Completely Conspicuous 168: Kick It Up a Notch

Part 1 of my podcast conversation with special guest Chris Lohring, brewer/founder of Notch Session beer as we discuss his journey through the world of craft brewing. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



The show notes...

Topics:

- Recorded at In a Pig's Eye in Salem, Mass.

- Chris got interested in craft brewing when in college

- In '92, worked with a partner to start Tremont Brewery

- Raised funding from "friends, family and fools"

- Launched brewery in '94

- Started with draft only in Boston-area bars

- Began bottling Tremont in '97

- Became second-largest brewer in Mass. behind Harpoon

- Back in early '90s, you were selling the concept of craft beer to bars

- Installed first cask engine in greater Boston at Redbones

- Introduced cask beer to Boston

- Tremont did its own distribution until '99, sold it to expand reach to CT and RI

- Brewery reached capacity in late '99

- You can still find Tremont in various states

- Sold to Shipyard in 2002 because investors wanted out

- Chris was burned out, got out of the brewing business

- Worked at engineering firm for several years

- "The world doesn't need another double IPA"

- Interest rekindled by session beer, lower-alcohol beer with great taste

- Influenced by European beers

- Session category has been ignored in U.S. as brewers go with higher-alcohol beers

- Craft beer started at 5% or less alcohol by volume

- Session beer is lower than 5% ABV

- Difficult brewing task to make session beer

- Not a lot of lower-ABV craft beer options

- Session beer's been around forever in Europe

- Designed by farmers for workers in the fields to drink

- First came up with idea two years ago, got serious about 18 months ago

- Brewed some test batches and got bars to serve it

- At first tried to emulate British beer; ended up doing an American-style ale and Czech-style pilsner

- Struck a deal to brew Notch at Ipswich Ale Brewery

- Chris wanted to remain actively involved in the brewing process

- Released two new beers in early March, bottles in Boston-area stores

- Draft handles in growing number of Boston-area bars

- Using social media to spread the word about Notch

- Thanks to Twitter, Jay got first six-pack of Notch Session ale on North Shore

- Tremont was marketed via a newsletter

- Now Twitter and Facebook gets message out directly to fans

- Chris' goals for Notch: Have fun and bring session beer into craft beer conversation

- Older consumers (30+) understand concept; younger drinkers in their 20s may not right away
- Also looking to build Notch into a viable business

- Small session beer resurgence on West Coast

- It's an East Coast-West Coast thing

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Codeine

The Dirtbombs - Cosmic Cars

The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Karmageddon

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

The Jason Isbell song is on the forthcoming album Here We Rest on Lightning Rod Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your e-mail address) at his website.

The Dirtbombs song is on the album Party Store on In the Red Records. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives song is from the album Golden Greats Vol. 1 on Little W Productions. Download the song for free (in exchange for your e-mail address) at the band's website.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his new site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.