Winterfest: Top Notch Minnesota Beers

 

(In the crowd at Winterfest) 

My wife and I were lucky enough to score a couple last minute tickets to The MN Brewers Guild’s Winterfest 2014 (thanks, Lynn!), what we didn’t know was that the tickets were actually to Beer Nirvana!

Winterfest 2014 was held at the newly renovated Union Depot in Down Town Saint Paul. The venue was beautiful and really added some class to a beer event. The price point of 75 bucks may seem a bit steep at first, but with the historic venue, catered food with carving stations, and phenomenal beer the cost seems fairly on point.  And although the crowd sometimes felt like it had outpaced capacity, it was still surprisingly easy to get around and get a beer.

 

(Winterfest 2014 at the Union Depot)

The beer was ridiculous! It really felt like the brewers, 41 in total, brought their A-games to this one. The specialty beers they brought were inventive and threw around some awesome flavors. There were way too many good beers to be able to list here, but I’ll touch on a few that stood out to us.

Bent Brewstillery’s Winterfest Sour was one that we really enjoyed. Lots of beer drinkers don’t enjoy sours, Vicky and I love em! I have been wanting to try this one for a while. It tasted great and lived up to what I hoped it would be.



(Getting some Winterfest Sour from Bent Brewstillery)

Brau Brothers had a cask conditioned Spiced Sheephead. This version of their Sheephead had just the right spiced taste to add some interesting, but not overpowering, flavors. They nailed what a lot of spice beers miss with this one. They also have a great sour you gotta try in the Bancreagie Sour 26!



(Having fun pouring myself a Bancreagie Sour 26 at the Brau Brother's Booth)

 



A one-off beer we wished would be around all the time was the peaches and cream version of Farm Girl Saison by Lift Bridge Brewing Co. Farm Girl is a beer Vicky and I have liked for a long time. For this version they added organic peaches and sweet milk sugar. It was sweet, fruity, smooth, and refreshing. I would love some of this in the summertime.

 

(Mmmmm... Beer....)

Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery (the Raspberry Coconut Jack Frost was delicious!) won Best Brewery of the fest, while Barley John’s Brew Pub won Best Beer for Rosie’s Old Ale, made with champagne yeast and coming in at a whooping alcohol content of 18%. Congrats to them! That is a big accomplishment with the stiff competition at this fest. Unfortunately with tons of beers to try, we never got around to try Rosie’s Old Ale.

For both of us though, the beer of the night was Snownami by Northbound Smokehouse and Brewpub. This beer, a double chocolate raspberry stout, was finished with Belgium dark chocolate, cocoa nibs, and raspberries. It was chocolaty from the scent all the way to the finish with raspberry flavor that waved in and out on your palate. Liquid greatness!



(Vicky enjoying some Snownami)

Some beer fests might seem like a bit more of a party. Some beer fests might be a lot bigger with more breweries. But with all the quality Minnesota breweries bringing so many top notch beers, Winterfest is definitely the top notch BEER fest.

Surviving A Beer Fest!

Hello Beerploma Nation!

For those tried and true Minnesotans you know that winter is all about hunkering down, and waiting for the spring thaw.  It brings on a state of mind called cabin feaver.  It can drive a person totally crazy.  Luckily the Craft Beer Industry is here to help!  There are several craft beer festivals to help you thaw out for a few moments and forget about the -26 F days (and for those non-Minnesotans out there, that is BEFORE the wind chill).  We recently had The Mankato Craft beer festival last week, and we have two more coming up that Beerploma will be attending (if you want to meet us, just post a message down below, we would love to meet some of our audience):

The St. Cloud Craft Beer Tour (January 18th):  For those of you up in the St. Cloud area this is a perfect time to sample beers you might not get elsewhere.  It's indoors so you will stay warm, and there is a great selection of breweries.

Beer Dabbler Winter Carnival Event (January 25th):  For the tried and true, or the just plain insane!  This festival is help outdoors at the State Fair Grounds.  So dress warm, and don't forget your mitts!  This is one of Minnesota's most popular beer fests.  This year people in attendance can help participate in a chance to set a world record for the worlds largest snowball fight!

