Sierra Nevada Tasting at Heritage

            Come and join us for a rare treat. You have all heard about the myth and legend of Bigfoot...come and experience it first hand. Short of having Frank run around in a big, furry suit, we will have to let you try the tasty seasonal Barleywine from Sierra Nevada called Bigfoot. But wait, there’s more, we also will be pulling some 2009 Bigfoot out of the cellar so you can see the difference a year makes with this beer. We will also be pouring some of their 30^th Anniversary series including Black Barleywine & Imperial Helles Bock. 

Our Thursday tastings run from 5-7PM.

Back to the Farm

I'm gonna assume that those of you reading this know the background of David Anderson and his BrewFarm.  (If you haven't, here's a good write up on HeavyTable.com). I haven't been back to Dave's since the Open House almost a year ago.  It's been too long.  Of course, I've been meaning to but...

We were lucky to catch him on a slow night and got to chat. He recently did a very successful practice run at selling one liter carry out bottles of some of his popular big brews and we scored the last 2 bottles of Mocha Diablo, his chocolate stout with hot peppers.  He may do more, with bottles of beer geek and brew wife favorite Aubexxx a possibility.  Once they get set up with more empty bottles, you'll be able to call ahead and get a pre-fill of your favorite or see what's available on their site. Dave's not a fan of from-the-tap growlers and prefers the one liter flip top bottles done with a Blichmann gun that combines Co2 and beer right from the keg, which he thinks has a much better carbonation retention, but can't be done on-demand.

Some highlights of what he had on tap:

The Bruiser - A 10.5% smoked Wee Heavy, this may be the best smoked beer I've ever had, with just the right balance between the smoked malts and a big scotch ale.

Aubexxx - a big 9.5% Belgian Strong Ale brewed with black pepper, this beer is always awesome and is destined to reach some type of bottle release.

Single Hop Amarillo Lager - Wow, did this smell good, and the light lager body really allowed the citrusy hop to shine.  He will continue to do single hop brews with Cascade and Citra coming up.

Saison - Dave's seems to have mastered the Saison style, with each successive one having an amazing complexity but still remaining light and drinkable even at 8.5% ABV.

Somehow, from the lightest to the biggest, Dave's beers always retain an amazing complexity and balance. I can't recommend enough that you make a trip out, especially if you're a homebrewer.  The 8 brew flight is the best $8 I've ever spent. It's a family atmosphere...bring the kids, the dog and some snacks.  And make sure you hold on to your hat.

Barleywine Tasting At Heritage

After a week off for Thanksgiving, the tastings are back with a bang this Thursday, December 2nd. Some are sweet, some are bitter, but they're all huge and called barleywines because they can be as strong as wine. But since it is made from grain rather than fruit, it is, in fact, a beer, usually having an earthy hopiness balanced by a toffee-like sweetness. They are the big brother to Winter Warmers and Old Ales and are sometimes also refered to as Strong Ales. Come, drink, learn...

Our weekly Thursday night tastings run from 5-7PM. 

Odell Mountain Standard

Did you know that BeerAdvocate has now added Black IPA/Dark Cascadian Ale as a style? I didn't, but the list has some damn good beers on it. I've posted ad nauseum about this style, but after I cracked the Odell Mountain Standard Double Black IPA that just came out, I have to revisit it one more time.  I'm very interested to see this style develop, with beers like Deschutes Hop In The Dark, 21st Amendment Back In Black, Mad River Serious Madness and Grand Teton Trout Hop being readily available ones to try so far.

