3rd Annual Saint Paul Summer Beer Fest

This past Saturday, I was quite happy to be present at the 3rd installment of the ever-growing Saint Paul Summer Beer Fest. I had previously been to the first year of this event, but missed number 2 because it fell on my daughter's birthday (which is, of course, much more important). In my return this past weekend, there were some definite changes from last time I attended. Beer lovers and brewers have come together over the years to make this a very popular and special event, which definitely facilitated its growth over the last 3 years and led to these imminent improvements:

• Year 1 was held at the Midway stadium parking lot. This year was held at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in the very nice International Bazaar area.
• Year 1 VIP tickets allowed entrance an hour earlier than standard tickets. This year, the VIPs still gained early entrance, but also received pretzel necklaces as they came in (essential beer fest jewelry) and had access to the special VIP tent. In the tent, there were free massages, multiple pitchers of a good variety of beer, private bathrooms, and even some beer pong gaming.
• Year 1 had some music from live artists, but this year seemed to have more variety from a larger number of bands.
• The biggest improvement of all? Even more breweries (up to 70+ this year) and a greater number of special brews offered (cask & limited release). This was a beer taster's nirvana.

Amongst my tastings of various libations from all over the country, a friend and I mixed in a few games of hammerschlagen and had some good conversations with brewers and fellow craft beer enthusiasts. Through all of this, I noticed that my own approach to this type of fest has evolved from what it once was.

In years past, I would go to something like this and try to sample every beer I could within the given timeframe. That was hard to do, and had the potential to make sampling less fun. Now, I find my method no longer has that specific focus and hectic feel. I've learned to slow down and appreciate fewer brews while enjoying the atmosphere and camaraderie of the venue. For example, I only visited 3 breweries in my first hour and a half on Saturday. Yep, just 3. I'm sure that many people had visited at least one-third of the breweries in that same amount of time. More power to them, but I personally can't do things that way anymore. And that's OK. No, not just OK; it works out great!

As it usually happens, I targeted more local breweries and found my way into some enlightening discussions. I chatted with Jason from Harriet Brewing, Michael from The Four Firkins, Joe from Olvalde Farm and Brewing, Aran from Furthermore Beer, and a very friendly Abita rep whose name escapes me (sorry about that).

Of course, you may be wondering about the beer. Here are a few of my local highlights from the day. I had not tried any of them before that day.

• Every one of the 4 beers that Harriet Brewing sampled - West Side, Wodan Weizen, Pilsner, and Saison. All were excellent.
• The "secret" beer behind the Olvalde table. I was lucky enough to get a taste of this beer experiment that yielded a tasty imperial stout made with rye and spruce tips.
• Lift Bridge had a unique cask of strawberry rhubarb Farm Girl Saison. Crazy stuff, right?
• Flat Earth showed up with a beer I had been wanting to taste for a while: Extra Medium. It's a sour wild ale that was even better than I had expected.

Of course I sampled many more, but I've rambled on long enough. Let's get down to it. Would you like to know what my pick is for the best beer at the fest? Well, even if your answer is "no," I'm going to tell you anyway.

Ready? Here it is...

Harriet Brewing Company's Saison. After sampling, all I could think was "wow." The look, flavor, and aroma were awesome! If you like saisons and get an opportunity to try it, I highly recommend doing so. Really good stuff.

Coborn's Tasting - Friday June 24th

Tomorrow, June 24th, I will be happy to share some samples with you. Samples of what? You know the answer to that - tasty beer! Stop by the Hastings Coborn's Liquor between 4:30 and 7:30pm to try one of these 6 great brews:

• 21st Amendment Hop Crisis - brand-new Imperial IPA in a can
  
• 21st Amendment Monk's Blood - dark abbey ale with spices
  
• Boulevard Single Wide IPA - staple IPA of their lineup
  
• New Belgium Somersault - all new seasonal brewed with ginger
  
• Piraat - imported Belgian deliciousness
  
• Samuel Adams Summer Ale - refreshing brew made with grains of paradise

I look forward to seeing you there and answering any of your beer questions. As usual, I'll be happy to help you find the beer that best suits your plans.

Cheers!

Special Beer Sessions

As many of you may have noticed, I really try to focus on local Minnesota brews in my beer sessions. I have occasionally ventured outside of those boundaries, but I truly enjoy supporting my home state's breweries and will continue to do so.

That being said, I cannot pass up any excellent and/or unique opportunities to blog about brews that are not native to our area. A good example would be my past posts with the Blond,8, and 12 from Westvleteren.

