Where my life is headed....

To all of my readers,

For the past couple of years, I've had the pleasure of calling Duluth, MN my home. From the beautiful sights, the great people and of course, who could forget about the great craft beer scene? When I first accepted a job offer here, I quickly learned that Duluth is a unique & wonderful place that is unlike anywhere else I've lived. I have gotten the chance to meet some truly remarkable people here and have made memories that I will remember for the rest of my life.

At certain times, I have talked about myself at some length but mainly for the purpose of relating to the post at hand. For the first time ever, this post will be about myself in general.

Ever since I was a junior in college, I have always wanted to run my own brewery. In fact, I did a presentation on it for a senior year project about 3 years ago. I had constructed a business plan complete with an overhead cost analysis, forecasting, marketing trends and the whole works. I made that plan with the idea that I would one day use it to open my own brewery.

When I graduated, however, I had to put all of that on hold because I became too preoccupied with the sudden reality of becoming a working adult. This meant going to work in the morning & coming home in the evening on a daily basis. The idea of owning my own brewery and getting those plans off the ground had pretty much become dead in the water. In fact, the very reason why I made this blog was so that I could keep myself in the loop as far as the craft beer scene was concerned.

About a year after I started blogging, I was contacted by Dave Grandmaison from The Duluth Experience, who wanted me to help promote his Roundtable discussion event, which focused on the craft brewing scene in the NE Minnesota/NW Wisconsin area. It was a life-changing event for me because, like the majestic Phoenix, it made that idea of having a career in the craft brewing industry rise from the ashes and it started shining brightly again!

Suddenly I was no longer just a blogger with a love for craft beer, I was taking an active role in promoting and raising awareness to the regional craft beer scene. It was the first time since I had been in college that I had something to actively work on that I truly felt a sense of accomplishment from. A couple months later, I connected with Lee & Marissa from Northland Beer, who I would ultimately end up writing for. I could finally, for all intents and purposes, call myself a writer.

With all these positive changes in my life, I still harbored a desire to one day open up my own brewery. I enjoyed my day job but I knew deep in my heart that it wasn't something I was content with doing for the rest of my life. Then one day, my wife suggested to me that rather than continuously dream about opening my own brewery, that I instead start exploring options as to how I can start laying down the foundations to one day open one up. Fast forward a few months, hours upon hours of studying, research and countless applications later, I was given a very unique opportunity to help make this dream of mine become a reality: I was accepted to Graduate School. I will be the first in my family to attain an MBA and it is something I am very proud of.

There is, however, a trade off for this opportunity and it is one that took a lot of soul-searching. It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that I will be moving back to Minneapolis this summer so I can pursue my degree. This was not an easy decision by any stretch of the imagination and I am giving up many things to make this possible but at the end of the day, it is a change that I am willing to make.

Sure I'm going to miss being within walking distance of Fitger's Brewhouse and being able to have their newest beer on tap or heading down to Carmody's Irish Pub to have a pint and catch a local band playing. Most importantly, however, I'm going to miss all of the people that I've gotten to know here.

As such, I still plan on doing beer & product reviews like I have been doing these past couple of years. I also plan on continuing writing for Northland Beer as there is much to cover down in the Twin Cities. I'm also hoping to do Twin Cities beer round-up posts....if my timing and finances permit of course.

The path to getting my MBA will no doubt be a long & difficult journey but I took this opportunity knowing all of this. Plus I always enjoy a good challenge as it gives me something to work towards! It was not a choice that came to me easily but in the big picture, it's the right thing to do. None of this would've been possible were it not for all the people I've met and the events I have attended over this past couple of years. Everything from the roundtable events to meeting with existing and aspiring brewers, who one day, plan to open their own brewery. All of this inspired me to take a good look at what I wanted to do with my life.

All of this helped me come to the conclusion that the dream that I had back in college is worth pursuing after all! I'm going to end this post with a quote from a card my Grandma gave me when I first graduated from High School and it has stuck with me since then.

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."

- Dr. Seuss

Northland Beer presents the OctoberFest Local-Motive

As we make the transition from summer to fall, not only do the color of the leaves change but also the beer that we drink. That is why it's my pleasure to announce the OctoberFest Local-Motive brought to you by Northland Beer.

The OctoberFest Local-Motive will take passengers on two and a half hour train ride up Lake Superior's North Shore Scenic Railroad, all while being treated to a dinner courtesy of Duluth Grill.

The dinner will be paired with local craft beer from Blacklist Brewing, Bent Paddle Brewing Company and Lake Superior Brewing . Keeping in the spirit of eating and drinking local, the event will also feature local Twin Ports-based musical acts.

The train will depart Saturday, October 11, 2014 at 5:30 to 8:00PM from the Historic Depot located at 506 W. Michigan St. in downtown Duluth. Tickets are $60 and you must be 21 or older to attend. To register, you can sign up at Duluthtrains.com or by calling 218-722-1273

Come celebrate the fall season with Northland Beer and have a great dinner paired with locally-made beer that perfectly showcases Duluth's vibrant craft brewing community. This is truly an event that can only happen along Minnesota's North Shore.

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

Weekly Duluth Beer Roundup for 7/27/2014

This will be my last roundup post for the next couple of weeks as I will be at my wedding next weekend. Before I head off to tie the knot, I figured I would sample some beers from around the Twin Ports area. This week was a special one because the new Fitger's Tide House called Endion Station opened in Canal Park this weekend.

Of course, the big event that was held in Duluth this weekend was the All Pints North festival, which is a beer festival held at in Duluth every year at the end of July. Now I was not able to go due to other obligations but I did meet up with a few friends from down in the Twin Cities whom were up for the festival itself at Thirsty Pagan Brewing in Superior before making the rounds around Duluth.

