Tempted by the Fruit of Another...

My adventure into brewing began at Midwest Supplies. It's an excellent spot for anyone looking to begin craft brewing. For starters, it's huge; wide selection of anything and everything that a rookie or veteran might need. They offer both ready-made kits and supplies for your own recipes. The prices are reasonable and the staff is cheery and helpful (I even have a high school acquaintance who works part time there). Not surprisingly, they have maintained solid customer loyalty from me.
The only complaint that I have had is location. Since returning to the Twin Cities, I have lived entirely on the east side of the River. My only reasons for venturing into the razzle-dazzle of Minneapolis has been to visit friends and get my latest recipe kit and various supplies. I knew that there was a fabled Second Brew Shop located not far from my current residence. But, as I already stated, I felt a strong sense of customer loyalty towards Midwest.
Then about a week ago I was out and about for St. Paul's Grand Old Day. Strolling down Grand Ave., braving an atypically cool June afternoon, enjoying the company of friends and loud music, I happened to sight an interesting display: [ http://www.northernbrewer.com/pics/fullsize/40523.jpg ]. I didn't have time to investigate right then, but a few days later I returned to check out this locale.
I really like this place. First off, obviously, the close location. Second, a very nice selection of recipe kits, including a barley wine! Third, cool merch like the above mentioned poster (I have already purchase stickers to label my latest batch, so each of my friends & family will have their own bottle). The only 'complaint' is that it is much smaller than where I usually go, but that is completely understandable since it is in a nice little commercial strip on Grand Ave.
I'm sure I will still make trips to Midwest, I have some friends who live just down the road, but I think Northern will become my regular stop.

Brewer's Log:: Noble Trappist Ale

The nice aspect about beer is that it is a pretty easy thing to match with the appropriate season. You don't have to think very hard; mostly one has to think about the types of food that match the season and apply the same criteria to beer. Summer: something light in color and density, a hint of fruit. Fall: a sharp crisp flavor, something that shouts "harvest season." Winter: anything dark and dense, the beer equivalent of a hearty stew.

But Spring is a tough one, the weather is erratic so what does one pick for a beer? Well, this year I took a gamble on a Noble Trappist Ale. Full disclosure: I am not a Trappist monk and this beer was not brewed in a Trappist monastery, so it it is not an official batch of Trappist Ale. But monks are forgiving fellows, so as long as I don't try to make a fast buck off of the stuff, I think they will live and let live.

I started the Trappist Ale on April 29th. The grains were Caramel and Carapils with Hallertau and Styrian Golding hops. But the crazy part was the special fermentable: Belgian Candi Sugar! When took the stuff out it looked like I was smuggling something illegal. It was pretty cool to add something so unique during the boil. Almost immediately I could smell the sweetness over the usual "plant" scents of the boil stage. I did make one mistake of grabbing the wrong type of liquid yeast. Instead of getting the usual pitchable yeast I grabbed a funky brand that requires it to begin fermenting seperately. So I cheated and just pitched it in.

I didn't need to worry because it started fermenting just fine. Infact it fermented a little too well. It erupted three seperate times while still in the 1st Stage. This has happened to me before, the Grand Cru was notorious for it, and usually it is a good sign that the beer will be flavorful and a decent content level. However I was surprised in early May, about a day or two after transfering it to the 2nd Stage, that it continued to overwhelm the airlock. That afternoon I went into the kitchen to release some of the pressure, and when I carefully lifted the airlock a millimeter the Trappist Ale sprayed in every direction, including directly in my eyes!! (Luckily, it did not sting and I didn't even feel the need to take out my contacts.)

By mid May it was bottled and I had begun the next batch. I've tested the Trappist Ale and passed out a couple samples. I'm mostly satisfied with it, but I have set some aside to age a bit longer to see if it sharpens some of the sweetness. As of now I probably won't repeat this batch anytime soon, but I will reserve final judgment after some of it has time to settle. Is it an ideal Spring beer? It's not bad for the season, but the hunt goes on.

[Next Batch: Java Stout]

Taste the Mountains!

Minhas Brewery seems to be a Wisconsin-centric brewery that is just getting into the Minneapolis market.  They are the brewery that took over brewing Rhinelander and have been brewing Huber and other local 'grandpa' beers since 1845, making them the second oldest brewery in America behind Yuengling.

