A Double Edition of The Best Things We Drank

We were out of town a good chunk of last week getting a little R&R on a family fishing trip in northern Minnesota but now we're back and ready to catch up with a double edition of Best Things. Grab a beverage and settle in!

June 19 - 25
Being back in the Midwest we couldn't help but seek out some old favorites but also took the opportunity to try beer from some of the newer places that have sprung up since we left seven years ago. The former was rewarding, the latter was hit and miss.
Bell's Kalamazoo Stout - Bell's, which has seen some exposure in the Portland market, is extremely skilled when it comes to stouts and this beer is a Bell's classic. Roasty and smooth, this 6% stout is one that can be enjoyed year round.

Summit Saga IPA - Summit is similar to Widmer in that it has been around since the early days of craft beer in its respective state and like Widmer, has its standard lineup but has also managed to remain relevant with new offerings. Saga is newer (in the last five years) and is hoppy enough for NW IPA lovers to enjoy, a profile that comes from the combination of hops, both in the brewing and dry-hopping stages.

Fargo 1.21 Gigahops (2017) - This is the first beer that we've had from Fargo Brewing Company and although a bit sweet, it is appropriately so considering that it's an imperial IPA clocking in at 9.5%. The 12oz can size is just right for enjoying one. Interestingly, the founders and the brewers they hired have been influenced by the Pacific Northwest (give their history a read if you're so inclined).

Rewinding to the week before we headed out to Minnesota, it is a bit interesting to see that our top two beers actually hailed from that state. Those beers were enjoyed when we were invited to join in a bottle share with friends of a friend who were visiting Portland.

June 12 - 18
Lift Bridge Commander Bona Fide Barleywine - We've enjoyed Commander on numerous previous occasions and are proud to call the Lift Bridge guys friends. This, however, was the first time we'd had a "bone fide" version wherein the 12.5% beer is aged in Heaven Hill barrels. So smooth without any trace of heat, this is one to savor with friends.

Indeed Wooden Soul Cherry Dust - Indeed is one of the older of the newer breweries in MN and while we've had some good things from them, we haven't been 100% sold. This sour beer definitely improves our view of them and makes us hope they continue to produce sour beers. At a sessionable 5.4% the wild yeasts, tart cherries and wood aging mingle to produce a beer we'd happily drink a full 22oz bottle all on our own.

The rest of the beers that hit high notes for us that week hailed from Portland and California.

Great Notion Double Dry Hop Hop Dry Double - One of the beers at Eclicptic's Masters of IPA event during PDX Beer Week, we'd heard in advance that this was a good'en. They call it an "imperial session IPA" that is "a verbal assault on your palate." We call it juicy and drinkable. Now only if we had more of it to drink!

Montavilla I-205-PA IPA - Fans of Montavilla in general, on our most recent visit, this was the beer that really spoke to us with the combination of Amarillo, Simcoe and Mosaic hops. As much as other styles try too woo us, the hops always lure us back to IPAs.

Fire on the Mountain Galena Goodnight - We go to Fire on the Mountain for their wings (the best in town we say!) and have been pleased to find that their beer has continued to improve as the brewery has come out of its infancy. Labeled as a CDA the mouthfeel is more like a porter or stout with a deliciously roasty flavor.

Modern Times Oneida - We might sound like a broken record with the consistency that Modern Times has been making the Best Things list but dang it, the hits just keep coming. A complex pale ale, the flavor shares some characteristics with Fortunate Islands, another one we quite like although it is more aggressively bitter, which speaks to our hop-loving taste buds.

Lagunitas Dark Swan (2017) - Found in the sour section of The BeerMongers cooler, this 8.5% sour ale was a steal at $2.90 for a 12oz bottle. Lightly sour, the wine-ish flavor (with gorgeous grape color to back it up) drank more like grape juice. Adult juice box anyone?

Now a few days back in the Portland saddle we're finally feeling caught up from being gone and looking forward to what July, Oregon Beer Month, will bring.

A Return to The Cities - Part II

Saturday was the polar opposite of Friday in terms of the weather and a perfect day to visit another place that had found a new home over the past two years. Again the day started with a hearty breakfast - this time at The Strip Club Meat & Fish - and a little errand running - had to make sure that the Midwest beer that had been purchased would be enjoyed in Portland - we headed to the Eastern edge of Minnesota to check out the new brewery and taproom of Lift Bridge Brewing Company. Lift Bridge pre-dates Fulton by a few years and started out brewing their beers first at Flat Earth in St. Paul, then at Point in Steven's Point, WI. They took some undeserved flack over the latter since the beer was technically being brewed in WI although Lift Bridge is a MN brewery through and through. We'd known the Lift Bridge crew since the early days of the brewery and were excited to see what a place they could finally call their own looked like.

