How To Talk Like A Beer Geek - Go Strong!

Today on How to Talk Like a Beer Geek we go STRONG with our beer terms! Let’s crank this thing up to 11% and get started!

The first term is IMPERIAL. This has nothing to do with Kings and Queens... Well, maybe back in the day it did, nor does this have anything to do with the Costa Rican beer by the same name. An Imperial is a version of a beer style that has a much higher Alcohol By Volume than the original beer style. This is why Imperial beers are usually always served in a smaller glass.... They are just trying to save you from yourself!

An example would be a Stout vs. an Imperial Stout. An average Stout will be in the 5%-6% A.B.V. range where an Imperial Stout could have anything up near 9% and even higher A.B.V. A good but obviously a bit rough rule of thumb is that an Imperial will be close to double the A.B.V..... Which leads us to our next beer term!


The next beer term is DOUBLE (Note: not Dubbel... although...well...we will cover that another day). This basically means the same thing as Imperial in the beer world. This term is much more common with IPAs that have the higher A.B.V. Basically, an Imperial IPA would be a Double IPA... Get it? IIPA... Two “I”s... Double I... PA... ok, I’m done, sorry about that. Double IPAs can also be a bit hoppier than a normal IPA.

The final beer geek term is TRIPLE (Again, please note: Triple, not Trippel. Again another day). This again just means a bigger A.B.V. beer (much bigger) but there is a hitch included in this one. Triple can also mean that the higher A.B.V. beer has a higher bitterness as well. Like a Triple IPA. It will have higher A.B.V. and higher bitterness to it. These aren’t super prevalent, but they are out there. If you are going to try some Triple IPAs, be ready for a solid buzz and a hop-puckered mouth!

Imperials, Doubles, and Triples can be damn delicious! But now that you know the terms, you can tread lightly so you don’t end up like Drinky Crow all hunched over in the corner with Xs over your eyes!





Brews and Reviews: James Page Brewing Company's Yabba Dhaba Chai Tea Porter

Any "beer snob" worth his or her weight in hops is always on a never ending quest to seek out new beers they haven't tried before. A combination of curiosity of that of a feline and the Untappd app, has me on a constant mission to discover new brews, like some sort of barley pop obsessed Indiana Jones.

This particular brew struck me for a couple of reasons. First, I found it interesting that the pairing of a catchphrase from The Flintstones and a typical 20's safari explorer were used to denote the Chai Tea flavoring. The second reason was that this was from James Page Brewery (now owned and operated by Stevens Point Brewery), a former staple of NorthEast Minneapolis' Warehouse area.  Anyone who has journeyed over to Uppercut Gym, probably for one of the beer expos hosted over there, may find themselves passing the brewery's former location, their entrance still adorned with vines of hops.

Photo courtesy of javaprop.com

The Chai Tea Porter is a delightful explosion of taste for the right person. It is packed full of the Chai Tea aroma and taste you'd expect if you were to order one of these trendy beverages from your local coffee establishment.  The mouth-feel of this beer even tricks your senses into believing the consistency of this brew is much thicker than it actually is, due to the flavor.  Heck, even the smell of this beer gives an illusion of sitting in a coffee house, rather than on my couch.

However, as wonderful as this beer tastes, it may not be a brew for everyone. For one, it struggles to truly taste of feel like a Porter. It's body is a bit thin to be considered a Porter, instead being more consistent with a lager. When drinking this beer, without prior knowledge, you'd never associate this brew with having any hint of the typical british style of beer, instead mistaking it for something more of a typical Adjunct. 

The full line of James Page branded beers

This beverage also has a powerful taste with flavors of nutmeg and cinnamon, as well as other spices synonymous with infamous teas of India. This taste may be overwhelming to some folks, especially those who may appreciate more subtle tastes found in other flavored craft beers. It's not quite a "punch you in the mouth with flavor" found in most soft drinks, but it is certainly more than the average beer geek will more than likely enjoy.

Yabba Dhaba isn't a bad beer at all; it's quite enjoyable in fact.  But this is a beer best suited for a stormy spring day, and not likely something the regular beer consumer will want to drink more than one or two of.  If nothing else, Yabba Dhaba is an interesting experimental brew great for giving a try, but not something that will become a staple in any aficionado's beer cellar. Point Brewery has presented us with a good beer for tasting, but not necessarily a good beer for drinking.

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.

Dealing With Beer Fatigue

 
Beer fatigue!  In one form or another all craft beer drinkers will experience beer fatigue, it's inevitable, it will happen.  Whether you are at a beer fest on your second trip through the tables or you are at your local liquor establishment and are starring and a wall of IPAs thinking that cascade hops is just not what you are looking for today, we are here to help!

First off lets define beer fatigue.  I define it (and have experienced) in two terms:

Beer Fatigue #1:  When you are at a beer tasting event and all the beers start taste the same, or you are not picking up the details of the flavor you were when you first started the session.

