Author: Ryan Tuenge

Fair State Mirror Universe Review

By on March 14, 2018in Fair State Brewing, general beer, new beer, tap rooms

Haze is all the craze right now and Fair State Brewing seems to be embracing (sorry Niko) this trend. Their collaboration with Modern Times out of San Diego called Spirit Foul was a hit so it’s no wonder they’re going forward with this popular IPA style. Throw in a Star Trek reference and you have my attention. Here are my thoughts on Mirror Universe.

Like all hazy IPAs this looks like grapefruit juice in a fancy glass. Pineapple and papaya come through in the nose and in the flavor but the level of bitterness is very low. This feels like a mouthful of juice, similar to drinking a mimosa. Overall a nice version of the style and very similar to Spirit Foul which is still their best hazy IPA.

Modist is still the local darling when it comes to this style, but don’t sleep on Fair State. They seem to do everything pretty damn well. Grab a four pack of Mirror Universe if you don’t believe me.

Cheers!

Fading Trend: Black IPA

By on March 5, 2018in general beer, history, Indeed Brewing Co., Steel Toe Brewing

About five years ago there was a beer style that was showing up in taprooms all over the country with the intention of attracting fans of IPAs and Porter alike. They called this style a Black IPA which seemed silly considering the “p” in IPA stands for pale. It would later be re-named a Cascadian Dark Ale or CDA. At any rate, the style became so popular that some of the breweries starting canning their own version (think 21st Amendment’s Back in Black) for sale in liquor stores.

Some characteristics of this style are that the beer should be light bodied, roasty, and use plenty of northwestern US hops which provide flavors such as citrus and pine. Not many local breweries are making Cascadian Dark Ales and the future doesn’t look bright for them as Milkshake IPAs and Hazy New England IPAs continue to soar in popularity.

The only two local examples worth a damn are Steel Toe’s Douglas and Indeed’s Midnight Ryder and with good reason. The recipes and execution are on point unlike some of the others that have been attempted here in Minnesota. Indeed even decided to go with MIdnight Ryder as one of their original two flagships along with Day Tripper which was a bold move at the time. Will we see any local breweries attempt this style with any success again? The answer is most likely no.

Minnesota Beer Industry Loses a Great Friend and Ambassador

By on February 20, 2018in Bad Weather Brewing Co., MN, tap rooms

“What do you think of the beer?” That was a phrase I was used to hearing from one of the biggest supporters of Bad Weather Brewing and the local beer scene in general. This was Greg Carpenter, father of Zac, who is one of the founders of Bad Weather Brewing. His smile was infectious and his passion for all things beer was enormous.

Sadly Greg passed away last Tuesday leaving heavy hearts around the brewery and the industry. There are so many interactions that we’d had that I’ll never forget. One of my favorites was at an arcade event held at the brewery last summer. Bad Weather had just released their first Helles Lager. We talked about this style of beer which we agreed was underrepresented here in the Twin Cities and how brewer Andy Ruhland had done such a great job executing this. He was so proud to talk about the brewery that he helped bring to life from the ground up.

Greg always supported my writing and genuinely cared about what was going on in the beer world. For that, I am forever grateful. I’m proud to have called him a friend and my love and condolences go out to Zac and the Bad Weather Brewing family.

Godspeed. 

Castro’s Reserve to Debut at Northbound Smokehouse Brewpub on Friday

By on May 10, 2017in brewpubs, cooking & food, general beer, misc. mn beer, new beer, Northbound Smokehouse

A cigar smoked beer? Yes, it works. The crew at Northbound Smokehouse Brewpub has a way with smoke, and their latest creation is an Imperial Brown Ale smoked with cigars. Ten of them to be exact. They smoked 20% (100 lbs) of the malt base for five hours and aged the beer in rum barrels. The result is a complex beer with flavors of vanilla, dark cherries, chocolate, and some subtle leather notes. The ABV on this is 8.4% and the IBUs clock in at 32.

Joel Scott is the head brewer at Northbound and the idea came about while he was getting his brewing education at Siebel Institute in Chicago. He had a couple of questions before giving this a go. The first was that he was wondering if he could get the tobacco flavor to come through in the beer. The second was if the beer would taste like an ashtray. The answer to the first question was yes, and no to the second.

The beer will be released on Friday, May 12th at the brewpub. They will use the wood from the barrel to create a Cuban pork special for the release. You’ll wanna get there early though because this beer probably won’t last long. On a side note, they will be making this again at a later date and will be submitting this beer at the Great American Beer Festival this year.

Cheers!

Brew Day at Surly: $pice Boyz Lager Beer Camp Collaboration with Sierra Nevada

By on May 5, 2017in Beer Ingredients, breweries, general beer, new beer, Surly Brewing Co., tap rooms

Last Friday I had a rare opportunity to spend the day at Surly for a brew day with Michael Palmer from Sierra Nevada for their Beer Camp collaboration. The beer is called $pice Boyz, a lager infused with ginger and cayenne—aged on oak, and appearing on tap at the Surly Beer Hall. The Sierra Nevada version was brewed a couple months ago and will be released in the Beer Camp 12 pack. Their version was simply named Ginger Lager.

“All three of us came up with the idea for this beer” says Surly co-head brewer Jerrod Johnson. “We wanted to make a beer that would age well. We figured all the other folks would be making bigger beers, and we wanted to make something more sessionable.”

Ben Smith is the other co-head brewer at Surly and he was excited to work with Sierra Nevada on this project. “Their [Sierra Nevada] hospitality is second to none. Everyone there is a professional, and it was cool to see” says Smith. We wanna be stewards of the industry and it was a great experience.” He reiterated what Jerrod said about wanting to make something that was easy to drink. “We made some assumptions about what the others were going to do. They were doing sippers. Let’s make something simple but unique.” Jerrod and I have always wanted to do a ginger beer.”

How did this all come together? Well, it started when I ran into Michael, Jerrod, Ben, and Josh Lemke (brewer at Surly) at Grumpy’s in Northeast last Thursday evening. They suggested that I come in for a brew day at the Brooklyn Center Brewery. You don’t pass up an opportunity to brew with two of the best breweries out there.

The brew day began with a Red Bull courtesy of Josh. He mashed in while Ben and Jerrod held a meeting in back. Mike joined Josh and I on the brew deck and performed the ceremonial adding of the hops.

Ben and Jerrod joined in while we chatted about brewing and all the fun new beers that Surly has coming. Ben, Michael, and I sampled some of those beers to see how they were coming along.

Then it was back to the brew deck where we checked in on the boil. Josh was busy monitoring the progress of the batch. I chatted with Jerrod before he had to skip over to Surly MSP for a meeting.

Ben and I then bellied up in the old taproom and talked about Sierra Nevada, the collaboration beer, and life in general. He tells me that the Surly version of the beer will be a taproom only release starting in June and that the SN version will be included in the Beer Camp 12 pack, also in June.

Back out in the brewery Josh was manning the kettle and also took some time to change up the music in the brewery. Heavy metal would be the music of choice. Ben joined him on the deck to perform another hop addition while I was “busy” SnapChatting the process.

The crew then broke for lunch and that’s where my day there ended. The experience was fantastic, and the Surly brewing team is group of true professionals that know exactly what they’re doing. It almost seemed too easy. I guess that’s what you’d expect from one of the most respected breweries here in the country.

One thing is certain, you’re gonna want to stop in at the Surly Beer Hall in June for the $pice Boyz release. Just make sure you don’t break out in full Spice Girl mode….That would just be awkward.

Cheers!