OnTap Magazine

BREWER'S DOZEN Reading is a great way to learn about beer and brewing, but driving while reading is largely frowned upon. So what can you do during those tedious hours sitting in traffic? Our regular contributor Jaco Hamilton- Attwell offers the answer with his roundup of some of the globe’s best beery podcasts. T here are loads of (mostly free) podcasts available on the internet. As with everything else, the information, setting and quality of recording vary greatly. Some podcasts have an “acquired” sense of humour, some require complete focus and a nose-down dedication due to the dryness/complexity of some of the topics, and others require a laissez-faire attitude from the listener regarding recording quality. Here are a dozen of my favourites. LEARNING TO BREW These podcasts used to focus exclusively to how to brew beer at home, but after many years of doing shows, the episodes may now cover anything from tea fermentation to growing your own malt. Starting in 2005, James Spencer, Steve Wilkes and their various guests have coverednearlyeveryconcept about homebrewing. This family-friendly, educational podcast is a great source of information, sometimes including food and other beverages including coffee and kombucha. These shows discuss brewing styles, ingredients and techniques, “classic” beer styles and how to brew them, and everything in between. Jamil Zainasheff (author of Brewing Classic Styles and brewer at Heretic Brewing Company) hosts all the shows, John Palmer (author of How To Brew and Water ) is co-host on The Jamil Show and Brew Strong while Mike “Tasty” McDole (award- winning homebrewer) co- hosts on Brewing with Style. Unfortunately only Brew Strong is updated regularly. But ignoring updates, all shows are great sources of information. Drew Beechum and Denny Conn are the authors of Experimental Homebrewing and Brewing All-Stars . They chat about current events, discuss a few beers and then take on a brewing topic with a guest. Their opinions (sometimes polar opposites) are a great insight to the beers and brewing in general. The Brew Files are short episodes that focus on a style or technique. The shows are family friendly, with (almost) all uncouth words replaced with a beep. The censorship is pretty funny when they ask brewers what their favourite swear word is. BASIC BREWING RADIO EXPERIMENTAL BREWING ™INCLUDING BREW FILES› BREWING NETWORK: THE JAMIL SHOW, BREW STRONG, BREWING WITH STYLE FERMENTED AIRWAYS 58 | Spring 2018 | ontapmag.co.za