Minnesota Breweries One by One #20: Indeed Brewing, Minneapolis, with Wooden Soul #6

It was a dark and soon to be stormy late afternoon....

It's another Wednesday (March 9) , another day off, and I wonder which brewery will I visit? I decided on Indeed for two reasons: Patrick Mulcahy had been asking me when I'd be stopping in to make Indeed an official stop in this project, and it just dawned on me that I had not walked in the doors since last September, and that had to be fixed. Also, Wednesdays are the days that Indeed gives the net profits of the taproom sales to charities chosen by the

Cheers, Tom!

employees, and this week the recipient was a no-kill cat shelter. And I love the kitty cats.

It was also the first day of biking for this project. I finally got the air pumped up in my tires on Monday (though Sunday was really the day to enjoy the weather), and was eager to get on the bike and get my legs moving. It wasn't as fantastic as the past few days, not temps in the 70's or 60's. 50's and 40's, unfortunately. But the snow and ice is gone, and I was ready to bike through downtown
Minneapolis, cross the Mississippi and and find my way to 711 NE 15th St., and the Indeed Brewing Company.

Indeed has appeared in this blog 26 times before, since they opened up 2012. When I was managing the bar at the Blue Nile, they were one of three preferred local breweries for me, and that was not just because I liked their beer so much, but also that I was treated to their beers before they started selling, and being allowed in early meant a lot to me. (The other two were Surly and Harriet.) Co-owner Tom Whisenand paid me a visit with samples early on, and I was eager to get on board. We weren't the first to tap them, nor did we sell the most, but I always found room on the tap tower for every beer they put out, and I continue that today at Acadia. It's no secret that they're one of my favorites, and this post will be one of those where I write about this particular visit, reminisce about my history with them, and cap it off with a review of one of their beers. I'm not covering any new ground here in particular, not scratching off

I don't remember what beer this was.

some fresh surface. I like Indeed, and don't see that stopping any time soon.

Rum King Imperial Stout, aging away.

One reason why I haven't had more than 25 beers from Indeed is that I haven't picked up growlers from the taproom very often. Because they're so far away. Also, because at times they didn't have a wide variety of beers other than those that were canned and bottled or available in kegs. That changed, certainly. A third reason for visiting them on this day was that Wooden Soul #6 had been released, and I was anxious to try this Flanders-esque sour red ale. By staying away for six full months during fall and winter, I ended up missing Wooden Soul #s 4 & 5, and probably others. Shame, shame on me.

tall tanks.

tight tanks.

I got there around 6 pm, found a seat at the bar and got my hands on some Wooden Soul 6, which will be reviewed at the bottom of this post. Shortly thereafter, Patrick and his fellow sales associate Ryan Bandy
found me, and once I finished the WS 6, they got a pint of
Lucy for me (previously reviewed), and took me on a tour to see some aspects of the brewery along with some of the new spaces, that I hadn't seen before. I'd had tours over the years, but this one still had new things for me to see. The canning lines were busy, and brewers were hard at work. I got to see new tanks and silos, situated in areas of the building that hadn't been utilized before, and saw the many barrels aging Rum King and other goodies. This was not where all of the sour program is going on, that is in a separate facility off-site, in St. Paul. I've been promised a tour of that soon, too.

Patrick got me some Shenanigans straight
from the brite tank. I have no idea what
that device he's holding is. 

As I said, it's fun to find friends, and Jay and Julie are
friends indeed (no pun intended).

When we emerged from the brewery, the taproom was in full swing, with the auxiliary taproom full as well. Some of my friends were in attendance, too, which usually happens when I visit Indeed, whether I plan on it, or not. It's just a popular place to be and be seen being.

During this visit, I certainly had my share, but mainly stuck with the 3 Wooden Souls available (#1 & #2, previously reviewed here and also here, were also on tap), and I can't recall exactly what else I tried. There is photographic evidence (above) of some dark brew in a tulip, not the Teku glass meant for the Wooden Soul beers. Can't remember what it was. Things got fuzzy. As it got dark and it started to drizzle, friends Julie and Jay came to my rescue and helped save me from biking back home.

Indeed holds the distinction of being the first local brewery to open with a taproom, and it opened with a bang, helped by the beauty of the place. It's a great place to get a get a good beer, and if you're into the sours, there's no reason not to pay them a visit, now and then.

Speaking of.....

Wooden Soul #6. Mmm, mmm, good.

Indeed Wooden Soul #6. 5.4% ABV. Aged in Pinot Noir barrels. Several different types of wild yeast involved. (Sorry, they don't have anything posted online about it. I'll have to dig around for more info.)

Clear, rich burgundy coloring, flush creamy head that lasts and lasts.

Aroma comes screaming out of the glass and hovers over. The sour is here, the tart, the fruit and the fresh, refreshing, exhilarating. Sour, tart, weird, funky, fresh, fruity....pretty right on.

