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Caitlin Johnson moved to the big city of Austin, TX a few years ago and hasn’t looked back. With the copious amounts of craft breweries and delectable eateries it’s no wonder this girl fell in love. I met Caitlin at the Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference in Milwaukee and wanted to catch up with her and all her endeavors. Give her blog Big World Small Girl a once over, especially if you plan to visit Texas in the future.

My guest this episode is someone I relate to and glad to call a friend even though I only met him in person twice. Greg Washington, known as Daddy Porter, resides in Milwaukee as homeschooling stay at home dad and has sported the quarantine lifestyle before it was “cool”. Always a beer drinker, his gateway beer was New Glarus Spotted Cow, a light and refreshing Cream Ale that helped lead him down a path to more offerings. Beer became his calling when a job as an aerospace engineer didn’t pan out and he found in beer the history, chemistry and creativity and like-minded people who share his background. Listen in and a bit of optimism will definitely rub off on you after listening to Greg and his positive outlook on the future of craft beer. My thanks to Greg for sharing his story and insights during this unprecedented time we live in. Check him out on Facebook at Daddy Porter Beer Group or find his You Tube channel and daddy.porter on IG and catch his live stream on Fridays at 8pm CST. If you have a story to tell and are in the brewing industry, a beer blogger/writer or enthusiast please shoot me an email to brian@beerisok.com. If you are able to support us financially we have an online store at beer is ok.com full of original beer apparel, stickers, hats and barware. Give us a like and share with your friends on Facebook and Instagram. Stay safe, wash your hands, and I’ll see you at a brewery soon. Cheers!

So I saw an article the other day released by the Brewers Association that said possibly 46% of craft breweries may close due to the global pandemic. Not the best time to be starting a business but this episodes guest has been around a few years and been to many local beer festivals honing their hobby to become the real deal. So here’s Brandon Starkey and Kyle Kuenning to regale us with the origin of Joy Thief Brewing. Enjoy.

Everyone has a story to tell. Throughout time stories have been told to share lessons and inspire its audience. Within those tales, many have a calling, a purpose that drives them to their destiny. In this podcast, a wide net will be cast to talk with influencers, brewers, enthusiasts and others in the brewing industry that say, “Beer is My Calling.” This episode’s guest is Mike Groshong. An Oklahoma native that has seen the beer industry grow and thrive since the early 1990s. Mike has had his hand in a majority of places throughout Oklahoma’s brewing history and has many great yarns to spin about his trials of being a homebrewer turned professional in a matter of a couple of years. Currently, you can find Mike and his partners at Broke Brewing Co. in a place almost 20 years in the making where he can brew to his tastes and grow the community of craft beer.

I’ve written on the blog recently about always being a student in life and learning along every path you take. Beer is meant to be fun, enjoyable with friends and taken lightly. In another sense beer must be respected and discussed on a professional level in order to enjoy it at it’s best. Michael Jackson’s prolific work in establishing styles and categories for beer helped us evolve into what we know today in identifying and enjoying beer as it was meant to. To know proper serving techniques such as serving temperature, proper glassware and what to expect from a style will make drinking beer all that more pleasurable. As Oklahoma moves away from archaic laws into the bright prospects of more taprooms we must ensure we introduce new comers properly. Otherwise these folks will most likely revert back to the comfortable macro beers they have grown up on. I met John Scholl,Certified Cicerone® and marketing manager for the Cicerone Certification Program, at the Beer Bloggers and Writers conference this past August in Milwaukee and was curious to know more about the Cicerone Certification Program. You may have heard of it before as a comparison to a wine sommelier. These are people that have painstakingly studied the beer industry, styles, how to serve, how to pair food with beer and most importantly how to discuss it with an audience of people that are just being introduced to independent craft beer. Today we’ll get into why it’s so important to have these certifications in an ever expanding industry and how John continues the valiant efforts of promoting the knowledge of craft beer. Images provided by Cicerone Certification Program. Images provided by Cicerone Certification Program.

