New Beer Sunday (Week 751)

For the question of the day, I don't follow the comings and goings of MN breweries as closely as some (@Chaz ?), but there are three that closed that caught my attention.

First, there was Northgate Brewing, who specialized in more traditional English-style beers. Perhaps they struggled from too narrow of a focus. Sad, nonetheless.

The last two shall remain nameless, but anyone from the area can probably guess who they are...

Second, there was a small St. Paul brewpub that (based on their own social media, etc.) it seemed to me they were more interested in their gender politics and religion than they were in their beer.

Third, there was a small production brewery and taproom in a small town just south of the Twin Cities that was started by a shyster (my opinion only) who shafted the town's taxpayers by defaulting on a loan as he closed shop and escaped to St. Paul proper to try to start another brewery using taxpayer subsidies. I lost track of whether he actually started up, is still trying, or has left town in shame. (Again, riddled with my personal interpretation of the facts.)

 

Second beer from the Cigar City sampler:

Cigar City Guayabera Citra Pale Ale
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 50



Mild aroma, bright citrus - tangerine, lime. Slight pine.

Cloudy dark orange, just short of being turbid. Tall, thick, creamy, rocky head, receding moderately quickly, but leaving thick bubbly lacing. Head recedes in peaks and craters.

Medium body, little carbonation detected.

However, the bright citrus taste picks it up, so it doesn't seem flat. Taste is, as the aroma, tangerine and lime. Malts contribute a somewhat sweet breadiness. Well balanced, with gobs of flavor.

Finish is toward the dry side, but not fully since the slight sweetness remains, with a nice level of bitterness lingering into the aftertaste.

Overall, an excellent pale ale. Plenty of flavor, well made, and an enjoyable interplay between the hops and malts.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.75 | T: 4.0 | F: 3.5 | O: 4.0 | BA rating: 3.89

 

IreallydontwanttoBU a 0 IBU DDH IPA from the Veil brewing

L: Pours a hazy dark orange color with minimal head and some light lacing. 4
S: Tropcial fruits, grapefruit, mango, papaya. 4.5
T: Tons of tropical fruits, grapefruit, mango, pineapple. No bitterness, just juciy hop flavor. 4.5
F: Medium body and carbitration with a nice pillowy mouthfeel 4.25
O: Fantastic ipa, so much flavor and really juicy. Veil makes fantastic IPAs, but these 0 IBU ones are better than most of their regular IPAs. 4.25 for a BA generated 4.4. Cheers!

 

Yeah, but you'll still have to hear national advertisers with scripts (presumably written by professional writers) that say things like "drive safe."

 

What's up, NBS?
It is another nice day here and a pretty typical Sunday for me. I (fortunately) don't have much to contribute to the discussion about breweries being shuttered, although I imagine eventually it'll happen. Luckily (I guess) we still aren't near the saturation/maturity of the US as far as all that goes. So for now I am just content to see new ones open from time to time.
In other news, after fiddling around with brewing for the last couple years, I decided to submit to a couple competitions this year to try and get some quality feedback and hopefully improve my process, and on Friday night a bitter I made won silver in its category and I got some really good comments on it. It has been my goal from the get-go to brew nice British styles since they are so hard to find here (and I guess most places outside of England) and even though I don't have much experience with the real thing I have liked the few good examples I've had enough to really try to replicate their goodness in my closet. The bitter took me multiple tries, tweaks and changes as well two rounds of judging, but I feel like I've learned a ton and like it has improved a ton. Even before seeing the results I was already really pleased with it and now I am primed to continue screwing around with it. Anyway, I digress...
I'm living the bachelor life while my wife's away for the weekend so hopefully I'll enjoy a few this evening here with you folks before maybe heading to an outdoor showing of "Psycho" later on. For now, though, enough rambling.

This is a witbier made with jasmine and kaffir lime leaves. Not really the sort of thing I'd usually seek out but it looked refreshing, it was hot out, and I was intrigued.

