After 7 years of being anonymous, 1.5 million words written about beer, and preaching the gospel of Barleywine is Life, Don't Drink Beer's Alex Kidd gets into the deep, dark world of podcasting. Joining him are his co-hosts, comedy writers and performers Stephen Loh and Michael Gabriel. Together they explore the absurd underbelly of the craft beer world while also discussing movies, music, video games, pop culture, and their sad, basement dwelling lives.
Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
Batch 317: Malt Couture's Season 1 Finale
After 317 episodes, Malt Couture wraps up season 1 as Alex and Stephen taste top-of-class brews from Andechs, Rodenbach, Chimay, and Straffe Hendrick in an old world, old
Jul 2 2 h 05 min
Batch 316: New World, Old Styles
Three breweries make their Malt Couture debut as four old world beer styles clash in the Power Rankings. Beers from Sapwood Cellars Brewery, Noble Beast Brewing Co., CLAG
Jun 18 2 h 23 min
Batch 315: Upstate New York Showdown
No pizza jokes, no I'm-walkin'-heres, no big piles of trash on the sidewalks in this episode because Alex and Stephen are avoiding Manhattan and heading straight upstate
Jun 4 1 h 46 min
Batch 314: Keeping Together Battles The Barrel-Aged Robots
What happens in the Power Rankings when a 6% Barrel-Aged Ale from Keeping Together in collaboration with Hill Farmstead takes on the ABV heavy Barrel-Aged beers from The
May 21 2 h 11 min
Batch 313: California Classic Part II
There's a rumble in the Golden State as the second iteration of the California Classic sees rare gems from Lost Abbey, Alesmith Brewing Company, Russian River Brewing Com
May 7 2 h 09 min
Batch 312: New England Mosh Pit*
EVERYONE GET IN THE PIT! It's a New England throw down with beers from Treehouse Brewing, Trillium Brewing, Alchemist Brewing, and a homebrew from Massachusetts filled wi
Apr 23 1 h 58 min
Batch 311: Stupid, Sexy White Diddly Whales
In one of the wildest Power Ranking throwdowns, a white whale from the year 2000 by De Dolle Brouwers finds itself up against barrel-aged barleywines from Brujos Brewing
Apr 9 1 h 43 min
Batch 310: Bottles with Backstories
Alex won his first ever razzle in order to put this episode together when he sources a hazy DIPA from Threat Beer Company. A mysterious benefactor sells Alex a Stone Ston
Mar 26 1 h 39 min
Batch 309: Cool Aunts and Ice In Your Wine
We all had one. She'd buy you tickets to R-rated movies or go on pre-Thanksgiving dinner walks. She adds Coke and ice to her red wine and smokes slims. She's your cool au
Mar 12 1 h 47 min
Batch 308: Geriatric Millennial Grifters
Alex tracks down another White Whale as Surly Darkness Batch 1 lands on the show and finds itself in the mix with Holy Mountain Brewing Company's Summoning Spell, Bissell
Feb 26 2 h 03 min
Batch 307: PRRRTing in the Wind
Returning to their old way of ranking beers, Alex's video game and Stephen's wrestling rating systems are back for this batch's motley lineup of beers. Bell's Brewery's H
Feb 12 2 h 21 min
Batch 306: The Top 5 Whiskeys of 2025
Alex hunts down the best and most sought after whiskeys released in 2025! E.H. Taylor BTAC, Russell's Reserve 15 Year, Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Special Release Tanyard
Jan 29 2 h 07 min
Batch 305: Barleywine is Life 7: The State of Barleywhales
Alex and Stephen start 2026 with a visit from Lord Maris for the seventh Barleywine is Life episode with four Barleywhales that have been lighting up the tradeboards on t
Jan 15 2 h 03 min
Batch 304: Good For The Goose, Good For The Gander
After braving the Black Friday crowds outside Binny's and pissing in bottles in now temperate weather, Alex and Stephen have sourced a horizontal of all six of Goose Isla
Jan 1 1 h 52 min
Batch 303: The State of Whales Today
Call us The Malty Boyz™. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely--having little or no malty bucks in our purse, and nothing particular to interest us on the shelves
Dec 18 2025 1 h 50 min
