Category Archives: People

Beer and Cheese: Alemar’s Bent River Camembert and Beers to Pair

Posted By // May 8, 2013
By Chef Dan Parker
Photography by Jamie Schumacher

Beer & Alemar Bent River Camembert // Photo by Jamie Schumacher

In the upper Midwest the word “beer” in conjunction with the word “cheese” evokes ideas of a fondue-like soup—an amalgamation of lite beer and an indistinguishable yellow-colored cheese product adorned with popcorn. However, the ties between beer and cheese run far deeper than this Sconnie staple, and never has this been more evident than in today’s artisan food and craft beer movements. Much like our beloved craft brewers, artisans in every realm of the culinary world are handcrafting extraordinary goods, utilizing local ingredients and craft-driven techniques.

One such artisan producer is Alemar Cheese in Mankato, Minnesota. Located in an unassuming former pizzeria-turned-cheesery, Alemar produces some of the most exciting cheese in Minnesota. Former baker, now cheesemaker Keith Adams is virtually a one-man operation, crafting his cheeses with the care of a true artisan.  His imprint is present in every step of production, from driving his old farm pickup to collect organic milk from Cedar Summit Farms (Minnesota’s only 100% grass-fed creamery), to hand-salting each wheel of soon-to-be Camembert.

Keith occasionally supplies fine-dining restaurants in the Twin Cities with a number of handcrafted dairy products; however, Alemar’s flagship and best-known cheese is their creamy and decadent Bent River Camembert. Named for a sharp crook in the Minnesota River located just a few hundred yards from their production facility, this Camembert-style cheese exhibits a rich, buttery profile that develops complexity of earth, sweet cream, and a tangy lactic note as it continues to ripen naturally from the outside in. Allowing the cheese to come to room temperature is key to capturing its delicately nuanced flavors and brilliance.

Traditional beer pairings for Camembert-style cheese find a ready home at the table with Bent River: saisons, bières de garde, fruit beers, gueuze, and some lambics just beg to get to know this cheese. And, while the locality of this cheese and its milk are what makes it uniquely delicious, Bent River lends itself to craft delights from all over the country, and the entire globe. Ommegang Hennepin, Saison Dupont, and Castelain Blond Bière de Garde are superb examples of how Bent River Camembert naturally romances beers exhibiting earthy flavors, lively carbonation, and beguiling depth. Domaine DuPage, a bière de garde from Two Brothers Brewing, offers a most harmonious pairing with this cheese. The rich caramel undertones and understated complexity of this beer balances both the earthiness and sweet grassy notes of Bent River Camembert.

Rather than directly complementing the flavors in Camembert, fruit beers and lambics offer a counter to the subtlety of the cheese, layering both sweet and tart notes on the palate to create varied and delightful taste sensations. Liefmans Cuvee Brut & Odell Friek each offer playful, fruity notes to the rich Bent River, while St. Louis Gueuze Fon Tradition’s tart barnyard flavors offer a sublime match with this cheese. Epic’s Sour Apple Saison combines the lively flavors of a fruit beer with the complexity of farmhouse ales to provide a thoughtful counterpart to Bent River.

For a local pairing, you can’t get any closer than Mankato Brewery located fewer than two miles from Alemar. Their Mankato Original Kölsch-style beer has a light grainy sweetness which rounds out the complexity of Bent River while the brisk carbonation helps cleanse the palate for the next eagerly awaited bite.

The union of craft beer and cheese is not solely confined to the dinner table, but can also be found in the creation of the cheese itself. Alemar’s new release is a beer wash-rinded Camembert named Good Thunder. The name comes from a small town in the Mankato area, and the beer used to create this unique cheese is from a local brewery in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.  Surly Bender is used to create the brine in which Good Thunder is carefully washed; a process Keith does by hand one piece at a time.  Washing a cheese in this fashion is done to encourage the ripening process, and in this case, develops a colorful rind, slightly pungent aromas, and a creamy soft paste with mild, yet deeply intricate flavors.

Beer and cheese. The culinary promises of this duo are little explored and far from fully understood, but give both gourmand and beer geek equal reason to celebrate. And while a bowl of beer cheese soup may indeed have its time and place, I’d invite you to ditch the processed cheese and fizzy yellow beer and explore something with more depth of flavor.  On your favorite crusty local bread combine slices of Bent River Camembert together with sliced apples and heritage bacon for a uniquely grown-up grilled cheese sandwich, and a proper homage to those who work to create these epicurean luxuries.  Serve with a pint of your favorite craft beer & raise a toast to our local food artisans. Cheers!

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Notables at the Nomad: Flipping it on Dessa

Posted By // May 8, 2013
By Gabriel Douglas
Photography by Brian Kaufenberg

Gabriel Douglas Interviews Dessa // Photo by Brian Kaufenberg

Dessa. She is an artist. She is a wordsmith. She is in a hip-hop collective called Doomtree. She hosts a TPT & MN Original TV show called The Lowertown Line. She’s into hoop earrings. She’s reading poets you will learn about years after she has devoured all they composed. She does what she loves for a living. Every day. Inside and out. 

Rapping. It’s become the profession for which she is known. “Baggy jeans, extra large shirts,” she said of her early stages of being a performer in the hip-hop world. Growing into her own skin has made her very self-aware. Not wanting to be the “girl MC,” she made a point to dress the opposite. She now wears what she wants, rather than what she wore in the early days which served as a diversion to her gender.

“I don’t have any hobbies.”

Dessa // Photo by Brian Kaufenberg

Dessa ponders her answer to Gabriel Douglas' question // Photo by Brian Kaufenberg

When taken out of context, that’s a startling statement coming from Dessa. It could signify a very bleak, desolate box of rare after-hours adventures and weekends off. But hearing her talk about prose and songs—all the things that envelop her spirit—it makes sense. Words and rhythm don’t get the luxury of taking any moments off, much less days off, in her wheelhouse. She lives and breathes her work. She worked up to this point and she smiles often when talking about it. She does what she loves and when there is time left over, the words and rhythm get extra attention. She writes, rewrites, and analyzes all things music. There is no work/play dynamic to be fiddled with. Immersion in her passion is what drives her.

And though she doesn’t have hobbies, she puts in the time for things she cares about. She helps people. She offers an ear to people in prison. Dessa has her own lipstick. And not just any lipstick, but a rich, matte-red lipstick from Elixery, whose profits benefit a charitable cause hand-picked by Dessa. She brings real talk to detention centers. Her whole crew, Doomtree, brought their talent and energy during the whole month of March to the Roosevelt High School. “Sometimes, it’s as simple as lending an ear and telling them [that] what they have to say is important,” Dessa said, referring to the understated art of listening intently and actually giving a s**t.

The conviction of caring goes a long way—it’s seen in every decision she makes. She researches, fact checks, then dives head-first into her charitable causes (I had the honor of sharing the stage her at a benefit for the South Side Nurturing Center).

Hailing from Uptown these days, Dessa is a city woman through and through. She believes in the power of “local,” and it is evident in the choices she makes. You can still catch her at many local establishments working on some phrases, Pricelining some swanky hotels for her next run of shows, or catching up with a friend. What should you do if you find Dessa on the town? She’s happy to share a moment and give you her time.  She’s worked toward having an active audience for a while now, so being spotted isn’t something she renounces. But she also knows that those close to her didn’t ask for the attention-split when they leave the house with her. If she’s heavily engaged in a conversation, just send the whiskey anonymously. Your Instagram can wait.

Dessa and Gabriel Douglas // Photo by Brian Kaufenberg

Dessa and Gabriel Douglas make their points // Photo by Brian Kaufenberg

So she has no hobbies and she’s helping all these people. Does she do it all single-handedly? She’s definitely the driving force in all things Dessa, but there is a whole network of gurus and well-to-do’s  that assist her in creating. Collaboration is an integral part of her sound from beats (many rhythms hammered into existence by the beat-maker extraordinaire Lazerbeak), to the live band (headed by Sean McPherson from Heiruspecs), and guest vocals (look for Aby Wolf throwing down a harmony). The network she has surrounded herself with is a testament to how seriously she takes her livelihood. She is quick to sing praises of all her band members, promoters who have helped her along the way, and anybody who merits a job well done.

For eight years, Dessa has been creating her own concoction of intellectual hip-hop (there’s still not an easy way to describe her spoken word prowess, while incorporating her raw, aggressive MC-swagger without completely missing the mark). She’s ready to drop her new album, Parts of Speech, in June, which is slated to have 12 tracks. It dives into both the high-level studio production of her previous album, A Badly  Broken Code, and the energy of real-time musicians she captured on Castor, the Twin.

