Consuming the Craft

Robert Todd’s creative impulse as an architect began at age five when he drew a picture of a red house on his bedroom wall. Today, that drawing has become Red House Architecture, a firm specializing in sustainable and smart architecture with the Red House signature touch of modern elegance. Robert, a Mississippi native, has been practicing architecture in Asheville for over 20 years and has designed several establishments in Beer City. The expertise of Robert and the Red House Architecture team ranges from commercial to residential, with a focus on restaurants, bars, breweries, and retail.

Robert joins me today to discuss how architectural design can impact the success of a drinking establishment. He shares his background, the story behind Red House Architecture, and his love for Mescal. He explains how architectural design addresses issues such as sustainability and energy efficiency and how Asheville breweries are being intentional in reducing their impact on the municipal sewer system. He also highlights the importance of considering future growth in an establishment’s current design and describes the relationship between a venue’s spatial design and the success of product sales.

This week on Consuming the Craft:

●The new Mescal-focused bar in town

●Mescal and why it’s beyond a yellow liquid with a worm

●Robert’s background as an architect and the story behind Red House Architecture

●The importance of planning for future growth when designing breweries and distilleries

●Sustainable and energy-efficient design and how they can help in future expansions

●How breweries impact municipal waste

●Booze Clues: a light and refreshing Agave ensemble

●The living spirit of Mescal and why Robert is so fascinated about the beverage

●Common design mistakes people make in commercial areas

Connect with Robert Todd:

●Red House Architecture

●Red House Architecture on Instagram

●Email: [email protected]

Consuming the Craft

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Consuming the Craft Podcast, brought to you by AB Tech’s Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | GooglePlay

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more craft beverage enthusiasts.

Visit our website to learn more about AB Tech and the Craft Beer Institute of the Southeast.

Kimberly Floyd is the co-founder, Executive Director, and brains behind the North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum. Established by community members in 2017, the North Carolina Beverage Museum is dedicated to preserving and interpreting North Carolina’s craft beverage story and celebrating its role in building and defining the community. She graduated with a degree in History from Meredith College and received her Master’s in Public History and Museum Studies from North Carolina State University.

Kimberly joins me today to share updates on the museum’s permanent and traveling exhibits. She describes the museum’s Pour Me Another traveling exhibit and how it tells the story of North Carolina through the beverage. She discusses the museum’s three permanent exhibits in Asheville and its partnership with the Asheville Free Walking Tour. Kimberly also explains how the North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum is actively involved in research and artifact collection and shares her vision for the museum for the year ahead.

This week on Consuming the Craft:

●The Pour Me Another traveling exhibit

●Launching the museum’s first three permanent exhibits in Asheville

●The museum’s walking tour in partnership with Asheville Free Walking Tour

●Booze Clues: New Belgium’s citrusy mimosa

●Pepsi’s T-Swiftie drink and what “retronasal” means

●How the museum is researching and actively collecting artifacts

●Kimberly’s preparatory work on next year’s traveling exhibit on temperance and prohibition

●How prohibition is still impacting us today

●The museum’s hub-and-spoke model and the need to increase outreach and sponsors

Connect with Kimberly Floyd:

●North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum

●North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum on Instagram

●North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum on Facebook

●North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum on Twitter

●Kimberly Floyd on LinkedIn

●Email: info@ncbevmuseum

Consuming the Craft

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Consuming the Craft Podcast, brought to you by AB Tech’s Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | GooglePlay

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more craft beverage enthusiasts.

To learn more about AB Tech and the Craft Beer Institute of the Southeast, visit our website.

Leah Howard is the owner of H&H Distillery, a 4-year-old craft spirits distillery based in Asheville, NC. H&H Distillery currently distills three great-tasting spirits: Hazel 63 Rum, Asheville Coffee Liqueur, and Hwy 9 Gin - all of which are available in ABC stores throughout North Carolina as well as select locations in Illinois.

Leah joins me today to share the story of how H&H Distillery got started, why they decided to spend the first full year in business focusing on crafting their product, and the importance of learning to properly run and manage your still before launching your product into the market. She explains the risks and legal implications associated with home distilling and the challenges many small distilleries face regarding the new bills and legislation occurring in the industry. She also explains the importance of connecting with others within the craft beverage community, and how it can impact the growth of your business.

