Bell's Octoberfest

Ever wondered how an ambitious brewery goes from a turkey fryer setup in a driveway to one of America's most recognized names in craft beer? Well, buckle up! We're taking a deep dive into the history of Bell's Brewery, the iconic establishment that made a name for itself right out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. We'll be cracking open a bottle of their acclaimed Octoberfest and sharing the fascinating story of how the founder, Larry Bell, changed Michigan legislation to pave the way for breweries to serve beer straight from the taproom.

Let's continue our beer tasting journey together, as we explore Bell's October Fest beer, which intriguingly takes a full six weeks to ferment, alongside their cherry stout, made from cherries sourced from the renowned Traverse City, Michigan. If you've got dreams of brewing your own, you'll want to stick around for our discussion on the many levels of launching a brewery, from humble 15 barrel systems to makeshift setups in the driveway. As an added bonus, we'll be giving a shout-out to our beloved listeners in Granberry Texas, emphasizing the value of your feedback and learning together.

But it's not all about the beer. We'll also be sharing a slice of our lives away from the taproom. From reminiscing about the simple joy of biting into a tree-picked apple versus a store-bought one to the relatable struggle of trying to watch a movie with a partner who's perpetually glued to their phone. It's a candid conversation about balancing personal time with shared experiences, and maybe, just maybe, finding a way to enjoy both. So grab a cold one and join us for some good laughs, intriguing stories, and of course, great beer. You won't want to miss it!

Transcript

Andy: 0:12

All right and away we go. Here we are once again with two guys in a beer. Podcast episode number five, we get set a bottle this time instead of. Can so little different, different feel, different sound, I guess.

Shawn: 0:32

That's the authentic taking off the bottle top, as opposed to our intro there.

Andy: 0:37

Yeah, so a little bit more. I mean it's still legit. I'm sure they probably. You know open bottle then, but this one's way better. This you know you get a little bit more direct. So as we work our way into episode number five so more than a month, you know continuing to work our way along Sean has done some research over to the time about you said a lot of podcasts, don't get all that far or don't get a lot of whatever it may be struggles.

Shawn: 1:04

Yeah, and all they really don't. So most of the things I've been reading about podcasts like new podcasters when they start 44% of them and don't get past episode three. And here we are at episode five. So we're inching our way along, trucking right along.

Andy: 1:20

It's kind of amazing to me, I mean and I run into this, you know, I think we both kind of run into the same kind of thing where not necessarily a part of it is a time commitment but also just having the time availability. You know what I mean we work opposite shifts and the way that days off work together, you know, sometimes it's only one day a week really, and sometimes even that day doesn't even work. So I mean I guess you could see, as long as you can stick with it. You know it's challenging to do, I suppose.

Shawn: 1:47

Yeah, it is tough from the time commitment like you said working both working full time jobs, opposite shifts the amount of time it takes to do a podcast for those you out there don't really is more than you think. We're just doing this as a hobby for fun. You know we're trying to do it right to hopefully it sounds professional and people take on to the liking and listening to it. We're trying to improve on it any feedback people have. You know we're trying to change some things and but it really is a lot of work doing a podcast. You wouldn't seem to think so, but it really is.

Andy: 2:19

And Sean, I appreciate you doing most of that work. I mostly just show up and babble along and my level of involvement lately Well, life happens, we all have stuff going on, especially when you're married.

Shawn: 2:30

Absolutely Happy wife, happy life, right, right.

Andy: 2:35

We'll maybe get into that a little bit later, See if we've got some more topics on that. We talked in one of the previous episodes about driving and road trips with us, so I have to go back and listen to that segment at some point in time. So two guys in a beer podcast. Once again, you can find us on all the different platforms like share, subscribe, tell all your friends and everything like that. As we move into episode number five, we move our way into a new month. We say we made it more than a month. Now we're into October, so we thought it'd be kind of I think apropos is the right word for that too Maybe delve into the world of Oktoberfest beers.

Shawn: 3:13

Yeah, oktoberfest is a pretty huge thing, so we thought we would bring you guys some different Oktoberfest beer. I don't know if you're on social media a lot people out there listening but there is brew fest all over the place In our state of Minnesota. I've seen them in Michigan, wisconsin, iowa, the Dakotas they're everywhere. In October A lot of local breweries show up, craft breweries show up. Oktoberfest is a big thing and as I was thinking about it, I'm like you know I don't know a ton about Oktoberfest or the history of it. So I figured on our next episode, you guys will have to tune in and we'll share some facts on the actual origins of Oktoberfest, why it happened, how it started and things like that.

Andy: 3:52

So we'll get going on some of that in the next episode. This one will be focusing on Bell's Oktoberfest. Bell's Oktoberfest, and I think when you had mentioned that this is the one we were going to do, my first thought was I've had some bells. You would ask me if I had had it and I've had bells, but I've had the bells too hard a day, but I have not ventured too far outside of that. I do enjoy that beer, but excited to try this and learn more about the history of bells.

Shawn: 4:20

And bells. It's actually a pretty big company for a craft brewing company. They sell beer. They're from Michigan, so they were founded in Kalamazoo, Michigan. That's where it was founded.

Andy: 4:31

Kalamazoo.

Shawn: 4:33

As they expanded over the years. That's just fun to say Kalamazoo. You know, I think I'd like to go to Kalamazoo.