It pours a fairly hazy pale straw with a fizzy finger of off-white head that quickly evaporates to a sliver of a ring, no lacing. The aroma is doughy and slightly floral with a faint fresh suggestion of grassiness. The flavor follows with more of the same; flabby, yeasty, there is a hint of kind of tea like earthiness that I feel like might be the kaffir and jasmine, but I honestly have no idea.
It has a chalky feel and mild carbonation and a flabby finish.
This is an all right wit, but nothing special. It is neither impressive to look at nor drink, but it is not undrinkable either. There is definitely a little twist on the flavor, but it is extremely faint and is kind of muddled in with the normal wit character and the fact that this one tasted particularly yeasty and un-poppy to me. Meh.

Santé, BAs!

 

2 YO wild ale. Just got it today. This was awesome. Lasting fluffy head retention/thick foamy lacing for the style. Aromas and flavors of big juicy/tart/tangy huckleberry, blueberry, fruit skin/seed, lemon, peach, plum, pear, pineapple, apricot, red/green apple, red grape/wine, peppercorn, clove, hay, straw, and grass; with moderate wheat, cracker, white bready malts; light woody, leathery/musty Brett funk, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/Brett tang/tartness, and yeast spiciness on the finish. High carbonation, medium body, and fairly crisp/clean finishing. Bready/grainy malts and some fruit tang/acidity in the mouthfeel. Moderate increasing tart/tangy/carbonated dryness; zero pucker/astringency. Very smooth, no warming 6.5%. This is definitely 100% Brett, wanted some lactic character personally. No barrel character either. Great well rounded Brett complexity and balanced juicy/jammy huckleberries; with a great clean pale/wheat malt backbone. Minimal residual sweetness with crisp drying. Was very impressed otherwise. 4.13


Cheers

THERE IS A NEW OPETH SINGLE OMG

 

The death of the adverb. A tragedy.

 

I agree. To the point that just reading this I could instantly taste it and even shuddered a little.

 

You’re referring to “She” (who’s now happily at Thirsty Pagan), and Eff-Town — and I think the latter plan is going forward.

But there will be more to come (and when they do, make sure to tag the Holy Trinity @islay, who knows more about all of this than even the Brewers Association itself).

I try to give them all a try, but with limited time/money/energy and more than 150 in Minnesota, it’s tough to try ‘em all (especially since beer geekery ain’t my only hobby).

So many Minnesota breweries and brewpubs have closed since I got into (homebrewing, beer sales, etc) that I easily lose count, but it’s in the dozens.

In the late 1990s/cusp of the Oughts, there were Ambleside and James Page in Minneapolis, and about ten years earlier Taps (“Riverplace”) was among the first to open and shut in a rather short timespan — maybe eighteen months.

The James Page situation struck me closest to home since I was working at a beverage retailer very close to their brewery, and they had a TON of community support — just not a lot of money to shore up their debts.

Nowadays (and considering how dynamic the business world is) I don’t expect breweries to remain in business forever. In some sense a brewery isn’t much different from a favorite record shop, a favorite salsa company, or anything else, aside from the fact that we often invest more of our feelings into them. Love ‘em while they’re here!

Not saying I don’t miss the good old days (I do), but I don’t expect a brewery to stick around forever. Which is why I support my favorites as much as I can right now.

 

Missed opportunity:

 

Not my jam boss man. I didn't even know who they were.

Hey look, another hoppy imperial stout. No surprise there. This was fantastic though. Lasting rocky head retention/thick foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of huge tangerine, red grapefruit, lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, guava, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, and pine hops; with balanced milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, dark bread/crust, smoke, charcoal, and herbal/floral/grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, woody, floral, grassy, peppery hops; and roast/charred bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and full body; very creamy, silky, bready, grainy malts; some sticky hops, and chalky/char roast in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing lingering hop/char bitter dryness; no cloying, acrid, astringency. Very smooth/soft, not overly bitter/charred, mild increasing warmth of 12% after the finish. Feels like Galaxy, Citra, Mosaic. Very juicy and fairly dank/earthy hops; with a perfectly balanced rich dark/black/roast/bready malt backbone. Light residual sweetness with lingering dryness. Literally just an imperial version of Meat and Potatoes. 4.23


Cheers, have a good night NBS

 

NBSers! Howdy, and I actually have something to share. At lunch today, at my local taproom, I tried this outstanding little American Solera Grisette ("Magic Jar"), a style I seldom see here.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46299/375300/
L - Stunning ghost lemon opaqueness to it, I could already taste it by
A - Aroma of "saison lite" but with a citrus element that had me drooling
T - A delicate Grisette, with great pith, citric, and balanced spice notes. Shit. I love this.
F - Perfect balance of carbonation, acidity, and palate impression... At 4%? Whhhaaaaaa?!
O - I love this damn beer and if I see it in a store, I'm buying it all.
Cheers!

