Kristi Griner on NA Beer, the Hazy Debate, and 20+ Years Atop the Mash Tun

After two decades in the brewhouse, Kristi Mathews Griner quit drinking and became, in her own words, an NA beer snob. She joins Jake, Brandy, and Jordan to argue that non-alcoholic beer has finally gotten good and to explain how brewers are achieving it with newer yeast strains, hotter mashes, and smaller batches.Kristi started waiting tables at Hops Grill & Brewery in Alexandria in 2002 and worked her way into the brewhouse, eventually leading brewing operations at Capital City and serving as technical brewer at Beltway, where she brewed contract batches for Grimm and others. Along the way, she watched the Virginia beer scene grow roughly fivefold before the boom collapsed back toward the brewpub model it started with.She's blunt about the haze craze. She was "very begrudging," she says, and still kind of is, though she'll happily praise a haze that earns its place. She's also full of stories, including the time Charlie Papazian tasted her Pilsner at Savor and nearly talked himself into moving to Leesburg to drink it all the time.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEGo Brewing (Naperville, IL) — "The Story" DIPA and their pilsnerSierra Nevada Trail PassAthletic BrewingOther Half "All-N-All"Wheatland Spring (Liberty Estate Ale, Consequent)Bottle Logic (Recursion IPA)Grimm Artisanal Ales;UPCOMING DCBEER EVENTS:Urban Garden Brewing grand opening on Juneteenth — DC's first Black woman-owned brewery, with a ribbon cutting around middayWomen's Brew Culture Club in July: a mahjong night at Lucky Danger and an event at Diamondback BrewingJuly beer share at Other Half on Sunday, July 1Thank you for tuning in! Follow what's happening in the DC scene at DCBeer.com and @dcbeer on social media. Support us at Patreon.com/DCBeer Thanks to our monthly supporters Deborah Ort Chris Sadler Brian Dauernheim Quinten Patterson C Sandoval Gilbert Glickstein Ethan Sapperstein Sean Whipkey Randy Mills Ryan Llalan Fowler Michael Losi Adam Heisenberg Brian Jeff Lucas Micaela Carrazco Lauren Sean Moffitt Anthony Scipione johnna infanti Catherine Ramirez Adam Frank Tyler Lynch Jared Prager Jeff Michael O'Connor Favio Garcia Josh Ellen Daniels Juan Deliz Mike Lastort James Wisnieski Chris Frome Sam Chip Tory Roberts Chris DeLoose Lauren Cary Clifton B Scott Pavlica Greg Antrim jeffrey garrison Alexis Smith Dan Goldbeck Anthony Budny Greg Parnas Frank Chang Kim Klyberg Chris Girardot Alyssa jeffrey katz Andrew MacWilliams Jamie Jackson Meegan Mike Rucki Nick Gardner Amber Farris Sarah Ray Peter Jones Blue2026 Brad Stengel Bill and Karen Butcher Jordan Harvey Stephen Claeys Julie Verratti