Summit Unchained #12: 100% Organic Ale

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Gabe Smoley is one of the newest brewers at Summit Brewing Company. Unchained #12: 100% Organic Ale is his first entry into the Unchained Series. He went all out to make a certified, 100% organic brew. Says he, “Most USDA certified organic beers on the market are about 95-99.9% organic because it is extremely difficult to find ingredients like organic yeast. This beer is made with 100% organic ingredients including malts, hops and yeast. Summit microbiologist James Fetherston and I worked together to create our own certified organic yeast strain to do this, as there are virtually no organic strains available from laboratories.”

The aim was to craft a light, yet bracing beer appropriate for spring; a move away from the heavy beers of winter, with a hoppy kick to mimic the lingering cold. Drinkers who are too tied to the style guidelines may take issue with calling this an IPA, but they do say “sessionable IPA.” Just drink it and enjoy it for what it is, whatever that may be.

100% Organic Ale launches this week with meet-the-brewer events at bars around the Metro.

March 12: Release Party/Meet the Brewer – House of Pizza, Sartel, 5-7 pm
March 13: Meet the brewer – Brasa St. Paul, 6-8 pm – Brasa St. Paul and Minneapolis will also feature Unchained 12 food pairings from 5-9 pm
March 14: “Hoppy Meals” pairings – Republic Uptown, 4-6 pm; Republic Seven Corners, 7-9 pm
March 15: Firkin Friday with Organic Ale cask – Grumpy’s NE, 4 pm
March 21: Meet Gabe and sample Organic Ale – Four Firkins, 6-8 pm
March 28: Flight Night at Ginger Hop featuring Organic Ale. Flights include four Summit beers total.

Here’s my notes:

Organic-Ale-BTL-web2Unchained #12: 100% Organic Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: “Session” IPA
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle

Aroma: Big aromatics from a fairly small beer. Hops hit the nose first – floral and citrus. Biscuity malt comes in shortly to offer support. Nicely balanced between the two. An undercurrent of candied fruit throughout.

Appearance: Dark golden color and clear. The off-white head is full, creamy, and very persistent. Settled after a long while to a sustained film on the surface.

Flavor: Light and refreshing. Very dry with pithy bitterness that lingers well into the finish. Floral and lemon-lime citrus hop flavors carry through from beginning to end. Some peppery spice in there as well. The malt fills in lightly underneath with a biscuit character that brings a vaguely English flair. It offers enough sweetness to temper the hops, but not quite enough to balance.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body. Medium-high carbonation.

Overall Impression: This one leans a bit more to hops than I would like, but then that’s kind of the point of the beer. It’s close, but a hint more malt to back up the bitterness would have been welcome on my palate. Brewer Smoley says to drink this around 40°F. I would suggest a higher temperature to bring out more of the malt. While style-sticklers will have issues with calling this an “IPA,” it fits the brewer’s description of “sessionable IPA” quite nicely; light like a pale ale, but with a bigger hop load.

Professor Fritz Briem Grodziskie

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Once upon a time “white” beers were brewed across the European continent. These wheat-based brews encompassed a great breadth of flavors. Some remnants still exist – Hefeweizen, Belgian Witbier, Gose, and Berliner Weiss – although the latter three are styles that very nearly went extinct. Another white beer style to be recently resurrected from the dead is Grodziskie, also called Grätzer.

Grodziskie is a tart and smoky wheat beer from the Polish town of Grodzisk (Grätz in German) that is thought to have first been brewed sometime in the 1400s. It was once popular across northern Germany. Although the style survived into the late 20th-century, the last brewery producing it closed in the mid-1990s.

Sometime around 2007 a Polish businessman bought the brewery and began making the beer again using the original yeast strain that had been preserved by the brewmaster. Since then the style has seen a comeback as several American and European breweries have begun producing it. Locally, Pour Decisions Brewing Company in Roseville makes a rather tasty example on an occasional basis.

