Hastings Hops and Grapes

A friend of mine recently gave me a flyer for a tasting event in May. It is called "Hastings Hops & Grapes" and the proceeds will go to the Hastings Rotary Club. There will be beer and wine to sample, along with some tasty hors d'oeuvres. It will be at the Event Center at Schoolhouse Square on Friday, May 7th from 6:30-9:00pm. Tickets are $30 and include your food and beverage tasting. You can buy tickets at the Hastings Green Mill Restaurant or from any Hastings Rotary member. I called to find out which beers they will be sampling, but they did not have that finalized yet. I'll make another post when I get a list of the brews.

Beer from Saturday's Tasting

Yesterday, I talked about the friendliness of fellow craft beer enthusiasts at the Grand Beer Tasting in the Top Ten Wine & Spirits' Cottage Grove location. Today, I wanted to mention a little about a few of the beers.

Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot (WTF) - I had just recently read the description of WTF on the Lagunitas website and was excited to see it at the tasting. They call it an Imperial Brown Ale. I thought this beer was very tasty, probably my favorite one of all the new beers I tried that day. It was big and malty like I expected, but it was also very hopped up, which created a lovely balance. Decently strong at 7.83% ABV. I will have to put this on my list for an official beer session.

Deschutes Mirror Pond and Black Butte: This brewery was on the list in the email that Top Ten sent out. When I saw that, I was very excited. Up until now, we haven't been able to get beers from Deschutes in Minnesota. I had read and heard great things about their beers, and now I was able to try some. Mirror Pond Pale Ale was amazing. I think I've found a great new session beer for summer! Black Butte Porter also impressed me, and now I can't wait for more Deschutes brews to come to Minnesota. Go out and try some of this stuff!

Great Divide Brewing: This brewery had more beers at the tasting than any other brewery. I was pretty happy about that. Here is what they had to sample: Denver Pale Ale, Wild Raspberry Ale, Titan IPA, Colette Farmhouse Ale, Yeti Imperial Stout, and Hercules Double IPA. All are high-quality and pretty tasty.

Grand Teton Brewing: I've had their beers before, and I like them. However, I had a problem with how this brewery's beer was sampled at the tasting. Compared to all the other samples, Grand Teton had such small servings that you could hardly taste the beer. They also had "run out" of some of their beers, including one that I was excited to try for the first time. None of the other tables ran out of beer or served such tiny samples. Just my one small gripe about the tasting.

Thank you, Top Ten. You host some very good beer tastings and I look forward to attending more in the future. Keep up the good work!

Friendly Culture of Craft Beer

This past Saturday was a good day. I went to the Top Ten Wine & Spirits in Cottage Grove for their Grand Beer Tasting. I had been to their beer-tasting events before and was happy to attend again. There were a good number of beers there from many different brewers: Cold Spring, Furthermore, Lagunitas, Founders, Rush River, Deschutes, Goose Island, Great Divide, and Grand Teton. I was especially excited about Deschutes, because we have not been able to get their beers in Minnesota.

I'll get to more about the actual beer in tomorrow's post. First, I want to talk about something I think is pretty cool. As I walked from table to table tasting different beers, I noticed something that seems to be common at craft beer events: strangers becoming friends.

When you show up at a tasting like this, there are probably going to be a lot of people you don't know. As you journey through the beers, you usually end up alongside some people who are going through the same beers at the same time. Before you know it, you start chatting. It usually starts simple, like a head nod along with a "That's pretty tasty" or "This is OK, but I've had better." Then you begin sharing a few taste preferences as the beer you're tasting, your "social lubricant", goes to work. As you sample more beer, you feel more relaxed and begin talking more like this person is a friend you haven't seen in a while. At the end of your tasting trip, you might say "See you later" even if you might not run into them again. You might even shake their hand. I'm not sure if this happens for everyone, but people in the craft beer world usually seem pretty friendly and willing to visit with one another.

At the end of the tasting on Saturday, I ran into a guy that I've talked to at other beer events. We've never learned names, but we always recognize each other. We talked for a while with some of his friends and I mentioned my fledgling beer tasting business. He and his friends were interested, so I was able to hand out a few of my business cards. During our chat, he mentioned having some Pliny the Elder from Russian River. I told him that I've heard good things about that beer, and someday I'll try to get some. (You can't get Pliny the Elder in Minnesota.) We said goodbye so we could continue our beer shopping, once again without ever mentioning our names.

