The era of the podcast is surely upon us as evidenced by the various and sundry productions concerning nearly everything under the sun. Like the web — with its low cost of entry — the podcast is yet another great democratizer.

Combine this with beer, the great vote procurer, and you might have a hit on your hands. Maybe. No, chances are you won’t. Sadly, the common result of mixing recording equipment and beer is the inebriated prattling on about ‘beer’, ‘my/our/your girlfriend’, ’something I/we did last night/week’ or ‘how terrible life on the road is’, e.g. Guns n’ Roses.

What follows are a few of the gems of the beer podcasting ethos. I’ll admit I haven’t listened to every offering in the genre I have listened to more than my fair share and I offer you these three:

• Basic Brewing Radio: I can’t say enough good things about James Spencer’s podcast so I’ll try to keep it short. This is a well researched podcast aimed at the homebrewer covering important topics in brewing science applicable to the beginning and advanced brewer alike. The top notch production quality of the show make it stand out in the crowd of podcasts.

• Big Foamy Head: This podcast is billed as ‘Beer, Barbecue and Blues done Memphis-style.’ The chemistry between the hosts is excellent, the reviews are insightful and their anecdotes are entertaining. They play some good music too. Enough said.

• Craft Beer Radio: While the slurping of beer and the sniffing of aroma sound levels are way too high on this production, these guys have excellent noses and can identify a hop aroma no matter how elusive. I respect the hosts’ reviews and insights into craft brewing.