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!

Brews and Reviews -Wings and Craft Beer at Pizza Luce

So Andy and I headed out to Pizza Luce last week for a little strategy meeting about the blog.  Pizza Luce is so far the best place in Richfield, MN that I have found for craft beer.  They have a cozy little patio, and the staff was in good spirits and quick on their feet.

Andy and I had a pretty good night working on Beerploma's future so we were both in the mood for celebrating.  I wasn't quite up for pizza, but their wings looked pretty good:

I ordered the spicy buffalo and the spicy peking.  Both sets of wings came out whole, with great charring on both sides.  The peanut dipping sauce was a bonus.  Creamy, flavorful and paired well.  Also both wings were ample spicy.  For those of you who want to "crank it up notch" every time you order something hot, and get something Minnesota hot (you know, like Ketchup), then these wings are for you!  After so many mediocre wings, these were a spicy treat to behold and cherish, and no, I did not share them with Andy.

There beer list was extensive and had a little something for everyone.  If I had one recommendation I would have a couple more local porters/stouts on hand, especially to pair with some of their more earthy pizza, but overall really a good selection.

First on my list of beers to try is Enki's Hootenanny Hefe Weiss (Seasonal):

This hazy golden brew serves up a thick banana/clove armoma.  It had a very smooth taste with slight spicy notes, and a great biscuit/malty flavor.  Very well carbonated.  Thicker mouthfeel then what I am used to for Hefe beers, but this seems to fit and didn't detract from the beer at all.  It was perfect for a summer day and paired best with the Peking wings.  Rating:  ** (Very Good)

Well Andy and I rarely get together and have just one.  A second one was definitely in the works.  For me it was Lift Bridge's Shadow Effect on Nitro:

This pitch black beer allowed no light to escape it.  The aroma gave off an inky chocolaty smell, and was served with a creamy head.  Smooth caramel like flavors with back hints of chocolate, and a fruity sweetness.  It had a silky medium mouthfeel.  A dry finish with a light coffee like bitterness.  This a very well put together beer, and a great choice for porter/stout beers who are looking for something different.  Rating:  ** (Very Good).

Great wings, great beer!  Who can ask for anything better then that!

Beers - Doggy Style!



Hola beer peeps! I’m Moe Pug. I hijacked Beerploma to let all you dog lovers out there know that we pups like to go out for beers too! Well, obviously we are too young to drink (evidently you humans refuse to acknowledge dog years at bars!), but we love getting all cleaned up and going out on the town with our beer lovin’ humans. So, my big brother Maverick and I hit the streets to check out some pawesome dog friendly patios where our mom and pop can get a tasty craft beer.

(Maverick and I hitting the streets!)

First we hit up 612Brew. They have a really pawesome patio with all sorts of different tables, a fountain thingy, and of course great beer! The patio is big enough so we were able to find our own table out of the way a bit from the other peeps. My humans each had a flight of beers. I didn’t know beers could fly! He-he... ok, back to it... All were great beers, but the one problem was that by the time they got to the last beer it was pretty warm. That ain’t the breweries fault though, it was like a gazillion degrees out! Next time, maybe a pint at a time. Or, papa could quit being a sissy and drink faster. Either way this is a great patio to bring us furbuddies to and they have great beers!

(612 Patio)

(612 Flight)

(Maverick on 612's Patio)

(Maverick and Papa at 612)



Next I decided to lead my pack over to Indeed Brewing Co. It was less than a mile walk from 612 with plenty of things for me to pee on along the way. When we got to Indeed’s patio this nice lady brought my brother and I each a bowl of tasty cold water. The bowls even had Indeed’s logo all over them, just like the pint glasses. Nice touch!

(Maverick having a drink at Indeed)



Papa and moms had a special beer at Indeed. It was a Mojito Shenanigans. They infuse Shenanigans, which is their summer ale, with lime juice, pineapple juice, and mint. Pretty refreshing on a hot summer day and a perfect patio beer! This stuff must have been pretty dang good cuz mama wouldn’t shut up about it!

(Mojito Shenanigans at Indeed)

On the way home Pops wouldn’t stop complaining about how hungry he was. So, I took him to The Happy Gnome in Saint Paul to shut him up... He can get a bit cranky if you don’t feed him when he is hungry. They have a really nice patio. In fact this patio was Maverick’s fav of the day, probably cuz papa gave him a french fry for being a good dog all day. The nice lady here gave us a bowl of water too, which was good cuz I did a lot of walking... Aaaand as you can see, I am a bit... well... let’s say plump.

(I needed a little drink in the shade)

The Happy Gnome has 76 craft beers on tap and a bunch in bottles as well! That is freakin huge! The food was tasty as well. Papa ordered poutine with wild game gravy and sweet and sour pork wings to go along with his Hell or High Water Mellon beer. I had one of the fries from the poutine... Dude, they are dang tasty!

(My brother kickin it at the Happy Gnome)

At this point I think we were all ready for a couch and some AC, so we hit Dennis Brothers Liquors in Cottage Grove for some beers to bring back home. The peeps here were really nice to me and Maverick. They gave us head scratches and we each got a cookie! This place has a boat load of top notch beers too. They are a member of Sidewalk Dogs, which is a great site to discover places to bring us pups. Papa made his selections with help from the pawesome staff and we headed home. 

(I wish I had thumbs so I could open the door to Dennis Bros!)

