Clockwerks Brewing: A First Look

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Michael

clockwerksbrewinglogo300x300 A brewery’s tap handles are its mark. They make a statement about the brewery’s identity. The row of handles is often the first thing a beer drinker looks at when walking into a bar. A distinctive handle instantly alerts consumers to the brewery’s presence in the lineup and draws them in to purchase a pint.

And so it was curious when I walked into the recently opened Clockwerks Brewing and saw a row of handles appropriated from other breweries. Rather than expressing the steampunk aesthetic of Clockwerks, there they were, boldly declaring the brand identities of Abita, Alaskan, Goose Island, Tallgrass, Odell and Sam Adams, but painted gold as though an attempt had been made to hide the fact.

What does it say about a brewery that gives so little thought to such an important brand identifier? The appropriation of other’s branding certainly raises questions about the owners’ ethics – not to mention the potential legal issues involved. Tap handles are the property of the brewery that produced them – reuse is theft. Tap handle design is protectable under trademark law, raising the ugly specter of infringement lawsuits.

But to me this omission sends a more important and disturbing message. By neglecting this important detail of identity, the proprietors are signaling, “We don’t care.”

The space at Clockwerks has a similarly appropriated feel. It’s not an unpleasant space – although the combination of dim, yellow-tinged lighting and copper/gold, metallic paint did make it somehow difficult on my eyes. But it feels unfinished. It’s as though the steampunk vision has been vaguely superimposed onto a room intended for another use. The look is there in the color scheme and clockwork wall sculpture. But touches like exposed mechanicals, Edison lightbulbs and fixtures made of plumbing pipe are so commonplace now that they don’t really take it where I, at least, want it to go. Steampunk is a busy aesthetic filled with anachronistic excess. Missing are the gaudy Victorian era gewgaws and shining brass Rube Goldberg contraptions. Just a few small touches of this type would complete the theme. It’s like the tap handles. If steampunk is your identity, do it all the way. Detail. Identity. But maybe that’s just me.

Clockwerks’ website is another piece that suggests a lack of attention to detail and concern. Unless there is some secret navigation that I can’t find, it consists of just a cover page with the logo, address and open hours. There is no information about the beers, events, menus, history, or anything else. The Facebook page reveals more, but even there the information is limited.

What about the beer? The focus at Clockwerks is lower-alcohol, sessionable ales and lagers. I was there on two consecutive nights and drank a number of the available beers. Once common theme tied them all together – fermentation issues.

Any brewer worth their salt will tell you that fermentation is the most important step in brewing. The entire process of brewing is all about creating the best environment for yeast to do its thing. Fermentation effects every aspect of beer character from color and body to malt character, sweetness and the expression of hop flavor and bitterness. Proper attention to fermentation is critical.

Attenuation is the term that refers to the amount of sugar that yeast consumes during fermentation. Under-attenuation – or incomplete fermentation – leaves behind a high level of residual sugar, resulting in a sticky-sweet beer that tastes like wort. It is the most common flaw that I find among “craft” brewers. Without exception under-attenuation was the signature character of the beers I tasted at Clockwerks. Other fermentation related issues can included excessive fruity esters and buttery diacetyl. These were also present.

I wasn’t actually there as a writer, so I didn’t take detailed notes. That’s also why I regrettably don’t have any pictures. But here are my quick recollections of a few of the beers I tried.

Kölsch – Three shades too dark for the style, under attenuated, overly fruity, diacetyl, too much toasted grain character, not enough bitterness or hop character.

ESB – Under attenuated, overly fruity, diacetyl, not enough hop bitterness or flavor.

Rye Pilsner – Under attenuated, diacetyl

Alt – Under attenuated, diacetyl, not enough hop bitterness of flavor.

Witbier – Under attenuated, overly fruity, heavy for the style

Clockwerks Brewing
25 North 4th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55401
612-339-9375
http://www.clockwerksbrewing.com/

Open
M-Th 3pm-10pm
Fri 3pm-12am
Sat 12pm-12am
Sun 12pm-8pm

Not Your Father’s Root Beer: My Strange Visit to Small Town Brewery

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Michael

I didn’t care about Not Your Father’s Root Beer. I didn’t read any of the many articles being written about it. I was oblivious to the controversy surrounding it. I successfully ignored it as it repeatedly appeared in my Facebook feed. I certainly wasn’t going to make an effort to taste it. Writing about it was even lower on my list of priorities. Why would I? It’s an alco-pop like Smirnoff Ice and Mike’s Hard Lemonade. I don’t do those. Despite all of the publicity, I had managed to stay only vaguely aware of Not Your Father’s Root Beer.

And then I got an email from Andrew Gill, host of the Chicago-based beer podcast Strange Brews. They were doing a story on Small Town Brewery in Wauconda, Illinois, a suburb north of the city. The hosts had read my profile in A Perfect Pint’s Beer Guide to the Heartland and were intrigued by the account of my visit. They wanted to talk. Little did I know, they wanted to talk about Not Your Father’s Root Beer.

I had indeed tasted an alcoholic root beer when I visited the Small Town in January of 2012, but I hadn’t made a connection between that odd little brewery and the fastest growing alcoholic beverage in the nation. The root beer ripping up the marketplace is a mere 5.9% ABV. The one I sampled tipped the scales at an astounding 20%. It tasted like a decent root beer spiked with vodka. It was darned delicious though. I finished my sample and almost asked for more. Owner/brewer Tim Kovac wove tales of bar owners pleading for more.

Of the 236 brewer interviews that I did for the book, my conversation with Kovac was certainly one of the most interesting and perplexing. In the Small Town profile I write, “I must confess that, having spent an hour with Kovac, I left the brewery feeling less clear about what he is doing than when I arrived. It’s obvious to me that his understanding of the brewing process and history are limited at best. With simple brewing calculations, it is impossible to re-create the beers he is making using the methods he describes.” That was true in 2012. Re-playing my recording of the interview, it remains true today.

Small Town’s origin story is an interesting one. Kovac wanted to spend more time with his son and suggested homebrewing as a way to do that. When a vacation was cancelled due to “some volcanic eruptions in Ireland” (I think he meant Iceland), the pair compensated by brewing every day, sometimes multiple batches. They also made root beer. The beer and root beer were apparently so good that soon-to-be business partner John Dopak approached Kovac about starting a brewery together.

Kovac’s mother had long spun tales about a great, great, great grandfather (one great has since been dropped in the marketing copy) who was a ship’s captain ferrying colonists to the Americas in the 17th-century. When Kovac told his mother of the brewery plans, she revealed a part of the story that had hitherto been kept secret. This ancestor was also a gambler. He won a brewery in a game of cards and became a brewer. Kovac told me that it was this relative who discovered that giving passengers and sailors beer on shipboard instead of water kept them healthier and happier. After revealing this bit of family history, Kovac’s mother pulled a dusty, leather-bound volume from under the bed. It was a document from the 1600s containing recipes for beer. This manuscript is the well from which Small Town’s recipes spring.

