muddy pig

Sips – Beer News Snippets

Posted by Rob The Beer Dork on March 7, 2012
Posted in: 3 Squares Restaurant, 8-Bit Pale Ale, Abrasive Ale, Air, alaskan brewing, ale jail, Bender, Burger Jones, Campus Pizza & Pasta, Carbone's Lakeville, Chatterbox Pub, Common Roots, Cynic, Doppelbock, Easy Rider Pale Ale, Farmers Daughter, Firkin Fest 2012, Footprint RegionAle, Fulton Brewing, Furious, Groveland Tap, Hell's Kitchen, Irish Coffee Stout, KBS, Leech Lake Brewing Company, Lift Bridge Brewing Company, Lone Spur Grill, Loon Eye Red, Lucette Brewing Company, Lucid Brewing, Marshall Liquors, Mild Ale, muddy pig, NgonVietnamese Bistro, Pracna on Main, Smoke, Staples Mill Brewing Company, Stout's Pub, Summit Brewing Company, Sunshine Factory, Surly Brewing Company, Tallgrass Brewing, The Blue Nile, The Cellars Roseville, The Hole Sports Lounge, Unchained #9 Dunkel Weizen, Williams Uptown, Worthy Adversary. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 comments

- The BIG news this week is the release of Summit Unchained #9 Dunkel Weizen, below are release parties:

* Thursday, March 8: The Hole Sports Lounge in Minneapolis, 7-9 p.m.
* Friday, March 9: Burger Jones in Burnsville, 3-4:30 p.m.
* Friday, March 9: Carbone’s in Lakeville, 5-7 p.m.
* Thursday, March 15: Ngon Vietnamese Bistro in St. Paul, 4-6 p.m.
* Friday, March 16: The Cellars in Roseville, 4-7 p.m.

Other places around town that currently have this beer on tap are:

* Stout’s Pub
* Campus Pizza & Pasta
* Hell’s Kitchen

A few liquor stores currently are offering this beer:

* Zipp’s Liquors
* Marshall Liquors
* The Ale Jail

Unchained #9 Dunkel Weizen will be widely released on March 19th, look for it on your local liquor store shelves that week!

- Today at The Muddy Pig they will be tapping an Oaked Fulton Worthy Adversary cask at 11:30 this morning. Free up your afternoon and get there and get some of this beer. Also, the Fulton crew will be around this evening.

- Tonight at The Blue Nile they will be celebrating a Day of Surly from 4:00-10:00. They will be offering 6 Surly brews: Abrasive Ale, Smoke, Mild Ale, Furious, Cynic, and Bender. The special is 2 for 1 on four of these selections and they will be serving 3-4 ounce flights for $7.

- Another upcoming event at The Blue Nile, on March 10th from 4:00-9:00 they will feature Imperial March. Which is heavy beers from 12 different breweries; 4 Imperial Stouts, 4 Double IPA’s, 4 Barley Wines. No word on which products will be featured, but I will update you on Friday. Once again, they will be serving 3-4 ounce flights for $7.

- Thursday March 8th, The Groveland Tap will be holding a release party for Odell Footprint RegionAle from 7:00-Close. I have written about this beer previously, it is a beer brewed with ingredients from the 10 states that make up Odell’s distribution footprint, including Minnesota wild rice.

- One of the newest beers to the metro area is Lucette Brewing Company, brewed in the home of my Alma Mater, Menomonie, Wisconsin. They have a tap at Groveland Tap and now will be having taps at The Public House on Thursday March 8th. They will be celebrating a release party for their Farmer’s Daughter tomorrow from 7:30-9:00 and will feature Farmer’s Daughter and Easy Rider Pale Ale. They will also be offering FREE samples of these beers from 7:00-7:30!