Grodziskie is a low-alcohol brew in the range of 4% ABV that is brewed from oak-smoked wheat malt. While it is agreed by all that it is a top-fermented beer, there is disagreement on whether or not there was some sort of lactic fermentation involved. Some reports that I found reference a sour-mash process, which would have introduced some lactobacillus to the mix for a bit of yogurt-like tartness. Others make no mention of any sourness at all.

The Fritz Briem version is reportedly brewed according to an historic recipe. It uses barley malt and wheat malt smoked with beechwood instead of oak. A sour mash is employed for some smoke-cutting acidity.

Here’s my notes:

Fritz Briem GrätzerGrodziskie
Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Freising, Germany
Style: Grodziskie or Grätzer
Serving Style: 16.9 oz. bottle

Aroma: Aromatics are low. Smoke is dominant, but doesn’t dominate. It’s a woody smoke, not the meaty smoke of a Rauchbier. Crackery wheat stays just below the surface.

Appearance: Deep golden with a slight haze. Nice head of rocky, white foam that dissipated relatively quickly – surprisingly quickly for a wheat beer.

Flavor: Sharp wheat and smoke come in on almost equal footing. Smoke is subtle compared to a Rauchbier, and more woody than meaty. Bitterness is relatively high and accentuated by the well-attenuated, crisp, dry finish. It leaves a cooling feeling at the back of the throat. Spicy hop flavors play nicely with the smoke. Light lactic acidity leaves an impression of lemony citrus. I get a slight saltiness mid-palate. The taste of wheat lingers after swallowing.

Mouthfeel: Light body. Medium-high carbonation.

Overall Impression: A refreshing and unique wheat beer that manages to be feather-light and deeply complex at the same time. The smoke is nicely balanced with the wheat and not at all overpowering. Lemony, lactic tartness cuts through them both. Nothing overwhelms. Like a well-prepared dish, everything can be tasted on its own, but it all hangs together as a piece.

Magic Hat Ticket to Rye IPA

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For the last couple of years Magic Hat Brewing Company has been releasing a string of one-off, seasonal IPAs in what they call the IPA on Tour series. I’ve tasted several of them and honestly I haven’t been that impressed. Some were too bitter for my taste. I prefer the juicy/earthy/floral flavors and smells of hops’ essential oils over the tongue-scraping effects of alpha acids. Others have just not been all that interesting.  The newest one, Ticket to Rye, is different. For one thing it has rye. I like rye. It also has an interesting malt profile. I like malt.

Here’s my notes:

Magic-Hat-Ticket-to-Rye-IPATicket to Rye
Magic Hat Brewing Company, Burlington, Vermont
Style: Rye IPA
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle

Aroma: Flowers and grapefruit. Resiny notes come in as it warms. Loads of toffee malt to support the lighter components.

Appearance: Dark amber with a mild haze. Voluminous, off-white head. Creamy-rich and very persistent.

Flavor: It has a very English character. The first thing that pops out is toffee and caramel malt. Luscious and slightly sweet. Stony bitterness hits mid-palate. It’s modest for an IPA, but it lingers long after swallowing. Orange citrus notes that seem to come from both yeast and hops give a delightful candy-like character. The earthy spice of rye is subtle, just enough to add a bit of depth.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with some creaminess. Carbonation is medium-low.

Overall Impression: The toffee presence of the malt and that orange marmalade overtone give this beer a very English character. It’s malty for an IPA, making it more like an amber or red ale. That’s a-okay for me though. It puts it right in my wheelhouse. I found this to be a most-tasty beer. I’d pick up a sixpack of it.

Lucid Brewing Duce

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Lucid Brewing has recently released two new big-bottle beers. The first is Craig’s Ale, number one of their homebrewer collaboration beers. The second is a 7.5%, oak-aged, imperial red ale called Duce. It’s pronounced doo-chay, like Il Duce, the name given to Italian National Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini who ruled the country before and during World War II. I’m not sure about that as a name for a beer, but whatever. I had a chance to taste this woody brew.

Here’s my notes:

Lucid DuceDuce
Lucid Brewing, Minnetonka, Minnesota
Style: Oak Aged Imperial Red Ale
Serving Style: 750 ml bottle

Aroma: Caramel malt and woody oak. The wood dominates but malty sweetness offers some balance. A touch of herbal – almost minty – hops in the background.

