Grit and Grain

Grit and Grain Engineered by Doug Mackey of Channel 253.

We explore and celebrate the craft beer industry, community, and history in Tacoma, Washington, and surrounding Pacific Northwest region featuring Bethany Carlsen, Matthew McLaren, and Ron Swarner.

Grit & Grain Episode 161: Hop Selection ConnectionBack again with another hoppy episode this week! This time, we wanted ...
10/03/2025

Grit & Grain Episode 161: Hop Selection Connection

Back again with another hoppy episode this week! This time, we wanted to change it up and give you all a peek behind the curtain at a yearly industry tradition.

During hop harvest season, brewers from all over the world come to Yakima to rub elbows with industry friends and rub hops to find out which lots and blends they’ll be using for the following year. Matt and Ron were lucky enough to be invited to join Lucky Envelope Brewing for its hop selection process.

Tune in to find out what the process is like, what other brewers we saw on our trip, why some breweries might or might not participate, and for all the highlights of the day and our favorite hop varietals.

To listen to Grit & Grain Episode 161 about this year’s Yakima Valley hop selection, as well as previous Grit and Grain episodes, visit gritandgrainpodcast.com, or search your favorite podcast mediums, including Channel 253. Cheers!

Back again with another hoppy episode this week! This time, we wanted to change it up and give you all a peek behind the curtain at a yearly industry tradition. During hop harvest season, brewers...

Grit & Grain Episode 159: Masons & Museums in the Mecca of Hops Yakima may wear the crown today, but the roots of Americ...
09/12/2025

Grit & Grain Episode 159: Masons & Museums in the Mecca of Hops

Yakima may wear the crown today, but the roots of America’s hop culture dig deep into Puyallup soil. This week, we sat down with Shelly Schlumpf, president of the Puyallup Historical Society at Meeker Mansion, to discuss their wild, wonderful new project: a living Hop Museum that’s part taproom, part event space, part tribute to Ezra Meeker — the Oregon Trail pioneer turned Hop King of the World.

We’re talking:
>>> How hops built Puyallup’s fortune (and nearly broke it).
>>> Ezra Meeker’s hop empire, ghost stories, and buried treasure.
>>> The future Hop Barn project, connecting history, beer, and community.

Tap in, tune up, and let the past pour you a pint.

This is super special! We all know Yakima is known for its incredible hop agriculture, but what many folks may not know is that the modern hop industry has its roots a little closer to...

Episode 157: Fresh Hop Season Preview!We are just about a week away from the most wonderful time of the year for Pacific...
08/22/2025

Episode 157: Fresh Hop Season Preview!

We are just about a week away from the most wonderful time of the year for Pacific Northwest beer nerds — fresh hop season! The chaotic, beautiful, and fleeting annual period where hops are plucked from the bines they grow on and thrown straight into beers while they are still dripping with aromatic oily goodness.

We are spoiled to have so many fantastic breweries that make incredible versions of these beers each year and we figured we would take a week, crack a few beers, and go through some ones we're most excited for (shout out to our buddy Austin Patjens for publishing his own fresh hops wish list on the day we recorded!). Grab a notepad and tune in for the scoop on which breweries we'll be hunting for this season.

To listen to Grit & Grain Episode 157 with the crew discussing fresh hops, as well as previous Grit and Grain episodes, visit gritandgrainpodcast.com, or search your favorite podcast mediums, including Channel 253. Cheers!

We are just about a week away from the most wonderful time of the year for Pacific Northwest beer nerds — fresh hop season! The chaotic, beautiful, and fleeting annual period where hops are plucked...

Live from Brew Five Three Beer and Music Festival!It’s that time of year again! Tacoma's biggest beer festival kicked of...
08/15/2025

Live from Brew Five Three Beer and Music Festival!