Three of their standard line up were available - Farm Girl, Crosscut and Chestnut Hill - in addition to seasonals Spring Fling, Irish Coffee Stout and a version of Irish Coffee Stout sans the cold press coffee. I'd had their standards too many times to count and enjoyed the Spring Fling the day before at BLB, so the Irish Coffee Stout was the obvious choice. It was also the absolutely delicious choice I had hoped it would be.

After The 4-Pack had acquired beers and chatted with some familiar faces, we moved outside for a few games of "bags" or as some know it, corn hole. The beauty of this game, like many other "drinking" games, is it's one-handedness, leaving the other hand free for a beer. The additional bonus is that unlike bocce or "ladder ball", it does not require the throwing of hard objects. They're just beanbags and although the surprise of being beaned by a bag might cause you to spill your beer or drop your glass, there's a very slim chance it'll result in a beer drinking break to the ER.

Before leaving we wandered inside the brewery to check it out. A standard set up, their biggest challenge at this point is getting more equipment in to meet the needs of thirsty Minnesotans and Wisconsinites. They're still working on obtaining enough fermenters but have purchased a bottling line. They had previously contracted with another company to handle the bottling but recently said company decided to bottle for a larger company due to the more lucritive aspect of the relationship. While that caused a hiccup in the availability of bottled Lift Bridge, I think in the long run they'll be happy having control over this aspect of brewing as well.

There was much more to the weekend than visiting Fulton and Lift Bridge but most of it had to do with catching up with friends. You're not interested in hearing about that. So to old and new, friends here and there, cheers!!

OR vs MN Battle: Farmhouse and Pils

Ever since The Commons opened their doors and had Urban Farmhouse Ale on tap we've wondered how closely it compares to Stillwater, MN-based Lift Bridge Brewing Co.'s Farm Girl. The Commons' version certainly reminded our taste buds of Farm Girl. But as anyone who has a fond memory of a beer, memory is a fickle thing. Possibly considerably more fickle if a few more of the strong brain cells have died off in the intervening time instead of the weak ones we were trying to kill.

Knowing that Farm Girl was available in 12 oz bottles, we set out to obtain some via the kindness of a friend back in the land of 10,000 lakes. Earlier this week two bottles of Farm Girl arrived (along with a host of other goodies that I may or may not tease you with at some later time). With the first hurdle behind us, a trip to The Commons was in order to obtain a "sample." And it just so happened that there was a bottle release happening this weekend, which required a visit making for perfect timing.

In addition to a desire to compare the farmhouse ales, The Commons also recently put on tap a Pils, one of Mag's favorite session styles. As luck (or requesting) would have it, one of his favorite examples of the style, Schell's Pils, was also in that beer box. With a bottle of Lift Bridge Farm Girl, a bottle of Schell's Pils and a Ball jar each of The Commons Urban Farmhouse Ale and Pils in hand, it was time to commence the battle.

Round #1: Farmhouse
The two beers were strikingly similar in appearance with The Commons' version giving off a bit more banana aroma. Upon tasting the Lift Bridge version was a bit sweeter with slightly more carbonation, and a tad maltier or maybe simply a tad more subtle. Either way we agreed, with neither of us being bit farmhouse fans, that Farm Girl was more drinkable.

Round #2: Pils
Here the appearance was more distinctive, with the Schell's version being crystal clear and The Commons' version taking on a slightly cloudy tinge. We agreed that The Commons Pils had a bit of honey flavor but when it came down to which we preferred it was a split decision. Mag stood by his "man", preferring Schell's and I favored The Commons as I found it to be more full flavored.

If nothing else, it was an interesting experiment, at least for the two of us. Should you have the opportunity to compare a familiar beer with a "new" beer of the same style, I'd highly encourage it. If in fact you've conducted a similar experiment I'd love to hear what beers you compared and what the results were.

Firkin Fest 2010

The day after a beer festival is always one for reflection, be it prompted by someone else (“So how was the beer fest yesterday?”) or on one’s own. For yesterday’s Firkin Fest, I’d say pretty good, overall, but there were a few glaring points that put a damper on the whole thing.