Dessa // Photo by Brian Kaufenberg

Dessa // Photo by Brian Kaufenberg

She’s done solo runs, crew runs, and recently has been bringing her live band on the road. So many factors go into what can make a successful show. The possibilities of a tour actually making money are becoming harder and harder to come by. How can you help independent artists?

“Preorder. Pre-order, pre-order, pre-order. With my new record coming out, that makes the difference,” Dessa urged.

“You can get to six feet high on a trampoline with two 3-foot jumps, or you can put it all into one six-foot jump. You get higher, more people can see you,” she said, explaining the pre-ordering system in the music world. Pre-ordering an album can give an up-and-coming artist a needed extra boost in the world of charts, numbers, and algorithms which can quickly smolder a release (low sales), or stoke the fire to keep the album ablaze (high sales). Dessa and her Doomtree crew have always been pioneers in incentives for pre-ordering from their catalog: when the No Kings album was released, they gave away special edition t-shirts, boxes, and pins. They even had some baked goods for fans scoping out the album around town.

How does Dessa write so well? She lives it. She breathes it. She conceptualizes it. She nurtures it. And whether it’ll be a full, live band onslaught or the pages of a book, you can bet I’ll be ready and waiting for the next chapter in the life of Dessa.

Thanks to the Nomad World Pub for their support. Visit the Nomad World Pub every Wednesday when a special craft beer goes on tap for Mid-Week Beer Geek.

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Coming Full Circle: Women in Beer

Posted By // April 23, 2013
By Ryan Tuenge

Beer. It’s thought to have been around since about 800 BC and, despite its reputation as being a “manly” beverage, you may be surprised to learn that women were the original brewers of beer.

That’s what Professor Jeffrey Pilcher teaches in his History of Drink course at the University of Minnesota. “Women traditionally brewed beer,” he said. “It was a domestic thing and a homemaker’s job.” Women have been involved in the process since the beginning. In the Sumerian  civilization, grain was thought to be harvested for beer, not bread. The beer at this time was not a very attractive beverage; rather, people drank it through a straw as not to ingest any of the grains.

According to Professor Pilcher, European  women were expected to brew beer in the home and rotate the beer once a week in order to keep the beverage from going sour. He explained that it soured rather quickly since the wort was not boiled and hops were not used. This was no small task, as beer was safer to drink than water, and was enjoyed by the entire family—including the children. Multiple gallons of beer would be consumed in a single day in the average household.

According to the Pink Boots Society, an international organization which empowers women beer professionals to advance their careers in the beer industry through education, women in England  would work together to get their brews to market. Additionally, although the role of yeast was not yet understood, the women would share their yeast with others. This behavior foreshadowed the current culture in craft beer communities across the US, where brewers tend to share ingredients and equipment with one another. In these English and European societies, it is estimated that one-third of female brewers sold their beer—indicating that brewing was not just limited to the household. “Brewsters,” as they were called, also ran taverns and were expected to be honest when it came to pouring their beer. The punishment for a dishonest pour was said to be flogging.

Here in the United States we share a similar brewing history. When pilgrims first set foot on American soil, they brought with them their favorite beverage and made it a point to start brewing right away. On the East Coast, beer was a very popular beverage and most of the colonies were chock-full of home breweries where “small beer,” which was lower in alcohol content, was abundantly made. Women would brew beer as a part of keeping up the home, much like they did in Europe.

Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, was known to be a homebrewer, but it was actually his wife, Martha, who did most of the brewing at Monticello. The brewing role would stick with women until commercial breweries started popping up all over the country. “Men took over the brewing process when it went commercial and there was money to be made,” said Professor Pilcher. This was a big change in our country, but when the craft beer boom in the late 20th century hit, women would re-establish themselves in the brewing community.

Today women are brewing all over the world. In Ecuador, women are brewing a type of beer called chicha, which is made from the yuca plant. The process of making this beverage begins with boiling the yuca roots. After the yuca is boiled, it is made into a paste using a wooden pestle. Finally, the women begin chewing the yuca into little balls until all the paste is the same texture, thus starting the fermentation process. The enzymes from the saliva break down the starches in the yuca into fermentable sugars. It’s important to note that in Ecuador, men are entirely left out of the brewing process, from harvesting the yuca to fermenting it.

Chicha is consumed daily by both children and adults along with every meal, thanks to its typically low alcohol content. This drink is considered sacred in Ecuador and is also a symbol of fertility to its people. On special occasions, such as weddings or larger celebrations, a stronger version of the drink will be will made. Peruvian women also make chicha, often using corn; in Peru the corn, like the yuca, is chewed to start the fermentation process.

In South Africa, women brew a beer made from sorghum, a grain that is typically found in tropical climates. It is brewed like typical beer, but it turns out pink in color and has a sour flavor. It’s worth noting that sorghum beers are currently gaining popularity because many varieties are considered to be gluten-free, a great option for those diagnosed with celiac disease.

Here in the US, the craft beer movement has brought women back to the forefront with many fine examples leading the way, such as Deb Carey, Founder and President of New Glarus Brewing Company in Green County, Wisconsin. Not only was she the first woman to found and operate a brewery in the US (1993), she also designs the labels for all of their beers. She was recently invited to the White House to sit with the first lady Michelle Obama at the State of the Union Address in February. Deb is well respected, not only in the beer community, but is a big name in small business across the country.

Julia Herz is well-known for her blog, Craft Beer Muses, and her position as Craft Beer Program Director with the Brewers Association. According to the Association website, she is a Certified Cicerone™, a BJCP judge, and an award-winning homebrewer. Her palate for beer is unrivaled and her passion for spreading the word about craft beer is second to none. Julia is another fine example of how women have made a huge impact in the beer world.

On the local scene, brewer Rachel Grey can be seen hard at work at the Herkimer Brewpub on Lyndale Avenue in Minneapolis. In addition, she is a homebrewer and a committee member of Barley’s Angels—a Minnesota group that promotes female beer consumerism and education. Rachel is proof that women have a home in the brewhouses of today.

As you can see, women have had an important role in the making and appreciation of beer throughout history. From the ancient brewers of Sumer to the brewsters of England and Europe, then overseas to the homebrewing women of colonial America, the table would be set for the world to enjoy its most prized libation.

Let’s take this opportunity to say “Cheers!” to women throughout history for making brewing what it is today. For without them, we may not have known beer to be our favorite beverage!

PHOTO: Two women at Gluek’s Brewery carrying a case of beer purchased after the prohibition repeal, Minneapolis. From the Minnesota Historical Society Collections

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Now Open (Or Damn Close)

Posted By // April 9, 2013

New (And Recently Opened) Local Breweries

Bad Weather Brewing

By Brian Kaufenberg
Illustration by Lucas Gluesenkamp

Bad Weather Brewing - Illustration by Lucas Gluesenkamp

Strike up a conversation with a Minnesotan and without fail the exchange will lead to the weather—and for good reason. With four distinct seasons, weather in Minnesota can be powerful, unpredictable, and awesome in the fullest sense of the word, a fact Minnesotan Zac Carpenter and University of Minnesota alumni Joe Giambruno of Bad Weather Brewing know firsthand.

However, this spring will prove to be a little greener for the duo as it marks the launch of Bad Weather Brewing Company’s Windvane, a “Minnesota Red Ale,” and Ominous, a “Midwest Warmer.” Don’t get comfortable with their lineup just yet, though; Windvane will be their only year-round offering bolstered by a list of ever-changing seasonal brews.

Beer at Bad Weather is made to defy standard style guidelines and instead is crafted to “work with the seasonality of Minnesota,” Carpenter said. It is also a reaction to brewer Zac Carpenter’s dreary, regulated experience working in Corporate America, which led him to return to brewing school.

After graduation, Carpenter was set up on a sort of blind brewer’s date with another recent graduate of professional brewing school, Joe Giambruno, by his wife and Giambruno’s mother. Chatting over a pint, they realized their personalities meshed well together and that they had the same dream: to open a brewery.

They found their place in the Lucid Brewery facility in Minnetonka and became the third alternating proprietor alongside Lucid and Badger Hill. “It allowed us to get in [the industry] a lot quicker and for a lot less money,” explained Carpenter. Beyond the financial benefits, the guys at Lucid and Badger Hill have offered Bad Weather assistance with brewing and in business.

