In an effort to create even more buzz and knowledge around one of the hottest beers in the country this year Surly is hosting Paint the Town Black. The rolling release event will build up to the release of Surly Darkness in bars all across Surly’s 7 state distribution area. Leading up to the release of Darkness are two other Surly beers; Furious Black, and Damien. Yes, if you hadn’t already guessed, they are black. The beers will come to market as a rolling release during the month of October. Appearances of some other dark favorites including Four, Nein, Ten, and Pentagram have been promised as well. Find your nearest location here.
Furious Black
This is the first time to catch Furious Black, first introduced at Darkness Day last year, and Damien outside of going to Darkness Day which will behold as the Brooklyn Center brewery on October 15th. Although in the same place as all previous Darkness Days this one is a week earlier on the calendar.
Furious Black’s name came by way of Harry Potter’s godfather Sirius Black, the misunderstood wizard always on the run. There’s nothing to be confused with this brew. Brewer Jerrod Johnson states that this is 95% Furious. The only addition being the roasted malts to add the black color and roasted, slightly chocolate quality.
Photo Credit: Aaron Konigsmark
Damien – Child of Darkness
Following Furious Black is the release of Damien. Always a crowd favorite at Darkness Day consumers will not only be able to find it on draft but bottles are hitting all markets starting on October 3rd in 750 ML bottles. This child of Darkness is a “small beer” created in the Parti-Gyle style of brewing. Damien comes to life as the second runnings all the rich malts that made Darkness. The addition of dry hopping makes this American Black Ale a refreshing palette cleanser when compared to its parentage.
The star of the rolling release is, of course, Darkness. This Russian Imperial Stout has all its usual characteristic notes, raisins, chocolate, slightly boozy rum taste all finished off with some hop heat to bring warmth to us all. The folks that chase rare beers (aka whales, or white whales) might be happy to know that 2016’s version of Surly’s wet hopped IPA beauty Wet was sacrificed on the altar of Darkness to make space on the brewing schedule and bring more Darkness to us all. 750 ML bottles will start hitting distribution starting Oct 17th. But you should be able to find it on draft at bars hosting the Paint the Town Black event after the 17th.
Featured: Bent Brewstillery, Enki Brewing, and Mankato Brewery
For the sad saps — like me — who don’t have a taproom nearby their home to frequent, I spend a lot of time perusing the aisles of liquor stores for the latest Minnesota beer offerings. Here’s a few that have found their way to my fridge and, ultimately, down my gullet. You should check them out.
Brewer’s ExperimentalAle No. 12: Oakmeal Stout, Funked Up Series No. 14 – Cheery, Moar IPA, Nordic Blonde, Über Lüpin Schwarz IPA
Bent Brewstillery
I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a collection of Bent Brewstillery offerings. The Roseville brewery sure has been ambitious in a lot of its offerings (beer and spirits), and I had only had a couple of their beers before this gift basket of goodness.
The Oakmeal Stout was deep with coffee undertones, and the fermentation on French oak definitely brought that flavor to the fore. My wife even enjoyed some of it. For those of you who read my last entry, I haven’t jumped on the sour train yet. But, with each sour experience, I’m enjoying them more and more. Last time it was Fair State’s Raspberry Roselle, and this time, it was the Cheery from Bent Brewstillery. This sour ale with cherries (duh) and black currant was smooth and pleasing. I would definitely drink more of this.
While those two beers came in bottles, Bent’s can offerings of Moar IPA, Nordic Blonde, and Über Lüpin were all tasty in their own way. Moar is a very drinkable IPA, Nordic Blonde was pleasant (and I don’t tend to drink too many blondes) and Über Lüpin wasn’t what I expected when I poured it, but it was a fun, complex beer. Maybe it’s my lack of beer acumen here, but I had never had a Schwarz IPA, which is also defined as a black/Cascadian Dark Ale (according to Bent’s Untappd entry). It hit on all the right notes, balancing the cocoa flavor with the piney hops.
