, four minutes. Oh, man. Dude, have you still not been to

a beer festival yet? No, I've been to, like, you know.

Little ones. Like local Beerfest. Yeah, like little ones. Nothing big.

You need to go, and I'll send you with some pretzel necklaces,

and you can reenact that first pretzel necklace photo that you took.

All right. Years ago. Like Brian said, I just got to

get my life in order. Yeah. That's right. Get your life in order.

Get your life in order. Get it together, man.

I know, and I really do want to get to one and you know,

but it's just the wife and me taking a weekend to go drink.

It just makes me seem so selfish. And what I do it. I don't know, mom.

You do it like once a decade. I know, I know.

Come on, Brian, keep calling in and convincing him.

Put my big. Boy britches call in. We need lots of calls.

Don't everybody call in Fontana Jim. A pansy for not going to.

What I need is another Fontana Jim call. Look here, pansy.

Put on your big boy pants. Go drink some beer. Oh, you.

Didn't drink for 46 days. Well, now you need to drink 46

days worth at a beer fest. Oh, my gosh, I have a rant for

Fontana Jim. I'm gonna, I'm gonna. Oh, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna

pull a Jim and F.J. on F.J.. So this guy, this guy, you know,

he he rolls apparently into town every so often.

And he's friends with the people at, uh, Geist House brewing, which,

um, they're great folks. I think Chew is, too.

I think everybody's friends with these people.

So this is what this guy does is like, he'll send me a message on

social media, like 30 minutes before he rolls in.

We're talking about. FJ yeah, okay. He's like, oh yeah, I'm rolling up to

Geist House and I'm like, I'm a, a mother. I live an hour away.

Or like, he'll tell me the day before.

It's like, do you think I can just jump up and go meet your

ass at guy's house last minute? Come on, man, I mean, who does that?

Oh, I was trying to pull. I didn't do a very good job.

I'm too nice, aren't I? Yeah, you really are.

Because I was like, let's get into this a little bit more.

Yeah. I'm like, I'm done. I'm. I feel so bad. I'm sorry.

I'm kidding. No, actually, it's just funny because

he always he lets me know when he's coming into town because we both

like Geist House and, um, it just, you know, doesn't work out because.

Okay. Plan ahead, man. I gotta get a chaperone. Yeah, man.

Yeah yeah yeah, yeah. What? He said. Yeah. So much anger. Sorry.

This isn't gonna make things better, but, uh. Oh.

We've had this sort of ongoing segment for the last,

I don't know, month or so. Okay. Gross origin beer stories.

Ooh, I like these stories. So let's see where your line is

at today. Okay. Would you guys drink a beer made

with actual pig heads? Oh, yeah. Yeah, 100%.

Every time it's a yes. Uh, yeah. I mean. Flex put ketchup on it.

You're not gonna weird me out unless you're putting ketchup on tacos.

Oh, it feels like something you would do, though. You sent me that picture.

I did. Fucking disgusting. Fucking Disgusting.

Apparently there's a brewery in Michigan called Right Brain Brewery

that made a beer called oh, God. Hold my Hand here,

Mangalitsa pig porter. And they literally took smoked pig

heads and bones, wrapped them in cheesecloth and steeped them in the

beer like a tea bag during brewing. So that smoky flavor you're picking

up, that's real smoky flavor. Okay. Yeah. You know.

It actually won best Experimental beer at the Great

American Beer Festival. Did it? Really? I'm here for it.

Pig brains are delicious. Well, that's the thing.

Uh, they're a delicacy. Have you had them? Twice. Oh, wow.

Okay. Yeah. Very delicious. It is ironic that it's right.

Brain. Brewery. Brain. Yeah. The. For the first time, I had pig brains.

I was hanging out with my, uh. I was invited to a get together

for my Hmong buddy. They roasted a pig, and they had

this big, full on spread of food and everything, and we got done eating.

He's like, hey, you gotta try this. I was like, what is it?

He's like a pig brain. And I was like, ah,

that's where I draw the line. He says, no, you have to try it.

It's amazing. So sure enough, and it's like,

it gets real, like creamy when you're like when

it's on the spit for so long. So it's almost like a cream cheese

kind of texture, like maybe a little thicker. And it was wonderful.

It was so good that when my sister in law's husband Take That,

had his bachelor party and we did a pig roasters bachelor party.

I was so jacked to have everybody try the pig brain that I ripped up

the fucking head of the pig just to get to the brain for everybody.

Yeah, it was delicious. So you eat it like dip.

