Episode 56
Protecting Water, Protecting Beer w/ John O'Boyle
John O'Boyle has many titles: Tony award winner, Olympians, McFleshman's regular. His favorite right now? Aqua Protector of Northeast Wisconsin.
John represents the Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust, a non-profit working to preserve the local water and land for future generation of beer drinkers.
Support the NEW Land Trust: https://www.newlt.org/
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Got a question? Email us at respectingthebeer@gmail.com
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TIMELINE
00:00 Welcoming John O'Boyle
01:28 History of the Fox River and Clean Water Act
02:16 Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust
14:11 The 547 Float Experiment...
15:39 Discussing Hoppy Beers and Triple 547
16:30 The Impact of Honey on Beer
20:00 More Luker Faucets?
21:30 Favorite Beers and Beer History
23:29 Future of the NEW Land Trust
26:16 Support the Land Trust and Preseve Beer!
27:35 See you next week!
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CREDITS
Hosts:
Music by Sarah Lynn Huss
Recorded & Produced by David Kalsow
Brought to you by McFleshman's Brewing Co
Transcript
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Respecting the Beer.
Gary Arndt:My name is Gary Arn and we got another All Star lineup.
Gary Arndt:Today with me again is the historian of Hops and the man who just spent $10,000 on a customs license plate that said 5, 4 7.
Gary Arndt:Mr. Joel Hermanson
Joel Hermansan:best money I ever spent.
Gary Arndt:It's in Diamonds, the best money I've ever spent.
Joel Hermansan:Also
Gary Arndt:with us after a gap of a few episodes, but she's back.
Gary Arndt:She's a professor of Alchemy currently working on, she got a government grant, the Transmute hops into malt.
Gary Arndt:Allison McCoy Fleshman, go team, and we have a special guest this episode.
Gary Arndt:He is the first Tony Award winner.
Gary Arndt:That we've ev maybe on any beer podcast, quite frankly.
Gary Arndt:I I, I don't think there's a lot of, if the South Park guys or Mel Brooks or any of them have ever been on a podcast, but the reason he's here, he's with the Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust.
Gary Arndt:We're gonna talk about water 'cause that's kind of a real important ingredient in beer.
Gary Arndt:Please welcome John O'Boyle.
Gary Arndt:How are you doing, John?
Gary Arndt:Yay.
Gary Arndt:Jon O'boyle: I'm doing great.
Gary Arndt:Thank you so
Gary Arndt:much.
Allison Fleshman:Cool.
Allison Fleshman:This is a chemistry thing, so we might as
Gary Arndt:well, and we've talked about this before, we have the importance of water in beer.
Gary Arndt:So before we get into that, why don't you explain your role and what your organization does and how you've worked with Mc Fleshman?
Gary Arndt:And then we'll get into, oh my God,
Gary Arndt:Jon O'boyle: do we have only a half hour or an hour?
Gary Arndt:So the, the, the quick history lesson is that I was a student at Lawrence once upon a time.
Gary Arndt:And that was in the sixties.
Gary Arndt:And if you fell into the Fox River, you had to get a tetanus shot because it was anaerobic.
Gary Arndt:There was zero oxygen in the water.
Gary Arndt:Zero.
Gary Arndt:So the Clean Water Act came through in 72.
Gary Arndt:And conditions started to improve.
Gary Arndt:And of course one of the things that happened is the invasive species came 'cause they, they couldn't live with zero wa uh, oxygen, but then they could in 19 95, the SEA Grant came out with a concept that they couldn't, they could only do so much in the lower fox unless we cleaned up.
Gary Arndt:Lake Winnebago and we couldn't clean up Lake Winnebago unless we cleaned up the wolf Fox watershed.
Gary Arndt:And that was spurred the beginning of the northeast Wisconsin Land Trust.
Gary Arndt:So we're 29 years old and those visionary people today have helped preserve over 7,000 acres of critical lands.
Gary Arndt:40% of which are wetlands and so on.
Gary Arndt:So we're very much a. Watershed based land trust, we're probably the only freshwater land trust in the country.
Gary Arndt:And the significance of that is that the green bay estuary of which , is the largest freshwater estuary in the world.
Gary Arndt:And it supplies a third of the surface water to Lake Michigan.
Gary Arndt:More importantly for beer drinkers.
Gary Arndt:It supplies all the water for Mc Flagman's Brewery.
