Better on Draft | Craft Beer Podcast · Better On Draft Podcast

Better on Draft 383 | 2026 Beer News

·1 hr 3 min·4 clips

Doug Valicki’s “apple gap” idea ties Bush Light Apple to more apple beers, ciders, and RTDs.

Better on Draft 383 opens with the familiar check-in on what everyone is drinking, and the answer lands bright and citrusy. Wendy is having a Breu Vivant Tangerine Farmhand, a farmhouse ale brewed with tangerine, while Rob goes with an Upland wheat with orange zest. That sets the tone for a winter episode where both hosts keep circling back to wanting something lighter, something that feels a little like vacation when the weather turns cold. From there, the show settles into an easy stretch of beer conversation with the same loose back-and-forth that carries most of the episode. Rob brings up a scheduling mishap that ended up creating two trivia nights at Books and Brews, and he biked there and back even though the highs were around 20. It is the sort of small, lived-in detail that keeps the discussion rooted in ordinary life instead of turning into a polished news rundown. The episode then widens into beer events and the way they are shifting. The hosts talk about breweries leaning less on huge production-heavy festivals and more on in-house gatherings or smaller events. They point to the Michigan Brewery School’s 2026 festival dates and note that the summer beer festival is now only one day, after the Detroit festival had already been cut to one day. The point is not so much nostalgia for the old model as a clear-eyed note that the event around the beer matters more than ever. The conversation also touches on a release that feels more like a party than a traditional festival, along with Dark Lord Day and its recently announced ticket dates. The hosts say the chase-the-beer hype has cooled some, but the metal-festival side still matters to the people who care about it. They treat that shift without drama and stay focused on what still pulls people in. By the end, the episode loops back to Better on Draft itself. They mention a show scheduled for February 13 with Steve from Design Opa and say there is also a show planned for March, with more slots still being filled in. The closing reminder is straightforward: more announcements are coming, and listeners can keep up through betterondraft.com and the show’s social accounts. The main takeaway is that beer talk here is never just about beer; it is about the rooms, releases, and routines that keep breweries visible.

As heard by us

A loose beer-news conversation that stays close to brewery life and changing event culture.

Better on Draft 383 starts with Rob and Wendy on citrus forward drinks and the appeal of something lighter when it is cold out. It then moves through beer news and event talk, including winter solstice plans, one day festival changes, and release parties that feel closer to…

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