I was standing near the register when he was about to make his beer purchase, and he said to me, "If you can hold on for a minute while I buy my beer, you should follow me out to my car. I've got a bottle of Pliny the Elder for you." I couldn't believe it. It was awesome that someone who is a casual, friendly, but unnamed acquaintance would just give me some of his beer. A beer that was probably difficult to acquire.

After he bought his beer, I followed him to his car and sure enough, he gave me a bottle of Pliny the Elder. I found myself thanking him repeatedly, and I finally realized I didn't know his name. I asked, and he told me. Thanks for the beer, Rick Duff. I'll enjoy it, and you'll see an official beer session with it on this blog.

Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad

For this session, I felt like doing a really big beer. Something strong and packed with flavor. I decided to search in the back of my fridge where I've been saving some bombers and 750's of special beer. I took out a few to consider which to taste, but one was strongly calling out to me: Boulevard's Bourbon Barrel Quad. The description on the label tells me this beer is exactly what I'm looking for. A Belgian quadruple first aged on cherries, then aged again in bourbon barrels. That takes care of the flavor. And the strength? A nice big 11.8% ABV!

This beer is from Boulevard's premium beer line, the Smokestack Series. It's also a limited release, not one of the staple beers in the series. I apparently purchased bottle number 6,082 out of a total 11,248 produced. It's kind of a cool feeling to know that you're drinking one of a limited number of beers.

I am very excited to try this beer, so let's open it up. This is a cork and cage setup. Alright, untwist the wire cage and take it off. OK, time to twist the cork out nice and easy. Unnngh, errrgh. It barely moved. OK, lets try that again. Rrraaahh, oooomph. I think it moved a little more... Man, this thing doesn't want to come out! I have to resort to 5 minutes of wiggling, twisting, and pulling that cork until finally — POP! It's been freed from the bottle! As I shake the cramp out of my hand, I know I'm going to appreciate this beer even more because of the hard labor it took to open it.

I gently pour this 750 ml bottle into my goblet. It's quite easy to generate a lovely, 2-finger head. It looks light tan and quite frothy. Slowly, it dwindles into a 1-finger layer that just wants to hang around. This head has some staying power! The body is murky and has a reddish copper color. I can see some very fine bubbles floating to the top.

I give the goblet a spin and take a whiff. I smell some sugary sweetness and sour fruit, along with a good spiciness. It has a very dry, alcoholic quality. As it should, due to the ABV. I'm also getting a bit of the bourbon in there.

Man, this tastes good. Rich malt that has a hint of brown sugar. I'm getting some good spice, probably due to the yeast. There are slight hints of cherry and bourbon. It's also boozy, but not at all harsh. The flavors hang on for a good while, to tide me over until the next sip.

There is a velvety mouthfeel that is luxurious. Carbonation is fairly low on the tongue, and the beer is gently warming me as I drink. Lacing on the glass is giving me something to look at while I enjoy the flavor.

This beer is awesome. Rich and decadent like a quad should be, along with the welcome addition of tart cherry and oaky bourbon flavors. Absolutely delicious. It was definitely worth the work it took to get the cork out! Be careful with this one though, as I'm already feeling it. This beer will kick your butt if you're not careful!

Beer Trip

Recently, I've been thinking about an idea I have for taking a trip. I want to take a week-long trip to an area within the U.S. that has a high concentration of craft breweries and brewpubs. I think I would fly there, rent a car, and book a different hotel each night near various breweries. It would be fun to visit 1, 2, or even 3 breweries in a day. I could also try to squeeze in lunch and/or dinner at a brewpub each day. I would make my way back to the hotel by foot or by taxi, sleep for the night, and get up the next morning so I can drive to the next hotel and set of breweries. It seems like the perfect vacation to me!

When I first started thinking about this trip, I had an area in mind. I thought California would be perfect. There are tons and tons of breweries in that state. I could fly into San Francisco and work my way north. By doing that, I could hit breweries like Anchor, 21st Amendment, Pyramid, Moylan's, Lagunitas, Mendocino, and North Coast. Plus, I have never been to northern California so it would be totally new to me. It would probably require more driving than I'd like, though. I decided I should consider a different area.

In my research I believe I've found the ultimate place to take a trip like this — Colorado. I've been to Colorado, and it's a beautiful place. Last time I visited, I was able to hit 3 breweries and a brewpub in one city! There are a lot of quality craft breweries all within a 32 mile radius from Longmont, which is just north of Denver. In fact, I'm getting excited just thinking about the "small" list that I made:

In Denver - Great Divide, Breckenridge

In Longmont - Oskar Blues, Left Hand

In Boulder - Avery, Boulder Beer

In Fort Collins - Odell, New Belgium, Fort Collins Brewery

And this isn't all of them. There are also a bunch of brewpubs in this area for solving the hunger/thirst combo.

