Well Now, That's a New One

Kris and I hit the 2nd Annual IPA Brewer's Fest at Blitz on Saturday, mainly because it was a beer event.  I mean, what's not to like about an event featuring 13 IPAs...aside from the raging heartburn afterwards, that is?  We're generally not drawn towards live-music events and, while we both enjoy BBQ, beer trumps all.  And if we're at an event featuring beer, live music and BBQ, the live music almost always ends up being the least enjoyable part of it.  It isn't that we may not like the music, bur rather the live music is usually too loud to enjoy and prevents any other conversation.  If the music were fantastic, we're more forgiving of the volume.  But on Saturday, I think the music trumped the beer and BBQ.

I gotta admit, I never thought that someone banging away on a typewriter would be considered enjoyable music.  If fact, if you asked me if I wanted to see a band featuring a typewriter as a percussion instrument, I probably would have declined unless it were the Blue Man Group or something similar.  After Saturday, however, I'm of a different mind.  The second show of the day was Sneakin' Out.  It's a small, three-man band that played covers and medley's of songs with an unusual set of instruments, including a typewriter, a mandolin (I guess) and an acoustic bass.  The music was lively and, in most cases, very familiar to most of the crowd.  It was interesting to have an arrangement of ABBA and Black Sabbath mixed together and played in a frenetic, but interesting fashion.

Kris and I will certainly go out of our way to catch more shows.  If you get a chance, I recommend checking out this unique act.

But Wait! There's More!

Yesterday I was a bit negative in the thoughts shared about the Oregon Brewers Festival.  Some of that negativity is my own damn fault.  What should I expect when I move out to Portland and away from drinking the beer I love with the people I love?  Of course OBF isn't going to stack up.  And then to do a direct comparison, and a negative one at that, is disingenuous at best.  I think my comparisons were pretty spot on, but I focused on the negativity.  My apologies.  Time to make amends.  Here are some additional thoughts.

Great Music
I really enjoyed the live music we heard yesterday and Friday.  On Friday, there was a interesting "trance/psychedelic" (I guess) band called Ruins of Ooah that consisted of nothing really more than a harmonica, drums, a didgeridoo and vocals.  Their music was creative, enjoyable and pretty original.  On Saturday we got to enjoy a bit of techno from a DJ as well as some fellow playing steel drums.  And you know what, it all fit the fest.  And it wasn't so damn loud that you couldn't chat with the folks around you.  I still think bagpipes would be a nice addition, though.

Beers - Not a Bad One in the Bunch IMO
I thought it was interesting that I didn't drink one beer, either day, that I didn't enjoy to some degree.  There were one or two that I maybe wouldn't purchase given other options, but I'd be happy to drink them again.  There weren't any beers I hated or decided to dump, and I pretty much tried as many different ones as I could (okay, except for the gruit).  There was a wide range of beers from sours to RIS to blueberry wheat to gruit...oh yeah, and IPAs.  Kris and I were excited to have our first nano-brewed beer as well (yeah, I know, no big deal, but it's the concept, you know).  Additionally, getting a 4 oz sample (a very strict pour) gives you a chance to really sample a beer.  One of the nice things about this event is that if you especially like a beer, they're willing to give you a full pour (about 14 oz typically, versus the 4 oz sample).  And, as I've learned, the purpose is to promote as many brewers as possible, not labels, thus the one-beer-per-brewery requirement.  I can respect that.

The Style
Saturday's was a markedly different crowd than Friday's and the beer shirts came out in force, thank god.  I also saw more Wolverine-style sideburns than anywhere else, at any time in my life.  Gotta love that.  We also, finally, saw the folks sportin' the wild and crazy stuff, like the guy with the watermelon hat, vest, pants, etc., the goofy beer hats and goggles, and so on.  Oh yeah, there was lots of cleavage too.

The Intangibles

• This event had tons of port-a-potties ("Honey Buckets").  I never had to wait.  And the damn things were clean and smelled good.  Huzzah!
• They had free rain.  Yeah, that doesn't sound like it should be a big deal in Portland, but it was kinda nice.  It was a huge, metal misting contraption that you see in hot, dry areas.  It was very enjoyable strolling through it on a day whose temperatures exceeded 90 degrees.
• There were several food options inside the gates, but as this is Portland, there were probably 40+ food  stands within 2 or 3 blocks of the event grounds.
• There certainly was a bit of diversity here.  And I'm not just talking ethnic, although there was more ethnic diversity here than at any other beer fest I've been at.  There were folks from all other the country and all over the world.  The 55+ crowd was also very well represented.  And, there was a wide range of douches, ass-hats, hipsters, wankers, buttheads, and so on.
• Where else you gonna see a 6'5" sweaty turtle???

