Grit & Grain Podcast

Welp, that’s a wrap, folks! The most fun and most chaotic time of year has come to a close — and what better way to recap the highlights than by having our best buddy Austin Patjens back on for a detailed breakdown of his favorites? After once again trying over 140 fresh-hop beers and cataloging each one, this may be about as educated as a consumer review can get.

We get into this year’s buying trends and how they differ from previous years, what ideal fresh hops feel like compared to year-round offerings from these great breweries, and, o...

We’re back, baby! The Grit & Grain team crashed the Washington Craft Beer Summit for the third year in a row. This is always a great event, and we always have so much fun talking with former and, hopefully, future podcast guests.

This year, we sat down with the Washington Brewers Guild team for a few great segments. President Robyn Schumacher hung out for a few minutes before her panel discussion to discuss the summit, Hall of Fame awards, and passing the torch as a brewery owner. Tagging in after the break were our best buddy and Ev...

The ghosts were restless, the beer and cider were flowing, and somewhere inside Tacoma’s magnificent Armory, Grit & Grain was operating without adult supervision. Welcome to Boo Five Three, Tacoma Arts Live‘s wonderfully spooky reinvention of Brew Five Three, where Halloween costumes, haunted brewery booths and the seductive darkness of a smaller, more intimate festival proved that bigger isn’t necessarily better. Sometimes you just need better costumes and a microphone pointed toward the 7 Seas 1970s Hip-Hop hang.

With Matt and Bethany absent, Ron grabbed the reins alongside Phaedra, producer Doug and videographer Chris for a shorte...

We are just over a week away from Halloween! With everyone prepping their costumes, candy shopping, and hanging SO MUCH FAKE SPIDER WEBBING all over their houses, we thought this would be a perfect time to crack a few of our favorite spooky season beers and see what beers pair with all the candy you’ll be eating after your kiddos fall asleep.
Who’s making the best Halloween-y beers right now? And why is it always Great Notion? Why does German Weissbier pair perfectly with a Twix? And why does Tacoma’s Lincoln District have the best trick...

Here comes a special one! This week we are joined by prolific beer journalist, author, beer sales rep, and former editor of Beer Advocate Magazine, Ben Keene.

After spending the beginning of his beer career on the East Coast writing about breweries, authoring a beer tourism book, and helping to run one of the most popular beer websites and magazines of the 2010s, Ben made his way to Washington to settle down and enjoy a quiet, simple life of beer marketing and sales at Triceratops Brewing & Reuben’s Brews.

Tune in to hear about some of...

It’s time for homebrewing world update!  There are some rumors going around that a few local homebrew supply shops may be nearing their respective finish lines (unless any listeners with a little investment capital and an eagerness to answer beer nerd questions all day have any to say about out it? Hmmm?).  And it is, of course, fresh hop season! For which the Brown’s Point Homebrew Club tends to be especially well-known.

This week Tristan McCoy hopped on the mic to discuss the potential of these local shop closures.  Where might an eager home brewer get the...

We are rounding the corner to the fresh hop finale of 2026. Some of the year’s best and most anticipated releases are hitting shelves, and Ron just got back from making his own collab fresh hop beers — the perfect time to crack a few cans of our favorites and catch up!

While sipping on a few incredible beers from Grains of Wrath, Single Hill, Lumberbeard, and more, Ron fills us in on some of his Yakima adventures: morning coffee at Single Hill, farm tours, and getting lost with his doppelgänger and Astoria legend Dwayne Smallwood from the w...

We’re keeping it Odd for one more week with local beer-fluencer, event organizer, and bartender, Cecelia Grogan!

When she’s not serving up your Odd Otter Brewing pints, Cecelia is curating some of the best local beer-focused content you can find on Instagram.  While doing stints at some of our favorite local craft beer spots, she leveled up her understanding of algorithms, trends, and content creation.  These days she uses her platform to help beer businesses thrive and highlight local spots she loves.

Tune in to get to know our favorite book and beer nerd...

We’re keeping it Tacoma this week with a fresh face to the show and one of the newer faces in the local beer industry.

Odd Otter Brewing sales rep/general manager/all-around hype machine Max Beckstrom joins us this week to talk everything from his Army days to kitchen management to jumping over to the sales side of the craft beer world — representing Odd Otter all over Western Washington.