It’s that time of year again! Tacoma's biggest beer festival kicked off in a new location this year, the historic Armory building, and we were lucky enough to be invited back for another live show! We get into some highlights of the festival, our favorite beers of the day, and our best buddy and beer festival specialist, Gini Sommer, hops on the mic to talk about her work leading up to the big event.

Tune in for all the live show shenanigans and be sure to follow Tacoma Arts Live for future Brew Five Three news.

To listen to Grit & Grain Episode 156, recorded live at Tacoma Arts Live's Brew Five Three Music & Beer Festival, as well as previous Grit and Grain episodes, visit gritandgrainpodcast.com, or search your favorite podcast mediums, including Channel 253. Cheers!

It’s that time of year again! Brew Five Three Beer & Music Festival, Tacoma’s biggest beer taster-glass gathering, kicked off in a new location this year, the historic Armory building, and we were lucky enough...

Four Generals Brewing on Grit & Grain PodcastNestled in the small downtown area of Renton, Wash., a sleeping giant of a ...
08/08/2025

Four Generals Brewing on Grit & Grain Podcast

Nestled in the small downtown area of Renton, Wash., a sleeping giant of a brewery is starting to make giant waves.

On Episode 155, The Grit & Grain is joined by the family-owned and operated Four Generals Brewing. Brewer Ross, parents and business partners Mary and Mike, and Sales Manager Ali all took to the mic this week to tell the story of this small brewery doing huge things — including winning a silver medal at the most recent World Beer Cup!

Crack a classic Altbier, Kolsch, or Helles and tune in to hear how Four Generals pursues perfection and produces beer that truly transports the drinker to the streets of Germany with every sip.

To listen to Grit & Grain Episode 155 with Four Generals, as well as previous Grit and Grain episodes, visit gritandgrainpodcast.com, or search your favorite podcast mediums, including Channel 253. Cheers!

Nestled in the small downtown area of Renton, Wash., a sleeping giant of a brewery is starting to make giant waves. We are joined by the family-owned and operated Four Generals Brewing. Brewer Ross, parents...

🎙🍺 Grit & Grain Goes Live at Brew Five Three Saturday🍺🎙Tacoma’s summer-sun sermon is back — Tacoma Arts Live's Brew Five...
08/04/2025

🎙🍺 Grit & Grain Goes Live at Brew Five Three Saturday🍺🎙

Tacoma’s summer-sun sermon is back — Tacoma Arts Live's Brew Five Three, the 253’s annual beer + music lovefest, spills from the historic Tacoma Armory onto a Yakima Avenue closed just for you and a few thousand pint-sipping co-conspirators. From 1–7 p.m., it’s a carnival of regional breweries, cideries, meaderies, food trucks, raffles, games, and live bands.

At 3:30 p.m., the Grit and Grain Podcast crew—Matt McLaren, Ron Swarner, and Bethany Carlsen—take the Armory stage to record live, weaving crowd chaos and beer magic into spontaneous stories. They could riffs on:
🍺 7 Seas Brewing Co. – Super Charged Mexican Lager & Hold Fast Double IPA, summer’s twin patron saints
🍺 E9 Brewing Co. – Sawtooth to Hell IPA & Bayanihan orange blossom ale, Tacoma spirits in liquid form
🍺 Narrows Brewing – New Proctor taproom + Easterly & Westerly, the city’s yin-yang sea breeze
🍺 Odd Otter Brewing Company – Odd Otis strawberry-kiwi seltzer, weird still worn like a crown
🍺 Sig Brewing Company – South Tacoma taproom + Key-lime ale & Dark Side of the Stein, intergalactic hop love letters

Whatever local beer news they discuss Saturday, it will be less a podcast, more a live-forged performance of grain, grit, and unfiltered Tacoma soul—modern mythmaking in a limited-edition tasting glass.

