I Have Sinned on Christmas: Las Vegas NV

Contrary to the title of this post, I am not actually spending my holidays in Las Vegas.  As much fun as it would be to get a pint of holiday cheer from a showgirl dressed in half a Santa outfit while listening to Sinatra sing 'White Christmas' over the cacophony of people pouring their children's college money down an insatiable maw while desperately hoping that it will vomit up a small portion of it into their face, it's just better to be home.  I was actually in Vegas about a week ago, and have only just gotten the time to sit down and assemble my notes into some legible form.  So for friends and family that may read this and worry that I spent Christmas alone, far from home and neck-deep in depravity, do not worry.  I spent Christmas at home neck-deep in depravity.  I just thought the title was kind of funny.

On a side note, typing the title of this post into Google did not produces half as much hilarity as I would have liked.  Oh well. 

 

One would rightly assume that The Strip is probably not the best place to seek craft beer.  There is a place, however, that is hidden in and behind and around the florescent nooks and crannies of this city.  The Sin City Brewing Company has managed to carve out a few holes in the endless hotel/ casinos that line the street.  These places are a bit hard to find if you are looking for them, but they are there.  I managed to unearth two out of the three locations, and I can safely assume that I wasn't missing anything new at the third.

I stopped at the Sin City location within the Planet Hollywood Miracle Mile first.  It took quite a bit of walking around, but I finally found it right next to the indoor rain storm that goes off every hour on the hour.  Once I had located it, I figured out why it was such a pain in the ass to find, it is really small.  It is little more than a dent in the wall that contains a bar with about 8 seats, a rack of merchandise and a window for picking up a glass of beer to go.  It kind of reminded me of an airport bar complete with displaced denizens drunk on overpriced booze.  While I am on the subject, although a glass of beer will set you back $6 at Sin City, it's actually not that bad when you keep in mind that you are in a city that has the audacity to sell bottles of Bud Light for the same price.  However, I do object to their serving beer in a plastic cup.  I am aware that most of their customers are not as interested in aroma and flavor as they are simply getting as much alcohol into their bloodstream as quickly as possible, but still...

Sin City Brewing boasts four regular beers and a seasonal offering.  I managed to try them all except their light beer which I assumed was something they brewed for people who demand a Budweiser regardless of where they are in the known Universe.

I started off with their Refreshing German Wheat.  It was pretty good, but nothing surprising.  It had an aroma of light tropical fruit and clove. It has medium body, starts with light banana, tropical fruit and subtle clove and coriander spices in the middle. It finishes with a light lingering banana flavor that isn't unpleasant.

Next was a glass of the Full Bodied Oktoberfest.  It had a very light, almost non-existent roasted aroma.  The first sip was a different matter, this beer is a malt bomb. It is very sweet with nutty, roasted flavors and no detectable hops whatsoever.   Much like the German Wheat beer, it follows the style of an Oktoberfest, but that's about it, there's not a lot of complexity here.

Curiosity drove me further North along Las Vegas Blvd.   The little booze nook at Planet Hollywood was fine, but I wanted to see Sin City's largest bar was housed in a Vegas original, The Flamingo.  I didn't have the presence of mind to actually clock the amount of time I spent wandering the casino, but I am pretty sure I stumbled aimlessly for at least an hour.  Right as I was about to give up, I finally found the bar tucked away among the clothing shops near the parking garage.  I took my seat and continued my tour.

Next was the Classic Irish Dry Stout.  This was basically a Guinness clone with a barely noticeable increase in hops that produces a dry, bitter aftertaste. It was pretty enjoyable, but nothing all that complex or interesting.

 Their seasonal offering while I stopped by was an IPA. This seemed to be an odd choice for a winter seasonal.  I asked the bartender about this at Planet Hollywood, and was informed that their seasonal beers just kind of rotate arbitrarily.  This kind of defeats the purpose of a seasonal beer in my book, but that's just one traveler's opinion.  True to form, there was nothing all that earth shattering here either.  It was pale with a light head, slightly sweet off the top and contained just enough Northwest citrus hops to be considered an IPA, but not much more than that.    This beer, like all of their beers, seem built to be approachable for the typical Vegas tourist and not much more than that.  Their beers are pretty good.  Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but good.  The staff wasn't at all knowlagable about their beers, but they were friendly and kept the plastic cups filled.

One more side story before I wrap this one up.  While sipping the stout at the Flamingo, I managed to see a bottle labled 'Sin City Whiskey' tucked among the rest of the bottles.  I asked the bartender if this was a whiskey distilled by the same brewery.  He said that it was and so I ordered a shot.  It was quite good, extremely smooth with a sweet quality that made me think of rum complete with hints of nut, pine and leather.  When I got home and did some reasearch, I found that this was not produced by the brewery, but a seperate company all together.  I'll keep that as a cliffhanger for now.

And that's my last post for 2011.  I hit the road again early next year.  Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.  Raise a glass.

Deciples of Papazian: Denver CO

Well my travels have taken me back to the city at the edge of the Rocky Mountains.  And once again I find myself wandering the streets around the LoDo district of Denver.  Last time I was here, I stopped by the Falling Rocks Tap room for a taste of what they available at the time.  It was tempting to go back, last time I was there around the holidays they had an amazing selection of dark winter beers, I decided it was time to venture onward.  On this day I stopped by Wynkoop brewing company.

I am pretty sure I have spoken before about this city's deep connection with the art of craft brewing.  I think I saw something along the lines of 4 or 5 different breweries in the LoDo district alone, and if you happen to find yourself on the outskirts of town, history has shown that new and creative brew can still be located and enjoyed.  Denver is a beer town, to put it mildly, and from what I heard from the bar staff, this bar is ground zero.  The head brewer, Russell Schehrer, brought the art of craft brewing to Colorado back in 1988.  His ideas and brews were so innovative that after his untimely death in 1996 the American Brewers Association awards those who make great strides in the art of brewing with an award that bears his name. 

Given the history of this bar, I suppose that it is no surprise in retrospect that one of the first things I noticed in the bar was a hand-painted wall decoration honoring the greats in the craft brew revolution and the resulting Great American Beer Festival that contributed to its rise.  It stands as an altar to the legends that revolutionized the art of brewing in America.  From the top and center, Charlie Papazian looks down over the bar reminding us to "Relax and have a home brew."

I started with Pattys Chile Beer, a light beer brewed with Anaheim peppers.  This is not the first beer that I have had that uses hot peppers and I quite like the spicy aroma that it produces.  The peppers add a good amount of flavor with heat that doesn't linger the way spicy food does.  This beer was all that and more. Along with the strong smells and flavor from the peppers there is a goodly amount of hops at the back that really complement the sweet and spice that first hits the palate.

Next was the St. Charles Extra Special Bitter.
I found that I made the mistake in ordering the gumbo. That isn't to say it wasn't good, it was absolutely delicious.  It was also very spicy; it's the sort of spice that makes me physically sweat when I eat it.  Suffice to say that when it came time to taste this beer, my sinuses were in a state of moderate distress. The brewery notes on the beer says it has, "an elegant hop aroma," and I am inclined to take their word for it.  Flavor wise, it has a wonderful smooth taste. A little on the sweet side with orange spices back with a healthy dose of hops that manages to come through without being overpowering.  The pint came out with a very thick snow-white head that looked as good as it tasted.  Overall I think this was my favorite of the beers that I sampled.