I recently came across 2 possibilities that I think will make for some very special sessions. In fact, the products I want to sit down with both come from The Boston Beer Company:

• Latitude 48 IPA Deconstructed - This very special 12-pack gives anyone the opportunity to understand how 5 different hops affect the aroma and flavor of Samuel Adams Latitude 48 IPA. The box contains 2 bottles of the original IPA and 2 bottles each of 5 different single-hop IPAs. (A single-hop recipe is just that; a beer made with only 1 variety of hop.) The hops used individually in each of those brews are the same ones that combine to make the original Latitude 48: Ahtanum, East Kent Goldings, Hallertau Mittelfruh, Simcoe, and Zeus. I plan to sit down and taste all 6 IPAs in one sitting so I can break down the nuances and differences for all of you.

• Samuel Adams Utopias - Now this is a special beer. It is released every 2 years to eagerly awaiting beer geeks like me (even though it's extremely expensive). This brew is part art and part sledgehammer. The art lies in the craftful blending of many different beers conditioned in various varieties of barrels; some which have been aging 18 years. The sledgehammer? Oh, that would be the naturally fermented 27% ABV. That's right, this beer is 54 proof! I consider myself lucky to have been given the chance to purchase this one-of-a-kind libation, and I plan to share my experience with you.

Well, there you go. I've got 2 very special sessions to plan and I hope you're looking forward to them as much as I am. Up to that point and beyond, I will continue to visit our favorite local brews.

Cheers!

Coborn's Tasting - June 11th

Have you checked the weather forecast lately? It looks like we're going to have a wonderful combo of sunny skies and temperatures around 70° in the Twin Cities this weekend. In fact, these conditions may cause you to have the desire to enjoy a couple tasty brews outside. If you decide to go on a hunt for some beer on Saturday, stop by the Hastings Coborn's Liquor. From 2 - 6pm, I'll be pouring samples of 2 Alaskan and 4 Tallgrass varieties:

• Alaskan Amber
• Alaskan Summer
• Tallgrass Ale
• Tallgrass Buffalo Sweat
• Tallgrass IPA
• Tallgrass Oasis

I'll be ready to talk beer as usual, and will be more than happy to make any recommendations for your beautiful weather endeavors. Hope to see you there!

Brau Brothers Bancreagie Peated Scotch Ale

If you've been watching Brau Brothers over the last few months, you may have noticed some new things happening to their line-up. First, they recreated and replaced 2 of their year-round beers (which I believe worked out for the better on both counts). More recently, they introduced a whole new brew to their annual group; one that is a departure from any style they've produced before. I think this is great news and shows that things are going well for this growing Minnesota brewer.

In this session, I'll be sitting down with 1 of their 2 new year-round replacements: Bancreagie Peated Scotch Ale. This brew takes over for their old Scotch Ale, which was the first Brau Bros beer I had ever tasted. To create this new recipe, they used Scottish-grown Maris Otter barley malt, a controlled portion of peat-smoked malt, Golding and Willamette hops, and Edinburgh yeast. It weighs in with 7.6% ABV and 20 IBUs. Let's get to it!

I pour the 12 ounce bottle into my tulip glass and get a rapidly building off-white head that peaks at 1.5 fingers. It then quickly shrinks and breaks up into a few tiny, thin patches of foam. The color of the body is similar to dark maple syrup and has some lovely hints of ruby.

The smell of toasted biscuits and dark dried fruits dominate the aroma. There is smoke present in the nose as expected, but it's surprisingly subtle. Just a touch of alcohol scent rounds it all out.

Flavors? They're there, and are quite nice. Rich caramel and English toffee combine with a flavor similar to grilled peaches (yes, I have eaten a grilled peach before - good stuff). Then, the wonderfully balanced peat smoke comes through nicely without becoming overpowering. There is minimal bitterness at the finish, but along with the smoke it's just enough to keep things from getting too sweet.

This beer's medium viscosity is stickier than I expected, but in a good way as it coats my mouth with deliciousness. It has a mild carbonation level and doesn't leave any lacing to speak of.

Brau Brothers has a really tasty scotch ale on their hands with this one. It's rich and sweet with a perfect amount of smoke and some pleasant fruit characteristics. I thought their old Scotch Ale was a good brew, but I thing they did the right thing by switching to this new recipe. I will definitely be revisiting Bancreagie in the future, especially on cool spring and fall evenings while sitting outside.