Subculture — Podcast — Beautiful Illusions

Jeff and Darron have a casual conversation about the beautiful illusion of baseball. They talk about their own experiences centered around the narrative of baseball as something passed from father to son, delve a bit into the myth and magic on offer through baseball history, discuss the dissonance they both experience at times being Yankee fans, and tell a lot of personal stories about going to games. Jeff describes how his engagement with the narrative of baseball has changed over time, and Darron talks about how through the years he somehow still manages to buy into the naive magical view of the National Pastime. It’s a relatively loose, fun conversation that leaves a lot on the table for future exploration.

Notes:

2:19 - The Yankees beat the Indians 1-0 in Game 3 of the 2017 American League Division Series, see “2017 American League Division Series (ALDS) Game 3, Indians at Yankees” (Baseball Reference) and 2017 ALDS Game 3 Highlights
2:38 - Gleyber Torres
2:56 - StubHub
3:25 - Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees Box Score, August 2, 2019
3:34 - Yankee Stadium
3:36 - We always park at the Harlem River North Lot, exit 6 off of I-87S (The Major Deegan Expressway)
3:55 - It was Adam Ottavino
4:18 - James Paxton
4:52 - Watch Gleyber Torres' Grand Slam vs Red Sox | August 2, 2019
5:28 - Torres' grand slam leads Yankees to a 4-2 win | Red Sox-Yankees Game Highlights 8/2/19 (YouTube)
8:50 - Written in 1908, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is the baseball anthem traditionally sung during the 7th inning stretch - listen to a 1908 recording and watch legendary Cubs announcer Harry Caray famously lead the singing at Wrigley Field
9:18 - See “New York Yankees Team History & Encyclopedia” from Baseball Reference, the “History of the New York Yankees” Wikipedia entry, or the “New York Yankees” entry from Baseball Almanac
9:26 - See “Yankees in the ‘70s” from baseball writer and historian Marty Appel
9:33 - Mickey Rivers, Graig Nettles, Ron Guidry, and Thurman Munson
9:45 - Thurman Munson, an avid amateur pilot, died on August 2, 1979 attempting to land his personal plane and crashing short of the runway - see “8/02/1979 - Thurman Munson dies in crash” (SBNation, 2010), “40 years on, Thurman Munson's death remains one of sports' most stunning moments” (Yahoo! Sports, 2019), and “Remembering the Great Thurman Munson 40 Years After His Tragic Death” (How They Play, 2020)
9:48 - Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson
10:05 - Watch Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson almost come to blows in the dugout at Fenway Park after Martin pulled Jackson from the game, which the Red Sox won 10-4, see “June 18, 1977: When Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin clashed at Fenway” (Sporting News, 2019) and “New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox Box Score, June 18, 1977” (Baseball Reference)
10:52 - Dunkin’ Donuts Park in Hartford, CT, home of the Yard Goats
11:11 - See “Three Movements in New Retro Ballpark Construction” (Ballpark Ratings)
11:22 - Thimble Island Brewing Company
14:44 - The Red Sox beat the Yankees 11-0 on Saturday September 6, 2003 at Yankee Stadium, see “Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees Box Score, September 6, 2003” (Baseball Reference)
16:05 - The Yankees didn’t trade for Jason Giambi, they signed him to a seven-year, $120 million dollar free agent contract in December of 2001, see “Giambi tops Yankees' arsenal of new additions” (ESPN, 2001)
16:18 - The Yankees traded Alfonso Soriano for Alex Rodriguez in February of 2004, see “Trades Of The Decade: A-Rod For Soriano” (MLB Trade Rumors, 2009) and “The great A-Rod trade robbery” (Bronx Pinstripes, 2020)
16:34 - Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992 and was innovative and influential for being the first of the “retro” style ballparks that , see “Three Movements in New Retro Ballpark Construction” (Ballpark Ratings)
16:40 - Eutaw Street
16:50 - Watch Ken Griffey Jr. hit the B&O Warehouse in the 1993 MLB All-Star Homerun Derby and see “Home Run Derby hero Ken Griffey Jr. is still the only player to ever homer off the Camden Yards warehouse” (as of 2018, at according to MLB.com)
16:59 - Legendary Oriole first basemen Boog Powell’s Boog’s BBQ has been an iconic food venue at Camden Yards since it opened in 1992, see “Boog’s BBQ: 25 Years and Still Cookin’ - The beloved first baseman’s BBQ stand has been a hit since the first Opening Day at Camden Yards in 1992.” (Baltimore Magazine, 2017)
18:05 - See the “Bleacher Creatures” Wikipedia entry
