In the triumphant return of From Maine, With Love for Season 3, we dive into something all listeners of this podcast can appreciate: beer.
First, we chat through two collaborations with Black-owned breweries: Cur-8 and Verb. Then, we dip into the details of our very first "seasonal" beer by having a brewery-side chat with Joe Jr., the brewer who came up with the beer's recipe. And we end by talking about our brand new, absolutely delicious house-made blueberry wine (and another secret blend you'll have to listen to the pod to hear about).
If that doesn't sound interesting to you, please go on with your life in peace and happiness forevermore. If it does, give it a listen.
Thanks, as always, for your support!
In the triumphant return of From Maine, With Love for Season 3, we dive into something all listeners of this podcast can appreciate: beer.
First, we chat through two collaborations with Black-owned breweries: Cur-8 and Verb. Then, we dip into the details of our very first "seasonal" beer by having a brewery-side chat with Joe Jr., the brewer who came up with the beer's recipe. And we end by talking about our brand new, absolutely delicious house-made blueberry wine (and another secret blend you'll have to listen to the pod to hear about).
If that doesn't sound interesting to you, please go on with your life in peace and happiness forevermore. If it does, give it a listen.
Thanks, as always, for your support!
WEBVTT
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Brett Willis This is From Maine, With Love, An Allagash Brewing Podcast, where we talk about beer, our community here in Maine, and things that generally make us happy.
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Brett Willis Season three.
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Liz Wilson Is it?
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Brett Willis Season three.
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Brett Willis From Maine, With Love.
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Brett Willis Episode one.
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Brett Willis We got three things that are making me quite happy to talk about.
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Brett Willis Four things, four things actually.
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Brett Willis One of these things contains two things.
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Brett Willis So yeah, hi Liz.
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Liz Wilson Hey, Brett.
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Brett Willis Gotta start season three, episode one, with a secret question that I think Liz has had probably like two weeks to think about at this point.
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Liz Wilson A little scheduling.
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Liz Wilson A while ago.
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Brett Willis That's okay.
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Brett Willis Liz, what's your favorite secret ingredient to cook with?
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Liz Wilson I'm glad I've actually known this for two weeks and haven't given it one thought at all.
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Liz Wilson Because I feel like you usually have a secret question and then you have a secret, secret question.
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Liz Wilson I was like, this isn't it.
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Liz Wilson Gosh, I don't...
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Brett Willis It doesn't have to be secret.
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Brett Willis Just like an ingredient that you're like, when you throw it in there, you're like, oh yeah.
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Liz Wilson I feel that way about cilantro.
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Liz Wilson Like if I add cilantro to anything, I'm feeling, I'm like, yes.
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Brett Willis You're really showing them something.
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Liz Wilson Yeah.
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Liz Wilson I mean, I probably put like my, speaking of younger years, like had very few cooking abilities, but I used to just roast cauliflower all the time and I would make it with cumin and all sorts of just random things.
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Liz Wilson And a college roommate was just like, you cook with cumin way too much.
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Liz Wilson And I was just making cumin cauliflower all the time.
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Brett Willis I bet it's good if you throw some salt on there too.
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Brett Willis That'd be great.
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Liz Wilson It was, yep.
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Brett Willis That's nice.
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Liz Wilson Affordable, easy.
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Brett Willis Very white.
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Brett Willis A lot of cauliflower.
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Brett Willis What, did you have one for me?
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Liz Wilson I could also add to this.
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Liz Wilson I do.
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Liz Wilson No, I do have one for you, Brett.
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Liz Wilson If you were not living in Maine, where do you think you'd live?
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Brett Willis Oh, wow.
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Brett Willis That's a really good question.
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Liz Wilson And you've lived a few places.
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Brett Willis I've lived a few places.
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Brett Willis I'm going to say, I'm just going to kind of go into my past and say probably somewhere near New York City-ish, because I just, that was almost where I went when I was coming back to Maine.
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Brett Willis I almost went back to New York City, so somewhere potentially around there, or somewhere near Detroit.
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Brett Willis The metro Detroit area is so cool, so many nice people, such like ridiculously rich culture there.
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Brett Willis The first paved road in America.
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Liz Wilson Who knew?
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Brett Willis Detroit.
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Brett Willis Yeah.
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Liz Wilson That's awesome.
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Brett Willis Woodward Avenue.
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Brett Willis There you go.
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Liz Wilson Yeah.
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Liz Wilson I don't know what I thought you'd say, but...
