Roguishly Busy

Well I've been busy working on an article to submit to the Twin Cities Imbiber about recent legislative changes to the State's liquor laws. Whether they publish it or not, it's been a great experience working on my first journalistic piece. First, that is, if you don't consider all the words printed here. Anyway, I learned a ton about said liquor laws, and that our franchise laws, tax and fee system, and commerce laws play as much as of role in preventing more good beer from reaching the masses as do the laws which directly govern beer. Thanks a ton to the folks at Town Hall Brewery for filling me in, and if TCI decides to run my piece it will be in the August/September issue.

I believe I had the most overrated beer ever--besides Fat Tire that is, which just made its return to Minnesota last week. Ok, it wasn't really overrated, just over-priced. (Besides, I couldn't resist getting a shot in at the FT.) Rogue's 10,000 Brew Ale is just that--their 10,000th batch of beer. It's a double IPA, clocking in at about 10% abv and 83 IBUs (bittering units). Sure, the 750ml re-sealable ceramic bottle is a keeper, and the contents were pretty amazing, but at $22 a bottle, I want to be completely blown away. I guess it's a good thing I don't drink high end wine.

At the Happy Gnome a couple weeks ago, I paid a similar price for a beer, but this experience was far different. As some background, every Thursday, the Gnome taps a couple casks of beer. Surly Furious is a regular, but usually they supplement that with something else. Bells makes consistent appearances, recently offering an Expedition Stout. When I went by for a drink it was the Tuesday after tapping it, and they surprisingly had some left. See, the oxygen in the cask begins altering the beer's characteristics, so I was intrigued. The $7 for 10 ounces was meager compared to the Rogue. Bitter chocolate and smooth espresso, brought out by the roughly 10% abv, was numbing. It lasted me a nice long 60 minutes, and was worth every one of 'em.

Homebrew Update

So after two-and-a-half weeks without a post I better have some good homebrew news, right? Actually Jane has the scoop over at her blog. I will add though that I tried the mild today, and it's a lot better than I anticipated. The tastings during each transfer were a bit bland and a little funky, but I think the carbonation really livens it up. Another week and it will be perfect.

Conserve water; drink beer

I'm sick of the 2007 legislative session. This is my 11th session, although my first as a lobbyist, but survey says: this session is looooong. Everyone anticipated a slow start, with so many newly elected legislators needing to get up to speed about not only the issues, but about how a bill becomes a law.

But no, it slammed everyone, and now we're in the last two weeks, when stamina is needed most. Conference committees are wrapping up (or, in the case of the Education Conference Committee, just getting started). I worked almost 70 hours this week, including 25 in the last two days, and there's no sign of letting up until May 21st.

Yuck.

Thankfully I have a wonderful, understanding (sometimes) wife, and kids who still recognize me. Although I took Dylan to May Day today, and he definitely tested my tolerance and patience. Payback I suppose.

The parade, as usual, was inspiring. Paper mache, metal, and plastic bottles conveyed a positive message. Conserve water. Be raise awareness. Don't use bottled water. And, as usual, the sun came out and gave everyone the May Day they deserved.

Late nights in conference committees inevitably leads to closing out the evenings a local watering hole, which usually means the Muddy Pig, the Happy Gnome or Sweeney's .

One such evening landed me and a colleague at the G-nome, where they happened to have a variety of Big Sky brews left over from the beer dinner the night before. I had a version of their IPA, conditioned in bourbon barrels for 10 months. It really took the edge off of the hops--almost too much so. It was still interesting, and unlike any other beer I had had prior.

I wrapped the evening up with Flat Earth Brewing's sophomore release, Element 115, a California Common in the style of Anchor Steam. It's hard to compete with Anchor, but the 115 gives it a good run for it's money. I look forward to more releases from Flat Earth.

I'm sure the next two weeks with bring more late nights and more unique beers at one of St. Paul's top beer bars. It's a very small (molecular-sized) price to pay for missing my family.

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.