20:06 - Of the 30 Major League ballparks in use today, Boston’s Fenway Park is the oldest. It opened the same week the Titanic sunk in 1912, and Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, opened two years later in 1914. For reference, the next oldest currently operating park is Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962, and 25 of the 30 current MLB parks have been built since 1989. For more info see Wikipedia’s list of current Major League Baseball stadiums and the slightly out of date article “MLB Ballparks, From Oldest to Newest” (Ballpark Digest, 2017)
20:46 - See “The Steroids Era” (ESPN, 2012) and the Wikipedia entry on “doping in baseball”, also check out what is shaping up to be an excellent podcast summation of the era, Crushed from Religion of Sports
20:47 - Mark McGwire
20:53 - Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961 breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 60 set in 1927, watch the 61st homer with call by the former Yankee shortstop and legendary broadcaster Phil Rizzuto , and see “Roger Maris Breaks the Home Run Record” (History) or “61 Home Runs by Roger Maris” (Baseball Almanac)
21:07 - See the “1998 Major League Baseball home run record chase” Wikipedia entry and “The McGwire-Sosa home run chase helped make 1998 one of MLB's wildest seasons ever” (ESPN, 2020)
21:10 - The Yankees beat the Red Sox 3-2 at Fenway Park on September 8, 1998, see “New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox Box Score, September 8, 1998” (Baseball Reference)
21:44 - Watch Mark McGwire’s 62nd homer of 1998
22:53 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 09 - Lying About Santa: Naughty or Nice? from December 2020
23:32 - The funny thing about this story is that despite Jeff remembering it this way and actually having the story triggered in his memory by my previous story, I was not in fact with Sal at this game, nor was Sal there at all with anyone. I was with my dad, one of my brothers, and a different friend, and Sal was watching at home. I actually spent a bunch of time texting various people one morning to confirm this was indeed the case and didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole when we were recording this live, but when I did eventually tell Jeff a few days later, even though he didn’t doubt it he had a hard time incorporating the new information into his version of events, which is in and of itself an interesting example of how memory is a construction and not a snapshot, and is highly susceptible to unconscious alteration as we remember things again and again over the years. We have no real way to identify when our brain has done this, and we often feel the memories we have are completely accurate.
24:35 - Derek Jeter
24:38 - The Yankees beat the Red Sox 5-4 in 13 innings at Yankee Stadium on Thursday July 1, 2004, this game is notable for being the famous “Jeter In The Stands” game, and is undoubtedly one of the best Yankees vs Red Sox regular season games of all time, see “July 1, 2004: Best regular season win” (Bronx Pinstripes), “Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees Box Score, July 1, 2004” (Baseball Reference), and watch the Yankees rally and win in the bottom of the 13th
28:02 - Hideki Matsui
28:08 - The 2003 Yankees home opener vs the Minnesota Twins scheduled to be played on Monday April 7, was postponed due to snow and played on Tuesday April 8, the temperature was a balmy 35° at first pitch, the Yankees won 7-3, and Hideki Matsui hit a memorable grand slam in his first game at Yankee Stadium, see “Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees Box Score, April 8, 2003” (Baseball Reference)
28:30 - Watch the Yankees rally and win in the bottom of the 13th vs the Red Sox on July 1, 2004
28:38 - Manny Ramirez
28:45 - Ruben Sierra
28:50 - John Flaherty
29:17 - See image at bottom of post which was indeed created using Microsoft Paint
29:37 - Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks
31:27 - The Diamondbacks came back in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Yankees 3-2 in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, see the winning hit by Luis Gonzalez off of future Hall of Famer, greatest closer of all time, and absolute Yankee legend Mariano Rivera
31:57 -Watch “...the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat…”
32:08 - See “Baseball History, American History and You” (National Baseball Hall of Fame) and “The National Pastime” (Our Game MLB Blog)
32:20 - Field of Dreams (1989)
33:05 - Watch James Earl Jones in his role as Terence Mann reciting one of the most famous monologues in movie history from 1989’s Field of Dreams, and while you’re at it watch Ray have a catch with his dad, just because...