This week on Consuming the Craft:

●How H&H Distillery was born.

●Why it took the company a full year to release its first product to the marketplace.

●The importance of developing your product before bringing it to market.

●The legal amount of wine and beer you can make in a home-based brewery.

●The risks and legal regulations regarding distilling at home.

●The challenges associated with selling craft spirits.

●New laws, bills, and legislation occurring in the industry that can affect small craft spirit distilleries.

●The different sales codes distillers must comply with in order to sell their products to consumers.

●The Booze Clues ruby red cocktail surprise.

●The importance of connecting and networking with other professionals in the industry.

●How cultivated cocktails enhance the customer’s drinking experience.

●The concept behind the Bro Wall, Tampon Flasks, and Cocktail Cans.

Connect with Leah Howard:

●H&H Distillery

This episode is brought to you by…

McConnell Farms - Taste the Way You Remember. Enjoy homemade ciders and ice cream made from only the best produce on the market. Visit the McConnell Farms website to learn more about our seasonal inventory and the delicious creations you can make with our homegrown produce.

John Hedburg is the founder of Bottle Rocket Design, an alumni graduate of the Craft Beer Institute program, and a web designer for craft beer breweries across the industry.

John joins me today to discuss how to build brand loyalty by designing a stellar website. He shares the factors you should consider when planning your website design, the importance of using professional photos and videos on your website, and the difference between using a website builder platform such as Wix or Squarespace versus hiring a professional web designer. He also explains why it’s important to design your website with a mobile-first mindset, how to create engaging and relevant content to build your brand and website authority, and why it’s important to keep your website content up-to-date in an ever-changing online environment.

This week on Consuming the Craft:

●The most important factors to consider when designing a website for your craft beer brewery.

●The information your website should include.

●Copywriting best practices when creating text content for your website.

●The importance of using pictures and videos on your website.

●Why you should hire a professional photographer for your website photos.

●Optimizing your website for viewing on desktop and mobile devices.

●The Booze Clues Armagnac surprise.

●The limitations of website building platforms like Wix and Squarespace.

●Having a mobile-first website strategy.

●How to create relevant, engaging content to keep website visitors coming back to your site.

●The importance of keeping your website content up-to-date.

Connect with John Hedburg:

●Bottle Rocket Design

This episode is brought to you by…

McConnell Farms - Taste the Way You Remember. Enjoy homemade ciders and ice cream made from only the best produce on the market. Visit the McConnell Farms website to learn more about our seasonal inventory and the delicious creations you can make with our homegrown produce.

Jen Currier is the Maven Wood Cellarman at Wicked Weed Brewing Company and a graduate of the Craft Beer Institute. At Wicked Weed, she works in the sour production facility, which focuses on creating unique, sour beers. She holds an Associate degree in Applied Science, Brewing, Distillation, and Fermentation from the Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and a Bachelor’s degree in Human Biology from North Carolina State University.

Jen joins me today to share her career journey into crafting sour beer and the new Wicked Weed beverages hitting the market. She shares some of the flavor profiles she’s used when crafting sour beer and why she believes craft beer should not maintain a consistent taste from batch to batch. We also discuss how we can improve the Booze Clues peach brandy and enjoy a second serving of Booze Clues with a snotty Black Angel sour black ale.

This week on Consuming the Craft:

●How Jen got started in sour beer production.

●Various flavor profiles she’s used to craft unique sour beer flavors.

●The daunting task of preparing pears for beer production.

●Why she believes beer should not maintain a consistent taste.

●Booze Clues peach brandy.

●Double shot of Booze Clues with sour black ale.

●Jen’s first experience with ‘snotty’ PDO.

●Why she believes yeast needs a rebrand.

●What is spontaneous beer?

This episode is brought to you by…

McConnell Farms - Taste the Way You Remember. Enjoy homemade ciders and ice cream made from only the best produce on the market. Visit the McConnell Farms website to learn more about our seasonal inventory and delicious creations you can make with our homegrown produce.

