Donovan is a MN Beer Activists volunteer along with being a board member for Community Hops. You may see him around the local beer scene, usually with 3 beautiful ladies (one a bit smaller than the others).
Summit Brewing has been releasing some unique beers in celebration of their 30th Anniversary. They started with a Double IPA and followed that up with Keller Pils. Now, introducing the 30th Anniversary West London-Style Ale.
Summit Brewing’s 30th Anniversary: West London-Style Ale
West London-Style Ale is a British-Style Best Bitter concocted by Summit Brewing Head Brewer, Damian McConn. McConn used English classic Marris Otter malt combined with traditional and modern hop varieties to produce a medium-bodied toasty English Ale that weighs in at 4.6 ABV. This is a delicious summer patio beer that you don’t want to pass up.
Summit’s release party will be at Brit’s Pub in downtown Minneapolis on Sunday, Aug 7 from 10am – 4pm. The inaugural keg will be tapped along with live music by Freddie Manton & The Southsiders and Hard Day’s Night Beatles Tribute Band. West London-Stye Ale will be available on tap at your local pub and in cans at retail stores the second week of August.
Summit continues their 30th Anniversary celebration with their annual Backyard Bash. Summit Backyard Bash is happening Saturday, September 10 from Noon-8pm in the back of the brewery at 910 Montreal Circle in St Paul. Tickets are available for $30 in advance and $40 the day of the event.
I have known the guys of Modist for several years and was excited to sit down with them in the space that will soon become Modist Brewing Company. We met and talked about their origins in the beer world and the future of the brewery.
Modist Brewing Company consists of: Eric Paredes, Chief Manager; Keigan Knee, Head Brewer; Kale Anderson, Head of Operations: and John Donnelly, Head of Sales
Eric Paredes, Keigan Knee, Kale Anderson, and John Donnelly. Photo by Danica Donnelly / http://danicadonnelly.com
Origins
Keigan, Kale, and John met in Middle School in Delano, Minnesota and have been friends ever since. Keigan and John started their journey in the local beer scene working at Harriet Brewing filling growlers and pouring samples in the tasting room. After two weeks of working there, Keigan approached the owner Jason Sowards and said, “I want to own my own brewery someday. How do I do it?” He was told to start homebrewing and bring in samples. He did just that and soon was learning to brew under the instruction of Paul Johnston, who had attended Siebel Institute. All the while, Keigan, John, and Kale spent the next two years brewing up weekly batches of their own beer at their home in South Minneapolis. Keigan moved on to become Head Brewer at Dangerous Man, and Kale and John went to work at Lucid Brewing.
“I want to own my own brewery someday. How do I do it?”
Keigan and John met Eric while working at Harriet and reconnected to start up Modist. Eric received his MBA 10 years ago and had spent that time working in corporate marketing “punching a time clock”. Keigan explains, “I’ve always kept tabs on Eric as a friend, but also what he’s into. One day Eric tells me that he quit his job in the corporate world…and things just lined up”. Kale says Eric was the missing piece of their brewery puzzle. Now, with a partner who has an eye for branding and marketing, the puzzle is complete.
The Brewery
The brew house will consist of a 20 barrel system with 8 tanks. That includes 6 – 40 barrel tanks and brite tanks. Also, they will have a 10 barrel pilot system for experimental and one-off beers.They will use their taproom as research and development. Experimental beers will be on tap and, if they become popular, they could become specialties, seasonals, or even regular offerings. John says 10 barrels make a lot of sense for their plan. If a taproom beer isn’t a hit the small batch size ensures will be gone quickly enough. Plus it means frequent turnover, aka “fresh beer.”
Modist Brewing has a unique philosophy on growlers. There are no plans to sell their own glass growlers, but they will fill any clean growlers that are brought in. With that in mind, they do want to sell “crowlers”. Crowlers are 750 ml (to meet state standard) empty, aluminum cans that are filled and sealed at the brewery. This means less storage and cleaning of glass and more time spent focusing on the beer. Plus, crowlers are portable, staying fresher for a longer period, and can be recycled.
Part of Modist Brewing Company vision includes education. It is a piece of the puzzle that you don’t often see, but is a welcome addition. They guys seek to involve guests on a basic level and educate them on Modist and beer as whole. Keigan says, “It’s getting to a time where there’s so much beer out there… the quality isn’t always there and you wouldn’t know, but you’d know if you got a shitty pizza. It comes with time, but we want to help move that along.”
