Fitger's Brewhouse

Seems like every beer festival I go to, Fitger's Brewhouse in Duluth has one of my favorites.  At Great Taste of the Midwest, they poued a Peace Coffee Porter that was awesome.  At ABR, they had a very nice Belgian.  So on my trip to the North Shore last weekend, I made sure we stopped there for lunch. We ordered up a sampler and dove in. 

On the lighter end, the Apricot Wheat was surprisingly good and one of the better fruit beers I've had, with just the right balance of apricot and wheat tang.  Their Starfire Pale Ale is a very good APA, with a hoppy but drinkable bitterness level. Their Amsterdam Ale was interesting, a Belgian Pale Ale they call a lager/ale hybrid that had a nice, dry finish but thin lager-like body. The Backcheck Brown was a nice combination of the dryness of an English Brown with the sweet malty backbone and thicker mouthfeel of an American. Bonspiel Bock was a tasty dark bock that rounded out a very solid base of beers aimed at the everyday beer drinker.

But I was there for the big boys.  The first of their growler worthy offerings was the El Nino Double Hopped IPA, which has a dense hop flavor and enough hop bitterness for even the biggest hophead.  With 6 different hops, it has a big aroma, bigger hop flavor and just enough maltiness to keep it from approaching SN Torpedo-like hop overload.  They must use a ton of hops to get such a copious amount of grapefruit, citrus peel, pine and resinous hop goodness. The bitterness really lingers on your tongue. I grabbed a growler of this, which was unfortunately almost totally flat. I know that making beer can be a batch-to-batch science lesson in dealing with fickle yeasts and bottling can be even more of an adventure, and I'm sure it was just that growler. Luckily, I was still in the area so when I returned I mentioned it to the person working in the brewstore, who just happened to be the brewstore manager, Angela, and she insisted that I take another to replace it.  There's nothing better than a business that stands behind their product with great customer service.  Give her a raise. (Wait...I do that...give me a raise, too)

Next up was Big Boat Oatmeal Stout, which has to be one of the better Oatmeal Stouts I've had.  Big roast on this one, with dark chocolate malts and a spectucular creamy mouthfeel. This is a must try if you're there, as the nitrogen and oats makes it insanely smooth. I really wanted to get a growler of this one, but I know it might not be the same without nitro, so I opted instead to bring back one of their awesome 11.5%ABV Edmunds Bourbon-Barrel Imperial Stout.  Now this is what I'm taking about, with huge bourbon flavor from 8 months in Jim Beam barrels, but none of the cloying sweetness of Goose Island BCS. As it warmed, the boozy heat settled into the vanilla roastiness to make a massive brew. It also has a nice underlying coffee flavor that mixes well with the oak, but the bourbon is the star here.

Our food was above average for brewpub fare and I'd highly recommend a trip here if you're within driving distance.

Nemesis

If Founder's makes a beer, I'll drink it.  I don't think that's an uncommon feeling around here (and by "around here" I mean "the world").  Nemesis is gonna be different every year, and this one is a 12%ABV wheat wine with 70 IBU's.  They use the same barrels as Canadian Breakfast Stout, which are maple syrup barrels that are filled with Kentucky bourbon, drained and filled with beer. They are then put in Founder's underground cave alongside Kentucky Breakfast Stout for 9 months.  This one will defintiely challenge your palate, the 70 IBU's getting pushed aside by the malty sweet, vanilla and bourbon flavors.  We got one case, so there's a 2 bottle limit per person on this one.  Have @ it.

Un-retired Unplugged

Well, RateBeer is gonna have to change the listing for the next New Glarus Unplugged.  They currently list Abt, a Belgian quad similar in style to Westvlteren 12 trappist ale, as retired...but it's coming back. It sits at #25 on their abt/quadruple list, which isn't bad considering the first time they made this was 2007. That time around it was an 11%ABV Brettanomyces yeast quad aged first in oak and then bourbon barrels.  It's a complex and sweet dessert-in-a-glass type brew that borders on barleywine.

Abt will be the next Unplugged release scheduled for May, so we should have it in store the middle of that month.

