Barley & Sword Brewing Co
Michael P. Howell's journey into brewing started young — the Navy at 18, an Irish pub in a Maine shipyard town, a homebrew mead recipe, and an unlikely detour through a Viking living-history guild. It all came together on one D&D night with friends, when a passing idea turned into a business plan — and an LLC within the month.
In this episode, Michael sits down to tell the full story, including the wild tale of twenty Czech brewers showing up at the taproom to help rebuild one of his beers from scratch, decoction process and all. He talks through his theory on why classic beer styles never really go out of style, shares the moment a German naval officer swore his hefeweizen tasted like the real thing, and closes things out with a Chasing the Muse collab conversation you won't want to miss.