It was difficult to get an interview with Kovac. He wouldn’t return my emails and calls. When he did, he seemed reluctant to have me visit. But I was writing a book, gosh darn it. And the story on his website was compelling. I persisted. He relented.

Tim Kovac with his rig

Small Town was located in the second floor of an old warehouse building. If memory serves, the first floor was occupied by a woodworking shop. The Small Town floor had been an indoor sports/recreation facility of some kind. Making our way to the small corner that the brewery occupied, we wound through a labyrinth of defunct batting cages and possibly an indoor mini-golf course. I recall it being a little bit creepy.

Although expansion plans ultimately had the brewery filling the entire floor, at the time it fit in just two small rooms. The “aging” area where full kegs were stored wasn’t even finished. It was framed, but no drywall had been hung. That space is where they planned to install a distillery. The brewery was in a small, but finished room with a cold box to one side.

The brewhouse consisted of two, 50-gallon, Groan soup kettles – the kind you would see in a commercial kitchen – and two 100-gallon plastic fermenting tanks. The various pieces were linked together with white PVC pipe (cue the sound of brewers cringing). In the cooler was a row of small, stainless steel conditioning tanks. An apartment sized stove served to stew vanilla bean and other spices that went into the root beer.

It was on this rig that Kovac claimed to make the magic of 20% root beer happen. It was here that my confusion began. Kovac said that his root beer was made with barley malt, the way it was made in the 1600s. He was using a brew-in-a-bag method, which according to him was how brewers would have done it in the 1600s. I’ll dig into historical accuracy later. For now let’s focus on the feasibility of his claim. Using brewing software, I attempted to recreate his process. I could not make it work.

The brew-in-a-bag method involves conducting the mash with the crushed barley malt in a big mesh bag. When the mash is complete the bag is simply removed and drained. This allows the brewer to mash and boil in the same vessel. It is a fairly inefficient method, meaning that the brewer extracts less sugar from each pound of grain than with other more conventional methods. Some brewers sparge, that is they rinse the grains with hot water to remove additional sugar, which would increase efficiency. But when Kovac talked me step-by-step through his process he made no mention of this. With this in mind, I based my calculations on an assumption of 65% mash efficiency, which without a sparge step is maybe a bit generous.

Kovac told me that he was making all-grain wort, using 100 to 110 pounds of grain for each 50-gallon batch. He reported a starting gravity for the root beer of 1.200. By my quick and dirty calculations, 100 pounds of grain gives a gravity of 1.055. He would need more like 400 pounds of grain to hit 1.200, which would vastly exceed the capacity of his kettle. I assumed then that he was using malt extract or some other sugar to boost the gravity of his wort. When I asked about that, he insisted that he was not using extract, but admitted that he was using “malt powder.” So…extract. I estimate that he would need approximately 165 pounds of dry malt extract to go from 1.055 to 1.200. Again, there would be no room in his kettle for liquid.

Then there is the matter of fermentation. It isn’t impossible to get yeast to ferment up to 20% alcohol, but it is terribly difficult. Although yeast creates alcohol as a by-product of fermentation, that alcohol is poisonous to it. As the alcohol level increases, the ability of yeast to do its job decreases. Beyond around 15%, our favorite fungus starts to sputter and die. It takes constant babying to get beyond that. Kovac claimed he was doing just that, rousing and re-aerating the beer to see the yeast through a seven-day fermentation. Having seen his setup, I find it hard to believe that he was accomplishing this feat with any degree consistency and without creating some pretty terrible off-flavors.

And so, I found Kovac’s process description to be confusing at best, suspect at worst. But he really didn’t seem like a guy who was out to intentionally deceive. Without having actually seen what he was doing, I could only take him at his word.

17th-Century Brewery

And then there’s the history part. Brewers actually had breweries in the 17th-century; breweries that worked essentially like the breweries of today. They weren’t huddled over wooden vats steeping grains in a bag. Also, Kovac says that his barley-based root beer recipe is authentic to the 1600s. The only references I can find suggest that fermentable sugars for various types of root beer at the time came from tree sap and molasses.

Confusion and mystery aside, it seems our boy Tim Kovac and his business partners have done well for themselves. They secured a deal to contract brew Not Your Father’s Root Beer at City Brewing in La Crosse, Wisconsin. There appears to be some squishy relationship with Phusion Projects LLC, the makers of such delights as Four Loco, Moskato Life, and Signature Cocktails. The brand has apparently been sold wholly or in-part to Pabst Brewing. I’m sure the Small Town guys made a pretty penny on the deal.

Does this mean that Small Town Brewery is finished as an entity? Who knows? Besides the root beer, Kovac also made beer. I sampled a brown, an amber, and a Christmas beer, among others that I don’t recall. I remember the beers being unremarkable, but Kovac indicated they were in high demand, with one bar owner apparently pleading to pay full price for a partial keg of year-old English brown ale. I know, I didn’t believe him either. He also spoke of plans for a concoction called Grandpa Gone Wild with label art showing “grandpa doing grandma from behind and she’s using a walker.”

So about that Not Your Father’s Root Beer. Apparently it was originally non-alcoholic. Kovac explained that when he and his son made the first recipe it was so good they wanted figure out how to make an alcohol-free version. He asked brewers for advice and was told to boil the alcohol away. And that is what he did. When I asked why he started leaving the alcohol in he replied, “Well, the whole point is saving a step, to be honest with you. I don’t have to boil it off and I can charge more. So that’s even better.”

Here’s my notes:

Not Your Father’s Root Beer
Small Town Brewery, La Crosse, Wisconsin
Style: Hard Root Beer
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle
5.9% ABV

Aroma: Highly aromatic. Caramel. High vanilla. Wintergreen. Like wintergreen lifesavers with an undertone of vanilla. Low clove-like spice.

Appearance: Low, fizzy, soda-like head with no retention. Dark brown with red highlights. Brilliant.

Flavor: Sweetness is high. Caramel and vanilla are both high. Wintergreen is there, at first a bit more restrained than in the aroma. A low hint of alcohol, but like distilled spirit. Similar clove spice from the aroma. Strong wintergreen on the way out. A hint of anise. Finish is sticky sweet. Lingers on caramel, wintergreen and vanilla. Vanilla and wintergreen are the high notes. As I sit with it, the alcohol becomes more apparent, but still with that distilled character rather than fermented. A bit burning.

Mouthfeel: Medium-high carbonation. Like soda, but a little lower than most. Medium-full body. Cloying. Some alcohol warming.