Someday, I'm going to take this trip. It's just a matter of time (and $$$). Have any of you taken a trip like this, or do you want to? What areas do you think would be great for this? Let me know in the comments.

Hymn to Ninkasi

Long, long ago in ancient Babylonia, the southern section of Mesopotamia, a Sumerian carved meaningful symbols onto a stone tablet. These symbols were the written interpretation of their language, and the subject of this specific carving held much importance. It was the Hymn to Ninkasi, a song/poem that contained the first recorded recipe for beer. Ninkasi was their goddess of brewing, and they wanted to thank her for giving them the means to create this wonderful beverage.

This hymn dates back to around 1900 BC, when the Sumerians are believed to have been actively farming and cultivating grain. They baked a bread called "bappir" from the grain they harvested. Some believe that they made this bread as a way of better preserving the grain for consumption. In order to make it easier to preserve it was probably twice-baked, which made it very dry and less susceptible to spoiling. Bappir also became the base for another important product the Sumerians made: beer.

How did they make the beer? The loaves of bread were most likely broken into chunks and mixed with barley and water to create a mash. Then honey and/or spices were added. Back then, brewers were not aware of yeast. Fermentation occurred simply by letting the mash sit in an open container. Wild yeast is everywhere, blowing around and going anyplace.When those few random yeast cells find their way into the brew it's known as spontaneous fermentation. After allowing it to ferment for the required amount of time, the liquid was removed by pouring through a filter made of straw into a collector vat. Then it was time to drink up!

The Hymn to Ninkasi was translated into english by Miguel Civil. Click this link if you'd like to read this ancient writing for yourself!

Top Ten Beer Tasting

This Saturday, March 27th, Top Ten Wine & Spirits in Cottage Grove will be having a "Grand Beer Tasting." There will be over 25 different beers for you to sample. I have been to these tastings in the past, and I had a very good time. They have a great variety for tasting, and the people pouring are happy to answer any questions you may have. At past events, they've also sold actual tasting glasses for $1 each. Bring a dollar if you want one, or else just use their provided plastic cups. All the delicious sipping will start at 1:30pm and end at 4:00pm. Which beers will they be sampling? Brews from Deschutes, Founders, Lagunitas, and Flat Earth, just to name a few! So if you're interested in trying some new beers this Saturday, head over to Top Ten in Cottage Grove. I know I'll be there!

Cold Spring John Henry 3 Lick Spiker Ale

Whew! That name is a mouthful, isn't it? For this beer session, I have Cold Spring Brewing's top offering. The name of this beer comes from the tale of the American folk hero, John Henry. Click this link for the legendary tale of this man.

3 lick spiker is a term pulled from those same times, when men were manually driving spikes into rock. Apparently, if you were good at your job, it should only take 3 licks with the hammer to get the spike fully driven.

Cold Spring Brewing has been around for a long time under various names, but they started to brew craft beer only a few years ago. I think they are actually more well-known for being a contract brewer, and making other breweries' recipes. I am not very impressed with their own staple craft beers. They're OK, but not something I would need to drink again. However, I was very interested when I first saw this beer from their brewery. It's an American strong ale aged on bourbon oak chips that is 9.1% ABV. Of course I've had this beer before, but now it's time for an official beer session with it.

I pour the 12 ounce bottle of John Henry into my 22 ounce snifter. I'm able to generate one finger of creamy tan head. It falls fairly quickly, leaving a ring of foam around the sides of the glass. The body is a very dark brown, nearly black. It's very opaque and looks quite inviting.

I detect many nuances in the aroma. There is sweet malt that makes me think of toffee. Dried fruit is present, like a hint of raisin or perhaps dates. I definitely can smell bourbon, alcohol, and maybe even a hint of oak. Let's taste it!

The first thing I taste is sweet toffee and roasted malt. There is some bourbon flavor, along with a slight bit of vanilla. A nice bitterness at the finish tries to balance out the malt, but doesn't quite do it. However, the hops do manage to cleanse your palate a bit and get you ready for the next sip.

From the look of this beer, I thought it would be heavier or thicker than it is. There is a medium weight to the body which lightly coats my tongue, but it is not too viscous. It has a moderate to low level of carbonation, which I tend to expect from bigger beers. I'm also getting a nice alcohol warmth in the back of my throat as I drink more. My glass has some lacing as I continue to lower the beer level.

This is the best beer I've had from Cold Spring, not counting their contract brews. It delivers on being a nice rich strong ale with the aroma and flavor of bourbon. Don't drink too many though, because that high ABV will come back to bite you. There are similar beers that I prefer to this one, but that won't stop me from revisiting it from time to time. This is definitely worth a try.