Taste: Mwha! Yeah, it's all on the palate, it's all in the mouth, it's a richness and an incredible mix of the funk and the fruit. Long lasting sour and fruit. Delicious. Funky. Fresh. Loads of tannins and oak, too. Plenty wooden soul in this. Lot of wine peeking through, too. Barrel's doing it all.

This could be better, but so could everything. It's damned good, and the best from their barrel aging program, which is only going to improve. If this is the first attempt at a Flanders Red-style beer, keep 'em coming, Indeed, keep 'em coming. Can't wait to see how much better this will be in a few years. They'll be bottling them soon, and then we can really find out.

Oliphant Mothra vs. Mothra Citra Lager

Oliphant Mothra vs. Mothra Lager with Citra hops, 4.8% ABV. Oliphant Brewing, Somerset, WI.

Clear, bright yellow, slim white head.

Aroma is bursting with lemon and pine, tangerine, grapefruit and lime. Big-time citrus nose. Beautiful.

In the mouth, it's every bit of bright, bold Citra refreshment that you want. Very lean, light body, just the minimum malt. A clean, smooth lager that seeks to showcase the Citra hop's sunshine-y flavor, and it does. Juicy mouthfeel, classic combination of hops and malt.

Delicious. You could crush a lot of these crowlers in the summertime, floating your boat down Apple River. Or any river you choose.

Bauahus Copperpop Lager

Bauhaus Copperpop Hoppy Red Lager. Minneapolis, Minnesota. 5.6% ABV. 60 IBU.

Clear, bright copper-y coloring, large off-white head, pours out big and last long, leaving lace.

Aroma: nice and hoppy, citrus and pine. Grapefruit and lime. Lovely.

In the mouth: starts off juicy and piney, lots of citrus-y hop flavors, swiftly followed by sweet and spicy malt. There's rye in this, right? I can't read the damned label, so off to the website we go....sure there is, read about it here.  A unique take on the red lagers of Ireland, they call it. I did not know that used so much rye malt or such intensely citrus American hops. I guess that would be the unique take part of it.

This is the kind of lager I like. Tasty, tasty. I can enjoy this one. Blend of rye malt and citrus-y hops continues through the finish and never quite quits.

Schell's One Five Five

Schell's One Five Five, American Amber / Red Lager. 5% ABV. August Schell Brewing Company, New Ulm, MN.

Brewed for the 155th Anniversary, last year. And I'm just getting around to it now. There are a bunch of bottles I've been putting off. Consider this part of spring cleaning.

Clear, light crimson coloring, with a beige-ish head of good standing, leaving lace.

Sweet and malty nose, lightly fruity, clean. Notes of apple and cherry stand out.

In the mouth: bright malt provides and just enough hops for balance. Medium to light bodied, soft texture, enduring sweet malt flavor. Not too much for me, maybe too much for some who shun the sweet side. There's a little something funky, from the yeast, perhaps, though I'm not exactly sure where it comes from. Caramel malt, a little toffee, lingering malt flavor. Tasty stuff. Not bad at all.

Finnegan's Blonde Ale

Finnegan's Blonde Ale, contract brewed and bottled by Summit Brewing, St. Paul, MN. 4.6% ABV.

Lightly cloudy/hazy, pale golden coloring, slim white head, leaving lace.

Clean, malty nose. Slightly floral, hoppy.

In the mouth: Slides on in with remarkable ease, smooth and easy. Light malty body, light this, light that. Slight honey-ish flavor. Crisp and clean and....we covered smooth and easy, right?

Once again, I don't drink blonde ales, but for those who do, this is a good one. Go drink it.

Indeed Lucy Kettle Sour Pale Ale

Growler filled on 3-9-16, finally consuming it on 3-16.
Indeed Derailed Series, Lucy Kettle Sour Pale Ale, American Wild Ale, 4.2% ABV. 27 IBU. Belgian yeast and lemongrass.

Slightly hazy, bright yellow coloring, slimmish white head.

Aroma: soft, hoppy, sour, funky, fresh, ......mmmm, yeah. I like it.

In the mouth: Fresh, zesty, funky, sour. All of that, with a blast of hops, and that extra zing of the lemongrass (which I wouldn't have picked out if I didn't know about it). Belgian yeast adds the funky power pop to this, and the hops just keep it clicking. Bright, citrus-y, lemon-y flavors. Mmmm. I'm gonna finish this growler.

Are kettle sour pale ales the wave of the future? Maybe? Just maybe. Let's wait and see. And, while we wait, I shall enjoy this.

Sisyphus The Juice Is Loose

Sisyphus The Juice Is Loose Double IPA. 9.5% ABV.

Clear, bright orange coloring, creamy, puffy, long-lasting off-whitish head. Looking good.


Aroma is honey-isn and lightly fruity, tropical tones coming in strongest, with a light bitterness. Utterly pleasant.

