Treasures of our Town
Embark on an exhilarating voyage through the heart of America's captivating towns and cities with the enthralling travel podcast, "Treasures of our Town." Join your experienced hosts, Craig (Seemyshell) and Joshua (Geocaching Vlogger), as they unveil the hidden gems and extraordinary treasures that lie beyond the surface.
Delve into a world of cultural exploration as our hosts guide you through historical sites, natural splendours, and extraordinary local experiences. All their travels are guided by their love of outdoor games like Geocaching and Munzee. Whether you're a seasoned globetrotter or a curious beginner, our captivating city tours and off-the-beaten-path destinations will ignite your wanderlust and leave you inspired.
Are you ready for an unforgettable adventure? Tune in now and prepare to immerse yourself in the allure of "Treasures of our Town." Let us ignite your curiosity, fuel your desire for exploration, and set your spirit free as we unravel the secrets that make each town a true treasure trove.
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Website - www.treasuresofourtown.buzzsprout.com
Email - treasuresofourtownpodcast@gmail.com
Treasures of our Town
Allow the Beer to Guide YOU....
Craft breweries have evolved into must-visit destinations for travelers seeking authentic cultural experiences across America. In this episode, we dive into why these local establishments offer so much more than just great beer—they're gateways to understanding a community's character, history, and values.
We share personal stories from breweries that left lasting impressions, from a plant bingo night in Minnesota to a pig farm brewery connection in Duluth where we tracked our dinner from farm to table. Through these experiences, we illustrate how breweries foster connections between travelers and locals in ways that traditional tourist destinations simply cannot match.
The conversation explores the unique atmospheres that make breweries special travel stops—rustic décor featuring local materials, bar tops made from single slabs of timber, outdoor patios perfect for stargazing, and game areas that encourage social interaction. We discuss how even non-beer drinkers can enjoy these spaces, with many breweries offering family-friendly environments, pet-friendly policies, and excellent food options through rotating food trucks showcasing local culinary talent.
For the more tech-savvy traveler, we examine how the Untapped app enhances brewery experiences by gamifying beer sampling while connecting enthusiasts worldwide. RV and van travelers will appreciate our deep dive into Harvest Host, a membership program that connects travelers with breweries offering overnight accommodations in exchange for patronage—a perfect way to support local businesses while experiencing America's craft beer scene.
As Oktoberfest approaches, there's no better time to add breweries to your travel itinerary. Whether you're seeking insider knowledge about a community, a place to socialize with locals, or simply a comfortable space to relax after a day of exploration, craft breweries deserve a prominent place on every traveler's map.
We've got some great news to share with everyone that happened this week. And I do believe it's it's both our upgrades, mate. Both our upgrades.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Do you love to travel? Do you love road trips? Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA?
SPEAKER_02:Hi, I'm Josh. And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of Our Town. It's the podcast that explores unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States.
SPEAKER_00:Sky the buyer love for location-based games like geocaching. Join us into venture into some of the country's most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way.
SPEAKER_02:On today's episode, Josh, oh, this is so close to my heart. When you said to me we're going to talk about this, I thought to myself, oh Josh, you're you're really, you're really getting tugging on my heartstrings here. Basically, we're going to talk about um traveling guided by your love of beer today.
SPEAKER_00:Beer or breweries.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and beer or beer. Like it's up to you. So beer. Beer. Yes. Beer or beer. That's the one. That's the one. Oh, mate. So uh first and foremost, though, we've got to get to uh, you know, we've got some you and I, I think personally, we've got some great news to share with everyone that happened this week. And I do believe it's it's both our upgrades, mate. Both our upgrades.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. We finally get to announce it. We've known this for about three weeks now. I know. And you know, when we did our last Gilby show, we talked about that's where we were filming our geocaching international film festival submission. Both of us have been finalists uh at one time or another. Uh Craig has been a finalist now, six times. That's gotta be a record, Craig. You are you are the king, you are the king of gifts.
SPEAKER_02:But I don't get any gifts for it. So uh yeah, I've I'm actually still quite humble in regards to it as well. Uh when it did be announced, Josh, that you and I were uh finalists, you know. Uh we are both excited for it. We're both happy for it, we're both pleased about it. I told some people, and some people weren't even like phased by it. They're like, Yeah, we knew you go in the final. I'm like, don't be like me, like Scott Burks. I'll I'll I'll shout him out. Scott Burks, especially. He's like, he said to me, Craig, you surely you would have known that you and Josh together combined now, you're definitely gonna be in the final. I go, you're not guaranteed, Scott. It's never guaranteed. And so I never guarantee anything in my life, Josh. Um, that's one thing I do is I live by day by day. I mean, that's part of my van life as well, and we're gonna talk more about that uh in today's episode. But living day by day, it you have a different outlook on life. You know what I mean? You don't uh because you think about it, if if you and I were going, oh yeah, we're definitely gonna be in it, we're definitely, and then we weren't, then can you imagine how much of a down play that is? How how you come off that that that you fall literally you fall off that cliff. Um whereas if you if you're if you're hopeful, hopeful, hopeful, and you don't make it, then you go, Oh, gosh, darn, I missed out. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00:It's not as bad. The fall isn't as bad. So yeah, so we had a reasonable, we reasonably had our hopes up.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:We were we were confident, yes, and here's the bottom line we were really proud. Yeah, like a person is proud of their town. Oh, wow, really proud of this submission. You get in early again today. Jeez. Well, you know, have to get it, get it in there. I don't want to forget.
SPEAKER_02:Like yeah, like have in the past. Um, but yeah, no, so a big, big shout out and big thank you to everyone who helped us though too, Josh, for this gift uh entry, including none other than Tricassius, the man of Gilby, the the Walt of Disney, the Walt, the Walt of Uh the Walt of Gilby. The Walt of Disney, the Walt of Uh Gilby. He is Walt of Gilby.
SPEAKER_00:You know what? That that's a good idea for another GIF film, actually, if you think about it.
SPEAKER_02:It is. So we just gave it away. I know, but a big shout out to him and a big shout out to everyone who joined us as well, Josh, for that event that we hosted in Gilby and uh helped us out with everything, uh, taking directions from both of us, you know. No, walk this way, walk that way, you know, look at your phones here, look at your phones there, and you know, find the cash this way, pretend, pretend that you've never seen this before, and pretend to be excited, you know. So uh yeah, big shout out to everyone who helped us too. I will say that.
SPEAKER_00:So people had a lot of fun, I think, joining our GIF film. And I think they had confidence in us too, or else they probably wouldn't have shown up and given their time for us to point a camera at them. Sure. So our film is called, I don't think we've told anybody on the podcast what our film is called. It is called If You Hide It. If you hide it. That's it. Sounds very that's all we're gonna give. That's all we're gonna give away. If you hide it. And we were listed, I think we're listed. I'm not sure, Craig, if they're gonna show the films in the order that they announced, but we're they are. I think we're in a good position. I think we're we're kind of towards the middle.
SPEAKER_02:No, we're fifth out of 20. There's 20. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00:So we're like in the first order. Yeah, so the people will still be excited about it. Like they'll be they, you know, they won't be tired of watching gifts, they won't be thinking, oh, when is this gonna be over? Yes, they're gonna be still in it at that point. So I think our position, fifth, fifth is pretty strong. I think that's a good position.
