Barley & Me host Ben Rice joins co-hosts Corky McDonnell (Dare Daniel Podcast) & Paulina Olivares (Sacramento Pink Boots Society) for this beer-centric movie podcast offshoot, Leonard Malting. Today we discuss the 1977 Coors heist classic Smokey & The Bandit. Does this movie stand the test of time? Should it be remade? Can it be remade? If so, with…

Host Ben Rice travels (virtually) to Richmond, CA, to talk to East Brother Beer Co's brewers Rob Lightner & Paul Liszewski, along with guest Amanda Glynn, a scientist and professor at Sacramento State who also collaborates with local breweries to brew beers for charity! We talk the depressing realities of the COVID-19 shutdown on the brewing indust…

Host Ben Rice chats with Brian Moore, a comedian and former employee of Santa Clara Valley Brewing and Fort Point Brewing, and Kelly Berger, a person excited but hesitant to try comedy and former taproom manager and sales associate for Solid Ground and New Glory. Over glasses of Deschutes Fresh Haze (Ben), Hapa’s Galileo’s Dream (Brian), and a New …

Leonard Malting is the beer-focused movie review offshoot of Barley & Me Podcast, featuring B&M host Ben Rice, plus co-hosts Corky McDonnell (Dare Daniel Podcast) and Paulina Olivares (Sacramento Pink Boots Society). In this episode, we discuss the 2012 Edgar Wright sci-fi/buddy flick "The World's End." Could this episode BE more timely? Join us on…

Host Ben Rice connects with Los Angeles comedians JoAnn Schinderle and Mark Smalls to discuss their histories in the beer industry, their standup comedy, surviving the COVID-19 pandemic, side hustles, coping mechanisms, and how JoAnn nearly killed a guy! Plus! Mark guesses Ben's beer order! Enjoy! Need more? Follow JoAnn Schinderle @jojoschinderle …

Hoops & Hops is a beer and basketball podcast co-hosted by Phil Webster and Barley & Me's Ben Rice. In this episode, we talk about round one of the 2020 NBA Playoffs, the stunning Heat-Bucks series, find out what kind of player Jimmy Butler is, and take a deep dive on the coaches of the remaining teams. Ben's beer this week is Monk's Cellar's West …

In this special episode, host Ben Rice talks to absolutely no one! Oak Park Brewing in Sacramento had the good fortune of collaborating with the first Black-owned brewery in America, People's Brewing in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin! So OPB's head brewer Rodg interviews the son of the owner, Theo Mack, Jr. We'll hear about how Theo Mack, Sr., came into the b…

Barley & Me host Ben Rice joins co-host and chef Phil Webster for episode 3 of Hoops & Hops, a discussion of old- and new-school NBA basketball and beer. Episode 3 was recorded at New Helvetia Brewing in Sacramento, CA. As we discussed the NBA reopen, we drank a Crowns & Hops Black Is Beautiful Pecan Pie stout. We then crowned our best performers f…

Host Ben Rice chats with Matt Vincent, owner/operator of Durango, Colorado's Oh Hi Beverage Company. Oh Hi is a beverage company focused on CBD and THC infused beverages with a current focus on seltzers. We chat about Matt's initial foray into the infusion game, as well as his past/current beer-related enterprises, Ska Brewing and Ska Fabrication, …

Leonard Malting is the beer-focused movie review offshoot of the Barley & Me Podcast, featuring B&M host Ben Rice, plus co-hosts Corky McDonnell (Dare Daniel Podcast) and Paulina Olivares (Pink Boots Society). In this episode, we discuss the 1993 indie stoner comedy classic Dazed & Confused. Known as a weed movie, Ben argues it might actually be a …

Host Ben Rice chats with "Doctor" Bill Sysak of San Marcos's Wild Barrel Brewing about their recent distribution expansion, fatherly love, the "San Diego style" of brand building, and failed homebrew experiments. Plus! The secrets about hazy IPA that no brewer wants you to know, shared love of saisons and Berliner weisse (it might finally be a THIN…

Barley & Me host Ben Rice teams up with Sacramento chef Phil Webster to talk basketball and beer, in episode 2 of Barley & Me Presents: Hoops & Hops! Today, we build on the foundation of episode one by selecting the Sacramento Brewery Dream Team's version of Isiah Thomas, who was infamously left off the original Dream Team for a variety of alleged …

