The Great Minnesota Beer Get Together

As you may or may not know, the 2010 National Homebrewers Conference was in Minneapolis (technically Bloomington) last month. Homebrewing wasn't really on my radar when tickets went on sale for all the events so the seminars and everything else really didn't mean too much to me.

What did mean a ton to me though, was that a lot of my out-of-town friends were going to be in the Twin Cities for the conference and I was going to get to meet some of them for the first time.

Twitter was something that started slow for me, something I did just to see what it was all about. It also coincided with the explosion of my craft beer hobby and I soon found out that the two went hand in hand. I tweet about plenty more than beer but the majority of my interaction is about beer and most of it is with friends I met because of beer.

My biggest problem about social media is that too many people use it as a substitute for real friends. "I have 258 friends on Facebook" "Oh yeah? How many would meet you at the bar for a beer?" "Ummmmmm" Exactly.

I understand it's not always feasible to have a beer with a Twitter (or Facebook or whatever) "friend" when you live in Minneapolis and said friend lives in Texas. But that's what made last week so cool, I got to meet several Twitter friends in person for the first time and got to drink beer with them and friends that I met on Twitter but have had the fortune to hang out with before.

Here's the quick recap. Melanie from Atlanta (aka @mstrachan on the Twitter) was the first in town, she arrived with her friend Eric on Sunday night. I had volleyball league that night though so we didn't meet up till Monday night when we had a few beers at Town Hall. Josh (aka @joshareed on the Twitter) and his wife Elizabeth joined Melanie, Eric, Allison, Marie and me for a pretty fun get-to-know-ya Monday night.

Wednesday afternoon is when it all took off. Brett (aka @BrettGlenna on the Twitter) got tickets for a bunch of us to go to the Twins game that night and I decided to invite everybody over to Isenberg's Neighborhood Bar that afternoon so I could showcase some of Minnesota's finest beers before the game.

Josh was first to show up and eventually the rest of the crew showed up - Brett with Frank (@fnbarrett on the Twitter), Maggie (@SudsyMaggie on the Twitter) and Norm (@NormskiBrewer on the Twitter) in tow and Allison with Melanie and Eric. Norm and Maggie are from Washington and Frank is from Iowa (but don't hold that against him).

I spent the days leading up to Wednesday assembling as many Minnesota beers as I could find and the final count ended up being around forty available for us to try. We got through just over two dozen of them (give or take) before it was time to leave for the Twins game. Everybody got a taste of beer ranging from Schell's to Brau Brothers to Summit to Surly to Lake Superior to Lift Bridge. Not everybody tried every beer, but everybody got their fair share of a taste of Minnesota.

It was also the largest gathering of "Getting Tanked with Frank" panel members in history. OK, it was the first gathering in the short history of the hottest new podcast on the internet but that's what made it so significant. I had met Frank once before and Brett several times but this was our first group gathering (minus Mar, Ben & Laz).

The Getting Tanked with Frank logo was also born that day:

Allison and I met up with Frank and his wife and kids and with Brett and his wife and Maggie down at Target Field where we got to hang with Norm for a bit too. It was a beautiful evening and we got to see a fantastic game from Scott Baker, 12 strikeouts in a 2-1 Twins victory.

The next night, I got off work and stopped by home to grab some of the beers that we didn't get to the night before and headed down to Bloomington were the gang was hanging out (sans Frank & family and Melanie & Friend who headed home).

I brought some of the beers that we didn't get time to try from the night before including Surly Furious, Surly Abrasive Ale and a growler of Town Hall's Masala Mama. Didn't get a chance to stay too long since everybody had to return to the fun of the conference.

The next night Allison and I again headed down to the hotel after work, this time with a growler of Barley John's Wild Brunette and the just-released-that-very-day Lift Bridge Minnesota Tan and Brau Brothers Rubus (an imperial blackberry porter). Also included for the west coasters was a bottle of Bells Hopslam, past its prime but still worth trying for those who never have before.