Glaring Point #1 – Someone who was organizing the event made the very, very poor choice not to purchase/rent barcode scanners. Many people purchased their tickets in advance, online and brought their barcoded tickets to the event. Checking people in should have been a quick and simple procedure but no. Instead of using the barcodes as intended, the people doing the checking in had to go through the attendee list to verify tickets by last name, which not surprisingly, resulted in a very long line and an unacceptable wait to get in.

Glaring Point #2 – Another poor decision was to only bring in 5 port-a-potties. I don’t know how many people attended, or were anticipated, but 5 port-a-potties was in no way going to cut it. In past years there have been two to three times that number. Thankfully, this was remedied part way through the fest as additional units were brought in.

Glaring Point #3 – There were just way too many people there (so maybe it was good that line to get in was so long that some people simply left). I understand wanting to do well financially on an event, but it got really packed inside the tent and quite a few of the firkins were blown much earlier in the festival than I would have anticipated.

Now, enough of the gloom and doom (maybe better phrased as “ways to improve next year’s fest”) and onto the beer. And there was some REALLY great beer to be had!

Favorite Beer #1 – I’m gonna have to go with the crowd here and agree that Lift Bridge’s Chestnut Hill: “A La Nutsack” was the best of the fest. And I couldn't describe it any better than Jill did with her “Nutella in a glass” description.

Favorite Beer #2 – Goose Island Citra Hop IPA really surprised me. With the exception of some of their specialty beers, I’m generally lukewarm about Goose Island brews. This one however was a wonderfully grapefruitty hopped brew.

Favorite Beer #3 – My third favorite isn’t technically a beer, but a cider from Fox Barrel Cidery. Bonnie was not only tasty, and a redhead, but a sassy one, too. “Bonnie is the kind of girl who handcuffs you to the bed.” ‘Nuff said.

The Bottle of Beer I Couldn't Buy

One beer I couldn’t buy yesterday at The Cellars has been rumbling around in my head, apparently, for over a day. But it didn’t speak up until this afternoon as I was contemplating dinner.

Driving in to Minneapolis the subject of dinner came to mind and at some point it wasn’t a matter of if I was going to stop somewhere, but where I would stop. Round and round I traveled the options in my head finally narrowing it down to three: The Blue Door, Birchwood Café and Ngon Vietnamese Bistro.

The Jiffy Burger at The Blue Door is amazing, they have mostly if not all local taps and of the three, it’s the one it’s the longest time since I’ve been to. Birchwood Café makes a killer Thousand Hills burger as part of their beer & burger special on Sunday nights and although they only have a couple of taps they supplement that with cans or bottles, all of which are local.

Then there’s Ngon, which doesn’t have any hamburger option. And I wasn’t all that sure I was really in the mood for Vietnamese. That being said, I’ve never had anything there that wasn’t stellar. Plus, they have a beautiful, serene patio and according to Brad, currently have Minnesota Tan on tap. That ended up sealing the deal in my mind. No surprise, both the #32 and the Minnesota Tan hit the spot.

Beer Buy

While it never takes much prodding to get me to head to the liquor store, yesterday there was a one, two punch encouraging me. First, Lift Bridge (specifically Brad and his lovely wife) was doing a tasting at The Cellars located less than a mile from my house. Second, an email from Jason over there letting me know that among other things, Crème Brulee was back in stock.

After working up the motivation to head out into the hot, steamy out of doors I made my way over there. I had a nice chat with Brad, which included hearing about the previous night’s Brew at the Zoo (it was sold out AND I’m told was a pretty good event). Then I made my way back to see all of the new things that had arrived since my last visit. Mark pointed out a few not to be passed over things and warned me away from a couple he knew would not be to my liking.

I’m not sure how long I was there, but like usual, it was probably a really long time to spend staring so intently at bottles of beer. In the end, I made out with 5 bombers, 1 single and a 6 pack of Lift Bridge Farm Girl.

Lift Bridge + Ngon = Yummy Happy

After our recent questionable “summer” weather, Mother Nature reminded us last night that it is still July. The rain in the morning cleared off to a humid, but clearer afternoon and I was hopeful that we would indeed be able to utilize the patio at Ngon for the Localvore Lift Bridge dinner. Alas, the threatening skies and pre-dinner hail kept us inside but didn’t put a damper on the excellent beer and food.