Beer Fatigue #2:  When you simply can't decide what beer to choose because "they all sound the same".

Today we will be tackling the first type of beer fatigue

1. Eat Something to Cleanse the Pallet:  Do you know those little necklaces of pretzels everyone is wearing at a beer fest?  These are great to cleanse the pallet.  They are light so as not to fill you up (i.e. room for more beer) and the salt help to reset your senses.  Lately I have been seeing beef sticks and cheese on necklaces too, but I don't recommend these as the oily processed cheese and the grease laden beef snack can linger on the pallet masking the more delicate flavors of complex beers.  Personally when available I prefer grapes over pretzels, but this is probably more for your home experience, and not for the beer fest!
2. Drink plenty of water:  I can stress this enough.  Water is the "universal solvent" for a reason.  Not only that but the majority of your body AND beer are made of water, so guess what?  They make a natural fit!  Take it as a queue from nature and clean out your pallet with some good ole H2O
3. Take a break:  I know, with beer fests this can be tough.  You want to get to all the tables before those rare one off casks are gone.  But eventually you need to slow it down.  At private tasting events this is a lot easier to do!  Make some conversation, it doesn't have to all be about the beer.
4. Take small portions:  Want to taste more beers before fatigue sets in?  Take smaller sips.  This is why I like to host beer parties with around 6 to 8 people.  You can take one 12oz bottle, give everyone a little over 1oz of beer and your whole table can get though twelve bottle easily.  Just remember spitting is wine drinkers, suck it up and swallow!
5. Don't Smoke:  Who doesn't love a good cigar with their beer?  Well lots of people, but me I do enjoy a good stogy from time to time, and yes I have broken this rule on a number of occasions.  Save it for the end of the night.  Smoking will ruin your pallet!
6. Drink from Light to Dark:  Whenever possible drink from light to dark.  The fresh citrusy hops that are more abundant with lighter beers will actually help keep your pallet fresh.  Meanwhile the more earthy, thick stouts and porters will coat your mouth masking the flavors of the next beer.
7. It's okay to switch from analyzing to fun:  My last bit of advice is something I learned while trying to marathon through a bunch of beers for my journal.  Eventually even drinking 1oz pours gets to you.  Your head starts getting fuzzy, and soon all the pilsners start tasting the same.  It happens.  It's okay to say "Okay, now I am drinking for fun".  At this point if I am hosting I like to have something local on hand like Grainbelt of Summit EPA.  Relatively well liked by most of my circle of beer drinking friends, and less expensive because at this point you don't want to be drinking that $40 bottle of Fulton's War and Peace you have been aging for a year.

So what are your tips and tricks for dealing with beer fatigue?  Leave us a comment!

Oh what was I saying...well it seems like I am hitting some writers fatigue.  But that is a story for another blog.  Until next time!  PROST!

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!

Rise of the Beer Baron Pt 5: A Homebrewer Is You!

It's been a while since I blogged about the beginnings of my love for craft beer.  So when we last left off I had just gotten my first homebrew kit.

 







This was my introduction to how beer was made.  Even with the first batch I learned A LOT about the mechanics of brewing.  Here is a quick list of lessons that I learned:

1. Brewing the beer is easy, it's the pre-cleaning, post-cleaning, and bottling is hard.
2. You will learn to clean EVERYTHING.
3. Repeat step 2 in case you missed it.
4. No really, read step 2 again, it's important.
5. Having and empty plastic jug on hand for water is a nice to have
6. Don't even bother with the plastic bottles that comes with the kits.  Move right into glass
7. If you start with Mr. Beer and love it, you will quickly want to invest in a more mature kit
8. You will want to watch your beer every day, note, I didn't say need to.  You will just want to to make sure it is okay.
9. In the end, you're entire job is to make yeast cells happy.

In the end I was very happy with my first beer.  It was a style I had never had at this point (a Vienna style ale), well carbonated, and wasn't too bad.  But I know I could do better.  I quickly moved to the next step kit from Midwest Homebrew Supplies.

I did a lot of beers with honey during this phase.  I even got creative with a batch of beer, using my Mr. Beer kit to experiment.  Here is the recipe that I used:

2 Cans of Stickey Wicket Stout (from Mr. Beer)

2 Packets of Brewers Yeast

1 pouch of booster

14 oz of coconut in the fermentor

3oz. of chai tea per 22oz bottle during bottling.

Yeah.  I know it sounds a little strange, but it was one of the best beers I ever brewed.  Not enough beers utilize coconut....

So now the fire was lit.  I was beginning to understand the basics of brewing, beer styles, and proper beer handling.  It was time to see how the big boys play, it was time to start meeting the great brewers of Minnesota!

Road Trippin' to the Twin Ports Brewfest

(Twin Ports Brewfest in Action)

Last month, My friend Chris and I made the ridiculously icy trek from Saint Paul to Duluth for the Twin Ports Brewfest at the Black Bear Casino. It was cold and the roads sucked, but once we got there and the beer started flowing we had a blast!