After having dinner at the hotel with the gang, Allison and I left them to their fun again and headed back home since we were leaving for New Ulm the next morning.

While I was in New Ulm, I wanted to try a Schell's Hefeweizen on tap since it was in season and I had a hot tip that it was at the B&L Bar downtown. I ordered a hefe for me and a Schell's Stout for Allison and posted on Twitter that we were there. Not long after, I felt a pat on my back and saw yet another Twitter connection sit down on the barstool next to me. It was David Berg from Schell's (aka @schellbrewer on the Twitter).

Dave and I have been conversing on Twitter for awhile and I've wanted to meet up with him for awhile so it was great to finally have the chance to get to do that. We had a couple beers and shot the shit for awhile and had a great time. If my parents weren't waiting for their Happy Joe's chicken, I have the feeling we could have had a few more than we did. At least we finally got to have that first one and I look forward to having more in the near future.

The next morning after making a Father's Day breakfast for my parents, we took off for the Cities to pick up Norm & Maggie from the hotel so we could head to the St Paul Summer Beer Festival. Allison dropped us off and we soon met up with the rest of the crew and began sampling.

I was a little disappointed that some breweries only showed up with one or two beers and that some only showed up with regular stuff that I could drink whenever I wanted but I did find enough to sample about 24 different beers.

I was surprised that I didn't run into more people that I knew but I did run into a couple of very important cogs in the Twin Cities beer community, Dan and Bryan from the Four Firkins. Always good to see those guys, especially outside of work.

Eventually the day was wrapping up and Maggie, Norm and I had to figure out what we wanted for our last beer before Allison picked us up so that we could get Maggie and Norm to the airport on time.

We decided that it was fitting to end the day with a Surly. I hadn't been there all day since the program only listed beers that were already in my fridge at home. Maggie went up to grab a sample for both of us because I was busy BS'ing again and returned with the surprise of the day - Surly Brown Eye. Oops, I meant Surly IMPERIAL Brown Eye (sorry Todd!). I forgot the exact style that it was but it was a great way to end the day because it was easily my favorite beer of the day.

Thus ended an epic week of beer drinking with awesome people. Epic is a term that gets tossed around too much these days but I can't think of a word to better describe it. I was sad to see Norm and Maggie go, I had such a great time hanging out with them. I felt a lot better though because I knew we'd get to drink again hopefully very soon!

*Editor's note - Yeah, I'm a couple weeks late posting this son of a bitch. Sorry about that. I got writer's block for the events of the last day. OK, that's a lie. I just got lazy and then forgot about it. But better late then never. Now go drink a beer that was made close to where sleep at night.

BrauFest!

A couple Saturdays ago I attended my first ever BrauFest. As you may or may not know, Brau Brothers Brewing Company in Lucan, MN was the location of our beer club's first ever field trip (we even got our picture on the slideshow on their home page). The day we went included an open house at the brewery which included a self guided tour of the hop fields followed by a street dance outside the Brauhaus restaurant and bar (with supper in between at the Brauhaus for us).

I was hoping to get a good sized group of us down there again because it was the perfect set up for us. It's not too often that you can pitch a tent (or in our case, camper) right next to a brewery and drink beer until sleepy time and then sleep off all that beer until morning. Alas, a big group was not in the cards but we were not deterred.

I talked my sister Cheryl and her husband Bruce into coming and they met Allison and me at the brewery around 4:00 on Saturday afternoon with their camper in tow. What's better than owning a camper? Knowing someone who does! I was ready to sleep in a tent but glad that I didn't have to.

When we hit the brewery, I found out that rumors of the appearance of Rubus were true. Rubus is the newest Brau beer, a big ass imperial blackberry porter. Ignoring all rules about what order to drink beers in, I immediately requested one as my first beer. It was damn good too. Not too overwhelming with the blackberry, but just enough to give it a nice flavor. The 9.something% ABV was nicely hidden too. All that for only $5 in a Brau Brothers pint glass that you got to keep (and refill for only $3).