“It’s getting to a time where there’s so much beer out there… the quality isn’t always there and you wouldn’t know, but you’d know if you got a shitty pizza.”
Educating the Minnesota beer consumer is very important to the leadership at Modist Brewing Company. Head Brewer Keigan Knee, “You already have them there. It doesn’t have to be a crazy curriculum where you have to be there every Wednesday. But, they could learn about alcohol content, or attenuation, or IBUs. We have the opportunity to give them something to take with them. We want people to be inspired when they come to Modist Brewing.”
Modifying Beer
We discussed styles and style guidelines and they told me that they don’t want to get boxed into specific styles. It reminded me of Surly and how they have remained successful while resisting the urge to put every beer into a specific category. This is also where the name “Mod”ist comes in. These guys all like to create, manipulate, and modify things. Kale builds and modifies motorcycles, Keigan and John like playing around with their Volkswagens, and Eric enjoys cooking and creating new dishes.
Thoughts
The space is huge and there is some definite room to grow into. I was shocked when they told me that is was completely cleaned out and they had to do zero renovation. I look forward to stopping back in the coming months and keeping everyone posted on their progress. They told me, with a few chuckles, that they are hoping to be ready before the end of the year.
I don’t know how many times I’ve been in a situation where I don’t have any beer and I’m not comfortable driving or too lazy to get to the liquor store to buy more. When I heard about Drink Fly, an app for iPhone and Android phones, I couldn’t wait to give it a try.
Drink Fly is a service that allows you to easily find liquor stores in your area that deliver alcohol. To get started, visit their website at www.drinkfly.com, enter your address, and click “Drink UP” to be shown a list of participating liquor stores near you. Or, simply search for and download the app to your phone. After choosing your liquor store, you will be shown a menu of their available stock broken down into Beer, Wine, and Liquor. The menu is easy to navigate and shows you a graphic of each product along with its price.
Drink Fly works just like many other familiar shopping sites and apps. Simply add items to your cart, and check out when you’re ready. The app is free, aside from any usual fees from your liquor store, there is no additional cost for using Drink Fly. Advertising within the app covers development and maintenance of the infrastructure. All you have to do is sit back and wait. Your delicious refreshments will arrive in no time. The best part is that you never have to leave the house!
On October 21st, I met Sam Harriman, Owner and Brewer at Sisyphus Brewing, on a brew day to watch and discuss batch #50.50. This special brew is Sam’s 50th batch of beer. It is an American Imperial Stout expected to come in around 10.50% ABV. It was brewed with a combination of black and chocolate malts coupled with roasted barley, flaked barley, and Chinook hops.
This American Imperial Stout is labeled batch #50.50 as a nod to the production number and method. Instead of making his usual single two-barrel batch, Sam brewed 2 single-barrel batches and combined them. Sam typically brews two-barrel batches in his three-barrel mash tun. However, all the grain required to make this higher gravity beer would not all fit into a single batch without the risk of a serious boil-over. So, batch #50 was split, 50/50.
The recipe for this milestone beer was adapted from a homebrew recipe that Sam came up with a few years ago. He developed it for an annual holiday party that he hosts with his wife. This is the first time that he has brewed it on this scale. And, this is the first time anyone will have the opportunity to have a beer this big from Sisyphus.
As far as the taste, Sam expects is to be “more roast forward and …more of a bitter bite”…than what people might be used to in a sweeter-style Russian Imperial Stout. I, for one, am interested in a black, roasty beer with a nice hop profile.
Sisyphus batch #50.50: American Imperial Stout is being served up in 10 oz pours and is only available at the tap room.
Rain or shine, you can be sure that SurlyFesters will show up in full-force. When the 7th Annual SurlyFest opened on September 20th at 2 pm, the crowd couldn’t wait to get in and rush past Gastrotruck and Natedogs to get their first sweet taste of their favorite Surly beers or taste one of a few new unique brewery offerings. Admission provided attendees with a commemorative half-liter glass beer stein, access to some fantastic beer, music, and 4 drink tickets.
