Episodes
November 30, 2021
Sticky Situation: Peanut Butter Stouts
It’s Peanut Butter Stout Time, Peanut Butter Stout Time! We’ll stack up four peanut butter stouts in a taste-off to find out which is the peanut-butteriest while Ryan educates us on the history of adjuncts and how peanut butter is added to the brewing process. We’ll also give some on hot takes on Reinheitsgebot and our opinions on what stout adjuncts are acceptable to drink. Lastly, we’ll bring you up-to-date on our HTOWN brewery challenge as we recap trips to No Label, Local Group, 11 Below, Gordon Street Tavern, and Holler!
November 16, 2021
The Intersection of Beer and Sports
What is the best sport to watch while drinking? To play while drinking? While we’re at it, what is a sport anyway? Do things like golf, Nascar, horse racing, and bowling count? What is your criteria for defining a sport versus a game? Your Beering Ain’t Easy hosts answer all these questions, plus we share “Uncle Rico” moments as we reminisce on our peak sports performances.
November 02, 2021
What Draws You to a Brewery?
What draws you to breweries? Other than the beer of course! We poll the audience and tap into Ryan’s brewery connection to find out the truth. Plus, Adam and Drew lament over a challenging solar system science project assigned to their kids and debate whether it is ever acceptable to offer feedback/coaching to your kid’s teachers. Lastly, we update you on our HTOWN Brewery Challenge status by recapping True Anomaly, 8th Wonder, Great Heights, and Walking Stick!
October 19, 2021
A Guide to the Houston Beer Scene With Sylvia, The Houston Beer Mother
The Beering Ain’t Easy podcast gets the low down on the Houston Beer Scene in this awesome interview with Houston Beer Influencer Sylvia, aka the @houstonbeermother! Sylvia has been following the Houston beer scene since the beginning, and she not only acts as a brand ambassador for many Houston breweries, but she also has her own Houston Beer podcast (The Draught Queens) and runs the Houston Beer Guide website. We talk about upcoming Houston Beer events and releases, must-see breweries, Renaissance Fest, and shine bright lights on all the great beer-related things going on in H-Town!
October 05, 2021
The Second Annual Oktoberfest Battle
Some things are best repeated, so we rekindled the magic from last year and brought back the Oktoberfest Battle! 4 Beers - Local vs. State vs. National vs. International - and only one winner! Come join us while we talk Oktoberfest, celebrate college football with cheesy player/beer associations, and discuss a real life dad situation where their elementary school daughter asked “what’s a stripper?” Yikes!
September 21, 2021
The HTOWN Brewery Challenge
Welcome to Season 2 of the Beering Ain’t Easy Podcast! We’re bringing you all the best parts of season one but adding on the #HTOWNBREWERYCHALLENGE, a quest to visit every brewery within 50 miles of Houston, TX. Come meet the newest member of the Beering Ain’t Easy family, Ryan, BS about suburb craziness and urinal etiquette, and review our first 6 breweries: Misfit Outpost, Fortress BeerWorks, Stovetop Brewing, SpindleTap, Senate Avenue, and Galveston Island Brewing!
August 31, 2021
Italian Pilsners and Other Juicy Tidbits
So we let Adam drive the agenda on this episode, and let’s just say we hit every topic under the sun while still managing to review Ennio, a tasty Italian Pilsner from the New Magnolia Brewing Company. Come listen to us discuss the Houston Brewsology Beerfest, 911 call dad hacks, the new Shiner Bock ad campaign, and debate the best beverage to consume at an all-inclusive resort! You won’t want to miss all the juicy tidbits and nuggets of wisdom we have to offer.
August 17, 2021
Revenge of the Middle Child
It’s been a little bit since we hit you with a dad-centric episode, so we decided to tackle the dynamics between children in a family, specifically tales of middle children tired of their sibling’s shit. Come join Adam and Drew and special guest Bernie, co-host of the Bern Appetit and 3 Beers and Mic podcasts, as we not only talk about the dad life, but also tackle Octoberfest travel tips, Anheuser Busch, fast food, and much more!
August 03, 2021
The Beer Olympics
Beering Ain’t Easy is celebrating 1 year as a podcast, and we’re bringing on not one but two guests to celebrate in the most epic way we know how - An Official Beer Olympics! We’ll each go toe-to-toe on games that most of us have not played since college - Beer Chug, Flip Cup, Beer Pong, and Darts - and we’ll reminisce on our favorite moments of the podcast. Who has the skills and stamina to outlast the rest? And more importantly, will the hosts or the guests come out victorious?
July 20, 2021
Meet the Brewer Series: Nook Brewing Company
Welcome to the first ever Beering Ain’t Easy Podcast “Meet the Brewer” series featuring the Nook Brewing Company out of Broken Arrow, OK! You'll meet co-owner and head brewer Alex Foster, hear about their fantastic Terminal Velocity Dopplebock, and learn all about what it’s like to start up a small business brewery during the pandemic. We may even get some insight on how brewers feel about Untappd ratings…you should definitely tune in!