- Another newer local brewery, Lucid Brewing, is now on tap at Williams Uptown, Common Roots, 3 Squares, Groveland Tap and Chatterbox. They will also be tapping Lucid Air at the Sunshine Factory tomorrow, Thursday March 8th from 7:00-9:00. Lucid Air also will be available March 14th from 5:00-8:00 for Happy Hour Specials at Lone Spur Grill.

- Upcoming samplings at The Ale Jail in St. Paul:
* Friday March 9th from 5:00-7:00 they will be welcoming Rob from Tallgrass Brewing. He will be pouring cans of Tallgrass 8-Bit Pale Ale as well as other Tallgrass beers.
* Tuesday March 13th they are celebrating the release of Alaskan Brewing’s Birch Bock with Shawn from Alaskan Brewing Company. Shawn will be pouring samples of this unique beer made from glacier-fed water, a blend of Pacific Northwest hop varieties, premium two-row and specialty malts and birch syrup from the Alaska Birch Syrup Company and Kahiltna Birchworks. No Info on the time for this event, I will update you as soon as I hear, check the Beer North Facebook page.

- Tickets are going fast, as of last night there were less than 100 remaining for the Lift Bridge Irish Coffee Release Party Saturday March 10th from 4:00-8:00. In addition to the beer the ticket will get you a glass and you can enjoy fine Irish music. More info can be found on their blog, CLICK HERE.

- Another event that you need to plan ahead for and be sure to get tickets is, Firkin Fest at the Happy Gnome on Saturday March 24th from 1:00-5:00. Click HERE for more info and to purchase tickets.

- Pracna on Main will be having a KBS Release Party for Founders KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout) on Thursday March 15th at 6:00.

- An update from Leech Lake Brewing Company, they have gotten label approval for their Loon Eye Red and started brewing it yesterday, look for it in about a month.

- Another charitable Minnesota brewer, Staples Mill Brewing Company has announced that all profits from the sale of their limited release Doppelbock will go to Valley Outreach. Valley Outreach is a community based, community-supported, privately funded non-profit organization serving our St. Croix Valley neighbors in need of food, clothing, household essentials, and emergency financial assistance. Please look for this beer during the month of March at your local watering holes or go to the brewery and purchase a few bottles! Click HERE for locations.

- The final news story for today is that Mark Stutrud, Summit founder, has been named the Honorary Irish Person 2012 by St. Paul’s St. Patrick’s Association.

Before I go today, I need some feedback from you. I hope you had a chance to read yesterday’s post about how I want to structure this site. What I need from you is any suggestions you may have to help me become better so that I can serve YOU to the best of my ability. A friend of mine and of the site communicated to me that he didn’t care what this prominent businessman said about the site and that I should continue to offer my personal opinions about the beer I taste. I told him that because I do not have the education I really can’t offer my opinion and that I don’t want this to become a “review” site. My ultimate goal for this site is to make YOU aware of what beers are available and beer related events. I want to partner with local businesses to promote their products and services to help them be more successful. However, I, like most of you don’t taste the underlying flavors and we know what we like and can’t exactly explain why. Possibly, as a compromise I may unveil a subjective rating system that is based on my feelings about a particular beer. This subjective rating system will be based on a 3 Pint scale. One Pint is a beer that is OK and I would drink when nothing better is available. Two Pints is a beer I enjoyed and would feature in my refrigerator. Three Pints is a beer that I go out of my way to find and make sure I get more before it disappears and I highly recommend. Along with these ratings I will share what beers are similar(If you like this beer you’ll like this one). I will not attempt to describe the beers flavors, colors, etc. for this I will defer to the brewery descriptions and allow you to see what you find. I appreciate any help you can offer me, thanks in advance.

CHEERS!