Bell's Batch 9000

After what seemed like forever, we finally got Bell's Batch 9000. Everyone has been looking forward to this one. As Bell's seems to do on a regular basis, they are giving the customer what they asked for with this 12.7%ABV, huge, rich Imperial Stout. In the press release for this, Larry Bell says, "Remember 7000? Well that was kind of weak, so we are trumping up that recipe to make something bold. You want something for the cellar? You got it." Bell's has quite an impressive stable of Stouts and have proven they know what they're doing with greats like Expedition, Kalamazoo and the recent Rye Stout release. Another one for the cellar.

We hate to do this, but we only received 2 cases, so we will be limiting purchases to 3 bottles per person. We have been getting an avalanche of calls for it and want to make sure everyone gets to try it. Thanks for understanding.

Creamy Coffee Awesomeness

We often have to do some work getting in the sought after beers that the type of people who read this blog like to buy. The current state of hype in the craft beer world makes them spread that much thinner. We have to make our distibutors aware of what we want, in particular with new or special releases. We get lots of funny looks on stuff they've never heard of, but try to get because we ask for it. We often have to hound distributors to make sure we have a spot on allocation lists.  Even then it doesn't always work out.  Sometimes it works better to contact the breweries themselves to get better availability.  I can't imagine the amount of requests some of the popular breweries must get. It's gotta be like working as a traffic cop.

In the end, it's really the fun part of the job.  And don't think we're doing it all for the customer, cause we want 'em, too.

Then sometimes a beer just falls out of the sky.  Central Waters Brewhouse Coffee Stout ($10.99, 4-pack) isn't even listed on their 2010 schedule.  We get weekly requests for it, but don't really know what to tell people.  We had it in late 2009, but not since. I don't know how often they make it or when.  I just know it's creamy coffee awesomeness and we got some more today, so have @ it.

Almost forgot..."Suck it, Trebeck"

2nd Annual Casanova Beer Cave Festival

All right...let's do this s**t!

150 tickets will go on sale Monday March 1st for $25.  In  addition, we will be selling 50 early entry tickets that will get you in an hour early (noon) for $30. Make sure to ask if you want an early entry ticket. Your ticket price includes a 5oz. tasting glass. The festival will be on Saturday, May 1st from 1-5PM. We've working on some good stuff for this year's festival, so here goes. 

Last year we poured 76 different brews and hope to be around that this year. We currently have commitments from reps from the following breweries to be here:

Goose Island
Merchant Du Vin Importers
Bells
Artisinal Imports
New Glarus
Dogfish Head
Founders
Chimay
Magic Hat
Pyramid
Lift Bridge

We also have commitments from:

Marc Buttera, brewer and founder of O'so Brewing.
Anello Mollica, Head Brewer of Central Waters.
David Anderson, owner/brewer of Dave's BrewFarm.
Chris Staples, minister of propaganda/owner of Furthermore Beer.
Kevin, a beer ranger for New Belgium

We are also working on some other cool stuff, including a keg of a seasonal from The Bruery in California. 

We will have food available to buy as well.

This event sold out 2 weeks before and many more people called for tickets after that.  We will take phone orders with a credit card only. 715-386-2545.

And remember, we reserve the right to ask you to leave if you're being an a-hole.

"Suck it, Trebeck".

Rrrrrrrrrrumblllle

Versus

So there was a heavyweight bout in my living room last night.  Instead of the usual battle of my daughter pounding the crap out of me, it was Goose Island Bourbon County Stout and Tyranena Hopwhore against my tongue. 

First up was BCS, which is their Nightstalker Imperial Stout with a ton of bourbon flavor.  Goose Island is considered a pioneer in bourbon-barrel aging Stouts, with the first BCS coming out around 1995 to celebrate their 1000th batch at the original brewpub.  Now everyone is doing it, but BCS is probably the biggest, bringing 13%ABV and a huge dark fruit sweetness, although not as hot as I expected it to be.  This sipper is tasty at first , but by the end the sweetness really takes hold and drags you down.  I made it through the early rounds intact.