Most of the Lift Bridge crew was able to attend, mingle and enjoy the great dishes Hai created. The five course menu was paired with two Lift Bridge staples: their flagship Farm Girl Saison and Biscotti, their summer seasonal: Minnesota Tan, and two cask treats: Kimono Girl and Double Hopped Crosscut. I’ll own up to the fact that I’ve been harping on Brad for more Kimono Girl since I first had it earlier this year at Firkin Fest, so that was the beer I was anticipating the most.

The first course was great, the second better and so on through to the grand finale dessert. If you’re interested in more details about each course and perusing my less than professional photos, keep scrolling down. If not, just know that the next time Ngon and Lift Bridge team up you really should be there. Or, stop by Ngon just about anytime as they’ve been great supporters of Lift Bridge and generally have one of their beers available.

1st Course: House cured Wild Acres duck prosciutto with swiss chard, snap pea and Minnesota Tan Vinaigrette paired with Farm Girl Saison.

2nd Course: Fischer Farms bacon & daikon cake, sliced radish & anise cured salmon with cilantro sauce paired with Minnesota Tan. Although this course provided two of Mag's arch enemies in the food world, cilantro and anise, even he agreed that it was good eatin'.

3rd Course: Wild rice crusted Star Prairie Trout with grilled asparagus and rhubarb mango chutney paired with cask Kimono Girl. I've never had rhubarb prepared this al dente but combined with the sweetness of the mango, the combination worked very well. And although the trout was amazing, the grilled asparagus really made an impression. It wasn't just grilled, somehow Hai wrangled it into taking on a fully smoked flavor - mmmm.

4th Course: Thousand Hills short ribs braised in Ngon's pho spices with wasabi potatoes and five spice sauce paired with cask Double Hopped Crosscut. The meat was perfection, needing only a gentle push from the fork edge to spread out and meld with the potatoes.

5th Course: House made Lift Bridge Biscotti ice cream with currant cookie paired with Biscotti. This picture doesn't nearly do justice to this amazing ice cream! It was even better than I had remembered and I hope they'll continue to offer it from time to time.

Making Beer Suicides

Remember when you were a kid, probably around junior high age, when out to eat at certain restaurants you were given an empty cup an allowed to get your own soda? And at some point the idea took hold to have not just one kind of pop, but ALL OF THEM?

Fast forward some twenty odd years to this past May at the Stillwater Brewers Bazaar. Sometime during the latter half of the festival Jason’s friend Toby decided to go for a grown up version of the soda suicide using all of the Surly beers they were pouring that day. Had this happened at the beginning we would probably have just blown him off, but being that we now had a few beers under our belts, it didn’t seem like a completely crazy idea. And you know what? It was actually pretty damn good!

Skip ahead a couple more months and we decided to have our own in-house beer suicide making evening. Kat & Scott came over, bringing with them some good base beers to compliment the many more aggressive beers we had on hand. Some of our concoctions were great, some “meh” and others were not good (but none so bad that they were poured out).

Hits:
New Glarus Raspberry Tart + Ale Asylum Ambergeddon + Central Waters Glacial Trail IPA = reminiscent of a sour beer
Oskar Blues Old Chub + Lift Bridge Farm Girl + Surly Cynic = very smooth
Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball + Furthermore Oscura
Pearl Street Downtown Brown + Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA + Central Waters Satin Solstice Imperial Stout +Lift Bridge Farm Girl
Surly Coffee Bender + New Glarus Raspberry Tart + Pearl Street Downtown Brown
Central Waters Glacial Trail IPA + Central Waters Satin Solstice Imperial Stout + Oskar Blues Old Chub = fruity & nutty

Misses:
Surly Cynic + New Glarus Raspberry Tart
Lift Bridge Farm Girl + Surly Coffee Bender + Summit Horizon Red
Founders Dirty Bastard + Surly Bitter Brewer
Central Waters Satin Solstice Imperial Stout + Surly Cynic + Ale Asylum Ambergeddon + New Glarus Raspberry Tart

Beer suicides aren't for everyone, but if you're creative, open minded and use small glasses you just might surprise yourself with some unlikely but tasty creations.

