The Captain's Chair

Downtown St. Paul is a quaint little area, a mix of the historic and new. Modern business towers mingle with 1930′s gangster-era theaters. Cobblestone streets lead to corporate coffee shops dotting several street corners. And the tattered remnants of Lowertown warehouses from yesteryear overlook sparkling condominiums on the Mississippi riverfront.

If you’re not careful, you might actually fool yourself into thinking you’re in a thriving city filled with adventure and things to do. But when 5:01 p.m. hits on any given weekday, that thought quickly evaporates as the place becomes a virtual ghost town. Throngs of white starched shirts and pressed business suits filter out of corporate monoliths to make their way to the burbs. Homeless people roll through Rice Park like tumbleweed. And bartenders at watering holes quietly work their way through the day’s Pioneer Press crossword puzzle, waiting for someone…anyone…to give them something to do.    

The scene at Great Waters Brewery on St. Peter Street was thankfully a little more lively than that when I showed up Wednesday evening, but not by much. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, and was glad to see a slew of interesting beers on draught. I sampled a few, all of which were mighty tasty:

Cask Rye Pale Ale Dry Hopped with Chinook
Of the eight or 10 beers on tap, about half were cask-conditioned, which I think is great not only for the beer geeks interested in supporting real ale, but also a fun way for your everyday beer drinker to learn more about the difference in unfiltered and unpasteurized ale pushed naturally from the cask. Their Rye Pale Ale dry hopped with Chinook was a great example, poured surprisingly clear with a nice medium amber hue and beautiful combo of the bready rye and pungent aromatic hops in the nose. Taste was not as malty as I expected, but rather a bit dry leading to a spicy finish thanks to the rye. A very enjoyable beer.

Rating: A-

KaizerWeizen Hefeweizen
Poured golden cloudy with yeast like a good hefe should. Really no head to speak of, but that’s likely more a function that it was served in one of their half-pint glasses. Faint banana and bubble gum aroma, leading to a fairly non-descript flavor of light grain. Fairly spritzy mouthfeel. While this was a very clean, obviously well-constructed beer, it only reinforced my general disdain for hefeweizens as a relatively mundane style (unless you’re talking about Weihenstephaner, in which case pour me another!).

Rating: B

Cask Oak-Aged Black Watch Oatmeal Stout
Another cask-conditioned ale in the form of an oatmeal stout. Very deep brown pour, with a really subtle oakiness in the aroma. And in fact, too subtle in my opinion. The bartender told me they age it in oak casks for about a month, which to me doesn’t sound like enough to really impart that unique barrel characteristic. Some nice chocolate and roasted notes in the nose as well. Taste was smooth, almost velvety from the oatmeal. But compared to other stouts, I’d say a bit light in the mouthfeel department. A solid beer overall.

Rating: B

The only reason I’ll willingly drink something like Michelob Ultra is if I’m at a sporting event and presented with little other option. Such was the case today at the PGA Championship, hosted by the glorious Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska. An absolutely gorgeous day, made even better by the relatively relaxed environment at the tournament during today’s practice round. Players were approachable, quick to sign a few autographs, and in generally good spirits as Glory’s Last Shot draws near.

My friend and I got out there a little before 8 a.m. after hearing Tiger usually preferred to tee off early. And early it was, as he and playing partner Bubba Watson were just about making the turn when we walked in. We managed to follow Tiger pretty closely through the back, despite the mob that converged every hole the guy was on. I was amazed at the rabid nature of some of these folks, jostling and elbowing any small child in their way to catch a quick glimpse.   

The $7 12 ounce pour of Mich Ultra at one of the various concession stands around the course proved relatively flat and lacking any distinguishing flavor or aroma. It literally tasted like tainted water. I purposely held the clear glass up into the sunlight so it would become light struck, eventually emitting SOME kind of discernible flavor and aroma, albeit off. I mean really…what were you thinking Michelob? And even further…what was the PGA/Hazeltine thinking in not figuring out a way to get Summit out there? Good enough for Sergio, good enough for the rest of us?

A horrific beer by any standard.

Rating: F

Now, enjoy some shots from the tourney.

I think this is highly unfortunate, but from various discussions with other craft beer lovers, it seems that August Schell gets knocked around as being your average “macro” brewer, using various adjuncts to make up parts of their grain bills. I think this is in fact true, but not for all (or even most) of their beers (their kolsch, as an example, as well as the beer you’re about to read about). Potentially fueling this negative perception may also be their stylistic approach, as some equate their stable of beers — most of which are more traditional German-style lagers — as somewhat of a letdown in today’s world of off-the-wall, superhopped, bourbon barrel-aged madness. If it wasn’t brewed by a monk, or didn’t come straight out of a tiny brewery in San Diego offering limited release triple IPAs, what’s the point, right? 

What I do know is Schells currently ranks as the 25th largest brewery in the country based on 2008 sales volume, just behind a few notables like Bell’s, Goose Island and Anchor. When I look for Schells, I usually pick up one of their sampler packs to get a bit of variety, and truth be told, not all of their stuff has blown me away. But really, what brewer always does? 

Adjuncts or not, as a privately held family-run operation for nearly 150 years putting out what in my opinion is very solid stuff (like their MaiFest I really enjoyed earlier this spring or their very tasty Stout), I think Schells deserves a serious look as one of the best regional breweries in the country.

