mba October 2008

mba@thebarn.com

17 participants
35 discussions

by Gera Exire La Tour

Hey everyone. Disappointed that Oktoberfest is only a few weeks long? Let's continue the celebration. The October MHBA meeting is scheduled for Saturday, October 18th from noon-3 pm at the CSPS Hall. There will be an "Oktoberfest" potluck, so bring your favorite German recipes. And for German-style music, Eric Swann and Mark Johnson are organizing an Oompa Band. Got a favorite instrument? Bring it along! (Email Eric Swann, so he can get music set up in the key you need. mnbearhorn(a)yahoo.com. Didn't realize instruments had keys? Bring it along anyway. All are welcome regardless of skill level.) There will also be German beer trivia. All are welcome. Bring homebrewed and/or commercial beers to share. Gera Exire LaTour CSPS Hall 383 Michigan Street St. Paul, MN _________________________________________________________________ Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows Live. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093185mrt/direct/01/

17 years, 2 months

Ah yes... once again a great ABR - Thanks all!

by Hatcher, Brian

I missed out on trying any of the Lift Bridge or the Fresh Hop beers dang it... those lines... I did get a taste of Surly's Darkness and Coffee Bender, Fitzgers always awesome Cherry Beer, and the Apricot Breakfast Ale, along with that hot Wildfire Lager. I liked some of Dave's creations at Schell's. Great Water's Auld Braun was interesting. Town Hall came through again with a nice Blueberry Oatmeal Pale Ale & Choc Oat Stout...love that place! The Smoked Dopplebock at Rock Bottom was great. Summit surprised me with their Brettanomyces Stout... very good. Furthermore's Oscura was very good as was New Belgium's Giddy Up. New Holland's Dragon's Milk had the WOW factor going! Then things got a little blurry... Just too many on my list to get too this year... L Cheers! ~Brian Hops were tops at 2008 Autumn Brew Review By CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER, Star Tribune October 1, 2008 Testing the old marketing rule that people always want what they can't have, this year's Autumn Brew Review served up heavy doses of the world's most endangered beer ingredient: hops. Hopped-up beers boiled over at the eighth annual festival of libations, held last Saturday outside the Grain Belt Brewery in Minneapolis with its usual, sold-out-in-a-day attendance of 2,500. For one day only, you would have never known there was a worldwide hops shortage going on. Favorite hops-laden flavors of recent Brew Reviews -- including the Surly Furious, Tyranena's Hop Whore and Rush River's Bubblejack IPA (India Pale Ale)-- were joined by such new standouts as Minneapolis Town Hall's Fresh Hop 2008 and Brau Brothers' Fresh Hop Ale. Town Hall's heavily hopped brand, on tap at the brew pub for a limited time this fall, was a crisp brew with a powerful wallop comparable to Boulder Brewing's Hazed & Infused (but, for obvious geographic reasons, much fresher tasting). The Brau Brothers, from puny Lucan, Minn., balanced out its wet-hops-spiked, kegs-only ale with caramely Vienna malt. Also among the best of the new hop crop was a slightly darker but no less pungent ale called Harvestor, one of four excellent brews by the day's standout newcomer: Stillwater-based Lift Bridge Brewery, in operation four months. Lift Bridge's crew verbosely and rightfully boasted of the Harvestor's freshness (the hops allegedly were picked two days earlier from a "secret patch" in Stillwater). Their enthusiasm was as infectious as their brews, which also included the Pioneer Pale Ale (a bold IPA), the oak-aged, malt-roasted Slab House Dark (Belgian strong ale) and what will probably become their flagship brand, the earthy-flavored Farm Girl Saison. Saison beers -- French ales associated with late-summer harvests -- were also prevalent at Brew Review '08. The best was the just plain refreshing Dumaine DuPage French Country Ale from Warrenville, Ill.-based Two Brothers Brewing, which also boasted a divine hefeweizen, Ebel's Weiss. Other saisons included the (take a breath before saying it) Cherry Saison Imperial Oak Aged Cherry Ale, from Southern Tier of Lakewood, N.Y., another newcomer with a big (ahem) buzz. More conventional but thoroughly satisfying was a French oak-flavored saison from Great Waters Brewing Co., a St. Paul brew pub. Perhaps the most unique new brew of the day was Obscura, a bold but surprisingly accessible Mexican lager with coffee and maize flavoring, served by Wisconsin newcomer Furthermore. I got there too late to try another odd standout, the Serrano Pepper Ale from the St. Croix Brewing Co. The St. Paul-based newcomer's maple and cream ales failed to make much of an impression. Also decent but ho-hum were the new brands from Cold Spring Brewing Co., including its pale ale and Honey Almond Weiss. Only Cold Spring's unfiltered and malty Ebony Wheat was distinctive. Nobody stands out at the Brew Review like Surly, though. The Brooklyn Center-based microbrewery once again had the longest lines of the review for its Darkness 2008 and again for its Oak-Aged Cranberry Saison. Good luck finding those brews anywhere before the next Brew Review (Feb. 6 at the History Center; details at www.mncraftbrew.org) Chris Riemenschneider * 612-673-4658 (c) 2008 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. --- Brian Hatcher Sr. Master Scheduler C.P.I.M. Email: brian_hatcher(a)Xiotech.com Office: 952 983 2466 Fax: 952 983 2488 Xiotech Corporation 6455 Flying Cloud Drive Eden Prairie, MN 55344 www.xiotech.com : www.xiotech.com/demo : Toll-Free 866 472 6764

