Happy Firkin Holidays

The Groveland Tap was the place to be tonight for beer geeks. As part of their "12 Nights of Christmas," which features a different drink special every night leading up the birthday of Christ, tonight they offered five firkins of different beers from Schell's (Pils), Summit (Winter dry hopped with Fuggles), Surly (Bender bourbon barrel aged), Bell's (Cream Stout) and Big Sky (Powder Hound). (A firkin is a keg for serving cask-conditioned beer. Cask beer is beer which is carbonated in and served directly--"pulled" from--the container.)

Reps from most of the breweries and other notables made an appearance, along with other beer fan-boys and girls . I joined the MnBeer.com folks, and between us, we were able to sample most of the offerings. The Summit Winter was hands-down my favorite, followed by the Pils. The Bender, despite a nice bourbon undertone, seemed a little premature, as it was still a bit uncarbonated. The Bell's was good, but nothing to write home about. We unfortunately didn't get around to the Big Sky.

Many beer-related events are on the calendar this time of year, giving my palate a nice warm-up for the coming week with Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Get yer hot beer here!

I'm not one to go out my way for a limited release beer or anything (hahahahahaha), but I was especially intrigued by Town Hall Brewery's Festivus 2007, a Belgian Dark Ale aged on Belgian Dark Chocolate. It was rich and creamy and, yes, chocolately. I picked up a growler of it for an upcoming holiday gathering.

I also had a cup of hot mulled ale, Town Hall's annual Christmas present to their loyal customers. Yes, hot beer, but not any hot beer. It was a scotch ale with spices and a shot of rum. It was more incredible than I thought it would be, much better than mulled wine. It went especially well standing around a camp fire adjacent to Washington Avenue and Cedar Avenue during rush hour.

It's getting very dark

If you've been keeping up with MnBeer.com lately, then you know that Surly Brewing put up for sale a limited number of 750 ml bottles of their imperial stout Darkness this past weekend. Simple enough, right? Wrong. The first people to show up at the brewery on Saturday morning were some crazies from Iowa, setting up camp around a fire pit at around 2am.

Ok, truth-in-advertising here: I was crazy enough to arrive at 8am and stand around in the cold for an hour before Omar and crew opened the doors. But 2am?

I'm not that surprised, really. Darkness has swept the beer community, which will go to extreme lengths for hard-to-find beers. Surly had only 480 bottles to sell, allowing two per person. With no one really knowing what would happen--all we knew is that sales were to start at 2pm --our originally-planned arrival time was 10am, but it kept getting earlier and earlier as the hype kept increasing. I was lucky I suppose to get my two bottles, but tickets didn't sell out until 12:30pm on Saturday. Still, it was a good time and Surly took care of it's loyal fans with free samples all day, live music, and an inviting atmosphere.

My friend, neighbor and fellow homebrewer Don shot some video of the day. Check out his results below.

Lagers are....

While December is the perfect time to pour a dark, big beer--porters, stouts, barley wines, heavy browns--it's hardly the time to be brewing them, at least when the basement hovers around 50 degrees. I typically stray away from most lagers, which uses yeast that needs to ferment at lower temperatures. Dopplebocks can cause me to turn my head and tip my glass, but I would rather have an ale than most maibocks, Octoberfests and of course American lagers.

I had to swallow hard to face the fact that Tony's basement is under a constant chill and perfect for lagers. So we brewed our first ones last week: a Pilsner Urquell clone, which uses nothing but Saaz hops; and a lager using dry yeast, and Pride of Ringwood and centennial hops. It should be duly noted that centennial are typically used in West Coast IPAs, so we'll see what happens. Similarly, we just bottled an ale using mainly Saaz. Ya gotta experiment to learn, even if it results in a beer that's better as a marinade.

About 6 months ago, on a hot and sweaty July day, we brewed a double IPA and a barleywine. The double IPA is sadly about gone, but we're just now cracking into the barleywine. It's full of caramel and pipe tobacco, balanced with a slight bite of green apple.

Hahahaha, at about 10%, please ignore that last sentence. It's just fuckin' good.

Final note: I've been spending a lot of time blogging over at MnBeer.com, so please check 'em out if you haven't already.

Beer + Turkey = Good?

I was charged with (or took charge of) preparing our family's turkey this year, my first attempt at the task. You may find this shocking, but in searching for a recipe, I turned to one of my most reliable sources for everything beer, BeerAdvocate.com. Their turkey recipe was simple and still intriguing. While it called for injecting a Märzen or Octoberfest into the turkey, none could be found and so I used some of my homebrewed alt. I'd like to think it made a huge difference, but even though the bird was quite delicious, I'm not convinced it did. The alt was good with the bird, but maybe not so much in the bird.

My wife has a more complete account of the meal on her blog.

