The Captain's Chair

Brings a tear to my eye…nice work Greg.

I woke up Friday morning and could barely bring myself to get out of bed.

The previous day, I’d spent a total of 20 straight hours traveling/working for a one-day business trip to Toronto, spending the majority of that time sitting in various airport terminals, running at breakneck speeds to make connecting flights, or slowly working my way through customs. I’d gotten home about midnight from Minneapolis/St. Paul International, and had slept for seven or eight hours, but I still felt completely exhausted. After sitting in uncomfortable airplane seats all day, my back ached like someone had dropped a 16 pound bowling ball on my lower vertebrae. And to add to the malaise, the severe head cold I’d been dealing with the previous two weeks was still maintaining dominance over my general well-being.

In short, I felt like a can of smashed assholes.

I laid there staring at my bedroom ceiling, wiping the cloud of sleep from my eyes, and wondering how in the hell I was going to summon the energy to move on. And then it hit me. One simple motivating image crept back into my mind…a review that I had read on Beer Advocate:

“The taste of Dark Lord is hard to explain. Imagine you’re walking down the street and someone just shoved a sandwich in your mouth. You’d be shocked, and I still am every time I drink it. Sorry I can’t go any further than that…just get some.”

I sat bolt upright, leaping out of my bed like Jarron Gilbert out of a pool, because this was no ordinary day folks. No illness or sore back was going to stand in my way. I was about to embark on what very possibly would become the greatest beer adventure of my life…the legendary Dark Lord Day, held at Three Floyds Brewery in beautiful Munster, Indiana.

I packed up the car and picked up my brother-in-law about 10:30, a trunk filled with various Surly stuff for trades (Furious, Bitter Brewer, Coffee Bender), and a couple growlers of Town Hall Masala Mama. I figured folks down at DLD would be clamoring for what were for most a couple very difficult breweries to come by, and I’d hopefully get some great stuff in return.

We drove about four hours to the outskirts of Madison, making our first stop of the weekend at Tyranena Brewing in Lake Mills where we met my good buddy Stu at Friday Night Beer. Jessie Nimm, beer evangelist for the brewery, greeted us in the lobby and was kind enough to show us around the place. We grabbed a pint for the tour, trying their Benji’s Chipotle Smoked Imperial Porter, which was an incredibly well-crafted beer. I’m usually not a big chipotle beer guy, but this one really stood out for me. Beautifully balanced chocolate notes mixed with pepper and bitter smoke. Fantastic. 

We checked out their brewhouse operations, which were pretty impressive. A number of fermentors, each lovingly named after a friend or family member of head brewer Rob Larson. Most interesting for me was taking a peek in their cooler room where they kept their store of hops and aging beers in bourbon barrels, including Rocky’s Revenge. Along the way, we had the fortune of also meeting Nevin McCown, assistant brewmaster for Tyranena who was extraordinarily gracious in sharing his knowledge and perspectives on craft beer and Tyranena’s brewing process. Really smart, thoughtful guy who knew his stuff. 

We ended up hanging with Nevin for a while in Tyranena’s tasting room, enjoying their just-tapped Scurvy IPA, a very unique beer brewed with orange zest, giving it a very nice citrus quality in the nose and a bitterness that explodes off the tongue. Nevin talked about his experiences as a homebrewer and how he parlayed that into a career in commercial brewing, which evolved into conversations about hot side aeration, beer distribution in the United States, and hop growing techniques. Coincidentally, I’d brought along some of my own homebrew to share with friends in Chicago (including my dubbel, port barrel-aged Belgian brown ale and smoked porter) and offered some to Nevin who agreed to sample a few. He provided some very nice and insightful comments which I found incredibly useful.

After a very nice experience at Tyranena, we continued our journey south to the west side of Chicago, home to Two Brothers Brewing in Warrenville. To say Two Brothers is a little tough to find would be an understatement, as we drove through every street in the area looking for the place. My college friend from Chicago who we were staying with for the weekend was already at the brewery, so he helped us navigate to what was a non-descript industrial park where Two Brothers was located, not a sign on the place. Kind of odd, especially if they’re interested in people actually patronizing their establishment.

But any misgivings we had about the location were quickly erased as we walked into a very nice brewpub with loads of people enjoying quality craft beer. In fact, a local Beer Judge Certification class was being held in the back corner, surely the mark of a well-regarded local brewery. My brother-in-law and I grabbed a burger and a snifter of their Northwind Imperial Stout, a very nice beer loaded with malty sweetness and a nice, smooth finish. My other friend sampled their Domaine Du Page biere de garde at my suggestion, which he found very nice and refreshing on draught.

