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.

Twin Cities Beer: New and Old

Since we moved out of the Twin Cities nearly three years ago the craft beer scene has really been picking up. New breweries are opening at a pace that would be astonishing if not for the fact that the pace is as rapid if not faster in Portland. In addition, "The Surly Bill" was passed which will allow Surly Brewing to build their destination brewery as well as making the laws more favorable in general for breweries.

Thanks to some great friends I've been able to try some beers from the new places that have opened but that's nothing compared to actually visiting the breweries. While I didn't have enough time to make it around to all the new places my lovely "tour guides" Kat and Scott took me to two of their favorites (after putting down a good jiffy burger base at The Blue Door Pub St. Paul).

The interior of Dangerous Man has an industrial bent.

The first stop was Dangerous Man Brewing located in the heart of Northeast Minneapolis. Dangerous Man doesn't bottle any of their beer and due to recent demand they're limiting growler sales to a mere 10 per day, one per person. The place was packed when we arrived post-lunch although we were able to get our beer fairly quickly. Of the five beers on tap I was only uninterested in one - German Kolsch - simply because I'm not a great fan of the style. The three of us shared "short pours" (10 oz) of the other four - Double IPA, Matchbox Coffee Porter, Chocolate Milk Stout and El Dorado Rye.

L to R: Double IPA, Coffee Porter, Milk Stout & Rye

I'd heard great things about the Chocolate Milk Stout, most notably that it was adult chocolate milk, and it lived up to the billing 100%. The porter surprised me with the depth of flavor and just the right amount of coffee and the rye, while being one of the most rye-forward beers I've had, was very enjoyable. The Double IPA was a bit much on the booze profile for me but still an enjoyable and well-made beer.



Indeed's taproom uses more classic touches.

Next we headed over to Indeed Brewing which Kat had described it as the most Portland-esque taproom in the Twin Cities. She was right. Just the feel of Indeed was more to my liking with the classic wood bar, exposed brick wall and shuffleboard table. Indeed does bottle some of their beers and I had been lucky enough to try a bottle of their flagship Day Tripper American Pale Ale earlier this year.

Pretzels and Hot Box

They had that on tap along with three others that we shared - Midnight Ryder American Black Ale, Hot Box Imperial Smoked Pepper Porter and Burr Grinder Beer Coffee Ale. The Coffee Ale didn't do much for me and the Hot Box was heavy on the smoke but the Midnight Ryder was very good. I had commented earlier in the day that I prefer smoked beers with food instead of on their own so Kat grabbed a bag of Sully's Sweet & Heat Pretzels from the food truck parked outside. They increased my enjoyment of Hot Box considerably and even improved the Coffee Ale.

After that it was time to head to a couple of old favorites, places that a trip back wouldn't be complete without - Town Hall Brewery and Great Waters. Town Hall's weekly Pint Club from 4 - 5 pm Saturdays brought in many familiar faces and I got my French fry fix (theirs are the best on the planet hands down). The stop at Great Waters was a bit unplanned, I'd been hoping to take in Sunday Mug Club there, but due to the "holiday" they would be closed. Still I got to see a favorite bartender, Chuck, and enjoy a pint of St. Peter Pale Ale.

It was a great day of drinking new and old in Minnesota; one I would have liked to make two-day adventure. However due to lovely Minnesota laws, taprooms are not allowed to be open on Sundays (oh, and neither are liquor stores...the only place one can buy beer) so whatever beer I'll enjoy for the remainder of my time will be at a bar (which are allowed to be open) or from a friend's cellar.

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!!

A Return to The Cities - Part I

Last weekend we had reason to be back in the Twin Cities - a wedding reception - and took full advantage of the four days to visit not just friends, but two new-since-we-moved taprooms. We knew there would be plenty more friends to see and beer to drink than we would have time for so we didn't have a set agenda. Both of the visits were of the hey-we-have-some-extra-time variety and reacquainted us with a couple of brands that used to be regulars in our pint glasses.

Friday dawned down right Portlandish, and after a Cuban breakfast at Victor's 1959 Cafe, a little bowling at Bryant Lake Bowl and "necessary" stops for beer and cigars we made our way to Fulton. Fulton was around before our move - starting in 2009 - but had primarily been putting out one beer, Sweet Child of Vine. They've done well over the last three years, introducing more beers and setting up their own brewery outfitted with a taproom. On the days the taproom is open, currently Fridays 3 - 10 pm, Saturdays 12 - 10 pm and whenever there is a Twins home baseball game - they're located just blocks away from the new stadium. Although they don't serve any food you're more than welcome to purchase food from one of the food carts you'll find outside the brewery's doors. Nate Dogs is one of the regular visitors however when we visited Hola Arepa was cooking up tasty treats.

The taproom is good sized and has recently been outfitted with a gigantic flat screen TV. They, of course, are still pouring Sweet Child of Vine, but also Lonely Blonde, The Ringer and The Libertine. I went, somewhat hesitantly, for the Sweet Child. I recalled it had been OK in the past, but not really what I was looking for in an IPA. It turns out it was a good idea to give it a second chance. This time around I thoroughly enjoyed it and while it's possible they've done some recipe tweaking, I also heard from others that it's best at the taproom. Before we departed the four of us (aka The 4-Pack) split a goblet of The Libertine. Now, this was some really good beer, but at 8.5% it was a prudent plan to have a few ounces rather than a few goblets.

It was really great to see a taproom full of people enjoying beer. It was also really cool to hear that in this fledgling but growing food cart city, an obvious match has been made. I'd love to see some of Portland's taprooms - The Commons and Upright to name two - strike up a similar relationship with a few of the mobile food carts.

Check back tomorrow to hear about the second place we checked out.