Now Cheryl and Bruce are pretty loyal to Michelob Golden Draft Light (no, I haven't disowned them yet) so I knew Rubus and Sheephead (7.7% ABV pale ale) were out. So we started Bruce off with their version of a light(er) beer, Old 56 and Cheryl had a Strawberry Wheat (and eventually switched to Old 56 as well.

Allison & Cheryl wouldn't hijack the van for me

I switched to Sheephead after a pilsner and soon realized that it was really growing on me. It's a big flavorful pale ale that, if you didn't know better, could easily be mistaken for an IPA. If you like big hops with big flavor, give it a try sometime. They went down way to easily and after a few of those and another Rubus, it was a wobbly walk up to the Brauhaus for me.

When we moved on to the restaurant to eat, we all ordered Brau beers again except Cheryl, who reverted back to Mich Golden form and ordered one. After I gave her crap and Bruce glared at her long enough, she changed her order to an Old 56 and stuck with it for the rest of the night. I'm not sure if they'll ever drink another Brau Beer (or craft beer for that matter) again, but I think I did my part to show them that their perception of craft beer is a little off (like most people's) and that there are some good starter beers for them in the better beer world.

I also bought Bruce an Old 56 t shirt and like I told him that the Brau Brothers might not be able to afford a Super Bowl commercial, but they can put a t shirt on a guy walking around Atwater, MN!

Bruce enjoying one of many Old 56's

After eating way too much good food, my stomach wasn't exactly ready to start drinking a ton of beer again so I decided to switch to the Brau Cream Stout. In spite of me being stuffed, it was still delicious to sip on which is a testament to how smooth that beer is. It was the perfect dessert/after dinner drink.

The street dance was pretty cool, not a lot of dancing going on except for the two little kids having a blast in front of the stage but the band (Hicktown Mafia)was pretty good and played a good mix of stuff from the 70's through the 00's and we had a pretty good time.

I read a comment online from somebody who went last year that said something along the lines of "it was mainly a bunch of locals drinking Bud Lights". For the most part, that's what it was again this year but I don't think you need to have a Mecca like Dark Lord Day with beer geeks crawling out of the wood works to be a good craft beer festival.

I actually appreciated the smaller crowd because you don't often get that kind of face time with the guys who run a brewery and as long as you have good beer to drink, having a good time is all up to you. I got to meet someone I've chatted with on Twitter at the brewery too and had some good conversation with her and her boyfriend. There's always an opportunity to meet someone new and talk about beer with them. Even if they're not big craft beer fans, you can still talk about it with them at an event like this one.

Hanging with Dustin & Trevor Brau

My goal is to get that good sized group to hit this thing next year and we can turn it into our own private beer festival (with a few locals thrown in the mix for fun). Or maybe word will start getting out and it'll get way bigger next year. Either way, I'm going to have fun and who knows, maybe my name will finally get on the plaque at the Brauhaus by then for eating those damn wings last spring!

Beer Club Volume Nine - Wheat & Wit Beers

As with saisons last month, I wanted to plan May's Beer Clubl with some beers that everybody could try and enjoy during the hot summer months in Minnesota. Let's face it, Bourbon County Stout might be one of the best beers on the planet, but it's not something you wanna sit out on your deck drinking several of on a 95 degree Saturday afternoon in June.

Enter wheat beers and witbiers. Rather than do two separate months with these closely related styles, I wanted to keep things interesting by combining them so everybody could notice how one differs from the other.

