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Grit & Grain Podcast

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Rating
★★★★★
4.9
from
41 reviews
This podcast has
100 episodes
Language
English
Explicit
Yes
Date created
2022/07/10
Latest episode
2026/10/09
Average duration
59 min.
Release period
8 days

Description

Beer gurus Matt McLaren, Sean Jackson, and Ron Swarner explore and celebrate the craft beer industry, community, and history in Tacoma, Washington, and surrounding Pacific Northwest region.

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Podcast episodes

Check latest episodes from Grit & Grain Podcast podcast


Episode 209: Who Needs a Ladder When You have Hops? with Tristan McCoy
2026/10/09
It’s time for homebrewing world update!  There are some rumors going around that a few local homebrew supply shops may be nearing their respective finish lines (unless any listeners with a little investment capital and an eagerness to answer beer nerd questions all day have any to say about out it? Hmmm?).  And it is, of course, fresh hop season! For which the Brown’s Point Homebrew Club tends to be especially well-known. This week Tristan McCoy hopped on the mic to discuss the potential of these local shop closures.  Where might an eager home brewer get their supplies and ingredients?  How can a local homebrew club help connect home brewers with commercial brewers who might be able to help? And what might the discipline look like when we don’t have local business owners to shepherd the nerds. On top of that, we get to try some fantastic homebrewed fresh hop beers including Tristan’s award-winning Dolcita fresh hop, some Logan collabs, and more. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and where to find a sparge pot. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 209: Who Needs a Ladder When You have Hops? with Tristan McCoy appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Episode 208: Fresh Hop Check-In
2026/10/02
We are rounding the corner to the fresh hop finale of 2026. Some of the year’s best and most anticipated releases are hitting shelves, and Ron just got back from making his own collab fresh hop beers — the perfect time to crack a few cans of our favorites and catch up! While sipping on a few incredible beers from Grains of Wrath, Single Hill, Lumberbeard, and more, Ron fills us in on some of his Yakima adventures: morning coffee at Single Hill, farm tours, and getting lost with his doppelgänger and Astoria legend Dwayne Smallwood from the world-famous Bridge and Tunnel Bottleshop. Tune in for fresh hop recommendations, some audience questions, and, of course, Matt’s tipsy speculations on the future of fresh hop season. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and favorite 2026 fresh hop beers. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 208: Fresh Hop Check-In appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Episode 207: Grit and Grain and Pages and Pints
2026/09/25
We’re keeping it Odd for one more week with local beer-fluencer, event organizer, and bartender, Cecelia Grogan! When she’s not serving up your Odd Otter Brewing pints, Cecelia is curating some of the best local beer-focused content you can find on Instagram.  While doing stints at some of our favorite local craft beer spots, she leveled up her understanding of algorithms, trends, and content creation.  These days she uses her platform to help beer businesses thrive and highlight local spots she loves. Tune in to get to know our favorite book and beer nerd, get some hints on leveling up your own social media game, and catch a few details on her book club events around Tacoma.  Be sure to follow @_pagesandpints and @pagesandpintsevents! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and favorite book. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 207: Grit and Grain and Pages and Pints appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Episode 206: Food Prep to Beer Rep with Max Beckstrom
2026/09/18
We’re keeping it Tacoma this week with a fresh face to the show and one of the newer faces in the local beer industry. Odd Otter Brewing sales rep/general manager/all-around hype machine Max Beckstrom joins us this week to talk everything from his Army days to kitchen management to jumping over to the sales side of the craft beer world — representing Odd Otter all over Western Washington. This is a perfect episode to get to know one of the friendliest beer industry folks we know, and one you’re definitely gonna see around town pretty often. Plus, get the scoop on some new Odd Otter beers and even some business development news! Odd Otter has some pretty big plans in the works. We love seeing a small local beer business grow. Support your local beer folks and make sure to say hi when you see them in the wild. Cheers, y’all! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, favorite Odd Otter beer. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 206: Food Prep to Beer Rep with Max Beckstrom appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Episode 205: Let’s Talk About E9
2026/09/11
This week’s episode will be a little different than usual.  As many of you may know, this has been a complicated few weeks for our friends at E9 Brewing. Since the reveal of some rather unsavory political contributions by members of the ownership team, we’ve heard quite a bit from local politicians, upset community members, and wealthy property owners. But, we haven’t had the opportunity to hear much from the actual employees — the people making the beer, pouring your pints, and delivering your kegs; people who are, undoubtedly, the most affected by this entire situation. This week our best buddy and Grit & Grain co-founder Sean Jackson and long-time beer industry professional Grace Zigweid sat down for a beer and walked us through their experience these last few weeks as employees of E9. Tune in to get an extra perspective from inside E9’s walls from members of the team that have worked for years to make that space as welcoming and inclusive as possible, which begs the question: Who does a brewery really belong to? This is a real conversation with folks still processing a heartbreaking incident that has turned their world’s upside down.  Please keep comments respectful. Vote with your wallets. Support trans rights. ‘Stand with ALL community members who might be negatively affected by business owner’s actions. The post Episode 205: Let’s Talk About E9 appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Grit And Grain Episode 204: What Month is Oktoberfest?
2026/09/04
Its September!  Which means it’s time for Oktoberfest, right?  We’re pretty sure that’s how that works. … Either way, among all the fresh hops and pumpkin ales gracing the doorway to fall, sits the most historical seasonal style, and we wanted to dedicate an hour to it! This week the team sat down talk all the ins and outs of Oktoberfest.  From where and why it started, to historical versions of the styles, the permeation of pale festbiers, and some dos and don’ts if you’re attending the real deal festival in Munich. Tune in for the regular scheduled silliness, some fun facts about the annual beer festival, and get a snapshot of the local Oktoberfest calendar courtesy of Ron! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and how many lager-filled liter mugs you can carry at once. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Grit And Grain Episode 204: What Month is Oktoberfest? appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Grit & Grain Podcast Episode 203: Kyle Larsen Takes the Long Way Home
2026/08/28