SIPS – Beer News Snippets February 22, 2012

Posted by Rob The Beer Dork on February 22, 2012
Posted in: August Schell Brewing Company, Finnegan's Blonde Ale, Founders Brewing, muddy pig, Steel Toe Brewery, Summit Brewing Company. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

- I have received more information about the two new beers from Summit Brewing Company, Summer Ale and Saga IPA.Summit Logo

Summer Ale
4.5% ABV
27 IBU

- Kolsch Style Ale(NOT the same as Unchained #1)
- Will replace Hefeweizen
- A balanced, highly drinkable session beer
- Clean, mellow bitterness balanced by slightly bready, toasted malt qualities
- An inspired summer ale with elegant fruit and floral aroma
- Will be released in Late April

Saga IPA
6% ABV
80 IBU

- Will be a year round beer
- American IPA
- Pronounced hop flavor and aromas of Kiwi, Passion fruit, Apricot and Gooseberry
- Clean, assertive bitterness with balancing Pale malt characteristics
- Named after the Norse Goddess of poetry, who was the God Odin’s drinking companion
- Will be released in May

- Finnegans Brewing has released their take on Blonde Ale and should be widely available.Finnegans Blonde Ale Bottle

- The Muddy Pig has secured a keg of the very limited Founders Old Curmudgeon Better Half, which is their Curmudgeon Old Ale aged in bourbon barrels which most recently held maple syrup. Think of Breakfast Stout except with the taste of Old Ale. The keg will be tapped at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow(February 23rd) and according to mnbeer.com it’ll go fast, so if you want some I’d get there early!

- Steel Toe LogoSteel Toe Brewing will be having a release party for it’s Size 11 beer tomorrow night starting at 6:00 p.m. at Muddy Waters Bar & Eatery in Minneapolis. If you miss this event, they will have available at the brewery, 750 ml bottles of Size 11 starting Friday February 24th at 5:30 p.m. According to the brewer, Size 11 is a beasty brew with 11% ABV and IBU of 111 and will ONLY be available from the brewery.

- Schell’s has started brewing Stag Series No. 5, a Czech Style Dark Lager, and will be available in April. See below for information from the Schell’s Brewery:

Background
The Czechs are famous for the golden lagers of Pilsen and Budweis,
but also have a history of dark versions. While some have a dark red hue, and are typically identified as “garnet”, there are also versions that are closer to black with a rich, spicy flavor. The most famous in that vein is the house beer at U Fleku, the 15th-century brewpub in Prague, and oldest brewpub in the world.

Info/Flavor Profile
Stag Series #5 is modeled after the famous dark lagers of Bohemia.
Our version features dark bread and caramel flavors that are accentuated
by a decoction mash, and balanced by the spicy Saaz hops.

Ingredients:
Malts: Floor malted Bohemian Pilsner, Light Munich, Caramunich, Carabohemian, Carapils
Bittering Hops: Saaz
Aroma Hops: Saaz

Stats
• Original Gravity: 14.0? Plato
• 5.7% Alcohol By Volume
• 30 International Bitterness Units
• 50 SRM
• Serve in a becker pint or glass

Monday Morning Memories

Posted by Rob The Beer Dork on January 30, 2012
Posted in: Bells, boom island, deschutes, Harriet Brewing, meantime, mikkeller, muddy pig, rogue, sierra nevada, surly furious. Leave a Comment

**Important Information about comments, I have made it easier to comment on my posts, gone are the days of having to type words for confirmation before comments are posted, Sorry for the inconvenience, this Blogging thing is NEW to me!


*THE BEERS*
Harriet Brewing West Side Belgian Style IPA* 


Meantime IPA - I enjoyed this beer, it is a traditional English IPA, not too hoppy(Like an American IPA), somewhat sweet, and heavier.  Went down easily, I will seek this out again.


Mikkeller Single Hop Amarillo IPA - This was closer to hoppy American IPA, was very complex for a single hop beer, must’ve been the malts used?, I have to taste this again to have a complete opinion on it.