Taste: smooth, bitter, and beautiful. Juicy, fruity. Bitter, dry. Dangerously delicious. The taste keeps coming in this one. Bitterness hangs long on the palate, dry and delightful. Yeah. I'm liking this a lot.
A cool, fruity, bitter double IPA that I can just lay back and enjoy. Orange, tangerine, grapefruit, all wrapped up in wonderfully bitter flavors. Mmmm. Ain't nothin' wrong with this.

New Belgium Citradelic

New Belgium Citradelic Tangerine IPA. 6.0% ABV.

Clear, bright orange/amber hue, tangerine-y, for sure. Slim white head.

Citrus-y hop notes bust out of the nose. Bright and fruity, nice and bitter.

In the mouth: dry, bitter, and juicy all in and / or around the same  time. Light bodied, easy going down, long-lasting bitterness. It's a good ol', no-fuss, good-drinkin' IPA. Good beer, you can drink it. That is all.

Lagunitas Aunt Sally

Lagunitas Aunt Sally, A Unique Dry-hopped Sweet Tart Sour Mash Ale. Alc. by Vol. 5.7% ABV. Lagunitas Brewing Company, Petaluma, CA & Chicago, IL.

Clear & brilliantly golden, slim ivory head.

Clean aromatics, mild hop bitterness.

In the mouth: puckering at first, tart, fruity, then sweet. Tartness leaps up with each new sip, ends clean and just a little dry. Lean bodied. Rather straight-forward, little complexity. Easy-Drinking, quenchable. Toss-back-able. Sour keeps coming, but it's not too big, not too anything.

Prime contender for top "session sour." Is there such a thing? There is now.

Town Hall Snow Thief Session White IPA

Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery Snow Thief SWIPA, Session White IPA, 4.8% ABV. That is all that the website tells us. If I could ask just one thing of you, Town Hall, is that you tell us more about your beer, please. (Oddly, I can't find it on BeerAdvocate.com yet. I am not normally ahead of those geeks.)

Clear, pale golden coloring, slim, soon dissipating whitish head.

Aroma is soft, sweet, spicy, fruity, lightly hoppy. Nice

Taste: Jumps in the mouth with a burst of bitter hops, and a twist of spice, lays on on the palate, leaving the slightest astringency. Each new sip brings another bite of bitterness and spice, and a like it just fine. Easy drinking, mellow mouthfeel, light bodied. Sessionable for sure. Not sure why it has to specified as such, are the white IPAs usually so much higher in alcohol?

Anyway, it's a good drinker, and it has flavor. Not something I would pick over others, but there ain't nothing wrong with it. I'll finish this one. (and move on to the next.)I don't hate, but I don't love it, neither.

Brau Brothers Barrel & Bog Funky Sour Ale

Beau Brothers Barrel & Bog Funky Sour Ale. Dark Ale brewed with natural cranberry soured in used oak barrels. Beau Brothers Brewing Company, Marshall, MN. 8.1% ABV.

Note: I drank the contents of the bottle without reading what it actually was.

Dark brown, nearly black, full, rich, thick cocoa-toned head, leaving lace, looking fantastic.  

Aromatics: clean, sweetish, fruit-y-a-little-bit, with a little funk and sour beneath, and a whiff of chocolate malt.

Taste: In the mouth, it's a sweet thing, followed by some weird funky stuff. Oaky tannins stay on top of the flavor profile, with sweet and sour keeping a constant tango. Chocolate-y malt holds it down, caramel and toffee-isn tinges, too, with the wild and the sour holding over it. No hops at all. 

Tasty stuff.

I liked this, a lot. Odd that I didn't pick out the cranberries, though. Mark it up for complexity. 

Minnesota Breweries One by One #19: Bad Weather Brewing, St. Paul, with Chinook SMaSH

Bad Weather Brewing, 414 W. 7th St., St. Paul

We've been to 18 breweries so far (me, and you, because you're along for the ride, of course), eight from my hometown of Minneapolis, and 10 from other, further -out communities, in this exploration of the breweries of Minnesota. And yet, we haven't stepped into any of the breweries in the next town over, St. Paul, capitol of the state, population just under 300, 000, county seat of Ramsey County, originally called Pig's Eye, after tavern owner Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant.  (Oh, why didn't they keep that name?) Sits on the East Bank of the Mississippi, across the river from Minneapolis, and only 62% of it's inhabitants are of the non-Hispanic Caucasoid race.