Andy: 4:40

Just to have nothing else to say, just to have a name, absolutely.

Shawn: 4:43

As they've expanded over the years. Most of their brewery now is done in Comstock, michigan, where this Oktoberfest is brewed We'll talk about here, but as a stocking bells it's all over the place. They sell beer in Texas, louisiana, minnesota, missouri, anyway from Michigan all the way down to Texas. That whole way there, a little bit on the West Coast, for a small local craft brewery they really have beer all over the country. They've won awards nationally, locally, regionally. They're just kind of all over the place for a local craft brewer, one of the first to kind of get that type of recognition.

Andy: 5:19

It'd be a lot of fun to be able to go check out something like that, I mean even beyond the Kalamazoo, but be able to go and check out kind of a place like Bells with that type of distributorship. It's kind of a cool thing to be able to be that big but still remain kind of local. I mean, we see it a little bit here in Minnesota with like a Surly. I think it's probably one of the bigger ones that will distribute pretty heavy, but it's kind of fun to be able to see some of those.

Shawn: 5:44

Yeah, and for being a craft brewer, to be that big and they kind of keep it at a local craft brewery. That's the type of beer they make is craft beer. They don't really have like a Miller light or a Bud Light. You know. They don't have like a signature basic log or everything they brew is craft brews and they have such a lineup. I can't even tell you all the beers that they do. They have a ton of seasonal beers and they change new beers all the time, add new beers, take new beers away and of course Oktoberfest is a seasonal beer for every brewery. You know it just comes off for Oktoberfest, but they have such a lineup of beer. It's pretty impressive yeah.

Andy: 6:21

It's nice to have a good, to have a little variety, but you know a lot of local craft beers, you know. If you breweries, I should say you go there, you'd be able to try just a multitude of them. I remember years ago talking to a friend about kind of trying to explain how craft beer in a way works. Because their mindset was, well, I like Coors Light. I'm like, okay, well, I don't like. Well, I don't remember what it was, we'll see, we use Surly as an example. And he's like, well, what kind of beer is? Surly it's like, well, they got a couple of different ones. And they're like, well, it's not just Surly, because they're in that mindset of it's one. You know what I mean.

Andy: 6:55

They see the Coors and like, well, it's kind of like Coors Banquet as opposed to Coors Light. It's like, no, no, it's a different beer. Well, sort of, but it's same. So it was kind of an explaining, you know. But again, this was years ago, you know, before like the really big time craft beer scene had kind of split out there. But that's one of the funnest things about breweries now is go and try a flight. You know the likelihood of finding one. You'll probably find something you like.

Shawn: 7:18

You'll find one, something you like on a flight for sure, and you bring up tasting flights. Now that's probably one of my favorite things about visiting in different breweries is trying the flights and the different things, and usually I find more than one I like. But the amount of flavors and stuff that breweries can make one system to have those flights you know. Usually you get what five or six beers on a flight.

Shawn: 7:39

And a lot of breweries you go to, you can get two, maybe three different flights of different beer. You know it's just crazy, like what they can do. And some tastes taste like peach, some tastes like cherry, some are coffee, some are peanut butter. You know it's, it's pretty crazy.

Andy: 7:54

Yeah, it's kind of all over the board and we'll have to try to see if I, you know if he's listening. This is a kind of semi closed circuit, very open circuit. I don't know why people say closed circuit but, directly commenting to him, we'll try to get Brandon onto the podcast. He's one of a local friend of ours that does a lot of brewing that I think it'd be a lot of fun to chat with him about some of the variety and how to be able to get into all the different flavors, hi, anyway, well, tangent Tuesday on a Monday. Here We'll get back to mostly talking about bells out of Comstock and I believe Sean to be the research on this particular one.

Shawn: 8:31

So yeah, this brewery, like we already said, is pretty big for a craft brewery and you can buy the beer all over the place. It has fantastic history. I'm not gonna go through the whole timeline of history for you, but I'll give you some facts about it. Initially, the guy that founded bells. His name is Larry Bell.

Andy: 8:48

Oh, there you go. That's pretty simple.

Shawn: 8:51

So when he originally built a store in Kalamazoo Michigan, he wasn't brewing beer at all. He had a store that sold supplies to brew beer. Like he didn't brew any beer, it was just there like a like a hardware store for people that wanted to brew beer. Basically, that's, that's what he, that's what he had there and he opened that up and somewhere in the early 1980s he opened that home brew supply shop in Kalamazoo. He did make some beer on his own here and there, but not really for anything special or anything big. We kept getting requests for samples of his beer, so he started brewing his own beer. 1985 is when he sold his first beer. But when he first started brewing he's commercially, for people to actually buy beer, he brewed it in a 15 gallon soup pot in his basement.

Andy: 9:40

Oh, I mean that'll work.

Shawn: 9:43

And I, when I was reading about that, that sound familiar to Andy brewing beer in a box. So Larry Bell went from brewing beer in a soup pot in his basement One of the biggest craft breweries in the country in Kalamazoo, michigan. His first brew that he beard was an amber ale in 1985. That's still one of their most popular beers that they sell and they actually Call it the beer that built the built the bells brewery.

Andy: 10:17

That's a lot of bees. It's a lot of good alliteration by them.

