Northbound Snowpocalypse

So, you know. I reached my goal. I saw all of the breweries in Minnesota that I could. And everyone asks me, what's next? What do you do in 2017? The answer is that I continue to check out the new ones, try to revisit the best of the out-state and suburban breweries, whenever I can, and keep making the rounds of the locals.

Immediately after accomplishing that goal, Jason and I stopped in at Sisyphus and I took home their latest, Silky Choice Stout, since reviewed here. My next night off was New Year's Eve, and I took home 2 growlers from Town Hall, both since reviewed here. The next day, New Year's Day, a Sunday...I went nowhere and did nothing. That's what you're supposed to do. And it's cold out there. So very cold. It's been destroying a lot of my plans lately. Once we're out of the teens and in the twenties and thirties, I'll spend my free time outside, I promise. Lately, we've been below zero, or slightly above. Ugh.

The following Tuesday night (Monday was grocery shopping day), I made my way to Northbound with the intent to take home a growler, something I haven't done since I did my Minnesota Breweries One by One entry back in February. The beer review for that post was "Snownami" one of the three winter ales in the Snow Series. And so I entered the Brewhouse with my mini-growler, "Nami" written in marker on the growler cap, and found a seat at the bar. My old friends Krissy and Tim were still working the bar, and most of the servers were still familiar to me from when I worked there, 2 1/2 years ago, and then some. Plenty of good things on tap: the double IPA Jimbo, the doppelbock, and 2 of the Snow Series, Snownami, and Snowpocalypse. I just have to get back when they release Snowmageddon to round out the series.

Alright, let's crack open that mini-growleretterino and have some dry-hopped Scotch Ale. 8.8%. Snowpocalypse, here we go.

Dark brown coloring, fully opaque, toasted brown foam above.

In the nose: Sweet notes first, toffee, caramel, lightly toasty/roasty, slight hop presence, but mostly the malt keeps going on this one.

In the mouth: Mmmm. Yes. Just a little smokey in the flavor with this one, more than anything a malt monster. More toffee and caramel, creamy and delicious. Just delicious. Alcohol creeps up just a bit, but it's not bad. It's warming and it's working. (3 degrees below zero right now. It's so fun to be in Minnesota in January.)

So tasty, so rich, and so tasty. A nearly 9% Scotch ale that delivers all the malty goodness. Yeah, I'm liking this.

Here's some gobbledygook from the website: Each winter we release our Snow Series. The first is our Snowpocalypse, a dry hopped Scotch Ale. Normally, Scotch Ales aren’t dry hopped but here at Northbound we REALLY like our hops. So we ignored the style guides and brewed what we wanted. The earthiness of the East Kent Goldings hops compliments the rich caramel profile in a Scotch Ale. At 8.8% ABV, this beer will warm away the cold winter’s chill.