At the same time, a line up of beers that similar to each other could be a little boring so Alvey and I decided to throw a few curveballs in with a strawberry wheat (and again representing a local brewery), a hoppy wheat beer, a dark Belgian ale brewed with wheat and even an imperial witbier. Here is the lineup:

Hoegaarden, a Belgian White from Brouwerij Hoegaarden (Belgium)
Strawberry Wheat, a Wheat Ale from Brau Brothers (Minnesota)
Hop Sun, a Wheat Ale from Southern Tier (New York)
Steenbrugge Wit, a Belgian White from Brouwerij Palm (Belgium)
Oberon, a Wheat Ale from Bell's (Michigan)
Chambly Noire, a Belgian Ale from Unibroue (Sapporo) (Canada)
Witte Noire, a Wheat Ale from De Proefbrouwerij (Belgium)
Imperial Dunkel Wit, a Belgian Strong Ale from Nøgne Ø (Norway)

This style wasn't the most interesting to break down or discuss in great lengths but I think everybody got to try something new (or in some cases, a half dozen or more new beers) and get an idea of what they want to grab a sixer of to bring to the cabin, fishing or to the park with them when the weather is hot. I also finally had an excuse to buy a Bell's mini-keg!

The thing I got most out of this meeting was how much fun it was, I don't remember laughing that much in a long time and it was pretty evident that we've gelled pretty well as a club it's proof that having beer as a hobby can make you great new friends.

Sam Adams Longshot

I'm not sure how I missed the first however-many-of-these there have been, but a few months ago I heard about Sam Adams annual Longshot competition. In a nutshell, it's their contest for home brewers to see who can submit the best beers with the winners being produced and sold in six packs. The most recent winners were an old ale and a barleywine with saison brewed by an employee of Sam Adams being the third beer.

I recently came across a six-pack containing two of each of these beers and since I absolutely loved the concept and spirit of the competition I had to pick one up and check them out. I thought I'd jot down a few thoughts about them and post this entry to help spread the word about the competition in case you've been in the dark about its existence like I was.

The first one I tried was the lemon pepper saison created by Samuel Adams employee Jeremy White. It was a very effervescent beer with a pretty clean, crisp flavor. The spices (especially the coriander) in the beer made it come off as more of a witbier to me than a saison but it was still a pretty good beer.

The next beer was an old ale created by Michael Robinson. This style isn't one I'm too familiar with (Hibernation from Great Divide and Old Curmudgeon from Founders are about the extent of my experience) but I really enjoyed this beer. It was slightly boozy (to be expected from the 9% ABV) but it the main aroma and flavor that came across to me were the dark fruit notes. It was surprisingly easy to drink for such a big beer.

The last beer I tried was a barley wine from Ben Miller. Before I tried it, I thought that it was curious that they would have chosen a bit more variety for the winners because the old ale I had just finished really reminded me of a barley wine as well. But the barley wine really came off as completely different to me than the old ale before it. The aroma didn't do much for me, it was pretty weak but once I took a sip I got quite a bit of flavor. It also had some dark fruit elements to it but the big thing I noticed was the hops profile. As I swallowed I noticed these flavors were accentuated in the finish. It was like a three part process with each part growing and showcasing what the beer was all about.

I enjoyed all three beers but if I had to pick a winner I'd go with Michael's old ale by just a nose over Ben's barley wine. I think I'm going to cellar the remaining bottle of each and see how they develop with some time and I'm going to pick a nice hot summer day to crack the other bottle of Jeremy's saison.

So, this is just one more thing to inspire me to brew my own beer one of these days. Well, that and Josh, Matt and Brett doing their best to recruit me. I told them that maybe next year's sixers will look like this:

Once I do take the plunge into making my own beer I'll do my best to get on there. If I'm as good at brewing as I am at buying beer and drinking it, I'll be a shoe-in to be on this package in the future!

Beer Club, Volume Eight - Saisons!

Well, it appears that spring has finally sprung in Minnesota. About damn time. I thought it was time to start introducing the group to some beers that go down well in the summer so that they don't try drinking an imperial stout when mowing the lawn and accidentally revert back to Miller Lite.

Wheat beers/witbiers/hefeweizens were all on my radar but I decided to start with my personal favorite of the summer styles, saisons. Admittedly, I needed to brush up on some good examples myself as I had tried less than ten different ones before April's Beer Club meeting.

