Weekly Duluth Beer Roundup for June 15, 2014

Since the my last post regarding the Duluth Craft Beer Scene received was mostly positive, I will continue doing these Roundup posts every week if I'm able to do so. This week was a busy one for me and I'm still in the process of getting everything unpacked and set up from my move a couple weeks back. Between work and all of that, I was only able to venture out to one brewpub this week and that was Thirsty Pagan Brewing over in Superior, WI.

Since I was last there they have added a ton of seasonal beers to their lineup. Around September of last year it was around maybe 3-4 seasonals but this time around I counted 9 and a couple of which caught my eye to the point where I just had to try it out.

Thirsty Pagan Rauchbier (5.5% ABV) - Finally, a Rauchbier (smoked beer) that is locally made and it has been a long time since I've had a good Rauchbier. It starts out with a solid smoked malt flavor followed up with some mild but nice hoppiness before ending with some lightly toasted barley. Definitely lighter in terms of appearance, body and even a little bit in the flavor than what I'm used to seeing in Rauchbiers but I would still highly recommend checking this out!

Thirsty Pagan India Pale Lager (6.7% ABV) - It's nice to see that the IPL-style is starting to gain traction amongst the craft beer crowd. This starts out with a nice citrus and piney hop profile with a solid pale malt base and a bitter resiny aftertaste. I usually see IPLs come out around the springtime so this makes for a very nice seasonal.

Thirsty Pagan The Patriot (4.8% ABV) - A Pilsner made with All-American malts and hops, hence it's name. This has a nice floral hop profile backed up by a Pilsner malt base with a hint of oakiness thanks to the hops used in this beer. The light body and relatively mild carbonation give this a nice crisp and clean finish.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this. Hopefully I will have inspired some of you to go out and try these beers out if you get the chance.

Cheers!

- Nick

Weekly Duluth Beer Roundup for June 9, 2014

About a week ago, I talked about wanting to do a weekly post dedicated to the craft beer/brewpub scene here in Duluth/Superior/North Shore Area. Well, consider this to be the first post of (hopefully) many depending on the response that I get. With these posts, I hope I can raise awareness of the craft beer scene here along the North Shore and convince some of you to come up here and try our beer.

They will typically be in lieu of my Minnesota Craft Beer Week posts in terms of formatting. Expect to see mini-reviews of the beers I've had because let's face it, there is no way possible I could review every beer made by every brewery here in-depth because it is literally changing everyday. As such, some beers which I look at may not be available at times because it's either a seasonal, rotating, or a one time only beer.

This week, I have 3 beers from two different breweries: Canal Park Brewing and Fitger's Brewhouse. Next time, I will be sure to take pictures!

Canal Park 40 Acre Saison - Canal Park's Spring Seasonal Saison. This golden colored beer has a very nice Belgian yeast profile with some cracked peppers and pale malts, along with a some floral hop flavors. A bit on the stronger side (7.6% ABV) as far as Saisons go but quite good!

Canal Park Resonation #1 Belgian IPA - One of the newest selections to be added to the Canal Park lineup. The Belgian yeasts profile here is a lot stronger than 40 Acre in terms of intensity. It's also got some fairly strong heavy floral/resin hoppiness to boot. I've been craving some good Belgian IPAs for a while and this fits the bill.

Fitger's Brewhouse Timmy's Edelstoff - The Brewhouse's seasonal Munich Helles Lager and the first Fitger's beer that I've ever had when I first visited my Dad a couple years back when I still lived in Chicago. I've had this beer every year for the past couple of years and it's a lot more hop-forward this year than I recall, almost taking on some EPA-like characteristics. It's got some strong floral hoppiness with a solid pale malt base and a solid yeast and biscuit flavor. With all of that said, I still enjoyed this beer quite a alot and it's always fun to revisit this beer every year!

That's it for the weekly round-up. I promise that next week I will take more photos because I don't like drab looking posts with no visuals to speak of. To anyone reading this, I sincerely hope you get to try these beers out!

Cheers!

- Nick