Host Ben Rice travels to Claimstake Brewing in Rancho Cordova, CA, to talk to Marcus Baskerville, brewer at Weathered Souls Brewing in San Antonio, TX, about his history with beer, from hating it to tolerating it to home brewing to professional brewing to ownership, and the creation of the wonderful worldwide Black Is Beautiful Initiative and Black…

Introducing Barley & Me's first-ever foray into movie reviews! Barley & Me host Ben Rice (codename: Leonard Malting) discusses the 2013 "romantic comedy" "Drinking Buddies" with co-hosts Paulina Olivares (Pink Boots Society Sacramento) and Corky McDonnell (co-host of the Dare Daniel Podcast) to break down this star-studded (Olivia Wilde! Jake Johns…

Barley & Me host Ben Rice is using this COVID-19 shutdown to give brewers time to re-focus their businesses to handle this new reality. So, he's reached out to some of his friends to experiment with beer-ish content! Hoops & Hops, with co-host Phil Webster (@culinarylando on IG), pairs the aggressive defense and death-defying dunks of 80s and 90s N…

Host Ben Rice gets his chance to talk to a few craft hop growers, Carla Wosoba (Wosoba Farms Hops) and Clinton Hirschfeld (Hirschfeld Hops), as well as comedian Amy Estes. We discuss side hustles (fun fact: hop farmers, comedians, and podcasters need primary sources of income when they're starting out), getting started in a secondary project, and h…

Host Ben Rice chats with Canadian musician/producer/craft beer enthusiast Jordon Zadorozny of pop-rock band/solo project Blinker the Star, to discuss Canadian craft beer, as well as the parallels and dichotomies of the craft beer scene and the music scene from the early 90s to today. We go down Ben Rice's rabbit hole of fandom, as a means to end re…

Host Ben Rice remote-calls Teri Fahrendorf, the founder of the Pink Boots Society, to talk about the creation of this wonderful program, its expansion, and why she had to fire herself. Joining us are Alyssa Steger, the President of the Sacramento Pink Boots Society chapter and head brewer at Fort Rock Brewing, and Heidi Wilder, Fort Rock's director…

Host Ben Rice practices shelter in place and social distancing by interviewing Mike Mraz of Mraz Brewing remotely. We chow down on chicken wings with various hot sauces while discussing Mraz's upcoming/postponed 7th anniversary, the coronavirus's effect on Mraz's business, as well as the craft beer industry and small businesses in general, as well …

Host Ben Rice practices social distancing by ringing up Sacramento Beer Frontier's Aaron O'Callaghan to discuss the Coronavirus/COVID-19 and its potential effects on the beer industry and the world. With no medical background and no skin in the beer game, Ben & Aaron can talk freely about this topic. But for proper perspective, Ben created an anony…

Host Ben Rice travels to Chico, CA, to talk to the town's second-ever brewery, Secret Trail Brewing, and owner/brewer Charlie Barrett, as well as Chico's indie-pop darlings Surrogate (represented by guitarist Michael Lee and keyboardist Daniel Martin). We talk consumption, creativity, and a change to the digital/internet era, as well as pesky ABC r…

Host Ben Rice travels to PRINCETON!, California, to sit down with Farmers Brewing's Bill Weller. We talk about the humble beginnings of Farmers Brewing and how random happenstance changed their initial trajectory tremendously. Plus! Rice in beer? What happens when a craft brewery makes that their grain of focus and what does it take to make medium …

Host Ben Rice travels to Sacramento, CA's Tower Brewing to talk to TV/radio/podcast producer Cindy Baker, plus Tower Brewing crew Mike Ungerbuhler (head brewer), Micah Ochej (brewer), and Calvin Crawford (taproom manager) about creativity, commitment to passions, and how your backgrounds help you build to your present and future. Plus! Buying Rubic…

Host Ben Rice travels to the Art of Beer Invitational 2020 to conduct a handful of mini-interviews! In segment one, Ben sits down with Cynthia Lee and Trish Showen of DarkHeart Brewing (Sacramento) plus beer volunteer and secret Barley & Me MVP Scott Mills to talk the art and influence of Art of Beer, designing a pirate-themed brewery, releasing th…

Host Ben Rice travels to West Sacramento, CA, to chat with Jackrabbit Brewing's head brewer Rob Moreno and Sacramento-based improvisor Justine Lopez. We kick off 2020 with conversations about secondary businesses to drive success, Sacramento's growing arts and comedy communities, what 2020 holds for craft beer (and Jackrabbit in particular), plus b…

