Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet

It’s a cool spring morning in Los Angeles as I head out to catch-up with American stand-up comedian, The Dollop and Point Vs Point podcaster, writer and actor, Gareth Reynolds.

Super hangs and we spend an hour or so kicking back on the couch at his joint riffing on the business & #SeemsLegit bullshit of Tinsel TownLA’s untapped secrets (hikes, farmers markets and all the best vegetarian/vegan restaurants), a behind-the-scenes look at the highly popular The Dollop and Point Vs Point podcasts (this is definitely a podcast for the podcast fans including how Gareth Vs Gary came about), his favourite podcasts and story-telling in comedy, the inspiration of everyday people and what motivates Gareth Reynolds to keeping pushing forward, the hurdles involved creating a successful TV show or movie in Hollywood and much much more.

Fascinating insights by a super grounded, highly intelligent & hilarious comedian into the reality of making it in Hollywood’s entertainment industry.

Step inside our world… 

Connect with Gareth Reynolds online:
The Dollop:
Point Vs Point:
https://www.lapodfest.com/ September 23rd-25th at Sofitel Los Angeles in Beverly Hills.
 
Hit Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet up on social media here:
Hot & Delicious YouTube - Ballistyx Snowboard Show, interviews & more.
'Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet’ entertainment, travel, photography & lifestyle blog:
 
For social media, photography & influencer business enquiries contact: info@hotndelicious.com

From little things, big things grow…

Inspiring founder & owner of Northern Californian brewery Sierra Nevada Brewing Co, Ken Grossman, is a man of passion, determination and innovation. 

From humble roots, as a small West Coast craft brewery with a goal to produce 2,000 hectolitres of beer a year, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co is now a bi-coastal North American business that champions innovation, advanced energy technology & sustainability, business leadership and is now brewing 1.7 million hectolitres of beer a year from their West Coast and East Coast breweries.

After learning to brew from the father of a close friend at a young age, Ken Grossman opened a homebrew supply store in downtown Chico, called The Home Brew Shop in 1976, before selling it in 1978, founding Sierra Nevada Brewing Co in 1979 and releasing their first batch of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co beer in 1980, which was an American Stout.

At the time, there was no such thing as small-scale or “micro” brewery equipment in the USA and it was way too expensive to import from countries like Germany, so everything required for the brewery had to be repurposed or custom built, with Grossman travelling all over California and Oregon in search of stainless still tanks/equipment and teaching himself refrigeration and welding, so that he could fashion the majority of the new brewery out of recycled dairy equipment.

In today’s inspiring chat, brought to you by @craftbeerlovin’ on Instagram and the team at Phoenix Beers, we explore vast-ranging topics including Ken Grossman as an individual, the explosion and evolution of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co, his love of hiking, sailing, fishing and diving and how Sierra Nevada got its name (it’s not as 100% obvious as you think), Sierra Nevada’s partnership with monks in a small Northern California town - brewing a series of Ovila Abbey ales inspired by Belgian Trappist monks that helped raise millions of dollars for the monastery, the brewery’s approach to innovation including the installation of an array over 10,000 solar panels and fuel cells to reduce their environmental impact in 2007 to 2017, where the transition to gas turbines and introduction of Tesla Powerpack batteries now means that Sierra Nevada produce 80-90% of their own electricity onsite! 

 

We chat about Ken’s first trip down to Australia for Good Beer Week 2017, the creation of Sierra Nevada’s Tropical Torpedo IPA, the introduction of their 2nd brewery on the east coast in the mountains of North Carolina to reduce shipping impact and the greenfield site, which enabled Sierra Nevada to minimise the impact in its construction and design, the process that the 5-10 new small batch Sierra Nevada beers brewed every single week have to go through to become part of the core range of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co beers and a teaser of the latest beers that are soon to be joining the Sierra Nevada family including goses, sours & more!

A wonderful journey and inspirational tale of a man who has pursued his passions tenaciously and evolution from one of the smallest of businesses in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Ranges to one of the largest, most successful craft beer breweries in America!

Let’s get into it!

Connect with Ken Grossman and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co online:
 
Hit Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet up on social media here:
Hot & Delicious YouTube - Ballistyx Snowboard Show, interviews & more.
'Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet’ entertainment, travel, photography & lifestyle blog:
 
For social media, photography & influencer business enquiries contact: info@hotndelicious.com

Every now and then I have a podcast guest on my show where the conversation just flows and this Los Angeles podcast with hardworking, talented & award-winning Australian actor, Dan MacPherson is one of those.

Born in beachside suburb of Cronulla, just south of Sydney CBD, Dan MacPherson was originally spotted by his agent whilst at a triathlon in southern Sydney and was soon placed in a role on long-running Australia soapie, Neighbours.