Thirsty Pagan Cracked Pepper Pils (5.5% ABV) - A very interesting specimen of a Pilsner. It's got a nice lemon zest, grassiness and Pilsner malts but it also has an encompassing pepperness (as implied by the name.) A nice and crisp beer to say the least.

Thirsty Pagan Voyageurs Black Ale (5.5% ABV) - This starts out with a typical roasted barley and a smoke chocolate maltiness but it has a very prominent sweet spruce finish. That's because this beer is brewed with spruce tips, a theme that I hope catches on up here. It's not often I see Black Ales do anything different so this is a nice change of pace.

After we finished at the Pagan and visited Funkytown, we stopped by the Fitger's Brewhouse for a beer before making our way to the Rathskeller at Tycoon's Alehouse, which serves as a tide-house for Fitger's. Usually they'll have something different (and tasty) on tap and that night they had two very high profile IPAs from the Brewhouse that I decided to try out.

Fitger's Hoppelujah IPA (6.5% ABV) - This IPA is pretty much a mixed bag of an assortment of hops, but definitely not in a bad way. You've got citrus hops with notes of oranges, grapefruit and mango and some bitter hops that linger throughout the taste and it ends with a dry bitter hop finish with some caramel malts. With it's robust flavor, it's easy to see why Dave Hoops, the brewmaster of Fitger's, brought this with to a beer festival in Oregon.

Fitger's The Mayor (8% ABV) - A beer brewed in honor of Duluth's mayor Don Ness, who declared Duluth to be Minnesota's Craft Beer Capital and has been extremely supportive of the craft beer scene here in Duluth. It starts off with a very robust citrus hop and grapefruit notes with a solid caramel malt backbone. Interestingly enough, it finishes with a rather piney/resin hop bitterness that lingers on the palate for quite a while. I would definitely take this home with me in a growler if only I could find one but I'll settle for just walking to the brewpub to have this for the time being.

The following day, I decided to make my way down to Canal Park to visit the Endion Station Public House, the newest Fitger's Tide House that just opened this past Friday. The building itself is actually over 100 years old and was actually an old passenger train station that was used during the first half of the 20th Century. I really love what they've done with the place and I like that it's one of those bars that you can just walk in and sit down or opt to sit on the patio overlooking Lake Superior.

Now I'm going to break my rule of reviewing just beer because Endion Station has been touted as Duluth's first cider house in addition to serving craft beer. We're not talking mass produced ciders from the likes of BMC but craft ciders.  Since I had arrived just before the end of All Pints North (i.e. The calm before the storm), I decided to try out one of their offerings.

Julian Cherry Bomb (7% ABV) - This is the first cider I've had that isn't made solely with apples. Maybe it's just me not being used to ciders, but WOW, this tastes great! While the apple flavor is still there, it takes a backseat to the rich cherry flavor. If this were to be available in bottles in my area, I would most certainly buy this on a regular basis.

Fitger's Back End Wee Heavy (9% ABV) - A beer that I actually had back in February when it was featured as part of Fitger's Sochi Series to commemorate the Sochi Olympics; Frankly I was shocked to even see it there! It possess a very strong roasted barley flavor upfront with some lightly smoked malts and a nice peated scotch finish. I remember this being a little more maltier and having a strong peated scotch taste but I'm guessing that having it age has evened things out a bit more. Either way, it still tastes very good.

It's kind of weird knowing that the next time I do a write-up post that I will be a married man. I guess it's moments like these that you truly savor......or some meaningful saying like that. In any case, here's to my last days as living as a bachelor.

Cheers!


- Nick

Weekly Duluth Beer Roundup for July 7, 2014

These past couple of weeks have been a busy one for myself between work, wedding planning and the 4th of July Weekend. As such I was unable to get out until this last Thursday when I made my way over to Fitger's Brewhouse which is conveniently located just a few blocks from my place of residence.

When I made my way there, I ran into an acquaintance of mine, Ellipsis, from The North Shore Craft Beer Roundtable event along with a couple of her friends. While we were out on the patio, I sampled a to a couple of beers that had just been added to the Brewhouse line up.

Fitger's 1100 Wheat Wine (10% ABV) -  It's a barleywine but brewed with wheat. It's a good thing that I was given this in a 10 oz. snifter because this is a powerful beer. The flavor starts out with some strong toffee sweetness and malted wheat. From that point on, it opens up to a rather strong hoppiness along with some vanilla bourbon booziness and just a bit of heat on the back end of the tongue. Despite the intense flavor, the overall palate is surprisingly mellow. The last time I had this was in the fall of last year so be sure to check it out while it's still on tap.

Fitger's Highland Fling Scottish Ale (5.8% ABV) - A clear brown color upon pouring, the flavor has a nice caramel maltiness to it along with some roasted barley and a light hoppiness. For a Scottish Ale, it's quite lighter than what I am used to in terms of appearance (brown) and overall flavor.

Later that evening, my future brother-in-law and his girlfriend made their way into town to spend the 4th of July here where we feasted on dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, whose local selection I still find a bit lacking sadly. If they were to feature more local beers on tap (Bent Paddle, 612, etc.) I would be visiting there more often.

The following day we made our way to Canal Park Brewing where I had the Resonation Belgian IPA while my fiance had the Ankle Deep Pilsner and my future brother-in-law's girlfriend had the 40 Acre Saison, to which she found quite enjoyable. I was a bit shocked she enjoyed it since she later told me that it was not only her first craft beer but her first Belgian-style ale ever.