With many miles and many craft beers under our belt, we headed back to my friend’s house to get some rest for what was sure to be an eventful Dark Lord Day…

Read on Dark Lord Day part two…

Tomorrow morning marks the beginning of my long awaited Dark Lord weekend…something I’ve been eagerly looking forward to for quite some time now. It’s Munster, Indiana or Bust…my brother-in-law and I are hitting the road around 10:30 a.m., and there’s sure to be some great stories to report back.

Ironically enough, I write this to you as I sit at Gate K13 at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago waiting for my connection back home to Minneapolis, having traveled to Toronto for work today (eh). Why did I not just stay in Chicago for the weekend, you ask? Well, because there’s much more beer fun to be had on the road trip back down of course. Planning to stop in at a couple breweries along the way, including Tyranena just outside of Madison, Goose Island downtown Chicago, and Two Brothers west of the city near where we are staying at my college friend’s home. I’m not sure if we’ll have enough room in my car trunk for all the great stuff we’ll be loading up with (just kidding honey…sort of). 

We’re bringing with us a bunch of Surly stuff to trade, including Furious, Bitter Brewer and Coffee Bender. We also picked up a growler of Town Hall Masala Mama to share or trade with folks down there, since the trading tables are sure to be busy. Three Floyd’s is still not publicly stating how many bottles of Dark Lord each person will be allotted until the morning of the event (which indicates to me they’re anticipating fewer bottles than in years past). But regardless of how many bottles of the legendary Dark Lord I end up coming home with, the adventure will be well worth it and something to remember for many years to come.

I’ll recap the weekend once I come back down from cloud nine.

I’m not going to spend alot of time dissecting this documentary more than it already has been on BA and many other blogs out there. It was informative, somewhat entertaining, and at times a bit awkward during the live Q&A segments. But here are my main takeaways:

• The three tier system is the craft industry’s biggest enemy, not BudMillerCoors. The big guys have learned to exploit the system, but if it were more of a free market, the beer landscape in America would certainly shift.
• Macro and microbrewers have vastly different objectives as business entities. In my opinion, it’s wasted energy to get pissed off with BudMillerCoors because they are more interested in creating shareholder value as opposed to quality product. 
• BudMillerCoors are successful in what they do because most American consumers don’t incentivize them to do anything different. The indifference or inability of the consumer to stop for a second and think about what’s truly in their beer is the macrobrewers greatest advantage. Vote with your wallets if you truly care about your beer.
• You’d have to be insane or a glutton for hardship to start a brewery.
• Ben Stein is a fucking weirdo.
• I’d like to have a beer with Sam and Greg.
• Drink local. Drink micro.

Half case of smoked porter on left, port barrel-aged Belgian brown on right

All  kinds of homebrew fun this past weekend. But unfortunately, not much of the actual brewing variety. For one reason or another over the past few weeks, I’ve neglected to keep my various beers moving along through the process. So I spent most of Saturday morning handling the tedium that is racking, bottling and kegging.

First up, I bottled my port barrel-aged Belgian brown ale, which smelled and tasted phenomenal coming out of secondary. The lactobacillus I added after primary fermentation definitely gives it a nice sour and acidic characteristic, and the oak comes through very well in the nose. Carbonated, this should be a very unique and interesting beer.

Second was bottling and kegging my smoked porter. I was nervous about this one, considering I’d never used smoked malts before and wasn’t exactly sure how much would be TOO much. Must be a case of beginner’s luck, as the 3 pounds of cherrywood smoked malt I added to the recipe really did the trick. Perfect smoky nose, and nicely balanced with the chocolatey malt. Really looking forward to this one. For the 3 gallons that I kegged, I set the CO2 pressure to about 15 PSI for the first day, then backed it off to about 8 PSI so it’ll saturate at about 1.8 volumes at 45 degrees F.

Third and fourth were racking my raspberry imperial stout and “regular” imperial stout to secondary, as they’d both been in primary for nearly a month. I normally don’t like to let beers sit on the yeast bed that long, but these beers were both so big I knew it was going to take a while to ferment out properly. The raspberry imp stout smelled very nice, as expected. It was the other imperial stout I was concerned about, because as you’ll recall it was the one that literally exploded all over my dining room after I pitched a very healthy yeast population. I left it to ferment in the open for about a week so the krausen could settle down, then I capped the bucket. No visual signs of bacterial infection when I opened it up again, but it did smell just a tiny bit off in some way. Kind of hard to pinpoint, as the alcohol kind of dominates the aroma (the OG on this was 1.150, FG 1.030). So I’m hoping that whatever may be in there subsides over the next several months as I let it condition in secondary. We’ll see.

Like most people who find themselves getting willingly sucked into craft beer appreciation, I had a hard time rationalizing my preconceived notions of “canned beer.” I spent most of my time walking up and down the beer aisle at the liquor store looking for the 750 ml bottles with caged corks, somewhat erroneously thinking that this of course signaled quality and sophistication (I’ve had plenty of poorly done, fancily packaged beers).