Birthplace of Charles "Sparky" Schulz of the funny papers, F. Scott Fitzgerald of the novels, and such well-known thespians as Loni Anderson, William Demarest (no, not just of "My Three Sons", but the films of Preston Sturges), and Al Franken's partner Tom Davis. Garrison Keillor, from my original hometown of Anoka, spins his folksy, small-town, down-home tales and sells Powdermilk Biscuits at the Fitzgerald Theater in "A Prairie Home Companion" on the radio. And it's a town I hardly ever visit, because, hey, we're Minneapolis, okay. You just stay on your side with your St. Paul ways and be all quaint and go to bed early. Whatever.

partial peek at the offerings on the chalkboard, in front
of fermenting tanks

But it's time that I drank their beer, and I decided to start with Bad Weather, because I knew they had a great taproom in their brand new brewery which opened last fall, that I hadn't visited yet. It was a day off, and they had a new beer on, so I went out to drink it.

Bad Weather started putting beers out in the market in 2013, brewed in the Lucid facility in Minnetonka. Their beers have only appeared here three times before, 2 of their 12 ounce bottles and one bomber. I have had a few others, including two that I ordered for Acadia last fall, the Hopcromancer and Firefly. (Never took notes on them, though. That seems to happen a lot.)

Half of my Galactic Tide Rye Porter.

So, I hopped on the Green Line light rail train at the West Bank Station and rode that all the way into downtown St. Paul for the first time ever. The directions I read told me to find a certain corner and take a certain bus for a certain length until I got to the spot. But this foreign burg is so confusing to me that when I soon found myself situated near E. 7th St. in the low digits I decided to just follow it until it turned into west 7th St. and eventually find the 414 address. That was a nice little walk.

It's an impressive space. Long bar, brewery behind it. Loads of table space, with a separate room adjoining. I cast my eyes on the chalkboards, spied an ale I'd heard of, and though the new one was already pouring, decided to start with Galactic Tide Rye Porter. Tasty stuff here, rich and roast-y, full bodied and smooth. 5%, 33 IBU, a classic easy-drinking English-style dark ale.

It's fun to find friends when taproom
travelling.

Bourbon barrel-aged Cauld Weather Wee Heavy.

I had barely started my pint when a familiar voice rung out from down the bar, my old friend Ed Jackson, himself a St. Paulite. When I see him on my side of the river, it's usually visiting me wherever I've been working, or at Minneapolis Town Hall brewery. For once, here we were having a drink together on his home turf. I moved down next his seat, and ordered my next glass, the Bourbon Barrel-aged Cauld Weather Scottish Wee Heavy, the new one tapped that afternoon. And it was nice. I didn't take notes during this drinking session, so I can't pretend to have a review of it in my head all ready to unspool for you, but it was pretty much what you'd want: hearty, slightly sweet, malty, boozy, just delightful.

fermenting tanks.

Cheers, Joe!

mash tun.

I was about to chose my third beer, the Coffee-Infused Ominous Double Brown Ale, equally delightful, when behind the bar came co-owner Joe Giambruno who said hello, and asked if I wanted my glass filled, for I'd be needing a tour beer, wouldn't I? Oh, I asked, there's a tour. Sure, he said, whenever you're ready. I informed Ed, and then along came another friend, Andy, brewer at Barley John's brewpub, and the four of us went back into the brewery where Joe gave us a peek at the goings on at their big, beautiful system, as well as their plans for expansion.

Belgian Pale Ale. 

I had a couple more on this visit, a tasty Belgian
Pale Ale, and a taste, but not a full glass, of the Sour Ominous, a kettle sour version of the double brown. It getting to the point of too much beer and time to go and head back to Minneapolis. I left with a better idea of Bad Weather, and was more impressed with their output. Nothing but good beers coming out of here, folks. I haven't been to all of the breweries and taprooms in St. Paul, by any means, but do yourself a favor, and get down here. I know I'll be back.

I wanted to get a shot of the awesome mural by label artist
Lucas Gluesenkamp, but Ed and Andy got in the way.

I took a growler home with me, as well, and the notes now follow:


S.M.aS.H. with Chinook I.P.A.


Clear, bold amber hue. slim beige head of foam.

Nice spicy aromatics, mellow citrus hop character. Altogether enticing.

Taste: big hop bitter attack at the front, then all is cool and easy. Smooth. Malty. Medium-bodied. Good drinking. Grassy/citrus-y Chinook hop attack continues sip after sip, getting brighter, bolder, citrus-ier (that's a word, right?) every single time.

I liked this one so much that I took the entire growler down in one afternoon session, not once growing tired of it.

Enki Tail Feather IPA

ENKI Tailfeather IPA. Brewed and bottled by ENKI Brewing (why do I capitalize? Because autocorrect won't let me get away with "Enki", keeps turning it into "once"!), Victoria, MN.
There's a code sticker on the side, reading BT1122TF 020116. I think that means it was bottled on Feb. 1, 2016.

I've had Enki beers on tap and in the taproom, and have never been impressed. Didn't like this one when I had a pint of it nearly two years ago. But now it's in a bottle in my local bottle shop here in Minneapolis. Better give it another try, right? Especially since my friends have been telling me: "give Enki another try, won't ya, Al?" So, I will. Here we go. Tail feather IPA.7% ABV. 75 IBU.

