Grit & Grain Podcast

A little over a year ago, we had the fantastic folks behind Burien’s own Logan Brewing on the podcast to celebrate our amazing collab with them and Lander Coffee for Tacoma Beer Week 2025. Since then, they’ve opened a new space, acquired some new toys, and made the leap into beer distribution (with someone we know!). Michael and Chris are back this week to fill us in on all the changes they’ve gone through in the past year. The beer business is a little crazy these days, and seeing our friends grow through it all is so exciting. Tune in to find out what makes their new brewery space so amazing, details on the tremendous beers Michael has been able to brew in their new space, and get some extra details on what a small brewery should consider before moving over to distribution. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite Logan blonde ale. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 193: Checking In with Logan Brewing appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

The World Beer Cup added a “Rice Lager” category for the first time in 2026, and two Northwest breweries promptly earned medals in it — which is pretty amazing. Much like Mexican lager, rice lager, or Japanese rice lager, as some folks call it, seems to remain relatively ill-defined outside of the newly instituted guidelines. This week, we sat down with a flight of five iterations of this wonderful but potentially misunderstood style to see how our favorite breweries are approaching this beer. Tune in to find out what makes different versions unique from one another, what some Japanese breweries are doing to help develop their own lager distinctions, and get some bonus spicy takes from our best buddy, Barry! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite rice lager. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 191: What’s so Japanese About Rice Lagers? appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Happy Seattle Beer Week! A bunch of amazing brewers and beer folks have converged on Seattle this week to celebrate all things beer. We took advantage and dragged Michael Messenie down for a quick pod to talk all things cask, English brewing traditions, and recipe tweaking. Michael started Dutchess Ales to bring the balanced, refined English beer he loved to New York, where he lived. It quickly grew into a much bigger project, and now he hops all over the country spreading the gospel of real ale. Tune in to hear about his approach to complex grain bills, secretly hand-delivering firkins to NYC’s only beer engine bars, and some of his favorite English pubs, should you ever visit. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite cask ale. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 189: Real Ale with Michael Messenie from Dutchess Ales appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Matt’s back from Berlin! He was gone so long and missed so much that we figured we might as well just crack a few beers and catch up a bit. Ron’s been busy traveling all over the PNW trying to hire as many breweries as he possibly can to wrap up his 10th year of the Tournament of Beers. Matt fills us in on his Berlin trip. And Bethany and The Funk Busters have some updates of their own! Plus, we get into the recent Brewer’s Association Annual Craft Beer Production report and what it says about where things might be headed in the industry. Tune in for all the updates, some of Matt’s Germany stories, and to get a few highlights and early upsets in the Tournament of Beer! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite Pacific Northwest brewery. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 187: Berlin, Ron’s Road Trip, and American Beer Economics appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

There are brewers who arrive with a résumé, and then there are brewers who arrive with a landscape. Kulshan Brewing Head Brewer Wes Finger brings the latter — a stretch of Bellingham terrain shaping how he brews and how he thinks. In this episode of the Grit & Grain Podcast, Wes traces his roots to the Nooksack River Valley and a life built around weather, water, and patience. That ethos shows up clearly in his love for Helles lager — a style that demands precision, restraint, and a willingness to let the process speak without shouting. Kulshan reflects that same grounded approach — community-first, quietly confident, and growing without losing its center, from its early days to the open, trail-connected energy of Trackside. The conversation also touches on today’s realities, including distribution shifts and the move from NW Beverages/Odom to Columbia, all handled with steady pragmatism. At its core, this is a conversation about beer as a reflection of place — honest, patient, and built to last. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite Bellingham bike trails. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.= If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 185: Trails, Tanks, and the Long Game — Wes Finger of Kulshan Brewing appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

The Grit and Grain team was lucky enough to be invited to the famous yearly celebration of Double Mountain’s legendary inception, so we packed up the cars and took a field trip to beautiful Hood River. Nestled in the Brewer’s Lounge couches, the entire Double Mountain team sat with us for a glorious hour of brewery history, shenanigans, and fond memories of the early days of Hood River craft beer. From award-winning beer to award-winning cider, airplanes, early influences, and future plans, we get the full scoop on the brewery that has spent nearly two decades helping to shape Hood River’s incredibly tight craft beer scene. Do not miss this one! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite Double Mountain pizza. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 183: Double Mountain’s 19th Anniversary Party appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

