If you've followed this web logging site with any regularity, you're aware that I made a change of employment in the past month. Gone from my 15 and 1/2 year tenure manning the bar at the Blue Nile Restaurant & Lounge, and donning the hat of a front of house manager at Northbound Smokehouse Brewpub. And how does that affect these writings? Why should you care? That's a question I've mulling over for some time.
There were only five entries for Northbound here before I started working there, two of their (I should be saying "our", right?) regular offerings, and 3 of the many seasonals. How could I only manage five of their beers in the course of a year? (they started selling growlers last May.) I had three days off at the Nile, and one of them was a Sunday, when, for no good reason at all, you are not allowed by law to purchase a growler. The other days off, when I would go out, it was to Town Hall or Harriet, but I rarely thought about heading South. Just no good reason at all, actually. They were brewing it, and I was missing out.
Now, I have regular access to their beers, but should I continue to write about them here? Is there a conflict of interest? In the time since I started there, mulling and mulling on these issues, house beers came and went. Agave Brown Ale (though I did toss back growlers at home, taking no notes, mulling as I was), Five High Double Pale Ale, Small Ball Pale Ale, Granola Girl Golden Ale…all of these will return eventually, though. During Minnesota Craft Beer Week, 3 new beers went on, the Buckwheat Honey Porter, and 2 infusions, Cara Cara Big Jim, and Vanilla Bean Smokehouse Porter. These last 2 were small kegs, gone in under a day. I still have a growler of Buckwheat Honey porter in the fridge, waiting until the mulling is done.
I don't believe my employers would have an issue if I continued writing about their beers here, even if I didn't write overly positive things about them. But, would you, the reader, think that my views were compromised by my association with the brewery? Not if I'm honest. This is a brewery that's not going to make a bad one, so I'm not going to have to lie to protect them from criticism. It would merely be a matter of personal preference. And if I publicly stated that I didn't particularly care for one of our offerings, would that make a difference? Would it keep people out? No. Would drawing folks in be problematic? Would it seem like I'm praising our beers to drum up business? I hope not. There's plenty of business already, and I'm no longer making tips, I'm salaried now. Drawing new business wouldn't put money in my pocket. It would continue to keep the place open in a small way, an infinitesimal way, because this place is doing solid business, supported by the community, both the neighborhood, and the beer geeks.
So, if I write about a Northbound beer, and it cause you to come in, it's a win-win, for us and for you. But wait, another question arises. Would my association with this brewery mean that my views on other local breweries' products would be tainted? If I pan someone else's beer, how would that look? I think it would look like it always has, that I'm being as honest with my opinion as I ever have been. I believe I have a reputation for that, and it will continue.
One change that I will make is that these notes on Northbound beers will only be here on the Bitter Nib, and I will not also post them on BeerAdvocate or RateBeer.com, and will not rank, rate or review them anywhere else. When I post one on Untapp'd, I'll avoid use numerical rankings.
Okay, mulling over. Notes ahoy!
People ask what our signature beer is, what's our flagship? I tell them two: Big Jim is the big seller, since we love the IPAs here so much. But Smokehouse Porter is very distinctive, it's the regular dark beer, and it reflects the smoking process of the restaurant. How many brewpubs out there feature a smoked porter as a regular house beer? Can't be too much.
So, let''s open a growler up and see what we can see…
Solid blackness, beneath a slim tan head.
Aroma: caramel, toffee, cocoa, and just a whiff of smoke. More smoke emerges over time, to combine with the caramel and cocoa. Lightly roasty.
Taste: On the tongue and past the lips, roasted malt, rich and tasty, with sweetness kept in check with an appropriate level of hop bitterness. As in the nose, the smoked malt character starts on the mild side, but continues to flower with subsequent quaffing. Full-bodied, medium finish, long-lasting flavors. A solid robust porter, substantial and satisfying.
Here's the official word from the Northbound website: "Heavier on the caramel malt and lighter on the roast malt. 5% of the base malt is smoke in-house for a smoky complexity. This beer will pair well with most of our menu items. And weighing in at 6.2% ABV it can also be your winter warmer."
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