St. Paul Summer Beer Fest

Sunday’s St. Paul Summer Beer Fest capped off a month that has been chock full of beer events. Like last Saturday’s Indulge, this was the first go around for this festival. I’m pleased to say that other than two minor items they did a fantastic job. And it certainly didn’t hurt that it was an absolutely gorgeous day to be outside at a beer fest, especially after the HOT weather we’ve been slogging through.

I’ll go ahead and get the two minor stumbles out of the way first.
#1 Apparently someone forgot to tell the organizers that us beer geeks are rabid about quick entry into festivals so the best way to appease us is to send two person teams down the line. One does the requisite ID check while the other tears tickets and applies wrist bands. A simple fix.

#2 While it was good to have water stations with dump buckets out in the center of the festival area, it’s also a super duper idea to have pitchers of water at each table. It kind of makes for an annoying disturbance to have to head to the middle between each sample. Again, a simple fix.

Now that’s out of the way, on to the good parts, in no particular order.
#1 Lots of places have good and/or easily recognizable tap handles. But then there’s a few that have really cool ones. Winner of “really cool ones” yesterday goes to Magic Hat.
#2 As I mentioned above in the first #2, water is an important feature at a beer fest. And no one took better care of folks yesterday than Barley John’s. Check this out! (picture courtesy of Cal)
#3 Crispin, which I was introduced to at Indulge, had a competitor this week. While I think Crispin makes a better product, Original Sin has some excellent artwork. Too bad they were only selling posters and not shirts. Hint, hint guys!!

#4 After enjoying seeing Chris at every event Furthermore has put on or been a part of, at long last I got to meet Aran!

#5 On a similar note, it was good to see Trevor, newest member and formerly mystery Beer Ninja, of Lift Bridge.

Two notable missing participants were Cold Spring and Great Waters. I’ll own up to not being a particular fan of Cold Spring in the past, but after having had their absolutely outstanding John Henry last week I was hoping to see them again and have some more of that beer. I didn’t get the skinny on why Great Waters wasn’t there, but did get to see half the team as Joel was helping out the Town Hall folks. Isn’t it great when we can play together nicely?

Overall, it was a great time and I look forward to this being an annual event on my beer calendar.

Got a Tan in Stillwater

Last night was the first Lift Bridge beer dinner at the Water Street Inn, Stillwater. Brad, Steve and Dan turned out and brought with them their new summer seasonal, Minnesota Tan. It’s a Belgian triple made with a generous amount of lingonberries that is highly drinkable and dangerous at 8.5% ABV. Just like the summer sun on the fair skin of many Minnesotans, this one has the potential to sneak up on you, but just like a fun day spent outdoors without the 60 SPF on, but it’ll be worth it. I don’t know when or where this will be available but I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for it.

Besides their great new beer, they also brought along one of my out of stock favorites, Harvestor. This is quite possibly some of the last left of the brew made from their own homegrown, fresh hops. Having matured, the hops are more balanced than when the beer was young so it’s a distinctly different flavor but still a great beer.

The five course meal started with their flagship, Farm Girl, accompanying a trio of stuffed hors d’oeuvres (pork egg rolls, blue cheese mushrooms and smoked sausage wontons).

Once seated the second course of slow roasted shrimp with fennel slaw & garlic beurre blanc was served with Biscotti.

Next up was a three cheese soup served with the above mentioned Harvestor. The pepper jack cheese gave the soup a great little kick.

The main course was a HUGE bone in ribeye steak with Crosscut. This was the downer part of the dinner both for the over doneness of the steak and the size. With so many courses, a piece of meat even one quarter of the size would have been sufficient but being the trooper I am, I devoured it. Thankfully, at that point there was an intermission.

In addition to giving time to make room for the upcoming dessert course we also enjoyed some nice cigars provided by Maria Caram of International Cigars (the price of the meal included 2 cigars). She had two varieties, a lighter and a darker cigar, and a couple different lengths to choose from.


Just about the time we were finishing up with cigars we were invited back inside for dessert, an incredible cranberry chocolate bread pudding topped with caramel glaze, chocolate and fresh cream. This was paired with Minnesota Tan and it was a great way to end the meal.