Appearance: Dark amber/red color and crystal clear. Voluminous, beige head that is creamy-rich and very persistent.

Flavor: Woody oak dominates, presenting some cabernet-like tannins. Caramel malt sweetness offers some support, but not enough to overcome it. The balance does even out some as the beer warms and the caramel comes more to the fore. A faint touch of roastiness adds a bit of interest to the malt. Bitterness is medium-low. There are some low-level herbal hop notes. Dig deep and you will find dark fruits in there as well. Alcohol is there, but not offensive.

Mouthfeel: Super creamy with a medium-full body. Medium to medium-low carbonation. Warming alcohol.

Overall Impression: To my palate, the wood comes on a little strong in this one. This is a shame, because it obscures what seems like a darn tasty base beer. I’m not sure if this is 100% oaked beer, but that would be my guess. A bit of back-blending with some un-oaked beer would have delivered better balance and a better beer.

Spiegelau/Dogfish Head/Sierra Nevada IPA Glass: How’s it Rate?

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One of the things that I love about the beer-nerd world is our tendency to get our knickers in a bunch about things that really don’t matter. This is true of any nerdly endeavor, I suppose. It’s not exclusive to beer.

The latest earth-shaking controversy came a few days ago when glassmaker Spiegelau released this video to introduce a new IPA-worthy glass designed in conjunction with Ken Grossman and Sam Calagione, founders of Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head respectively.

My goodness, you would think the two men had announced that they were going to cease making beer. Reaction was swift and severe from both supporters and detractors. Pennsylvania beer writer Lew Bryson said on Facebook of the new glass, “Jesus H. Christ. More prescriptive bullshit about how we’re supposed to drink our beer. Every beer I have today, I’m going to drink right out of the bottle or can, or in a shaker glass. And they’ll taste great.” The comment thread got pretty crazy with oppressed drinkers claiming that the existence of the glass was ruining the whole experience of drinking beer. Stephen Beaumont fired back with a blog post in which he exposed himself as a glass dork, and reminded people that it is just a glass after all. No one was pointing a gun at anyone’s head forcing them use it.

The controversy really heated up a couple days later when A Good Beer Blog revealed that the painstakingly designed IPA glass was strikingly similar to a wine glass made by Spiegelau parent company Riedel. The glass-making beer-brewing team hadn’t in fact done anything unique. This was a bald-faced rehashing of been-there-done-that glassware design. The whole thing was just a marketing ploy – a cynical scheme to separate gullible nerds from their money. The comment threads got vicious now, as detractors and supporters exchanged brutal verbal lashings. The brewers weren’t spared the hyperbolic attacks. According to one commenter, Dogfish Head (arguably the most creative brewery in the country for better or worse) had never done anything truly revolutionary in its entire existence.

Turns out that all the huff-n-puff was for naught. The very next day Beer Pulse published a statement from Sam Calagione freely admitting that the Riedel wine glass had served as the basis for the IPA glass. They had in fact, tested many different Riedel and Spiegelau designs on the way to their ideal cup. “Traits of various glasses that boosted the hop aromas and flavors of IPAs helped inform the direction of our glass,” he said, “but the final design came from carefully refining eight original hand-blown glasses. This wasn’t plucked from a shelf.” No need to reinvent the wheel when you can poke, prod, and tweak a design that already exists.

Well my curiosity was piqued to say the least. I had to put this glass to the test. I requested. They delivered (and very quickly, I might add).

IPA glass test

I pitted the glass against a standard shaker pint and my very favorite Spiegelau tulip glass. I poured Surly Abrasive, a beer with beaucoup hop aroma and flavor, the profile of which I know fairly well. I cleaned each glass in the same way prior to the tasting and made an effort to give each a similarly aggressive pour. I compared each glass for aroma, appearance, and flavor. There are a couple of caveats. First, I am a glass dork. I like fancy glassware. The only thing I drink out of a shaker pint at home is water. Second, one can’t test glassware blind. Although I tried to be as objective as possible, my ultimate experience could be colored by my preconceptions.

So how did they fare?

