Winterfest 09

Winterfest this year moved from the Landmark Center to the History Center. I volunteered for a couple hours in exchange for entry into the fest, which also meant giving up an hour of the event. It was good though, as I was up early that day and had to be up early the next day. I still tried 24 beers, and only a couple were disappointing.

Schell's Hopfenmalz
Schell's U Bier
Barley Johns Winter
Cold Spring Imperial Stout
Fitgers El Diablo
Fitgers Bourbon Imperial Stout
Fitgers 07 barley wine
Flat Earth 07 barley wine
Great Waters Betelgeuse
Lift Bridge barley wine
Lift Bridge Imperial Stout
McCanns Flame
Rock Bottom tripel framboise
Rock Bottom single hop IPAs with centennial, amarillo and simcoe
Rock Bottom Hop Bomb
Surly bourbon One
Surly Two
Surly Three
Surly Darkness
Town Hall barley wine
Town Hall Chipotle wee heavy

My faves were the bourbon One and Rock Bottom triple framboise. Rock Bottom totally blew away my expectations. While the two levels of narrow hallways made it hard to not feel crowded, the quality beer and people made it well worth it.

Winterfest 08

Winterfest, the annual winter celebration of Minnesota beer, took place last night at the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul. Sponsored by the MN Craft Brewers Guild, Winterfest is known for showcasing many of the more unique--and often higher alcohol--beers of local breweries and brew pubs. Don, Peter, Ryan and Dawn were great drinking partners, always willing to share their grabs, meaning more samples and overall lesser quantity. The full program is here, and here's a list of my tries:

Schell's
-Eisbock
-Dry-hopped Maifest Kellerbier

Barley John's
-Munich Dark Lager
-Belgian Triple
-06 Dark Knight

Brau Brothers
-04 Dubbel

Fitger's
-Park P0int Pilsner
-Imperial Pilsner
-Gale Force Cranberry Ale
-Edmund Imperial Stout, Bourbon barrel aged
-Blue Label Grande Reserve, Pinot Noir barrel Aged
-Bellnickle Wheat Wine
-Hair O' the Monk
-Mr Spock Eisbok

Flat Earth
-Winter Warlock golden barley wine

Great Water's
-Trippel Braun

Mantorville
-Stagecoach Amber

McCann's
-Prairie Porter
-Tripple Trouble

Minneapolis Town Hall
-Eye of the Storm
-Granny Triple
-Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
-Chocolate Rasberry Bourbon Stout
-Simcoe Pale Ale

Rock Bottom
-Fallen Angel Abby Ale
-Smoked Porter
-Silver Mullet Oatmeal IPA

Summit
-Cask IPA
-Cask Great Northern Porter
-Cask Winter

Surly
-Darkness
-Two
-Tea bagged Furious

Yup, 33 beers in three hours. Mind you, most pours were about 3 ounces. Your palate gets pretty burnt early on, so I generally tried to drink stouts and darker beers for awhile before switching to Belgian styles. My favorite stout/porter/ dark beer was of course Surly Darkness, but the ones from Town Hall were pretty good, as was the one from Fitgers. And the one from Barley John's was outstanding as well. Oh wait, that's all of them.

The standout Belgian-style beers were the Town Hall Granny Triple (aged on granny smith apples) or the Fitger's Blue Label Grande Reserve triple, aged in Pinot Noir barrels. I've long had a disdain for lambic-esque sour beers, so maybe this marks a turning point in my palate, as they both had qualities that I seem to have disliked in the past.

Another great event by the Guild. Good food (although bad setup), a mellow jazz band and I love the Landmark Center. Pics coming soon.

Speechless

Oh boy was I in heaven tonight. Mad props to Valerie for picking up a six pack of--are you ready?--New Belgium Tripple and Stone Levitation on her trip to Colorado. New Belgium Tripple and Stone Levitation.You probably know New Belgium as the brewers of Fat Tire, one of the most overrated beers ever. If you want to see what this Colorado brewery is all about, check out anything else by them. Perfect Belgium ales, and the Tripple is no exception. Come east!

You probably don't know Stone. From California and yet to hit Minneosta or Wisconsin, they're all about extreme. Even Levitation at a mere 4.4% still wallops a mighty hop punch, like a Surly Furious, except you could actually have 3 or 4 in a sitting. Great session beer.

I'll savor these brews for awhile. Or try anyway.

More beer, no politics

So I was going to write about this great beer and better experience I had at the Happy Gnome last night with a little quadrupel from the Netherlands called Koningshoeven , formerly La Trappe, but Jane beat me to it. I'll only add that I looked at a 750 ml bottle today at the store for less than we paid for a 10 ounce pour. Still a fucking incredible 11.5% abv beer, but still fucking expensive on tap.

On the lighter side of things, I bought a 12-pack of Red Hook this weekend, beer of the month at Big Top Liquors in St. Paul. Always a sucker for the sampler, I got to try two new refreshing beers, the Copper Hook and Blonde Ale. Paired with their solid ESB and their average IPA, at $9.50, this is a good mixer for cautious palates.

