Third Street Brewhouse Spotlight Review

Name: Third Street Brewhouse Spotlight
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7.3%

Last year I did a review of Cold Spring Brewing's IPA and found it to be very lacking and made a good argument that quantity is not always better than quality. Since that review, the brewery itself has pretty much completed their metamorphosis to become the Third Street Brewhouse. I bring this up because today I have Third Street's Spotlight IPA, which is the brewery's newest release, at least to my knowledge. Since it's been a while since I've had anything from the brewery itself, it's time to see how this stacks up to their old IPA.

Spotlight pours a dark yellow color with a fair amount of haze floating around and some mild visible carbonation.

The aroma starts off with a solid grapefruit scent along with some citrus hops and a bit of a apricot sweetness. There is also some caramel maltiness in here too but everything else seems a bit more prominent.

The flavor has some fairly strong piney/resin hop bitterness to it along with some citra hops and mild caramel maltiness. It's not exactly what you'd call a West Coast-style IPA.

The body is more on the lighter side in terms of weight with a slight thickness. The carbonation is fairly low so it's not exactly an intense beer to drink.

Compared to their old IPA, this is by far a much better beer and the improvement in quality is definitely a welcome change. With that said, it hasn't done anything that I already haven't seen before in an IPA but you aren't making a bad choice by buying a six-pack of this either.

Third Street Brewhouse Spotlight - 8/10

Third Street Sugar Shack Maple Stout Review

Name: Third Street Sugar Shack Maple Stout
Style: Stout
ABV: 6.5%

It's time to make our way back to snowy Minnesota and look at a winter seasonal from Third Street Brewhouse, which I have mentioned in a previous post, was formed by the owners of Cold Spring Brewery to better position themselves in the craft beer market.

The beer in question is Sugar Shack, a stout brewed with maple syrup, which comes from Saint John’s Abbey Arboretum, located at the St. John's University campus in Collegeville, MN. The brewery, located in Cold Spring, is about 10 miles from the St. John's campus.

Sugar Shack pours a dark brown color with a filmy brown head. I'm picking up some slight carbonation along the sides of the glass and there isn't any lacing to be seen here.

The nose starts out with a pungent maple syrup and chocolate malt smell. I'm picking up some light hoppiness as well, but it's a rather malt-forward and I'm not getting any roastiness interestingly enough.

Contrary to the nose, Flavor-wise it's quite roasty with notes of roasted barley, maple syrup, chocolate, and roasted malts. The aftertaste has a sweet maple flavor to it along with some bitter hoppiness.

The body and overall palate is light & creamy. To add to the drinkability, it's lightly carbonated so you shouldn't have any trouble drinking this.

All and all, Sugar Shack is a pretty good stout overall. The maple syrup could've a stronger role in the flavor and some people will be turned off by the idea of maple syrup-flavored beer but it works out fine just the way it is.

Thirs Street Sugar Shack Maple Stout - 8/10

Third Street Brewhouse Three Way Review

Name: Third Street Brewhouse Three Way
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.2%

I picked up a couple more offerings from Third Street Brewhouse a couple of weeks ago. As some of you may know, they are the offshoot of Cold Spring Brewing based out of Cold Springs, Minnesota. Lately they have been releasing a wider selection of beer styles and Three Way Pale Ale is one of their newest entries. For those with a dirty mind, the name Three Way refers to the 3 types of hops used in the beer.

Three Way pours a dark hazy orange color with a semi foamy head. The carbonation is fairly high and it has some good lacing retention.

The nose starts out with a strong lemon zestiness with some bready yeast notes to compliment it. To round it out are some floral & piney hops.

The flavor takes on more of a bready characteristic with floral & citrus hops and pale malts. The aftertaste is mainly floral hoppiness and lemon zest; Almost reminds me of a pilsner.

The palate is fairly moderate in terms of weight and carbonation, as expected, is quite high. These qualities give it a fairly crisp feel.

Three Way likes to call itself for a sessionable ale and I think it does a pretty good job of doing just that. The flavor isn't particularly complex, but it is good enough to the point that I would consider buying it again.


Third Street Brewhouse Three Way - 8/10

Third Street Brewhouse Rise to the Top Review

Third Street Brewhouse was formed recently by the owners of Cold Spring Brewing in response to the negative reception their beers had gotten, thanks in part to the outdated equipment they had been using. Well $12 Million was invested to create a brand new brewery and they are now found throughout Minnesota.

