I'm a reasonably new listener, only been at it for a bit over 6 months, and in that time I've worked my way through a couple of years of shows in between the current ones.
To be honest, I reckon the show's tops in all its forms. Sure the older shows may have been more often on topic or somewhat closer to a PG rating, but the great thing about them is... they're still there!. The archives are are still available, you can still listen to Daniella struggle through a four syllable word, Oz try and get Doc to match him drink for drink, or to the Brewcasters doing their best to be constructive for the first three hours at least. And the best bit? Pretty much the only thing that's not current about all that info is the date that it was recorded on.
It's all still relevant, it's all still available and we can all still put away the notepads and enjoy the Session for what it has become, an excuse to have a good brew with some of your best mates... and a bunch of random asshats from halfway across the world who you're never likely to meet.

Cheers,
Bear

I can completely understand where the original poster is coming from, but I think the show is what it is. BrewStrong and CYBI are much more focused on the task at hand, and are great resources for specific topics, whereas the Session is a much more off the cuff bullshit session with a bunch of beer nerds. I like the Session for that very reason. Sure there are times I might fast forward, but it's not due o the language... more due to a particular tangent. But that's the beauty of the podcasts. Being on the east coast, I have only heard one live show, and rely on the podcasts to make my long bus commute into Boston every day more tolerable. The Session is entertainment in a beer setting. If I got offended or didn't want the bs, I wouldn't listen, but I need the irreverent attitude in that show! Every day life is way to politically correct for me as it is...

I think the only thing I typically FF thru is when JP starts on one of his rants... that boy has some anger issues. But that's the beauty... I can FF thru it!

Shit, I'd suggest you listen to them. He has no fucks to give, always states what's on his mind, and arguably has the thickest skin of many homebrewers. His rant about the top beers being all IPAs on the Lucky Bucket show is borderline perfect.

Hmmmm, I found that rant to be more "look at me, I'm angry, loud, and say 'fuck' a lot!!" And if sour beers become more popular in a couple years, he'd complain about that too. That said, all I have to do is hit the fast forward..

If in a couple years, every brewery makes a subpar sour and every bar carries 3 sours for every one of another style then yes he'd complain. I appreciate IPAs but it's nice to be able to have a beer that you can taste things after. Too many breweries seem to try to get the color close and coat your mouth with hops. A well made IPA is one thing, but unfortunately too many people seem to think IPAs are craft beer.

Well, many craft breweries do make IPAs, so I wouldn't say that aren't a craft beer... but you mean that craft beer=IPA? Yeah, I can see how people might think that way given their popularity and how many are out there. I actually found that I had gotten away from overly hoppy beers last year, but recently found my way back to them... possibly because I've started homebrewing this year and just by buying different hop varieties it's made me curious about making hoppy beers myself.

I have yet to try a sour and am hesitant to blow the cash on what people consider the better examples, simply because I'd hate to drop $20-30 on a bomber and find out I don't like them. Plus, I don't know if I really want to fall in love with a beer style that's so expensive!

I'm new to these forums, but I've been listening to the BN for the last 9 months or so and like others listening to the archived shows in between. Honestly, I dropped Sirrius and Howard for this show. I like it so much that after the last few months of discussion about charging for the archives, I signed up to support the effort as a member of the army - worth every penny and wish I had done it earlier.

Let's give the guys a break, can you imagine coming up with new content week after week for this many years about a single topic - especially when most of the audience consider themselves experts at the topic?

- noob

You might know a lot about beer, but you don't know shit about radio.