SPEAKER_02:It is, it is. Uh my only uh worry though, Josh, with uh being in the first half is that we'd be forgotten by the end of it.
unknown:True.
SPEAKER_02:So that's what I worry about.
SPEAKER_00:But either way, let's hope that it sticks out well enough that people will be like, oh, that one was quality.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it was a quality. Yeah, I will I will say though, Josh, as always, like every single time the last five years and six including this one, I was uh excited just to be in the final mate. I don't, I'll be honest with you, I don't care any further in regards to winning or any of that sort of stuff. Uh for me, I we are already a winner because we made it into the finals, and everyone around the world gets to see our uh our creative creative side of us, which they see a lot anyway. But this is different though. Do you find this a this is a different video that compared to what you normally make?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yes. Yeah, I mean this is you if you're ever submitting a gift film, you gotta kick it up a notch. Yeah, you do, right? You can't just I put post a full video every week. I've done it for 14 years, and this this needs to be kicked up a notch, and this certainly is. This kicked up more than one notch, it's kicked up five, ten notches. It's we took took a lot of time, a lot of thought, a lot of effort. Craig drove all the way up here. Craig drove practically to Canada to get on site. We couldn't just do this anywhere, no, and so I'm excited. And and I'll announce this right now for the first time. I'm gonna have my own GIF event here in Minneapolis. Yes, it'll be November 8th. And get this. I thought, if I ever make the finals of GIF again, I am going to host it in a movie theater. So it's gonna be a movie theater. I've already got it booked, and uh it's really excited. So if you're around Minneapolis on November 8th or somewhere near here, um, come on down, come on down. It's gonna be cool. You're gonna get to watch the whole reel on uh on the big screen in a nice chair.
SPEAKER_02:And if you're in the southern part of the good old US of A, then there's a possibility which I can't confirm nor deny at this point in time because it's still in the works, but I am looking at hosting uh a GIF uh event too down here in Alabama. Sweet home wow, Alabama. Um yeah, in the that GIF week as well for that time frame, also. And I'm also Josh in talks right now with a theater as well, a movie theater.
SPEAKER_00:So yes, so we might have to make a little like intro video that we could use at both of our events. I don't know, I don't know. It's like welcome, like a welcome.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know if you can do that because it depends on the movie.
SPEAKER_00:You can do whatever you want. No, you can do whatever you want. No, I'm talking about a movie theater.
SPEAKER_02:Give them the real you need the real for the movie theater. Yeah, and the movie theater format. Exactly. You can't just play it from your computer, Josh. So it's a certain format.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe I should maybe I should hold it my driveway on a on a sheet.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, no. Anyway, Josh, I will say I've got one more. I've got one more uh upgrade. I have one more too. Oh, you do? Wow. So let's just do two upgrades today and no and no delays. No, no delays, no delays, two upgrades each. That's cool. I like that.
SPEAKER_00:What's your what's your upgrade?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, my other upgrade is um Josh. I do believe that you've heard about the turkey trot coming up in uh in November as well. The turkey trot. If you haven't heard about the turkey trot, what the turkey trot is is uh I'm on another podcast, the geocaching podcast, the GCPC, uh the only live call-in geocaching podcast in the world. That's every Wednesday night. They are we are hosting uh over the what's it called, the Thanksgiving long weekend. Yeah, we're doing the ET Highway where we're all going so much fun. And and Josh, I'll say this is now this is this is not caching for everyone because we're all in separate cars, we're all doing the big leapfrog thing. So, you know, we're gonna find three, four, five hundred caches each car and then log four thousand, you know. That's the thing because they're team stamps. That's as a team, as a team, team. It's a team, team stamps. Um, but if you if that's not the way you cache, that's fine. It's not normally the way I cash at all. I've never done it before, so I'm actually looking forward to something different. But in preparation for that, Josh, I got myself some flash tags. Nice. So so yeah, so if you're awesome, if you come along to the uh the turkey trot uh in November, you because I only got enough for those people attending the turkey trot too. So you got did you get 88? 88. Is that the number?
SPEAKER_00:That's the number eight miles per hour.
SPEAKER_02:88. That's I thought you'd like that. So that's my upgrade, Josh. It's a really cute uh looking uh flash tag, very, very different. Uh I'm actually sharing the flash tag with another player, Josh. So there's uh I'm sharing it with someone else too. So there you go. If you want to find out who, then you've got to come to the turkey trot and get one for yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Does it have a turkey on it?
SPEAKER_02:Uh yes, yes, yes, it does. It does have a turkey on it, but on the side, on the turkey's got on the sides. So that's right. So there you go.
SPEAKER_00:I got another question. Are you gonna stay at the creepy clown hotel? We've talked about that hotel on this podcast.
SPEAKER_02:We did, we did, and uh, I'm still awaiting uh the final numbers. Uh October 1st, the final numbers come through, and then Scott's organizing accommodations for like the locations for everyone in terms of where to book. So I do believe some people have already booked the clown hotel. Um, so good good work to them. And I still would like to go and see it. If I even if I can't stay there, I still like to go and see it too.
SPEAKER_00:I looked on the map at the clown hotel. There's the hotel, but attached to it, of course, there's a haunted house attached to it. There has to be. There has to be. I didn't know that. I saw that on Google Maps, actually, because I was like, I wanted to see like what it looked like from the from space. Craig, I have a travel update for me. Oh, yeah. I get to, I'm gonna get to get out of this state next next weekend. So it'll be on October 2nd through the 5th. I'm flying on down to San Diego, California for the very first time in my life. This is a bucket list location. I've wanted to go to San Diego my whole time. You've never been to San Diego, Josh? Never been to San Diego. Never been down there. Yeah, I've been to California, but many spots in California, but I've never gotten to say sunny San Diego, uh, California, the home of Podcacher, another geocaching podcast. And so down there, there's a block party that I'm going to. It is called uh Signals Island. The theme is Gilligan's Island. Yes, the theme's Gilligan's Island. I like it. Yes, that's really cool. So I'm I'm going down there. I'm I'm gonna see the sites. I've I've booked Craig on my I'm traveling on my own. I don't mind traveling alone. Both of us, we've had a podcast about traveling along. Yeah, we have, and so I of course I'm gonna do all the geocaching stuff, but I'm in San Diego. Like I need to do the things. Balboa Park, everybody tells me, is a is a big location. You have to go. That's very close to the San Diego Zoo, the world famous San Diego Zoo. Not sure if I'll get there, but I'm gonna do some cave kayaking. Oh right off right off the ocean. Oh, so I booked a tour for myself, yeah, where we get to uh kayak through through these caves. So I'm really excited about that. The pictures look amazing. And if you're going to signals island, meet me there. I'm gonna be there. Yeah, and if you're thinking about going, you got you know, it's Monday now, as you hear this, and Thursday, I'll be on a plane heading to sunny San Diego. They say the weather's beautiful this time of year down there. So that is a big upgrade for me. I'm really excited about that.
