Minnesota Craft Beer Week 2014 - Day 5 (A personal account)

Early Saturday morning while I was running out to grab some breakfast, I made the startling discovery that my car had been leaking transmission fluid for the past couple of days. I say couple of days because we had been driving my fiance's car as a means of getting around because of gas mileage. Fearing the worst, I made a stop at AutoZone to get some sealant for my transmission (Spoiler Alert: It didn't work but that's another story.)

In the meantime, we decided that day that we weren't going to be doing too much on account of us being burnt out from driving everywhere. We ultimately decided we were going to the Food Truck Rally over at Harriet Brewing.

Once we arrived, I was taken aback by how nice it was outside, a nice balmy 72 degrees Fahrenheit. After the long crappy winter we had endured, it was like I was below the 45th Pararell...oh wait, I was! We dined on the finest cuisine known to man: From Mac and Cheese Sandwiches to Philly Cheese Steak; From fried Mac & Cheese balls to probably the most outlandish of the bunch..

Behold! Probably the most unhealthiest food that I have eaten outside of the Minnesota State Fair! I present to you a chocolate chip cookie covered in Nutella and topped with bacon. Did I shorten my lifespan by 5 years simply by eating this? Probably. Was it delicious? Of course!

However, I didn't make this post to talk about food, I'm here to talk about the beer. Since flights were not an option I decided to have a couple of pints so I had to choose carefully! In the end, I ended up having 3 of them and here are my thoughts on the ones that I had.

Harriet Brewing West Side IPA - Their Belgian Style IPA. This beer possess a strong Belgian yeast character with some nice citrus hops and a strong candied caramel malty backbone. It was quite a tasty beer! Even my fiance, who generally tends to avoid anything remotely related to IPAs, had a sip of this and liked it so much, she ended up buying a pint for herself!

Harriet Brewing Saison Nourrice - Like their West Side IPA, this had a fairly strong Belgian Yeast characteristic to it. However, it had a fairly strong sour flavor to it by Saison standards along with some pale malts and floral hops. With that said, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's definitely a different take on the Saison Style but it works out surprisingly well.

Harriet Brewing Sour Barrel Aged Divine Oculust on Raspberries - A take on their regular Belgian Golden Strong Ale and part of their sour barrel aging program. This beer has a very strong fruity-raspberry profile along with some nice sour notes that are actually fairly mild and approachable and there are some light citrus notes to top it all off. If this is what the sour barrel program is aiming for, then I think it's done it's job quite well.

Even though our day was relatively short, between the great beer, food and surprisingly good live music, we still had an absolutely fun time. Anyone visiting Minneapolis who is into craft beer owes it to themselves to check this place out. I would definitely visit this place again if I were given the chance

Minnesota Craft Beer Week - Day 4 (A personal account)

Friday morning rolled around and before we were even out the door, I already had a laundry list of places to go to. Of all the days during Minnesota Craft Beer Week, I would have to say that this was by far the busiest out of all the 6 days as you will see why shortly.

For our first stop, we decided to swing by Town Hall Brewery which is right by my alma mater: Augsburg College. I have some fond memories of this place during my time in college: From having a pint with my classmates after a 4 hour lecture, to celebrating with my buddies right after finishing very last final of our college careers. Yes, it's safe to say that this place holds a special place in my heart.

The place had undergone some renovations since I had last been there, with an expanded back area and the main doors now being located on the east end of the building as opposed to the southeast corner. Still for all the changes that it undergone, it still had the same vibe that I had come to know and love from Town Hall.

Knowing that a rather long day was ahead of us, I opted for a flight this time around as opposed to a pint of just one beer. After all, variety is the spice of life and what better way to utilize that example than with beer?

Town Hall Masala Mama - Their signature IPA and considered by many to be Town Hall's flagship beer. This beer contains a strong citrus hop profile with a solid caramel malt backbone and a slight spicy/rye flavor to top it off. It might be a little intense for newcomers to the IPA style but this is an incredibly good beer.

Town Hall S.S. Cascade - Town Hall's APA which was on tap. This beer contains a very sweet floral hop profile and a good caramel malt backbone and it's got a fairly dry aftertaste. Not too complex in terms of flavor but still very good!