33:22 - Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams
33:28 - Shoeless Joe Jackson and the “Black Sox” Scandal
33:31 - Jackie Robinson and the breaking of the color barrier (History)
33:35 - See “Baseball in World War II” (Baseball in Wartime)
34:06 - See “Why are Sportswriters Whitewashing Baseball’s Dark Secrets?” (The Daily Beast, 2018)
34:16 - Mickey Mantle
34:33 - See “The Legend of Mickey Mantle” (American Heritage, 2019), and with an extreme grain of salt see “Mickey Mantle’s 10 Longest Home Runs” (TheMick.com)
34:40 - See “Time in a Bottle” by Mickey Mantle recounting his struggles with alcoholism from the April 1994 issue of Sports Illustrated
36:39 - It’s no accident that today we view Ruth and the early legends of baseball as more gods than men. Aside from being far removed in time, the role of sports journalism and the relationship of sportswriters to players has evolved over time as well. In the first half of the 20th century writers often traveled with the team and ran in the same social circles, in an era before television and easy access to sports through mass media, these men were incentivized to create a mythical greatness around the sport and its heroes, and that’s exactly what they did. In a 2010 article in Sports Illustrated adapted from her Mickey Mantle biography The Last Boy, baseball writer and journalist Jane Leavy writes “The sportswriters’ unstated code of honor was to look the other way. The writers traveled, ate and drank with the team. Their tab was often paid by the team. “You couldn’t write one word of it, the debauchery,” said Jack Lang, the longtime executive secretary of the Baseball Writers Association of America. “It wasn’t just liquor. It was the women.” She goes on to recount a tale from writer John Drebinger, who wrote the lead story for the New York Times for every World Series game from 1929 to 1963, as told to legendary boxing writer Bert Sugar - “Drebby, as his colleagues called him, regaled Sugar with a tale from an overnight train trip with Babe Ruth’s Yankees. “The writers had their own car, and dinner had been served,” Sugar recounted. “They’d cleared the tables, and they’d just dealt out a hand of bridge when the door to the back of the car flew open, and Babe Ruth ran down the aisle naked. And about 10 feet behind him a woman, equally naked, with a knife in her hand, comes running out! And Drebby says one of the guys looks up from the table and says, ‘Well, that’s another story we won’t cover!'”” This began to change throughout the 50’s and by the 70’s reporting on sports and it’s biggest stars, warts and all, by a slowly diversifying set of voices was becoming the norm that continues through today. Long gone are the days of writers and players enjoying easy access to one another’s personal lives, similar incentives, and mutual reasons to construct myths at the expense of hard truths, and the evolution of mass media and communication technology has made this type of construction a near impossibility regardless. For today’s superstar athletes, the fall is merely one Tweet away, and everyone is always watching. Writing about Mantle in the 50’s Leavy says he was “the Last Boy in the last decade ruled by boys, when it was O.K. to laugh at them for being themselves, and O.K. not to know and O.K. to forgive what you did know.” Although Ruth and Mantle had similar skeletons in their closet, Ruth was long gone by the time this change took hold, allowing him to escape relatively unscathed, but Mantle played the end of his career and lived his entire life after in a very different media world.