This is a perfect episode to get to know one of the friendliest beer industry folks we know, and one you’re definitely gonna see around...

This week’s episode will be a little different than usual.  As many of you may know, this has been a complicated few weeks for our friends at E9 Brewing. Since the reveal of some rather unsavory political contributions by members of the ownership team, we’ve heard quite a bit from local politicians, upset community members, and wealthy property owners. But, we haven’t had the opportunity to hear much from the actual employees — the people making the beer, pouring your pints, and delivering your kegs; people who are, undoubtedly, the most affected by this entire situation.

This we...

Its September!  Which means it’s time for Oktoberfest, right?  We’re pretty sure that’s how that works. … Either way, among all the fresh hops and pumpkin ales gracing the doorway to fall, sits the most...

The post Grit And Grain Episode 204: What Month is Oktoberfest? appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Kings & Daughters co-founder and brewmaster Kyle Larsen joins Grit & Grain on the eve of his brewery’s fifth-anniversary Tacoma celebration to trace the wonderfully indirect route that eventually became Kings & Daughters. Larsen’s brewing...

The post Grit & Grain Podcast Episode 203: Kyle Larsen Takes the Long Way Home appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Washington Wild Brewshed Alliance Director Chris Chappell returns to Grit & Grain to explain what happens when the forests, rivers and public lands that make great beer possible suddenly need the beer industry to return...

The post Episode 202: WA Wild Brewshed Alliance Director Chris Chappell appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Last weekend, we packed up the cars and made the trek over to Spokane for the amazing Grainmaker Fest — the annual celebration of specialty malt with more than 50 participating breweries and 25 special...

The post Grit & Grain Episode 201: Grainmaker 2026 appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

We made it fam! Two-hundred episodes officially in the book.  We continue our special double-header with Georgetown Brewing Research & Development Brewer Matt Edwards and tagging in for Part 2 is co-founder, Roger Bialous. Georgetown...

The post Grit & Grain Episode 200 Special Edition: Matt and Roger from Georgetown appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

It’s crazy to think we are one episode away from 200! To celebrate the occasion, we got together with The Pink Boots Society and Georgetown Brewing, put together a special collab beer, and released it...

The post Episode 199: A Georgetown Brewing and Pinks Boots Special appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

We are rounding the corner to Episode 200, which is insane! We definitely didn’t want to hit the next milestone without spending a Sunday morning goofing around with our previous co-host and best buddy, Sean...

The post Episode 198: Secret Sunday Episode with Sean Jackson appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

This weekend has some of the best annual events we know of — all happening at once! On that list is the insanely popular Lagerhead Festival at No Boat Brewing in Snoqualmie. The 3rd annual...

The post Episode 197: It’s Lagerhead Weekend!  appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

We’re back, baby! The team took a week off for the holiday and some travel, and we’re pumped to be back on the mic to catch up on what everyone has been doing. Bethany was...

The post Episode 196: All Around the World for the 4th appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

We know many of our listeners have tried their hand off-flavor tasting.  Whether you’re studying for certification exams or just leveling up your brewing game, off-flavor identification is a must. But many of the options for...

The post Episode 195: Turning the Off-Flavor Industry on Its Head appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

This week, we’re on location at Washington Brewers Fest. Held each year smack dab in the middle of Seattle Center, with dozens of Washington breweries and cideries, local food, and all the funk music you...

The post Episode 194: Washington Brewers Fest 2026 appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

A little over a year ago, we had the fantastic folks behind Burien’s own Logan Brewing on the podcast to celebrate our amazing collab with them and Lander Coffee for Tacoma Beer Week 2025.  Since...

The post Episode 193: Checking In with Logan Brewing appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

The 2026 Firestone Invitational Beerfest was amazing.  Matt, Ron, and Phaedra had all planned to meet up for the festival, but Ron had to rain check this one as he had a staff emergency and...

The post Episode 192: Firestone Invitational Recap with Melissa Urquhart appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

The World Beer Cup added a “Rice Lager” category for the first time in 2026, and two Northwest breweries promptly earned medals in it — which is pretty amazing. Much like Mexican lager, rice lager,...