After having lunch, we made our way back to Fitger's specifically to try out their Red, Wheat and Blue beer, which was brewed specifically to commemorate our nation's birthday. It was not on tap the day before yet I wanted to try it out to see how it was since it was one of the reasons why we decided to pay a visit to the Brewhouse for the second day in a row.

Fitger's Red, Wheat and Blue (5.7% ABV) - The first thing that popped into my head was how much it reminded me of New Glarus' Raspberry Tart. Pouring a bright ruby red color, you've got a very strong raspberry flavor with some wheat notes. Not overly complex but extremely vibrant in terms of flavor. If you're a fan of fruit beers, this is a love letter made specifically for you. It makes wish the Brewhouse did fruit beers more often.

While I would've liked to have sampled more beers this past week, time constraints left my hands somewhat tied. Hopefully this week I'll be able to get out more and sample some more local beers. Until next week!

Cheers!

- Nick

Weekly Duluth Beer Roundup for June 15, 2014

Since the my last post regarding the Duluth Craft Beer Scene received was mostly positive, I will continue doing these Roundup posts every week if I'm able to do so. This week was a busy one for me and I'm still in the process of getting everything unpacked and set up from my move a couple weeks back. Between work and all of that, I was only able to venture out to one brewpub this week and that was Thirsty Pagan Brewing over in Superior, WI.

Since I was last there they have added a ton of seasonal beers to their lineup. Around September of last year it was around maybe 3-4 seasonals but this time around I counted 9 and a couple of which caught my eye to the point where I just had to try it out.

Thirsty Pagan Rauchbier (5.5% ABV) - Finally, a Rauchbier (smoked beer) that is locally made and it has been a long time since I've had a good Rauchbier. It starts out with a solid smoked malt flavor followed up with some mild but nice hoppiness before ending with some lightly toasted barley. Definitely lighter in terms of appearance, body and even a little bit in the flavor than what I'm used to seeing in Rauchbiers but I would still highly recommend checking this out!

Thirsty Pagan India Pale Lager (6.7% ABV) - It's nice to see that the IPL-style is starting to gain traction amongst the craft beer crowd. This starts out with a nice citrus and piney hop profile with a solid pale malt base and a bitter resiny aftertaste. I usually see IPLs come out around the springtime so this makes for a very nice seasonal.

Thirsty Pagan The Patriot (4.8% ABV) - A Pilsner made with All-American malts and hops, hence it's name. This has a nice floral hop profile backed up by a Pilsner malt base with a hint of oakiness thanks to the hops used in this beer. The light body and relatively mild carbonation give this a nice crisp and clean finish.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this. Hopefully I will have inspired some of you to go out and try these beers out if you get the chance.

Cheers!

- Nick

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

Weekly Duluth Beer Roundup for June 9, 2014

About a week ago, I talked about wanting to do a weekly post dedicated to the craft beer/brewpub scene here in Duluth/Superior/North Shore Area. Well, consider this to be the first post of (hopefully) many depending on the response that I get. With these posts, I hope I can raise awareness of the craft beer scene here along the North Shore and convince some of you to come up here and try our beer.

They will typically be in lieu of my Minnesota Craft Beer Week posts in terms of formatting. Expect to see mini-reviews of the beers I've had because let's face it, there is no way possible I could review every beer made by every brewery here in-depth because it is literally changing everyday. As such, some beers which I look at may not be available at times because it's either a seasonal, rotating, or a one time only beer.

This week, I have 3 beers from two different breweries: Canal Park Brewing and Fitger's Brewhouse. Next time, I will be sure to take pictures!

Canal Park 40 Acre Saison - Canal Park's Spring Seasonal Saison. This golden colored beer has a very nice Belgian yeast profile with some cracked peppers and pale malts, along with a some floral hop flavors. A bit on the stronger side (7.6% ABV) as far as Saisons go but quite good!

Canal Park Resonation #1 Belgian IPA - One of the newest selections to be added to the Canal Park lineup. The Belgian yeasts profile here is a lot stronger than 40 Acre in terms of intensity. It's also got some fairly strong heavy floral/resin hoppiness to boot. I've been craving some good Belgian IPAs for a while and this fits the bill.

Fitger's Brewhouse Timmy's Edelstoff - The Brewhouse's seasonal Munich Helles Lager and the first Fitger's beer that I've ever had when I first visited my Dad a couple years back when I still lived in Chicago. I've had this beer every year for the past couple of years and it's a lot more hop-forward this year than I recall, almost taking on some EPA-like characteristics. It's got some strong floral hoppiness with a solid pale malt base and a solid yeast and biscuit flavor. With all of that said, I still enjoyed this beer quite a alot and it's always fun to revisit this beer every year!

That's it for the weekly round-up. I promise that next week I will take more photos because I don't like drab looking posts with no visuals to speak of. To anyone reading this, I sincerely hope you get to try these beers out!

Cheers!

- Nick

Couple of upcoming changes

Hello fellow readers,

As some of you may already know, I moved this weekend into my brand new place. Right now, I am currently without internet until tomorrow evening at the very earliest and I'm writing this post from my phone.

Anyways, there's going to be some changes made in terms of posts. About a year ago when I moved to Duluth, I mentioned that I would focus more of my posts on the craft beer scene here.
Well, I feel that almost a year later, I have not been holding up my end of the bargin enough. Drawing inspiration from my Minnesota Craft Beer Week posts, I've decided that I'm going to do a ”weekly roundup” post of sorts every week.

The idea is this: Every week, I do a weekly recap of various beers I try at the breweries/brewpubs in the Duluth/Superior area. I'm looking to do 1-2 beers a week, permitting that I'm not too busy with other things going on in my life. These posts would be in addition to my beer reviews, of course!

