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Episode 167 - The Malting Hour Presents "An Evening With Matthew and Anthony"
43 Plays1 month ago
This week, while Brandon is on vacation, Matthew and Tony try their best to do a full episode without their faithful leader.
Beers on this episode:
Boulevard Brewing Co. - More S'Mores
Old Irving Brewing Co. - Fireside Krampus 2023
Alaus Darykla - Chicago'S
Music provided by @FluidMinds
Check out all our episodes at www.themaltinghour.com
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Transcript
Intro and Setup
00:00:18
Speaker
Welcome to the Malting Hour. i am one of your hosts, Tony Golick, joined this week with... Matthew Moultenhauer. And Brandon is on vacation. And we're recording this at my place, not at the Malting Hour studios.
00:00:31
Speaker
We have one mic, and Matthew and I are staring deeply into each other's eyes. Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, Brandon.
S'mores Beer Experience
00:00:40
Speaker
hello hello brandon missed you missed buddy we can't wait to see you and hope your trip has been awesome but matthew and i decided that um we would uh drink some of the beers that we were gonna drink on our camping trip with brandon um and we're gonna drink those now we got some s'mores beers and i'm hoping to god my computer just cooperates and this uh you know works i gotta i gotta update my computer do something with it Yeah, we got rained out, so we didn't get to drink as many of the s'mores beers as we wanted. We drank one on the ferry. Yes, you you and I did. Uh, did Brandon have some?
00:01:14
Speaker
No. Yeah, was on the ferry. Wink, wink. Yes. But yeah, we had all these extra s'mores beers, so this is how the trip ends. That's based off my Instagram post of how it begins, and I didn't have a follow-up to it.
00:01:29
Speaker
Alright, so you brought this one. What are we drinking? You hear it pouring into the microphone. That's nice. This microphone is normally only used for the intros. We were drinking Boulevard Brewings... I can't read it.
00:01:44
Speaker
More S'mores? Is that what it says in the candy report? Yeah, I think so. More S'mores, and it's with collaboration with Whitman's Chocolate. So it's a barrel-aged stout. It's supposed to taste like s'mores, and you ever had a Whitman's s'more?
00:01:54
Speaker
no I've never. What is Whitman's? It's a candy company. I know C's candy. Oh, great. Someone's phone's vibrating. Someone's phone's vibrating on... Yeah, who's? Might have been mine.
00:02:06
Speaker
Yeah, you son of a... Hey, the Bears and the Dolphins ended in a tie today. 24-24. That's the best the Bears are going to do all year. Packers fucking suck. Oh, see the fruit fly?
00:02:18
Speaker
I think um you are still high. Whitman's is a candy company, and from what remember, their s'mores candy isn't that good. It's just like a chocolate marshmallow. They're like a s'mores candy? Yeah, that's what that is.
00:02:31
Speaker
Smells interesting. chocolate yeah and And marshmallow. yeah There's some graham cracker and everything, too. Do you smell this? What does that smell like, too? I mean, it tastes like s'mores.
00:02:43
Speaker
That's good. Oh, I get what you're saying. It smells fruity, kind of. Yeah. It kind of smells... Like banana runt. I mean, I do like banana runs. Yeah, well, you have no soul. I mean, it it kind of smells a little bit like Hershey's chocolate, where, like, it's not melting.
00:03:05
Speaker
Okay. I get chocolate. This isn't barrel-aged, though. It is barrel-aged. It is. It's only 8.2%. And it's a Boulevard beer. Boulevard does a pretty good barrel-aged stuff.
00:03:17
Speaker
Yeah. I'm just surprised by the low ABV. I'm just surprised by the non-barrel.
00:03:23
Speaker
Yes, I did not know there was barrel. That was that was a concern. you know i got the s'mores. Here's the thing with some of these. so I do get chocolate. I do get some vanilla. to get marshmallow.
00:03:36
Speaker
Maybe little graham cracker. Maybe.
Critique on Beer Collaborations
00:03:39
Speaker
This is like this year? Yeah. Yeah, I...
00:03:45
Speaker
Again, this this is what reminds me of 10 years ago where barrel-aged stouts were kind of thin and you'd get the flavor and it would break your mind because you hadn't tried anything like that. But nowadays, you need things that are thick and barrel. I love thick and barrel.
00:04:04
Speaker
I love thick barrels. Yeah. Oh, yeah, Tony. this is We got some thick barrels for you. This is getting too incense in my dining room here. ah Yeah, we're not in my not my office because there's no AC in the office and it's hot as shit. If we were waiting in there 27 minutes, you and I would be... It's hotter in there than it is outside, probably.
00:04:26
Speaker
You got to take off all the clubs? Probably. yeah Maybe we should stayed in there. Yeah, this is... Oh, sorry, I keep moving the table. Also, it's going to pick that up as soon as you put it down.
00:04:37
Speaker
Yeah, keep it in your hand. Keep the glass in your hand. Let's see what we yeah There you go. um Yeah, this is... It's okay.
00:04:49
Speaker
My problem with this is that it's...
Great Taste of the Midwest Discussion
00:04:52
Speaker
When there's collaborations like this with a brewery and a company like Whitman's, or whatever it's pronounced, I think, Whitman's, Whitman's, like, as soon as I saw it, I was like, it's gimmicky.
00:05:08
Speaker
I mean, the whole can is gimmicky. It's bright yellow with s'mores all over and more s'mores. Like, I'm sure people will see it on the on the post. Yeah.
00:05:20
Speaker
The bright yellow gets me, especially with, like, s'mores. I will say for summer. Well, that's because it's matching the candy. It's a yellow packaging. God, didn't people buy that? Yeah.