Clear, amber/crimson coloring, large and lace-leaving creamy head. Not so bad.

Aroma: malty, hoppy, fruity, not any one particular fruit, just a little bit of all of them, some apple, berry, maybe melon. Eh.

Taste: big hops, big malt, big, bold, and eh. This is just like the one I had on tap at the brewery. Misguided. Lacking charm and guile. Possessing neither wit nor sophistication. Just a lump sum of ingredients that do not deliver any as semblance of grace or delicacy. Here comes the apple and the berry and the whatever else. A little earthy, with some caramel malt. Sweetness to match the modicum of bitter. It's clearly patterned after an English IPA, but the various components and array of flavors are so scattershot, it's really just a mixed-up mess of an ale, and I don't enjoy it.

There's nothing terribly wrong with it, it's just not what I can dig. I can drink this, but it's not floating the boat. Again....eh.

Actually, you know, I'm a gonna say more. Don't put Caramel malt in an IPA. That is all.

Here's the official gobbledygook, from the website: ENKI® Tail Feather IPA, has officially landed. This beer pours a brilliant goldenrod color and carries a long lasting, silky head. A hefty blend of classic Pacific Northwest hops gives this beer the iconic bitterness IPA drinkers have come to expect. A juicy burst of pummelo and fresh cut flowers excite the palate, thanks to dry hopping process. Deliberately unbalanced to delight hop-craving aficionados we use just enough malt to give a full body and smooth mouth feel. The bitter finish lingers on long after drinking.

7.0% ABV, 77 IBUs.

I think I completely disagree with the gobbledygook. Weird.

Summit Unchained #21: Us & Them

It's time for another entry in the Summit Unchained Series, and for the 21st brewer Gabe Smolley has done something very unusual. It's called US & Them, and it's actually two beers made from the same runnings, using the parti-gyle style. They're calling the two batches "1st thread" and "2nd thread", and they're both being packaged together in the 6-packs, giving us 3 of each. I'm down to my last two, so it's review time. But, which one  do I drink first? The bigger, stronger first version, an American India Pale Ale, or it's weaker, thinner, brother from another running, the Session IPA.?
That seems backwards, so I'll do the opposite. The mash, by the way, was based on Summit Saga, according to an interview with Gabe, though the 6-pack holder copy merely refers to it as "De-constructing the mash of a classic Summit recipe."

And away we go, with Unchained 21, Second Thread. 55 IBU, 4% ABV.


Crystal-clear, bright golden hue, brilliant ivory head, leaving lace, looking great.

Aroma bursts with citrus hop notes, lemon and orange, with hints of pine.

Taste: Nice hop buzz hits the palate first, fiercely bitter and generously citric. Bitterness clings to the top of the mouth and hangs on the palate, slowly subsiding. It's lean and clean, but powerfully bitter and plentifully flavorful. Refreshingly delicious.

As for First Thread, it's 90 IBU, and 5.5% ABV.

Clear, bright golden, with a subtle amber tint, lacey white head.

Clean aromatics, some floral, some citrus, but not quite as loud and bold as in #2, oddly enough. Oddly flavors emerge, though, honey and pear, a whiff of apple.

In the mouth: full of citric hop bitterness, vibrant, not quite astringent, very lively. Long-lasting hop bitterness clinging to the palate. Emerging sweetness mixes with the bitter. Medium-bodied, long hoppy finish. Tasty, tasty. I do like this, quite a bit. My kind of IPA.

Tonight's beer & food pairing: leftovers. Just as good the second time around!

Minnesota Breweries One by One #18: Grand Rounds Brewpub, Rochester, with Nelson IPA

Grand Round Brewpub logo, seen through a window.

As I said in the Lupine Brewing post, the fourth brewery of the day in a full day of brewery visits might get the short end of the stick. I may not be firing on all cylinders. Things that I try to include in every visit are forgotten, passed over,

Once again, growlers from other breweries on display.

neglected. We're left with half-remembrances and vagueness.  Handwritten notes are illegible and illogical.
Perhaps if I'd written it up sooner there may be more accuracy, but I am doing these in order, and for whatever reason, two weeks later, I'm finally putting the notes in on Grand Rounds Brewpub  in Rochester. Let's get to it.

View from my barstool.

Remember where we were last, and the urgent need to get good beer down the gullet and wash out the taste of the execrable offerings at our previous visit. We travelled to 2 SouthWest 3rd Street in downtown Rochester and the Grand Rounds Brewpub. It did not open until 4 pm, which necessarily made it our last stop of the day. We settled into the bar, Jason, Scott, and I, waiting for Dan who had punched to wrong name into his GPS. The service was friendly and attentive. The food was good. The atmosphere warm and clean and classy. This is probably a great lunch location in DT Rochester, if you're into the beer or not. And beers? They were good. I took a crappy photo of the menu, and the current listing on line is regrettably accurate, so I can't remember what was on tap that day. A kolsch, some IPAs, a stout, a Scotch. Sounds about right.

