Beer Edge

26 years is a long time to run a business, let alone one with your spouse.

When my guest today first met her future husband, they were 16 years old and attending the same high school in Massachusetts. He would soon be booted out of that school but their relationship remained strong. When years later he floated the idea of opening a brewery, the two would help build the brewery together.

The story of Dogfish Head is one we’ve heard many times before, often told by its very familiar co-founder and front man, Sam Calagione. But it is his partner, the less public face of the business, Mariah Calagione, who deserves a lot of credit for Dogfish Head’s success. As she writes in the brewery’s new book, “Sam often calls himself Dogfish Head’s analog storyteller and often refers to me as our digital storyteller. He’s the extroverted storyteller in front of the audience or at the event. I’ve been the introverted storyteller, behind the screen and the camera lens.” As Mariah goes on to note, the dynamic works and helped shape Dogfish into the powerhouse it is today.

After high school, Mariah went on to Brown University where she studied public policy with a focus on its interplay with the media. After school, Mariah went to work for a local television station, working on the assignment desk and doing a variety of tasks. For her, it was taking up the family business as her father Tom owned a TV station and some radio stations in Delaware.

For his part, Sam was trying to become a writer or a teacher. But by the end of college, his passion for beer and brewing took over. After some back and forth, the couple eventually settled on opening up shop in Mariah’s home state of Delaware, specifically Rehoboth Beach.

And when Mariah joined Dogfish full time in 1997, she thought her marketing background would come in handy. Instead, she should’ve taken business administration classes. She took care of the accounting and payroll, none of which she had experience in.

But that’s how it is for small family run businesses. You end up doing everything. And one of the things it turns out she excels at is crafting a message for Dogfish Head’s social media channels. She’ll tell us about the early days of her online experiences at Dogfish, why fans of the brand kept setting up and giving them Dogfish Head accounts, and how to deal with the ups and downs that come with the job. We also talk about her new role as Social Impact Leader at Boston Beer, how the new Dogfish Head Book, 26 Years of Off-centered Adventures came to be, and what the future holds for both her and Sam.

For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.

Host: Andy Crouch
Guest: Mariah Calagione
Sponsors: Arryved - Lallemand

Perhaps it’s because we’ve been trapped in our houses and then our cities and counties and states for too long, but my mind has been on San Diego a lot lately. In recent episodes, we’ve had some great guests from the area and today is no exception. About 2 years ago, a small earthquake shook the craft beer world. Ballast Point, whose sale only a few years earlier for a billion dollars to Constellation, had gobsmacked everyone from the tap room on Main Street to Wall Street board rooms, had unexpectedly been sold again. This time to a tiny little brewery outside of Chicago that absolutely no one had heard of. The story seemed crazy and I certainly thought the whole situation was a bit nuts. But as it turns out, the new owners weren’t crazy, just smart, experienced business people with a vision for the future.

At first glance, Brendan Watters seems to be quite a character. With his Australian accent, wide brimmed outback hat, and mile wide smile, Brendan appears on the surface an unlikely person to purchase a brewery once valued at a cool billion dollars. But the aphorism about books and covers should be kept in mind. Because behind the camp is a successful, credentialed businessman with the right timing and connections to get this deal done.

He has recommitted the company to the local San Diego market and is building back the loyalty and respect of San Diegans piece by piece. And by most accounts, this improbable story appears on the way to a happier ending. Local beer writers are impressed with how Brendan and his team have operated Ballast Point and with their future plans.

Two years on, the Ballast Point story continues to evolve and Brendan is at the center of it. And he’s not done yet. While he plays a bit coy about future prospects, Brendan and his team appear ready to continue purchasing craft breweries in the years to come.

In this episode, Brendan and I discuss his background in business and why he and his partner Chris Bradley started Kings and Convicts in their putative retirement, how the Ballast Point sale came to be, and how he and his partners have worked to regain the trust of Ballast Point’s employees and consumers.

For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.

Host: Andy Crouch
Guest: Brendan Watters
Sponsors: Arryved - Novozymes

Emma Janzen and I have known each other for years. Well, in the sort of way that two people on Twitter who have never met in person can. We’ve traded messages, likes, and retweets. She’s a talented writer and photographer who possesses a great eye for detail while not losing focus on the story. She’s someone whose work I’ve followed for a long time and who I’ve wanted to have on the podcast.

Her career is a melange of multimedia endeavors. After focusing on audio and video editing, she graduated with a degree in film. She didn’t plan on being a journalist but her background skills set her up perfectly for the new coming age of reporting and social media.

She started her career working at the Austin-American Statesman in Texas after college. Living, working, and drinking in Austin, Emma had a front row seat for the nascent cocktail scene growing in the city. She reported on all things drinks there, shooting photos and video to accompany her articles, years before this would become regular practice in the industry. Emma then moved to Chicago, where she worked as a freelance writer, which is where she started focusing more on beer. She then got a job with Imbibe Magazine as the digital content editor.

