Episode 100 •12 Beers, One Flight: Friends with Brews at Medford Brewing
Scott and Peter post up at Medford Brewing Company with a twelve-glass flight and taste their way through an IPA, a witbier, a Mexican lager, a stout, a bitter, and the Rude Panda porter — with the usual detours into trail runs, Guinness, and Claude Code projects.
The brew
Friends with Brews heads out to a brewpub — Medford Brewing Company in Medford, Massachusetts — and works through a twelve-glass flight between the two of us: a West Coast IPA, the PoWit witbier, a Mexican lager, a dry Irish stout, an English bitter, and the ~8% Rude Panda imperial porter. Thumbs go up, thumbs go down, and the bitter earns a very diplomatic 45-degree thumb.
As always, it wanders well past the beer.
The Topics
- The twelve-beer flight at Medford Brewing Company, and who ordered what
- Tasting notes and ratings across the IPA, PoWit, Mexican lager, dry Irish stout, English bitter, and Rude Panda porter
- Today’s 5.5-mile trail run and the Japanese rice bowls afterward (Scott’s gyudon, Peter’s tuna/yellowtail/salmon donburi)
- Why Peter thinks Guinness is “weak,” and a dry stout that’s “a less watery Guinness”
- Business ideas that already exist: a coffee/yoga/running shop, Runderwear, and the Poopsicle
- Pocket-Sized Podcast nostalgia, dated by the iPhone 4S and Siri
- “VLAN tag us”: firewalls and the trunking-vs-tagging debate
- Claude Code projects, from Obsidian vaults to a YouTube-to-blog pipeline, plus going expat
- Shipping version 1.0, because real artists ship
The Links
- Medford Brewing Company: https://medfordbrew.com
- EchoFeed: https://echofeed.app
- Matt Birchler’s Quick Reads: https://birchtree.me
- Website: https://friendswithbrews.com
- Scott: https://scottwillsey.com
- Peter: https://nikolaidis.com
- FriendsWBrews on Mastodon
- Friends With Brews Podcast
Episode 99 •LIVE at Harpoon Brewery — Our Drunkest Episode Yet
For only the second time ever, Peter and Scott share a table — at Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, Vermont — with two full flights, a pile of food, and what Scott calls the drunkest FWB ever. Expect a Boston Irish Stout vs. Guinness debate, mislabeled beers, a cameo from our waitress Kim, and a genuine deep-dive into whether Claude Code is getting dumber.
The brew
The Topics
- The Brews (Harpoon flight)
- Boston Irish Stout (nitro — “not Guinness, but totally Guinness”)
- Harpoon Dark / “Big Toasty” English Strong Ale
- Seaport After Midnight — lactose stout with cocoa nib & vanilla (the crowd favorite)
- UFO White — the flagship Hefeweizen
- Mud Season / Hoppy Brown, 8.4% (the shared least favorite)
- A Wagyu burger, a chicken-thigh sandwich, and some incredible fries
- The Catamount-to-Harpoon brewery backstory
- Tracking your meals with AI (Foodnoms guessing 4,318-calorie fries)
- Peter’s “Authentic Marathon” training and his Greek-German roots
- A Comma 3 self-driving rig that won’t stay stuck to the windshield
- Space Force vs. a proposed “Cyber Force”
- Is Claude Code getting dumber?
- Why AI chats are stateless — and the case for and against AI
- EVs, hybrids & “binary throttle mode”
The Links
Episode 98 •Liv From New York, It's Saturday Night
Liv from New York on a Saturday, it's Peter! Peter's worst hotel adventure ever, Peter runs and drinks coffee, Apple loves bugs, and Scott loves Wispr Flow.
The brew
The Topics
- The Brews
- Peter Drinks Coffee
- Corporate Coffee Mug
- Peter’s Platform Segment, a Shout At
- Polar Verity Sense
- AirPods Pros 3 Bluetooth problems
- Bugs Apple loves
- Wispr Flow
The Links
Episode 97 •Greg Is a Reindeer
Coffee! Watches! Troubleshooting! Gifts! And if we send you a video, PLAY IT!!!
The brew
The Topics
- The Brews
- Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters Mexico Oaxaca Cerro la Bruja
- Water Avenue Coffee Rogue Valley Dark Roast
- Arq vs Carbon Copy Cloner
- Software sucks
- Troubleshooting
- Mac mini remote access
- VT water pressure
- Garmin Forerunner 965
- Manual Coffee Grinder
- Christmas Gifts
- Irish Cream
- Knob Creek Whiskey (9 year old)
- Massage
- Veuv la Clicquot champagne
- Gin
- Marvel lego characters
- Do you play videos people send you?
- Peter’s nifty: gpx.studio — the online GPX file editor
The Links
- Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters
- Rogue Valley Dark Roast – Water Avenue Coffee
- Santa’s Powers Are STUPID
- Cloud backup software for Mac and Windows : Arq
- Carbon Copy Cloner: macOS Backup Software - Bombich Software
- Relive | Run, Ride, Hike & more
- Garmin Connect
- Strava | Running, Cycling & Hiking App - Train, Track & Share
- Amazon.com: World’s First 60g Large Capacity Manual Coffee Grinder, Portable Hand Coffee Bean Mill with 40 Adjustable Settings, Ceramic Conical Burr Grinder for Espresso, Pour Over, Camping, Travel, Gift, etc : Home & Kitchen
- gpx.studio — the online GPX file editor
- Footpath Route Planner | Footpath Route Planner
- Middlesex Fells Reservoir Trail Clockwise | Footpath Route Planner
- FriendsWBrews on Mastodon
- Friends With Brews Podcast
Episode 96 •The Honey and the Sugar Dried Up
Peter goes to the Genius Bar. Peter drinks coffee and Scott drinks tea. Listen while we Watch (or talk about watches, anyway).
The brew
The Topics
- The Brews
- The honey in the Mac
- Foundry Virtual Tabletop
- Sophos advice
- Sophos XGS 88
- AirPods Pro 3
- Amazon is a terrible company with good customer service
- Single reviews backlog
- AeroPress Premium Coffee Maker
- How much coffee?
- Garmin 965 review
- What about the Apple Watch?
The Links
- La Colombe Coffee Roasters Decaf Monte Carlo Dark Roast Coffee
- Numi Hojicha
- Foundry Virtual Tabletop
- XGS Series Firewall Appliances - 2nd Gen Desktop Models
- AirPods Pro 3 - Apple
- AeroPress Premium Coffee Maker | Glass and Metal Coffee Maker
- Garmin 955, 965, and 970 Product Comparison
- FriendsWBrews on Mastodon
- Friends With Brews Podcast