 

 Red Wing Wings and Brew Fest (March 15th): If you can think of a better way to thaw yourself from a long winter then drinking some killers beers, and spicy chicken wings...well then you must be at the bacon/beer fest, because seriously, that's the only thing that can top this!

So pick one, or pick all of these great events, scrape the snow off your car and head out to for a great winter time!  So if this is your first fest here are a couple of survival tips:

1. Don't forget your ID:  They won't even let you in the door without a proper ID.  And if by some chance you forget yours, don't be mad at the staff.  They are just doing there job to make sure these events don't get shut down by letting a minor in.
2. Eat a big meal before hand:  Those beers add up fast, not to mention that you will be mixing several types and flavors which can wreak havoc on a stomach.  
3. Bring Pretzels:  Most beer fests let you bring pretzel necklaces in order to cleanse the pallet between beers.
4. Shed some pounds:  My first beer fest I brought a backpack with books and all sorts of other non-sense.  Leave them at home, you won't have time.
5. Bring a Journal:  If you keep a beer journal, like I do, go ahead and bring it.  Just you should come up with an abbreviated way to jot your notes down.  One of the earliest lessons I got from my bird watching days is that you don't want to spend all your time with your nose in a book.  A lot of beginners will take a glimpse at a bird then spend the rest of their time with their nose in the book trying to identify it.  Instead spend that time studying the bird until it flies out of sight.  Remember you are there to celebrate the beers, plenty of time for research later.
6. Do not boggart the line:  Get your beer and step off to the side.  There is a good chance there are about 20 to 50 people in line behind you waiting to taste it to.
7. Do talk to the people from the breweries:  Once you have your beer feel free to step aside and ask questions about what you are drinking!  It's a great learning opportunity, and they are there as a resource.  Again, just make sure you are not holding the line up, and don't expect them to stop working to make time for you.
8. Take in the shows.  A lot of these craft beer fests have a stage area set up where beer historians, beer experts, and brewers will put on presentations.  It's a great way to get off your feet for a few seconds, and learn what these great people have to say.
9. Meet some new friends:  Everyone who participates in these fests have one thing in common, the love of craft beer.  And isn't that the hardest part of getting to know people, finding that initial point of interest to spark a conversation.  Break out of your shell and say hello to someone new.  And the best part is that it gets easier after a few drinks!
10. Be safe and responsible:  Always drink responsibly and have a plan to get home, or get a hotel near the event.  Just be SAFE.

So if you happen to be at one of the above events, feel free to track us down and say hello!  We would love for a chance to meet you.

Happy New Beer!

Nope, we have not thrown in the towel.  Andy and I had a busy holiday schedule, and currently we are gearing up for a bunch of great beer events that we are going to be attending that you can find right here:

http://beerploma.com/events.html

If you are interested in meeting up with us at one of these events drop us a comment below or email us at info@beerploma.com!  We would love to meet with you.

Well it's a New Year.  I think we should start off with a list of New Years resolutions.

Resolution #1:  Increase our Social Media pool.  This is where you guys come in.  Come visit us at Twitter (@beerplomadotcom), Facebook (Beerploma), and YouTube (Beerploma.com).  I want to draw some special attention to YouTube.  If you haven't checked out our two show, your missing out.  We have 2 Growlers which is all about reviewing great Minnesota Beers.  We also have Beerploma Presents which features breweries, beer stores, and beer fests.  We get to talk to the owners of these great places and find out what makes them so unique.

Resolution #2:  Find some interesting guests for our 2 Growlers show.  We had some great hits.  Probably the best was the guys from Brewbicle.  We want to arrange something like that for you all 2014.

Resolution #3:  Get our hands on some great unique beer . Last year we had some great treats.  Beer from California, LasVegas, new beers from Germany.  Plus we got some great sneak previews of some awesome Minnesota beers. 