SPEAKER_02:You did you did invite me along, Josh, but unfortunately, I'm actually hosting my own event here in Alabama uh next weekend as well. So on uh on Sunday, uh in uh where you if you've haven't been to Bamara, um the mega event that they've hosted here the last four years in Alabama itself, then you're missing out. I'll say that. But one of the side events they have at Bam Rama is at the two Laura's bonfire. You remember that, Josh. Yeah, oh yeah, so great location. That's where my event is on the Sundays. Two Laura Bonfire. That's gonna be so fun, so much fun. Um Laura at the moment, she's one of the Laura's because there are two Laura's and they're together, they're a couple. Um, they're redecorating, they're redoing their fire pit, their firing. So I'll be interested in that. It's already nice. I know, but it's gonna get better.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, it's gonna get better apparently.
SPEAKER_02:So, or either that or it's just gonna be different. So we'll soon see. We'll soon see. Anyway, mate, because I can think to myself, you know, one more thing. Yes.
SPEAKER_00:This is another upgrade for me because I just realized this. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna get uh geocaching souvenir at Signals Island that you're not gonna get.
SPEAKER_02:I know. I thought about that too, but I wasn't gonna say you're gonna brag about it.
SPEAKER_00:And here's the thing Craig, get this. It might be my 400th souvenir.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_00:Souvenir 400. That's a milestone souvenir for me. Yeah, yeah, that's a lot of souvenirs.
SPEAKER_02:That's really cool.
SPEAKER_00:It's more than most.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm excited about that.
SPEAKER_02:More than me. I've only crept on you um only a handful over these last 12 months. Only a handful.
SPEAKER_00:Uh, you've crept you've crept. I mean, you've been to a lot of block parties. Seven, seven block parties. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Seven block parties meeting totally.
SPEAKER_00:I think I've been to one. I think I just went to West End. I think that's it. Now it's gonna be Signal, yeah, signal islands. So it'll be two. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, we should get to our topic.
SPEAKER_02:I was gonna say, here you are, you're gonna have some beers when you go to San Diego. I'm gonna have some beers at the Tulores Bonfire. Now, speaking of beers, Josh, we're gonna talk about craft breweries, travel, how they coincide with each other. Uh, let's get into it. Let's dive deep and let's have a brew to enjoy it too. So, what are your thoughts, Josh, on craft breweries and travel? How do they stick together?
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's just really interesting because we have very different kinds of I don't know how to say it, attitudes, approaches, tastes, tastes, for certainly tastes, when it comes to beer. But yeah, we have a little bit different approaches, but at the same time, we have some similar approaches. So here's the thing I'm not ashamed to admit it. I, first of all, I love breweries. Yeah. So anytime both you and I travel, we always check the app untapped, or we just actually just Google brewery breweries nearby. Yeah. And we we check them out because um I love breweries. And we're we're gonna talk about many of the reasons I love to go to breweries, especially when we're traveling. But here's the thing, and I don't know if there's anybody out there that can relate. But I don't love beer.
SPEAKER_02:You go to the breweries for the ambiance.
SPEAKER_00:For the ambiance, for a lot of reasons. Yeah, a lot of reasons. And I you know what, I think that's okay because there might be some people listening here being like, ah, I don't go to breweries, I don't really like beer. It's not just about the beer, no, it's about other things as well. So I love I love going to breweries. I don't love the beer. I drink the beer, and basically I drink the beer just because I just want to be a part of the, you know, I it's peer pressure. I just want to be a part of cool kids. Is it peer pressure or part of the crowd?
SPEAKER_02:Or is it bee pressure?
SPEAKER_00:So they all yep, it's beer pressure. It's beer pressure. I like it. I like it. Um, so so I love going to breweries, but I don't I don't love beer, but that's okay. Yeah, because not only do I do I um love breweries, I also love the app untapped. I love the gamification of breweries, and we're gonna talk about that too. That's so those are the two reasons. I love lots of aspects of breweries, but then I I love logging my beers and logging my locations. That's so fun for me.
SPEAKER_02:And if you're anything like me on the other side of the coin, and that is that I really enjoy the different types of beer. I will drink when I go to breweries, Josh, and they say to me, if I want a flight, and they ask me, you know, here's a here's a list. I say to them, sometimes I'll say, You pick for me. Like, and I'll get the the the beer tender actually to choose. And they say that they shocked face, what do you like? I said to I always say cold and wet. Anything that's cold and wet, I'll drink. Exactly right. Um, to the point where if you're like me and you enjoy that too, and you like listening about beers as well, don't forget, Josh, there's another podcast out there which I'm proudly a part of as well, along with Courtney Mecha MN, and that is the Brewery Adventure Podcast. And uh that specifically talks just about breweries though, and and they talk about the ambiance there too. So they're the same, they're the same. They love the ambiance, they love the culture of craft breweries. Um it's very, very different, Josh, to like a restaurant. You know what I mean? Like a restaurant you have to sit down, or even at a bar, you know. Some bars aren't too breweries. I find are very more, they're a lot more open, they're a lot more spacious, they're a lot more fresh feeling, they're a lot more um, yeah. I feel like they're even cleaner than some bars. I'll say that as well. Like, you know, they really are, they look after their place too.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, and different than restaurants too, and we're gonna talk about that. They're much more social. Yes. Like when you're in a restaurant, you just go to your table, you sit down, you order, and you talk to the people that you came in with.
SPEAKER_02:That's it.
SPEAKER_00:At breweries, you grab a beer and you kind of walk around and you kind of talk to people. Yeah. And if you're alone, I know I know you do this almost every day, Craig. You just talk to strangers. Talk to strangers. And we're gonna talk a little bit about that because there's a lot you can learn about the communities that you're traveling to by going to some of these bars. So that is our approach with breweries, and we're gonna talk a little bit about um what what about breweries? How can breweries enhance your travel? Why do craft breweries belong on your travel list of places that you need to go? And and we'll talk about a couple other different things. We're gonna talk about the the app untapped, and then we're gonna talk about Harvest Host, which is something that you are a part of that has, I mean, if you're talking about breweries and travel, that's it. I mean, we could have a whole show just about Harvest Host.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah. Not sponsored.
SPEAKER_00:We can't have an episode, not sponsored, but if you're listening.
SPEAKER_02:Well, why don't we start off Josh with uh why craft breweries belong on our travel list? I can I can say that right now, as I said before, and that is uh you go to places where other like-minded people are and other friendly atmospheres, it's never dark and dingy. There's it's always a way to other travelers are normally there as well. So there's other people there who are by themselves, whether they be solo like me, or in a couple, like in an RV sort of style too. So you get a lot of that, and you also then get a lot of um the uh the locals turn up there as well. Yes. So absolutely. Yeah, just quick story then when we go on that is one of the breweries I went to in Colorado, Josh. It was a harvest host. That's one of the reasons why I was there. I turned up early in the afternoon. I sat in the bar, I spoke to the uh the barman, and the owner was there too. I had a lovely chat with all of them in regards to the beers, and then all of a sudden, Josh, he he he it's a big uh big roller door there at the side, and he's like, Oh, here's Jim now. And Jim pulls in. Jim comes up, he says, Here's your beer, Jim. Doesn't even say just literally his own mug, his own beer, doesn't have to have to order it. Here it is, Jim. And as Jim's starting drink his, he looks out and goes, Oh, here's Lou. Oh, here's Joe, here's and all the locals come in one by one by one, and they all knew each other. And so I'm there as the outcast, and they're like, Who are you? Why do you sound funny? And uh, and so we started talking from there. But yeah, it's meeting the locals for me as well, and the the friendly atmosphere that they belong to. So for me, it's yeah, gathering in places too. What else do you think? And why does it belong on your travel list, Josh?
