What Makes A Good Beer Podcast?

Actual beer podcast listeners are a rare breed. A fact that I discovered not too long ago was that, to my surprise, most craft-beer drinkers do not listen to Beer Podcasts!? That is what makes those who do so special.

Beer Podcast listeners are a unique blend of Beer-geek/Do-it-your-selfer/techno/info-geek.  Now imagine the type of person who would take the next step and produce a Beer Podcast! Take the above criteria for a Beer Podcast Listener multiply it by 3 and add passion and strong opinion!

This is what makes choosing the best of the best Beer Podcasts a difficult job. There are so many unique personalities and passionate Beer Geeks out there doing there thing with no shame in their game! As it should be. But we at Beer Podcasts.com  have decided to make it our life’s work to sift the Beer Podcast wheat from the chaff. Below is a list of our criteria.

Criteria for What Makes a Good Beer Podcast

#1. Information! When it comes to Beer Podcasts, the best shows have content that is, in one way or another, useful to those who tune in. Many Beer Podcasts focus on teaching listeners the intricacies of brewing beer at home. Anyone who has tried their hand at the hobby knows that it is equal parts art and science and that it aint easy! So Beer Podcasts who offer instruction on beer brewing techniques, how to clone beer or interviews with beer brewers about the craft are often popular. The other kind of Beer Podcast that offers listeners good information are those that review new beers, beer news and events. Listeners like these kinds of Beer Podcasts because they help the craft beer drinker know what beers to be on the look-out for and what events are happening in the world of craft beer. Top shows in our rankings have all of those elements: Info on how to brew beer, interviews with beer brewers, as well as reviews of new or classic beers and beer events.

#2. Trustworthiness! A good Beer Podcast has to have some credibility, that is to say listeners have to feel like these hosts or at least the guests on the show know what they are talking about.

#3. Fun! Good Beer Podcasts are fun to listen to. They keep listeners coming back with the appeal of not just good beer information but also the prospect with having fun as they learn about their favorite subject: Craft Beer!

#4.The Host/Hosts have to be Cool. OK, we are not talking Fonzie cool. Obviously if that was the case Basic Brewing would not have made one of our top spots (no offense guys!) What we mean by cool is that they are cool in their own way. That is to say they posses some modicum of cool. Whether it be manifest in their traditional coolness, like with Justin from the Brewing Network, or they are cool because of their humility, or their straight-up beer knowledge. Or maybe they are just a beer-geek and they have no shame. We think that cool.

#5 Site development/Sound-quality. Actually, sound quality should be up there with trustworthiness. Because nobody is going to think a beer podcast is credible if it sounds like it is being produced in side of a tin can. Or mics sound like they have been set up ten feet away. A good web-page design/layout is important too. That is why we liked the Beers of Legend site. They have a good design and original topic specific artwork on their posts. Unfortunately many of the Beer Podcasts that put out the best shows have pretty weak site design. We liked Basic Brewing’s simplicity and Brewing Network for its Featured Content Gallery and useful beer-forum.

#6. Video! In this day and age you have got to have some kind of video on your site! Listeners want to know who you are and see you in action! Even if you don’t have a video editing bone in your body you have got to give listeners something!

So that is it! Those factors are just a handful that can make any Beer Podcast Great!

Hope you enjoyed!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 9:56 pm and is filed under How We Rate Beer Podcasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.