Firkin Fest Tomorrow

If you like cask beer, you should head over to The Happy Gnome in Saint Paul tomorrow, because they're having their annual Firkin Fest! There will be firkins of 63 different beers, all for your tasting pleasure. The festivities will run from 1pm all the way until 9pm. You can buy tickets in advance for $10 from The Happy Gnome's website, or they will be $15 at the door. Once inside, you can buy drink tickets for a $1 each. One ticket will get you a 4 ounce tasting of a delicious cask beer. You won't be able to find these beers anywhere else, so go check it out!

For more info and a list of all the beers, click here.

Style Breakdown - Brown Ale

I'm sure many of you have had a brown ale at one time or another. Maybe it was a Newcastle, maybe a Moose Drool, or any one of the multiple versions of this style that are available. Have you ever wondered about the origins of brown ale? I know I was thinking about that recently, so I decided to make brown ale the subject of this Style Breakdown.

Brown ales may be one of the oldest styles originating in England. They can be traced back to the 1600's, and they are probably even older than that. During that time period, brewers used names for purely descriptive purposes. "Brown beer" or "brown ale" was used to describe a beer that was made with 100% brown malt. (It was common at the time to use single-malt recipes to brew beer, unlike today when brewers use different varieties of malt in the same recipe.) Brown malt was typically roasted over a fire, which gave it a brown color. This, in turn, gave them a brown beer.

"Brown ale" and "mild" were almost interchangeable terms for the same style of beer at the time. While brown ale was indicative of the color, mild described the flavor. These beers were very different than the brown ales we drink today. They were very sweet ales that were only mildly hopped. The fire roasting of the malt allowed it to absorb some smoke, which could lend a smokey flavor to the beer. These beers were also much higher in alcohol than current versions. As roasting methods evolved, pale malt became available. It was much lighter in color and cheaper for the brewers to use. Pale malt use, along with the creation of additional beer styles based off of brown ale, led to a pause in the history of this brew.

The term "brown ale" as it is used today describes a reinvention of the style that occurred in London in the late 1800's. This version used pale malt along with darker malts to get a brown-colored ale. There were more hops used than in the original brown ales, which made for a more balanced beer. It was also lower in alcohol than the old versions. This new brown ale had to wait to earn beer drinkers' favor, as it didn't really start to become popular until the 1920's. Most modern brown ales are much more similar to this version, rather than the very old style.

Today's brown ales can vary to a wide degree. The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) recognizes 1 American and 3 English style versions. Brown in color, sweet, rich, and moderate-low hop levels are some of the shared attributes of these various interpretations. Most lean toward malty, but are generally balanced by hop bitterness. There are many to choose from, and they're all different. Think about trying a new one the next time you're at the liquor store!

Lake Superior Mesabi Red

Lake Superior Brewing is a small company in Duluth. Last May, I arranged to tour their brewing facility with my wife and daughter. It was a fun and surprising experience that I won't forget. I didn't know that a brewery operation that distributes quality beer in the Duluth area and all the way down to the Twin Cities metro could be so small. At the time I went, there were only 2 people that worked at the brewery. I had the pleasure of speaking with Dale Kleinschmidt, who is part-owner and head brewer. He was very willing to talk about all aspects of their brewing process and how they got started. This tour just showed me that you don't need a huge operation to make good beer; you just need the knowledge and the desire to do it. The quality shows in the fact that many of their beers have won various medals and accolades.

I am happy to say that we have a Lake Superior beer for this session. I picked up a bottle of their Mesabi Red in a "make your own" six-pack at Coborn's Liquor in Hastings. It's been a while since I've had this beer. If I remember correctly, this is a unique red ale. Here is the description from their website:

"We won't go so far as to call it our red-headed step child, but our robust American amber ale sprung more from inspired alchemy than any color-by-numbers recipe. Today, we front-load Red with five different malts, including Munich and Belgian aromatic, for a rich mahogany hue, then balance it with three hop varieties. This creates a potent, full-bodied brew with firm bitterness and a distinctive touch of dried strawberries in its finish. Named for the vast iron range that sustains Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, Mesabi Red rewards a hard day's work with strength and complexity."

I pour the 12 ounce bottle into a glass mug. I managed to generate a 1/4 inch thick head, but it dissipates fairly quickly and leaves only a small patch of off-white foam floating in the center. The body is amber-red in color and I see some hazing when I look through it.

