Category Archives: Newsfeed

MN Beer Activists feed of news, events, education, legislation related to beer, wine, and spirits in Minnesota.

Newsfeed

Justin Strom, Artist: Science + Art = Beer

beer3 Justin Strom can do something no one else has ever accomplished in art before. His, never seen before, bubble technique has allowed him to capture two loves at the same time, paint and beer. The love he has for both has caused a three year drive to honor beer and push the boundaries of what paint can do. You can have a chance to view his work at The Pancakes and Booze event at The Loft in Barfly on April 6th.

Starting his craft as a home painter Justin rose to the demand of what his clients wanted of him. To rise up to the challenge he learned all he could about paint and how it worked. This started the desire to understand the science of paint and began the drive to do something with it that was never intended. This allowed him to develop him bubble technique.

Craft brewing fans will understand the desire to push what a thing can be (some of you may have tried Voodoo Doughnut Maple Bacon Ale by Rouge…). “Good beer does not happen by accident, it is created, planned, developed thru failing and understanding every single ingredient and the all aspects of the process. This in a way is the same with art, you have to know your paint and your products and be willing to fail a few times to get it just right,” says Justin. This veteran home brewer applied this determination to the over three year search to perfect his technique.

beer1

Join Justin this Saturday for the debut of this new art form. You can see the paintings on the second floor of Barfly, The Loft, at 8pm. For further details follow this link. https://www.facebook.com/events/511395498888190/

Newsfeed

A Visit to American Sky – Hudson, Wisconsin

American sky taproomLast Friday, after taking the kids over to Hudson Wisconsin’s Giggle Factory, I found my way to a relatively new local brewery and taproom, American Sky Beer. An aviation themed brewery located in the industrial park area of Hudson at 1510 Swasey Street. A stones throw from Fleet Farm. They are open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Thursday and Friday 4-8pm, Saturday 2-8pm.

The taproom, affectionately called “The Hangar”, offers a horseshoe shaped bar, high top tables and picnic tables. A large brew space that houses a 15 barrel mash tun and boil kettle, 15 barrel fermenters and bright tanks, and bottling line. Some of the equipment came from Grand Teton and O’so breweries. Nothing fancy. More industrial. Fitting based on the theme. Not nearly as warm as say 612 or Indeed brewing.

American sky tanks

They had 6 beers on draft and 1 in a cask (it was Firkin Friday). Their flagship beers were the Tailgunner Gold, Amber Salute and USA IPA. Their specialties were a British Bitter, Belgian IPA and a Scottish Ale. Most of the beers are self describing. The Tailgunner was a blonde ale. The firkin was the IPA on Amarillo and Citra.

I ordered a Flight and a firkin pour. Can’t turn down a cask ale. I went in order of the board. I started with the blonde. A refreshing slightly fruity session ale. Nothing to exciting here. Pretty much an accessible starter for the less crafty. The amber was a little confusing. Personally when I think amber I think of a slightly hop forward beer with some fruity esters. But I actually liked the way they put it together. Malty with a nutty fruity flavor. Malty nose with similar aromas to the flavor. I liken it to a lighter brown ale. The IPA was hoppy, citrusy, and well balanced malt profile. The owner noted that he uses wheat in the mash. I mentioned to him that with my homebrew I do the same. It adds a nice stickiness to theAmerican Sky Cask head and builds a nice body. Not the most aggressive IPA but not bad either. The British Bitter was probably my favorite beer. Heavy Maris Otter biscuit bready flavor. Solid bitterness from what I thought was East Kent Golding hops. I could drink that all day. Light with a good amount of body for such a low ABV. The Belgian IPA was forgettable. I found the esters to be muted. Just a lack of complexity. The Scottish ale was actually pretty decent too. I won’t pretend that I am a Scottish beer lover. It’s usually not the first beer I reach for. I find them to be too sweet. In this case it was well attenuated. Slight dry finish. Caramel, roast and malt dominate. In my opinion well done. And finally the cask IPA. Oily, grassy and smooth. I will say I thought it was a little under carbonated. I think the beer was a little young.

American Sky Flight

My overall impression? Decent. Obviously there is some growing to be done here. I really dig the space. They offer live music on Saturday nights starting at 5. The owner was very courteous. He shared a sample of a new beer with me off the fermenter. I’d say if you find yourself in Hudson its worth a visit. Cheers!

American Sky Brewing
1510 Swasey St
Hudson, WI 54016
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Flight with Bites: American IPA vs English IPA

Señor Wong & MN Beer Activists are proud to bring the next event in our Flight with Bites pairing series. This time around we are tasting American IPA and English-Style IPA paired with hand crafted small plates from Chef Cody Monson.

