Minneapolis Breweries Day by Day #1: The Herkimer & West Alice Belgian Imperial IPA

{Editor's note: I began writing this on 12/26/17 and finished it on 12/29. Keep this in mind if you feel you've caught some sort of temporal anomaly in the text.}

I forgot to take a good pic of the place, and shot this
from the bus. Until I get a better pic, enjoy this shot
of the Herkimer and a blue truck!

If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you may remember that in 2014 I attempted to see all of the breweries in Minneapolis on one day before such a feat would become impossible. I made it to 11 of the thirteen, not bad at all. (I skipped Rock Bottom and 612, because, well, because if I had to skip two, those would be them.)

In 2016, I made it my aim to see all of the breweries in the state of Minnesota as I could (with much help from Jason at the steering wheel) and write about them here, as well. At this point, almost a year after accomplishing half of that goal, I still have a stack of reports to write, and still intend to write them, even if it's a year or more afterward. And while all that work awaits me, I am embarking on a new project and will insist that I keep up the reports as the visits happen. I'm going to try to see every Minneapolis brewery (we just had the 32nd open ten days ago) again by the end of January next. That gives me 37 days to do it, and I'll do it in a certain order, seeing the ones that I've neglected the longest, first. I'll skip this format if something comes along, like a special event, that moves another brewery forward up the list. Or if none of those is open on that particular day at a convenient enough time, then I shall choose another. Take for example next Monday, New Year's Day. There will be few taprooms open, so my choices will be limited. Let's say, it's Surly's in turn, in that case.

By the way, we're calling this Minneapolis Breweries Day by Day, or MBDD, or Em B'Dad. Say it a couple times, you'll get it, Em B'Dad. Em B'Dad. Em B'Dad.

For the first day of this project, it's a Tuesday and I have to be at work at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Three of the top 5 on the list are in far-flung NE Minneapolis, and one of them was closed and the others opened at 4, giving me little room to get there, have a pint and make it to work. The other two, however, were on the way and would be easy to stop in before jumping on a bus. I chose the closest to me, The Herkimer, only seven blocks away from where I live. Read what I've written about The Herkimer here.  I don't intend to repeat myself, so I'll just say that The Herk has survived these past 17 years or so by virtue of being there and making competent beer. And that's being generous.

So, what about on December 26. I told the friendly barman that I was looking for something on the dark end of the spectrum. He told me they had a good red ale, and a brown and that I should have been there last week when they had a killer stout on nitro, then handed me samples. They were not what I wanted and then I glanced upon a beer in the listing called West Alice, an Imperial Belgian IPA, at 8.6% ABV & 90 IBUs. Hey, that's right up my alley! I know what I'm drinking.

I inform the barman of my order, who then tells me that it does not technically receive the same Happy Hour treatment (Happy Hour 2 for ones run from 3-6 daily and it is currently 3:30.) because it is a bigger beer. The second one will be $2 off. Fine, I'll take that offer, though I rarely have two 8%+ beers before work.

The beer looks fine for the part, though the glass could've been cleaner. (I'm not one to talk, for dishwashing is a struggle at work, and I've got many pictures on this blog I'm not proud of. I'm getting better, and trying harder, though.) Bright red, with a fine, frothy head.

I take a whiff, and I get the funk and the hops. Nice and weird, the way I like it. Good and hoppy, barnyard funky. And then the not so good: a bit of plastic, definitely off flavors, something from the yeast or part of the fermenting process. Is this a problem arising from using unfamiliar ingredients? Can't say for sure.

This flaw did not persist throughout the length of
the drink. Yes, I finished it. And I finished the second one, too. Didn't get as much of the off-flavors in glass two. Medium bodied, fairly easy drinking, despite the strength. Doesn't rank among my favorite Belgian Imperial IPAs (and how many are there, and what are they? I simply must find out.), not by a long shot. Would I order one again? Not with the memory of that flawed flavor still lurking in my brain.

Does the Sake Grade rice have anything to do with it? The Herkimer is owned by the proprietor  of the Sake brewery/Japanese restaurant Moto-i located just down the street. Do they share ingredients often, I wonder?

I finished as much as I could of glass #2, left the chips and dip behind and ran to catch my bus across the street. Will I return to The Herkimer any time soon? Well, not so much when Muddy Waters is across the street with a wide range of beers on tap and LynLake is two doors down with a higher success rate in my opinion. There are even more options at that corner I'm not as familiar with, but will probably yield a much higher result of fine ales offered. At the Herk, you're best off ordering a Handy's Lager of something less exotic than this. Their clientele is not looking for beers of this kind and it'll take much longer to go through them.

In fact, the Herk has been off the beer geek radar for so long, I think that if they made the best beer in town, somehow, no one would know about it, and if you told them, they wouldn't believe it.

