And The Winner Is...

As many of you noticed from my most recent post, there was a homebrew competition down on Eat Street Tuesday night and I was in the running. I have been homebrewing for about four years now and I have yet to submit a beer in a competition. Why, you may ask? Well, when you submit your beers to a competition the organizers are usually looking for two 12oz bottles of your beer. The very first time I brewed I was stuck with the task that so many of us homebrewers are… washing, sanitizing, filling and capping fifty bottles of beer. I hated it so much that I went out and bought a kegging system while my next batch was fermenting. I have been kegging ever since. There were a few times when I would bottle half a batch and keg the rest but even that seemed too tedious. Long story short this was the first time I have been involved in any kind of brew-off.

It was a great time and I was pitted up against some great brewers. In addition to my IBA, we had a Dunkelweizen, a Biere de Garde, a Dusseldorf Alt and a Blonde Ale with Honey and Violet. If you’ve never been to the Black Forest Inn they offer flights of beer on their menu. If memory serves, you can get a dark beer sampler, a German beer sampler or a create-your-own sampler. This worked out well because we were able to use their nifty little carrying trays and 3oz sample glasses. All five brewers were on hand to talk about the beers, the club and homebrewing in general. Oh, and we were also waiters. It was our job to run samplers around to each of the tables in the restaurant and bar.



I gotta tell ya, it was a lot of fun and the time absolutely flew by. It helped that much of my family and many of my friends were there. Before we knew it, it was 9pm and time to count the ballots. I was very happy with the way my beer turned out but as a certified beer judge I didn’t think it was the best. Thankfully the restaurant agreed. Deep down inside everyone wants to win, but I didn’t want to win because I brought the most friends. The winner was the Dusseldorf Alt, brewed by long time brewer Mike Behrendt. I thought it was great that Mike won. He has been doing this for a long time and is a great brewer, not to mention his beer was a German style beer. Mike won with 35% of the votes and to my delight I came in second with 26% of the votes. I have to thank all my thirsty friends for that.



I really hope I can be a part of this next year in some capacity, whether as a brewer or a volunteer, as it was a lot of fun to be a part of. It was great to take brewing to the competitive stage and was nice to get some positive feedback as well. One highlight of the night for me was the gentleman from New Orleans who came up to us and wanted to “meet the guy who made the Brown Ale”. He thought it was fantastic and just wanted to let me know. Awww…

Thanks to all my great friends. I always say I have the greatest friends in the world and Tuesday they again showed me why. Thanks also to the Black Forest Inn. The food and service were fantastic and they really took care of our every need.

Prosit!

Oktoberfest!

Homebrew at the Black Forest Inn


Yep, I'm doing it. I'm pimping out my blog to advertise an event. The Black Forest Inn on Eat Street in Minneapolis is just one of a myriad of German bars and restaurants that host an annual Oktoberfest celebration. Some reserve one day for their celebration, others do it every weekend for a number of weekends and others yet host a nightly celebration for a block of nights. Black Forest Inn does the latter. For ten days they host a different themed party each night. One night is Fake German Accent Night (you vill haf fun) and another is David Hasselhoff Night (he's kind of a big deal in Germany). But tomorrow night, Tuesday September 29th, is Home Brew Night. There will be five homebrewers (including yours truly) on hand each pouring a different home made concoction.

I would encourage you all to stop on by and check it out. If you are a fellow blogger, stop by and introduce yourself, I love meeting you guys. If you are a homebrewer, let's talk beer. If you're thinking about homebrewing, there will be a number of us on hand and we'd love to answer your questions. Have youselves some bratwurst and kraut and vote for your favorite homebrew (free samples). Details of the event can be found below. Oh and did I mention prizes? Yes, there will drawings for goodies from local home brew shops and other places.

What will I be bringing?

About the beer: "Muddhop" This beer is my take on an India Brown Ale. This all malt beer was brewed with nine pounds of malt extract. I also used various specialty grains that would put it somewhere between a Brown Ale and Porter. I then aggressively hopped it in the spirit of an India Pale Ale. Big bodied and a sweet roasty malt finish, this muddy concoction was dryhopped with Cascade for a divine aroma. She comes in at around 7% ABV.

(from Black Forest Inn website)

Tuesday September 29
Home Brew Night
Five accomplished home brewers pit their best beers against each other. And you are going to decide whose brew rules Oktoberfest! Free to all dining customers, the sampler comes with descriptions and a ballot.

6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Homebrew samples available
6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Live music!
Skeets Langley on accordion
9:00 p.m.

Votes counted and Prize for Best Home Brew awarded
Win home brew and other type prizes!
The Minnesota Home Brewers Association will be on hand to answer all your basement beer making questions.