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Brett Willis All right.
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Brett Willis The first topic we have to talk about is two topics in one, and it's to commemorate, celebrate the beginning of Black History Month, because that's February 1st.
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Brett Willis That's the day we're recording this today.
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Liz Wilson Yeah.
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Liz Wilson Yeah.
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Liz Wilson We've got two really exciting collaborations that are both out in the world now.
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Liz Wilson The first, we are so excited to bring back Curate, which is our collaboration with Crowns and Hops California.
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Liz Wilson We released that beer a year ago, and have been lucky enough to do that again.
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Liz Wilson So that is available not only in our tasting room, but it's got a bit of distro with it.
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Liz Wilson So exciting that people can find it out in the market too.
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Brett Willis We'll read out those things.
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Brett Willis I'll read them right now.
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Brett Willis California, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and New York.
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Brett Willis And so that beer is actually a combination of two beers.
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Brett Willis It's like a really interesting collaboration, because most collaborations are both breweries come up with an idea, and they brew one idea.
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Brett Willis This actually, the idea was to combine two existing beers.
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Brett Willis So it's from Crowns and Hops, it's their 8 Trill Pills, and from Allagash, it's our Curio.
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Brett Willis So there's Pilsner.
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Brett Willis Ours is a triple aged and bourbon barrels.
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Brett Willis And I had written the blend down here, and that was wrong.
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Brett Willis So I had to change it, because it's actually more.
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Brett Willis I wrote it as only 8% Curio.
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Brett Willis It's 20% Curio.
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Brett Willis 20% Curio, 80% 8-trill Pils.
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Brett Willis Really cool.
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Liz Wilson It's a great beer.
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Liz Wilson I feel like we have create a lot of interesting beers here, but this one, I don't know, it's something, I love a Pilsner, but you have a little something in the, you get a little bit of that Curio in it.
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Brett Willis Totally.
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Liz Wilson And so there's like a touch of sweetness to me.
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Liz Wilson And it is just so delicious.
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Brett Willis Yeah, it's like those, it's a nice crisp beer, but it's that like perceived sweet notes of like caramel, vanilla and oak is what we say that you get from the bourbon barrel aging in Curio.
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Brett Willis And also triple is a beer that has some nice perceived sweetness too.
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Brett Willis So it's just, it's a really like deep sort of like easy drinking beer.
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Brett Willis And then also a little cool wrinkle and another added detail to this is Tio Hunter, one of the founders of Crowns and Hops.
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Brett Willis The first beer that introduced him to craft beer was Curio, a friend of his showed him that.
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Brett Willis So it was like a really cool full circle moment and just means a lot.
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Brett Willis And then another aspect of that beer, part of the proceeds for that beer will be going to the 8 Trill Initiative that Crowns and Hops founded.
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Liz Wilson Yeah, a development fund with the goal of achieving racial equity in craft beer.
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Liz Wilson And so, you know, they've been running this fund for a while now, and they've been giving out grants to other black owned breweries to help with their brewing operations.
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Liz Wilson And so, like we did last year, we're contributing proceeds from this beer.
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Brett Willis And that actually ties really nicely into the next beer, which is VIRB, that we did a collaboration with Montclair Brewery.
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Brett Willis And Montclair Brewery is actually a previous recipient of an 8 Trill Initiative grant.
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Liz Wilson Yeah, a nice woven sort of fabric of, you know, working with these different breweries, but there's so much that kind of overlaps.
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Brett Willis Totally.
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Liz Wilson Yeah.
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Liz Wilson And Denise and Leo came up in December, and we brewed VIRB, and they had a couple days up here in Portland, Maine, and it was just amazing to have them in the brewery and to talk with them and enjoy some time.
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Liz Wilson Just amazing people.
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Brett Willis Yeah, super nice, creative people.
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Brett Willis It was just interesting, too, talking to them, like how much community means to them and their brewery, and definitely the same thing for Crowns and Ops and honestly same thing for us, is that community is this really building that community, bringing in more people to be able to kind of enrich the community.
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Brett Willis That's all.
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Brett Willis It's like everyone, apropos of nothing, they're totally outside of each other, came to that same conclusion, so that was really cool.
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Brett Willis So Verb the Beer is a lager with lemon verbena.
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Brett Willis So the verb is from the verbena.
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Brett Willis But it's also kind of this thought of action needs to be taken, and where actually verb is doing something, so it's about the action of coming together, the action of supporting the Atrial Initiative, and everything like that.