Thinkies on Oregon Brewers Fest

Yesterday was an exciting day as Kris and I hit our first beer fest, Oregon Brewers Festival ("OBF"), since moving to Portland. The fest has a good reputation and given that this IS Portland after all, our expectations were very high. Of course, being who we are, we couldn't simply enjoy the fest for what it was. Noooooo. We had to go and immediately compare every detail to some of our favorite fests like Great Taste of the Midwest and Autumn Brew Review. I assumed OBF would stack up well or even surpass these other fests. I was wrong. Here's why:

Sense of Excitement
OBF is a four day event and you don't need to buy tickets ahead of time.  That means, if you want to go to the fest, you can get in.  But wait!  Why's that a bad thing, you ask?  It's not, I guess.  But instead of having a fest filled with die-hard beer fans who are very excited to be there, you get a mixed crowd of families, casual drinkers, fanatics, etc.  Again, that's not a bad thing, but it detracts from the overall mood of the crowd (e.g. enthusiasm).  There was no countdown nor ragged cheer when the gates open.  Some people don't like how some fests can turn out to be exclusive events, but if you're fortunate to get a ticket, I think this makes the fest all the sweeter.  Yeah, there's a flip side to this that sucks.  But there's no denying a sense of excitement when you hold the hard-to-get-ticket.  But, this is made up, in part, with enthusiastic, random yelling (see below).

Beer Shirts
What?  Yeah, I said it.  Beer shirts.  Kris and I saw very few folks wearing beer shirts, hats, etc.  I mean, what's a beer fest without folks supporting their home team or favorite pub or whatever.  Based on the crowd, this could have been any kind of outdoor event.  I like seeing the beer geek crowd all decked out.  Hell, it's like going to Comic-Con and not seeing Storm Troopers or Spidey running around.  A certain important element is missing from the ambiance.  Also, and this is weird, as I was wearing a Surly work shirt (a very common thing to wear at GTotM or ABR), I got asked about five times about Surly beer, as though I was the brewer.  "What did you bring to the fest?"  "How long have you guys been around."  What the hell?!  I didn't ask the short white dude wearing a Pryzbilla jersey if he liked playing for the Blazers.  Goofy as hell, man.

No Food
No food could be brought into the fest.  Now, normally this doesn't really bother me much, although I think it's a bad idea.  But this means that all the creative pretzel and sausage necklaces had to be left at home.  I mean, what's a beer fest without pretzel necklaces???  And I didn't get a chance to eat any too-warm meat and cheese.  Thankfully, we did see a few guys who snuck in pretzel necklaces.

Volunteer Servers
All the beer was served by volunteers.  Many of these volunteers were quasi-knowledgeable about beer, but given that any Joe off the street could sign up to be a volunteer, many of them were clueless.  It doesn't help that most of them were serving beer about which they probably knew nothing.  So, there were no opportunities to chat with anyone who knew anything about a particular beer, brewery, etc.  You could get a tasty beer, but you certainly couldn't learning anything else about the beer/brewery.  But I can live this.  What I find unconscionable is the servers leaving full and partially filled pitchers of beer sitting in the hot sun when there was shade available.  Christ, if you gave a damn at all about beer, you wouldn't do that.

No Beer Stands
Beer at OBF was stored in large semi trailers and pushed through coolers into pitchers from whence they were poured into ones cup.  Tables were lined up, end to end, with the crowd on one side and the serving volunteers on the other.  Now, this is an efficient way of doing things and pretty common.  But it really lacks character.  I like when breweries get to set up their own little stands or personalize their spaces.  It tells you something about them and adds to the overall experience for attendees.

One Beer Per Brewery
Aside from special offerings in a buzz tent, each brewery/brewpub had one beer on tap at the fest.  There was no chance to explore several offerings from a place you'd never heard of or had the chance to visit, thus giving you a chance to evaluate the spectrum of their offerings and setting your overall level of interest in their beer.  Instead, you get a limited picture and run the risk of basing your opinion on a brewery/brewpub based solely on the merits of one beer.  Summit and Surly were both at this event.  Summit had their Horizon Red and Surly had Bitter Brewer.  Well, okay, Surly had Four in the buzz tent as well, but the damn yokels running the fest had the wrong beer hooked up for several hours, thus giving folks the wrong beer.  We learned this when someone told me, because I was wearing a Surly shirt, that my Russian Imperial Stout (at least he was in the right ballpark) was way too pale and underflavored.  *sigh*  But I digress.  If you were to base your opinion of Summit and Surly based on your sample of Horizon or Bitter, you'd really have missed the mark with respect to what these breweries are really doing with their beer.

