Northland Beer Presents The Duluth-Superior Pride Fest Craft Brew Tent

In a couple of weeks, the 28th annual Duluth-Superior Pride Festival will kick off August 28th thru August 31th and will feature a wide range of events and activities to choose from. That is why it is my pleasure to announce the first ever Duluth-Superior Pride's Craft Brew Tent, sponsored by Northlandbeer.com.

Northland Beer will be running the very first Pride Festival Craft Beer Tent during the Pride Festival in The Park on August 30th from 11am-7pm in Bayfront Park in Duluth. Featured will be beer from Duluth's very own Bent Paddle Brewing and for the first time ever in the Twin Ports, Sociable Cider Werks, Minnesota's very first producer of hard cider.

Come on down to the festivities in Bayfront Park on August 30th, support the GLBTQ community and have some good beer and cider at the same time, courtesy of Northland Beer.

I hope to see you all there.

Cheers!

- Nick

Bent Paddle Daypack Pale Ale Review

Name: Bent Paddle Daypack Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 4.7%

It's been over a year since I've reviewed anything from Bent Paddle Brewing, despite the numerous new beers they have made since I reviewed their Black Ale and Bent Hop IPA last year. Since writing those reviews, they have made tremendous strides and have grown beyond even my wildest expectations. To give you idea, they started distributing to the Twin Cities at the end of 2013, something which I didn't expect would happen until around this summer.

With all this growth, it makes sense that they would want to diversify their portfolio. Earlier this summer they released their Paddle Break Blonde (fantastic, by the way), which was featured in their taproom last year as a draft only release. Now they have given us their Daypack Pale Ale, which is their proclaimed sessionable American Pale Ale.

Daypack Pale Ale pours a fairly hazy orange color with a head that has a very thin appearance. The lacing is quite abundant

The aroma has a nice subtle scent of citra hops, grapefruit and with a moderate caramel sweetness. For a sessionable APA, this smells quite sweet.

The flavor has some mild citrus & floral hoppiness, a bit of yeast esters and some caramel maltiness, all of which seem to hit the palate at once. There isn't really anything in the aftertaste so it's very dry.

The palate is very light in both body and carbonation, so it's very easy to drink. Given the flavor, it fits very well.

All and all, it's standard session ale that has some good flavor that isn't complex by any stretch of the imagination. However, if you're outside doing yardwork or out on a hike and are in need of a refreshing beer, Daypack will definitely hit the spot.

Bent Paddle Daypack Pale Ale - 8/10

The Duluth Experience Saturday Evening Brewery Tour Review

For this post, I'm not looking at any sort of beer (sort of.) Instead I'm doing a review of my Saturday Evening Brewery I did with The Duluth Experience a couple of weeks ago. You'd think that will all the contact I've had with these guys that I would've been on a tour of theirs. In reality, I had been meaning to go on a tour for some time but obligations kept getting in the way. Finally a couple of weeks ago, I found myself free for a Saturday night and signed up for a brewery tour.


Our tour group met at Fitger's Brewhouse where Tim, our tour guide and all-around awesome guy, discussed our itinerary for the evening:

• Vikre Distillery - A distillery that recently opened in Duluth
• Bent Paddle Brewing - Duluth's newest production brewery that has experienced exceptional growth since opening last year
• Fitger's Brewhouse - Synonymous with the term "Duluth Beer", it is considered to be the benchmark of brewpubs in the State of Minnesota 
• Lake Ave Cafe - Restaurant located in Canal Park for dinner

Our first stop for the evening was Vikre Distillery, which opened it's doors in Canal Park earlier this year. I did find it a bit funny that we started a brewery tour by touring a distillery, but what better place to see yet another emerging growth in the Minnesota distilling industry than here?

During the tour, we were shown the equipment used to make their gin & aquavit and I have to say, I was surprised as to how much work had to go into making it. We also got a whiff of the heads, heart and tails of distilling and man, that was strong! We were even told that drinking the "heads" could cause us to go blind if consumed. They also showed off the barrels they were using to age their single malt whiskey and I cannot wait to try it out when they bottle it 10 years from now.

Afterwards, we got to sample some of the gin and aquavit in the tasting room and by far, my favorite was the Cedar Gin; It was nice, smooth and the best way to describe the flavor is that it tasted like Christmas!