Between the Bluffs

The missus and I had a chance to attend the Between the Bluffs Beer, Wine and Cheese Festival in La Crosse with the McGs and some other friends. I gotta be honest, I can't say anything about the wine and little about the cheese as I didn't take the time to enjoy either. Beer was at center stage for us at this event and for most of the attendees, I think. Here are some observations from the weekend:

Highlights

• This event featured a booth serving homebrew from the local home brewing club, LAGERS (La Crosse Area Grain Enthusiasts & Related Specialites). I only had a chance to try two of the homebrews, but these two beers were two of the standouts from the beer fest and not just because they were homebrews. What a great idea and great way to promote the industry.
• It was great seeing most of the Lift Bridge guys there and hanging out with them afterwards. Also, we had a chance to say "hi" to Chris from Furthermore. There weren't as many familiar faces as we are used to, but it was great seeing a few. Too bad we didn't have a chance for more chatter.
  
• Bodega is a must-see beer bar in La Crosse worth checking out. They have a good beer selection and a cool lazy-susan-type cooler for beers. Plus its a comfy place to hang out.
• Sconie liquor stores open on Sunday! Between the McGs and us, we spent almost $240 on beer at a liquor store on Sunday. Did you hear that, Minnesota, $240! I didn't think we'd have enough room in my sub-compact, but once we chopped Scott's legs off and tossed our luggage on the side of the road, the beer fit.
  

Lowlights

• My god was it crowded! That's why I didn't try any wine or very little cheese. There were far too many people in the confined area of the fest.
• There weren't many hard-to-find beers nor special offerings from most of the breweries (at least that I saw). Luckily, Lift Bridge had their oak-aged Harvestor, which gave us beer dorks a go-to treat.
• We didn't get a chance to get to Pearl Street, which was disappointing. Shame on us for poor planning.
  

Stillwater: The New & The Old

The New: The Roman Market
The Old: Meister’s Bar & Grill
They both rock and you should visit them.

I have to give credit to the Lift Bridge guys, and their lovely wives, for giving me reasons to venture to Stillwater and discover little treasures such as these. Sure, you can find Lift Bridge brews throughout the Twin Cities, but it’s great to see so many establishments willing to put a truly hometown beer on their menus (either that or Lift Bridge is really the mob that secretly controls Stillwater.)

The Roman Market, our dinner stop before heading to Meister’s. This little gem has only been around a year or so but I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. On the way there, Scott was adamant that he was going to have a pizza. Once we got there and I took a look at the menu I would have had a hard time narrowing the choices if the idea of pizza hadn’t already entered my mind. While all of the combinations sounded great, I was very, very pleased with my choice of the Balsamico (candied figs, gorgonzola and proscuitto finished with an aged balsamic reduction, gourmet greens, and fig molasses). The Farm Girl went very well with it. Next time, the Vesuvio.

One note of caution: the parking spaces are extremely tight. You may want to consider finding a spot on the street or run the risk of coming back to your vehicle and finding you can’t open the door wide enough to get in. Or worse, that Kris is with you, can squeeze in to the driver’s side, but is really, really bad with a stick shift and only after killing the engine three times and beating up on the transmission is able to back the car up five feet.

After a great dinner we headed to Meister’s Bar & Grill, where Lift Bridge was tapping a cask of Farm Girl to accompany the Pale Ale already on tap. This place has been around for at least 60 years (according to the 60th anniversary shirts they had for sale). It’s a cozy neighborhood joint with semi-carpeted walls, light fixtures you could brain someone with and an 80+ year old waitress who I think is also the proprietor. We found the guys and their wives, enjoyed a few pitchers of Pale, a basket of surprisingly good mini tacos and samples of the specially made Pale Ale beef stew. I’m looking forward to going back for everything except for the unbelievably tight bathroom. You wouldn’t believe it if I tried to tell you about it. Instead, go yourself and enjoy!

Festing the Firkins

Yesterday's Firkin Fest at The Happy Gnome was quite impressive. They had something like 66 casks of beer, compared to around 20 last year. And the brewer turnout was great. They may have had more firkins than the real ale tent at the Great Taste of the Midwest. The set up and overall format worked well also. $1 a ticket basically got you one sample. Here's what I liked and didn't like about the event.

Liked

• The two special tastings, Thornbridge Jaipur and Ola Dubh (Special Reserve 30) from Harviestoun, were more than worthy. I was especially impressed with the Ola Dubh. Hands-down my favorite beer of the afternoon. The Jaipur was great as well, but I kept finding myself comparing it to American IPAs, which does no justice to English ales and is shameful on my part.
  