Shawn: 10:22

Beer production there reached 135 barrels within a year. He had nine people on staff and they bottled and delivered everything, distributed everything. For the next four years him and his nine employees Did everything. They didn't have a distributor, they didn't do have any of that. They brewed it, they bought it and they labeled it. They distributed it themselves. Now that first 135 barrels. If you remember, the average one barrel of beer is 31 gallons, so that's kind of what they were brewing there that time. 1987 they brewed their first porter. 1988 they brewed their first Kalamazoo stout. And again, when we're talking craft brewery, this brewery brews everything Stouts, ales, loggers, october 50th, anything they. They brew it all there. In 1988. Ah, this one was interesting they brewed a cherry stout in 88. You know, when you think of craft breweries and beer and goofy flavors like cherry beer and orange beer, to us it seemed like 10 years ago they really didn't exist.

Shawn: 11:21

You know it wasn't mainstream, you know now we already talked about it for. But now you can go to breweries everywhere. So in 88 they were already brewing a cherry stout and they used cherries from Traverse City, michigan, okay, which, of course, if people know a lot about Michigan, they grow a ton of cherries in Michigan. Yeah, so he locally sourced all their own products.

Andy: 11:42

And trying to think years ago when I was in in high school, I want to say like, uh, there was like a band trip or something to a cherry festival. I don't remember what city it was, but that was. That was their whole thing. The whole town deal and parade and all the stuff was. There's the cherry festival. So I didn't know that was a widespread thing. But when you learn things, when you're like 14 years old, you know it's different context in your mind.

Shawn: 12:03

Yeah, what it is. One of the times when I rode my motorcycle around like Michigan and I went through Traverse City during cherry cherry festival weekend.

Andy: 12:11

There we go.

Shawn: 12:12

Massive amounts of people there continue on with bells. In 1988 they brewed their first double cream stout. 1993 they opened up their first eccentric cafe where you could actually go try a beer right at the brewery, eat some food and stuff. And actually what's interesting about that Was Larry. He had to work with the Michigan legislator to change state law Regarding breweries so they could sell their own brew in the tap room, attach the brewery with food that was.

Andy: 12:42

You couldn't do that before I suppose it was, everything was distributorship and Right and all the laws.

Shawn: 12:48

You couldn't do that. You know you couldn't brew the beer there and drink it right there. It was just kind of weird, right. It doesn't make sense, but I suppose that stuff probably goes back to Prohibition and you know if he lost stuff that just hasn't been repealed or changed or whatever, which that's a whole different podcast.

Shawn: 13:07

So Larry played a vital part in that, so you could, you could probably thank him for Starting. Maybe the law changes in other states too, or local beer or craft beer. You said you had the two hearted ale. That was the one. You know that start. That came about 1997. Okay, so that's when that one started and it's one of their bestsellers. It still is one of their bestsellers, that's one of their top. That's probably why you've had that one Likely that's.

Andy: 13:33

Yeah, it's pretty common in a lot of liquor stores. You know, sometimes obviously when you get to like an October fest, you start seeing more variety of that specific type. But like a year round type, like that bell's too hard, it is pretty common. You can find it out of places.

Shawn: 13:46

So I think I'm gonna have to try that one, or we might have to do a podcast episode.

Andy: 13:50

There we go. You can always add that it just has the two fish on it.

Shawn: 13:55

So for the first version of that two-hearted debuted in the late 1980s. It originally started as a pale ale and was brewed with English malt and Wisconsin growing hops. Again, this brewery likes to use locally sourced Ingredients and that's what they did. And then the two-hearted ale is what we already talked about. It came out 1997. That would debuted in 1997. It was like a winter seasonal beer. Then in 2003 now they offer that beer all year round. It was because it's one of their bestsellers. Okay, 2001, bells left Kalamazoo, michigan, while they're still there original taproom and stuff. They bought more acreage and Comstock Michigan to build a new facility to brew more beer Because they're getting so big and that's of course, where this October fest is brewed that we're drinking here, which was first brewed in 2001.

Shawn: 14:43

This October fest. So now that we're on the October fest and they spend, when they brew this, it spends a full six weeks Fermenting. Wow is how long they ferment it for the October fest.

Andy: 14:54

It's quite the commitment on that. I know that if you let it kind of sit a little bit longer it starts to kind of even out a little bit, starts to kind of settle down with some of the flavors, but generally it's two or three weeks. It's not a super quick process, but it's usually not. Uh, you're not waiting quite that long.

Shawn: 15:11

No, yeah, and this uh, what do you think of this beer so far? I?

Andy: 15:14

like it. It's, it's, it's pretty smooth, it's uh, yeah, it's, it's pretty smooth, it's not super heavy, it's not super. I don't say like not super dark, but it's not super Thick I guess in a way. You know, it's still kind of light, it goes sound kind of light and easy for an October fest. Yeah, you know.

Shawn: 15:32

October fest are interesting because every brewery makes them. Some are really good. Some are kind of skunky in my opinion, but this one actually goes down pretty light and it's pretty enjoyable.

Andy: 15:42

Definitely has that very distinct Don't know how to explain it almost carmely type of the very distinct October fest type of flavor that comes to it. It almost almost molasses.

Shawn: 15:54

Kind of like that kind of malty.

Andy: 15:56

Yeah, it definitely still has that type of flavor to it. But yeah, it's not. It's not overpowering, but it's also not bland, for sure that's not. So I don't want to come across Seeing it's to bland, but it's definitely not overpowering and really in your face.

