Newer Breweries: Bottles

Tried East Lake's Dank Aaron and Good Ol' Gnarly. Dank was ok, drinkable but nothing special. Gnarly was one of the best Brown Ale's I've ever had!

 

I haven't had bottles from many of the breweries you listed. I generally prefer trying stuff from new breweries in their taprooms because I feel like it's not such a big commitment.

That said, I've enjoyed a couple bottles from Jack Pine:
Vengeance - jalapeño cream ale, food friendly, especially great with tacos
Big Buck - barleywine, I gave it a 4/5 but didn't take notes

 

Is Montgomery distributing bottles? I've been to their taproom a couple times and the beers are average or better and without discernible flaws. They typically have 8 or more on tap, so that's cool.

Did anyone try their BA stout?

 

I have serious doubts anyone has tried Wabasha bottles yet. Although I think West Side Popper is pretty decent, $8.99 for a bomber of cream ale is ridiculous.

 

Voyaguer is pretty good, definitely worth trying. I like their IPA.

 

Is that the jalapeño one? If so, good god that was atrocious. Tasted a sample from a bottle at Elevated one day. Felt awkward because I could hardly choke down the sample. Perhaps it is different on tap.

 

Waconia bottles are excellent. I have seen the three of the four previous releases at Shorewood Liquor. The Gin-barrel Honey Ale (it is a year old now but I think it would age well), Waconiator Doppelbock, and Paradise DIPA. The only one you will not find is the BA Driftwood. I would recommend any of these. They will be releasing cans in June.

 

Waconia's DIPA was very good.

 

Oh yeah, they fill those at the brewery. They call them Cannons. I think they are 750's.

 

I've had BA The General on tap and out of the bottle and thought they were both fantastic and of similar quality. The DIPA they had at Winterfest was also really good

 

They do have crowlers, and growers, but do not sell in bottles, unless something has changed in the past coupleof weeks. Sadly, I wasn't able to get there when they had the BA stout for sale. I really wanted to try it.

 

The bottles I've had from Waconia have all been special release 750's and have been solid.

 

I was given some sample bottles by Eastlake, and they were both infected. Which is to say they were similar to their tap counterparts.

 

ditto. I bought the blueliner and barely finished it. Would not buy again

 

Will you be in the north metro or west metro? I did not think Waconia made it to the north metro. If west metro I have a couple more.

There is also Enki and Schram bottles as well. Enki has Tailfeather, Cacao Porter, and Victoria Gold on many shelves. I think they are $5.99 or $6.99 for a bomber. Schram bottles are very expensive for what you get. They are like $9.99 for a 750ml of Blonde, Red, and Mocha Monkey. Mocha Monkey is a good beer if you feel like spending the money. I have seen those bottles at Vintage in Chanhassen and possibly Haskel's in Chan. and maybe Shorewood Liquor.

 

There are a few things I would like to point out.

Like any brewery, once our bottles are at the store, we're at the mercy of how long it sits in the cooler, or worse, on the shelf. In the north Metro, Rum River & Bacchus tend to sell through quickly, and have fresh product pretty often. The Top Tens in Blaine and Andover are fairly new to us, and also have recent stock. The south metro shops tend to cycle through our flagships very quickly - Elevated, Zipps, South Lyndale, and Surdyks in particular.

A few months ago, we had a batch of Blueliner that developed diacetyl after packaging. Once it appeared, we dumped the batch and replaced as many bottles as we could find. Obviously, some were sold. We also adjusted our QC standards to check not only for diacetyl, but also for acetolactate, which can turn into diacetyl once the yeast is removed. Stop in any time if you had one of those bottles and tell the bartender. We'll give you a fresh pint of Blueliner (or something else) and see how you like it. To say that you don't like a brewery or a beer because of one bottle is ridiculous - I had plenty of diacetyl-laden beers from Surly when they were stretching the limits of the Brooklyn Center production and I'm glad they were able to adjust. because I love their ideas and execution.

I haven't heard of "infections" in the bottles. I'm not saying it's not possible. In the last week, I've personally opened an eight-month old bottle, a six-month old bottle, and a three-month old bottle, all stored in the dark at room temp, with no sign of infection or off-flavors (RIS, kettle sour, and saison). Of course, a hoppy beer stored on a warm shelf for more than a couple months won't have much character left. That's why we put easy-to-find date stamps and batch numbers on the bottles. It's important to learn the difference between "infections" and off-flavors that come that brewing processes and/or storage and handling. Stop in the taproom sometime, and I'd love to go over some of these differences.

Ryan Pitman
Owner and Head Brewer
Eastlake Brewery