Tag: NPR

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A Podcast & A Beer – NPR’s Book of the Day

If you need to know just two things about me.  I like books and I like my podcasts short.  I can’t believe that it took me so long to find the Book of the Day podcast from NPR.

Basically, book segments from other NPR shows packaged up neatly into a bite sized under 20 minutes.  It is a wide variety of books to, not just best sellers but a little bit of everything.

That short running time is key because there are a lot of books on my “to-read” list and it would be easy to see a 45 minute episode and take a pass but now I can take a quick dip to really see if it is something that I want to check the library for.

If you are in L.A. then a very obvious choice would be to pick-up a mixed pack from Paperback Brewing. A deeper cut would be to check past episodes and see if you can find a beer that pairs with that episodes book or author. There was a memoir episode that talked to Henry Winkler and Arnold Schwarzanegger. So you could find an Austrian beer or find a beer to match Happy Days or Barry.

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In the Tap Lines for December 2023

It is the end of the road for 2023. 31 more days until 2024 starts smacking us around. It has been a doozy. Strikes. Indictments. Wars. Inflation. And we are probably gonna run it back again. But, before you say we are doomed, we still have great craft beer and Christmas beers!

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Craft Beer & Brewing’s Best of 2023

~ special featured reviews of beers if I find room amongst the seasonal beers.

~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events

~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark

~ A Book & A Beer reads Going Infinite by Michael Lewis

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to NPR’s Book of the Day

~ Sports & A Beer returns with Where are all the Good QB’s?

~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month

~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

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No Bitterness

Science. Dumb people don’t trust it but it can do amazing things given enough money, intelligence and time. Obsession too.

A recent POST on NPR’s website discussed a new coffee product that is beanless and bitter-less. This is on the heels of explosive growth for meatless burgers that has left supplies low.

But, this is a beer blog, Sean. Yes, but the increase of alcohol-free beers is growing and probably will continue to do so. Hops have gone from pellets to cryo to who know what in the future so why not a fake engineered flavor that is close to hops? Especially if it can consistently provide a flavor that the brewer wants.

Beer is based on agricultural products but considering our stewardship of the planet so far, beer may need to science its way out of a possible problem.

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New Belgium Built This


I am not a super fan of the How I Built This podcast from NPR, but my wife is and thanks to her pointing it out, I got to listen to a decent little talk with Kim Jordan of New Belgium fame. Now I would have asked some other questions. More about women in beer and more about changing tastes. Maybe there were edits for time, I don’t know, but the podcast did give a nice amount of backstory. It’s worth a listen, so check it out HERE.

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A Podcast & A Beer – Planet Money


You don’t need to major in economics to enjoy the Planet Money podcast from NPR. This spin-off from the This American Life Podcast will educate you on all sorts of topics that revolve around money.

Wanna learn about branding and vodka? The history of the Social Security number? About the hop market? Yes, they do talk about beer on occasion. This show is a tight 15-20 minutes, perfect for a short commute or drive to a brewery tap room.

You will need to stay sharp so I would suggest drinking a Firestone Walker lager or perhaps a Verdugo West Gigil lager because maybe, in the future, the pod will talk about the hot new trend of pilsners and lagers.

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Crave-less


There is a really dark side to beer. It is alcohol and can be abused. There are costs. Just like there are costs to eating poorly or smoking.

And considering that in a nationwide survey by the National Institutes of Health that 28% of adults in the U.S. consider themselves heavy drinkers is a worrying sign to heed.

Yet, most heavy drinkers don’t get the help they need.

If there is a silver lining to the Opioid problem in America is that medicines used to treat that addiction can help dull the craving in alcohol as well.

This article on NPR lays out the case for naltrexone.

In short, “…the drug seems to curb the euphoric and sedative effects of opiates in the brain. Alcohol is known to activate some of the same receptors in the brain that opioids do, and studies find that by tempering the pleasure from alcohol, naltrexone can help people drink less.”

“It blunts the effects of alcohol,” says Koob. “People [who use naltrexone] will say they have a drink, and it’s not doing much for them.” You aren’t repulsed by alcohol and you can still drink, it just decreases the effect of it on the body. In essence water gives you the same effects.

Now, I don’t know if it dulls the taste of beer or makes certain flavors less intense but if this can help moderate drinking (in addition to counseling, of course), then it would be worth it.

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The Firkin for May 2014

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On the commute home, I heard this story on NPR, and it made me think of beer.  How many craft beer fans can truly tell their favorite beer from another similar beer?  But until there are more widespread blind taste tests with Cicerones that will have to wait.

But what really caught my attention was this end quote: “Sometimes when you debunk a myth, you realize part of you kind of liked the myth.” And that to me, is almost more interesting than any blind taste test could be because it really gets to the core of how we relate to the beer we are drinking.

The taste of the beer is one element of our enjoyment but it is tied up with many other emotions.  Did you have the beer after a long, stressful day of work?  Do you know and like the brewer?  Is it rated highly by online beer “experts”?

When you strip all of those things away and just drink your beer in a soundproof white walled room with no Untappd on your phone and your buddy outside, you may get a truer impression of the beer but even then you are still bringing your pre-conceived notions to the table.

You can’t escape using your own personal judgements to review a beer. And whatever back story is stuck in your mind will take a major force to dislodge.  Just think how much news had to leak out before people turned against Lance Armstrong. And that is because we want to believe the story.  Be it a myth or not.

And with craft beer being so subjective, it can be even harder to make a well-loved beer lose a grade.  When Goose Island was bought by Anheuser-Busch, Bourbon County Stout could have taken a hit. But the lowest rated variant of BCS that I have seen is 94 out of 100. Hardly a myth being busted.

Honestly, I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  Loyalty is good but a dollop of realism couldn’t hurt to hold breweries more accountable for their beers.

 

 

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Gypsy Brewing – the next big thing?

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NPR is one of the few news outlets that covers beer in an interesting way and regularly. And HERE is a cool beer trend story that starts out with Brian Strumke of Stillwater Artisanal Ales and then morphs into a beer/food pairing promo for Greg Engert of D.C.’s Birch & Barley.

I know America is built on finding “the next big thing” and if NPR has caught a whiff of it then other outlets will smell the blood in the water. But let’s just embrace Gypsy Brewing as an integral part of craft beer just as we should assume that beer and food pair together well.

It reminds me of a coaching anecdote. I don’t remember which sport so substitute your favorite into this; “When you score, act like you do it all the time otherwise people will think this is the first time.” Remember that. Beer DOES pair with food. Gypsy brewing IS part of the scene.