Sadly, my obligations to my employer forced me to cut it short on this night so that I could be in some sort of state to wake up very early the next morning.  I finished Wynkoop's flagship beer, the Railyard Ale.  The first thing that really made me arch my eyebrows in interest is the body of this beer.  It's brewed as a session beer, it has a very light aroma and the flavor has some light roasted malts with just a touch of hops in the back for balance.  The body on this beer is a different matter.  I reminded me of one of those guys on ESPN 5 who are about 4' 5" and can bench press a tractor trailer.   I'm still not sure what I think about this one.  As a session beer, it's really not my ideal, but I got to respect how different it is.  I don't think I would buy a lot to keep at my house, but I would buy a lot to bring to parties and force it upon my friends.

I got one more destination before we bid 2011 goodbye and move on to the bright and shiny new year.  I will be finishing my 2011 tour in Las Vegas, Nevada before heading home. 
Cheers!

The Coldest Winter: San Diego, CA

I'm down in San Diego this week. As a man who is used to spending the winter freezing my freaking balls right off, San Diego in December is kinda surreal. It is as if I just skipped winter all together and emerged in springtime. As I am sure my readers in the frigid northlands have absolutely no sympathy for me, I will move on.

Of course the pirmier brewery in San Diego is Stone Brewing. I thought hard about visiting, but I came down with a sudden case of not wanting to try and fight crowds on a Friday night in San Diego...itis. Its been going around. Besides, the West Coast is basically the micro brewery breeding grounds. I was talking to my client this afternoon. After the meeting I stated that I was going to find a place to relax. As if she knew exactly what I meant by that statement, she pointed me to a nearby microbrewery called Callahan's pub and grill.

Callahan's is a vaugly Irish themed sports bar that happens to brew its own beer.
I started off with the Monster Mash. As near as I could tell this was basically a porter. There was lots of caramel toffee and coffee aroma. Mildly sweet roasted flavor. Slightly bitter coffee flavors on the back. This was a pretty good one, and came just behind the nut brown, which I will talk about later.

Extra Pale Ale: Not expecially pale. Aroma is all northeast citrus hops.
I have to admit when the barman, Ted, said the name "Extra Pale Ale". and described it as "kinda like an IPA," I was scared. Was there a brewer out there who wussified the IPA? A man who sipped a hop bomb and said, "That won't do, there is far too much flavor!"
The answer is, no. This is just an IPA with vowel replacement identity disorder. It has a medium body that helps balance out the generous load of citrus hops. Kind of a middle-of-the-road IPA.

Nameless Nut Brown
This quickly became my favorite. True to form it has a very light roasted aroma. It feels like there is light fruit off the top, slightly toasted flavor, and just a hint of spice. Has a warming quality that would be great on a winter night... Not that anyone here would know.

Great Lakes Wine: Michigan Wine Country

Well... back to Detroit.  Last time I visited this city I found myself exploring a bit of the brewery culture in the outlying suburbs.   This time, due to time constraints I couldn't explore more of the Detroit area, but on my way out of town I found a great opportunity.  Driving east on I 94, I soon found myself in Michigan wine country.

Obviously this blog is about beer.  Beer is in the title, the vast majority of the posts have to do with beer and the word 'hops' probably ranks in the top 10 word count.  This is about all sorts of local drinking culture through this country.  So we will take a break from the industrial world of brewing and the vast urban decay of Detroit and head out to the serene countryside for the agricultural world of wine making.

Lawson Ridge Winery:

This was the first of two smaller wineries that I visited.  First, a word about the wine tasting experience in Michigan.  The wineries I visited allowed a free sample of up to six wines from their selection with some small costs for some of their special releases.  The staff at the tasting rooms were all friendly and made for a great afternoon out in the wilds of Eastern Michigan.

Out of the highlights I will start with the Cherry Red.  This is a fruit wine made from the local cherries.  It was perhaps a little sweeter than I normally like, but it was served with some dark chocolate.  When combined with chocolate, this wine provided just a hint of tart that cut through the chocolate and added layers to the flavor.

My personal favorite was the AZO semi-sweet red.  It was one of those wines that has an aroma that is as wonderful as the flavor itself.  It is just the right amount of sweet with dark cherry and strawberry flavors.  Their Two Handed Red was pretty good, but lacks the body and the dryness that draws me to red wines.  Their chardonnay is un-oaked, so it had a lot more light citrus and pear flavors, but lacked a lot of the smoothness.

Cody Kresta Winery: 

I drove deeper into the forests and farmlands of Michigan.  My next stop was a red farmhouse off a small country road.   As compared to Lawson Ridge, this winery featured a lot of drier, tart wines.  They have a selection of rose's that range from very sweet to almost bone dry.  I tried something in the middle of the road and really enjoyed it.  It had lots of light fruit flavors and a light honey dryness at the back of the palate that makes this a perfect drinking wine.   Also of note was a blueberry fruit wine.  It had just the right amount of berry sweetness that makes this really enjoyable.  Those that prefer a sweeter fruit wine probably wont enjoy this as much, it's surprisingly dry and complex.  Lastly, was introduced to the Traminette grape.  This is a varietal that grows only in this particular area of the country.  (There seems to be some debate on this.  The staff at my next stop claimed Traminette was a blend and not a grape in and of itself.)  The wine was something that I like to call a 'breakfast wine,'  slightly sweet with light citrus, grapefruit and light fruit that just seems like it would go really well with some toast and eggs.

Warner Vineyards:

As I drove back towards the Interstate on my way back onto the Road, I stopped in Paw paw, the unofficial capital of Southeast Michigan wine country.  This is the second-oldest winery in the state and probably one of the biggest.  Their selection of wines is so expansive that being forced to pick six out of the list is almost cruel.  I had their Traminette as well, it was similar to Cody Kresta's although I think it might have been just a little more tart.  

Throughout my tour I had a hard time trying to find a really nice, heavy red wine.  Michigan wines seems to stay on the lighter, sweeter side when it comes to their reds.  Warner came through, however, with a decent merlot and a blend they call Veritas.  Veritas has just the slightest hint of sweet, dark fruit that adds to the big body and spice of this wine.

One more wine I want to mention from Warner, the Grapes of Love.  This is one of those overly fruity sweet wines that, lets face it, is more or less tailor made for a girls night out.  I tried it for two reasons: First, it was their best selling wine, so I was curious.  Second, I think the winery's description says it all, "A silky smooth white wine with great legs and excellent body."

Things I admire in a.... er.... wine?

Cheers

Riding out the storm: Syracuse, NY

I'm reporting in from Northeast where they are currently experiencing the first freeze-your-balls off storm of the season.  Thankfully it is staying south of my current position so I might get lucky and avoid the snow all together for this trip.  All Syracuse, New York is something of a refuge from the insanity of the rest of the region, something I think most locals would admit that they don't hear a lot.