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Brett Willis So it's just a cool beer.
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Brett Willis And it's also just, again, easy drinking beer, but really tasty.
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Brett Willis That lemon verbena comes through, but it's just kind of blended into these other lager flavors that you're used to getting.
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Liz Wilson Yeah.
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Joe Jr. Tasty.
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Liz Wilson Yeah, and this one is available in our tasting room starting today, February 1st, and then it's going to be available at Select Retailers in New Jersey starting March 1st.
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Liz Wilson So both Curate from Croutons and Hops and Verb with Montclair, you can look those up on our website, on our beer locator, if you're looking to try them out.
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Joe Jr. Totally.
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Brett Willis And another little Easter egg is that logo.
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Brett Willis It's a really cool can art, and it actually came from an artist, Carl Joe Williams, who we met through Indigo Arts Alliance, which is another nonprofit that we work with here in Portland.
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Liz Wilson Yeah, they are one of our community partners, nonprofit partners.
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Liz Wilson They are our charitable partner of the month in the tasting room.
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Liz Wilson So there's a lot going on, and they introduced us to Carl, and this was the first beer label that Carl worked on, and it was just a great collaboration.
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Liz Wilson He's actually based out of New Orleans, and so we were able to hop on a call a few times with him and just get to know him, and he got to know us a little bit better, and so we worked together, and he came up with this can label that's super vibrant and eye-catching.
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Liz Wilson Indigo Arts Alliance, they're a super cool nonprofit here based in Portland.
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Liz Wilson They're an artist residency and incubator here, and so they're committed to the artistic development of black and brown artists, and so we've worked with artists in residence through them for a few years, and we have a great partnership, and so we were able to work with them to find an artist to collaborate on the Montclair beer with.
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Brett Willis Very true.
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Brett Willis And one of their founders, I think, is a big fan of North Sky, which is very fun, our North Sky staff.
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Brett Willis That was nice.
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Brett Willis Nice added benefit.
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Brett Willis Our nonprofit partners don't need to like our beer, but it's always fun when they do.
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Liz Wilson It's true.
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Brett Willis And just like the other little aspect of this is just we met both of these different breweries friends through the Barrel and Flow Fest, which is in Pittsburgh.
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Brett Willis It was called, what was it called before?
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Liz Wilson Fresh Fest.
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Brett Willis Fresh Fest and then became the Barrel and Flow Fest.
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Brett Willis Got ranked, that festival, ranked by USA Today, is the best beer festival last year.
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Brett Willis Awesome.
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Brett Willis It's all about bringing together different cultures.
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Brett Willis It's about celebrating Black owned breweries.
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Brett Willis It's about just like really moving the brewing industry forward as far as like just inclusivity and honestly just like really cool vibes and transfer of ideas.
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Brett Willis So it just seems like such a energette.
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Brett Willis Like it's so much more than a beer festival.
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Liz Wilson Yeah.
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Brett Willis It's just awesome.
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Liz Wilson Yeah.
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Liz Wilson I've heard really fantastic things about it.
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Brett Willis We got to actually, we got to meet Day.
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Brett Willis Day Bracey, who was the founder.
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Brett Willis He came by like what, 2019?
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Liz Wilson No, it was literally right before the pandemic.
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Liz Wilson It was the last thing I did before like everything shut down.
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Liz Wilson We went to dinner at Jay's Oyster.
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Brett Willis Oh, man.
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Liz Wilson And then there was like the next day, it was like, everybody get out.
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Liz Wilson But I'll always remember that because he was, he was like, yeah, your beer is good, but the water, the water here is spectacular.
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Brett Willis He was definitely commenting about the water.
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Liz Wilson So.
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Brett Willis So anyway, both those beers, super good.
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Brett Willis Come out to try them.
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Brett Willis There are both in the Tasting Room and in these other locations.
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Brett Willis Well, the next beer we have, this one is actually, I think it is officially our first seasonal beer.
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Brett Willis We have not ever called a beer seasonal.
00:11:06.705 --> 00:11:08.065
Brett Willis We've called them limited release.
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Brett Willis We've called them specialty release, but this is the first seasonal beer Allagash Brewing Company will have ever released.
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Liz Wilson Surf House.
00:11:15.745 --> 00:11:16.365
Brett Willis Surf House.
00:11:17.165 --> 00:11:19.765
Brett Willis It's a lager, dry hopped with Ella.