Bell’s Hopslam 2012*


Surly Abrasive Double Oat IPA - I am going to PISS OFF people here, Full Disclosure, I am not a fan of Surly beers.  I am not one that seeks out their beer, but when I’ve had one, I am unimpressed.  This beer is no exception, I have seen this beer in my local liquor store for $17 a 4 pack, which confuses me.  The abrasive is not hoppy, has NO body, NO finish.  To be fair, it may be the oats that mute the hops, but I will not purchase this beer again.


Boom Island Thoprock IPA*


Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA - I was pleasantly surprised by this one, seemed perfectly balanced, not too hoppy and not too sweet.  I have been a fickle fan of Sierra Nevada, their pale isn’t the best and yet their Torpedo is very good.  I will buy this beer again.


Deschutes Red Chair NWPA - This beer was a nice change of pace after having several IPA’s, it is smooth and tasty.  Not overpoweringly hoppy very balanced, I could very easily drink these one after another without getting tired of the taste.  I will have this beer again.


Rogue Sig’s NW Imperial Red Ale - Once again another brewery I have had issues with in the past.  Way back in the early ’90′s I was given a bottle of Rogue and I was overpowered by the hops, this was before I had developed a taste for hoppy beers.  This beer in particular was underwhelming, it had nothing special about it to set it apart from any other beer I had that night.  Not sure if I will buy this beer again.


Summit Oatmeal Stout - I enjoyed this beer while watching the Winter Carnival Grand Day Parade on Saturday.  It is a perfect beer to have on a nice winter day, low ABV (5.1%), easy to drink and very tasty.


*These beers were the first three 5 oz. beers I had at the Muddy Pig on Friday night, unfortunately, when I received them I forgot the order the bartender set them down, so I wasn’t sure which was which. I know I enjoyed ALL three, just not sure why.


*THE EVENT*
Muddy Pig’s 4th Annual Festival of Hops:  Me and my wife got down to the Pig around 6:30 on Friday night.  We were greeted at the door by a gentleman outside smoking a heater, he asked if we wanted a table, we said yes, he told us there was at least a 45 minute wait.  Which to us was fine as we weren’t meeting our party until 7:15 or so.  The bar was already 2 deep and as I predicted I was overstimulated by the beer choices.  Luckily after standing in the shadows for about 20 minutes, a nice gentleman allowed me to take his spot at the bar while he stepped outside to have a smoke.  As he was leaving he wished me good luck and that he wanted his spot back upon his return.  Well, his smoke break wasn’t long enough, when he returned, I still wasn’t able to make my order.  Just like a true gentleman he didn’t make me relinquish my spot and he stood by his wife.  Finally, I made my order, each beer has a number and that is how you order the flight of three 5 oz. beers for $9.00, pretty good price for the choices you have.  As busy as it was, the bartender put the beers in front of me and rattled off which was which.  In hindsight I wished I would have written down the order, because halfway through the first beer I had already forgotten which beer I was drinking.  After the first beer, my brother arrived and our table was ready.  Once at the table, the server was much more attentive as to the beers you were served.  When I go to this event again I will be sure to have a table before I order a flight, so I can keep them all straight.  What this experience taught me was that I really do love most beers and I couldn’t tell you what I am looking for when tasting a beer.  I am far from a tasting expert and know that beer is very subjective to the taster, depending on their individual beer experiences.  What I can tell other beer drinkers is if they like a certain beer they should enjoy this or that beer.  I do not get caught up in the type of hop flavors that I taste, a good beer must have a balance between the hops and malt and be drinkable.  With that being said, I recommend events like these where you don’t have to buy a full pint of different beers to taste.  I hope you enjoy the news that I provide for the beers that are available in town, I will still profile beers in my own unique way.  Please try as many different styles and brands as you can to expand your beer tastes.  








FINALLY FRIDAY!