Speaking of locals, I was working with a crew from Syracuse and we soon found out that we had a common love for fermented barley and hops.  Once we finished our tasks for the day, it was suggested that we all go down to Walton Street in downtown Syracuse.  There is quite a vibrant microbrewery scene here because, as one of my crew members said, "It's Northwestern New York.  There's nothing to do but drink beer."

Fair enough, even if that is my choice activity wherever life happens to drop me.

Three pubs were pointed out to me as choice establishments for the exploration of New York beer.  I only had time to visit two out of the three, but I will mention the third here.  The Blue Tusk is one of those bars that apparently has a ridiculous amount of beer on tap.  I talked about one such bar a few months ago, the Falling Rock pub in Denver, CO.  I always mean to include more beer bars in this blog, but I always seem to get sidetracked... much like a am today.  So anyway, it is up to another wandering soul to seek out this particular site for now.

Instead we opted to go in for dinner at Empire Brewing Company, suggested because it supposedly had the best food.  Without having a couple meals at each establishment, I don't think I can confirm that, but I will say that the food was pretty awesome.  It was mostly Cajun and southern inspired dishes often taken one step beyond their traditional ingredients.  To put it another way, one item on their menu is a pheasant sausage po-boy sandwich.   Enough said.  Personally, I went with the grilled fish tacos, and they were excellent.
I only had a couple of beers at this bar, opting to actually enjoy a beer in a social setting as opposed to my normal habits of getting a small sample of each and then consuming myself with making notes.  I started with the Empire Cream Ale.  It was a nitrogen beer so it had an incredibly smooth and full mouthfeel.  The sweet creamy flavor is punctuated by herbal hops and a slight lemon flavor. 
Keeping with a theme, I had their other nitrogen offering, the Black Magic Stout.  This is a traditional dry Irish stout very much in the spirit of the quintessential Irish drink, Guinness.  This, however, had a very sharp flavor from the dark roasted grains.  That, in and of itself, is not a bad thing, but when combined with the heavy herbal hop load in this beer the result was a very full, creamy beer with long, unpleasant aftertaste.

I bid goodnight to my new friends and made one last stop before I called it a night, the Syracuse Suds Factory.  The difference between the two microbreweries is striking.  By looking at the menu and their beer selection, it looks like Empire is one of those brewpubs that specializes in the subtle art of pairing food and beer flavors.  Syracuse Suds is the place to grab a pint and watch the game.  This is also probably due to the fact that it is Halloween weekend and Syracuse Suds is gearing up for a party.  As I type this, ghouls, ghosts and goblins are piling into the bar for the part of the night that they will remember.  There is a DJ rapidly setting up, and all I can do is sigh and quickly down a few pints before bed.
That being said, the beer available at Syracuse Suds is weirder than they give themselves credit for.  I started with the Blackberry Lambic.  Not a true lambic, in that it is not spontaneously fermented, but not one of those overly sweet wine coolers posing as a lambic either.  It had a dryness and a aroma made me think of a carbonated Merlot.  There was just a hint of bitterness at the back that came as a bit of a surprise, but was not an unwelcome addition.
Next was the Irish Red, and this is where it gets a little strange.  I picked up a lot of strawberry or cherry in this particular beer.  It was slightly tart with almost no detectable hops.  At first I was convinced that the Lambic had ruined my palate, but as I worked my way through the pint, those flavors never faded.  About halfway through I started detecting some roasted malt flavors, but it was mostly dominated by a light fruit sweetness.
Finally I had their Pale Ale.  After one taste I swore the woman working the bar had misheard my order and brought me the wrong beer.  The smell was heavy on clove and banana.  The flavor was the same with some malt sweetness that melts to spicy hops that complement the clove and banana flavors and ended with a banana-nut aftertaste.  It was pretty good, but it had more in common with a Belgian whit beer than an American Pale.  The bartender confirmed, however, that this was their pale ale.  Overall this beer was like Syracuse Suds itself: very good, just not what I was expecting.

Quick turnaround this week.  I'm heading back to Detroit next weekend.  I have no idea if I will have time to add to this blog or not.  I guess we will have to wait and see.
Cheers!

The Beer Makes You Hoppy: Davenport IA

I'm passing through Davenport Iowa today on the banks of the Mississippi River. I've passed through many times before. Usually Davenport serves as a herald that the miles and miles of Iowa cornfields are coming to an end and the Illinois cornfields are beginning. It's quite the change as may imagine.

Today I stopped fir a breather at the Front Street brewing company. It was hard to locate this particular day. Road construction of some kind had closed the street in front of Front Street. "I don't know why, for the life of me," said the bartender, "Been a bitch for business though." The bar sits across the street from the Mississippi River, so I thought the high river levels might be to blame, but it turns out that the road is just being resurfaced... Very slowly.

If that is true then there must be quite a wait when there is a paved road to the bar. Even with the road construction, the restaurant was full of local color on a Sunday evening.

There menu was mostly what you would expect with a few strange selections thrown in. I had a curried chicken pita that was pretty good and went really well with the Octoberfest beer they had on tap.

Front Steer Octoberfest:
Their seasonal offering. The aroma was Light malt and wheat with just a hint of citrus. The favor was light on the malt sweetness and finished bitter. Didn't have as much malt as I usually like in this style. There are better versions of this style out there, still very drinkable.

Ragin River:
This is their flagship beer and, strangely enough, the closest thing to an IPA that they make. Strange considering every brewpub I visited in this country produces their own version and is usually very proud of it. This beer starts with pine and floral hops on the nose. This is a very well balanced beer British hops provide a nice bitter back for just the right amount of malt. Not hoppy
by any means just pleasant all around. Probably lacks the bitterness for a true IPA and is probably closer to an amber or pale ale. Fantastic session beer whatever the style. This is one I could happily drink all night.

Motor City Beer: Detroit MI

Back when I worked in news around the time of the economic collapse, Detroit was kind of the poster child for financial woes.
Sitting in my hotel looking for some local refreshments I came across another sad story in Detroit's anthology of misery. King Brewing just went under a couple of months ago. Oh King Brewing, we hardly knew ye... Okay I didn't know ye at all, but the sentiment is the same.

Though we raise a glass to a fallen soldier in the Craft Beer Revolution, the glass we raise is filled by another still fighting the good fight. I had to dive a few miles from where I was staying, but I found myself in Royal Oaks. On a Friday night the streets of this downtown area were packed, a far cry from the urban decay that surrounds it. It was the birthplace of everyone's favorite B-movie actor, Bruce Cambell and Tim Allen kicked off his career within the town's clubs and bars. It's also home to Royal Oaks Brewing Company.

Overall nothing especially noteworthy about this place; pretty much your typical local brewpub. I will say this, the food here was very good especially considering the price. There us a general mix if Asian, Italian and Cajun cuisine all for in and around $15.

Pretty standard beer selection. The one wild card was a cask aged version of their ESB. Their everyday version if this beer ended up as my favorite of their selection. It has a nice roasted malt flavor with just the right amount of pine and floral hop bitterness to make a wonderfully drinkable beer. Their cask version, however, is something else entirely. It has an aroma that smells just like peach yogurt. The flavor was similar and followed fast by bitter English hops that stick to the back if the throat. It was defiantly interesting, but I don't think I would order a full pint of it.
Their Red Ale was another stand-out. It was surprisingly full and malty with a touch of sharp roasted flavors and ends dry with bitter pine hops. Another very good, drinkable beer.
Cheers, see you on the road.