Shawn: 16:09

No, it's definitely not. Back in 2008. So, the Bell's brewery they shipped out more than a hundred thousand barrels of beer, so that was a new milestone for him. So, like I keep saying, it's a local craft brewery, but it's big time local craft brewery and they stick on there with the craft beers. It's nothing. No, basic normal beers come out of this place and even going on that, in 2012 they shipped out 200,000 barrels in a year. So they continue to grow and grow, and grow and grow. In 2018. They still grow. They bought 12 additional 800 barrel fermenters. They installed those and 2018, 12 12 additional 800 barrel each fermenters.

Andy: 16:51

Just in my mind it keeps coming back to like water sourcing. You can, I mean you can just get it well, or whatever, but it just it amazes me, like the amount of water you would go through for this, you know.

Shawn: 17:02

Yeah, that's gotta be a lot. When they installed all those, they included more things in that. They included a yeast propagation system, upgrades, two pilot brewer systems and, especially, packaging line installation in 2018.

Andy: 17:18

Okay, I suppose at that level you kind of got to have some additional equipment to be able to make everything work, be able to get it out there to the masses.

Shawn: 17:26

Right, especially at the scale they're producing it at. Also in that year, 2018, they had its first publication in the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists, the ASBC.

Andy: 17:38

There, it is Never heard of that, but it sounds pretty cool.

Shawn: 17:41

I wish I was a brewer chemist. Brandon is a brewery chemist, yeah no doubt.

Andy: 17:48

I'm pretty sure I passed chemistry in high school, but I did not have the brewery in mind at the time. I probably should have spent more time with that.

Shawn: 17:57

Coming back to this beer, october Fest. It's got an ABV rating of 5.5%, so it's not too bad for a craft beer. It's not going to knock your socks off or anything like. We talked about a little bit lighter Lately toasted malt. That's kind of how I feel that it tastes. For the most part, it's pretty good. October Fest.

Andy: 18:16

Absolutely. Yeah, it's pretty solid. I quite enjoy it. What does the back here say? Well, October Fest is community in a glass. Our traditional Mars and Lager has rich German malt flavors and crisp hop aromas, making it perfect pairing for the annual festival tradition of drinking beer with friends Annual festival. I thought it would be drinking beer with friends as more of an annual daily thing, Like all the time.

Shawn: 18:49

Yeah, it's good beer. I do like this October Fest. Some I don't, but this one's actually pretty good. I would drink this again. Have a few of them? Yeah, for sure, absolutely.

Andy: 18:59

Yeah, it's a pretty solid option. I had the confidence when you had said we were going to be doing this one like the one, and so you really like one. You start thinking, okay, well, I should like more there, but that doesn't always translate through there. But, yeah, this is a nice, easy drinking, solid option. I like it.

Shawn: 19:20

Yeah, I'd like to try more from this brewery. I think that could be another road trip opportunity. Michigan isn't more than five hours away from here, so we might have to think about that here one of these days.

Andy: 19:31

I like it. I like it. We could certainly do that and have the kind of Midwest road trip through a bunch of different places, take a week off or something. Wouldn't that be nice, love it. No, this is fantastic. So if you're out and about, definitely stop and get some. I mean, get us anything bells, but yeah, the bells Octoberfest. Highly recommend being able to give it a shot.

Shawn: 19:52

And again, the original place is in Kalamazoo Michigan, where you can still go there. Go to their tap house, drink some beer, eat some food. They actually have live music there, built the soundstage. You can actually go tour their plant in Comstock, michigan too, where they bought the extra acreage and stuff. You can actually tour both places and whatnot. So if you're out there, swing by, check it out. They brew some great beer.

Andy: 20:16

You think they? Let me just put a ladle in one of the big tanks.

Shawn: 20:20

Try it. It's pulling out of your pants.

Andy: 20:24

Don't mind me if you're just taste testing here. I'm from the Association of Brewery Chemists.

Shawn: 20:32

We should make up fake badges and put on our chest, wear a polo shirt and go. Hey, we're here to check your chemistry.

Andy: 20:39

You know, that's what they say, the places that you can get into if you have a clipboard and a vaster like a hard hat or something. You know. People just like oh, they know what they're doing and just let them go wherever. That's what we can do.

Shawn: 20:50

It could be like that movie. Catch Me, If you Can. Who's in that? Tom Hanks and Leonardo Capil. He impersonates a pilot and a doctor and he gets away with it. Yeah, that's awesome I don't see why we couldn't do that with the beer chemists.

Andy: 21:04

Yeah, we might have to move to Florida, though, because when the headline comes out, florida men Although they'd probably be more likely if it was Minnesota or Wisconsin for that, Probably.

Shawn: 21:16

I think Wisconsin is one of the drunkest states in the country. I think I read that somewhere.

Andy: 21:20

It sounds accurate. It sounds, you know, seems as accurate as it could be. If anybody's from Wisconsin tuning in, you can go ahead and send your feedback to me.

Shawn: 21:32

Since we're throwing out people tuning in. I just wanted to give a shout out to our listeners in Granberry Texas. We notice we have some downloads coming from there. Every episode we get a new download from Granberry Texas, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. I appreciate you guys listening. If there's any local beer down there that we can't get up here and you want to ship it up to us somehow, absolutely Get all of us on one of our social medias or email us two guys in beer gmailcom and we'll send you, like a hat or something like that, if you want to, of course you'll have to, Absolutely.