Gary Arndt:So the things that we do to protect water in the estuary affects all of us beer drinkers.
Gary Arndt:Growing up here, you know, nobody fished in the Fox River.
Gary Arndt:No one swam in the Fox River.
Gary Arndt:I don't think anyone took boats on the Fox River.
Gary Arndt:It, am I correct in saying you try not
Joel Hermansan:to walk anywhere within a 500 yard radius of the Fox River?
Joel Hermansan:Well.
Gary Arndt:Kind of had to, but it wasn't, I mean, am I correct that this was mostly due to paper?
Gary Arndt:Jon O'boyle: Absolutely.
Gary Arndt:So you can go look at the mills on the river and the river supplied two things, which was power initially, and a place to dump all their
Gary Arndt:waste.
Gary Arndt:And they didn't think, think of it.
Gary Arndt:And for, for people who might not be from the area listening, the Fox River is not far from where we're located.
Gary Arndt:It's a relatively.
Gary Arndt:Short River, it connects two large bodies of water.
Gary Arndt:Lake Winnebagos.
Gary Arndt:If you look at the state of Wisconsin on a map, you'll see a large lake kind of on the eastern part of the state, that's Lake Winnebago, and then it flows north to Green Bay into Lake Michigan, which is an even bigger body of water.
Gary Arndt:Right?
Gary Arndt:And I think it's.
Gary Arndt:40 miles total if you include all the meanders and everything.
Gary Arndt:Mm-hmm.
Gary Arndt:Maybe a little more.
Gary Arndt:Yep.
Gary Arndt:So it's not, not a a, a real long river,
Allison Fleshman:but it's been a polluted river for a very long time.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:With the paper companies that have been along the river.
Allison Fleshman:In fact, Lawrence so, uh, John A.
Allison Fleshman:Lawrence alum, which is exciting.
Allison Fleshman:And I think we've mentioned a couple times I professor down the street at Lawrence.
Allison Fleshman:But the.
Allison Fleshman:Many of the buildings that Lawrence is right on the river.
Allison Fleshman:Many of the buildings that they built actually don't face the river.
Allison Fleshman:Don't look out to the river because for so long it was so gross that it was only an, i, I wanna say around 2005 maybe when the uh, Warch Campus Center was actually built with windows facing the river so you could finally look down and see it because of all the benefit of the Clean Water Act and the work that had been done to clean up the Fox River.
Allison Fleshman:So Lawrence is now starting to embrace the river, but before we kind of turned our backs to it, 'cause it was quite nasty, I hear.
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: It was nasty.
Allison Fleshman:Very nasty.
Allison Fleshman:But one of the things so bringing this to beer I, I love, love, love, love.
Allison Fleshman:The slogan for the Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust, pure water Protected land forever.
Allison Fleshman:And if beer is the water, the water that you get, depending on what salts are present, depending on what minerals are present, we'll dictate how well each particular beer style can come to fruition.
Allison Fleshman:And so without pure water access to pure water, we really don't have a good product to start.
Allison Fleshman:And Wisconsin, somewhat known for their beer, really needs to have really good clean water.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:Well, and, and we recently had an award given to the Fox City's Appleton area that we have the best water in Wisconsin, which.
Joel Hermansan:I think you were the one that told me that.
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: Yep, that's true.
Joel Hermansan:And I'm, , drinking a hilde here.
Joel Hermansan:And don't affect the water at all.
Joel Hermansan:They don't chemically treat it.
Joel Hermansan:That's just right.
Joel Hermansan:And, and untreated water for a pils.
Joel Hermansan:I learned that from a podcast.
Joel Hermansan:Right.
Joel Hermansan:For a pilsner to, you know, be brewed correctly, it's gotta have a water chemistry similar to the water in Pilsen.
Joel Hermansan:Mm-hmm.
Joel Hermansan:Which is in which side of.
Joel Hermansan:Of Czechoslovakia as Joel Ccho LOV area.
Joel Hermansan:Ccho
Gary Arndt:doesn't exist for a while, but it's in the Czech Republic.
Gary Arndt:Czech Republic, also known as Czechia.
Gary Arndt:Okay.
Gary Arndt:Which is what they want to go by now.
Gary Arndt:North Pilsner would be west
Joel Hermansan:or West.
Joel Hermansan:I think it's northwest.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:I just do the chemistry, the water.
Allison Fleshman:I couldn't tell you where it's from.