Radical Brewing on the Beach: Rehoboth, DE

I was out on the East Coast this week on a little romantic get-away with my fiancé. Our travels took us to the Delaware Beach area. When the locals found out that we were on vacation in the area, they would often ask, "Why did you come to Delaware?". Answer: The beach area there is beautiful and the state is home to the mad scientist of microbrewing.
Much has been said about the head brewer Andy Tveekrem and his brewery. He even had a show on the history channel that is worth seeing. Opinions about his experiments in fermentation vary greatly but no person could argue that these beers are not unique. I am personally a fan of beers that feature strange ingredients and bizarre brewing techniques. There is no shortage of those types of beer at this brewery.


Punkin Ale:
I started with a pint of their seasonal brew. I have talked to a few people who really dislike this style and I admit it is always hit or miss for me. This one was a definite hit. The nose has some mild cinnamon and clove aromas and the flavor blends those spices with some light malt sweetness and ends with slightly bitter hops. Very enjoyable beer to kick off the autumn months.
Pangea:
This beer is brewed with one ingredient from every continent on Earth. This includes crystallize ginger from Australia, moscavado sugar from Africa and basmati rice from Asia. The nose has a light, fruit smell mixed with ginger. The flavor is surprisingly mild, with some light malts mixed with ginger and a hop finish. Essentially a complex version of a ginger beer, but pretty good.

Rasion D'être:
This is a Belgian ale brewed with green raisins. It had lots of fruit in the aroma including strawberry and melon strangely enough. The flavor had a lot of fruit with some nice roasted flavors. The 8% alcohol creates a nice warm mouthfeel. Not their best offering, but not bad either.

Indian Brown Ale:
A cross between a brown ale and an IPA. The aroma is all espresso. The flavors mix coffee and chocolate and is followed with a surprisingly dry hoppy finish. I liked this one a lot. It's a good example of what can happen when two styles play nice.
Chickory Stout:
I liked this beer because it is full of deep roasted malt flavors with a dry slightly bitter finish, and it does all this while remaining surprisingly drinkable. I have not come across a lot of dark beers that I would consider 'session beers', but his one nails it pretty well and keeps those warm toasty malt flavors that make a stout what it is.
Back on the road for now. The work season is ramping up, and it is time for me to get some serious time on the road.
Cheers!

German in the Twin Cities: Minneapolis, MN

 When I left off last week, I was on the road from Chicago to Twin Cities by way of Wisconsin.  As the adjacent photos suggest, Wisconsin lives up to it's title as 'America's Dairyland.'  Wisconsin is basically like Nevada in that every building off the Interstate serves a duel purpose.  In Nevada every establishment is a Casino/ [insert building type here].  A casino/ hotel, a casino/ truck stop, a casino/ restaurant.  I think you get the idea.  Replace casino with cheese and you have the trans-Wisconsin experience.  I actually found a coffeeshop that sold cheese.  I have provided photographic evidence because, like Bigfoot, nobody is going to believe this story without a photo to back it up.  But I digress, time to keep heading West.

It's a little known fact outside this region of the United States, but the people of Minnesota and, indeed, Wisconsin love their beer.  They will have a beer.  In a big glass.  A quick search of Minneapolis/ St. Paul yielded an impressive assortment of local flavors to choose from.  Sadly, I'm short on time so I'll highlight one.

Once again, I am traveling with Jeff, the crazy old bastard from Kokomo, Indiana pictured here living out his Marilyn Monroe fantasies over a Minneapolis air vent.  I used his opinion at my stop in Chicago and I will add his reviews here because he has a very simple, yet profound style.  I imagine this is the way I sounded before I became pretentious and started describing beers as having "a citrus nose with lots of tropical fruit, nut, berry flavors... etc.

Today we visit:
Herkimer Brewing Company
 This brewery located in uptown Minneapolis specializes in German-style beers.   They brew several varieties of lagers including a couple of styles I had not run into yet.  For example:


Sky Pilot Kellerbier: Translated from German, this 'cellar beer' is an unfiltered light or amber ale.  It is a style that dates back to the middle ages.  It is so named because the beer kegs were stored with the bung unscrewed from the barrel so that the beer was exposed to air.  Consequently, the result was a beer with little to no carbonation.
So as far as the style goes, the beer was a pale, cloudy, straw-colored lager, so that's one-for-one so far.  Unfortunately, or (maybe fortunately?) the beer was carbonated.  No doubt if this beer had arrived flat, most people would send it back and get into a loud and sustained argument with the brewmaster.  The flavor was very light with just a little citrus and coriander spice with lingering hop flavor.

Jeff says:  It smells like banana!  It doesn't?  *Takes another whiff*  That's banana!!
(I don't know why he smelled banana, but he seemed so sure I didn't want to argue the point.)
Toolers Weiss:  While I was down in the cellar with the Sky Captain,  Jeff had himself a pint of the Toolers.  It was a pretty standard German wheat beer.  It was a deep yellow color with a good amount of head with the banana and tropical fruit flavors from the yeast.  I also picked up a little peach in the flavor.  It was a good beer, but nothing remarkable.

Jeff says: I don't know.  Maybe I should have another.  (Yes, yes you should.)

Dunkle Wiess: In the dark bar, this beer appeared pitch black.  The aroma was wonderful, the German wheat yeast combined with the roasted malts for a smell that can only be described as a chocolate covered banana.  The flavor was a little disappointing, it didn't hold any of the dark malts that were in the aroma.  It had a lot of fruit, but the malt was lacking.
Jeff says: Tastes like dirt.  (I think dark beers may be a lots cause on my friend from Indiana.)

Alt Bier: While Jeff continued with the Toolers, I moved on to the last beer they had on tap at the time.  This had a light aroma of date or raisin.  There was a touch of clove or coriander spice off the top of the flavor profile, but this beer was sadly lacking in flavor as well.  It seems to be a bit of a problem with this particular brewery.  It ends with a goodly amount of pine hops.

Jeff says: It... It... *spends a moment letting the beer sit on his palate* It sucks.  Yeah, that's it!

Sadly that's the last I will see of Jeff for a while.  I look forward to featuring him at a later date when we meet up.  As for me, I am still in the lazy days of summer.  I get a few more weeks to contemplate the meaning of Life, The Universe and Everything before I get back on the road.  I might do a feature here in Nebraska, but we will see.

On the outskirts of Chicago

Greetings from Chicago... Sort of. I'm working somewhere in the endless suburbs surrounding the city. I'm also traveling with a friend of mine. His name is Jeff and, as you will see, he has a way with words.
Together we explored Emmett's Tavern and Brewery located in Palintine Illinois. The place has a nice atmosphere with the feel of an old East Coast or English Pub. They have a nice selection of house beers. I started with the Victory Pale Ale and Jeff had a pint of their seasonal wheat.

