Episode 34: California Craft Beer Summit, Part Two

Barley & Me

Host Ben Rice once again sits down in the middle of a massive beer conference to talk to whoever sits down! In Part Two of Three of his adventures at the Craft Beer Summit. At 5:40, Ben sits down with Kevin Cox and Bert Aguilar of Fresno's Tioga-Sequoia Brewing, to discuss Kevin's long and winding career in the beer industry (over 25 years!), plus we touch on the arduous task of brewery management and moving from contract brewing to brewing for yourself. And we close out by talking about FresYES, their annual pro-Fresno party. Then, at 25:25, I chat with Kern River Brewing's owner Eric Giddens, Kern River Brewing's head brewer Adrian Barrera (formerly of Tioga-Sequoia, Track 7, and Prairie Artisan Ales), and Beers in Sac App's Josh Elder, to talk about starting a brewery in the middle of nowhere before the craft beer boom, linking up with breweries across Sacramento to cross-promote events, and, of course, beers even the experience beer drinker can't stomach. Then we close it out, starting at the 43:20 mark, with brewer Shane Aldrich from Oakland's Linden Street Brewery, along with Robert Bolch of John Fearless Co. and Shawn Zizzo of EZ Plan, an operations software program he designed. We'll talk about their strangely intertwined yet divided history with one another as Ben quickly collapses into delerium after 6 straight hours of setup, pandering, side conversations, hustling, interviews, explanations, preparations, and everything else gets the better of him. Plus we learn a lot about the surprising history of the names of all these companies. Even EZ Plan's name isn't as EZ as it seems. Enjoy!
Find my guests on the Internet!
Tioga-Sequoia Brewing: www.tioga-sequoia.com
Beers In Sac: www.beersinsac.com / @beersinsac
Kern River Brewing: www.kernriverbrewing.com
Linden Street Brewery: www.lindenstreetbrewery.com
John Fearless Craft Hops & Provisions: www.johnfearless.com
EZ Plan: www.ezplan.co
Like, share, follow, whatever Barley & Me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @barleyandmepod
Find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, and GooglePlay
Intro: "JamRoc" by Breez (Twitter: @4proaudio / Instagram: @mr4proaudio)
Logo by Jessica DiMesio (Instagram: @a_living_cliche)