00:05:32
Speaker
I guess. But, yeah, I knew what they were talking I've never had it before, but i mean maybe I have. But, I mean, look at it. It's just a marshmallow covered in chocolate with, like... pieces of well then record just give me that the marshmallow eggs for Easter yeah what the peeps no no the can Cadbury does like the chocolate rap is not marshmallow its no but they do a
00:05:58
Speaker
Is it Peeps or is it Cadbury? One of them does, and they sell it in the like the egg carton, and it looks like an egg covered in chocolate, but it's marshmallow in the center. Interesting. i don't think it's either one of those companies we were talking about. Probably not, but it's still good. Yeah. Not this. Getting... Nope.
00:06:15
Speaker
Getting congested again. Told you. Yeah, and so, like, for the summer, this isn't a bad barely stout because yeah it is easy drinking, it's a little bit thinner,
00:06:27
Speaker
I don't think I'll have any issue finishing the whole eight ounces that we each have. Yeah. I definitely drink this by myself. The can of it. you know like It's not bad. and I'm glad it's not like super sweet.
00:06:41
Speaker
Yeah. Not that we're going to get to that next. But that is partially this weekend has been the Great Taste of the Midwest. and I need you to and each to come closer. and when we did Thank you. the more beer fo Now back up a little bit. That's too close.
00:06:54
Speaker
I just saw your lips. Here we go.
00:06:57
Speaker
right, you're good. I just leaned Thank you. Well, now you're fine. You know the hitch. I lean in 90. You lean in 10.
00:07:05
Speaker
I don't know that, but now I know it now. going to start using it. but Virginia, I got this new move. Check this out. You don't go all the way. No. Let's go all the way.
00:07:16
Speaker
did But yeah, we we brought our coconut rum barrels out because... The pirate camp, Krampus. Yeah. and My favorite. Like, the nice thing in Moore and apparently a great taste. Like, the more people kept on coming back and trying it, people were just floored by it because it's big and thick and copious amounts of coconut. It is. if you don't like coconut, you're going not like that beer.
00:07:41
Speaker
That's my ice machine. Nice. I like to tell everybody what's going on in the background. If you can hear the cicadas, we actually have windows closed. First question. I feel like this is an NPR version of an episode.
00:07:54
Speaker
Also, this is a shortened episode because it took me forever to get my computer up and going. But anyways, overall, how many individually wrapped chocolate covered marshmallows with graham cracker pieces are you giving us?
00:08:07
Speaker
Out of five? Yeah. Three. Same here. Like, I'll drink it. It's tasty and delicious, but I'm not going out of my way for this. No. And I'm glad I didn't get a four-pack of it. I bought the single can.
00:08:19
Speaker
And I was, you know, like i said, I was happy to see it because was trying to get so many s'more beers. So many s'more beers. S'more. no Okay, so here's an interesting question. Buying a single can... I'll let you know it's interesting.
00:08:31
Speaker
was like Was it significantly cheaper than, say, a Krampus or CBS, BCS? I don't remember. sure it was. Yeah.
00:08:42
Speaker
And so I get that, too. like du It's mass-produced, also. you know like It's Boulevard there. And it's, again, not a bad beer. Just barely s'mores beer.
00:08:52
Speaker
i mean, I want... I want to taste barrel, and I want to taste s'mores. Here I get, like, chocolate, some vanilla, stout. Yeah, I get a little bit the
Technical Issues and NPR Comparison
00:09:02
Speaker
s'mores. I think you're right, though. that The biggest thing I'm missing is just that depth of, like, little bit of, like, whiskey bite. Something that gives it... Something that says, like, hey, this is barrel-aged.
00:09:12
Speaker
Yeah. If it was barrel-aged, was it just, like, ah just a regular barrel that didn't house booze at one point? I'm also wondering, workplaces are doing... Not necessarily barrel-aged, but they're using whiskey staves.
00:09:26
Speaker
And so they're doing, like, wood-aged instead of saying barrel-aged. Now, obviously, it says barrel. So you have to assume it's been in a barrel. But I do wonder if there's some places that are just basically finishing with wood staves and not doing full barrel contact for a year.
00:09:40
Speaker
Could be. Could be. Are you ready? Oh, I'm ready. Because this one is our old Irving plug. Yeah. And this one came from my personal stash.
00:09:52
Speaker
Jesus Christ.
00:10:04
Speaker
It literally sounds like you were... And now you slammed the the glass down. That was good. That's going sound real good for listeners. After it sounds like you're taking a whiz. Delicious.
00:10:15
Speaker
A delicious... Golden chocolate... There we go. That's what I'm talking about. Matthew, tell them we're drinking.
00:10:26
Speaker
So this this is the 2023 Fireside Krampus.
Krampus Beer Variations
00:10:31
Speaker
This came from my personal stash. Couldn't find a ton left, but we actually poured this at the Rare Beer Fest last year in Denver, Colorado.
00:10:42
Speaker
This was our highest rated Krampus that we released two years ago. And then last year was count. It was either between pirate Krampus or the double barrel.
00:10:54
Speaker
That was the highest rated. And so this one was a blend of the Willett, the 1792, the Basil Hayden, but then doing double the amount of chocolate and marshmallow and vanilla.
00:11:08
Speaker
You're not boring me. i just had a really long Saturday. I'm still recovering. Yes. I wasn't out until 5 a.m. I wasn't out until 5 a.m. either. I was up until 5 a.m. This was, I believe, my favorite from 2023. It's very good. It tastes like s'mores. And it's actually held up pretty well.
00:11:27
Speaker
Pretty freaking well. And I hear a car. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I will say, ah get a little bit of the barrel, which I'm happy with because...