Every Odell big format release I've had has been stellar, in particular the very interesting Deconstruction Golden Ale blend of three different treatments of the same brew, which I'm not sure would be considered a threaded beer...maybe. Regardless, every one has been impressively crafted and very balanced.  Despite the dark malts, Odell's Double Black pours with a huge pillowy off-white head that slowly recedes.  It's a complex combination of rich chocolate malts and citrus hops (Cascade) with a bit of pine (Chinook) thrown in to give it just enough bitter bite.  All the hops in DBIPA were grown in Colorado, and while very hop-forward in aroma and flavor, it's not especially bitter, with creamy chocolate covering your tongue before the hops kick in. Throughout the pour, that bit of piney hop bitterness continues to power through, intermingling with the citrus and chocolate flavors, with some roasted malt far in the background. It's one of those beers that has more of a "perceived" bitterness that builds and seems more present at the end of the pour than the beginning. Whatever style you call it and whatever your preconceived idea of what a Black IPA should taste like, this beer is definitely one thing...damn good.

Beer for Thanksgiving Dinner...hell yeah.

You're standing in front of shelves of wine, trying to decide what wine to pair with turkey (and with your guests..."Uncle Jeff hates wine!"). Then it hits you...beer! There's many styles of beer that are as good, if not better, than wine to drink with the big gorge.  Beer pairs very easily with many foods, and what do you think the Pilgrims had with their Thanksgiving feast? It's much more likely it was a good ale than wine. You don’t want anything too distinct that it will overpower the flavor of the turkey which is lighter than most roasted meats. So take a quick peek below and you will see all the work is done for you with some of our favorites that should enhance your Thanksgiving day meal and nap.

Belgian- The Belgian style covers a wide range and is predominately in the lighter, more crisp flavor profile which works well with turkey. Both Hoegaarden and Avery White Rascal are Belgian Wit’s with orange and citrus tones that allow the mild taste of turkey to come through and can also fit nicely with a heavier stuffing or cranberries. Saisons like Boulevard Tank 7and Goose Island Sofie have an effervescent tartness that won’t overpower all your hard work in the kitchen. For the hard to please wine drinkers, it shouldn’t be hard to turn them on to a Sour Brown Ale like Rodenbach which has a sourness that can compare to the tannins in red wine. If opening a bottle is one of your traditions, you can choose one of the above styles that is corked and caged which is an elegant choice for the Thanksgiving Day dinner table.

Brown Ale - the new Lift Bridge Chestnut Hill is an excellent nutty brown ale and a great pairing with stuffing, turkey and gravy....plus you're buying local.

Weizenbock - these malty, wheat versions of the bock style are excellent with ham and pair well with many foods without overpowering them. A nice choice would be Capital Weizen Dopplebock.

The added bonus in going with beer for your Thanksgiving Day feast is that it is the best choice in the most important pairing...beer and football.

Smile Sam

This Sunday night at 9PM Central, the craft beer world will stop and stare at Sam Calagione for an hour.  Brewmasters has it's own website and Facebook page, and bars across the country are having viewing parties. His show on Discovery Channel debuts with an episode on their recent release, Bitches Brew, a threaded beer with 3 different treatments of Imperial Stout and a honey ale made with gesho root. That fourth beer could probably considered a Gruit, since gesho root may be the only bittering agent in that thread instead of hops. You might wanna get a bottle if you can, since stores in DFH's distribution range will probably get flooded with calls for "that beer that was on TV last night" (and probably stores that aren't, too).  After hearing about Bitches Brew, I thought this would become the newest fad in brewing and it has, with Stone releasing Lukcy Basartd (a blend of Arrogant Bastard, Oaked Arrogant Bastard and Double Bastard) and Sierra Nevada releasing Grand Cru (Oak-Aged Bigfoot, Celebration and Pale Ale). I can't wait to try both of those.

Contrary to a vocal minority, I think Sam is very good for craft beer and, in the end, the show should be fun to watch with a pint or 2.  Isn't that enough? It isn't any different than what Gene Simmons, Orange County Choppers or even Billy the Exterminator (my daughter's current fave show) are doing: talking about what they're passionate about. Most of us do that all day without a camera following us around. And we get to drink beer and watch him do it. That's all good from where I'll be sitting...my couch. Set your DVR's.

