NHC Interviews

[Stitch]

I know this may seem a bit strange of a request, but from someone who is still on a steep learning curve I would be very interested in this. Would it be possible for NHC to run a weekly or monthly interview with a top brewer. As an example, Rossa seems to know exactly what he is doing (fair play), and I would be very interested in sit down with him and asking him a couple of questions on his setup/receipes/process and so forth. A lot of the craft breweries (if not all) in Ireland seem to have been setup by homebrewers and would be nice to get some tips from them, such as yeast handling etc.

Is this possible or what do other people think??

[Will_D]

Seems a great idea if:

1. We have a good interviewer who can ask the questions and edit down the content

2. And most importantly: We have a brewer who will give his (precious) time for the interview.

After all, We are not (YET) "Hello" or the "Sunday Times Colour supplement"

Will

[Spud395]

Not dissing your idea at all, but I'd encourage you to ask any questions you have on here.

[Padraic]

I really like the idea stitch, and I think you should run with it! It would make a great front page article once a month!
All it takes is a few pm's to the guys who know what they're doing to see if they have time for a pint and a chat or even better still for you to sit in on a brew day!

As the lads said stick any questions on here and between the members there is always someone who knows what they are talking about.

[Spud395]

One thing I've discovered in my journey through brewing, there is very little right and wrong, but many differing opnions all of which are valid.

But it's great to hear the opnions and the reasoning behind it!

[Stitch]

I think the meetups and boards are invaluable, but interviews may help gain more Google hits for the site.

Spud, I have figured that there is more than one way to skin the cat (as long as it is sterilised!!) in brewing. The main lesson is don't panic.

I have heard that Charlie Papazian places cinnamon in his mash to help with avoiding oxidation. This has no scientific basis but is interesting to find out the funny things that people do to get a great result!!

I don't mind running with this idea. I think a lot of people know that there are great beers being made in sheds to apartments to garages and so forth.

Again the idea was really to help promote the site and have some reason for people to keep going back to the main page. Ideally pod casts would be great but one step at a time.

[Stitch]

Not to sure I would be the best person for doing a pod cast but would give it a try. Really don't mind giving my time when required.

[Partridge9]

I quite like the idea - I listen to the podcasts that the homebrewing network do -

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/Listen

but I think they are quite a serious amount of work - very difficult to do - I would imagine its about 10-15 hours a week - minimum

- you would need to prepare your questions towards the target audience
- you would need to research your brewer - the person you are interviewing to ensure you get quality and useful information
- you wound need to get some half decent recording equipment and get a couple of hours of the brewers time -
- you then need to edit the interview and wrap it into some pod-cast
- probably best to mingle it with something else - 10 minutes of studio and background - then 15 minutes of the recorded interview and then - 10 minutes of analysis.

All in all - its nigh impossible unless you are well known and the brewer has no problem divulging potentially commercially sensitive information.

However - I think and interview with a posting online - is well achievable - while you still have much of the background work - you can send the article to the brewer prior to publication to ensure no commercial info is being disclosed.

Its the kinda thing that could be great - but it will be crap if its done half-arsed.

FYI - most of the Irish microbreweries use fresh dried yeast by the way. I heard that metalman recently switched to wet yeast but awaiting confirmation of the rumour.

[Stitch]

To be fair brewers are a very secretive lot from my experience. I have done contract work for Cooley distillery as well as Diageo. I can read the process code but that only tells you how the process is run and this couple with the plant drawings give a fair bit of information, but there is still the human element.

What ever the approach one podcast/article a month could be very doable I think. I was thinking more about basic brewing radio style.

Also I would not be looking for industry information from the micro's.

Here is a really good example. On a recent tour of Carlow brewing someone in the group ask Liam Hanlon if he were to use any ingredient what would it be. He said tobacco!!!!  Unfortunately someone asked him a question straight away but what the hell did he mean??? What would be his process??? Primary/Secondary??? Amount??? What malt hops would he pair with them???

That one statement along could give one article or a good few minutes on the pod cast....

The purpose again here is to bring attention to the site and have some fun. I really do not mind giving a few hours a month for this cause.

Let's be realistic the micro's are here to make money. We buy their beers because we like them. If they gave us the reciepe we could clone it and then maybe not but their beers. But what was the inspiration for their beers??

This is for fun and to attract global interest in the site. Why can the States have magazines, pod casts, videos and we not???

We could start by interview a kit brewer, an extract brewer and an all grain brewer. This means that we could compile a lot of good info into one spot. The how-to guides are very good but I know after 8 kits I had better ways to brew than the standard how to guide. I got the process from 45 minutes to 25 but deviating. I am sure that people would be interested in this.

To quote William Arthur Ward "Nothing limits achievement like small thinking; nothing expands possibilities like unleashed imagination."

Sorry if this was a bit of a rant  NHC should try and aim high!!! We should be the next big thing in brewing!!!!

[Stitch]

Yes we are!!!! I mean globally!!! 

I once went out with a girl who's uncle had a company. They had 15 employees and they dealt in network security. They went to a security convention in the states and brought the whole company. Larger companies we maybe 3 - 5 people on the stands thought "wow these guy must be big to have 15 people on the stand!!!". They got huge investment from companies in the states and Bertie and Bill Clinton signed a document using this digital security signature. The company quickly grew to 400 on this one product!!! 

Point is that the owner had ideas of grandeur and they paid off. That is the type of thinking that I like!!!

Oh the company did not succeed as they started to believe their own hype!!!

Shoot for the stars, if you miss at least you will land on the moon!!!

Tube looking forward to discussing further

[DEMPSEY]

This is deffo a good idea.