We’re back for the second half of our Tacoma Beer Week double header. Hopefully you tuned in last week for the stellar hour we spent with Ezra Johnson-Greenough of New School Beer + Cider — he’s back again for another episode and joined this week by an extra special guest. Founder, publisher, and CEO of SIP Magazine, Kristin Ackerman Bacon joins us this week alongside Ezra to talk all things beer and cider journalism, publishing, and collaboration. Just this week, Kristin and Ezra dropped the news that The New School and SIP Magazine will join forces in a what is sure to be a powerhouse of adult beverage media. Tune in to get the scoop on how this partnership came about and how these two titans plan to provide complementary coverage of the PNW beer, wine, and cider world. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and your favorite seasonal fluorescent mint dairy drink. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 181: A News Worthy Tacoma Beer Week Special, Part 2 appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

If you’ve been following some of the big craft beer news outlets lately, you’ve likely seen some of the big stories coming from Oregon recently. Distributor consolidation, new craft beer start-ups, and brewery buy-outs. These are all big indicators of industry shifts — so what do they mean for the future of beer in the Northwest? This week, we discuss some of the big shake-ups in the Oregon craft beer world, how they telegraph the future of the beer industry overall, and how the Oregon and Washington markets can differ. Our in-house distribution expert, Matt, takes the reins on this one, so tune in for his tipsy takes on beer distro economics, consumer market variables, and some interesting tidbits on how the sausage is made in the beer world. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and your most suspiciously specific distribution-era realizations. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 179: Let’s Talk About Oregon appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Are you still scrambling for a thoughtful gift for your loved one? Look no further! The Grit & Grain team put our heads together and came up with a romantic plan you can use for the occasion — a beer and chocolate pairing, of course. We’re joined again by our best buddy Stacey O’Connor, who stopped by to hang out after her Pink Boots episode last week and who also happens to teach a food and beer pairing class at South Puget Sound Community College. We gathered five of the most popular chocolate treats from the legendary Johnson Candy in Tacoma and paired each one with five different beers to see what works and what doesn’t. The catch? The beers are not stouts. Tune in to find out why mint and saisons mysteriously taste like cherries, how Stacey uses the language of love to teach her food pairing classes, and how to build your own thoughtful Valentine’s Day date-night shopping list. The post Episode 177: Beer & Chocolate appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

This week are joined by veteran firefighter and Top Rung Brewing Company owner Casey Sobol. For over a decade, Top Rung has slowly but surely built a loyal community around Lacey’s only brewery by creating a hub for local drinkers, training a staff of hyper-knowledgeable beer servers, and brewing award-winning beers. Crack a Top Rung beer if you’ve got one, and tune in for the details on how this fantastic brewery was born from an unexpected homebrew competition win, how they’ve adapted to the changing craft beer landscape, and how a flagship beer ended up being one of the most highly awarded beers in the state of Washington. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and what month Casey should represent in the Fireman’s Calendar. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 175: Building a Community Around Lacey’s Lone Brewery with Casey Sobol appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Way back in 1978, craft beer legends Charles and Rose Ann Finkel founded a small importing business and began shipping classic European beers into the US, effectively changing the American craft beer landscape for generations. Nearly five decades later, and they’re still setting the standard. Aaron Cohn, regional sales manager at Merchant du Vin, joins us this week. After many years in the beer industry working with local breweries, Aaron found his calling slinging the absolute best beer in the world to American consumers looking to deepen their knowledge and appreciation for the classics. Tune in to hear about Aaron’s history in the beer world, his affinity for the funk, and that one time he ghosted the rep for one of the most sought-after breweries on the planet! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and your best import-beer moments. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 173: Merchant du Vin with Aaron Cohn appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

We’re less than a week from Christmas, which means it was the perfect time to sneak away with our best buddy and former co-host Sean Jackson for a secret Sunday podcast. Tucked away in Doug’s studio, we popped a few fancy bottles to celebrate Sean’s 50th birthday and caught up with him as much as we could in an hour (it’s never enough time). Tune in to hear about Sean’s birthday surprise and, considering the recent news of Rogue’s closure, catch a few of his favorite stories from the Issaquah taproom and even some Dead Guy hat lore. Have a safe and wonderful holiday, y’all. Thank you a million times over for listening to us every week. We’re going to take a couple of weeks off to reset for the new year, but stay tuned for some great upcoming episodes. Much love! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and the Rogue beer you’ll miss most. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 171: Pre-Christmas Special with Sean Jackson appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

We think it’s high time we took this interview gig a little more seriously, so we figured we might as well get some high-quality interview questions locked and loaded for future episodes, but we need to make sure they’re up to snuff first. This week, we are joined by the effortlessly dashing Erik Dahlin of The Odom Corp. to field test some of our new, totally professional interview questions. After years in the beer distribution game, Erik has tasted droves of world-class pints and traveled to many historic breweries, making wonderful memories and collecting excellent stories along the way. Tune in to find out which beers he holds in the highest regard and which ones he might encourage extraterrestrial visitors to consume “bottoms up” style. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite beer questions. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 169: Inside the Brewer’s Studio with Erik Dahlin appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.