Thanks once again to all my readers for your patience! With any luck, I'll be back at it tomorrow night.

Cheers!

- Nick

The Duluth Experience Presents The North Shore Craft Beer Roundtable Part 3 - Riding a Wave of Beer

On May 18th The Duluth Experience will continue its North Shore Craft Beer Roundtable series with a discussion about businesses related to the North Shore Craft Beer Scene. This panel – aptly titled “Riding a Wave of Beer” will explore the excitement and energy surrounding craft beer and the influence the local scene has had on businesses outside the breweries and pubs.

The roundtable will address topics related to the development of craft beer related businesses, how craft beer has changed the game for the business community and the importance of connecting local businesses with community breweries. Beyond that, there’s no telling where this conversation will go. The Duluth Experience’s James Sanders will moderate the live panel discussion with a great lineup of panelists that includes:

• Marissa Saurer – Northlandbeer.com
• Paul Riordan – Brule River Hilltop Hops
• Carolyn Jones – CMT Farms
• Brad Nelson – Star Creative
• Paul Helstrom – The Duluth Experience

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.

The event will be held from 1-2pm at Duluth’s Teatro Zuccone in the Zeitgeist Arts Building at 222 East Superior Street on May 18th. 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/

If you happen to be in the area, this is an excellent way to familiarize yourself with the craft beer scene here along the North Shore. So try to make it down if you can!

Cheers!

- Nick

Interview with Dave Grandmaison: CEO & Co-Founder of The Duluth Experience

The Duluth Experience is the organization behind the North Shore Craft Beer Roundtable, which I have been writing extensively about recently. However, the main focus of The Duluth Experience is offering tours of the many breweries and brewpubs in that dot the Duluth-Superior/NE Minnesota area.

Last week, I had a chance to sit down with Dave Grandmaison, CEO & Co-Founder of The Duluth Experience to share his thoughts about the origins of The Duluth Experience & it's role in promoting North Shore-based beer, as well as what the future holds for the Duluth craft beer scene.


So Dave, tell me a bit about yourself. What is your background?

Well first and foremost, I'm a Duluthian; Born and raised. I'm actually a 4th generation Duluthian as far as I can tell. I've not lived in Duluth my whole life but I recently returned to Duluth about 2 years ago. Luckily found a job up here that brought me back to Duluth and shortly there after, I got together with my cousin and started The Duluth Experience with a couple other guys.

My education is in Biology. I'm a trained wildlife biologist, so that's currently my day job. I work for the agency doing wildlife monitoring and wildlife analysis and I moonlight on the side running a brewery tour business.


What inspired you to start The Duluth Experience? What gave you that spark that made you say "We should start this business?"

Actually, my cousin sort of came up with the idea and it happened probably about a year before I returned to Minnesota at the end of 2012. He had been kind of watching these breweries open up around Duluth then was thinking "Wow, why isn't someone connecting the brewery scene and taking these beer consumers and craft beer appreciators to the different breweries?" He was tied up in some other side businesses while bartending at Fitger's Brewhouse and really didn't have a chance to do it. When I moved back to Duluth, he told me about the idea and we got together with two other guys that had been involved with discussions and we just decided that there was no reason why we shouldn't give it a try.

You look around the United States and there are brewery tour companies springing up all over the place and kind of following the wave of expansion of the craft beer scene. I was actually kind of surprised there wasn't anybody in Duluth running brewery tours. There's a couple breweries in town that actually do their own tours but nobody was really tying them all together, no one was telling the stories about Duluth with it's brewing history and the history of Duluth in general; It's a very interesting place. So we bought a bus and decided that we would be the guys to tell that story.


What was it like at the beginning when you first started The Duluth Experience? 

Well it was chaos because we had a really good idea from our prospective. We had four, very enthusiastic team members and we didn't really know how to get started so we started doing a lot of research on other brewery tour companies, on the tour industry of Duluth and we started gathering information & compiling information. We really got serious after our first meeting, we started having specific agendas for our weekly meetings every Sunday. We'd have an agenda, we'd take up minutes and write down what we discussed, we'd walk away with action items that we had to accomplish by the next meeting so we had a flurry of "Here are our big action items, let's get them all done." So we were working really hard to sort of pull a lot of information together to write a business plan.

Simple things that really not that simple: Insurance, getting loans, and figuring out the legal framework for driving a bus with passengers and there are all these things we had to learn on the fly. We asked alot of questions and met with alot of people to get that information but it was chaotic at first and then we started to get into our groove and we kind of got into our stride and things started to come together. So we did our first business meeting in February of 2013 and we incorporated in the beginning of March as The Duluth Experience LLC and then in May we bought our bus. By the middle of June, we were doing practice tours and then in Mid-July we launched our first brewery tours.


And were there any other challenges associated with running The Duluth Experience once it was up and running?

Oh yeah, there's always challenges with continuously looking to refine and improve your systems. I mean, we're a very new company, we've been around for around a year and a half and only been operating tours for not even a year yet so we are learning as we go and of course we do as much as planning ahead of time and try to anticipate things that we are going to need to do but there's always the "Unknown" unknown that you don't see coming. We are always trying to improve our system and improve our efficiency and improve the tour content and improve our delivery of the information to our guests. We're looking at developing a whole new line of tour products so there is alot of challenges associated with that; There's definitely no lack of challenges to attack and to hopefully, at the end of the day, overcome.


Since starting The Duluth Experience, what changes have you seen in the Duluth Beer Scene in general? 

