The Pint Report: Say What?!? Craft Beer From Kalona Brewing, IA

A lifetime a go my friends and I were road tripping on our way home from Missouri through East Iowa.  We stumbled through a small Amish community called Kalona, IA.  They had a fantastic cheese shop.  Fast forward to  2014 and my friend and I once again found ourselves road tripping through Kalona, but this time for a fantastic brewery.

 

Now I have been in a brewery our two, so when I saw the small town of Kalona, and immediate picture came into my head.  A small brewery in a space equivalent of my garage.  Not that there is anything wrong with that!  Great beers can be brewed anywhere, this is just my mental image strolling into town.  Imagine my surprise when I walked into one of the most modern, most state of the art, and one of the cleanest breweries I have EVER walked into.  We were warmly greeted by Head Brewer and Co-Owner Lew, and Marketing Director Nic. 

After a great podcast, our excited, and gracious, hosts left us with a few presents.  Among them were a couple of Mini-Growlers, one of Say What Saison, and You Be You Imperial Stout.  Here are my Mini-Reviews of these two GREAT Iowan Craft Beer Offerings:

Say What Saison:  This golden reddish beer maintained its carbonation well in the Mini-Growler.  This beer has that great hay/straw like flavors followed by a light peppery taste.  There were noticeable fruity notes.  It had a very thick mouthfeel compared to other Saisons I have had, but not by much.  It left lingering sharp bitter, banana, and clove notes in the aftertaste.  These final flavors intensify as the beer warms up.  Rating:  ** (Very Good).  Recommendation:  If you love Saisons you need to try this beer.  It rivals all but a few Saisons brewed in Minnesota.

You Be You Imperial Stout:  Another beer that held up in the Mini-Growler.  This beer poured inky black, I mean “LET NO LIGHT ESCAPE” inky.  This beer had plenty of carbonation for its high ABV and imperial status.  It poured a thick foamy nut brown head.  Your nose is immediately inundated with a milky chocolate aroma.  This beer had a very thick mouthfeel and warms your senses with a heavy coating of dark chocolate notes.  Very bitter/sweet.  No lingering aftertaste, and finished very clean.  The best part is that the lack of alcohol taste you get with high ABV stouts like this one.  Rating:  ****(Superb).  Recommendation:  This is THE PERFECT beer to sip in winter in front of the fireplace.  It’s warm, inviting, comforting, so forth and on forth.  This is a perfect example of an Imperial Stout!

If you want to learn more about Kalona be sure to check out our Podcasts show:

That’s all for now!  Prost!

Brewing Goes Mobile: Fiz - The Brewery Management Game

Perhaps a couple of you knew me from before my time at Beerploma, when I was an aspiring video game reviewer and journalist. In the 6-7 years I spent writing about games, ranging from AAA titles on the console, to mobile indie titles so obscure, I don't even remember the titles, I came across a lot of unique stuff. But nothing quite as unique as the game Fiz: The Brewery Management Game. I actually reviewed for the last site I worked for, but wanted to revisit this title again, to expose it to my new beer drinking audience. You can read that review here.

Fiz, as the subtitle of the name suggests, is a brewery simulation game. While this may conjure images of some big complex game, it is actually a pretty simplistic and entertaining experience which works perfectly with mobile devices.  This seemingly simple concept, managing a brewery, actually is chock full of challenges and lots of different twists and turns.

While you probably won't become the next Surly or Boom Island Brewery, there is a lot of elements used in this game that any beer nerd, especially those versed in the art of crafting beer, will be able to appreciate.  Ingredients used in the making of the various brews are mostly real world ingredients; there are some fictional elements added in, but mostly for stat boosting or to improve the batch of beer.  The beer styles featured in this game will be familiar to all beer geeks, and does feature a great selection of styles. From Dunkles to IPAs, Irish Red Ales to Barleywines, Fiz offers so many choices to brew.

Another interesting thing this game does is put a focus on not only what you brew, but where you sell your tasty products.  Some bars cater to more German styles for example, while others are pretty sold on IPAs.  Some places even prefer your adjunct lagers to anything else.  Adding this in, gives this game a challenge, rather than just having players brew beers all willy nilly.