Host Ben Rice travels to New Helvetia Brewing in Sacramento, CA, to sit down with friends of the pod and truly terrific comedians Stephen Furey, Emma Haney, and Becky Lynn, to talk about their accomplishments in 2019, their hopes and aspirations for 2020, and drink some beers we've never had before. We also all realize that to make a living in the …

Host Ben Rice travels to San Diego, CA, to conduct mini-interviews during Karl Strauss’s Collabapalooza 2019! This is the second episode in that series of mini’s. In segment one, Ben sits down with Craig Nelson of Resident Brewing and Nyle Molina of Abnormal Brewing, to discuss their strange shared history, lager collaborations, POGs, tribal tattoo…

Host Ben Rice travels to San Diego, CA, to attend Karl Strauss's Collabapalooza 2019, voted the best beer fest in West Coaster Magazine. This episode contains 2 mini-interviews and episode 116 will feature 3 more, recorded at Collabapalooza! In segment one, Ben talks to Doug Constantiner of Societe Brewing and Jeff Wiederkehr of Burning Beard Brewi…

Host Ben Rice travels to Auburn, CA's Crooked Lane Brewing to sit down with brewmaster Teresa Psuty, plus Queen of Beer Competition coordinators Melissa McCann, Rebecca Steele-Wilkie, and Vickie Olson, to discuss the upcoming 26th annual Queen of Beer homebrewing competition, as well as Crooked Lane's humble beginnings to their current status as Ca…

Host Ben Rice travels to Sacramento, CA, to sit down with Porchlight Brewing's brewer John Prather, plus the Vice Chair of the Sacramento Arts Commission, Maya Wallace. We discuss everyone's history with Sacramento, plus their observations on the city's growth economically, socially, artistically, and beer-centrically, and how all of those intertwi…

Host Ben Rice travels to San Diego, CA, to Karl Strauss Brewing's Pacific Beach location to sit down with Karl Strauss Brewing's brewmaster of research & development Paul Segura and Thorn Brewing's head brewer Doug Pominville Jr. and tasting room manager Jay Jones. We talk Collabapalooza 2019, their collab Countess Sparkula (a breakfast pastry stou…

Host Ben Rice sits down with Andy Klein, owner and brewmaster at Monk's Cellar in Roseville, CA, as well as brewer Bryan Crass and sales rep Lewis McGeorge, to talk about their upcoming 5th anniversary (Friday, October 18/Saturday, October 19), including their collaboration beers with over TWENTY breweries. Once of those is Huntington Beach's Beach…

Host Ben Rice travels to Davis, CA to talk to Sudwerk Brewing's co-owners Trent Yaczan and Ryan Fry, plus Davis-based comedian Bex Nava, about Sudwerk's upcoming 30th anniversary (the celebration is Saturday, October 26)! We discuss the transition from original ownership to their grandsons, maintaining your core identity while also keeping up with …

Host Ben Rice travels to Sacramento, CA's Oak Park community to talk to brewer Geoff Scott of Oak Park Brewing Company and PR/marketing consultant Shane Barker. We talk about the re-invigoration of Oak Park, as well as the grand re-opening/reimagining of Oak Park Brewing Company, which has new ownership, new brewers, new chefs, but is trying to mai…

Host Ben Rice travels to SacYard Community Taphouse to meet with San Diego's original craft brewery Karl Strauss, via their Northern California sales reps Peter August & Jeff Broaddus, as well as beer marketer Emily Hutto of Rad Craft Beer. We chat about Karl Strauss Brewing's history in America's craft beer scene, how they've stayed relevent and e…

Host Ben Rice travels to Sacramento, CA, to speak with Urban Roots Brewing's Peter Hoey (brewer/owner) and Rob Archie (owner) and host of the Letter Talk Podcast Alyssa Cowan. We tackle the tough topics, like time management, adapting your business plan to your intended audience, learning from failures, and the mystery of Dippin' Dots. Plus! Which …

Host Ben Rice travels to Half Moon Bay, CA, to speak with Hop Dogma's owner and head brewer Dan Littlefield during their monthly Comedy Sharks comedy show, along with performing comedians Alex Love, Krista Fatka, and Phil Griffiths. We talk Hop Dogma's rocky transition to their new location, how Dan is leaving an impact on the world, running a prop…