That's a good question. You know, one of the big striking changes that I've seen in our short history so far is that there's been substantial expansion of the craft beer scene in the Twin Ports and on the North Shore. Even within the last year, we've seen Bent Paddle open their doors; They've gone through 2 expansions already...Or they've gone through one expansion at least and are looking to for a second expansion. You've got Thirsty Pagan that has expanded to a 7 barrel system, which is a substantial increase in their production capacity. Canal Park Brewing open their doors just before we incorporated and got started. Well then of course you know that Castle Danger Brewing is building a huge brewery right now in Two Harbors so it's a very exciting time to be a beer drinker.

There's alot of really good beer and you can tell that the industry is doing well because there is this expansion in the brewing capacity; I hope to see that continue. Some of the other breweries are going to expand and invest in their systems....but yeah, I think that is probably the biggest thing I have noticed is that it's rapidly expanding and that's really exciting. I think that is probably the biggest thing that comes to mind right now....and it's a great time to be a beer drinker; that's for sure.


Do you see The Duluth Experience playing a bigger role in sort of the....expansion of the craft beer scene here in Duluth? Or a bigger role overall one day?

I would like to see us do as much as we can to promote the craft beer scene in this region. Certainly we love craft beer. We have personal relationships with the local breweries; We want to see them be successful. We want to really be....right now I really see us a cheerleaders and promoters of the excitement surrounding craft beer and we recently launched this Craft Beer Roundtable series which you've been to both of the events we've had so far and those have been really fun, they focus on different aspects of the North Shore Craft Beer Scene and we're releasing video so that hopefully people outside of Duluth will be able to see the content that was developed in those conversations and really it has been extremely exciting for me.

I remember walking into the first craft beer roundtable after being out in the hallway selling tickets and getting people beers. I walked about 10 minutes into the event and I could not believe my ears and my eyes; It was amazing that we had helped facilitate this really interesting conversation between these brewery owners and then last weekend we had a group of master brewers that got together and talked about new trends in brewing and the challenges of working in the craft beer scene and the opportunities. I see us continuing to promote the craft beer scene.

I see us adding additional aspects to our brewery tours. We will be including some stops in our tours that aren't necessarily breweries but are.....we're working with Harbor Hops to going to the hop farm on one of our tours and that's really exciting. We goto the Vikre Distillery, so we're sort of....we're into the brewery tours but we're also....diversifying but looking at related businesses that are tourist attractions in terms of people wanting to learn more. You know for us, a tourist is somebody who appreciates craft beer and wants to learn more about it and why there is so much excitement going on. So I like to call them "Brewery Tourists." I think we'll expand the diversity of where we go and I'm sure we'll come up with other crazy ideas that will revolve around beer because we like beer so much.


On the topic of the North Shore Craft Beer Roundtable, did you anticipate that it would get as much coverage as it has been getting? 

Every time that I see people arriving to go and sit down and to listen to these conversations, I get really, really excited. I thought initially that when we came up with the idea, it would be pretty popular. I figured that there was enough excitement in the Twin Ports among locals because I think it's primarily locals that are attending the events and I felt pretty strongly that it would be a great turnout for the events...but yeah, I get super excited; Like at the time it happened, I can't believe what's happening. The first time I saw the TV press show up from the local television stations, I just couldn't believe it..it was awesome! It also takes alot of hard work to do that.

I spend alot of time before each one of those events contacting the press and spreading the word and working with folks like yourself and other bloggers and people on Twitter, Facebook, our affiliates, the breweries. Trying to get the word out to as broad an audience as possible, sending press releases to the newspaper and to the newspapers down in the Twin Cities and The Growler. So it takes alot of work but it's really exciting. It's a long answer to your question but initially yes, the reason we did this is because we were like "There is going to be alot of people interested in this." Even though we kind of anticipated, it's really exciting to see that. It's really encouraging and it's fun...it's super fun!


Where do you see the Twin Ports brewing scene 5-10 years down the road?

I see Duluth as a bright shining beacon of the best beer in the Midwest. We're got Lake Superior which is a huge resource of very clean, beautiful, delicious water. As long as we continue to take advantage of that resource in the beer-making, you're going to see a quality of beer coming out of Duluth increasing and it's kind of setting the bar for brewing. I don't know of anywhere that has the water that we have. I mean, I'm sure there are places that have great water but Duluth's is an amazing water resource! Just on that alone, you know water is 95% of beer and you can't get around the fact you need good water.

I think the Twin Ports/ North Shore craft beer scene will expand, I think there will be more breweries. I think there will be more production breweries and then exporting beer from this area. I really don't have a whole lot to base it off of other than the fact that the water resource is hugely important for the beer making and that alone should support the foundation for major brewing industry in this town.


....And would you say the water is what makes Duluth unique for brewing?

Yeah, I think so. The quality of our water is the big driver but then you got all these really interesting people that are crafting the beer and we've got some great brewers that are winning awards. That's the main thing too, we're lucky to have the caliber of brewers that we do in this town and having good brewers helps to spur some friendly competition to make better and better beer and I think it's great for the consumer.


What is your favorite style of beer?

Right now, I'm drinking a lot of rye-based beers and I like a nice proportion of rye in the grain bill. There's not a whole lot of Duluth breweries that make ryes so to the brewers out there: Let's make some rye beers. So yeah, Ryes and I like...I sort of gotten more into session beers whereas I used to be a bit into the bigger body, heavier alcohol beers. In fact, I brewed this winter a couple of Russian Imperial Stouts that turned out pretty good for an amatuer but they were warm. Hopefully if spring here arrives sometime soon and then more of the lighter, session beers. I love rye beers, I like sipping on sours when I can. I've never made a sour but there are some breweries in town that have some good sours or happen to be making some good sours.