00:11:40
Speaker
This is still really thick. Obviously, certain parts fall off. I think the marshmallow might have fallen off the most. You still get vanilla and the chocolate. But it is really big and sweet. And you get a little bit of that like whiskey that hits hits me right up front. This definitely tastes more like a s'mores beer than the s'mores, more s'mores.
00:12:01
Speaker
Which is funny because the other one is called more s'mores and this is just called campfire. Fireside. You know meant.
00:12:10
Speaker
You know what was talking about. I know what you're talking about. Oh, wing, wing, nod, nod. Okay. How do you do This is seriously an NPR malting hour. From now on, if you and I ever do them, it has to be like this, and that's it.
00:12:23
Speaker
You're listening to NPR. This week on the Malting Hour. Matthew and Anthony discuss s'mores beers. Anthony.
00:12:36
Speaker
Yeah, it's my full name, Matthew. Anthony, now we have had a lot of the economic downturns and upheaval with the Trump administration.
00:12:46
Speaker
Can you tell us a little bit more how it's impacting your drinking habits? I'm drinking more. S'more? S'more. This would be the worst episode ever.
00:13:01
Speaker
so No. No, no, no. But Brandon will listen to it go, what the fuck are you guys doing? He wasn't here to guide us. That's We need his guidance. We do need Brandon.
00:13:13
Speaker
This is so weird. No, this is... As everybody knows who listens to the show regularly, we are very lucky that you, know you Trevor, and Tim normally join us for the past couple years to do a full Krampus drink-through, basically. This year, let's plan that little better, okay?
00:13:35
Speaker
Let's do it like, you know i don't to do it after everyone's already got it.
Debate: S'mores vs. Krampus Beer
00:13:39
Speaker
Although, i know it's kind of tough because the way you guys can things. We can it and release it like immediately. I know, that's sits true. If you guys want to do an on the canning line episode. I wish you could, but can't.
00:13:52
Speaker
Can't. We can't do s'more of that. We can do some more, whatever you want. But yeah, were we we love Krampus, and this one was definitely ever being my favorite of 2023.
00:14:07
Speaker
trying to think of, last year was Pirate. That was my favorite. And doublebarrow Double Double Barrel was really good. Our collab with Gnosis was really nice.
00:14:21
Speaker
I tried to set it down as lightly as possible. It did not. Especially since it's next to the fucking mic. Yeah, just so hold your glass. No, dude. This is my my show. Do what the fuck I want. Brandon's not here. I'm calling the shots, baby.
00:14:33
Speaker
Pew, pew, pew. um Shit, what was going to say? Something about Krampus. The OG Krampus last year I think might have been my favorite of the OGs that we ever did. The summer one is really good. I wish that was still around.
00:14:49
Speaker
I have a sixth to live it. What? yeah Yeah. I keep a backlog of certain Krampuses and barrel-aged beers, and the summer Krampus has been a hard one for me to put at different festivals or different things just because...
00:15:06
Speaker
Per my own, my personal own mandate of not wanting to name things after seasons because it does make it more difficult, summer Krampus has been difficult because, A, typically there's not a lot of fests in the middle of summer that I want to use big 15% barrel aged stouts. Why not? That's my favorite time to drink big stouts.
00:15:24
Speaker
And then when it's through off a summer and it's the middle of winter, you're like, here's my summer Krampus, you're like, what are you doing? Yeah, that's true. Well... So just bring it over. So we have a sexual sitting around that I don't.
00:15:37
Speaker
Every time I talk with Trevor, I'm like, should we submit this one? He's like, nah. Yeah. Brandon and I will combine money and just buy it from you guys and keep it on tap. We'll switch from house to house.
00:15:50
Speaker
Who's got it on tap? Just fill growlers of it. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. ah It's not a bad idea. I remember Brandon was a part of a group of guys who bought A very old, of Bourbon County.
00:16:09
Speaker
And all these guys split it. Was that from Hop Leaf during the pandemic? No, this was way before that. Oh, you you could do that. Someone got a hold of one and they were able to buy it and... Oh, that's from Fishman's? or No, but i think it was like a group of guys like from Fishman's, and they all went in through connections. don't know if I should be talking about this, but they did buy it, and i was able to get...
00:16:31
Speaker
I think a couple of bombers. I think i got like a bomber or two off of him because from his share of it. Like you just filled the bomber off draft line? Well, yeah, because that's what we had. legend From homebrew, like we were... Hey, look, my brother-in-law has it where you're force-feeding CO2, pushing out, then you fill it, just like, you know, how Clint used to do it over at Lake Effect.
00:16:51
Speaker
There's full carbonation in there, baby. Because the... I filled most of our firkins because no one else wants to do it. But... Put in some effort, guys.
00:17:02
Speaker
Well, there's a couple fun-furkins coming out. Fun-furkins just sounds like a fun thing to say. Yeah. Right back, and I take a fun-furkin. What's your dinner? we have a fun-furkin.
00:17:14
Speaker
Maybe that's what we'll call the mild English mild and furkins. Fun-furkin. Fun-furkin. I'm up for a fun-furkin time. that's that's fork yeah That's... See? That should be like if you have a little poster for fun-furkin time.
00:17:28
Speaker
yeah You're welcome. Okay, Tim. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, that that will be really fun. ah Stop moving the table. I didn't move the table. You did. Do you see fruit flies in here? Yes.
00:17:39
Speaker
yeah Not right now. I did. And why is that?
Homebrew Stories and Nostalgia
00:17:44
Speaker
Because of i had mushrooms yesterday. Shiitake? Yeah. my'sman Lion's mane? Lion's mane, shiitake. I had them all.
00:17:51
Speaker
Cut them up until five in the morning. Listening to a bunch of music. My old roommate music making buddy Mike. Oh, Mike. Oh, Mike. Fourth of July Mike. Fourth of July Mike. That's how it'll always be to you.
