The Figid Northlands: Minneapolis

Another quick entry this week.  I would have had more time, but weather in this country seemed to forget that it is MID FREAKING APRIL.

It wasn't just Minneapolis-St. Paul where I found myself this week.   Here, cold, snowy weather is more common then sunny, warm weather.  It was all through the Great Plains.. so yeah fun times.  Bad situation if you have places to go.  Good situation if you can hide in a bar drinking beer until the damn thing blows over.  So let's do that.

Barley Johns Brewpub in Minneapolis this week for a couple of pints.  The brewpub itself is kind of cool.  It's a small, quiet place on the outskirts of the city that dedicates itself to good food an a brewing style that, while not exactly redefining what crazy shit you can put in a pot and ferment, is different enough to cock an eyebrow or two at.

Wild brunette: The flagship beer of Barley Johns brewed with wild Minnesota rice.  It has a sweet caramel aroma with some fruity wine notes.  Sweet fruity flavor right off the top.  Charcoal flavor and herbal bitterness hits really fast after that and finishes dry.

Oyster Stout: At this point in time half the people reading this blog are absolutely disgusted and the other half are intregued.  The wierd part is that when I asked my server about it, he gave me the impression that they didn't use actual oysters, just the shells.  Their website, however, says that yes, there are real whole oysters in the brew, so take from that what you will.

It really doesn't matter either way because there was nothing, for lack of a better word, oystery about it.  There's no aroma to speak of.  I picked up lots of charcoal and roasted barley with a hint of fruity sweetness although it finished fairly bitter and herbal.  Apparently the perfect beer to pair with oysters, but that is an experiment for another day.

Barley Johns actually has a fairly exstensive menu of beer brewed on site, but like I said, I could only pop in for a pint or two.  Until next week where I'll hopefully have more time to sit down to a proper tasting.

Cheers!