KCCO Black Lager Review

Name: KCCO Black Lager
Brewed By: Red Hook Brewing for Resignation Brewing
Style: Schwarzbier
ABV: 5.1%

When I first saw the letters KCCO in big, bold white letters on the bottle, I literally had to do a double take. Sure enough, The Chive has it's very own beer courtesy of Resignation Brewing and Red Hook Brewing: KCCO Black Lager, which is a Schwarzbier-style beer.

According to the Resignation Brewery website, it is one of four beers planned and each one is based on a homebrew recipe from one of the staffers at The Chive. In fact, it seems like Resignation Brewery at this time is the brainchild of the people working at The Chive as they appear to lack a physical location, which explains why it's being brewed at Red Hook.

For those of you not familiar with The Chive, it's a humor/eye-candy/random subject matter website that is quite popular on the internet. It's kind of like Buzzfeed except funny. Even if you never heard of The Chive, you probably have seen their merchandise. Those green t-shirts with the words ”Keep Calm and Chive On” (Which is where the name of the beer comes from) on the front? The black t-shirt with Bill Murray on the front staring at you? Yup, it's from there!

KCCO Black Lager pours a dark brown color with a crimson red tinge. A foamy head tops off the beer and there is some pretty good lacing here as well.

The nose is fairly roasted malt forward, providing a solid base for some chocolate notes, mild smokiness, coffee ground and a light yeasty touch.

The flavor is more cocoa/coffee forward with roasted malts and some mild smokiness. The aftertaste has a fairly dry, but has a mild roasty flavor. The palate is pretty light and is pretty mild in carbonation.

I'll be honest, I didn't exactly have high expectations for this beer, but I found this to be surprisingly good! Novelty (and brand name) value aside, this is a solid and fairly well put-together beer. Check it out if you're able to get it in your area.

KCCO Black Lager - 8/10

HammerHeart Flanary's Brew Review

Name: HammerHeart Flanary's Brew

Style: Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 6.3%

Last year, a new brewery (amongst many others) called HammerHeart Brewing Company opened for business here in Minnesota. What makes it fairly unique is that the brewmaster of HammerHeart did an apprenticeship at Haandbyggeriet, a Norwegian based brewery. The brewery also uses strong influences of both Nordic and Celtic culture as evidenced by the beer names and brewhouse design. 

However they are best known for making styles with a bit of a twist as you will see in this review. Last week while I was attending The Duluth Experience North Shore Craft Beer Roundtable at the Zeitgeist here in Duluth, I arrived a bit early so I decided to head over to the bar for a pint. As my eyes scanned the tap menu, HammerHeart Flanary's Brew caught my eye. 

Flanary's Brew is classified as an Oatmeal Stout, but it was described as a Smoked Oatmeal Stout, something which I was very curious to try out. Having heard pretty good things about HammerHeart, I decided to have a pint for myself and see what it was like. With my notebook handy for the event, I was ready to go.

Flanary's Brew pours a pitch black color with a thin filmy brown head. There isn't any lacing to be seen here and there I'm not picking up on any visible carbonation here.

The nose is unike anything I've seen in an Oatmeal Stout before. I'm getting notes of chocolate malts, smokiness, oatmeal, roasted barley and bubblegum. The bubblegum sweetness isn't subtle or sitting in the back; It's staring you right in the face along with every other scent I'm picking up.

The flavor is also very reminiscent of the nose. Upfront are notes of oatmeal, bubblegum, smoked malts, chocolate and roasted barley. The aftertaste consists mainly of bubblegum sweetness and a distinct smokey characteristic. The overall palate is moderately weighted but mild carbonated so it's pretty easy to drink.

Flanary's Brew is unlike any oatmeal stout that I've had before, but I found this to be a very robust and enjoyable beer! After having this, I can totally see why beer lovers here in Minnesota have been going crazy over HammerHeart. Hopefully we will be seeing more of HammerHeart here in Duluth because based on what I've seen so far, they make some very good beer!

HammerHeart Flanary's Brew - 9/10

Tommyknocker Legend Review

Name: Tommyknocker Legend
Style: American Strong Ale
ABV: 10%

Tommyknocker Brewing is a brewery that I have not had since I was in college, but about 2 years back I had a couple of their beers and I thought they were pretty good. Thanks to the growler station over in Superior, I'm able to do my first actual Tommyknocker review and it's a fairly special beer. Tommyknocker Legend was brewed to commemorate the brewery's 15 years in business. According to the brewer, it's a Nut Brown Ale brewed with maple syrup and aged with toasted Hungarian Oak.