Gary Arndt:I live, right?
Gary Arndt:I literally look out the window.
Gary Arndt:I see the Fox River.
Gary Arndt:Me too.
Gary Arndt:I could throw a ball and hit it.
Gary Arndt:You know, when I walk down there, you'll still see signs that say, well, you should only eat like one fish a week, or something like that from the river.
Jade:Yep.
Gary Arndt:How much of that is due to the quality of the water, per se that's coming off the watershed versus chemicals that have just been in, uh, the bottom of the river that get turned up?
Gary Arndt:Jon O'boyle: I, I think what's coming off the watershed now is, is pretty good.
Gary Arndt:I'll give you an example of the, uh, Matawan Dam failure that happened last year.
Gary Arndt:And that affected a sewage treatment plant downstream from that.
Gary Arndt:One of the effects of that is water hydrology, which is beyond my pay grade.
Gary Arndt:But, uh, solids tend to go to the, to the sides.
Gary Arndt:And our wetlands that were downstream from that helped filter that water.
Gary Arndt:So the water quality.
Gary Arndt:Certainly since the nineties, the clarity is better and the quality is much, much better.
Gary Arndt:Uh, I think the problem is, you know, there are residual PCBs in the, in the water bed and you can scoop 'em up and put 'em on the bank and cover 'em up with clay, but they persist.
Gary Arndt:They persist.
Joel Hermansan:Can I ask how one goes from being a Tony Award-winning producer and a. A member of the 1976 Olympic team from Antigua, how did you pivot
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: to this?
Joel Hermansan:So I went to Lawrence and to my utter amazement both my children did.
Joel Hermansan:I can't tell you how that happened.
Joel Hermansan:I didn't mean it to, but they did.
Joel Hermansan:And my son's academic advisor was Bart Distasio, and Bart is on the board of the Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust.
Joel Hermansan:And he invited me to a Land Fest several years ago in Wequiock Creek, which is a little bit north of, uh, University of Wisconsin Green Bay Campus.
Joel Hermansan:Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust's kind of a snoring name, but once you find out what they're doing, it's really interesting.
Joel Hermansan:What they were doing there was they were re repairing an agricultural field.
Joel Hermansan:And so the first positive of that is the runoff from the agricultural field into Wequiock Creek.
Joel Hermansan:Which is the only water source for the point of Sable, uh, which is the only major wetlands on the eastern side of Green Bay.
Joel Hermansan:They were re repairing it and they were using, uh, native American environmental techniques which is controlled burns.
Joel Hermansan:And I was fascinated because my daughter-in-law, also a Lawrence grad was in a not-for-profit in the Everglades.
Joel Hermansan:And she was training for a controlled burn.
Joel Hermansan:So I was paying a lot of attention.
Joel Hermansan:And what they, what she had been told is that the controlled burns in the Everglades were to emulate lightning strikes and the fires, the resulting fires.
Joel Hermansan:And I was kind of fascinated that the Native Americans had figured this out.
Joel Hermansan:And could use this as a tool to actually improve and create Prairie.
Joel Hermansan:So I don't have a lot of donation dollars, but I started supporting the Land Trust.
Joel Hermansan:And then a couple years ago somebody said there's this job of raising money for the Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust.
Joel Hermansan:And I looked at, I've a bunch of careers and we don't need to go into that.
Joel Hermansan:But anyway, the, the commonality is raising money for something I really care about.
Joel Hermansan:I was already a member, I was already a, a convert.
Joel Hermansan:So it was a very, very good fit for me.
Joel Hermansan:And you've been able to transition it to beer?
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: Well, first thing is the water, and the second thing is about a year ago, one of the properties that we own is Harness Farm, which is just outside of Nina.
Joel Hermansan:And I noticed there was an apiary there.
Joel Hermansan:And one of the things I like to do, and going to grant givers is to give them an a moose bush.
Joel Hermansan:Uh, and so my first idea was wilmer's chocolate because, you know but when I saw the apiary there, I thought, oh, it'd be really good to have little jars of honey to hand out done by our volunteer pollinators.
Joel Hermansan:And and then I thought, well, what else can I do with honey?
Joel Hermansan:And then I immediately thought of.
Joel Hermansan:Mick Fleischmann's was my, my favorite brewery.
Joel Hermansan:And I thought maybe we could do some honey beers.
Joel Hermansan:So I approached Allison and Bobby and they thought it was a great idea.