July 06, 2021
Beer Vacations
In this episode, Adam comes back from his Gulf Shores, Alabama vacation with a beer run from - hold up - the Carolinas? We’ll try and figure out why and also talk about our favorite beer-related vacations of all time, our bucket list brewery trips, and strategize how to take an official Beering Ain’t Easy business flight. Come join us as we escape the norm and get into vacay mode!
June 22, 2021
Blind Tasting: Houston's Best Pilsner
The Beering Ain’t Easy blind tastings are back, and who better to celebrate it with than friend of the show Ryan! This time we stack up five Pilsners from the greater Houston area to see who wins the Crisby Boi crown! And if that’s not enough, we coach Ryan through the process of successfully transitioning from the city to his newfound dad life in the suburbs.
June 08, 2021
Father's Day, Hurricanes, and CBD Beer
Father’s Day, Hurricanes, and CBD Beer, oh my! In this episode, we tackle all the tough topics: surviving Houston during Hurricane season, legalization of marijuana in Texas, cats on leashes, and which holiday is least appreciated between Mother’s and Father’s Day. And we get funky with our beer selection by bringing on our first CBD infused beer - Hempwing IPA by Ingenious Brewing Company!
May 25, 2021
Adam's San Antonio Beer Adventure
In this episode, we catalogue Adam’s whirlwind beer tour of San Antonio breweries and drink some fantastic atypical beer styles! And if that isn’t enough, we discuss lawn maintenance, trying to be cool after kids, Pee Wee Herman, and more!
May 11, 2021
Kids Sports and Brash Beer
In this episode, we combine two topics that probably should never be combined again: Kids sports and one of our favorite breweries in the Houston area, the Brash Brewing Company. We’re going to talk at length about Brash, feature its aptly named “Biggest Motherf******” stout, and then catalogue our hilarious observations and experiences as our kids join the competitive youth sports world for the first time.
April 27, 2021
Gettin' Freaky With Martin House Brewing
Adam and Drew depart from their IPA lovefest and venture into the wild and wacky world of food-inspired beer, and Martin House Brewing in Fort Worth, Texas is definitely where you go when you want to scratch that itch. Come join us while we taste an array of Martin House food-inspired beers and discuss beer trends for 2021 - things are going to get weird!
April 13, 2021
First Time Parent vs. Experienced Parent
Now that Drew’s back from the birth of his third daughter, Adam and Drew take the opportunity to reflect on the hilarious differences between being a first time parent and a third time parent. And let us tell you, the difference could not be greater… Plus Adam recaps his month long sabbatical from alcohol and we discuss some fantastic IPA’s from the Great Heights Brewing Company in Houston, Texas!
March 30, 2021
What's Up with Non-Alcoholic Beers?
What is up with non-alcoholic beers? What’s the point? Does an NA IPA satisfy your IPA cravings? Did runners create this fad just to have one more thing to gloat about? Adam decided to take a month off drinking to train for a marathon, so we brought on an assortment of NA beers from the Athletic Brewing Company and Lagunitas to answer those questions and more!
March 16, 2021
A Saint Paddy's Day Special
Come celebrate Saint Paddy’s day with Beering Ain’t Easy! We’ll pour green beers, blind taste test Irish Red Ales, showcase some bad Irish accents, crown a winner for the best beer bomb, and debate the tough economic decisions behind Tooth Fairy money for our kids’ teeth!
March 02, 2021
Battle of the Belgians
We’ve spent a lot of time on IPA’s and stouts on this show - now it’s time to switch it up a bit and bring on the Belgian beers! In this episode, we bring back friend of the show Michael to taste four different types of Belgians including a bizarre Eucalyptus tripel, crown the official beer of Neurology, and go on a rant about shower beers.
February 16, 2021
Testing Home Brew Kits and The Great Brewing Mishap
Adam and Drew take a stab at home brewing for the first time ever! Knowing our history, this should go off without a hitch right? Right??? In this episode we bring you two 1 Gallon Pale Ale Home Brew Kits - Northern Brewer vs. Brooklyn Brew Shop - in a showdown to determine which kit is best for you. And that’s not all - you’ll get to witness one of the most epic home brewing fails of all time!
February 02, 2021
Beer Etiquette: How to Win the Beer Game
Are you allowed to bring beer home that you brought over to your friend’s house? What about if you stored it temporarily in their fridge? Well, look no further, because Adam and Drew have answered all your questions and more by laying down the official rules of Beer Etiquette…and its loopholes.
January 19, 2021
Origins: Iowa and the Quest for the Perfect Beer Temperature
Our second Origins episode has finally arrived! This time Adam takes us to his home state of Iowa to talk about the cold, the drinking traditions, and even a shout out to his high school prom date. And if that’s not enough, we’re doing another patented Beering Ain’t Easy beer experiment - tasting 2 different Midwest stouts at 3 different temperatures to let you, the listener, know which beer temperature is the most ideal for your drinking enjoyment. Have your thermometers at the ready!