Speaking of Beer

With a little help from my friends, I’m starting a podcast about beer.

Beercasts abound, and while their quality varies wildly, they’re all bout our favorite topic, so they can’t be that bad. What’s a new ‘cast got to add to all that sipping and slurping and slurred speech? Well, when I inform people that I’m starting a podcast about beer, after we get through all that “what’s a podcast?” stuff, they invariably say something like, “You’ve got to have something else in there too–you can’t just talk about BEER the whole time…” To them I say, “Oh yeah, just watch me!” Beer is a deep, deep topic, and it’s also a helluva lot of fun. And that’s me in a beerglass: I’m into philosophical good times.

Besides being a tasty drink that can give you a wicked buzz, beer intersects almost every aspect of the human condition: beer is history, beer is science, beer is metaphor, beer is cuisine, beer is lifestyle, beer is a social tie that binds. Beer is snakes on a motherf****n’ plane, man! No beercast out there (that I’ve been able to uncover) touches upon all of these aspects, and surely none do it in my particular style.

What can you expect from “Speaking of Beer”? A little “Ebert and Roeper”, a little “Good Eats”, a little “Mythbusters”, a little “DragonPage Wingin’ It!”, a little “Geek Fu Action Grip”, a little Charlie Rose, a little whatever-the-hell-else pops into my head. I’m a pretty eclectic guy, influence-wise, but I like to think I only steal from the best.

One part of the show I hope you really embrace is the “drink along” aspect. Each week we’ll feature two beers. On the show, myself and one or more of my rotating cast of co-hosts and special guests will consume them in real time, and discuss and disect our experiences as we go (NOTE: tangential conversations are almost inevitable because–hey–we’re drinking beer), and evaluate each beer at the end.

While we’re doing this, I’d really like YOU to be doing it to, with the exact same beer if possible. Think of the beer segments as a sort of “commentary track” to your beer. For those willing and able to play along, I’ll post the beers for the next show on this site at least a week in advance, giving you some time to track them down. I’ll also list 2 or 3 close alternatives that would make admirable substitutes. It’s a cool way to expand your beer horizons, and you might just find a new favorite in the process.

Besides the featured beers, there with be an Interbeer Interlude and a Beer Geek Moment segment. The former will rotate among Beerlosophy (philosophical musings inspired by beer), Burpin’ Legends (putting beer myths and beer lore to the test), Beer as Folk (interviews with beer/homebrew industry insiders), and Adjuncts (non-beer topics beer lovers enjoy, e.g. barbecue or cigars). Cute names, huh? Anyway, you never know what you’ll get til you tune in. The Beer Geek Moment will be a short (I promise!) but deep delve into a narrow geeky topic, like yeast strains or malting techniques, that will give you tons of cred at your next beer-themed event.

I hope you’ll like it. Stay tuned for further development. I’ve got one show in the can, but I’m still struggling with the start-up stuff (note the generic coolness of this site!), so expect the first show to hit the podosphere in a couple of weeks. Listen for me on Wingin’ It, and I’ll try to keep you updated there as well as here.

Cheers!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 1st, 2006 at 1:30 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.