Episode 14 - Christmas Mystery

Episode 14

This all stemmed from a previous podcast with Kevin and Heather of LOCALOK.org. We have a few presents to open this evening from Massachusetts that Santa Kevin has brought over. Hopefully he didn't shake them to see what they were… But it wouldn't be Christmas unless we celebrate the real spirit of giving so we are sending some local Oklahoma Craft Beer in return.

So wherever you are share some cups of cheer, reminisce Christmas memories and gather round a fire with some Big Jamoke Porters and Uroboros stouts and listen in.

Episode 13 - A New Hope

Episode 13

Did you know that beer saved the world countless times? Here's another instance where home brewers have gathered together for a wonderful cause called Hops for Hope. Listen as we learn about this wonderful annual event that benefits Ray of Hope Advocacy Center. Learn more at www.rayofhopeac.org

Episode 12 - The Rebirth of Tulsa Craft Beer

Episode 12

Craft beer is evolving before our very...mouths. The rebirth of craft beer in Oklahoma has been well received and Renaissance Brewing is taking it a step further with an actual brewpub where folks can drink and purchase low point beer on site. Listen in as Glenn Hall reflects on his craft and what he envisions as the Rebirth of Tulsa craft beer.

Episode 11 - Harvesting a Craft

EPISODE 11

It was yet another amazing day for McNellie's Harvest Beer Festival with 2 sessions offering some unique one-offs like Chocs Chai Choc Witbier. We interview FOAM, Marshall Brewing Co, Mustang, Anthem and fellow craft beer fans like yourself. Crack open some brand new Elk Valley Pale Ale and enjoy!

Episode 10 - A Foamy Night with LOCAL

EPISODE 10

Good grief, it's October already. Oktoberfest, pumpkin, stout beers are rolling out while local craft beer is seeing more one offs like Marshall Brewing Bound for Glory, a Belgian ale aged in bourbon barrels and Fred's Blend from Prairie. If you were lucky to get that one, cheers and enjoy the double barrel bomb.

This podcast I pulled in Kevin Douglas Hall and Heather Sams, Tulsa beer geeks that love craft beer and support local. Funny cause their group is called LOCAL. League of Oklahoman's for Change in Alcohol Laws. We sample some beers and get down to brass tax of why they want to help local craft breweries grow and how that may affect our cities.

Grab a cold one like Marshall Oktoberfest or Choctoberfest from Choc and enjoy! PROST!

Episode 9 - A Festivus for the Rest of Us!

Well, it's August and fall beer festivals are upon us with the cool weather and heavier offerings from your local craft favorites. We listen to Eric Marshall of Marshall Brewing and Tony Tielli of Roughtail Brewing Co. talk about their love for festivals while at Tapwerks Craft Beer fest in OKC, OK.

Next we sit down and swap beer fest stories with Tony Collins of McNellie's Tulsa and what to expect this September at McNellie's Harvest Beer Festival. Be ready to choose between day and night as this year is split into two sessions. Tickets on sale now!

Finally we get the scoop from David Kelso of KRXO in OKC, OK about Beer Fest 10 at the Grand Casino. Sounds like an exciting time and raising some money for the local food bank. As David says, "Good people drink good beer."

Sit back and listen with an Oklahoma Craft beer in hand like Dead Armadillo Amber or Prairie Cherry Funk (so fun to say) and listen to episode 9.

Fun at the Fur Shop

EPISODE 8

Welcome back to another exciting edition of Oklahoma Craft Beer. We're finally back in the saddle after vacationing to St. Louis and OKC for weddings and a week long trip to Beervana itself, Portland, OR. D'Wain brings news of his beercation in San Diego and the mouth-watering west coast IPAs he downed. This episode we recorded at The Fur Shop in downtown Tulsa, OK with owner/investor Chris Matthes and get the back story of this craft beer "dive" bar. I'd been visiting the Fur Shop a handful of times because of Chris' posts on Facebook and the delicious local craft beer that pours from their taps. For example they currently have 2 Coop, 3 Marshall, 4 Prairie, and Anthem on tap and a majority of craft bottles and cans. If you like to just have a chill evening, play giant Jenga with dirty suggestions written on them and listen to live music; this is your place.