Appearance

While the glass itself is not especially attractive, I have to give the IPA glass the edge. The agitating ribs at the base of the glass and the laser-etched nucleation points kept a decent head going long after the others had fallen flat. In fact, I had foam all the way to the bottom of the glass. That etching also kept the beer sparkly with little bubble continuously rising up from the bottom. It looked real purtty.

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Aroma

This was the most interesting area of assessment. The real surprise was the shaker pint. Raising it to my nose I got a burst of citrus and tropical fruit that was totally unexpected. It delivered the brightest aromatic expression by far. The big disappointment was my beloved tulip. I described its olfactory effect as “meh…not much there.” The IPA glass gave the same citrus and tropical fruit punch as the pint, but smoothed out – not as bright. The components were more clearly articulated. Tropical fruit was specifically and intensely mango. The fruit was deepened by other hop notes like a very subtle chive. Once again the IPA glass takes it.

Flavor

Here it was a virtual tie between the IPA glass and the tulip. The beer tasted nearly identical out of each glass, but subtle differences led me give the slightest preference to the IPA glass. In the tulip glass the beer was a touch brighter, crisper and pricklier. The emphasis was tilted slightly more to bitterness over fruity hop flavor. The IPA glass rounded and smoothed the experience, shifting it a bit toward flavor over bitterness. The carbonation had less tingle.

In my final assessment I rate the IPA glass a success. It provided a rounder and smoother experience with a fuller expression of flavor and aroma. If you like hoppy brews and enjoy geeking-out on glassware, then pick up a couple. You’ll love them. If fancy glasses aren’t your thing, the difference may not be significant enough to make it worth your while.

<EDIT> To make sure I’m perfectly clear. I gave the edge to the IPA glass, but with the exception of appearance the difference was marginal. I was trying to be really picky and precise.

612Brew and Steel Toe Brewing Taprooms Open This Week

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612brewlogonew

I first met the guys from 612Brew in the early spring of 2010 while working on a piece about soon-to-be breweries for Heavy Table (there were only five at the time…crazy!). They were working in a South Minneapolis garage, tweaking recipes on a cobbled-together homebrew system and dreaming of bigger things. Two years later their “garage” is a 5000 square-foot warehouse space in a multi-million dollar commercial re-development in Northeast Minneapolis. The five-gallon, glass carboys have been replaced by 30-barrel tanks of mirror-polished stainless steel. The steps in-between included three business plan revisions, two cancelled leases, and a change of personnel, including hiring brewer Adam Schil.

Almost three years after than initial meeting, the crew is ready to launch. 612Brew already has beer in metro-area bars. The taproom at the corner of Central and Broadway will open tomorrow night, February 13th at 4:00pm.

612Brew (2) small

The taproom retains the retro-industrial ambiance of the 1924 factory building that it occupies. Thick, maple timbers rise up two stories from the polished concrete floor. The bar top is made of re-purposed bowling alley lanes, while the bottom is faced with boards salvaged from an 1850s-vintage home. The gleaming brewery is separated from the public space by wooden standup bars. A tall, glass overhead door looks out onto a patio and rain garden, which is anchored by a stone amphitheater where live music is planned for the warmer months.

612Brew (9) small

612Brew’s focus is on hop-centered session beers. They aim to satisfy that craving for bitterness with lower-alcohol brews that allow for more than one pint after work. They are launching with four beers. Six is a sessionable American Pale Ale with biscuit malt and bright citrus hops. This is the same beer – with some recipe tweaks – that I sampled three years ago in the garage. Zero Hour is an American black ale brewed with roasted wheat for a smoother, less-bitter roastiness that lets the hops shine through. Bitter Cold Winter Ale is a single-malt, single-hop IPA brewed with Maris Otter malt from England and Willamette hops from the Pacific Northwest. My favorite brew is Rated R, a balanced rye IPA. The focus here is on flavor and aroma hops. The bitterness bites, but not too hard. Spicy rye notes come in late and linger into the finish.