• Well, I already said I liked the fantastic selection. I was very happy that our local heros were present, including Brau Bros., Flat Earth, Lake Superior, Lift Bridge, Schells, Summit and Surly. But I was also delighted to be able to get Dark Horse, Avery, Rogue, etc. Colorado was very well represented, and rightfully so, with Boulder Beer Co., Breckenridge, Flying Dog, and New Belgium, in addition to Avery.
• Sprecher had a Scotch Ale that was interesting. I didn't actually care for it, but the emotional response it illicited was interesting. The description Scott gave it was spot on, which is why this is a high point. He described it as the smell and taste of an ocean breeze mixed with seaweed. That fit it exactly.
• Kris and I also had a chance to re-try our first ever sour beer. A couple of years ago, we had a sour from New Belgium that we both agreed tasted like stomach bile. Interesting, but we didn't enjoy it. New Belgium had their La Folie on cask yesterday and we both tried it again. Our palates have evolved a bit since our first tasting. It is still quite tart, but I kind of enjoyed it. Kris didn't like it. Of course, if it isn't Duchesse de Bourgogne, it's crap in her book.
  

Didn't Like

• 1 oz pours just plain stink. I'm gonna pay $12 for a 12 oz. beer normally? In some cases, yes. Some cases. I know you're trying to make money and I won't begrudge you that. Heck, I support it. You wouldn't do the event if you couldn't make money. Makes sense. But c'mon, 1 oz pours!? Hell, and I'm not a tight-ass. I would've been willing to pay a bit more per ticket for a 2 oz. pour. 1 oz pours...sheesh. Didn't care much for $2 beer programs either.
• Some beers just don't work well in Firkins. I was disappointed in a few beers I had. I love Rogue, but didn't care for their Charlie cask. There were a few others that I normally like but that I didn't think worked in a firkin. And, inexplicably, the gold medal winner from the judges went to Two Brothers. Two Brothers makes some damn good beer, but their winning selection was blaise in my opinion. There were far more worthy beers available. I think Lift Bridge's crowd-judged gold meal Farm Girl Kimono was well deserved.
• Live music - meh. Live music is okay, but not when it is too fricken loud and about five feet away from you. We left after the live music began because you couldn't chat with anyone anymore.
• Why weren't there brewpubs represented?
  

Overall - a nice event and a great way to kick off spring. Thanks Happy Gnome.

Habit

Yes, I’ll admit it; I’m a creature of habit. One of those habits is choosing a dining location by their beer selection. Sure there are some exceptions such as deciding to go out for sushi or to certain ethnic restaurants that have great food but no liquor license, but overall the beer offerings are as important as the food.

Last night we headed to Stillwater with Kat & Scott to try out Smalley’s Caribbean Barbeque and Pirate Bar. This place has been getting some pretty good press for its food and I figured that they must have at least a passable beer selection knowing that they carry Lift Bridge. So over the river and through the woods we went.

Upon entering, the décor was less than inspiring and in Mag’s words “more Disney” than expected. Taking a look at the beer menu, the only local beer listed was Summit. Funny, I thought since I knew with 100% certainty that Lift Bridge had done a beer event here in the past. When asked, our waitress confirmed that yes; they did have Lift Bridge Farm Girl Saison. Our drink order went in and we proceeded to figure out what dinner would consist of.

A long time later our drinks arrived, we ordered the plantain and tortilla chips with habanero salsa and queso for an app and our dinners. The appetizer was good, but not great and unfortunately that pretty much summed up the rest of the meal, too. I don’t know if they were severely understaffed or what the deal was but each time we ordered drinks it took an inordinately long time for our server to return with them. Had it not been for the fact that some friends (Brad, Dan, Jim and Julie of Lift Bridge) showed up as we were finishing the food I think we would have departed much sooner and headed over to Mad Capper where the beer selection is far superior and the service better.

I don’t mean this to be unduly cruel but in all honesty I’d choose Famous Dave’s over Smalley’s any day for the food. Add to that their abysmal beer selection (note: you can get a 40 oz of Mickey’s or Colt) and service and I can guarantee this is one place I’ll not be returning to.

Out late on a school night

Last night Kat and Scott graciously provided me a ride over to Stub & Herb’s for the Flat Earth & Lift Bridge tasting since Mag was in class and couldn’t partake in the fun until a bit later. When we showed up, just before the start of it at 7:00, there were already quite a few people there, enough so that we decided to grab a booth in the main bar area so we could get some food in before the drinking started in earnest.

