Solstice Things

We had our Solstice Party last night and it was a very good time. We had great friends, great cheeses, and of course great beers. I will tray and remember all of the beers. Andrew brought a German Christmas Alt that was very delicious. Dave, Tom, and Gene brought two beers, a hefe and a doppelbock both very tasty though I enjoyed the doppel more as it had lots of tasty notes and mouth feel. Here is the list for the rest:
Granite City 1000th batch double IPA
Summit 90/s Scottish Ale
Summit Great Northern Porter
Summit Winter Ale
Rahr Winter Ale
St. Landelin French Christmas Ale
Golden Carolus Christmas
Duchesse de Bourgogne
Monk's Cafe Sour Red
Trader Joe's 2007
Trader Joe's 2009
Wreck the Halls
La Chouffe
Bell's Winter White Ale
Samuel Smith's Winter Ale Welcome
Samuel Adams Winter Porter
Killer Penguin Barleywine
Santa's Butt Winter Porter
Moylan's White Christmas Spiced Winter Lager
Southern Tier Chokolat
James's Double Brown ale
Barley John's Wild Brunette

Great Taste Midwest Things

Great Taste of the Midwest was held in Olin Turnvile Park on Lake Monona in Madison Wisconsin on 8 August 2009. After sampling over 60 beers during the weekend, I picked what I thought were the best of the fest. Summit Kolsch and Oatmeal Stout (cask), Schaflys Kolsch, New Glarus Raspberry Tart, Dragonmead Belgian Wit, Surly Helles and Smoked Baltic Porter, Micky Finns Wit, Jolly Pumpkin Rioja Kriek, Mpls. Townhall Russian Imp. Stout with chocolate, and Dark Horse Stout.
The second best beers were Two Bros. Tripel & Domain du Page, Rock Bottom (chicago) Lemon Saison and Raspberry Saison (casks), Ale Asylum Tripel and Abbey, Fat Head Baltic Porter, DragonmeadScotch ale, Surly Oak Aged Bender (cask), Esser Pils, Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo, Barley Island Single White Friar, Barley Johns Old 8 Porter, and Michigan Pierre Celis White.

I had some great beers at the Old Fashioned on Capitol Square. I don't remember the names but they were a dunkleweizen and a weiss. I also had an amazing perch fish fry dinner. WOW! It was delicious.

Clayton Things

I will write about my Scottish trip very soon but first I wish to write about a little beer fest I attended. On Saturday, I went to Clayton Wisc. to the Clayton Sportsmen's Club Beer Fest. It was a great blast. There were brewers and breweries from several places Northwoods brewpub, Leinenkugel's, Flat Earth, Mantorville, Sand Creek, Summit, Viking, and the Bud distributor. Funny Miller wasn't there. The fest was held from 12 noon to 6 pm. It was lots of fun, though it seemed that it was going to rain. The rain held off until the very end when the heavens opened up and there was a deluge.

I played bagpipes for a few times. They played horseshoes, actually there was a tournament. Viking brewery brought their cannon and fired grapefruit out over the swampy ground to the trees. I poured beer for Summit. Summit Oktober Fest won the most satisfying beer award for the day. All in all it was a great day and we had loads of fun. We met new people and made new friends but that is what it is all about. Finding the commonality in us and enjoying our differences. Clayton Beer Fest is on my list for next year.

Summit Things

I was the tour guide today at Summit. It is very cool talking about beer and Summit. I had a great time. It is funny, I always flog the Great Northern Porter and the Oatmeal Stout. Invariably, the people taking the cue try it and enjoy drinking it. The pouring was fast and furious. We served over 100 people three beers each. It was mad.

Porter Things

2 January 2009, I held a porter tasting or some friends. We tasted 20 porters and 6 stouts mostly of the imperial variety. The tasters were: myself, Patrick, Thom, Bob, Damian, Andrew, Mike, Brian, Phil and Tina. The porters were Fitger's Parr's porter, Olfabrikken Danish porter, Capitol Baltic porter, Bell's porter, Mudpuppy porter (Central Waters, WI), Badger porter (Black River Falls, WI), Tyranena Devil made me do it coffee porter, Summit Great Northern porter, Surly Bender, Rogue Mocha porter, Smuttynose Robust porter, Zywiec porter (Poland), Gonzo Imperial porter (Flying Dog, Denver), Baltika 6 (Russia), Nogne O (Norway), Cygnuc X-1 (Flat Earth), Cygnus X-1 cherry infused, Samuel Smith Taddy porter, Harviestoun Old Engine Oil, Okochim porter. The best of the night were Olfabrikken, Harviestoun Old Engine Oil, and Nogne O. The worst was Capitol's Baltic porter. It was terrible, thin, tasteless, no character, and no redeeming qualities.

The imperial stouts were Pozharnik Imperial stout, Speedway Stout (Alesmith), Southern Tier (NY) Creme Brulee Chocolate stout, Pizza Port Santa's Little Helper, Obovoid (Boulder), and Tenfiddy (Oskar Blues, Lyon, CO). The best were Speedway but it needed another year lying still and Tenfiddy (in a can) just excellent. The worst and almost unpalatable was the Southern Tier too sweet in the bottle. Perhaps some aging might mellow it out. The taste and smell stayed with you as well.