Town Hall Hefeweizen - Fairly potent clove & banana sweetness upfront with some malted wheat, light fruity citra-hop sweetness. Not too much else going on here, but quite good nonetheless

Town Hall Parkway Java Porter (On Nitro)-  I'm not much of a coffee drinker because I'm not a big fan of the taste. However I found this to be surprisingly good! It has some fairly strong coffee and roasted barley notes and chocolate malts to help even things out. Being that it's also on nitro helps in terms of drinkability and makes the strong coffee flavor seem less overpowering.

Town Hall Czar Jack - Their signature Russian Imperial Stout aged in whiskey barrels. It shows particularly in the flavor with some strong vanilla notes, chocolate malts, mild whiskey and oak notes. Even though all of the beers were extremely good, this was probably by far my favorite beer. I know it's not available all the time so I consider myself to be very lucky that I got to try it out.

After finishing lunch, we decided to make our way down Washington Avenue toward The Freehouse, a fairly new brewpub that opened late last year. Unlike Town Hall, this place had more of a contemporary/modern feel to it as opposed to Town Hall which invoked more of a classical atmosphere.

I wanted to do a flight but the closest things they had to that were what they called "ponies", which are little vase shaped glasses as you can see above. Since we had a couple hours to kill before moving on to our next destination, my fiance opted to finish some of her homework while I decided to sample each one of the house beers using the pony glasses

The Freehouse IPA - A fairly straightforward IPA with some good citrus and piney hop notes and a nice caramel maltiness. It was also fairly smooth in terms of texture, so I found this to be a very easy drinker.

The Freehouse IPL (India Pale Lager) - Brewed specifically for MN Craft Beer Week, it's a style which I have seen catching on slowly over the past couple of years. This starts out with a strong pale malt backbone with a fairly prominent piney hop and mild citra-hop flavor. I've been kind of a sucker for IPLs recently and this is certainly no exception.

The Freehouse Bock - Just in time for spring! This beer possessed a fairly bready/yeasty flavor with subtle roasted malts, light chocolate and caramel malt sweetness. Nothing that I haven't seen before but a very solid beer nonetheless.

The Freehouse American Wheat Ale - I had a few witbiers during that week and this one struck me as quite different. It had a very strong malted wheat, grassy and light floral hop flavor profile but none of the berry-fruity sweetness that I have come to expect, giving it an organic-like flavor.

The Freehouse Hoppy Amber - I'm not terribly big on Vienna/Amber Lager style with the exception of Great Lake's Elliot Ness. With that said, I found Hoppy Amber to be surprisingly good. A nice roasted barley profile along a solid Munich Malt backbone topped off with some piney hops. Not my favorite beer of the bunch, but much better than I expected.

The Freehouse Stout - A nice chocolate malt flavor balanced out with some roasted barley and a mild hoppiness. On top of that, it had a very smooth texture and mild carbonation. It's easy to drink and pretty tasty.

The Freehouse Kolsch - Light grape flavors along with light floral hops and pale malts. Nothing too complex or anything; Just a very simple and easy to drink beer.

The Freehouse Brown Ale - The last pony glass of my stay. Nice chocolate malts and a minor roasted barley profile paired up with some minor dry hoppiness. It's not too different from other brown ales I've had in the past but it's still very good!

After finishing up at The Freehouse, we decided to make our way up to Barley John's Brewpub in New Brighton for the tapping of their Warrior's Passage 2.0 Imperial IPA on Falconer's Flight Hops as part of an event for MN Craft Beer Week. Seeing as how we were anticipating it to be quite busy when the event started, we arrived about half an hour before the actual tapping of the keg/pin took place.

When we got there, it was pretty empty with the only two people in the place sitting at the bar waiting to get their hands on the Warrior's Passage. Since we had a bit of time to kill before it took place, I decided to help myself to a couple of beers while we waited.

Barley John's Rosies Old Ale - A beer that is released once every 3 years according to the brewery's website and it clocks in at a whooping 18% ABV, so it's a good thing that I just got a sampler glass of this beer. Very strong booziness along with some oak, rum raisin, vanilla and caramel malts. That, along with the slight burning sensation in my throat made it seem like I was drinking a shot of Malibu Rum; Don't worry though, I love my rums!