The Hanger Room

Where the hell is Willernie? Turns out it's kind of a hidden Twin Cites gem, sitting on the southern corner of White Bear Lake.  We've been hearing that former Happy Gnome co-owner Nick Miller was gonna turn the Wildwood Bowl there into a beer bar for a while now...a long while.  Turns out it's also an upscale steakhouse that has a former executive chef from W.A.Frost running the kitchen, but don't let that scare you off.  There's a separate bar with a beer geek friendly food menu and 70 taps (plus 6 Sprecher soda lines). 

Every thing about The Hanger Room is first class, yet they managed to make a couple of liquor store beer nerds who just got off work feel comfortable. The bar menu has some great options with affordable prices, including their dry-aged steaks, but I went with the Mussels and Fries. The mussels came in a bowl with what tasted like a chipotle and cajun sauce to dip them in, and the fries were heavily breaded.  Both were a tasty accompaniment to the reason we were there...the tap list. We were encouraged to try samples of anything (very cool), which could easily turn into open season for beer geeks like us, but we tried to remain reasonably restrained.

Obviously, with 70 brews on tap, it's not hard for most beer drinkers to find something good.  But we're not like most beer drinkers and are usually looking for the rare or unreleased.  I found it in Goose Island Pepe Nero, an awesomely smooth Black Saison that just got label approval and should be available in bottles soon. Pepe Nero is brewed with black peppercorns, but I didn't get much of that flavor out of it.  The dark malts rule and give it a very silky mouthfeel, with a bit of rye mixed in to a nice balance. This is one of the most delicately flavored beers I've had, with hints of hazelnut, chocolate and coffee from the dark malts and a bready character from the Belgian yeast. It tastes somewhat like a Dubbel and a Saison mixed together. The tap version is listed at 6%ABV, but for some reason the bottle release will be at 4.6%. I believe only 2 kegs of this came in to the state, and it's actually worth a drive out there to try it (thanks for the tip, Wolfie). The other cool beer they had on was Flying Dog Double Dog on nitro...yep...nitro.  This was easily the creamiest Imperial IPA I've had, with the carbonation rolling around in the glass like it was Guinness and somehow it's a dangerous 11.5%ABV. I had to get a pint of my current personal fave Odell Saboteur, which while very tasty, didn't have the same Brett funk that the bottled version seems to be developing. We also tried Boulevard Tank 7 Saison, Rush River Double Bubble and Odell IPA. In order to retain the ability to navigate a motor vehicle, we have to leave some good ones untried, including New Holland Dragons Milk, Great Divide Oak-Aged Yeti and 21st Amendment Bitter American.

The ownership situations not withstanding, comparisons between The Hangar Room and The Happy Gnome are still inevitable. They have 2 of the largest tap lists in the cities and craft beer lovers are lucky to have them both here. While THR's list might not quite have the high-end beer geek wow factor that the Gnome has, they've only been open a couple weeks and I'm sure they'll be working to score those hard to find brews right along with the other top beer bars in the area.  I recommend a visit.

Celebrities Come Out For Darkness Eve

Flash back to one year ago, Darkness Eve 2009: warm coats and hats, outdoor heaters and a parade of those seeking occasional warmth in the camper. This year's night before Darkness Day was much like most of October has been, with a high of 70, clear moonlit skies and a comfortable evening. We couldn't have asked for better weather, as the turnout next to the camper at the front of the line grew from a get-together into a full blown party.  Ed smoked pork that was marinated in and injected with Darkness, then pulled and mixed with Darkness barbecue sauce.  After you put that delicious meat on a bun, you had to (of course) use the spray bottle to put on a little more Darkness.  It was obscene and we wallowed in it.