You know, my favorite style of beer is local to be quite honest. Most of the time when I go into a place unless I know there's going to be something with rye, which nobody is brewing yet. Normally, I just usually order what catches my fancy that's local to be honest. Like right now, I'm having the Oatmeal Stout from Lake Superior (Brewing) and it's delicious. And that't the fun part about living in Duluth right now, you don't even need to drink imported beer, you can just drink local beer and there is a lot of different styles.

I think Minnesota is lucky to have such great beers!

You know, I lived in Arizona for 8 years and I've been a craft beer lover for a long time since '97 when I first started homebrewing and down in Arizona, you have Four Peaks Brewing Company and they make pretty good beer but it's just not the same as up here. I really believe it's the water, I really do. I believe the water is so much better.


One final question, let's just say I'm beer tourist and I want to come to Duluth. What is one thing that I should know before coming to Duluth when I'm coming to try out beer? Why should I come?

Duluth is a very welcoming city. It's very, very easy to visit a number of craft breweries on-foot, using a cab, using The Duluth Experience tour bus. I mean you can get around Duluth very easily. You can park your car and not have to get back in it what I'm saying. You can go and have a good time: Canal Park, Downtown Duluth, even the breweries that are on the west side of town, I mean it's not that big of a stretch to get out there and hit the taprooms, so it's pretty convenient. The actual answer is that Duluth is a very convenient city to drink in for craft beer and it's good beer! People should come here and drink more beer.


****

A big Thank You to Dave Grandmaison for braving the weather to sit down with me at Sir Benedict's to talk with me about the his business and the North Shore Craft Beer Scene.

For more information about The Duluth Experience, you can visit their website at www.theduluthexperience.com 

You can also follow them on:

Twitter - https://twitter.com/TheDuluthExp

Facebook -  https://www.facebook.com/TheDuluthExperience

The Duluth Experience Craft Beer Roundtable - Crafting the North Shore Craft Beer Scene

Last week, I attended the second event of the Craft Beer Roundtable hosted by The Duluth Experience. The Craft Beer Roundtable focuses on the vibrant craft brewing scene in Northeastern Minnesota and the surrounding area.

While the last event focused on the people who owned the breweries, this event featured the brewmasters from each of their respective breweries:

• Dave Hoops - Fitger’s Brewhouse 
• Dale Kleinschmidt - Lake Superior Brewing Company
• Jason Baumgarth - Carmody Irish Pub and Brewing
• Jeremy King - Canal Park Brewing Company 
• Brian Schanzenbach - Blacklist Brewing

The event kicked off with a bit of a Q & A about what was the draw that brought these individuals to the area. Amongst the responses were the long history of brewing that the area is known for, the open-minded, receptive audience, location and most importantly: The water.

Perhaps one question that I thought is important to those who wish to become brewers themselves was what can one do to get into brewing. The big answers were to educate oneself, do homebrew yourself or even just volunteering at a local brewery by getting your foot in the door and getting to know the brewers as well. One thing that did stick out for me as a question pitched by Canal Park Brewmaster Jeremy King: Do you even want to brew? It may seem like a silly question to ask but a lot of people don't know that being brewmaster is actually very hard work.

Another question which was asked was regarding upcoming trends. Amongst the trends discussed were the growing demand for barrel-aged beers and the potential market for companies that provide barrels to breweries. Another one that was agreed upon are the rise in Sessionable Ales, Sour/Wild Ales, and collaboration ales.  A couple of interesting ideas provided by Fitger's Brewmaster Dave Hoops included Hybrid Beers (American/Belgian Styles) and what the brewers are drinking in general.

When it came to talking about the challenges about being a small brewery, marketing seemed to be the primary one as well as brand recognition. Some other challenges included navigating Minnesota State liquor & distribution laws as well as the lack of market access for certain breweries.

This led to the next topic regarding social media and the general consensus was that it's not only good for small business and helps keep people updated but it's also free in many instances. During that topic, Dave Hoops even brought up how their marketing department utilizes text messaging to keep people updated.

As the forum started to wrap up, the topic of females in the craft brewing industry was brought up. It was agreed that women should have a bigger role in the craft brewing industry; After all, they do make up about 30% of overall craft beer sales. A point was even brought up that women used to play a crucial role in brewing; For example from the early days of Sumerian culture all the way up until the end of the 18th Century. I personally have to agree and I've pointed out before that I think women are painfully underrepresented in the craft brewing industry.

Like the first event, I found this one to be extremely informative and I noticed a much higher turnout this time around than the previous event. Not to mention too that there was considerably more media attention at this event compared to the last one. I also had the opportunity to have a pint with Ed & Liz Gleason of Carmody's afterwards, who helped give my fiancé her first ever craft beer; Thanks guys!

If you weren't able to make it before, now is the time to do so as there are still 2 events left in the Craft Beer Roundtable event:

May 18th: “Riding the Wave of Beer” – Craft Beer Related Business
Moderated by: James Sanders – The Duluth Experience

• Marissa Sauer – Northlandbeer.com
• Paul Riordan – Brule River Hill Top Hops
• Brad Nelson – Star Creative
• Carolyn Jones – CMT Farm
• Paul Helstrom – The Duluth Experience

June 22nd: “Women of the North Shore Craft Beer Scene” – A Candid Discussion on the State of Women in Brewing
Moderated by: Elissa Hansen – Barley’s Angels Duluth/Superior Chapter

• Allyson Rolph – Thirsty Pagan Brewing
• Jamie MacFarlane – Castle Danger Brewing
• Liz Gleason – Carmody Irish Pub & Brewery
• Laura Mullen – Bent Paddle Brewing Co.
• Melissa Rainville – Fitger’s Brewhouse

All the events will be held at Teatro Zuccone in the Zeitgeist Arts Building at 222 East Superior Street in Duluth, Minnesota. 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/

I hope to see you all there.