Barley John's visited

I and some of the mnbeer.com crew met for drinks last week at Barley John's in New Brighton to discuss upcoming changes to the site, get to know one another better and, well, drink beer. I've been to John's a couple times in the past, so I knew they had good beer, but I never remembered how good. Their double IPA is something to be cherished, especially with the rising prices and shortage of hops and barley looming over the industry. Get it while you can.

Colin Mullen, John's brewer, joined us for some of the evening, and further explained the situation. I was impressed with his positive attitude about it, as he explained that it would challenge brewers to try to new things and out of it would come some creative beer styles. He also felt that the shortage is bringing the Minnesota craft brew scene closer together as they begin to explore joint efforts to help each other. His outlook is emblematic of Barley John's--and certainly his--overall attitude about brewing.

I finished the night with a Dark Knight. If you aren't familiar with it, then head over to John's now. They call it a "bourbon barrel aged double fermented porter," but, whatever. At more than 13%, it's magical and completely heavenly.

As we were paying the tab, Colin offered to take us downstairs to the, um, brewhouse. It was a pretty cramped couple of rooms, with fermenters, heating and cooling systems, bags of hops, empty kegs and bourbon barrels filled with aging Dark Knight taking up every last inch of space. But I hope they don't change a thing, because it works; Colin makes some great creations down there.

Grrrr, Darkness!

With the onset of late fall-early winter comes the many stouts and winter ales of the season. Perhaps the best is Surly Darkness. I had my first one of the season at the Autumn Beer Review, but needless to say it was well into the afternoon, so I must say I don't really remember anything about it except that it was good. So last Friday my wife agreed to dinner at Busters on 28th in South Mpls, which allowed me to have one in style. While I understand that the proper way to enjoy Darkness is in a Surly goblet, I also understand that most places are selling a 12 ounce pour for about $7. Being the cheap-ass that I am, the $5/pint during happy hour at Busters made it an all that much more enjoyable of a stout.

Speaking of amazing stouts, I shared an Avery Mephistopheles with Tony while camping a few weeks ago. Darkness is amazing, but Mephistopheles is beyond amazing. Ok, maybe it was only really really really really good, but at 15% for an $8-12 ounce bottle, it seemed that much better. Especially on a chilly October night around a camp fire next to the Kettle River.

Speaking of the Kettle River, I'm looking forward to the 3rd annual Sandstone Icefest the weekend of December 7th. Ok, I'm skipping the majority of the events and am only attending the final night, for the Frozen Kettle River Homebrew Challenge and Chili Cook-off. I'm not a huge ice climber, or for that matter even a small ice climber, but I do like winter camping. And besides, Surly is a sponsor.

Town Hall Anniversary

It's a solid indicator that the Twin Cities craft brew scene is alive and well when a brew pub survive--and thrive--for 10 years. Me and a couple buddies helped Town Hall Brewery celebrate their 10-year anniversary last weekend. Each day of the week they released a different beer, and on the Friday we attended it was Eye of the Storm, a 10 year aged beer made with 10 different kinds of honey, clocking in at 10% abv. It was a bit sweet for my taste, but Town Hall always put in an amazing effort and hits on the mark the style they were striving for. I preferred their Anniversary Ale, a very drinkable IPA, but it still didn't compare to Masala Mama, their hallmark IPA which I finished the night with.

Music, fun and a good cause

Wanna have a good time and support a good cause? Then follow the link to see – and hear – about this amazing music, mingle and munch event being held at the Fine Line Café on November 3. The goal of the event, besides the great music and fun, is to raise AIDS Awareness. Clare Housing and the Minnesota AIDS Project are the beneficiaries – please show your support by joining us on November 3. Costumes are encouraged, though not mandatory. But when was the last time you put on your platforms, raised your hair and donned all your glittery goods for a raucous night of hilarity, all for a great cause?

http://www.irockthecause.org/home.html

At least Iowa is good for something

Despite my consistent whining about some of the good beer that is unavailable in Minnesota, all it takes is a trip to a state that doesn't have it as good as we do to bring me back to reality. Last weekend, I was in Iowa for my college homecoming and took the opportunity to visit a local liquor store to check out their wares. I had called ahead, and so I knew that they would have some Gumbalhead from Three Floyds--an excellent hopped-up wheat beer. I picked up three bottles of that (anyone wanna trade?), and a variety of other beer that isn't found in Minnesota.

In case you can't read the labels, from left to right, that's Gumbalhead, Hoppy Brewing Hoppy Face Amber Ale, Blue Frog Red Frog Ale, Lost Coast Pale Ale, ReaperAle Deathly Pale Ale, Millstream Iowa Pale Ale, and MacTarnahan Mac's Ale. The ones I've tried thus far are solid.