41:52 - Bob Gibson
42:14 - After the 1968 season, which is now referred to as the “Year of the Pitcher,” baseball lowered the pitcher’s mound from a maximum of 15 inches to 10 inches, decreased the size of the strike zone, and became more vigilant about pitcher’s doctoring balls. Gibson gets a lot of the press here, and deservedly so, for his amazing 1.12 ERA over 34 starts, still the lowest in modern baseball history, he was actually one of 7 starters with a sub 2 ERA that season, the majors set a record for lowest league batting average (.237) and on-base percentage (.299), and entire teams struggled to hit and score runs. The changes were largely seen as correction to an imbalance that was causing offenses to sputter and exasperating fans and were largely effective, as the average runs scored per game increased from 6.84 in ‘68 to 8.14 in ‘69, so while it may be a myth that the mound was lowered because of Bob Gibson alone, he certainly played an outsized role in a unique baseball year. See “After 1968’s ‘Year of the Pitcher,’ MLB lowered the mound. Now, the league could do it again.” (Washington Post, 2019) and “Four stats that showed why baseball had to lower the mound after 1968” (Cut4, MLB.com)
43:27 - The Secret of Our Success by Joseph Henrich
43:32 - Listen to Mindscape Episode 128 - Joe Henrich on the Weirdness of the West from January 2021
44:05 - See “The cultural niche: Why social learning is essential for human adaptation” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012), “A cultural species: How culture drove human evolution” (American Psychological Association, 2011), and “How Culture Drove Human Evolution” (Edge, 2012)
44:08 - See “One Thing Humans Are Better Than Other Species At: Throwing” (Smithsonian Magazine, 2014)
44:42 - Watch “Why chimps don’t play baseball” (Nature YouTube Channel)
48:00 - The New York Giants
48:11 - UConn basketball
48:49 - Baseball Reference
49:00 - Tony Gwynn
50:09 - See “Stats to Avoid: Batting Average” (FanGraphs) and “Stat to the Future: Why it's time to stop relying on batting average” (Sporting News)
50:16 - See “State of Analytics: How the Movement Has Forever Changed Baseball – For Better or Worse” (Stats Perform) and “Statistics ruined baseball by perfecting it” (The Conversation, 2019)
54:02 - The new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009
55:40 - “My version” of Yankee Stadium was actually the renovated version of the original stadium built in 1923
56:53 - Lou Gherig
59:43 - Hamilton (the movie version)
1:00 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 06 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics from November 2020 and Episode 13 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics Part 2: Just the Facts from April 2020
1:00:30 - Little League Baseball
1:00:45 - The Little League World Series
1:01:05 - Watch Trumbull, CT win the 1989 Little League World Series by beating Taiwan, 5-2
1:03:58 - Gary Sanchez

Darron and Jeff talk about their experiences and relationship with beer from their late teens to present day. In the process of highlighting a few specific beers and their associated memories that hold special significance for them, they explore their relationship to the once burgeoning, but now booming world of craft beer. They examine how our their own personal tastes and interests evolved along with the craft industry, and how craft beer exemplifies active participation in culture.

Notes:

2:05 - Treehouse Brewing Company
2:19 - Sean Carroll’s Mindscape Podcast and the Brain Science Podcast with Ginger Campbell, MD
2:28 - Mecca
2:30 - The Brewers Association trade group, which represents the majority of American Brewing companies, defines an American craft brewer as a small, independent brewer with an annual production of 6 million barrels or less, which represents roughly 3% of annual American beer production. Although the vast majority produce way less than this, the number was increased from 2 million barrels in 2011 to reflect the growth of the industry. For reference, the Treehouse Brewing Company has the capacity to produce about 150,000 barrels per year at its current facility which opened in 2017, whereas the Boston Beer Company, makers of Sam Adams and one of the largest craft breweries in the US brewed about 5.3 million barrels in 2019. Additionally, an independent brewer is one in which less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled by a beverage alcohol industry member that is not itself a craft brewer. See “The Importance of Defining Small and Independent” (Brewers Association, 2018)
4:00 - King Julius, Very Hazy, and JJJjuliusss! From Treehouse Brewing Company
4:17 - The top 250 beers overall and the top 100 rated New England IPAs according to Beer Advocate
6:44 - A “package store” is a regionalism popular in the northeast US that just means “liquor store” - for more see “Why People From Connecticut Call Liquor Stores Package Stores” and “The Origins of the Package Store”
6:50 - Rolling Rock Extra Pale Lager
6:59 - Newcastle Brown Ale
7:22 - See “What Is the Difference between Ale and Lager?” (Craft Beer & Brewing, 2017)
7:34 - See “American Lager” and “American Adjunct Lager”
7:42 - Generally speaking, lager style beers are brewed with yeast strains that prefer colder temperatures, and typically have a long period of cold fermentation or “lagering” which for various reasons you can read about suppresses many of the by-products of fermentation allowing the beer to be very clean tasting with a focus on the malt and hop flavors. Examples of lager style beers would be Pilseners, Bock style beers, Oktoberfest style beers, and well known brands like Budweiser, Coors, Heineken, Corona, and Sam Adams Boston Lager. For various historical reasons, lager dominates world beer production. Ales, on the other hand, are brewed with yeast strains that prefer warmer temperatures - the very same strains used by bread bakers - do not tend to have a long cold fermentation, and feature many flavor characteristics produced by the by-products of fermentation at warmer temperatures. Examples of ale style beers would be pale ales, India Pale Ales, Double IPAs, and Stout. The American craft beer boom has been largely driven by breweries pushing the boundaries of various ale styles, particularly IPA and stouts, innovating new styles and driving trends.