Kings & Daughters co-founder and brewmaster Kyle Larsen joins Grit & Grain on the eve of his brewery’s fifth-anniversary Tacoma celebration to trace the wonderfully indirect route that eventually became Kings & Daughters. Larsen’s brewing life winds from Full Sail and his formative years at Double Mountain through brewing science at Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University, a family move to England and the head brewer job at Siren Craft Brew, then finally back home to Hood River — just in time for a pandemic to rearrange nearly everything. Along the way, British pubs, cask beer, lower-alcohol drinking culture, four children and his creative partnership with wife Kacie McMackin all found their way into the brewery they eventually built. The conversation explores what makes a Kings & Daughters beer taste like Kings & Daughters: softness, balance, technical precision and the increasingly radical notion that flavor doesn’t need to shout. It also follows Kyle and Kacie from launching without a traditional brewery of their own to finally opening The Walled Garden, their intimate Hood River public house inspired by the gardens and pubs they loved in England. Then we turn toward five years and three anniversary collaborations — Free Dive with Jake Watt, Face to the Sun with Breakside’s Ben Edmunds and Deeply Rooted with Kyle’s old Double Mountain family — beers that function less like birthday presents than liquid thank-you notes to people who helped shape the brewer Kyle became. Listen to Episode 203 to hear how a lesson from one brewer, a pint from another, a garden from England, science from Scotland, a name from your children and an idea from your wife can eventually become something unmistakably your own — and how, somewhere along the way, all those borrowed pieces stop looking borrowed and start looking like you. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and favorite Kings & Daughters’ beer. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Grit & Grain Podcast Episode 203: Kyle Larsen Takes the Long Way Home appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Episode 202: WA Wild Brewshed Alliance Director Chris Chappell
2026/08/21
Washington Wild Brewshed Alliance Director Chris Chappell returns to Grit & Grain to explain what happens when the forests, rivers and public lands that make great beer possible suddenly need the beer industry to return the favor. The conversation moves from efforts to sell federal public lands and weaken the Roadless Rule to the nearly 90 breweries and beer businesses using their collective voice for conservation, including the Public Lands Pub Ale, No Boat Brewing’s massive Lagerhead festival and Watershed Pub’s wonderfully civic-minded Convergence series. at Watershed Pub. Along the way, Chris makes the case that conservation doesn’t always need to feel like homework. Sometimes advocacy looks like a brewer signing a letter. Sometimes it’s a neighborhood pub gathering people around a cause. Sometimes it’s breweries pouring lager to protect clean water. And sometimes the most effective doorway into complicated public-land policy might simply be a pint and the question of where its water came from. Because beer begins long before the mash tun — upstream in forests, snowpack and watersheds — and protecting those places ultimately means protecting what eventually winds up in our glasses. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and what you think is the most underrated watershed in Washington. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 202: WA Wild Brewshed Alliance Director Chris Chappell appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Grit & Grain Episode 201: Grainmaker 2026
2026/08/14
Last weekend, we packed up the cars and made the trek over to Spokane for the amazing Grainmaker Fest — the annual celebration of specialty malt with more than 50 participating breweries and 25 special collaboration beers on tap. We were lucky to be joined by our best buddies Brian Estes from LINC Malt and Leslie Shore from Cold Stream Malt & Grain for a tag team episode where we talked about everything from festival planning, collab curation, and of course the last-minute adaptations to the wildfires that broke out in the beginning of the week. Tune for all the details on the festival, some beer highlights, and to hear how the beer industry came together to help the community in Spokane as much as possible during a very difficult time. Drink good beer and, if you can, drink it for a good cause. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and favorite milling style. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Grit & Grain Episode 201: Grainmaker 2026 appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Grit & Grain Episode 200 Special Edition: Matt and Roger from Georgetown
2026/08/07
We made it fam! Two-hundred episodes officially in the book.  We continue our special double-header with Georgetown Brewing Research & Development Brewer Matt Edwards and tagging in for Part 2 is co-founder, Roger Bialous. Georgetown has been in the news lately with the announcement of their brand-new production, packaging, and storage space across from their current state-of-the-art-facility. Roger updated us and the plans for the future of the ever-evolving brewery, which include Matt’s attempts to push their low ABV IPA to its limits with full flavored sub 3% hoppy bangers. Tune in for brewery updates and details on secret new beers. And make sure to go all the way back to Episode 9 and 10 to catch Georgetown’s first appearance on the Grit & Grain Podcast. To this day, they are still some of our favorite conversations. Cheers to 200 and here’s to 200 more! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at [email protected] with your comments, opinions, and favorite Georgetown beer. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Grit & Grain Episode 200 Special Edition: Matt and Roger from Georgetown appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Episode 199: A Georgetown Brewing and Pinks Boots Special
2026/07/31
It’s crazy to think we are one episode away from 200! To celebrate the occasion, we got together with The Pink Boots Society and Georgetown Brewing, put together a special collab beer, and released it... The post Episode 199: A Georgetown Brewing and Pinks Boots Special appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Episode 198: Secret Sunday Episode with Sean Jackson
2026/07/24
We are rounding the corner to Episode 200, which is insane! We definitely didn’t want to hit the next milestone without spending a Sunday morning goofing around with our previous co-host and best buddy, Sean... The post Episode 198: Secret Sunday Episode with Sean Jackson appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Episode 197: It’s Lagerhead Weekend!
2026/07/17
This weekend has some of the best annual events we know of — all happening at once! On that list is the insanely popular Lagerhead Festival at No Boat Brewing in Snoqualmie. The 3rd annual... The post Episode 197: It’s Lagerhead Weekend!  appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Episode 196: All Around the World for the 4th
2026/07/10
We’re back, baby! The team took a week off for the holiday and some travel, and we’re pumped to be back on the mic to catch up on what everyone has been doing. Bethany was... The post Episode 196: All Around the World for the 4th appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.
Episode 195: Turning the Off-Flavor Industry on Its Head
2026/06/26
We know many of our listeners have tried their hand off-flavor tasting.  Whether you’re studying for certification exams or just leveling up your brewing game, off-flavor identification is a must. But many of the options for... The post Episode 195: Turning the Off-Flavor Industry on Its Head appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