Joel Hermansan:Mm-hmm.
Joel Hermansan:And so we've done a couple and we hope to do a couple more.
Joel Hermansan:So what's interesting here is they have certain things that are branded, like Vantage is the, the barrel age things.
Joel Hermansan:They have the 10 pastes, which are the sours.
Joel Hermansan:And so what I'm hoping we do here.
Joel Hermansan:Is create, uh, land lover honey, whatever, land lover honey pal ale, land lover honey triple chocolate, land lover honey whatever the triple
Allison Fleshman:honey from every vantage point essentially.
Allison Fleshman:So,
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: And, and have those on tap kind of on a rotating basis, maybe in cans.
Allison Fleshman:And use that as a device both for.
Allison Fleshman:Introducing ourselves to the patrons here and vice versa.
Allison Fleshman:Mm-hmm.
Allison Fleshman:So, I, I think the thing that's interesting to me is that Bobby and and Allison have created a community here, and it's an intelligent community.
Allison Fleshman:So I've come to most of the, I've, I've come to all of the, I'm about to say you've
Allison Fleshman:been an excellent student.
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: The beer classes.
Allison Fleshman:And there's like 30 or 40 people that are really interested in learning, you know, not just getting smashed and drinking beers, but learning about beer, learning about the science of beer, learning about the history of beer.
Allison Fleshman:So there's, notice
Allison Fleshman:how he said science first?
Allison Fleshman:I did, I did notice that.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah,
Joel Hermansan:right.
Joel Hermansan:Sorry to interrupt.
Joel Hermansan:No, I thank you for pointing that out.
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: But so there's, they've created a, an intelligent community here that has a passion for a liquid.
Joel Hermansan:And we are also a community that has a passion for a liquid, and that liquid helps the other liquid.
Joel Hermansan:So it just seems like a natural alliance.
Allison Fleshman:Well, and there's been some fun, uh, fun discussions, but also so the Land Trust did land Fest that was back in, when, when was that now?
Allison Fleshman:Land Fest was in last,
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: last, uh, September.
Allison Fleshman:Last September.
Allison Fleshman:It was a family event.
Allison Fleshman:So Bobby and I brought our 6-year-old at the time, 5-year-old.
Allison Fleshman:And so we went to this land fest which we've been to Mini Beer Fest.
Allison Fleshman:So we didn't really know what to anticipate when the with a Land Land Fest.
Allison Fleshman:But it was really just that there were they had a whole bunch of volunteers.
Allison Fleshman:There was even this spot to where we were digging for different types of insects in like the Water River type.
Allison Fleshman:Area Pond.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah, in the pond.
Allison Fleshman:We went on these gorgeous hikes.
Allison Fleshman:They had a speaker and it was a book signing and it was just a really great, like everyone kind of came together and was in just this gorgeous area with planes and trees and hills.
Allison Fleshman:And it was just really nice to connect with folks.
Allison Fleshman:Bar Achio was there with his my Beth Sia, who are also a Lauren, both Lawrence faculty, and there was just a really great comradery coming together for a shared mission.
Allison Fleshman:And I think that's one of the things that we really like.
Allison Fleshman:About creating the, the brewery is that it's a public house.
Allison Fleshman:It's a place where you can go and have conversation.
Allison Fleshman:And one of the jokes that we, it's not really a joke anymore, I guess, is that we sell beer in conversation with the hope that we don't have distracting screens on the walls.
Allison Fleshman:We have just basically an open space, an open beer garden to have a beer.
Allison Fleshman:And talk with your neighbor because I think a lot of that connectivity is missing.
Allison Fleshman:And so it was really exciting to go to a place where other people cared about land and water too.
Joel Hermansan:Are we supposed to be charging for conversation?
Joel Hermansan:'cause if so, I was gonna say, I want to cut you.
Joel Hermansan:Do you do it?
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: It cost you a beer.
Joel Hermansan:I is there a button in the, in the system downstairs that, shoot,
Allison Fleshman:we specialize in beer, in conversation.
Allison Fleshman:How's that sound?
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:No.
Allison Fleshman:And, and that's actually one of the things that attracted me to MC Fleischmann's, was that they don't have TVs.
Allison Fleshman:I mean, it's probably the only bar of the only bars that doesn't have TVs.
Allison Fleshman:And people, the, the purpose of that is that people come here to talk.
Allison Fleshman:They come here to knit, they come here to play games.