Welcome back to the resurrected OCB podcast. I know it’s been a while but these one man operations are tough and as a hockey player finding the puck is hard. Especially being a goalie cause that’s my whole job. If you don’t know that reference go look up Wayne Gretzky quotes. Basically it boils down to go where the puck is gonna be and you’ll find success or something. Well, slowly and surely that’s been happening. Recently I’ve had the chance to write a little more than just on the OklahomaCraftBeer.com blog and ventured out to the masses on RootTulsa.com for a fall beer/brewery review and will be featured on themanual.com with my brother-in-podcasting Lee Heidel as I review my top 5 breweries in Oklahoma. So look for that November 11. Couple other plugs that are worthwhile because it helps a couple of Oklahoma charities. Please if you can consider joining me for Hops for Hope November 4th in Bartlesville. This home brew competition puts YOU in the judge’s seat as you’ll taste over 30 beers, a full buffet dinner, snacks, dessert, wine and Weber’s root beer as well as Iron Monk and Angry Scotsman craft beers on hand. Also, we’ll have a raffle for $10 a ticket for a cabin retreat to Estes Park, CO for 7 days/6 nights and a Orlando vacation package with tickets to Seaworld and Disney park hopper passes valued at over $2500. All proceeds benefit the Ray of Hope Advocacy Center which defends children subjected to abuse and neglect. Purchase raffle and attendance tickets at rayofhopeac.org (This will sell out) The second is First Draft Beer Tasting at ONEOK field in downtown Tulsa. Join us for a relaxed beer tasting of the latest fall releases under the lights as well as meet some of the newest breweries to open in Oklahoma like Cabin Boys, Heirloom Rustic Ales and Willows Family Ales. Tickets start at $50 and can be purchased at firstdrafttulsa.com with proceeds benefitting the Tulsa Press Club which provides scholarships to future journalists and promotes ethical journalism, defend freedom of the press and public’s right to information. ALRIGHT! Onto the real reason you’re here. Certainly I have fun with beer art and making my own thing but there are those that work in agencies and freelance that create others visions for craft beer. Be it a brewery logo or craft inspired restaurant, Jordan Coon has an eye for what works and more importantly, what sells in the way of branding these days. We geek out over the branding and marketing of craft beer as two artists that have a passion for beer. We’ve only met over Instagram so we have a lot to say for one of what I can assume many meetings of the artists minds. Enjoy.

Welcome back to the resurrected OCB podcast. I know it’s been a while but these one man operations are tough and as a hockey player finding the puck is hard. Especially being a goalie cause that’s my whole job. If you don’t know that reference go look up Wayne Gretzky quotes. Basically it boils down to go where the puck is gonna be and you’ll find success or something. Well, slowly and surely that’s been happening. Recently I’ve had the chance to write a little more than just on the OklahomaCraftBeer.com blog and ventured out to the masses on RootTulsa.com for a fall beer/brewery review and will be featured on themanual.com with my brother-in-podcasting Lee Heidel as I review my top 5 breweries in Oklahoma. So look for that November 11. Couple other plugs that are worthwhile because it helps a couple of Oklahoma charities. Please if you can consider joining me for Hops for Hope November 4th in Bartlesville. This home brew competition puts YOU in the judge’s seat as you’ll taste over 30 beers, a full buffet dinner, snacks, dessert, wine and Weber’s root beer as well as Iron Monk and Angry Scotsman craft beers on hand. Also, we’ll have a raffle for $10 a ticket for a cabin retreat to Estes Park, CO for 7 days/6 nights and a Orlando vacation package with tickets to Seaworld and Disney park hopper passes valued at over $2500. All proceeds benefit the Ray of Hope Advocacy Center which defends children subjected to abuse and neglect. Purchase raffle and attendance tickets at rayofhopeac.org (This will sell out) The second is First Draft Beer Tasting at ONEOK field in downtown Tulsa. Join us for a relaxed beer tasting of the latest fall releases under the lights as well as meet some of the newest breweries to open in Oklahoma like Cabin Boys, Heirloom Rustic Ales and Willows Family Ales. Tickets start at $50 and can be purchased at firstdrafttulsa.com with proceeds benefitting the Tulsa Press Club which provides scholarships to future journalists and promotes ethical journalism, defend freedom of the press and public’s right to information. ALRIGHT! Onto the real reason you’re here. Certainly I have fun with beer art and making my own thing but there are those that work in agencies and freelance that create others visions for craft beer. Be it a brewery logo or craft inspired restaurant, Jordan Coon has an eye for what works and more importantly, what sells in the way of branding these days. We geek out over the branding and marketing of craft beer as two artists that have a passion for beer. We’ve only met over Instagram so we have a lot to say for one of what I can assume many meetings of the artists minds. Enjoy.