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Brett Willis And rather than having Liz and I talk about it, I actually got to go talk with the brewer whose idea the beer came from, came up through our pilot system, Joe Jr.
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Brett Willis And so I actually went, and just out of, was it serendipity, it happened to be that we were brewing the first batch of Surf House to be released to everyone else, or to the whole world to enjoy, or to our distribution footprint to enjoy.
00:11:45.605 --> 00:11:48.625
Brett Willis And so, yeah, let's go to that audio.
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Brett Willis I'm just down in the brew deck, so apologies if there's a little bit of brewing noise in the background, but hopefully it sounds good.
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Liz Wilson Brewing stuff.
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Liz Wilson Brewing stuff.
00:11:59.005 --> 00:11:59.645
Liz Wilson Brewing stuff.
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Joe Jr. All right, now we're recording.
00:12:02.305 --> 00:12:03.725
Brett Willis So, Joe Jr.
00:12:03.745 --> 00:12:04.545
Brett Willis we're brewing your beer.
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Joe Jr. Yeah.
00:12:05.285 --> 00:12:05.845
Liz Wilson What's it called?
00:12:06.325 --> 00:12:10.565
Joe Jr. It's called Surf House now, but it started its life as From Maine, With Love, number 29.
00:12:10.585 --> 00:12:11.805
Brett Willis Of course you'd remember that number.
00:12:11.825 --> 00:12:13.405
Brett Willis I wrote it down just to make sure.
00:12:14.065 --> 00:12:17.385
Brett Willis So where did the idea come from for the beer?
00:12:18.685 --> 00:12:29.945
Joe Jr. So, there was a day, I don't remember what the other pilot beer was being brewed, but Patrick Chavanel very politely said, hey, you should go up the stairs and you should try this flaked corn that we got in from Maine Malt House.
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Joe Jr. And I said, okay.
00:12:31.185 --> 00:12:36.705
Joe Jr. And so I went up, I grabbed a handful, and I tossed some in my mouth and said, wow, I love this ingredient.
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Joe Jr. It was these hearty little corn flakes.
00:12:38.505 --> 00:12:39.605
Joe Jr. They tasted delicious.
00:12:39.625 --> 00:12:41.025
Joe Jr. They had a lot of interesting flavor.
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Joe Jr. And I said, I want to make a beer with this, but I want to make a beer with the most amount of this that I physically can.
00:12:48.365 --> 00:12:54.405
Joe Jr. So that's where it started, and it kind of just blossomed from there, and got to submit a pilot idea.
00:12:54.425 --> 00:12:59.285
Joe Jr. It was cataloged and then became ive from Maine, With Love.
00:12:59.305 --> 00:13:03.345
Joe Jr. And then beyond that, got to be what it is now, Surf House, a national release, which is cool.
00:13:03.725 --> 00:13:04.245
Joe Jr. Super cool.
00:13:05.365 --> 00:13:09.305
Brett Willis Yeah, and the submission was named Cornella, if I remember.
00:13:09.325 --> 00:13:12.685
Joe Jr. It was called Cornella with a backwards R, spelled with a K.
00:13:13.765 --> 00:13:21.105
Joe Jr. And that was from, you know, Corn, obviously the band, which I just thought would be funny to have a beer that involved Corn the band and all.
00:13:21.245 --> 00:13:27.565
Joe Jr. And then the main hop in it was Ella, which is an Australian hop.
00:13:28.145 --> 00:13:31.345
Joe Jr. And yeah, it just blossomed from there.
00:13:32.425 --> 00:13:34.245
Brett Willis What's the flavor profile of Ella?
00:13:34.665 --> 00:13:49.165
Joe Jr. The flavor profile of Ella is, I would describe it as orange blossom, flowery, spicy, while also having some really nice citrus notes, kind of some sweeter citrus and maybe even a little bit of lemon or lime in there.
00:13:49.185 --> 00:13:54.205
Joe Jr. But it has some noble lineage, and so that's really what drew me to using it in a lager.
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Joe Jr. Nice.
00:13:55.585 --> 00:13:58.805
Brett Willis I mean, it's like, because it's for bittering too, right?
00:14:00.585 --> 00:14:05.985
Joe Jr. Actually, on the large scale, we changed the bittering hop, but for finishing hop and then dry hop, it's all Ella.
00:14:06.725 --> 00:14:07.105
Brett Willis Nice.