00:18:06
Speaker
Magic Mike. ah do you remember when we stood out right outside here and watched all those fireworks? They were better than the fireworks at Chicago Dogs. and Chicago Dogs were some good fireworks. and but Sorry, Chicago Dogs. That was too fast for a 4th of July fireworks show.
00:18:20
Speaker
You've got to hold back. Let the explosion happen naturally.
00:18:28
Speaker
That's what she said. Oh, man. I'm not going to ask you to rate this. unless you Unless you want to rate it based on the year and how it's held up. Without giving, like, and necessarily number, like, I think it's held up really well.
00:18:44
Speaker
For me, the marshmallow has fallen off. Yeah. Which is a little bit sad. The vanilla still is held up. The chocolate's held up. The body and the sweetness is held up. And surprisingly for me as well, the barrel, like, that willet, the little bit of spice is still holding in. Absolutely. I was going to say, like, that's that, I get that right in the back, back end of this.
00:19:03
Speaker
There's little bit of, okay, there's a little bit of bitterness too. That is nice. Don't wink at me after you say that.
00:19:13
Speaker
Oh, God. It's just my body. I'm just controlling. Are you controlling? I don't think you are. i See? And then he raised his eyebrows. You guys don't understand how close we are. We're we're very close. This is the closest Matthew and I have been face-to-face.
00:19:27
Speaker
Ever. Well, ah camping. no Let's see. Let's make sure everything's okay. Yep, now we're still going. My ah computer just decided, hey, it's time to... You don't have the screen on. So what we learned is we've been staring into each other's eyes for the last 10 minutes and nothing's been recording.
00:19:43
Speaker
Oh, shit. Nothing has been recording. No, we're good. We're we're good. We're full 20 minutes in. Is that it? That's it. i I'm surprised it's that long. That's what she said. Hey-oh.
00:19:55
Speaker
Is it what she said? Well, as my friend would say, if it's too easy, she would just go, dirty. What? Wait. She would just say dirty rather saying that's what she said.
00:20:08
Speaker
Ah. Got it. Got it. Got it. I was like, don't fully understand. My nose is... I'm sorry. I'm trying not to... I was able to breathe outside and now inside I'm congested. Maybe it's my hip apartment.
00:20:19
Speaker
It might be your compartment. No, my apartment. the compartment ah marshra is in The compartment of You would live in a fairyland. The compartment of my apartment where I sleep. I think is that's the problem.
00:20:32
Speaker
There is a lot of There is white noise in the background. I forgot that I have the air conditioning going in the back and the fan. So I apologize, everybody. that This is as good as it gets when we're working with what we're working with here.
00:20:45
Speaker
You know, we're working. Brandon, we need you.
00:20:49
Speaker
We need you, Brandon. need
00:20:52
Speaker
We need your sultry voice. Yes. And to keep us on track and prevent Matthew and I from... It's only 20 minutes. We've done a three-hour Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest? We have done that. Did you see my four Oktoberfest beers? Oh yeah, I sent the picture.
00:21:09
Speaker
I saw them. you You have a cold case of Staghorn. Yeah, that was very ah ah surprising and forgetful on my own part of asking the brewers going to Great Taste. i was like, oh yeah, by the way, bring back a staghorn from New Glarus.
00:21:25
Speaker
And then had a very full weekend. And then Tim sends me a picture of a case staghorn. And i was like... I just really wanted a can or two. Six pack, even. Six pack, six, and you can share a couple with me.
00:21:38
Speaker
couple tootry. And you can share a couple six with me.
Weekend Activities and National S'mores Day
00:21:42
Speaker
A couple sixers. Yeah. Staghorn is very good. Even before I started raiding Oktoberfest, Staghorn was consistently...
00:21:53
Speaker
One of my favorites of the Oktoberfest, and I'm sure we'll talk about it, but every year, the thing for me that makes Oktoberfest different than a Fest beer. A Fest beer can still be light, with just a touch of sweetness, crisp and clean, but Oktoberfest, you have to have that big, rich, malty body. Yes.
00:22:14
Speaker
But you need that extended lagering time so that it finishes super clean. Yes. Too many Oktoberfests finish almost like a brown ale.
00:22:25
Speaker
Which I don't hate, but it's not an Oktoberfest. We'll get to the red. We'll see how Chicago's. Geez, yeah, that's next. We're going to have to get new glasses because I'm savoring this. I'm not going to finish this right now.
00:22:40
Speaker
You're not going to 8 ounces of 15% stop? Good. I'm getting sleepy. Well, that's because the last hour was just waiting on your computer. That's true.
00:22:51
Speaker
And I call my mom soon. You got to call your mom? Oh, you do. you got 15 minutes. Oh, boy, we got we better get to the next one. got to talk to my mom because I got to go see her in Florida this week.
Exploring European Beers
00:23:02
Speaker
That is sweet. Yeah. You're a mama's boy. i have two days of work, and then I have, what is it, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday? Two days of work? You're putting in overtime? No, Monday and Tuesday.
00:23:14
Speaker
waiting you don't worry
00:23:18
Speaker
Uh... Some co-workers and my people who I'm above would agree, but they're wrong. My boss knows what I do. I'm a hard worker. You have really beautiful eyes. They're kind of blue.
00:23:29
Speaker
They are They're very blue. They're blue with just a touch of gray. It's like my hair. No, there's a lot of gray. There's a lot gray now. Why don't you grab some pint glasses so we can drink this next beer? Yeah, I'm kind of loving this. Okay.
00:23:43
Speaker
And that was the time that Matthew and Tony fell in love. And they didn't need anybody else in their worlds. For the fourth time. For the fourth time. They expressed their love to each other. Oh, you can hear them walk away.