Allison Fleshman:But they come here to experience each other as opposed to get distracted by a screen.
Allison Fleshman:Right.
Allison Fleshman:I think that's, this is not the Packers bar.
Joel Hermansan:No, no.
Joel Hermansan:And you and I connected, you have an affinity for 5 47.
Jade:Oh,
Joel Hermansan:I got corrupted by Joel.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:And.
David:Uh, from the boys downstairs.
David:It's a 5 47 float.
David:I was about to with vanilla ice cream.
Allison Fleshman:I was about to ask Joel, what, what are you being served right now and how does it taste?
Joel Hermansan:Yeah, I haven't, uh, I have not, uh, tried it yet.
Joel Hermansan:I'll, I'll get right on that, but I want to, well,
Allison Fleshman:to celebrate, oh, it's almost like a gummy
Joel Hermansan:bear bride, isn't it?
Joel Hermansan:Or a lava lamp?
Joel Hermansan:No, this is
Joel Hermansan:Gary and I had words the other day.
Joel Hermansan:Oh
Allison Fleshman:boy.
Joel Hermansan:Uh, and the subjects, were they
Allison Fleshman:smart words or not smart words?
Joel Hermansan:One of us was speaking smart words.
Gary Arndt:And this is the logical conclusion of your worldview, is the 5 47 float.
Joel Hermansan:I, I would like to point out, I did not ask for that, nor did I.
Gary Arndt:That is a ze on ice cream.
Allison Fleshman:Don't just give it a try.
Allison Fleshman:Okay?
Allison Fleshman:Now you've got listeners who are listening to you giving it a try.
Allison Fleshman:Oh, here he goes, here's no, and he went, oh.
Allison Fleshman:Oh.
Allison Fleshman:Nope.
Allison Fleshman:That's a, that's a knot for me face.
Joel Hermansan:Okay.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:That good for you though.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:That was a noble experiment, but whatever.
Allison Fleshman:Are there noble hops in 5, 4, 7?
Joel Hermansan:No.
Joel Hermansan:Oh, there are not.
Joel Hermansan:But that, yeah.
Joel Hermansan:That I, I'm not the whole theme with the stouts, like that's a really good fit.
Joel Hermansan:With a hoppy beer like that.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:And speaking of hoppy beers like that, you recently were able to try the triple 5 47 that Bobby made with your honey.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:And I know you were really proud to be a part of it, and you were really excited when it came out.
Joel Hermansan:What, what did what, what did you think?
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: If there's a beer that I think is even better than 5 47, which is really hard to do, it's the triple.
Joel Hermansan:Because you can taste the honey and it, balances hops a little bit.
Joel Hermansan:And Joel was kind enough to even before it was released, hook it up and give me a, a, a big glass of it and.
Joel Hermansan:It drank smoothly.
Joel Hermansan:And my reaction afterwards was, I better not have a second.
Joel Hermansan:I'm not sure I can drive home, but it was fabulous.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:The the ABVs are are 11%.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:And honey has a natural way of doing that to beer.
Joel Hermansan:If you've ever brewed with honey, honey has because of the sugar content.
Joel Hermansan:Mm-hmm.
Joel Hermansan:Honey, yeah.
Joel Hermansan:Will, will drive that way up.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:And it, what I've noticed about honey beers and I thought Bobby was, did a, you know, masterful job.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah, I did.
Joel Hermansan:And taking a beer that has that level of alcohol and yet it, I, I think, and I know I'm not alone in this room in saying that.
Joel Hermansan:I think it actually is smoother than 5 47.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:Even though the ABVs are significantly
Allison Fleshman:higher.
Allison Fleshman:Oh my gosh.
Allison Fleshman:I haven't tried this beer and I'm interested too.
Allison Fleshman:Oh, it, oh
Gary Arndt:it's, wow.
Gary Arndt:It's, it's massive.
Gary Arndt:It's one.
Gary Arndt:It is wonderful.
Gary Arndt:Wow.
Gary Arndt:The correct name for it should be honey 1 million hundred 63,667,323.
Gary Arndt:You had to have cubed it, which is 5 47 cubed.
Joel Hermansan:For those of you who are newer to the podcast, I'm.
Joel Hermansan:Sitting next to Gary, who's a math major, and I'm sitting across from Allison, who's a math nerd, who actually on her phone says, I love math.