Halloween things

Ale Saints Day at the Blue Nile on 2027 E. Franklin Ave. in Minneapolis's beautiful Seward neighborhood. Al the bar manager had put together an mazing selection of great beers (porters and stouts) for an extravaganza. At 4 Pm he opened a cask of Bell's Porter ***, 5 Pm cask of Summit Great Northern Porter with black treacle ***, 6 pm keg of Bell's Expedition Stout 2007 ***+ (this had matured so nicely and was so tasty it was a beautiful beer) and a 2008 keg ***, 7pm Surly Smoke Baltic Porter **+(not as good as at the brewery on Darkness day. The other beers on draft were Surly Darkness Russian Imperial Stout***+, Leininkugel's Big Eddy Russian Imperial Stout **, North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Stout***, Moylan's (CA) Ryan O'Sullivan's RIS***, Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter**+, Summit Great Northern Porter**, Salopian Entire Butt English Porter**, Furthermore Three Feet Deep Smoked Stout* (too astringent, smoke not appealing), Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout***+(this was so amazingly good), Surlyy Coffee Bender*(Too much coffee with my beer), Flat Earth Cygnus X-1 Rye Porter**+, Southern Tier Oatmeal Stout ***, Lion Stout(One of my all time favorites)***, Bell's Java Stout (too astringent coffee had a bad effect on this beer)*. Thom and I played some bagpipe tunes and had a good time. We were joined by Damian & Jen (preggers), and Doug.

After awhile we went over to Town Hall and had some food and you guessed it - more beer. I had a pint of stout (always good). We were joined by Katherine, Colleen, and Brent. The menu has changed and it was all very good. I had half a walleye sandwich with Brent, sweet potato fries, and deep fried green beans with spicy dipping sauce.

I worked on DeDe's yard on Saturday with DeDe, Damian, and Ava. Greg the electrician switched the boxes and updated the electrical for the house. On Sunday, Katherine and I worked all day on the yard and started to put the yard away for a long winter's nap. I visited Mike in the hospital and dropped off presents of leaves for everyone. Whew!!!!

Autumn Brew Review Things

Well, another Autumn Brew Review and another year has pass into history. We adverted a near disaster as Thom did not have his bagpipe chanter. he had forgot it at pipe practice. So K brought my extra from home and we made it. Some note errors and some forgotten bits but it worked. Met up with Bob, Thom, Brent, Molly, Doug, Colleen, James, Adam, and all of my brewery friends. Afterwards, we went to Grumpy's NE and had some food and some beer. I threw out the beers I had as I just didn't like them. I made it home with the help of Bob by 9:30

Beers that I tried:
Schells - Dave Berg - Stout **, Bavarian Forest Dampfbier **, U Bier **
Barley John's - Colin & John - Oktober Fest *, Dark Knight Returns ***, Wild Brunette ***
Fitger's - Dave Hoops, Bob, Frank & Brian - Cherry Stout cask **, Cherry beer ***
Flat Earth - Jeff & Cathy - Cygnus X-1 **, Rode Haring Flanders Red Ale *, Winter Warlock ***
Great Waters - Boston Bob - Mr. Smooth Mild cask **, Pflugenpfalagen **, Saison **
Herkimer - Gustavo vale - Sky Pilot **, Vienna Country **
Lift Bridge - Farm Girl Saison **
McCann's - Chris - Middletown Braun **
MPLS Townhall Brewery - Mike Hoops, Adam & Pete - Oak Porter **, Scottis Wee Heavy ***, Chocolate Oatmeal Stout ***
Rock Bottom - Rolf - Smoked Porter cask ***, Saison **
Summit - Oatmeal Stout brett cask ***, Black Treacle GNP ***
Surly - Omar & Todd - #2 cranberry stout ***, Cynic & cranberries **, Tea bagged Furious *
Vine Park - Rabid Penguin Porter *
Avery - 15th anniversay Brett Gueze **, Avery New World Porter **
Boulevard - Bob's 47 Oktoberfest *
Butte Creek - Organic Porter **, Organic IPA **
City Brewing - Bar Harbor Real Ale *
Furthermore - 3 ft. Deep Stout ***, Knot Stock **
Left Hand - Milk Stout ***, JUJU Ginger *
Leininkugel - Big Eddy Russian Imperial Stout **
New Belgium - 1554 *
New Holland - John Haggerty - Dragon's Milk ***
Ommegang - Ommegeddon **, Hennepin **
Peak Organic - Pale Ale**, NutBrown **,
Shmaltz - ConeyIslandFreakToberFest**
Southern Tier - Unearthly Imperial IPA**, Heavy Weizen Imperial Hefe***, Cherry Saison*
Two Brothers - Domaine Du Page**
Tyranena - Chief Blackhawk Porter **
Victory Brewing - Golden Monkey Tripel **

Beer things

Last night I gave two brewery tours at Summit Brewery St. Paul, MN to the folks visiting there to participate in the Lighting Run. Lots of bike or hogs, young and old, tattooed or not, and in leathers or not, and all of them enjoying a perfect evening as the humidity had dissapated and there was a gentle breeze. The tours were smaller, 12-24 people. I gave them an abbreviated tour which still took around 40 minutes. When I wasn't talking about Summit I was pouring it for people, a lot of them had never had Summit and never had a full bodied craft beer. It was fun.

After the tours, I went to Barley John's brew pub and met Molly and Doug. We sat outside enjoying the perfect Minnesota summer evening. I had two beers their Wild Brunette and the Old 8 Porter. I hadn't had any beers at Summit as I don't like to give tours and drink beer. We talked of many things. Doug has been going crazy with geneology and has discovered all sorts of links to his family. I told them of my adventures in Portland and all beers that were sampled for research purposes. I also told them about the exciting and fun seminars I had taken at the AALL Convention. Great evening talking beer, computer and Internet technology, and whatever else was interesting under the evening sky.