Chris gives us a low down on how the Fur Shop came to be after finding an old Fur Shop sign in the Legends building across the street. I thought they just came up with the idea because of all the craft beer beard growing nuts out there. Boy how more wrong could I be. We also find out the ins and outs of running a bar and the lovely politics behind it in a law burdened state like Oklahoma. All of this is done while downing Roughtail's IPA and Prairie Wine Barrel Noir.

I'd like to announce as well we are looking for a local band that may be interested in creating some intro/exit music for us. Something around a minute that we can use for the podcast and would be a free promotion for your band. Please send music to brian@beerisok.com.

Thanks as always for listening and "Cultivate the Craft" for Oklahoma craft beer!

Episode 7 - Tulsa Craft Beer Week in Review

Episode 7

D'Wain and Brian reminisce about Tulsa Craft Beer Week and all it's glory. We spoke to a bunch of brewers at the final event held at Biergarten in Jenks. Hunker down on your trip to OKC for their craft beer week and listen in on all the upcoming events and news from TCBW.

As always check out Etsy to pick up our new bottle openers or Okie Crowe in downtown Tulsa.

Crafty Hooligans

Episode 6

I had the pleasure of sitting down with two good friends Mason Beecroft and Tony Peck of Dead Armadillo Brewing and catching up on their brewing efforts, TCBW and craft beer spotted at Night Trips in Tulsa.

As always check out Etsy to pick up our new bottle openers or Okie Crowe in downtown Tulsa.

Reblouchon...Again

Episode 5

D'Wain and I BBQ with our friend, home brewer and chef, Craig Norred. Listen as they swap tattoo stories while I cringe in the background as well as food an beer pairings Craig has experimented with. A particular French cheese grabs the spotlight towards the end you don't want to miss.

Rise of the Rhenn

Episode 4

My wife and I take a rainy trip down to Lawton, OK to visit family and a new home brew store called Redd Rhenn Brewing. A fun group that loves to brew and Cultivate the Craft throughout Oklahoma. Check their story out at www.reddrhennbrewing.com

Little Brewery on the Prairie

Episode 3

Brian and Ethan  Buckman tuck into Choc's Spring release, India Pale Ale, in hopes of a quick Spring. Meanwhile we discuss Ethan's endeavors in his personal gypsy project while brewing for Mustang full time. Also we get interviews from Wes and Chase of Prairie Artisan Ales at their latest brewery tour in February. Crack a beer and take a listen while we Cultivate the Craft!

Twitter handles to watch for:

@DocBuckmans

@WhiteFlag

@CavemanCBrew

@ReddRhenBrewin

Beer Is OK Podcast - Episode 2

Episode 2

Part 2 of Dazed and Infused as D'Wain and Brian experiment with Prairie Artisan Ales Prairie Noir infused with Cafe Noir coffee beans and recap the year of beer for 2013.

Rock Out With This Stout

ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?!  Of course you are.  As Brian and I began nearing the weekend we felt it would be best if we got together and worked on a podcast...and drank beer(for research purposes).  With all of the delicious Oklahoma brews that have been hitting our shelves as of late, especially from Roughtail Brewing Co.(Split Decision, Polar Night, 12th Round, Roughtail IPA) we thought it would be great to review their newest offering, Rock Tsar.  Having just released within the past week we were eager to see what we were in for.  Neither of us had heard anything about the brew prior to drinking it, there were actually only 26 check-ins for it on Untappd, so we were in for a true beer adventure.  We were fortunate enough to have Jonathan and Trae from 405 Brewing Co. join us via phone for a virtual toast and review.

The first thing you notice before even opening the 750mL bottle is the vibrant label.  Sitting on a canary yellow background is a grey Tsar atop a horse. Both figures being statue-esque, the Tsar is draped in bright yellow tassels, pink beard and hair, pink boots, and wielding a neon pink and blue dual neck Dean Dave Mustaine guitar.  This dude IS the party.  And what a terrific introduction to this beer.

If ever you could judge a book, er...beer by its cover label this is the point at which you can do so.  The cool thing about Roughtail, among other things, is that they have a guide for serving temperature, glassware, food pairings, and in the case of this beer..MUSIC PAIRING!  For all you headbangers out there you can now throw on some proper heavy metal tunes while you enjoy the proper beer.  I for one think this is really cool.  As a music lover and beer lover, I really like what Roughtail did.  Rock Tsar’s is labeled as a Double Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout.  The tasting guide says that the beer is aggressive with lots of bitterness.  Instantly, I’m thinking coffee, chocolate, roasty notes….but interested to see where the bitterness comes.

