Bauhaus Brew Labs Wagon Party Review

Name: Bauhaus Brewlabs Wagon Party
Style: California Common
ABV: 5.4%

It's time to check out a couple more new offerings from Bauhaus Brew Labs, which opened for business this past summer in Minneapolis and is currently one of the newest breweries in Minnesota. For this review I have their Wagon Party, which is their California Common (Steam Beer). According to the brewery, it is listed as one of their year round offerings. Good news for me because the local California Common style lager(s) are strictly seasonals

Wagon Party pours a hazy orange color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is pretty frothy and the lacing is abundant.

The nose has a nice floral hoppiness upfront with a solid toffee pale & maltiness with some lager yeasts on the end. A little more complex than what I'm used to seeing in this style of beer.

Flavor-wise, it's got some floral hops with some citra-hops hanging on the backend of the hop profile. There's also some nice light toffee malts but the pale malts are a little more prevalent. The back end of the flavor is mainly lager yeasts, light citrus hops and pale malts.

The body is pretty light both in terms of body, carbonation, and overall thickness. It goes without saying that this is very easy to drink.

Wagon Party is another solid offering from Bauhaus Brew Labs. Much like Sky-Five, it's got a great taste and a decent price to back it up. Be sure to check it out if you're ever in the area!

Bauhaus Brew Labs Wagon Party - 8.5/10

Bauhaus Brew Labs Sky-Five Review

Name: Bauhaus Brew Labs Sky-Five
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.7%

For this review, I have a brand new beer from Bauhaus Brew Labs, a new brewery which just opened its doors in Northeast Minneapolis this past summer. Last weekend, I was in Minneapolis and decided to swing by Bauhaus' Taproom to sample their beers. I also decided I might as well as grab a few cans to bring back for me to review. My first Bauhaus Brew Labs review will be of their Sky-Five IPA, which I was told was their most popular offering.

Sky-Five pours an extremely hazy orange color and what I mean by this is that it's so hazy that light has some trouble getting through. The head is nice and foamy with a two-finger width and the levels of visible carbonation are very low.

The aroma is a mixture of rich citrus hops, orange peels, grapefruits and piney hops with some caramel & pale maltiness. This may be a bit of a stretch to say, but the smell reminds me of of a glass of orange juice

Much like the nose, the flavor possesses a strong citra-hop and tropical fruitness upfront & some grapefruit notes with some bitter piney hops on the back end of the palate. The aftertaste contains some bitter resin hoppiness, a slight but noticeable orange sweetness and some pale malts.

The mouthfeel on this beer is rather moderate in terms of weight but its lightly carbonated, however not to the point where one could call it flat.

I'm going to make a pretty bold statement here but I think this is one of the best Minnesota-based IPAs I've ever had, even rivaling that of Surly Furious. While some may find it a bit too overwhelming in terms of citrus hops, I was blown away with how good this is. If you're ever in Minneapolis and looking for a top quality IPA, this would definitely be at the top of my list as far as local IPAs are concerned.

Bauhaus Brew Labs Sky-Five - 9.5/10

Northgate Parapet ESB Review

Name: Northgate Parapet ESB
Style: Extra Special Bitter
ABV: 5.6%

With all the new breweries that have opened up in Minnesota, it's sometimes hard to keep tabs. Which is a good reason why I'm excited about tonight's interview as I have an offering from a fairly new brewery. All the way from Northeast Minneapolis, I present to you Parapet ESB from Northgate Brewing.

Now the first question I asked myself when I picked this up was "What's a Parapet?" I did a bit of research and found out that a parapet is: a low wall at the edge of a platform, roof, or bridge. When you take into consideration that Northgate's logo resembles a castle, it starts to make sense.

Parapet pours a hazy orange-brown color with a fair amount of visible carbonation. The head is very foamy upon the first pour but settles into a rather thin appearance once it settles down. Not really much in terms of lacing, but what is there is quite soapy.

The nose has a nice yeastiness to it with a bit of marmalade sweetness in there as well. Also on the back end are some flaked barley, toffee malts and a slight bitter hoppiness.

Much like the nose, it starts out very yeast forward. The marmalade sweetness is a tad bit stronger here. The toffee malts provide a good foundation for the rest of the beer. The aftertaste is actually quite bitter compared to the rest of the flavor with a strong piney hop bitterness. The body is moderate in weight with some moderate carbonation.

Being that this is my first offering from Northgate, I found this to be pretty good and reasonably priced for what I got it for. It's got a robust enough flavor profile to the point that I would buy this on a regular basis once it becomes available in my area. If you're ever in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, I would make it a priority to try this out!

Northgate Parapet ESB - 9/10