SPEAKER_00:Well, apart from meeting the locals, you know, when you go to a hotel, like a fancy hotel, they have the concierge. You're the concierge, yes, that the person that stands there, and they know everything, they know all the restaurants, they all know all the places you should go. So the value of being able to interact with the locals is that they know their community, they know the restaurants, they know the places, fun things to do. So, this is a place to get straight from the horse's mouth what is unique and great about their about their community. So that is really um a great place to meet locals. In a restaurant, it's different. You're gonna be just sitting with your party, you're not gonna be mingling, you're not gonna be yeah, or you're by yourself and you're not gonna be mingling with the community.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, definitely not.
SPEAKER_00:Um, another reason, Craig, yeah, that I love breweries, and this is just also different than restaurants. These are entertaining, creative hubs. Yes, every time I go to a brewery, there's always something going on. There's music sometimes, there's open mics. There's oh my gosh, Craig, we got a story. We I don't know. Did we talk about this on the last podcast? We went to Hacklemore Brewery in Chan Hassan, Minnesota. Yeah. If you remember this, yeah. And we walk in there, we have the beer, there's a bar area, and we peek around the corner, and there's a bunch of basically moms, suburban moms, with eggs, some of them with actual baby babies in strollers as well. Yes, suburban moms drinking their beer playing bingo. And you might think, oh, bingo, that's normal. No, this was plant bingo. They were playing for plants like house plants. And the guys, the guys that were were um could the callers were wearing, were they were plants.
SPEAKER_01:They were plants.
SPEAKER_00:And Craig, now that I'm talking about, we've already talked, we talked about this on the last episode. We remember I posted the picture.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we only touched on it because you posted the picture, but we only absolutely just touched on it too. But that's a good point, and that is that nowadays, gone are the days where breweries are just for men. You know what I mean? They are for they are for women, they're for couples, they're for everyone, they're for young, they're for old. Um, they're even for their four-legged furry friends in most cases as well. They can bring your dog along to breweries too, you know. So that's it's nice, it's so nice in comparison. So uh, and again, if you're a traveler, then that's always a good thing. If you travel with a pet, you know, that sort of thing too, then you can always bring your pet in 90% of the time to a brewery as well. Or there's a some area or location. Just to give you an idea, Josh. Again, I was recently out at uh one of the breweries, I can't even tell you where I was now.
SPEAKER_00:I've been everywhere, man.
SPEAKER_02:I've been everywhere. There's so many. But this one was the I remember it's called the Bassett, the Bassett Brewery. And they had like you walk in one area and that fully dog friendly. Everywhere in there was dog friendly. Josh, they had, you know, how in the corner of a uh, you know, like McDonald's, so you have like the kids' play area and stuff too. They had a dog play area where dogs could just go and play with each other dogs and so on, too. And it went to an outdoor section for the dogs. They had the ramps going up and down and the and the little tunnels so the dogs can go through the tunnels and also so they actually had a dog play area and outdoor area too. So uh yeah, Bassett. Bassett, Bassett Brewery, I think it was called. Um loved that too. Love that.
SPEAKER_00:You know, so here's also another reason why breweries are great for travel is because a lot of times the breweries, I love when the breweries are themed. Oh, and often these themes, yeah, these themes represent, you know, they represent where you are. So a lot, there's up here in the Northland, there's a lot of breweries that are like Nordic and like you know, represent represent our community and our heritage, our Vikings and our heritage, and the Swedish, the Swedish men out in the fields getting the wheat to make their beer and the yeast. Anyway, uh I have no idea what I'm talking about because I don't know anything about beer, but um, but yeah, it it gives you give it you get a sense of like, oh, this is what's important to this community. So you can actually learn a lot, you can learn about the community at some of these breweries.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I find the same thing, Josh, down south. So uh around you know, Alabama, um especially around the Gulf Shores, Alabama at the moment, that's where I am, but also around Florida as well, especially around the keys and that sort of thing, too, is you get a lot of that that uh that ocean look with this. So there's seashells on the on the thing on the walls and stuff too. It's very there's big um uh fishing nets and stuff hanging and draped over everywhere, and oars and whatever, life jackets, life vests, all that sort of thing, too. But also, Josh, most of these breweries they take pride in their brewery itself, they take pride in how it looks, and they also take pride in naming the beers. Yeah, and that's one thing I love is the uh the originality of a lot of these brewers out there who name their beers different things. There's Josh, there was one brewery I went to down south in Florida, and I'll tell you now, it was because you know, breweries they're mostly meant for people who can drink alcohol, so 21 plus here in the US. Right, and so they're adult, you know, 99% adult. So these were all non not safe at work names of beers. We'll just say that. Oh my gosh. Every brewery had a field day.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I did. You had a field day on untapped, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_02:I had three. We'll talk about that in a three flights. I had three flights because there were 15 taps there available. So I had to have three flights of five, three or five each. All 15 beers, all 15 beers because I wanted them all on my untapped. So my gosh. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, if you're if you're not a beer drinker like me, primary, I and I I'm exaggerating. I drink beer every time I go to a brewery, but if you're not like if you're not a beer connoisseur and you're wondering, what should I drink? Just pick your favorite name, just pick the favorite name uh beer. There's uh a beer here locally, Bricksworth beer here in Burnsville, and they had a summer shandy. And I've talked about before that I love the Andy Griffith Show, like it's one of my favorite old shows. Yep, and they named that beer the Shandy Griffith Show. Oh and I was like, I was like, I'm ordering the Shandy Griffith show every time I uh I go here. And it was a really good beer, it was like more lemonade than beer almost. Yeah, and that's the kind of beer I I like. The more beer is like Kool-Aid, the more I love it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and and I will say that and again, every single brewery that I've been to, they offer tasting beforehand as well before you order your beer. So if you go up there and you look, you say to them, I know I'm not really a beer drinker, they'll I always ask you, you know, what do you drink normally? Yeah, what's all your flavors? And then they'll offer you an actual sample of that beer itself, um, you know, of different ones, and they'll give you different uh different tastes and different flavors, and then you can pick which one you want as a full full beer. So that's pretty cool too. Um but also going on to that, Josh, as well. Do you you recall that uh recently when I was up in Minnesota for the Munsee Mania, and uh you, myself, uh Minnesota boy, Minnesota boy, Minnesota boy, and uh Rob uh Varterman, the president of Munsey, we sat around because I got some takeaways, Josh. Remember those takeaways? Now there was uh big a big bottle. I got a big bottle of one beer, cost me$35 for a bottle of beer. Yes, you heard that correctly. Yeah,$35 for a bottle of beer, but it was worth what was the name of that, Josh, too, because it was um that beer was holy shnikes.
SPEAKER_00:Holy shnikes, that's right. From because it was based off of uh Tommy Boy and uh Chris Farley.
SPEAKER_02:That's right, Chris Farley. And it's and it was actually Chris Farley on the label too. So yes, plus it was great. Plus the label was numbered too, so you knew and it was and it was the the lid was wax dipped as well. So the lid was actually wax dipped too. So it was and it was a very, very deep, thick beer. It was a 15.5%, so it was it was quite a heavy beer.
SPEAKER_00:I I had it. It was it was basically like drinking uh whiskey neat, just straight up whiskey.