00:14:07.465 --> 00:14:15.625
Brett Willis And actually, fun piece of trivia, a corn CD somehow made it to the brewery, and I don't know why, but I now have it.
00:14:16.905 --> 00:14:20.325
Brett Willis So I'm connected to this beer, and I have this corn CD.
00:14:20.365 --> 00:14:28.465
Joe Jr. Well, earlier today when we were mashing in the first batches of corn, we did listen to the entirety of Follow the Leader, so we got our dose.
00:14:28.485 --> 00:14:28.965
Brett Willis Oh, there you go.
00:14:28.985 --> 00:14:30.965
Joe Jr. Yeah, that's the one I have.
00:14:30.985 --> 00:14:32.505
Brett Willis All I remember from corn is Freak on a Leash.
00:14:32.525 --> 00:14:35.565
Joe Jr. I think one album a day is probably what is medically recommended.
00:14:35.585 --> 00:14:36.845
Joe Jr. I don't think you can do more than that.
00:14:36.865 --> 00:14:39.525
Brett Willis The heart rate starts getting a little high, blood pressure goes up.
00:14:39.545 --> 00:14:40.005
Joe Jr. Exactly.
00:14:40.025 --> 00:14:41.385
Brett Willis But that's awesome, dude.
00:14:41.405 --> 00:14:41.965
Brett Willis I'm super pumped.
00:14:41.985 --> 00:14:43.165
Brett Willis I'm super psyched about this beer.
00:14:43.185 --> 00:14:44.485
Brett Willis I'm psyched that it's going to be at 12 packs.
00:14:44.525 --> 00:14:45.805
Brett Willis I'm psyched that it's just like...
00:14:46.525 --> 00:14:48.945
Brett Willis I don't know, it came together super well.
00:14:49.285 --> 00:14:49.965
Joe Jr. I'm excited, too.
00:14:49.985 --> 00:14:50.345
Brett Willis Thank you.
00:14:51.145 --> 00:14:51.405
Joe Jr. Thank you.
00:14:51.425 --> 00:15:00.445
Joe Jr. It's an honor, and it makes me feel really special that people appreciated the beer enough that it's going to have an Allagash tag on it and be in an Allagash can and be in our footprint.
00:15:00.945 --> 00:15:01.705
Joe Jr. Yeah, it's an honor.
00:15:02.685 --> 00:15:04.345
Brett Willis Anything else you want to say about it?
00:15:05.085 --> 00:15:10.025
Joe Jr. No, it's a perfect beer for enjoying during the summer.
00:15:10.345 --> 00:15:16.425
Joe Jr. That was my thinking, was I want to drink this outside, on a beach, on a boat, on a mountain.
00:15:16.945 --> 00:15:22.205
Joe Jr. It's a beer to take outside of you, so I'm glad people are able to enjoy it that way and we'll be able to enjoy it soon.
00:15:24.365 --> 00:15:25.405
Brett Willis Well, Joe Jr.
00:15:25.425 --> 00:15:26.265
Brett Willis thanks so much for your time.
00:15:26.285 --> 00:15:27.025
Joe Jr. Absolutely, thank you.
00:15:28.045 --> 00:15:28.325
Liz Wilson Cheers.
00:15:28.485 --> 00:15:30.285
Joe Jr. And we're back.
00:15:30.765 --> 00:15:31.365
Liz Wilson That was fun.
00:15:33.725 --> 00:15:35.105
Brett Willis You didn't even listen to it.
00:15:36.705 --> 00:15:39.225
Brett Willis You say that because you have confidence in us.
00:15:39.345 --> 00:15:40.545
Liz Wilson I have confidence in Joe.
00:15:42.445 --> 00:15:43.245
Brett Willis Not so much myself.
00:15:44.705 --> 00:15:48.305
Brett Willis That beer actually also has a really cool label.
00:15:48.565 --> 00:15:55.985
Brett Willis The Surf House can design, we go through this iterative process where we try all different sorts of things, and then we pick a direction we like, and then we really kind of dig into it.
00:15:56.005 --> 00:16:07.005
Brett Willis And so the sort of mantra we had when we were coming up with this can design was like, this is surf in the terms of you're by the sea, not surf in the terms of you are going surfing exclusively.
00:16:07.025 --> 00:16:10.805
Brett Willis So the main color of the can is this really nice light sky blue.
00:16:11.125 --> 00:16:16.145
Brett Willis But around this Chevy Chalet, we have all sorts of just beach items.
