Last summer, I got a message at the Blue Nile that some one named Jason Sowards was trying to get in touch with me about his upcoming Harriet Brewing Company, right here in Minneapolis. It means a lot to me when people reach out to me about their beer & brewing ventures. We set up a meeting at the Nile,and finally I met the man behind this upstart venture, and we had a tasting session with his homebrews. I was seriously impressed by his skills, and soon learned of his reputation among the home-brewing community. He planned to brew mainly Belgian-style brews, in small batches, which makes him a brewer after my own heart.
I was excited to watch his progress on getting a brewery going, even changing the city's laws to allow breweries to sell growlers or large bottles without having a restaurant attached (weird, right? Why would you need to sell X amount of food, when the customers are taking the beer home?). And more excited when his brewery site turned out to a mere ten blocks away from the Nile. I was quick to get on board, and called him about a tour of the brewery, once I knew he was starting to brew. In the course of that conversation, he offered me the opportunity to host the first tapping of the West-Side Belgian-style IPA. It's thrilling to be involved in the start of a new, great brewery. That's what happened five years ago when Surly debuted, and this week we're doing an anniversary party of the little- brewery- that- could I've been watching grow all these years. One week later, we debut the Harriet line. An exciting February, to be sure.
Last Saturday, the brewery opened to the public for the first time, and sold had their first day of growler sales. About 350 left their doors, I heard. Couldn't make it myself, but got one, still. My notes from tasting that night follow...now.
Harriet Brewing West-Side Belgian-style IPA, …no, wait, it's not really West-Side, not the one you'll find on tap soon. Not the one I had months ago, or even the one just about a month ago. Is it the one I had from the fermenter? Well. what it is, is Batch One, the first beer to come out of the working brewery at Harriet, over at Lake and Minnehaha.
I didn't get the whole story from brewery owner Jason Sowards about how he missed the mark on the alpha acids and the bitterness quotient, but it has something to do with underestimated the mash…malt…something. He does like the Belgian feel of this version, and the alcohol level seems higher than it was supposed to be. I'm fine with the 6.5% he's shooting for. We don't get the bitter hop feel he wants, and it comes out a bit sweeter. So, like I said, this is a test batch.
So, let's look at it.
Slightly hazy, crimson hue, slim head, rests as a ring around the edges.
Aroma: little bit of citrus zest, quite a bit of unique Belgian funky yeast flavor. Sweet malt has taken hold, and sublimated the bitter spunk I've tasted in this before, and that Jason is certainly aiming towards.
Sweet malt flavor is swimming boldly about, the yummy yeasty Belgian flavor, reminiscent of a good Belgian pale ale is well appreciated. Misses the bitterness, though, and, yeah, it's sweeter than it ought to be.
Alcohol moves up in there, rising high in the mouthfeel, kicking in.
Harriet didn't have a perfect first batch. It isn't exactly what they want to produce as West-Side IPA. But it's a fine ale, nonetheless. No one who picked up a growler should be unhappy, no one should line up for a refund. And there is still time to get it dialed in in time for that release in under two weeks. That I'm hosting. Really nervous about it. A lot riding on this. Gonna be press, and pressure and I, yi, yi, yi…
Okay, jokes aside, a beer was made and sold, and it tastes fine and drinks down lovely. Bit on the sweet side, especially for an IPa.
But beer was sold, money goes in the coffers, capital rests, ready to pay those bills, and this next version will be the one, we hope.
Next up: Winterfest, in St. Paul, and I believe Jason will bring more beers for that, and then on the 9th, we host the final version of West-Side at the Nile, plus maybe more…?
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