Eric Lebsack is the Seller Master of Ponysaurus Brewing Company. Ponysaurus is a 6,000 square-foot brewery with locations in Asheville, Charlotte, Wilmington, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Durham. They are known as a forward-thinking, backward-tasting brewery dedicated to creating a beer designed to be savored and appreciated.

Eric joins me today for a double dose of Booze Clues to discuss the new products Ponysaurus plans to release into the marketplace. He explains why it’s crucial for brewers to get the flavor of new beers ‘just right’ before they hit the market and the evolution of your senses as a craft brew drinker. We also discuss rum-injected Boston butts, using wormwood in your brewing recipes, and how distilleries get that interesting green color in liquor.

This week on Consuming the Craft:

●How Eric got started at Ponysaurus.

●The Booze Clues Brown Spirit Surprise.

●The new barrel and can beers Ponysaurus expect to hit the market soon.

●The importance of ensuring the flavor of a new beer is ‘right’ before releasing it into the marketplace.

●Injecting Boston butts with Captain Morgan.

●A double dose of Booze Clues.

●Using wormwood in your brewing recipes.

●How distilleries make green-colored liquor.

●What’s next for Ponysaurus?

Connect with Eric Lebsack:

●Ponysaurus Brewing Co.

This episode is brought to you by…

McConnell Farms - Taste the Way You Remember. Enjoy homemade ciders and ice cream made from only the best produce on the market. Visit the McConnell Farms website to learn more our seasonal inventory and delicious creations you can make with our homegrown produce.

Diane Currier is the founder of Honeygirl Meadery, a meadery based in Durham, North Carolina. Diane first discovered mead after visiting her sister in Alaska and experiencing her first taste. In 2012, after earning a second-place ribbon at the North Carolina State Fair for her hibiscus lemon thyme mead recipe, she decided to launch her company to produce high-quality, handmade meads that promote and support and support beekeeping and honeybees while improving their natural habitats.

Diane joins me today to explain what mead is and how she learned the art and science of mead-making. She shares how she finds inspiration for new mead flavors, the current trends in the mead industry, and why she decided to make session meads. She also discusses the ‘grassroots’ of the Mead Revival and how she has grown - and helped establish - the culture of mead making.

This week on Consuming the Craft:

●What inspired Diane’s passion for mead-making?

●How she learned to make mead.

●The pre- and post-production processes of mead-making.

●How she finds inspiration for new mead flavors.

●Pairing flavor profiles of mead to compliment food dishes.

●Trends currently happening in the mead industry.

●Why she decided to venture into session meads.

●Why she believes it’s important that mead drinkers are more adventurous than brand loyal.

●Why mead makes great-tasting cocktails.

●How to find mead products at your local wine and spirits store.

●How the techniques used in the mead making world have evolved.

Resources Mentioned:

●The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

●MeadCon - International Mead Conference

Connect with Diane Currier:

●Honeygirl Meadery

●Facebook

●Twitter

●Instagram

This episode is brought to you by…

McConnell Farms - Taste the Way You Remember. Enjoy homemade ciders and ice cream made from only the best produce on the market. Visit the McConnell Farms website to learn more our seasonal inventory and delicious creations you can make with our homegrown produce.

Chris Harshman is the Director of Technology Services at A-B Tech. With a wide assortment of professional (and non-professional) titles behind his name, his most preferred title is Whiskey Enthusiast due to his newfound passion for whiskey and bourbon.

Chris joins me again today to share his first foray into ‘investing’ in barrel bourbon. He explains the difference between a Master Distiller and Master Blender and the various factors that impact the flavor profiles in whiskey. We also discuss the recent innovations in bourbon finishing, warehouse management, and barrel charring and he shares some excellent barrel bourbon that makes your teeth happy and your eyes water from the first sip to the last.

This week on Consuming the Craft:

●How he first discovered barrel bourbon.

●How barrel bourbon came to market.

●The difference between a Master Distiller and Master Blender.

●The factors that impact the flavor profiles in whiskey.

●Recent innovations in bourbon finishing, warehouse management, and barrel charring.

●What is the “Red Layer” under the char of a barrel?

●Popping the cork on Barrel Bourbon Booze Clues.

●The flavor profile of marzipan.