Featured Beer Style: American IPA vs English-Style IPA

Stone IPA (CA)  – American IPA
COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Look up “hops” in the dictionary and you’ll see a picture of Stone IPA! “Dry-hopped” for an extra two weeks, this unique process gives our IPA its bountiful hop aroma and rich hop flavor. A full 70+ IBUs (International Bitterness Units) creates this beer’s crisp and refreshing bitter character.

Founders All Day IPA (MI) – American IPA
COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
The beer you’ve been waiting for. Keeps your taste satisfied while keeping your senses sharp. An all-day IPA naturally brewed with a complex array of malts, grains and hops. Balanced for optimal aromatic and a clean finish. The perfect reward for an honest day’s work and the ultimate companion to celebrate life’s simple pleasures.

Brooklyn East India Pale Ale (NY) – English IPA
COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Brooklyn East India Pale Ale, originally a summer seasonal, has been getting raves since becoming a year round offering in 1996. Garrett Oliver, a student of English brewing and beer history, uses English malts and hops to brew his EIPA in the classic, heavily-hopped style of the 19th century beers created for British soldiers serving in India.

Goose Island IPA (IL) – English IPA
COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Our IPA recalls a time when ales shipped from England to India were highly hopped to preserve their distinct taste during the long journey. The result, quite simply a hop lover’s dream. And this classic ale adds a fruity aroma, set off by a dry malt middle, to ensure that the long hop finish is one you’ll remember.

Flight with Bites – Friday, Feb. 22nd.
$25 Per Person (includes, tax, tip and donation to MN Beer Activists)
Date: Friday, Apr. 5th
Time: 6:30pm – 7:30pm

Space is limited to the first 50 guests, so please call for reservation!

Señor Wong Bar & Restaurant
111 East Kellogg Blvd. St. Paul
P. 651.224.2019

Parking: Discount Parking available in the Kellogg Square parking ramp.


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Newsfeed

Farm Girl vs Farmer’s Daughter

Stillwater’s Lift Bridge Brewery and Wisconsin’s Lucette Brewing have some problems to work out. They have girl problems, farm girls or daughters depending on your brand of choice.

Lift Bridge has called shenanigans on Lucette, asking Minnesota Courts to the make Lucette drop the Farmer’s Daughter name.

Customers are mixing up the two brands now that they’re going head-to-head in some Twin Cities bars, Lift Bridge CEO Dan Schwarz said. The two breweries have gone back-and-forth over the problem for about six months, he said.

“We asked several times very nicely, and unfortunately we’ve just seen more efforts from them to confuse and dilute the brand,” Schwarz said.

girl fight
What beer is this advertising?

The Minnesota beer community and the brewing community at large often view lawsuits as something that doesn’t benefit the micro brewing industry. Some think time would be better spent fighting the large macro brewers than fighting amongst themselves.  Avery & russian River even created collaboration beer in an effort to avoid litigation. And, let’s not forget the Northgate vs Northbound issue that seems to has resolved itself.

Brewing beer is most definitely a business, and one that risks that costs time and money.  When local, or nearly local (Lucette), companies are competing for tap lines and shelf space with similar beers that have similar names and similar packaging, it is easy to see how confusion arises. 

How many times should a brewer have to ask and how long should they wait for changes if they think their beer brand is under attack?  It seems Lift bridge is either tired of waiting, or asking, or both.  And with images like the one above being posted around town, who can blame them?  Promotional posters are usually provided by distributors. So, where does the responsibility lie?

Hopefully some meaningful resolution will come from the litigation, but don’t look for a collaboration anytime soon.

Source: Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

 

Newsfeed

Live Chat with Excelsior Brewing from Craft Brewers Conference


Join us for a live chat on Google+ as we Hangout On Air with Minnesota’s own Excelsior Brewing Company, straight from Washington, D.C.

CBC 2012
Photo © 2012 Jason E. Kaplan

The Craft Brewers Conference is the industry’s largest gathering. The conference and Expo brings together 6,000 brewing professionals from both brewpubs and packaging breweries for seminars, lobbying, networking, and BrewExpo, a massive trade show. Put on by the Brewers Association (BA), CBC is an opportunity for the craft (micro) brewing community to gather for conversation, collaboration and education to further America’s beer culture.

excelsior-main-logo

Wednesday, at 6:30pm CDT, Patrick, Niles, and Ben will take a few minutes out of their schedule to talk about their experience at the Craft Brewers Conference.