Andy: 22:05

Yeah, I had to be real cool. Fantastic be able to try something local.

Shawn: 22:08

I just want to give a shout out to you guys. I know you guys keep downloading our episode every time it comes out, so we appreciate that If you have any feedback. Let us know if there's something you want to hear or see or not see, Because we don't have video.

Andy: 22:20

But Not yet.

Shawn: 22:21

You never know yeah we could.

Andy: 22:23

We could be adding that someday eventually I don't know, possibly, maybe, yeah, I don't know that might actually cause our listenership to go down and see these mugs.

Shawn: 22:34

Yeah, I would have to agree, or probably not so camera friendly.

Andy: 22:39

I was always told that I have a face for radio. So, yeah, no, I appreciate especially kind of the far connection of wherever it is and however you found it and however you made your way to us. We definitely appreciate that Some of it's friends and family and some of it is just, you know, kind of word them out, get it out there. So we appreciate anybody who has shared it with everybody or recommended it. And now we appreciate everybody clicking on and listening and being a part of the part of the program. So, yeah, and again, if you have a specific beer you'd like us to try, if nothing else, even just that send us. You don't have to send us the beer, although that's always accepted.

Shawn: 23:18

Yeah, we won't turn that away.

Andy: 23:20

Maybe just send us some recommendations, because you know it's fun to, if nothing else, probably one of the fun things is just researching, like the background, just getting the idea of like where it comes from. Obviously, it's probably the best is probably the drinking of the beer. That is the best, yeah. But yeah, being able to, you know, kind of do the research and learn some different stuff and just get the background and how many of them some of them have, like you know, you know starting I was reading about one that we might do here in the next month or so that they started a little bit of preview. They started out with a modest 15 barrel system and in my mind I'm like that's a big system, like that's what you're starting out with.

Andy: 23:59

You think of, like you know, different places like Castle Danger up in Two Harbors, like started with it, it was like a guy in his shack and then bells. You know, starting with like a stockpot, very yeah, and like not, we're not starting out, you know, with these massive systems. You know I think that Brandon's probably said the same thing he starts out, you know it's kind of like a stockpot and a turkey fryer type of setup or whatever and his driveway and you know the stuff that he makes is amazing. You know it doesn't have to be a massive system and has to be able to distribute yet but that's kind of crazy. You know the different levels of where people start and kind of the development of where it goes.

Shawn: 24:35

And you brought up Castle Danger up in Two Harbors. They helped get the Minnesota lot changed because they were selling so much beer they couldn't sell any more of it out of the taphouse. They could sell it off the tap like if you were to go there but they couldn't can beer anymore and sell it to you because they outsold what the Minnesota State law allowed. Yeah, so yeah, there was.

Andy: 24:52

I'm trying to remember if it was five or six breweries that were that ended up. Yeah, they started it, but they were part of. There was a handful of them that have the new grouler law or whatever it was Right. Yeah, which, if you've seen my pig, I have like a giant grouler collection that I, you know I enjoy collecting the growlers. You know people have given them to me over time as well, but mostly I'm like I want to go get it, you know. I mean I like to be able to collect it but, I, want to have the experience of being there.

Shawn: 25:18

Go drink. How many do you have on your wall in?

Andy: 25:20

there. I think I have At one point in time I took them all down because they had to, you know, clean them and we were like painting the dining room or something like that or whatever, and at that time I think I had ironically, I think I had 99 bottles of beer on the wall, but I think I'd probably be up to about 115 ish. Now I finished. The shelf goes all four. I mean a little jut out around one corner at every, but like all four walls, like all the way around now. So it's not quite full yet, but the shelf is all the way around. I don't know what I'm going to do when I run out of shelf space, but I'll have to start lining another room or something.

Shawn: 25:54

Then you had a man to sing the song when you were taking him down and cleaning it. We didn't.

Andy: 25:58

When I had him down and I had him all laid out or whatever it was. Actually we didn't even count them. But a friend of ours, he happened to be kind of he came to pick us up for something or whatever and he was looking at that and he was like holy crap, you got so many bottles. You ever counted them? I'm like no, I actually have no idea. I ran over and sweet, counted them up and he's like you got 99 bottles of beer.

Andy: 26:17

So it was just a tremendous amount of random irony that popped up on that one. So true story too. So I'm not making it up here. But yeah, no, it was a lot of fun being able to collect some of their, our handful of them up there that I personally have not been to, but a man has been. So it kind of works right. I've had the beer, but I just wasn't there. I also go, don't worry, I'll make it there. Most of them are Minnesota. There's a couple from like Vegas and a couple from Florida. Oh, okay, kind of, kind of out and about a little bit, but the vast majority, probably 90% of them, are Minnesota.

Shawn: 26:55

Sure, now I don't collect anything from breweries until I went up to Kiwena and I got one from their brewery, so I have one there you go I have one grower in my collection.

Andy: 27:05

I got a couple of double ups you can have. You know like you can start. You know working on the collection as well. They're crazy thing you start thinking about, you know, because a lot of breweries they'll give you. You can buy the beer, but it's. You get a deposit for the glass and then when you bring the same grower back in, they just refill the same glass.