Connect with Chris Harshman:

●LinkedIn

Chris Harshman is a ‘Whiskey Enthusiast’ and the Director of Technology Services at A-B Tech Community College in Asheville, NC. Chris holds a Full Stack Web Development Certification and Computer Software Engineering Certification from Free Code Camp, a Bachelor’s degree from Elon University, and a Law degree from Temple University. Additionally, he holds a Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma and a PMP Certification from the Project Management Institute.

Chris joins me today to share how he became a whiskey and bourbon enthusiast and why he believes there’s ‘no wrong way’ to drink bourbon. He describes the various ways he enjoys drinking good bourbon and shares how staying hydrated throughout the day impacts your experience. He also discusses the sensory experiences and challenges that many bourbon judges and tasters experience when judging various types of bourbons as well as the differences between store picked and non-store picked bourbons.

This week on Consuming the Craft:

●What inspired Chris’s enthusiasm with whiskey.

●Why your taste for whiskey may change as you get older.

●How he enjoys drinking bourbon.

●How proper hydration impacts your experience of drinking alcoholic beverages.

●The challenges associated with whiskey and bourbon tasting and judging.

●Why it’s important for bourbon judges to swallow the bourbon, instead of spitting it out, when judging different bourbons.

●What aromatic compounds are and how they impact your whiskey tasting experience.

●How the processing process impacts the ‘mouth feel’ while drinking whiskey and bourbon.

●The benefits of “barrel picking” and the importance of distillers establishing relationships with vendors.

●The Booze Clues Old Weller store pick vs non-store pick bourbon challenge.

●My 10-part whiskey tasting method.

●How your sensory memory and recognition impacts your preferred whiskey choices.

●Does non-chill filtering truly change the taste of whiskey?

Connect with Chris Harshman:

●LinkedIn

This episode is brought to you by…

McConnell Farms - Taste the Way You Remember. Enjoy homemade ciders and ice cream made from only the best produce on the market. Visit the McConnell Farms website to learn more our seasonal inventory and delicious creations you can make with our homegrown produce.

Audra Gaiziunas is the founder and CEO of Brewed for Her Ledger, a management consulting firm helping businesses and entrepreneurs in the craft brewing and cider communities improve profitability through business plan reviews, operational auditing, designing financial management systems, and providing full-service bookkeeping solutions. She is a Maven of Breweries and Wineries that has worked exclusively in the craft beer industry for a decade. She holds an undergraduate degree in accounting and business management from Loras College and a graduate degree from the prestigious Kenan-Flagler OneMBA Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Audra joins me today to share how she became known as a “fractional CEO” and beer maven. She shares her first experience of home brewing an all-grain smoked porter beer and why she runs half marathons for beer. She explains how your systems and processes impact your numbers and why it’s important to review and update your Chart of Accounts regularly. She also shares some of the most common mistakes she sees small breweries and wineries make as well as the benefits of working with a “fractional CEO” to improve your business operations and increase profits.

This week on Consuming the Craft:

●What is a “Fractional CEO” for breweries and wineries?

●How Audra helps brewery and winery CEO’s bridge the gap between their passion for bubbly beer and understanding the numbers.

●Her first foray into home brewing.

●Why she runs a half marathon to “earn her beer.”

●How your systems and processes can help you improve your numbers without sacrificing quality.

●The benefits of working with a “fractional CEO.”

●The impact of trying to micromanage your brewery employees.

●The most common mistakes Audra has seen in breweries and wineries.

●The Super Boozey Booze Clues orange golden toffee liquor and the unconventional lessons Audra has learned from her mother.

●The different flavor profiles between blackcurrant and redcurrant.

●Audra’s mother’s Eastern European spirit concoctions - including her interesting take on a traditional cavass recipe.

●The interesting - yet unknown - Lithuanian beer culture.

●Why the Lithuanian beer culture is the heart of craft artisan beer.

●The Game of Thrones Viking Effect of mead.

Connect with Audra Gaiziunas:

●Brewed For Her Ledger

●Brewed For Her Ledger Facebook

●Instagram

●LinkedIn

This episode is brought to you by…

McConnell Farms - Taste the Way You Remember. Enjoy homemade ciders and ice cream made from only the best produce on the market. Visit the McConnell Farms website to learn more our seasonal inventory and delicious creations you can make with our homegrown produce.