I was interested to see their "craft" offerings hitting the market (so far only Lazy Mutt) since I drank cup upon cup of Berghoff out of the keg in college.  The brew that I HAD to try first was Mountian Crest.  It was $8.99/case.  There is no reason to pass this up.

Here's the deal.  I've had craft-brewed lagers and pilsners but most craft breweries don't make them because they're not as sexy as a triple-hopped IPA or a chocolate stout or something.  Victory makes an impressive pilsner, for example.  What separates them from Mountain Crest is the nuance.  Victory gives you a good hint of honey, Goose Island, a grassy flavor, etc.  Minhas gives us a typical lager in a can and slaps a craft brewery logo on the box.

This is totally cool with me.  $9 a case.  No other beer this cheap lets me drink it without destryoing my insides for the next day.  So something has to be said about the quality of ingredients.  I'm happy with the results, if not the process - for a cheap drunk with few side effects, try Mountain Crest!

Make Way for Makeweight.

Right now I'm about to crack Furthermore's newest small batch beer - Makeweight.  The website describes it as a triple pale that is a bastardization of three distinct regional recipies.  It uses Belgian, American and English yeast strains as well as hops from Kent and Oregon and malts from England and Belgium.  All in all this is a complex and confusing way to make a beer but the end result is pretty delicious.

The Belgian side to this beer has a strong arm.  The sweetness comes through in the nose and the Belgian yeasts combine with the sugar and malts to give a real syrupy flavor.  This is when the Oregon hops and American yeasts come in handy as, unlike other maltier, sweeter brews such as barlywines or dubbels, the sweetness does not stay in your mouth long.  Actually, as the sweet taste fades a good bitterness takes over and gets your mouth ready for another sip.

At 8.5% this is a strong beer from a strong effort.  Makeweight pulls in at my #3 favorite beer that Furthermore offers behind Knot Stock and the champion, Fatty Boombalatty.  I recommend picking up a six pack and mixing it in to your routine a few nights this month. 

American Craft Beer Week

Read it and Live it!



American Craft Beer Week

Beer-n-Crafts

Last time I did the Leine's Tour I was browsing the gift shop trying to decide between the various key chain bottle openers, when I saw the bottlecap magnets. There isn't any real description beyond that. Simply a Leinenkugel's bottlecap with a magnet glued to the back. No more no less. As I'm sure dozens have said before me, I exclaimed to Tim, "I could make that!" Many have said that, then paid for something that cost Leine's ten cents to make, but I was going to actually make some (I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with Leine's selling these, they gotta make money. But it struck me that paying for them would be like going to a restaurant and paying for food that is of equal quality to what I could make at home).

So here I am. I've saved up a couple of bottlecaps (A couple of Leine ones, but a bunch of New Belgium for consistency), I bought eight magnets for $0.25 a piece at the Ax-Man around the corner, and I borrowed a glue gun from a friend. After a little trial and error I discovered that there is a little trick; you don't want the magnet to be glued too deeply into the bottlecap, otherwise the bottlecap edges will scrape your fridge door. So, start by putting a large blob of glue covering the inside of the bottlecap. Let it sit for a moment and dry a little. Put another blob on the magnet, connect the two, and let it dry. Enjoy, and wow your friends with your macho Martha Stewart skills.

Summit's Red Ale

I was out with some friends celebrating a birthday and Andy mentioned that today was the release date of Summit's new Red Ale. So afterwards, Andy, Hank and I headed over to Four Firkins for a sample. I don't think I have ever seen Four Firkins as packed as it was, which is great. The only thing I don't like about the Four Firkins is that it's not closer to me. I picked up a six pack of the Red Ale and splurged on a bottle of The Reverend (I haven't tried this one yet, but I would always drink Mephistopheles at Nate's old establishment).

According to Andy and the Summit website, the big deal with Red Ale is it's usage of a variety of hops. Four different hops to be exact: Horizon, Amarillo, Cascades and Summit. Plus a bunch of different malts too. Normally I have mixed feelings about super-hoppy beers. Sometimes I am just craving an IPA, sometimes I can't stand them. But I am really liking the Red Ale. Whereas with a lot of hop heavy beers the hop flavor is there start to finish, with the Red Ale it is much more of a hoppy aftertaste. Combined with a nice coler, smell and a regular price range, I'd give it a B+.