As I raise the mug up to my nose, I immediately smell some sweet caramel malt. I also detect the scent of raisins and figs along with the slightest bit of fruity hop. The malt is definitely dominate in the aroma.

Taste-wise, I'm pleasantly ambushed. At first, I taste caramel and biscuity malt, which I expect from the smell. There is also a slight twang. But then, after a moment, the hops come at you. There is a piney hop flavor along with a nice bitterness at the finish. It balances the malt well. The aroma didn't lead me to believe that the beer was going to have much hop flavor, but it does.

This medium bodied beer coats the mouth. It also has a moderate to high carbonation level that tickles my tongue as I take each sip. There is no lacing to speak of.

This is a pleasing, if not surprising, red ale. The aroma makes you think it will be all about the malt. However, each taste has a noticeable yin and yang effect. The start is all malt, and then it's like there is a pause before the all-hop finish visits your mouth. It was something that caught me off guard at first, but I enjoyed each taste all the way to the bottom of my mug. I definitely recommend giving this beer a try. It's probably a little on the strong side to be a session beer at 6.5% ABV, but having a couple could be nice on weeknight. You may or may not like it, but it should be a unique beer experience for you. I know I enjoyed tasting it.

Flat Earth Growlers

Flat Earth Brewing, our wonderful craft microbrewery in Saint Paul, has growler sales on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays almost every week. (Growlers are 64 ounce bottles of tasty beer.) If you're a fan of Flat Earth, or if you want to try some of their beers, you can't go wrong with a growler purchase. In fact, there are some unique beers from Flat Earth that you can only get in growlers. Today, they will be selling growlers from 3:30pm to 6:30pm. Here are the current beers that they have available:

• Belgian Pale Ale
• Grand Design S'more infused Cygnus
• Cygnus X-1 Porter
• Xanadu - Orange infused Cygnus
• Element 115 Lager
• Black Helicopter Coffee Stout
• Onvi Biere de Garde

There is a $7 deposit for the bottle. Year-round beers are $9, while seasonals and specialties are $13 and up.

They accept payment in the form of cash, check, or paypal.

Go get yourself some tasty Flat Earth beer today!

Saint Patrick's Day beers

Saint Patrick's Day is almost upon us. It's that day when any of us can be Irish (even if we're really not). Much beer will be consumed, and probably some whiskey, too. If you're looking to have a Saint Patty's Day celebration without going out to the bars, here are some easy to acquire Irish-themed beers I can suggest:

• Guinness Draught - Of course, a staple beer of this holiday. Most of you were probably already planning to have some of this dry stout. Smooth, because of the very fine nitrogen bubbles that are released from the "widget". Sit back and watch the cascade after you pour.
• Murphy's Irish Stout - Another Irish dry stout with nitrogen. A good alternative to Guinness, and many people think it tastes better.
• Guinness Extra Stout - If you want something different than your regular draught dry stouts, here you go. A stronger stout that amps up the flavor.
• Smithwick's - This Irish red ale is a good alternative if you don't feel like having a stout.
• Finnegan's Irish Amber - This local ale has a four-leaf clover on the bottle and is brewed with potatoes. They also donate 100% of their profits to local charities.
• Samuel Adams Irish Red - Not much to explain here. An ale in the Irish red style from this well known craft brewery.
• Harp Lager - Ales, ales, ales. Why should they get all the credit for Irish beers? Here's an Irish lager for those of you who desire something more crisp and cold.

Regular beer too boring for your Saint Patrick's Day party? Mix it up a little bit and make yourself a black and tan. Check out this link to learn how.

Have a fun and safe Saint Patrick's Day!

Lake Superior Tasting

Are any of you fans of the wonderful beers from Lake Superior Brewing? I know I am. They have some wonderful year-round beers, and some very tasty seasonals. I received an email from Dale at Lake Superior today that confirmed a Twin Cities metro tasting of their beers.

Tomorrow at the Haskell's in Saint Paul, you can taste the Lake Superior brews. Dale will be there from 1pm - 4pm pouring their core beers. For those of you that don't know, that means Kayak Kolsch, Mesabi Red, Special Ale, and Sir Duluth Oatmeal Stout. He also said he may try to bring their current seasonal, Split Rock Bock, which is currently not distributed in the metro. I was able to try this beer on a tour of their brewery last spring, and it was very good!

If you don't already have plans tomorrow, go and try some tasty Minnesota beer at Haskell's!

3 Fulton Events Tonight

I got an email from Fulton Beer this morning which informed me of 3, count 'em, 3 events going on this evening. From the email:

"Whoa, big Fulton night! come see us at one of the following locations-or all of them, if you're ambitious/bored. It's like a pub crawl that takes place in 3 cities.