Oakmeal: 8.5 percent ABV, 35 IBU
Cheery: 6.6 ABV
Moar: 4.7 percent ABV, 47 IBU
Nordic: 5.7 percent ABV, 27 IBU
Über Lüpin: 8.3 percent ABV, 83 IBU
Oh, my. Between Bent’s Nordic Blonde and Enki Brewing’s Victoria’s Gold Cream Ale, I may have to dabble more on the “lighter side.” Admittedly, I’ve been closed off the past year or so as I delved deeply into the clichéd and nuanced world of craft IPAs and big stouts. Sue me. But this cream ale was divine. Smooth, silky and refreshing are just three adjectives I can throw at it right now.
Speaking of those “darker” beers, as much as I enjoyed Victoria’s Gold (quite a bit), Mocha Porter was right up my alley. This is a beer I would drink on the boat in July. I enjoyed it that much.
The Victoria-based brewery is increasing its foothold in the western side of the cities (and beyond), so be on the lookout for these offerings (as well as their equally good Tail Feather IPA and CACAO Porter). Fair warning: Mocha Porter is a winter offering from Enki, so there probably aren’t many bottles still floating around. Find one. Now.
Victoria’s Gold: 5.2 percent ABV, 11 IBU
Mocha Porter: 6.5 percent ABV, 24 IBU
BOOMCHICKAPOP Popcorn Ale
Mankato Brewery
BOOMCHICKAPOP.
You should try typing that.
Yes, the very popular popcorn has found its way into a beer from Mankato Brewery after owner Tim Tupy had the bright idea to combine two of man’s favorite substances.
While the flashy can (like the namesake popcorn’s branding) and promotion of such a joint venture may seem to be all for publicity, it’s backed up with what resulted in a very nice farmhouse ale that’s easy to drink; and, at 4.45 percent ABV, you can drink a few of them without issue. In fact, I had my first sip before going double bogey recently. No word on if the beer had any effect on my terrible golf game.
Mankato’s smattering of other year-round offerings are also good in their own right, from Haymaker IPA (and Mad Butcher IPA, yum), to Organ Grinder Amber Ale, Crooked Rook Porter (right up my alley!) and Kato Lager.
The First of Six Taproom Posts from North Central Minnesota’s Craft Breweries
The current brewery and tap room, soon to be called the old brewery tap room. (Image courtesy Bemidji Brewing)
154 miles west of Duluth, 217 miles north of the Twin Cities, and a mere 130 miles east of Fargo you’ll find a nano brewery in the city which claims to be the first on the Mississippi. From humble beginnings of a Kickstarter campaign to help finance their nano brewing system which produced their first kegs in October 2013 (which sold out immediately), Bemidji Brewing Company has grown out of its current space.
On the Friday night I visited the soon-to-be-called “old” brewery and taproom, it was standing room only for the customers who hadn’t found a table, bar stool or couch. As the Friday Firkin of Winter IPA with Dry-Hopped Citra was being served (and going quickly) I chatted with Brewer and Owner Tom Hill, Brewer Chris Marty and grabbed answers from Owner Tina Kaney who was busily working the bar and busing tables with the staff.
Work is well underway to re-purpose a barrel-roofed, 6000 square foot building about 6 blocks away. The old floor is gone, new drains laid out and plumbed, and fresh high-strength concrete (needed to support the concentrated weight of full brewing equipment) poured and curing. The new space will allocate 4000 sq ft for the brewery and 2000 sq ft for the taproom. Unlike the current space, the new digs will have room to feature an exterior patio to enjoy those warmer northern Minnesota evenings.
The current brewhouse is 3 bbl and 1.5 bbl kettle, 8 3 bbl polyethelene fermenters that live in separately cooled closets that keep company with 2 brite tanks at 3 and 7 bbl each.
