Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub has announced the release of Polar Vortex, the first Eisbock released in Minnesota in several years.
Allegedly, Eisbock is a style of beer that was an accidental discovery in Germany in 1890. The Reichelbräu Brewery in Kulmbach, Germany left some casks of their Bockbier outside on a bitterly cold night and the casks froze leaving behind only a small amount of liquid. Upon drinking the beer they realized that the liquid had a high concentration of alcohol because the water froze out.
Since then breweries around the world have made Eisbock beers during the freezing cold of winter. Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub decided to take advantage of the Polar Vortex this year and create an Eisbock from their Doppelbock. They froze concentrated their 8.3% Doppelbock to a 10.4% Eisbock.
“I wanted to do something unique that no one else in Minnesota was doing. With all the great new breweries opening there are not a lot of styles that haven’t been brewed locally,” said head brewer Jamie Robinson.
Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub will be releasing Polar Vortex Eisbock at 3pm on Monday February 10th. There is a very limited amount of this beer available, so get there early on Monday if you want to try it.
“We hope that our customers are as excited about this beer as we are”, said Robinson. “It’s about the only good thing that you can get from the Polar Vortex.”
