All posts by Landlord

Pubcast 368 – Nothing Odd about Matt Manthe of Odd Breed Ales

October 22, 2021Craft BeerLandlord

In this edition, my co-host Chuck Fort (Church Street Brewing) and The Brit welcome a 2021 GABF Gold Medal winner and someone who is intensely passionate about his craft. Matt Manthe is the brewer behind Odd Breed Ales, a small brewery in Pompano Beach FL, who is making quite a mark in the arena of wild and farmhouse ales using a unique mixed culture of wild yeast and bacteria, and aged them in oak barrels. His success at GABF came in the Mixed-Culture Brett Beer category, and Matt tells us all about how he comes to be able to make such fantastic brews. Also joining us is return guest and chum of the podcast, Kevin Abbott, who is Director of Operations for Barrel of Monks Brewing in Boca Raton FL. BoM is the partner brewery to Odd Breed and he tells us how the relationship came into being and the many benefits it brings both parties.

This is an in-depth podcast which should appeal to home and professional brewers as well as the craft beer drinker who wants to understand more about this side of the industry.

Want to know what a puncheon is? Want to hear Matt’s thoughts on how to store the bottles in your cellar? Does the water quality affect the type of beers Matt makes? These and many more questions are answered here.

It was recorded via Zoom and Matt’s connection sometimes suffers from connection ‘blips’, so please forgive those few seconds, as this is a great opportunity to hear from an expert who has a passion for working with wild yeast and barrels. Alas, distribution has not reached Illinois yet (any out there who want to jump in, please contact Matt and Kevin!), but listen for Matt hinting about possibly entering a brew into this years FOBAB…we can only hope!

If you liked this edition, we are hoping to get Matt back on for more insight, so please send us your comments, emails and questions, and we’ll work on a better mic and connection for Matt!! Cheers!

Brews Sampled:

The Brit – Beth, Saison, 6.7% ABV, Roaring Table Brewing
Chuck – Bishop Bock, Bock, Church Street Brewing
Kevin – La Temporada, Tequila Barrel Aged Wild Ale, 5% ABV, Odd Breed Ales
Matt – Elusive Illusion, Wild IPA, 7.3% ABV, Odd Breed Ales

Play the audio podcast on our players above…or your favorite smartphone podcast app…we have a direct link to iTunes for iPhone users below…and lots of other links on the sidebar, including Spotify!

Pubcast 367 – The Curious Case of Banging Gavel Brews

October 1, 2021Brewery, Craft Beer, IPA, Kolsch, MarzenLandlord

It was beautiful Fall weather when we headed down to Tinley Park to record our latest episode outside in a beer garden. We’re at Banging Gavel Brews who have been brewing since the end of 2014 but still have not been able to brew or serve at their chosen location, the historic Vogt House, for a variety of reasons. Instead, they have opened up a fantastic beer garden, complete with their version of a ‘jumbotron’ so their patrons can enjoy the outside, drink their great brews, and watch their favorite college and pro sports.

Owner Jim Richert and head brewer J.T. Rea welcome The Brit and co-host Ken McMullen with samples of their current tap list, and relate the tale of their historic house that will eventually become their brewpub. We hear about the buildings’ origins and the problems encountered during the reconstruction, but the end is hopefully in sight!

Join us to hear about the brews, the beer name origins and the the theme of their brewery, plus we find out about J.T’s background and how he started in brewing and the path life took him to be at BGB. We recommend a visit before the beer garden closes on Oct 31st. After that it is back to cans only as the way of obtaining some of their very drinkable beer

Brews Sampled:

Civil Code, Märzen, 5.7% ABV
Amicus Curiae, Kölsch, 4.5% ABV
Offshore Trust, Tropical IPA, 5.1% ABV

Archive Edition – Werk Force Brewing circa 2016

September 24, 2021Craft BeerLandlord

As we are busy with Fall pub activities, we jumped into the Brit & Yankee archive and pulled out this episode from May of 2016. It was one of the first onsite interviews and featured co-host Mark Naski and The Brit, on the road down at Werk Force Brewing. Here we chatted with owner/brewer Brandon Wright, ahead of their expansion and the closing of the homebrew piece of their business. You’ll see the coziness of the taproom as it was and the cramped brewing conditions from the photos in our web post. Now they have expanded and expanding even more, as their brews are forever in demand with the craft beer community.

Brandon has always been a chum of the podcast and we’d like to thank him for his continued support. Tune in to this ‘historical’ episode. Cheers!

Pubcast 366 – Lane Fearing of Roaring Table Brewing

September 10, 2021Craft BeerLandlord

We finally made it up to Lake Zurich and to a brewery that we have long wanted to check out and sample their brews, and with a 4th Anniversary looming at the end of September this was the right time! Roaring Table Brewing has been slowly but surely producing some of the finest brews in the area, and even national craft industry magazines are starting to be aware of how good they are.

Co-host Ken McMullen and The Brit sat down with Lane Fearing, half of the dynamic duo who run the business, Beth May being the other. Due to a storm running through the area and knocking out the home power, Beth couldn’t be with us, so it fell to Lane to face the questions from the B&Y team.

As we chatted, we sampled the cask, hand-pull Best Bitter and found out how Shakespeare had an influence of naming the brewery. Then we moved on to a classic bottle-conditioned saison and how their magnificent foeder plays a leading role in many of their brews. For the final curtain, we headed to the bright tanks, and tried the latest batch of their NEIPA and a preview of the just-released doppelbock, which they were canning the next day and is now available. Apologies for the first 8 minutes of audio as The Brit’s mic wasn’t fully engaged, but no matter, Lane’s was fine and he’s the man we came to chat to!! Cheers!