Nelson IPA in it's natural habitat.

Blood Orange IPA.

As for me, I had a Nelson IPA, so nice I took home a crowler, notes coming soon (at the bottom of the post). Followed that with a Blood Orange IPA, a version of their Hop Bollocks IPA infused with blood oranges, naturally. I wrote the following: "tart, rich, pungent, powerful." This is why four breweries in a day can be a bit much. The most important thing of the moment was that we have good beer passed down our throats and could say to one and all that you can count on this brewery to deliver.


And it did. And this point I was all beer-ed out, and it was time to go. My memories are, I admit, very fuzzy, and my attempts at photography are lacking at this stop (it was getting dark, and I was not at my highest power, shall we say), but to answer the question "should I drink there?" the answer is yes. Go back and drink the rest of their beers for me, and tell me how they were. I want to know. I'd love to go back again and have some more. Enjoy your three good breweries, Rochester.

And now, notes on the crowler of Nelson IPA, consumed some days after purchasing:

Lightly hazy, bright amber/golden hue, slim white head.

Beautifully fruity/hoppy nose. Some citrus, mixed with apple, grape, stone fruits. Mild bitterness.


In the mouth: Smooth and hoppy. Juicy malt. Excellent balance. Sweet and hoppy. Drinkable as heck. Tasty? Yeah. Good beer, and I'm drinking it. I like this.

Some additional gobbledygook from the website: Stats:  7.5% abv
70 IBUs

Simcoe hops added at the start of the boil for bitterness, late hop additions of Mosaic and Nelson-Sauvin hops to provide unique grapefruity and white wine overtones.

Minnesota Breweries One by One #17: Kinney Creek Brewery, Rochester

Steer clear away when you see this sign.

We bade reluctant farewell to Forager Brewery, and walked around the block to Kinney Creek Brewery, at 1016 7th St. NW in Rochester, Minnesota. I'd been told that it was previously a pawn shop, and the walls still had the slots for merchandising racks. There were loud children playing Jenga in the middle of the taproom, and some dudes watching sports on a TV. The aesthetic was metal and sharp edges, with Gothic fonts that together gave the overall feel of a heavy metal car garage. There couldn't be a greater transition from the ambience over at Forager. It might work for some, but it was not warm and comfortable for me.

"First official brewery in Rochester since Prohibition!", they boast. What's an unofficial brewery, I wonder? Well, in any case, hey, they were the only game in town until recently. And I've heard all manner of stories about them from Scott and Heather, and here I was to find out for myself. When I imagined it from the tales they told, I kept picturing this as a larger place, a brewpub, with a longer bar. It's actually a fairly small space that somehow hosts live music, too, and has a minimal number of stools at the bar and a limited range of tables. The four of us settled in and scanned the TV screen with the current offerings. They seemed impressive in scope. There were thirteen beers available, of a range of styles, not including the root beer. The website currently lists fourteen. I'm wrong, I accidentally counted a "bottle only" beer.

Observe Scott's body language. He is here,
but he ain't having none of it.

I asked for a sample of the Barrel-aged Strong Ale. It was a wreck. There was some manner of barrel-aging, but nothing else of pleasure in it. The server, clad in a Punisher t-shirt and neon green shorts, waited to find out what I thought of it. Eh....no, thank you, please. Meanwhile, my companions had discovered the "fun-size" option. A couple ounces for a couple bucks. Dan and Scott each chose one, and Jason picked two. Me, I had to go all the way. A full pint. And here's where I want to take a detour.

West Coast IPAs don't look like this.
They don't taste like this. They certainly
shouldn't taste like a sucking on a scab.

There are different ways to sample beers in this adventure of ours. Do flights, and try to sample as many as I could during a brief visit? Have a few full pints or 12- /10-ouncers, and get a good sampling of some, miss a few, leave myself wanting more? And in a situation like this, try some and let the wisdom of those who tried more before guide my judgement? There have been people telling me "don't go there, skip them", etcetera, but that's not the point of this venture. It is to taste them for myself and say that I had their wares,  that I went there and I drank their beers. No matter how bad people said they were, I had to taste them on my own, and perhaps add my voice to theirs.

Dan and Jason are sampling the "fun" size serving, but
no "fun" was being had.

For no reason at all, except that I love the style, I picked a beer called Canoe the Zumbro IPA, which was advertised as a West Coast-style IPA. Because of this beer, you will not get me near the Zumbro river. It didn't look like a West Coast IPA, didn't smell like one, and tasted like crap. In short, it was a messed up beverage that I could best call "band-aid soup." I tasted this wretched brew once and again, just to be sure what I had in my mouth, again and again, but there was no happiness, no satisfaction, no nothing, just pain and struggle. My soul sank down several levels every time this excuse for an India Pale Ale stuck my lips. It was the very opposite of it's own intent, dragging my mood down along with it's awfulness.