• Grumpy's Northeast (Minneapolis): Pat's cooking up some pirogies to go with a cask of Sweet Child of Vine, dry hopped with Amarillos, starting at 4:00.

• Washington Square (White Bear Lake): We're pouring Sweet Child of Vine, Worthy Adversary on tap, and a special draft version of War & Peace, all starting at 5:00.

• Sweeney's (St. Paul): Sit down for fish, fries, and Fulton. We'll be hanging out starting at 6:00."

If you're looking for something to do tonight involving some tasty beer, you've just struck gold!

What are IBUs?

In my beer session for Surly Furious yesterday, I mentioned the beer had 99 IBUs. Then I realized some of you might be wondering, "What are IBUs?"

IBU stands for International Bittering Units. It is a scientific measure of the bitterness of a beer. What is measured to come up with the number of IBUs, you ask? Well, when you add hops to beer, they contribute some acids that make the beer bitter. These acids are measured in parts per million to come up with the number of IBUs.

IBUs are physical measure of bitterness, but I believe that your tastebuds are a better judge. Hops will add bitterness to beer, but malt can balance it out. If a beer has higher IBUs, its final perceived bitterness will be determined by what kind and how much malt was used.

Lets say 2 different beers have the same 65 IBUs. If one recipe used a small amount of pale malt, you'll notice the bitterness more. If there was a massive amount of caramel malt in the other recipe, you might not think it tastes that bitter even though it has the same measure of IBUs.

Malt sweetness and hop bitterness. It's all about balance. Don't let IBUs scare you. Your personal taste will tell the whole story!

Surly Furious

Surly Brewing is a big deal these days. This is a quality Minnesota brewery, and there is a lot of demand for their beer. So much demand, in fact, that I've heard there is a 2-year waiting list for any liquor stores that would like to carry their products! Not a bad problem for a brewery to have...

For those of you who are not familiar with Surly, their beers are sold in cans. 4-packs of pint cans, to be specific. That would be equivalent to a 5 & 1/3 pack of your usual 12 ounce containers. Don't be afraid of the cans. Trust me, the beer will be good. As I mentioned earlier, there is a waiting list for liquor stores. That means you may have to search around a bit if you want some of their beer.

I chose to go with Surly Furious for this beer session. I remember the first time I tasted Furious. I wasn't yet at the stage where I enjoyed IPAs and, because I wasn't ready for it, I had a hard time drinking it. Not so anymore! In the time since that first sip of Furious, I have become a huge fan of the IPA style. The hop aromas and flavors are something I look forward to. This particular IPA is a big one. Not necessarily big in alcohol, but definitely big in flavor.

I pour my pint can of Furious into an imperial pint glass. I'm glad I have this glass, because it lets me fit all 16 ounces of beer with extra room left over to let the head build. It doesn't take too much work to generate a 3-finger fine off-white cap. The head retention is good, as it takes a little while for it to fall into a thin layer. The body is a nice dark amber-red color with a small amount of particulate hovering in the liquid.

Wow. I love that smell! I'm getting a wonderfully big, juicy, citrus grapefruit, hop aroma. I hope I didn't use too many adjectives just now, but this smell deserves it. I think there is a hint of sweet caramel malt in there, but the hops definitely want you to know that they're in charge.

My mouth is watering as I bring the glass up to my lips. I taste some sweet caramel, but that is only fleeting. The hops come on strong with that same grapefruit, only in flavor form. That transitions nicely into a massive bitter bite that more than compensates for any sweetness you thought you tasted. The bitterness lingers in a good way. The way that makes your mouth anticipate the next sip.

There is a medium-light creamy mouthfeel to this brew. It goes down nicely and has a moderate level of carbonation. With each taste, this beer leaves some nice lacing on my glass.

As I said earlier, this is a big IPA. It has the hop aroma, flavor, and bitterness of a double IPA, but with the alcohol level of a traditional IPA. For those of you that like stats: 6.2% ABV and 99 IBUs. It has a brief moment of sweet malt that is dominated by massive hop power. Depending upon your hop preference, there may be some limited drinkability to this beer due to the bitterness. If you're a hophead, you'll love this beer. If you are just starting to like IPAs, give it a try, but be prepared for some bite. If the thought of tasting any IPA makes you shiver and quiver with fear, you should probably stay away from this beer! As for me, I really enjoy it and I will keep enjoying it in the future.

