Barley & Me

Host Ben Rice travels to Placerville, CA, to sit down with Solid Ground Brewing's KC and Scott, with BJCP judge and professional brewer Ellen Sherrill in tow, to dig deep into the depths of start-up breweries. Celebrating 13 months in existence, but decades of experience in the beer and wine industry, KC and Scott openly discuss the reasons why they opened in Placerville instead of a metropolitan area, the trials of opening a full production brewery without a focus on IPAs, and exceeding expectations. Listen as we go in-depth on how barrels affect beer, how barrel fermentation differs from standard steel fermenters, and how selecting a beer style and/or beer name can affect sales. We dig deep on their barrel-fermented saison, delve into their decidedly-one-off Pho Gose, and their year-round wine-barrel aged stout. All this and even more tech talk, like self-distribution pros and cons, preventing boil-over, seasonal variance on hops, and how tap handle style can affect carbonation and, therefore, flavor. If yo