 

3rd beer from the Cigar City sample pack. (I thought I might sample all 4 today, but Space Pope may not make it tonight... it probably won't "survive" until next Sunday, either.... oh well!)

The classic IPA from Cigar City:
Cigar City Jai Alai IPA
ABV: 7.5%
IBU: 70



Aroma is a classic American IPA citrus aroma. The only criticism is it is a bit subdued.

Tall white head from a vigorous pour fades a bit faster than leisurely. Creamy and cratered surface of the head as it recedes, leaving spotty, disconnected lacing. Hazy dark copper-amber color. Moderate visible carbonation.

Mouth feel is medium initially transitioning to fairly thin.

Taste is citrus with a fairly strong bitterness right away. No pine, but nicely bitter. The malts are there, earthy and grainy, but the hops are the star, as expected with an AIPA. Both the citrus flavor and bitter hops sustain throughout to a crisply bitter aftertaste lingering on the tongue until your next drink. Finish is a little toward the sweet side from dry. Let me explain: I wouldn't describe it as sweet, but it is nudged to that side of the scale from dry.

A classic American IPA. Not the puckering West Coast style, but the classic American style. Very well done.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.5 | T: 4.0 | F: 3.5 | O: 3.75 | BA: 3.78

 

From one of this weekend's IP trades.
I wish it was fresher, but still a great Mosaic DIPA.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/44548/267945/



16 oz. can.
Canned 04/12/19.
Moderate pour yields a one inch white head over a slightly hazy, golden body with some sticky lacing. Nose of tropical fruit, sweet citrus, and a bit of peach; as it warms I do get a tad of blueberry aroma. Taste mirrors nose nicely, very smooth middle to a very nice sweet citrus pith (tangerine?) finish. Very nice feel and overall, for being three months old, this is an excellent offering from a new-to-me brewery. Cheers to Lone Pine!!!

 

Ok...back with the beer we had for dinner...hmmm...maybe should have one more for dessert, to paraphrase.

Steak tips grilled just to the rare side of medium rare, zucchini/pancetta/onions accompanied by Soul of a Lion from Barrelled Souls. And I love this place where we are staying - second year in a row, which is rare for us.

View 1:



View 2



We approached this with a bit of trepidation given last week's adventure in metallurgy. The pour was a murky mahogany with reddish highlights, thin tan colored head without much retention. Not unexpected given the 11-ish percent alcohol in this British style barleywine. Decent cling to the glass, though.

The smell opens with chocolate - kind of a mix of baking and milk chocolate, then a very nice cherry note comes in. It isn't quite like a boozilicious chocolate covered cherry, but it is close. The high ABV is obvious as well as a very bready malt.

The flavor rolls in layers of chocolate, sweet cherry, then a bit of bitter chocolate, a bit of a sting from the alcohol, then a dark fruit onslaught in the finish. It doesn't let you forget what it is, though. The malt is in the spotlight with residual sweetness and a prevalent bread leaning to biscuit presence. Toffee and fruit on the finish. Good stuff, here.

It isn't strongly carbonated, it is quite drying well after drinking it, and it seems a bit thin in texture for what I expected from the style, but I have not had one of these before so I can claim ignorance, right? Sweet, but not too sweet, and just ever so slightly sticky.

Glad to report Mr. Lincoln stayed away from this beer. Quite tasty, certainly a sipper. I'm feeling just a tad north of 4.0 on this here brew.

@Lingenbrau - great photos as usual!

Cheers!

 

Don't know Rancid? Bummer.

Matt Freeman may be one of the best bassist I've I've heard.

Cheers

 

You too man! Place looks gorgeous.