Overall Impression: Aroma is really quite enticing. I might not guess there is alcohol if I weren’t told. It’s a decent root beer base, but I do wish that it weren’t quite as sweet as it is. I know that Kovac says he made it with grain, but there is nothing in the flavor that makes me think of grain. No roastiness that the color would indicate. No grainy bread crust. Only caramel and herbs. The low amount of alcohol taste is just enough to be a distraction. Not solvent, but more peppery spicy. On the whole, this is not bad, but the sweetness has me not wanting to finish the glass. It’s soda. Put it in a glass with ice. The cold helps cut the cloying sweetness.

July 30th Addendum

Based on a few Facebook comments, I want to clarify a couple of things.

– He is not producing the current quantity from this 100-gallon system. As I wrote above, NYFRB is contract brewed by City Brewing in La Crosse, WI.

– I believe at the time of my visit he was making everything in house. There was no bottled product yet. There was beer in tanks, not-great beer to be sampled, kegs in the aging room, and yeast being propagated. There was no indication of any connection to anything larger. I think Kovac just found a way to sell the product he developed and make some money on it. There is nothing wrong with that.

– I never had the sense that Kovac was intentionally deceiving me. That’s what made this visit so confusing. He seemed absolutely genuine about what he was doing. I simply couldn’t make sense of what he was telling me. Sure, he may have embellished the history story a bit, but that’s marketing. He struck me as utterly sincere, and frankly sort of geeky. The whole thing was way too elaborately quirky to simply be a front for Phusion Projects.

Wabasha Brewing Company – A First Look

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Michael

To find Wabasha Brewing Company head south across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Paul then continue up the hill past the Wabasha Street Caves. Tucked on Wabasha Street is a non-descript, two-story storefront. A sign on the sidewalk out front suggest that this is where you should enter, but drive around back to find the taproom. The building’s rear is even more non-descript, but the orange door and newly established hop vines suggest that something more interesting is going on inside.

Entering the taproom is a bit like stepping into someone’s home. It’s tiny – maybe cozy is a better descriptor. Cream-colored, brick walls and wood tones give it a warm, comfortable feel. It is a bit like a living room turned bar. I was reminded of intimate, cellar bars that I frequented in Germany.

The brew house is crammed in behind the bar. There is only room for a couple of fermenters. The plan was to start big with the brewery, easily the most expensive piece of equipment. Brewing capacity is ensured from the start. When planned expansions occur fermentation tanks can be added as space allows.

The taproom’s intimacy encourages friendly interaction. I’m actually not the most social person, but I chatted up everyone seated with me at the bar. It wasn’t terribly crowded on the Thursday night of my visit, but I can see how it could get tight on a busy Friday or Saturday. And there is only one restroom for a bunch of people drinking a bunch of beer. Did I mention that expansion is planned?

The beer at Wabasha was a mixed bag – varied both in style and in quality. Nothing was terrible, but some were better than others. A couple of cloudy ones suggested to me that not enough conditioning time was given to let them settle. But it could also be that cloudy was the brewer’s intent.

My favorite was Peter Wheat. Don’t let the name fool you, there is no wheat in this beer. It’s named after a comic book character created in the 1940s to advertise bread. Peter Wheat the beer is a Germany-style Kristal weizen made with corn instead of wheat. It’s got a creamy mouthfeel and light sweetness with faint, corny overtones. The banana, clove, and bubblegum notes of German, wheat-beer yeast are present, but remain fairly subtle. Higher than expected alcohol gives it a pleasant warming.

Lawnmower porter is a tasty, low-alcohol brown porter with a lovely chocolate brownie character. Low caramel and toast background notes round out the profile. It finishes dry, making it a good summertime dark beer.

West Side Popper was a surprise. I really don’t like pepper beers. I want my food as spicy as you can make it, but not my beer. This light, jalapeno infused cream ale gave a light bite on the finish, but was not overwhelming. It was amply balanced by a smooth, malt sweetness. The pepper flavor was kept to a minimum as well.

Red Bonnet Amber – a cherry infused amber ale – was indistinct – like it couldn’t quite decide what it wanted to be. A touch of caramel was there. A hint of tart cherry was there. But neither was really able to assert itself. Both were muddied by some unwelcome yeasty flavor that was foreshadowed by the murky appearance.

429 Wabasha St S
St Paul, MN 55107
(651) 224-2102

Thursday – Friday: 3:00 pm – 11:00 pm

Sidhe Brewing Company – A First Look

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Michael

Ireland is dotted with small, earthen mounds called Sidhe [pronounced Shee] said to be the homes of the mythical folk called the Aos Sí [pronounced ees shee]. Part of Gaelic and Scottish mythology, these supernatural beings are believed to inhabit an invisible world that coexists with the world of humans. This otherworld is seen to be closer during the hours of dusk and dawn. The Aos Sí are fierce protectors of their abodes. The modern term Banshee derives from “Bean sídhe,” a particularly fearsome female spirit. In Gaelic folk belief and practice they are often appeased with offerings and are rarely referred to directly, but rather spoken of as “The Good Neighbors”, “The Fair Folk”, or simply “The Folk”.

Sidhe is also the name of one of St. Paul’s newest breweries. The name is appropriate. This is Minnesota’s second women owned brewery (at least as far as I know). It is also the state’s first Wiccan brewery – although not the only one to have a somewhat pagan slant.

With its grand opening in May, Sidhe Brewing Company added another facet to the quickly-developing, foodie-focused, Payne-Phalen neighborhood in East St. Paul. It is a neighborhood in transition. Higher-end food joints like Ward 6 and Tongue In Cheek coexist side-by-side with old-school, storefront taquerias. A multi-cultural mix of people can be seen on the streets and in the seats. For co-owner and head brewer Kathleen Culhane this sense of place is important. She sees Sidhe as a gathering place for the neighborhood’s diverse inhabitants – an “awesome, cool place for Eastsiders and others to hang out.” Culhane’s plan is to have a stable of six house beers with a small, rotating selection of seasonals and specialties. She is experimenting with reduced-gluten beers for those with sensitivities.

The brewery and taproom occupies the rear part of an interesting marketplace that includes a Mexican restaurant and several small vendor booths. The building is built into a hillside, which means that entering the taproom feels like you are headed to the basement. The entryway from Jenks Avenue affords a nice overview of the whole operation before you descend the stairs into the taproom.

The taproom space itself is simple and relatively unadorned. A set of paintings on the east wall hint at the Wiccan influence. Shelves of games – including to my delight Rock-‘Em Sock-‘Em Robots – insures patrons have plenty to occupy their time while sipping the suds. On the west end of the building is a stage that will host live music. The comparison isn’t totally apt, but while sitting there I kept thinking that the place has a kind of “your-uncle’s-basement-bar” vibe.

The beers on my visit were a bit problematic. Apparent under-attenuation left each of them tasting overly sweet and a bit sticky. This impression was heightened by low carbonation. Beers that should have been dry and crisp were anything but. The 84 IBUs of Hopped Up McGonigal IPA were nearly completely overwhelmed by sugar. Culhane indicated to me that she was aware of the issues and was taking steps to rectify them. Hopefully she can get that figured out.