Victory Pale Ale:
I thought this was pretty good, but too many hops for a pale. I'm convinced it was hitting IBUs that are usually reserved for IPAs. It tasted good with the spicy chicken wings I was eating at the time as the bitter hops helped to cool the fire. It had some slight malt off the top before mooing to cascade hops and it finished dry and the bitterness really lingered.

Jeff Says: Nothing. He took a sip, his face truly erupted into an impressive array of muscular spasms, then he slowly, but firmly, pushed the beer back to me.

Seasonal Wheat:
I didn't think I would like this one as much as I did. The aroma was all tropical fruit and bananas, flavors that I find can be really overpowering. This was not the case, the tropical fruit flavor was balanced with some pear and malt character and finished clean and slightly dry. This one easily made my #2 spot for this brewery and is the perfect beer for a warm summer evening.
Jeff Says: Just a damn good beer.


Double Barrel Stout:
I moves to this beef next and it easily was the best beer. It had a smokey and black liquorice aroma with a lot of chocolate and roasted malt flavors with bitter bite at the very end. I could easily drink this all night.

Jeff Says: It tastes like beer filtered through an old tire tube. (He wasn't as impressed as me)

Centennial Amber Ale:
This one had a nose of citrus hops with a hint of cherry. It had some malt and light fruit sweetness that was followed with pine and herbal hops. It finished surprisingly clean and didn't linger hardly at all.
Jeff Says:It tastes like beer poured down a pine plank, man.
Munich Lager:
Jeff finally stopped nursing his wheat beer long enough to try another. This one had s subtle sweetness of corn and light fruit. It is surprisingly smooth and finishes sweet making for a very drinkable beer.
Jeff Says: Smells like Captain Crunch.

I'm actually writing this on the road passing through Wisconsin on my way to my next destination, Minneapolis. I'll report from there.
Cheers!

Bar Crawl of Tulsa, Oklahoma

Back down in the Southwest this week, this time in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  The list of breweries in this part of the country is short, but distinguished.  Oklahoma City has a respectable brewing community, but that will have to wait for another day.  Today, we're in Tulsa and there is only one game in town; Marshall Brewing Company.

Now, I am used to and dearly love the quintessential American brewpubs that have sprung up in every town in this country.  This is not one of those.  If you go to the brewery at about 9:00pm at night, like I did you are simply going to find yourself in an industrial section of Tulsa in the middle of the night sitting outside an empty brewery.  If you go there during the day, I'm not sure it will be any different.  I couldn't find any information about tours or anything like that, so I imagine they would give you a list of the fine establishments that carry their beer before politely telling you to take a hike.

So where do you find the beer here?  The simple answer is, nearly everywhere in Tulsa.  After I had hit a dead end at the brewery, I retreated to a nearby Irish pub to have a pint and plan my next move.

Killkennys Irish Pub

Basic Irish theme bar located in downtown Tulsa.  The atmosphere is nice and quiet and the staff is really friendly  It was pretty packed while I was there, but they took what time they could.  It struck me a little pricey, two beers ran almost $12.

They have a pretty good beer selection including, to my surprise, Marshall's Atlas IPA on tap. It was a little like being an explorer looking for the Lost City of Gold, sitting down for a rest in the jungle and then getting up only to find that I had just put my butt on a block of solid gold.

The Atlas IPA:
A fairly average IPA in my opinion.  It had a lighter flavor than I typically like in and IPA.  It had a light, roasted malt flavor right off the top, then smoothed into herbal and pine hop flavors.  It was drinkable, but nothing I would run back to have again.

So that was one down, but Marshall's still had three more beers out there somewhere.  It could be said, in a very overly-dramatic fashion, that I had a mission.  It was getting increasingly late, however, so I had to find a short-cut.  Violating the Code of the Man, I asked the bartender for the best place to find the other three beers.  I had to hand over my Man Card, but I did manage to find this bar.

James E. McNellie's Public House.
This was the type of place I was looking for.  It is truly a beer-lovers bar in a place not typically known for having a lot of beer-lovers.  The atmosphere was nice and laid back.  The staff were good although not exceptionally knowledgeable, but they were very friendly and kept the beer glasses full.

They had a lot of Oklahoma beers available here, including the rest of the beers from Marshalls.



 
McNellie's Pub Ale:
I didn't actually make a connection between the name of the bar and this beer until I sat down a couple days later to write this, so I feel like my perceptive qualities are very much in question at the moment.  That being said, this was an okay beer.  It can probably be classified as a pale ale given the hop content.   Pretty simple beer, but it has a lingering aftertaste of the hops that I really didn't like.  I think this is the one beer that I wouldn't order again.



Pavillion Pilsner:
Nice light pilsner.  It had slight lemon flavor in the aroma and the flavor.  Like the rest of their beers they used herbal hops for this beer, and I think they added just a touch too much for the style.  There just wasn't enough malt in this to balance out the hops.

 Sundown Wheat:
I think this was my favorite of their offerings.  Like the rest of the beers by this brewery, it's all about simplicity and it really works for this beer.  The beer is such a pale yellow color that it borders on just being the color of cloudy water.  The aroma and flavor is almost exclusively citrus and lemon flavors.  Adding a lemon wedge to this beer would be redundant.  On a blazing hot weekend in Oklahoma this beer was blessedly refreshing and highly drinkable.


As it stands, I'm heading off to Chicago next week, and then I'll be spending some time in St. Paul.  I'll catch you all up then.
Jones out.

Doo, Doo, Doo, Lookin Out My Backdoor: Papillion, NE

When you get right down to it, this blog is about my adventures to find wonderful beer, wines and spirits.  When you take on a mission like this, sometimes you find yourself in exactly the same place that you started from.  Sometimes it's because you come to a point when you realize that the thing you were searching for was always nearby, waiting.  Sometimes it's because you find a greater appreciation for the people and the places that create a home.  Sometimes it's because your boss doesn't need you to travel at the moment so you find yourself at home and slightly bored.  I will leave it to you to figure out which applies today  Anyway, our travels take us back across the Great Plains and into Omaha, Nebraska and Nebraska Brewing Company.

Something about this place is quintessentially Midwest.  The staff is welcoming and friendly and there is a feeling of simplicity in the atmosphere and the beer selection itself.  This thing that makes this place special is the fact that it is located in Nebraska and serves craft beer.  The Midwest is slightly behind on the learning curve when it comes to craft beer; and by that I mean that the region drank a lot of Budweiser the night before and was too drunk to show up for the test at all.

One of the things that I dearly love about this place is the fact that, when you sit down, they bring you a bowl of homemade potato chips.  These are awesome and almost worth the visit for these alone, salty with a hint of garlic and herbs. 

I stopped in and had a taster platter to start.  Their selection includes two wheat beers, two IPAs a pale, nut brown, blonde and seasonal selection that was a rye beer for the summer months.   All of the above were very good, the pale and the IPA's were my favorite; hoppy but not so much that they were undrinkable. They have two wheat beers on tap, a Belgian wit ale and a German Hefeweizen which was an interesting opportunity to compare and contrast the two styles.  

Their seasonal fell a bit short of my expectations.   Since I moved out to the Midwest I have acquired a taste for rye ales.  This particular rye tasted more like an IPA.  I was assured that they did use rye malt, but it was overpowered by the hops.  It was still good, but redundant given that they already have two IPA's on tap.