But a few years ago came a small brewery here in the Twin Cities called Surly, by no means the first brewer to can their high quality craft beer*, but the first I became aware of that distributed locally. When they first hit the market, I suspiciously eyed their 16 ounce cans in the beer cooler, wondering what kind of beer company would want to cheapen themselves by using such a macro approach to what is arguably one of the more important aspects of a beer’s brand and relationship with the consumer. Beer in cans was the kind of stuff you shotgunned at your fraternity party with your drunken college buddies, or choked down for lack of a better option at your neighbor’s backyard BBQ because you don’t want to be “that guy” who asks for a refreshing and hoppy IPA when light adjunct lagers are clearly the only thing available.   

But folks, the can is really where it’s at. Think about it…a can preserves the integrity of the beer much better than a bottle by shielding it from ultraviolet light that can instantly skunk the beer. It’s less expensive to package. It’s lighter and more cost-effective to ship. And the best part, it’s differentiating (in the craft world, at least). From a flavor perspective, if I could easily can my beers as a homebrewer, I’d do it. The commonly held notion that “aluminum cans make beer taste metallic” is utterly false, as aluminum cans are lined with an extremely thin layer of plastic inside to help prevent any off flavors.  Yet despite these clear advantages, most craft brewers still choose to go the traditional bottle route. Maybe they think the negative connotations are too large to overcome. But taking a look at a brewery like Oskar Blues out of Colorado and its superb Gordon Double IPA, you’d be hardpressed to convince me that the fluid inside their sleek cans is nothing short of excellent.

Poured with a nice big head, huge piney hop aroma and ruddy orange coloring. Taste is sweet, with loads of caramel and malt. On the side of the can, they bill Gordon as a big, sticky red beer, and I’d say that’s completely accurate. There’s a very weighty quality to this beer. It’s not as bitter as one might expect for a double IPA, but the hop resins do completely coat your mouth, making the beer seem much bigger than it really is. Granted, it’s already 8.7% ABV so there’s not much need to crank up the volume. But Gordon is probably one of the more densely textured IPA’s I’ve ever had.

Rating: A-

* Oskar Blues was in fact the first microbrewery to start canning their beers.

If you haven’t been over to Kramarczuk’s in Northeast Minneapolis, I recommend you go as quickly as you can.

It’s a fantastic little neighborhood sausage maker, bakery and restaurant all wrapped into one. They’ve been making some of the best sausages this side of the Mississippi since 1954, and have truly made a name for themselves as a Minneapolis landmark. This last weekend, several of us got together for a little spring cook-out, and my friend tossed Kramarczuk’s andouille and curried brats on the grill. It was seriously some of the best stuff I’ve ever had. And paired with two incredible IPA’s and a nice imperial stout,  you couldn’t really ask for a better evening. Here’s the rundown on the beers:

Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel

This is a fantastic and unique blend of a Belgian IPA/Tripel from Brasserie d’Achouffe. Pours with a big yeasty head, with all kinds of champagne-like carbonation escaping from the beautiful lemonade colored beer below. The hops are certainly there in the nose, but the yeast also plays a nice role, kind of like each knows their place in the symphony. Some apple and pear notes come through as well.

Taste is magnificent. Unlike the nose, which trends more to the IPA side, you get more of the sweet malty tripel effect combined with some of the yeast and alcohol. A spicy finish that keeps you coming back for more. Really one of the more complex and well-balanced beers I’ve had in a long time. I’m hoping Alvey at the Four Firkins still has some of this in stock.   

Rating: A 

Southern Tier Oak-Aged Unearthly Imperial IPA

As if Houblon Chouffe didn’t impress me, along comes Southern Tier with its enormously complex Oak-Aged Unearthly Imperial IPA.

My wine conoisseur friend, who has one of the more finely tuned palates I know of, couldn’t get over how well the oakiness came through like a fine wine. Not too much, but perfectly balanced with the combination of piney hops and caramel malt.

Pours with a great amber coloring, not a big head but you still get a great nose of the oak and hops. Taste is extraordinary, just so much going on. At once you get the big malt backbone, some caramel, maybe a little vanilla. Then the oak coats your mouth as the bittering hops come back in full force. Very thick and dense mouthfeel, something you just want to savor for hours.

Rating: A 

Boulevard Smokestack Series Imperial Stout

One of Boulevard’s offerings in their Smokestack Series, and I’d have to say probably not my favorite of the bunch.

Pours with a jet black coloring, not much head, but a chocolately aroma mixed with possibly some licorice or molasses. A smoky quality in the taste, which I didn’t pick up in the nose. The sweet malt balances the bittering hops, but you do get a somewhat dry finish. Mouthfeel was a little thin, considering the style. But a decent imperial stout, nonetheless. I’d like to try it on its own sometime, instead of following a couple other big beers.