It’s hard to believe that I would call a one-and-a-half-year-old brewery old, but in today’s crazy world, with breweries popping up like popcorn, it’s the truth. Steel Toe Brewing Company is old. But that doesn’t make them any less wonderful. In my view Steel Toe is one of the top-five breweries in Minnesota. Size 7 might just be the best IPA made in the state. A recent blind tasting re-confirmed for me the brilliance of the light and lovely Provider Ale.

The opening this Friday, February 15th, of Steel Toe’s long-awaited taproom makes this a busy week for Twin Cities beer fans. The fun begins at 3:00pm and I’m guessing it will be crowded. Steel Toe is located at 4848 W. 35th St. in St. Louis Park. Be there!

Summit and Smashburger Team Up for Beer & Burger Pairings

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Summit Brewing Company and Smashburger are pairing up to bring beer and burger pairings to the Twin cities. The collaboration could be seen as a partnering of pioneers in a way; Summit an original in Minnesota’s better beer scene and Smashburger the leader in what they call “better burger” restaurants.

Actually the Denver-based burger franchise has introduced some interesting innovations to fast food fare. They use all Angus beef, for one thing.  Their menus allow for regional inspiration. While there are some standard sandies across the chain, each location creates special burgers tailored to local foodways, such as the Twin Cities burger with garlic-grilled onions reflecting the regional love-affair with the onion. I didn’t know that we had a love affair with onions, but that’s something I learned during a special media tasting prior to the pairings launch. In terms of the beer and burger program, the company is working with a different brewers in every city to create pairings that are unique to the market.

Smashburger takes its name from their process of smashing the burgers onto the griddle while cooking them. This creates a caramelized crust on one side and seals in the juices, according to founder Tom Ryan. They do make a juicy patty. I’m not sure how innovative the burger smash is. It seems to me Steak & Shake has been smashing since the 1930s. But Smashburger does it with a patent-pending, cookie-cutter-like gizmo as seen in this video of Mr. Ryan making a burger.

Ryan worked with Summit Head Brewer Damian McConn to come up with eight pairings for the Twin Cities stores. How did they do? Well, let’s take a look.

Classic Burger & Summit EPA

Classic Smashburger & Extra Pale Ale: A pairing of classic with classic. This one didn’t do much for me. Both beer and burger are good. I’m a big fan of EPA and I like a plain ‘ol burger, but together they were just sort of “meh.” I also think that the burger overpowered the beer a little bit and made it seem bitterer than normal. Maybe it was the smash sauce – a combination of mayo, mustard, relish and lemon. I’ll say this though, the burger had ketchup on it. I hate ketchup and always have. It didn’t really taste like ketchup. Nice!

Mushroom Swiss Burger & Great Northern Porter

Mushroom Swiss Burger & Great Northern Porter: This was lovely. The combination brought out an earthiness in each part and there was umami on top of umami. Caramel malt spoke to caramelized beef crust. This was probably my second favorite combination. I was happy to learn that the mushrooms are crimini mushrooms, sliced fresh for each order.

BBQ Bacon and Cheddar Burger & Horizon Red Ale

BBQ Bacon and Cheddar Burger & Horizon Red Ale: This is the best pairing of the bunch. The caramel and citrus in the beer play very well with the tangy BBQ sauce. The pairing emphasized the hops in the beer, making it seem almost IPA-like. And again there’s that caramel to caramel handshake. And who doesn’t love bacon and beer?

Avocado Club Burger & Summit Pilsner

Avocado Club Burger & Pilsner: This was one of two pairings that were described as difficult to deal with. That’s because they really needed Summit Hefeweizen, which has been discontinued. The sliced avocado, smoked bacon, and ranch dressing on the burger would have been splendid with a hef. The pilsner brought out the bacon and cut through the fat, but spicy hops clashed a bit. It was the best pairing with the Summit lineup, but it wasn’t quite wonderful.

Twin Cities Burger & Summit EPA

Twin Cities Burger & Extra Pale Ale: Between caramelized onion, caramelized meat crust, and loads of cheese, this is one rich burger. The EPA did the job cutting right through it. All that caramelization brought out the maltiness in the beer, giving a more balanced impression than with the Classic burger. This pairing really worked.