Interestingly enough, when I go to look this up on Beer Advocate & Ratebeer, quite a few of the reviewers got their fix of this beer from a 2009 22oz. bottle. At the place I got it at, it was available at the growler fill station and in 4 pack bottles.

Legend pours a clear crimson color with a thin filmy head. The lacing left behind is somewhat sparse but sticky and the visible carbonation is quite mute.

The nose has a very pungent aroma of oak, maple syrup, chocolate malts, yeasts and roasted barley. It smells quite powerful, but thankfully not in a boozy sort of way.

The flavor profile is made up of mainly maple syrup, oak, roasted barley, molasses, nuttiness, chocolate malts and a lightly roasted aftertaste and malty aftertaste. Each flavor is fairly well balanced and it's worth noting that this is the first beer I've had that utilizes the maple syrup to it's fullest potential.

The palate is quite heavy in weight, but the carbonation is rather mild so it allows you to really get to know the flavors in this beer.

Even though it's classified as an American Strong Ale, I'd be more inclined to call this an Imperial Brown Ale (If such a category even exists) because that's what this pretty much is. As such, it's got a very robust flavor profile that may not be for anyone but I enjoyed this alot and, as I mentioned before, it utilizes the maple syrup flavor to it's fullest more than I've seen in any other beer.

Tommyknocker Legend - 9/10

Goose Island Ten Hills Pale Ale Review

Name: Goose Island Ten Hills Pale Ale
Style: America Pale Ale
ABV: 6.2%

Goose Island Brewing recently added new beer to their lineup called Ten Hill Pale Ale. The story behind the name is the hops, which come from the "first ten hills" at the Elk Mountain Farms in Idaho, a hop farm which supposedly is quite reputable when it comes to making hops. Although upon closer inspection, I found out that Elk Mountain Farms is actually owned by Anhuaser-Busch, which is the parent company of Goose Island.

Also, I don't remember luscious hop farms being THAT close to downtown Chicago. In fact, I'm fairly certain that given the positioning of the skyline in the background, the hop farm would be located right smack-dab between Melrose Park & Lombard and there are definitely no hop farms in that area. Alright, enough nit-picking, let's get to the beer

Ten Hills Pale Ale pours a mildly hazy orange color with a high amount of visible carbonation.The head is quite soapy but the lacing is pretty good.

The nose has some nice orange peel and floral hop notes with some nice caramel sweetness and even a decent pale malt backbone thrown in for good measure.

The flavor is mainly floral hops, pale malts, mild citrus, lemon zest and a mildly bitter/resiny aftertaste but is otherwise fairly dry. The overall palate is pretty lightweight and comes along with some moderate carbonation, giving it a nice crisp feel.

All and all, I think Ten Hills Pale Ale is a solid addition to the Goose Island lineup and it's got a good enough flavor profile that I would have no problem buying this again if given the choice. Check it out for yourself and see what you think.

Goose Island Ten Hills - 8.5/10

The Duluth Experience Craft Beer Roundtable: The Drink of Opportunity

A couple days ago was the first of 4 events in the North Shore Craft Beer Roundtable hosted by The Duluth Experience. The idea behind the event is to give people a behind-the-scenes look at the craft brewing scene in the area. I have been given the privilege to help promote this event as well as meet some pretty awesome people and getting a great perspective into the craft beer scene here on the North Shore. Cheers to Lake Superior Brewing for providing free complimentary beer during Sunday's event!

The first session, The Drink of Opportunity, focused on the business of running brewery or brewpub. Moderated by The Duluth Experience's Paul Helstrom, the panel consisted of 5 brewery owners:

• Tim Nelson - Fitger's Brewhouse
• Steve Knauss - Thirsty Pagan Brewing
• Bryon Tonnis - Bent Paddle Brewing 
• Eddie Gleason - Carmody Irish Pub & Brewery
• Rockie Kavajecz - Canal Park Brewing

At the start of the panel discussion, a great question that was brought up about the challenges faced by the owners in terms of running a brewery. The big one for me was trying to educate the consumer about different beer styles and generating interest in craft beer in general. The last points touched upon in this topic included procuring resources for making beer as well as getting together the funding needed for starting a brewery.