I know I run a blog about beer, but the tour of Vikre really gave me a great appreciation of Minnesota's growing distilling industry. I will definitely be paying more attention to our state's distilling industry in future, I think it's the next big thing honestly.

After leaving Vikre, we drove up to the Enger Park Skyline where we learned more about the history of Duluth and we were able to catch a gorgeous view of the Twin Ports. Nothing like a little education in-between drinks!

After taking in the sights, we made our way down to Bent Paddle Brewing (which you can actually see from the skyline) to take a tour of the brewery.  Before walking in, we each received a nice souvenir glass that we would using for the remainder of the tour. Now I've been to the Bent Paddle taproom many times before but I have never  been beyond the giant door on the north side of the taproom so I was very eager to see what the actual set up looked like.

While the Bent Paddle tour guide was giving us a tour and telling us a detailed story about Bent Paddle's history, I was absolutely floored with how big the set-up looked. From the kettles to the fermentation tanks; From the canning line to the wall of cans and stacks of Jack Daniels barrels, I felt really small compared to everything else. The best part was when I ran out of beer to drink, one of the Duluth Experience guys was quick and prompt to refill our glasses.

After we concluded our tour, we made our way to what I consider to be ground zero of the Duluth Craft Beer Scene: Fitger's Brewhouse. Now considering the fact that I live literally a few blocks from the Brewhouse and consider myself a frequent patron, I wasn't expecting too much; I was wrong. From the get-go, we learned about history of the August Fitger Brewing Company, it's closure in 1971, and it's revival in 1994.

Just by looking at the set-up, you could see all of the organic growth the Brewhouse had experienced over the past 20 years and it was really awesome to see where my favorite brewhouse beers were made. It really made me proud to have such a great brewery just a short walk from my place of residence. And of course, the tour guides were prompt with refills as well.

Finishing up at Fitger's, we made out way to the Lake Avenue Cafe for a wonderful dinner paired with Blacklist Brewing's Or De Belgique Verte where we talked amongst ourselves amidst the evening storm raging outside. After dinner, we went back to Fitger's to conclude our evening tour.

I knew Duluth was a great city for beer before, but this tour was an absolutely wonderful insight into just how passionate this city is about their beer. In fact, tours like these are one of the reasons why I am proud to call Duluth my home!

If you are a beer geek or have a passing interest in craft beer in general, then you absolutely owe it to yourself to go on a Duluth Experience tour. You will learn so much and gain a much greater appreciation of all the hard work that goes into a wonderful beer that you drink. As such, I would highly recommend The Duluth Experience Brewery Tour to anyone who either lives in Duluth or anyone who is just visiting. 

If you'd like to book a tour, simply visit www.theduluthexperience.com to set up a brewery tour. If brewery tours aren't your thing, they also offer history and kayaking tours just to name a few. The guys at The Duluth Experience are proud of what this great city has to offer and it really showed throughout the entire tour.

The Duluth Experience Presents: Women of the North Shore Craft Beer Scene – A Candid Discussion on the State of Women in Brewing

The Duluth Experience Presents: Women of the North Shore Craft Beer Scene – A Candid Discussion on the State of Women in Brewing


Women were first to harness the power of fermentation during the era of our species' cultural transition from hunters and gatherers to a more agrarian model. Only later, would brewing become a male-dominated craft with monasteries becoming focal points of beer production. In today's craft beer scene, we see more and more women taking leadership positions in the brewing industry and the North Shore Craft Beer Scene is a glowing example of this resurgence.

In their fourth and final installment of the North Shore Craft Beer Roundtable series, The Duluth Experience will host a 5-person panel discussion that will highlight the unique character of the North Shore Craft Beer Scene and the roles that women have played (and are playing) in moving the local craft beer community to the forefront of the industry as a whole. Moderator Elissa Hansen (Barley’s Angels Duluth/Superior Chapter) will facilitate a discussion that will delve into the challenges and opportunities for women in the industry, the trends for craft beer as a whole, and the personal stories of these influential women in the local and regional craft beer scene.