You dip like a cracker in it or something. Then just.

Like, you know, like a finger scoop. Like scoop. And then.

Have you ever had foie gras? Uh, I don't know. Stuffed.

Uh, was it goose liver or whatever? No, I've never had that. Okay.

That's the the texture description reminds me of that.

I had that one time and it was like on top of this piece of

like toast thing. And it, it was like meat butter.

Yeah. It was delicious. Yeah, it was pretty good. Okay.

So there you go. There you have it. Yeah. Pig head beer. Bring it on.

Okay. You two. Erica. Well, I mean, actually,

until it was associated with brain, I was like, well, okay, like,

but then it really was the brain part that threw me off that I probably

would try it. It was a winner. I'll try a winner twice.

Yeah, I guess. Yeah yeah. Yeah. Uh, all right, before we get any

further, both myself and Erica are looking quite thirsty.

Ooh, yeah. Let's make a call.

To the bullpen for beer? Yeah, buddy. I'll, uh.

I'll do the hard stuff over here and read the uncapped, and I'll let

you kick us off on the tasting. Thanks to Erica,

we are drinking Touchstone Brewing Company's bear hug.

And when we were talking about what beer we were gonna drink because

she was nice enough to send me some beers, I was like, let's,

let's do bear hug because I love the can art that she was just showing.

Yeah, it's super cute, old school and campy. And anyways.

Oh yeah, I like that. Yeah. 6.7% 17 IBUs.

It is a hazy has a 3.82 and untapped with only 136 ratings this uh,

freshie. Let's see no date on the can.

Very low rating count. Let's see, like your coziest camp

slippers at the end of a long day at the crag, you'll love the smooth and

pillowy hazy IPA, mellow bittering, prominent aroma and a dry hop with

Mosaic and Simcoe make this delicious choice for hop lovers of all kinds.

Okay. Properly hazy. Yep, it is hazy. Good color. Yeah.

Had a nice little foamy head on top. I definitely get the little

piney and grapefruit bitterness kind of right to start.

I think in the taproom, I felt like it was a little more

gentle than in the can right now. It leans more toward the West

Coast vibe of things. Um, I feel like in the Canada in

the taproom, maybe it was a little felt a little more hazy.

Juicy, but it's still a good, uh, nice solid beer.

I would drink a couple of these. Touchstone is such a unique brewery

in Sacramento, so it's kind of set in this transition area of Sacramento

where there's like a lot of unhoused and sort of things like that.

And they have it set up just so inviting inside and they kind of

have security around and that sort of thing.

But they provide like showers to the unhoused in this like mobile

shower cart, like once a week, they bring them out, bring it out.

And this, they have just a really unique model that's very,

um, community supportive. And, um, they have no tipping,

for example, they pay a livable wage. Oh, what a concept in America.

Yeah, it, um, which can be a little controversial,

I think, for some people, but for like, because it's like,

um, does that change the service or it's like, no, it actually,

it just makes everything feel a little more relaxed. And yes.

They provide like good benefits to their employees and a good wage.

And this is what we discovered when we were in Portugal,

like the entire time, everyone made a livable wage.

Tipping in Lisbon, where it's super touristy,

tipping has sort of creeped in. But outside of that,

like tipping is weird. And in fact, if you pay with a credit

card, there's no option to tip. You can only really cash. Yeah.

And the service was fantastic. People were paid a livable wage.

It's, it's their career. It's not just some rando job.

Exactly. There they are. Yeah. They're like a family there.

It seems like everybody's happy to be there and work there.

And the service was good. Um, I actually met there for I was

invited to a mixer for like women in food business in Sacramento.

Um, and so the manager there is part of this group of women.

It's called the Doms. So that was kind of cool.

I got to meet her. I was talking to her and we were

talking about being in the beer community.

She was like, hey, what do you do? Blah, blah.

And I was like, oh yeah, do this and that.

I'm on a podcast, which was so dumb. I just said that every once I'm like,

every once in a while I'm on a podcast, you know, every six weeks,

a couple months, whatever. And she's like, oh, and I said,

I'll get some beer. I'll probably review you.

And she's like, no, I got to give you the beer.

And I was like, oh crap, no, let me buy the beer. Like.

And so she gave me, um, a little mix four pack and I thought,

I better send you some. Yeah, it was super nice.

It's super cool environment. They got picnic tables outside

with like, you know, the draping lights and fire pits and kind of

different ways you can be seated. And yeah, it was,

it's just a cool vibe. So, and I think that whole area is

kind of transitioning into a better kind of setup for the community.