Google+ Page Link

 

 

Newsfeed

No More Minnesota Nice – Give us our #EnjoyBy #MN

By Tucker Pearce

Stone - Enjoy By
Stone Brewing Co Enjoy By 12.21.12 by @JasonBGP

In Minnesota we have waited patiently, as most Midwesterners do, for Enjoy By IPA from Stone Brewing Co. We don’t want to complain or cause too much of a ruckus here in the Midwest but that might be part of the problem.

See the whole point of the #EnjoyBy campaign is to vote for the beer in your City or State. Stone wants to know who really wants this beer because they need to be certain that we can consume it by the date printed on the bottle. Yes, I know this is Minnesota and we love our IPA’s and for those of us living here we all realize there won’t be a bottle left on the shelves but we still have to convince Stone. So, to get Stone’s attention you simply need to put down your beer and start Tweeting. Be sure that your tweet includes the following two hashtags: #EnjoyBy #MN

I’d also suggest including @StoneBrewingCo at the end of your tweet. Make sure the tweet doesn’t start with @StoneBrewingCo as we want to ensure all of your followers see the tweet even if they are foolish enough not to follow Stone.

Next, go to http://www.stonebrewing.com/enjoyby/ and click on Vote at the top of the page which will take you to the Vote Now button. Click on the Vote Now Button and the vote with your E-mail address and go ahead and enter your Gmail address along with a MN Zip Code. Then vote again with that Hotmail account you haven’t used since college.

Go ahead and get vocal Minnesota! Tweet a few times a day, vote once with every e-mail address you have (yes we know you have a few) and reach out to the following guys on Twitter and let them know you want #EnjoyBy #MN

Stop reading this and get out and Tweet that is unless you really want to drive to Iowa to get your fair share of EnjoyBy!

Please feel free to leave any comments below, I’d love to hear your take on #EnjoyBy and other beers you want to see from Stone. Oh, and a special thanks to @JasonBGP from beergeno.me for the #EnjoyBy photo above. Yes, he’s lucky enough to live in Iowa…

Tucker Pearce writes for TwinCitiesCraftBeer.com, a site devoted to beer sold or produced in and around the Twin Cities. Tucker can be found on twitter at @Pearceweb

Newsfeed

Have You Heard of Third Street Brewhouse?

Have you heard of Third Street Brewhouse? We hope so! I got the opportunity to sit down with Mike F. from Third Street to chat about their brewery, the story behind the name as well as their hopes and dreams for the future.

Outside the Brewhouse
Outside of the new Brewhouse

We met at Kabobs in Mankato on a day that Mike was in town running some sales calls. He came in wearing (of course!) his Third Street work shirt, and had an energy to him that was both humble yet proud. I could tell right away he was passionate about this brewery and had great stories to tell. For those of you who don’t know, Third Street Brewhouse is located in Cold Spring, MN opened in July of 2012. They opened on the site where Cold Spring Brewing Company has been since 1874, and their grand entrance included a complete renovation and building of a site that will make beer folks jealous. They built a $12 million dollar brewhouse that is state of the art!

After hearing about the history of the site, we launched in to story sharing. Mike first told me how the
brewery actually got its name which came about because the location is on the intersection of Third Street, which happens to be an alleyway on the premise. I have not had the opportunity to visit (yet!)
but after seeing some pictures of the facility, am very impressed and know it’s worth the visit.

Picture of the tank farm inside the brewery
Picture of the tank farm inside the brewery

Look at their beer labels, swag and website and you’ll see they have a very strong brand of visual art. If
you take one second to really look at it, you’ll see there is a story behind each beer. My favorite was the story of how the name Bitter Neighbor came about. Now, I can’t fathom this, but apparently some of the neighbors to the brewery were not so excited about the opening of this new place. They attended various meetings around the city, pushing against the opening of Third Street Brewhouse. In the end the Brewhouse gained approval to move forward, but not without leaving some Bitter Neighbors around. If you look at the art design you’ll see a very angry man with a trucker cap, complete with a number 3 that is crossed out on his hat. From bitter neighbors to lost fish to monks, Third Street has it all.

Bitter Neighbor Label
Bitter Neighbor Label

As we wrapped up our conversation, I left feeling energized and excited to try more Third Street brews. Mike and his colleagues at Third Street Brewhouse have a passion for beer, community and creativity. If
you haven’t yet, stop by their website and check out the plethora of information there. It is extremely educational and visually pleasing, and even talks about their project named Beer School which is a traveling school that can help you “earn a degree in Beerology.”

Cheers to Mike and his team at Third Street Brewhouse. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of you, and I personally look forward to visiting your beautiful brewery.