The clear standout here was a rare example of a Belgian IPA.  Nebraska Brewing Company's Hop God IPA is like a traditional Belgian Abby ale loaded with Pacific Northwest hops.  It started with lots of malt, tropical fruit, dark fruit and nut flavors, but slowly gives way to the hop profile of an American IPA.  At nearly 10% alcohol, it will surprise you, but it is an extremely drinkable beer.

So I'm stuck in town for the next few weeks, so posting will probably be a less than weekly for a while.  I'm going to try and hit all the local breweries and wineries while I wait, but posting may still be a little slow. 
Jones out-----

Beware, Falling Rocks: Denver, CO

Up until now, this blog has mostly been an excuse for me to bounce around the wineries and breweries I come across.  Now it's going to be an excuse to go to the bar.   


The Falling Rock Tap Room is truly a beer lovers bar.  Their on tap selection is pretty massive (Over 70 if I remember correctly) with a selection of bottled beer to match.   This is one of those places that has beer on tap that you can't get at any other bar in this country.  In addition, they move enough beer though this bar that running into a keg that has been on tap since the last presidential election is extremely unlikely.  The beer menu even comes with a warning that it was accurate at the time of printing and could change at a moment's notice.  If you run into an old beer, it is there on purpose, but I touch on that little nugget later.  Then there is the staff...

While sitting at the bar enjoying one of their fine brews, I noticed a young man and woman approach the bar.  I can't be sure, but from the way they were acting and the way they were talking I think they were on a date; if not their first date, than a pretty early one in the relationship.  As the girl scanned the seemingly endless row of taps, she had a look on her face that suggested that, to put it mildly, she was not prepared to render a decision at this time.  The bartender came by and the man ordered a dark beer of some kind.  Then he turned to the woman who paused for a while and then said, "Do you have anything like bud light?"  Now, like I said before, this is a true beer bar.  It's one of a few places you will see a lot of patrons sniffing their drinks before they start drinking.  So when that poor girl uttered the words, 'Bud Light' you could actually feel the room get a bit colder.  The bartender, however, simply looked behind him for a moment, found the lightest thing they had on tap and poured a small taster glass for her to see if she enjoyed it.  She drank it, decided that it was not at all like Bud Light, but was worth ordering a glass of anyway.  My point is the staff is friendly and approachable, so it's a good place for those new to the craft beer world.

Their offerings include beers from all over the world and often include multiple vintages of beer.  I first found this place about six months ago around Christmas time.  Then they had three years of an Danish Strong Ale called 'Santa's Little Helper."

The beer menu: Changes frequently without warning

I stopped in and had a few random selections:

The Avery White Rascal:
Nice Belgian white ale out of Colorado.  They use that infernal Belgian wheat yeast, but it is really well balanced with bitter hops and citrus overtones.  More beer like this and I will be forced to re-evaluate my stance on this particular strain of yeast.

Sierra Nevada Southern Harvest Fresh IPA ale:
This is like the Sierra Nevada pale ale's big hoppy brother.  Light sweetness off the top that moves quickly into bitter citrus and floral hops that lingers long on the palate.

Finally they had an apricot mead on tap from another local brewery.  Very good, slightly sweet for my tastes, but lots of fruit and a heavy honey nose.

Well that's all for now.  Jones out.

A Bit of Britain in Denver, CO

This week we head back West to Denver, Colorado.  This city, located at the base of the Rocky Mountains, has had a long, proud history with fermentation.   Aside from the Coors brewing company, the Great American Beer Festival is held here every year, the American Homebrewers Association hold a national competition in nearby Boulder every year;  Basically I'm saying that there's a bit of history in and around Denver, and much of that history has to do with the brewing and the consumption of beer. 

My travels took me to the southern end of town and the Bull and Bush Brewpub.  The bar was modeled after the Bull and Bush located in England right down to the copper-topped bar.  It has a very authentic feel to it, but apparently it wasn't authentic enough for a British man I happened to meet while I was there.  He looked around and loudly announced that, "it wasn't a proper English pub.  The people here are happy and nobody's been stabbed yet."  He later went to the bathroom and announced when he came back that it wasn't a proper English pub because no one was doing coke in there.  Apparently, based on this information, England is a nation of depressed, violent sociopaths who's only joy in life is doing a bit of blow off the john. 
Although to be fair to the disaffected Brit, he came all the way to Denver to see a friend of his, and his friend took him to a British pub.  It's a bit like offering Gilligan a coconut if he ever got off the damn island. I would be slightly annoyed as well.

I enjoyed the place myself.  The staff was friendly, the food was good, it had a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere and, most importantly, it boasted some fantastic beers.  Keeping with the English theme, the bar specializes in English style ales and lagers.  Out of their core beers, the clear standouts were the ESB and the IPA.  The Tower ESB starts out quite sweet with a lot of caramel and roasted grain flavors and is well balanced with the bitter hops that linger a long time on the palate.  Strangely, their IPA, dubbed Man Beer, was an American-style IPA.  There was lots of citrus hops in the aroma and in the flavor balanced with a decent about of malt sweetness.  There may have been some English influence in this beer however, because it did finish with a lot of bitter floral hops.

The other point of interest about the Bush and Bull, aside from their amusing logo, is the fact that the brewer is obviously a man who, to put it mildly, is not at all afraid to try some weird things.  Among their seasonal offerings during my visit was the Turnip the Beets, a beer brewed with Turnips and Beets, fermented with champagne yeast, fermented in wine barrels and flavored with just a hint of wine.  The result was a cloudy, rose colored beer with a earthy, sour cherry nose.  The flavor had a lot of wine and berry flavors and a hint of something I couldn't identify.  I assumed it was the root vegetables.  I had a pint of it and I am still not sure whether or not I liked it, so I'm going to call it a win for novelty.
Also, among the seasonal offerings was the Captain Midnight.  This one, to me at least, smelled and tasted like black liquorice and band-aid.  Although I feel it's worth a mention because it was very unique and a lot of other people in the bar really liked this one.   One man went into quite a lot of detail about liquorice flavors mixed with peppercorn and other spices.  Me, I'm going to stick with liquorice and band-aid, but that's just me.

Finally, among the many highlights from this particular bar, was their Abt 12 quadruple.  It is not a real Abby-style ale because, as the waitress pointed out, there are no monks in the back working the fermenters, but it is still a fantastic beer.  It had a lot of malt, nut and banana in the aroma and the taste was similar with just an added hint of raisin.  By the end of the day, I think this was my favorite offering.

 That's all for this week.  I'll be staying in Denver for next week and talking about a beer bar in town that is truly worthy of a pilgrimage for all those who enjoy the art of fermentation.  Until then, cheers!

Exercising the 21st Amendment in Des Moines, Iowa.

When we last spoke, I was schlepping through the high deserts outside of Flagstaff looking for a bit of wine.  Today we are going 1,447 miles to the North and to the East, through the deserts, up over the mountains, and into the great plains of North America.  We cross the Missouri River (a little tricky at this point since the river is up over the freeway in some places) and drive through the endless expanses of corn fields and pig farms... yeah, that's what that smell is.   Today we are in Des Moines, Iowa.

