A fairly amazing-sounding Better Beer Society brown bag series event at Butcher & the Boar, some revised menus at local restaurants, a local foodie’s epic Mother’s Day feast, tasting notes for Summit Pilsner and Steel Toe’s Provider, the Star Tribune’s Taste 50, and a new urban farm in Minneapolis.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
A man cannot live on food and writing alone, which is why I also play a regular game of poker. And thanks to the ancient affinity between cards and booze, our group has turned into an informal beer club. We bring beers from across the state, country, and world to each game in bombers, bottles, cans, and growlers.
Last week we gathered together a group of players (including Heavy Table contributors John Garland and Jason Walker) to put Summit Brewing’s two newest offerings through their paces.
The first was Summer Ale, a summer seasonal with 4.9% ABV and 32 IBU that the brewery described as a “new take on a classic German Kölsch: a crisp, refreshing brew offering elegant fruity and flora aromas and toasted malt qualities.” It replaces Summit’s Hefe Weizen as the brewery’s summer seasonal.
The second was Saga IPA, a year-round release that clocks in at 6.4% ABV with 80 IBU. The brewery calls it “an assertive brew with a pronounced hop flavor and tropical fruit aromas.” [CORRECTION: We erroneously stated that Saga had replaced the Hefe Weizen.]
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
KARSTEN: Let’s start out with Texas Hold ‘Em. Simple.
JAMES: Ante? Blinds?
KARSTEN: We might want to do blinds, with this many people.
JAMES: OK, blinds. Once we get the flop we’ll pour some samples and talk some beer.
DAVE [raising before the flop]: I’m gonna raise.
JAMES: COME ON.
DAVE: Come on what?
JAMES: You’re allowed to raise, I’m allowed to give you [guff]. OK, anyway, let’s pour the Summer Ale.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
[samples go around the table]
JOHN: I’m bored. This beer bores me.
JAMES: What bores you about it?
JOHN: It’s too light — there’s not enough body, it’s not as substantial as the rest of their beers. I know it’s a Summer Ale, but it tastes like carbonation is the main driving flavor component.
KEVIN: It’s pretty weak. I taste carrot undertones from the carrot I ate five minutes ago…
JASON: I’m not hateful. It feels like on a hot day it’d be nice. I like it when breweries do beers like this that aren’t trying to hit you over the head with something. That said, I’m not sure I’d buy this and feel like I’d gotten value.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
JAMES: I would worry about the value prospect, but I like the balance, and I’m tasting a little bit of astringency … I really feel like if I’d just mowed the lawn I could pound one of these and really enjoy it.
I know that sounds like faint praise, but there’s really a place for that kind of beer. This is not my new favorite beer, but also I respect it and I understand it.
KARSTEN: In the context of it being a Summer Ale, it’s OK, but it’s probably not much more than that. I agree that it’d be good to pound after mowing the lawn, but it’s not a craving that a PBR couldn’t satisfy. And the value proposition is probably not there …
DAVE: I’m with all that. The first thing I tasted was that drinkability, but there’s a bitter edge that feels a little out of place if you’re going to be chugging something. Which I love to do.
JOHN: I feel like there are brands I know and look for when I’m looking for a sessionable beer, and Summit’s not one of them.
JAMES: So it’s kind of out of character for the brewery.
JOHN: I’d say so.
KARSTEN: The bitter quality wasn’t really an issue for me, because of the European palate for this kind of beer … it reminds me of a European-style Pilsner. But it doesn’t have the body that a European-style Pilsner would have.
JAMES: Well, let’s try the Saga IPA and see how that goes down. Continue reading Around the Poker Table: Summit Summer Ale and Saga IPA »
Lars Swanson / Heavy Table
Just across the river from the old Grain Belt Brewery, Kevin Welch has wedged what he calls a glorified home-brew setup into a tiny warehouse space. His bottling equipment is still in his garage; he personally welded and retrofitted some of his tanks.
But this Chinese-speaking, concert French horn-playing brewer has a secret weapon to help him make waves in the ever-expanding Minneapolis beer scene. He’s culturing multiple strains of yeasts personally imported from breweries across Belgium.
The result is a quartet of traditional, bottle-conditioned, Belgian-style ales. Welch released his two core ales at Pig & Fiddle last Thursday, and as of this morning, it’s the only place with Boom Island Brewing on tap.
