On Thursday January 3, 2012 I met with Alex Hall and Chris Cuzme of Wandering Star Craft Brewery (Pittsfield, MA) at Taproom 307 in New York City. Beyond speaking about their brewery and its beers both Chris and Alex shared some great information about topics such as the history of the English Mild Ale beer style and the role and promotion of real ale (cask ale) in the craft beer scene (in England and America). As such, even if you don’t live in New York, Massachusetts, or Rhode Island (where they distribute to) I think you’ll enjoy and benefit from the information shared in this episode.

In future podcast episodes I hope to capture more about their widespread involvement in the New York City craft beer scene.

The following topics are discussed in this podcast episode:

• History and beginnings of Wandering Star Craft Brewery
• Wandering Star’s line up of beers and the inspiration behind them
• History of the English Mild Ale beer style and specs of the modern English Dark Mild beer style
• Reception of Wandering Star beers since its opening
• Brewing schedule and what it will take for the brewery to expand capacity
• Beer Tasting: Mild At Heart (English Dark Mild)
• Packing flavor into low ABV English style beers (real ale)
• Beer Tasting: Zingari Witbier (brewed with lemongrass, coriander, cardamom, and fenugreek)
• Beer Tasting: Thunderbolt IPA (finished with First Gold hops)
• Wandering Star’s promotion of cask ales (real ale)
• Importance of looking after the temperature and condition of cask ales (cellarmanship)

Cheers!