00:23:56
Speaker
This is a very good mic, and I apologize everybody for all the background noise. I do have some fans going. I did turn off my main air conditioner, but I have the other conditioner going in the background here because I don't have central air in my apartment.
00:24:12
Speaker
And it's been very hot in Chicago, and apparently it's going to very hot in Florida as well. Ooh, nice. Hot and sticky. Yeah, and then we're driving up to Atlanta, and then we're going to stop in Tennessee and Kentucky, or Kentucky and Tennessee, and then home, baby.
00:24:30
Speaker
So be a fun... jeez.
00:24:37
Speaker
It sprayed me, which means it sp which means it sprayed the mic.
00:24:42
Speaker
Fourth of July mic. All right, so what are we drinking, Tony? don't fucking know. You tell me. so I don't know either. So, one of the fun things that I did on Oh, I didn't for this, is that I went to my local grocery store in Rogers Park. didn't do it for this. You and I. actually did. Well, i mean, we also made plans to grill and hang out today.
00:25:04
Speaker
Yeah, but I got... I made sausages. specifically got random... Don't pour me a full fucking... Okay. We have a 750. Ugh. oh My stomach is so full from the sausages and s'mores.
00:25:15
Speaker
Happy National S'mores Day. That was today, but not today, when this is being released. And so one of my favorite things about Devon Market is they make a lot of their own food, different things, but they're also Eastern European market. And so this is a Red Elk that is Chicago's chicago's family brewery craft beer. Jesus, the table.
00:25:39
Speaker
Alice. Alus. Alus. Alus. aus di dry yuk gala Sure, that's good. Davara.
00:25:49
Speaker
And it is made in Buffalo Grove here in Illinois. Nice. So not quite, or I think it's imported, but it's actually a product of Lithuania. Lithuania.
00:26:04
Speaker
You can actually hear the bubbles. It sounds like static, but it's the bubbles. So the ingredients are water, pale malt, and caramel malt.
00:26:14
Speaker
And they're going very traditional European, ah where they didn't believe in yeast yet. Oh no. Because they don't they don't include it. It's it's assumed. They also don't include hops.
00:26:28
Speaker
No, when you smell it, there's definitely hops involved. But I love that it's a Lithuanian beer that is called Chicago's. And there definitely is a mobster on bottle. Yeah, that is to shoot somebody.
00:26:41
Speaker
And this is an old school 750 with the fling top. Yeah, the swing top. Swing top. Yeah. Which will be perfect for making some simple syrup after. And then this is just a nice red ale.
00:26:54
Speaker
And it is i mean like copper. Yeah, it's copper. And it is clear. Like that is a beautiful color. what do you think you said a couple so i'll tell you this the aroma i was like oof oh no and then i took a sip i was like okay that's not actually that's actually not bad and i kind of wish no no no don't pour more uh put the top back on keep the carbonation in there <unk> got all these noises jesus the most asmr version of this podcast And that's when this podcast took off.
00:27:29
Speaker
It's actually pretty tasty. I don't think it's bad. i don't think it's great. don't think it's great. No. But it's pretty good. Part of the reason why I did this is Devon Market is one of my local places that I go to. And there was definitely a couple of months ago, not quite summer, it was cold out, but it might have been April. Not quite summer, but it was cold out.
00:27:52
Speaker
Rephrase that. it It was 70 in January and it was 40 in May. It wasn't summer. You tell me what the fuck we do in Chicago. would told you that it wasn't summer because it was cold out.
00:28:07
Speaker
Was it summer in January then? No. But your your sentence of, it wasn't summer but and it was it wasn't summer and it was cold out. That's redundant. May. Yeah.
00:28:18
Speaker
That's called spring.
00:28:22
Speaker
That's the burp I've been trying to get out this whole time. yeah That's why I've been so mean to you. I'm so sorry.
00:28:31
Speaker
so I needed that to get out so bad. That's why you could like stop pouring me beer. I can feel it. I still have the other drink you made for me. My mom's going to be like, what's wrong with you? be your baby boy, mom.
00:28:41
Speaker
It's your baby boy. You better have beers ready for me when I show up. Also, have you seen Grandma's Boy? Apparently I have, but I don't remember it. Oh, then we need to re-watch Grandma's Boy. time is smoking a lot of weed.
00:28:54
Speaker
Apparently I went and saw the Doom movie too with Dwayne the Rock Johnson in the theater and I don't remember it and I had friends tell me like no we went and saw it i'm like and I'm no we didn't. I felt it was the world's longest practical joke but I don't know that one so.
00:29:09
Speaker
Don't worry I rewatched it you don't have to Good. But part of the reason why I decided to take this risk is wait real quick here's my impersonation of Matthew.
00:29:21
Speaker
ah You are looking sexy. Please, go ahead. <unk> Continue with your story while I'm all the way back here. I'm getting wet. I'm just taking a second. What? Jesus Christ.
00:29:33
Speaker
You did an impression of me. It was spot on. was slamming my elbow down on the table, being far away from the microphone. Please tell us your story.
00:29:43
Speaker
Oh, I will. Okay.
00:29:48
Speaker
It's not that good of a story. But... ah In one of the colder days, I was there, saw an Eastern European beer that I could not pronounce because they have a plethora of... Real quick, here's A myriad?
00:30:02
Speaker
ah myriad. A myriad of, yeah. you know i I was going to use that word recently. I was thinking of something in my head. I had a dream. and i was I'll tell you about it off mic. o But I had a myriad of of things happening, and I used that word. I was like, huh, look at me in my brain. i can't remember Kurt Russell's name this morning. Jesus! I couldn't remember Kurt Russell's name this morning when I was talking to Virginia about Kurt Russell. And I'm like, I want to keep saying Michael Douglas.