The tap list included Furious, Bender, Cacao Bender, Cultivate (dandelion saison), Todd the Axe Man (IPA named for Surly’s Director of Brewing Operations and guitar shredder), and of course, SurlyFest. After filling their steins, the crowd was ready to hear some traditional Oktoberfest jams from none other than Alpensterne a.k.a.The Bratwurst Bros or get some grub from one of the food trucks.
Fest-goers spent the first 3 hours of SurlyFest basking in glorious sunshine, using the tents only for reprieve from the sun. At around 5pm, the sunny weather changed and hundreds took to the tents when the wind switched and the rain began to dump down. Hoards of beer fans drank and toasted each other, “Zicke zacke zicke zacke! Hoi hoi hoi!” Some of the brave stayed out in the rain, took to the puddle-filled dance area, and sang along while DJ Shannon Blowtorch pumped “Turn Down for What” from the speakers.
The 7th Annual SurlyFest came to an end as the rain let up. The tents emptied in a mass exodus, festers left the brewery grounds just as quickly as they had filled them 4 hours earlier. As the grounds emptied and the clean up crew followed behind them, a rainbow appeared. Not very metal for a brewery like Surly (don’t tell that to Dio). Perhaps it was a not a rainbow, but a Norse Bifröst symbolizing a bridge from the last SurlyFest at the old brewery to the new SurlyFest location at the nearly complete Surly Brewery in Minneapolis. Then again, maybe some unicorns just wanted to make last call.
Photo Credit: Josh Shomion Bilröst or Bivrost, is a burning rainbow bridge that reaches between Midgard (the world) and Asgard, the realm of the gods.
Sticking with what they do best, Schell’s recently released a new lager to their arsenal. This time, however, it’s getting the royal hop treatment. Arminius Hoppy Pale Lager is double dry-hopped and brewed with over 2.5 lbs per barrel of a combination of German, French, and American hops. At 6.5% ABV and 70 IBU, it weighs in like an IPA.
I’m not typically a lager fan, so I was reluctant at first to give this one a try. My trusted liquor store guys had just cracked a can before I arrived one day and it came highly suggested. I found that it had a nice citrus fruit bitterness of an IPA while introducing the clean, crisp finish of a lager. I think this is a beer that could bring together hop-heads and traditional lager drinkers.
Arminius is currently being sold on tap at bars and in 4-packs of 16 ounce cans at your local retailer.
From Schell’s Website:
Schell’s Arminius is named after the legendary chieftain of the Germanic Cheruscan tribe better known as Herman the German. Arminius’ united coalition of Germanic tribes famously defeated the Roman army some 2,000 years ago, and permanently established the border of Germany, which still exists today. The Herman Heights Monument, which sits atop the hill in New Ulm, overlooks the town and Minnesota River Valley below. His eastward looking gaze and upraised sword signify freedom from Rome.
Lyft, a ridesharing service based in San Francisco, began operating in Minneapolis last Thursday amid some push back from the city regarding potential licensing requirements. Lyft has experienced similar obstacles with other cities, including St Paul when they launched there last fall. Their business model involves a network of drivers and riders that utilize an app available for your iPhone or Android device. The driver may be compensated in the form of a requested donation notification that appears on your phone once the ride is complete.
My first experience with Lyft was on the Saturday before last Halloween. I spent the night with my wife and in-laws bar hopping through Lowertown St Paul. We closed down the bars and spent 45 minutes waiting for our cab to arrive. Just as we were about to call another cab, I remembered that I had downloaded an app for a new ride service. When I opened the Lyft app, it asked if I wanted to “Request a Lyft” and showed me the nearest driver. After choosing my driver, I received a phone call from him verifying our address. In five minutes, he arrived in a shiny black Audi A4 and invited me to sit up front. On the ride home, we talked about cars and our driver made sure that the temperature was comfortable for all the passengers. We arrived home safe and, upon entering the house, I received a notification on my phone requesting a suggested donation and the ability to tip and rate our driver. I was officially sold! I suggest Lyft to everyone I meet.