Fitting to Bad Weather’s restless beer lineup, the duo is on the lookout for the perfect space for a permanent Bad Weather brewery, as is required by the terms of an alternating proprietorship.

Until then, they will continue to furiously brew their blend of Minnesota craft beer alongside their brewery-mates, lending a hand and receiving help themselves when needed.

The Brewer: Zac Carpenter
The Beer: Windvane minnesota red ale, seasonals (listed under the forecast section of the website)
Online: badweatherbrewery.com

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Brewer Profile: Rob Miller of Dangerous Man Brewing Co.

Posted By // April 8, 2013
By Brian Kaufenberg
Photos by Aaron Davidson

Dangerous Man Brewing - Rob Miller

Name: Rob Miller

Works at: Dangerous Man Brewing Co.

Turn-ons: Citra hops, milk stouts, hip-hop, jam bands, family and friends

Turn-offs: Negativity, judgmental people

The Growler: What’s in your fridge right now?

Rob Miller: Tallgrass Buffalo Sweat, Fulton War and Peace, Indeed Hot Box, Surly Furious, and lots of kale.

G: What’s your favorite music to brew to?

RM: P.O.S. and tons of other hip-hop, Grateful Dead, Fela Kuti.

G: What are your other passions in life? Do they influence your brewing?

RM: I love being with my family, camping, backpacking, and fishing. I am a Minnesota sports fan from birth and love great food. These don’t really influence my brewing, but I like living a life that is fulfilling.

G: What would you be doing if you weren’t brewing professionally?

RM: Dreaming about it and still working at Whole Foods.

Dangerous Man Brewing - Rob Miller

Dangerous Man Brewing - Rob Miller // Photo by Aaron Davidson

G: Who has been your biggest individual influence in brewing?

RM: That is really hard. My buddy Krishna taught me how to brew and I owe a lot to him. All the Minnesota brewers that shared their tips and helped me along the way, if I had to pick one of these guys it would be Josh Bischoff from Indeed.

G: Where is your favorite place to put one back?

RM: Second floor at Mackenzie’s playing ping-pong with my crew.

G: What is the most gratifying part of your job?

RM: Hearing people tell me how much they enjoy a certain beer we made and seeing the taproom brimming with happy people. I also am so grateful to be doing something I love. I spent a long portion of my life trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. It is an incredible gift to have found that and feel content.

G: Is there a beer that changed your perspective on what craft beer could and should be?

RM: Freshman year in college in Ashland, Wisconsin, I had the Rhode Scholar Stout from South Shore Brewery. It was the first dark, rich beer I tasted that was so smooth and amazing. My consumption of macro beers dropped considerably after this.

G: What’s the philosophy of your brewery?

RM: Brew beer that Minnesotans can brag about and brew as many different styles as possible. We chose to not distribute because on top of brewing great beer, we wanted to create a neighborhood spot that was warm and cozy to be in, where families are welcome and anyone from anywhere can enjoy themselves.

G: Any new recipes you are working on?

RM: An all-German IPA, an Herbal Cream Ale, Toasted Hemp Brown Ale (will release on April 20th), a Kolsch, and a hop bomb Imperial IPA.

G: What do you see as the “next big thing” in the craft beer world?

RM: More localization. More Minnesota-grown hops, barley, etc. Not just drinking local, but actually being able to brew local.

Dangerous Man Brewing - Rob Miller & Dupree

Dangerous Man Brewing - Rob Miller & Dupree // Photo by Aaron Davidson

G: What is it about beer that means so much to us as a society?

RM: It brings people together. “Grabbing a beer” with a friend doesn’t mean a whole night’s commitment and it doesn’t have to be a special occasion. The beer is the vehicle for the conversation, the pursuant of friendship, the reason to meet someone new and strike up a conversation. I would love to say our taproom has the most amazing beer and that is why people come, but that is not why. They come to hang out with friends, to meet new people, or to leave their houses and surround themselves with the buzz of humanity.

G: Favorite beer and food pairing?

RM: I am old school, pizza and an IPA.

G: What are you reading right now?

RM: Captain Underpants to my son.

G: Are you a “dangerous man?”

RM: Only when I’m brewing. I’m actually a really laid back guy whose not dangerous at all.

G: How did the brewery get its name?

RM: My family (wife and 2 kids) went to Texas for a good friend’s wedding. We rented a house in Austin with a bunch of our best friends and their kids. I had a huge beard and pretty long hair at the time. The first morning we all were in the house together My best friend’s three-year-old daughter, whom I had never met (they live in Berlin, Germany), got startled at her first glance of me. She instantly ran and grabbed her mother’s leg and shouted, “Mommy, Mommy, there’s a Dangerous Man in our house!” The name stuck for the weekend of the wedding and ever since I’ve been called the “Dangerous Man.”

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Notables at the Nomad: Chef Alex Roberts Chats with Dessa

Posted By // March 6, 2013
by Dessa
Photos by Stacy Schwartz

Each issue, Dessa sits down at the Nomad World Pub with a notable Minnesota figure. For this issue, she chatted with Twin Cities chef Alex Roberts

There are few professions in which a trim physique could be considered a liability. Alex Roberts is a clear-eyed, dark-haired chef who looks like a Crossfit devotee (which he is).

During Obama’s first presidential run, Roberts’ soul food restaurant Brasa was a regular destination for the campaign volunteers. Stately older black women, often in extravagant hats, came in packs for lunch. They were outspoken, particular about their meals, but appreciative: “fantastic customers,” according to Roberts. One table full of women requested to see the chef. “I come out and the first reaction at the table—they just started laughing… they thought it was a joke. They thought it would be some big guy or maybe they thought they’d see a Caribbean person or a black person… I don’t know who they thought… and of course I laughed in response to their laughter.” Once everybody regained their composure, the hugging started.  Then Roberts sat down to a very serious conversation about sweet tea. The food was incredible, but his tea wasn’t sweet enough.  Well, if he made it in the Southern style—thick as maple syrup—no one in Minnesota would drink it.  Fair enough. (As an aside, I would like to acknowledge the fact that the word physique feels slimy in almost any context. Unfortunately, it could not be avoided here.)

Roberts opened, owns, and operates three restaurants in the Twin Cities. At Restaurant Alma*, patrons drop $50 for a tasting menu, the menu changes every six to eight weeks, and 80 percent of the produce is organic. Brasa is comfort fare that’s slow-cooked, and affordable. Roberts wins fancy awards for Alma and appears on network TV for Brasa. His approachable nice-guy thing notwithstanding, Roberts is a first-rate talent.

During our hour at the Nomad, Roberts and I talked about culinary hierarchies, women in the kitchen, and the role he’s imagined filling in the post-apocalyptic world.

The Pirate Ship

As anyone who’s worked in the service industry knows, restaurant kitchens can be strange places to work. There are actors and artists, charmers and egoists, functional alcoholics and not-so-functional functional alcoholics, gifted cooks and students just passing through. A kitchen can be full of innuendo, camaraderie, or tears. Roberts says a good kitchen is a “pirate ship”: a balanced, motley crew. “The worst kitchen in the world,” he says, “is like the high school football team, where everyone likes the same music, goes to the same weight room and is chasing the same girl. That’s the worst kitchen ever.” He says that when he was doing all the hiring at Brasa and Alma, his decisions were based on culinary skill and social skills, almost in equal parts.  One would suppose that you can teach somebody how to julienne, but you can’t teach him the importance of cultivating an indoor voice.

“The worst kitchen in the world,” he says, “is like the high school football team, where everyone likes the same music, goes to the same weight room and is chasing the same girl…”

Roberts says that having women in the kitchen is also important. In addition to their own sets of unique talents (and more sensitive palates, according to Roberts), they change the culture of the kitchen. “Have you noticed that guys just behave better when there are women around?” [Insert perfunctory Doomtree joke here.]

O Captain, My Captain

Roberts is now in his early 40s. When he entered the industry, it wasn’t as sexy or as mainstream as it is today. “You could hardly get a good cookbook with pictures.” He studied and worked in New York where kitchens adhered to rigid hierarchies. The chef, after all, is essentially the chief. And the restaurant is not a democracy. “I didn’t get it at first. I asked too many questions, and the answer was just supposed to be ‘yes’ all the time. Not ‘no.’ Not, ‘But what…?’ ‘Yes’ is the answer.” There’s an old-world thinking on the East Coast, he says, and a clear chain of command is part of the culture.

