Gitchee Gummi Brewfest 2012

What a great event. 35 brewers (most local), 125+ brews, and 1200 Northlanders. How could anyone who remotely likes beer stay away. Well, I was no different. It was a perfect set up; Pre-ordered tickets, check. Babysitter, check. Designated driver who gets in free, check. Drinking mates, check. Northland brewfests are always a major amalgamation of all sorts. Hippies, hipsters, jocks, intellects, drunks, friends, enemies, and what have you all come together for a drink......or 50. Everyone is friends for about 4 hours or so. That is fact because there is a fest-wide toast every ten minutes or so where you hold your tasting glass in the air and chant for a while.

I find the best thing at a big brewfest is to have a plan of attack. Get your priorities straight because this is not a Napa Valley wine tasting, meaning no spit buckets so you will be intoxicated at some point and the beers will all run together on you. We walked into the arena and Summit Brewery out of St Paul my right. Normally I don't visit their stand but they were tasting a new beer which hadn't been released yet. Summit summer is going to make this one a little brighter. If you can get a beer at a liquor store, there is no real point in having it at a brewfest but I have never part taken in a pre-release before so it was kicked off well!

The stand outs were surprising. The smaller breweries had the biggest impact on me and gave me a new GI destination list because a lot of these places are restaurants. Angry Minnow from Hayward WI had a Saison Olivia that really surprised me because the 2 SAisons I have tasted in the past were black like a stout. This was golden amber and was very wheaty, which I hate normally but this was fantastic.Tallgrass Brewery from Manhatten KS who is really making a name for themselves, had an ESB of sorts called 8-Bit which bit you in the throat on the way down. It was bitter like an IPA but more of a malt flavor than hops. A little risky here because we like our hops up here. It was a big hit.Rock Bottom Brewing from Minneapolis had the most unique beer of the day. It was called Smoking Goat. I have to imagine they used liquid smoke in the recipe because it was exactly that. The brewmaster described it as a smoked cheese flavor and it was close. I don't think I could drink too much of it for too long but it was a new experience for my pallet.

There wer many bombs that went right to the spit bucket. Having a Miles Finch moment would have been better than some of these. I ws dragged to the Leinenkugel's (Chippewa Falls, WI) booth to which i went with a bad attitude. I view them as severely over rated and boring.I sampled their red ale and it was as tasteless as the rest of their line up. The 'bro's' were lined up for their Honey Weiss and the girsl for their Summer Shandy. I sampled a Rye Ale from Sierra Nevada (who I like a lot) but it was very barley heavy and I was very dissappointed. You also had the Horney Goat Brewery there from CO. Just the sultry name alone deflates the experience.

All in all it was a great day. Brew Fests serve as one of the best people watching experiences you will have and this one did not disappoint. The beards and 'ironic mustaches" are definitely the funniest thing there. Wild facial hair is a Northland  staple and has been since the 1800's. The guy's today do it because they want to show people they are so out of style, they may just be cooler than you. If you have a chance to attend one of these soiree's, by all means do. It is a GI experience you won;t forget!

I know what your thinking, don;t you eat cheese with wine? I thought so as well but apparently this is not the case. Historically, cheese and beer have been a more common pairing. There are still some pubs in England who will offer you a cheese plate with your pint. Can you imagine how freaking popular that would make a bar if that happened here? This was good news to me as i am a huge fan of cheese. And for me, the sharper, the better. I found this at my local butcher shop. They have it in all the grocerey stores but I felt it was an endorsement by the butcher who I trust with my most important (and expensive) meals. This comes in a rally big brick and is so firm it crumbles off the knife. I paired it with my perennial favorite, Summit EPA and watched Dave Matthews Live In Central Park. It was a great combination as I hit my relaxation  tri fecta.