Cheers!

- Nick

Lake Superior Sir Duluth Oatmeal Stout Review

Name: Lake Superior Sir Duluth Oatmeal Stout
Style: Oatmeal Stout
ABV: N/A

It's time to review another local beer courtesy of Lake Superior Brewing with their Sir Duluth Oatmeal Stout. The beer gets it's name from the French explorer who founded the city of Duluth: Sir Daniel Greysolon De Lhut.

I'm not feeling particularly well tonight, so this review is going to be rather brief and short instead of long and wordy. Since I've just taken some Nyquil, I feel it's best to get it over with now before I fall asleep with my index finger on the "J" key. And in case you were wondering: No, I did not just have this beer because with some of my reviews, I review them ahead of time, take notes and use them to compile my review.

Sir Duluth pours an opaque black color with a filmy khaki-colored head with some spotty lacing retention

The aroma starts off with some roasted malts notes, oatmeal, milk chocolate and some mild floral hop notes. It comes off as fairly sweet with just a slight roastiness.

The flavor initially starts out with a sweetness that consists of oatmeal, milk chocolate, and toffee before settling in down to a roasty aftertaste which has notes of roasted malts and coffee.

The palate has a pretty moderate weight and the carbonation also has the same consistency in terms of intensity. It would nice if it were a bit less bubbly but I'll let it slide because it helps bring out more of the flavor.

Sir Duluth is an all-around, good oatmeal stout. Say what you want about our Arctic-calibur temperatures, but Duluth makes some solid darker beers. If you want proof, look no further than this beer along with Fitger's Big Boat Oatmeal Stout and Bent Paddle Black Ale.


Lake Superior Sir Duluth Oatmeal Stout - 8.25/10

Lake Superior Old Man Winter Warmer Review

Name: Lake Superior Old Man Winter Warmer
Style: Barleywine
ABV: 10.3%

Today I received word that we are on track to have the coldest winter on record here in Duluth, as it is already the 2nd coldest on record at the time of writing this. I certainly picked a good year to move here, as my co-workers have told me and I have to agree with them. Oh, and schools around the state have been closed for the second consecutive day in a row. I think school has been closed more times this year then I had during the entire time I was in K-12 schools.

To honor this occasion of cold temperatures that Siberia would consider "too much", I've decided to review a local seasonal beer from Lake Superior Brewing called Old Man Winter Warmer, which is their Barleywine style ale, which clocks in at a healthy 10.3%.

Old Man Winter Warmer pours a black color which gives off a nice crimson hue when held up to a light.  The head retention is decent and the lacing also has some mild retention to it as well.

The nose has a nice aroma of caramel, licorice, vanilla and chocolate. There is an encompassing oak-like characteristic which gives it an almost "bourbon barrel" like quality to it.

The flavor has surprisingly smoky quality to it, which was not present in the nose. Along with that are notes of licorice, chocolate, oak, hops, roasted barley and vanilla. The oak/bourbon characteristic is still pretty much here and it's a very nice touch. The aftertaste is a very chocolate & vanilla finish.

The palate is surprisingly lightweight and the carbonation is also very mild as well. The overall feel of the palate works tremendously with the flavor.

I have to hand to Lake Superior Brewing, this is a very smooth (and not overpowering) tasting barleywine. The best part? It's very affordable and priced about as much as the other selections from Lake Superior. It won't be around for too much longer so pick this up while you can!


Lake Superior Old Man Winter Warmer - 9/10

Blacklist Spruce Tipped Imperial IPA Review

Name: Blacklist Spruce Tipped Imperial India Pale Ale
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 9.5%

Today I have another beer from Duluth's very own Blacklist Brewing, and this time it's their Spruce Tipped Imperial IPA. I'll admit that that I was sold solely on the fact it's an Imperial IPA with Spruce in it, though they aren't the first Minnesota Brewery to do a strong spruced beer as that honor goes to Olvalde Brewing with their Ode to a Russian Shipwright.

This time around, I didn't make the same mistake of using my hands in an attempt to open this up. Instead I used a corkscrew and after about 20 seconds, it popped off. So when you have this have a corkscrew handy, I mean it...

Spruce Tipped pours a very hazy dark orange color. The head is pretty creamy & filmy in appearance which leaves behind no lacing and there also isn't any visible carbonation here.

The nose is pretty citrusy and sprucey upfront, with caramel malts, oak, and raisin/dark fruity notes. Both citrus and spruce notes in particular are both equally strong and almost overshadow everything else.

The flavor is a bit more caramel malt forward with citrus/piney hops, spruce, oak and rum raisins. Not too different from the flavor except with more of a malty backbone. If I could sum up the flavor in one way, it would be that it tastes like Christmas.

The body is fairly moderate in weight but feels pretty thick at the same time. The carbonation is also very mild and creamy, so it's pretty easy to drink for an Imperial IPA.

It's a different take on the Imperial IPA style and I think Blacklist has pulled it off rather well. It's more of an "off-the-beaten-path" style of beer so it isn't for everyone. However those looking for something a little different yet tasty will find this to be an enjoyable beer.

