All good things must come to an end, so we’re not going to sugarcoat it… this is the final episode of This Pint Has 20 Ounces. This episode Jonathan, Nick, Mama T, and producer Alex are on the mic for one last hurrah and to reminisce about the great times they had.

By the time you hear this episode, Nick will be kicking back on Vancouver Island living the island life. He breaks the news to us that he’s resigned from his position at Wild Rose which unfortunately means the end of the podcast. For this last instalment of the podcast the boys and Mama T have asked the often alluded to producer Alex to join them, and together they recall their favourite moments of the podcast. For Alex it was the day he found out Wild Rose was on board for creating the podcast, for Mama T it was all the laughs and silly questions, for Jonathan it was learning so much about people, for Nick it was a specific session of Ask Mama T, and for all four it was the great conversations, great beer, and roast beef sandwiches.

In addition to sharing their favourite moments on the podcast, Nick and Mama T talk about their favourite parts of working in the hospitality industry, while Alex and Jonathan share some insights into the world of entrepreneurship. Nick also reveals that his time hosting the show and speaking to so many inspiring people who’ve started their own business has awakened an entrepreneurial spirit for himself, and he shares a few thoughts on what that might mean for him in the future.

Closing out the episode we talk a bit about the history of the taproom itself, which in the absence of a fact-checker includes a story about extraterrestrials. We also give a big shout-out to original host of the podcast Josh for making This Pint Has 20 Ounces a reality, and Mama T leaves us all with one final piece of advice: Be good, and be happy.

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Wild Rose Brewery: taproom | website | instagram | twitter
Jonathan Stoddart - Ricca Razor Sharp/Foothills Famous: website | website | linkedin
Alex Hochhausen - Astronomic Audio: website | linkedin | twitter

Continuing our theme of tasty guests on the podcast, this week Deidre Lotecki of Sweet Relief Pasteries joins us for a delicious dessert, and to talk about how she’s serving up sweets for Calgarians.

Deidre first got in touch with the Wild Rose team to speak to Nick about getting her hands on some Wraspberry Ale for a unique father’s day special: beer cupcakes. This was an idea she’d had for a few years but never had time to pursue, but with COVID disrupting business-as-usual she suddenly had extra time on her hands to set up what would end up being a 6-pack of cupcakes, with each cupcake made from beer from one of six different craft breweries, and the Wraspberry Ale contributing to a lemon raspberry cupcake. Deidre dropped off a number of these cupcakes for Nick and the team to try… but we’ll never know just how many because they were so tasty Nick enjoyed them all himself!

Her passion for baking goes all the way back to her childhood, and as Deidre explains “baking is what I’m meant to do”, but she hadn’t considered it for a career. She had gone to university for a science degree and happened to pick up a summer job at a bakery and fell in love not just with the baking but working in the industry. This led to her enrolling in a course at California’s Culinary Institute of America, after which she moved to Banff to work in the pastry kitchen at the world famous Banff Fairmont. After 3 years in Banff she made her way to Calgary to start Sweet Relief, and the rest is history.

After our delicious treats from Deidre we saved absolutely no leftovers for Mama T, but she didn’t seem to hold that against us. We answer a question from a listener about starting up a cult, but T doesn’t think she’d want to be a cult leader since it seems like too much responsibility and too much work, and instead would just like to start a virtual cult of people who like her bus on instagram.

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Wild Rose Brewery: taproom | website | instagram | twitter
Deidre Lotecki - Sweet Relief Pasteries: website | instagram | twitter

In a city of oil bosses, this week’s guest stands out as one who can bring the heat - figuratively and literally - Shaun “The Oil Boss” Albert of Oil Jefe.

Shaun’s affinity for chili oil began nearly a decade ago when he tried it for the first time at King’s Wonton. Having a background in recipe development before his career in the trades, Shaun found himself wanting to kick up the heat a bit and started making his own chili oils at home. His friends would visit, try his delicious chili oils and get sent home with the recipe, but they never could quite get the same result and would come back asking him to just make some for them.

After 6 or 7 years of keeping things spicy for his friends and family Shaun decided to take a run at producing his chili oils at a professional level. He’d found himself missing the creative process while working in the trades, and with the inconsistent boom-bust cycle of his work the timing seemed right. Since then he’s gone from making 24 jars a day in his own kitchen to making as many as 500 in a single day in his commercial space, and in addition to finding his oils online they’re also available at a number of restaurants and grocery stores, and of course at the Wild Rose Taproom.

We kept things spicy going into a chat with Mama T when she dishes the details on time she’s send texts to the wrong person, including an almost-dirty message sent to her son by mistake. However Nick easily tops this when he reveals he’s recently sent a message meant for his girlfriend to his boss!