Shawn: 27:24

Sure, doesn't it have like four bucks, or don't they charge to refill a grower? A couple of bucks or something. Yeah, yeah it's it's.

Andy: 27:30

It's not too bad, but you know, like the deposit sometimes is, you know, like $15 or something like that, or whatever, which is what it is, what it is.

Andy: 27:37

You get the thing and you buy it and move on. But I started thinking about, like, if I had like a hundred and some at 15, that's a lot of glass, a lot of glass costs that I have just on the wall. It's not exactly something you can just bring back and just like all right, I'll take my $15 back or something you know. But I know there was used to. There was a local brewery that actually did for a little while, just not too far from here. That I think it was like during was it during? Covid? Because there was such a there's kind of a glass shortage and things like that going on that if you brought not only your grower to get filled, but if you brought another grower, they would actually give you the beer.

Shawn: 28:15

Oh right, or you?

Andy: 28:16

know there was some deal like that that you'd get like a discount on the beer itself. You know, just because they needed the glassware, they didn't care who it came from or what it said on. It could be Sin City from Vegas or something like that. You know, bells from Kalamazoo. But as long as you brought in a grower aside from the one you were getting filled, obviously the one you're getting filled didn't take care of the deposit. But yeah, that second one, you know, instead of giving you another credit or something, they just basically gave you the beer. So nice, but yeah, it was kind of it was. It was a lot of fun because I had a bunch of doubles, so took advantage of that a few times. But hey, win, win for everybody, right.

Shawn: 28:54

Yeah, why not? Why wouldn't you want to take advantage of that?

Andy: 28:57

Absolutely yeah it's, you know, october, october Fest, getting kind of into that fall. You know, kind of a little bit of a chill. I'd say there's a little bit of a chill in the air. But I was yesterday got up at this is going to air at you know a different point in time but yesterday got up at 330 in the morning to drive down to the cities to be a part of the TC 10 mile. It was the Twin Cities Marathon and the TC 10 mile and I was planning on doing that. You know, you can tell, because of my sleek physique and running aura obviously you're pretty epic looking Exactly For running and so we get there, we park, we pay the $20 for parking and we get set and we walk.

Andy: 29:38

we hadn't even walked from our parking spot to the shuttle buses, and that's when the email came out that it was canceled.

Shawn: 29:45

Okay, I was just going to ask. I just read earlier that one was canceled. That was the one.

Andy: 29:49

It was canceled because of the wet. Globe bulb reading was too high.

Shawn: 29:54

What. What is that?

Andy: 29:56

I had to Google it. I had to spend a lot of time in the internet trying to be able to look at it. It's some fancy new metric that they have come up with that. Actually, when you learn more about it it's kind of legit. But it seems very like okay, you're just making stuff up now at this point in time that some reading that takes into account if you take like a wet rag and cover it over the top of like a thermometer, like how quickly they moisture leaves and what temperature it becomes.

Andy: 30:22

It's supposed to indicate essentially like how sweat with your body works and how that. There's a whole long string of numbers that takes into account humidity and temperature, and it sounds like a government thing to me something that makes no sense whatsoever. It was kind of random, but yeah, so it was, either that came out or whatever and they canceled it because it was basically too hot.

Shawn: 30:44

What does that have to do with running, though?

Andy: 30:47

I think it's too hot. Yeah, essentially it's not. I mean it was pretty hot, but like the level of humidity so that like the sweat doesn't actually cool your body down as much as it should. I think that's the concept at least. I don't know. I sweat walking over to the start line, so it's a whole different ball game for me.

Shawn: 31:05

Well, you should probably bring some Bell's October Fest beer with you when you can be drinking that on your way to the start line. There we go.

Andy: 31:13

That's that's. You know that was the better thing.

Shawn: 31:16

I mean, there's some hops in here and some Yast and some good local products. It'd probably do your system good.

Andy: 31:22

They do actually say that after running that it's a good recovery drink. No, they also say something about moderation, but I've never listened to that bar and so it's a whole different deal there. But yeah, I know I was saying that you know it's like it's getting to that kind of cool fall air, but I just had a thing canceled because of heat. So, yes, not quite that, but it's supposed to be kind of you know, a little crisp later on this week or whatever. So but yeah, you know it's a October Fest and the fall harvest and everything going on with that, and at some point in time I need to. Uh, you got a couple of apple trees out here, got two honeycrisp trees, and I always forget to take all the apples. Then in the spring they're just like mush.

Shawn: 32:03

I plan on. My wife and I want to plant some honeycrisp apples here, probably this spring. I've got a spot cleared out for probably three honeycrisp apple trees and three Granny Smith apple trees. Is kind of what we want to do. We just went to an apple orchard this weekend and got some fresh honeycrisp apples and caramel and all that stuff. You do it in apple orchard Right. Speaking of apples, I've got a great fun fact. Oh, there we go, everybody and that just happened to come across the other day and I don't know if it's a fun fact, but you'll think twice now about buying it when you buy your apples at any supermarket. So apparently, supermarket apples that you bought at any supermarket or can be up to a year old. Oh wow, you don't even know that. So that's how long apples last. So apparently, because apples they only grow one time a year, they're only harvested one time a year, it doesn't matter what part of the world they're in, and yet somehow, they're available year round.

Shawn: 32:57

They're available year round, so when they're picked between August and November, they're covered in wax and then they're hot air dried and sent into cold storage, and that's where they sit.

