Surly's New Brewer's Table Restaurant

I have no idea what you are eating, but it looks amazing.

 

I didn't realize that Brewer's Table had a different set of beers available on tap than does the Beer Hall. I wonder if that's a new batch of Misanthrope, which would suggest that the long-awaited bottles should be coming soon.

Small point: Pentagram and Misanthrope are "pseudosours." They use Brettanomyces yeast, so they are "Wild Ales," and they are tart and funky, but they don't achieve the true souring effects of such bacteria as Lactobacillus or Pediococcus. To my knowledge Surly has yet to brew a true sour.

 

This is similar to what I tell people when they order a "sour". Or when other people say they don't like it because it is not what they were expecting and it is "too sour". Their eyes glaze over when I start talking about souring bacteria vs. "wild" yeasts.

 

wooden soul #1 vs wooden soul #2 is another example of Wild v. Sour

 

As sours and wild ales continue to increase in popularity, this distinction will become much more widely understood, at least within the industry and among homebrewers and BAs. Minnesotans benefit from the fact that @CLevar, who has been one of the most knowledgable and strongest advocates of this distinction here and at the other site, is a local. Note that to the extent that actual sour flavors are present in supposedly 100% Brett-fermented beers (as Pentagram is marketed), it seems to be because they are picking up actual souring microbes, usually from the wine barrels (i.e., they are infected and thus actually partially fermented by something other than Brettanomyces yeast). But that is something that could happen to almost any beer put into wine barrels, not merely ones that use Brettanomyces as the yeast, and it's not guaranteed to happen from wine barrel aging. A 100% Brett-fermented beer that isn't barrel aged isn't any more likely than any other beer to be sour; at least that seems to be the best current understanding.

 

Why do they have to make food look waaaaaay more than it really needs to?

 

I'm so conflicted. I like food. So when I read these reviews talking about how awesome it is, I think "I need to try that!" But then I look at the pics and read the descriptions, and I'm much less excited. I think I'm the opposite of a foodie.

 

OP, great review, enjoyed reading through it!

 

The food is amazing. I guess it's not for everyone but I suppose that's why they have the beer hall.

 

Need this place in my life.

 

I could be wrong but I don't see how you get Pentagram-level sour without souring bacteria. It may not be intentionally added, but i think it has to be in the barrels which has more or less the same effect as intentionally adding. Again, I could be wrong.

 

I think you nailed it.

 

I'd consider myself a foodie but $75 a person is quite a bit for a 5-course small plate tasting menu and 20 oz of beer.

Comparatively you can go to Travail and get 15-20 courses for a cheaper price.

 

And we called wine drinkers snobby and pretentious

 

I've always considered Pentagram notably unsour for a beer presented as being sour. That said, I'll modify my initial contention to allow for the possibility of some actual sourness being present due to bacteria from the wine barrels, presumably Oenococcus oeni (not that it's inconceivable that some Lactobacillus could have snuck into the barrel). Nonetheless, I suspect that what many people are interpreting as sourness is mostly the result of the Brettanomyces, perhaps enhanced by a bit of Placebococcus.

 

Forgot a word....