Haha April Fools! Don’t you guys love all the April Fools beer posts? Oh man, we love your beer with 98 grams of protein haha, that’s just sooooooo funny. Oh, you’re shifting from brewing into investing? Great idea, I love it!! Wow, a new powdered version of your IPA, that’s so convenient!! I hope it ends soon for all of these guys and I hope I get to nudge the door close on their crypts.

Oopsie, forgot to do show notes! Oh well. On today’s show - Tony shops for air travel, a great discussion about shitty airports (?) and how you can treat your lawn with Natty Light. Wow, we covered all that?! Better download RIGHT NOW!!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN… welcome to the most electrifying time of the Beer Engine calendar!

The arena lights are on. The taps are flowing. The brackets are printed. And somewhere in the distance you can hear the sound of aluminium cans cracking like folding chairs over a wrestler’s back…

BRACKETMANIA 2026 IS HERE.

This week, Tony and Griff step into the ring to kick off their annual bracket showdown, a tournament of questionable decisions, passionate arguments, and bold predictions that will rumble all the way through to the heat of summer.

And let me tell you brother… this thing gets heated.

The lads unveil this year’s 64-entry bracket, packed with matchups so intense they’d make a steel cage blush. There are early favourites, dark horses, and at least one entrant that has absolutely no business being there—but somehow survived Griff’s seeding process.

Will Tony’s “statistical approach” dominate the field?
Or will Griff’s patented “gut feeling and two pints deep” strategy once again throw the whole tournament into chaos?

Expect:

• Dramatic bracket reveals

• Trash talk worthy of a championship belt

• Wild predictions that absolutely will not age well

• A few surprise rule changes mid-episode (because of course there are)

• And at least one moment where someone demands a bracket rematch

As tradition dictates, the bracket will evolve week-by-week throughout the season. Rivalries will form. Alliances will crumble. And by the time summer arrives, only one contender will stand victorious in the centre of the Beer Engine ring.

So grab a cold one, pull up a seat ringside, and prepare yourself…

Because Bracketmania is running wild in 2026.

That’s the rhythm of it. The delivery truck’s just pulled away, the sun’s already dipping behind the silos, and someone’s realised the tap list never got updated. Again. It’s the feeling of sprinting toward something that’s already halfway gone — but laughing anyway because there’s a cold one in your hand and that counts for something. Foam clinging to the glass, condensation sliding down like a slow apology. You missed the moment, sure. But you didn’t miss the pour.

It’s the soundtrack of small-town Fridays and half-finished plans. A day late and a dollar short… beers beers beers. The mates who show up after the raffle’s been drawn. The keg that kicks just as the best story starts. The bar light flickering like it’s in on the joke. And somehow, despite the timing, despite the short change, there’s abundance in repetition. Not perfection — repetition. Another round. Another crack of a can. Another chorus of “cheers” rolling across the room like it’s always been right on time.

Hello, I am boycotting the AI slop. There was just too much of it at the Super Bowl and it sucked major ass. We are gonna have to stand up to this crap, or let the economy “do it's thing” where we all go broke for a few years and say “cool, we have to do this forever.” Today we had a nice time talking about Heineken, Voodoo Ranger and Vaccinale. That just about covers it. See ya.

Man, do I have to write show notes? I do?? Oh noooooo! On today's show we did a number of important things and dealt with all of the biggest news of the day and week. This included a bunch of talking about wrestling and basketball and which stout I liked this week. Finally, the real news is back and better than ever. Ok that's fine . Bye.

That's right! It's another year of the most anticipated awards show in all of beer, The Drippies!!!

And on the seventh day he said “let there be another show and some show notes!!” And I said, sure whatever. So here you go, this show was super fun to make and I love that Rachel Leigh Cook is cranking out Hallmark movies now. Gobblessem all! May these movies and this bit never die. Anyways, get on our discord and nominate some Drippies winners, the Drippies will return on Jan 29!!