Of the selections available, the Best Kissed Cream Ale was my top pick. It was better attenuated than the others, giving it a more refreshing profile. Low, grainy malt flavor was accentuated by a touch of corn. Bitterness was almost just enough to balance. Light, spicy hop notes added a bit of zest. After my sampler flight I had a pint. It was an enjoyable pint.

Next for me was Greenman’s Harvest American Nut Brown. It too was a bit less sweet than the others. Rich and malty, it featured notes of caramel, chocolate, and a faint background of roast-malt bitterness that helped cut the sweet. Hop bitterness was moderate, with low, citrusy hop flavors riding gently over the top.

990 Payne Ave
St. Paul, MN 55130
612-424-1KEG (1534)

Thursday & Friday: 4-11 PM
Saturday: Noon to 11 PM
Sunday: Noon to 7 PM

Northgate Brewing Company – A First Look

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Michael

The last time I visited Northgate Brewing Company they were still a few weeks from opening. No beer had yet been brewed on their tiny, five-barrel brewhouse crammed uncomfortably into an 800 square-foot, industrial space in Northeast Minneapolis. It was hard to find. I had to call for directions that cold, dark, winter night, even though I was just on the other side of the building. I remember thinking, “How are they ever going to do growler sales if no one can find the place?”

Northgate Brewing Then & Now

A lot has changed since then. Last October the brewery moved into a brand new building, tripled the size of their brewhouse, and opened an actual, easy-to-find taproom. Tucked off Broadway on Harding Street, a little west of Highway 280, they managed to remain just on the edge of Northeast Minneapolis. The taproom is an Olympian stone’s throw from the core Northeast brewery district at Broadway and Central.

So why did it take me seven months to visit the new spot? One reason is time. I know it’s kind of my job, but I find it almost impossible to eke out free evenings for hanging in taprooms. I don’t know how you people do it.

But I’ve got to be perfectly honest, there was another reason I stayed away. I was never a fan of Northgate beers. I should have been. They specialize in English styles, which are some of my favorites. I wanted to like them. I repeatedly came back to their brews to give them another chance, but was always disappointed. English yeast can throw some buttery notes that become overwhelming if not handled properly. I found these to be consistently present. I even picked up some medicinal, phenolic flavors once or twice. But I hadn’t tried them since the move.

I entered the taproom this time with trepidation. I left with a changed mind.

I sampled eight beers in all – everything on tap at the time. While the little bit of butterscotch that gives pleasing roundness to well-made English ales was present, nothing crossed the line to unpleasant. And there was not a phenolic note to be found.

Parapet ESB was a standout to me. It was dry and moderately bitter with complementary grassy/earthy hop notes. The bitterness was balanced by biscuity and toffee-tinged malt with a low level of sweetness. The orange marmalade fermentation esters that I love so much were in abundance. If not for the fact that I still had two more taprooms to hit, I would likely have ordered a pint.

The Northgate guys said they would never brew an American-style IPA. And yet on the list was not just an IPA, but an 8.1 percent alcohol double IPA, loaded with quintessentially American Simcoe and Citra hops. Here’s Your Frackin’ IPA was remarkably delicate for its elevated strength. I would never have guessed its potency. While the big, citrus and tropical fruit hop flavor was all-American, the bitterness was on a more moderate English scale. No excessive tongue-scraper this, despite the 100 IBU claim.

There were two takes on Stronghold Robust Porter available – one with coffee and a cask-conditioned version with cherries. I’m not generally a fan of coffee beers and this one did not suit me. The underlying porter was nice, delivering dark, bitter chocolate roast and light sweetness. The coffee though tasted unpleasantly bitter, like that pot that sat on the burner in the office break room all day. The bitter dregs taste lingered long in the finish.

The cherry version on the other hand was delicious. The sweet cherry stayed unobtrusively in the background allowing the base beer to shine. Combined with the beer’s bitter chocolate, it tasted like a liquid Mon Cherie candy.

My companion aptly described the feel of the taproom as “coffee shop with a small nod to an English pub.” It is relatively unadorned and retains an industrial space ambience that is fairly common among local taprooms. Some color on the walls would do a lot to warm it up a bit. It was quiet when we arrived, but by the time we left the crowd had filled the room, bringing with it a din that was not terrible, but louder than I prefer. I’m like that. I like quiet.

783 Harding St NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418
(612) 354-2858

Taproom Hours:
Wednesdays: 4pm – 10pm
Thursdays: 4pm – 10pm
Fridays: 3pm – Midnight
Saturdays: Noon – Midnight
Sundays: Noon – 8pm

The Brewer’s Table Kitchen at Surly

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Michael

There are a lot of restaurants that do beer and food. Some of them do it very well. Most of them though, are working with an ever rotating set of taps from an ever changing array of breweries. The beers change faster than the menu, meaning that the food is curated for beer generally, without a focus on particular flavor parings. Brewpubs have the luxury of working with a set list of beers made on premises, but in my experience, most of them don’t seem to put much thought into how the menu and the brews might work together. Pub grub is generally the rule.

But what happens when you give a talented and adventurous chef the opportunity to create an entire restaurant from scratch that is centered on the flavors of a single brewery’s lineup. The Brewer’s Table Kitchen at Surly is what. Opening this Friday, May 22nd, the second-floor, fine-dining venue at Surly is a foodie-friendly laboratory for beer and food pairing.

Given the sophistication of the beer hall menu I had lofty expectations for the Brewer’s Table. Chef Jorge Guzman had set the bar high. Judging from the samples offered at a recent media preview, he has deftly met the challenge. The menu is loaded with items, the descriptions of which make me say, “Oh, I want to try that.” Tantalizing treats like a Reuben made with beef heart, octopus with romesco sauce and chorizo, or lamb sweet breads immediately set my salivary glands atwitter. The dishes we were served not only offered layers of flavor to explore, they were pretty to look at as well. Like colorful paintings on a plate, they were almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

Beet Salad paired with Pentagram

I love beets, so one of my favorites was the beet salad. Guzman likes to use ingredients in multiple ways in each dish. This one has beets roasted, charred, pickled, and pureed. On top is fois gras that has been cured, passed through a tamis, fortified with beet gel, frozen and then shaved. It looks almost like wood chips or pencil shavings on the dish, but eats with a luscious, creamy richness. The pairing with Surly’s sour, wild ale Pentagram was surprisingly good. The interaction of acids in the dish and the beer toned down the sour, but still let the beer cut the richness of the fois. Earthy notes from the Brettanomyces fermentation bridged nicely to the earthy beets.

Tea Egg paired with Cynic

The Tea Egg was another favorite. A five-minute egg is cracked and then poached in tea and truffle powder to give it a tie-die appearance. It’s served on a bed of sheep’s milk cheese, puffed quinoa, and black garlic puree, with marinated asparagus. There is a lot going on in this dish, which makes it a particular pairing challenge. Which flavor element do you aim for when selecting a beer? Guzman went with Cynic, which he called the “easy” route. Easy or not, it worked. The soft sweetness and spicy/fruity yeast notes of the beer at least touched on nearly every layer of the dish.