Batch 302: Sober Due Diligence
After a run of White Whales, Old Money, and lots of fresh hops, Alex and Stephen return to the NA space to Power Rank an XL line-up of beers (and a soda) that have popped
Dec 4 2025 1 h 47 min
Batch 301: When Old is New
Alex looks into some old dogs learning new tricks as Brasserie Au Baron, Kern River Brewing Company, 3 Fonteinen, Brasserie Fantôme, and Yazoo Brewing Company break from
Nov 20 2025 1 h 50 min
Batch 300: The Oldest Currency
Alex and Stephen celebrate 300 episodes by cracking open tried and true old money staples and one not so old money beer. Beers from Brasserie de Blaugies, Uerige Obergäri
Nov 6 2025 1 h 48 min
Batch 299: Pacific Northwest Fresh Hopstravaganza
It's fresh hop season and Alex sources four of the best fresh hop beers from the heart of hop country: the Pacific Northwest. Beers from Fremont Brewing, Crux Fermentatio
Oct 23 2025 1 h 59 min
Batch 298: Oops! All White Whales
Alex busts out his trusty ticking harpoon and hunts down four beers off the White Whale list. Lost Abbey Veritas 006, Stone Brewing Vertical Epic 02.02.02 Encore, New Gl
Oct 9 2025 1 h 43 min
Chart trend
Position in the Improv chart (US), last 90 days.
#1#101#200AugSepOctNov
#70
all-time peak
4
days in the top 100 since Jun 2026
Chart positions
Where Malt Couture ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Nov 12, 2026).
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
Been listening to the malty boys for a while now, but this last year I really appreciate having some humor to get me through what was a rough year for me. Listened to a lot of back log over the last year in addition to all of the new stuff. While I love the NA exploration you guys have done, I’ve been loving the gauntlet of barleywines for Stephen to enjoy.
Friendly Chemist · Apr 2026
This is one of my favorite podcasts! Come for the beer news and reviews, stay for the clever comedy and hyper local SoCal references. Love these guys! Stay high gravity…
Colorado Berrnerd · Jul 2025
After hearing Augie Carton mention Alex Kidd for the 700th time on his show I decided to give this podcast a listen. Absolutely worth it. 6 episodes in and I’ve gotten a eureka’s castle reference, plenty of wrestling throwbacks and some quality beer info. Highly recommend.
Gus6412 · Nov 2022
Long time listener. Just wanted to say thank you for the content fellas. My wife n I have been in the craft beer game for quite some time. A little back story, she worked at the Ballast Miramar (pre-sale) and I worked for a craft beer distributor in Ohio. This would have been 2012-16’ish. We now have a little one and can’t keep up with all the industry news so we mostly get all the gossip from you guys. We still try and hit up local breweries throughout our travels to see what is going on in local scenes in different areas. Some of our favorite breweries we visited this past year was Suarez Family Brewery in Hudson NY, Duneyrr Fermenta in Chicago and our favorite old school craft beer bar was Redlight Redlight in Orlando. If you have not been to R+R, I would highly recommend stopping in if you find yourself in the area. We started off with mliko pours then moved on to pours of Cantillon fou’ foune on draft, a few local hazy’s and ended with underberg shots. We also just booked a trip down to Athens, OH for Jackie O’s 20th anniversary and can’t wait to see what kind of BA bottles they release this year. Do you guys have any recs of places that impressed you this past year and are there any bucket list breweries you hope to visit in the future? Shout out to all the old school and new school beer lovers alike. Let’s hope to make old school bottle shares a thing again. Peace n love ya’ll, Frank.
Franko Pour · Feb 2026
We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.
Here you find the Apple Podcasts chart positions of Malt Couture, its latest episodes to listen to directly, and reviews from listeners. Rankings are updated daily for the United States.