Warrior's Passage 2.0 Imperial IPA w/ Falconer's Flight Hops - Equally strong caramel malt and citrus hop notes. In the background is also a lingering bitter floral hoppiness. Very smooth and lightly carbonated. It goes without saying that I found it to be quite tasty!

After that, we decided to call it a day and head back to my fiance's place where we proceed to have a nice steak dinner while we watched the Wild proceed to beat the Blackhawks 4-2, though little did we know that the playoff semi-finals would go to the Blackhawks. Maybe next year, but the Wild victory still made an already great day even better!

Minnesota Craft Beer Week 2014 - Day 3 (A personal account)

Day 3 started out on a rather low key note: Me and my fiance had woken up a little later than usual after sleeping in a bit longer than we would have liked and ended up just making it to make the payment for our wedding venue. After our appointment, we were presented with an interesting conundrum. It was too late in the day for breakfast food, but not early enough to start lunch.

Looking at our itinerary for the day, we noticed that The Herkimer Pub & Brewery had a breakfast menu, so I opted to have lunch there while my fiance decided to wait until after we were done there to go to lunch. So with our decision made and we made our way over to The Herkimer.

When we arrived, I was presented with a very interesting question: Do I want beer with my breakfast? It had been something which I had never done before. After scanning the tap selection, I decided to get their lightest beer available: Jeffery Kream Ale along with a platter of pancakes. It's about as close as one can get to having a true "Breakfast of Champions."

Jeffrey Kream Ale - Wow, this has got to be one of the creamiest beers I've ever had! I'm tempted to say that I had this on nitro but even if I didn't, it's still an incredibly smooth beer! It's got a relatively simply flavor, consisting mainly of pale malts, flaked corn and barley and tastes pretty similar to Spotted Cow. However the overall texture and body is just so creamy and easy on the palate that I say that alone is worth checking this beer out. And yes, it went very well with the pancakes.

After I finished up breakfast, me and the future Mrs. Nick's Beer Blog headed to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. While we were there, we debated amongst ourselves where we would go next amongst the denizens of lunch hour patrons eyeballing the upcoming NFL Draft.

During our conversation we plotted our next course of action when "Hudson, Wisconsin" came up in our conversation. It was at this point that we came to a sobering realization: Decisions had to be made. Do we stay in Minnesota and check out some of the other various breweries around the Twin Cities area? Or do we break our vow of drinking nothing but Minnesota-based beer, commit the ultimate act of betrayal, make the journey across St. Croix River and sample some Wisconsin beers DURING Minnesota Craft Beer Week?

We thought long and hard while the Twins struggled to keep up with the Cleveland Indians before we decided that we would make the 15 minute drive from Maplewood to Hudson. However, Mother Nature was a bit tempermental that afternoon and proceeded to give us a whooping of the thunderstorm. Our 15 minute leisurely cruise turned into a 30 minute game of "Don't hit the poor soul who decided to ride his motorcycle during a severe storm."

Before we decided which brewery to visit, I paid a visit to Casanova Liquor which has become a favorite destination of mine when passing through Wisconsin. It's a great place to visit for those beers that aren't available in Minnesota or pretty much anywhere in the Midwest.

After I was finished, I made the choice to visit Pitchfork Brewing, going off of the recommendation of a friend of mine to try out their Maple Maibock.

Picture courtesy of Ratebeer

As you can see in the photo above, it doesn't look like much, just a sign that says "Pitchfork Brewing." The interesting thing about this place is that it's located in a strip mall, which is probably the last place where you'd expect to find a brewery. In fact the strip mall itself is pretty new but it's surrounded by a grassy field and the road leading up to building is a dirt road. I was wondering if I had gotten lost but my trusty GPS assured me I was going in the right direction and sure enough we arrived safe and sound.

Once we did arrive, we were treated to a very roomy taproom. Mike Fredricksen, who I believe is the brewmaster there, was manning the taps that day. I'll throw this out there right now that Mike was an incredibly awesome guy to talk to! He talked about experience in brewing and how each beer is made with care. That alone made it worth the journey to the brewery.

For this trip, I decided to start out with a flight as you will see in the photo above. I figured that since I was there, I might as well try a few of their offerings. So we grabbed some popcorn, pulled up a stoll and sampled some beers.