SPEAKER_02:That's true, that's true. But Josh, how can people this is another question then? How do people go about looking for an actual good brewery whilst they're traveling around? What do you what do you do? You said before you either you know you look up Google or the or untapped, what what else do we do from there?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, uh it's as simple for me. I just use my Apple apps, yeah. I just do brewery breweries near me and them and it pops up. Yeah, and what's so cool about breweries is that almost no matter what the size of the town, if the town is 10,000 people or more, it likely has a brewery. And so um, you know, and that so that's the main way I find them. And then and then I'll click on it and I'll I'll maybe read some of the reviews or I'll see if it has food because you know, pairing some some of these breweries have really great food.
SPEAKER_02:I was gonna say if it's others, some of the breweries and the food they have are the ones I love the most, Josh, are actually the food trucks that come out the front. Yes, I was just gonna say they rotate, they rotate their food trucks sometimes because I feel, and here I go, I'm gonna take your line, Josh. Well, no, I'm not, but you understand what I'm saying, and that is that these food trucks, they are really good at what they do because they are very proud of to have these things, whether it be a Mexican feel, whether it be a you know, Indian feel. I've had Indian, I've had uh what else I had there, Vietnamese, even at one time. I had like those faux bowls, you know, all those. Um yeah, and you think to yourself, how does that mix with beer? Absolutely, it all mixes in with your belly, so it's okay. It all tastes delicious. So but yeah.
SPEAKER_00:What's really cool about supporting those food trucks is that you are that's that's like supporting a local diner. You know, we always talk about like don't go to the chains, like experience, like experience the the home businesses. The the mom and pop places and these food trucks, they are not chains. They are they're people that pull up and they um and it's you're it's usually very good food because whatever they do, they do it well. Yes, you know, it's like they do that one thing well. And you know, whether it's p pizza or yeah, um tacos or Asian Asian food, tacos, whatever it might be, whatever it may be. So yeah, the food that that's another reason. It's like you could go out to dinner or you could double dip and go to a brewery and also have dinner. So so when you said when I'm looking for it, yeah, I'm saying if I'm hungry, yeah, if the place has food. And we, you know, we've been to some places where where they said it's a brewery. We the we've talked about this on on our Geo Woodstock episode. They said it's a brewery, but it was mainly a restaurant. Yes, that's right. It was too. But most places are breweries first, yeah, and then and then there's something they do really well. So Bricksworth here in Brunnsville, for example, they do wings, it's like the wings, and they're so good. And that's they do wings and pizza, and they do that really well. And so, yeah, that's that's that's how I pick is um I I check out all the breweries and then I then I go through the reviews and see what they got.
SPEAKER_02:Because in most cases as well, I find that when you do do that Google lookup or the Apple Maps, whatever it might be, then they've got sometimes they've got photos there as well. I always say this if you see one of those big silver vats inside the brewery where they actually brew the beer, yeah, it's gonna be a good time. Yeah, it's gonna be a you're in a good place. You're in a good place. That's exactly right. I mean, you're not gonna be in a restaurant. There's no such thing as restaurants when they've got big silver vats in the corner, you know, that's the thing, too. So, or behind a big, big glass door, and and uh and you sit at the bar and you look through the glass and you can actually see the the brew, the brewers themselves are there testing the beers while you're then drinking one. Like that's pretty cool. Yeah, that's pretty cool, very authentic, yes, very local. You can't get any fresher than that either, you know.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, they're not yeah, but that's a it's a product, yeah. It's a product of that town. Yes, exactly. It's different than like I'll have a Budweiser, you know what I mean? Like I know you're you're you're supporting their town. This is actually something from their town, which that's what I really like. It's like kind of different than tap rooms, and tap rooms are fine too, but even if I go to a tap room or if I go to a bar, Craig, what do we usually do? Uh this is what I do. I'm like, what's the what's the local beer? What's the closest brewery? Yeah, yeah. And because um, you know, we can't always get to the brewery, but I want to have I want to have that beer from that place. We were in Pittsburgh, I think we were Pittsburgh at that tap tap house. Oh, you weren't with us. That was just Robin, yeah. Rob and Minnesota boy, but we were we were at a tap house, and we're like, we want the beer that's local to here. So that's one thing um I find myself doing also with food. I'm gonna back up a little bit. Up here in Minnesota, it is so common to have give like prizes and giveaways, and the biggest prize and giveaway at breweries, at least up here in the Northland, I don't know if it's like this all over the country. Meat raffles. Yeah, meat raffles. I don't know. You're Craig, you were up here and we ran into a couple meat raffles, just like and and basically what a meat raffle is, if you don't know what it is, a low it the brewery works with a local butcher or uh and and the butcher comes in and they just bring slabs of steak and beef sticks and sausage, you name it, beef jerky, just sausages, and sometimes cheese as well.
SPEAKER_02:Like they get the local cheese too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, and they raffle it off, and you could walk away. You could walk away for some with some local meat. It's very common.
SPEAKER_02:And what I like the way they do that too, Josh, is basically you buy a beer and you get a ticket in the raffle. You don't have to go and buy the raffle tickets separately. Some places you may have to, but uh in the ones I've seen, no, you buy a beer and you get one raffle ticket for that beer. And so, you know, you you're you're supporting everywhere there, and the brewery's supporting the butcher, the butcher's supporting, you know, the locals as well. Um, so absolutely. And even to the point where Josh, I recently stayed up near Duluth in Minnesota as well. A great place, Duluth, up that way. But I stayed, I stayed at a harvest host. Now, the harvest host wasn't a brewery, it was on a farm, and it was a working pig farm, of which I stayed in in the uh in the open area paddock near near the the portable pig pens that they had. No smells, no smells at all. It was actually beautiful, it was really gorgeous. And uh, you know, I went and walked around the pig's pens for a little bit there and whatnot, and then came back and started cooking my dinner, and then I heard out the side of the van what happened? A whole bunch of them got out of their pens. So I had to message funny, I had to message the farmer and say, Um, are these supposed to be running around open? And he's like, Oh no, I'll be up in a sec. So him and his son came up and then I spent the next hour laughing, watching them wrangle these pigs back into their pens.
SPEAKER_00:So You're not gonna get that experience at Apple Bees.
SPEAKER_02:You won't. But to then push it to the breweries, he asked me as well, because he's obviously a local, he said, What are you what are you up to tomorrow and stuff too? And I said, Oh, I love breweries and I wanted to go to a brewery in Duluth tomorrow. He said to me, You've got to go to this particular brewery, I think it was uh Elsa or something it was called. He said, Elsa brewery. There's three or four in Duluth, but go to Elsa. And the reason for it, he says, because they buy all my meat, you see, and they do delicious pizzas. And and he said they they have my sausage on one of their pizzas. So what do I do the next day, Josh? I go up to Duluth. I do the I do a few geek ashes around Duluth and the Munsies around Duluth go into Elsa and I sit there at the bar and I was there to talk to the bar lady and I said to her, you know, I want that pizza. And she's like, Oh, yep, no worries, that's a that's a fan favorite. I said, I stayed at that farm last night. She's like, What? I said, That that farm where the meat came from, you know, like Porky Pig. I was patting Porky Pig yesterday, and now I'm gonna eat him today.