The panelists for the event include:

·      Allyson Rolph – Thirsty Pagan Brewing

·      Jamie MacFarlane – Castle Danger Brewery

·      Liz Gleason – Carmody Irish Pub & Brewing

·      Laura Mullen – Bent Paddle Brewing Company

·      Melissa Rainville – Fitger’s Brewhouse



The Women of the North Shore Craft Beer Scene will be held from 1-2pm at Duluth’s Teatro Zuccone in the Zeitgeist Arts Building at 222 East Superior Street on May 22nd. Tickets for each event are only $5 and all proceeds from the event will be donated to a local charity. For more information about the North Shore Craft Beer Roundtable call (218) 464-6337 or visit The Duluth Experience website at: www.theduluthexperience.com/special-events/craft-beer-roundtable/

The events are designed to provide behind-the-scenes perspectives on the regional craft beer community and showcase the great people involved in pushing the North Shore Craft Beer Scene to the forefront of the expanding craft beer industry in Minnesota. Beer will be served at the event (of course) and there will be time for audience questions. The event will close with a raffle and if it turns out anything like the previous two roundtables – the conversation will spill out into the mezzanine and then to a local pub for continued discussion and merriment.

Please visit www.theduluthexperience.com or call Dave Grandmaison at 218-464-6337 for more information.

Out of all of the roundtable events, this is easily the event that I have been looking forward to the most. I know there is some marathon going on next weekend but what better way to unwind from all that running than with free beer and an event dedicated solely to craft beer?

I hope to see you all there, and thank you for being supportive of the local craft beer scene!

Cheers!

- Nick

Bent Paddle Bent Hop Golden IPA Review

Bent Paddle Brewing is the one of the newest additions to Duluth's & Minnesota's growing craft beer scene. They currently have 2 beers that are available through retailers and, at the time of writing this, around 6 available in their taproom.

I've already reviewed their Black Ale and found it to be quite enjoyable. This is Bent Paddle's other canned beer, their Bent Hop Golden IPA, which has an ABV of 6.2%.

Bent Hop pours a clear golden color with a fairly foamy head and a small amount of visible carbonation. There's also quite a bit of lacing along the sides of the glass.

The aroma opens up to a moderate piney hop scent, followed up by pale malts, grapefruits and some yeast notes. The flavor is pretty consistent with the nose, with piney hops, grapefruit, pale malts, yeast, and light caramel. The aftertaste is a bitter resin/piney flavor. The body itself is pretty light and the carbonation is very mild, so it's a pretty easy to drink IPA.

This is another solid offering from Bent Paddle. It's a flavorful & robust IPA yet I can see this being enjoyed by both seasoned IPA fans or those just getting into the style. If you so happen to be in the Duluth/Superior/North Shore area, this is one IPA that should be on your list to try out.

Bent Paddle Bent Hop Golden IPA - 8.5/10

Bent Paddle Black Ale Review

Bent Paddle Brewing Company is the latest brewery to open it's doors in Duluth, MN. There was alot of hype surrounding the opening of this brewery and for good reason. The mayor of Duluth, Don Ness, proclaimed Duluth to be the beer capitol of Minnesota. It's a rather bold statement but any beer lover in this state knows just how many breweries and brewpubs are operating in the Duluth/Superior AKA Twin Ports area (Hint: It's a lot!)

I'm currently in Duluth as of right now and on my way in, I decided to grab a six-pack of one of their beers for scientific purposes. I managed to grab a pack of their Black Ale, which has an ABV of 6.0%. Interestingly enough, it describes itself on the can as an "ale that bridges the islands of Porter and Stout." 

It pours a pitch black color with a pretty foamy brown head that has good retention. Lacing along the sides of the glass is spotty at the most so it finishes clean.

The nose is a mixture of roasted barley/malts, chocolate, cocoa, and black coffee. It certainly smells like a porter rather than a stout but at least the aroma is vibrant.

The flavor consists mainly of milk chocolate, roasted barley, malts, cocoa and vanilla. I can see more of stout here in the flavor, but it still retains it's porter characteristics mainly with the roasted barley flavor and aftertaste.

Body is moderate in weight and the carbonation is just a notch below moderate. It fits the flavor quite well and adds a dimension to the flavor.

I really hope that Bent Paddle does well enough to be available all over the state of Minnesota because I really enjoyed this and I think any Minnesota Beer Lover would grab this in a heartbeat. The flavor teeters between that of a porter and a stout and it strikes a good balance and it's very easy to drink. If you're ever in the Twin Ports area, do yourself a favor: Support the local beer scene and pick this up, you will not regret it

Bent Paddle Black Ale- 9/10