More stuff is coming in. The program I was a part of is

building this huge outdoor like food truck thing.

So yeah, it's going to be good for that and I

hope they stick around there. Cool. So Kristen, thank you for the beer.

It's delicious and I'm happy to share it with a friend.

Touchstone touching hearts. Oh, there you go.

Now they have a logo or a slogan too. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

I would say maybe. Kristen. I have to come up that way every

now and then. Yeah. To see some in-laws maybe come

on the show kind of thing. She's the manager.

Um, but and then there's, yeah, like she's one. Of whoever the brewer is.

Yeah. For sure. I'm sure they'd be willing and they

use, they actually started as a climbing gym and indoor climbing gym.

They're the largest indoor climbing gym on the entire west coast.

Like they still have that. They still have that.

And then the no kidding. That sounds. Dangerous. Yeah, a.

Couple of double IPAs in me. Let's go do some climbing.

It's a different. Climb that. I couldn't two beers ago,

but I sure can now. You don't think I could climb that?

Hold my. Beer. You're calling me a weenie.

Man, that's so great. That's like my dream of having,

like, a gym. That's a brewery. And you just got, like, workout

equipment. You can order beers. Oh, what a dream.

They got these little pulleys. You can, you know, get your.

Pull your beer up while you're at the top of the.

You can see a little thing. But yeah,

it's a separate building of course. And then, um, all the waivers and

all that, but then they added this. So it's kind of cool.

It's got a neat, neat story to it. Yeah. Good.

Well thank you for sending this. Yeah. Yeah. It's nice.

I could see where maybe on tap this was, uh, it's just missing a little.

I want to say a hint of carbonation for me.

I got good, good tropical nose on it. Yeah. Nice flavors.

It's fairly soft in the mouthfeel, but it kind of, uh, coats the tongue.

I feel like a little pinch more carbon.

It might just dance a little nicer and good flavors.

Nice mouthfeel to it. All that good stuff. Yeah.

So thank you for sending this down. Very nice of you. Very nice.

And Touchstone for hooking it up, too. Yep. Very nice of them.

Uh, a little news before we get out of here.

It's a big news 21st amendment, as we all know, closed back in,

I believe, September. And they've been acquired.

Philadelphia. Yeah. Philadelphia's Evil Genius beer

company has acquired the 21st amendment brand,

reviving its offerings after the 25 year old San Francisco

brewery shut down last year. Evil genius is bringing back their

core brands to distribution in the northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest,

not the West Coast. Yeah. That's weird. Okay.

Uh, we are taking a back to basics approach with with no rebrands,

no recipe changes, and no corporate buzzwords, Evil Genius co-founder

Luke Bowen said in an announcement. 21st amendment co-founder and

brewmaster Sean O'Sullivan added, I'm excited to see 21st amendment

head into its next chapter with Evil Genius and to get beers like Hell or

High Watermelon and Brew Free or Die. Blood orange IPA back out to the

people who have been missing them. Notably, Pennsylvania was 21st

Amendment's second largest market, trailing its former home state

of California. How about you get him back here in

California? So there you have it. Blood orange IPA.

I'm not down for it, though. No, I just couldn't stand that.

One for being honest. I'd rather drink the watermelon one.

Yeah, yeah. That one was pretty good on tap too,

actually. Yeah. Like the watermelon one on a hot day.

Not a horrible beer to have in your hand. Yeah, really?

They did a good job making it light and refreshing enough to not make it

like this sweet, kind of weird thing. Yeah, it is good. Yeah, exactly.

Like fake watermelon flavor. Right? To be honest,

I haven't had it in quite some time, but from what I remember,

it was pretty light and just. It's easy to drink on a hot day,

you know, like beer kind of thing. Sure, sure, sure.

The biggest news to come out of the last couple weeks. This is big.

This is like groundbreaking. And strap in because this is a

long one. Firestone purchases Stone brewing.

It's ironic that it's long. Firestone,

Walker and Duval USA have reached an agreement to acquire the Stone

brewing brand from Sapporo, USA. Financial terms were not disclosed

and the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 26.

Firestone Walker CEO Nick Firestone called Stone one of the most iconic

brands in American craft beer, saying the company plans to honor its legacy

while continuing to grow the brand. Duvall, USA president oof sorry,

Sarath De Smet. Added that the partnership brings

together well-established craft breweries and aims to maintain and

expand Stone's national presence. The deal reunites two California

based breweries founded in 1996, and comes less than four years

after Sapporo purchased Stone for $165 million.