Here are the exact notes, as best as I can transcribe them: "mostly malty nose, ...ah! Oh! oooh! UGH. thick malt, (indecipherable) hot, holy hell! BAND-AID!!  ....doesn't look like a WC IPA, doesn't smell, doesn't taste, wrong, wrong, wrong!"

I never want to make this face again.

Now, I'm not just being a judgmental beer geek when I criticize this beer, because it fails on so many levels that you have to wonder if the brewers even know this style of beer is supposed to be. I know what West Coast IPAs are, I adore them, and this is so far off and tastes so bad and is so wrong....what are thinking? Do they know how bad it is? Do they care, at all?

Now, here's where a new question comes up. If you've read this blog, you know there's a a phrase I use from time to time. "It's good beer, and you can drink it." That doesn't always mean faint praise, it means just what it says. It is good beer, and you can drink it. This was terrible beer, and I could not drink it. So, people have asked me, "did I say anything?" I did not. Is it because I don't want to be rude, don't want to confront or cause a scene, want to be "Minnesota nice"? Or is it because Scott already told me that he'd told the brewer that his beers were flawed and was blown off, basically told that he didn't believe him or didn't care.

I honestly can't believe that the owners and brewers and servers can't know how bad it is. How are they serving this stuff? I've read all kinds of reviews, heard from people who said that some of them were "okay" and "drinkable" and I believe them. Maybe I picked the wrong one that day, and some of the other beer were passable, but after all the things I've heard, I can't give them the benefit of the doubt. It's not that I got the one bad one, and the others are good enough. No, these were the indicators that the whole operation is misguided. I've had the one bad beer from the great brewery. If someone had the okay beer from this travesty of a taproom, congratulations, they won the lottery. We should all be so lucky.

Should I have told them that their beer was crap? Maybe, but would they have believed me? I've been in this story before, trying to tell people who don't know bad beer from good that their bad beer ain't good, and they think I'm the one who's wrong. They look around their taproom and point to the people sucking it back and say, "See, they like it." Here's the true tragedy, that there would be people who drink it down and think that this is craft beer, that it is as good as it gets. Do I go around to the tables, smack the pints out of their mitts, crashing to the floor below and bellow at them that they are wrong and march them over to Forager, just a block away? In the movie of my life, maybe. In the real world, I just shake my head and shiver.

In truth, I did more than shiver and shake. I wept. I sunk. I was deflated, my soul shrunk and shriveled from forcing down almost half a pint of this wretchedness. And we abandoned our glasses and hoped that these unfinished pours would be some testament to the badness we could no longer endure. And we set off to the fourth brewery in Rochester, hoping to find something to wash away the bitter aftertaste of bad, bad beer.

Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale

The Sample Man can be mysterious, as well as generous. Test Beer, it says, with a small bit of type referring to Green Line. I'll check on that later, but for now, I drink blind.

Clear, bright golden, small, soon-disappearing white head.

Lightly hoppy nose, small citrus. A little lemony.

Taste: Nice hop attack up front, then all is smooth and crisp. Light bodied. Clean malt. Easy drinker. I don't love it but I don't not like it, neither. It's okay beer and it can be drunk.

A small bit of research shows Green Line to be Goose Island's pale ale of the moment. Go ahead and drink one, it won't hurt.

More info from the website: Green Line Pale Ale is a honey-colored, immensely sessionable American pale ale with a pronounced, bright, American hop aroma and citrus flavor. Notes of biscuit and lightly toasted malt create the backbone for Green Line’s pleasant, crisp bitterness.
RECIPE INFORMATION
Style: American Pale Ale
Alcohol by Volume: 5.4%
International Bitterness Units: 30
Color: Wildflower Honey
Hops: Millennium, Mt. Hood, Zythos
Malts: Special Pale

Green Flash Cosmic Ristretto Baltic Porter with Espresso

Green Flash Cosmic Ristretto Baltic Porter with Espresso. Roast & Smooth. Stellar Brew. Roasted Malts, Espresso, Belgian Candi Sugar. 8.2% Alc. by Vol. 45 IBU.

Light opacity, dark stuff, with bright crimson highlights, slim brown head.

Aroma: big coffee, bitter and sweet meets chocolate, very nice. Gorgeous.

Taste: bitter, sweet, chocolate, earthy, cocoa. Mmmm. Medium-bodied. Long-lasting flavor, long bittersweet dark malt deliciousness. Mmmm. I think I like this, a lot. It's got everything going for it.

Minnesota Breweries One by One #16: Forager Brewery, Rochester

For the second stop in Rochester we chose Forager Brewery, as our collective stomachs were rumbling, and this one is a brewpub with food and beer that's come highly recommended. It's at 1005 6th St. NW, just a block away from our next stop, Kinny Creek, which has no food and did not come highly recommended. But we would visit them and drink some of their beers, because we must. As for Forager, I was ready and raring to go.

