Archive: Month: May 2016

The World’s End Zombie Fighting Pub Crawl…

As the weather warms up, more and more people are getting out and about and doing the things they love.  They walk, they bike, they use buses and light rail… all in search of delicious beer! (OK, maybe not ALL of them)  Throughout many cultures, beer lovers will get together in groups to search out new styles (or fight zombies) and also enjoy well-known favorites.  That camaraderie (AKA bar/beer crawl) brings us to today’s edition of…

Ask the Brewer

What’s with beer crawls anyways? Aren’t they just a way to get drunk?

Beer crawls (or whatever you want to call them) actually have a rich and varied history, starting in the Basque region of Spain with the first mention of a beer or pub crawl in the 1915’s.  Basque tradition has groups of male friends roaming the streets, going from pub to pub, having a short glass of wine and a pintxos (small bite to eat) while singing traditional songs.

This happy traveling while socializing, called txikiteo or chiquiteo, can occur night or day and eventually expanded to include women.  It is as much about drinking and socializing as it is about trying new and different foods made specifically to be eaten in a couple of bites while standing up. (think something like our appetizers or Spanish tapas)

According to the New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, by 1915 the word Pub Crawl had entered popular usage as a noun, and in 1937 as a verb.  The noun was defined as “a drinking session that moves from one licensed premises to the next, and so on”, and the verb as “to move in a group from one drinking establishment to the next, drinking at each.” The term is a combination of “pub (a public house, licensed for the sale of alcohol) and a less-and-less figurative sense of crawl“.

Some other interesting similar terms include bar crawl, bar tour, bar-hopping, gin crawl, and our favorite, in use since the late 1900’s, Bohemian death march! (Truth is stranger than fiction)

Bringing things into the modern day, there are multiple epic pub crawls that come to mind:

• The “World’s Greatest”, held in Australia and holding the 2009 Guinness World Record for largest crawl
• The “Manly Man” in Cheltenham, England, where teams participate in specific tasks at each location over a twelve hour period
• The “Zombie Crawl”, started in 2005 here in Minneapolis, and attracting over 30,000 Zombies in 2012

For at least one member of the Burning Brothers crew, their favorite crawl is in the movie “The World’s End” occurring in the town of Newton Haven.  This pub crawl involves zombies (sort of), but unlike Minneapolis’ Zombie Crawl, the participants have to fight them at each pub, rather than getting to join them!

Taproom Tidings

Beer for this weekend includes the usual suspects along with the last of the Dry Stout on Thursday, May 26th, followed by our Raspberry Infused Pyro once the stout is gone. On Saturday, May 28th, we will be tapping our Mighty Axe Imperial IPA, made with MN grown hops by Mighty Axe.(Updated 5/27/16)

The story on food is that on Friday, May 27th, we will be joined by Signature on Wheels, with there unique take on American classics.  On Saturday, May 28th, we will have the Tatanka Truck, serving traditional Native American foods for both the taproom and the Brews & Buses participants.

• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey Ale, Parched Lime Shandy, Raj-Agni IPA, Dry Stout on Thursday until gone, then Raspberry Pyro, and Mighty Axe Imperial IPA on Saturday.
• Thirsty Thursdays $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (no growler or grumbler fills after 8pm on Thursdays)
• Chocolate-Strawberry and Orange Cupcake from Groundswell includes a moist chocolate strawberry cake with an orange curd center, and a chocolate whipped cream with orange zest and chocolate chunks

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook or Twitter.

Cheers!

Mmmmm, Stout!

This weekend finishes out American Craft Beer Week, and we are celebrating in style.  Not only are we tapping the Dry Stout that we have waited so patiently for, we are participating in the City Pages Beer Fest on Saturday.  Join us in sending Craft Beer Week out with a bang!

Ask the Brewer

Stout is just one style of beer, right?

Stouts are known for their dark color, rich texture, roast aroma, and malty — sometimes sweet — flavor.  However, there is more than one variety of Stout out there.  Stouts actually originated as an off-shoot of Porters, which were popular in the 1700s among “porters” who carried heavy loads of dry goods from warehouses to markets.  Around the same time, stout was a term applied to any beer that was strong with a higher alcohol content, darker color, and bolder taste.  It was often used to describe the stronger and darker porters, as in a “Stout Porter”.  By the time the 1820s rolled around, brewers began to drop the term porter, and specifically produce a beer style called Stout.

Fast forward to today, and the first style of Stout we’re touching on is a Dry Stout.  This stout has the characteristic stout color, with an aroma that is dark-roasted, sometimes toasty or bready, and often coffee-like. Unlike most other styles of stout, this one has little to no chocolate or cocoa notes. The flavor is dry, not sweet, with a roasted malt and hop bitterness that is moderate to high, leading to a smooth and drinkable beer.