Pork Jowl paired with Todd the Axeman

If you are looking for something rich, the Pork Jowl is the way to go. Guzman envisions this dish as a taco. This gorgeous hunk of meat is cured, sous vided, and roasted to fatty, pink perfection. It’s layered on puffed amaranth and a black bean puree made with Mole’ Smoke beer, and topped with a hazelnut vinaigrette. A picadillo sauce of the type used for empanadas completes it. This one was paired with Todd the Axeman, a West Coast-style IPA brewed in collaboration with a Danish brewery. It’s the hoppiest beer Surly makes, but the focus is on flavor and aroma instead of overly-aggressive bitterness. It cut through the richness of the jowl without taking out your tastebuds or preventing the subtler flavors from coming through.

Guzman and crew encourage diners to explore their own pairings, but they are happy to make recommendations if desired. For those who want to turn it over entirely to the whim of the chef, a Chef & Brewer pairing menu will take you through a five-course meal with a pairing for each course.

The décor of Brewer’s Table is in keeping with the rest of the building – sleek and elegant, yet not too stuffy. The long, kitchen bar would be my choice for seating, but I love to watch chefs at work. In the summer the outdoor patio overlooking the beer garden would also be very nice. Reservations are available and recommended. Bar seating is first-come, first-served. The Brewer’s Table is open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5-10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5-11 p.m.

Octopus paired with Overrated IPA

LynLake Brewery – A First Look

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Michael

Progress has been slow in the continuing quest to satisfy my New Year’s resolution by visiting all the TC taprooms that I have neglected. I’m sorry. I’m really busy right now. But it is always on my mind – a little nagging voice in my head telling me, “Get your butt out of the house and go drink some beer!” I finally listened to that voice,pried free some time, and got my butt into the next taproom on my list, LynLake Brewery.

LynLake is located on South Lyndale Avenue just north of Lake Street (thus the name) between The Herkimer and Moto-I. It occupies a most fascinating building. The Lyndale Theater opened in 1915 as a silent movie house and operated as a cinema until it closed in 1952. An interesting bit of trivia, actor Eddie Albert was once a manager there. That’s Oliver Wendell Douglas for any fellow Green Acres fans. The building became a grocery store in 1954 and was a furniture store from 1962 to 1972. The American Legion used it as a bingo hall from 1973 to 1990. After that came an antique store, which closed around 2006.

The building’s history plays a role in defining the feel of the place. The high, movie theater ceiling gives it a fantastically open feel. Surviving gold gilt on the cross members, together with the exposed brick walls evoke a nostalgic feel of another era. I kept looking for a proscenium arch on the back wall. This old-time feel is amplified by the antique looking light bulbs that illuminate the space and the bent bike wheels that hang over the bar. The brewhouse rises at the back of the room like the set of a 1930s Frankenstein film.

They don’t serve food at LynLake, nor can they have food trucks parked on Lyndale Avenue. But the table flip-charts have menus from a number of nearby restaurants that will deliver. As the instructions on the cards say, just call them up, order, pay, and eat.

An elevator and rather impressive staircases on either side of the room lead up to a delightful rooftop patio. There is ample picnic table-type seating and two fire pits to warm you up on cooler spring and fall days. The Lyndale Avenue side of the patio offers a great view of the Minneapolis skyline. It will be a great place for a beer this summer.

Although nothing was terrible, I found the beers to be a bit hit or miss. Some were great, some not so much. So let’s start with the great.

Sideburns Oat Raisin Milk Stout on nitro was fantastic. It’s full-bodied, rich, and rummy, with huge cocoa notes giving the impression of creamy, melted, bittersweet chocolate. The raisins come across as a faint, background hint of dark fruit. There is some licorice. A touch of dry, black malt roast offers a balancing counterpoint to the sweetness.

My second favorite on the list fell at the opposite end of the spectrum from Sideburns. Ponyboy Gold Lager is light, sessionable, and utterly delightful. Beer nerds tend to poo-poo American-style lagers. There really is no reason for it when you can get one as good as this. It’s simple and lightly sweet, with overtones of toasted grain if you are willing to look for them. Bitterness is medium-low and supported by spice and lemon hop flavors. If you want a beer for the long haul, this is it.

MMC 63 American Brown Ale was one of the two cask-conditioned offerings available during my visit. It was a well-done cask – clear, smooth, and served at the proper temperature. The beer was good, too. Caramel, nuts, a touch of chocolate, and a bit of roast make up the body. It’s balanced by a moderate level of bitterness. Tasty!

Take 6 is a decent if not great American India Pale Ale. It emphasizes hop flavor and aroma over bitterness and in fact comes off as just a little bit sweet – Midwestern style. Peppery spice and lemon-pith citrus give the beer its zing. There is a hint of that hop-derived garlic of which I am not a fan. With so many great IPAs out there, I’d say drink something else while you’re here. Sideburns, for instance.

Rubbish Oat Amber Ale was the biggest disappointment. There is a lot going on in this so-called Scottish amber ale. Caramel, raisins, cherries, and chocolate all make an appearance. The beer poured with a heavy haze. The murky appearance matched the profile. The myriad flavors all just seemed jumbled together without crisp definition.

Despite a couple of less appealing beers, I’d say that overall for ambiance, beer, and the rooftop patio, LynLake Brewery is worth a stop. Hours are:
Wednesday and Thursday: 5pm-12am
Friday: 4pm-1am
Saturday: 12pm-1am
Sunday: 12pm-10pm

Brewer Interview: Seamus O’hara of Carlow Brewing Co.

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Michael

Valentine’s Day is over. We’ve survived Mardi Gras. It’s not too early to start planning for the next big holiday, St. Patrick’s Day.

I know, I know. Amateur day, you say. But does it have to be? Just because the rest of the world is crowding the Irish bars getting sloshed on green swill doesn’t mean that the good-beer loving rest of us should dump the holiday altogether. There is good Irish beer out there. Let’s reclaim St. Patrick’s Day!

And by “good Irish beer” I don’t mean Guinness, Harp, Smithwick’s, Murphy’s and all the other usual suspects. There is good craft beer from the Emerald Isle available to us here in the Twin Cities. Some of the best comes from the Carlow Brewing Company in Carlow, Ireland, brewers of the O’hara’s brand beers. If you haven’t had O’hara’s Irish Stout or Irish Red Ale, you haven’t had the real thing. These beers fit the mold of their respective styles, but are so much more flavorful than those from the bigger brewers that they almost seem like totally different things. Although I do have a couple of others that I turn to on occasion, if I am going to pour an Irish stout or red at a tasting event, it will more than likely be O’hara’s.