Oh man! This is everything I love about beer in one bottle!.The balance of hops to the rest of the beer was near perfect. It was not a dry beer either, you really taste the thing after you swallow it. The foam sticks to the glass the whole way down. I tried this on my New Glarus flite, round 2. I actually went and bought more of this later on which I don;t typically do but this is a definte keeper. Again, re buying it is saying a lot because anything from New Glarus is a destination for anyone in MN because you have to go to WI to get it. Granted it is a whopping 15 minute drive to get it but still, you have to go with this mission in mind. hearty Hop will be a WI staple anytime I am over there. I had 3 of these the last time I ate at The Hammond Steakhouse. It is kind of funny I have to walk to a downstairs bar to get it myself but hey, when your in WI what more can you expect. They suck at politics, they have some of the most obnoxious sports fans in the country, but they do beer very well!

 

OK.......by sheer force of habit and my un-dying devotion to all things Minnesota, Summit EPA remains my perennial favorite. 90 Schilling from Odell is a close, close second. This brew if fantastic. I read about this brewery in a Beer Advocate Article (yes, I am a geek) and wanted to try their beers for a while. I was excited to finde a few of them on a one-off sale at a local beer store. This is a fun one to pont out to people who don't know about this brewery. It is probab;y like a Californian  showing off the new winery they 'discovered'. I had one of these at The Reef after a UMD Bulldogs hockey game with 2 close friends. It was a great thing to sit in a bar and relax as I have turned into a 'beer a night' guy. The 2 friends i am referring two are not exactly beer heads. One is a wannabe whisky drinker and the other is a Cap 'n Coke guy. Not that its a bad thing, they just didn;t care for this beer. Chalk up the O'Dell brewery along side of the Surly Brewery, The Robert Mondavi Vinyard, and The French Laundry of bucket list destinations after finding this gem. After having it in a bar I will say it bodes well with popcorn.

Laughing Fox

This was my 2nd beer from the Austin Powers, New Glarus pairing. This one was a pleasent surprise. I will be honest, I picked it for the label. There was about 7 choices on this mix shelf and had I seen it was a Hefe-weitzrn I would ave passed it up hastily. I am not a wheat beer fan. I don't know what it is about them but I don't care for them. I would grab a frost brewed Coors Light before most Hefe's. Something about not tasting it until you swallow it I cannot get passed. This was different for whatever reason. It had a lot more flavor to it than any other Hefe out there. I was expecting the sourness of Wheat Monkey or the tragedy that is Summit Hefe-Weitzen. This was almost floral. I would gladly buy this again and enjoy it. It is just a matter of getting back to Superior as I am a creature of habit no matter how hard I try to deny it.

A home-freakin'-run from the great folks at New Glarus. I have gotten burned by their awfully over-rated Spotted Cow and ran a foul of them for a while. I picked up a few NG beers when I was in Superior WI. For some odd reason, New Glarus cannot be purchased in MN. I am sure it boils down to some Vikings/Packers thing but I am openly speculating here. I digress, I was in Superior spending the morning chasding my daughter around the Superior Gymnastics center because I wanted her to take a nap later that afternoon. I swung into a local liquor store to see what I could find and low and behold.....mix-a-six new Glarus for $7.99! Well, no need to look any farther. later that evening I was feeling a little nostalgic and popped in the old Austin Powers movies, which are still funny! I was really pleased with this brew. I am a bock fan but this one was a little more on the crisp side of things and had an awesome brown color. Plus, the beer shop gave me a free Coors Light Rose Bowl glass so, hey......drink up!

I never quite know what to think when I am about to try a New Belgium brew for the first time. I have had so many good beers from them and a few duds and this one fell into the latter. I am not entirely sure what is going to separate a Belgian IPA from a normal IPA and I have a feeling it is going to take a hipster in a scarf and black glasses to tell the difference. New Belguim seems to be my go-to brewery when I am un decided in the beer store.This was not good to say the least. It is like they packed a lot of yeast into their Hoptober and slapped a Belgian Style tag on it. Polish a turd all you want and it is still a turd, guys. OK, that may be a bit of a stretch but you get the point. I am just going to forget this one ever happened and move on. I heard they have things in cans now?