I found myself on Court Ave., the local downtown pub and restaurant district.   As the name suggests, the area sits in the shadow of the old courthouse.  It's like a reminder to the drunken miscreants, who would undoubtedly use the warm summer night air as an excuse to come out to vomit and break things, of just what was waiting for them.  And the drunken miscreants largely paid little to no attention.  There was live music blaring from a couple of bars and a nearby park, a horde of bikers had descended on a local dive bar and all around there was the sound of a lot of people working hard to escape sobriety.

Court Ave. Brewing Company proved to be a sanctuary from all of this.  The bar built into an old stone building off of Court Ave.   Right inside the front door is a nice restaurant section.  The bar is dimly lit and is set off to the side.  The first thing I noticed was the massive collection of membership beer mugs in the joint.  The bar had very dim lighting which made it difficult to snap a picture of them.  So you're just going to have to take my word that there were about 300 to 500 of them hanging from the celing.    

I started by ordering a taster's rack here.  I promptly realized that I would probably be ending with it as well.  Their sample pours were very generous at probably one-third to one-half a pint each and they give you a little bit of pretty much everything they have on tap.   It will set you back $15, but they give you a sample of their seasonal and premium brews as well. 

Their core beers were a light lager, a Belgian white ale, an IPA, a brown ale and a stout.  Out of those, I liked the Belgian White the best.  It was a bit surprising given that I don't normally like the Belgian yeasts that the use in this beer.  It was well balanced, though, with a lot of citrus and fruit flavors that made for a refreshing summer beer.  Their seasonal offering, the La Fou, was similar.   It was a little lighter on the color and had more citrus to it, but it was still really good.

The clear standout for this bar, however, was their 21st Amendment APA (American Pale Ale).   It's label as an American pale ale is a bit of a misnomer given that the beer is a deep copper, almost rust colored and it doesn't have the strong hops profile of a American pale.  It's more of an Amber ale or a Rye beer, given the addition of rye malt.  However you want to classify it, though,  it is really good.  It has an aroma of light fruits combined with slight caramel.   The taste has a lot of sweet fruit off the top, followed by a rich caramel flavor that melts away for a nice bitter hop back.  A wonderful beer and, best of all, it has a big brother.  The bartender was kind enough to slip a taste of the Boersma's Best Rye Barley Wine.  This is the 21st amendment with twice the alcohol and aged in bourbon barrels.  The aroma is very similar to the 21st Amendment, but the taste has a distinct bourbon flavor in the middle.

I'm in Denver next week.  Until then, cheers!

Blood into Wine: Arizona Wine Country.

While driving into Phoenix, I got a chance to talk briefly over the phone with the head of the Arizona wine growers association.  She gave me a little lay of the land, where to go to find the wineries, information, etc.  Then she said, "Did you know, the lead singer of Tool has a winery out in Jerome?"  

I did not know that.  Then again, I haven't kept up with Tool for the last few years... or ever for that matter.  The woman continued:

"Oh yes.  He moved out here a few years ago and he's been doing a lot for Arizona wines!"

I've said it before and I will say it again, you find weird stuff in the desert.

Since I opened with Maynard James Kennan, I'm going to come right out and confess that I was not able to make it out to his winery in Jerome.   I'll have to save that for my next visit.  His partner in crime, Eric Glomski, is the wine maker out at Page Springs and I was able to stop there.  While I was working my way through their 'Big Red' wine list I happened to see the movie poster for  the documentary, Blood Into Wine.  The film stars Kennan and Glomski and talks about Arizona wines, the wine industry in general, Kennan's transition from a rock star to wine grower in the high desert and the rag-tag group's fight to prove they can produce wine that's just as good as that produced by the Evil Empire of Napa Valley, (Complete with evil music!)   I watched the film when I got back from Phoenix and it is pretty excellent.  It's available on Netflix and I found it on several Internet sites, and it's well worth checking out.   On a side note, if someone has access to a welder, they need to give me a call.  Apparently those brass knuckles / corkscrew that Kennan is wearing in that poster don't actually exist.  We could make a fortune. 

Page Springs Cellars

I think this was my favorite of the three wineries I made it out to.  That's saying something because Arizona's primary wine styles are all heavy, dry red wines.  Those that know me, will also know that I am a fan of the Merlots, Syrahs and similar styles.  At Page Springs, the clear stand out was a red table wine called Vino De La Familia.     It had some slight pepper flavor balanced with some dark fruit.     A close second was their Vino del Barrio which was a blend of... well everything as near as I can figure.   I also had the chance to taste one of Kennan's creations, the Cupacabra.  It's a blend of several different varieties like the Vino del Barrio.  It was good, but I didn't like it as much as the other two.

Oak Creek Winery

In stark contrast to their neighbor, Oak Creek does very little blending in their wines.  The only blend I tried was their 'Fire' and their other offerings were much better.  Their stand out was their Syrah, a full bodied wine with a slightly spicy, smoky flavor that made me want to go out and barbecue some ribs.   They also had a port that I really enjoyed.  It was lighter than most ports and didn't have that thick, syrupy consistency that many others have.   They have a cream sherry that I didn't get to try myself but another group that had come in before me were describing it as damn near a sexual experience, so it might be worth a taste next time.

Javelina Leap Winery

This was my final stop on my trip.   The flagship wine here was their zinfandel, a word that congers up images of a sweet, pink wine that is a favorite of my fiance mostly because of it's two primary characteristics, being both sweet and pink.  Here it's a completely different animal.  It was still fairly sweet to a point, but had a lot more body, a little spice and some dryness to help its balance.  They had a Merlot that was pretty good as well, but the zinfandel was a clear stand-out.

That's all from the state of Arizona for now.  But I would like to end today's post with a thought.  Most of you know when I lived in Idaho I was a fan of the local wineries.  But, much like the wineries in Arizona, they were known only by a select few.  But if Arizona taught me anything it's that they need to find an Idaho celebrity to start making wine.  Me, I vote for Bruce Willis.   For one, I don't think he is doing anything at the moment.  Secondly, seriously, who is going to turn their nose up at the Yipee ki-chardonnay (mother fucker)?  I'll leave you with that thought.  

Cheers!

 

A Few Beers in the Valley of the Sun

Hello and welcome all.  Pull up a bar stool and pour yourself a glass of fine brew.  We are hitting the road and finding the best craft beer, wine and spirits this country has to offer.  Feel free to add any comments, questions, etc.  
  For the first post, we are starting in the Southwest in Phoenix, AZ.... well not Phoenix exactly.  Just down a bit.... down a little more... okay now just a bit to your right... a bit more... there you are.
We start in Chandler and Tempe, AZ.

 One of the things I want to accomplish with this blog is to introduce friends to great craft beers in places that they never would imagine.  In that way it's somewhat fitting that I start this project in Phoenix, Arizona.   A year ago, I was looking for some craft beer in the area.  Long story short, after searching for quite a while, I ended with the address of a brewery that either never existed, or had closed down long ago.  Flash forward to today it took me a few minutes looking in the right place to discover that I had several microbreweries just a few blocks from where I was staying.  My point is, there are great beers out there.  It might take a little searching, but they are there.
I stopped by two breweries during my trip, SanTan in Chandler, AZ and Four Peaks in Tempe.