So after that, I decided to go to the total opposite extreme and drink a Hopwhore, a hop bomb of an Imperial IPA from the Tyranena Brewers Gone Wild series that is surely somewhere north of 9%ABV.  It has a great floral aroma and leaves a nice lacing down the sides of the pint glass. The caramel malt base can't hold up to the citrus hop onslaught and bitter finish, yet it has a nice creamy body that keeps it drinkable.  But it's still hoppy as hell and a huge change from the sweetness of BCS.  I manage to finish it, but my head is spinning from the attack on my palate and liver.

I felt like I had went through a heavyweight bout with these 2 brews, so to top it off I had a Three Floyds Robert the Bruce to cool down. Nice. Then I fell asleep on the couch.  What? It was almost 1AM.

Anyway, my point is that you should challenge yourself occasionally. If not to broaden your beer horizons, then just to abuse your tongue. 

It can take it...in fact it wants you to....

Central Waters Reserve

There seems to be a bunch of good beers rolling in this week, and 2 we are getting the most calls about are finally here. Anello at Central Waters is a master at barrel aging, and anyone who's had anything from their Brewers Reserve series can attest to that. If you haven't had Central Waters Peruvian Morning ($11.99, 4-pack), it's not to be missed. As a fan of Coffee Stouts, I think it deserves to be put right up there with the best of them.  I would suggest aging it a little, as a bottle of last years that I held on to for 6 or 7 months seemed to smooth out nicely. I'd like to have kept it longer, but lasting that length of time was an impressive feat for me.  Coffee beers have a short life at my house (coffee beans don't last very long either). I just tried this year's and it is absolutely phenomenal, with a perfect balance of coffee and bourbon flavors doing a happy dance in your mouth.  I must drink this every day!

This is the first time we've been able to get their Bourbon-Barrel Imperial Stout ($11.99, 4-pack), which according to their site is their most sought after beer.  These are my 2 favorite brews from Central Waters and definitely deserve much more love than they get from beer geek nation.  Luckily, this year the prices have come down and they've switched to four-packs, so both of these have turned in to a stellar value if you like Imperial Stouts. We still have a little bit of last year's Y2K Barleywine, and should be receiving their Bourbon-Barrel Barleywine and Bourbon-Barrel Cherry Stout sometime in early March.  I believe both of those are scheduled to be packaged next week. Have @ it.

Meat Dave

Look out you friggin' goats....Matacabras is here.  Dave's BrewFarm's Matacabras ($9.49, 6-pack) is finally in-store. It's a 8%ABV Dark Belgian Ale brewed with rye, "named after Spain's famed goat-killing northerly wind". I expect it to be a local favorite very soon.  Mr. Anderson himself will be here from 5-7PM this Friday night to pour samples of his brews, regale us with his tales of wonder and glow with pride as we have a taste and say, "wow". We will also have another keg of Matacabras on tap in the restaurant if you feel just a sample isn't enough.

Let the Madness Begin....Again

Here we go again.  It's our quadrannual (that's probably not right but you can correct me in the comments section...how's that for lazy) run for New Glarus Unplugged.  This time it's for Cherry Stout, a 6.6%ABV medium-bodied Stout made 8 different Wisconsin barleys and Wisconsin Montmorency cherries. This beer has a huge cherry flavor and just enough of a malt backbone that should keep everyone happy. Our rep dropped 5 cases off to get us through until Thursday, so have @ it.

Lift Bridge on Sundays

Looks like the boys from Stillwater have finally looked out the window and across the river.  If you like to drink local, Lift Bridge is a great place to start.  I first had their Farm Girl Saison at last year's Firkin Fest and loved it.  They've proven to be an industrious bunch, coming up with some very interesting brews and doing it all themselves by self-distributing. We finally have their Farm Girl and Crosscut Pale Ale in store, and they hope to release their 3rd brew in bottles, a brown ale, by September.  As usual with hot craft breweries, they can't keep up with demand and more bars want kegs of Farm Girl than they can keep up with.  It's good to see some Twin Cites craft breweries having success as there's plenty of demand to be met. 