So what do you think?  What would you like to see from us this year?

Minnesota, Land of Ten Thousand Beers... Or is it 4?

I was reading an article on Vita.mn that had "Beer Experts" pick a MN 6 pack of fame. I have a bone to pick with these "Beer Experts."

 

Every week there seems to be another list like this. The silly part is that they are all the same! Sometimes I wonder if these "experts" are going to the same bars and beer stores in MN that I am.

 

MN has so many great craft breweries and beers. We have such an awesome diversity of beers. MN as a state is at the forefront of the craft beer movement, but yet these types of lists never change.

 

We have a Surly beer, check! We have a Summit beer, check! We have a Schells beer, check! Throw on Grainbelt for the hipsters, Check! And throw on maybe one lesser known MN beer to make it seem like we have cred, Check!

 

I LOVE beer! Heck, even more I LOVE MN beer! I drink a fair amount of it weekly.... let's just call it blog research...He-he!... But I haven't had a Surly or Summit in a long time. I tried Schell's Star of the North and Goose Town, but other than that haven't had Schell's in forever.

 

Grainbelt? Uhhh.... couldn't tell you the last time I had one of those... Probably a night when I had already had a few good beers at a friends house and maybe accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle out of the fridge or something.

 

I do want to be clear, I am not trying to bash any of the breweries, or their beers, on these types of lists. More what I am doing is questioning why these "Beer Experts" can't get off a kick that started many years ago, and for most of us ended years ago too. 

 

Surly and Summit are not the only game in town anymore. They haven't been for a while now. By only making readers aware (again and again and again and again) of these few beers the "Beer Experts" are selling our craft beer scene short. It takes something that is really awesome about our area and makes it seem so small, dull, and old.

 

So, I am going to make a pledge. This weekend I am going to drink nothing but MN beers. I am going to open my eyes to some new MN beers and I am NOT going to drink a Surly, a Summit, a Schell's, or a Grainbelt... although I wasn't going to be hitting up that last one anyways.... All I want to know is, who's coming with me, man?

 

 

(Here is the article if you want to take a look:  http://www.vita.mn/best-of/230914481.html)

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). 

Welcome To Beerploma!

Welcome to Beerploma! 

It's been a little over year since we started out Blog here, so it might seems strange that we are posting a Welcome post this late in the game, but I will get to that in a second.  After one year of working on the Blog Beerploma has expanded into a growing Social Media empire.  Well today the Growler Magazine gave us with the honors of being nominated for the Best Beer Blogs award in their annual Its Kind Of A Big Deal.  So if you like our Blog feel free to head on over to their site and vote for us (it's poll #19).

And with that we are anticipating a lot of traffic coming into the Blog, so we thought we would take some time out and say WELCOME TO BEERPLOMA!

First off the blog is currently being run by myself, Will, and my cohort Andy.  Click here for more details.  Andy writes the Adventures of a Beginning Homebrewer, and I cover Beer Styles Learning Guides, and Rise of the Beer Baron.  Both of us cover Brew Reviews, and Brewery Tour exclusives.

But Beerploma goes beyond that.  Our organization is all about the education of craft beer, drinking locally, and supporting craft brewers.  In order to do this we have started putting together a great social media campaign.  We offer some great Videos regarding beer.  You can find us on several podcast directories including iTunes, and YouTube.  We offer two great show.  Our first is "2 Growlers" hosted by Lynn and myself.  It's about two guys, in a garage, growling about great local beers from Minnesota and beyond.  Check out one of our episodes:

We also have our "Brewery Tour" series podcast where we get an inside peek and the finest breweries of the Midwest:

And last but not least we have a great interactive network on Facebook and Twitter.  Feel free to drop us a line there and lest us know about your favorite beers.

So if you are new to our blog, or have been visiting us over the last year, I hope we let you in on our organization, and found some new ways for you to interact with us.

Until next time!  PROST!  And don't forget to vote in this year's Its Kind Of A Big Deal awards!