Random Yelling
If you've been to a beer fest in MN, then you know that when you hear the roar of the crowd roll from one end of the grounds through the other or roll out in ripples from some central point, some pour sucker has dropped his/her beer glass and broken it.  You immediately get a warm glow from 1) not being that pour sucker and 2) being part of a superior majority of drinkers able to hold on their glasses.  OBF had a similar rolling-wave of yelling, but given that the tasting cups were plastic and the event was held on a grassy area, I'm not sure what caused the yelling.  Was it simply someone dropping a beer?  I made numerous inquiries but was disappointed by the blank-stare, shrugged-shoulder responses I got.  I was happy to hear the random roar of the crowd, but disappointed that I couldn't confirm why.  That didn't stop Kris and I from enthusiastically joining in the random yelling, though.

No Bagpipes
I know there are many haters of bagpipes.  But I, for one, like a little bagpipe at my beer fest.  'nough said.

In Retrospect
I look back at what I've just written and can't help but feel that I've been too negative.  At the end of the day, OBF was a reasonably well-run, affordable, accessible, comfortable beer fest.  It was a good time and I drank quite a few tasty beers.  But it lacked the overall level of excitement and beer-dork ambiance that I'm used to having at premier beer fests.  Given the abundance of beer fests in Portland, I'm hopeful that we'll find some that provide the atmosphere we're looking for.  But as long as we've got good beer to drink, I think we'll be okay.

Tonight, a Three Way

A three way battle that is. After the fun we had with last week’s head to head battle of the coffee beers, this week we raided the beer fridge for IPAs.

The contenders tonight were Central Waters Glacial Trail IPA from our neighbor to the east, Wisconsin, Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA out of Ohio and Stone’s simply named, IPA, making the trip from California.

Pouring the beers, Stone had the best head with full, small bubbles that stuck around. All to start with were difficult to coax a decent aroma out of but improved, as expected, as they warmed.

Central Waters took the cake for a very nice mouthfeel, that while not typical of an IPA, made for a very easy drinker. The up front taste was caramely sweet with a full tongue bitterness. Apparently they’re somewhat secret over there in Amherst, WI, keeping both the ABV and the IBUs a secret.

Commodore Perry, a two time Gold Medal winner at the World Beer Championships, was very drinkable with a bitterness that was milder than one would expect from an IPA. A multidimensional beer, it does come into its own as it warms, with a brown sugar sweetness to balance out the 80 IBUs and 7.5% ABV.

Stone, “brewed with the good stuff” according to the bottle cap, was the most bitter on the tongue with a sharp hop aroma that comes out as it warms. Similar in IBUs and ABV (77 and 6.9% respectively) to Commodore Perry, this was the one with the most hops jumping out.

So what was the verdict, you ask. For me Central Waters was a bit too touchy-feely and Commodore Perry a little more sugary than I want in an IPA. I prefer to be roughed up a little bit when I’ve got an IPA in my hands and Stone delivered. Although this was a much more difficult tasting than with the coffee beers from last week, Mag agreed that Stone took top honors.

Coffee and Beer

I love coffee. I really love coffee in my beer. And these days it seems like I have more choices than ever for coffee beers.

Not long ago most coffee beers were stouts or porters. These were big, thick beers suited for cold weather drinking and they were delicious. Now, though brewers seem to be branching out, experimenting by pairing coffee with other styles of beers, many of which are well suited for warmer weather.

One of the locals, Furthermore’s Oscura, has just come back on the shelves and it prompted me to do a mini head to head taste testing of some of the readily available bottled or canned coffee beers.

Mag and I sat down tonight with Oscura, Surly’s Coffee Bender, Flat Earth’s Black Helicopter and out of Portland, Maine, Peak Organic Espresso Amber. On any given day I’d be happy to drink any of these but having not had any of them in the same sitting, it was time to taste test them against one another to really tease out what characteristics of each spoke to me.
Both Coffee Bender (5.1% ABV) and Black Helicopter (5.2% ABV) were light on the tongue, finishing clean, with Black Helicopter having a bit more bitterness and smelling the most like a beer.

Espresso Amber (6.8% ABV) and Oscura (5.3% ABV) were surprisingly similar in light amber color with Espresso Amber having the strongest coffee aroma, like a cold espresso. They were more full bodied than Bender and Heli with Oscura taking the cake with its silky smooth mouthfeel, the result of the flaked maize.

From oatmeal brown to stout to amber to Mexican brown, these are all wonderfully made, easy drinking coffee beers. Tonight, however the Sconie beat out its Minnesota and East Coast competition.

Planned to get Surly, got Rode instead

Last night we headed over to Stub & Herb’s for their Surly night, featuring 8 Surly brews on tap. We weren’t sure exactly what time things were to begin (Mag thought he’d read 8 pm somewhere) but since we needed dinner anyway we went early.

Sure enough, when we got there the chalkboard proclaimed the festivities would start at 8. In the meantime they did have some Surlys on tap, just not all of them, but I wanted to see what else was available, thinking I’d wait until 8 for some Surly.

