Brau Brothers Brewery Tour

It's hard to believe that it has been almost 2 weeks since I was in Lucan, MN. The visit to Lucan was for a tour of Brau Brothers Brewing Company, which was just one part of a fun craft-beer-themed weekend that I organized for a large group of my friends. It was the 5th year of our annual event, affectionately dubbed "Beer-a-palooza."

Dustin Brau, Brewer and CEO of Brau Brothers, was our tour guide on that fateful day. And what a tour it was...

The highly knowledgable tour guide, warm and personal atmosphere, and abundance of beer sampling were just some of things that made this tour great. The extras (as I like to call them) made it exceptional:

• 2 kinds of bottled beer were opened for us to try (their new Forgotten Flem farmhouse ale and Rainwater Stout), even though they already had 10 taps available to sample from.
• Dustin pulled out 4 bags of grain they use (beechwood smoked malt, cherrywood smoked malt, rye malt, and naked golden oats) so we could grab handfuls to sniff and snack on.
• The hop garden. Even though they were just starting to sprout, it was cool to see a brewery growing their own hops for use in their beer. At the time, some of the little hop shoots were protruding from the ground anywhere between 2 to 4 inches. (I wish I had taken a picture of them.)

After this great experience, I personally think Brau Brothers is my favorite Minnesota brewery tour (with Schell's a close second). In fact, it rates as one of my all time favorite tours, right along with Avery in Colorado.

Here are a few pictures I took while we were there:

Outside the brewery.

The brew house.

4 of the guys in our group of 19. I'm taking the photo. Where are the other 14 guys? Around the corner to the left behind these guys. Why are they over there? Ummm... Probably the 10 taps coming out of the cooler!

Fermenters and the hot liquor tank.

My friend seems to approve...

Conditioning tanks.

Coborn's Tasting April 23rd

Tomorrow, April 23rd, we'll be having another beer tasting at the Hastings Coborn's Liquor. This time, I'm welcoming one of the newest breweries to grace the shelves: Brooklyn Brewery. Five of their varieties are available in the store, and I'll be pouring samples of each one:

• Brown Ale
• East India Pale Ale
• Lager
• Pennant Ale '55
• Summer Ale

I typically like to keep the flavors rolling with six different beers, but we're one short. That leads me to the BONUS beer: Great Lakes Doppelrock. I recently tried this one out myself, and it is definitely a delicious doppelbock.

Be sure to stop by the store anytime from 3 - 7pm to try a new entry into the Minnesota beer market and talk beer with me.

Summit Unchained Series Batch 05 - Imperial Pumpkin Porter

Yep, I'm still playing the game of catch-up. My last 2 sessions were meant to get me back on track and up-to-date with the Schell's Stag Series. Now that those 2 have been taken care of, it's time for me to catch up on another limited local series. That would be the Summit Unchained Series.

Batch 05 (which is an Imperial Pumpkin Porter) is the subject of this session. Released in late fall last year, this brew was lovingly crafted by Summit brewer Nate Siats. He took a rich, strong porter recipe and added locally raised pumpkins to the mash. Then, various spices were added into the boil kettle, including: sweet China cinnamon, Jamaican allspice, powdered cassia buds, ground nutmeg, ginger powder, ground mace, and ground ceylon cloves. Sounds like a holiday dessert, doesn't it? It weighs in with 7.5% ABV and 40 IBUs.

I pour the thick, dark liquid from the 12 ounce bottle into my mug. The creamy tan head builds until it peaks at 2-fingers high. Then it dissipates to a thin, neat cap resting lightly on top. The body is blacker than black and allows no light to pass through the glass, even when held up to a light.

Smells good. It reminds me of a spiced latte I had during the holiday season. Roasted coffee beans and a hint of molasses mingle well with the heavy spice aroma. Ginger and allspice are the 2 that I can easily detect in the scent.

Time for my tongue to get a sample. Rich sweet malt and maybe just a hint of pumpkin transition into a momentary taste of coffee. Then the spice comes on bold and strong before the flavor moves to a deep espresso bitterness at the finish.

The mouthfeel is chewy and thick with some surprisingly prickly carbonation. A definite alcohol warmth builds with each swallow. There is some nice lacing left on the glass as the liquid level drops.

This is a great cold weather brew that would be well suited to serving with holiday desserts. In fact, its rich, sweet, chewy, roasty, and spicy characteristics would make it a great dessert all by itself! I must have suspected that in my second paragraph...

April 8th Coborn's Tasting

Be sure to swing by the Hastings Coborn's Liquor tomorrow, April 8th. I know you're planning to pick up some beverages for one of our warmest weekends of spring thus far, so you might as well do it while there's a beer tasting in the store. I'll be pouring samples of:

• Brau Brothers Sheep Head Ale
• Furthermore Fatty Boombalatty
• Odell Cutthroat Porter
• Schell's Pils
• Summit Maibock
• Wittekerke

I'll be there from 4:30 - 8:30pm. Come try some tasty beers. You know you want to...

Schell's Stag Series Batch 3 - Rauchbier

Last week, I decided to get caught up on the Schell's Stag Series. I had a bottle of Batch 2 that had been sitting in my fridge for awhile, and I recently purchased some of Batch 3. That was my cue to get these sessions done, which I did. If you read my post from last week, you'll know how much I enjoyed the Wild Rice Farmhouse Ale. Now, it's time to have a session with Batch 3, a rauchbier.

What's a rauchbier? Well, translated from German to English, it literally means "smoke beer." It is a very old lager style that uses 100% smoked malt. Typically, all of the malt is smoked over beechwood, but Schell's added their own personal twist:

"This Rauchbier is our interpretation of a traditional Franconian Rauchbier (smoke beer). Rauchbiers date back to the early 1500’s when green malt was dried over open fires. The smoke from the fire was picked up in the grain and the smoky flavor carried over into the beer.

Our version of this ancient style was brewed using a blend of malts smoked over beech wood and cherry wood to create a twist on the traditional style. The remainder of the malt bill is made up of Dark Munich, Caramunich, and a touch of black malt. Tettnang and Sterling hops are used for a balanced bitterness."

This is definitely the kind of specialty brew you would expect from a German heritage brewery like Schell's. The stats listed on their website indicate that this beer is between 6-7% ABV. I wonder what would cause them to give a range instead of a specific percentage. If any of you know, I'd be happy to hear from you.

I pour the 12 ounce bottle into my mug. A 2-finger light tan head springs up quickly before it shrinks to a thin, even layer. The body is quite clear and the color brings dark maple syrup to mind.

Let's confirm that this is a rauchbier. Yep. There's a powerful wood smoke aroma with maybe just a hint of a bready undertone. It smells like my coat does after sitting around a bonfire for the evening.

Surprisingly, smoke is not the first thing I taste. First, there is a bit of sweet caramel, and then comes the smoke. Big time smoke. It makes me think of bacon and smoked brisket. A nice earthy bitterness does its best to battle some of the smokiness, but the smoke wins and hangs around long past the finish.

The pleasant medium viscosity slides easily down my throat. Mild carbonation on my tongue isn't all that noticeable, probably due to the strong flavor profile. There is no lacing at all on my glass.

I've had some of the imported rauchbiers from Germany, and this version from Schell's can definitely hold its own against any of those beers. The wonderfully full smoke aroma and flavor will suit any of your favorite grilled foods perfectly, not to mention smoked meats and cheeses. I was just recently snacking on some delicious cheese summer sausage (with actual cheddar chunks in the sausage), and I felt compelled to open a bottle of Batch 3 to go with it. Wow, that was a tasty combination.