Pitchfork Porch Swing German Alt - An Altbier style ale. The flavor consisted mainly of offee, pils malts, a hop/spicy bitterness with a sweet malty finish. It was also a fairly smooth beer in terms of drinkability and texture.

Pitchfork Munich Dunkel - Very Clove & Banana flavor forward flavor with a strong caramel malty backbone. Like the Porch Swing, this was also a very smooth beer to drink!

Pitchfork Barndoor Brown Ale - Very strong chocolate malt character, but the light hoppiness & roasted barley flavors really helped even things out overall.

Pitchfork Outwitted - A Witbier style beer. Strong malted wheat notes with some fruity sweetness & light floral hoppiness. The texture is also very light, creamy, and very easy to drink!

Pitchfork Pale Ale - An APA style beer. Fairly potent citrus hop flavors mixed in with notes of rum raisin and maltiness. Very tasty beer to drink.

Pitchfork Maple Maibock (Not Pictured) - The beer which drew me to Pitchfork in the first place. Nice maltiness and a robust maple profile. Much like Tommyknocker Legend, this is an example of maple being used correctly in a beer. This is a good beer that pairs wonderfully with a raging spring severe thunderstorm.

All and all, I had a great time at Pitchfork Brewing. Anyone who is passing through the area and has even a slight interest in craft beer should check this place out!

After we were done, we made our way back to Minnesota through the pouring rain and back to my fiancé's place where we feasted on Carbone's Pizza and Surly Hell for dinner. Despite the severe weather, it was a good day!

Minnesota Craft Beer Week 2014 - Day 2 (A personal account)

On the second day, it started out as a fairly uneventful day. In the morning I was at my fiance's house having some breakfast whilst her family catching up on the latest episode of India's Got Talent via online streaming on the living room TV. Let me tell you, if the American version was just as entertaining as the one I viewed that morning, I would probably be a regular viewer....maybe.

After me and my fiance left her house, we swung by Elevated Beer Wine & Spirits to take advantage of the discounted Minnesota Craft Beer promotion they were running in honor of Minnesota Craft Beer Week. When we were finished there, we deliberated as to where we would go first decided we would make our way to Great Waters Brewing Company located in downtown St. Paul. Like Dangerous Man the day before, this was my first time at the brewery.

For my beer of choice, I settled for the St. Walpurgis Night Maibock while my fiance had the Chipotle Pale which she found to be quite good.

Great Waters St. Walpurgis Night Maibock - Fairly light bodied with some light honey and pale malt flavors. The floral hop flavor is minor but it does help balance out the flavor profile a little bit.

Sadly that was the only beer I had there and in retrospect, I felt that I should've done a flight as they had quite a few selections on tap there. After finishing up there, my little brother messaged me to let me know that he was free to celebrate his 21st (belated) birthday in St. Louis Park. Since I was going to be in that area, our next stop was The Four Firkins to sample a pin of Surly Blakkr with Simcoe & Centennial hops.

Surly Blakkr w/ Simcoe & Centennial Hops - While I thought the original had a very prominent citrus hop & fruity characteristic even by Black IPA standards, they are only further enhanced by the Simcoe & Centennial Hops. Depending on how you like your beers, you'll either love it or hate it. Personally, I thought it was quite delicious.

While we were at the The Firkins, Jason Alvey, the store owner, was sampling a bottle of Or De Belgique Verte, the newest release from the Duluth-based Blacklist Brewing. The reception amongst the crowd was very positive and for good reason; It's a very flavorful Belgian-style ale and it's also local!

After finishing up at The Four Firkins, we met up with my little brother at Bunny's Bar & Restaurant a few blocks over to celebrate his 21st birthday. When I was looking over the tap selection, I noticed their beer of the month was an offering from Enki Brewing, whom I've had just a couple of beers from before. The beer on tap was Ceili, an Irish Red Ale. It had been a while since I've had an Irish Red Ale so I ordered up a pint for myself.

Enki Brewing Ceili - A light bodied beer with some light floral hops, toasty barley, pale & munich malts with a lightly hopped aftertaste.

Overall it was a good day but it felt a bit underwhelming to me because I felt I could've tried more. Still it was awesome to try out some new beers and I knew the next day would be even better. Stay tuned for my next post as I think you will be in for a treat!


Cheers!

Nick