Joel Hermansan:So those two are just super impressed with, with the 5 47 Cube math.
Joel Hermansan:But so you loved it.
Joel Hermansan:You took quite a bit home too, if I recall.
Joel Hermansan:I did indeed.
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: I did indeed had to share that.
Joel Hermansan:You did?
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: And well, the reason why is the first time you put it on tap, it ran out in a day and nobody told me.
Joel Hermansan:And I was kind of irritated.
Joel Hermansan:So that's why I kept
Joel Hermansan:Well, and I texted you when it came up and you bugged me
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: and,
Gary Arndt:and, uh, that happens here.
Gary Arndt:I. It does.
Gary Arndt:It does.
Gary Arndt:It, it, I've, there have been many a product that I'm like, it was here, and then it's gone.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:We try hard, but the, the front of the house, the back of the house don't necessarily talk to each other and it's, yeah.
Allison Fleshman:We're getting better we think.
Joel Hermansan:I, I have a growing list of contacts of people that I have to text when things come out.
Joel Hermansan:That's called service right there.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:Well, it is.
Joel Hermansan:And I see people around town and they're like, Hey, did alter ego show up yet?
Joel Hermansan:Or the one that I probably get the most questions about is, Hey, is public house there today?
Joel Hermansan:And yes.
Joel Hermansan:So it it, it does happen.
Joel Hermansan:Where, where we're.
Allison Fleshman:I just have to interject this to the, to your point of when you see people out around town.
Allison Fleshman:Today was one of the first times Bobby and I were out at a coffee shop just down the street and a person walked by that we didn't recognize, and they were wearing a mc flesh men's hat.
Allison Fleshman:I nearly lost it.
Allison Fleshman:Like to see one in the wild of someone.
Allison Fleshman:I don't know.
Allison Fleshman:That was the coolest thing ever.
Allison Fleshman:Thank you person that walked by.
Gary Arndt:I had that same reaction about a month ago at Half Price Books when someone recognized me from my voice.
Allison Fleshman:That's awesome.
Joel Hermansan:Really.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: So the other thing I wanna say is I have listened to all of the podcasts now of respecting the beer and, uh, they're really instructive.
Joel Hermansan:And I realized that I've become a Joel captive because I just always order 5 47.
Joel Hermansan:But uhoh, there are all these other really, really, really good beers.
Allison Fleshman:Like an m, MSS P,
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: Like an MSB.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:So.
Allison Fleshman:When I took your class, I realized I'd never had an MSB that wasn't out of a can.
Allison Fleshman:I hadn't had one that was pulled and it was great.
Allison Fleshman:Yes.
Allison Fleshman:And then, uh, couple days ago I was here and they have an MSB CO2.
Allison Fleshman:Yes.
Allison Fleshman:And it's great.
Allison Fleshman:So...
Gary Arndt:you're just a dupe of big hops.
Gary Arndt:Big hops are just trying to get you to get their IPAs.
Gary Arndt:No, I like the South State.
Gary Arndt:I'm sorry, Joel, who's taking, you know, money to, to push their agenda.
Allison Fleshman:Big hops, MSB for the win
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:And so but, but the other thing is the, you know, the, the whole, uh, Luker thing try, oh, those lu to try a Hildy and to try a, a pure foam which is an unusual experience.
Allison Fleshman:I don't know if you can do that any place else.
Gary Arndt:i almost think that you should have gotten like more spigots on the luker faucet.
Allison Fleshman:Dude.
Allison Fleshman:Oh boy.
Joel Hermansan:We went to Wait.
Joel Hermansan:Now for those listening again, whenever Gary says to do something, it gets done.
Joel Hermansan:So we're gonna come in here at some point in the next two months and there's gonna be like a hydra looking.
Joel Hermansan:It's an investment, but I think it was like arms.
Allison Fleshman:We were just gonna get one.
Allison Fleshman:'cause the story goes like the kid brought out one to Bobby and it was like, oh, surprise.
Allison Fleshman:And then she brought out a second.
Jade:Mm.
Allison Fleshman:Because it's like, oh, if you were gonna buy, it wasn't that much more expensive to buy the second wait.
Gary Arndt:You have another one?
Allison Fleshman:No, sorry.
Allison Fleshman:There were two tabs.
Allison Fleshman:So the, the luker is like the main Oh yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Okay.
Allison Fleshman:With the little hop cone at the top, the main part, big, whatever that's called.