Firestone Walker is also in the process of acquiring Trumer pills,

and together, those additions are expected to significantly

increase its share of the Southern California craft beer market.

The combined volume from Stone and Trumer would add roughly 280,000

barrels to Duval USA's business, bringing total production close

close to 900,000 barrels annually and making it the fourth largest

craft brewery in the US by Brewers Association standards.

Under the agreement, Firestone Walker will manage the

stone brand in California, the western US and Texas,

as well as national retail accounts. Duval USA will handle distribution

east of the Rocky Mountains. Production of stone beer will

gradually shift to Firestone Walker's Paso Robles Brewery and

Duval Boulevard brewing Facility in Kansas City, creating a coast

to coast production network. Stone will continue focusing on its

core brands including Stone IPA, delicious IPA, Mixed Packs,

and Buena Vista. The companies say there are no

immediate plans to change stone sales or distribution strategy.

As part of the transition, Sapporo will continue brewing Stone

products at its Richmond, Virginia, and Escondido, California facilities.

For now, the Richmond Brewery will eventually become Sapporo's

main US production hub. The deal also includes four

stone taprooms in California, including the Liberty Station

location in San Diego, which will remain a flagship brewpub.

Existing locations at San Diego International Airport and Petco

Park will also transfer to the new ownership.

Many stone employees in hospitality, sales and marketing are expected to

be offered roles with Firestone, Walker and Duval,

while production roles will be evaluated as operations shift.

What I read is they're going to, um, that they're getting the Escondido

brewery as part of the deal, and they're going to sell it

eventually and just produce strictly in Paso. Ocho.

Or, and end at Boulevard. But, um. I do love how they said, uh,

from Paso Robles to Kansas City, uh, would be coast to coast.

I picked. Up on that. Too. Yeah. Coast to Mississippi,

almost river halfway point. Did not. Did not specify a coast. True.

True. Oh, yeah. Huge fucking news. Uh, here in California.

So it's it's exciting. I, I did the research.

Duval is technically still craft by the Brewers Association definition,

which means once this goes through, stone will once again be craft beer.

Which is hilarious. Yeah. It really is.

What a journey it it has been a journey.

And I think it'd be funny if we did, uh, after everything's done and

settled and signed away, we do like a little stone, uh,

retribution episode, I don't know. I think it would be kind of fun.

Yeah. Yeah. Get some stone IPA and strip

some enamel off our teeth. Yeah. There you go. Yeah.

I really hope they bring back some of their.

They weren't one offs because they came back multiple times.

But like notorious POG. I was just gonna say that.

It's probably my favorite beer that Stone. Ever put out.

Delicious beer. So fucking good. Talk about refreshing lake beer.

Notorious POG, was it? What do you mean?

It wasn't that heavy, though. That was like a seven percenter.

I don't think it was. Was it? No. Let's let's check the Google box.

I remember having it once and I thought, oh my God, this beer is so

fucking good. So good. Let's see. Stone still has it on their website.

Thank God. 4.77. Oh, wow. Look at that. Yeah, that was wrong.

Yeah. No, it's a Berliner. It's a it's a classic Berliner with,

uh, pineapple, uh, orange and or passion orange guava.

So. Okay. Yeah, I loved it. So good. It it kind of, you know, I'm not

gonna say it didn't help inspire the beer that I did with Monica over

at petals. So pretzels did too. I'm just. Saying. So did pretzel.

Yeah. And Seinfeld and Seinfeld. There you go. Yeah.

See what happens. Yeah. And sort of related 33 job cuts

at Trumer Brewery. After their closing, after announcing

US ownership of the Trumer brand would shift to Firestone Walker.

Uh, Gambrinus and Trumer Brewery filed

two worker adjustments and retraining notifications in California.

Gambrinus filing affect six workers and Trumer brewery's

filings affects 27. They'll both take place on May 29th.

I believe that's when Firestone takes over.

I think at the beginning of June is when Firestone takes over

production of Trumer Pils. So good and bad news all around.

Um, World Beer Cup. You guys want me to list every

single winner? Uh, there's probably like

a thousand winners. Alphabetically, please. Yes. Yeah.

Well, let me shuffle this around. I just, I was gonna pick up some

that I thought were kind of cool to talk about.

It seemed like Orange County is really sort of, uh, stepping up,

which is interesting. You know, San Diego, I think,

has been the California hub of beer for so long.

And, uh, Orange County winning some awards.