Spicy Baja Burger & Saga IPA

Spicy Baja Burger & Saga IPA: Do hops amplify or dampen chili pepper heat? That’s the age old question in the beer-food pairing biz. I happen to think they do both; amplify first and then clear away. This burger is all about peppers. The heat of pepper jack cheese, chipotle mayonnaise, and raw jalapeno slices gives it a real kick that is tempered a bit by creamy guacamole.  Saga IPA was up to the task and the hops did just what they do. The citrusy flavors offered a nice contrast to the savory and spice of the burger. My mouth was left with a nice level of lingering heat.

Cucumber Goat Cheese Chicken Sandwich & Summit Pilsner

Cucumber and Goat Cheese Chicken Sandwich & Pilsner: This was the other sandwich that needed the hefeweizen. Let’s face it – chicken, spinach, goat cheese and cucumbers – a hefeweizen would have been great with every element of this sandwich. Pilsner again was the best choice from the Summit lineup, but it just didn’t quite do the trick. This was one of my favorite sandwiches though.

Crispy Buffalo Chicken Sandwich & India Pale Ale

Crispy Buffalo Chicken Sandwich & India Pale Ale: Spicy buffalo sauce and blue cheese paired with a balanced, English-style IPA. The beer is bitter enough to stare down the buffalo, but ample caramel malt keeps the combination from overheating. And blue cheese with English IPA simply can’t be beat. This was my third favorite pairing of the night.

Wanna Buy a Brewery? Leech Lake is for Sale.

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Leech Lake Brewing Company

Some time ago someone (I don’t even remember who) mentioned in passing that Leech Lake Brewing Company in Walker, Minnesota was up for sale. I took note and meant to do a search to verify this myself, but promptly forgot…until today.

For anyone wanting to break into the brewing business, Leech Lake is indeed for sale. The asking price is $500,000 for the whole kit and caboodle – that’s building, 1-bbl brewery, land, and all the accoutrement that come with running the business. You can check out the listing here.

I contacted Leech Lake co-owner/brewer Greg Smith to get the skinny.  In an email he said:

We listed LLBC for sale with the intent of selling it for nothing less than our asking price—$500K.  We are continuing to operate the business as usual until such time as we close on a deal with a suitable buyer.  I have plans to develop and market a product in the sports and fitness industry for which I’ve held a patent for the past seven years.  It’s been a goal of mine much longer than has been founding a microbrewery.  So, whenever it happens we’ll move on to the next project (although I’m simultaneously pursuing the other project while operating the brewery).  Not much else to tell you at this point.  Just moving forward each day…

So there you have it. This is your opportunity. Will you take it?

Leech Lake Brewing Company

Dangerous Man Brewing Company – My First Look

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dm logo

These days it’s almost like there is a race to see who will be the next Minnesota brewery with beer on the street. Jack Pine just opened up north. Northgate’s launch is close at hand. The prediction looks good for Bad Weather. 612 should be coming any day now.

Here in the Metro the next new kid on the block is Dangerous Man Brewing Company. After a start-and-stop journey to find a space and get approvals and a long process of construction, the husband and wife team of Rob Miller and Sarah Bonvallet will celebrate their grand opening this Friday, January 25th.

Dangerous Man Brewing almost never happened. After attending school and frequenting brewery taprooms in Montana, Rob Miller returned to Minneapolis intent on opening a taproom-only brewery. He wrote up a business plan and started scouting spaces only to learn that his idea wasn’t legal under Minnesota statute. The plan was shelved and he went into the job grind.