Allison Fleshman:Uh, so
Joel Hermansan:I think Bobby needs an eight to 10 armed luker faucet connection.
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: So the, the podcast I heard was that, there was a very good, uh, mile of music and Allison consented to let Bobby get a
Allison Fleshman:finally.
Allison Fleshman:Yep.
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Well he was gonna buy it on his own if I didn't do it first and I didn't trust, 'cause he would've probably bought four or five, although he wanted just the little ones.
Allison Fleshman:But once you saw the hop cone and the whole brass Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Shebang.
Allison Fleshman:It,
Joel Hermansan:it's quite elegant.
Allison Fleshman:It's, it's very, it's quite elegant.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:You can't unsee it.
Joel Hermansan:No, no.
Joel Hermansan:Really.
Joel Hermansan:And you can't cantas
Allison Fleshman:it.
Allison Fleshman:It's so good.
Allison Fleshman:Once you have it off the luker.
Allison Fleshman:Right.
Allison Fleshman:The so the other thing I was gonna ask so as a graduate of mc Flesh Men's Beer Academy, in both the science of beer as well as the history of beer, do you have a favorite?
Allison Fleshman:I'm putting you on the spot.
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: Oh my goodness.
Allison Fleshman:I have Joel sitting here and Allison sitting here.
Allison Fleshman:You are my favorite twins.
Allison Fleshman:Oh, there we go.
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: No, I think it's a very good compliment.
Allison Fleshman:The history of beer is fascinating and you had, uh, Charlie Bamford on recently and he had a kind of slightly different take than Joel.
Allison Fleshman:About the same.
Allison Fleshman:Mm-hmm.
Allison Fleshman:And then, I thought your discussion of bubbles, oh, bubbles and the physics of bubbles and the chemistry of bubbles.
Allison Fleshman:Bubbles are fascinating.
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: Who knew?
Allison Fleshman:Right?
Allison Fleshman:I mean, I just drank beer and it's just, I don't know.
Allison Fleshman:So,
Allison Fleshman:Yep.
Allison Fleshman:I, and those are luker bubbles as opposed to my nitro bubbles.
Allison Fleshman:It's so different.
Allison Fleshman:And the first, and the first
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: science I heard was from Bobby, and he was like.
Allison Fleshman:So over my head it was just like, oh
Allison Fleshman:yeah, no, we won't let him talk anymore when it comes to science.
Joel Hermansan:So you attended with both of us.
Joel Hermansan:So let me, I, if you get to ask a question, then I can as well.
Joel Hermansan:Oh, love it.
Joel Hermansan:Let's hear it.
Joel Hermansan:So, which one of us was taller?
Allison Fleshman:Oh, he wants to win something.
Allison Fleshman:John O'boyle: Joel, you are taller.
Allison Fleshman:Yes, you were taller.
Allison Fleshman:Excellent by
Allison Fleshman:like a foot and a half.
Allison Fleshman:Okay.
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: Thank you for joining us on.
Allison Fleshman:But Allison's funnier.
Allison Fleshman:Oh,
Allison Fleshman:we're gonna edit that.
Joel Hermansan:Yeah, that's not the first time I've heard that.
Joel Hermansan:Jon O'boyle: So I came to Lawrence as a pre-med major, and I always say that if Allison had been the chemistry teacher.
Joel Hermansan:For me, for organic, I might have actually turned into a doctor.
Joel Hermansan:Oh no, no.
Joel Hermansan:Dr. O Boyle and I would be, have such a less interesting life.
Allison Fleshman:I'm so, so, I'm so glad I didn't have you in class then.
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: You weren't born when I was.
Gary Arndt:What's the future for the land Trust?
Gary Arndt:Jon O'boyle: It's interesting 'cause this is our 29th year.
Gary Arndt:We're gonna come up in our 30th year next year.
Gary Arndt:And the two things I want to tell people thank you for what we've accomplished and what is your vision for us for the next 30 years.
Gary Arndt:I believe that water will become much more critically important than we understand now, and we lucky Wisconsins are right next to 20% of the world's fresh water.
Gary Arndt:I think the world is gonna become as part theta would say, wetter, wilder warmer.
Gary Arndt:I think so.
Gary Arndt:I personally am a environment refugee from Florida after a hurricane almost wiped out our house and then it didn't, but I thought, this is not the last time that's gonna happen.
Gary Arndt:I think parts of the country are gonna go through significant drought and, things are gonna change.
