Flat Earth Northwest Passage Review

Name: Flat Earth Northwest Passage
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.5%

It was 3 years ago this month that I visited Flat Earth Brewing for the first time back when I was living in the Twin Cities. Prior to going there, I had only recently heard of the brewery via word of mouth as this was during a time when I was still familiarizing myself with Minnesota's craft beer scene. This was also back when Flat Earth was located at their old facility located along West 7th Street.

During my tour, I got to try out a wide variety of beers and all of them were pretty good however there was one beer that stuck out to me the most: Northwest Passage IPA, named after the Canadian shipping route that goes through the lower portion of the Arctic Circle. Now it wasn't the flavor that made it memorable but the IBUs which clocked in at 115. Back then, it had the highest IBUs of any beer that was made in the Midwest and I'm not sure if this is still the case now.

In any case, I have already reviewed a wide array of Flat Earth's beers but I've never gotten around to reviewing Northwest Passage, despite my familiarity with this beer. Let's give this beer a proper review.

Northwest Passage pours a clear darker orange color with some mild visible carbonation. The head is thin in terms of appearance but it has some good lacing and it comes across as somewhat foamy.

The aroma has a fairly strong piney hop profile upfront with a strong caramel malt base. On the back of the nose is a strong grapefruitiness and citrus hoppiness. I'm not picking up on too much

The flavor is very piney & bitter hop forward with a solid toffee & carmael maltiness before the aftertaste opens up to a very strong hop bitterness with just a touch of yeastiness. Those 115 IBUs really start to shine through particularly on the back end of the flavor.

The body is on the lighter side but the carbonation is more on the stronger side. When you consider the flavor, I would've liked the carbonation to be lighter but it's a minor gripe.

Northwest Passage will provide hopheads the hop fix that they crave. It may be a little too bitter for some but I found this to be a very flavorful IPA and it's absolutely worth checking out should you get the opportunity.

Flat Earth Northwest Passage - 9/10

Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier Review

Name: Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier
Style: Munich Helles
ABV: 4.3%

It's been a long while since I've taken a look at anything from Schlenkerla, which is a brewery based out of Germany. In fact, the last time I had anything from them was when I had their Rauchbier during the infancy stages of this blog. Now I've been given the opportunity to review another beer from this brewery, which so happens to be their Helles Lagerbier.

Before I start this beer, I want to throw out that I haven't been reviewing as many imported craft beer as I would like. Hopefully from this point forward, I can make reviewing them more of a priority.

The beer hazy yellow color with a high amount of visible carbonation. The head is very thin white color with no visible lacing.

The aroma has some strong smoked malts and light roastiness, followed by some yeastiness, pale malts and a light floral hoppiness. Just like their Rauchbier, it smells like a bonfire.

The flavor is quite smoky with some smoked & pale malts, lager yeasts, floral hops and a very light roastiness. The aftertaste is surprisingly dry with just a light smokiness.

The body is pretty light in terms of weight and the carbonation is just a couple notches above what I would consider to be mild, but at the same time, it's not moderate either.

Like the Rauchbier before it, Helles Lagerbier shows to be a great tasting beer that, to an extent, treads some familiar territory with the flavor. Regardless, anyone who wants an authentic German beer will no doubt find something to love about this.

Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier - 8.5/10

Bauhaus Brew Labs Wonderstuff Review

Name: Bauhaus Brew Labs Wonderstuff
Style: Pilsner
ABV: 5.4%

I have one more can from Bauhaus Brew Labs that I have in my fridge, so I figured today would be a good day to review this. The beer in question is their Wonderstuff Pilsner. It's been a long while since I've reviewed any Pilsners, so what better way to break that dry spell than with a Pilsner that is local?

Wonderstuff pours a hazy yellow color with no visible carbonation. The head is very white and foamy & the lacing is suprrisngly abundant.

The aroma starts out with some prominent Pilsner malts & grassiness before settling in with some light citrus hops, and lager yeasts.

The flavor is fairly pilsner & pale malt forward with some grassiness, moderate citrus & bitter hops and ends with a lager yeast and bitter hop aftertaste.

The body is light but the carbonation starts to pick up and ends up being moderate. The body as a whole feels nice, crisp, and refreshing.

Pilsners aren't usually the first goto style for myself, but I enjoyed Wonderstuff alot more than I thought I would! After having a few of their offerings, I'm really excited to see what else this brewery will have to offer beer drinkers in the near future.

Bauhaus Brew Labs Wonderstuff - 8.5/10

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

Crow Peak 11th Hour IPA Review

Name: Crow Peak 11th Hour IPA 
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.5%

Tonight I'm trying out my very first South Dakota beer, which would be Crow Peak Brewing's 11th Hour IPA. Crow Peak Brewing is based out of Spearfish, SD. I'll admit that when I think of South Dakota, the first thing that pops into my head is not craft beer, but I've heard about this brewery a few times from my cousin, who travels to South Dakota on a regular basis to visit his wife's family so I'm very eager to try this out!