Emma is responsible for everything you see on Imbibe’s website. She runs the editorial calendar, helps select and write stories, shoots photos, sources and curates recipes for the publication. She’s also the author of several books, including Mezcal: The History, Craft and Cocktails of the World's Ultimate Artisanal Spirit, which was nominated for a James Beard Foundation award in 2018. Her latest book, a collaboration with co-author Julia Momose of Kumiko in Chicago, is The Way of the Cocktail: Japanese Traditions, Techniques, and Recipes.

We don’t talk a lot about beer in this episode, though there is some. We’re mainly talking about booze this week, about how little I understand and appreciate mezcal, the beauty and art of Japanese bar culture, how much we both miss travel, and whether the RTD and NA spirits trends have legs.

We also talk a lot about the business of journalism in the modern age. Emma offers advice on how to take better photos of your drinks. And we talk about how to maintain a healthy work life balance and the importance of re-energizing your creativity in the face of the burnout that so many of us are facing.

We start this week by talking about the state of alcohol journalism and how her employer, Imbibe Magazine, has managed to succeed where so many others have tripped up. And how the romance of the printed page endures.

For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.

Host: Andy Crouch
Guest: Emma Janzen
Sponsors: Arryved - Novozymes

Chris Shepard is one of the keenest voices in the craft beer industry. A Senior Editor for Craft Brew News at Beer Marketer's Insights, he covers the trade side of the craft beer industry with wit, wisdom, and a healthy dose of skepticism.

You might wonder how a trained actor and theater director found his way to writing about the business of beer. Well, as you’ll hear Chris tell it, Beer Marketers is a 50 year old company, a true family run operation, founded by Jerry Steinman. His son Benj, a fixture in his own right in the beer business, followed in his dad’s footsteps and now runs the show. And for more than 40 years, Eric Shepard, Chris’s dad, has been working with the Steinman's. Eric, who I’ve had the pleasure of sharing beers with, is the VP/Executive Editor and joined BMI in 1977.

BMI is one of the oldest and longest running beer publications out there, certainly on the trade audience side of things. The company produces a handful of newsletters targeted at the broader beer industry as well as sponsoring conferences. BMI is a critical voice in the beer trade but it long focused almost exclusively on the big players for its largely wholesaler audience. But in recent years, the company has moved to expand its reach. One of the most prominent craft focused efforts has been Craft Brew News, which Chris writes and edits along with Benj’s son David. See, a true family operation spanning three generations.

Chris is one of my favorite people in the beer world. With more than 11 years covering the beer industry, he’s smart, compassionate, and thoughtful. We sadly only get to see each other once or twice a year, at beer events like the GABF or the Craft Brewers Conference. As you’ll soon hear, he’s an exciting voice in the world of craft beer and I’m looking forward to our next beer together.

For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.

This Episode is sponsored by:

Source Brewing Company

We talk with Greg Taylor about Source Brewing Company's Inclusion & Diversity Scholarship, which offers underrepresented groups the opportunity to receive a world class education from the Siebel Institute in Chicago. Source is also proud to announce the opening of its second location, in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. If you are interested in the Inclusion & Diversity Scholarship, or are interested in working at Source in Philly, reach out to [email protected].

Host: Andy Crouch
Guests: Chris Shepard
Sponsor: Source Brewing Company - Facebook: @sourcebrewing - Instagram: @sourcebrewing

Denver holds a special place in my heart. I’ve watched as the local beer scene has grown and then exploded, with dozens and dozens of breweries cropping up in parts of town that didn’t even really exist, such as RiNo. Denver has long had a formidable beer scene but today it is one of the country’s best. And on this second episode of the Beer Travelers podcast, we’re going to talk with two local experts, Tristan Chan of PorchDrinking and Jonathan Shikes of the Denver Post. These two are as knowledgeable as they come and as we’ll hear, they are full of advice for planning your visit to the Mile High City.

Stay tuned at the end of the episode for my personal favorite suggestion for Denver. Hint: it’s the perfect place for a nightcap or to end your trip.

In this episode of Beer Travelers, we discuss all that the city has to offer in this episode so let’s start our trip to Denver, Colorado with Tristan Chan and Jonathan Shikes.

This Episode is Sponsored by:

Pub Culture Beercations
Stop living vicariously through other people's social media posts and get out and make some memories of your own! Join Pub Culture Beercations for one of our upcoming tours and start exploring the world one pint at a time with us. Visit PubCultureBeercations.com for more information.

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• Host: Andy Crouch
• Guests: Tristan Chan and Jonathan Shikes
• Sponsor: Pub Culture Beercations
• Tags: Denver beer, Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Avery Brewing