Those in attendance brought along some of the biggest celebrities in the beer geek world, such as Russian River Supplication and Pliny the Elder, Portsmouth Kate the Great, and Avery Quinquepartite to name a very few of the very many. A couple of my personal favorites were Odell Saboteur and Ithica Brute. The awesome pours were coming fast and furious. And if that wasn't enough, Surly brewer Todd Haug pulled a keg of Wet out of the brewery which quickly became every one's go-to-brew. Throw in kegs of Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin', Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Barleywine and Dark Horse Plead the Fifth, and the night quickly turned into a long evening of impressive beer generosity. In an event some couldn't believe, there was even an appearance by a reclusive celebrity, the never released Deschutes Black Butte XXII, which was quickly followed by the inevitable paparazzi.

We met old friends from Kansas City and new ones from Indiana, and even a homebrewer from Illinois with the balls to bring his killer Raspberry Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout in amongst the flurry of awesome commercial pours.

We woke in the morning to a line around the block.  Unfortunately I had a prior commitment, but from what I hear the monumental pours and beer advocate generosity continued, including a story I heard of a guy walking up and down the line giving samples out of his Samuel Adams Utopias bottle. The angels are everywhere.

As evidenced by the many reviews on Beer Advocate, Surly's Darkness event is quickly turning into one of the best run and fun beer events in the country.  Don't tell too many people...we'll just keep it between us...see you next year.

What I Learned at ABR

Our little beer festival sure is growing up.  This year's attendance swelled to 3500, which made the lines a bit longer, but moderate temperatures kept them a bit more bearable. The organization hit a new level, with entry streamlined and a huge amount of volunteers.  The festival spread out a little more, pushing the food into the grassy area on the north side of the brewery grounds with a tent and tables, giving us somewhere to escape to and take a break. I was happy to see Eureka Recycling cruising around keeping the messes to a minimum, especially for those pouring packaged beer. And the best part is, of course, that I've never...ever...had to stand in line to go to the bathroom here. A few of my favorite moments were:

- Watching Deschutes brewer John Abrahams get his mind blown by Furthermore Thermo Refur.

- Seeing a dude who looked eerily like Sean Astin from Lord of the Rings struggle to remain upright and stuff pretzels in his mouth at the same time.

- Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee Stout.  Need I say more.

- Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree through a Randall with Cascade hops and orange zest.  Sam Calagione should get some kind of award for inventing the Randall.

- I got to personally thank Founders owner Dave Engber for making Breakfast Stout.  He should get some kind of award, too.

- Aran from Furthermore beamed like a new father over the wood barstool he bought at a Minneapolis thrift store for $5 and brought with.  He's a savvy shopper.

- Lagunitas founder Tony Magee playing acoustic and singing on the side stage.  Just when you thought Lagunitas couldn't be any cooler.

Some other favorite pours were:

Town Hall Coconut Mango IPA: Props for originality on this one.  There had to be some mind-altering drugs involved in coming up with it.  While a bit heavy on the coconut sweetness, everyone seemed to be diggin' it.

Goose Island Bourbon County Vanilla Stout - Liked this one better that I thought I would, with a perfect balance between the bourbon and vanilla.  Should be a November release.

Sprecher Russian Imperial Stout - Who knew? Nice coffee flavor, which is never a bad thing.

Dave's BrewFarm Mocha Diablo - Damn! Dave makes a mean big stout too? I gotta get back out to the taproom. A sweet stout with three different chili peppers and a heavy dose of chocolate malts.  This needs to be available in bottles......Dave?

Odell Bourbon Barrel Stout - Wow, does this go down smooth.  Should have it available in store this week.

Grand Teton Oaked Lost Continent - One of my favorite new DIPA's (since it was reformulated), dry-hopped and oaked...sick.

Rogue Double Chocolate Stout - Your dark chocolate is in my hops...your hops are in my dark chocolate.  Lord....

Rush River Nevermore Chocolate Oatmeal Stout with Coffee (on cask) - That's not even fair...thanks for making me try it, Nick.