Damn Statistics

In the craft beer world, hype can push brews and breweries to mythical status. Most of the top ones can back it up. When it comes to Three Floyds Brewing Company, I can throw out tons of stats about how popular their beer is.  Ratebeer.com's recent ratings put them at the top of heap for Best Brewers for 2009 and 2010. Various incarnations of their (brewery only-don't call us) Dark Lord Imperial Stout always anchor the Top 10 of sought-after beer lists.  In the just released Beer Advocate Best of 2010 issue, their Imperial IPA, Dreadnaught, was in the #12 spot of Most Wanted Beers and All-Time Top Beers on Planet Earth lists.

Their massively dry Black Sun Stout has been riding the top of the Beer Advocate and RateBeer Dry Stout list until it recently slipped to #3 on both. This is easily the driest Stout I've had, with underlying hints of licorice, chocolate and coffee. But they're barely there.  It's all about the hoppy dryness.

Alpha Klaus, their Christmas Porter, is currently the #7 American Porter on Beer Advocate and the #7 Imperial/Strong Porter on RateBeer.

Their 12%ABV sipper Behemoth, an immense and complex Barleywine, sits at #7 on RateBeer and Beer Advocate's Barleywine lists.

So....yeah...that all made me thirsty...um...what was my point here...?...that was it I guess...


Oh yeah...OK...we got a case of each of these, plus one of Gorch Fock, their German-style Helles Lager.

Have @ it. They won't last long. (Thanks, Lincoln, you rock)

Happy Anniversary to BGH!

Yeah...I can't believe it either.  I've been pumpin' out this garbage for a whole year? My wife has finally stopped accusing me of turning every trip out of the house into a blog-able event, but that's probably cause she seems to have given up on this whole beer geek thing just being a phase. And that's true, cause I've had too many awesome brews and met too many cool people to go back now. I'm sure you know what 'back' means (if not it's initals are BMC).  I think it actually started with a Pete's Wicked Ale about 15 or so years ago, with some Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to really get it rolling.  Maybe some Leines Red thrown in, back when that was the closest thing we got to craft beer.

Amazing where we have gotten to since then, with what's left of the free enterprise system allowing craft breweries to meet the demand of what the customer wants with a slow growth of microbreweries nationwide.  I knew the transformation was complete when my hometown of Tampa, formerly a law-inhibited, beer wasteland, fostered the growth of one of the better small craft breweries in the country, Cigar City. Now, head brewers for sought after breweries are rock stars and the beer geek nation chases after every small batch release with the vigor of a dog humping your leg. Craft beer fans now know much more about the ins-and-outs of the convoluted 3 tier distribution system simply by having to deal with the difficulties of getting the beers they want to try.  Every trip to another state includes a stop at a liquor store to find stuff they can't get at home.  Every trip to another city includes a stop at their best brewpub (it's not just me, is it?). All this interest then seems to lead to more knowledge of the mind-boggling array of different styles, which leaves some saying, "Hey, I want to try to make some myself". And there you have a boom of homebrewing and home brew clubs.  Interest in good beer seems to be increasing by the day, which makes those sought after brews that much harder to get, with our logical step being a blog to keep our customers in the know and our phone from ringing off the hook.  That was a year ago on Febuary 11th.  Wow...a friggin year. (I think the tradition for a 1st anniversary gift is paper...aren't beer labels made of paper...?...aw, you shouldn't have...)

But I'm not gonna go back and talk about all the crap that happened in the last year or complain about snarkism on BA or come up with some list of the most important craft beer events "as I see it" from the last year. I'm gonna look forward, cause there's some cool beers coming out and some cool stuff we've been working on for the store.

-It's gonna be a big month for New Glarus, with their next seasonal, Road Slush Oatmeal Stout, reaching the store next Thursday, the 11th, and the next Unplugged, Cherry Stout, getting here the following Thursday, the 18th.  Their new year-round Moon Man Pale Ale should be here around the end of the month.

-I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of Bell's Batch 9000, an Imperial Stout.  Bell's makes many spectacular Stouts and I have high expectations for this one.

-Surly doesn't package distribute outside of Minnesota, but I can't wait for 16 Grit (Abrasive Ale) in cans and the Four release.

-We're being told that Dogfish Head's new brewery expansion will result in all of their beers being available to us at some point in the future.