If you're looking for a mobile game that won't nickle and dime you every 10 seconds (Candy Crush anyone?) and still keeps you entertained and wanting to come back for more, consider grabbing Fiz today.  This was one of my favorite mobile games I've ever played, and I've even gotten a couple of the other staff here at Beerploma hooked on it well.

Get Fiz on Google Play for Android

Get Fiz on the iTunes App Store for Apple 

Brews and Reviews: Bent Brewstillery's El Guerrero

This area is traditionally known for its abundance of lakes, summers that go by way to quickly and larger-than-life icons like Paul Bunyan and Snoopy.  However, lately there is something else happening and it is threatening to change what people typically associate with Minnesota.  Breweries are opening right and left, and with that boom, we are deluged with some delicious and unique imbibing options.  

Photo courtesy of bentbrewstillery.com

Bent Brewstillery’s selection of unique and complex beers are amazing additions to a landscape of libations that is growing both in breadth and depth.  Their fall seasonal, El Guerrero, a Chilean Double Stout, is out and definitely worth a try.  This special beer is brewed with honey, guava and merken, a Chilean pepper spice that has been used in gourmet cuisine for hundreds of years.  In the taproom, it is served on Nitro and it is also available in 750 ML bottles.  

This beer has a lot going on starting with the opaque color.  El Guerrero pours thick and the cascades culminate in a thick and creamy quarter-inch head that is light caramel in color.  The aroma of the beer is rich and chocolaty with subtle hints of coffee, merken spice and boozy goodness.  

While the look and smell of this beer are intriguing, it is the taste where this beer climbs into a class of its own.  At first, you are greeted with the roasted malt and coffee notes which leads nicely into an alcohol flavor that smooths into a rich chocolaty finish.  The thing that really balances this beer out and makes it something special is the gradual building heat from the merken spice.  It pleasantly builds at the back of the tongue and is never to the point of overtaking all the other flavor subtleties that are happening in El Guerrero.   The sweet notes from the chocolate and honey are balanced deftly with the Merken spice, roasted malt and coffee.  As it warms, the flavors and spice of the beer are all elevated and it leaves the drinker to do nothing but wonder how a single beer could have so many things happening.

El Guerrero’s mouth feel is velvety at first and finishes slightly dry from the heat of the pepper.  The dryness from the heat and the smoothness from the booze make this also a key factor in the beer’s overall balance.  If you enjoy a big body to your stout, this beer does not disappoint.

This beer is versatile and could be paired with the bold flavors of smoked meats such as brisket or ribs.  It would also marry well with a very good steak or blackened chicken.  If you wanted to pair it with a dessert, think ice cream or a decadent chocolate dessert like a cake or high-end dark chocolate.  

Bent Brewstillery prides itself on being unique and this beer is a terrific representation of that vision.  There is nothing quite like El Guerrero in this market and it is a welcome addition to the ever-growing portfolio of wonderful beers that Minnesota’s craft brewers have to offer.  

Brews and Reviews: Dangerous Man Brewing Company's Chocolate Milk Stout

Trying to figure out my first post for Beelploma.com came with a little bit of anxiety and help from an expert source.  A good friend and former colleague of mine and I had got to talking about this endeavor and based on where I live and what I usually dig. He suggested I tackle Dangerous Man Brewing Co. and their flagship brew; the Chocolate Milk Stout.

Photo courtesy of Dangerous Man Brewing Company

I grabbed a pint of the infamous beer of 13th and 2nd in NE Minneapolis, right there at the taproom (one of the only two ways you can grab their beers. The other being via growler) with my wife and her aunt and uncle who were up from Kansas City. Everyone but my wife, who doesn't drink much anyway, ended up ordering a pint to accompany some much needed catching up and good conversation.

