Grit & Grain Podcast

Matthew, Bethany, and Ron
  • 4.9 (41)
  • Food
  • Updated Weekly

Craft beer sales and brand manager — Matt McLaren, professional brewer and line cleaner — Bethany Carlsen, and bottle shop owner and operator — Ron Swarner explore and celebrate the craft beer industry, community, and history in Tacoma, Washington, and surrounding Pacific Northwest region.

  1. 5d ago

    Grit And Grain Episode 204: What Month is Oktoberfest?

    Its September!  Which means it’s time for Oktoberfest, right?  We’re pretty sure that’s how that works. … Either way, among all the fresh hops and pumpkin ales gracing the doorway to fall, sits the most historical seasonal style, and we wanted to dedicate an hour to it! This week the team sat down talk all the ins and outs of Oktoberfest.  From where and why it started, to historical versions of the styles, the permeation of pale festbiers, and some dos and don’ts if you’re attending the real deal festival in Munich. Tune in for the regular scheduled silliness, some fun facts about the annual beer festival, and get a snapshot of the local Oktoberfest calendar courtesy of Ron! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and how many lager-filled liter mugs you can carry at once. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Grit And Grain Episode 204: What Month is Oktoberfest? appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

  2. Aug 28

    Grit & Grain Podcast Episode 203: Kyle Larsen Takes the Long Way Home

    Kings & Daughters co-founder and brewmaster Kyle Larsen joins Grit & Grain on the eve of his brewery’s fifth-anniversary Tacoma celebration to trace the wonderfully indirect route that eventually became Kings & Daughters. Larsen’s brewing life winds from Full Sail and his formative years at Double Mountain through brewing science at Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University, a family move to England and the head brewer job at Siren Craft Brew, then finally back home to Hood River — just in time for a pandemic to rearrange nearly everything. Along the way, British pubs, cask beer, lower-alcohol drinking culture, four children and his creative partnership with wife Kacie McMackin all found their way into the brewery they eventually built. The conversation explores what makes a Kings & Daughters beer taste like Kings & Daughters: softness, balance, technical precision and the increasingly radical notion that flavor doesn’t need to shout. It also follows Kyle and Kacie from launching without a traditional brewery of their own to finally opening The Walled Garden, their intimate Hood River public house inspired by the gardens and pubs they loved in England. Then we turn toward five years and three anniversary collaborations — Free Dive with Jake Watt, Face to the Sun with Breakside’s Ben Edmunds and Deeply Rooted with Kyle’s old Double Mountain family — beers that function less like birthday presents than liquid thank-you notes to people who helped shape the brewer Kyle became. Listen to Episode 203 to hear how a lesson from one brewer, a pint from another, a garden from England, science from Scotland, a name from your children and an idea from your wife can eventually become something unmistakably your own — and how, somewhere along the way, all those borrowed pieces stop looking borrowed and start looking like you. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite Kings & Daughters’ beer. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Grit & Grain Podcast Episode 203: Kyle Larsen Takes the Long Way Home appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

  3. Aug 21

    Episode 202: WA Wild Brewshed Alliance Director Chris Chappell

    Washington Wild Brewshed Alliance Director Chris Chappell returns to Grit & Grain to explain what happens when the forests, rivers and public lands that make great beer possible suddenly need the beer industry to return the favor. The conversation moves from efforts to sell federal public lands and weaken the Roadless Rule to the nearly 90 breweries and beer businesses using their collective voice for conservation, including the Public Lands Pub Ale, No Boat Brewing’s massive Lagerhead festival and Watershed Pub’s wonderfully civic-minded Convergence series. at Watershed Pub. Along the way, Chris makes the case that conservation doesn’t always need to feel like homework. Sometimes advocacy looks like a brewer signing a letter. Sometimes it’s a neighborhood pub gathering people around a cause. Sometimes it’s breweries pouring lager to protect clean water. And sometimes the most effective doorway into complicated public-land policy might simply be a pint and the question of where its water came from. Because beer begins long before the mash tun — upstream in forests, snowpack and watersheds — and protecting those places ultimately means protecting what eventually winds up in our glasses. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and what you think is the most underrated watershed in Washington. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 202: WA Wild Brewshed Alliance Director Chris Chappell appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