Ya, I would argue the words 'accomplished' and 'best' above, but whatever, we'll see. Prosit!

The Perfect Trifecta

The one gripe that I have about living in Eden Prairie is the lack of good beer bars. Now you could make the argument that Old Chicago is a great beer bar and it ain’t bad, but it’s no Muddy Pig. It’s no Buster’s on 28th. It’s no Stub and Herbs. Each of which are 22 miles, 14 miles and 17 miles from my house, respectively. Old Chicago is not a bad place, in fact that’s where I enjoyed many a beers while in my transitionary stage between macros and craft beers. There was always something new and exciting on tap and rarely did I have to drink the same beer twice. But, now that I’ve graduated to full flavored craft beers I rarely find anything there on tap that I want to drink. It’s not just the tap list. I don’t like the sports bar atmosphere unless I am at happy hour with friends. Let’s face it, it’s a chain restaurant and it's obvious. Sometimes when I’m in there, I have to ask myself, “Am I in Eden Prairie or is this Plymouth or Minnetonka or Sioux Falls or Denver?” I like a little more individuality. And I like to support my local guys too. Local bar owners and local brewers. I love Summit and Schell's but where’s the Surly, Liftbridge, Flat Earth, Brau Brothers? I can't bad talk them completely. There are times when I am thankful they are here, like the recent meet and greet with Lagunitas front man Tony Magee. But come on... Micro of the month - Summer Shandy??? Seriously!

Now I think I’ve finally found a cure for my beer bar blues. When I want to go and just sit peacefully pontificating over a good beer or three, I've found that the Gold Nugget is just the place. Just over five miles away this recently (re)opened bar in Minnetonka is both close and comfortable. This little burger joint has quite the past, unfortunately I know little about it. What I do know is that for most of the last 30 years the Gold Nugget was a small greasy spoon type dive bar that was famous for its burgers and onion rings. This is how it used to look. New developments in the area at Excelsior Blvd and County Rd 4 resulted in the demise of the old shack that housed it. In its place went apartments, condos and a stripmall. How sad. As someone who is still mourning the closing of Sherlock's Home nearly seven years later I can certainly empathize with the regulars who lost their favorite burger and beer joint. I think it's really cool that they incorporated the original stained-glass windows into the new restaurant.


I'll be honest, I never made it to the original bar but I have quickly grown fond of the new one. Coincidently I found the website for the old place. It's an old antiquated website and is actually quite entertaining. As for the new place, it's got that nice polished fresh feel. The dark wood, sharp lines and soft arches compliment each other nicely and are very inviting. Photos can be found on their website. In addition to a comfortable ambiance and atmosphere, the tap beer selection is pretty darned good. Local guys like Schell, Summit, Surly, Brau, Mantorville and Lake Superior. Craft breweries like Lagunitas, Founders, Bells, New Belgium and Boulevard. And they offer flights, they will pour four 4oz samples of any of their draft beers. In fact I had one on my first visit. This time however, I knew exactly what I wanted. It was a 3-pint flight of killer IPAs. It was Friday afternoon, I had some nagging homebrew follow up waiting for me at home but I convinced myself I could stop for a few. I deserved it, I earned it. I spent the previous two days working both jobs and I was due. Besides, the better half would be working until 10:30 and I had to warm up for the Autumn Brew Review.


I started with the Centennial IPA from Founders. Not the first time I'd had this one, but never a bad choice. Huge grapefruity hop aromas, sharp bitterness rounded out nicely with a heavy malt presence. I always enjoy this one, one of the best IPAs out there. I followed that up with a Lagunitas IPA. Less malt in this guy but perhaps a bit more bitter. Again, nice hop aroma but this time different fruit. More pineapple and lemon in the nose. This one also had a nice big body. I backed those up with perhaps the grandaddy of them all, Surly Furious. But before that I needed to eat. On their menu there are a few "originals" that remain from the former place. I chose the happy hour burger and onion rings both of which were originals and both were delicious. My one knock, albeit small, was that this combination was served in a basket. Nothing wrong with that but it just didn't fit the ambiance of the restaurant. Kinda like getting chinet at Manny's. I'm sure this was how it was always done in the old place so all is forgiven. Now that I had a nice base of beef and grease I could wash it all down with that Surly. Officially a double IPA, but what a great beer. Easily the most bitter of the three and again a great aroma. It's no secret the guys at Surly like hops and this one kneels to the hop gods. One of the best smelling beers ever brewed. The flavor is fantastic as well. All that bitter yumminess anchored by a substantial malt profile.


Hard to pick a favorite, so I didn't. These are all great hop bombs in their own right. I just considered myself lucky. While not really a beer bar per se, the Gold Nugget in Glen Lake is a warm, friendly, welcoming place with great service and an exceptional tap list. But alas it was time to go home... thankfully I didn't have far to go.