I knew that I wanted to do Lift Bridge's Farm Girl and Surly's CynicAle, both because of the local angle and because they're damn good beers. Another one that was a personal favorite had to make the cut so Goose Island's Sofie was on my short list. A visit to the Four Firkins helped round out the lineup with Alvey's help. He recommended Ommegang's Hennepin (I felt silly for forgetting that one) and also Saison Dupont which he said was the classic example of the style. A couple new arrivals, Victory Helios and Great Divide's Colette rounded out the list.

I had tried five of the seven beers on the list and I usually like to try most of them before Beer Club so I bought a 375ml bottle of the Saison Dupont and drank it on Sunday. I was a bit leery when I saw it came in a green bottle and pretty disappointed when I popped the top and smelled some skunky aromas. Luckily though, the smell faded quickly and it turned out to be a pretty good beer.

After October's meeting, I realized how devastating it can be to have an awesome beer in the middle of the lineup followed by a less-than-awesome beer. I hadn't had Sofie since last year and had only tried it twice but I was confident enough in my tastes to move the Dupont from the end of the lineup. To cover my ass though, I put Hennepin at the end with Sofie second to last because I knew I liked Hennepin and I knew it was another renowned example of the style. My fear was that the skunky aroma in the beginning would turn the guys off a bit to it and I didn't want to finish the night on that kind of note.

Beer Club Monday rolled around and we were a little light compared to the full capacity Trappist month in March but that was OK with me, I love good attendance but I think about six people is the perfect number and that's exactly what we had. We started off locally with the Farm Girl and the Cynic which both surprisingly had some mixed reviews.

The new litmus test that I started using is "Would you drink this beer over Miller Lite (or whatever your favorite macro was) if they were the only two beers in a bar?" and also "Would you drink this over Summit (or whatever your go to easily accessible standard craft beer is) if they were the only two beers in a bar?" For the most part, everybody picked the saison in question over the macro with a couple exceptions but they didn't necessarily beat out the go to craft beers for as many people.

Note - I don't use Summit in that second question as a slam to Summit at all. On the contrary, I use it as my example because for about a decade now, I've walked into every shit bar just hoping they have Summit because they've done such a good job getting into bars in Minnesota that they're my oasis in an otherwise bad lineup of taps.

We moved on to the Colette which for some odd reason was Great Divide’s first appearance in Beer Club. They make some incredible beers (Yeti, Hibernation Ale, Titan, Hercules) and I’m glad the group finally got exposed to them. The Colette seemed to be one of the middle of the road, everybody liked it enough that they’d drink it again but there was no raving about it. I had it at right in the middle myself but will seek it out to drink more.

Then came the Helios. Oh my, I wasn’t ready for this one. Or should I say, the group wasn’t ready for this yet. My first experience with “da funk” came from Saison Brett from Boulevard last year. It’s kind of hard to describe other than using the term funky. Well, Helios has it too. Now don’t get me wrong, I personally didn’t think it was a bad thing and neither did Brett but we’ve come across it before.

Convincing the rest of the group was a whole other thing. My question was and remains, how do you tell someone who’s getting into beer that aromas of “barnyard funk” and “horse blanket” not only not bad but sought after? The Helios wasn’t too overpowering but for Pat, Phil and Paul L, it was shit. Literally.

Pat's reaction to da funk

Brett and I liked it and Paul U was on board for the most part but the other guys were less than enthused and choked down their samples. I’m thinking we could have some issues for certain styles in Beer Club’s future. But we’ll cross that bridge to the barnyard when we get to it.

Next up was Saison Dupont, considered by many to be the epitome of the saison style of beer and was once named by Men’s Journal as the best beer in the world. It went over very well. It did have a bit of the skunky aroma which I learned from Brett is actually more of a sulfur aroma, or DMS (dimethyl sulfide) in the very geeky section of the beer world. The thing about it with this beer was that it luckily faded quickly after the initial pungent punch to the nose and the beer ended up being very enjoyable. It did spark a good discussion about aromas and the difference between skunky and DMS notes.