The second style of Stout is a Sweet Stout, also called a milk or cream stout because it is brewed with lactose, or milk sugar.  This sugar is one of the sugars that doesn’t get consumed by yeast in the fermentation process, so it adds extra body and sweetness to the finished beer.  It has a milder roasted aroma than other stouts, while still holding onto the coffee or chocolate notes, in some cases even being reminiscent of chocolate milk.

The third stout is Oatmeal Stout, which is brewed from up to 20% malted oats.  It was also brewed in the late 1800s, with people perceiving it as being nourishing and healthier.  The oats can add a nutty aroma, and help with head retention, providing for a rich malty beer with very mild hop aroma and flavor.

The fourth stout is the Imperial Stout, originating in the late 1700s, with the first batch purportedly brewed for Czarina Catherine the Great.  This beer was made specifically for export to Russia and the Baltic States.  Imperial Stouts are basically a stout on steroids.  They have the traditional stout flavors, as well as flavors that are described as toffee-like, burnt, barleywine-like and port-like, with notes of bittersweet chocolate, fresh ground coffee, espresso, prunes, plums, raisins, currants and more.

The fifth, and final stout on our list, is the American Style Stout.  American stouts have the same dark color and rich flavor of other stouts, but the hops are more predominant.  While not as hoppy as a Black Ale or an IPA, American Stouts have a higher bitterness, hop aroma and more citrus notes than other stouts.

While these are the main styles of Stouts available, there are as many variations available as there are craft breweries.  Many of these styles get paired with fruits or aged in barrels to highlight specific flavors.  Additional flavors that can be added are coffee, chocolate, or even oysters, which bring out a slightly salty note.

Taproom Tidings

Beer options this weekend include Raspberry Pyro on Thursday, May 19th and the aforementioned Dry Stout starting Friday, May 20th.

Food choices bring us Crazy Puppy on Friday, and Soup Coupe on Saturday.

• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey Ale, Parched Lime Shandy, Raj-Agni IPA, Raspberry Pyro on Thursday & Dry Stout starting on Friday
• Thirsty Thursdays $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (no growler or grumbler fills after 8pm on Thursdays)
• Coconut Turtle Cupcake from Groundswell includes a coconut chocolate fudge cake with pecans, whipped cream, honey caramel sauce, and chocolate ganache

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook or Twitter.

Cheers!

A small celebration, with a few (thousand) breweries

This next week, from Monday May 16th through Sunday, May 22nd, is American Craft Beer Week!  This year marks the tenth anniversary of this celebration, with over 4,200 craft brewers in all 50 states participating.  We hope that you will take time to get out, visit a new brewery or taproom, or an old favorite, and join in the celebration.

Ask the Brewer

How did the modern craft brewing movement get started?

Picture yourself in the late 1970s, standing in the beer aisle, staring at your choices.  Lager, lager, light lager, and lager (“…Check it out! They’ve got both kinds of beer, Bud AND Bud Light…”).  At this point, the US beer industry was down to just 44 brewing companies, beer imports were at an all time low, and industry experts were predicting that soon there would be only 5 brewing companies left operating in the United States.

Now, picture the advent of the home brewer.  The individual who wanted to be able to taste the beers of other countries, and other times.  These early home brewers, and the microbreweries and brewpubs they started, were some of the first craft beer pioneers of the modern movement, fighting their way through the 1980s, when industry experts flat out refused to recognize their existence as anything serious.  These early brewers emerged with their passion and vision, serving their local communities a taste of full-flavored beer and old world traditions; all with a uniquely American character.

The expansion of the craft beer movement has truly been an explosion, with 8 craft brewers in 1980, 537 in 1994, over 2,800 in 2013, and now over 4,200 in 2016.  At this point, the majority of Americans live within 10 miles of a local brewery or brewpub.  There has never been a better time or place to be a craft beer lover than right now in America.

Taproom Tidings

Apparently, once was not enough. 😉 This Friday, May 13th brings the return of our Raspberry Infused Pyro.  This tart favorite has had so many requests since we last served it that we decided to bring it back yet again.

Also on Friday, May 13th we are pleased to welcome back Hot Indian Food (Yes, we are down with the brown!).  On Saturday, May 14th Signature on Wheels will be joining us with their unique take on American classics.

• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey Ale, Parched Lime Shandy, Raj-Agni IPA, and Raspberry Pyro starting on Friday
• Thirsty Thursdays $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (no growler or grumbler fills after 8pm on Thursdays)
• Coconut Turtle Cupcake from Groundswell includes a coconut chocolate fudge cake with pecans, whipped cream, honey caramel sauce, and chocolate ganache

Final Thoughts

ATTENTION DARK BEER LOVERS!!