“I worked for a chef in New York who made his servers bring their plates past him on the way to the dishwasher.” The chef examined each and every plate to see what was eaten, what remained, what had been left untouched. “And if they past him without him looking, he would just rip ‘em sideways.”

The chef, after all, is essentially the chief. And the restaurant is not a democracy.

Although Roberts isn’t quite so dictatorial in his leadership, he did design his own kitchens to allow cooks and chefs to be able observe the parade of returning plates. “Let’s say you see everything eaten except the greens—the chard—on a plate. Every customer sends that back. Then the chef can say, ‘You need to wash that… there’s sand in ‘em.’ That’s happened before. In the last 15 years that’s happened. And we caught it for that reason. Two made it out; the third one coming back we caught it—‘Hey, go check the greens.’ Throw them away, start over.”

My Mouth is in Your Mouth

I asked Roberts if there were any foods that he wished that he liked. (I, for example, wish that I enjoyed coffee, hot and black, like a cowboy. In real life, however, I take it with big doses of sugar and cream. Like a kitten.) Roberts was quiet for a long time, trying to think of a food he didn’t like. He came up with shad roe, which seems like a good food not to like because almost no one I know has ever had or heard of it.

Ultimately, Roberts explained that when he’s working, he isn’t necessarily in the business of making his favorite food. “A great cook isn’t tasting for themselves. That is just one palate. You’re tasting for what you think is the average palate. I don’t, for example, like the sweet and sour flavor profile….But I learn to use it in the menu because people like it. Nobody cares what I like.”

Talking to Roberts, it seemed as though the role of the chef was sometimes exalted—the unquestionable authority at the front of a disciplined team—and sometimes a humble craftsman, whose palate and preferences would be of no interest to patrons.

“Some cultures hold the chef up high.  And some cultures just see the chef as a cook. And I think both of them are actually correct. Imagine if the apocalypse occurs and we don’t have gas service to the house or to the restaurant anymore. Who am I? What am I? I’m the guy cooking–with a lot of skill–over a pot with a tripod and a fire underneath it.”

This writer would humbly suggest that, before it comes to that, you try Brasa’s spinach.  One visit and it’s easy to forgive Roberts his gym membership.

*Correction 3/6/2013: Restaurant Alma was printed as Alma in Issue 5 of The Growler.

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Brewer Profile: Jace Marti of August Schell Brewing Co.

Posted By // February 26, 2013
By Joe Alton

Name: Jace Marti

Hometown: New Ulm, MN

Works At: August Schell Brewing Co., New Ulm, MN

Turn-Ons: Sour beers

Turn-Offs: Beer snobbery

Growler: What’s in your fridge right now?

Jace Marti: Some Chimney Sweep, a few Bocks, half a Lagunitas Sucks 6 pack, and a Cuvée des Jacobins Rouge. And some left over hotdish.

G: What’s your favorite music to brew to?

JM: We listen to the radio a lot, and the local station has a segment called “The Dinner Bell Hour,” where they only play polka. As weird as it sounds, there’s something that is extremely fitting about listening to polka music in a brewery that I kind of enjoy. Unless it’s Friday, because there’s nothing like a James Brown Friday to put you in a good mood for the weekend.

G: What keeps you inspired?

JM: Traveling. For me, getting out of my comfort zone, experiencing new things, and seeing things from a different perspective is very inspirational. And the time I spend in the car or on a plane gives me time for my mind to wander and come up with new ideas.

G: If you didn’t create beer for a living, is there another craft that you would like to try?

JM: I went to school for Graphic Design, so I would probably be a designer somewhere.

G: Who has been your biggest individual influence in brewing?

JM: Sig Plagens. He is the retired brewmaster from Minnesota Brewing, and he is someone who I’ve always looked up to. He also was the one who gave me the idea to go to brewing school in Berlin, which was an incredible experience for me.

G: Where is your favorite place to put one back?

JM: The guild house at the VLB.

G: What is the biggest misconception about your line of work?

JM: That all we produce at Schell’s are adjunct beers.

G: When did you discover craft beer?

JM: The first beer I ever had was a Firebrick, so I guess you could say that was my start. That, and I remember working at the Gitchee Gumee Brewfest in Superior right after I turned 21, and having the chance to go try beers from all these other breweries and that was what really opened my eyes to the craft beer world.

G: When did you decide you wanted to brew professionally?

JM: I pretty much grew up in the brewery, so it was something that I always knew I wanted to do eventually. My dad was adamant about me starting at the bottom and working my way up from there, and that was good experience. Then I started homebrewing, and it was all over after that.

G: What style/styles of beer do you se trending in 2013? 

JM: Hmmm…good question. I think wild beers are sort of the last frontier in the craft beer world. You’re starting to see it a little bit in Minnesota, and I could definitely see that trend continuing to grow here.

G: What’s your favorite beer and food pairing?

JM: A Flanders Red with cocktail shrimp or a nice rauchbier with some smokey bbq on the grill.

G: What does “craft beer” mean to you?

JM: Ha… The Brewer’s Association definition is beer that comes from a brewery that is small, independent, and traditional. I think that is a pretty good definition. Just don’t try and tell me that Schell’s is not a traditional brewery. I’ll argue that ’till I’m blue in the face.

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Letter from the Mayor

Posted By // February 8, 2013

Welcome to Duluth from Mayor Don Ness

Greetings from Duluth!

We are absolutely thrilled to welcome The Growler up north.  Duluthians will love The Growler’s insight on all of the people and places that make up Minnesota’s vibrant craft beer scene.  It’s especially appropriate that The Growler will be distributed up here now that Duluth has been proclaimed The Craft Beer Capitol of Minnesota (CBC of MN)™.

Oh, sorry, what?  You weren’t aware that Duluth is the CBC of MN?  No worries.  In fact, this column serves as the first public announcement of this exciting news.   But there it is – congratulations to Duluth!

Oh sure, the competition was stiff – there are so many great craft beer cities in Minnesota: cities with talented brewers, great breweries and pubs, and a progressive culture to match.  I mean, Northeast  alone has something like 238 breweries, a few of which I visited last month – including Dangerous Man – outstanding!

So, how did it happen?   Well, you see, I called dibs on it.  I was the first mayor in Minnesota to proclaim my city the CBC of MN.   Chris or R.T. could have done it, but they sort of missed their window to be the first city to do it.  That’s pretty important.  Sure, there’s nothing that would stop either of those guys from becoming the second mayor in Minnesota to make that proclamation.  But, I think we can all agree, that would be pretty lame.

Plus, you guys all know that Duluth is still struggling to recover from the massive flash flood of last summer, right?  Contesting our claim of CBC of MN would surely compound our troubles and could quite possibly increase the likelihood of another natural disaster in the future.  Do you have any idea how painful that would be to us?

But wait, there are several other Duluth-specific attributes that support Duluth’s new CBC of MN distinction, just to name a few:

1)     Lake Superior – the best source of fresh brewing water in the world.

2)     Craft breweries in Duluth: Fitger’s Brewhouse, Lake Superior Brewing, Canal Park Brewing, Dubrue, Carmody Irish Pub, DuhbLinn’s, Tycoons Zenith Alehouse, Bent Paddle Brewing, and more to come!

3)     Dave Hoops and his Starfire Pale Ale

Truly, Duluth is excited to contribute to a vibrant craft beer movement in Minnesota and across the upper Midwest.  Portland has Bend.  Denver has Boulder.  The entire south-east part of the country has to share Asheville.  The Twin Cities has Duluth.

We all know that the craft beer ethic goes well beyond the beer itself – it’s about outdoor recreation, access to natural beauty, enjoying four full seasons, an authentic arts scene, and bluegrass music played as fast as humanly possible.   It’s about impressive beards, wind-burned cheeks, and a Wellstone sticker on an old pickup truck.

It’s about quality over quantity.  It’s about finding something authentic when the world gives you conformity.  It’s about connecting with something real and appreciating the talents and craftsmanship of your neighbors.

That’s what we’re trying to do in Duluth.   That’s what we strive to offer our residents and our visitors.  Whether craft beer, growing our local economy, or building a 100-mile single-track mountain bike trail system across our beautiful city, it all comes down to offering an authentic quality of being.  Not everybody needs that, but for those who do, Duluth is a pretty great place to find it.

Thanks to The Growler for helping us celebrate this cool thing happening in Minnesota!   We in Duluth are excited to welcome The Growler and we hope to see you all in Duluth in the coming year.

Skol!

 

 

 

Don Ness, Mayor

Duluth, Minnesota

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Brewer Profile: Mike Lundell of Summit Brewing Co.

