Mike and Jason continue their conversation on aging various styles of beers while sharing a bottle of Evil Twin Brewing’s Double Barrel Jesus. Beers Evil Twin Double Barrel Jesus American Imperial Stout, IBU Unknown, ABV 12% Reviews on Untappd and BeerAdvocate Show Links Evil Twin Brewing Mikkeller Recorded May 25, 2014 in Ankeny, Iowa Intro Music – When It Stings by Pictures of Then Runtime: 53 minutes Subscribe via iTunes or to our podcast feed...
Nov 27, 2014•54 min
Mike and Jason share a bottle from Zipline Brewing Co. of Lincoln, Nebraska. The beer featured is the Oak Aged Oatmeal Porter, which is aged for 10 months in Silver Oak Cabernet wine barrels. Beers Zipline Brewing Oak Aged Oatmeal Porter American Porter, IBU Unknown, ABV 6% Show Links Zipline Brewing Co Zipline Brewing Co on Twitter Silver Oak Winery Cabernet Sauvignon barrels NZ IPA by Zipline Brewing Co Surly Brewing in Iowa (@ 2:40) Recorded May 25, 2014 in Ankeny, Iowa Intro Music – When It ...
Aug 28, 2014•44 min
One of Minnesota’s most award-winning brewpubs, Barley John’s, lays out plans for expansion in Wisconsin. Hometown hero Surly brews a collaborative beer with Texas’ Real Ale and the Indiana juggernaut Three Floyds. Colorado’s Oskar Blues is now available in cans in Minnesota. And half-growlers make it easy to bring fresh beer home from Iowa. Beers Confluence Brewing Fresh Start Hoppy Pale Lager, IBU 31, ABV 4.86% Oskar Blues Deviant Dale’s India Pale Ale, IBU 85, ABV 8% Show Links Confluence Bre...
Feb 27, 2014•1 hr
Mike, Shawn, Tony, and Gretchen are joined by Stu for an extra-long episode featuring beers from Confluence Brewing of Iowa, Dangerous Man Brewing, AleSmith, and a Deschutes Brewery collaboration with Great Lakes Brewing. Show Links Capital Gold by Confluence Brewing Company, Golden Lager, 4.8% ABV – Untappd South Side Citra Blonde by Confluence Brewing Company, Blonde Ale, 5.2% ABV – Untappd American Wheat by Dangerous Man Brewing Company, American Pale Wheat Ale, 5.1% ABV – Untappd Dangerous M...
Dec 21, 2013•1 hr 46 min
Mike, Shawn, Gretchen, John, and Tony attack the summer sippers known as shandies and railers. These are beers that are truly a cocktail of approximately half beer and half lemonade or soda. Some breweries, such as Leinenkugel’s, pre-mix a shandy and make it available in bottles. Stieglbrauerei of Austria makes a similar beer called radler that uses grapefruit soda in a concoction with beer. With industry examples to set the stage, we make our own versions of the radler while discussing the role...
Aug 09, 2013•41 min
Mike, Shawn, Gretchen, John, and Tony discuss four beers from Fitger’s Brewhouse: Apricot Wheat, XXX, Starfire Reserve, and Superior Trail IPA. The tap list at Fitger’s is constantly rotating, so make sure you stop in to get a growler fill when driving through Duluth. Show Links Fitger’s Brewhouse on Twitter and Facebook – mncraftbrew.org Apricot Wheat by Fitger’s Brewhouse, Fruit Ale, 5.3% ABV – BeerAdvocate XXX English Ale by Fitger’s Brewhouse, ESB Pale Ale, 6.6% ABV – BeerAdvocate Starfire R...
Jul 23, 2013•1 hr 11 min
After episode 50, where we paid tribute to the American lagers that have shaped our beer culture, we decided it was time to revisit the beers that got our team started in craft beer. This episode covers the beginning of our craft beer culture shock. Each of our guests brought their gateway beers for the rest of the crew to try and discuss. Show Links 1554 by New Belgium Brewing Company , Belgian Dark Ale, 5.6% ABV – BeerAdvocate Two Hearted Ale by Bell’s Brewery, American IPA, 7.0% ABV – BeerAdv...