Founded in 1996 by brothers Seamus and Eamonn O’hara, Carlow is one of the pioneers of a rapidly expanding craft beer movement in Ireland. Where there were once only three or four brand available in any Irish pub, there are now a bevy of craft brands competing for tap space and winning converts to the cause.

Image from beerbloggersconference.org

A while back I had the opportunity to chat with Seamus O’hara over lunch at The Local. We talked about the brewery, but also about the state of craft beer in Ireland. As we went I was continually reminded of the state of craft beer in Minnesota and the Upper-Midwest region in general. Both are experiencing a rapid expansion based on education, festivals, and an evolving consumer palate. Both are seeing increasing pressure from bigger breweries whose market they are chipping away. It was fascinating to see how small breweries over there are coping with similar issues as those faced over here.

What follows is an edited transcription of that interview. It’s long, I know. But I found the perspective interesting. I remain committed to long-form journalism to tell the stories of beer and the beer industry. And come on, have our attention spans really gotten so short? I’ll follow up the interview over the next couple of days with tasting notes of different O’hara’s beers.

I’ve talked to a few folks from Ireland and I get varying opinions and attitudes towards Irish themed American bars.

So you got their opinions, you don’t need mine. Some of them are great, some of them are a bit contrived. It’s great that the Irish bar is a thing and that it’s out there. When you go in to chat with the owners they are so on top of their culture and history that they almost put you to shame. It’s only when you live abroad that you start to reflect on your culture and where you come from and all that. Certainly the first few times I came over to America with our beer, I’d go to Chicago or Boston and meet some of the people who had been over here for a long time or who were second or third generation and definitely I felt a little put to shame. I need to go home and educate myself. So with those guys it wasn’t contrived. It was really authentic. But also in some ways a kind of historic reflection, because Irish pubs have moved on. So it’s like an impression of an Irish pub from years gone by. But it’s always interesting.

Let’s get to the brewery. Give me some background. How did you come to running a brewery?

Actually my background is in biotech. As part of that we studied brewing and we had a pilot brewing plant in college. When I graduated I went to work in pharmaceutical biotech, but I was also an active homebrewer and just got into making beer and wine and all sorts of stuff. But it was funny, when I went to work in pharmaceuticals I was working abroad, initially in the UK, and that was the first time I got introduced to all the beers and cask ales. I kind of really got into it and really loved going to the bars for different guest beers each weekend. Three years later or so I moved back to Ireland and it was almost a shock to the system. I didn’t realize that we had such a limited selection – like the same three or four products in every pub in the country. So over a couple of years I kind of got the idea about maybe setting up a brewery. I got inspiration from American craft brewing that you can do it. You can set up a small brewery. It’s not just for the big guys. So that’s where the idea came from. Eventually myself and my brother just got together and worked out a plan. In 1996 basically, we set up a company and went about looking for a building and equipment. We raised a small amount of money from friends and family and the first products came on the market in 1998. I kept another job. It was kind of part time. We couldn’t afford to be full time. But it’s been great over the last three or four years to be full time. And we’ve had a lot of growth over the last three or four years.

You just alluded to this, but over here Ireland is known for a good pub culture, but not so much a good beer culture. So what gave you the idea that starting a small, craft brewery in Ireland was a good idea?

To be honest, looking back we didn’t really fully appreciate that fact. I suppose we were kind of a little bit naive. We kind of got excited ourselves about beer and thought that once people tasted this and got introduced to different beers they were going to be as excited as we were. But it’s not as straightforward as that. One of the reasons we started exporting as a relatively young company was for our survival. As we gradually grew our business in the local market we had other avenues of business. But I think over time the Irish palate has developed in terms of different beers. There are a lot more import beers now and a lot more local craft beers. But to be really honest I think Irish craft is about one percent of the market. Three years ago we were about half a percent of the market, so a lot of it has happened in the Irish market over the last three or four years. Before that it was kind of more specialist kinds of pubs. But now about 120 bars in Dublin have our beers on draft. I think there’s a total of 600 bars in Dublin, so it’s a good percentage. And there are other craft breweries out there as well, so craft has now kind of got a profile.

Craft brewing in Ireland is not something that we really think about over here. I don’t think I even knew it existed except for a couple of breweries like your own. Describe the craft beer scene there.

When we started there was kind of a first wave of breweries around the same time. There were up to about eight small breweries back in the late 90s. But we all had the same issues. Not only were there only the same beers in every pub, but because there had never been small breweries, none of the infrastructure was there for distribution. You couldn’t plug into a distributor. There was no line cleaning. You had to do everything yourself. So it was a challenge. From that time there are only three survivors, I think. But then there was a change in excise law in the early 2000s to allow an excise break for small breweries and that kind of helped the viability of the business. Bringing it up to date, one of the other hats I wear is that I’m involved in running craft beer festivals in Ireland. We started that business in 2011. Because there were so few opportunities to get craft beer out there we set up our own festivals. The first year we did it we had twelve breweries. The second year we had 16. The third year was 23. This year we think we’ll have 35. So there’s been quite an increase. It really has taken off in the last two or three years. It’s a recognized thing and category. Bar staff know about it. Pub owners know about it. It’s kind of opened up. It’s a really interesting time.

So obviously the Irish palate has developed.

Hugely, yeah. It was always progressing, but maybe it just gets over a critical mass and enough people are talking to enough people and suddenly it accelerates. And I think things like Twitter and Facebook helps get the word out. It’s that word of mouth thing that kind of accelerated it. The other key thing that happened in Ireland is that we had a steep recession that also hit the pub business. Something like a pub per day closed down in Ireland over the last five years. Prior to that they were all busy. It didn’t matter what they served. Then they went through a stage where they were saying, “Hang on a second. I’m losing business here. I need to look at my offering, my customers, and what they want.” They were certainly much more receptive. You could go in and talk about “what might it do for me?” So there was just a total mindset change in the bar business as well. I think that was the big catalyst.

In the early days, aside from the fact that there were only a few major brands, were there other things missing in the Irish beer scene that you wanted to fill in?

Definitely. At that time I was interested in any sort of wheat beer. Like American wheat ale type products. At the same time we were very interested in the Irish beer styles, which we kind of viewed as having been kind of watered down over the years. They’d become a bit insipid and dumbed down for the mass market. We wanted to bring the flavor back into the Irish beer styles. So we had kind of a twin thing. That’s why when we started out we started with a stout and a red and a wheat beer.

You’ve now got a double IPA.