Beer and baseball are simply synonymous. Heck, there’s even a Single A team called the Hillsboro Hops and craft beer has infiltrated many stadiums from bush leagues to majors. This episode I catch up with Austin McIlroy who is currently head brewer at Elgin Park brew pub in Tulsa, OK, conveniently located next to the Drillers ONEOK stadium. Tulsa has certainly lacked a sports bar for the downtown crowd and with specialties like 50 cent wings and wood fired pizzas that are anything but mainstream, Elgin Park has filled that gap. Most is due in part to the relationship of the McNellies Group and Marshall Brewing shares. Eric Marshall helped bring the system alive and tossed the keys over to Austin, a recent Siebel Institute, i.e. Beer University graduate to brew some tasty low point options. Austin is in the process of building out Cabin Boys brewery literally steps from Marshall’s 9+ year operation in the Kendall Whittier district and has a new brewer on deck to train when he hopes to transition over in October this year. Ben has a very good knowledge of brewing these beers to style and extensive study and “research” in Germany. We discuss the nuances of brewing low point beers in an ever changing atmosphere that is Oklahoma and what a place like Elgin Park does to revitalizing the downtown lifestyle of Tulsa. Tuck into this one for a bit as we sample some beers and don’t fault the staff too much near the end for getting the party room ready that we took over for the afternoon. Here’s Austin and Ben of Elgin Park Brewpub.

In an effort to expose the general public to local breweries, I had Jeremy Diamond of the newest downtown brewery, Welltown come out to the Blue Dome Arts Festival and continue our discussion of the local craft beer market. If you hadn’t watched our video, visit the blog or one of our facebook pages and watch. Jeremy has a deep background in video production and quite enthusiastic personality that rubs off on you almost instantaneously. It’s encouraging that Tulsa is a city that can embrace these new concepts and lawmakers recognize the benefits of having a taproom in the downtown area. At times you may hear my wife manning the booth in the background. We were inundated with so many new faces and complements that day and was truly humbling to be a part of such an established festival. We look to build on this and create more experiences for the public to learn about all the new up and coming neighborhood breweries now and into 2018. Here’s my conversation with Jeremy Diamond of Welltown Brewing. Social media is such an effective tool but only at its greatest with the right vision behind it. After talking with so many breweries over the years I have come to understand the limits and hardships of building an audience and putting out consistent posts or updates on each respective social medium. Word of mouth is always going to win out in my opinion and that’s exactly why I will continue this podcast. Talking directly with someone you trust about their knowledge and experiences is still the best way to bolster a brand and keep something alive. That…and voting with your dollars. Let’s keep doing that for our local breweries. As always please take a moment to rate this show on iTunes and Stitcher. Follow or share our stories and pictures online through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at BeerisOK. New tank tops are available at beerisok.com just in time for those upcoming lake getaways.

Our state has come far with it’s offering of locally made craft beers in the past 5 years alone. But not long ago you couldn’t go to the source and sample their hand-crafted wares.  Local watering holes have been catching on here and there throughout the state yet we are still yearning for more establishments to cater to diversified tastes. The Patriarch in Edmond is one of those places where community gathers through beer in a renovated two story house and beer garden in the backyard. From the very beginning it was spawned by craft drinkers for craft drinkers. No macro beers are offered, instead they have 56 taps from light to dark, a couple ciders and now experimenting with some craft cocktails featuring Prairie Wolf. The sense of community is seen throughout on the magnanimous type of day where the weather cooperates and people fill benches imbibing on the newest beers and making new friends. It’s a place to sit and reflect in a era of conflict and turmoil that we have a gathering place free of oppression and hate. I sat down with Brad Mullenix, the current GM and discussed what made this place so special and took the pulse of the current market. I encourage you to take some time to visit this oasis, relax and play some board games with friends. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised when time slows down and you leave feeling rejuvenated and inspired that everything will be ok in the world. At least, that’s what happened to me.