All and all a pretty durn good day for a pug like me! My brother and I got some exercise, some belly rubs, plenty of water, got to pee on all sorts of stuffs, and even got a french fry! And of course ma and pa got some fine craft beers. So next time you decide to go have some beers on a patio on a nice sunny day, don’t forget your furbuddy cuz we love doing that stuffs too!

Moe Pug OUT!!!

http://www.612brew.com/

http://www.indeedbrewing.com/

http://thehappygnome.com/

https://www.facebook.com/DBLINC

http://www.sidewalkdog.com/



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!

Saint Paul Summer Beer Fest - A Whole Lotta Beer!

The Saint Paul Summer Beer Fest was a great event. There were tons of brews, actually over 100 breweries and over 400 beers! Out of all of them, the best one as voted for by fans was Dangerous Man Brewing Company out of Nordeast Mpls. Good job Dangerous Man! They seem to be winning a lot of awards lately, and having had a lot of their beers it makes total sense. Unfortunately, as often happens at this large of an event, I never got to their booth. But, I did have a lot of other great beers. So, let’s get to it!

(Crowd Around Dangerous Man)

Let’s start with one of my favorite breweries, Bent Brewstillery. Last year at this event was where Bent made its debut and gave Dark Fatha to the world. This year Bent brought Dark Fatha that had been aged in rye whiskey barrels. WOW! This beer was awesome! Dark Fatha is a very smooth approachable beer. Barrel aging this beer added depth to it while maintaining the smoothness. There was no boozy bite like lots of barrel aged imperial stouts. But, if you want a bit of a bite they had ghost peppers that you could toss into your glass to spice things up. Bent Brewstillery is doing awesome things. It has been fun to watch them grow and to have seen how their beer has evolved from the beginning till now. Expect more greatness to come from these guys!



(Bent Brewstillery Pourin' The Good Stuff!)

Next up we have one of the newest breweries on the block, Tin Whiskers BrewingCompany. This brewery just recently opened in St. Paul, so I wanted to see what they are doing. I tried the Wheatstone Bridge. This beer is an American style wheat beer made with chamomile and honey. It has an almost chai tea flavor to it. It has ginger and floral notes along with a nice sweetness. It is a refreshing beer with an awesome original flavor. Although I am not sure I could sit down and drink a whole 6 pack of it, it shows how creative brewers can be with beer and makes me think we are going to see some awesome creations from Tin Whiskers going forward.

(Third Street Out Back)

ThirdStreet Brewhouse never fails to bring something tasty to these parties and they didn’t let us down at this fest with Hunny Do. This beer is a wheat beer with honey dew melon. The smell of this beer had a nice melony scent along with a hint of a cinnamon toast crunch, although only the melon flavor stuck around when the beer hits your tongue. It’s crisp, refreshing, and fruity. Thanks for never letting us down, Third Street!

Now let’s hit a couple “unbeers”. First up is Angry Orchard. They brought a hard cider with elderflower. We tried this purely because earlier we were talking with our Norwegian friend about elderflower. And then, BAM, an elderflower cider.... It was meant to be! This cider was sweet, slightly floral, fruity, and light. It was a good drinkable cider and was a great departure from a typical “just apple” hard cider. I know this is a beer blog, but Angry Orchard deserved a little cred for this one for sure!

(Great Music At The Beer Fest)

Our last beer of the day is a shout out to Vicky who writes our blog series Confessions of a Sober Cab; Lift Bridge Brewing Company’s Root Beer. Vicky said it was sweet but not overly sweet nor bitey and was a good mellow root beer. Thanks for bringing something hand crafted for our sober cab, Lift Bridge!  

(Three Marks Means Trouble!)

All in all I had a great time at the Saint Paul Summer Beer Fest. There was more beer than I could ever imagine, the rain stopped right before pulling into the parking lot, and the crowd was fun and festive. Chop Liver knows how to throw a great beer party!

(My Crew And I Havin' Fun!)

Acclivity, the REAL Champagne of Beers!

I am a sucker for sour beers. The acidity, the tartness, the sour... I know they aren’t for everyone, but they sure are for me! So, a group of friends and I headed to Ward 6 for the release of Bent Brewstillery’s new sour beer, Acclivity.

Sours may not show you exactly what beer SHOULD be, but they do show you what beer CAN be. Because of this it made perfect sense for Bent Brewstillery to make a sour. The folks at Bent don’t seem to feel the need to stick to what the “rulebook” says beer should be. Instead they tend to do their own thing to create really good approachable original beers. They did their own thing again with Acclivity, and the results are awesome!

Acclivity is a Rosé Berliner Weisse. It has a pinkish hue to it, which can probably be attributed to the use of beets in this beer. It has a great sour citrus fruit taste along with a great acidity from the Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus used. This beer is very effervescent. It’s not a normal beer type of carbonation, rather much more bubbly. This, along with the use of Gewurztraminer must, gives Acclivity a great almost champagney taste and feel. Absent was the overly funkiness of some sours, which for this beer just increased the drinkability.

We tried Acclivity on its own and with Ward 6’s house made rhubarb and triple berry syrups. It was a nice touch by Ward 6 to make some fruit syrups to allow customers the choice to drink Acclivity in a fairly traditional Berliner Weisse manner. All were very tasty, but in my opinion straight up on its own was the best way to drink this beer.

In short, Acclivity is great! It is very refreshing, crisp, drinkable, and approachable. If you haven’t had a sour yet, start here. If you love sours you should give this one a try. And if you don’t like sours because the ones you tried were all funky, give sours one last try with the REAL champagne of beers, Acclivity!



www.bentbrewstillery.com
www.ward6stpaul.com
www.beerploma.com