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Have a question for Mama T? A story from the bottom of a beer can? Send it in and we’ll read it anonymously on-air! DM us on instagram @wildrosebrewery or email it to Nick - nmcmorrow@wildrosebrewery.com

Wild Rose Brewery: taproom | website | instagram | twitter
Shaun Albert - Oil Jefe: website | instagram | twitter

Step aside wine-and-cheese, there’s a new king of tasting pairings in town. This week’s guest, Shawn McDonald of Springbank Cheese in Marda Loop, is here to take our tastebuds on a journey with a beer-and-cheese tasting flight.

Known by many as “the cheese troll,” Shawn has been working with family-and-friend operated Springbank Cheese for more than 15 years. Int hat time he’s seen the palates of Calgarians expand dramatically, at times in tandem with phenomenons such as Alberta’s craft beer explosion. In addition to some insights on the cheese industry and the multi-province history of Springbank cheese, he brought a variety of cheeses to sample with the perfect pairing of Wild Rose brews:

• Comté Cheese paired with Wild Rose Electric Avenue Blonde
• Espresso Bellavitano Cheese paired with Wild Rose Barracks Brown Ale
• Ossau-Iraty Cheese paired with Wild Rose Industrial Park Ale
• Sheep’s Milk Blue Cheese paired with Wild Rose Alberta Crude Stout
• “Classic” Pimento Cheese paired with Wild Rose High Harvest Hemp Strong Pale Ale

Following our culinary journey with Shawn, Mama T helps answer questions about activities that everyone looks silly doing, with some shots fired and guitar players and hula-hoopers. Afterwards we discuss the unwritten rules of life, and the unwritten rules of working at the taproom.

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Have a question for Mama T? A story from the bottom of a beer can? Send it in and we’ll read it anonymously on-air! DM us on instagram @wildrosebrewery or email it to Nick - nmcmorrow@wildrosebrewery.com

Wild Rose Brewery: taproom | website | instagram | twitter
Shawn McDonald - Springbank Cheese Marda Loop: website | instagram | twitter

This week we’re joined by a former Wild Rose team member who is now repping a whole different side of Alberta's craft beer industry, Colin Mundy of GP Brewing Co.

There are a lot of assumptions and stereotypes about craft beer... and the people who drink it. For many the label “craft” can mean ultra boozy beers, overly hoppy brews, face puckering kettle sours, or expensive four-packs of tall-boys, despite the fact that the term really just refers to beer brewed without preservatives, with a great deal of care and attention to detail, and frequently beer that is local and small batch.

For beer drinkers who enjoy a more traditional lager the stereotypes behind craft beer can make them turn their nose up and steer clear of what is assumed to be mostly out-there-ales, even though the lager is one of the hardest styles to perfect. But folks with this more traditional palate often still want to buy beer that is brewed locally and supports Alberta farmers. Enter GP Brewing Co.

This brewery based in Grand Prairie is best known for their Mercury Lager, a craft beer that doesn’t call itself one, at a phenomenal price. When Colin joined the GP Brewing team in their sales division he was in for a bit of a surprise around how to sell their beer, particularly with his background in what we normally think of as the craft beer industry. He tells us about what he’s learned consumers in this sector find important, from all-the-time availability to supporting farmers right here in Alberta, and even right down to packaging.

When Mama T hops on this week we’re talking once again about improving the media we love. This time we debate what movies would be improved by being converted into musicals, and we even get a couple previews from Jonathan of what that might sound like.

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Have a question for Mama T? A story from the bottom of a beer can? Send it in and we’ll read it anonymously on-air! DM us on instagram @wildrosebrewery or email it to Nick - nmcmorrow@wildrosebrewery.com

Wild Rose Brewery: taproom | website | instagram | twitter
Colin Mundy - GP Brewing: website | instagram | twitter

Eighty Eight Brewing’s Jordan Saracini joins the podcast this week for a chat about the Olympics, 80s music, nostalgia, pizza, and of course excellent craft beer.

Jordan and his partners’ origin story is a common one in the craft beer industry - a group of friends who started homebrewing together back in late 2013. The level at which they started brewing was a little less common however, skipping over brewing kits and jumping straight to whole grain. Within just a few years they’d decided to take their brews public, incorporating Eighty Eight Brewing in 2017 and opening the doors the following year. When this episode releases their two year anniversary is just around the corner on August 22nd.

Anyone who has visited the taproom or even seen their cans will be immediately familiar with the brewery’s iconic design. The branding is heavily inspired by the 1988 Calgary Olympics (if the name wasn’t a dead giveaway) as well as all things ‘80s. This theme runs deep, from their labelling to their beer names to the decor in the taproom. If amazing beer and artwork wasn’t enough, Eighty Eight is also famous as the home of Noble Pie, which Jordan describes as “on a whole other level” and clearly many folks agree with him, since it is not uncommon for people to line up at the taproom before the doors have even opened to get one of their own.