Brett popping his (former) favorite saison

Next on the list was Sofie. Up until this point, this was my favorite saison and it remained in the top slot after going up against the others as well. It was the winner of the night in a landslide and even prompted Brett to change his mind on his favorite saison. If this stuff keeps happening, I might start to think I know something about beer!

Beer of the Night

The final saison of the night was Ommegang's Hennepin. It went over well but also a bit uneventful. I should have trusted my instincts and moved Sofie to the end but at least Hennepin was liked by most and wasn't a bad beer to end the nig ht on.

We finished the night with a few random beers including Matt Schiller's "Double Broken Tap" Imperial IPA (142 IBU 8.4 ABV). Matt's another home brewer that I met via Twitter. He brought me a couple bombers of his beer one night after work and after we drank one together, I grudgingly decided to save the other to split with Beer Club. It's a damn good beer and everybody loved it. Can't wait to drink more of it one day.

Matt's Double Broken Tap IIPA

Thus ended another successful Beer Club. I'm not sure that saisons went over real well for the whole group, but at least we were all exposed to something new and will hopefully continue to try more of this unique style of beer.

***Note - One thing that I wanted to mention was the perception of price in regards to packaging. The main reason I picked Helios to add to the lineup was because I thought it would be good to have a very affordable option and since it was only $3.99 a bomber, it really fit the bill.

One comment I always hear about Surly is how they're so expensive because $10-12 for a four pack of cans isn't what people are accustomed to paying. Well, the "cheap" bomber of Helios comes out to about 18 cents an ounce and the "expensive" CynicAle comes out to about 16 cents an ounce. All perception.

I'm not trying to knock Helios or say that Surly is the new cheap beer on the block, I just wanted to mention it so that you're always aware of what you're actually paying for a beer. The Hennepin was another good lesson in paying attention. If you buy a 750ml of cork and caged Hennepin you'll pay about $8 for it. If you buy a 4 pack of 12 oz bottles you'll pay about $10-11 for it. The 750ml costs about 32 cents per ounce, the 4 pack costs about 22 cents an ounce.

Bottom line is do the math, figure out the best value for your dollar and be able to afford more good beer.

Beer Club's First Field Trip

One of the things I had envisioned when I was coming up with the idea of Beer Club was that we'd do some field trips as a group. While some very loose versions of "group outings" had occurred (Josh & I going to Surlyfest, Paul & Paul & I going to Winterfest), a true group outing had yet to happen.

Surly was very high on my list because of its closeness and because of how much we all love their beer but the first one to actually come about was Brau Brothers. It started in January when they were doing a tasting at the Four Firkins and I spoke with Dustin about us possibly coming out. He seemed to be more than happy to have us so I started thinking about putting something together.

I later saw Dustin and his brother Trevor when Paul & Paul & I were at Winterfest and we once again spoke about the group going to the brewery for a visit. After plenty of emails to the group, we decided on April 10th as the date that would work for the most people. It was on.

I wanted to make sure it was a good sized group so I encouraged people to bring significant others and any friends that were interested and by the time it the day came around there were seven of us from Beer Club with seven other guests. The more I thought about it, I realized that New Ulm was less than an hour away from Lucan so I also set up a private tour of the Schell's brewery for the same day.

The day of the tour we all met at Brau Brothers at or around 11:00 for the tour. The Brau Brothers tour reminded me of the Surly tour because most of it takes place in one big room. Dustin told us about the day to day happenings of the brewery, the history of it and plenty of other info that we all wanted to know.

Besides that, we all got to have some good conversation with Trevor Brau and Dale Brau as well as sample plenty of beer from the nine taps that were flowing. I can tell you with some certainty that there were some new fans of some of the beers, notably the Sheephead. I got lots of positive feedback about that beer. Eventually everybody broke off into smaller groups and spent the rest of the time talking with each of the Braus and just having a good time.

