Episode 30 - 2015 Red White and Brew Festival

I had the honor talking to Debra of BA Buzz and Kevin of Soldiers Wish about the July 18th Red, White and Brew beer festival in Broken Arrow.

Episode 28 - S#@!ShowQualls

Welcome back to the Oklahoma Craft Beer podcast where we are cultivating the craft of our local beer culture. We've been on a small hiatus due to the release of our new magazine which you can find digitally on the website/app Issuu.com. Just head over to Oklahomacraftbeer.com and click on the magazine page. Be sure to follow us and share as often as you can on Issuu.com. We'll be updating our website as well so be on the look out for that soon. Finally, I'm looking for a few good sponsors that share the same vision on promoting the local craft culture. Email me: brian@beerisok.com for advertising in the magazine and podcast.

Business aside, my wife and I made a day trip to OKC to visit Mustang Brewing and celebrate their 6th year Anniversary. One of our cover girls for our inaugural magazine, Ashley Qualls, came by to discuss how life at Tapwerks is treating her and how craft beer has influenced her life. This is a continuation in our "Ladies of the Craft" feature. We've got a quite a few podcasts lined up in the coming weeks so you'll have plenty to listen to on your road trips and beer-cations this summer.

Episode 27 - Wild Brew Launch Party

One of the largest craft beer festivals will be taking place this August 22 and chances are you probably haven't heard about it. Now granted this isn't your typical beer festival that has all kinds of food from 50+ restaurants, over 185 beers to sample and live music. No, it has ALL of this plus a live wild birds soaring over your head at the Cox Business Center in Tulsa.



Welcome to Wild Brew, as they say, "The Greatest Party Ever Hatched." You may not have heard about it possibly because it is a fundraiser for the George M. Sutton Avian Research Center, their biggest of the year in fact. On June 4th I hung out with the Co-chairs and organizers at the launch party at Leon's in Tulsa while we sampled the FOAM/Anthem Brewing collaboration beer, a Belgian Tripel. Patrick, the head brewer at Anthem gave us an insight into the process.

So look forward to the Wild Brew Belgian Tripel (on tap now at Leon's) and get your tickets at wildbrew.org/tickets for 4 hours of the wildest party ever. If that doesn't convince you, maybe these guys will...

Episode 26: Ladies of the Craft-Haley Dennis

Lately I've noticed quite a few craft beer bars filled with great bartenders and wait staff. Most are quite knowledgeable in the local craft beer scene and the proper ways of serving these unique beers. A multitude of these people are women. Unfortunately, I have seen the stereotype uttered that these girls are just another pretty face to help sell beer and they don't know half of what they are talking about. Well, they couldn't be more wrong. 

Haley enjoying a Anthem Gose outside Oak & Ore.

I know for a fact many bars around Tulsa, OKC and craft bars popping up all around this state are training their staff to be Beer Server Certified from the Cicerone program. This includes the plethora of women that take pride in their craft skills. Haley Dennis is one of them. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, with the rain finally subsiding, I had the honor of picking the brain of one of Oklahoma's finest bartender and craft beer geek. We recorded on the patio of Oak and Ore where Hayley calls home and we picked up quite a bit from our neighbors of Roxy's ice cream parlor, which is highly recommended by the way. So please ignore the chatting in the background for the first 15 minutes if you can.

Episode 25 - Prairie Boys

You certainly can find a lot to do around Tulsa when you're looking for a new career. For the past couple of months I've had the pleasure of bottling beers at the Prairie brewery in Tulsa. It's been a rewarding experience to say the least and getting to hear the dialogue between Chase and Jake about brewing tidbits or Wes and Collin joke about new beer names and labels. It's a small, tight-knit family that comes together and builds this massive movement in the craft beer industry. As we joked in the episode sometimes you get down to 2 people running the bottling line because the phone never stops ringing and the e-mail inbox is always full.

The perks of a long hard day are worth it but you have to be on your feet all day, eventually covered in water and sticky beer and lift heavy cases. As always most see it as a labor of love for a well hand-crafted product. It's a great feeling to know something I helped bottle will be shared around the country and more importantly is putting Oklahoma on the craft beer map.

Episode 24 - The Beers of Summer (Sponsored by BierGarten Wine & Spirits)

Well, that crazy time of year is slowly creeping upon us. Mayfest and Blue Dome Arts fest have roared through downtown along with the Hansons Hop Jam. May has been wet and wild as far as weather and festivals go and we look toward the hot, steamy summers we are known for in Oklahoma. A veritable Okie Death Valley if you will. Because after all this rain you'll need to mow your lawns at an accelerated rate (ugh) and need some refreshing beers to cool down with. (Paired with water, naturally.) 

So a group of close drinking comrades recently gathered to do the hard work of quaffing craft beers from around the country to help take the edge off the summer heat.







Everything reviewed (except growlers, but maybe one day in the future) can be found at BierGarten 

Beers and Overall Scores (Based on 6 reviewers)

1. Choc Spring IPA - 4.5
2. Elk Valley Pale Ale - 4
3. Anthem Arjuna - 4
4. Elk Valley Midnight Ryed - 4
5. Austin Eastciders Dry Cider - 4
6. Full Sail Session IPA - 3.5
7. Sierra Nevada Nooner Pils - 3
8. Prairie Artisan Ales Tulsa Rugby Ale (3.2%) - 3
9. Bridgeport Long Ball Golden Ale - 2.5
10. Marshall Brewing Lil' Belg (3.2%) - 2
11. Leinenkugel Canoe Paddler - 2
12. Sierra Nevada SummerFest - 1.5

Choc's seasonal Spring IPA was the overall favorite, if you couldn't tell from the episode how much everyone was gushing over it.

Episode 23 - Red Earth Brewers Forum

To unofficially kick off Oklahoma City Craft Beer Week we were invited to record at the Inaugural Oklahoma Craft Brewers Forum hosted by the Red Earth Brewers home brew organization. This event brought out the members to a spectacular venue, Dunlap Codding, in the heart of downtown OKC.

Beer is OK was on hand selling our wares and meeting fellow beer geeks we typically interact with in the social media realm. This event showcased local home brews and raised some money for the REB.

The main event was a forum with Patrick from Anthem Brewing and Tony from Roughtail Brewing moderated by Nick Trougakos from the ThirstyBeagle blog. Many topics were touched on, the most exciting was to hear the tweaking of Hoptometrist from Roughtail and the new rare release programs both breweries are implementing in the near future.

So crack open an Arjuna or Roughtail 2nd Anniversary and enjoy!