10:35 - Genesee Cream Ale
10:40 - Coors Light
12:38 - Nuclear family
15:39 - See “Alcohol is a Social Lubricant, Study Confirms” (Association for Psychological Science, 2012) and “5 Studies That Help Explain Why Social Drinking Is So Rewarding” (The British Psychological Society, 2017)
16:07 - Ice beer
16:16 - See the entry on “College Drinking” from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
16:46 - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
18:13 - Although alcohol use is a complex cultural phenomenon that can potentially serve a variety of prosocial purposes, it is one that merits a much more thoughtful look due to its potential for harm, particularly amongst young people. According to the American Addiction Centers and Alcohol.org, the use of alcohol has been normalized in almost every culture, but it should be noted that alcohol is a toxin, and regular use of the can lead to medical, mental health, and social problems...In the U.S., alcohol is the most commonly used substance of abuse among young people...Individuals ages 12-20 account for 11% of all the alcohol consumed, more than 90% of which is consumed by binge drinking. Current drinking culture can make it difficult for parents and young people to fully understand the severity and potential consequences of alcohol abuse. Teens may drink because of peer pressure, experimentation, stress, or other reasons...this risky behavior can lead to an alcohol use disorder (AUD) and heavy alcohol use in the teenage years can cause lasting cognitive deficits and alter the course of brain development as the brain continues to mature into a person’s early 20’s. Other dangers associated with underage drinking include impaired judgment, which can lead to violent behavior, and drinking and driving, increased risk of carrying out or suffering from physical or sexual assault, injuries, increased risk of later alcohol problems, and death. The CDC estimates that alcohol plays a role in the deaths of 4,358 individuals under age 21 each year on average. (Source: “Binge Drinking Statistics”)
20:18 - “Neil Young - Silver & Gold”
20:44 - Watch a video of Neil Young performing “Buffalo Springfield Again” - you can see the Sierra Nevada sitting on the stool next to him
21:13 - Cascade hops
21:21 - Sam Adams and Harpoon
21:56 - See “History of Craft Beer in CA” (California Craft Brewers Association)
22:08 - See “Our Story” from Sierra Nevada and listen to an interview with Ken Grossman about the origins and growth of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company on the NPR podcast How I Built This with Guy Raz
22:16 - See Anheuser-Busch and “Horse-story In the Making: The Budweiser Clydesdales”
22:50 - North Coast Brewery
22:54 - Lagunitas Brewing Company
22:56 - Anchor Brewing and Anchor Steam Beer
23:13 - See “Craft Beer Is the Strangest, Happiest Economic Story in America” (The Atlantic, 2018)
23:48 - See the Wikipedia entry for “Underdog”
24:01 - Prohibition
24:16 - See “How America’s Iconic Breweries Survived Prohibition” (History.com, 2019)
24:32 - See “How the Army Made Lager America’s Beer” (War On The Rocks, 2018)
21:32 - Laws change re: homebrewing end of 70’s
21:43 - National Homebrewing Society
21:54 - For more on the connection between homebrewing and craft industry, See “The Roots of American Craft Brewing” (CraftBeer.com), and “The Evolution of the ‘Craft’ of Brewing” (BeverageDaily.com)
24:52 - See “The Day Homebrewing Was Legalized” (Craft Beer & Brewing) and “Homebrewing Rights” (American Homebrewers Association)
25:02 - The American Homebrewers Association is founded in 1978 by Charlie Papazian who also published The Complete Joy of Homebrewing in 1984 which many consider to be the “homebrewing bible”
25:50 - See “Beer History” (Craft Beer)
27:04 - See “Utah State Liquor Laws” (Utah.com) and “Explaining Utah’s Liquor Laws” (SaltLakeCityUtah.org)
28:34 - The Connecticut Real Ale Festival
