A visit to American Sky Brewing

Over Labor Day weekend while I was down in the Twin Cities for the State Fair, I decided to pay a visit to a couple of breweries over in Hudson, Wisconsin on a nice sunny Sunday afternoon. I was invited by Frank, who hosts the Minnesota Skinny Radio Hour on Sizzlin' 99.9, over to American Sky Brewery where we met up for Beer and Free Bacon.

Upon entering the taproom, the first thing that popped into my head was that it was exactly how I had imagined it would look. It resembled a giant airplane hanger and adorned on the wall were photographs of men & women, both past and present, in uniform. Even the bar itself looked like it was ripped from a World War 2-era hanger.

While we were there, I decided to get a flight along with some bacon and try out the offerings that the brewery taproom had to offer on a cool propeller flight board. All the while we were talking about beer, culture, politics, and everything else in-between.

Amber Salute (5.5% ABV) - Starts out with a solid roasty maltiness with some nuttiness and a sweet malty and light dry hop finish. Nothing that I haven't already seen in an Amber Ale before but it was drinkable and quite good.

Tailgunner Blonde Ale (5.0% ABV) - I want to make a formal apology to American Sky on this one. In my original review, I said that this beer was bland, unremarkable and that anyone looking for a decent blonde ale should pass this one up. Upon having this again, I noticed a vast improvement in terms of flavor. Everything from the pale maltiness, the hop profile and even the overall quality were much better from when I had it in a bottle, which leads me to believe that the bottle I had was older.

Wombat Combat Belgian White IPA (6.3% ABV) - Starting out with a nice citrus hop profile, this beer has some nice Belgian yeastiness and a nice wheat malt base. White IPAs have been gaining popularity in recent years and this is one example as to why that is.

Hellcat Munich Helles (5.2% ABV) - A nice, lightly hopped Helles lager with a good pale malt backbone. Considering that it was a was a nice, warm summer afternoon, it's a perfect beer for such an atmosphere.

Red Tail Oktoberfest (5.6% ABV) - Is it fall already? Well, it's pretty darn close when you start seeing Oktoberfest beers on tap. Red Tail has a solid Munich Malt base with a nice mild hoppiness, light boozy and roastiness. Not overly complex but it was nice!

Dogfight Sorachi Ace Saison (9.2% ABV) - The brewery's Saison. In addition to a strong Belgian Yeast profile, there's also a prominent lemon and berry sweetness and a light hoppiness and dill tanginess on the end of the palate. I can safely say that if this were available in my area, this would definitely be a regular of mine.

All and all, me and Frank had a great time at American Sky....and we weren't finished! After finishing up, we made our way over to the other Hudson-based brewery. Stay tuned for my next post as I revisit an old favorite of mine: Pitchfork Brewing!