-On the Founders front, we've haven't gotten any feedback on Nemesis availability, but we have been guaranteed a case of KBS (March 13th release).  That won't last long.

-Oskar Blues will be releasing a new seasonal, Gubna, a single hop (Summit) Imperial IPA, around March 1st.  It will available through November to offset Ten Fidy.

-David Anderson from Dave's BrewFarm will finally be practicing his love on the world (thanks President Bush) with his first 6-pack release, Matacabras, coming next week.  All the green/wind/sustainability stuff aside, Dave's a great guy who makes great beer. He's gonna be huge!

-Ale Asylum and Great Lakes are hoping to extend their distribution to us early this year.  I'm looking forward having some Hopalicious, Triple Nova and Edmund Fitzgerald in my fridge.

-I've been hounding Lincoln Anderson from Three Floyds, who seems to have graciously knocked some heads together, resulting in at least some level of availability on their tasty seasonal bombers...soon hopefully. Dreadnaught baby!

-Furthermore will have a new brew coming out this year, and we're hoping to get a case of Thermo Refur, Aran's ode to his favorite vegetable, the beet.

-We're working feverishly on the 2nd Annual Casanova Beer Cave Festival, which will be held in the caves on Saturday, May 1st.  We already have some very cool commitments, including something special from The Bruery.

And all of that is just in the next couple months.  I see no reason that this barley pop roller coaster won't keep rolling forward with innovative brewers creating new brews for us to enjoy.  And isn't that what it's really all about?

Extra! Extra!

Wilson, Wisconsin Brewer See's Light at the End of the Tunnel!

No, Dave Anderson isn't dead.  But after much waiting, he's finally got some 6-pack bottles of Matacabras ready for the world. If you haven't had Matacabras, it's an awesome Belgian Dark Ale that weighs in at 8%ABV (maybe more).  I'm sure this will become DBF's flagship brew and a local favorite.  We hope to have it in store the week of Monday, February 8th, and are tentatively (that means it might not happen) planning an in-store tasting with none other than Mr.Anderson himself on that Friday, the 12th, from 5-7PM.  We will also be tapping our keg of Matacabras in the restaurant for the "1stEva" off-site draft pouring to commemorate the release.

In other DBF news, Dave and Pam "knocked their socks off" at last weekend's Isthmus Beer Festival in Madison. There's a blog recap here. Dave also said that the next DBF brew in sixers will probably be Cow Pie Stout, with my personal favorite Aubexxx coming out in bombers later.

Chocolate-covered Cherry

Into beer cocktails? I'm not sure if this qualifies, but while we still have it on tap, the restaurant is now pouring a Young's Double Chocolate Stout/New Glarus Belgian Red mix for a limited time. The sweet cherry of Belgian Red and the heavy chocolate of Young's DC combine to make a great dessert beer. Stop in for a pint...or four (not that we condone over-imbibing or encourage our bartenders to overserve anyone...I'm just saying...it's tasty and you may want more than one...or two...). So...yeah...anyway...thank you for your time.

Huzzah!

Congratulations are in order for 2 guys I am lucky enough to call friends. 

Jon, the GM at Stub & Herbs, has used a truly kick-ass tap list to put his place at #11 on the new Beer Advocate Best Beer Bars list in the newest issue of the magazine.  I was there a couple weeks ago and had 21st Amendment Monks Blood and Avery The Beast.  Crazy.

Ed at Heritage has used his infectous passion for everything beer to put his store at #26 on Rate Beer's Best Beer Retailers List. As I've said before, Ed could sell underwear to a pornstar and putting on cool events like Beer Geek Christmas seems to be paying off.  (Can I have my Life & Limb now?)

Both these guys are doing the dirty work and we're benefiting.  Congrats fellas.