Viking Brewing Company

As an aspiring brewer I have been trying many angles to make myself more marketable as a prospective employee. I am currently enrolled in the American Brewers Guild but I'd like to put what I am learning into practice. I wanna get my hands dirty. Many of you know that I eventually want to open my own brewpub... but not before I know what I am doing. The best way to do this is to spend some time in both a restaurant and in a brewery. Right now I am working at Punch Pizza. As a smaller restaurant it is very easy for me to see all the different aspects of the operation. I work closely with the manager and it has really been educational. Now if I could just find a part time job or volunteer opportunity in a brewery. I have sent many letters to local and not so local breweries and brewpubs in hopes that I could at the very least join them for a day of brewing. We are learning so much in the ABG program, it would be fun to see some of the equipment and procedures in action. So far of all the letters and emails I’ve written I’ve only heard back from one. Perhaps I should try follow up calls to the others. The one that I did hear back from was Viking Brewery in Dallas, Wisconsin.

Viking started turning out beers in 1995 in a time when craft brew was just hitting the radar. Located in the old Dallas creamery building this small family owned and operated brewery has been creating beers for nearly 15 years. And they’ve been doing it all on standard dairy equipment. The mash/lauter tun? Milk tank. The kettle? Milk tank. The fermenters? You guessed it, milk tanks. The beer, mostly lagers, is then aged in refrigerated milk storage tanks. It was a great experience and I got to see a whole brew process from mash in to yeast pitching. I also got to see and participate in keg cleaning, filling and beer transferring. Oh, and there was a tour while I was there so I got to partake in that as well. As a thank you for some of the help I was able to provide, I was graciously offered one bottle of everything in the beer cooler. This included eight 12oz bottles of their current seasonals and year round beers and a bomber of Berserk their Barleywine. The barleywine is young so I will age it a few years before diving into it. The others however I will taste over the next few days or weeks and share my thoughts. Before my visit I had only tried one of their beers so most of these will be new for me. In addition to some personal reviews I will try to include some pictures and stories from my day in the brewhouse.

I thought I would start with their flagship beer the CopperHead Marzen style lager. This one, I hate to say was a little bit off. For a Fest style beer I was expecting big malty flavors and aromas. Instead I got papery, floral, honey, perfumey aromas and a very dry light easy drinking flavor. I really didn’t get a whole lot of malt or hop aromas or flavors. It was certainly drinkable but I would like to give it another chance. I have read many reviews much better than mine and I’d like to experience what those guys were getting. Perhaps I just got a bottle with a little oxidation.

The next beer I tried was Whole Stein and this was a totally different story. Of the ones I've had so far this one is my favorite. The label calls it a Coffee Oatmeal Milk Porter and it is delicious. It reminds me a lot of a good sweet stout, something with lactose (unfermetnable milk sugar). This I am sure has some lactose because of the flavor and well, the name kinda gives it away, too. In my imperial pint glass this opaque monster sat up straight with a great tannish brown head, fluffy and light. Speaking of light, there would be none getting through this beast. Just check out the picture held up directly in front of the sun... nothing! Getting great aromas, like candy sweetness accompanied by espresso, dark chocolate and the like. Flavor mimmicks the aroma but much more dark coffee flavors than in the aroma. I don't believe this is brewed with coffee or has any added later, the dark roasted malts contribute to this perception. Body is big and creamy, low but appropriate carbonation and no acrid bite from the roasted malts. Despite descriptive words like monster and beast, this beer drinks criminally smooth. Must be the oatmeal. I will be looking for this one again. They no longer distribute to Minnesota but I'm sure I'll be back to Hudson before long.

Many thanks to Randy Lee for letting me come and be part of his life for a day.

Cheers!

Hell Hath No Fury...

...like a beer geek scorned. Please excuse the pun, it’s the best I can do at the moment. There has been a lot of chatter recently around the beer community about the latest seasonal release by Surly. I’m not sure if it’s really even considered a seasonal but this is the second annual release of 'Hell' their version of a Helles lager - although I have also heard it categorized as a Zwickel or Kellerbier. One thing I learned this year is that "helles" is actually a German word meaning 'light'. I'm still not sure if that means not heavy or not dark. Either way it fits as this beer is both light on the palate and light in color. Traditionally (as in Light American Lager) that would also suggest light on flavor and light on enjoyment but this is anything but. Well, at least that's how I perceived it. This, however, is the root of a lot of debate. There was a lot of hype over this beer's release (first time in cans this year) and the limited availability has created quite a bit of hysteria. The Four Firkins, one of the finest craft beer stores in the city, received 10 cases. I think that equates to sixty 4-paks. There was a limit of two 4-paks per customer and they still sold out in about an hour. Why all the discussion? Well you can read about all the yays and nays here and here (in the comments section).