The next topic covered was about laws and regulations. The big talking points were regarding a brewpub's right to distribute commercially (or lack thereof) and the need for Sunday Growler Sales, which is looking very likely this year. Another good big discussion topic were the laws, regulations and politics surrounding the brewing industry as a whole, both on a local and statewide scale, and how that has been evolving as the brewing scene grows stronger.

A couple other good points which were made during the panel included talking about the huge potential that the Twin Ports beer scene has to generate interest on a national scale in regards to tourism and the social aspect for the community; For example, artists and musicians.

The last topic touched upon was how homebrewing is driving education in the craft beer industry and how it's not only used as a measurement, but it also helps make people better brewers. Finally a issue brought up was recognizing how women are driving homebrewing now more than ever before. This was probably one of my favorite talking points because I feel that women in general are painfully underrepresented and/or misrepresented as a whole in the craft beer industry.

Overall I thought it was a very informative event which covered a wide array of great topics. If you missed this event, don't worry! There are still 3 more events which you can attend:

April 13th: “Crafting the North Shore Beer Scene” – The Brewers Roundtable

Moderated by: Tim Wilson – The Duluth Experience

• Dave Hoops – Fitger’s Brewhouse
• Dale Kleinschmidt – Lake Superior Brewing Co.
• Jason Baumgarth – Carmody Irish Pub & Brewery
• Jeremy King – Canal Park Brewing Co.
• Brian Schanzenbach – Blacklist Brewing

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/

If you weren't able to make it the first time around, here is your chance to attend one of these great and fun events! I hope to see you all there.

Cheers!

- Nick

Sierra Nevada Harvest Single Hop IPA Review

Name: Sierra Nevada Harvest Single Hop IPA
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.5%

Sierra Nevada Brewing has been releasing quite a few beers lately which focus on specific types of hops; Usually in the form of a 22oz. bomber bottle. Their latest creation utilizes a brand new experimental hop called ” Yakima” and is the sole hop style used in this single hop IPA. On the label, it calls itself a "100-Day IPA" and advises the drinker not to store it but drink it now, which leads me to believe that this is a fresh-hop IPA; 'Tis the season I suppose!

Harvest Single Hop pours a clear golden color with a thin foamy head. The visible carbonation is pretty mild and the lacing is abundant and sticky.

The aroma starts off with some strong cracked peppers & an earthy pale maltiness. On the back end are some fairly fruity notes which consist of blueberries, orange peel and citrus. The nose.....is interesting to say the least.

The flavor is very pepper forward with notes of bitter notes, blueberry fruitiness, orange peel and pale/earthy malts. The aftertaste is also quite bitter but not overwhelmingly so. The palate is more on the heavier side and the carbonation is more or less at a moderate level.

It's always fun and interesting to see what kind of hops can be developed and how they can be profiled to the general public. With that said, though, Yakima would not be my first choice for a single hop IPA. It's got an interesting flavor profile that would go great if paired with Cascade and/or Centennial Hops but I feel that it really needs other hops to help balance out the overall taste.

Still, it tastes decent and it's well-priced. I say try a bottle out (I only paid $4 for this) and decide for yourself.

Sierra Nevada Harvest Single Hop IPA - 7/10

Rush River Minion IPA Review

Name: Rush River Minion IPA
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6%

Thanks to our neighbors over in Superior, Wisconsin, I have gotten the opportunity to review and try out many beers that I otherwise would not have been able to try out via growler. Tonight I have a growler full of a Rush River Minion IPA. They have a couple other IPAs in their lineup, but Minion is only available on draft and not in a bottle.

Minion pours a clear dark golden color with a thin foamy head and moderate carbonation. There is no lacing left behind so it has a clean finish.

The aroma of starts out with a citrus hop and grapefruit scent. To go along that is a mild caramel maltiness and some slight yeasty notes.

The flavor is mainly citrus hops but there are also mild piney hops in here too. The caramel malts are a bit more prevalent here but the yeasts are just as mild as it was in the nose. It finishes off with a bitter resiny aftertaste. The palate as a whole feels pretty heavy body with some mild to moderate carbonation.

It's a pretty solid IPA, but it doesn't do anything different that we haven't already seen and plays it safe for the most part. Still, if you're out at a bar or get it in a growler like your's truly, I think you'll enjoy it!

Rush River Minion IPA - 8/10