FireBrick is one of those Schells offerings that I see most of the year, and ignorantly take for granted. You don’t find a great number of Vienna Lagers around, unless of course you count the ubiquitous Sam Adams Boston Lager (which I have somewhat of a hard time classifying in this category given its overtly hoppy nose), or maybe even Dos Equis and Negra Modelo (the style has flourished in Mexico since the late 1800′s thanks to Austrian brewer immigrants). But FireBrick is in a different ballpark altogether.

Apparently named after the red bricks that line Schell’s old boilers at the brewery (I need to get down to New Ulm for a tour at some point), the beer pours a very rich, amberish coloring with a two finger head that leaves a lingering lace on the glass. Nice Vienna and Munich maltiness in the aroma, bready and toasted with caramel notes coming through. A pleasing, sweet maltiness in the taste, with a medium mouthfeel. Not nearly as hopped up as Boston Lager, but you do get a slight bite in the finish from the Vanguard, Chinook and Hallertau they use. A very enjoyable and refreshing beer. 

Rating: B+

The hops are progressing well.

As you might recall, the Cascade bine got off to an amazing start earlier this summer. Shot up to six or seven feet within the first couple weeks, then it mysteriously tapered off for no apparent reason. I thought for a while that it had actually died, as the leaves started to yellow and take on a frail, papery thin look and feel. In the meantime, my Fuggle and Horizon plants also languished, barely peaking above ground. I’d read those species could be temperamental, but this was getting ridiculous.

Then everything changed. Not sure if it was the barometric pressure, the slew of warm sunny days we’ve been receiving of late, or the sacred Pliny the Elder rain dance I performed during the waxing moon (sorry neighbors), but all three plants have rejuvenated. The Cascade even sprouted dozens of little side tendrils, reaching out like a millipede across the trellis and making foundation for a thicker, fuller bush. I’m hoping the other two catch up to the Cascade in the coming weeks, and they all start sprouting some nice hop cones.  

Combine one part tomato basil pizza, one part Mediterranean pizza, and one part surprisingly delicious stout from Sri Lanka (yes, I said Sri Lanka), and what do you get? An absolutely fantastic and simple meal, my friends.

I love dishes that require extremely little prep, and come out tasting like you slaved over them for hours. These simple pizza recipes I went with Monday night for dinner fit that bill perfectly. Not that it was complicated to begin with, but I basically just made it up as I went along. OK, fine…if you want to quibble, it wasn’t exactly “homemade,” as I’d originally planned on making my own dough, but to save a bit of time I used the pre-formed pizza crusts from Boboli (thin). They work just fine in a pinch. For both pizzas, I brushed both sides of the crust with a mixture of olive oil and two cloves minced garlic before I added all the toppings, and cooked the pizzas at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes in the oven. Here’s the rest of the ingredients:

Tomato Basil Pizza (like I need to explain it)

• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 7 oz. diced sun-dried tomato
• 1 oz. shredded mozzarella
• 4 tbsp chopped basil (you can add another ounce or two after the pizza is done for a more robust basil aroma)

Mediterranean Pizza

• 1/3 cup pesto sauce (spread as the base…and don’t use  the crap in the big spaghetti sauce jar, look for the real deal)
• 7 oz. diced sun-dried tomato
• 1/4 cup chopped artichoke hearts
• 1/4 cup kalamata pitted olives
• 1/4 cup feta
• 1 oz. shredded mozarella
• 4 tbsp spinach leaves

Both pizzas came out crisp and delicious, and went very well with Lion Stout (the Mediterranean pizza in particular thanks to the contrast with the feta).

Now what about this Lion Stout? I had heard of this mysterious beer from Sri Lanka recently from a couple friends, and when I stopped in to The Four Firkins the other day to see what was new on the shelves, Alvey offered up a small sample. I was immediately floored. And shocked it came from a part of the world one doesn’t normally associate with beer, let alone a rich, coffee-like stout! Brewed by The Lion Brewery Ceylon, I was surprised to also learn, according to the company’s under construction website, that these guys apparently also brew Carlsberg (I thought Carlsberg brewed Carlsberg, so I’m assuming it’s some kind of contract brewing situation for that region).

Poured from a can (another cool feature) with a big chocolatey head in a hurricane glass. Great dark brown appearance, with a pleasing roasted malt aroma, some molasses and coffee mixed in there. A great light chocolate flavor, with a slight bitterness and perceptible alcohol characteristic in the finish (it’s about 8% ABV).

Really surprised and impressed with this one. Go out and find it, you won’t be disappointed.

Rating: A-

You kind of have to be an arrogant bastard to make the so-called Bacon Explosion.

By now, I’m sure most of you have at least heard rumors of this BBQ blitzkrieg of a meal. If not, check out the recent NY Times article detailing its glory.

Bacon Explosion is an exercise in excess. An orgy of over-consumption. And it seemed to go very well with Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard, a nice complement to the hickory-smokiness coming from the more than two pounds of bacon wrapped around two pounds of pork sausage, and then all of it slathered in copious amounts of BBQ sauce.

After enjoying the meal, which also included homemade baked beans, potato salad and country-style biscuits, I had to take an extended time-out on the couch to let my stomach figure out what in the hell I had just put it through. It was so damn good going down, but it felt like a lead weight in my belly, exascerbated by the palpable rise in cholesterol that slowly but surely sent me spinning into heartburn city, and eventually put me into a bit of a food coma. In short, it was everything Bacon Explosion should be.

Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard adds to its already superb regular version with a subtle tinge of oaky goodness, just enough to let you know its there without overpowering the hops and malt already working in harmony to make this one of the better American craft beers on the market. 

Rating: A