00:16:16.285 --> 00:16:26.125
Brett Willis There's a surfboard, but there's a little beach chair, and like a barbecue, and pale, and just fun stuff you'd be doing in the surf.
00:16:26.705 --> 00:16:29.885
Brett Willis So easy drinking beer, perfect for taking out.
00:16:29.985 --> 00:16:30.325
Liz Wilson Yeah.
00:16:31.145 --> 00:16:32.345
Liz Wilson Yeah, I love the little seagull.
00:16:32.445 --> 00:16:33.185
Liz Wilson I love seagulls.
00:16:33.185 --> 00:16:34.545
Brett Willis Little seagull on the campsite.
00:16:34.925 --> 00:16:35.845
Brett Willis Yeah, it's good.
00:16:36.005 --> 00:16:36.505
Brett Willis It's nice.
00:16:36.565 --> 00:16:37.345
Liz Wilson Summer in a can.
00:16:38.565 --> 00:16:41.265
Brett Willis And it's just a super fun beer.
00:16:41.285 --> 00:16:42.405
Brett Willis It was a fun beer to work on.
00:16:42.905 --> 00:16:50.985
Brett Willis And so that one's coming in six packs of 12-ounce cans and 12 packs of 12-ounce cans in March.
00:16:51.625 --> 00:16:57.145
Liz Wilson Yeah, so that'll be heading out across our entire distribution footprints.
00:16:57.165 --> 00:16:57.725
Liz Wilson So be on the look.
00:16:58.185 --> 00:16:59.565
Liz Wilson Super easy drinking.
00:16:59.745 --> 00:17:02.165
Liz Wilson Gonna be delicious spring through summer.
00:17:02.765 --> 00:17:03.065
Brett Willis Yeah.
00:17:03.425 --> 00:17:04.145
Brett Willis Can't wait to share it.
00:17:05.665 --> 00:17:07.185
Brett Willis Awesome.
00:17:07.305 --> 00:17:19.105
Liz Wilson And then, I mean, that's first of our seasonals, so you'll have to stay tuned for our next seasonals, which will come out in fall and at the end of 2024.
00:17:19.505 --> 00:17:20.065
Brett Willis Exactly.
00:17:20.085 --> 00:17:21.125
Brett Willis Yeah, that'll be fun.
00:17:21.165 --> 00:17:35.605
Brett Willis And the last one is super, it's something that I'm super excited about, and we're definitely going to have a future episode with Patrick Chauvinel on to talk more in depth about these projects that we're doing.
00:17:36.285 --> 00:17:37.845
Brett Willis But this is blueberry wine.
00:17:38.345 --> 00:17:40.245
Liz Wilson I am so excited about this.
00:17:40.925 --> 00:17:41.505
Liz Wilson I love wine.
00:17:42.765 --> 00:17:44.145
Liz Wilson I have had versions of it.
00:17:44.165 --> 00:17:44.905
Liz Wilson I haven't had this one.
00:17:45.845 --> 00:17:48.965
Liz Wilson But yeah, I love wine.
00:17:49.305 --> 00:18:02.525
Liz Wilson I really like blueberry wine, and I guess I just never, like, I didn't see wine in our future, and it's so exciting to have that license and be able to make this.
00:18:02.545 --> 00:18:10.125
Liz Wilson Because I think not only does it expand our offerings in the tasting room, but on the innovation front, it's just a very cool use of local fruit.
00:18:10.625 --> 00:18:24.125
Brett Willis Yeah, I feel like this one came so, it was such a surprise, because I knew we were doing cider, and it was one of those things where basically someone told me, like, oh, you know, with that cider license, we also get a wine license.
00:18:24.145 --> 00:18:27.025
Brett Willis And I was like, oh, that's cool, and that's, and oh, by the way, we're also making wine!
00:18:28.445 --> 00:18:28.785
Liz Wilson What?
00:18:29.045 --> 00:18:30.245
Liz Wilson Yeah, it's so good.
00:18:30.665 --> 00:18:39.785
Brett Willis And yeah, like they did with the cider, it's just, I think it exceeds my expectations, because yeah.
00:18:39.965 --> 00:18:51.785
Liz Wilson Yeah, and there's, I think, living in Maine and being very passionate about blueberries, as we are, you know, you'll see blueberry wines around the state.
00:18:51.805 --> 00:18:53.745
Liz Wilson There are definitely a few of them out there.