It’s encouraging to see what these new alcohol laws are inspiring in Oklahoma. Like myself people find their way to Tulsa through various opportunities and tend to grow some roots. Dan is no exception after being transferred to Oklahoma for his job in the frakking industry. After a couple transitions and a failing market he turned beer and decided it was time for something new. Naturally I think most of us would have this dream of just doing away with our day job and working around a beverage that brings people together. Growler USA’s mission is to be the local pub where you can find locally sourced beer and represent quality craft from around the U.S. from draft. Basically, fresh from the brewery to your glass. Speaking of which, they strive to pour each style of beer into their respective “proper” glassware which we don’t see enough of. Along with the beer there is plenty of pub grub to nosh on while enjoying a flight. Sauces are made in house and sometimes with local beer. They are experimenting with lunch specials and events like pint nights. A major bonus is you can always see the menu of beer from their 6 large screens above the bar powered by Untappd. I can only imagine how busy this place will be once they can officially fill a growler. I implore you to visit and be active in your local government so we can all enjoy the benefits of Growler USA.

Sometimes a plan takes time to develop and mature, and for legislation to play nice with your vision. Trae and Jonathan of 405 Brewing in Norman have had some silly ideas that worked out real well lately. A grapefruit sour, Brett style pale ale and coffee stout that just won’t quit. I had originally spoken to them way back when they first put out to the public of brewing beers for Oklahoma. It would have been my 2nd podcast ever until my laptop got stolen the very next day and completely lost the audio. Several years later and better practices developed, maybe more them than me, we have a new taproom to come together and meet with friends and enjoy a locally made product. Here’s Trae and some of Jonathan of 405 Brewing.

Well, unless you’ve been cooped up these past couple of months spring is practically here, irregardless of COOP Ale Works releasing their rebranded Territorial Reserve, a big, boozy imperial stout and Alpha Hive buzzing out of the brewery in 4 packs. These heavy hitters are perfect for winter which we really haven’t seen yet again in this state, however COOP has been producing something brand new for 2017. I visited the large production brewery that now serves 6 states and infiltrating Texas as we speak and picked the brain of Blake Jarolim, COOP’s head brewer. Formerly a teacher, brewing was just a random hobby that later led to a part time summer gig. We’re hearing these types of stories around Oklahoma more and more where curious interest turns hobby into a career. With more barrel production and 3 new types of releases coming out, COOP is shedding off the F5 moniker just a tad and stretching their market reach ever further. I can’t thank Blake enough for his time as the brewery was bustling that day with Alpha Hive rolling off the canning line. I sure am anxious about this new hoppy pilsner seasonal coming out soon. If it’s anything like their experimental beer I had in the taproom, it will surely ignite a great upcoming summer with a refreshing beer. Their taproom will be bustling on March 4 for their 8 year anniversary party and raising funds for the Humane Society of OKC. Tickets are going fast for 2 sessions so don’t miss out. Over on Oklahomacraftbeer.com this past week, I’ve finally built a directory of our local craft breweries along with craft beer bars/restaurants, bottle shops and homebrew suppliers. It is by no means complete and that’s where you come in. Any of your suggestions for craft beer destinations in OK are appreciated and can be sent to brian@beerisok.com. Also while you are there, sign up for the newsletter at the bottom of the page. You’ll receive an email about once a month of podcasts, news and new merch in the shop. My next pop up shop will be at the Industry Flea in OKC on March 25th, be sure to join the event on Facebook to see all the new items we have coming. As always please leave us feedback on iTunes/Stitcher/GooglePlay, Like our facebook page Beer is OK and follow me on Twitter @beerisok. All your support helps others learn about the show and keeps me motivated to continue on this journey to help cultivate the OK craft beer industry. Until next time, Cheers!

This is exactly what I predicted when SB424 was being talked about and put into place. Small, neighborhood taprooms in Oklahoma looking to fill a niche market that is growing nationally like wild fire. And we know a lot about wildfires here. Vortex Alley Brewing fits the nano brewery description with a planned 1.5 bbls scale production to serve in downtown Ponca City, OK slated for late summer/fall. Like so many other homebrewers I can’t help but imagine they will usher in a new wave of microbreweries unlike anything we’ve seen in this state before. So, David Thomas and Spencer Boatmun sat down with me to help document why they thought this was the perfect idea to bring their hobby of a combined 33 years amongst their four members you in Oklahoma. I can’t tell you how much fun it is to invite these people into your life and really communicate about something so passionately like beer. It’s a great feeling to see more people get bit by the bug and trying something new. I completely agree with David in respects to how we approach these new ventures. We are constantly learning and you don’t know what you don’t know so we must be patient and support those who want to bring craft to the spotlight. I ask you to support them through their GoFundMe account, volunteer information or skills because we are paving a path for those behind them as we are cultivating the craft of good beer in Oklahoma.