“We hope to be done with the final construction and have the brewery equipment installed and operational by April,” forecast Tom. “Then we’ll move the taproom over and open that in June.” What about the old equipment? “We’ve already had folks calling and wanting to buy it,” smiled Tom. Later, I overheard Tina sharing with some customers the plan to add a small kitchen in the new space. She assures me that this doesn’t make them a brewpub and they’ll keep the brewery license, allowing them to add even more than the five distribution accounts they have now.
Shiny, newborn, happy fermenters still sleeping in their shipping cradles, dreaming about their future where they will be full of wonder and goodness. (Image courtesy Bemidji Brewing)
The new brewery, built by Alpha Brewing Operations in Lincoln, NE, sports two 15 bbl kettles, two 30 bbl fermenters and 15 and 30 bbl brite tanks. If you’re looking at numbers in the image caption and doing math, yes: a lot bigger.
According to Tom, making enough beer to satisfy demand is impossible with the current configuration. The new brewery will have the space to add additional fermenters as well as offer more barrel storage and potentially a canning line in the future,
The current brewery can produce about 450 barrels a year. The new one? 7,000 barrels.
While Tom and Chris updated me on some of the challenges of brewing (as brewers love to do), my left hand was steadily working through the six glass flight (plus the firkin sample on the handle). You can get samples of the beers that don’t fit in the flight. From the German Blonde to a Holiday Ale and a Coffee Stout, there was a little something for everyone.
German Blonde, Red Ale, India Pale Ale, Export Stout, Holiday Ale, Coffee Stout and the Winter IPA on Citra riding the handle.
“We do a lot of education with our customers,” explained Tom. I asked if the perception of the rural Minnesotan preferring Bud/Miller/Coors over craft more than the metropolitan Minnesotan was accurate. “I think people are the same all over. We’re showing them that there is a lot more than those three beers available and an even greater variety of flavors and tastes.”
With the now obligatory “I ain’t a beer critic” disclaimer, I enjoyed the Winter IPA on firkin the best. I was disappointed to learn that their most acclaimed beer, a double porter bottled for a Christmas holiday release, was long gone. Hopefully with the new brew house, more will be made and Santa will bring me one next Christmas. I hear Paul and Babe make regular trips to the metro, pushing lumber down the river, so they can bring it down with them, ok?
A blistering wind attacked my exposed face from the north just as soon as I got out of my well-heated minivan. I carefully but quickly shuffled over patches of ice in the street, aiming for promised shelter just ahead, declared by an illuminated sign. Fumbling with my smartphone, I looked again as it reported a temperature of -9, windchill of -19 below zero.
As my tennis shoes found more reliable footing on the ramp leading up to the entry, I saw Brad up ahead, holding the door wide open for me. While I appreciated Brad’s courtesy, my immediate thought was, “if there is anyone in there and they are sitting by that door, they are gonna be so angry at us out-of-towners.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
As my glasses defogged and my cheeks thawed, we found ourselves in a warm, cozy taproom that was full to the brim. Of the wooden tables and chairs I could see, they were all full of groups of people. I looked, but did not see or hear anyone cursing our arctic-blast entry. Instead, the room was warm and full of laughter from everyone I could hear. Nobody was giving Brad and I that ‘oh look strangers!’ glare that you get when you enter a place always populated by the regulars. Of the people who were curious, they were all admiring Brad’s custom brewery-patch jacket.
A lot of interesting beer history all over the place. That’s Brad in the center.
The taproom was front-sectioned off from a larger interior which boasted the popular creamery-brick/industrial steel siding style. Behind a service counter made from stainless steel worktables were custom-built, white coolers with clear doors showcasing seven 5-barrel stainless fermenters inside. Over it all, a green chalkboard held information about the beers on tap and for sale.
Just as soon as my glasses cleared enough to read, I searched the chalkboard and found the word that I wanted to see: flights. Nothing makes me happier than finding out I can try one of everything available in affordable, small portions. The flights were served on a thick wooden tray with counter-sunk holes to hold the sampling glasses. Brad was already ahead of me, ordering his.
