Brian Marshall & The ROCK 108 Morning Show - "Rock 108 Bockfest"

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Brian

Marshall and the Rock 108 Morning Show.

So Steve, I've got to know, how long you've been with Millstream?

You know, he owns it.

No.

My partners and I bought it about a year and a half ago.

So what got you into the beer game originally?

That was the first craft beer I ever drank.

Really?

I'll say as a kid, I won't tell you what age.

I can guarantee it was younger than 21 or 18 at the time.

But yeah, it was the first craft beer I ever had.

I grew up in Shellsburg, Iowa.

love the beer industry, worked for a high V at one point as a young kid put my way through school and decided as I got older in my career spent 25 years in the media business and wanted to come back home to Iowa and make beer.

So we bought the brewery in March of 2021 and have been having fun since.

See and I have this this thing and it correct me if I'm wrong here when the local craft brewery thing kind of picked up here in Iowa

Millstream was right there towards the beginning, wasn't it?

Yeah,

it

was the

original craft brewery in Iowa, 1985, the first one.

Wow.

Yeah.

So it was started by the Zuber family in a manna.

They started brewing the first batch in a garage, eventually built the brewery.

It was a really, really small system.

And over the years, I think we are the third or fourth owner in 34, 31.

Actually, more than that, it'd be, what are we at?

Almost, what?

37 years, something like that.

Yeah.

So no, really fortunate.

We

said there'd be no math.

I know, that's

not me.

I'm not allowed to count.

So yeah, really fortunate.

It's just a good, it's always been a family business, great support in the Imana area.

But we also distribute all of our beers in eight different states in the United States along with their sodas.

Really?

So

eight different states.

So some people would say you probably have their dream job, right?

My

wife would say that.

I convinced her to come back and buy a brewery.

So I'm very thankful to her and all my friends who have put up with us this year drinking beer, but they like it for

that.

Okay, walk

back back

for just

a second.

What kind of conversation was that?

I'd like to buy a brewery.

How does that conversation go?

She blew me off.

Yeah, okay, you go ahead and you work on that.

And then I said, no, really, we have the brewery.

And then I finally talked her into it.

So she's having fun.

So Steve from Millstream Brewing Company is here.

The Winter Bockfest is coming up on February 11th, two until six of the Price Creek Event Center in Amanda.

I made a confession yesterday on Facebook that this will be my first Oktoberfest.

All right.

Ever.

In February?

No,

ever.

I've not done one in October.

I've not done one in February.

As a guy who enjoys beer, you'd think I would have

been

something like this, but no, this will be my first.

So what can we expect from the Winter Bockfest at the Price Creek Event Center?

Well, so do you own Lederhosen?

No.

Would you like to?

Get that on Amazon?

Yes, you actually can.

Ned's going to be in his kilt.

Oh, gosh.

He's Scottish.

He's German.

It's OK.

If there's an

opportunity to wear a kilt, Ned will do it.

Yeah.

So the Oktoberfest in Amanda is a very unique thing.

If you've never been there, you should.

We invite somewhere between 50 and 70,000 of our best friends who love beer to come down and drink beer, sing, cheer, eat pretzels, celebrate all things heritage and mostly beer and then beer.

I was there this year.

It was fantastic.

It's everybody's dress to the nines.

They really live the moment.

Amazing.

I love Oktoberfest now.

The food's not bad either.

Do I have to know particular songs?

Yes.

Oh, like which

ones?

Iron Prosit is a good one.

Do you know the Ziggy Zaggy Ziggy Zaggy

chair?

Yes.

That one you'll hear about maybe a hundred times.

Okay.

And

it always

ends with Clinkham and Drinkham.

Okay.

Clinkham and Drinkham.

Write that down.

Alice who the heck is Alice?

We're protecting the FCC license today That

is

a that is a German polka song

Barry Boyce band who's very well known comes in from Omaha.

They play to our crowds at my Fest in October Fest and will be here now for Bach Fest.

He does some great versions.

