Bent Brewsillery's Awesome New Digs

It’s finally here! Bent Brewstillery opened their new taproom Thursday, and the place is fabulous! I have been able to see the transformation from the beginning and was excited to see the finished product. So, Vicky and I went out on opening day for a couple beers to check out the new digs. Here are some of the things that make this taproom awesome.

(Cheers from Beerploma at Bent!)

First off, the taps. Bent hasn’t gone with taps on the wall or side of a cooler or even on the bar. At Bent the taps come from heaven... That’s right, they are suspended from the ceiling! How cool is that?!?! Inventive and unique, just like Bent’s beer!

(Curved bar and floating taps!) 

Another unique thing is the curved (or is it Bent.... he-he!) bar. This thing is pretty huge! It was made by owner Bartley’s son-in-law, and he did a damn fine job. The bar has plenty of places to sit as well as plenty of places to squeeze in to buy a beer quick without having to throw elbows.

The views of the actually brewery and distillery are pretty cool. From most seats in the house you can see the shiny tanks of the brewery. From the front of the bar you can see the big still right behind the beertenders. This really gives you an “awesome, I am in the middle of a brewery!” feel, which other than top notch fresh beer is kind of the draw to taprooms.

(Taps and the still in the background)

The bathrooms are beautiful! I might be biased a bit because my buddy Mark tiled them, but they are really nice with awesome fixtures. Maybe a seemingly small thing, but decent bathrooms are a pretty nice attribute to a taproom.

(Nice tile job, D-Boy!)

Seats are plentiful. That is a big deal to me. I have been to a lot of taprooms/tasting rooms where there are a few seats and then it’s pretty much standing room only (yep, looking at you Flat Earth! Great room, but get some chairs.). Bent has tons of tables of all different sizes, plenty of bar stools, and a really nice patio for the nice days. You can sit back, relax with friends, and have a cold one in comfort!

(Seating and a bit of the patio outside)

The best part of the taproom is the beers! They have a lot of taps, around 7 or 8 I think I remember counting, plus a cold pressed coffee on nitro! We had Acclivity (you can read about it here), a fruity summery version of Nordic Blonde called Lakeside Blonde, and an Australian Sparkling Ale called Rage On Wombat. All were great! I’ve come to realize that Bent Brewstillery just doesn’t make beers I don’t like.

(A few taps and the still)

Being unique is what, to me at least, sets Bent Brewstillery apart in their beers, and they definitely followed suit with the taproom. The place is customer focused with plenty of space, plenty of parking, plenty of seating, and plenty of top notch beer! Head over to Roseville and GET BENT!

(Soooooo good!)

www.bentbrewstillery.com

P.S. If you enjoy our blog, please take a minute to click on the link at the top of the page and nominate Beerploma for best MN Beer Blog.... And of course Moe Pug wants you to name him the best MN Beer Writer, he just has a hard time typing with no thumbs....

Milwaukee Ale House; A Brew City Bright Spot!

Recently I had the opportunity to head to Milwaukee to perform a show with my band, Marked 4 Deletion. Milwaukee is one of my absolute favorite cities. The water, the architecture, the festivals, and of course the BEERS!

(The taps!)

This time I decided to hit up The Milwaukee Ale House with my drummer and our beautiful wives for lunch. I had read the menu online a bit earlier, and honestly I will have to admit that what sold me was how great the food sounded!

(Brewery at MKE Ale House)

To set the stage, let me tell you about the place itself. Milwaukee Ale House is a restaurant/taproom/brewpub in Downtown Milwaukee along the river. Inside the Ale House there are tons of taps, lots of wood, and tons of space. There is even a nice sized stage for entertainment. This is a really nice clean place perfectly decorated that tiptoes the lines between taproom, restaurant, and night club.

(MKE Stage)

We sat outside on their beautiful second story deck overlooking the Milwaukee River. I have had a lot of beers at a lot of places in Milwaukee, but this patio has to be one of the best spots to enjoy a cold one and a bite to eat. You can even go straight from the patio down to the river walk and work off your extra calories after dinner. Heck, they even have a few boat slips if you are on the river and want to stop in for a beer or some food.

For my first beer I tried a Sonne Weisse, while Vicky had the Columbian Siason. The Sonne Wiesse is a hazy berliner style weisse beer that had a nice tartness to it from the lactobacillus that was balanced by a sweetness that was achieved by the use of strawberries during this beer’s cellaring, which interestingly came across only as sweetness, not actual strawberry taste. I will say, this beer had significantly less bubbly carbonation than I am used to a berliner weisse having. This was a great tasting, refreshing, easy drinking beer. As is I would drink it again for sure, with a touch more sparkling carbonation I would drink it by the bucket!