A flight of 8 on a tray built for 7 means you carry it carefully.
My second, now in more-in-focus look around the taproom revealed framed pictures containing some of the building history, beer culture, and even a large print of Sisyphus Brewing’s mural. Everyone seemed happy, and eruptions of laughter were common from several larger groups. However, the room had no place left to sit. I started getting concerned that we’d have to stand and balance our flight trays in one hand and drink with the other: not ideal.
Just then, a group stood up and made preparations to go. Brad made an instinctive bee-line for the just opening table. In fairness, Brad is a frequent patron of Dangerous Man, and his skills at finding a place to sit in that always bustling taproom are finely honed. I saw beer left on the tables they’d just stood up from as the taproom staff quickly bustled over to clear it. I got this odd vibe that these folks just decided to call it a night to give us a place to sit. As they pulled on their coats and we took ours off, we thanked them for the space and they in turn encouraged us to enjoy our beers.
It was a very Minnesotan-nice moment.
While we worked through our 8 beers, people came over and asked how we were, where we’d come from, and what our favorite beers were. To some end, I thought that maybe my reputation as a blogger was gathering us additional attention, but in reflection I think people were very friendly and really wanted to talk to us… and ask Brad about his brewery-patch jacket.
The little sign at the bottom says, “Don’t judge folks by their relatives”
This is a beer blog, so I suppose we should get into that. I found all the beers very drinkable. I am not a beer sommelier, nor certified cicerone, never been a BJCP beer judge. I know what I like, and with my preference for porters and stouts, I found The General (an American Imperial Stout) to be my favorite (see image for the tap list). They also had some wax-dipped 750ml bottles of this beer that had been bourbon-barrel aged and, from the sales I observed and the man-that’s-good-beer sounds Brad made, very good and in high demand. I had noted the crowler machine as we came in, and had I to do it over would have asked for a crowler of The General to go.
The Saturday closing time of 9:00 PM arrived quicker than I would have liked. The taproom started clearing out about 8:45 PM and Brad had just about finished his tray while mine looked largely untouched. I guess I spent too much time talking to folks and not drinking beer. As we made preparations to leave, two local fellas we’d been talking to suggested an ‘interesting’ pizza place in town if we were hungry before braving the below-zero drive back home. We took their advice and, well, the experience we had there would fill another blog. I will say that the staff at Pizzeria 201 were obviously hoping to clean up early when we arrived close to their closing time, but they found the pizza oven was still hot and they served us happily
Maybe the whole town of Montgomery is full of friendly people.
With the holidays upon us, the liquor store shelves are inundated with winter warmers, Christmas ales, and other seasonal specialties. Choosing the right beers for your gatherings this holiday season can be difficult, so I sat down with RJ White, Beer Manager at The Ale Jail in St. Paul to taste the hottest seasonals coming out of Minnesota right now. In addition to helping with sampling, RJ and The Ale Jail also generously curated this selection of Minnesota winter beers.
Our holiday tasting selection
Barley John’s Boggan Brew Winter Ale
Barley John’s Boggan Brew
Perhaps the latest brewery to begin producing beer in cans, Barley John’s have started strong with four flagship beers and this seasonal, a winter ale. For a winter ale this had a very welcome and unique spice presence. Instead of the standard cinnamon and nutmeg notes, we tasted a very novel array of flavors including anise, Amaretto, cherries, almonds, and cardamom. The spice flavor was strong but not overpowering, complementing the caramel malt flavor and balanced bitterness.
Bauhaus Brew Labs Tallander Scottish Ale & Winterloper Baltic Porter
Bauhaus Winterloper
Tallander is the newest beer from Bauhaus, a Scottish Ale that just hit the shelves this last week. It starts with an enticing biscuity aroma with light roasty notes. The flavor was surprisingly roasty, with hints of stone fruit from the yeast, and great notes of toffee.
