Lucky Friday Story

Well folks, if you missed last week end's adventures, you missed an interesting trip executed with German precision. Bandana Brewing Company is up and running. Dave is barely keeping up with demand. Just imagine what may happen if he starts selling growlers! All of his beers were very well produced using a neutral flavored yeast (aka 1056). Quite the nice setup with mash over HLT, kettle energy recovery (vapor used to heat HLT). The brewery is fired with low pressure steam boiler using steam traps, vented condensate tank, and a makeup pump. The boiler fits into a separate room keeping excess heat energy out of the brew haus. The special beer of the day was a wit and it was very pleasantly spiced. We dropped off some old bottles of LSBW that were produced using a similar recipe and his actual yeast. Later that evening, back at the camp ground, Dave received a call from Bob (head brewer at Hops Eden Prairie) who told Dave that he placed two beers at the recent beer contest. Make sure you stop by and congratulate Bob for his accomplishments. Next day, we kicked it into high range. The bugler found his bugle and bungled revile. We then headed out to Kasota and Scott was very helpful with best route. About 15 minutes later, we went into Mid-America Brewing and were very pleasantly surprised. You just can't believe the quantity of varieties of malt they carry. And, they pack it in from floor to ceiling. They have a very strong "can do" ethic and supply bagged malt, rebag malt after crushing, provide measured malt containers (grist mixed, measured, crushed). Much of their malt arrives on Semi-trucks and it is off-loaded into a chute, lifted into hoppers, and then metered into bags. Like I mentioned, the variety is almost endless and countries of origin include USA, Canada, Germany, England, France (freedom malt) Belgium, and a few others. They even had some original "Special B" but it was over two years old and lousing quality rapidly. It is not available for brewing. They also supply hops and have a large selection of pellets. We toured the room and thought we would be overcome with aroma. Amazing how little aroma occurs if everything is sealed. They break down hops into smaller packages and flush every bag with C02 before heat sealing. Food was great but the "Premium" had an off flavor - sort of cidery. Next stop was Schells. The tour was great. They have produced a new video spotlighting the new brewery. The tour guide was great and she identified many new aspects of the old brewery that may have been forgotten. Unfortunately, we did not tour the new brewery or see the new fermenting vessels. We mentioned the cidery flavor at the local restaurant. Next stop was wine country. Ted's brother has a 10 acre farm and is busy planting grapes, chasing critters, and making wine. He has an amazing selection of wines that are produced at his facility. He supplements his grapes using his own grown and purchases various varieties from all over the country. Wines range from a sweet ice wine to a very dry and tart dark red. I believe there were about 15 varieties between the ends. We were rapidly running out of day and time so we headed back to the campground. Tried the remaining beers (only had about 13 kegs) and purchased food for the BBQ. It was so amazing cooking a BBQ without rain.........almost thought about hitching up a garden hose and a sprinkler. So there is the field report from Mankato. No accidents or mishaps. Next club event is in Chicago and the guys and gals are planning on getting a little wild and crazy. Unfortunately, not all can make it. The next official club event occurs next month on July 18-20. Cocato campout. Let's hope for a repeat of the nice weather. See you in July or earlier. Rick O