SPEAKER_00:So Yeah, you're a wrangle, you're wrangling him.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, exactly. Making sure they get their exercise in. See, so but that's that's what I mean in terms of uh, and we talk about locals knowing locals, doing local things, and supporting locals in general too. So I had a great time. Craig, good memories, Josh.
SPEAKER_00:Good memories. Yes. What is your favorite part of the atmosphere of a of a brewery? Like what about it when you think of a brewery that you really enjoy? What do they have inside there? Like, what is it like? We've talked a little bit about that, yeah, but I can think of a couple things that is kind of common to breweries that that I really enjoy. Is there anything that comes to mind for you like right away?
SPEAKER_02:For me, it's always to be rustic. I like the rustic look, whether it be open brickwork, for instance, like you feel like you're down in a dungeon, you know, that sort of thing, too. I was in I was in a brewery in Wisconsin and I felt like I was actually in a dungeon. The bricks themselves were old school bricks, like open brickwork. Uh, they looked absolutely gorgeous. So uh yeah, anything rustic looking like that. But the one that I went to in Wisconsin, and gonna divert just a little bit here, what they had on the wall. But have you heard of the mug club, Josh? Because some some of these breweries have these mug clubs, they're for locals. They are for locals.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you buy a mug and then you can go in, and then when you get your beer, you get it like discounted.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you get a dollar off your exactly right, you get a dollar off your beer every time. Uh, and you have your own mug. So I've seen it a lot, and sometimes the mugs, they're all like Stein sort of style, like they're silver stein, they're you know, um glass. I've seen glass ones as well. But these ones, Josh, they were all hand spun pottery. Every single one looked different, every single one had the actual uh their name on actually in the pottery, engraved in the pottery itself. And the reason for it is next door is the lady who does all the pottery and hand spins of pottery. So again, they that's local supporting local, supporting local. Um, and to the point where I was actually talking to this one gentleman, and he's there, he's a he's a local, he's part of the beer mug club as well, and he's had his, but his didn't have a handle on it. It looked kind of like a it's just like a like a pottery glass. And I said to him, I said, like yours look, I was talking to him about the the mugs and stuff. I said, Yours looks different. And he said, My handle broke like after the first week, my handle broke and the whole the rest of it bounced on the floor. He said, but none of it broke. He said, But I love this so much, I'm not gonna replace this at all. So they offered they offered him a new mug. He's like, No, no, no, this is the one I want. So now he just has no handle on his stein. And but but again, he says, That's unique to me. That's me, you see. So there you go. Right, so yeah, locals again, but no, very rustic. Getting back to your question, Josh, very rustic sort of style, whether it be open bricks, I like woodwork as well, like all timbers and the and the open ceilings, for instance. I've said before, I like to see vats, silver vats as well. Um I like to see that sort of stuff too. And um, I will say I've been to a few breweries where they have the open bar area, the bar top, and the bar top has been absolutely magnificent looking bar top. I'm talking like a full slab of timber, cut literally cut from top to bottom of a uh of a massive tree, and it starts as really wide and gets really thin as it goes all the way down to the tip of the bar. Things like that. That that that for me, that's that's that's what makes it a brewery as opposed to anything else.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, what about you?
SPEAKER_00:I think I think for me, because I live up here in the north, we have we spend a lot of time indoors in the winter. So I'm a real big fan of a really nice patio. Oh, yeah. Be able to sit out um under the stars on a nice night. Um, so I'm a fan of patios and beer gardens. Anytime we can get outside in Minnesota, that's that's a big plus. That's fair enough. I I also love breweries where there are things to do. Oh so a lot of breweries have like bags or cornhole, cornhole games. Um, I really you know this, Craig. And this is pretty common to breweries, um, and almost different than arcades. Like I used to like arcades, but I really love pinball, Craig. And for some reason, a lot of breweries have pinball machines, yeah, because they're old, which is really like, yeah, it's just really kind of old school. So we've we've done a many a pinball game in breweries, even like when we went to West Bend to the last brewery, we did we played pin pinball. I don't know. I I think it's kind of unique to be able to play play old-fashioned pinball, and it seems like a lot of breweries have that. So I do like I do like breweries where I'm able to like have things to do. I liked a good trivia night from time to time. Yes. Um, trivia night is very, you know, very common in breweries. Um I love touch tunes. I love the D the DJ for Touch Tunes. I've heard you done that. For the brewery I'm at. I love that. Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_02:Well, uh that reminds me as one of my stories as well. And that is I went to obviously another Harvest Host brewery, it was. And again, I think it may have been in Colorado. I'm not 100% sure. It might be in Iowa. Anyway, um, I went there as a uh harvest host, walked in, it was quite a large brewery, it looked really nice, it had a massive, big, big garden area, beautiful. The night was it was gonna be a stunning night as well, and then of course, you know, it starts to get more full and more full, and the the bartender said to me, 'Look, yeah, there's trivia on tonight as well.' I said, Oh, okay. And she said, like, mingle in. And I went, Oh no, I'm I'm right. I said, I'm right, I'll just sit and watch, you know. And so I sat out and whatever for a while. And then the uh the DJ guy came over, the the host of the and he comes over to me, he's like, you know, are you you here alone? I said, Yeah. He goes, Do you want to join in with someone? And he goes, There's a team over there. And so he then introduced me to someone else. And I went over to the other team. I said, You know, G'day they're like, Where are you from? And so and push comes to shove, Josh. We got three questions all about Australia or New Zealand that no one else got that I found was so easy, it was perfect.
SPEAKER_00:So I felt like I was actually contributing then to the team because you know Yeah, because you were struggling on the American pop culture questions, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_02:No, the American football questions I struggle more on, and American baseball, American sports I struggle more on than pop culture. But yeah, I know what I know what you mean. I know what you mean. So things like that, Josh. Yeah, they they have those at breweries again. Yes, you don't see those at bars or at restaurants. So yes, for sure. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Craig, let's talk a little bit about the two things, and you are really an expert at these two things, and that is Untapped, Untapped, and Harvest Host. Let's talk about Untapped first and like how do you use the app Untapped for your travel and for uh looking at breweries and finding what beers to drink. And if if for those who have never heard of Untapped, and we've talked about it a lot here on this podcast, but basically it's it's kind of like a it's a social media app for drinking beer and finding breweries and rating beers, yes, basically. That's what it is. Yeah, and so talk to us a little bit, talk to me a little bit about how you use it in your travels and and when you're going uh to breweries.
SPEAKER_02:The best part or the easiest way to use it for the sake of finding breweries is that Untapped have a paywall, of course, you know, whereby it's it's free, it's free. You can use it as a free, there's a free option, but there's a premium option as well. I'm a premium member. Um and so those premium members give you extra things and extra statistics and extra badges and all these extra little bits and pieces, they gamify it more. Um, but also at the same time, some breweries also pay into Untapped to become certified members of Untapped, and so you get extra badges if you drink at those particular breweries, that sort of thing, too. Um, I find Untapped does have an map feature where it features all like where you can buy alcohol from, basically, and beers from, or there's a button where it's specifically for breweries only, and so so you can then have a look at the town in which you're in, and you can flick around the three or four or five breweries that are actually in that town, and then if there's the the little check mark basically next to one, you go, you know what, that's where I'm gonna go because it's it's a check mark from Untapped.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, and the what's really cool about those verified locations is that sometimes I believe untapped like give maybe gives them a screen or it's maybe a part of it. I don't know if they give them a screen, but anyway, you check into a beer and then your little avatar shows up on the screen. Yeah, I don't know why I love that. I kind of geek out over that. I don't know. I'm like, there's a I feel so I don't I feel so cool, especially people that don't know about untapped. I'm like, hey, check that out. Like, hey, look at that screen. My picture is up there.
