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Yesterday I had the pleasure of being on WUNC’s “The State of Things” again. Frank Stasio and his team are such pros. I’d happily go on that show whenever asked, no matter how nervous it makes me. We chatted about craft beer since April is NC Beer MonthIf you missed the live show, you can listen in here.

We talked about beer with John Sheppard, a professor at NCSU who’s making beer with yeast from wasps, and Daniel Bradford, from All About Beer magazine and the World Beer Festival. The festival is happening this Saturday in Raleigh, N.C. I highly recommend it.

During the show I talked about my documentary film Brewconomy, which is about the growing craft beer industry in North Carolina. The film is still in production, so you can’t watch it just yet. (Although you can follow along with the production on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.) We hope to finish the film this fall, premiere it locally during NC Beer Month in April 2015, and make it more widely available in the latter part of 2015.

During “The State of Things” I mentioned a lot of things connected to Brewconomy. We covered quite a bit of ground in a short amount of time, so I’ll share some of those here so you can check them out yourself. There are so many great things to discover!

Pop the Cap

We talked briefly about the Pop the Cap movement. This is a critical part of what grew into today’s craft beer culture in the state. It started in 2003 and ended successfully with new legislation in 2005. You can learn more about it here.

pop-the-cap

Beer, Food, & Sustainability

We talked about the connections between beer, food, and sustainability on the show. Want a great example of it? Check out Bull City Burger & Brewery’s about page. They outline all of the things they’re doing to unify those three things. Seth Gross, the owner, talked about these things in person during our Kickstarter mid-campaign event last month.

Seth Gross talks about his business Bull City Burger & Brewery on 2.19.2014 during the Brewconomy Kickstarter mid-campaign event.

Seth Gross talks about his business Bull City Burger & Brewery on 2.19.2014 during the Brewconomy Kickstarter mid-campaign event.

Distinctly Southern Beer

One of the reasons brewers like using local ingredients is that it creates a unique flavor profile or what Fullsteam calls “distinctly Southern beer.” (It has the added benefit of being sustainable, too.) I talked about Fullsteam’s forager beer made with persimmons, First Frost, on the show. Learn more about their forager series here.

Agriculture

The agricultural aspect of Brewconomy is really exciting to me. I’m a native North Carolinian who grew up photographing old tobacco barns. One of my first photojournalism projects was about tobacco as a cash crop.

On the show yesterday I talked about Farm Boy Farms. They’re growing barley, wheat, milo, and hops. It gets sold to local brewers and some of it’s available at Atlantic Brew Supply, which is in the same building as Raleigh Brewing.

Our State’s Article on Craft Beer

We also talked about NC Beer Month. I mentioned the article in Our State magazine. You can check that out here.

Conclusions?

There are so many wonderful things happening in the state right now. Craft beer is much more than a delicious beverage in your pint glass. It’s doing incredible things for the community, agriculture, and economy in North Carolina. Follow the production of Brewconomy and watch the film when it’s released next year!

Cheers to NC craft beer!

Cheers to NC craft beer!

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