00:18:53.905 --> 00:19:10.905
Liz Wilson And so for anyone who has never even thought of the concept of blueberry wine, I think it is sort of interesting to wrap your head around, because you might think it's sweet, but it really, the way that we've made it, and I've had some others, it's really not sweet.
00:19:10.925 --> 00:19:11.845
Liz Wilson It's pretty dry.
00:19:12.725 --> 00:19:15.345
Liz Wilson But it's just a great, really interesting fruit.
00:19:16.885 --> 00:19:17.245
Brett Willis Totally.
00:19:17.265 --> 00:19:27.005
Brett Willis Yeah, and that's like such an important point, because it's like, I think when you hear cider, I feel like there's historical baggage on fruit wines and ciders that is like, oh, that's going to be sweet, or oh, that's going to be a little too much.
00:19:27.025 --> 00:19:31.825
Brett Willis It's going to be really strongly flavored, whereas this blueberry wine in particular, it tastes like wine.
00:19:31.905 --> 00:19:45.465
Brett Willis It tastes like a nice red wine, like a Merlot, or it's a lighter sort of red wine-ish thing, but it's just so cool because you get these, we've done a couple tastings of them and tried to kind of identify the flavor notes and stuff.
00:19:45.685 --> 00:19:52.125
Brett Willis There's a blueberry pie sort of blueberry flavor where it's not like the fresh blueberry, but it's already been macerated a little bit.
00:19:52.145 --> 00:19:55.865
Brett Willis It's already kind of just like those notes are coming out of it.
00:19:55.925 --> 00:20:01.545
Brett Willis And then also you get sort of a cherry flavor, and then there's also a spice, like mulling spice component.
00:20:01.565 --> 00:20:13.905
Brett Willis Not that it's spicy, but just that like beneath the surface, there's just some really cool, deep spice notes that it all comes together to just be like such a really nice balanced wine.
00:20:14.245 --> 00:20:19.025
Liz Wilson Yeah, I just popped in the tasting room at lunch and saw a couple of people drinking it.
00:20:19.045 --> 00:20:20.825
Liz Wilson So it's always great to see.
00:20:21.705 --> 00:20:26.045
Liz Wilson And those blueberries, they come from our friends over at Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company.
00:20:26.625 --> 00:20:28.525
Liz Wilson They're out of Columbia Falls in Maine.
00:20:28.545 --> 00:20:33.925
Liz Wilson We've worked with them a few years now on beers.
00:20:34.505 --> 00:20:38.725
Liz Wilson And I think we've used their blueberries in our version of Triple.
00:20:38.745 --> 00:20:40.045
Liz Wilson Yeah, I think that's right.
00:20:40.345 --> 00:20:43.185
Liz Wilson And I don't know, there's been a few over the years.
00:20:43.185 --> 00:20:48.845
Liz Wilson So to be able to continue working with them on wine is very cool.
00:20:48.945 --> 00:20:49.705
Brett Willis That's been very cool.
00:20:49.725 --> 00:20:52.565
Brett Willis Yeah, and it's so cool to be able to use wild blueberries too.
00:20:52.605 --> 00:20:55.005
Brett Willis Like, you know, just recently harvested.
00:20:55.265 --> 00:20:56.665
Brett Willis It's just a very particular flavor.
00:20:57.625 --> 00:20:59.745
Brett Willis And yeah, and so, you know, we've got that blueberry wine.
00:20:59.765 --> 00:21:02.465
Brett Willis That's at the brewery only for right now.
00:21:02.905 --> 00:21:12.285
Brett Willis And we also have ciders for other folks who are maybe interested in beer, but also other options, interested in sort of less gluten-full options.
00:21:12.525 --> 00:21:14.165
Brett Willis And then more stuff on the docket.
00:21:14.265 --> 00:21:15.785
Brett Willis I'll give you even a sneak peek.
00:21:15.805 --> 00:21:23.645
Brett Willis This is why you listen to the podcast, because a secret information, we have a honey berry wine also coming out.
00:21:23.665 --> 00:21:24.065
Liz Wilson In the works.
00:21:24.365 --> 00:21:25.045
Brett Willis Honey berry wine.
00:21:25.065 --> 00:21:27.705
Brett Willis I actually tried that yesterday, and it is real good.
00:21:27.845 --> 00:21:28.285
Liz Wilson Oh, yeah?
00:21:28.325 --> 00:21:28.725
Brett Willis Really good.
00:21:29.685 --> 00:21:33.705
Liz Wilson Yeah, I think we have a real love for honey berries here.