🎟 Brew Five Three fuels Tacoma Arts Live’s performance and youth arts programs. 21+ (ID required), leashed-dog-friendly, bike + transit easy. Tickets: $63 advance / $68 day-of / $15.50 DD. Saturday, Aug. 9, 1–7 p.m., Tacoma Armory & Yakima Ave. → https://www.tacomaartslive.org/

At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, the Grit & Grain Podcast crew—Matt McLaren, Ron Swarner, and Bethany Carlsen—will take the Tacoma Armory stage to record live at Brew Five Three, weaving crowd chaos and beer magic into spontaneous stories.

Episode 154: Hop Growers and Grain Makers with HAAS Farm and LINC Malt, Part 2We're back with part 2 of our raw ingredie...
08/01/2025

Episode 154: Hop Growers and Grain Makers with HAAS Farm and LINC Malt, Part 2

We're back with part 2 of our raw ingredients special with Rikki Welz from Haas Farms, Inc. and Brian Estes with LINC Malt. With Grainmaker only one week away, we figured it would be a great time to get all the details from these two about what makes this one of the best up and coming beer events in Washington; featuring incredible collaboration beers all geared to showcase specialty ingredients in interesting ways. Plus, Matt gets all nerdy and philosophical about beer as usual, and who doesn't love that...right?

If you haven't yet, grab your Grainmaker tickets before it's too late! And of course, tune all the way in for this very special episode with these amazing industry icons.

To listen to Grit & Grain Episode 154 with Rikki Welz and Brian Estes, as well as previous episodes, visit gritandgrainpodcast.com, or search your favorite podcast mediums, including . Cheers!

We’re back with part 2 of our raw ingredients special, featuring Rikki Welz from Haas Farms and Brian Estes from LINC Malt. With Grainmaker only one week away, we figured it would be a great...

Episode 153: Hop Growers and Grain Makers with HAAS Farm and LINC MaltIt's an extra special double header! We are joined...
07/25/2025

Episode 153: Hop Growers and Grain Makers with HAAS Farm and LINC Malt

It's an extra special double header! We are joined this week by our best buddy and legendary hop sniffer, Rikki Welz from the world-renowned HAAS Farms; and we are so happy to welcome Brian Estes, the man behind LINC Malt's specialty grain program. The teams these two people help to lead at their respective operations are responsible for some of the most sought-after ingredients used in beer today.

Tune in for part 1 where we dig into some of the details in specialty malt and hop breeding, how HAAS and LINC approach the industry in unique ways, and we even get to smell a few very special hop varietals and blends.

To listen to Grit & Grain Episode 153 with Rikki Welz and Brian Estes, as well as previous Grit and Grain episodes, visit gritandgrainpodcast.com, or search your favorite podcast mediums, including Channel 253. Cheers!

It’s an extra special double header! We are joined this week by our best buddy and legendary hop sniffer, Rikki Welz from the world-renowned Haas Farms, and we are so happy to welcome Brian Estes,...

Grit & Grain Returns From the Wild—LiterallyWe're back! Thanks for sticking around during our holiday hiatus week. We'r...
07/18/2025

Grit & Grain Returns From the Wild—Literally

We're back! Thanks for sticking around during our holiday hiatus week. We're back and have a bunch of catching up to do. Matt climbed a whole mountain, Bethany went camping with her little kiddos (arguably harder than climbing a mountain), and Ron attended the inaugural Legends of the West hosted by our friends at Grains of Wrath where he caught up with an old Tacoma industry friend!

Plus, we dive into the recent data released by the Brewers Association charting craft beer's trajectory, overall industry health, and some outliers managing to grow even in tough times. Crack a super cold one, turn up your AC, and tune in!

To listen to Grit & Grain Episode 152 with the crew, as well as previous Grit and Grain episodes, visit gritandgrainpodcast.com, or search your favorite podcast mediums, including Channel 253. Cheers!

We’re back! Thanks for sticking around during our holiday hiatus week. We’re back and have a bunch of catching up to do. Matt climbed a whole mountain, Bethany went camping with her little kiddos (arguably...

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