He does a crazy trained version.

Okay.

So playing with the Rock 108 theme, he's very diversified in the musical offerings.

But I like to joke and say that Barry is the Jimmy Buffett of Boca Bands.

If you can't go and pay too much and drink a lot of beer and dance to music that you're not familiar with, he will make you do it.

It's just a fun time.

Good party, good relaxing.

time, celebrate a really good beer.

So this is February 11.

Tickets are on sale now.

You can buy them at rock108.com.

Or you can just show up that night.

But the place only holds $2,500, so it's possible you might get sold out.

So if you definitely want to be there, get tickets in advance.

If not, just show up.

So Brian Marshall, along

with Steve, who on his business card says Chief Beer Taster.

which a millstream brewing company can mean a lot of things, right, Steve?

How lucky am I?

It's just, like I said earlier, it's like a dream job that people always want to do, but there's a lot that goes into it.

I don't think a lot of people understand how much goes into not only getting the beer on store shelves and such, but just the process of brewing it in the first place, right?

You were telling me your brewer himself, Chris,

right?

Yeah, Chris has been with us for 30 plus years.

He does some amazing German based beers that nobody can replicate.

We love it.

Is he a chemist?

I think he's a writer by trade who is an amazing engineer.

Beer's a little bit of chemistry.

It's a little bit of biology, right?

Yeah.

And it's a little bit of sweat equity.

Right, exactly.

A lot of hard work goes into it.

What helps you at Millstream to determine what's a good beer?

What do you think is, when you put something together and you say, this is brand new, and you know you're going to put it out there in the world like a band, right?

They write a song.

They put it out there in the world.

What makes a hit for you?

Oh, that's a good question.

It's not an easy one, though, because you have a lot of different people who like a lot of different beers.

Yeah.

I was laughed at.

Iowa has a ton of craft, amazing craft beer available for a state that drinks an awful lot of bushlight.

So but it's but it continues to grow and grow and grow.

And so there's a mixture.

We're looking for the people who love the die hard, dark, roasty, multi, hoppies, the differentiating beers like a rock,

But then we're also looking for things that are unique.

We have a pistachio cream ale that's to

die

for that appeals to a lot of folks.

And then you're looking for, we always joke that there's always one beer that we have on tap called the one that tastes like, because every day somebody comes in, can you give me the one that tastes like push light, Bud Light, Miller Light?

And so we have a lot of different beer for a lot of different people, as most brewers will tell you.

So you mentioned Rockbock when that started the process.

Can you tell me about the infancy of Rockbok?

Yeah, so we love a good Bach beer.

So we kind of go from Oktoberfest mode, which is a nice, multi-sweet Mars in the fall, and then it kind of progresses.

Then we're looking into our porters and our stouts in our box.

And so we want to develop a beer for Rock 108 that was a very smooth, you know, it's a dark.

brown, but but it drinks very smooth, easy.

It's got a nice crisp finish, but it's a very multi-carmily beer.

So if you've never tried a Bach, give it a try.

And then as we go into the spring, we start to look at my box and different things.

And then it kind of comes full circle through the summer where the beers get a little bit lighter.

But I would encourage anybody, if you've never tried a Bach, give it a taste.

And we we gave some to some a lot of loyal listeners and fans of Rock 108 earlier this week.

They loved it.

They were very happy.

So this is

available.

It has been available in bars, but now it's starting to come to store shelves, right?

Yeah, we just worked with the Rock 108 team to come out with an exclusive label and to can it.

And it is on store shelves.

Look forward in Hy-Vee's, Fairways, local bars, restaurants all around Waterloo, Cedar Falls.

We've got quite a bit of people, quite a few stores carrying it right now.

Cedar Rapids is just starting to pick up.

In fact, I'll be out today visiting some of our friends in here in Cedar Rapids trying to get them to take that beer on store shelves.

In fact, we just saw earlier today.

what, Hiawatha Fairway has a nice display up right there of Rockbox.

So what do P1 Nation need to do to help out your cause to get Rockbox into their local

state?