This beer looks intimidating and intense, as some craft stouts tend to do, just based on its extremely dark tone and deep copper hues on the head.  Often times, these stouts' tough appearance is matched with a heavy taste, overwhelming mouth feel and strong overall taste. However, the Chocolate Milk Stout from Dangerous Man suffers from none of those. One's senses are greeted with a very smooth beer that is tickled with a great classic stout taste accompanied with hints of chocolate and coffee.  The brewer perfectly balances the aroma and flavors of the product, while creating a beverage that isn't too over-the-top, but isn't whimpering as it enters your mouth. Even on a warm Minnesota afternoon, this beer was refreshing and delicious.

The Chocolate Milk Stout is also, surprisingly, a great beer for any occasion. This variation on the classic high gravity beer is like that of John Bender; tough looking exterior, but once you get to the core of it, a really sweet and enticing product that everyone either wants or wants to be.

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Confessions of a Sober Cab: Walk This Way



In the wilds of Wisconsin, eating the native food.

Sometimes getting to the party in a car just isn’t an option. In my drinking history there have been times where nobody had a working car (college) or the logistics of parking and driving just didn’t work out (downtown events). Sometimes it simply boils downs to the fact that nobody wants to be the driver (often). That’s the way it went down at the New Glarus Bacon, Beer, and Cheese Festival. There were only two of us out in the wilds of WI for the festival and neither of us wanted to be the sober cab. Hey, it happens! In this case we both wanted to SAMPLE ALL THE BEER!  Plus, we had taken the SUV for the trip, which is a manual transmission. I can’t drive a stick. This is a vehicle decision that the husband has regretted from time to time, usually on a sunny hung over drive home in the AM. Oh he could teach me, but then I’d be the one steering my throbbing head through the bright sunlight. I’m in no hurry to learn. 
So where exactly did that leave us? Since we’d already invested a fair amount into gas to get to the other side of Wisconsin, we didn’t feel like paying for a cab ride. Don’t worry though beer lovers! There are options besides motorized ones, so don’t cancel your plans out for the night! Among them we have biking (we had no bikes), travel by beast (there were no available beasts to ride), or the most awesome of all sober car-less methods - the piggy back ride. (The piggy back ride method should be used only in extreme cases of drinking fun however, as it is likely to lead to the loss of the knees in your jeans and a very sexy case of forehead scrape.) Surprisingly,Andy didn’t want to partake in the most awesome method, so we were stuck with something more mundane – walking. 

Hear me out. First off, walking your intoxicated self home can be quite fun. In this case, we were walking from our campground to the festival, and back again, and we happened to pass the New Glarus brewery on the way.  We decided get a head start on the festival with a couple of Serendipity’s on the gorgeous patio outside their tap room. If you’re walking to some place to drink beer, in which you’ll pass other places to drink beer, there are simply more options to drink beer. It’s very simple reasoning really.  When you’re walking you have the ease of stopping in someplace for a quick patio beer that all parties involved can partake in. 

Hello, it's nature, was it me you're looking for?



There’s also nature, if you’re into that sort of thing. And why wouldn’t you be? There’s nothing better than taking a stroll through a shaded forest path and hearing the birds sing. As our hiking path led us through the woods and straight into downtown New Glarus, I was reminded that the destination wasn’t the only thing to look forward to enjoying. The journey can be just as fun, especially if you like your companions. (This is key to any beer event or night out really.) Part of the appeal to walking to and from an event is the ability to enjoy your surroundings and your company at your pace, without the worrisome distractions of traffic lights and…pedestrians.  Plus, exercise, right? Hey, take it where you can get it, especially if you plan on consuming massive quantities of bacon and cheese with your beer. 

The walk back to campsite, sweet campsite, was even more fun because beer. We drank our fill at the festival and began our summery stumbles home, stopping at Ruef’s Meat
Market for a campsite dinner. We grabbed a package of their beer and onion brats, made with Spotted Cow beer. Hitting the local grocer up the street, we added a smoked cheddar cheese and a bottle of New Glarus Strawberry Rhubarb to our evening picnic. Once we got back to our site, Andy set about grilling the most fabulous brats I’d had to that point in the summer. I set about drunkenly scavenging things to finish our picnic, such as this wonderful New Glarus cutting board I discovered.  We dined to our hearts content and fell asleep well exercised under the stars.