When the “Surly Bill” passed allowing Minnesota breweries to sell pints for on-premise consumption, he dusted off his plan and got back to work. He found a space at the corner of 13th Avenue and 2nd Street NE and started the process of getting licenses and approvals. The space was perfect. The location in the heart of the “Nordeast” nightlife district promised a steady stream of traffic. The 1920s-era bank building offered a stately yet comfortable space with massive columns rising from the floor all the way to the high ceiling. He fell in love. The only problem was that it sat directly across the street from a church. A prohibition-era city ordinance prohibited establishments that sell alcohol within 300 feet of a place of worship. It nearly derailed the project once again, but Miller was persistent. Working with the church and his city councilman he got the ordinance changed.

dangerous man (6) small

That’s a good thing, because the space does have a great vibe. The ambiance – which I have dubbed “industrial arts” – evokes a mix of trendy bar, early 20th-century factory, and junior high shop class. It’s a minimalist look with lots of metal and lots of wood. Shop stools line the bar and surround the high-top tables. The bar top is an impressively thick hunk of wood – a beam salvaged from an old, downtown Minneapolis building. The brewery is just visible behind the welded-metal and wood bar back. It looms in the dark like some fantastical, steam-punk contraption. The room just feels good.

dangerous man (9) small

The beers that I tried at Dangerous Man were a mixed bag. The two standouts for me were at opposite ends of the flavor spectrum, a rich and creamy chocolate milk stout and a light and lovely cream ale. The chocolate milk stout was hands down the best, and it is fantastic. This silky-smooth brew is moderately sweet and boasts a boatload of chocolate flavor. Roasty bitterness is light, just enough to balance the sweetness. Subtle toasted grain flavor sends it over the top. The cream ale is light and quaffable with delicate grainy sweetness and bright, orange-citrus hop flavors. The least successful beers for me were the IPA and Belgian golden strong ale. Both were under-attenuated, leaving them too sweet on my palate. The Belgian especially lacked the dry, spicy sharpness that the style demands. Because Miller plans an ever-rotating selection you can always expect something new. The beer you loved (or hated) probably won’t be there the next time you visit.

dangerous man (5) small

Grand opening festivities get underway at 4:00 PM on Friday, kicked off with a bagpipe serenade. Dangerous Man is located at 1300 2nd St NE in Northeast Minneapolis. If you’re hungry you can order in fish and chips from the Anchor bar across the street.

Worthington’s White Shield IPA

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For those wishing to know what India pale ale was in the 19th-century, Worthington’s White Shield might be the best hope. It originally appeared as Worthington’s East India Pale Ale in 1829. According to a former brewer, “it has remained pretty much unchanged ever since.” While changes in ingredients and brewing systems over the years make it impossible to recreate a beer from 200 years ago, White Shield at least offers a singular, continuous connection to the heyday of the Burton pale ale brewers.

I had heard much about this beer before it became available locally. British beer writers that I read and respect, including the late Michael Jackson, have penned thousands of words of praise. Hyped beers are always suspect. Will they live up to the talk?

Here’s my notes:

Worthington's White ShieldWorthington’s White Shield
MolsonCoors/White Shield Brewery, Burton-on-Trent, England
Style: English IPA
Serving Style: 500 ml bottle

Aroma: Aromatics are mild overall. Nutty, grainy malt is the dominant note with some English biscuit overtones. Hops are light, giving an herbal/orange impression that is supported by subtle fruity esters. Maybe the lightest touch of earthy Brettanomyces. There’s something earthy way back there anyway.

Appearance: Copper colored with a slight haze. Pours with a full, fluffy, off-white head that stands tall atop the glass and sticks around forever.

Flavor: This is a super-balanced IPA. The malt is delightful – rich caramel, biscuit, and toasted cereal notes. I get the sense of oats even though I don’t believe oats are part of the mix. Moderate sweetness is balanced by stony, pithy bitterness. It’s bitter, but not excessive. Hop flavors blend with fermentation esters to bring lemon and orange marmalade with touches of herbs and earth. Again there is a suggestion of earthy Brett. This well-attenuated beer goes out with a dry finish. Bitterness hangs pleasantly after swallowing.

Mouthfeel: Medium body and medium carbonation. Very well attenuated but smooth. I get that slick sensation of oats again.

Overall Impression: I have heard much about this beer from respected beer writers. Beers with too much hype generally make me nervous. They so seldom live up to expectation. This one does. The flavors are extremely well articulated and layered. You taste everything. A true English-style IPA, it’s not all about hops. Balancing malt is equally important and it is exquisite. It’s also only 5.6% ABV. Although it probably won’t satisfy American hopheads, this just became one of my favorite IPAs.