Category: brewpubs

Town Hall Barrel Aged Week

By on April 14, 2014in brewpubs
baw

Buffalo Bock, Jack Frost, Manhattan Reserve

Today marks the beginning of Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery’s Barrel Aged Week. I highly recommend that you stop in at least one night and enjoy some of Town Hall’s barrel-aged goodness. You won’t be disappointed. I joined a small group of bloggers & journalists for a taste of three of the beers on Friday and was duly impressed.

I sampled Buffalo Bock (a weizenbock aged in Buffalo Trace barrels), Jack Frost (an imperial stout aged in Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey barrels) and Manhattan Reserve (a Belgian style Grand Cru aged with tart red cherries and finished in Woodford Reserve barrels.) Manhatten Reserve was my favorite of the lot. This doesn’t really come as much of a surprise – I love Town Hall’s Grand Cru and those Hoops brothers know their cherries. This was a delicious blend of fruity esters, tartness from the cherries and just enough wood to get bourbon characteristics without banging you over the head with a stave.

If you haven’t stopped into Town Hall yet, do yourself a favor and check out the new space and decor. After four months of absence, it was nice to walk through the door and see some familiar faces, and taste some of Town Hall’s signature beers. I can’t wait to go back again.

Barrel Aged Week Details:

Monday 4/14
Twisted Trace- Town Hall’s Twisted Reality Barley Wine aged in Buffalo Trace Oak Barrels. Recipient of 2013 Great American Beer Fest Silver medal honors Denver, CO

Tuesday 4/15 5 pm Release​
Eye Wine -Town Hall’s Eye of the Storm Honey ale aged in Gambling McDuck French Oak Cab Franc Wine Barrel from Napa, CA

Wednesday  4/16 5 pm Release
Manhattan Reserve – Town Hall’s Belgian style Grand Cru aged with tart red cherries and finished in Woodford Reserve Barrels

Thursday 4/17 5 pm Release
Buffalo Bock- Town Hall’s Weizenbock aged in Buffalo Trace Barrels

Friday 4/18 5 pm Release
Big #7 – Town Hall’s Strong Belgian Bruin Aged in Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey Barrels

Friday 4/18 5 pm Release
Project 3106- Town Hall’s Strong Belgian Aged with Belgian Chocolate, kumquat, and finished in a Buffalo Trace Barrel

Saturday 4/19 **1pm Release**
Czar Jack- Town Hall’s Jack Frost Imperial Stout aged in Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey Barrels

Saturday 4/19 **5pm Release**
Double Barrel Aged Jack Frost- Town Hall’s Jack Frost Imperial Stout aged in Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey Barrel then aged in French Oak Red Wine Barrel

All Pints North Tickets on Sale Monday

By on April 11, 2014in breweries, brewpubs
all pints north

allpintssmAll Pints North tickets go on sale on Monday at Noon. In case you’re unfamiliar with the festival, this festival is put on by the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild in Duluth. And to be honest, it’s my favorite Guild festival. There’s something about the enthusiasm in the air – though very different, it reminds me a bit of Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison.

Now in its 3rd year, All Pints North promises to be another fun time on the edge of Lake Superior.Last year the event sold out, so you may want to get tickets and book a hotel today!

Tempotickets.com/apn

all pints north

 

Chop & Brew #22: John Kimmich from The Alchemist

By on March 30, 2014in beer education, breweries, brewpubs, Features, general beer, history, homebrew, video

It’s not MN Beer officially, but likely something that will interest beer lovers and homebrewers here in the Upper Midwest. In this episode of the locally-produced Chop & Brew webshow, a discussion and Q&A with John Kimmich, head brewer at The Alchemist in Vermont, famous (infamous?) for the traders’ cult favorite Heady Topper. In this hour-plus video, John discusses not only his personal journey into and through craft brewing, he also offers homebrew-friendly advice and insight on all elements of brewing specifically as it relates to brewing hoppy beers. Footage shot in October 2013 while visiting Nashville, TN for the Music City Brew Off — which will be the focus of an entirely separate future episode of Chop & Brew. For Heady Topper recipe and other related links to the episode so this link to official episode page.

We also slacked a bit on posting the prior two episode of Chop & Brew in separate posts. So here they are in handy-dandy hyperlink form:

C&B 20: Homebrew Video Nerds Unite Two homebrewing videographers chat about their obsession with documenting brew days and what role video plays in the current landscape of homebrewing.

C&B 21: Meet the Brewer: Mino Choi Mino Choi is an award-winning homebrewer, winemaker and meadmaker. Join us for a gold-medal flight of his amazing fermentations and get some tips and tricks from one helluva competition fermentationist.

Northern Lights Rare Beer Fest Tickets on Sale Today at Noon!

By on February 7, 2014in beer events, breweries, brewpubs

northernlightsToday at noon you can buy tickets for the newest beer festival from the folks from Chop Liver, the people who have brought you the St. Paul Summer Beer Festival as well as other festivals in Rochester and Mankato. Needless to say these fellas are well-practiced, so the Northern Lights Rare Beer Fest should be something special.

The event promises to showcase a selection of rare, vintage and specialty one-off beers. A select group of ~30 brewers and owners were invited to share unique offerings in an event that also raises money for Pints for Prostates.