Cutting board  - patent pending. 

But don't forget to be safe my fellow walkers! Don’t fall prey to dangers that can come with a drunken walk home, mostly dangers due to being drunk and walking home. Be smart about it – don’t walk in places you shouldn’t (like a freeway), don’t stumble in and out of traffic (like…a freeway), obey any signs you see (stay off the damn freeway!), and for beers sake look both ways before crossing a street. Finally, you should follow the buddy system whenever you can. Your buddy will help you stay on track to make sure you get home, and the right home at that. They also can provide a landing mat in the event of a fall, which may occur when you’re walking and drinking. I myself had to use my buddy as a landing mat during a memorable walk home with my college roommate. While supporting ourselves in a manner similar to that of a three legged race, we somehow managed to trip ourselves. With our dexterity compromised, we rolled around on the sidewalk on top of each other, vainly trying to get up. It was just enough of an effort to cause us to struggle for a few minutes, a heap of giggling hair and limbs. As a passing truck full of frat boys hooted their enjoyment at watching two drunken twenty something’s play invisible twister on a WI sidewalk, we managed to pull ourselves up. We stumbled and giggled the next 15 feet to our dorm without further incident. Inside…well was another matter.  But we followed the rules to drunken walking and made it home safe, minus a few bits of denim on our knees and some elbow skin. 

We need this to help recover from the exercise.
That is medicinal cheese.



So don’t forget my fellow beer drinkers, that walking home is an option. Trust me, it’ll be a blast and the buzz will make your forget that you’re exerting yourself physically. Luckily Andy and I managed to stay upright during our walk. But had I fallen, I would have pushed him first. Remember, your drinking buddy is your friend and companion, but they make a great landing mat as well.

Brews and Reviews: Stouts for Summer Badger Hill Foundation Stout

Stouts are not just for winter drinking anymore.  There are plenty of drinkable, sessionable stouts that almost qualify as "lawnmower" beers.  In my opinion Badger Hill's Foundation Stout fits the summer bill for craft beer stout drinkers.

This beer pours inky black with a decent foamy soft brown head.  A noticeable coffee aroma pleasantly passes my nose as I pass my glass under it.  The first sip gives off bitter coffee tones with a hint of chocolate.  It reminds me of my favorite mocha lattes.  Where the difference really lies in this beer from other stouts is in the feel.  Most stouts come off with a heavy mouth feel, this beer has a light-medium mouth feel, and had amble bubbly carbonation.  This stout also doesn't leave the heaviest of after tastes.  And has a lingering coffee bitterness with a hint of a sharp citrus hoppiness.  As the beer warms up the beer takes on a slightly heavier chocolaty tone, as well as a more fruity ale like flavors. 

Overall this is a solid beer, and will be a staple in my beer fridge since I first drank.  I give this a **1/2 Rating (Excellent).

So fear not stout and porter lovers, while winter is still a few months away, there are plenty of great stouts to fit the season.  So grab the lawnmower, get some yard work and done, and finish off the day with a well deserved Foundation Stout by Badger Hill!

Cabin Craft Beer Review: Clown Shoes Genghis Pecan Porter (2013)

For a long time Minnesota was behind the times when it came to Craft Beers.  We had Schell’s, Summit, and a few other rebels, but for the most part we were hunkered down in macro-beer-land.  As such few craft brewers from other states didn't send their wares here.  Sure you had your brave ones like Pyramid, Boulevard, Leinenkugels, and semi-macro/semi-craft Sam Adams, but at the end of the day the most adventurous of that lot was Pyramids Apricot Wheat.  Our craft beer scene was stagnant.  But then in the early 2000s that began to change.  We wanted more, nay we demanded more from our craft beer and if brewery greats like Stone and Yuengling wouldn’t come here, then by golly we’ll brew out own.  Surly introduced us to hopped up IPAs that can match Stone any day, and might even have a bigger cult following!  Schell’s produced Grainbelt Nordeast, a beer very similar in style to Yuengling Original!  If they wouldn’t come to us, dang it someone stepped up to brew it!  Recently I have been seeing a trend on the beer shelves around the Twin Cities.  More and more well-known breweries are starting to penetrate our shelves.  I take this as a sign that we are becoming a well-known Craft Beer Loving State!  In the last year we have added Oskar Blues, Green Flash, and Clown Shoes to our available lines of beer!  It’s exciting to see these brewing legends start to take us craft beer drinkers seriously. 