00:30:25
Speaker
But no, continue your story. I'm going to get up and blow my nose because I feel like it's dripping, and I can feel it. Here's the problem. You guys are going to hear it in the background while Matthew's telling the story, even with the door closed.
00:30:35
Speaker
Okay, I'm not sick.
00:30:39
Speaker
You're listening to NPR. So, I headed to Devon Market. Local. Great place. Nice way of opening the door. So loud.
00:30:51
Speaker
And one of my favorite things about this place is that you don't have pretty much anything that is... mass produced. They make everything in house or they import it from places that you haven't heard of. And even though I love drinking imported beer, even all the imported beers are from Eastern European countries that you've never heard of.
00:31:14
Speaker
And one of my favorite styles is a Baltic Porter from the Baltics. And traditionally, most people who make them tend to be way too big and thick of a porter and too sweet and it is using a lot of those stout malts but using that lager yeast And so I took a chance on a random Baltic porter from a... love Baltic porters....from some brewery I've never heard of from Eastern Europe. Was it from them?
00:31:44
Speaker
No. Devarra? They have other ones yeah that we can try. But there's a lot of just random beers, and I started picking up a couple here and there. Lagers, Baltic porters, and especially for those classic styles...
Beer Semantics and Styles
00:32:00
Speaker
Similar to how your first nose was a lot of times I don't know if it's just the age of the beer on the shelf, you know, the first couple Sniffs of the beer tended to always be a little bit off-putting but typically when I've drank the beers I've gone. Yeah, that's a really clean easy drinking style of that beer Yeah, it's this is it's decent.
00:32:22
Speaker
You know what I mean? It's definitely something, much like the Pilsner we had earlier. Pilsner was like... From what brewery? You know, that one.
00:32:34
Speaker
I recycled the bottle already. don't even remember how to pronounce what it there. There are some D's and J's and Z's in there. Indeed. European order. European order?
00:32:46
Speaker
Yeah. Not American order. if We don't put our D's, Z's, and J's, and L's in that order. Only in Europe. In America, we we separate those by vowels. Yeah, the thing that surprises me the most, and I i don't know if this is an ale or a lager, I would have said just by reading what I could on the bottle that it was an ale.
00:33:04
Speaker
But actually, it it drinks. still very, very light and easy drinking for red ale. thought it said it's ale. red somewhere. Yeah, it says red says red beer.
00:33:17
Speaker
Okay. Doesn't tell me if it's a lager. Are there red lagers out there? Yeah. It's called a Merzen. So called an Oktoberfest. Okay, but no one's calling it a red lager. That was Right there.
00:33:29
Speaker
That was rude. No one's calling it a red lager. A Vienna lager? Yeah, yeah but no one's calling it a red lager. You son of a bitch. Yeah.
00:33:39
Speaker
Just saying.
Local Beer Shop Experiences
00:33:41
Speaker
Du sprechen sie Deutsch?
00:33:46
Speaker
No. I wish. Oh, so you understood what I said. i know I don't know if I believe you.
00:33:56
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly right media. it's Maybe it is a lager. but that It is one of the most crystal clear red beers. I love that they call it just a red beer. What the fuck? You grab the malting hour pint glass? You can give that one to me?
00:34:14
Speaker
Well, yeah, it's kind of not kosher to drink from your own. I don't drink out of Old Irving pint glasses. I don't even have an Old Irving. Oh, yeah, I take that back. I have the St. Patrick's Day glass.
00:34:26
Speaker
That's it? You don't have a Krampus glass? I have that, too. Yes, I forgot. You don't have a one liter Stein for Oktoberfest? No, I don't. You son of a bitch. Yeah, maybe if I had a friend who worked at Old Irving.
00:34:40
Speaker
There's a new one, and there's only 288 pieces getting ordered. Okay, so how do I get one, Matthew? How does everybody get one? You come to our anniversary, which is going to be September 20th. What day of the week is that?
00:34:52
Speaker
We always do it on a Saturday. Okay, I will be there this time. We release it Friday night, and it typically sells out by Sunday afternoon. Hold on, hold on. Where's my phone? The thing that buzzed all the time. i thought that was yours.
00:35:04
Speaker
No, that was your mother trying to call you and you said no. No thank you. Oh no. Clark commented on something. Hold on. Hold on. You guys remember Clark? Clark commented on a photo of mine.
00:35:16
Speaker
commented on the s'mores. He just replied thanks because said happy happy National S'mores Day. Clark said thanks. You're welcome. I'm going reply to him.
00:35:32
Speaker
This post is actually just for you.
00:35:35
Speaker
Oh, that's so sweet. Clark's got my Rev. Which anniversary beer did they just release? 15?
00:35:46
Speaker
Might be. think it's 15, but he and i usually split um some of the releases. I would have cracked one of those open with you today, but I totally forgot about it. Because I have Strawberry Jacket and one Thundertaker left.
00:36:00
Speaker
And? It's too late in the night for me to do that. We've got two minutes to finish. Oh, shit. My mom's going to be pissed. Your mom stays up until 2 a.m. I know.
00:36:11
Speaker
Eastern time. Eastern time. That's like 4 a.m. Western. guys are going to hear me dictate this text to my mom real quick. Hey mom, I'm recording the podcast right now, comma.
00:36:22
Speaker
I'll be calling you probably in about 15 minutes. Period. Send. There is. Now my mom knows that I'll be calling her a little bit later.
00:36:34
Speaker
If she reads her text message. She does read my text messages. Oh. Yeah. In Swedish? In Swedish reply. What? What? She's Sicilian. She's Sicilian? Well, third generation.
00:36:47
Speaker
Is that why you don't burn in the sun? Yeah, man. That's I get just nice and dark. Ready?