Posted by Rob The Beer Dork on January 27, 2012
Posted in: festival of hops, muddy pig, rate beer, surly furious, winter carnival beer dabbler. Leave a Comment

* 4th Annual Festival of Hops at the Muddy Pig runs through Sunday January 29th, I have received a list of the taps from them yesterday as follows:


Lift Bridge Crosscut                        Brooklyn East India Pale Ale
Southern Tier 2XIPA                       Summit IPA
New Belgium Ranger                      Deschutes Hop Henge Imp. IPA
Odell Mountain Standard                Summit Horizon Red Ale
Avery Dugana American Double   Great Divide Fresh Hop Pale Ale
New Belgium Belg                         Great Divide Hercules Dble. IPA
Breckenridge 471 Imp. IPA            Odell IPA
Founders Double Trouble               Tyranena BGW Hop Whore
Great Lakes Comm. Perry              Yakima Glory
Southern Tier Inequity                    Deschutes Inversion IPA
Weyerbacher Dble. Simcoe IPA     Epic Imperial IPA
Harriet West Side IPA                     Boulder Hazed & Infused
Meantime IPA                                  Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA
New Holland Hopivore                    New Holland Imp. Hatter
Rush River Bubblejack                    Rush River Double Bubble
De Molen Op & Top                        Christoffel Nobel Bramling Cross
(Happy Blonde)                                Dry-Hop
Lenny Bruce RIPA                           Boulder Zin Mojo
Hop Ruiter                                        Beer Here Hopfix Rye IPA
Mikkeler Sgle Hop Amarillo IPA    La Chouffe Houbian
Old Speckled Hen                            Youngs Dble Choc. Stout(Nitro)
Flying Dog Dble Dog Pale Ale        Boulder Mojo Nitro
Summit Oatmeal Stout(Nitro)          Guinness Nitro
Bell’s Hopslam                                  Brau Bros. Sheep Head IPA
Odell Myrcenary                              Stone Dble. Dry Hop Ruination
New Belgium Dig                             Victory Hop Wallop
21st Amendment Back in Black      Rogue Sig’s NW Imp Red Ale
Widmer O’ryely IPA                         Goose Island IPA
New Holland Mad Hatter                 Surly Abrasive
Odell Red                                          Boom Island IPA
Surly Furious                                    Lagunitas Hopstoopid
Flying Dog Sgle. Hop Imp. IPA       Epic Hop Synd
Boom Island Pale Ale                       Lucid Camo
Founders Centennial IPA                 Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA
Fulton Sweet Child of Vine             Lagunitas IPA
Two Brothers Cane & Ebel             Flat Earth NW Passage
Stone Levitation                              Alaskan Black IPA
Deschutes Red Chair IPA                Bell’s Hop Slam Cask
Bell’s Two Hearted Cask

An amazing list I know, I will be attending this evening and am already over stimulated by the possibilities!

* Winter Carnival Beer Dabbler is tomorrow, January 28th at the St. Paul Farmer’s Market for 4-8, tickets in advance are $30 or $40 at the gate.

* According to RateBeer.com, Surly Furious is the Best IPA of 2012, click HERE for all of the style winners.

**Happy Beer Weekend to Everyone…CHEERS!!**

Monday Morning Memories

Posted by Rob The Beer Dork on January 23, 2012
Posted in: bitch creek, bitter american, bittersweet lennys, festival of hops, headless man, hop henge, millstream, muddy pig, myrcenary, pandoras bock, yeti. Leave a Comment

Another new feature for my blog, I will let you know of the beers, events, etc. that I enjoyed over the weekend.


**THE BEERS**


Deschutes Hop Henge Experimental IPA: Extremely hoppy and yet balanced.  The IBU is 95 and anytime this approaches 100 it scares me, but this was surprisingly drinkable, maybe the ABV of 8.5% helps balance it out…


Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout: WOW, Malty, smooth with hints of caramel and toffee.  Smooth and easy to drink, great winter warmer at 9.5% ABV.