Posted By // January 28, 2013
By Joe Alton

Name: Mike Lundell

Hometown: Cannon Falls, MN

Works at: Summit Brewing Company, Saint Paul, MN

Turn-ons: Smiling, mischievous eyes and a sense of adventure

Turn-offs: ‘I don’t drink beer’ types and video gamer haters.

 

Growler: What’s in your fridge right now?

Mike Lundell: Some various Unchained beers, Saga, and some homebrews from Sean, my curling team skip.

G: What’s your favorite music to brew to?

ML: Listen to the Current when I brew.  Transmission at 10 pm helps Thursday nights go by quickly, and Ricky Martin when I need to dance.

G: What keeps you inspired?

ML: Bill Walton, journeyman NBA center, when asked “What’s your favorite Grateful Dead song?” would answer “the next one.”  That kind of sums it up for me in a lot of ways.  The next one is what inspires me.

G: What would you be doing (professionally) if you weren’t brewing?

ML: I would probably be running a scuba diving shop in the Caribbean.

G: Where is your favorite place to put one back?*

ML: Locally, the Muddy Pig.  Abroad, Carlito’s in Freising, Bavaria.  And the best bar on the planet, The Green Parrot in Key West.*

G: What is biggest misconception about your line of work? 

ML: A lot of people think being a brewer is easy and glamorous and that is far from the truth.  It’s a messy job at times and you have to be able to work long hours on your feet in a pretty hot and humid environment.  Sweat drenched underwear.  That’s the life for me! And it better be for you if you want to get into it!

G: When did you discover craft beer?

ML: Back in the late 80’s I was drinking imports like Paulaner Oktoberfest so it was easy to move to James Page and Summit.  I was a porter fanatic by 1990!

G: When did you decide you wanted to brew professionally?

ML: I was managing a scuba diving shop in Burnsville when I heard Summit would be building a new brewery and would be hiring.  I had been homebrewing a bit by this time so I decided to make the leap. October, 1996 I quit my salaried manager job so I could make 8 bucks an hour working 15 hours a week on the Summit bottling line.  Best career move ever.

* Editor’s Note: Due to an editing error in the print publication, the corrected question and answer is listed here from issue four of The Growler magazine’s print publication.

 

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10 Most Popular Stories of 2012

Posted By // December 28, 2012

As 2012 comes to a close, we look back on the most popular (online) stories we published in our inaugural year.

 

1. Kind-of-a-Big-Deal

December 6, 2012

Minnesota’s growing craft beer scene would not be possible without the work of these people, places and beers, as well as your appreciation and support. Thank you to all our readers that submitted nominations and voted for this year’s poll.

 

 

2. Notables at The Nomad // Dessa & Chris Kluwe

By Dessa, November 6, 2012

In issue 4, Dessa sits down with Vikings Punter Chris Kluwe to talk football, ball grease, and marriage rights. “Sometimes there’s a place for civility. And sometimes there’s a place to tell someone to go f___ themselves.”

 

3. The Beer Scene is Getting Weird

By Michael Agnew, A Perfect Pint, August 12, 2012

“To me, beer is about sharing; sharing both the beer itself and the camaraderie that surrounds it. It’s a social drink that’s best consumed in good company in support of good times and conversation.”

 

4. Spent, but Still of Value: Ideas for Re-using Brewing Grain

By Emily Weiss, December 26, 2012

As homebrewers know, the benefits to making your own beer are innumerable. You control the taste, carbonation, alcohol content, balance, and character of what you drink. Here are four basic ways to give your spent grains a second chance.

 

5. Nordeast Minneapolis; Then & Now

By Jeremy Zoss, August 1, 2012

According to “Land of Amber Waters”author and beer historian Doug Hoverson, Northeast has always been at the center of Minneapolis’ beer industry.

 

6. Notables at The Nomad // Dessa and Mayors Chris Coleman and R.T. Rybak

By Dessa, October 10, 2012

Dessa sat down at The Nomad World Pub with Twin Cities’ Mayors Chris Coleman & R.T. Rybak for a chat for issue 3 of The Growler.

R.T. said, “[Dessa] asked [me] some of the best questions of my career.”

 

7. Now Open (or Damn Close)

By Jeremy Zoss, December 7, 2012

Our latest attempt to stay on top of the burgeoning craft beer scene in the Twin Cities and beyond. In this round-up, Jeremy Zoss takes a closer look at Dangerous Man Brewing, Pour Decisions, 612 Brew, and Northgate Brewing.

 

8. Northbound Smokehouse Brewpub 

By Jake Lewis, October 9, 2012

The much anticipated Northbound Smokehouse Brewpub opened at the end of September. The brewpub sent ripples early on in its planning stages when they offered free beer for life to initial investors of $1,000 or more (but you’re too late now).

 

9. A Visit to Rahr Malting

By Jake Lewis, June 10, 2012

Water, hops, yeast, and malt—which one of these do you hear the most about? Though not necessarily neglected, malt is not a widely discussed ingredient among most craft beer enthusiasts. Usually, people talk about the hop variety, or the crazy yeast that they use, but without malt, beer is …

 

10. Which Bike Matches Your Beer?

By Liz Scholz, August 13, 2012

We love our bikes and we love local beer, but what’s the correlation between the two? Beers and bikes pair like peanut butter and jelly. What kind of bike do you ride and what does it say about your local beer preferences?

 

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Deep Thoughts with Dave Hoops

Posted By // December 19, 2012
by Dave Hoops, Master Brewer at Fitger’s Brewhouse
The Growler is pleased to introduce a new column by Dave Hoops, Master Brewer at Fitger’s Brewhouse. Each issue, Dave will share his thoughts of a brewer. This edition includes Dave’s highlights from his trip to the Great American Beer Festival.

For those of you unaware of the GABF (as all beer lovers affectionately call it) this is the granddaddy of all U.S. beer festivals–the largest collection of U.S. beer anywhere on earth and the most prestigious beer competition in the world. Each October, 50,000-plus rabid beer drinkers flood Denver for four days of all things beer. Denver is home of the world’s biggest brewpub, Wyncoop, nearby Golden is home of Coors, the world’s biggest single brewery and Denver has the highest number of homebrewers in America. It’s easy to see how the GABF ended up here. As a brewer, I am very fortunate to be an insider during this amazing festival. Here’s a run-down of my favorite moments from the week.

This was my 18th trip to the GABF. My lasting impression is: the American brewers are hands down making the best beer in the world right now. The quality and variety of beers being produced by established and new brewers alike is mind-blowing.

For a brewer, the GABF experience starts a full year before the festival. At Fitger’s Brewhouse, the brewers meet after the fest and talk about ideas for next year. We then brew as usual until 2 months before the festival when kegs arrive at the brewery to be filled with beer to be poured on the festival floor. After the kegs are filled and shipped we have a “big bottling day.” This yearly event involves filling 40-50 bottles of beer for judging. As we try to fill each bottle perfectly we’re aware that with 4,338 beers judged and only 254 medals awarded, less than 5% of all beers entered will win. When we are all done, a toast is necessary, of course: “To skill, to passion, TO LUCK.” The bottles are then off to Denver, and judging takes place five weeks later.

This year a total of 185 judges from 11 countries judged 4,338 beers in 84 categories this year. I had the great honor of being one of these judges. In order to be chosen as a judge, there is a process: 3 current judges must write letters of recommendation, and the candidate must write an essay highlighting his or her experience and technical skill. Once approved, there is a wait-list–currently over two years long, and all judges are subject to the oversight and assessment of judging skills from the competition director. All beers are judged blind and judges cannot judge categories for which they have entered beers into the GABF competition. So for eight hours a day, I sat with my peers critically judging each beer on the official criteria and offering critical comments for each beer. It might sound like an awesome job, but I must tell you it’s serious work. I was able to judge ten different categories of beer this year with some of the best brewers ever born. It was the highlight of my week.

After the day’s work we enjoy beer. My favorite places to drink in Denver are, in no particular order, El Chapultepec, Star Bar, Falling Rock, Sandlot Brewery, and Denver Beer Company. If you find yourself in Denver you cannot go wrong with these.

On Thursday the GABF officially opens its doors. There were 50,000 tickets sold this year and they sold out in 44 minutes. So here is the lesson for those of you wanting to attend: Follow GABF on Facebook and Twitter. Once they announce ticket info, be online the second sales start.