Podcast reviews

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4.9 out of 5
41 reviews
★★★★★
Jack.Hartsock 2025/12/01
Craft beer 👍
Fun podcast- talk some north sound (Snohomish County) brews team!
★★★★★
Disappointed wary adopter 2025/11/29
Wow! This podcast keeps evolving
The consistency in which they keep improving the craft of podcasting about craft beer is astonishing, episodes always feel relevant even if they are d...
★★★★★
madeleine in washington state 2023/04/02
Your 2 Nashville Listeners
If your like beer, the Pacific Northwest and history…you need to listen. 10/10 for the outros, #beernudes and VISIT TACOMA (see ya soon PW)!
★★★★★
Catanistan 2023/03/29
Portable Tavern Banter
Have fun; learn about beer. Are you looking for very fun discussions on beer, brewing, and the business of beer? Even if you don’t live in the South S...
★★★★★
ALVEENUS 2022/11/03
PNW Beer History, Industry Stories, and so much more.
Hear stories from inside the the beer industry, with a focus on PNW and especially (but not exclusively) the Tacoma beer and brewing scene. Presented...
★★★★★
CIRW 2022/10/21
Heart, humor and hops
What a delightful trio that brings to life and chronicles the PNW beer scene.
★★★★★
253Ttown 2022/09/11
Cheers to this!
More than just surprising and funny stories about the NW breweries you know and love - this is recorded history from the people that made it happen!
★☆☆☆☆
Biased news channel 2022/08/27
Meh.
Definitely not in touch with Tacoma beer scene.
★★★★★
Jason Irwin 2022/08/12
South Sound Beer Nerds
Finally a podcast that speaks to people like me. And by that I mean chunky bearded dudes that love Tacoma beer! Gotta find the Skoog.
★★★★★
Nicole 757984 2022/07/13
Cheers, guys!
A fun (and informative) podcast from Tacoma’s favorite craft beer folks! And hilarious to boot! The flow of their conversation feels like you’re there...
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