Good News/Bad News

"For a quart of Ale is a dish for a king" -W.Shakespeare

Ever heard of a beer ranger?  Me neither.  Sounds like a cool job title, if not a cool job. I guess any job that has the word beer in it would be an acceptable (if not totally gnarly dude!) vocation.  New Belgium employs beer rangers, who travel the country making sure stores have what they need and bars clean their tap lines every 2 weeks, in a "selfless dedication to keep taps flowing and shelves stocked". They are a New Belgium "ambassador of good beer, good cheer and champion of quality assurance".  Sounds quite noble, almost Knights of the Round Table-like. The Fort Collins, Colorado brewery has chosen to dedicate their first ever leap into the deep pool of hoppiness that is India Pale Ale's after these hard-working defenders of all things New Belgium. I'll let them give the specifics:

While IPA is not technically a Belgian style, it was recently agreed upon that a hoppy offering from New Belgium was in order. Simcoe, Chinook and Cascade hops lead off the beer, with Cascade added again for dry-hopping. We're talking three pounds of hops per barrel resulting in a bright, citrus blast of hops riding a substantial, malty base. Pale and dark caramel malts bring out the hop aroma and flavor from start to finish. Ranger IPA offers 70 IBUs and is 6.5% ABV.

The bad news is that New Belgium won't be releasing the year-round Ranger IPA until February 1st. The good news is that we just received their new Folly sampler packs which, in addition to having 3 of their next (also as yet unreleased for this year) seasonal, Mighty Arrow Pale Ale, contains 3 Ranger IPA's. Along with Trippel, Abbey and Mothership Wit, Ranger will now make up their Explore series, which is given different, simpler labeling.  A good way, methinks, for NB to get their house in order.

Could It Be?

In news that has nothing to do with the store, but everything to do with my own personal happiness (despite what will be the unfortunate draining of my bank account) Deschutes Brewery out of Bend, Oregon just announced on their Twitter page that they hope to expand distribution into Minnesota sometime in 2010.  If pressed on the issue, I would say that my 2 favorite breweries are Three Floyds and Deschutes, with Deschutes Abyss being my hands-down favorite beer.  Their Black Butte XXI Imperial Porter would be a close third behind FFF Dark Lord.  Yeah...it's that good.  I just drank a bomber my brother sent me of their Flanders-style Brown Ale Dissident over the weekend.  Their brewers are so concerned about the bacteria from this brew that when they bottle this tasty sour they bring in a totally separate bottling line. Their Barleywine Mirror Mirror and Imperial IPA Hop Henge are also very good, not to mention a very solid 6-pack line. With Three Floyds, New Glarus and Stone available on this side and Deschutes and Surly across the river, local beer geeks will be in a very enviable position (and with lots of good trade bait). You may now rejoice in the streets.

Chris Staples is still awesome

Since I haven't heard from them lately, I had a few questions for Furthermore Beer's minister of propaganda Chris Staples.  They expanded their distribution into Philadelphia last year, which sounds like a strange jump until you find  out that head brewer Aran Madden is from Pittsburgh.  Chris said,"Pennsylvania is going well. Philly has beer and is drinking it. Pittsburgh gets their first order in two weeks. We picked it because Philly asked for us and is a killer beer city and because Aran is from Pitty."

After begging (so far unsuccessfully) for a case of this years Thermo Refur, which is unleashed upon Madison and Milwaukee March 1st, Chris did divulge that Furthermore will have a new brew coming out this year.  He would not say what it will be, but judging from their current stable of beers, something involving Colt 45 yeast and South American rabbit snot can't be too far off base.  Anyway, we'll be looking forward to it...and having another Makeweight.

Puttin' the Imperial in Saison

Ah......the beauty of modern communication.  While trading emails with Jeff Schaefer from New Glarus Brewing, it came up that they still had some Unplugged Imperial Saison at the brewery if we were interested.  Well, of course we were....and now it's here.  If you haven't had it, it's a  8.7% ABV Saison made with ginger and grains of paradise.  It has a much thicker mouthfeel than a typical Saison, with a rare Belgian yeast that gives it an amazing apricot flavor.  This beer is very sharp with a tart finish, but it has a nice sweetness mixed in that makes it very drinkable. Every once in a while you have a beer that is unlike anything you've ever had.  This is one of those times.  That would also apply to their Unplugged Olde English Porter, which we also managed to score more of.  In an attempt to mimmick the way authentic English Porters used to be made, half of the batch was sour fermented, giving it a flavor that ends up tasting like a chocolate Lambic, sour but not acidic.  Both of these brews really impressed me, so at the very least, come in and get a single.