We were told about Brau Fest, which will happen the first weekend in June. I really want to make it and hopefully can get a small group of friends to go too. If you don't have plans currently, mark it on your calendar and come have a beer (or ten) with me.

One thing I'd like to reiterate is how much I love to support not just a local brewery like Brau Brothers, but to support a great group of guys like the ones who run the place. All three of them were very genuine guys that you'd want to sit and have a beer with, no matter where they worked. One of the very cool things about the day was that they didn't charge for the tour, they just asked for a donation to the local Lions Club and we were more than happy to oblige.

After the tour we decided to stop by the Brauhaus for some food and to check out their offsale beer which included (of course) Brau Brothers. One of the things I noticed on their website and for some reason thought I needed to try was a "Beyond Insanity Wings Challenge". Since this is a beer blog and not a "Man vs Food" blog, I'll spare you the gory details. I will say though that in hindsight, I'm not sure it was a smart idea on my part. Apparently the success rate is only 15%. But I did it and will now be immortalized in Lucan on the plaque inside the Brauhaus. Look for me if you're ever there!

After we finished up in Lucan, we all drove to New Ulm to hit Schell's Brewery. A regular tour is $3 per person and if you want to set up a private tour for your group, it's $60 or $3 per person, whichever is greater. I figured even if there were only 10-15 of us that paying the extra $2-3 per person would be worth it to have the tour all to ourselves. We ended up with 18 people because four others joined us in New Ulm.

I had been on the tour several times before, most recently in January of this year, but each time it's a little different. Sometimes it's because every tour guide has their own style and set of information that they decide to share with you. Sometimes it's because new events are going on. Sometimes it's because a new gift shop & tasting room just opened. Sometimes it's because of whatever. Bottom line is that even if you've toured it before it's worth your while to check it out again.

Since I wrote a bit about Schell's a few months ago when I toured it, I don't have a ton more to add about it. One very cool part of the day though was being able to do both of these tours on the same day to compare and contrast how different they are.

Brau Brothers is a very small operation that opened only a few years ago and they are making beers that are very current in today's craft beer world. Their lineup fills several different niches and no matter what you like, you should be able to find something. Included in that lineup, they have a great flagship pale ale, a very drinkable cream stout, a light lager and even a big & complex sipper. Their tour consisted of basic background on the brewing process, how they got the company going and some plans for the future.

Schell's on the other hand, is a pretty good sized brewery that is the second oldest in the country and has a lineup of beers that very much sticks to their 150 year history of brewing German style beers. Their beers are in no way as diverse as Brau Brothers but they have a proven history of success. Their tour consisted of a detailed historical background of both the brewery and the family that has been running it since day one. They talk about how to keep their history alive in modern times and sustaining both their success and the Schell's tradition.

I'd also like to mention that we had a wonderful tour guide at Schell's. From the minute the tour started she was very chipper and friendly to everybody and did a great job putting up with a group full of wise crackers and comedians. She let us hang around well past our hour tour and answered a ton of questions that we had. Schell's is lucky to have a sweetheart like her working for them.

After the tour was over, about half of us visited another staple of New Ulm, Happy Joe's pizza parlor. I mention this for two reasons. First and foremost, if you ever make it to New Ulm you have to eat there, and I would highly recommend the taco pizza. Second, they had the new Grain Belt Nordeast which had just come out three days prior and wasn't even in the Schell's sampling room yet.

If I had known how fun this day was going to be it would have happened a long time ago. Kudos to the entire group for mobilizing and making this happen. Everybody contributed in a positive way to make the day a huge success and that includes not just the Beer Club members but the guests as well. Everybody did a great job asking questions, engaging in good conversation and representing what the craft beer community can be like.

I'm not sure what the next field trip is going to be but after this experience I can promise two things. It'll be soon and it'll be a damn good time!