(Columian Saison on the left, Sonne Weisse on the right)

Next, the food came. I ordered the Duck Sliders. Hot damn these were good! BBQ duck confit using Louie’s Demise BBQ sauce on local mini pretzel buns with apple slaw and goat cheese. First off, I am a sucker for anything on a pretzel bun. I’ve never even seen mini pretzel buns. They were dynamite! Kudos, Milwaukee Pretzel Co. The duck was perfect, the apple slaw worked with the BBQ sauce awesomely, and goat cheese was the absolute correct cheese pick for these mini pieces of heaven!

(Duck Sliders and Sweet Potato Fries)

I washed down my sliders with a Pull Chain. Pull Chain is a citrusy, hoppy IPA. It wasn’t a bitey hoppy, but instead had a nice smoothness to it. Carbonated perfectly. This was a really good IPA and my favorite beer of the visit.... Not just the visit to Milwaukee Ale House, but my favorite from the whole trip to Milwaukee!

(Increased Wheat on the left, Pull Chain on the right)

Vicky opted to stay on the healthy side of things and had a hummus wrap, which she said was really good. Hummus just ain’t my thing, but she loved it! She had the increased wheat with it, which is a berliner weisse with gooseberries. I didn’t try this one, but it sounds great. Wheaty, tart, sweet... What’s not to like?

(Hummus Wrap)

Great view, great place, great food, and great tasting beer all in an awesome city! Milwaukee Ale House; come for the food, stay for the beer... wait... come for the beer, stay for the food... wait... ummm...  Either way just go there and you will love it!

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.





Cream Ales, The Other Summer Beer!

I’m gonna start this post off with a little secret for all of our regular readers.  Some BIG changes are coming to Beerploma.com.  I’m not talking about a logo face lift, although that is part of it.  I’m talking about something BIG!!!

With that said I feel that our recent articles have gotten away from our primary mission:  Educating Craft Beer Drinkers about GREAT local beers.  So as such I would like to start steering the ship back onto the correct course.  So class is in session, and speaking of sessions it’s time to talk about one of my favorite session styles.  Just in time for spring, let’s talk about Cream Ales!

First let’s talk about the history of cream ale.  They first came into popularity before Prohibition in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic in order to compete with mass produced American Lager (Oliver, 2012).  Taste wise Cream Ales should be light, hoppier then American Lagers, and often have a light fruity taste.  The color should be a pale straw to pale cold and the APV should be between 4.2% and 5.6% (Mosher, 2009).  Cream Ales being a lighter fare should be paired with salty snacks; basically treat them like you would an American Lager.  

Minnesota and Wisconsin are both home to two of the finest Cream Ales in this country.  I’m of course talking about Rise To the Top,by Third Street Brewhouse and Spotted Cow, by New Glarus.  Both are great examples of this great session beer and both are great at showcasing better different aspects of Cream Ales.  Spotted Cow shows off the fruity-ness of the style while Rise to the Top shows off the hop potential.  Both are excellent beers, and I highly recommend sampling the two side by side if you ever get the chance. 

Minnesota Cream Ales:

Rise To the Top:  Third Street Brewhouse

Castle Cream Ale: Castle Danger Brewing(Seasonal)

Other Cream Ales:

Spotted Cow: New Glarus (WI)

Capitol Hop Cream: Capitol Brewery (WI)

Homebrew Kits:

Liberty Cream Ale:  Midwest Brewing Supplies

So now that the snow has finally melted, and we trade in snow-blowers for lawnmowers its time to trade in the porters for cream ales!  Until next time, keep those glasses full!

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:  Which of these beers would win in a Border Battle Royal?  Rise to the Top or Spotted Cow!

Leave your answers in the comments section or on Twitter @beerplomadotcom or on our Facebook Page! 

Works Cited

Mosher, T. (2009). Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide To The World's Greatest Drink. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.

Oliver, G. (2012). The Oxford Companion to Beer. New York: Oxford University Press.

Dez's Brewz and Reviewz: Third Street Brewhouse: Three Way Pale Ale

I've let it be known in past reviews that Pale Ales are not my cup of tea. Seems lately, I may be in the minority as week after week I see super-duper double hop, hoptastic, hop till you drop....and on and on it goes. So when Third Stree Brewhouse offered up a Pale Ale...I was hesistant (3 kinds of hops!?). When so many other brewers are packing as much HOP as they can into a bottle the Three Way Pale Ale was a great suprise. It pours a hazy, golden amber with little head. Taste is light and a little sweet/fruity. But most of all, and most important to me, the hoppy bitterness was kept under control, making this an unbelievably easy drinker. Maybe its the balance between the 3 hops and 3 types of malts? Both in appearance and tastiness, I kept trying to figure out what it reminds me of. Some that came to mind were: Smithwicks and Yuenglings. Somewhere along the lines of great Irish Reds and Lagers. I wish Third Street was closer to the Metro area, but they will give me a reason to head out of town this summer. *** Stars (too obvious?) Like I said when I drank it "only bought 1, should have bought 6"

Coming soon: Cigar City Brewery of Tampa, FL and hopefully whats on tap at Epcot Walt Disney World...stay tuned!