I could hardly believe my eyes when the third beer on the menu was Flat Earth’s Rode Haring. Trying not to get too excited just yet I ordered one, half figuring the menu was old and I’d be told they didn’t have it. The bartender hesitated upon hearing my order, thinking they didn’t have it. Taking a sample off the tap, he found they did indeed have it!! Apparently they had pulled it off a while ago so they could put Extra Medium on and now that that had been drained, the Rode Haring was back.

With this beer being virtually nonexistent (at least until 2010) I was in heaven and enjoyed every pint of it I had. Oh, and the Coffee Bender, served in the appropriate Surly coffee mug, was pretty darn tasty, too.

P.S. Thanks to the meter reader who took the time to read the note I had put on my dash, look at the meter and then leave me a note saying she had reported the dead meter to the shop.

Officially back in the States

Our vacation to Toronto is officially over, as evidenced by the two of us showing up at our respective places of employment this morning. However this was preceded by a fine day of lying around the house, doing little if anything productive, yesterday.

You’ve heard Mag’s take on the trip (or at least the first part of it), so now it’s my turn. I have to echo his comments on how nice the Canadians are. Maybe it’s just the Toronto-ites, but I felt almost too much of a b&%*# even to be visiting. There’s probably a niceness test potential transplants have to take to be let in and I’m pretty sure I’d fail it. Still it was nice to see more people being helpful than I’m used to at home.

But enough of the nice and on to the beer. I’d have to give the Beer I Was Most Surprised I Enjoyed So Much award to Amsterdam’s Natural Blond Lager. Now before you go thinking I’ve lost my mind let me say that none of the lagers I tasted in Toronto had the nasty lager aftertaste and smell I’ve become accustomed to here. And for the blond part, for once it didn’t mean tasteless. This beer actually had quite a bit of flavor and good flavor.

The next award also has to go to Amsterdam, for the Beer I Most Regretted the Airline Nazis Prevented Me From Bringing Home. This would be for their Framboise, delicious raspberry nectar that I know our friends would have loved to have been able to try. It was sweet, but not overly so and at only 6.5% it’s not going to knock you over too quickly.

My final award, for Most Balanced Yet Flavorful Beer, goes to Great Lakes Brewing for their Peach & Pepper beer. Unfortunately for the general consumer, this has not yet made it to their line up. They only made 1 cask of it, especially for Volo’s Cask Beer Days. I didn’t know that at the time as Cask Days was before we visited Great Lakes but I was even happier upon hearing it that I had taken my opportunity when it came along. This beer, brewed with home grown peaches and jalapeno peppers, it exactly what it says it is and completely balanced. The peaches hit you first, followed by a hot, but not inferno hot, shot of jalapeno pepper.

There was plenty more to the trip than just the above so if you’re interested in hearing more, just ask next time we’re out drinking together. And if you’re considering a trip to Toronto yourself, do it!

Yay for Beer!

The 2008 Great Taste of the Midwest was a great taste indeed.

We (we being me, Kris, Scott and Kat) started the weekend off on Friday with lunch and beers at Ale Asylum. That was our second time there. If you're in the area, you must stop in. All the beers were excellent and the place has a great atmosphere. Dave and Sharon caught up with us there and the six of us bummed around the rest of the evening together. We also made some new friends in the chatty, beer-enthusiast crowd. That seems to a be a common theme at beer bars and beer events.

Our next stop was a newer joint in town, The Malt House, that opened in June. A fellow named Bill Rogers, former president of the Madison Hombrewers and Tasters Guild (as I'm told), owns the joint. It's a humble beer bar with a pretty good selection of beer. They had a nice variety of beer, including two from Stone Brewing. It's a little bit off the beaten path (i.e. it isn't downtown) but a worthy destination.

We ended Friday night, unfortunately, at Capital (which was in walking distance of our hotel). They had live music and a festive crowd, but it wasn't much of a beer lover's event. They shut things down at 9 P.M., which I guess was okay since we weren't having much of a good time there anyway. One highlight was that Scott and I bumped into a fellow beer loving Minnesotan, Jason (I believe, anyway. I'm bad enough with names as it is, but put a few beers in me and I can't remember my own.). He was wearing a Surly shirt, which drew our attention. Like I said before, it wouldn't be a worthy beer event if we didn't make new friends.

The weather on Saturday ended up being perfect for the Great Taste. It was sunny and warm with a nice cooling breeze. And yet there was a dearth of scantily clad, buxom women. That was the only downside. Many buxom men, but too few buxom men. *sigh* We met up with Cal and Al of Blue Nile fame in line. As usual, the folks running the Great Taste were extremely organized and put on a very well run event.