Gary Arndt:Therefore paying attention to land use and land preservation I think is gonna become more and more critical.
Gary Arndt:And we'll see.
Gary Arndt:But I think owning real estate in Wisconsin is a really smart move.
Joel Hermansan:So if I'm understanding you correctly, beer and saving the planet go together again.
Gary Arndt:Absolutely.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Joel Hermansan:I like this combination.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah, it's a good combo.
Gary Arndt:And are there any other future collaborations you guys are thinking about doing?
Allison Fleshman:Oh, of course.
Allison Fleshman:I think the amount of the difference num the number of styles of beer that we can put honey into is vast.
Allison Fleshman:And so not only that, we also are looking to do meads, right?
Allison Fleshman:And I think I'm gonna get Bobby, is it called a brag?
Allison Fleshman:Is that the name?
Allison Fleshman:So a bracket is a mixture of a beer and a mead.
Allison Fleshman:And so then again, you've got this whole.
Allison Fleshman:Just entourage of different types of styles that you can explore and access to really good quality honey is key to that.
Allison Fleshman:And so we are looking forward to extending that.
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: Yeah, Bobby's talking about a honey pear mead, which just sounds great.
Allison Fleshman:Oh, a sizer is what that thought cider.
Allison Fleshman:I'm sorry.
Allison Fleshman:And one of the things I've come to appreciate about Bobby is, he has a solid grasp on the science of beer, but also he's like a great chef.
Allison Fleshman:He's able to taste things in his mind.
Allison Fleshman:He does do that.
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: And so what he comes up with are I, you know, are all fantastic.
Allison Fleshman:Every one of his styles I think are significantly good.
Allison Fleshman:Mm-hmm.
Allison Fleshman:In the,
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: which is amazing 'cause a lot of breweries I go to.
Allison Fleshman:You know, I'll do a tasting of five and it's like, oh well the hazy is okay.
Allison Fleshman:Hazy are always kind of okay, but kind of not great.
Allison Fleshman:Uh, but Bobby does a great hazy despite himself.
Allison Fleshman:He tries not to, but he can't help it.
Gary Arndt:Alright, so your job is to raise money for the land trust, right?
Gary Arndt:So if somebody wants to give money.
Gary Arndt:How would they contact you?
Gary Arndt:Jon O'boyle: God bless you.
Gary Arndt:So, uh, no, I,
Gary Arndt:I'm gonna tell about the promotion.
Gary Arndt:I, I know how it works.
Gary Arndt:Jon O'boyle: Save the land.
Gary Arndt:So um, so we, we do have a website, which is, Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust.
Gary Arndt:It's NEWL t.org.
Gary Arndt:And if you go there right now, you're gonna see this very sad, antiquated website design, which about a month from now is gonna be very slick.
Gary Arndt:welcome.
Gary Arndt:people at any level.
Gary Arndt:We do have guardian level, which is a thousand dollars or more a year.
Gary Arndt:And for that we have an event.
Gary Arndt:And of course our event this year is gonna be where?
Gary Arndt:Right in this room.
Allison Fleshman:Fantastic.
Allison Fleshman:At the end of this month, McFleshman's Brewing Company, Prohibition Room.
Allison Fleshman:Uh,
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: but we also have a, a monthly program, which really works for us well, because sometimes writing a big check at the end of the year is a problem.
Allison Fleshman:But if you take $20 a month or something like that outta your credit card, it's great so.
Allison Fleshman:Or even supporting the Land Fest, which will probably happen again in September,
Allison Fleshman:Jon O'boyle: uh, September 6th.
Allison Fleshman:Fantastic.
Allison Fleshman:We'll be at Wequiock.
Allison Fleshman:Uh, we are expanding, so we have a, a site at Wequiock and there's like a missing puzzle piece in between Wequiock and Point Disable, which is owned by, , University of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the only major wetlands in the eastern side of, uh, Green Bay.
Allison Fleshman:it'll be a lot of fun.
Gary Arndt:Excellent.
Gary Arndt:So that will wrap up this episode of Respecting the Beer.
Gary Arndt:Make sure to subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player, so you'll never miss an episode.
Gary Arndt:And feel free to join the Facebook group to get updates between the episodes and support the show over on Patreon where you will find exclusive content from a lot of the episodes that do not make it on the main show.
Gary Arndt:So until next time, please remember to respect the beer.