00:36:55
Speaker
Farmers stand like a motherfucker. just got blinded by the whiteness. Dude, take my shirt off, it's embarrassing for multiple reasons. But it being pale is, yeah. I'm just pink. don't even have hair in my chest.
00:37:05
Speaker
I little bit. care my legs. Well, you're smooth like a dolphin. My mom asked me if I shaved my legs at one point. I go, no, I wear jeans all the time. What do you care if I shaved my legs? It's okay. My mom asked me once if I was gay.
00:37:18
Speaker
Oh, what'd you say? No. I'm just awkward. Hmm. That makes sense.
00:37:26
Speaker
And if you were gay, that's okay. Oh, shit, I moved the table. I said if you were gay, that's okay.
00:37:34
Speaker
Thank you. Hmm. Just like everybody else, buddy. Alright, so if you were going to rate this out I to about the mic when you're doing it. If you're going rate this... Not like that.
00:37:44
Speaker
Out of five Chicago stars... There's only four. Well, this is Lithuania. Back up off the mic. and You're too close now.
00:37:55
Speaker
I wouldn't like this mic. Of the five Chicago Lithuanian stars... Okay. Okay. How many Lithuanian Chicago stars would you give? Honestly, for this, 3.75.
00:38:07
Speaker
I actually find this quite enjoyable. like it's it's pretty It's pretty tasty. like It's very very drinkable. Actually, saying that makes me want to take more s'mores down to like a 2.75. Damn.
00:38:19
Speaker
Only because if we're talking about... like drinkability and what i would go back to if you and i were hanging out i would and we'd happen to go to the devon market i'd be like dude we should probably grab another one of those because honestly this warmed up too and i feel like ice cold i'd be slamming this i'd be slamming it so here's another fun game uh because we we grilled and i think this would actually be a perfect love games This would be a really good grilling beer.
00:38:49
Speaker
This is a $7.50, old school bottle. How much do you think this bottle costs? eight dollars $8.00. $5.00. Wow, so close.
Enjoying Beer Casually
00:38:58
Speaker
$5.00 for a $7.50.
00:39:04
Speaker
That's not bad. I would pay $5.00 for that for sure. That makes me to take that to like $4.00. $3.75.00 is where I'm at, like around there. What about you? How many Lithuanian stars are you giving this?
00:39:16
Speaker
Probably right around there, $3.6. I would definitely, for the price, without knowing the price, $3.6, the price for me skyrockets. Yeah, it's almost like, well, I'm buying this all the time. Yeah, $4.25, where I'm like, yeah, I'll drink this. It's 5.6% alcohol, too. It doesn't drink like that. I mean, not that it doesn't feel heavy.
00:39:37
Speaker
It's not super sweet or anything. like it's very It's very nice drinking. Yeah. Plus you get a swing top bottle so you can, get talk into the mic. I didn't say get closer. I just turned and talked to Mike. Don't talk to the bottle.
00:39:50
Speaker
Talk to me. There, do that. He just exorcist. His head went all the way around three 60. He's spitting out pea soup and Italian sausage.
00:40:02
Speaker
i think there's root beer brats too. Those root beer brats were really good. Yeah, and you know what? my My slow method of not putting enough charcoal on there really kept the juices in the brats and the Italian sausage.
00:40:13
Speaker
You keep the juice in the sausage. You keep the juice in the brats and make sure it's not too hot. Say one thing about Tony. He keeps the juice in the sausage. and don't know if that's a good thing.
00:40:25
Speaker
You want the juice out of the sausage, you know i mean. At the right time. Yeah. When you bite into it. Okay, don't bite into
00:40:35
Speaker
This is like the most subtly sexual podcast there's ever been for the Molting Hour. But like, positively. Yeah. But also, i think are going to think we're dating soon.
00:40:47
Speaker
We're not?
00:40:53
Speaker
I'm coming out. I want the world to know. This should have been a great Pride Month episode. Pride should be every month. Pride's every day.
00:41:06
Speaker
Yeah. I topped you that one, buddy. Yeah. Kick rocks, motherfucker.
00:41:12
Speaker
Oh, man. No, this has been a good day today. Thank you for coming by, Matthew, and hanging out. And like I said, we didn't say, actually. We hung out today. Matthew came by like around 4 o'clock. It's almost 9 o'clock now. and We grilled some sausages, we hung in the backyard, had some beers, sat around and talked. It was great.
00:41:32
Speaker
Virginia joined us. Yeah, we got to celebrate National S'mores Day. Yeah, and it was a perfect timing. When Virginia told me that yesterday, I was like, perfect, we're making s'mores tomorrow. We did.
00:41:43
Speaker
And then for National S'mores Day, you are my s'mores bae. I thought we'd drink all the s'mores beer for camping, and you're like, na we didn't touch them. And we still have one that we did not try that I have left for us to try another time.
00:41:59
Speaker
We'll try that with Brandon. After the final four? No. My mom's going so mad if I did that. Just include
Podcasting and Beer Conversations
00:42:06
Speaker
Put her on the mic. My mom has been on an episode. What episode? I don't know. It was I think it was a pandemic episode. My mom and I were at...
00:42:17
Speaker
my house, my old house, and Brandon and maybe Clark were involved. I know Brandon was, obviously. This is like the only second episode he's not been on in all like 300 things. if There's been an episode where he hasn't been on it. Yeah, me and cousin Kevin did the first after the final pour where we did a whole collection of like after the final pours that were back to back to back in one episode.
00:42:44
Speaker
It was before we started releasing them individually. Apparently there's something where I messed up the audio and I still haven't gone back and fixed it. This is like episode 20 or something where there are there's overlapping audio from two different things happening. I've never gone back and listened to it, but somebody told me about it. I think my favorite episode was when you guys first finally started doing advertisements.