Some Minneapolis city officials have taken issue with Lyft’s business description and contend that they are a “taxi service” and should be bound to all licensing requirements as such. However, Lyft’s unique donation model and user review system could actually make it better than a taxi, and their background requirements might make them safer than taxis, too. Lyft has responded by “offering free rides for the next two weeks to all new app downloaders.” and a petition was started to “welcome ridesharing to Minneapolis”: http://chn.ge/1fuxKte
wan·der·lust: a strong desire to travel; an impulse to wander
I’m a beer lover that lives in the Twin Cities and I’m a husband and a father to a 4 month old. Wanderlust is not in my vocabulary. Hell, it’s not in most people’s vocabulary. One Saturday night I found myself at the local liquor store with the vicarious notion that I was 25 again and looking for something tall, blonde, and sweet. Well, I found it in a lonely 750 ml bottle of Badger Hill Brewing Company’s Cherry Double Dunkel sitting in the cooler and decided that would be perfect.
Badger Hill’s Cherry Double Dunkel is #2 in their Wanderlust series of limited, small batch brews. If
you’re into the whole style thing, you might categorize the base beer as a Weizenbock. The Beer Judge Certification Program (bjcp.org) lists a Weizenbock as style 15c and describes it as “A dunkel-weizen beer brewed to bock or doppelbock strength”. Now, let’s forget style categories. After all, this is Wanderlust.
Tasting Notes
Appearance: I thought about the right glass to pour this beer into and a pilsner or hefe glass was the obvious choice, but instead I grabbed my favorite $1 Ikea snifter. (We don’t get too fancy at my house). It poured a murky, orange color with a nice finger of off-white head. There is something mesmerizing about watching an unfiltered beer swirling around in your glass.
Nose / Smell: I immediately picked up banana and a very slight smokiness. A bit of honey and vanilla were hidden in there, as well. After a few sips, I started to smell the tartness from the cherries.
Flavor: This beer starts out bright and crisp, followed by a pleasant, natural tart fruit-flavor. The cherries kick in with a sour note towards the end along with the ever-present wheat flavor.
Mouthfeel: The Cherry Double Dunkel has an interesting mix of feeling creamy and, at the same time, refreshing. It’s 8% ABV produces a warm, but not overwhelming alcohol feel.
Questions for the Brewer
After tasting this beer, I had the opportunity to ask Brock Krekelberg, Co-Founder of Badger Hill, a few questions:
Tell us a little bit about the beer and the brewing process.
“The beer started out as a request from our partner Brent to create a beer that utilized Cherries from his wife’s family orchard in Door County, WI. We experimented over the years with a number of recipes, some better than others. We have a love of German wheat beers, and thought to take one of our favorite dunkel recipes, upped to weizenbock levels, as a base. We loved the result. The fruity, spice and caramel tones of the weizenbock are a perfect complement to the tartness that comes from the cherries. Each component adds/changes the character of the other in a great way. It’s unfiltered and unfined, so it pours a very opaque. It tricks you into thinking you will be tasting a thick, caramel sweet beer, but it is actually quite crisp and tart.”
How do you feel about the outcome?
“We are very happy with the outcome! We wanted to bring something out to craft beer lovers that is new, something they have never tried before. We were looking to create a special brew that tastes fantastic, and we hope people agree. It’s different from the type of beers we have come out with so far, and that is something we also wanted.”
What would you say about local beer to someone out-of-state who plans to visit MN?
“Minnesota craft breweries are creating fantastic and ever greater craft beers. It is truly a destination state for craft brews. Almost every style fan be found, and some that you have never heard of. The craft brewers here in Minnesota are extremely passionate about what they are doing, and it shows. Long standing breweries like Schell and Summit continue to make outstanding beers and are launching amazing new ones. And new breweries are crafting wonderful styles as well as pushing innovation. It is a great time to be a beer fan in Minnesota.”
What is next in the Wanderlust series?
“We plan on Cherry Double Dunkel to be our annual special release. Wanderlust series will always offer up something new, and the next in the series should come out in late spring. It is still a secret, so stay tuned. Our first in the Wanderlust Series was a White IPA, the second was this Cherry Double Dunkel, and so the next beer in the series could be anything!”
Afterthought
Cherry Double Dunkel is a dynamic, refreshing beer that I could drink all year round. This is a beer that I would be proud to bring to a party and enjoy with friends and family. In fact, I brought a bottle with me to Iowa for Thanksgiving at my mother- in-law’s house and it was a hit! I’m so glad to hear that they have plans to release this beer annually.