The post Episode 191: What’s so Japanese About Rice Lagers? appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Way back when our episodes were still in the double digits, the stellar brewing talent Mike Hunsaker sat down to tell us about his journey setting up shop in Washington and winning every award in...

The post Episode 190: Shouldering the Weight of Limitless Talent with Grains of Wrath appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Happy Seattle Beer Week! A bunch of amazing brewers and beer folks have converged on Seattle this week to celebrate all things beer.  We took advantage and dragged Michael Messenie down for a quick pod...

The post Episode 189: Real Ale with Michael Messenie from Dutchess Ales  appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Happy Cinco de Mayo / May the 4th week! Owners and operators of Vice Beer, Michael and Bria Perozzo are in the house! We are flush with Star Wars-themed beers, and we just couldn’t wait...

The post Episode 188: May the 4th Be With You: A New Vice  appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Matt’s back from Berlin!  He was gone so long and missed so much that we figured we might as well just crack a few beers and catch up a bit. Ron’s been busy traveling all...

The post Episode 187: Berlin, Ron’s Road Trip, and American Beer Economics appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Matt’s still in Germany, and Ron, Bethany, Phaedra, and Doug held down the fort beautifully for this week’s super special episode. We are joined this week by one of the strongest brewing duos working the...

The post Episode 186: Dan Cady and Meghan Michels from Holy Mountain Brewing appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

There are brewers who arrive with a résumé, and then there are brewers who arrive with a landscape. Kulshan Brewing Head Brewer Wes Finger brings the latter — a stretch of Bellingham terrain shaping how...

The post Episode 185: Trails, Tanks, and the Long Game — Wes Finger of Kulshan Brewing appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

This week, we are joined by Stoup Brewing co-founder, board president of the Washington Brewers Guild, and all-around industry powerhouse, Robyn Schumacher! After spending her early career teaching high school biology for over a decade,...

The post Episode 184: The Unstoppable Grit of Robyn Schumacher appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

The Grit and Grain team was lucky enough to be invited to the famous yearly celebration of Double Mountain’s legendary inception, so we packed up the cars and took a field trip to beautiful Hood...

The post Episode 183: Double Mountain’s 19th Anniversary Party appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Happy Orval Day Eve! Saturday, March 21st, marks this year’s international celebration of one of the most unique and highly regarded beers ever made, Orval. A 1000-year-old Belgian ale brewed by Trappist Monks and bottle...

The post Episode 182: Orval Day and Trappist History with Aaron Cohn appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

We’re back for the second half of our Tacoma Beer Week double header.  Hopefully you tuned in last week for the stellar hour we spent with Ezra Johnson-Greenough of New School Beer + Cider —...

The post Episode 181: A News Worthy Tacoma Beer Week Special, Part 2 appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Happy Tacoma Beer Week! A whole week dedicated to fun events and just about everything craft beer around Tacoma and the Pacific Northwest.  No better time to bring on one of the busiest beer writers and...

The post Episode 180: A News-Worthy Tacoma Beer Week Special appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

If you’ve been following some of the big craft beer news outlets lately, you’ve likely seen some of the big stories coming from Oregon recently.  Distributor consolidation, new craft beer start-ups, and brewery buy-outs.  These...

The post Episode 179: Let’s Talk About Oregon appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

This week, we are joined by Nick Ladd and Jessie Quan, owners, operators, and the respective Ladd and Lass from Ladd & Lass Brewing. Nestled in the heart of Seattle’s University District — and in...

The post Episode 178: Brewing a New Legacy with Ladd & Lass appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Are you still scrambling for a thoughtful gift for your loved one? Look no further! The Grit & Grain team put our heads together and came up with a romantic plan you can use for...

The post Episode 177: Beer & Chocolate appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

The Pink Boots Society Conference wrapped up a few weeks ago. The every-other-year occasion brings together women and non-binary identifying beer industry professionals together to learn, network, and build community. Our best buddy and fellow...

The post Episode 176: Pink Boots Society Biennial Conference with Stacey O’Connor appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

This week are joined by veteran firefighter and Top Rung Brewing Company owner Casey Sobol. For over a decade, Top Rung has slowly but surely built a loyal community around Lacey’s only brewery by creating...

The post Episode 175: Building a Community Around Lacey’s Lone Brewery with Casey Sobol appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.