Rise to the Top is a Cream Ale with 4.1% ABV. Due to the positive response that Third Street Brewhouse has gotten, many fans of this beer have drawn comparisons to New Glarus' Spotted Cow; Which also happens to be a Cream Ale. Tonight, I'm gonna see if it's actually true.

To start, it pours a hazy yellow color with a soapy white head. Not really much in terms of lacing so it finishes pretty clean.

The nose consists mainly of pale malts, flaked corn, yeasts and barley. Doesn't smell quite as sweet as Spotted Cow but you can see where there are similarities. The flavor is yeasts, pale malts, flaked corn, and barley. Not as sweet as Spotted Cow and a bit grassy in it's taste but it's still quite drinkable.

The body is light in weight and the carbonation is quite mild. Like Spotted Cow, this is very easy to drink.

Is it as good as Spotted Cow? Not Quite. Does it have some things in common with Spotted Cow? Yes

It's not quite as sweet and it's a bit grassy in it's overall flavor, but it's still very drinkable and quite good. I had a 6-pack of this on the 4th of July so it makes for a decent session beer and it's good for a hot day.

Third Street Brewhouse Rise to the Top - 7.5/10

Cold Spring IPA Review

Name: Cold Spring IPA
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.5%

Cold Spring Brewing brings back memories of visiting my friends at St. Cloud State University in Central Minnesota for one particular reason: Hackstein Light, the cheapest and probably the nastiest beer I have ever had. Hackstein was the staple of every kid at SCSU who drank beer and you could buy a 24 pack for literally $6.59 up in St. Cloud just 8 Years Ago. We in the Twin Cities had Natty Ice but my friends in St. Cloud had Hackstein, or "Hacks" as they called it. It was the lifeblood of Frat Boys and beer drinkers at SCSU and Cold Spring Brewing was to thank for that.

Hey Brah, let's shotgun some Hacks and order some Domino's!

From what I understand, Hackstein was discontinued a few years ago and their main focus has been Third Street Brewhouse, a "state-of-the-art" brewing facility which was formed after the owner of Cold Spring Brewing wanted to revitalize their business and become a prominent player in the Craft Beer Industry. You know they want to change for the better when the owner of the brewery, Doug DeGeest, openly admits that their beers have not been up to par with what they want thanks to the outdated equipment they have been using. So far, I think Third Street Brewhouse has worked out surprisingly well for them and I'm glad to see that it paid off. The beers they've released under the Third Street brand have also been really tasty, especially their Rise to the Top Cream Ale; Check it out if you haven't already!

Aside from that, their other focus has been contract brewing for 21st Amendment & starting soon Alpine Brewing, which I understand has a pretty high reputation on the West Coast so I'll have to keep my eyes on that.

For the time being, we're going to be looking at one of Cold Spring Brewing's own products, their Cold Spring IPA. On the label, it proudly states that it is Dry Hopped and Double Hopped and it also comes in a Double Pint Can, which is a quart of beer or 32 oz. In fact, it's probably the largest can of beer I probably will ever come across. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, refer to the picture below...

As you can see, it's a pretty damn big can and I only picked it up for $2.59, not a bad deal. I did mention earlier, however, that the owner was not satisfied with the quality of his product so let's take a look at the actual beer.

It pours a dark hazy orange with a yellow tinge on the bottom. Head pours around 1 finger in width and has some pretty good retention and the lacing isn't half bad either.

The nose has some strong dry floral hops, yeasts and malty notes. I use the term "strong" not in a powerful sort of sense, but because dry hops used here give the aroma an almost chalky-like quality to it. The flavor's hop profile is very mild and has a pine-like taste to it, and there are some mild citrus, yeast and malty notes to go along with it. There's also a chalk & rust-like quality to the flavor that hard to put my finger on; Aftertaste is a bitter dry hop finish.

The body is moderate in weight and the carbonation is light so you won't have a hard time drinking this and it actually feels pretty crisp.

I can totally understand why Mr. DeGeest admitted his beer quality was poor, because this is not a great IPA. The dry hops used give it a chalky taste and the flavor overall is too mild and metallic for my liking. In Cold Spring's defense, they are changing the way they're doing business and it has worked out very well for them so far. I expect good things for Cold Spring Brewing/Third Street Brewhouse in the future.

Cold Spring IPA - 4.5/10