Blacklist Spruce Tipped Imperial IPA - 9/10

Fitger's Big Boat Oatmeal Stout Review

Name: Fitger's Big Boat Oatmeal Stout
Style: Sweet Stout
ABV: 6.6%

I ought to review something from Duluth for a change and what better place to start than Fitger's Brewhouse. The original brewery was established in 1857 and continued to operate for 115 years before shutting down in 1972. At it's peak, they made over 100,000 barrels of beer in a year, which even by today's craft brew standards is alot!

Then in 1995, the old brewery complex was bought by it's current owners and now houses a hotel, fitness center, bookstore, 2 nightclubs, and a few clothing stores; As well as a couple other places I may have missed. But Fitger's Brewhouse is probably the biggest draw out of all business at the complex because they are known around the country for making some quality beer. On top of that, it's very close to where I live!

For my first in-depth Fitger's Brewhouse review, I decided to review a beer that is on their tapline pretty much year-round and that is their Big Boat Oatmeal Stout.

Big Boat is pitch black with a thin brown head, with light carbonation and no lacing; Giving it a very clean finish.

Roasted barley & oatmeal permeate the nose upfront in addition to some chocolate malts and some mild hoppiness. The flavor is alot more sweeter than roasty with oatmeal, chocolate malts, caramel-toffee sweetness and some mild, but noticeable, hops.

The body is moderate in weight and somewhat thick but the carbonation is very mild which gives it a very nice creamy texture and easy drinkability.

Big Boat Oatmeal Stout is an easy drinking stout with enough vibrancy to make this a very enjoyable beer. If you're ever in Duluth and happen to come upon Fitger's, this is a great beer to get yourself started on.

Fitger's Big Boat Oatmeal Stout - 9/10

Canal Park Dawn Treader Review

Name: Canal Park Dawn Treader
Style: Tripel
ABV: 9.2%

Around a year ago, a new brewpub opened it's doors here in Duluth much to the delight of beer geeks, locals and tourists alike. It's name is Canal Park Brewing Company and it gets it's name from the Canal Park area of Duluth which is where it's located. It's also a frequent tourist destination year round here in Duluth so it's usually packed whenever there's something going on here in town, which is almost every weekend.

To celebrate their 1 year in business, I've decided to honor this occasion by reviewing the first beer that I ever had from this brewpub: Dawn Treader Tripel. It's not too often you see a brewpub with a year round Tripel offering, but Canal Park has just that.

Dawn Treader pours a clear golden color with a foamy head and a good amount of lacing. The carbonation visible is moderate in appearance.

The nose has some strong spicy, clove, banana and fruity notes paired with some pale malts and mild citrus hops.

Flavor-wise, the maltiness has a bit more of an obvious presence with caramel, cloves, bananas, citrus hops and yeast/biscuits. The aftertaste is a mixture of banana-cloves and spiciness.

It's got a medium weighted feel to it and the carbonation is just a notch below moderate, which is perfect for allowing the flavors to settle in.

This is the perfect beer to try out if you're a seasoned beer aficionado looking to get acquainted with Canal Park for the first time. It's rich, robust and it's available all-year round!

Canal Park Dawn Treader - 9.25/10

Blacklist Or De Belgique Review

Name: Blacklist Or De Belgique
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
ABV: 9.5%

Blacklist Brewing Company is a relatively new brewery here in Duluth....well not quite a brewery. Right now they rent out space at other breweries to brew their own beer; Or as they call it "Gypsy Brewing" according to their website. While this beer was brewed BY Blacklist, it was brewed AT Dubrue Brewing which is another microbrewery here in Duluth. They plan on setting up shop permanently in the future in either Northern Minnesota or Wisconsin, but for right now it's strictly rental.

Right now, I have only seen their Belgian Strong Ale: Or De Belgique, which means Gold of Belgium in Dutch(?). According to their website, they have a rotating lineup for each month of the year.

The beer pours a hazy dark yellow color with a fizzy head that becomes permanently filmy once it settles down but the lacing retention is surprisingly good. The carbonation activity visible is pretty high according to what I can see.

The aroma takes on a lemon zest, clove and pepper character upfront, followed by some bananas and pale malt sweetness.

Yeasts, cracked pepper, cloves and lemon zest start off the flavor before settling into a sweeter banana, bubblegum, and malt sweetness.

The body has a moderate weight to it but the carbonation is actually quite light and allows one to savor the flavors that this beer has to offer.

It's worth noting that while getting this beer open was like trying to pull a sword of a stone, the sword in this case is Excalibur. This is my way of saying that even though it's incredibly difficult to open, the great tasting beer that is contained within is well worth the effort to get it open.

Blacklist Or De Belgique - 9/10

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

Lake Superior Deep Water Black IPA Review

In honor of my new home, I figured it would only be appropriate by kicking things off with a beer made here in Duluth. Lake Superior Brewing was one of the first craft breweries I tried out when I first got into craft beer back in college; If my memory serves me correctly, the first beer I had was their Mesabi Red which I picked up from Haskell's.

Lake Superior Brewing just released their newest beer called Deep Water Black IPA. And like many of Lake Superior's beers I've looked at, they are mum when it comes to giving us an ABV.

Deep Water pours an almost-black color that turns a clear dark brown when held up to the light. The head is rather thin and khaki colored that fades away fairly quickly.

The nose has a fairly strong citrus hops scent upfront followed by chocolate, roasted malts & barley notes. The flavor on the other hand has a strong piney/citrus hop profile which is backed by equally strong roasted malts, coffee, and caramel.

The body is fairly light and the carbonation has a slight bite to it so it helps add a bit of flavor to what some may already consider to be a unique flavor.

I consider this one to be very good. It's not a style that's for everyone but those who know and love the style will find something to like about this one.

Lake Superior Deep Water Black IPA - 8.5/10