  4. Aug 14

    Grit & Grain Episode 201: Grainmaker 2026

    Last weekend, we packed up the cars and made the trek over to Spokane for the amazing Grainmaker Fest — the annual celebration of specialty malt with more than 50 participating breweries and 25 special collaboration beers on tap. We were lucky to be joined by our best buddies Brian Estes from LINC Malt and Leslie Shore from Cold Stream Malt & Grain for a tag team episode where we talked about everything from festival planning, collab curation, and of course the last-minute adaptations to the wildfires that broke out in the beginning of the week. Tune for all the details on the festival, some beer highlights, and to hear how the beer industry came together to help the community in Spokane as much as possible during a very difficult time. Drink good beer and, if you can, drink it for a good cause. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite milling style. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Grit & Grain Episode 201: Grainmaker 2026 appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

  5. Aug 7

    Grit & Grain Episode 200 Special Edition: Matt and Roger from Georgetown

    We made it fam! Two-hundred episodes officially in the book.  We continue our special double-header with Georgetown Brewing Research & Development Brewer Matt Edwards and tagging in for Part 2 is co-founder, Roger Bialous. Georgetown has been in the news lately with the announcement of their brand-new production, packaging, and storage space across from their current state-of-the-art-facility. Roger updated us and the plans for the future of the ever-evolving brewery, which include Matt’s attempts to push their low ABV IPA to its limits with full flavored sub 3% hoppy bangers. Tune in for brewery updates and details on secret new beers. And make sure to go all the way back to Episode 9 and 10 to catch Georgetown’s first appearance on the Grit & Grain Podcast. To this day, they are still some of our favorite conversations. Cheers to 200 and here’s to 200 more! Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite Georgetown beer. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Grit & Grain Episode 200 Special Edition: Matt and Roger from Georgetown appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

  6. Jul 31

    Episode 199: A Georgetown Brewing and Pinks Boots Special

    It’s crazy to think we are one episode away from 200! To celebrate the occasion, we got together with The Pink Boots Society and Georgetown Brewing, put together a special collab beer, and released it for this special doubleheader episode. Long-time Georgetown brewer and Research and Development Brewer Matt Edwards and Pink Boots Society Seattle Chapter Leader Ali Himmel-Smith came to hang on the mic and drink a few pints of our beer, “More Me, Less You.” Tune in to hear about Matt’s origin story in the beer world, Ali’s move over to draft line cleaning and her venture into the wine world, and the dangers of being a farm hand. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite Georgetown beer. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 199: A Georgetown Brewing and Pinks Boots Special appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

  7. Jul 24

    Episode 198: Secret Sunday Episode with Sean Jackson

    We are rounding the corner to Episode 200, which is insane! We definitely didn’t want to hit the next milestone without spending a Sunday morning goofing around with our previous co-host and best buddy, Sean Jackson.  We pulled him out of bed, shoved barleywine and lambic in his face for breakfast, and caught up on everything we could squeeze into an episode. Tune in to find out why Sean and Ron were fashionably late, some highlights of the past 100 or so episodes, and for further proof that Sean Jackson is a long, lost Looney Tunes character. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite missing tooth. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 198: Secret Sunday Episode with Sean Jackson appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

  8. Jul 17

    Episode 197: It’s Lagerhead Weekend! 

    This weekend has some of the best annual events we know of — all happening at once! On that list is the insanely popular Lagerhead Festival at No Boat Brewing in Snoqualmie. The 3rd annual celebration of all things cold-crashed has seen the number of attending breweries triple since it started, including many you might not be as familiar with. This week, our best buddy, fellow lager lover, and Rainier Growlers bar manager, Ben Chase, took a break from planning their own 12th annual Christmas in July Barrel Aged tap takeover event to hang with us to go over a few of the attending breweries, talk about a few favorite lager makers, and tell you all who to look for at Lagerhead. Hey, speaking of festivals…  Don’t forget to grab your tickets to Grainmaker in Spokane on Aug. 7. Tap, tap, tap Alright, Grit & Grainers! Please email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and favorite lagers. You can subscribe to GGP on YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeartRadio, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers! The post Episode 197: It’s Lagerhead Weekend!  appeared first on Grit & Grain Podcast.

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4.9
out of 5
41 Ratings

About

Craft beer sales and brand manager — Matt McLaren, professional brewer and line cleaner — Bethany Carlsen, and bottle shop owner and operator — Ron Swarner explore and celebrate the craft beer industry, community, and history in Tacoma, Washington, and surrounding Pacific Northwest region.

Information

  • Creator
    Matthew, Bethany, and Ron
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026
  • Show Website
    Grit & Grain Podcast

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