Surly Imperial Brown Eye - Best name of the day.

Tyranena Hopwhore - Fresh and on tap, this had an huge hop aroma.  Gimme a whore!

Is there any better way to spend an afternoon than drinking beer outside with a few thousand people?
ABR is by far the best beer festival anywhere near here and if you haven't been...well...

Brewer Visits

If you were lucky enough to stop last Thursday or Friday night, you had a chance to talk to a couple of guys who are heavily involved in making some of the best beer in the country.

Thursday night's visit from John Abrahams of Deschutes provided interesting insight into my personal favorite beer, The Abyss.  If you haven't had it, I'd highly recommend getting some of this Imperial Stout that's partially aged in bourbon barrels when this year's version is released in November.  John said that although it's one of his favorites to make, it's very labor intensive.  For example, they import cases of individually wrapped licorice sticks from Italy, all of which have to be unwrapped and broken into thirds so that they don't sink to the bottom of the wort and burn. That's only a small part of the work that goes into brewing 2 separate batches that are then combined into one large fermenter.

Friday night's visit from Aran of Furthermore yielded the unfortunate news that the new IPA he's been working on, Hoperbolic, will be a draft-only brew limited to Wisconsin.  They are sourcing 3 varieties of hops from Gorst Valley Hops in Mazomanie, WI to give it a local slant. We'll just have to track it down over there. And after being a bit up in the air, it's looking like their insane masterpiece Thermo Refur will be made again early next year and should be distributed in Minnesota.

A Few Questions for Doug Odell

We were lucky enough to have Odell Brewing founder Doug Odell pouring samples in our tasting room last week and got to hear from the man himself what they're up to. He was pouring samples of Woodcut #3 and #4, both complex brews aged on virgin oak.  He said that while used bourbon barrels from vineyards or distilleries usually cost them about $75 dollars each, the unused oak barrels they are sourcing from Kentucky cost around $500 each. We also got to try one of my new faves, Deconstruction, a Belgian Golden Ale aged in oak, bourbon and wine barrels and then blended for an intricate balance. Odell's brewers developed a process that first deconstructs the complexities desired in the finished product thereby revealing how to achieve these characteristics. Because of the various barrels used, Odell had to come up with a 5 page description of Deconstruction for TTB label approval, which garnered it the name Obstruction around the brewery. We also poured a bit of Double Pilsner, which they are considering releasing in the spring in 4-packs.  

Coming next from Odell will be a September release of their Bourbon Barrel Stout. While last years batch was aged in Buffalo Trace barrels, this year's will come out of Makers Mark barrels. They are working on sourcing Woodford Reserve barrels for next year's release. The next Single Serve Series release will be an Imperial Porter, which they are waiting on label approval for. The next Woodcut release will also be an Imperial Porter, but since they're not ready for another Woodcut release, they pulled a bit of it for the SS Series release. They will also be doing another Mountain Standard Reserve release, this time a Double India Black Ale...can't wait for that one.

The best news from Doug is that they will eventually be releasing their experimental Framboise/Kriek combination.  If you weren't luck enough to be there, Friek was poured at their Happy Gnome brand rollout a few months ago.  It's a cherry lambic with 5-10% raspberry juice added.  Bring on the sours.

Releases like these are why Odell is becoming one of the more impressive breweries in the country. Thanks Doug, come back anytime

Saints v Twins

The St.Paul Saints have had the market cornered on outdoor baseball in the Twin Cities since they started playing at Midway Stadium in 1993.  The Twins' spiffy new digs may have taken that advantage away, but the Saints are still beating them in one (very important) category...beer selection.  Granted, I haven't been back to Target Field since May, so they might be doing a better job now.  But at that time, Schells Dark was about the best I could find.  The selection at Town Ball Tavern May have improved since I was there, but the general choices at Midway Stadium were far superior.  Just having Summit Horizon Red kept me happy, but they also had New Belgium Fat Tire, Summit Hefeweizen and even Heineken, Blue Moon, Dos Equis, Killians and more. I don't have a problem with drinking Summit EPA, which both offer, but c'mon Twins...let's set aside the greed and think about the fans.  The popularity of craft beer has created enough of a market to justify more choices.  Other baseball stadiums around the league I've been to have had great selections, including Boulevard in Kansas City, New Glarus, Capital and Lakefront at Miller Park in Milwaukee and far too many to mention in Seattle.