Sure, none of these beers come to the North Star State, but Iowa--at least Benz Liquor Depot in CR--doesn't have nearly the quantity of quality craft brews as Minnesota. And no Surly either.

Homebrew Update
Oh, where to start. It's been a busy summer and fall, filling the basement for winter. The Barleywine, Double IPA, Alt, Sweet Stout, Belgian Dubbel, and Winter Warmer are in bottles and the Steam, India Brown Ale and IPA are fermenting. With Tony's coaxing, we've begun to get off-recipe and tweak some of the kits, even making up our own. The Winter was a real treat to brew, as we added a little of this and a little of that. We doubled the grains, added some molasses, fresh ginger, honey, coriander, cocoa powder, juniper and dry hopped it in the primary. When we bottled it it reminded me a bit of Anchor Winter. The Double IPA is excellent, the hops balance the alcohol, which is probably around 7% abv. We have a couple empty carboys to fill, so I'm sure we'll be back at it next week.

Autumn Beer Review Review

Alright. The 2007 Autumn Beer Review. It started out rainy and cold. But the prospects of drinking good beer--and lots of it--kept me and Ben warm as we waited in line. It was one 1pm when we got in, and our first stop was at the Pizza Luce booth for some nurishment before imbibing.

The first couple beers I had were great--Summit ESB on cask and Town Hall's Mango Mama, their Masala Mama IPA with Mango. Here's a list of everything I tried--at least everything I checked off. Note these were 4 oz samples, sometime less, and I tried to stick to beers I had never had before. For more info about each one, check out the program.

• Schell Snowstorm 2007


• Barley John's Dark Knight


• Brau Brothers Ring Neck Braun Ale


• Fitger's Procrastinator Dopplebock


• Fitger's Starfire Pale Ale


• Fitger's Contentment


• Fitger's Cherry Batch 2200


• Great Water's Flying Circus IPA


• Great Water's "It Will Make You a Man" IPA


• Great Water's Knights who say "Nee" ESB


• Herkimer Oktoberfest


• Lake Superior Winter Warmer Barleywine


• Town Hall Mango Mama


• Rock Bottom Saison


• Summit ESB


• Summit Oatmeal Stout with Brettanomyces


• Surly Dahmer


• Surly Bourbon One


• Surly Darkness 07


• Avery Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest


• Big Sky Montana Trout Slayer Ale


• Leinie's Oktoberfest


• Left Hand Juju Ginger


• New Holland Barrel-Aged Strong Ale


• North Coast Brother Thelonius Dubbel


• Rush River Lost Arrow Porter


• Schmaltz Lenny Bruce Rye IPA


• Sprecher Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale


• Tyranena Three Beaches Honey Blonde Ale


• Tyranena Bitter Woman IPA


• Tyranena Rocky's Revenge Bourbon Barrel-Aged Brown Ale


• Tyranena Hop Whore


• Tyranena Devil Made Me Do It!


• Tyranena High Class Broad


• Victory Hop Devil

My faves were the Dark Knight and Mango Mama. Thanks to WankerWeasel for some of the photos (more here).

What is Radiohead worth?

Yes, I was at the Autumn Beer Review, yes it was awesome. But what is even more awesome is the marketing of Radiohead's new album. What do you think it's worth? I'd pay $10, maybe $15, ok $20 dollars for it. No? One dollar? Ok, you can have it.

You decide what it's worth, and that's the price you pay.

Or, you can buy the box set for about $80, which will include two vinyl albums, a CD version of the new album and a second CD with additional new songs, artwork and photographs of the band. I wish I had a record player.

Do I event need to say how brillant this is? Radiohead is pushing the industry to accept the change that is confronting them. Of course, they have the fan base willing to support them, and a HUGE tour and merch revenue stream, but for big bands who want to make it, this may be a way to go. Do ya think [insert Top 40 R&B band here] could mak it?

Contemplate, and I'll be back with my tasting list from of ABR.

Autumn Beer Review

Next weekend is the 2007 Autumn Beer Review. This is the first "official" review-fest-tasting I've been to, and there'll be over 40 breweries and 100 beers. That being said, I'd pay the $25 ticket fee just to visit the historic Grain Belt Brewery where it's being held. Surly's line-up alone is another thing I'd spend the $25 on. If previewing the 2007 program doesn't do it for you, I don't know what will.....check it out here (thanks to mnbeer.com for the scoop).

Rushin' ahead

Rush River, one of my favorite local--if you consider western Wisconsin local--beers, began selling their Unforgiven Amber and Bubblejack IPA in bottles this week. I had one of each tonight, and they totally stand up, and may even be better, in the bottles. Both have an, um, noticeable hop presence that may offend the timid drinker, but RR uses the hops wisely. Of course I always forget how much I love Rush River each time I order it, and I'm glad it's available at the liquor store now.