28:52 - A real ale, or a cask ale, is an unfiltered beer that is put into a small keg or cask after its primary fermentation period and sealed. The slight secondary fermentation that takes place in the cask is the only source of carbonation, unlike typical keg beer that is carbonated under CO2 pressure which is also used to dispense the beer once tapped. Because of this difference real ales tend to have a much gentler level of carbonation, a rounder mouthfeel, and since they are unfiltered, they usually have a slightly more complex flavor and aroma profile. The ales are often cloudy, and served around 55°F, and because they are not stored under CO2 pressure then spoil quickly after opening, so are not good options for commercial products. Casks ales are often used by brewers to experiment with new recipes and various flavor additions, and even cask versions of tried and true recipes will taste different than what it bottled, canned, or kegged using more standard methods, for this reason real ales are sought after by beer aficionados. See “Cask Ale: Draught Beer At Its Best” (Craft Beer) and “What is Real Ale?” (The Beer Connoisseur)
27:14 - Mikro (opens around 2011) See “MiKro Beer Bar In Hamden: Craft Brews, Gourmet Food” (Hartford Courant, 2011)
32:28 - New England Brewing Company
32:47 - Sea Hag and G-Bot, the beer formerly known as “Ghandi Bot”, for more on the name change see “New England Brewing Decides To Rename Its Gandhi-Bot Beer” (Hartford Courant, 2015)
33:20 - See “Cascade Hops: The Variety That Launched A Craft Beer Revolution” (Kegerator.com), the “American IPA” style sheet from Craft Beer, and “How the West Coast-Style IPA Conquered the World” (First We Feast, 2015)
33:35 - See “Citra Hops: The Most Citrusy Aroma Hop in the World of Beer” and “Galaxy Hops: The Homebrewer’s Guide to the Variety” and “Amarillo Hops: The Citrusy Hop That Was Discovered By Accident” (Kegerator.com)
34:25 - Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’
34:54 - Prime 16
35:07 - Galaxy Pale Ale from NEBCO
35:12 - The Bru Room at BAR
36:01 - See “What are Chili (Chile) Beers?” (Just Beer), “Water, Yeast, Malt, and Hot: Chile Beer 101” and “7 Spicy Craft Beers to Try” (Craft Beer & Brewing)
36:48 - Sip of Sunshine from Lawson’s Finest Liquids, although in retrospect I think the beer we tried that day was actually Double Sunshine, the beer upon which Sip of Sunshine is based
37:39 - Heady Topper from The Alchemist
37:45 - See “Four Elusive 'White Whale' Beers That Are Still on the Loose” (Eater, 2015), “The Craft Breweries Who Make Them Weigh In: Why White Whales?” (Brew Studs, 2016), “10 Cult Beer Releases, and What to Drink If You Can't Get Them” (First We Feast, 2013) and “Are Rare Beers Worth The Fuss?” (Beverage Dynamics, 2017)
37:50 - Pliny the Elder from Russian River Brewing Company
38:49 - The style I am describing here is what eventually came to be known as the New England IPA, which was officially classified as the “Juicy or Hazy Double IPA” style by the Brewers Association Beer Style Guidelines in 2018. These IPAs have a high alcohol content over 7.5% and are typically described as having intense fruit flavors and aromas, a soft body, and smooth mouthfeel. They often have an opaque color with substantial haze and have less perceived bitterness than traditional IPAs but are always massively hop forward. This emphasis on late hopping, especially dry hopping, with hops with tropical fruit qualities lends the specific ‘juicy’ character for which this style is known. The New England IPA has undoubtedly been the hottest trend in craft over the past few years with many small and larger craft brewers trying their hand at some version of a hazy IPA-style beer. In 2018, its first year as a competition category at the Great American Beer Festival, the “Juicy or Hazy Double IPA” style garnered more entries than any other style category - dethroning the American IPA as most entered beer for the first time in 16 years. For more on the New England IPA phenomenon, see “How the Hazy New England IPA Conquered America” (Thrillist, 2018), the “New England IPA” style sheet from Craft Beer, “‘Juicy or Hazy’ Ales Debut in BA Beer Style Guide, Representing New England IPAs” (CraftBeer.com, 2018), “The New England Style IPA is The Anti-IPA” (CraftBeer.com, 2017), “What Are New England IPAs (NEIPAs)?” (Beer Cartel, 2018), and “What the Hell Happened to the West Coast IPA?” (Gear Patrol, 2019)