There are four sessions each year, and the two best are the first night Thursday session and the Saturday VIP session after the awards ceremony. These are less crowded and give a much better opportunity to chat with the brewers at their booths.

This year 666 breweries poured 2,700 beers at the fest. It is impossible to try all these beers (I know from experience)— so make a plan: Favorite breweries, styles, regions, whatever. This will help to maximize the tasting experience. Make sure to chat with the brewers at the booths, and, just a thought—thank them!—they are spending five hours a day serving hundreds of beers. Let them know how you feel.

GABF by the Numbers

5 Favorite Minnesota Beers
As a Minnesota brewer I have great pride in the growth of craft beer in our state. Four breweries from Minnesota always attend the GABF: Summit Brewery (the godfather), Surly Brewing, Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, (run by the younger, smarter, better looking Hoops), and Fitger’s Brewhouse. This year Lucid Brewery also attended. I visited each brewery and picked my favorites.

• From Lucid… Surfside IPA. A hop forward clean drinking hop bomb.
• From Summit… Saga IPA, the newest Summit beer. This floral hop elixir was soooo good. I also have to mention Pils, which I personally love.
• From Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery… Hopfen Ublich, a German style double pils that Mike describes as a unique German style lager translated as “Hops Traditional”. Brewed solely with the finest traditional Bohemian Floor Malted barley and loads of German Hallertau Mittelfruh hops, 8 lbs Leaf hops per barrel in “Hopback”. Very simple, traditional, and special………and hopped the Town Hall way.
• Surly… Pentagram. Todd describes this beer as brewed with Dark Munich and Special “B” malts, minimal bittering hops, and fermented in stainless with 2 Brettanomyces strains. Aging in a variety of used red wine barrels for 1-3 years and blended to have a flavor profile which is tart yet sweet. Bottles and kegs produced once a year, release dates Jan-Feb. This beer was my personal favorite as sour beers are a passion of mine and Todd has great finesse with these beers.
• Fitger’s Brewhouse… Cherry Batch 2012. Our 17th anniversary beer. We used 1,000 lbs of Montmoracy cherries in a malty base beer for a cherry explosion. This beer was very popular on the floor.

5 other Highlights from this year

• Farm to Table. An area featuring local chefs pairing small plates with beer.
• Brewpub pavilion. Brewpubs only, in a pub type atmosphere.
• Our Volunteers. Pam, Pam and Leith worked 4 solid days with us pouring beer, smiling, making our jobs easier. They totally ruled.
• All the folks from Minnesota that stopped by our booth to say hi and give love.
• Seeing all my friends from my years brewing in the San Francisco Bay area at their brewery booths.

5 of my Favorite non-Minnesota Beers

• Cambridge Brewery, Cambridge MA… sour beers
• Distihl, Normal, IL… sour beers
• Founders, Grand Rapids, MI… Kentucky Breakfast Stout.
• Odell, Fort Collins, CO… Meddler Brown.
• Firestone Walker and Sierra Nevada for stellar hoppy beers.

3 of my Favorite Names for Beers on the Floor this Year

• ChChChCh- Cherry Bomb… Thai Me Up Brewery, Jackson, WY
• Your Favorite Foreign Movie… DC Brau Brewing Co, Washington, DC
• German Sparkle Party…10 Barrel Brewing Co..Bend, OR.

Fun, Fun stuff

This fun trip came to a close on Saturday. Each year the awards ceremony for the GABF is eagerly and nervously awaited by thousands of brewers hoping to be recognized by their peers. This year the ceremony took place in a 5,000 seat auditorium that was at least 75% full. The podium was on stage, the red carpet was out. This is the Oscar’s of the beer world. As I mentioned 4,338 beers were judged and 254 medals were awarded. Minnesota breweries took home 3 medals this year.

• Summit Brewery… Silver… Bohemian Style Pilsener.
• Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery… Bronze… Pro-Am Competition. This pairs an award winning homebrewer with a pro brewer. They build on a recipe from the homebrewer and professionally brew it up. Mike Hoops and Home Brewer Kyle Sisco brewed a Classic American Pilsner
• Fitger’s Brewhouse… Bronze… American Style Sour for Fitger’s Framboise.

Congrats to our friends that medaled. On a quick homer note, this was the second time in history that brothers from competing breweries have ever won medals…the first time, in 2004, was also Dave and Mike Hoops. Way to go Bro.

It’s been a pleasure writing this for you all. Thanks for supporting craft beer in Minnesota. I look forward to sharing a pint.

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Kind of a Big Deal Winners – 2012

Posted By // December 5, 2012

 

We know you have been eagerly awaiting the results of our Kind-Of-A-Big-Deal poll. We collected thousands of votes online in October and November and are excited to share the winners with you.

Minnesota’s growing craft beer scene would not be possible without the work of these brands and individuals, as well as your appreciation and support. Thank you to all of the readers that submitted nominations and voted for this year’s poll. Winners were selected 100% by our readers. We’d like to point out that there are no losers in the Kind-of-a-Big Deal Awards. All who were nominated are sincerely deserving and highly regarded people, places, and beers. We’ll do this again next year to see how things change. We hope you’ll continue to honor the men and women of craft beer.

Without further ado, here are the people, places and beers that you have declared to be KIND-OF-A-BIG-DEAL:

Kind of a Big Deal People

Beertender:

Andrew Lomen (Happy Gnome)
Andrew Lomen Happy GnomePouring beer can be an art. Add to that the struggle of tens of people wanting a drink at once, and it’s darn-near a sport, too. But what makes a great beertender is not just the ability to pour and juggle all the action, but the knowledge and commitment to service that come as a necessary aspect of the job. Visit the Happy Gnome’s website here.
Beer Writer:

Michael Agnew, A Perfect Pint
Michael Agnew, A Perfect PintYou voted to give the award to one of The Growler’s own writers, and there’s a reason why he’s writing for this publication, Michael Agnew knows his beer. He’s actually Minnesota’s first certified Cicerone, and when he’s not writing for his own site, A Perfect Pint, he’s penning for the Star Tribune, City Pages, or others. Agnew also hosts special tasting events and beer dinners, and he’s taught beer-related classes at Kitchen Window, Cooks of Crocus Hill, and the University of Minnesota. When you think of Minnesota beer writers, there are few locals who compete.
Artist:

Adam Turman
Adam Turman Great Beer Brewed HereOne of the best-known artists in the Twin Cities over the past decade, Adam Turman creates work that reflects the Twin Cities. His screen prints, which vary from Minneapolis cityscapes to those of a beer-related bent, are easily recognizable. And why is that? Because the man is not just good, he’s ubiquitous. His print of the Grain Belt beer sign and the Gold Medal Flour stacks have places in homes across the cities, but you can also catch his work on covers of weeklies like City Pages, or the sides of buildings, like the new mural on Minneapolis’ Butcher & The Boar. Hey, he’s even got work for sale in the new Beer Dabbler store in St. Paul. Just sayin’.
Beard:

Bryan Buser (Four Firkins)
Bryan Buser Four FirkinsThere are a few ways to distinguish your facial presence if you’re a man, but perhaps the best way is by growing a big ass beard. In our local beer community, there are beards aplenty. They range from starter beards on dudes who should maybe find a razor, to full-out he-man wild men face-manes. Bryan dubs himself “Certified Cicerone, Global Beer Buyer, Head Scribe of Weekly Electronic Communications, Sasquatch Infiltration and Pacification Manager & North America Pinball Wizard.” Good news, Bryan, our readers have spoken, and thanks to your sweet beard, you can know add “Kind of A Big Deal” to that list.
Tattoo:

Gabrielle Rudisill
Gabrielle TattooTattoos have come a long way in the past couple of decades, and these days it seems like almost everyone, from the stay-at-home mom to the beer-swilling motorcycle enthusiast has been inked. And some people even have beer-themed tats. Gabrielle not only has some sweet tattoos, she’s the only female you voted as Kind-of-a-Big Deal.