Our nostalgia theme continues into our chat with Mama T, when we exchange some celebrity impressions, and discuss who on Beverly Hills 90210 we would have dated. We also theorize on what it might be like to add mandatory alcohol to professional sports.

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Have a question for Mama T? A story from the bottom of a beer can? Send it in and we’ll read it anonymously on-air! DM us on instagram @wildrosebrewery or email it to Nick - nmcmorrow@wildrosebrewery.com

Wild Rose Brewery: taproom | website | instagram | twitter
Jordan Saracini - Eighty Eight Brewing: website | instagram | twitter

What do you get when you combine a passion for comics with a passion for craft beer? This episode’s guest, Mark MacDonald of Zero Issue! In our first episode back at the taproom since re-opening we talk to Mark about Zero Issue’s backstory and their iconic cans.

With Jonathan occasionally having beers turn him into a super hero and Nick looking the part of a super hero, it only makes sense that they were drawn to the super hero and sci-fi inspired artwork featured on Zero Issue’s cans. Zero Issue was founded by the dynamic duo of Mark and his brother Kirk, both lifelong lovers of all things comics and science fiction. Their love for craft beer came a bit later, starting with Kirk being exposed to Portland’s world famous brewing scene. After coming back to Alberta Kirk suggested that he and Mark try out homebrewing and they bought each other home-brew kits for Christmas. Mark’s beer didn’t turn out and Kirk’s barely did, but they pressed on eventually going from starter kits to malt extract and then to all-grain.

From there Mark’s brother Kirk would attend Old’s College’s first brewing program and before even finishing he was hired to work for Calgary’s Village Brewing a year into the course. After spending three years brewing at Village and rising the ranks to head brewer Kirk would jump ship to start Zero Issue with Mark. With their comic theme established early on they wanted to have cans to match and looked to Calgary’s Panel One Comic Creator’s Festival to find the artists for their first round of brews. Now three years later they’re still having fantastic comic artists create the artwork for all their cans, most of which are done by Ian Nicholas who also works with them as a brewer.

Following Mark’s appearance, Mama T calls into the show to help settle some debates. We start out our chat with T by finally reaching a conclusion to the age old question “is a hot dog a sandwich”, followed by discussing the plans for major league sports to come back without crowds, and whether fake crowd sounds will be the laugh tracks of the sports world.

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Have a question for Mama T? A story from the bottom of a beer can? Send it in and we’ll read it anonymously on-air! DM us on instagram @wildrosebrewery or email it to Nick - nmcmorrow@wildrosebrewery.com

Wild Rose Brewery: taproom | website | instagram | twitter
Mark MacDonald - Zero Issue: website | instagram | twitter

Were can you find standup comedy, knife juggling, and fire breathing in one place? With this week’s guest, Tom Allen of TomCat Performance! In our final remote-recorded episode we talk about how to get into circus performance, and the difference between English and Canadian comedy audiences.

Tom says he has always had a performative compulsion, which led him to become a circus performer nearly 15 years ago, before immigrating to Canada. This started out with juggling fire, and led into fire eating, fire breathing, sword swallowing, unicycle riding, and a lot of other head turning performances. As a circus performer he had always tried to incorporate comedy into his routine, which he says is cheating a little bit, since it allowed him to get away with making mistakes that might have sunk a more serious performer.

After moving to Canada a decade ago Tom gravitated towards circus performing here as well, and during the last oil boom frequently performed at corporate gigs, and even once set himself on fire doing so. Over time the circus performance industry in Calgary was largely amalgamated into one big performance corporation, and Tom started looking at other opportunities to scratch his creative itch, leading him to stand up comedy.

In addition to explaining how English and Canadian audiences differ in their comedic tastes Tom give us the inside scoop on where the best spots are in Calgary for standup any night of the week. Of course during the COVID quarantine many comedy clubs and bars with open mic were closed, so Tom had to adapt. During this time he started creating online content including his very well received Half True Story of Banff, which you can watch on his Facebook Page.

After we laugh our butts off with Tom we chat with Mama T about which 80s popstars she most identifies with, while throwing some shade at Vanilla Ice. While we’re at it we do an ice-box audit to see if being stuck at home during quarantine meant T’s fridge would be better stocked. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.

Have a question for Mama T? A story from the bottom of a beer can? Send it in and we’ll read it anonymously on-air! DM us on instagram @wildrosebrewery or email it to Nick - nmcmorrow@wildrosebrewery.com

Wild Rose Brewery: taproom | website | instagram | twitter
Tom Allen - TomCat Performance: facebook | instagram