$ol Bock Revival

Saturday I went to the Sol Bock Revival event at Harriet Brewing. It was a beautiful day to be out and about. My friend and I drove to Minneapolis with the windows down. I finally could wear a t-shirt and I had my shades on. I was feeling great that after a long cold winter I could sit out in the sun and enjoy a good beer.

 

When I got to the brewery and hit the beer vending area I was disappointed, again, in a brewery event. $6.00 a beer! Now, in fairness, you could buy 4 for 20 bucks. But still, why the heck are they charging just as much, if not more, than a bar would charge for a beer they produced 20 feet away?

 

I am not an overly cheap dude. I am not asking for anything for free. But come on, man! There isn’t any middle man like a bar or a store trying to make a profit. There isn’t a distributor trying to get his money too. Heck, the guy checking IDs at the door even said the people pouring the beers were working just for tips, so no overhead there either. It is purely the brewery selling the product they made right at the place they are selling it. So why at brewery events do breweries feel like they need to charge beer prices that are starting to approach the prices for beer at major sporting events? I can’t answer that.

 

I always thought these types of events were great for the community, the brewery, and the beer consumer. The community gets some extra business in the area for the day. The brewery gets to spotlight their products and sell some beer. And of course the consumer gets to try some great beers at a brewery, which is always kind of cool. But if I can get the same beer for the same price or cheaper at a nice bar with a beautiful patio complete with plenty of chairs, a summery acoustic musician, and a server who will bring them to me, why would I bother standing in a hot parking lot with next to no places to sit and stand through TWO lines (one to buy the beer tickets and one ten feet away to actually obtain your beer) to purchase one beer for six bucks?

 

All in all it was a fun event. They had some cool art. The empanadas from the MidNord Empanada truck were spectacular. Dan Israel rocked the house with the perfect sunny Saturday afternoon music. And I will give it to Harriet Brewing that the Sol Bock was a great beer. I am sure the brewery would have wanted my last thought be “Man, great beer! I think I am going to have to get Harriet Brewing beers more often!” But as we walked back to my buddy’s truck my last thought was “Six bucks, really?!?”



Adventures of a Beginning Home Brewer

Double Vision

A couple months ago I upgraded my brewery. I got the equipment so that I can brew two batches of beer at the same time. I like beer a lot, which means I need a lot of beer!

 

I started things off by brewing a raspberry wheat and an english brown ale. Things were going great; I was excited about the fact that I would soon have a boatload of beer… And then came an obstacle.

 

I realized after racking the beer into the secondary fermenters that I had a small problem; I never labeled the beers when I first started them and put them into the fermenters. Duh! Normally you would think that these beers would have a distinctively different color from each other, but that isn’t completely the case. When you have about 5 gallons of beer in a big glass vessel the color is pretty much just “dark.”

 

The raspberry is put in during the bottling, which complicated things two fold. First, there isn’t the obvious clue of the beer tasting or smelling like raspberries. Secondly, it left the door open that I could very well end up with a raspberry english brown ale and a plain wheat beer.

 

My friend and I had to taste the flat beer, smell it, and examine it in a smaller taster glass… And then we had to make our best guest. We racked what we thought was the brown ale and bottled it and then racked what we thought was the raspberry wheat, poured in the raspberry extract, and bottled that. Then the long two week wait until we could find out if we guessed right started.

 

The result? We guessed right! Whew! And they are both pretty good beers. Lesson learned: LABEL YOUR BEERS!

Dez's Brew'z Reviewz: While it was cold and snowing in MN...I was in Florida sweating...and drinking beer.

I've just spent a week in Florida, on a family vacation first and foremost, but with the hopes of getting my hands on some beers that I wouldn't normally see in MN. I had researched a few stores in the area we were staying in, only to come up way short...well lets just say the selection came up way short. After 5 stores I realized (there must be something going on with the distribution in this town...almost everything for sale was Budweiser/INBEV). My wife was on the hunt for Crispin Cider( owned by Miller Coors), after being told you couldn't buy it in Florida, we found it at the next store we went into. I bought a Rogue Irish Red and called it a night. Thankfully we took a side trip to the Gulf coast beach beauty of a town, Clearwater. It just so happened that The World Of Beer on Gulf to Bay Blvd
Clearwater was on the way (located directly across the street from THE ORIGINAL Hooters location). Here I finally found some real selection and someone 1) knowledgeable 2) friendly. As soon as I mentioned what nearby country I was staying in and how much trouble I was having finding anything other then Budweiser, he told me he hears this all the time. Apparently, a certain County Sherrif known for conservative values, and probably generous pocket filling, keeps tabs on who sells what, when and how. Ah the south. Now keep in mind this is second hand hearsay from an employee of a store...I've got no idea if this is true or not. I'm guessing there just aren't many distributors in this area...and what they've got just concentrate on what sells the most. (That was my disclaimer) At any rate, this is what I picked up at The World of Beer:

Cigar City Brewing : Florida Cracker White Ale, Hotter than Helles Lager
Terrapin “Moo-Hoo” Chocolate Milk Stout
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Orange Blossom Pilsner
Sea Dog Blueberry Wheat Ale

Both Cigar City's(Tampa, FL) Brews I tried were quite good. The white ale was light on the coriander and citrus, which maybe because it was Florida, I was looking for more of those flavors, but it was easy to drink. Hotter than Helles was also good, but not great. A little bit sweet, fruity and hoppy. This is definately an easy drinking hot weather beer. Next time I'm in FL I plan on hitting up the brewery and/or the tasting room and I recommend if your in Tampa, FL you do the same.

Terrapin Beer Co.(Athens, GA) Moo-Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout was also very good. I'm a huge chocolate stout fan, and despite the humid 85 degree day weather, this was very tasty. Right on par with many of the other Chocolate Milk Stouts out there, I'd just never seen Terrapin before ( not in MN)

Next, was something called Orange Blossom Pilsner. Now brewed by Thomas Creek Brewery in SC but was created by Tom Moench (in his garage in the 70's). Popular in Florida, made with orange blossom honey and won a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Fest in 2004.Moench is now working on opening his own brewery in the Orlando area. This is a pretty good niche beer, but not alot of punch to it. Light, sweet, very easy to drink. Think Corona or something similar.

Sea Dog Blueberry Wheat: This is a New England brand, so I was suprised to see it in FL, but apparently Sea Dog has expanded to open a couple of locations in Florida (Clearwater and Orlando). In the same vein as Sam's Cherry wheat...only not as good of course.

Last but not least, because out of this 6-PK it was by far the best:

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. If I had drank this first, I wouldn't have bothered with any of the others. It pours dark caramel and thick almost syrupy. Smells and taste is sweet, a little hoppy, a little bit malty, strong and powerful but not overpowering. Smooth and slow like a good scotch ale or scotch or wiskey...my mouth waters now just thinking about it. Maybe one of the best beers I've had.  4 Stars-Brilliant !

Brewz and Reviewz: Big Wood Bad Axe and a Sneak Preview of Jack Pine Savage

I normally leave the beer reviews to Andy and Des, but this week at Midweek Beer Geek we got not one but two tastes of one of Minnesota's newest breweries:  Big Wood Brewery out of White Bear Lake, MN.  

Their first offering was their Imperial IPA Bad Axe.  But they had a surprise for us, a taste of their new and upcoming beer Jack Pine Savage, and American Pale Ale.

The Jack Pine Savage is your typical American Pale Ale.  Nice fruity/citrus aroma.  Very crisp clean golden color with a little bit of haze (though that might have been the cold temperature the beer was served at).  This was you typical American Pale Ale with an earthy bitterness.  It had a light mouth feel, and a dry bitter after taste that lingered a little too long.  Pretty decent for an American Pale Ale, and will be a great addition to a summer line up.  Rating:  *1/2 Stars (out of *** or a "Good" rating).

The Bad Axe had a deeper, reddish gold color, hazy.  It had a great fruity aroma to it and formed a nice creamy head.  It was very sweet, and well carbonated for an Imperial.  Medium mouth feel, and a pleasant after taste.  It was also NOT bogged down by a heavy alcohol flavor.  Overall this is one of the best Imperial IPAs that I have ever had.  Rating:  *** Stars (out of *** or an "Excellent" rating).

Overall I enjoyed these two offerings and am looking forward to the future of this wonderful Minnesota craft brewery!

Jack Pine Savage (Left), Bad Axe (Right)

Rise of the Beer Baron Pt 2: The First Taste!

For those of you familiar with the Boy Scout of America, I am an Eagle Scout.  Scouting was my "after school" activity.  But I wasn't just any old Scout, I was a super-Scout.  Very active n the Order of the Arrow (at one point holding one of the highest youth positions in the Twin Cities area called Lodge Chief).  I was highly decorated, and loved the travels and adventures it brought.  Now some of you might be asking about what this has to do with beer.  Well I took my duties pretty seriously, and while many people might expect to hear some wild tales of underage binges, those who know me know that I am still a "Boy Scout" at heart (as far as being a goody-goody, there are plenty of current BSA policies that I completely disagree with).  Yes, my first sip of "non-parently supervised" alcohol happened shortly after my 21st birthday and a friends Halloween party.  It was some sort of fruity punch thing.  I followed it up with a beer, nothing special, in fact it was pretty awful.  I don't exactly recall which national brand light beer it was, but I wasn't impressed.  So I started out my drinking days with "fruity crushed ice" type drinks.