Andy: 33:07

Explain why they have that little waxy exterior. To a certain extent, of course, I think they buff them a little bit too.

Shawn: 33:14

They probably do. Give them a little shine under those lights. Make them look more appealing when you're trying to buy produce.

Andy: 33:20

I don't really buy produce, but I like produce, I just. Yeah, I don't know, it depends on the apples, but I like some apples, but they're definitely in a store, different than the ones that they have grown out here. They're much different. I mean, they taste similar, I guess. But yeah, these just look a little bit different.

Shawn: 33:38

They're about apples from a grocery store and they're kind of maybe a little mushy, kind of.

Andy: 33:43

I mean they're still hard and crisp.

Shawn: 33:45

But they're not like buying or picking one off your tree. Yep, those must be the old ones. They got to have, you got to have that right crunch.

Andy: 33:52

you know where you bite it and it comes off in like a big hunk. That's primo. But yeah, when it's a little kind of like, I usually just throw that away immediately. I'm like no, I'm over this, I want nothing to do with it.

Shawn: 34:02

Yeah, Apples are good, especially any dippin' and caramel. I like that like fresh caramel in the tub. You just slice up an apple and scoop it up and just get a big chunk of that caramel, just spoon that in. It kind of almost defeats the purpose of eating an apple. But I don't care, it is so good.

Andy: 34:18

It's. A healthy spoon, is what it is. That's, I mean, that's at least what I'm going to go with I don't know A healthy spoon, I'll go with that.

Andy: 34:26

You know, barry at least he says, I don't know I try to find the healthy stuff. I mean not that often, but I like to say that I find the healthy stuff is makes me feel better about you know, about everything, well, what we eat, yeah, yeah. So we talked before we kind of looted a little bit earlier in the episode about the driving discussion that we had previously. But you had another thing you wanted to address or bring up or discuss with our audience.

Shawn: 34:54

Yes, I want to know how many people resonate with this with their wives or their long-term girlfriends or whatever it is. I just choose marriage because I'm married and Andy's married, so it's just easier to talk about that way. But marriage, this is what marriage is, marriage is. Think about this times that you've done it. You come home, you sit on the couch, you crack through a client, put your feet up oh, there was my phone dropping on the ground. At least it wasn't the beer. Yeah, no, save the beer.

Shawn: 35:23

But you go in, you and your wife talk oh yeah, honey, let's watch a movie, let's watch a TV show, or even if you don't agree on watching a show, and she's like, yeah, go ahead, watch sports. You're like, yes, I can watch sports, sit in there within 10 minutes, even if it's a movie you picked out together or a show she wants to watch and she picked out. And you're like, ok, dear, whatever you want, I'll watch what you want. You know, being a good husband, you know watch what you want, we'll watch. Within 10 minutes they're on their phone, flinging through social media, watching clips of shorts and little videos and all those little TikToks.

Andy: 36:01

Ridiculous reels from two guys in a beer.

Shawn: 36:03

Yes, on Max Volume, Max Volume. So of course, when this happens, I turn my head real slowly to the right, because she's always sitting to my right and stare at her. And then she turns her head very slowly to the left and looks at me at the corner of her eye and slowly pulls her phone down and puts it away. I'm like really babe, really, she's like, what, what, like? I thought we wanted to watch this. Well, I'm listening, ok, but that's not watching.

Andy: 36:38

I used to have a few co-workers that were kind of like that. Like it was kind of we, you know, start watching a movie at work or something like that. Just, it's a type of job where you can like watch a movie or something while you're waiting for something else to happen. And you start watching something and you're like, all right, we'll have to hit pause, because I now have to recap what the last 15 minutes was to be able to explain what's going on.

Shawn: 36:59

So does your?

Andy: 37:01

wife do that.

Shawn: 37:01

Is she flinging through social? Media watching videos A little bit but Not Max Volume.

Andy: 37:07

It's usually. I mean, there's maybe a little bit of volume sometimes, but usually not like Max Volume necessarily. But for her it's generally. She doesn't watch like a lot of TV. Tv she'll put on one of the remodeling shows and then just not paying attention to that, so it's.

Andy: 37:23

You know, whenever we're like we're watching TV at the same time, generally it's a little bit later in the night. You know she's already got her run in and we've had dinner and whatnot, and so I'm watching whatever I'm going to watch and she is sitting on the recliner asleep. That's usually what. She falls asleep quite a bit earlier than I do. I'm more of a night owl and that try to wake up early in the morning, but you know, then it's all right. Well, now I'm going to just watch TV until about, you know, 11 or so and like eight o'clock she's like OK, sounds good. Yeah, watch whatever, which is fine. You know I'm not. I kind of judge a little bit but I'm not really judging, you know, I mean she gets up a lot earlier than I do, you know. So it kind of makes sense.

Andy: 38:03

But yeah, as far as like actually watching TV, sometimes we're watching a movie and we'll kind of actually focus in on that or whatever. But yeah, but it's like TV shows or episodes of something, because I try to like save an episode. I'm like I think this is the show that you'd like and we could. We could watch it together. That could be a thing and we'd watch like episodes, and then she'd be just dialed out, you know, or sleep through half of it, and she's like, I don't really care, just go ahead and watch whatever. Ok, I guess we're not going to watch the rest of that.