00:43:08
Speaker
but you guys didn't learn where to place them. Yeah. And they just showed up at the most random spots. We've gotten better at that. Brandon and I had a discussion about it and we're we're on the same page now. like phil We didn't take a pause for an ad here, so we'll have to have an ad in the beginning and ad at the end.
00:43:25
Speaker
There could be an ad space when I walked and c clomped over to the... No, that requires me going back and listening to that. I'm going to add everything I need to add to this and post it. This is this is not a this is not a this is not an actual episode.
00:43:40
Speaker
This is not ah after the final pour. This is not malted mini. This is a special presentation.
Fantasy Football and Beers
00:43:46
Speaker
So we'll take a break right now and we'll get right back to you.
00:43:52
Speaker
Welcome back, everybody. We're going to finish up the episode here. Yeah, it was a very fun day hanging out with you, Matthew. It's always a good time hanging out with you i appreciate you helping us out with the show, too. Thanks for becoming a regular participant to the the show. It's been great having you.
00:44:09
Speaker
Yeah, it's been delightful getting to know you and Brandon and becoming friends and hanging out with you guys. Yeah, we look forward to doing it more. Looking forward to football. Oh, there's lot of football coming. A lot of football's coming up, man. How many fantasy football leagues are in?
00:44:25
Speaker
Three right now. That's insane. The brewery one, yours, and then I have an old school one, that is. That's so funny. As I asked that, I was like, I should ask him to be in mine, forgetting that you're actually in mine and your friend is in it too.
00:44:40
Speaker
My brain is fried. Yeah, the first year I was in it, you had two... You had a tight end and a tight end wide receiver slot. No, you had a single tight end wide receiver flex spot. No, no, no.
00:44:52
Speaker
I had no tight end slot, and it was just a flex spot.
Future Beer Events and Gratitude
00:44:55
Speaker
That's what was saying. Yeah. It was the dumbest. was the best thing. Tight ends fucking suck. Yeah. Yeah. Which is why it's skill intensive to get the couple good ones or to find the sleepers. Well, now we have three wide receivers, two running backs, the flex, kicker, quarterback, defense, and I think six or seven bench spots. Okay, that's too many bench spots, but the rest of it six the rest of it is just a standard fantasy football league. I know.
00:45:26
Speaker
To make things Okay, and it was it was a lot of fun because people had to actually think about what they were doing. right, go IDP. No PPR. We are at PPR half point or full point full point you do quarter point What?
00:45:42
Speaker
said you do quarter point. Quarter point what? Quarter point PPR. Do i No, you said... The full point PPR is too much. Yeah, no. I don't i don't even know. I don't know doing.
00:45:53
Speaker
Welcome to the fantasy football malting hour. Welcome to the most boring part of the malting hour. Unless you enjoy fantasy football. Some people do. Yeah, feel like the overlap was pretty good.
00:46:06
Speaker
Yeah. Do we do a side podcast where it's just fantasy football where I talk about what I don't know about and you just help me win? I mean, I just listen to a lot lot of things. I don't actually know a lot.
00:46:17
Speaker
I just know how to regurgitate. But we could. Weekly. Weekly recap. Who won? Who lost? That would be funny. That's i wish Brandon was interested in fantasy football. It's actually starting to get warm in here from the alcohol and now the AC banging off.
00:46:31
Speaker
To be honest. Not my erection. Not your erection?
00:46:39
Speaker
she It's a lot of heat. We should have drank bourbon during this too. That would been better. I had some tequila. I had some tequila too. it and And vodka.
00:46:51
Speaker
Jesus. I'm going to a latte for a Sunday. Sunday fun day. And I watched a little bit of the Bears game. Sunday fun day. Better than a Monday. I'm running on six hours of sleep.
00:47:02
Speaker
Then I took an hour nap. You got six hours sleep and you went to bed at 5 a.m.? I got up at 11. That's a good Sunday. Damn good Sunday. I didn't sleep my day away. And I made eggs and bacon and a bagel for my buddy Mike, who does a theme song for this podcast.
00:47:19
Speaker
But going to choose a different song for this episode because this is Malting Hour Presents. Malting Hour Presents An Evening with Matthew and Anthony. going play indie rock folk. What are we doing?
00:47:30
Speaker
Something from the band Fluid Minds because they gave me the okay to play their music. Nice. I like the name. They're a good band. knew those guys growing up and Johnny Cosmic now is on tour and he's got a whole bunch of stuff out there. Just check them out.
00:47:45
Speaker
Very cool dudes. Good guys. I don't know. I'll take your word. You should. Anyway, Matthew, thank you very much.
00:47:57
Speaker
Love you, man. It's been my pleasure. Love you too. And Brandon, we miss you. This is clearly not the same without you. Love you, Brandon. We love you, Brandon. And we look forward to seeing her everybody next week.
00:48:10
Speaker
Bye. Aw, I miss the Brandon. Bye! And that's that's the best it's going to get.
Conclusion and Farewell
00:48:17
Speaker
Okay, bye.
00:48:20
Speaker
This has been The Malting Hour. Be sure to follow us on all social media by searching The Malting Hour and at themaltinghour.com. You can also follow us individually on social media. Brandon can be found on Instagram as bmdub81, on Twitter bdub81, and on Untappd as bdubdrinksbeer.
00:48:38
Speaker
Tony can be found on Instagram and Untappd under AsaFelpsChicago, on Twitter the AsaFelpsChicago. Clark can be found as Clarkowski on all three. Dan can be found on Instagram as hip underscore underscore hops and to hip hops on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe, like, and rate the show on your preferred podcast listening platform. Until next time, cheers from all of us at the Malting Hour.