Yeah, if you want to try it, just ask for it.

I always tell people, ask your wine and spirits manager at the grocery store.

Ask for your local bar manager, your tender.

Just have them bring it in.

Other distributors in six different states have it available, especially here in eastern Iowa.

They just need to ask for it.

You know, in the short term, the best way to help

is come February 11th.

Yep.

All you can drink.

February the 11th, two until six, Price Creek Event Center in Imana.

Now, with this being kind of like a midday event, Steve, this is pretty cool that we got this going on a Saturday and get everybody to have a little bit of a party early, right?

Yeah, so you can still get your Valentine's Day celebration in that weekend afterwards.

I always recommend starting off with a good party in Rockbox first though in Imana.

Absolutely.

So the Barry Boyce polka band, you talked about this a little bit earlier.

Russ, you've heard this guy before and you said you absolutely loved him.

Did you have you seen him live?

Yeah, more fun than an average human should be allowed.

I mean, it's it's one part polka, one, two parts fun, three parts dirty.

It's everything.

It's everything you want.

when you're

drinking

at an actual

festival.

And you mentioned a little bit of poking going on.

Poke your back.

What is that?

Yeah.

So if you've never been to a back fest, there's a tradition called poking your back.

You're going to take a poker and heat it in the fire and drop it down in the middle of your stein full of back.

And the heat from the red hot poker caramelizes the sugars that are still there in the beer.

And it gives it kind of a little bit more of a burnt, caramel-y taste.

It's fantastic.

I think creme brulee-ish.

effect on Bach beer.

You

do

it quickly and it doesn't warm up the beer, right?

No, it fizzes and steams and bubbles and you'll see it boil a little bit, but at the beer it doesn't affect the whole beer.

It just burns enough of it.

It's really fun.

So we'll be poking Bach's.

And this doesn't happen anywhere else.

You don't see this at bars.

You're only going to see this at the Bach Fest.

It's happening on February the 11th.

That's exactly it.

If you've never poked a Bach before.

But at Bachfest, this is a common thing, right?

At Bachfest around the country, it's very well known.

In fact, I got an email from a guy yesterday asking if he could bring his own Bach poker.

No way.

And I'm

like, I didn't know people own their personal ones.

And he travels around the country poking his Bach and has his own poker.

So at Bachfest, you can poke your Bach.

Yeah, sounds like it.

Just a $10 admission will get you your first drink free.

Which makes it free.

By the way, exactly.

Does it cost anything to poke your back?

No, no.

See?

Vance tickets available now at rock108.com with Millstream Brewing Company and Rock 108.

I tell you what, Steve, thanks so much for joining us here today.

Anything else you want the audience to know?

No, we can't wait to see.

If you've never had a buck, if you've never especially had a rock buck, come party with us that day.

You'll have a good time.

It's going to be a good time.

Brian's going to be there and Ed's going to ...

Committee you now Brian's gonna be that's gonna be there.

We're all gonna be I just

haven't clicked yes on the I'll look invite yet

The perfect beer or a night out The perfect beer or a night in Rock it's a perfect beer

Not too heavy, not too light, and super smooth.

It's the perfect beer for right now.

Rock When Waits Rockbox.

Take home the beer brewed for those who live the P1 life.

Rockbox, available at Millstream Brewing Company in Amanda.

Ask for it where you buy beer.

Please enjoy responsibly.

Who used all the Wi-Fi?

Ah, apartment life.

Bad Wi-Fi, mystery laundry piles, and a roommate who says, I'll Venmo you.

Maybe 2027 deserves an upgrade.

Coming August 2027, Four Lakes Properties introduces the brand new Union Station Apartments.

Furnished, in-unit washer and dryer, internet included, a great central downtown location, one to five bedroom apartments, and no double occupancy fees.

That's less adulting and more actually enjoying where you live.

Union Station Apartments, now leasing from Four Lakes Properties.

Wait, we have a washer and dryer in the apartment

Apartment?