By TR Robertson
What started out as a group of friends on a camping get together at a Carlsbad campground in 2016, contemplating and talking about starting a podcast about craft breweries, has grown into a very popular podcast called I Like Beer The Podcast. Friends Jeff Spanier, Jeff Riccitelli, Tom McMahon, Tod Muilenberg and Joe Szalkiewicz and their families took their idea and began, in 2017, to take trips, in a large van, first visiting various breweries in Northern California. They actually named their group PGW, “Parents Gone Wild”. Along the way they would talk to brewers and brewery owners, some 20 in total, finding out everything they could about each individual brewery. PGW would continue to organize trips, when the friends could get together, expanding their travels to the Pacific Northwest, San Luis Obispo, Colorado, Mexico and other destinations.
Growing out of their trips, the first podcast would appear in July 2019 called Beer-a-Mar, featuring the breweries Duck Foot, Pure Project, Alesmith, Little Miss and several others. Jeff S. said they learned a lot from the first podcast, mostly that they shouldn’t cover so many breweries in a single podcast. The podcast was first staged at the home of Joe Szalkiewicz. The name of their podcast, I Like Beer The Podcast, comes from a Tom T. Hall song, “I Like Beer”, released in 1975. Originally airing on Mondays, both Jeffs would invite brewers and brewery owners to take part in interviews about the ins and outs of the brewery world. Along with this they would share stories about their own trips to breweries both around the Southern California area and beyond as well as discussions about topics like logos, beer names, beer festivals and much more. Their adventures to find breweries around the world has taken them to Mexico, Canada, Ireland, London and Manchester. Viewership in the podcast began to grow and the I Like Beer The Podcast began to establish a reputation as a quality platform discussing the craft beer industry. It has become a highly rated beer podcast that is said to be “funny, expert-level craft beer discussions, brewery interviews engaging in authentic and ‘down-to-earth’ conversations”. The duo of Jeff & Jeff is described as “funny, quick and informative” and listeners to the podcast say they like the “honest opinions on taste and the relaxed, conversational nature”.
All of this has led to a collaboration with The Capital of Craft Podcast and the San Diego Brewers Guild soon reaching an even larger audience of craft beer aficionados and enthusiasts. This means they will now expand to even more coverage of the beer scene and the craft beer industry. I Like Beer The Podcast is now filmed at The Film Hub in Vista, filming in a very professional studio bringing in a wider range of guests and professional experts. Their plan is to not only continue the in-studio interviews but to also have more field trips with video featuring the brewery, brewers and patrons. They also plan on adding interviews with various beer industry hospitality and lifestyle companies, and industry suppliers and service providers. One of the biggest shifts in the collaboration is that they have now expanded to YouTube. They plan on running the podcast every other week. You can find the podcast posted on NORTH COUNTY DAILY STAR
There are numerous other sites I Like Beer The Podcast can be found including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Facebook, Podbean, Twitter, Instagram @ilikethebeerthepodcast and their web site www.ilikebeerthepodcast.com . The ilikethebeerpodcast.podbean.com has a number of archived editions of past I Like Beer The Podcast productions. Jeff S. also writes a monthly column in The Coast News, in February featuring a trip to the breweries on Santa Catalina Island. If you are interested in making a booking about your connection to the beer industry, email them at ilikethebeertheproducer@gmail.com . If you are interested in advertising contact adifferentdayradio@gma.com .
