My Top Sunflower Brew Discussions

Sunflower Brew is a political discussion podcast that I've been producing with Zach Luea since December 2012. The basic premise: we talk politics and drink beer. The beers are always craft beers. There is also a web video component to Sunflower Brew, which is more citizen journalistic in nature.

I like to give thought from time to time of what have been my favorite discussions on the podcast. I'll leave the video out of this list for sanity's sake. Here's my list, in order of appearance:

1. Max Skidmore - Anyone with ties to the University of Missouri-Kansas City (my alma mater) usually ranks pretty high in my book. Dr. Skidmore, a political science professor at UMKC, is no exception. He was brought on the podcast to discuss political philosophy and how it affects decisions being made in Topeka specifically. Our beer that edition was a Samuel Adams assortment, either their standard Boston Lager or the seasonal Alpine Spring.

2. Jonathan Ta-Pryor and Shawn Gelushia - This is our LGBT issues discussion. Jonathan is head of LGBT affairs at UMKC and Shawn, who is gay, is a journalism student at Johnson County Community College who contributed to a number of my video projects, including "Johnson County's Young Democrats." I think this is the best discussion of the bunch. The beer was Boulevard's Tank 7, which I got a chance to sample earlier that week.

3. Nate Bukaty - Nate is one of Kansas City's veteran sports talk radio hosts, and this discussion was focused on sports and the economic effects of sports. The discussion focused mostly on big-time college sports but could easily apply to professional sports as well. English football was touched on as Nate is an Arsenal supporter (as am I, by the way), and this podcast was recorded right after the 2013-14 Premier League season started with Arsenal losing 3-1 to Aston Villa (another club I support). The beer was Karma Belgium Pale Ale from Avery Brewing.

4. Jeremy Schliesman and Charlie Vincent - This is our barbeque four-parter. Jeremy and Charlie are certified barbeque judges and used Zach's barbeque friends as guinea pigs. Part 1 was chicken, Part 2 was ribs (which were turned in to us upside-down), Part 3 was pulled pork, and Part 4 was brisket (the cook used a Worcestershire sauce-based rub which gave an A1 vibe - which led to a short anti-A1 rant by Zach). I also found out that Charlie was a fellow UMKC Bloch School grad and thought my impression of our Indian statistics professor was eerily spot-on. The beer was a choice between Free State Brewery's Octoberfest and Miller Lite. One thing I have learned through my experience with this podcast, at least in terms of the beers: I cannot stand darker beers (most notably Porters and IPA's).