Oh boy, this one went a little beyond the Pale Ale so to say. Just about my favorite brewery to date, even outside of Oklahoma, Roughtail has been cranking out “AGGRESSIVE” IPA’s and beers for the past 3 years. Jeff ‘The Stash’ Caillouette is the Business Outreach Specialist that helps get Roughtail beer into all your favorite watering holes. Matt Denham is the head brewer when he’s not picking hop pellets out of his beard. We had too good a time catching up personally and discussing all things brewing including the new Adaptation series and an Imperial stout to the lineup. If you make it through those shenanigans and like to hear more of these types of podcasts just let me know on the Beer is OK Facebook page. These are broadcast on the Stitcher App for free and on iTunes. If you have a second to hit the thumbs up in the Stitcher app and give the podcast a review I’d be ever grateful. It’ll keep others aware that we are crafting a community of good beer drinkers in OK.

What’s your dream? your passion? Can you easily answer it or do you have to think about it? I’m still finding my purpose but there are some that know once it hits them. John Elkins shed off his role as an aircraft mechanic after discovering the “Joys of Homebrewing” as Papazzian so eloquently put it all those years ago. The public has benefited greatly with his simple hop forward pale ale, to the easy drinking saison La Ferme and his complex imperial stout Nemesis with all its barrel and coffee variations. I’m fortunate to have met John before and finally found some time to sit and document this journey he has taken upon himself to do what he loves.

Dave and Desiree Knott have been serving Tulsa homebrewers needs for the past 12 years. What started as a little hobby some 20 years ago for Dave led into a joke between the two to quit their jobs and open a homebrew store. It seems these days that is all too common for those burned out at their day jobs to invest themselves into a passion. High Gravity offers supplies and kits to make anything fermented from cheese to kombucha. They also offer gifts and even sell Beer is OK products. They’ve expanded 3 times over and now with an unfriendly nudge are being forced out to a new location down the street. What better incentive to reinvent their store and create a microbrewery! A tasting room is just one of the many feature of the new store. Head over to their donation page and pledge some support for a local store that cares so much for their community. Pledge here Gofundme.com/highgravitybrew Check out HighGravity Homebrew and like them on Facebook.

I catch up with Keith Dion of Service Brewing and the famous Brew/Drink/Run podcast he co-hosts. Keith is the cellarman at Service Brewing, a veteran owned and operated brewery, but as most places he wears many hats. Keith also writes beer reviews on the BDR blog and has quite a refined palette. I’d trust his reviews certainly over mine. I’ll be on their show in the near future discussing some American Solera beers that I sent them. Find them on iTunes or Stitcher, it’s a great show discussing beer and how to burn those calories by running it off….but mostly drinking.

Tom Gilbert hosts another successful OK Craft Brewers Forum taking the pulse of the recent law changes allowing local breweries to serve their beer you would normally find in liquor stores only cold and straight from the tap. It’s another in depth look at how these small yet prolific places help cities like Tulsa thrive as a community giving it an economic boost by generating more tax dollars, creating more jobs and bringing in beer tourists. We hear from Tony Peck of Dead Armadillo, Glenn Hall of Renaissance Brewing and Wes Alexander of the institutionalized Marshall Brewing. Sit back, relax, enjoy a cold Marshall Oktoberfest and tune in to another Oklahoma Craft Beer podcast. Get your tickets at firstdrafttulsa.com If you’d like to be a sponsor or donate items to the raffle please email firstdraft@gmail.com

He’s back! And Snobbier than ever! BeerSnobRob is a local Oklahoma comedian that will most likely perish in a tornado while noodling. At least that’s what his Twitter page says. Rob has built a fine career on dick jokes and seeing himself on commercials at the gym and later being recognized by dudes in the sauna. All joking aside, Rob is a beer hunter at heart seeking out anything tolerable to drink in the comedy clubs he frequents. His most recent gig will be at the Blue Whale Comedy Festival in Tulsa. He’ll be showcased with other local talent at a free show Saturday, September 10th at the Soundpony at 4pm. Luckily Soundpony offers  wealth of craft beer with over 30+ unique craft and Oklahoma craft beers on tap and in bottles/cans. Don’t miss this FREE Happy Hour show and be sure to tell Rob you heard him on our show. Find him on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/beersnobrob/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/beersnobrob For more event information visit: Blue Whale Comedy Festival