Jul 17, 2013•1 hr 6 min
We are hitting the big five-oh! We are 50 episodes into our project, and we are just getting started. As a form of celebration, each of the guests in this episode brought some American lagers to the table. We felt it necessary to pay homage to a few of the beers that introduced so many people to our favorite beverage. Listen up as we go around the table and chime in with your thoughts in the comments on the site. Show Links Old Style , American Adjunct Lager, 4.7% ABV – BeerAdvocate Grain Belt P...
Jun 17, 2013•48 min
TailGate Beer is based out of San Diego, California but currently brews in Monroe, Wisconsin. The company even once considered Cold Spring, Minnesota as home. Shawn got into a conversation with TailGate Beer’s founder Wesley Keegan more than a year ago. Wesley wanted us to try out his current trio of beers: Blacktop Blonde, Hefeweizen, and Session IPA. It’s been a long time coming, but we were glad to get the word out on these beers right before the summer season hits. Right before we recorded t...
May 24, 2013•50 min
Porters and peppers. The theme on this week’s show involves breweries kicking up their porters by infusing pepper and vanilla flavors. Chocolate Sombrero from Clown Shoes is a 9% ABV Imperial Stout that was brewed with ancho chile, chipotle peppers, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Clown Shoes barrel aged Chocolate Sombrero in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels and released it as the 11% ABV Luchador En Fuego for their third anniversary. The second round of beers involves the Smoked Porter by Stone Brewi...
Apr 30, 2013•52 min
Inspired by our conversation regarding Fulton Beer’s “War & Peace” from last week, we decided to round up all of Minnesota’s coffee beers for another blind taste testing. At this time of the year, we were able to source six different coffee-infused beers ranging from Brown Ale-styles to Imperial Stouts. The craft brewers of Minnesota […]
Apr 22, 2013•1 hr 11 min
Our latest episode is a bit of a Minnesota blowout! We start off with Size 7, an IPA from Steel Toe Brewing. We kick into high gear with Silhouette, an Imperial Stout from Lift Bridge. We continue discussions by side-stepping into War and Peace, a coffee stout based on Fulton’s Imperial stout, The Worthy Adversary. […]
Apr 08, 2013•1 hr 35 min
Sunday beer sales are a no-go in Minnesota. This forced Gretchen across the river to Wisconsin in search of some new beers to review in this week’s show. She came back with a a Belgian-style Saison from Nebraska that was brewed with Apricot puree and then aged for six months in French Oak Chardonnay barrels. […]
Mar 25, 2013•1 hr 6 min
We return this week with another three-way blind taste test of Farmhouse Style Ales made with Brettanomyces. We like the surprise reveal at the end, and try to avoid letting the marketing of the bottles truly sway our experience. The three beers we try are the Epic Elder Brett Saison Brett Golden Ale, a 2011 […]
Mar 04, 2013•44 min
Surprises are afoot as Mike, Jason, and special guest Luke attempt to decipher the differences between various American Imperial Stouts in a three-way blind tasting. We are at the tail-end of the season, but these beers from Bell’s, Founders, and Sierra Nevada stand as defining examples of the winter warmers available throughout the Midwest. Bell’s […]
Feb 25, 2013•40 min
John, Gretchen, Shawn, and Mike discuss the line of John Henry ales from Cold Spring Brewery of Minnesota – John Henry Colonial Cream Brown Ale, John Henry 3 Lick Spiker Ale, and John Henry West Indies Pale Ale. These three beers are part of a newer series of craft beer entries from the largest brewery […]
Feb 17, 2013•45 min
Jason and Mike take the hype head-on with the fresh release of Bell’s Hopslam Ale. Hopslam is a Double India Pale ale brewed with honey. “Starting with six different hop varietals added to the brew kettle and culminating with a massive dry-hop addition of Simcoe hops…” At 10% ABV, this isn’t a starter beer, but […]
Feb 06, 2013•48 min
Wisconsin is the home to New Glarus Brewing and their 100,000 barrel capacity Hilltop Brewery. Wisconsin Belgian Red was a game-changer for project members as it was one of the first locally-produced fruit beers that we came across. Available in 750ml bottles, Belgian Red was brewed with Wisconsin wheat, barley, and Montmorency cherries. The past […]
