EP-162 Uppers & Downers Hangover Party 2018

Hey we did it - we made it through another year of Uppers & Downers in
Chicago, home to our annual festival of coffee, beer, and coffee beers held
in collaboration with our friends at Thalia Hall.

This time around, of course, we decided to make an entire week out of it,
with a series of smaller events leading up to the festival featuring tours
of local coffee roasters, espresso demos, tap takeovers, an incredible
chef-driven dinner, an Irish cocktail competition with some of chicago best
bartenders. It was a real haul, but we were thrilled to bring in so many
new partners and collaborators this year to pull it off.

So as we do every year, but especially this year, is we sit down for the
Hangover party and reflect on what we learned and what we were inspired by
from the festival with some of the brewers, roasters, and others who came
to town.

Our co-founder, world Barista Champion Stephen Morrissey couldn’t be with
us this year, he was off in London getting ready for our first major Uppers
& Downers festival there this May 19th — he was doing a site visit and
working with the brewers, roasters, and our London-based editor Matthew
Curtis in the run-up to what will be a major international expansion for us
with the festival. we’ve got some really exciting things to share. Tickets
for the London fest are on sale now - on goodbeerhunting.com/events

But to sit alongside me for the recap podcast was a very worthy substitute
with Nick Kohout and Jen Hoverstad of Counter Culture Coffee based in North
Carolina, but with a lab here in Chicago.