Similar to the last tasting I attended, you could purchase a taster glass with tickets for one 5 oz pour of each of the beers they were showcasing. So last night’s tasting was Flat Earth’s Black Helicopter, Rode Haring, Cygnus X-1 Porter and Winter Warlock. Lift Bridge’s were Pale Ale, Biscotti, and Farm Girl. All for $5, plus one ticket for $1 off a pint of double-hopped Pale Ale…a pretty good deal as far as I was concerned.

Other than an incorrect name for one of the beers and a bit of a wait for some of the samples it seemed to be a much more organized event than in the past. Plus, Jeff, Cathie, Jim, Steve, Dan and Brad all took turns talking about their respective beers before the samples were poured. A nice way for people new to the brewers or their beers to get to know them a bit better and hopefully join us as fans of their fine work.

Mag was able to join us for about the last third of the tasting and thanks to Kat, managed to score one of the last pints out of the Lift Bridge cask. We finished off the last couple of beers in the tasting and the crowd started to thin out a bit. Switching over to pints I took the opportunity to enjoy the hard to find Rode Haring as Brad headed out with the now empty cask of dry hopped Pale.

At some point I saw someone’s watch. I believe it said 12:10. I almost fell over. How could it have gotten so late? So we headed home, with a detour to Wendy’s, and I believe I saw the clock say 1:23. Oh, it’s going to be a long day today.

Autumn Brew Review

The best beer festival within a three hour drive has come and gone but not without a great afternoon spent with a ton of friends drinking some really great beers. I don’t think I’ve ever been somewhere, except for during Town Hall pint club, where I’ve run into so many people I know which was really fun. Usually at these things once we’re inside the gate Mag and I part ways, knowing we’ll run into one another sooner or later. On Saturday, I think hardly 5 minutes went by between my departure from some group or another to get my glass refilled before I’d run into someone else.

For the first time I also went with a fairly well laid out plan. I had down the first place I wanted to go (the Surly tent to see if the VIPs had left any of the Oak Aged Cranberry Cynic), as well as the next four, and an additional 12 more I didn’t want to leave without trying. All in all, I did pretty well even though I had to wait to try Avery’s Brett Gueze (way too much gueze for me) and I missed three others.

Besides just drinking Mag and I also helped Ryan out with the MNBeer mystery tasting game. While it did mean I might have missed out on some drinking it was a great time and once things got going people seemed to really enjoy it. Lots of people gave the wrong answers but all were good sports and honestly, I’m not sure I would have done much better than the average person. The biggest challenge was trying to remember which beer I’d given to which player and that’s while I was pretty much sober and limiting myself to two players at a time. I knew there was a reason I’ve never been a waitress!

There were way too many beers to evaluate them all but my top three probably were Barley John’s Wedding Ale, Town Hall’s Fresh Hop and Flat Earth’s Rode Haring. There were some disappointments, too, but there’s no reason to dwell on those. Everyone will make something now and then that won’t be up my alley but overall I had nothing but a great experience. Oh, and Barley John's and Lift Bridge had some REALLY cute long sleeved girl shirts, both of which I intend to pick up very soon.

Flat Earth & Lift Bridge

Yesterday after receiving an email from Dan over at Lift Bridge about their inaugural brewing day at Flat Earth I decided to head over there to say hi and of course to bring home at least one growler from Flat Earth.

By the time I arrived the brewing had been completed but two of the Lift Bridge guys were still there. As they always are, both the Lift Bridge and the Flat Earth folks were warm and happy to talk to whomever came in, including me. Farm Girl Saison was the brew made that day and I found out there are plans for additional brewing both of the Saison as well as some of their other recipes. After tasting their products at the Stillwater Brewers Bazaar I’m excited about this partnership and increased production ability.

Additionally, I’m really impressed with Jeff going to the effort to support another “new kid” on the brewing block. While it is true that all craft brewers are competing for essentially the same market I think being collaborative instead of competitive will help everyone to a greater extent in the long run. Certainly from a craft brew drinking standpoint I enjoy having options, especially really good options.

Along with the chatting, I also tried the two newest additions to the Flat Earth lineup, Ovni Ale and Convention Ale. I slightly preferred the taste of Ovni, and would never have guessed it weighs in at 7.1%. It’s that smooth and it has a dang cool, little green man label. In the end I stuck to my recent infatuation with Angry Planet and happily carted a growler of it home with me.

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.