SanTan Brewing Co.

 SanTan Brewing is located in the restaurant and bar district of downtown Chandler, AZ.  Nice location if you happen to be in the Southeast Phoenix area near Tempe and Scottsdale.   If your more towards downtown Phoenix, than this is probably a bit of a drive to get to.   But if you do make it down, stop in.  There are some fine beers on tap at this location.

I stopped by during the last game of the NBA finals, and so had everyone else in the greater Phoenix area.  On a related note, it sounds like Dallas has a lot of supporters in the Phoenix area.  Either that, or Miami has some detractors here.  
It took a bit of effort to find myself a seat at the bar and a little bit of patience to finally get a beer.   Given the conditions, I probably can't fault them for taking a while.   When I finally did get the bartender's attention he was nice enough to spend a little time talking about the beers they had on tap, so they get points there.  Once the game was over and the place quieted down a little, it became a nice place to hang out.  They have a really nice outdoor seating area where you can still belly-up to the bar.  It's a nice place to sit on a warm evening in Southern Arizona with a cool pint.  This also strikes me as a place that takes the art of craft brew seriously.  All their beer comes in that rounded glass shape made famous by the Sam Adams brewery.  They also have three taps especially for their cask-aged beers.  If you haven't had a cask-aged beer, try them.   They are delicious.

They have a good selection of beers.  I had a taste of most of them.  Among them they have a niro-stout named the Gordo Stout.  It was good, like a Guiness with more roasted grain.  They also have a couple of Hefeweizen beers that they brew using that Belgian wheat beer yeast that brewers insist adds a 'bannana flavor' to the beer.  I have had a banana or two and I have had those beers.  I don't know what that flavor is, but it sure as hell ain't banana.  Some folks like it, I find it horrific.  It wasn't as bad at this particular brewery, but I still am not a fan, so I will leave that to those that enjoy it.   There were a couple of really good stand outs:

Epicenter Amber

This is SanTan's flagship American Amber ale.  It's available on tap at the brewery and also in cans around Arizona.  Sun Tan describes this beer thusly, "Deep garnet amber hue with a firm toasted malt character, lightly sweet with a crisp, dry finish."
 Fair enough, this beer is pretty much as advertised.  There are some light malts in the aroma.  The taste is slightly malty off the top and it ends with just a touch of bitterness.   All in all a nice, balanced amber ale.  




SanTan IWA and Hopshock IPA

 SanTan's seasonal addition during my visit was an Indian Wheat Ale.  I had their Hopshock IPA right after this beer and there wasn't a lot of difference.  The Hopshock had more malt flavor than this beer, but both were very approachable IPA style beers.  Perhaps I'm a bit spoiled on beers from the Pacific Northwest where the addition of Cascade hops is almost a competitive sport, but both of these surprised me.  Both had a lot of citrus hops in the aroma, but there was a lot of malt sweetness in the flavor.  If pressed, I am not sure I could tell the IWA and IPA apart, although I think the IWA had quite a bit less malt flavor.  Both good beers and very approachable.  Those who don't like those hop bombs that normally characterize an IPA may enjoy these.

 Sunspot Gold
On my trip, I spent some time listening to a podcast called 'Expert Drinking' with Steven and Dr. Bill.  One of them remarked that the skill of a brewer is not measured in their Imperial Stouts or Barleywines.  Instead  the mark of a great brewer lies in their ability to make a pilsner.  You can hide a lot of mistakes in the fullness of an imperial stout, but in a beer such as this you've got nowhere to hide.




Four Peaks Brewing Company

 Driving to the brewery I started looking suspiciously at my GPS device.  It apparently wanted me to turn off the main road and drive into, what looked like, a residential area.   Historically, my GPS has proven itself much smarter than myself so I heeded its advice.  Sure enough I soon found a line of parked cars by the side of the road that extended almost a quarter mile away from the brewery.
Again, the place was packed but it was a Saturday night afterall.  I found myself a spot to sit down and was greeted by Heather who was tending bar.  She immediately told me about their seasonal brew, a malt liquor.  In my mind the words 'malt liquor' are filed under the heading 'masochistic,' but we will get to that later.
The bar itself was pretty cool.  It was built into an old creamery at the edge of town, so they had plenty of space to work with.  The fermenters sit towards the back of the bar and apparently are subjected to the oppressive desert heat as the bar is temperature controlled with a swamp cooler alone.  I asked one of the other bartenders how hot it got in there and  if this had any effect on the beer in mid-summer.   He shrugged and said it gets in the upper 90's in the building, but as far as he knew, it didn't effect the beer at all.  
Nor did I taste any off flavors in the beer, so I figure we can go with that.  They had a good selection of some really wonderful beers, including the aforementioned malt liquor.  Most of the beers described to me as 'hoppy' really weren't.  Again this may be my experience with the hopheads in the Pacific Northwest.   Their flagship beer is a scottish ale they call the 'Kiltlifter.' It was a fantastic ale with hints of fruit and bourbon.  I didn't sit down and write a nice long review because I ended up talking to one of the locals sitting next to me.  But trust, me it's worth a taste.  Here are some other stand outs:
Four Peaks Malt Liquor

Like I said earlier, the term malt liquor usually reminds me of skunky tasting, urine colored swill that I ended up sucking down at college parties to stave of that retched, retched sobriety.   I also seem to recall a friend of mine at the University of Oregon claiming that he would rather be sodomized with a large, irregularly shaped vegetable than drink a 40 of Ol' English.  The Four Peaks Malt Liquor, on the other hand is surprisingly, even dangerously drinkable.  The aroma and taste are a nice combination of sweet malts and citrus hops.  The overall profile is very similar to an American pale ale.  Watch out, however; it does a good job of hiding it's 9% alcohol content and one could easily drink three or four of them before they realize that they have lost the ability to stand under their own power.

Raj IPA

This is a rare example of a true English style IPA.  I had a small taste of their Hop Knot American IPA right after this just to compare and contrast.  The difference is rather striking.  Whereas American IPAs are loaded down with citrus and floral hops for maximum hop flavor, this was much more subtle.   The English IPAs were brewed, not so much for the hop flavor, but to help the beer keep on the long trip to India.  It had a sweet, fruity nose of orange or maybe peach.  The taste had medium body with a mildly sweet start that finished with a dry bitterness you could feel in the back of your throat.  Probably not a beer for everyone, but I quite enjoyed it.



Sunbru Kolsch

  Traditional German style ale.  It's a very light ale with some light malty sweetness in the aroma.   It has a light body with mild carbonation.  The light malts and low hop bitterness make this an exceptionally drinkable beer.  Very refreshing in the desert heat.  




Well that's it for this week.  I'll try to get a post up once a week and see how it goes.  Next week I'll talk about my trip back through Arizona wine country.  This is the place to go if, like myself, you are a fan of dry red wines.  We will also talk about the lead singer of Tool, Maynard James Keenan and what, if anything, heavy metal alternative rock has to do with the art of wine making.


Cheers!