Silvius, a 5.5% ABV pale ale, delivers a crisp rush of apple and mild spice flavors. Malt and yeast mingle on the light finish, creating a clean, autumnal flavor where the hops take a backseat. Thoprock, on the other hand, is a burly, deep amber-colored IPA that smacks you right away with a distinctive hop and earthy spice flavor. A healthy dose of alcohol (it’s 8% ABV) rounds out its full-figured profile. Batches of a Dubbel and Tripel (named Hoodoo and Brimstone, respectively) are currently in the works.
Lars Swanson / Heavy Table
Bottles of both Silvius and Thoprock will be available at Four Firkins on Monday, and more tap and retail accounts will be added shortly. We headed to Welch’s glorified home brew shack to learn more.
HEAVY TABLE: Tell us about the conception of Boom Island Brewing.
KEVIN WELCH: About five years ago we [Welch and his wife] lived in China and built a little one-and-a-half barrel home-brew setup. We traveled around, experimented with Tibetan spices and cool stuff. We came back and pursued the classical thing, playing with Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber, while coming up with the plan for Boom Island. I’ve been a Belgian freak ever since I tried my first one, a Westmalle Tripel. We did two summers of travel around Belgium, visiting small family breweries, learning tricks and techniques.
HT: What is it about Belgian beers that really turned you on? Continue reading Kevin Welch of Boom Island Brewing »
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
One gets the sense that since Lift Bridge has settled in to their new digs in Stillwater, they’re starting to flex their brewing muscles a bit. This year marked the debuts of a pair of hop-forward winners in Hop Prop IPA and Harvestör Ale. Their new winter beers are showing signs of promise as well (if you’ve encountered their Top Side Oyster Stout on tap, you already know.)
Here are sips from their two most recent winter releases. The quantities are limited, so give your favorite beer store a call first for availability.
Lift Bridge Biscotti
Style: Belgian Ale
ABV: 7%
Biscotti has become Lift Bridge’s truest seasonal beer, with limited runs for the last three winters under its belt. They term it a “unique” Belgian Ale and it’s brewed to evoke its namesake cookie, with additions of honey, vanilla bean, star anise, and grains of paradise working to create a comforting winter ale. Yesterday 750-ml bottles of Biscotti hit stores in small quantities yesterday — we found ours at The Ale Jail.
The Belgian part of Biscotti is evident right away with the cloudy and pale-looking auburn hue and the nose full of Belgian yeast aromas. The honey also works its way into the smell, and the same sweetness greets the beginning of the sip. The core flavors of the brew are mellow and pleasant: rich malt and vanilla, with a soft carbonation keeping it quite sessionable.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
The classic winter-spice notes, which seem to sink many winter ales by taking over the whole of the flavor, show up most noticeably on the very clean finish. It’s nuanced enough to be memorable, yet very much in the vein of a classic craft Belgian. Fans of Brewery Ommegang, for example, will be right at home with Biscotti.
The bottle specifically directs the drinker to warm the beer to 50 degrees. It seems curious, but after tasting Biscotti at fridge temperature it makes sense. When the beer is served colder, the body is more sharply focused to the carbonated and spice components, robbing you of the breadth of flavor that makes it compelling.
Oh yes, and it doesn’t really taste like Biscotti, but that doesn’t matter. It’s a successful brew nonetheless.
2011 Lift Bridge Commander
Style: Barley Wine
ABV: 12.5%
Commander is Lift Bridge’s first iteration of a bourbon barrel-aged, English-style Barley Wine. Bottles are currently for sale at their brewery and several stores around town, as well as at a few of their tap accounts.
Commander has a burnt sienna and mahogany-tinged body, which swirls to slightly lighter rims. Beads of carbonation form in wisps on the surface. A Port-like character bursts on the nose — you get vanilla from the oak and a healthy dose of alcohol behind it. The sip starts out with a peppery character, full of tannin, followed by a dense core of hazelnut and caramel. The finish tends further towards alcohol with some more nutty flavors lingering after the sip.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Commander carries an assertive and boozy profile. It’s hard to imagine drinking much more than one big snifter at any sitting. The flavors even seem a bit uncoordinated right after opening the bottle. However, after we vacuum-packed a half bottle in the fridge overnight, we noticed the flavors were much more cohesive and the sip was thus decidedly more pleasing.
If you’re drinking it now, you might want to consider decanting it first. Though a better strategy would be cellaring the bottle for at least a few months to give this behemoth a bit more time to come together. Lift Bridge seems to agree, suggesting on their website that Commander’s shelf life is even longer. They’ve noted to drink it “between now and 2020.”
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
The beer scene in the Twin Cities is booming — as evidence, look at the number of microbrew efforts, Surly’s ambitious plans, and thoughtful beer menus popping up everywhere — but could all this growth use some additional cohesion to make the metro even more beer savvy?