11th Hour IPA pours a very clear orange color with no visible carbonation to speak of. The head is on the foamier side and the lacing is plentiful.

The nose starts off with a strong floral hoppiness that is followed up with an equally strong citrus hop profile. The back end of the aroma is a nice toffee and caramel malt sweetness.

With the flavor, it's fairly identical to the nose. You have a hop profile upfront which is a blend of floral and citrus hops with a toffee malt and light apricot finish.

The palate is pretty moderate both in terms of weight and carbonation. It's what you would expect out of an IPA: Not too light nor is is too heavy but just right.

11th Hour doesn't do anything I haven't already seen with an IPA but it is certainly drinkable and very flavorful at that. After having this, I'm very eager to see what else Crow Peak has in store for craft beer drinkers out there!

Crow Peak 11th Hour IPA - 8.5/10

South Shore Nut Brown Ale Review

Name: South Shore Nut Brown Ale
Style: Brown Ale
ABV: 5.25%

It's been a while since I've taken a look at anything from South Shore Brewery. My first impression of the brewery with their blonde ale was not what I would call favorable, but a few weeks ago I had today's beer on tap at Sir Ben's and was impressed with how it tasted. So I took it upon myself to seek this out in bottle form to do a proper review.

The beer pours a dark brown color with a thin white head. Lacing is pretty moderate but I'm not picking up on any visible carbonation.

The nose is chocolate malt and roasted barley forward. I'm also picking up on some floral hoppiness and some toffee maltiness as well.

The flavor is chocolate and toffee malt forward with a mild floral hoppiness and some light roastiness on the back end of the flavor. As for the aftertaste, it's a blend of bitter hops and roasted barley. The palate is moderate in terms of weight and the carbonation is also fairly moderate.

Overall it's a pretty good brown ale. It's by no means a complex beer but it's a good tasting beer. I'm not sure how widely available this is, but it's worth trying out if you ever see it.

South Shore Nut Brown Ale - 8/10

Surly SeVIIn Review: Reloaded (A look back)

Name: Surly SeVIIn
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
ABV: 12.5%

It's hard to believe it's been almost a year and a half since I last looked at Surly SeVIIn when my blog was still in its infancy. I remember it being an extremely awesome beer and kicked myself for not holding onto a couple more for aging as temptation got the better of me.

Well last week as I was driving home from Applebee's with my wife, I noticed that a local liquor store was going out of business and all craft beer was on sale. So I pulled into the parking lot and headed inside while my wife waited in the car. As I was scanning the shelves for some good deals when I noticed that there were some bottles of Surly SeVIIn sitting in the cooler and without a second thought, I grabbed a few of them; Talk about luck!

With the release of Surly Eight around the corner, I've decided to visit this old favorite of mine. Needless to say, I'm excited to take another look at Surly SeVIIn after it was allowed to age in the right conditions for a year in a half. I will be comparing my original notes (in italics) from July 2013 to now.

SeVIIn pours a mildy hazy dark brown & red color with a brown head that extends to about a finger in width. There's also a moderate amount of carbonated activity going on inside the glass.

Well, not much has changed here. The color and appearance are still pretty much the same. The carbonation is still fairly active even after a year and a half of being bottled up.

The nose can be summed up into one word: Bananas. Okay that's not 100% true but the strongest aspect of the aroma is bananas which are followed by cloves, caramelized malts, and a slight citrus hoppiness; Reminds me almost of a strong hefeweizen.

That banana scent has become more secondary to the strong caramel maltiness that is apparent upfront. You can still pick up on the banana, cloves and even some rye spiciness but it's more blended together with the candied caramel malts.

Flavor-wise it's much more balanced out. Upfront you have cloves, bananas and caramel; which are followed by rye, oak, and wheat. There is a very slight boozy feel to the flavor but it pretty much blends in with the flavor so it's pretty easy to miss.

The first thing I noticed is that the rye aspect is much more aggressive, particularly on the front of the palate. Aside from that, the caramelized malts, cloves, banana-sweetness, oats, and wheat aspects are still loud and clear. The Belgian yeasts are also a bit more prominent and the booziness is actually not as strong as it was before.

The body is fairly light as well as the carbonation so it's pretty easy to drink and it allows you to enjoy the flavors in which the beer has to offer.

The palate, again, hasn't changed much if even at all. However, with the rise of the rye characteristic, it does take on a bit of a stingy quality but not enough to interfere with the overall drinking experience.

I have to say that age has been kind to Surly SeVIIn and I'm glad that I've gotten the chance to drink this again. I will definitely be hanging onto a bottle for aging purposes. With that in mind, I'm eagerly awaiting the release of Surly Eight, along with the opening of Surly's brand new destination brewery!