I'd have another beer in Mexico

When we were planning our trip to Mexico with Dayna and Noe, there was one usual part of traveling that didn't enter the equation for me because I didn't expect to find a brew pub or a local brewery to visit and I was just hoping to find drinkable beer period.

Now, in my efforts to tow the line between beer geek and beer snob I try to stick to the notion that my real favorite beer is the one I'm drinking at the moment. So rather than be sad that there was no Mexican brewery that made an Russian Imperial Stout or a double IPA I was hoping to find a beer that was drinkable. Since Mexican beer made me think of Corona and the skunk ass juice that you find in that bottle, I wasn't hoping for much.

When we got to Noe's hometown of Buenavista de Cuellar, he introduced me to his favorite beer - Victoria. He said it was one of the beers that wasn't distributed nationwide for some reason but was still very good. I was hopeful when I saw it in a brown bottle rather clear and in 90 degree weather, cold and refreshing are the most important characteristics that a beer can have. Luckily, Victoria was both. Nothing out of the norm, just a very decent lager that Dogfish Head might call a "lawnmower beer" and it really hit the spot whenever I drank it. It complemented both the the food and the weather down there very well. I later found out that it was made by the same company that makes Corona, Negra Modelo, Pacifico, etc. No matter, Victoria really hit the spot down there. I also found out that it goes very well with goat!

When we traveled to Acapulco for a few days we were lucky enough to have an all inclusive package at the hotel. I knew this meant that I was going to be limited on what I could drink for beer and was a bit nervous when I saw that meant only Corona. Whatever... when in Rome, er I mean when in Mexico, right?

Well I had a few things working in my favor. First, they had big BROWN bottles that it was served from, like the one on this page. So unlike every previous Corona that I had tried in the States, this beer wasn't guaranteed to be light stuck. In fact, I didn't have one skunky beer anywhere in Mexico and I don't think it was a coincidence that I stuck to brown bottled beer.

The second thing I figured I had going for me was that I was in Mexico drinking a Mexican beer. Not exactly like drinking Abrasive Ale from that was made 4 miles from my house but still much better than a beer that travels across the boarder and customs, etc. When you have that short of a shelf life for a beer, every day helps.

Lastly, I was sitting on a freakin' beach in Acapulco. Really, a substandard beer wouldn't be able to ruin my day. It was another beer that fit the bill for me and went down well. I made a point to buy a Corona shirt while I was there, but one that also had Acapulco on it. It's a good reminder to me that beer is best when it fills the need that you currently have.

The third beer that I drank several of when we were in Mexico was Negra Modelo. I actually first had this our first day in Acapulco at Amigo Miguel's. We were traveling all morning, had problems checking in and by the time we got there for lunch, all I wanted was a beer. After trying Vicky's already I figured I'd go with Negra Modelo after Noe told me it was his second choice of Mexican beer.

A combination of my thirst, my need for a beer and the price tag (right around a buck a bottle) led me to drink several of them at lunch. At the time, they tasted as good as a beer can taste. This was another beer that I had probably tried sometime in the past (like Corona) but wasn't crazy about because it wasn't as fresh as it could have been, I wasn't in the mood for it or just didn't like as much because I wasn't drinking it while staring at the Pacific Ocean. (Just for the record, it was legal for me to be drinking it in the car).

My beer experience in Mexico was actually a microcosm of my entire experience in Mexico. I really learned to appreciate another culture and their way of doing things while simultaneously realizing how much I take for granted at home. I didn't get to pop the cork off a Belgian quad while I was south of the border but I did find beer that tasted damn good at a ridiculously cheap price (we even drank a few at the coffee shop across the street from where we were staying).

I won't likely find another Victoria in the States and I'm thinking I won't roll the dice ordering a Corona in a clear bottle but I'll gladly drink Negra Modelo when the situation fits and one day when I return, I'll be more than happy to have another beer in Mexico.

¡Salud!