Lift Bridge tasting in Hastings

Here's some good news for anyone living in my neck of the woods: Lift Bridge Brewery will be having a tasting at the Cub Liquor in Hastings. We don't get too many beer tastings around here, so it's pretty cool that we'll have one of the latest Minnesota brewing successes sharing beer with us. According to the Lift Bridge website, the tasting will be on Saturday, March 20th from 2pm - 4pm. They will be pouring Crosscut Pale Ale and Farmgirl Saison. If you've never tried either of these beers, I highly recommend that you visit the Hastings Cub that day. You won't regret it!

Check out the Lift Bridge website for more information about the brewery and their beers:

www.liftbridgebrewery.com

Finnegans St. Patrick's Pint-a-thon

This morning, I received an email from Ben at Finnegans. He wanted to let everyone know about their latest promotion:

"Finnegans is proud to introduce The St. Patrick’s Pint-a-Thon. By simply pledging to drink Finnegans throughout the month of March, people can help to alleviate poverty in our community with every sip. Lads and lasses who pledge are entered to win a $100 Finnegans pub party. Visit http://www.Finnegans.org/pintathon/ to meet the roller-skating “lepricorn” and riverdancing squirrels and who will encourage you to pledge."

For those of you that don't know, Finnegans Irish Amber is a non-profit Minnesota beer. They donate 100% of their profits back to the community to help alleviate poverty. Go check out their site and pledge to drink some Finnegans this month!

Canned Craft Beer?

I know many people associate canned beer with bland domestic pilsners like Bud, Miller and Coors. Many of them think that only cheap beer comes in cans and that the aluminum somehow adds a metallic taste to their beer. Typically, people associate craft beer with glass bottles. Due in part to that association, craft beer drinkers tend to steer clear of canned beer. I myself have talked to many people that believe good beer can only come in a bottle. That's a shame because the truth is you can get some very good craft beers in a can. In Minnesota, we are lucky to have a great example with Surly Brewing. If you have any doubts, read on. I'd like to make you a believer in canned craft beer.

Craft brewing started to come around in the late '70s/early '80s because of homebrewers. When people realized they could make different beers themselves that tasted better than what they could buy, they saw potential. They started opening their own small craft breweries. Canning equipment was expensive and not conducive to small scale brewing, so the first homebrewers turned craft brewery owners went with what was familiar, cheap, and easy to work with: bottles. This became a trend that seemed to separate the craft beers from the big domestics and it carries on into today.

Today, canning equipment has become more accessible and it has many benefits over bottles:

1. Cans are lighter than bottles. This brings down shipping costs for brewers and distributors. Hopefully they pass those savings on to us, the consumers.
2. Cans are more durable. Obviously, if you drop a bottle of beer, you will be cleaning up a mess of glass and the tasty beverage you could have been drinking. Do the same with a can and you might get a dent, but your beer will be safe (but slightly shaken). This makes cans perfect for camping and parks, where sometimes glass drink containers are forbidden.
3. Cans are more environmentally friendly. They are more "green" to manufacture and easier to recycle.
4. No bottle opener required!
5. Most important of all - cans keep light from hitting your precious liquid. Light is beer's enemy. Have you ever had a bottle of Corona, Heineken, or Newcastle? Have you ever had one that smelled like skunk piss, and didn't taste much better? UV light reacts with chemicals in beer and will create those foul aromas and flavors. The 3 beers I listed earlier use clear or green glass bottles, which allow a lot of light to hit the beer. Most craft brewers use dark brown glass bottles to reduce the amount of light that touches your beer, but they can't stop all of it because brown glass is still translucent. Aluminum cans are opaque; they don't let ANY light into the container until you open it.

Here's an experiment for you: Get 2 containers of Heineken, one in the green glass bottle and the other in the "keg-can". Leave them to sit out for a couple weeks where light can hit them. Now, chill them both, pour both into separate glasses, and compare how they taste. I bet you'll notice a difference.

As for the argument that cans make beer taste metallic: Aluminum never touches your beer. Modern cans are lined with a thin layer of plastic, so you won't get any such taste.

If you find yourself at the liquor store and see a canned craft beer, don't be afraid to try it. It will be more fresh and flavorful, and should be more convenient for you.