Another seasonal beer from Bauhaus, their Winterloper Baltic Porter, stays true to Bauhaus’s focus on lager styles. With sweet notes of chocolate and caramel, this is a phenomenal beer with the strong, complex flavors of your typical porter, but an easy-drinking, dangerously smooth and crisp finish.
Rush River Nevermore Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
Rush River Nevermore
Despite not being from Minnesota, Rush River is a beloved brewery in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and we couldn’t resist including this brew in our rundown. Out of all the beers we tried, this definitely had the most pronounced chocolate flavor. Thick, sweet, and smooth, this would make a fantastic dessert beer, great for sipping by the fire this Christmas. I would call this beer the prototypical chocolate oatmeal stout. It tastes exactly how you would expect it to, and that is not a bad thing. Rush River hit the nail on the head with this one.
Bad Weather Brewing Ominous “Midwest” Warmer
Bad Weather Ominous
A brown ale for the winter season is a great description for Ominous. With great notes of nuts and roast, this beer is very approachable and drinkable, but subdued and complex. The use of dark candi sugar evokes flavors similar to a spiced beer, giving off subtle dark stone fruit, raisin, and chocolate flavors, as well as a mild, balanced sweetness. I would call this a spiced beer for people who don’t like spiced beer. Very mature flavors from a young brewery.
Indeed Stir Crazy Winter Warmer & Old Friend Holiday Ale
Indeed Old Friend
If Ominous was spiced beer for people who don’t like spiced beer, then Stir Crazy is spiced beer for people who love spiced beer. Shirking the standard spice offerings, this beer uses vanilla, raisins, and brown sugar. The raisins stand out at the forefront, giving a great fruit flavor without any unwanted syrupy sweetness. The vanilla gives a nice complement to this dark fruit flavor, and behind all that is some great malty caramel and toffee flavor.
Old Friend is a refreshing and novel surprise. The use of ginger gives an incredibly unique flavor, but the beer is very smooth, without any of the “burn” most people associate with ginger. There is also a strong presence of lemon citrus. This ginger/citrus combination pairs surprisingly well with the dark, sweet malt flavor.
Bent Paddle Harness IPA
Bent Paddle Harness IPA
After so many dark, heavy beers we were ready for something a bit more drinkable. Harness IPA was just the thing to break up this session of stouts, winter ales, and other beers great for sipping. With a bold aroma of simcoe and citra hops, this beer clears your senses. Great citrus hop flavor greets the tastebuds and evokes summertime IPAs, and a mild spiciness from the rye subtly reminds us that it is still cold outside. This will certainly be my go-to beer for New Years. Drinkable enough to enjoy all night, but complex enough not to bore.
Boom Island 2014 Yule
Boom Island 2014 Yule
Yes, that year is correct, we’re talking about last year’s Yule from Boom Island. Boom Island cellared this beer for a year themselves because they knew we wouldn’t be patient enough to wait for it. Despite being a year old, there is plenty of this available. And boy was this one worth waiting for. True to Boom Island’s MO, this dark belgian holiday beer gives off light belgian yeast notes of clove. A phenomenal tart flavor complements the black currants used in this beer. The currants themselves give off phenomenally complex fruit notes, and a light spice note subtly complements all of this. This is a great choice for a table beer for any of your holiday parties. And yes – there is also Yule from this year available.
Olvalde Farm & Brewing Company Spiced Ode to a Russian Shipwright
Olvalde Spiced Ode
This beer is a spiced version of Olvalde’s Porter, Ode to a Russian Shipwright. The spiced version makes for a great holiday beer, with notes of allspice and nutmeg, and a heavy cinnamon presence to warm you up. Beneath that are notes of wood, caramel and licorice. Similar to its base beer, there is a great spruce presence in this beer as well. This is an incredibly complex and well crafted beer. Perhaps most exciting about Olvalde is their incredible commitment to using ingredients grown on their farm, creating a true farm-to-bottle experience.