Shawn: 38:30

Yeah, that's funny. You say that there's not a lot of watching much TV, it's just it's on in the background. Yeah, it exists within the world. Pretty much. Yeah, it's interesting how that's kind of taking that medium these days and before I remember you to get home, turn on the TV right away and you're just glued to it to watch every now there's there's so much stuff to watch. It's probably why it's just background noise now.

Andy: 38:53

Yeah, yeah, and it does not the same kind of effect, at least for me.

Shawn: 38:57

Right and 20 second videos with your partner on the couch on max volume.

Andy: 39:01

Right.

Shawn: 39:02

That's what. That's what's turned into now. I love my wife so much, but let me, let me tell you this thing too, as we're carrying on here I don't think she's subscribed yet.

Andy: 39:14

So I think we're good, I think we're in there. Everybody else out there be cool, Everybody be cool.

Shawn: 39:19

So let's see. I wonder how many other people's other halves do this. So it can be probably the last couple of years now It'd be 9500 degrees out. I've got the fan on in the house. You know the windows boarded up, Well, not boarded up, but they're closed up. Their condition is running, or our geothermal system is running. She turns the fan off because she's cold. It's 95 degrees outside, 80% humidity, and you turn the fan off.

Andy: 39:45

It won't take long to warm up.

Shawn: 39:47

No, because she's cold and she's got a blanket on. And another reason she doesn't want the fan on is because it's drying out her eye sockets, so she turns the fan off. I'm like, well, it's the middle of the summer and I'm, I'm sweating, my you know what, off right, like it's 95 degrees out. And now, new, this is new. This past couple of weeks well, probably two weeks goes around a high of 50. And then a soda here for about a week. She opens the window and turns the fan on because she's hot.

Andy: 40:15

I mean, it's a whole circular thing. It's, you know, the essence of the flow and I don't know.

Shawn: 40:24

I don't get it Like she literally took the comforter off our bed and we're covered up with a sheet, with the window open and it's 50 degrees out and the fan is on and I am shaking, shivering and shaking, like I just went down with a Titanic in 32 degree water and she's like oh, it's so hot in here. I just I don't, I don't understand.

Andy: 40:45

Maybe she needs a new thermostat. Is that the regular? The regulator is the shift in the flu got stuck.

Shawn: 40:52

And there's no hot flashes or any of that stuff going on yet. We're not quite to that age yet. But cause, I asked her. I'm like, are you going through something yet? Oh, no, Like there's no signs that no, nothing. I'm like what is the matter with you? I can't. I can't be cool in the summer and apparently I can't be be warm in the winter, so I don't know what I'm going to do. I told her I might have to build myself another bedroom down on the basement or something and Right A little more temperature regulated.

Shawn: 41:18

She gives me a look like you think that's going to keep me out of your bedroom or away from you. I'm like, oh well, I guess not. That's kind of my rant about marriage and ladies and you know, if there's any app developers out there, we might as well start the app, because I'm giving you some good material and good things to add to this app these last couple episodes. There you go.

Andy: 41:37

Yep, yeah. So if you're looking for one or if you got something developing, definitely reach out to us. You know how to guide on the female species.

Shawn: 41:44

Yeah, what could go wrong?

Andy: 41:48

What could go wrong?

Shawn: 41:52

399 to download. Yeah exactly. That's my plug in there.

Andy: 41:57

So that was. That was episode five, with Bell's beer and many more things. But yeah, bell's beer. We talked a little bit about some of the upcoming episodes and I think next we're going to be looking at Shells October Fest. Right, shells October Fest.

Andy: 42:14

So if you have an opportunity to be able to head out and maybe find yourself, they have it in models. I went actually to the one kind of locally. They had it in bottles and in cans, so I went back and forth on which one I wanted to get out different cans, but you know it's bottles are, I don't know. I sometimes prefer bottles, but to each their own they're different, I think, for it was more of the sound effect, I think, was you know, but really I prefer the bottle generally. But either way, you can usually find both.

Andy: 42:42

But yeah, so we'll talk a little Shells history. If you want to get a six pack or a 12 pack of Shells October Fest and join us on a future episode, that'd be quite fantastic. But until then, sean, if you have anything else to add, otherwise, we can be found on all major podcast platforms. So I actually was kind of checking it out a little bit just on Spotify the other day. Just kind of look through some stuff just to see and see what's out there and see how it comes up on the other end.

Andy: 43:12

You know so that way I see what the listeners are seeing too. Just to check it out. But yeah, facebook, instagram, twitter, youtube Rumble. Some quite figured out what that is, but it's a thing, it's out there and people do stuff.

Andy: 43:23

I just I'm not up on that. But yeah, otherwise, reach out to us on one of the platforms, give us some feedback, give us some ideas. You know a beer that you may be looking for just some ideas. If you're an app developer looking for how to on women, you know, and you're looking for Sean's insight, I'm full of insight so you'll be able to check that out. Otherwise, you can email us at twoguysnbeercom. That's a twoguysnbeercom Option to be able to reach out for us as well.

Shawn: 43:54

If you want some more history on the Bells Brewery that we talked about today, go to bellsbrewerycom. We're not getting paid for this plugin or anything like that, but there's so much history on that website we weren't able to share it all with you. Go check it out, and that's really about it. God bless everybody.

Andy: 44:09

Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.