The group didn't hang together inside as everyone ran off to all corners to chase their favorites or try new stuff. We bumped into one another from time to time...just enough to share recommendations and highlights. I had absolutely no plan this year and simply wandered around trying random stuff. For me the highlights were Gray's bourbon barrel aged stout and Ohio Brewing's dopple alt. That's not to say I didn't have a lot of other great beers, but those two stood out as being especially good and from breweries to which I had not had much, if any, previous exposure. I had a chance to chat a bit with Omar of Surly and Jeff of Flat Earth as well, but mainly I sought out beers we can't get in Minnesota. Scott and I bumped into Jason again and I spent much of the afternoon chatting w/ some fellows from Michigan. And, as usual, the evening ended pretty early for Kris and I. All that sun and beer is good for the soul but tough on the body.

Good Day for Beer - Bad Day for my Nipples

Yesterday's Brewers Bazaar was...well, interesting. It wasn't your typical beer tasting kind of event in that we didn't see very many familiar faces and the crowd was mostly a non-craft beer kind of crowd with pockets of beer folks. It was fun, nonetheless. And the breweries and brewpubs were well represented. Kris and I had previously had opportunities to meet and chat with Jeff Williamson of Flat Earth and Bob DuVernois of Great Waters, but yesterday we got to meet and spend some time chatting with Dave Berg of August Schell, a couple of the guys from the new Lift Bridge brewery in Stillwater, and Trevor Brau of Brau Brothers. Hell, even Mark Stutrud, founder of Summit, was there serving beer and chatting up the attendees. The guys from Fitger's (Brian and Bob, I think) were familiar faces and I think they work at the brewery, but I didn't ask in what capacity. I will, yet again, re-declare that most of the folks that I meet at these beer events, including the brewers and their reps are damn nice folks.

Now, let's talk about my nipples. I know you want to. When we were in Portland several weeks ago, I'd picked up a cool Rogue shirt (kind of a Hawaiian shirt). I washed it before wearing it, but didn't wear a shirt underneath it. The material was a bit rough and I'll be damned if it didn't start wearing my nipples raw. God that hurts. So, early on I was forced with a bit of a Sophie's Choice. I could soldier on with my beer drinking, leaving my nipples to the ravages of Satan's threads or I could swallow my pride and find some bandaids or tape to protect my nipples. Turns out I don't really have any pride to salvage, so I begged for some tape from the fest workers. At the end of the day, I decided I'd rather go through the excruciating pain of ripping packing tape off my sensitive and hairy nipples versus the excruciating pain of tearing my dried-blood soaked shirt away from the ragged stumps of what were once my nipples.

Firkin Fest - Well Worth the Hangover

Well, from my perspective, the Happy Gnome's Firkin Fest was a success. And I think Kris, Kat, and Scott would agree. I didn't mind, at all, that it appeared Firkin Fest was an afterthought from the St. Patty's celebration the day before. I mean, they already had the tent up and porta-potties primed. The crowd was pretty small and well mannered. For $20, I got more to drink than I really needed on a Sunday...or any day for that matter. And Kris and I got to see many friends. $20 got you 16 tickets (1 4 oz. pour per ticket) plus an additional ticket you could use to get a sample of Surly 2. Of course, I don't think anyone actually paid attention to whether or not you gave a ticket per drink. Kris' favorite beer and the one I thought was most interesting was Summit's Oatmeal Stout made with Belgian brettanomyces (yeast). The yeast gave the beer a distinctive, and not unpleasant, cheese smell. The flavor was pretty interesting as well. Of course, I'm not sure if it was supposed to smell like cheese, but then again, I'M not supposed to smell like cheese, but who cares? I was happy to hear that many of our beer friends at Firkin Fest are also going to be at Gitchee Gumee.

Of course, we couldn't just stop at Firkin Fest. We decided to head up to Barley John's after Firkin Fest to take part in their anniversary celebration. They had a nice fire going to take the chill off the March Sunday and, of course, I stood too close to it. There was a nice crowd there and we saw many faces from Firkin Fest. And we continued to drink. Oh boy.

Needless to say, my headache is finally gone but the heart-burn still rages. Good times...good times.

Random Sunday Thoughts

Despite my last post about an affinity to drink on Sundays, Kris and I decided not to go out for a few beers and dinner tonight...at least as of 5:22 P.M. The self-control we sometimes exhibit is amazing. We did have a chance to grab a few beers at the Longfellow Grill and the Muddy Pig last night. I enjoy the Muddy Pig more and more each time we go. The only downer is that it can get a bit chilly. The top notch beer selection makes up for it, though. I had a chance to try Ommegang's Chocolate Indulgence. It was decent. I think I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have only because I'd just been drinking something else and only had a sip of the Ommegang. The Surly Smoke was much more enjoyable. I also enjoyed watching our Miller Lite drinking friend make faces after tasting our beers, especially the Bubblejack.