Personally, I am absolutely tickled to see the beer community getting excited about a non-extreme beer. At the same time I love seeing one of the most respected extreme brewers shift gears and tackle a style that's been relatively untouched by the craft brew scene. Between you and me, I think Todd (head brewer) just wanted to make a beer he could call Hell, but that's just me. On to the review:

Surly Hell

In a tall Pilsner glass this beer comes out dark golden even amber and despite its unfilteredness it is very clear. A small poufy one finger white head quickly reduces to a ring. I stick my nose deep into the less-then-full glass and take a big whiff. Woah, the hops that I am told are not there hit me in the face. The can says there are American hops in here but I am getting some spicy floral noble finishing hops in the aroma. The sweet citrusy American hops are there as well. Also present is a refreshing bready grainy aroma. The flavor is more of the same. I am getting corn, spicy hops and a serious bitterness that along with the vibrant carbonation scrubs the back of my tongue and down my throat. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and easily drinkable. No astringency or creaminess to speak of but certainly the aforementioned carbonation. Very refreshing and a lot bigger, in my opinion, than the style would suggest. This is a great beer. A nice clean lager with sharp edges. There are a lot of varying opinions out there about this beer but that is what I love about the beer community and my online beer geek friends. My opinion? More please!

Cheers, DA

Beer This!

Tony Magee and Lagunitas

Well here it is Friday already and I am finally getting around to posting about Monday. Monday was one of those impromptu evenings that just kinda happens and turns out to be a heck of a good time. I was at home all ready to watch some lectures on DVD when I checked the dreaded Y! mail. There it was, an email from the MHbA my homebrew club. Tony Magee, founder and owner of Lagunitas Brewing Company was going to be at the Eden Prairie Old Chicago at 5pm. They will also be pouring a firkin of their Russian Imperial Stout. I live in Eden Prairie and within walking distance of Old Chicago. So, I had a decision to make; do I stay home and study and miss yet another meet and greet with someone in the beer industry or do I head over for a chance at a snapshot and some words from the wise? Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, beer pressure got the best of me and I headed over.

Me and Tony Magee

While ordering a glass of the Imperial Stout, Matt, a friend of mine from the BJCP class spotted me. Since I was flying solo I gladly took him up on his offer to sit with him and his wife. It sounded like they were on their last beer and would be heading home for supper, but before long Alvey from the Four Firkins arrived. Matt and Alvey are both avid bikers and ride together occasionally. Soon we were all hanging out together, drinking beer, laughing and having a great time. Matt and Courtney who were about ready to leave at 6pm ended up hanging out all night. We even got free pizza! What I thought was going to be just another mundane evening turned out to be a load of fun. Tony was a really cool guy to just be around and listen to him talk. Check out this interview I found online, this pretty much sums up his personality. Oh and the Russian Impy? Pretty fantastic. Sweet, roasty and a viscosity that resembles motor oil, just the way we like it! Cheers.

Bearded Brewing Beer Review #2

Another day has dawned and that day is hump day, the middle day of the week. That makes today the perfect day to review the middle of the three beers I got from Eric over at the Bearded Brewing Blog... El Muerto Ale. What started as a Dead Guy clone has morphed into something I can only classify as an Amber and that may be inaccurate as well. I love the naming convention of calling a Dead Guy clone 'El Muerto', very clever.

This beer started as the Gringo did, with a big rush of carbonation. A big poofy tan head sits atop this cloudy dark amber to brown colored brew. This beer isn't clear but it is fairly translucent. It was much prettier than I could get with my camera and flash. Some sediment in this one too, but again appears to be mainly yeast. In the nose I initially got a phenolic peppery or clovelike aroma. Not what I think Eric intended, but I think time may have gotten the best of this one. I am getting a little bit of papery aroma which would suggest oxidation, also evidence of aging. Fortunately those aspects weren't dominant enough that I couldn't get down to the meat of the beer. I got a slight but faded hop aroma and toffee and caramel sweetness. The flavor was very intriguing. This one again started sweet but finished dry, kind of a dusty dry. There is plenty of nutty toasty malt presence which I found very welcoming. Nice bitterness dances across the tongue and down the back of my throat. The bitterness lingers ever so slightly into a medium to medium-high mouthfeel. Lots of cleansing carbonation but the body almost comes across as chewy, but in an enjoyable way.

I liked this beer, but I have a feeling in its prime I would have loved it. I especially enjoyed the malt profile which was one that you rarely find by either commercial or homebrewers these days. I would love to see this rise from the dead sometime down the road and give it another shot. I imagine the hops could be more of a highlight and the malt aromas would shine through.