St. Paul's old and new

Today I swung by one of my old haunts, Thomas Liquors on Grand and Prior in St. Paul, to pick a bottle of Mephistopheles. Part of Avery Brewing's The Demon of Ales series, Mephistopheles is a double stout pulling 15% abv and 107 IBUs. Yikes! At eight dollars for a 12 ounce bottle ($18 at select bars), it's going in the basement for a few months.

Speaking of select bars, be sure to order a Flat Earth Pale Ale the next time you're out. Flat Earth Brewing is St. Paul's newest micro, committed it seems to pushing the brewing envelope. Their pale ale is a very drinkable Belgian-style ale, and is absolutely fabulous.

Spring is in the air

Yikes! Almost 3 months since my last post. The 2007 Legislative Sesssion has wrangled me away from Capitol Brewhaha, but it's worth it, as the state will hopefully do some good things for kids. In an attempt get the blog back on track, I need a new hook, for my readers and for me. Because this is really about me. So I'm following Jane's lead, and will be doing shorter, to the point, posts, but still keeping with quality you've come to expect. On to the beer.

I've recently completed some time with high gravity ales (read: lots more character and alcohol), which in turn lead to the start of a nice collection of Belgians, Barley Wines, Bourbon Barrel Ales to cellar for a couple years. The cold and snow are leaving, and with them, the heart warming nine- and ten-percent extreme beers.

In preparation for Spring, I'm making the switch to some lighter beers. So I picked up a sample pack of Sam Adams. Six different kinds of beer, and I found not only their flagship Boston Ale and Lager, but also a couple Honey Porters, Scotch Ales and Brown Ales. A few surprisingly well-done darker stronger beers to help with the transition. Nice. Also check out their six-pack of homebrew competition winners for a great sampling of beers.


Also in preparation for the warmer weather, I'll be brewing a Saison this week. Just in time, since my heavenly bourbon barrel porter is running out. I'll keep you updated.

Back to the sampling!

Oh goody! Munster here I come!

When you think of Indiana, what usually comes to mind? Corn? Hoosiers? Maybe Dan Quayle? But not beer. Not at least until you visit Munster. Which brings me to the second phase of my research.

Case Study Two: Munster
A recent much-anticipated trip to Munster, Indiana (really an ex-urb of Chicago), which the main purpose of was to visit my sister and her family, the quantity of quality beer to be had was literally mind-numbing. Granted, this was in large part because my brother-in-law shares in and rivals my love of water, hops, yeast and grains. I tried no less than a dozen new beers, many of them rarities and exclusive to Munster. I had my first introduction to New Holland Brewing, which coincidentally just arrived in Minnesota. I puckered up trying some wild beer for the first time (didn't know the stuff existed). And of course I made the pilgrimage to Three Floyds Brewing Company.

New Holland Brewing, as best I tell, doesn't make a bad beer. Of course it makes sense being from Michigan. Their stout, amber and IPA are all beers that make you stop and notice what's in the bottle. I tried a couple and brought home a 22 oz. bomber of Dragon's Milk Ale, barrel-aged and weighing in at 9% ABV, only to realize the liquor stores at home had just began carrying New Holland. Guess I'll have to drink it now.

Speaking of "big beers," (nee high ABV) they were a large part my time in northwest Indiana. If you're feeling adventurous and whimsical, find a bottle of Sanctification from Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, CA (good luck). Imagine taking controlled bacteria and putting it in your beer, but it turns out fantastically unusual. There's a whole line of "wild beers," made by adding wild yeast like Brettanomyces, Pediococcus or Lactobacillus. This particular one tasted kinda like fermented lemon mixed with a pinot grigio or similar sweet wine. Not horrible, but not something I would drink three or four bottles of, or even an entire one, by myself. A nice summer apperitif. I guess a lot of beers from Belgian strive for this effect, but add fruit like raspberries or peaches. Yummier.

One of the best breweries in the country--that's right, best--is Three Floyd's. They don't distribute to Minnesota anymore, but a short trip to Chicone's in Hudson, WI will hook you up. But screw Hudson, I went to the source. Dinner and drinks at the brew pub enabled me to have three different pints and sample five more. From the Belgian Drunk Monk to the lovely Kolsch Calumet Queen to the solid pale ale Alpha King, Three Floyds makes every style unique and better than its competition. I took home the Rabbid Rabbit, a 9% saison brewed with chamomile and rock candy, easily one of the best beers I've ever had.

But one of the highlights of the trip to Munster (besides spending time with my nephew) was BIL and R hooking me up with another bottle of Dark Lord, the Most Sought After Bottle of Beer in the Country. A crazy maybe 13% or 15% dark creamy burnt caramel chocolate coffee stout brewed in very small batches--like it's only available in bottles at the brewery and sells out in one day. Mad mad props to BIL and R. New Years baby.

Three Floyds is undergoing some staff changes, but hopefully they can maintain the level of excellence that is looked forward to--and expected--from them.

All the outlining Chicago cities have a similar feel, but Munster--besides being in a red state--is a pretty nice town. Of course it's made better by its proximity to the city and a family named Floyd. Study results: 9.5/10. Woulda been a 10, but c'mon, what's a 10 anymore?