Kind of a Big Deal Places

Brewpub:

Town Hall Brewery
Town Hall BreweryBetween the award-winning beer, brag-worthy food, and choice location in Minneapolis’ bar-heavy Seven Corners area, it’s easy to see how Town Hall came out on top. The brewpub, which boasts an eclectic menu of bar fare, beer brats, and pastas, also offers five everyday taps, which include everything from an IPA to a Scotch Ale. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get all that and more: seasonal selections made in-house dot the brew menu, and guest beers like the fruity-meets-chocolatey Duchese Bourgogne bolster the line-up. When you think Minneapolis Brewpub, it’s easy to see how Town Hall comes to mind.
Happy Hour:

Town Hall Brewery
Town Hall BreweryThe best Brewpub in the Twin Cities, as voted by you, our readers, also happens to have the best happy hour according to you. Funny how those two things work out. Currently at Town Hall, there are daily dollar-off tap deals Monday though Friday, for both the early happy hour crew (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.) and to those lovers of the late night (9 p.m. to 12 a.m.). Take head, venerable Twin Cities suds shops: happy hour matters.
Homebrew Club:

MN Home Brewers Association
MN Brewers AssociationOne of the largest home brew clubs in Minnesota, the Minnesota Home Brewers Association has been active since 1988, making it also one of the oldest clubs around town. At monthly meetings, the group shares brewing techniques, discusses equipment and ingredients and will usually go in depth on a specific topic or style of beer. They’ve also been in an instrumental part of organizing competitions around town, and furthering communal beer-love.
New Brewery:

Fulton
FultonFor anyone passing by the north end of Target Field on game-day, you know that Fulton Brewing’s taproom has become just as much of an attraction as the nearby ball field. Between the taproom experience and damn good beer, it’s no wonder that some of Fulton’s standbys—such as the Sweet Child of Vine and Lonely Blonde—appear to be almost as ubiquitous on restaurant tap lists as the Surlys and the Summits of the world. For many opening beer operations around the Twin Cities, Fulton has become the shining example of entering the scene with a buzz.
MN Brewery:

Surly Brewing Co.
Surly BrewingWhen your brewery is as beloved and celebrated as Surly’s, you can do cool things—like help change Minnesota law. That’s what happened last year when the brewer petitioned for change that would allow it to build a “destination brewery” of sorts, where both brewing, eating and drinking could exist peaceably and legally. And now plans appear to be in the works, with a potential new brewery location scouted in the Prospect Park neighborhood near the University of Minnesota.
Out of MN Brewery:

Deschutes Brewery
Deschutes BreweryIf you’re going to drink beer from outside of Minnesota, you have choices aplenty, so you’ll want to be informed, as any good beer drinker should be. According to you, Deschutes Brewery out of Bend, Oregon, comes out on top. The over-two decade old brewery is now one of the largest craft brewers in the United States, in some ways setting the example for how craft breweries and tap rooms across the country, and in Minnesota, have tried to mirror.
Craft Beer Bar (612):

Muddy Waters
Muddy WatersMuddy Waters is a craft beer bar and oh-so-much more: amazing food, delicious desserts and cafe offerings, and hard cocktail concoctions that would please most anyone who refers to their bartender as a mixologist. In many ways, Muddy Waters is a gastropub with a neighborhood feel, and part of the appeal are tap and bottle lists that appeal to both the local frame of mind, as well as the generalist. As a hangout for the beer fan who requires fine eats, it can’t be beat.
Craft Beer Bar (651):

Happy Gnome
Happy GnomeSt. Paul’s reigning beer bar continues to draw in the accolades. Happy Gnome, which makes up just part of St. Paul’s beer bar paradise (which includes both Muddy Pig and Sweeney’s), is decidedly the more upscale and far-reaching offering in the area. You could even argue that Happy Gnome has one of the best beer lists in the Twin Cities. And we haven’t even started talking about the food yet, which swings gastropub, and is an attraction all its own.
Craft Beer Bar (suburbia):

Grumpy’s Roseville
Grumpys RosevilleGrumpy’s Roseville is the only suburban outpost of the three attitude-laced beer bars in the franchise. It’s also massive, a sprawling complex where you can go for both food and drink while taking in a game. Is it divergent from the gritty-meets-bold authenticity of the downtown and northeast Minneapolis iterations? Definitely. Is it supposed to be? You bet. One thing remains the same: a beer list that pleases.
TC Beer Blog:

MNBeer.com
MN Beer BlogWith a name like MN Beer, it’s gotta be good. And, truly, MNBeer.com has become an invaluable resource for folks looking for the latest beer events and news. Founded in 2005 by Ryan Anderson, it was ahead of the curve in terms of the Minnesota craft beer movement, and you could even say that it helped establish the culture, becoming a place where beer lovers could go to learn about new events and offerings on almost a daily basis.
Beer Distributor:

JJ Taylor
JJ TaylorThe unsung heroes of beer: Distributors. JJ Taylor has supported craft beer in this market throughout the burgeoning growth of Minnesota’s beer culture. Ever wonder who organizes all those beer releases, samplings, and events we attend throughout the metro? Look no further. JJ Taylor has gained the respect of the beer industry and our community with their commitment and dedication to craft beer and the lifestyle.
Homebrew Store:

Northern Brewer
Northern BrewerNorthern Brewer believes that good beer is your right, and, apparently, you agree. It’s that pervasive attitude that makes Northern Brewer great. They aren’t just in the homebrewing industry because they think it’s a fad: to them, it’s a mission. There’s a philosophy of making home-brewing fun, not stressful, and always toward improving the culture of the home brewer, whether that be by sponsoring home brew contests with cash prizes, or providing some of the best instruction a home brewer could ever hope for.
Bottle Shop:

The Ale Jail
Ale JailThere are a number of Twin Cities stops that offer craft beer, but few go to the extent of the Ale Jail, the St. Clair Avenue emporium that’s part of the Wine Thief. The volume of available beers and the breadth of offerings, from lagers to Saisons to specialty sours and ciders, is enough to take the top prize. Bonus points go to the shop for their Build Your Own Box option.
Bottle Shop:

The Four Firkins
The Four FirkinsThe Four Firkins is not just a specialty beer shop—it’s a community of beer fanatics who are brought together by a shared passion. You can find their passion in their classes, tastings, and special events. But you can also see it in the wide selection of beer—and only beer—sold by some of the most knowledgeable staff you can imagine. If it sounds elitist, it’s not: the goal of Four Firkins isn’t to intimidate, it’s to communicate their shared passion for the customer. And, if your votes mean anything, that’s working.

Stout:

Surly Darkness
Belgian Style:

Surly Cynic
Surly Cynic Ale
Wheat Beer:

Bell’s Oberon
Bells Oberon
Lager/Pilsner:

Surly Hell
Surly Hell
Porter:

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald
Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald
IPA:

Surly Furious
Surly Furious
Winter Seasonal:

Surly Abrasive
Surly Abrasive
Summer Seasonal:

Bell’s Oberon
Bells Oberon
Fruit/Spice Beer:

Southern Tier Pumking
Southern Tier Pumking

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Notables at The Nomad: Dessa and Chris Kluwe

Posted By // November 6, 2012
Notables at The Nomad with Dessa and Vikings’ punter Chris Kluwe.
By Dessa
[photos by Stacy Schwartz]

According to the New York Times, the Vikings punter is “the most interesting man in the NFL.” The press is magnetized to him, usually portraying him as the guy who violates our every expectation of a pro athlete. He’s a gay rights advocate; he reads hard books; he plays in Tripping Icarus, a gigging rock band; he raises money for Duchenne muscular dystrophy; he’s an avid gamer. Whereas most human anomalies fascinate us because they demonstrate some extreme—the contortionist, the speedreader, the legless beauty—Kluwe is a celebrity, in part, for being well-rounded. In the rush of recent coverage, one can almost hear the hawker’s pitch: COME SEE THE INCREDIBLY BALANCED MAN. 

On the field, he wears number 5. In the band, he plays bass. In World of Warcraft he’s a troll named Loate. At home, he’s got a wife and two kids. In person he’s lean, laughs readily, and wears sandals in cold weather. He’s in the middle of Atlas Shrugged at the moment, but he’s unlikely to get all Paul Ryan about it—he’s become the celebrity spokesman for same-sex marriage in Minnesota.

If you missed it, here’s the story made short: A player for the Ravens named Brendon Ayanbadejo stood up publicly to support gay marriage. A Maryland legislator asked the Ravens to muzzle their man. Kluwe wrote a blistering response to said legislator, arguing that Brendon has first amendment rights, just like the next guy. The letter was razor sharp, profane, smart alecky—a total, unequivocal diss. When it was posted online, one million dudes in one million rolly chairs pushed back from their desks yelling, “Ohhhhh shit!” Boom. Kluwe is informally appointed as the NFL spokesperson for gay rights, the first amendment, political awareness, intellectualism, and books. Suddenly, Kluwe’s call log doesn’t have any vowels in it: CNN, NYT, NPR, BBC–all go nuts. And #5 goes from football-famous to all-purpose famous.