Recently I got the opportunity to pick up one of the last bottles of 2013 Genghis Pecan from Clown Shoes, out of Ipswich, MA.  I was saving this one for a special occasion, and it ended up at the Cabin with me.  So welcome to Minnesota!  Here’s a review and toast to making a GREAT decision to come here!

 First off the beer poured thick, and had a quick forming foamy brown head.  The head cascaded upwards as it poured into the shaker pint.  The first smell gave off the aroma of light coffee, and almost no hop presence.  I noticed it was dark, I shined a light through it, only a hint of red came out on the other side.  As the head settled down I took the first sip.  It had a medium to thick mouth-feel.  It was smooth with strong roasted coffee notes, and it lingered with a fresh pecan flavor and mellow bitterness.   It was kind of a chilly night, so it was a perfect after dinner beer.  I honestly expected more sweetness out of a beer labeled as "pecan pie porter", but that fact that is was more roasty was not a let down by any stretch of the imagination.  Over all a very tasty beer, and great for after dinner whether you are a fan of coffee or toasted pecans.  If pairing a meal to match with this beer I would pick a slow roasted pork loin, or pan fried mushrooms.

Overall I give this beer **1/2 stars (Excellent)

That's all for this review.  Time to go out and enjoy the lake!  Prost!

Adventures of a Beginning Home Brewer

 

Big Beers Need Big Yeast!

I have started dabbling in bigger beers. Most recently an imperial stout which will be the makings of this year’s Merry Cherry Christmas Stout. But, big beers need big amounts of healthy viable yeast. The answer? A yeast starter!

 

(Yeast Starter Kit)

A yeast starter kit is basically just a glass flask and a foam stopper. What you do is make a very small batch of unhopped wort using water and dry malt extract (yeast food!). Then just pitch your yeast into this and give it a few days. The yeast eat and reproduce in a happy healthy environment. Then just pitch it into your fermenter on brew day. But what is the point?

Yeast starters have several purposes. First is that it increases the amount of yeast cells for pitching into your brew. A yeast starter can take a 100 billion cell packet of yeast and turn that into hundreds and hundreds of billions of viable yeast cells.

This is important for several reasons. Higher pitch rates make better beers because under pitching causes stress on the yeast. Too much work for a small amount of yeast cells causes this stress, I think we can all relate. When yeast get stressed they can produce an off flavor and aroma.

Higher pitch rates of healthy viable yeast also increases the tolerance for higher concentration of alcohol. That is pretty important for making higher gravity beers. In line with this is that lower amounts of yeast may cause the yeast to ferment slowly or incompletely. Basically if you want a big beer, you will need big strong healthy yeast and lots of em!

 

(Yeast Starter in Action)

Another reason to use a yeast starter kit is that it reduces the lag in growth of the yeast. The sooner actual fermentation of your beer starts the less likely it is to be contaminated. Eliminating any lag lowers the chance of contamination. A healthy beer is a happy beer!

Yeast starter kits can be purchased at any homebrew store for around 20-30 bucks, depending on what size you want. They also have stir plates that you can purchase for these, but they are kind of spendy. According to the directions I received with mine you can just give it a good swirl every time you walk by and you should be fine. Also, feel free to throw in a drop of FermCap-S to eliminate any chance of over foaming.

On a quick side note, Beerploma was nominated for Best Beer Blog in the Growler’s Kind-of-a-Big-Deal awards. Thanks to those who nominated us! If you like what you read here, please take a second to go to www.growlermag.com/vote  and vote for beerploma.blogspot.com for best beer blog.