Double IPA is about a year old. Again it’s a sign of how the market is developing in Ireland that people are into hoppier beers and are willing to drink a higher ABV beer. Our double IPA is still at the lower end of the ABV range for double IPAs. Again, it’s just our kind of pub culture in Ireland. That kind of pub culture, which is about drinking pints and having a good long night out. Plus we did some barrel aging. We got some whiskey barrels. We’ve done our extra stout Leann Folláin in Bushmills whiskey barrels. And we’ve done some seasonals. We just had a winter seasonal that was just kind of a spiced amber ale. We just brought out an amber ale called Amber Adventure, which we’re using southern hemisphere hops. We call it Amber Adventure because we’re going to play with hops and have an adventure with hops. For St. Patrick’s did a collaboration with some Polish brewers. We have an oatmeal stout that has polish hops and Irish malt. We’re really happy with that. That’s our first collaboration, so we’re kind of looking at those things as well. We’ve expanded our capacity a bit over the years. We’ve added more tanks a couple of times and we just have some more coming again. We’re keeping a bit behind the curve for our needs in terms of capacity, but where we were much more restricted previously, now were doing new beers. We’re doing seasonals. We can do collaborations.

So I am struck by how similar this all sounds to the American beer scene right now; the rapid expansion, continually coming up with new products. Part of that here is that breweries have to keep themselves front and center in the minds of serial drinkers, people who don’t have any brand loyalty, so they have to keep bringing out new things. Is that the same in Ireland?

That’s not really my driver to be honest. I’m a bit scared by that. For us it was more these are the things we wanted to do. We had a kind of a backlog of things we wanted to do in terms of product styles. But the craft beer consumer in Ireland is learning from America as well. There is a demand for new stuff and a little bit of rotation in the bars, but not as much as over here. I’m hoping we can get a balance. Honestly just from the business point of view when there is so much rotation and so much new things it’s hard to sustain that. I’m hoping we can manage it.

I don’t think it’s realistic, it’s just that is the state of the market here right now.

I think the Irish beer consumer as well, they like to try different beers, but they do tend to get one and stick with it. Maybe for what they buy to take home they are more adventurous and try new things, but a good 50 to 60 percent of beer consumption is still on-premise, so people tend to have a bit of a go-to beer at that end. So I don’t see it getting as bad as here, at least in the short term. But it probably will eventually.

Brand loyalty seems stronger in Ireland. I was doing a private party at a client’s house and they had some guests over from Ireland. I was pouring your Irish Stout, because that’s the one I typically pour. I said that it was more dimensional in flavor than Guinness and mentioned that I’m not a huge Guinness fan. Boy, I thought I was going to get killed for a second.

To be honest, Guinness is a huge success in Ireland. It’s one of these things that that kind of brand strength is out there. It’s one of the things that we’re up against. If we can get that kind of brand loyalty closer to our products that would be great. That’s part of what we’re trying to do in Ireland is educate. To say there is more out there. Try something different.

So how do you go about educating consumers?

We try to start with the bar staff. We go in and we taste one of our beers and give them some key information about the products. Get them kind of interested in it. We always invite them to come do tours of our brewery. It’s that kind of face-to-face, point of sale type thing. Also, the Grand Beer Festival. It’s good to mention that. That started in September 2011. I do kind of trace back a big jump in craft beer sales to around the same time. The festival has grown. We had 3000 people the first year. 6000 the second year. 10,000 the third year. But I think definitely it’s a case of one beer fan dragging his three mates along. I think the same thing happened with bar owners and bar managers. When you see 10,000 people in a big hall all enjoying this craft beer in a great atmosphere and a nice quality crowd, I think the feedback from the bar owners was, “Okay, I need to look at this harder because that’s the kind of audience I want in my pub.” And then we do sampling for customers as well. A lot of media sources in Ireland have been interested in the sector. We’ve got a lot of good PR. A lot of good online stuff as well, with beer bloggers kind of generally spreading the word. It’s those kind of things. I do think it’s one of the key things to grow the market.

What’s the situation with craft beer bars in Ireland?

There’s a few craft beer bars in Dublin. There’s probably five pubs now in Dublin that wouldn’t serve any Heineken or a Guinness. None of the big brands. Then there’s another layer of maybe 20 that would have fairly significant craft beer offerings. Most of the pubs that we would be in would have maybe three or four craft beer lines, which is kind of one of the challenges, because most Irish pubs don’t have a lot of beer lines. So as a craft brewer you’re fighting over a small number of lines. Molson Coors and a couple of other big companies are trying to target the same lines. So it is a challenge. But I think the bars that have focused on craft have been quite successful. So that’s going to bring more people to it. You know, I could see some people start adding more lines, but it’s still the early days in that regard.

I just keep being struck by how familiar all of this sounds to me.

Yeah. But I think familiar as in how recently. We’re probably ten or fifteen years behind. But it probably won’t take us ten or fifteen years to get there. We’re just starting, but it will probably accelerate. We don’t have any sour beer breweries for example. There’s nothing like the range and the depth of things going on. But we’re very happy with the way it’s going in Ireland right now. We’re on a wave. We hope that wave keeps going, moving forward, you know. I’m always concerned about what sort of backlash or activity the big breweries will come up with to try to keep us down, but you know, we’ll just have to deal with it.

We’re seeing things like that here. Are you seeing this kind of thing with the big breweries over there?

Yeah. But look, the genie is out of the bottle at this point. When you drink craft beer you can’t go back to drinking a mainstream beer. The market we have now, they can’t get it back. And there is growth there as people talk and taste. There will be short term setbacks, you know. A certain dealing gets done and our beers are out. And the big guys bring out their own kind of craft beer – imitations or whatever, products to position in that space. So I would say, I hope we have enough momentum. My belief is that we’re not here for the short term. We’ve had our ups and downs. We’re here for the long term.

Town Hall Barrel Aged Week 2015 Starts Today

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Michael

When Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery got its first barrel in 2000, barrel aging of beer was not yet the thing that it is now. Brewmaster Mike Hoops had heard rumblings at a Craft Brewers Conference about this crazy thing that some breweries were doing with their beers – putting them in used barrels. The result was an almost magical fusion of beer, barrel, and booze. Hoops wanted in. A Jack Daniels barrel was obtained and Czar Jack was born.

As barrel-aging has expanded nationally, the Town Hall barrel program has expanded along with it. One barrel became several. Even more were added when additional cellar space opened up after the recent renovation. The barrel program is Mike Hoops’ baby. These are the beers of which he is most proud. In 2009 he got the chance to really show them off when they held the first Barrel Aged Week, now an annual event.

Hoops and crew go to the distilleries themselves to pick up barrels, creating relationships with distillers that help to insure they get the barrels they want in a world where used barrels are becoming scarcer. Even with these relationships he has concerns about getting some of the barrels they have used for many years.

This year’s Barrel Aged Week kicks off tonight at 5pm. It will include nine beer releases over six days, ending on Saturday the 21st. Whether you go one day or every day, these barrel aged beers are worth checking out.