Jan 25, 2013•42 min
Toppling Goliath is growing in Iowa and will soon be moving to a 30 barrel brew system. With the coming expansion, the beer is now available across Iowa as well as Wisconsin. Jason and Mike take to their growlers to review a couple fresh pints of Toppling Goliath’s Golden Nugget IPA. Golden Nugget is a […]
Jan 18, 2013•53 min
Jason and Shawn review a series of beers from Firestone Walker Brewing Company of Paso Robles, California. Union Jack is a dry-hopped, west coast IPA available year-round. Double Jack is a double IPA that won bronze medal at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival. Finally, Wookey Jack is an unfiltered, rye malt, American-style black ale […]
Jan 09, 2013•50 min
Shawn, Mike, Gretchen, and John taste two different collaboratively created beers. Conflux No. 1 from Deschutes Brewery and Hair of the Dog Brewing is a blend of Deschutes Brewery’s The Stoic and The Dissident and Hair of The Dog’s Fred and Adam. These four beers were aged for 24 months in a variety of cask […]
Jan 04, 2013•53 min
Shawn and Mike are joined by friends Gretchen, John, and Obi. This week’s episode was an experiment. We recorded a five-person panel exploring an arrangement of Oyster Stout beers. There is no specific season for oyster stouts, as several of the examples we share in this episode are available year-round.Since we didn’t expect any beers […]
Dec 20, 2012•43 min
Shawn and Mike are joined this week by special guest Corey Shovein, the West Regional Market Manager for Founders Brewing Co. Corey was kind enough to share a bottle of the latest release in the Founders Back Stage Series, Bolt Cutter. Bolt Cutter is a 15% ABV barley wine brewed in celebration of the Founders […]
Dec 12, 2012•1 hr 13 min
Special guest Jason Brizzi calls in to discuss Day Tripper by Indeed Brewing Company, the expansion of breweries in Iowa and Minnesota, where these brewers are coming from, the favored hometown beer-styles, and the shake-up around Goose Island in the Chicago beer scene.
Dec 05, 2012•47 min
For the Minnesota beer fan, the end of October means the arrival of Surly’s Darkness Imperial Stout. Since 2007, Surly Brewing of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota has released its 750ml bottles of the lauded Darkness. For people who are willing to make the journey, Surly celebrates the release of Darkness with food and bands on the […]
Oct 22, 2012•39 min
Tick, tick, tick. That’s the sound of rare. This week’s episode of the podcast was recorded almost one year ago. It was the culmination of a day filled with homebrewing and beer discussions. Shawn shared a 375ml bottle of the The Lost Abbey’s The Angel’s Share 2010 that he had procured during a trip to […]
Feb 16, 2012•39 min
One morning while reading The Heavy Table, Shawn learned about one of Minnesota’s newest breweries, Boom Island Brewing Company. The biggest difference between Boom Island and many other breweries that have hit the news recently, is that Boom Island was already putting its beer up for sale. I attended a quick tasting at The Four Firkins in Saint […]
Jan 15, 2012•44 min
We’ve reached into the archives to release a “lost” episode of The Happy Hour. Back in 2010, Jason and Mike were lucky enough to receive a bottle of Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. This annually released beer shouldn’t be considered a simple oaked version of Founders Breakfast Stout, but is a wholly different beer. Kentucky Breakfast […]
Jan 06, 2012•21 min
I have to admit that I have missed our conversations through the microphone but we are at it again. Our scheduled programming returns this week with an exploration of some delicious sour beers. We delve into a comparison of a homebrew sour versus a commercial sour beer. Long overdue, Shawn and I share a bottle […]
Dec 13, 2011•1 hr
Boulevard Brewing of Kansas City, Missouri has a wonderful series of beers that they call the Smokestack Series. The “Smokestacks” are typically limited release beers that come in 750ml bottles. For me, they represent some of the most innovative beers available in the Midwest. Last year I fell in love with the Bourbon Barrel Quad […]
Feb 07, 2011•52 min