41:02 - Trillium Brewing Company
41:16 - Double IPA (Craft Beer & Brewing)
43:14 - Second Fiddle from Fiddlehead Brewing Company
43:18 - Grapefruit Sculpin from Ballast Point
44:00 - Generally speaking, the west coast IPAs that pioneered the American style highlight the bitterness of hops over everything where east coast IPAs strike a balance between malty sweetness and hoppy bitterness. Whereas west coast IPAs are dryer and have an aggressive bitterness, an east coast IPA is sweeter on the front end, which fades into bitterness, thanks to the hops. As an offshoot of the east coast style, New England IPAs are distinctly juicy, as in they can sometimes taste like you took a bite into a tropical fruit or citrus with the rind still on. Previous holdouts, who due to the early dominance of the west coast style thought that “craft” and “bitter” were synonymous, as well as newbies to the craft beer scene, have typically found it somewhat easier to get in on the game through the New England IPAs more approachable flavors, which has increased overall interest in craft beer. - For more see “East Coast IPA vs West Coast IPA: What's the Difference?” (Gear Patrol, 2020)
38:40 - Untappd
48:26 - Hill Farmstead Brewery
49:39 - See “How The Rise Of Craft Beer Is Contributing To The Decline Of The Homebrewing Lifestyle” (Forbes, 2016)
49:43 - Counterweight Brewing Company
49:45 - DuVig Brewing Company
49:49 - In January 1985 there were 100 craft breweries open and operating in the US, including early craft pioneers like Sierra Nevada and the Boston Beer Company, by 1996 the number of craft breweries had grown to 1000, and 50 different categories were recognized and judged at the Great American Beer Festival. The first “American Craft Beer Week” took place in 2006, and in 2014 craft beer production volume saw an 18% increase over the previous year with IPA taking over the overall production lead for the first time. By 2016 there were over 5000 craft breweries operating in the US, by 2019 there were over 8,000. In 2019 craft breweries captured 13.6% of the overall US beer market with sales totaling over $29 billion dollars, up from just slightly over $10 billion in 2011, and Ken Grossman, who founded Sierra Nevada back in 1980, has a net worth of $1 billion dollars. - For more see “Beer History” (Craft Beer), “National Beer Sales & Production Data” (Brewers Association), “Retail dollar sales of craft beer in the United States from 2011 to 2019” (Statista), and the Forbes profile of Ken Grossman
51:00 - See “contract brewing” and statement from Lawson’s Sip of Sunshine page - “Our Sip of Sunshine IPA is brewed by Lawson’s Finest Liquids in Stratford, CT at Two Roads Brewing and it will continue to be produced at that location.”
52:30 - For more on justifying purchases see the “Choice-supportive bias” Wikipedia entry
53:16 - See “2020 Zymurgy’s Best Beers in America Results” a list compiled by Zymurgy, which is the bi-monthly magazine of the American Homebrewers Association
53:29 - See “10 Types of Beer Glasses to Complement Your Beer” (Kegerator.com)
54:33 - Miller High Life
56:42 - See “The History of Beer” (Craft Beer & Brewing), “Who Invented Beer?” (History.com), and the “History of beer” Wikipedia entry
57:00 - See “An ancient thirst for beer may have inspired agriculture, Stanford archaeologists say” (Stanford News, 2018), “The History Of Beer And Why Civilization As We Know It May Have Started Because Of It” (All That’s Interesting, 2016)
58:12 - Yuengling - “America’s Oldest Brewery” was established in 1829
58:49 - See the “Stout” Wikipedia entry and various style sheets from Craft Beer for American Stout, American Imperial Stout, Irish-Style Dry Stout, English-Style Oatmeal Stout, English-Style Sweet Stout (Milk Stout)