SPEAKER_02:You know how many times how'd you do that? You know how many times, Josh, that I've filled that screen with just me, just me on the bottom of that screen.
SPEAKER_00:Nobody else does, nobody else uses it.
SPEAKER_02:But uh, but yeah, as you said before, it is a social media app for beer drinkers, and uh being a social media, being social, means that you can have friends on untapped as well. Uh, you and I, Josh, we're friends. I'm friends with you know, Rob and Courtney and Tim. There's so many friends that I've got out there, but I've also got distant friends too. Like I've got friends in California, friends in New Jersey, friends throughout the world, even in Australia, that are on Untapped. And so when you drink a beer on Untapped, you can actually give it a rating, you can uh you can give it a description, what you liked about it, what you didn't like about it, whatever it might be. You check in where you are, where you bought it from, what type of beer it is, the name, the whole lot. And so once you click OK and it sends through, you take a photo as well, and it goes through, then it goes on to the feed of all your friends' logs. And so I have many friends out there, Josh, you know where I'm going now, that that read my descriptions because Josh, normally if I'm by myself, especially if I'm by myself, I've got time on my up my sleeve. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't have to be social with everyone around me because there's no one else around me sometimes. And so to amuse myself, I'll use the description part to actually, you know, I'll rate the beer, of course, but I'll also uh the flavours, profiles that are there, I'll try and be a bit more authentic with the what it tastes like. But at the same time, I I interact where I am, the brewery that I'm at, and also the name of the beer into a little story. So I find a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00:And usually they involve some sort of innuendo. Oh yes, which makes it funny, or puns, puns, or puns that are innuendos as well.
SPEAKER_02:Or or literally they some of them are actual just uh a ver a full verse of a song, and you've got to work out where the song is from, you know, that sort of thing too, because the song, the verse of the song relates to the actual name of the beer sometimes. So things like that too. So that's how he's untapped.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, another thing too, from a person that doesn't really is not really I don't have a lot of knowledge about beer. Yes, I one of the things I've been doing lately, and I haven't been doing it as much, but I've now been doing it lately, is I'll I'll actually click on the brewery first, and then I'll read through all the beers and look at the actual ratings and just because every time I go to a restaurant, what do I say to the the server? Usually I say, what do people get here? Yeah, like or what's special here? And that's a way for me to know what beer there is special based on on the ratings. Yeah. So that's that's a feature that I use um too. And oh, a premium feature that I'm very jealous of because I'm not a premium member for untapped. You shouldn't be. Um, Craig, this is very attached to travel. Yeah, Craig, you there's a section where you can open up the like a map of the United States and it's like a it's like a heat map, and you can see there's like bright, it looks like a bomb went off. Like you're like, I wasn't, I was like, wow, Craig, you've drank a lot in Colorado. There's like just this big blow red splotch. Yep. Um, so you can so it kind of it tracks where you've been, it tracks where you've drank the most, pretty much. Yeah, but just kind of I don't know, it's a cool feature.
SPEAKER_02:But what one of the features I like as well, and I always lead people when they see my numbers, my actual raw numbers, how many beers that I've actually consumed in the past three or four years, it's a lot. It is. Um, you know, I'm over the thousand, for instance, you know, in the last three years. It's a lot. But in saying that, it also says the size of the beers that you have. And so you know me, Josh, I love a flight of beers. Now, a flight is a taster size of beer. I have five in a flight, that's almost like just the same as one pint of beer. So, and then I can log five different styles of beer uh and five logs for instead of just a one. So that's how it works for me as well. So that's it. Uh I'm just a bit of a disclaimer there, too. That's I don't drink all like gallons and gallons of beer.
SPEAKER_00:I'm trying to find, I'm looking on on tap right now, I'm trying to find your latest check-in to find here.
SPEAKER_02:And uh so you can check in as well at what they call at home. You can you take you get get a uh a beer or something from from a store or whatever, and you can actually log it at as you're drinking it at home as well. So me, my home is in my van, and so overnight I'll have a beer at uh sometimes in the van and you know enjoy it and log it from there. So that would have been the last one I've logged. It might even might have even been an Aldi beer, to be honest with you, from a supermarket.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, really?
SPEAKER_02:Yes. That's funny.
SPEAKER_00:So un untapped, it's it's a lot of fun. And if you it's a great way to find breweries wherever you're traveling, it's a great way to keep track. When I went to Germany, it was really cool because I was at a different beer garden every night in a different location in Bavaria, where like this is where this is where the birth of beer is, and it was really cool to be able to, I can go back and look at all the actual German beers that I got in Germany, which is just like really cool. It it makes me very tempted to go premium because then I can see my heat app and I have some heat heat. I got some heat in Germany, which is kind of cool.
SPEAKER_02:One thing is well, we will before we move on to uh uh Harvest Host, and that is I know Rob Vartman. Now, what what he loves, he's a premium member as well. But what he loves about it is that he'll look at the beer before he even uh drinks it itself, and he goes to log it. But before he logs it, you can actually check to see what other people have rated it in terms of overall. But not just your friends, but overall everybody around the world.
SPEAKER_00:Your friends too. You can see, oh my gosh. You say Craig, Craig actually drank this beer, he liked it, so maybe I'll like that too.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so so he does he does that a lot. He will before he he looks or rates his beer or even tastes his beer, he'll actually see, oh, this has got an average rating of, you know, it's always out of five. So he's got oh, this one's got an average rating of 4.1, which is actually a good rating uh average, and then he'll drink it and go, Oh, yeah, that's a good beer, and he'll rate it from there too. So, yeah, that's one of the good features, too. So there you go.
SPEAKER_00:Um, just so everybody knows, just for the record, you have logged 1,534 beers.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I'm over 1,500 now. There you go. I didn't even since since 2022. 2022, three years. That's only three years. Wow. What's so divide that by 365 and tell me how many, or do you divide that by three and tell me how many beers per year? Beers a day. Yeah, how many beers per day?
SPEAKER_00:So uh three six.
SPEAKER_02:Remember, uh remember we're talking testing.
SPEAKER_00:Four beers a day, right? No, that's no, that's for just a year. That's for just a year. Yeah, then divide. So it's at least one beer a day.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, at least 1.5 beers. Average. 1.5 beers average. But that includes taster sizes as well, like flight sizes. I'm just my disclaimer.
SPEAKER_00:Like, yeah, you went to that one place, you had 15, 15 check-ins, which is technically three three pints of beer.
SPEAKER_02:You know, that's the link to you.
SPEAKER_00:You're not a drunk, you're not an alcoholic. We're not advocating alcoholism. No, no, no. No, no, no, it's about travel. Um, let's talk speaking of travel, let's talk about harvest hosts. Yes. Uh explain, you've explained it on the podcast before. Explain it just briefly. What is it and um how is it connected to travel and how is it connected to breweries?