Breckenridge Pandora’s Bock: Malty and sweet, after the first bottle I felt the beer was a disappointment, but maybe because it had been so long since I had a true bock.  My memories of a bock were of a beer that was a bit more bitter.  I have a 6 pack to make up my mind if I like it or not.


Odell Myrcenary Double IPA: Very hoppy and I found hard to drink, maybe the high alcohol was the reason or maybe because it was my last beer of the night, I’ll give it another shot.


Schmaltz Hebrew Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A: Hoppy and full bodied, very good. I will make my way to have this again!  The ABV is 10% and I found myself sipping to enjoy this beer.


Millstream Back Road Stout:  I was intrigued and scared of this beer because of it’s origin, Iowa.  I can honestly say I have never had a beer brewed in Iowa before.  It is an award winner from the 2011 Great American Beer Festival, so I thought lets give it a shot.  It was good, not great as I would have liked a little more malt and less carbonation.  It wasn’t creamy by any means and had a very light mouthfeel and aftertaste.  I would give it a try again.


21st Amendment Bitter American:  This beer was named one of The Top Ten Beers of 2011, according to the Washington Post.  The brewery just recently announced that this once seasonal beer will now be available year round.  It was surprisingly good and refreshing, tasted like an ESB and had only 4.4 ABV!  This beer will definitely will find its way into my golf bag this summer!


Grand Teton Bitch Creek ESB:  The ESB in this beer stands for “Extra Special BROWN”, I was expecting a light amber tasting when I saw brown.  I was surprised at the body and hops in this beer.  I really enjoyed it and will have it again. 


Tyranena Headless Man Amber Alt:  I am a fan of Schell’s Schmaltz Alt, so I thought I’d give this a try.  It was lightly hopped and very easy to drink.  I enjoyed it very much while watching the football games yesterday.


Not a bad list of beers from this weekend, let me know what you had so that I can add it to my wish list if I haven’t already had it!


**EXTRA, EXTRA**


The Muddy Pig starts it’s 4th Annual Festival of Hops tomorrow, January 24th and it runs through January 29th.  All draft lines will be turned over to Pale Ales, IPAs, Double IPAs, and anything hoppy.  They will be serving flights of over 65 beers in three 5 oz. glasses so you can attempt to taste them all!


Please check back often as I have decided to make a post everyday of the week.  I appreciate any input I get to make this blog better and CHEERS to all of my fellow beer lovers!! 







Sips

Posted by Rob The Beer Dork on January 18, 2012
Posted in: ale jail, boom island, four firkins, happy gnome, hinterland, Lagunitas, millstream, muddy pig, sierra nevada, staples mill, yuengling. Leave a Comment

- For those of you that hadn’t heard yet, CONGRATULATIONS are in order for two fine St. Paul watering holes.  In an article released a few days ago by Draft Magazine, The Muddy Pig and The Happy Gnome are 2 of the Top 100 Craft Beer Bars in the Nation!  Click HERE for the complete article.


- New breweries on shelves now or in the coming weeks:
     1) Hinterland Brewing has shipped from Green Bay, WI their IPA, Luna Stout, and Maple Bock
     2) Millstream Brewing of Amana, IA has available at various liquor stores, Iowa Pale Ale, Schild Brau Amber, Backroad Stout, and a 12 pack sampler.
     3) Boom Island Brewing of Minneapolis has 750 ml bottles at The Four Firkins and The Ale Jail
        4) Staples Mill Brewing Company of Stillwater Stout of Morning Destruction


- Lagunitas Brewing recently published a release schedule for 2012, click HERE to view.


- Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA should be hitting the shelves of your local liquor stores soon, check it out and let me know what you think.


- Finally today a story about a beer with limited distribution that has taken the crown as the Largest U.S. Owned Brewery.  D.G. Yuengling and Sons, the oldest continuously operated brewery in the U.S., is now the largest American owned brewery, this title was previously held by Boston Beer Co., makers of Samual Adams.  Click HERE for the complete article from Beer Advocate.