Here are some good craft beers available in cans in Minnesota:

• Surly - Almost every Surly beer is available in a can, with the exception of some specialty brews like Darkness.
• Steamworks Brewing - Steam Engine Lager, Third Eye Pale Ale - Recently I was told that the distributor that brings these beers to Minnesota has dropped this brewery. If you want to try these tasty beers, get to the liquor store before they're all gone.
• New Belgium - Fat Tire
• 21st Amendment - Brew Free or Die IPA, Hell or High Watermelon Wheat, Monk's Blood
• Big Sky Brewing - Moose Drool, Trout Slayer Ale
• Lion Brewery Ceylon - Lion Stout, Lion Lager, Lion Imperial Pilsner

Beer Cookie

Every year for Valentine's Day, my wife makes me a giant heart-shaped cookie. She even has a big cookie sheet that's in the shape of a heart which she uses specifically for this purpose. I really look forward to it because it is one of the only times of the year that she cooks/bakes for me. We were very busy this year, so she didn't get to make it until recently. Better late than never, right?

She always uses a different recipe, so I'm never sure what it will taste like. This year, I was pleasantly surprised to find she had made a beer cookie! My wife knows me well...

She found the recipe here. After reading some of the suggestions in the comments, she made a few modifications. She added more flour, 3/4 of a bag of chocolate chips, and 3/4 of a bag of Heath pieces. Since this was a beer cookie, she needed to add some of that tasty goodness. She checked our downstairs fridge and decided to use a bottle of the 2009 Anchor Christmas Ale that I had left. I believe it was the perfect choice! That beer is like a dark brown ale or porter with a lot, and I mean a lot, of spices added to it. She thought it would compliment the brown sugar and the cinnamon in the recipe, and she was right!

This was a delicious cookie and if you're a beer nut, you should give it a try. Feel free to make your own modifications!

Local Beer Events

Want to get out and do something? Here are a few local beer-related events coming up.

Summit is celebrating the release of the newest beer in the Unchained Series, the India Style Rye Ale (or IRA as they're calling it). They have 4 evenings planned that will allow you to taste the new beer and have a fun night:

• March 3rd - Burger Jones at 8
• March 4th - Muddy Pig at 6
• March 5th - Tracy's Saloon at 7
• March 11th - Shamrock's at 6

Check out www.summitbrewing.com for more details.

Great Waters Brewing Company will be having another Wassail Night tomorrow, March 4th, from 4 to 7pm. According to the email, the Wassail recipe will be different than last week. They will also have a special tapping of an unnamed cask ale.

A Look Back

Last Friday, I was at my parents' house for a fish fry dinner. While I was there, my Mom provided me with some pictures that some family friends had given to her recently. These pictures show me getting started on my favorite hobby at an early age. They were so funny that I decided to share them with you. If you look closely, you can see that the beer is Old Milwaukee. Oh well, we all had to start somewhere, right?

Beer Day in Saint Paul

This past Saturday, a couple friends and I had a fun day that centered around our favorite beverage. It started as a plan to have a few beers at our favorite brewpub, Great Waters Brewing Company. Then it changed for the better when one of my friends suggested that we try to go to Flat Earth Brewing to buy some growlers. So we decided to plan our whole day around beer.

We started with a tour of Summit Brewing. Summit has scheduled tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:00pm and on Saturdays at 10:30am and 1:00pm. We chose to go with the 1pm tour on Saturday. If you ever decide to go to a Summit tour on Saturday, reservations are required. The tour is well done and very informative, and of course, you get to have some beer at the end. I was able to try their new Unchained Series #3, an india rye ale, and it was quite tasty! The gift shop is open right after the tour and has some cool Summit gear you can purchase (which we did).

After the Summit tour, we went to burn up some time at a nearby Famous Dave's while we waited for the next portion of our beer day to begin. Then we went to Flat Earth brewery for their tour. Flat Earth typically schedules 2 tours a month. They are on Saturdays at 4pm and reservations are required by email. If you visit their website, you can find out which days they will have tours. This is a much smaller brewery than Summit, but there are a lot of people that come to these tours. Flat Earth head brewer Jeff Williamson was there to tell us the story of his brewery and answered any questions people had. Then, of course, we were given samples of 4 Flat Earth beers. After the tour, you are able to purchase growlers of whatever beers they have available (which we did). Great day so far!

Finally, we ended our beer day with the place that we originally planned on visiting before it turned into a day-long event: Great Waters Brewing Company. We sampled many of their beers including their newest, Winterye Mix. Their beers are always of excellent quality, and so is their food. We ordered ourselves some dinner while there and were very pleased with our meals. We had meant to buy some growlers during our visit, but we forgot our empties!

At the end of our Saint Paul beer day, we walked to our hotel in downtown. We had previously decided that with all the beer we would be drinking, it would be smart to avoid driving. We made reservations and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn.

If you ever have an opportunity and the time required, I highly recommend planning the same type of day. It was educational and fun, and we had some very good beer. Check out any of these websites for more info:

www.summitbrewing.com

www.flatearthbrewing.com

www.greatwatersbc.com