From what I hear, the Twins make breweries pay 6 digit amounts up front to get their product into Target Field, which is nothing for the big boys but excludes the smaller microbreweries. I realize that they are running a business, but how great would it be to sit outside with a Furious at the new park?  Hey Twins...how 'bout cutting some of the locals a little slack?

I'm going back to Target Field Wednesday night so we'll see if they've stepped up to the craft beer plate.

UPDATE:  They haven't.

Big Top

You may have heard of Big Top Chautauqua in Bayfield, Wisconsin at Mount Ashwabay. Started in 1986,  it's a very nice and very huge tent with a vaguely old-hippie vibe run as a non-profit where concerts are held in the summer.  In Bayfield, what we think of as summer in balmy southern Minnesota is only about 3 months long, but those 3 months are glorious.  It was just shy of 80 both the nights we were there...perfect camping weather.  There's lots of campgrounds ringing Lake Superior, including the popular Big Bay State Park on Madeline Island, a short ferry ride from Bayfield.  We camped at the Bayfield city campground called Dalyrimple Park, which has about 30 no-reservation sites right on the lake.  While some sites are better than others, there always seemed to be one or two sites open when we were there. It's on the north side of downtown and close to the ferrys and good restaurants there.  

Big Top has a wide variety of music, and in recent years has hosted G Love, Robert Cray and Greg Brown among others.  In past, the likes of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash have played there.  There's usually someone playing there we can agree on during the summer, and we hope to turn it into a yearly trip. If you go, make sure you get there early enough to eat and drink, cause shows start on time.  They have a separate tent with grills set up serving hamburgers and brats and some specials.  Since it was Friday, we got to have the fish boil, a Midwest tradition. The best part was, of course, a good beer selection.  I didn't get to have a Leine's Creamy Dark on tap, but I did have a South Shore Nut Brown, and a Summit EPA and Porter.  They also had PBR for the hipsters included in the 20 or so choices. I'm not sure why they don't have New Glarus, but I think they had some Capital offerings last time I was there.  

Relaxing outside with a good beer and listening to music is the way to watch a concert.  Kinda makes a Bud at the X pale in comparison.  Check it out next year.  It's worth the 4 hour trip. 

Unchained #5

Summit Brewing's Unchained Series seems to be slowly building momentum.  After a slow start with Batch #1, a nice Kolsch, and Batch #2, a delicate and well-crafted Scotch Ale, they really picked up steam with the popular India Rye Ale as Batch #3.  They're going full bore now with an emminently drinkable Belgian Golden Ale as Batch #4.  In fact, it's so popular that the previous 2 to 3 month gap between releases will shrink to about a month.  We even had a Summit employee come in to buy some because he couldn't get any from the brewery. Needless to say, it's going fast.  So fast that they already plan to release #5 in 2 or 3 weeks (update: they're now saying an October 25th release).  What will it be...?...An Imperial Porter brewed with pumpkin, just in time for fall.  Seems like a cool idea and pumpkin beers are becoming all the rage.  I don't know that I've ever seen one done as a porter, so this one may truly be "unchained".

No sleep 'til.....

We wouldn't joke about something like this.  We just got word that Brooklyn Brewing hopes to extend distribution to Minnesota late this year or in early 2011.  They plan to roll in with their lager, brown and pale ale and whatever the current seasonal is.  The ever growing craft selection here will get quite a bit better with this addition. Stay tuned.....