Host Ben Rice travels to San Francisco, CA, to sit down with Jim Furman, owner of Black Hammer Brewing, to talk classic beer styles, their new beer garden Willkommen SF, and nuclear physics. You know, cuz beer! We also talk about pursuing your passion, Untappd's inconsistent reviews, and how to properly quit/obtain a job. Plus! Conspiracy theories,…

Host Ben Rice travels to Sparks, NV, to sit down with Revision Brewing's owner Jeremy Warren and head brewer Jeb Taylor, as well as musician Andy Zuker of Thundervision, to talk Revision's meteoric rise in the craft beer landscape and what it means to be RENO AS FUCK. From Jeremy and Jeb's early homebrew dalliances, to Jeremy winning his biggest ho…

Host Ben Rice travels to The Bash Festival's Sacramento stop to talk ska, punk, and beer with Arlo Grammatica of Durango, Colorado's Ska Brewing and Sacramento-based musician and rock journalist Aaron Carnes. We break down what is and is not ska (with samples provided by the sound techs of the festival!), Ska Brewing's 24 years in existence and how…

Host Ben Rice travels to Sacramento, CA, to sit down with Bike Dog Brewing owner Sage Smith at their Broadway location, with guest Alejandro Farias of Mutts & Mugs Park Pub, which hopes to be the first dog park-pub hybrid in California very shortly. We talk pups, pints, and the politics of business ownership. Plus! Can art demand, consumer ficklene…

Host Ben Rice travels to Galt, CA, to talk to owner/brewer Ed Mason of River Rock Brewery, Galt's only brewery, and comedian Jason Sohm. We talk small-town living and expectations, bucking trends, and forging your own path, with or without support. We also discuss River Rock's upcoming third anniversary party (Saturday, June 8), their expansion ove…

We did it! Episode 100! Host Ben Rice goes big instead of going home, and visits THE California craft brewery, Chico's Sierra Nevada, to talk to brand manager Terence Sullivan and the first lady of craft beer, Judy Ashworth, owner of the historic Lyons Brewery Depot, one of the first craft beer bars in America, whose history is intimately tied to S…

Host Ben Rice travels to Placerville, CA, to chat with Outbreak Brewing's owner and head brewer Tim Daniel, as well as Placerville Public House owner "Bossman" Al Griffen about all things craft beer. Tim discusses his beer background, from his lifelong friendship with a business partner, to his incredibly useful career in construction, to his owner…

Ben Rice sits down with Angel Sepulveda (Flatland), Ashley Schafer (Sufferfest/Sierra Nevada), Alyssa Steger (Crooked Lane), and Rebecca Steele-Wilkie (Cuvee Marketing) of the Sacramento chapter of the Pink Boots Society to discuss Pink Boots, their collaboration beers and subsequent tap takeovers, entering the beer industry, and favorite starter b…

Host Ben Rice travels to Sacramento, CA, to talk to brewers John Anaya and George Murray of King Cong Brewing, and musician Dean Haakenson of Be Brave Bold Robot. We talk about bringing renewed vigor back to the Del Paso Boulevard community, the importance of community in beer, and some proprietary yeast strains that could help put King Cong on the…

Host Ben Rice discusses the recent lawsuits filed against Sacramento, CA's Track 7 Brewing and Grand Rapids, Michigan's Founders Brewing, as well as the Great Lakes Brewing News "satire" and delves into the sadly-still existent racism, sexism, and homophobia in and around the beer industry. Recently, Barley & Me created a Google Form where parties …

Host Ben Rice travels to El Dorado Hills to talk to Mike Mraz and Lauren Zehnder of Mraz Brewing Company, with guest Melissa McCann, a nationally recognized beer judge, to talk about Mraz's upcoming 6th anniversary (taking place Saturday, March 9, 2019). We dive into Mike's award-winning homebrews, and how that led him to opening his award-winning …

Host Ben Rice travels to NA Beer Aficionados headquarters in Carmichael, CA, to conduct his first phone interview ever, with Bill Shufelt, founder of Athletic Brewing, the first NA brewery and taprooms in America, and NA Beer Aficionados founders Danny & Katrina Le Sage. We talk about fighting the stigma of NA in the beer world, designing recipes t…

Host Ben Rice attends the Art of Beer 2019 at McClellan Conference Center in Sacramento, CA. In three short interview segments, he sits down with Daniel Barnes, a beer writer for the Sacramento News and Review and host of the Dare Daniel Podcast. We talk movies, beer, eating competitions, and one-up-manship. Then in segment two, Ben sits down with …