Stuffed moose looming over the taps.

I'd read articles, reviews and gotten in-person recommendations about Forager, so I was set up to be satisfied. But after seeing so many blasé' taprooms and brewpubs, maybe I wasn't prepared to be quite so enchanted. Once in the building, we encounter the Kutzky Market coffee shop & market, which was loaded with all kinds of it's own charm, but we marched on, because we were in search of beer. So, we pass down a hallway, the right side of which is a wall filled with framed watercolor images depicting the beers they have been brewing since they opened last fall. I wish I could have spent more time viewing this beautiful artwork. (but you can see some, on their site.)To the left, a couple of rooms which appeared as if they were magic portals into another, more perfect world. Antique furniture, amazing artwork, bookcases full of what must certainly be incredible books, loading with loads of arcane information, gorgeous chairs....what were people doing in those incredible rooms? Could I go in? Would they have me? It all seemed so comfortable and insular in those rooms, so safe, so gentle. But, onward to beer.

Starry-Eyed Belgian Blonde.

We did the belly up, Dan, Jason, and I, while I left a seat for Scott Lyke, local beer guru, who would be along shortly. I took quite a while just soaking up the decor. On the wall to the left of my seat, a chalkboard detailing the wines and spirits available. The wines were unfamiliar to me, but the alcohol was all from Minnesota and Wisconsin distilleries. (Forager is a brewpub, which in Minnesota means that they can have a liquor license and can serve beers from other breweries, but can't distribute to bars or liquor stores. Why? Just because. I certainly don't know.) Above a door leading to the brewery, another chalkboard alerts us to what beers are currently fermenting. And following to the right, a first in my experience, a beer menu that uses neither chalkboard nor LED TV screen, but painted boards from locally foraged wood hanging under a frame. Little touches like that compounded upon one another make for delight after delight. I scanned the room and kept coming up with more details that struck my fanciful nature to it's core.

Well, that's all well and good, but what of the beer, Al, you're asking, of course. I decided to start somewhat small and easy, with the Starry-eyed Blonde, a Belgian-style blonde, 6.3% ABV, and 18 IBU. Amber-hued, sweet and malty, with a wild and funky side. Just about perfect. The official description says: "aromas of banana, Bartlett pear, and ripe apple. Flavors of bold, caramelized plantains..." While I didn't get that, exactly, I've got to appreciate that they're out there looking.

With the arrival of Scott, our caravan has
grown to a quartet of happy beer
drinkers. Cheers!

Blaze A Trail Experimental Pale Ale.

From there, I turned to a glass of Blaze-A-Trail, an experimental APA, at 5.6% ABV, with an unknown IBU number. It also has an alias, "Dr. Rudi's melons", and I'm afraid I've wholly forgotten why, nor can I find anything about that in their official descriptions. I was delighted by a lemon-y, melon-y nose, a fresh and zesty taste, with a medium body and a malty mouthfeel that I found flat-out lovely. Glass by glass, I was taken in by this place. We dined on 2 different 10 -inch wood fire pizza, including the Hidden Stream, with delicious pork, and later the Piggie Pie, with cream cheese, roasted pepper, sausage and mozzarella. I would like to return again and again to try more of the menu, it all looked promising and inviting. Look over here, and see for yourself.

Haka New Zealand Double IPA.

I listened to Scott as he told me what he knew about the place, the brewer and owners and their history, all the while scoping the space, taking in the artwork, the chandeliers, the live music area (unoccupied at the time). Took occasional tastes of Dan and Jason's beers. Dan went with the Johnny C Brown, a Belgian-style dubbel, and Jason's choice was the Sherpa's Survival Kit, a double coffee chocolate stout that was mighty impressive. I would have taken some home with me, but we were informed that there were no crowlers (didn't say whether they were sold-out of pre-fills, wouldn't fill on demand, the machine was broken, or what the problem was), and that they didn't fill growlers. Too bad. I definitely wanted to bring back a few.

I had a third glass, this time an IPA (I seemed to have given the job of tasting the darker ales to my companions) called Haka, and referred to as a New Zealand DIPA. 8% ABV, 50 IBU, sweet, yet sharp, bitter, but fruity. Flavors of melon and pineapple, medium-bodied, smooth & tasty. Excellent balance. I was very happy with this one, we're three for three.

From the decor and ambience, to the food and beer and everything, I was impressed with this place. They've really got it going on. Any trip to Rochester without a visit to Forager is a wasted one.

On a final note, I did a little looking at reviews on yelp, and found interesting comments. One person admired the place, but likened it to a hipster haven, saying "if you own a fedora and a plaid shirt, this place is for you." Another marked them down a notch, because their vibe didn't fit in with their conservative community of Rochester. Man, if you've got a population of 100, 000 and don't have an establishment as cool as this, what's wrong with you?