“This is the first year for the Northern Lights fest,” said organizers Juno Choi and Mark Opdahl [in unison, no doubt], “and we’re very excited because it will be unlike any other beer event in the area. It will be a great chance to try some really unique, maybe even once in a lifetime, beers.”

“These aren’t beers you’re going to be able to go out and buy off the shelf or on tap at a pub,” according to Choi. “These are limited-availability, vintage bottles from a past release, and in some cases brewed specifically for the fest.”

Besides rare beers and the opportunity to rub shoulders with the beer geek elite, ticketholders will also enjoy complimentary food catered in by top area chefs and live music.

Northern Lights Rare Beer Fest
March 29th, 2014
Minnesota History Center, 345 Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul
7-10pm
$100

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 7th at noon online and at participating retailers. For more information, including a list of participating breweries, are available at the event’s website: http://northernlightsrarebeerfest.com/

Fitger’s Brewhouse Sochi Series

By on January 30, 2014in brewpubs

SochiSeries_Poster_GenericThe gang at The Brewhouse in Duluth is celebrating the Olympics in their very own way, with a series of beers, art and swag revolving around the theme. And with around twenty Minnesotans headed to Sochi to compete, it seems appropriate! Cheer on your favorite Minnesota curler, xc skier, hockey player, speed skater or biathlete and grab a Brewhouse brew.

For this series, each of their brewers developed their own recipe –  a collaboration of brewer creativity. And to make mirror the Olympic games, they set up a little competition, pitting IPA vs. IPA. One IPA was brewed with 25 different hops from around the world and another was brewed with 25 different kinds of hops from the US. You can just hear the chants now, “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

These beers will be available starting Monday, February 3rd. Like the Olympics, beers will be poured at different venues. Look for World IPA, Back End Wee Heavy, Slippery Slope Stout, and eventually USA IPA will be at theBrewhouse. You’ll find USA IPA and eventually World IPA at Burrito Union. USA Curling Capital can be found at Redstar. If you want all 7, the Rathskellar in the basement of Tycoons is the place to go—but pace yourself, these are big beers!

Details on the beers, you ask? Here they are:

Back End Wee Heavy (ABV 9%, SRM 22, IBU 28)
Drawing on inspiration from the birthplace of curling, this Scotch Ale will keep you warm on or off the ice. Pours a rich brown color with garnet highlights and offers aromas of roast malt & toffee. Flavors of chocolate paired with a malty sweetness belie a substantial alcohol content. Named after the strategizing & shot-calling mem- bers of a curling team (the third and skip), this Back End may just put you on yours.
Iron Curtain Imperial Red (ABV 8.2%, SRM 27, IBU 80)
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” Winston Churchill coined this phrase in times of war. As we approach the Winter Olympics in a time of peace, we reflect on a time when The Iron Curtain ruled that landscape. Iron Curtain is a high gravity red ale with caramel-like malt flavors. A Simcoe and Centennial hop regiment balances the alcohol and malt pro- files with notes of citrus and pine. Enjoy!
Performance Enhancing Pils* (ABV 7.5%, SRM 6, IBU 81)
A light and smooth but rich malt character mixes with intense aromas from the noblest of hops. Perfect for warming up by the fire or a long-winded toast to the snow gods; this robust “Überpils” will make any day feel like a powder day.
* Will not actually increase performance.

Slippery Slope (ABV 8.3%, SRM 55, IBU 48)
Dessert on the ski slopes, ya say? This milk stout was brewed with over 120 lbs of coconut and 15 lbs of cacao nibs. Lactose lends a super smooth and full mouthfeel, found in very few styles. Be careful though, having too much of this dessert will leave you slippery on any surface.
USA Curling Capital (ABV 8.7%, SRM 38, IBU 100)
USA Curling Capital is dark in color, packed full of hop flavor and malt character. American and New Zealand hops meet Belgian yeast for a beer with an international flair. Our fair city of Duluth can be considered the curling capital of the US as we are again the home of the US Men’s Curling Team. Enjoy with pride as you cheer on our athletes to victory in the Winter Olympics in Sochi!
The World 25/25 IPA (ABV 7.5%, SRM 10, IBU 110)
The World is part of two batches of beer we made for the Sochi Series honoring the athletes in the upcoming Olympic games. This beer features 25 different hops grown all over the world. Hops from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, U.K., Germany, Austria, and Czech Republic were added to the kettle over 25 hop additions. Every 5 minutess we added 1 pound. We then open fermented this beer with Burton Ale yeast and very aggressively dry hopped. This is simply a hop bomb. Meant to be sipped and to be compared to its counterpart USA 25/25 IPA.
USA 25/25 IPA (ABV 8.5%, SRM 10, IBU 110)
USA is part of two batches of beer we made for the Sochi Series honoring the athletes in the upcoming Olympic games. This beer features 25 different American grown hops added to the kettle over 25 hop additions. Every 5 minutes we added 1 pound. We then fermented with American yeast and very aggressively dry hopped twice during fermentation. This is simply a hop bomb. Meant to be sipped and to be compared to its counterpart The World 25/25 IPA.