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One of the most popular podcast about beer, more commonly referred to as BrewCasts has been going for over two years now. They are CrAzY about beer and brewing beer. BrewCrAzY is the personal project of John Mckissack. John is known worldwide to thousand of beer lovers and beewers as “Johnny Max,” or J-Max.”

BrewCrAzY has been going strong since July of 2005 and is one of a handful of podcasts that have embarked on a mission to educate the world about the art and craft of brewing beer at home. One of the main traits of most home brewers is the fact that they will go to extraordinary length to help other people learn the craft of brewing beer.

Johnny Max produces and distributes is show at no charge. He told me he could get sponsors, but he wants to be free to produce a genuine show and not have to worry about slanting it one way or the other for money. He has spent thousands on recording equipment and software, not to mention advertising and Internet hosting. When asked why he does it he says “It is not about the money, it’s about promoting REAL beer!” Johnny is not a lone ranger, most podcasts about home brewing beer is a done by people for free.

When you get Johnny Max talking about beer there is no shutting him up. He could talk for days on end about ?beer this? and ?beer that.? He explained all about beer history, beer science, beer flavors, beer pairing with food, beer brewing, beer recipes and on and on. This guy is ?Beer nuts,? ?Beer CrAzY or should I say ?Brew CrAzY!?

J-Max said he wanted to do a beer podcast ever since he first heard a show produced in the Land Down Under which by the way is the longest running Brewcast by far. Craft Brewer Radio hosted by Graham Sanders of North Queens Land, Australia motivated J-Max to put out his own show. Johnny contacted Graham Sander, also know as the Guru of the North, North Australia that is and Graham helped Johnny get going and boy did he get going. Go Johnny Go!

Johnny encourages other brewers to start their own beer podcast and they are popping up here and there. Home brewers as a rule promote their craft of making beer for free. There are some that do it for the money, but most don’t charge a penny. Now they will definitely take a free home brew and drink it on the show. The most popular free home brew shows in order are Craft Brewer Radio, BrewCrAzY, the Brew Bubbas and Yeast Slurry. I applauded them for their effort to promote beer!

BrewCrAzY is a little CrAzY at times, just like the name states, but their main purpose is to teach people how to make the best beer, wine, cider and mead possible. There was a new home brewer who listened to the first five BrewCrAzY shows and used what he learned and entered his first homebrew competition. He won a gold medal and took first place in his category. He not only won a gold medal, but won best of show! Best of show is the best of the best in the whole competition and there were over 1,000 beers entered in that competition. When asked about this, Johnny Max responded in a modest way saying “There is a lot of good information out there, I try to be a part of it. My main goal is to educate the next generation about what real beer is.”

Johnny Max may have a radio personality that is loud and a little braggadocio, but in person he is a soft spoken man who is just laid back and enjoying life’s ride, while sipping on a home brewed beer. J-Max encompasses what draws so many people to the craft of brewing good beer

Tags: Arts and Crafts