Among these ten beers are some of the most unique and exciting offerings available this holiday season in Minnesota. Any on this list will make the bar at your holiday party stand out, or just make you relish the cold winter season. Hopefully this will make your holiday buying just a little bit easier.
All of these beers and many more are available at The Ale Jail, located on St. Clair Avenue in St. Paul. Their commitment to craft beer is admirable – you would be hard pressed to find a can of macro beer in the entire store. In addition to a great selection of Minnesota beers, they have a strong selection of foreign and international beers including beers from traditional Belgian and German breweries. On top of this, their staff are some of the most knowledgeable in the metro area. Check The Ale Jail out on Facebook or Twitter.
With Lakes and Legends grand opening celebration this Saturday, I thought I would stop in and see what the new brewery located in Loring Park had to offer. I was more than impressed with this new Minneapolis brewery.
Lakes and Legends’ taproom
Walking into a large open room, I note lawn games lining one wall, bringing a bit of the outdoors to the indoors. Another wall hosts a clear view of the brewhouse equipment. The heavy dark-wood tables and bar, and floor to ceiling windows are evocative of the farm to bottle attitude that co-owner Ethan Applen says defines Lakes and Legend’s vision. Applen says they plan to focus on brewing Belgian and farmhouse styles, a unique approach that should set them apart from other Minnesota breweries. They also intend to source as many local ingredients as possible. When I asked Applen why they decided to focus on Belgian styles, he responded that these were the styles that got him interested in craft beer because they are approachable and demonstrate different flavors than other popular craft beer styles like IPAs. Applen hopes that Lakes and Legends’ unique takes on Belgian beers can ignite interest in these styles for others as well.
Flights at Lakes and Legends
With their expansive and eclectic taplist, Lakes and Legends is already standing out. I tried four, but the new brewery already has eight different beers on tap. Starting with their Belgian IPA, I was already impressed. This beer has all the esters one should expect of a traditional Belgian ale. The flavor itself is dry and biscuity, with a healthy bitterness to satisfy any hop-head, and a mild fruitiness. The next beer I tried was their raspberry braggot. A braggot is a style of mead made using malt for a portion of the fermentable sugars. Not many Minnesota breweries serve a braggot, so I knew I had to try this one. This beer is fantastically sweet, a bit tart from the raspberries, and overall a very pleasant, light, easy-drinking brew. Their Belgian Rauch was the next beer I tried, a beer brewed with smoked malt and belgian yeast. This beer had an expectedly strong flavor of smokiness, but notes of clove and pepper shined through as well in this crisp ale.
The long and eclectic taplist!
The standout beer from my flight however was their seasonal cranberry saison. The cranberries lend the beer a lingering tartness. This complemented the spicy clove notes from the saison yeast very well. The beer finishes crisp and dry, making it a complex but very drinkable choice. Also, the cranberries were all locally sourced from a family cranberry farm in Aiken, Minnesota. In addition to the beers I didn’t try, Also on their menu are several appetizers and craft sodas. Overall, the beer at Lakes and Legends seemed very consistent and refined, and I look forward to trying more from them.
This Saturday, Lakes and Legends is celebrating with a grand opening party, where they will release their newest beer – a Winter Warmer. At the party patrons can donate a new unwrapped childrens toy or book for donation to the Children’s Hospital and receive a free 4 oz. beer! Celebrate the season with the newest member of the Minnesota craft beer community, we’ll see you there!
Fall is a wonderful season for beer drinkers. Breweries switch over from the light summer ales and pull out the big guns. Oktoberfests, Pumpkin Spice, and Fresh Hops. Oh My!
Indeed’s new beers proved to be nothing short of excellent, as can be expected from the Northeast Minneapolis brewery recently awarded a silver medal at GABF 2014. This season’s releases, Mosaic Fresh Hop IPA and Rum King Imperial Stout could not be more different, but are each spectacular in their own regards.