I do wish the bottles listed the IBUs or ABV, at least with the IPA, but it isn't like I'd stop buying the stuff if it didn't.

Welcome to the off-sale market, Rush River!

Ramstad's out, who's in?

You've all probably heard that US Rep. Jim Ramstad today announced his plans to not seek re-election , setting the stage for a massive endorsement and/or primary fight in Minnesota's 3rd congressional district. Polinaut has a good story and nice map of the district, if you're so inclined, but I like the rumor and speculation myself, Minnesota Democrats Exposed on the right and MNPublius on the left.

Of all the DFLers listed as potential candidates, I like State Sen. Terri Bonoff. She's done a great job portraying herself as a uniter from the middle, which she is, and if she were to happen to lose, the DFL would still hold onto that seat as she's not up until 2010. State Reps. Melissa Hortman and Maria Ruud are also attractive, but those are tough districts for any other DFLers to hold on to. Plus, Sen. Bonoff is a leader on early childhood issues, which personally makes her appealing since I work in that field. None of them have announced yet, so my opinion at this point (or any other point) hardly matters.

I'm glad I don't live in the 3rd.

Twin Cities Imbiber Issue #2

Law changes this year allowing co-called strong beer to be available at the state fair received wide coverage in the mainstream media, but there are some things they didn't tell you. Other changes to Minnesota's liquor laws will benefit everyone from small brewers to the University of Minneosta. However some key reforms are still needed.

Perhaps the most significant provision for beer enthusiasts is a change allowing brewpubs and small breweries to sell 750ml bottles of their brews....

To read more about law changes in an article I wrote, check out issue two of Twin Cities Imbiber magazine, available on-line now and on newsstands soon!

Oktober is...

Autumn has certainly arrived in Minnesota. Evening temps are in the 40s and 50s, sunlight is disappearing, and Oktoberfest beers are filling the shelves. I'm biased towards ales year-round, but I like to sample the local Oktoberfest lagers every year, among them Summit, Schells and Surly. Both Summit and Schells offer up good examples of what an Oktoberfest should taste like, and this year is no exception. Summit did an especially solid job, and I may just pick up a 6er of it. On to Surly.

By far one of my favorite breweries these day, Surly never disappoints. SurlyFest is deeeee-licious. Imagine a typical Oktoberfest, but loaded up with hops. Not to mention their cans are beautiful. I wish all their beers were available year round.

Well the poll results are in for what people want to see at Capitol Brewhaha: 8 voted for more beer, 8 for more about my life, 2 for more politics and 1 for more of the same. I remember from my college stats class that N has to equal at least 30 for any poll to be valid, and since N=19 here, I will ignore the findings and write about what ever I want.

Cheers!

This one's for you Mom

Dylan my 4-almost-5 year old son started school last week. The first day was tough--he almost fell asleep in my arms walking the 2 blocks back to our house from the busstop. But now he looks forward to it everyday.

Not my life

My mom's been giving me some flack in the comments over at Jane's blog, apparently because I don't post enough about my family and my life. True 'dat. I succumbed very early on to the inherant self-centered, egotistical nature of blogs, going so far as to only write about the things I want to write about, and if my family, friends and really anyone at all wants to read about it (or not) than so be it. I like writing about beer right now, have had my beer musings published a couple times (there goes that ego thing again) and so that's what I'm going to write about. Love ya mom, but you'll have to head over Jane's way to read about someone's personal life (which is a good one to read about!).

But being that I am a caring person, take my new poll to your right and maybe I'll alter my posts. Or maybe not.

Homebrew Update
I came home from France to a wealth of beer at my doorstep. Ready for the drinking is an extra pale ale, a hopped up amber and a Fat Tire clone. All are drinkable, but the EPA is luscious. Well balanced but still giving a nice hop punch. Tony and I bottled our barley wine and Belgian Dubble this week, and dry hopped the double IPA, all of which can be opened around Christmas. A winter and German Alt are on the deck for brewing soon.

La Fin

We wrapped up our trip with three days in Avignon, best known for the Palais de Papes, occupied by the pope when Avignon was in Roman hands during the 12th century. Avignon is also the capitol of the Cotes du Rhone region de vin, home of some of my favorite wines, consisting of syrah and grenache grapes, and sometimes other varieties like mouvedre or carignon.

We had a nice one at a wonderful restaurant one night with a four course meal. I had hazelnut rabbit pate with carmelized onions followed by pork cutlets in a mango sauce, followed by fresh cow cheese and completed with a flourless chocolate cake drizzled with a coffee cocoa reduction. All for only 25 euros. Remind me why I live in the US?

Right now we're on our way to Paris, where we have a 15 hour journey--9 of which wll be in the air--ahead of us. The kids have been great, aside from their to-be-expected unpleasantness at being woken up at 6am this morning.

See you soon!