Green cheek everywhere, brew beer, uh, rip everyone down there in

Orange County is winning some, some hardware.

Uh, San Diego, of course, still on the board.

North Park Stone even won some stuff. Pizza por ale Smith up in my hood,

transmission brewing. As well as. Institution.

And I gotta say, I was surprised. This wagon wheel, um, I have not

had their new ish wagon wheel. And, um. Isn't that.

The place that sounds familiar? Or wagon wheel had the most

expensive wings I'd ever purchased. That's what it was. They were fine.

There was nothing wrong with them, except it was like $17 for three

weeks. Gourmet wings gourmet. Now, look,

I haven't been there since then. It's probably been like 2 or 3 years.

Maybe they've gotten better. I, I owe them another visit.

Um, some hype breweries, got some wins.

Russian River picked up some awards, lost Abbey.

Um, good to see them back on the board.

Firestone Walker get something for their propagator location.

Um, and hey, Milwaukee not and Wisconsin not to be left out.

Vault 202. Heard of them? No. Okay. And vintage brewing.

Heard of them? No. Okay. Well, they pulled in some hardware,

too. Okay. Yeah. Let's see. Vault 202 is out of Appleton.

Okay. I know where that is. My best friend lives there.

Okay. And vintage brewing is. I'm gonna fuck this up.

Sauk city's a u k. Sauk city. Yeah. Sauk city. Okay. So there you go.

I don't know if that's even near you at all, but.

The appleton's about two hours and Sauk City.

I still probably say at least an hour and a half. Okay. I don't know.

I don't know where that is. The name like Sauk City,

I bet really sucks. Well played sir. Uh, let's end it on this one.

A Tesla rats out its own hammer driver. Whoa.

Kimberly Brown, 37, was found passed out behind the wheel of her electric

car around 2 a.m. on Friday when the autopilot detected her eyes

had been closed for too long. Stopping and leaving it in the middle

lane of Interstate 75 in Sarasota, Florida. Hi, Vanessa.

Hi, Vanessa. Hey, Vanessa. Glad it wasn't you, right?

She was charged with a DUI, according to ABC four.

This was extremely dangerous. Highway Patrol Trooper Ken

Watson told the station. What a cool name. Ken Watson.

Yeah. Yeah, that's that's awesome. That's a man's name right there.

Uh, she should not have been behind the wheel, he said.

Unfortunately, she was intoxicated more than two times the legal limit

and made the assumption that the Tesla would get her home safely.

Well, what if she kept her eyes open? Does it just shut off if you

close your eyes? Yeah. So if it detects your eyes are

closed, it just kind of like slowly comes to a stop.

Oh, I did not know that. Oh, dang. Because you have to hold on to

the wheel. If you don't hold on to the wheel,

or at least like, touch the wheel, I think it stops.

You have to have your eyes open. Like you have to be coherent

enough to, fool the system. Okay. I think you could probably.

There's no breathalyzer. You could probably be hammered,

but you just got to keep your eyes open and your hand on the wheel

asleep. All right? Yeah, exactly. So, um, missed it by that much.

Man, I was really hoping this was going to

be like a Knight Rider situation. Like she gets pulled over driving

the Tesla and the officer's like, excuse me, miss, have you been

drinking? Uh, no. Yes she has. Who said that? It was me.

Except instead of, like, Kitt's voice, it's an Elon Musk

super annoying voice. I've never even actually heard him.

I don't watch the news or. Oh, he's just, like,

super dorky and awkward. Okay, so. Sounds like any other smart,

rich guy. There you go. Pretty much. All right, I think that's it.

Erica. Thanks for the beer. Thanks for hanging.

Yeah, it's great seeing you guys. I was worried you all had been

greying and. Too long. Shriveling up and I. Mean.

Just look like true. Little peaches. Yeah. Millions of peaches.

Uh, gonna hit some music. Come hang out with us.

I don't know, soon. Maybe next week or something. Okay.

Will do. It's on the calendar. Perfect. Follow us.

Craft beer Republic crappy republic.com.

Go get yourself some pretzels. @Necknosh dot com.

@Necknosh on the socials. Uh, 80553 A beer.

Hey, uh, Fontana Jim Flex need some inspiration for going to the beer.

Get mad at me. Yeah, let me know a little sooner

next time. That was so rude. Yeah. How dare you.

Uh, I hope everyone is staying very well. I'm so sorry. And on that note.

Good night everybody.

I hope he comes in blast Erica. Oh, I'm supposed to work around

yours? Yeah.