Mosaic
Let’s start with the hoppier of the selections. Autumn’s promise of fresh-hopped ales is always a treat to look forward to. Indeed’s Mosaic features, no surprise, Mosaic hops, which bring an unusual mix of fruit and earth flavors to the party. The beer arrives to the bar with a deep rich golden hue and a frothy full white head, which clings to the glass and leaves a nice lacing. The aroma teases the senses with robust hop notes of wet wood and grass and a hint of light citrus peel. The flavor mirrors the aroma note-for-note delivering big grassy, dank hop flavors and mellowing to reveal honeydew melon and blueberry flavors from the hop and a slight graham cracker sweetness from the malt. The beer finishes clean with a touch of residual bitterness as if to remind you that you are drinking an American IPA. As the beer warms, notes of over-ripened herbs, cotton candy, and young grapefruit peek through the hop-forward pale ale. I would highly recommend this to all the hop heads out there. This beer is already on tap at a few places around town and should be in stores soon.
Rum King
If you happen to be Jack Sparrow, sorry…Captain Jack Sparrow, and find yourself with a distinct and ongoing shortage of rum, I do have a solution for you. Bring your barrels to Indeed and have them make you something like Rum King.
If malt-forward beers with big, bold flavors if more up your alley, then this is going to be the beer for you. Weighing in at 10.5% ABV, this is a heavy hitter of a beer and has the flavors to back it up. This beer arrives to the table with a body black as night and a light brown head that foreshadows the bold adventure upon which you are about to embark. The aroma gives away the high alcohol content and features flavors such as spiced rum, vanilla, caramel, sweet raisin, and tobacco. The flavor itself is packed full of the same rum and raisin flavors, supplemented with a caramel and chocolate backbone. Notes of brown sugar and espresso bitterness round out this beer for a robust, but balanced flavor. As you finish your sip, the high ABV warms your body and finishes dryer than expected. This is a perfect beer for those first chilly nights leading up to the winter.
Your first chance to get Rum King bottles will be at the 3rd Annual Indeed Brewing Hullabaloo. The party is taking place at the brewery this Saturday, October 11th, from 12:00-10:00pm. Festivities include special beer tappings, music, and food.
For more adventures, follow me on twitter: @TCBeerDude
The Indeed Brewing Mexican Honey Imperial Lager is in a league of its own, especially among other summer beers. While honey lager conjures images of straw-colored beer in a clear bottle with or without a lime sticking out, imperial leads to thoughts of viscous, motor-oil like substances. Somewhere in the middle, and containing elements of each, is this unique flavor bomb.
With aggressive honey character from start to finish and just enough alcoholic heat to get its point across, the Indeed Brewing Mexican Honey Imperial Lager will probably take you by surprise.
First, the Mexican orange blossom honey doesn’t add much sweetness. In fact, this beer is very dry and even mildly bitter in the finish. The dry finish allows the honey to come through, in contrast to one of Indeed’s other honey beers, the LSD, in which which the honey simply reads as “sweet”.
Furthermore, the orange on the nose is accompanied by a pleasant fruity-grape note and the malt delivers a graham cracker element — a very intriguing combination.
Mark Joseph, off-premise account manager, explains that the beer would age very well. “We just tried one that was a year old, the honey still came through. It was great.” With that, he took me back to the barrel room, where the Mexican Honey Imperial Lager is sitting in Don Julio Anejo tequila barrels. The aging brew will become Mexican Cousin in early 2015.
Worth the wait? I have no doubt. But for now try the Mexican Honey, available at the taproom and in bottles next week.
Mexican Cousin waiting to be born in the Indeed Brewing Barrel Room
Breweries switch over from the light summer ales and pull out the big guns. Oktoberfests, Pumpkin Spice, and Fresh Hops. Oh My!
With aggressive honey character from start to finish and just enough alcoholic heat to get its point across, the Indeed Brewing Mexican Honey Imperial Lager will probably take you by surprise.