Since that time he’s gone on to a number of different acting and presenting roles in Australia, the United Kingdom and America including the musical theatre in London, British police drama series ‘The Bill’ (which I grew up watching in my parent’s household) and most recently ‘The Shannara Chronicles’, a brand new MTV TV series based on the best-selling fantasy novels by Terry Brooks.  

In today’s podcast, we enjoy vast and fascinating, ranging chats at length about the significance of Australia Day or “Invasion Day” as it’s known by some people, the beauties of life in Los Angeles and California, what ANZAC Day means to both Dan and myself as the grandsons of ANZACs who fought in the 2nd World War (ANZAC Day is also his birthday), Australia’s need to evolve as a country and a culture to make it a place that’s welcome for people of all backgrounds, nationalities, cultures & gender/sexual identities, career discipline, the hunger for personal & professional growth and what it takes to take a leap of faith to start from scratch in another country in what has already been a highly successful acting career and the excitement of working on MTV’s 'The Shannara Chronicles’.

This is an absolute cracker of a podcast & no doubt one of the most candid chats you’ll hear from Dan MacPherson.

Let’s get into it!

Connect with Dan MacPherson on social media:
 
Hit Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet up on social media here:
Hot & Delicious YouTube - Ballistyx Snowboard Show, interviews & more.
'Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet’ entertainment, travel, photography & lifestyle blog:
 
For social media strategy, content/photography & influencer business enquiries contact: info@hotndelicious.com
 
 
Direct download: 166_Daniel_MacPherson_Australian_actor_-_Original_Recast_from_2016.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am AEDT

Australian comedian, writer & musician, Andrew Hansen from The Chaser. One of the most hilarious, engaging & insightful podcasts that I’ve ever had the pleasure to be part of.

Set in Sydney’s Giant Dwarf Theatre, Andrew & I enjoy vast ranging chats, bond over our grandfathers who were in World War II, his grandfather actually landing into Hiroshima the day after the bomb dropped to demand the surrender of a local general, The Chaser’s War On Everything’s hilarious APEC stunt with George W Bush and “Osama Bin Laden” (in fact Chas Licciardello dressed up as Osama), Andrew Denton, Giant Dwarf and so much more. 

Sitting here in Little Jack Horner cafe in Coogee Beach writing this article and editing the podcast as we speak, wearing a massive smile on my face. Such an amazing chat!  😃

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Connect with Andrew Hansen online:
Giant Dwarf Theatre:
 
Hit Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet up on social media here:
Hot & Delicious YouTube - Ballistyx Snowboard Show, interviews & more.
'Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet’ entertainment, travel, photography & lifestyle blog:
 
For social media, photography & influencer business enquiries contact: info@hotndelicious.com

Marriage Equality. The answer is YES!

I don’t jump up on the soap box very often and so when I do you can rest assured that it’s subject matter that I am SUPER passionate about!

Being an ex Emirates flight attendant with LOADS of mates who are LGBTIQA, I am super passionate about the #MarriageEquality vote in Australia and want to be able to utilize my Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet weekly iTunes entrepreneurship podcast and social media presence to raise awareness for the vote and the need for Australians to take part in the upcoming Marriage Equality vote (*Editors note - I recorded this show in August 2017 before the vote. Same-Sex Marriage is now a legal right in Australia).

More than 760 million people countries around the world live in 23 countries where same-sex marriage is already a legal right. How are we not on board already?? It’s a basic human right! Fact. We were the 2nd country in the world to given women the legal right to vote (yep, New Zealand beat us again 😃). How are we so far behind now?? 

I immediately shot a text to my home-boy Craig Mack, who is a Social Media Strategist (TEDx Sydney, The Pinnacle Foundation, UTS), model with Wink Models, blogger, brand ambassador (Beyond Blue, R U OK?) and openly gay Sydney man, to join me and create an exclusive show about #MarriageEquality and the upcoming plebiscite vote to legalise gay marriage in Australia.

We discuss his childhood growing up in Coffs Harbour as the son of a drug dealer and drug addict, a hilarious and heartfelt True or False quiz about the facts of Marriage Equality, hot pink pants on a Sunday, his exploration of his own sexuality and sexual orientation, some of the wicked content we’ve seen about Marriage Equality including Tim Minchin's 'I Still Call Australia Home’ Marriage Equality plebiscite parody, to Audible's 'Listen to Love, six-part audio series that the platform partnered with The Equality Campaign to create, exploring marriage equality in Australia, LGBTQIA teen suicide prevention and MUCH much more. 

Honestly, this is one of the most, beautiful, honest and wonderful shows that I have ever had the pleasure of recording. 

I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do! 

Connect with Craig Mack online:
 
Hit Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet up on social media here:
Hot & Delicious YouTube - Ballistyx Snowboard Show, interviews & more.
'Hot & Delicious: Rocks The Planet’ entertainment, travel, photography & lifestyle blog:
 
For social media, photography & influencer business enquiries contact: info@hotndelicious.com

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