In a breach of tradition, Kris and I made a decision not to buy tickets to Winterfest this year. The first couple of years that we went when it was in the Hamm's building and then the St. Paul College Club were really enjoyable. We met a lot of great people and enjoyed the beer and atmosphere. Neither one of us enjoyed the Landmark's atmosphere. I know it's about the beer and all that, but the Landmark was just a bit of a buzz-kill. Or maybe it was the vibe we got from the crowd. The high price coupled with these other things just made us want to take a year off. Too bad. I think we'll drop our $90 in an environment we enjoy more.

Post-Script
At 6:02 P.M. a call to drink beer came in. So much for self-control. Bottom's up!

Tyranena happenings this week

I thought about bending the rules a bit on MN Beer and posting these two tidbits of information that came from Tyranena via their newsletter today but figured all the cool people check this blog regularly anyway. So if you're not planning to find a place to watch the Pack and the Cowboys Thursday night or will be in Edina Friday evening you can find Tyranena at these places.

November 29, 2007 - Beer Dinner at Rascal's in Apple Valley, MN beginning at 6 pm. Located at 7721 147th Street West, Apple Valley, MN - 952-431-7777.

November 30, 2007 - Tasting at France 44 in Edina, MN, from 4 to 7 pm. Located at 4351 France Avenue South, Edina, MN - 612-925-3252.

Autumn Brew Review Review...um...

Extreme shame has prevented me from posting my pointless blather about how much fun I had at the Autumn Brew Review, or how much beer I drank, or where I peed, or the stupid things I said, or...well, you get the point. I was "one of those people" this year. Yeah, "one of those people" that you never see at beer events and you certainly don't know "one of those people" or at least you'd never admit it. I was "one of those people" that you don't see, but whom you certainly hear about. You know what I mean...when the loud, peaceful murmur of the pickled crowd is disrupted by the distinctive *skish* of a sampling glass being negligently shattered. Yeah, I broke my glass.

It wasn't as though I was stumbling through the crowd fighting for a special release or arrogantly waving my glass while telling some story about how the beer I tasted was sooo much better than the swill you drank or even awkwardly flirting with some beer wench. No, I was quietly off on the edge of the tasting grounds rinsing my glass out with water and getting a sip. I'll bet I dropped the damn thing from about a foot off the ground. Twelving f'ing inches and the sumbitch shatters. One goddamn foot and the sound was loud enough to carry farther than I can throw a beer can. Christ, what a loser. I should have gone down in more style.

And you'd think one would get a little sympathy for one's loss. Nope. I think 3/4 of the pourers I visited after that had some smart-ass comment to make (as they had every right to do) about my little plastic cup replacement. And then to top off the shame of the afternoon, I got mocked and ridiculed by some folks representing a brew-pub that shall remain nameless for wearing a Surly hat. THAT'S why I almost never fly anyone's colors at beer events. I don't want assumptions about my loyalty to be made.

All in all I had a great time! Losing a little pride isn't so bad when it happens among friends and all around good drunks.

Anticipating ABR

For better or worse, wetter or drier Mag and I are heading over to the Autumn Brew Review today. Hopefully it won't be a wash out like the City Pages beer fest was earlier this year however I've planned better this time in case we do get drenched. It'll be interesting to see how the new venue works out, especially in terms of how crowded it will feel. I was pleased to see the Craft Brewers decided to limit the number of tickets sold and even more please to see earlier this week it had sold out. This is the best festival within a two hour drive of the metro and I can't wait for it to begin!

Winterfest Date Set

Things haven't been feeling too wintery lately but with all the recent rain fall is feeling closer. That being said it looks like the folks over at the Minnesota Craft Brewer's Guild have set a date for 2008 Winterfest. At this point there doesn't appear to be a location set nor a date when tickets go on sale although I feel fairly certain it will be December 1 at noon. In the meantime, mark your calendars for Friday, Feburary 8, 2008!

Chicago...the Gassy...er, Windy City

The McGerik's, Kris, and I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Chicagoland to attend a Tiki event, Exotica, and sample as many beers as our livers would allow at the area's many fine breweries and brewpubs. In five days we hit 9 breweries/brewpubs and three different beer bars. Now, considering two of the five days were spent driving to and from Chicago, that's not a bad count. The breweries we hit, in order, were Emmett's Ale House (West Dundee), Piece (Chicago), Taylor Brewing (Lombard), Two Brother's (Warrenville), Lunar (Villa Park), Goose Island (Chicago - Clybourn location), Mickey Finn's Brewery (Libertyville), Flatlanders (Lincolnshire), and Moosejaw (Wisconsin Dells, WI). The beer bars we hit, which were highly recommended to us by "those in the know" were The Map Room (Chicago), Clark Street Ale House (Chicago), and Firkins (Libertyville). Highlights and lowlights of each:

• Emmett's Ale House: All-around great place for a beer and a meal. Friendly staff and nice joint. The brewmaster, I think his name was Ryan, actually did some of his novice work at Town Hall. We also hit Emmett's in Downer's Grove, but I recommend going to the West Dundee location as I think it was the first.
• Piece: The service was a little slow (I guess the place WAS hopping) and the beer was very flavorful and pretty good. I didn't find any session beers, though, and they were out of some of the beers I thought I'd enjoy most. The 'za was pretty damn good too. Worth the visit.
• Taylor Brewing: Meh. They charged $10 for a f%#king pint class and seemed their brewing focus seemed designed to please your Miller crowd. Overall, if you're driving by, hungry and thirsty, and you happen to be driving down the right side of the street...well, you decide for yourself.
• Two Brothers: This was a brewery in a light industrial building. We couldn't get a tour and they didn't do any tastings. By and large, they seemed put out by our visit. They sent us to a local bar, John's (great place, by the way), to taste some of their beers. We all enjoyed most of the Two Brothers that we had at John's and other places. They definitely do a great job making interesting and tasty beers. That being said, unless you need a souveniour, don't bother stopping in. Find a nice bar to knuckle-down at.
• Lunar Brewing: This may have been the highlight of the trip. The place probably falls into the dive bar category, which adds to the allure. The bartender was very friendly and helpful and there wasn't one beer there that we didn't enjoy. Lunar is worth going out of your way to visit.
• Goose Island: I had my expectations set low and I was proved very wrong. We visited the brewpub on Clybourn. All in all, great beers, great food, friendly staff, and nice atmosphere. Unfortunately, this was the last place we hit on 7/5, so we were a bit beered out and didn't sample the full offering, but we had enough... A must see.
• Mickey Finn's: When we first got here, we let out a collective groan due to the service, but our server ended up doing a fine job and we were surprised by the quality of the beer and food. Worth visiting.
• Flatlanders: We got a tour of the brewpub from Art, the friendly brewmaster who went out of his way to make us feel welcome. Flatlanders was surprisingly large and looked to be a newer establishment. Art does a pretty good job with the beer and had a well-rounded selection (from grand cru to dunkel to stout).
• Moosejaw: We decided to hit Moosejaw on our way back from Chi-town although we were all a bit leery given that it's located smack-dab in the heart of breeder country in Wisconsin Dells. Needless to say, we set our expectations low. We were wrong. They carried a large and varied selection of beers, most of which were pretty damn good. We also learned that the brewmaster is a woman. This is the first place we've been to where the brewmaster was female. We were also informed that this is the only such brewery/brewpub in WI where this is the case. Right on. Well worth the stop.

As an aside, The Map Room, Clark Street Ale House, and Firkin are all great beer bars, both in terms of selection/quality and atmosphere and worth checking out, although Firkin is the only place with a menu.

All in all, the trip was a lot of fun. Kris and I got our first taste of Tiki. I was happy to find that the Tiki crowd is just as geeky and friendly as the beer crowd with which I'm already familiar. Good folk. Anywho...this is too much already.

Oh happy day!!!!

I’ve been waiting for so long for this wonderful day to arrive and it’s finally here! Today my tickets for the Great Taste of the Midwest arrived! For the last couple of weeks I’ve been eagerly checking the mail box every day hoping to find tickets. I knew they should be coming since my check was cashed but I was starting to get a little concerned that someone had hijacked the mailman and taken them. But upon rifling quickly through the rest of the junk that was delivered today I spied the bright yellow envelope containing the tickets. Now I can look forward spending August 11th with 5,000 other beer lovers in beautiful Olin-Turville Park enjoying beer after delicious beer. Maybe if the beer gods have shined favorably on you and you are one of the other lucky ticket holders I’ll see you there. With that thought and the weekend just around the corner I think a beer is in order.

Drinkin’ in the rain

All last week I anticipated spending pleasant Saturday evening drinking outside at the City Pages Beer Fest in Uptown. Saturday dawned with the weather forecasters predicting a chance of rain but saying most, if not all of it, would be North and East of the Twin Cities. Foolishly we trusted them, although as we were driving towards Uptown the skies to the East began looking quite ominous. At that point there wasn’t much to be done so we kept our fingers crossed that any rain would be light and short lived. We couldn’t have been more wrong! Standing in the very slow moving line, waiting to get in, it started raining. At first it wasn’t coming down too hard but after making it in and getting the first few beers down it began to come down in earnest. Still we were hopeful, and thirsty, so we started making the rounds.

Much to my disappointment Town Hall, Great Waters and Barley John’s were nowhere to be found. Local turnout consisted of Summit, Herkimer, McCoy’s, Finnegans, Flat Earth and Surly. I have to admit that of those, Surly was the only one I visited and could be found there enjoying glass after glass of Furious, progressively getting wetter and wetter.