SPEAKER_02:Harvest host is another app on your phone as well. And uh you pay for membership, a yearly membership to be part of that harvest host. And the harvest hosts themselves, the people out there who own the businesses, they also uh pay a slight fee to get on the app as well at the same time. And then connects the two of you together. What that means is that uh you'll have at least one free night's accommodation in your van, your RV, your bus, wherever you, whatever you stay in, you'll have one free night's accommodation in their parking lot, in on their farm, wherever the space is that they have. Um uh, some sometimes they'll have hookups, you know, in terms of electricity and water, etc. Other times they have hookups for for you know ten dollars or whatever. Uh, but yeah, you always get one night's free accommodation. Now, part of that is that uh they ask you, they say, you know, look, if you're gonna stay one night for free, then why don't you come and partake in uh a beverage or something to eat or something like that?
SPEAKER_00:Darn, what a what a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_02:I know, I know. Now, Josh, I'll tell you this, I'll tell you this right now, and that is a lot of campsites around the US, they're charging$50 and up per night just as just a park on their campsites. So why not use Harvest Host and spend$20 or$30 on a meal and drinks, which you would normally do anyway, and then get a free night's accommodation. Um, so that's what Harvest Host is all about. Now, Harvest Host isn't just breweries, there's wineries on there, there's farm stays on there as well. There's so many different types. If you've got some open areas, uh then you can, you know, there's places to stay. That uh that one I was talking about in near Duluth as well, the the pig farm. The next morning I went I went and saw him at his little farm shop and bought some delicious fresh bacon and some of this uh bacon back, it's called as well, which is like little chunks of uncooked bacon as well. Oh Josh, it was so good. And of course, he's a farm, so he's got some fresh eggs as well that were that weren't washed, for instance, because so they stayed longer, fresh for fresher for longer because they don't take fresh eggs. So yeah, so things like that too. So that's what Harvest Host does, it puts the traveler in touch with those businesses out there who allow you to to park overnight for free.
SPEAKER_00:So how much is the membership a year?
SPEAKER_02:So as I'm not sure into if you're a host, but if you're a member like me, it's$99 a year. You can get like$100 a year.
SPEAKER_00:This wow, this is the greatest, in my opinion, it seems to me, for a van lifer. Why wouldn't they not have this? This is the greatest deal in van life.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely it is.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, it is amazing. Think about it. A hotel room is you know, you can't get a decent hotel room for a hundred dollars for one night. Not at all. Um, so this is a great deal. It takes you to some places and you're supporting local businesses. This is just this is a win-win-win idea idea. And so if you're out there, um, if you're out there, even you don't even have to be a van lifer. What if you I mean you could just be on a road trip? You know, I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I'm not sure about car, I'm not sure about car, like you have to actually put in what your vehicle is that you're traveling in. Oh, really? And I don't think they allow cars because they don't want they need they need like an RV or or van.
SPEAKER_00:Even if it's converted, even if it's a converted sleeping.
SPEAKER_02:Possibly, possibly, but you have to check because it's a one of the things as well is that you have to be self-contained. In other words, have a bathroom.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:So um, you know, so that you don't want to be sort of interesting. Having a pee behind your vehicle.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Well, even you know, there's a and we should have one of these, we should have these uh like escape camper vans that you've experienced. We should have them on the show because that that would be a great example of a of a place to park it if you would rent uh these vans that are already converted for living in. Um and harvest host would be a great solution if you were uh trekking across the country in uh in like a van a van life sort of situation.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, and Craig? I've I've looked at Harvest Host, unfortunately, unfortunately. I mean, I love them that much as well, but they don't even have referrals either. So it's like they don't need them because there's that many people are naturally referring anyway because people just really enjoy the app and they don't really need any more from it. Um, so there's no real referral program. So, you know, even if you contact us and go, Oh, Craig, is there a referral code? Unfortunately, there isn't because I can't you can't make any money from being a referral for a harvest host. There's no affiliate marketing there. So please just look up.
SPEAKER_00:So the big takeaway here, and this is what we want to do to encourage you is next time you're planning your trip, next time you're visiting a place, don't just think of the landmarks. No, don't just think of the restaurants. Consider the craft breweries because these places are local treasures. If we have not convinced you, these are great places to visit to experience their community, their culture, um, to get inside knowledge about where you're visiting and get us and really uh rub shoulders with locals where you can't really do that as much in a restaurant because you are kind of sequestered to just your own group, typically. Yep. And and Craig, I just realized this. This is a perfect time for this show. This is coming out on September 29th, which means in a couple days, it is October.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And what does October mean in the world of beer? It means Octoberfest.
SPEAKER_01:Of course.
SPEAKER_00:This is the best time of year to visit a brewery because Oktoberfest, there's music, there's fun. These this is a time to really visit breweries. So that's our challenge for you listeners. Get out there, um, download untapped, um, check out a brewery. Even if you're even if you're even if you don't drink, yeah, they have like seltzers, they have they have non-alcoholic options. Some places make their own root beer. Yes, they do, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Non-alcoholic root beer.
SPEAKER_00:So it's not just not just a place, and a lot of these people are places are family friendly too, which a lot of bars are not, but breweries are, yeah. Which is just really cool. That's another another cool thing is that um you can experience if you're traveling with your family, you can you can bring your kids. And that's a big that's really valuable um if you're traveling with a family.
SPEAKER_02:I'll say this too, Josh, and that is uh anyone out there who hasn't got untapped or do have untapped, uh, download the app untapped if you want to uh uh you know partake in a in a beverage here and there and log it and gamify your drinking. And also then you can add uh Josh, you can add you, you can add me on your friends list as well, especially if you're a listener. And especially, Josh, if you're a patron member, because we give a lot back to patrons. So if you've enjoyed the podcast, Josh, how can people become a patron?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, people can reach out to us at uh the treasures of our town podcast at gmail.com or if you'd like to uh support us continue the the free content, no annoying commercials. We're not gonna we're not gonna do any commercials for Miller High Life. But if you're listening, Miller High Life, we'll we'll talk. We're not gonna do any commercials for untapped, but untapped if you're listening. But till then, we are fully supported by our patrons. Yeah, and we have extra content in there. And you can go there at patreon.com backslash treasures of our town, and you'll get all the the backlog of all the golden nuggets that we have shared over the past three years as well. And I'll say this, Craig, before we log off. I think they need to know our untapped name. I am Mayberry Man on Untapped. Who are you on Untapped?
SPEAKER_02:See my shell.
SPEAKER_00:Perfect.
SPEAKER_02:I know, I know. I'm seeing my shell on everything, Josh. Everything's the same for me. I should convert it mine to geocaching vlogger. But one more thing, Josh, as well, when it comes to patrons, and that is there may or may not be a possibility where something's coming to us, to Josh and I, very, very soon. An actual physical item as well. Several of the same physical items. A one of our patrons who I spoke with in Colorado is is kindly making something for us. And we may we may or may not have enough to sort of give out. But we'll soon see. We'll soon see and let you know. Keep you posted. If you want to be in the leak, go to patreon.com forward slash treasures of our town. Otherwise, Josh, how can people contact us if just if they want to chat?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, like I said, reach out to us at treasures of our townpodcast at gmail.com, or you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or a BudSprout site. All you have to search is Treasures of Our Town Podcast. It'll come up first on Google.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. So that's it for our show today. Please subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite podcast.
SPEAKER_00:And as always, the channel is always leading to the most unexpected and biggest games the rest of the world. See you next time.