00:21:33.725 --> 00:21:43.605
Liz Wilson I don't know that any other brewery is as dedicated to honey berries as we are, but they are a really interesting fruit.
00:21:44.205 --> 00:21:49.685
Liz Wilson And they kind of look like square globular blueberries in the nicest way possible.
00:21:49.705 --> 00:21:51.705
Brett Willis They are kind of unfortunate looking.
00:21:51.725 --> 00:21:54.785
Brett Willis There is no real good way to talk about it.
00:21:54.805 --> 00:21:56.545
Brett Willis All the comparisons you could give are kind of like...
00:21:59.165 --> 00:22:00.645
Brett Willis Yeah, shaped like a bell.
00:22:01.945 --> 00:22:02.825
Liz Wilson Some of them.
00:22:02.945 --> 00:22:11.185
Brett Willis But they are such a cool flavor, because they are basically like between so many other flavors, it's like blueberry, cherry, raspberry, blackberry.
00:22:11.965 --> 00:22:14.305
Brett Willis There is a little bit of that all in there.
00:22:14.445 --> 00:22:15.445
Brett Willis They are pretty tart, too.
00:22:16.705 --> 00:22:20.565
Brett Willis So we had to actually blend this honey berry wine with cider.
00:22:22.325 --> 00:22:24.885
Brett Willis You never know, because it just looks like honey berry wine.
00:22:25.645 --> 00:22:26.365
Liz Wilson Oh, that's cool.
00:22:26.445 --> 00:22:27.505
Brett Willis It's cool.
00:22:27.525 --> 00:22:28.125
Brett Willis It's a really cool one.
00:22:28.145 --> 00:22:28.985
Liz Wilson I can't wait to try that.
00:22:29.185 --> 00:22:31.785
Brett Willis Yeah, that will be another brewery only one as well.
00:22:32.465 --> 00:22:33.345
Liz Wilson Great.
00:22:33.365 --> 00:22:34.425
Brett Willis That's what I had to talk about.
00:22:34.665 --> 00:22:36.065
Liz Wilson Yeah, stuff happening.
00:22:37.265 --> 00:22:38.345
Brett Willis Much stuff happening.
00:22:38.385 --> 00:22:40.685
Brett Willis I'm excited to be doing the podcast again.
00:22:40.825 --> 00:22:41.125
Liz Wilson Yeah.
00:22:41.605 --> 00:22:42.145
Brett Willis Feels great.
00:22:42.545 --> 00:22:42.885
Liz Wilson Yeah.
00:22:42.905 --> 00:22:44.825
Liz Wilson So what do we got coming up for season three?
00:22:46.625 --> 00:22:48.105
Brett Willis You don't even know.
00:22:49.025 --> 00:22:50.425
Brett Willis I don't even know.
00:22:50.445 --> 00:23:16.365
Brett Willis No, honestly, I think what we do have coming up is some more of this, some more updates of things we're excited about, because we just realized we've done a lot of deep dives on different things, but there's just honestly so much that we're doing constantly here with pilot beers and with new initiatives and with non-profit partners that I think we're just hoping to really be able to give you more of a look behind all of the fun stuff going on here at the brewery.
00:23:16.545 --> 00:23:19.225
Liz Wilson Chat with some of the other folks here at Allagash.
00:23:19.245 --> 00:23:21.225
Brett Willis Oh yeah, definitely chat with some other folks too.
00:23:21.325 --> 00:23:21.565
Liz Wilson Yep.
00:23:21.745 --> 00:23:22.545
Brett Willis It should be really fun.
00:23:23.005 --> 00:23:23.345
Liz Wilson Cool.
00:23:23.605 --> 00:23:24.265
Liz Wilson All right, Brett.
00:23:24.845 --> 00:23:25.465
Liz Wilson Good chatting with you.
00:23:25.465 --> 00:23:26.405
Brett Willis Yeah, good chatting with you.
00:23:26.805 --> 00:23:29.065
Brett Willis We'll see you out working.
00:23:29.365 --> 00:23:30.345
Brett Willis Yeah, yeah.
00:23:33.665 --> 00:23:35.705
Brett Willis This has been an Allagash Brewing Company production.
00:23:35.985 --> 00:23:41.525
Brett Willis If you have something you'd like us to talk about or a question for our team, just send us an email at podcast.allagash.com.
00:23:41.885 --> 00:23:43.925
Brett Willis As always, thanks for listening.