Tonight’s release is Manhattan Reserve, a cherry grand cru aged in Woodford Reserve barrels. Grand cru is a nebulous term that doesn’t really correspond to any actual beer style. Every brewery’s grand cru is unique. For Mike Hoops the term just refers to the beer that a brewery views at its “celebratory” brew. The base beer for Manhattan Reserve has been brewed at Town Hall for around ten years. It’s a Belgian style beer with plenty of fermentation-derived fruit and spice. Tart cherries come through strongly in both the flavor and aroma, boosted by apple and orange notes and a touch of acidity. Caramel, vanilla, and bourbon offers a sweet counterpart. Effervescent carbonation and peppery spice complete the picture.

Two of my favorites will hit the taps on Saturday. Brown Label Belgian Bruin is a maple brown ale fermented with Belgian yeast and aged in a Woodford Reserve barrel. Big chocolate notes lead, accompanied by dark fruits like plums, prunes, and cherries. A low balsamic acidity brings to mind a Flanders Oud Bruin. Vanilla, oak, and subtle spicy note like cinnamon are in there too. Delicious.

Duke of Wallonia is an imperial witbier aged in a red wine barrel. This is a vinous beer with an interesting juxtaposition of lemony tartness and darker, red wine fruit. Coriander comes through loud and clear, but doesn’t get soapy or vegetal. Orange peel is subtler, but still adds some character.

I’m told the “brewers’ choice” beer will be released on Tuesday night. Foolish Angel is aged in Angel’s Envy barrels, a new distillery partner as of this year. I didn’t get to sample this one, but it is described as a “massively malty” and “beautifully smooth” Belgian quadrupel.

The barrel-aged beers are being sold this year in the new 750 ml growlers. This should allow for folks to get more than one brand to take home. Pre-sale took place on Sunday, February 8^th, but a certain number of growlers have been reserved for purchase through the week. If you buy a glass of a particular beer in the brewpub, you will be given the option to purchase a growler of that same beer as long as supplies last.

A lot of people like to cellar these beers, some for a number of years. That is of course your decision, but I would suggest that growlers are not the best container for further aging of beer. They are not optimally designed to limit exposure to oxygen. Remember also that these beers are already well over a year old. They have already been aged. According to Hoops, “We’re releasing [these beers] when we’re pleased with how they are going to be received by consumers.” I say buy it and drink it. A beer not consumed is a beer wasted.

Daily beer released are at 5pm Monday through Friday. Saturday will have releases at 11am and 3pm.

Eastlake Brewery & Taproom – A First Look

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Michael

I don’t normally make New Year’s resolutions. This year I did. I resolve to get caught up on the Minnesota taprooms. So many have opened, so many of which I have not been to. It’s a time and money thing mostly. I have precious little of both. I’m also a cheapskate and an introvert. Spending too much of my cash and extroversion reserves even in pursuit of beer is a difficult mental leap. But I have resolved.

This was not a thought out resolution. It was a spur of the moment decision made Friday afternoon as I was nodding off while trying to get work done. Needing a change of activity, I decided a taproom visit would be in order. It was Friday, after all. I hopped in the car and headed to the nearest one that I had not yet visited – Eastlake Craft Brewery.

Eastlake is located in the Midtown Global Market on East Lake Street. The Global Market is an internationally-themed, public market with groceries, food vendors and boutique shops of all kinds. Located in the old Sears department store building, it is brimming with produce, meat, fish, and art. They hold weekly educational and entertainment programs. It’s a unique and colorful place that offers a magnificent olfactory overload the minute you walk in.

And now you can get a brewed-on-site beer. Eastlake Craft Brewery opened three weeks ago on December 11th. Owner/Brewer Ryan Pitman was a homebrewer. Prior to cranking up the kettle at Eastlake he had no professional brewing experience. This can bode poorly for a new brewery these days, but in this case it seems to be working out. The beers were generally solid across the board with no obvious off-flavors and plenty of desirable on-flavors. They offer clean, layered profiles with good attenuation.

Pitman started things off with mostly lighter, sessionable ales. The strongest beer on the current list tops out at 7% ABV. They go all the way down to a particularly tasty 4.1% table saison. Bigger brews are on the way, though. He’s got a double brown in the works at 8%, along with others. Pitman’s tastes lean toward the Belgian brews. The list leans heavily in that direction. But these are crisp beers like saison, Belgian pale ale, and Belgian IPAs instead of the expected abbey styles.

For non-drinkers there is root beer and Deane’s Kombucha on draft. (I’m happy to see Deane’s back on the market, albeit in non-alcoholic form.) You can order a One Two Punch, which is a blend of kombucha and beer. As the menu says, “Ask a server for a recommendation or let your creativity fly.” Food can be brought in from any of the many vendors in the Market. You can order directly at the bar from Manny’s Tortas, El Burrito Mercado, and Hot Indian Foods. The food will be delivered to you in the taproom.

My favorites from the tap list were Increasingly Lost Saison, Stick Style IPA, and Devil’s Kettle Belgian IPA.

Increasingly Lost Saison – This is a straight up table saison in the mold of Avril Saison from Belgium’s Brasserie Dupont. It’s a light and refreshing session brew coming in at only 4.1% ABV. Bright lemony overtones stand out in both the flavor and aroma. Peppery spice offers a zippy counterpoint. Subtle bubblegum notes fill in the background along with low, crackery, pils malt. Bitterness is moderate, but accentuated by the very dry finish.

Stick Style IPA – Tangerine and melon hops dominate the nose with floral notes underneath. This carries into the flavor. The same bright tangerine and melon are joined by juicier stone fruits. The focus is on hop character over bitterness. In fact, bitterness is pretty restrained for an IPA. Not a bad thing. It’s not quite a sweet-leaning Midwestern IPA, but also not quite a hop-dripping west coast version either. The malt profile makes a strong impression of toffee and toast. It’s a malty IPA, but not sweet. The finish is off-dry. A light sweetness that lingers into the finish is the only detractor.

Devil’s Kettle Belgian IPA – Full bodied and full flavored. It’s the strongest beer on the menu currently at 7% ABV. Medium-high bitterness lingers into the finish. Hop flavors bring spicy, floral and stone fruit overtones that blend with some fruit from fermentation. Malt character is huge, but again not sweet – biscuit and toffee. Belgian yeast does bring some fruit, but leans to the phenolic side with pepper and light clove. This is a good food beer. I really wanted some pulled pork with this. A pulled pork taco? Lingering over the glass it seemed to become a bit cloying by the end. It’s really tasty, but maybe a one-and-done beer for me.

The space is simple and casual with one wall open to the market. Seating is at mostly communal tables, but there is ample room at the bar as well. It struck me as a place for lunchtime meetings or as a pre-game stop off on the way to other evening plans.

Eastlake Brewery & Taproom
Midtown Global Market
920 E. Lake St. #123
Minneapolis, MN 55407

Hours
Thursday – 11 am to midnight
Friday – 11 am to midnight
Saturday – 11 am to midnight
Sunday – 11 am to 6 pm
Closed Monday and Tuesday
They open early for English Premier League Soccer

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