After about 2 hours of being soaked to the bone and there appearing to be no end in sight to the rain, we decided it was time to warm up and get some grub. We downed our last samples, dumped the plastic glasses and headed down the block to Passage to India. The first good sign upon walking in was that they did not have the air conditioning on and the second was that they didn’t appear to bat an eye at the four drowned rats asking for a table. Much to my relief, the chairs were not upholstered in fabric. We sloshed down into our chairs and took our first steps to warming up by ordering some hot tea. With some tea in our tummies and my fingers starting to return to a healthier color, it was on to a fantastic dinner. Each of us ordered one of their meals that included appetizer, main course and dessert. My beef curry was amazing and the reviews on the tandori chicken and vegetarian dishes were equally complimentary. With full bellies and lots of leftovers to be enjoyed later on we hurried to our car where the heat was cranked up for the entire ride home.

I can’t say the outing was a complete bust since there was some good beer to be had and a great dinner afterward but it wasn’t the most pleasant experience either. The rain and our lack of rain gear, prompted by our misguided faith in the weathermen, certainly made a significant contribution to the misery. But beyond that the quality of the beers and breweries still leaves much to be desired. I don’t know if the organizers aren’t asking certain places to participate or if those breweries are deciding not to waste their time and brews on this festival but of the 27 places listed on the Brew Card, 6 were distributors (Alcorn Beverage, Capitol Beverage, Crown Imports, Green Mountain Beverage, MGM and RJM Distributing), 5 were macro breweries (Coors, Heineken, Labatt USA, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Miller) and I have some question as to if Boston Beer Company and Bolder Beer Company were there as opposed to being brought by some distributor.

This is the weakest of the local beer festivals and I’ll have to see when next year rolls around if I’ll be making it to this festival again or not. Maybe I’ll hold off buying tickets in advance and wait to see if it’s going to be another rain event or not as I don’t have any faith the organizers will be making any great effort to bring in better breweries and brews.

What The Firkin Is That?

Well, just got back from the Bell's beer tasting with Kris, Mike, Gene, and Jeff. Phil Platt of the UofM's Campus Club throws a pretty nice party. There was a nice selection of sausages, nasty cheese (or yummy cheese if you like the fancy-schmancy stuff), steaming pretzels, and some mustard that about melted my sinuses. Oh, and did I mention beer. A Bell's rep, Jason, brought six different Bell's for sampling (Oberon, Two Hearted, Pale, Third Coast, Amber, Expedition Stout). The highlight was the firkin (cask) of Two Hearted. I over heard Phil say something like, "We'll have to see if we can get Summit to do this." Well done, Phil! If Gene is willing/able to loop us in to future events, I'd love to stop in for a scotch, porter, or wine tasting as well. Nice venue. Nice event.

Jason did make mention of efforts by local craft brewery and distributor reps. to host a real ale/Belgian beer tasting in the Twin Cities given that Chicago is no longer hosting such an event. I'm not much of a Belgian fan, but I'm sure I could be convinced to fall on this grenade. There isn't any specific time set, but Jason thought they'd shoot for something in the fall.

After the Bell's tasting we stopped by Spill the Wine for a bite to eat. The place was hoppin', the decor was comfortable, and the wait staff was very knowledgeable (at least compared to me) of wines and friendly. I think everyone enjoyed their food and Jeff and I enjoyed our drinks (he, some kind of ginger sour and I had several glasses of wine). Spill the Wine offers several various wine flights (3 samples) that are switched up each week. It's a great way to sample wine. I had a chance to try my second Malbec, which was very enjoyable.

Despite the fact that I'm not even buzzed and cannot justify 2 A.M. 'za, I had a good time. Maybe I should try this whole "moderation" thing more frequently? Yeah, and then I'll make my run at Broadway and buy some new clothes...pshaw!

Arborfest & The Pedal Pub

Friday, May 4th was our first visit to Arborfest at the campus of Macalester. The organizers did a great job putting together a classy and fun event. I especially liked the condom trees flanking the entrance. One would have thought that a night of drinking would have ultimately led to me absconding with a pocket full of condoms for future use in some sophomoric prank, but I think our end-of-night plan to grab chow at Mickey's Diner in downtown St. Paul probably had priority in my one-track mind. The event is a fundraiser for the Family Tree Clinic (http://www.familytreeclinic.org), so the high ticket price ($40) is a bit more palatable. I highly recommend!

We also got a chance to meet Al Boyce who many of you probably have seen at other beer events wearing a pick and black bowling shirt and sporting a pony-tail and beard (all of which I approve of...well, except for the pink part...that's just me). Al was wearing the bowling shirt that night, though, but rather a T-shirt advertising his new venture, The Pedal Pub (http://www.pedalpub.com). If you haven't heard of it, check out their site. I'm getting a bit antsy about gathering a few friends who don't-truly-know-better to go bar hopping. Anywho, check it out.

Finally, as often happens at beer events, we made a few new friends. All in all, not a bad night. The next morning, however...