MicroBrewr 015: Randal Denver’s advice for a homebrewer who wants to become a professional brewer, with Yards Brewing Company.

MicroBrewr 015: Randal Denver’s advice for a homebrewer who wants to become a professional brewer

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In this episode I talk with Randal Denver, brewer from Yards Brewing Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Randal started homebrewing several years ago and got hooked.

“It was kind of the first thing that I ever felt I was good at,” he said.

So he applied for a job with Yards Brewing Company and started working on their packaging line. Since then, he has moved up to brewer, and makes any beer in the Yards Brewing lineup.

Randal offers great advice for a homebrewer who wants to become a professional brewer.

Some advice he shares:

  • Clean and sanitize always
  • Immerse yourself in beer knowledge
  • Brew as often as you can, as many different types of beer as you can

Listener question:

From Josh Pierce: Do you think alcohol levels will start to come down anytime soon?

Book recommendation:

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

Your Free Audio Book

An upcoming beer style:

Session IPA

Other resources:

You can reach Randal Denver and Yards Brewing Company at:

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

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MicroBrewr014: Zachary Typinski's career in craft beer culminates in a craft brewery, with Neighborhood Brewing Co.

MicroBrewr 014: Zachary Typinski’s career in craft beer culminates in a neighborhood brewery

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In this episode I talk with Zachary Typinski from the upcoming, Neighborhood Brewing Co. Urbanrest Brewing Co. in Ferndale, Michigan.

Zachary has years of experience throughout the beer industry. He has worked in merchandising and retail, distribution and sales. He’s also a draft certified technician, Certified Cicerone®, BJCP Novice Judge, and an award-winning homebrewer.

Currently Zachary is the Michigan sales manager for Oskar Blues Brewery, and he is in the process of opening his own brewery.

He shares creative ideas for “getting liquid to lips,” and what it takes to bring beer “from grain to glass.”

He shares his breadth of knowledge on a range of topics including:

  • Merchandising
  • Packaging
  • Keeping clean draft lines
  • What it’s like to see his award-winning homebrew go into production and be widely distributed

Listener question:

From Eric Simon: What beer do you want to brew, but aren’t going to because it’s too risky or won’t be popular enough?

Book recommendation:

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

Your Free Audio Book

An upcoming beer style:

Patersbier

Other resources:

You can reach Zachary Typinski at:

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

Subscribe on iTunes             Listen to Stitcher

Meet your new host: Nathan Pierce.

MicroBrewr 013: Meet your new host for MicroBrewr podcast

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My name is Nathan Pierce, and I’m so happy to say I’ll be your new host for the podcast, taking over for Joe Shelerud. Thank you Joe, I’ll do my best to continue this great thing you started.

In this episode I talk about:

  • MicroBrewr podcast and the transition to a new host
  • A little about the format going forward
  • Update on my plans to start a brewery

Most of this is covered in a recent blog.

Transition to a new host

I was shocked when I heard Joe Shelerud say in session 012 that it would be the last episode. I know he made the right decision for himself, I support him in that.

Still, I felt bad that MicroBrewr was ending. I’ve loved listening to MicroBrewr since the first episode in February. It’s timely for me as I’m planning to start my own brewery. It’s a great resource and it’s building a great community.

Moving forward, I’m coming up with a list of questions that I’ll ask each guest. It’s designed to…

  • Go deep
  • Get inside the industry
  • Get inside the heads of people who work there

I’ll also have guests from other sectors of the industry, like distributors, retailers, and marketers.

I’m still playing with the format, so let me know if you have suggestions or if there’s a question you’d like to ask our guests. Leave of a comment below.

Update on my plans to start a brewery

In session 005, Joe interviewed me about my plans to start a brewery. Since then, I completed the draft business plan and I’m incorporating suggested changes from family and friends. A couple months ago, my partners left the project. I learned a lot from that experience. On my personal blog, you can read about, How to choose partners when starting a brewery. Stay tuned to this podcast for occasional updates.

Please answer one question

If you could ask just one question to every brewer or brewery owner, what would you ask?

Leave your comments below. Thank you so much!

Links and resources covered

Olympus Digital Voice Recorder WS-801 – They don’t make the WS-300M anymore, but this one looks similar. It’s easy to work, records good sound, and it’s small and lightweight. I’ve used it in all sorts of different situations, in several different countries. Perhaps the thing I like best is the built-in USB connector, I think the WS-801 has the same feature.

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

Subscribe on iTunes             Listen to Stitcher

Meet your new host: Nathan Pierce.

Meet your new host for the MicroBrewr podcast

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MicroBrewr podcast has a new host, Nathan Pierce. You might remember me from episode 005, where we talked about my plans to start a brewery close to my home, near Monterey, California. I’ve hit some speed bumps in that process, so it’s becoming more of a longer term goal. More on that later.

When Joe Shelerud announced on episode 012 that it would be the last episode, I was shocked. I was driving in my car when I heard him say it. I immediately paused the podcast and gave Joe a call. Read more