Kluwe is a sugar fiend, so I brought some Mike and Ikes to our meeting at the Nomad. (Suggested pairing: Hopquila—at least that’s what we were drinking.)

Dessa: What’s the weirdest thing that you have been asked to sign?

Chris Kluwe: “Um, probably a baby.”1

D: Is there pressure to live, eat, sleep football?

CK: That’s kind of the macho jock stereotype. From what I’ve seen in the NFL, the vast majority of football players are just like anyone else. They studied various subjects in college. There are a lot of really smart guys in the NFL, there are a lot of really dumb guys in the NFL. It’s a cross section of society that happens to do an athletic ability very, very well.

D: Why Duchenne?Chris Kluwe and Dessa at the Nomad

CK: “One of my friends asked if I was donating to any charities and I said, ‘No but we’re looking for one….’ I feel we do have a responsibility to give back to the community at large because we get paid ridiculous amounts of money to play a children’s game…Really how much do you need? Once you go pass 200, 300K you got everything you could ever want.”

D: Have you had this conversation with your cohorts, with your teammates?

CK: “Oh yeah, they think I’m a communist.”

D: What would you say to someone who says there’s an obligation for civility in public discourse?

CK: “Sometimes there’s a place for civility. And sometimes there’s a place to tell someone to go fuck themselves.”

Kluwe’s had a lot of practice talking about the case for gay marriage, he does so in an even tone, with polished arguments. The topic that elicits the most heated response from Kluwe is actually ball grease. If there’s one thing that Kluwe hates more than institutionalized oppression, it may well be ball grease—the slick coating on new footballs. In 1999, the NFL made a rule that kickers and punters had to use brand new, absolutely virginal footballs. Game officials would receive these new k balls in sealed containers straight from the Wilson factory, not to be opened before the game. All this fuss stemmed from the concern that teams were abusing the balls beforehand to make them more pliable—even microwaving them to achieve the perfect foot-friendly give.2

Ball grease makes footballs, well, greasy. And greasy hands don’t drop balls consistently for good punting. “What they’re looking for in the NFL is consistency,” sayeth Kluwe, “They want 40 to 45 yards with about 4.5 seconds of hangtime.” But drop the ball too far inside and you’ll likely get “one of those tail-dragging punts that goes about 35 yards.” Drop it too far outside, it’ll go short or out of bounds. “And the difference between those two scenarios and hitting a perfect punt is usually like an inch either way.”

Predictably, special teams guys hated this 1999 rule. But it took more then their complaints to change it. “When Tony Romo dropped the snap3, that was because they were using a brand new k ball. After he complained about it—kickers have been complaining about it for a couple of years—after a quarterback complained about it, they let our equipment guys start breaking them in.” Now team staff have 45 precious minutes to try and render the k balls a little more forgiving and a little less slick.

Quarterbacks complain about ball grease and the punters get a break. A punter complains about marriage inequality hoping to help out the gay community. In the sports world, Kluwe may be reshaping an impression of same-sex marriage. But, all told, the Kluwe Effect may have less to do with how jocks think about gays and more to do with how the rest of us think about football players. It turns out that our imaginations of the locker room may be more meatheaded and less progressive than the 2012 reality. And we like being proved wrong; Kluwe’s awash in requests to appear on the radio, TV, and even in glossy magazine spreads. Championing gay rights, he’s re-branding the league. The NFL may want consistency, but the country seems to be enjoying the surprise.

1 Forehead. Yes, in Sharpie.
2 This microwave stuff is often waved off as nonsense, but if it’s just a rumor, it’s not the most extreme of them. Some stories include days of ball conditioning: inflating, deflating, abrading, laundering, and soaking.
3 A famous, head-in-your-hands, never-live-it-down moment. Highlight of the lowlight reel.

[Photos by Stacy Schwartz]

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Louie the Loon – In Giving Thanks

Posted By // October 23, 2012
From The Oct/Nov issue of The Growler. Cartoon by DWITT

 

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Bottling Gone Mobile

Posted By // October 15, 2012

Lagersmith is the sole mobile bottling company in Minnesota

by Josh Cook

Nate Smith, owner and sole employee of Lagersmith, wakes at 4 a.m. He backs his 7×14 trailer to the edge of his garage, loading the necessary equipment for mobile bottling. He heaves in the 22 oz. filler (capable of bottling up to 8 barrels an hour), the Inline labeler (capable of labeling up to 6,000 bottles per hour), a commercial air compressor, CO2 tanks, cleansers, sanitation detergent, and a cart full of rags, hoses, and extension cords. Nate might drive to, say, Madison, or to one of his other clients—like Pour Decisions in Roseville or Staple’s Mill Brewing Co. in Stillwater—where he’ll dolly the gear right onto the brew floor, unpacking and setting up next to the tanks over a floor drain. As the Red Wheat or German Pilsener syphons into the bottle, Nate might pause to consider how he was able to flip the mundane title of “manufacturer” on its head.

He’s in the beer industry, after all, trading jokes with like-minded people—cyclists, campers, outdoors-people, patient-waiters-for-quality. He’s also taking in the glory of being one of the only mobile bottling companies in the region.

“I don’t know of a lot of people in the Twin Cities, let alone the region, that are doing what I’m doing,” he says. Lagersmith’s story fits the scene like the missing piece from a jig-saw puzzle. Coming from a family in distribution, Nate easily fell into the industry.

According to MPR, Minnesota saw a 30 percent jump in its number of breweries last year, bumping the count to 43 licensed breweries and brew pubs. This number grows every month, practically every week. And Nate, eyes open, business aplomb brimming, noticed these exponential brewers grappling for retail options, so he decided to step in, learning the logistics of bottling in the Pacific Northwest before returning home and committing to Lagersmith.

Of course, the most potent question remains: who in the world wants to hire a mobile bottling company? The answer comes straight from Nate. “Brewers are like chefs; they want to experiment. Packaging is a necessary evil. With bottling services, they can focus on their craft.” Seems simple enough. With less pressure to bottle, retail, and distribute, brewers can carve out some time and save money, perhaps purchase a fancier fermentor or experiment with different hops and malts.

Take general contracting, for instance. The contractor is ostensibly responsible for outfitting your home with warmth and authenticity. When it comes time to accurately lay that reclaimed walnut in your 1920’s English Tudor, they’ll call the experts. This way, a trained crew can load in and drub away at your floor, tapping each gap together until it fits tight and feels like a sleek, easily finessed masterpiece. This is what makes the “craft” industry beautiful.

Any old businessperson can frame a recipe and hire an agency to develop a clever marketing scheme. But then you have folks like Dave’s Brew Farm or Boom Island Brewing, honing their craft, getting their recipes right, brewing beer over and over until they’re satisfied. And then the product, born out of an organic process, can trickle out into the world and speak for itself. All the bottling, the packaging, the seemingly tedious tasks of transferring brew from tank to bottle—which can set a start-up brew-hound back about $75,000—drifts into the background, and the product takes center-stage. Lagersmith, in this view, is less of just another business, and more of a support for young and small breweries.

But Nate’s not the first person to venture into mobile packaging. He surmises the idea’s been around for about 25 years, where large-scale operations would unload semi-trucks full of bottling and canning equipment. Among the more exciting companies aiding brewers are the bay area Can Van, started by two graduate school students. The majority of the mobile business seems to rely on the beer-heavy culture of the Pacific Northwest, but in recent months, we’ve seen the new Florida outfit, Craft Brew Crew come to fruition, as well as Craft Canning in, go figure, Portland, Oregon. But the mobile canners owe a nod to the Colorado pioneers, Mobile Canning, LLC.

All that said, in order for mobile canning to take off, demand needs to peak. Cans are trending right now, but what are the advantages? Nate says, “A lot of consumers still like to drink out of a bottle. Craft beer drinkers like to pour into a glass. Down the road, the breweries I work for will probably go 50-50… it’s all a big experiment for everybody.” In which case, mobile companies like Lagersmith might need to shift with the times, investing in appropriate equipment for both canning and bottling.

The market for mobile companies is a niche within a niche; it’s the survival, not only of the fittest, but of the smartest, of the quickest to respond, and of the most hospitable. Nate favors leaning on a simple philosophy: “Besides brewing, what do they need?” It’s a humble thing, this attitude, and so far, it’s one craft-brew fan helping another. By talking to Nate, you get a good sense that, above all things, that is what the craft beer community is all about.

Photos by Jamie Schumacher

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