Next Friday, May 20th at the taproom, we will be tapping our Dry Stout that we have been waiting so patiently for (well, somewhat patiently) as part of American Craft Beer Week.

Following that, on Saturday, May 21st, we will pouring beer at the City Pages Beer Fest to close out American Craft Beer Week and kick off summer in the Twin Cities.  One of longest running events of its kind in the Midwest (24 years and counting!), this outdoor festival has become a yearly tradition for beer lovers, food lovers, and music lovers alike.  We hope to see you there!

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook or Twitter.

Cheers!

Beer, a lovely beverage enjoyed by women…

This Sunday is Mother’s Day, so we wanted to offer a great big “Thank You!” to our mothers, our wives, our partners, our daughters and our female friends!  We couldn’t do it without you.  As part of our salute to the women in our lives, we wanted to take a look at women and beer, because a lot of women love beer (a societal perception that is changing… thankfully!), and a lot of women have been influential in this still very male dominated industry.

Ask the Brewer

How long have women been involved in the beer industry?

While the current beer industry is very male dominated, the earliest brewers were women with documentation going as far back as 3500 B.C.  The women of Sumer brewed low-alcohol beer both for religious ceremonies and for daily consumption. These Sumerian brewers enjoyed tremendous respect, in part due to the likelihood they served as priestesses of the revered beer goddess, Ninkasi (so that is where that brewery got their name). Sumerians believed Ninkasi oversaw the brewing process and “worked” as head brewer to the gods, who’d gifted beer to humans to preserve peace and promote well-being. Their reverence is illustrated in the Hymn to Ninkasi, history’s oldest written beer recipe.

There is also compelling evidence that women were the ones who invented straws for drinking beer in Babylon between 1900 and 1600 B.C. (probably to get through the fermentation scum that formed on top of the earliest brews)  By 800 A.D., brewing had spread to Europe, and Germanic women were brewing in the clearings of the forests.  In 1150 A.D., the German Abbess Hildegard recommended hops as a preservative, and from 1600 to 1800 women in America were serving “small beer” to their families.  With the advent of the industrial revolution and commercial brewing, women were forced to take a step back from their traditional roles.  However, with Prohibition, many of them revived old recipes, and went back to brewing in their kitchens.  When Prohibition was repealed, beer was back in business, in large scale, with men at the helm.

It wasn’t until 1986 that things began to change, with Mellie Pullman helping launch Wasatch Brewery; becoming the first female brewmaster in Modern American history, and ushering in a new era of women working in the beer industry.  From there, women have become more and more involved, with Carol Stoudt of Pennsylvania becoming the nation’s first female sole proprietor (and brewer) in 1987, and Barbara Groom and Wendy Pound opening Lost Coast Brewing in Eureka, California, in 1990, as the first female ownership team.  In 2008, the Pink Boots Society was formed by Portland-based craft brewer Teri Fahrendorf.  The Pink Boots Society is dedicated to mentoring and supporting women working in all aspects of the beer industry.  In February of 2011, Barley’s Angels was founded, providing a forum for women who love craft beer.  Barley’s Angels focuses on creating a safe space for women who “respect beer and brewing, have a thirst for education, enjoy beer responsibly and act appropriately at all times.”  And, in 2013, Minnesota got it’s first women owned brewery in Urban Growler, founded and owned by Deb Loch and Jill Pavlak.

Taproom Tidings

Brewer’s Choice being tapped on Friday, May 6th is Andrew’s Maibock. This German substyle of Bock (shocking, right?!) is a stronger, yet paler lager that is more hopped than it’s cousin and is traditionally served at Spring festivals.

On Friday, May 6th we welcome the return of Crepe and Cake with their delicious French crepes, and on Saturday, May 7th we are excited to be joined for the first time ever by the Salsa Spot, serving authentic Mexican cuisine on wheels.

• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey Ale, Raj-Agni IPA, Parched Lime Shandy, and Maibock on Friday
• Thirsty Thursdays $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (no growler or grumbler fills after 8pm on Thursdays)
• Coconut Turtle Cupcake from Groundswell includes a coconut chocolate fudge cake with pecans, whipped cream, honey caramel sauce, and chocolate ganache

Final Thoughts

Beer festival season is only a few weeks away. That means we are getting ourselves ready to start slinging beer here, there and everywhere in between!

To start the season off, the City Pages Beer Fest will continue with its tradition of kicking off summer in the Twin Cities on May 21st.  One of longest running events of its kind in the Midwest (24 years and counting!), this outdoor festival has become a yearly tradition for beer aficionados who can enjoy a variety of brews, food vendors, live music featuring Free and Easy, hammerschlagen, accordionist Bill Koncar and the ever-popular Brian Boru Irish Pipe Band!

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook or Twitter.

Cheers!