One thing that struck me was the fairly small brewery turn out. I have been to a lot of beer events and this one had the least amount of breweries. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty. And actually I am not sure this was a bad thing.

The smaller amount of breweries, while it limited variety a little bit, made it possible to actually hit every booth to sample every brewery. With most events having 30-70 breweries, this is impossible. Sometimes that leads to missing out on some pretty good beers. This time I was able to hit every booth and sample a beer from every brewery there.... although I didn’t hit up the wineries and of course skipped the Coors Light booth and the booth that had the Hard Mike’s and Hard Teas. What were those last two even doing there?!?!

It was nice to be out of town and trying some local breweries I haven’t tried before. Different area, different local breweries, right? One that stuck out, and actually was my favorite of the day, was Thirsty Pagan out of Superior, WI. They had one of only a few “special beers”, a sour! I love sours, and this one was good. Tart, a tiny bit funky, and not covered up with fruit. I like fruit sours, but I love a sour that can just stand on it’s own. This was my favorite of the event.

 

(Thirsty Pagan)

Chris’ favorite was the Apricot Wheat by Fitgers. Chris is somewhat new to the craft beer scene. It’s awesome when someone somewhat new to craft beer finds a beer that they say they could drink all day. This beer was a little malty, kind of fruity from the apricot, and really smooth. I swear he hit up that Fitgers stand so many times he was probably close to being on a first name basis with them by the end of the day!

 

(Fitgers)

There was a bit of a downer during the concert portion of the event. There was a small break where they got rid of all the brewery booths for the concert. The Dropkick Murphy’s totally rocked the house! But when we decided we wanted a beer, all they had for sale were a few national brands.

 

(Dropkick Murphys Rockin' Out)

It was the casino that was handling the beer and alcohol sales at this point. But seriously, this was a craft beer event! You have a huge room full of craft beer drinkers! After spending the day drinking awesome craft beers all you can offer me is a Bud or a Miller Lite? Ugh! We had mixed drinks instead.

 

(Crap Beer... C'mon Man!)

All in all this was a pretty fun event. A couple small tweaks and maybe another couple breweries and this event will be top notch. I’m always up for a road trip, so I am sure I will be back!

http://thirstypaganbrewing.com/
http://fitgersbrewhouse.com/
www.twinportsbrewfest.com
 

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.





Take Me Out to the Beer Game

 

 

 

I will just come out and admit it… I am not a baseball guy. It just isn’t my sport. I need a sport that has violent collisions on a regular basis, like football, hockey, heck even NASCAR. I probably catch a combined total of one inning of baseball a year.

 

That said, recently I had a chance to go to Target Field to see the MN Twins try to play baseball for a work outing… Let’s see; sit at my office all afternoon or go drink some beer on a sunny afternoon at the ol’ ball park…. Easy decision!

 

Baseball aside, I was actually really excited to go. I had heard great things about the ballpark; the beer, the food, the views, and it didn’t disappoint.

 

Target Field itself is a beautiful ball park! It’s new, clean, and easily accessible. Even though we had the cheap seats the view of the field was great, and we didn’t need a Sherpa to get to them!

 

 

 

 

Blah, blah, baseball, ballpark… Whatever, lets get to the beer side of things! This place is a beer drinker’s paradise. It was great to finally go to a stadium and have options other than beers that start with the word Miller or end with the word Light.

 

My first stop was right inside the gate I entered, Twin’s Pub. Just a normal average looking hot dog, nachos, and beer type stand that is at every stadium I have ever been to except this one had tasty beers! I went for a bomber of Summit Extra Pale Ale. Nothing too adventurous obviously, but I have always liked this beer and never have ordered a bomber of it, so why not?

 

 

 

 

I walked through the concourses searching out other fun beer stuff and found Hrbek’s. Hrbek’s is a full service sports bar inside the ballpark named after former Twin’s first baseman Kent Hrbek… He played back when the Twins were good. Anybody remember that? I didn’t get a drink there because I was still working on my Summit, but the place looked nice and at least had leinie’s on tap.
 

 

After watching a couple innings of baseball with my coworkers I headed back out for another beer. I came across a small beer counter the size of a large walk in closet built into the wall called Twin’s Brews, Beers of Twin’s Territory. This little place was awesome! They had countless local craft beers. It was a cool touch to see the hometown team promoting hometown beers. We need more of that type of stuff if you ask me. I had a Lost Trout by Third Street Brewhouse. It was a little on the chilly side that day, so a good brown ale went down great!
 

 

The Twins lost, but I was really impressed with the wide selection of craft beer available at Target Field. The beer combined with some great food stands, like Foods of the State Fair and a variety of sausage vendors among other things, makes for a great fan experience, even if you are not a fan in the first place.
 

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 (category number 18).