Rating: B

Only 79 more home games until the Minnesota Twins vacate the Big Inflatable Toilet and head west to Target Field. I can’t wait for opening day next year. Hopefully we’ll be lucky enough to get tickets. But either way, it’s going to be a big change of pace for baseball fans in this state, as well as the downtown scene.

As much as I despise the uncomfortable blue plastic seats, horrifically bad food, and weirdly insulated and artificial atmosphere that makes you feel at times like you’re in a tent (well, in a way you are), some of my most memorable moments growing up as a kid are from the Metrodome. Snapper Mow-Em Down innings…Frankie Sweet Music Viola…Puckett’s catch in Game 6 of the ’91 Series…the wind tunnel leaving the game…and of course in 1987 when Mark Salas refused to give me an autograph as I begged and pleaded at the metal rail near the Twins’ bullpen. “Come back when the game is over kid.” I faithfully abided, only to find a pile of chewed up sunflower seeds where my favorite catcher once sat. I never did forgive Mark Salas for snubbing me that day. But karma is a bitch, as he was soon after traded to the Yankees that season, only to miss out on what would become the greatest World Series run in baseball history. Instead of a champion’s ring, the Twins organization gave Mark a crappy watch. Served him right. I hope it was a Swatch.  

During game two of the Seattle series last night (which ended in a fantastic and dramatic fashion with the Twins edging out the Mariners in a 9th inning rally), I weighed out my options of macro lagers at the concession stand, which as expected weren’t great. But, one shining ray of hope appeared on the horizon as I spotted a small red tap handle down the row of macro madness. Small script lettering adorned its side…Grain Belt Premium, or “Premo” as it’s known around these parts. August Schell Brewing in New Ulm actually makes this beer now after the brand changed hands multiple times throughout its long and storied history in the state. Grain Belt Premium, different than its predecessor Grain Belt, was developed in 1947 to cater to the changing tastes of the American demographic that were more interested in lighter tasting beers. So in many ways, it could be considered a forerunner to our now ubiquitous American adjunct light lagers. But to call Premium a macro wouldn’t be entirely accurate, given its limited distribution in the Upper Midwest. 

From a taste and aroma perspective, it’s not too dissimilar from Miller Genuine Draft or Budweiser. Sweet nose of grain and corn. No real hops to speak of, especially compared to triple-hops brewed Miller Lite, but if you really concentrate you get a fleeting sense of them. Taste is pretty smooth, more of the corn characteristic. Pretty highly carbonated giving it a full mouthfeel. I’m pretty sure the Metrodome version of this is your run-of-the-mill 3.2% ABV beer, but it normally comes in bottles at 4.6% ABV.  

I actually enjoy drinking this beer, partly because it’s locally brewed but also because it really isn’t that bad, all things considered. For the style of beer, I’d say it’s one of the better examples you’re going to run across. My buddy even enjoyed Premo so much after a handful of samplings that he felt inclined to sing Journey’s Greatest Hits into his mustard-covered bratwurst during the seventh inning stretch. Yet another Metrodome memory.

Rating: C+

Got a little something in the mail today…

I know you can get this in the Twin Cities, but I think I picked up Tyranena’s Bitter Woman IPA at Chicone’s in Hudson a while back.

I’ve had this on draught and from the bottle, and I think I like it a little better on draught, which is probably the case for many beers (and IPA’s in particular) that I’ve tried.

Poured with a huge fluffy head into my trusty Sam Adams Perfect Pint glass that, according to Boston Brewing Co., has been specifically engineered to unleash the full aroma and flavor potential of a beer (most notably Sam Adams Boston Lager, of course). Seems like a bit of a stretch, considering this beer glass is supposed to do everything from better maintain beer temperature, promote head retention, improve carbonation thanks to laser etchings on the bottom of the glass, and of course cure cancer and end conflict in the Middle East. But whatever, hats off to them for trying something new.  

Bitter Woman is very reminiscent in the nose to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale…clean and Cascade hoppy. Alot of the usual citrus and grapefruit-y aroma going on. Not sure when it was bottled, but the hops weren’t as aggressive as I remembered them being from a fresh keg, but that’s what happens as the hop resins subside over time. The color is nice, a rich copper tone that you don’t often see in some IPA’s.

Taste is good, but not as bitter as the name might suggest. I’d say definitely on the malty side of the IPA spectrum with more dominant flavors of caramel and toffee coming through. Very nice and refreshing mouthfeel thanks to the loads of bubbles in this one. It’s only 5.75% ABV, so definitely an offering you could hang out with for quite a while without needing to call in sick to work the next day.    

Rating: B