17 years, 2 months

MhBA member Jim LaRocque LIVE at the Medina Ballroom 10/4!

by allan.boyce＠usbank.com

Not busy this Saturday? Go check out fellow homebrewer Jim LaRocque in the Hot Hits orchestra at the Medina Ballroom this Saturday, 8:30pm! (He's the guy in the blue shirt, second from the left in the attached photos.) Medina box office phone # is 763-478-6661. - Al ----- Forwarded by Allan V Boyce/MN/USB on 10/01/2008 10:43 AM ----- "larocqueman(a)netzero.net" <larocqueman(a)netzero.net> 10/01/2008 09:22 AM To Undisclosed-recipients:; cc Subject Medina Show Check out Hot Hits Orchestra on Youtube to get an idea of what we're doing. Jim LaRocque U.S. BANCORP made the following annotations --------------------------------------------------------------------- Electronic Privacy Notice. This e-mail, and any attachments, contains information that is, or may be, covered by electronic communications privacy laws, and is also confidential and proprietary in nature. If you are not the intended recipient, please be advised that you are legally prohibited from retaining, using, copying, distributing, or otherwise disclosing this information in any manner. Instead, please reply to the sender that you have received this communication in error, and then immediately delete it. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------

17 years, 2 months

"Old" ales

by Tony Ernst

Hi, Over the years, I've occasionally stashed a Barleywine or Old Ale down in the cellar, thinking "this will be better in a few years". Then I totally forget about it (out of sight, out of mind). Time really flies when you ignore things. Last night, I finally went down and did an inventory. Among other things, I have a 19 year old bottle of Chimay Red, three 15 year old bottles of Thomas Hardy Ale, a bottle of barley wine that the brewmaster at Santa Fe Brewing gave me 14 years ago, two 12 year old bottles of Traquair House Ale, etc... So, my question is... how long is long enough? Or more importantly, how long is too long? I have no doubt that the barley wines and the Thomas Hardy Ale (11.7%), will be good for many more years. But the Chimay is only 7%, and Traquair House Ale is 7.2%. Even though they're all bottle conditioned, I suspect they may already be past their prime(?). I also found a bottle of Samuel Smith Imperial Stout (7%) that was a few years old. I never intended to age that, so I drank it last night. It was still (very) good. Does anyone have any experienceopinion about this? Thanks! Cheers, Tony

17 years, 2 months

Scotch Ale in Barrel

by Rick Oftel

Guys and Gals, I don't want to frighten you but we have some very old Scotch Ale in an oak barrel. The barrel has a pellicle and the flavor is "interesting." Maybe this could be entered in an experimental category? This was the third time we used this barrel and obviously our sanitation techniques were not as strong as the critters. The crew that contributed to this barrel expressed limited interest with their 5 gallon portions so I'm opening up the barrel to anyone. If you want 5 or 10 or more gallons of barrel aged Scotch ale, leave a cornie by my front door sometime this week and it will be filled by Saturday. After Saturday, the beer departs on a secret mission within city drain lines. Rick Oftel This electronic message including any attachments ("Message") may contain information that is privileged, confidential and/or exempt from disclosure under trade secret and other applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient, notify the sender immediately, permanently delete all copies of this Message, and be aware that examination, use, dissemination, duplication or disclosure of this Message is strictly prohibited.

17 years, 2 months

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

mba October 2008