My next taste of beer came on a hot/muggy summer day.  I was meeting some family at the local BW3 (a place known for their chicken wings and mediocre beer selection).  I wanted something a little different so I went with a Labatt's Blue, and for about a month that became "my beer".  Compared to the other national brands I had beforehand this was hand over fist better then what I had sampled, but it was still no something I wanted regularly.

Then one of my good high school friends had a Birthday, and was given a gift from out of state.....

To Be Continued....

 

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!

 

Valkyrie Brewing Company: Small Brewery - Big Flavor

Valkyrie Brewing Company is a small town brewery located in Dallas, WI. It is owned and operated by husband and wife team Randy and Ann Lee. Let  me tell you, they are doing it right. I had the opportunity to tour the brewery, talk about beer with owners Randy and Ann, and of course try some beer!

This brewery, established in 1994, is a fairly small brewery. They crank beer out at a capacity of about 400-500 barrels divided among 15 or so different kinds of beer. What is even more impressive is that they have no employees! Randy and Ann do everything themselves.

Having a brewery in a small community is not without its challenges. For one, as Randy indicated, there is no natural gas available to the building. They are currently using propane, but Valkyrie has secured a grant to convert to using used biofuels to make their beers. That is pretty progressive for any brewery.

The newly remodeled taproom, dubbed Valhalla, is a great place to grab a beer. There is a really cool personalized cement bar, custom made themselves of course, and 11 beers on tap. Any Viking warrior would be glad to drink here while waiting for the final end of the world battle.

Valkyrie has a great philosophy about beer. Ann equates the flavors in beer to flavors in food. Everything has to come together perfectly and work together. Flavors should not overpower each other. In a sense, beer, like food, is an art form. That philosophy really rings true in their beers.

Speaking of beers, I tried a good variety of them at Valkyrie. All were good, but I would like to touch on two in particular that really impressed me; Blaze Orange and Hot Chocolate.

I will first say that I haven’t really found any spiced beers I have been too impressed with. It seems like most brewers’ just dump in an overwhelming amount of coriander or other spice. That taste distracts from the beer and usually ruins it for me. Blaze Orange broke that mold and made me a spiced beer believer!

Blaze Orange is a lager that is made with orange extract, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and white peppercorns. That sounds like a lot of spices, but the way they are used is perfect. Randy told me he made the base beer and then handed Ann, a great soup cook as Randy indicated, the spice catalog and basically told her to do her thing. The result is a great lager with a nice orange flavor and a spice flavor profile that is complex but overpowers nothing. This beer changed me from a guy who generally steers clear of spiced beers to a guy who will be drinking a lot of Blaze Orange!

The other beer I would like to touch on is Valkyrie’s Hot Chocolate. It is a chocolate stout brewed with fair trade cocoa and cayenne pepper. This beer was perfect. The carbonation was perfect. The chocolate flavors rang in the forefront. The actually taste of the cayenne wasn’t really there. But take a few sips and you start to feel a fun heat in the back of your throat. Again, great flavors used correctly. (Insider tip: Ann says this beer makes a great chili!)

My lasting impression is that I am now a big Valkyrie Brewing Company fan. They are doing things the way I wish other breweries would; use flavors to enhance, not overpower. The beers are inventive and fun without being gimmicky. The owners are great people making great beers. Randy and Ann have been doing it there way at Valkyrie for around 20 years, so they must be doing something right!

Adventures of a Beginning Home Brewer: The Outcomes

It has been a bit since I have had time to post anything on here. But don’t think I haven’t been brewing! Since I have blogged about the Merry Cherry Christmas Stout and the caramel mocha porter, which I dubbed Red Eye Porter, I figured an update on how they turned out was in order.

  

This year's Merry Cherry Christmas Stout turned out pretty good. It was very dark, but had a somewhat light taste to it for a stout. The cherries came through pretty well which added a sweetness to it that was very enjoyable. This stout came out a bit overly carbonated when compared to a typical stout. I think the lightness, sweet cherry taste, and the slightly over carbonation really made this beer what I wanted it to be; a beer everyone can enjoy together for the holidays, even the light beer drinkers. Sadly this drinkability has made it so this beer is completely gone… I already can’t wait for Christmas!

 

Red Eye Porter, which was my first 100% original recipe, came out great! The espresso really came through in this one. It is a big dark porter with about the perfect amount of carbonation in it. For a dark coffee type porter it was really drinkable. Every time I cracked some open for friends we all wanted another! The roasted chocolate malts added decent chocolate flavor. My only complaint would be the caramel didn’t quite do what I was hoping for. With the caramel grains and the caramelized sugar I made, you could taste the sweetness, but not quite enough of the roasted burnt type caramel flavor I really wanted it to have. All said though, this is the best beer I have made so far. Again, I must have done a good job as I am out! (Don’t worry Will, still have a bomber squirreled away for you)

 

 

All in all, two pretty darn good beers!