So here we go!  We cracked our bottles and we were ready to ROCK!  You definitely get the traditional chocolatey roasty Russian Imp. Stout notes in the nose.  The beer pours a nice opaque black with a caramel head.  With a clink of the glasses and cheers to our pals in Norman, we entered the moshpit.  Boy, did we ever.  To put this into perspective, imagine you are drinking an imperial stout.  Nice. Chewy. Chocolatey. Roasty. And out of nowhere Axl Rose busts through the wall (Kool-Aid style) and asks “DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU AHHHH?!”  That’s the hops and bitterness on the back-end of this beer.  This is definitely one of the most unique beers I have had in quite some time.  But the bitterness and hops are balanced out nicely with the traditional Imperial Stout flavors.  Everyone was in agreement that Rock Tsar is very delicious.  As it warmed, you got more of the roasty notes.  One review on Untappd said it has heavy coffee flavor and was spicy. Between the 4 of us many of us are black coffee drinkers and not one person could point to any coffee and certainly no spice.  You can cellar this beer for up to 5 years.  It would be interesting to see how this mellows with some age on it.  Right now, it is not overly bitter, but The Tsar will definitely catch you slipping in the moshpit.  Protect your neck.

*Note We had a wonderful podcast with Jonathan and Trae as well as a great interview, but unfortunately we lost the hard drive containing that podcast via theft.  Hopefully, we will get that back *fingers crossed* and we can present it for you guys, but either way we will bring you more info on 405 Brewing in the near-future.

Cheers!

D’Wain

Wonderful piece D’Wain. While we are dealing with a set back I wanted to thank D’Wain and the boys of 405 for their time and we will certainly get a show recorded. It’s a shame we have to deal with desperate crimes these days. I don’t want to dwell but pass along a message to take the extra time and dollar to be safe and secure in your home. I am blessed and fortunate to have amazing friends in times of trouble and want to thank them for all their help.

On a brighter note, we were picked up on Stitcher Radio. Hopefully we will get back soon with fresh episodes, in the mean time please download the Stitcher app and subscribe to our show.

http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=44809&refid=stpr

Here’s to a better start to 2014 and “Cultivating the Craft!”

Beer Is OK Podcast Episode 1

Challenge Your "buds"

For many years the traditional boys hang out was sitting around watching the game, sharing a few beers and discussing which movie had the best quotes. With the ever evolving craft beer market we have crept out of the primordial ooze of tradition and ventured on to test our palettes. This past Saturday my wife and I were invited to a blind IPA taste test. A sidebar here, I was never the biggest fan of IPA's and hops when first exploring craft beer but like all things my palette soon took to liking the slap to the face flavor these beers can pack.

With 8 attendees, 6 guys and 2 ladies, we were poured 27 different IPA's from around the country. Every participant brought at least 2 unique IPA's. A score sheet was created to rate Appearance of the beer, Aroma that the beer gave off, Flavor the beer presented and Taste of the beer and if you would purchase again. There were side bets as well to guess the actual beer you were drinking and how many IBU's (International Bitterness Units) each one had. We arrived a tad late and missed the first 5 but still had 22 beers of about 3 oz each to sample, not too shabby.

I can't tell you how much more fun I've had by simply enjoying a beer with friends and trying to guess exactly what I am drinking. Several good points came up throughout about not seeing a beer label and having a preconceived notion of what may be inside. Such a case was the surprise of the evening when everyone's overall scores were averaged and 2 Oklahoma craft beers beat out Pliny the Elder in the blind tasting. (Those beers were COOP F5 and Roughtail's IPA.) Again an example of heavily sought after beer that either did not live up to the hype or has found new and unexpected competition. A question of freshness was brought up but I do believe nothing was over a couple months old.

One of the disadvantages of the quantity consumed was that of our palette's constantly being tossed around. Near the end many participants felt they couldn't give an accurate grading no matter how many mozzarella sticks and pretzels they consumed. Our highly talented servers caught on to this and incorporated an interesting experiment. Our first and last beer was exactly the same, Schlafly's Tasmanian IPA. A world class IPA in my opinion and most scored it either the same or lower.

So next time you want to have some friends over, maybe get a little creative and challenge your taste buds. You may find your next go to beer or discover a whole new style of beer you never tried before.

Keep challenging your taste buds and Cultivate the Craft!