Rob Shellman is willing to give it a shot.
As founder of the new agency Better Beer Society (BBS), Shellman envisions a scene that could rival Portland and San Diego, two areas that are well entrenched in the craft beer movement. And he figures that he’s just the expert for the task.
“There are so many exciting things happening here,” he says. “We’re light years behind some markets, but far ahead of others. I think that with more collaboration, we could really be a major beer destination.”
Begun just a month ago, BBS intends to provide representation for small breweries that includes promotion and connections to distributors and retailers. The agency will also train wait staff, consult with chefs about beer and food pairings, and recommend beer additions to a restaurant’s existing lineup. Another major component will be events that go far beyond the usual beer dinners and single-brewery get-togethers.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Along the way, Shellman and his associate cicerones (the beer world’s equivalent of a sommelier, and a very tough certification to get) will rate bars and eateries and provide them with a certification that reflects their beer knowledge, storage, and service. Think of it as a Better Business Bureau score for the beer purveyor.
“If Rob can manage to pull this off, I think it would be very valuable for bar owners and for customers,” says Catherine Pflueger, bar manager for The Happy Gnome. “Those of us who clean our tap lines, teach our servers to talk about beer, and pay attention to the details wouldn’t mind some recognition that we’re doing things right. It would be nice to be appreciated for all our efforts.”
She adds that Shellman’s BBS is a “noble endeavor,” started by someone who’s well respected locally. “He seems to have put a great deal of thought into a multifaceted concept,” she notes. “I don’t know how it will work out, but the idea is solid.”
Currently, Shellman is more in entrepreneurial mode than full swing, but he expects that to change after the official BBS launch on January 7, at a promotional event (details will be on the BBS site) that will bring together the area’s brewers and distributors, as well as the general, brew-loving public.
“Our aim is to promote craft beer, and that sounds like a broad statement, I know,” he says. “But there are so many aspects that are involved, and we want BBS to be a part of all of them. As far as I know, there’s no other agency in the world that has the mission that we do.” Continue reading The Birth of The Better Beer Society »
Sarah McGee / Heavy Table
Is craft beer a commodity priced to suit market demand? Or does it somehow transcend commodity status when it becomes a limited-edition release event, akin to a concert or sports playoff ticket?
Some local beer fans fall into the second camp when it comes to the price of the coveted, limited-edition Surly Darkness at retailers. Surdyk Liquor‘s decision to price bottles at $36.99 (reportedly close to twice the price of some competing retailers) unleashed a small torrent of annoyed tweets.
The Surly Brewing Company commented yesterday, tweeting: “Had to stop @surdyksliquor to double-check. Really disappointed, I’ll tweet later when I’m not so hot.” (We contacted Surly for comment, and haven’t yet heard back from them.)
UPDATE 11/04/11: Surly declined to comment directly to The Heavy Table; however, the brewery released a statement this morning via their Facebook page.
And the consumer group Minnesota Beer Activists reported “sticker shock” and speculated in a self-admittedly conspiratorial way about political reasons for the high price. “[Was Surdyk's] intentionally trying to create a backlash around the pricing of Surly’s products?” the group’s site asked.
Kate NG Sommers / Heavy Table
Reached by telephone, Surdyk’s owner Jim Surdyk said that his store had sold out of Darkness, evidence that his pricing was fair, as per market demand. “Surly sold it to me, right? I can sell it for whatever I want to,” Surdyk said. “The bottles were selling on eBay for $75. To each their own.”
Surdyk made the additional point that a bottle of Darkness can go through any number of markups: from the brewery to the consumer (customers bought Darkness for $18 a bottle on Darkness Day), from the retailer to the consumer (the $37 bottle at Surdyk’s) and from the customer to the collector (the $54.99 bottle we found on eBay, for example).
And that brings us back to the commodity question. At what point, if any, does marking up a limited-release beer become equivalent to scalping a ticket? And, for that matter: Is there actually anything wrong with scalping a ticket?
We visited Lift Bridge Brewing in Stillwater in mid-July to capture part of their beer-brewing process. Brewer Matt Hall was our guide through the making of a batch of Farm Girl Saison. Photographer Becca Dilley, newly enamored of the video-like potential of animated GIFs, illustrated some of the more beautiful aspects of brewing in the process. [BANDWIDTH WARNING: This page contains large images and will overload old browsers and slow connections.]
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Malted grain (above) for the beer batch in process. The stuff can be chewed as is, and it has a nutty, earthy, almost Grape-Nuts-like flavor to it. Continue reading Lift Bridge Brewing: In Cinemagraphs »
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