To restate the purpose of this project, I'm going to revisit each brewery in Minneapolis and review a beer or two by January 31, 2018. But the next time I find myself wondering which breweries I haven't seen in a while, I'll stick to the ones I actually like.

Meanwhile, the people of Uptown/LynLake will keep coming here for the booze and the food and shuffleboard and the beer that's just good enough, but not quite.

Minnesota Breweries One by One #66: The Herkimer, Minneapolis

The Herkimer, at 2922 Lyndale Avenue, has appeared once before in the Bitter Nib. You can read that here; it was part of my attempt to visit and have a beer at all the breweries in Minneapolis on one day before the task became impossible. This was two years ago. Go ahead, click the link, read it, then come back.

Okay, are you done? Great. Now, I don't know if much has changed for the better or worse there, though I do know that some brewers have come and gone. Still, they continue to brew, and I must visit the brewery and drink their beers, because this is the nature of this project. I had that one beer at that visit two summers ago, and went there again a few weeks later, having two Baltic Porters, because it was 2-4-1 Happy Hour. I skipped them since then, over two years have gone by, and this project or not, it's time for a return visit. I popped in last Thursday evening, August 11. I've decided that I can't let my days off go to waste, and had to see another brewery on the list on each of them. It was getting late, and I wanted to check a brewery off my list that wasn't too far from home. There are fewer and fewer of them left.

Black Perle. 

I sat at the bar, observed the options available and greeted my bartender, who was a capable profession, full of courtesy, attentiveness, and good cheer. I chose for my first pint Black Perle, a beer that does not appear among the others on their website. Must be new. I would have pegged it for a schwarzbier, though the list calls it a "dark ale", though not a porter or a stout. My brief notes went as follows: "soft, slightly sweet, major cocoa in the nose and on the palate, rich and malty, but very smooth." I liked it.

Helles Bock. 

Next up, the 7% ABV Helles Bock, Sweet, malty, creamy....buttery? Under-attenuated? I drank it down, but didn't love it. I've had buttery hells bocks before, but liked them better than this. It's not bad, and I did finish it, but I didn't love it. This one is also not on their website, but it the Maibock sounds remarkably like it.

I'll admit this freely: probably the worst picture
I could take of this beer. There's something that
happens when I feel self-conscious doing some-
thing conspicuous in the lair of Uptown's
bros and bro-eenas. 

I decided to bypass Toolers Weiss (which I didn't care for when I reviewed it on BeerAdvocate in 2004, but I'm sure it's gotten better in 12 years!), Jeffrey Kream Ale, Slushbox Session IPA, Dr. Nat's Brew, and American Red, and chose as my third and final pint of the session the IPA know as The Lutz, which I'm pretty sure I've never tried. It's been well-documented that I love IPAs. How's theirs?
 First of all, I will consult the listing on their website. What do they say, before I tell you what I say? "The Lutz West Coast IPA has a prominent to intense hop aroma with a citrusy, floral, perfume-like, resinous, piney, and/or fruity character derived from American hops. It pours with a medium reddish copper color."
Hops: Bravo | Cascade | Calypso | Fuggles
Malt: Marris Otter -UK | Castle – Belgium
ABV: 7% | IBU: 66 | SRM: 12 | OG:17.9 | Decoctions: 0 (aw, come on, why not even one?)

My notes: Big citrus aroma, intense hop taste, long bitterness, juicy malt ballast, overall a tasty, well-done West Coast IPA. I'd drink it again.

I sat at the bar, soaking in the atmosphere, half-listening to the conversations of the dudes and dudettes of Lyn-Lake. I enjoyed some wings, took in the decor, paid a little attention to the shuffleboard players, inside and out, and tried to pay less attention to the multiple TVs around the bar, all showing the Olympics. And I closed out with a bourbon, because I love bourbon and they're a bar, and why not.

Of all the decor in the place, why take this shot (/selfie)?
Because why a dude on an ostrich, that's why. 

After this, I went next door to LynLake Brewery for another IPA, brewed with apricot, and they have no food or liquor, but there were probably five times as many people, also watching the Olympics. The Herkimer will always do well at that location, because any bar will, and the beer is decent enough. Sometimes interesting, sometimes not, but always somewhat drinkable, though never enough to make it a necessary spot for the dedicated ale imbiber in Minneapolis. (They certainly shouldn't call themselves "Minneapolis' choice craft brewery", as they most certainly are not, definitely not now in the age of the taproom.) And they will certainly thrive, when there must be safe places for people to cheer on the Green Bay Packers, here in Vikings land.

Biking the Beers of Minneapolis: Part Two. 1: Another Stab At It

I'd like to pretend that this is a collection of coasters saved in the course of my journey, but it's not entirely true. Herkimer and Harriet aren't using coasters currently, so I dug into my vast collection in order to represent them. All the others were picked off of the bar and plunked into my pocket.

A few  weeks ago, I told you about my ill-fated attempt to visit all of the breweries in the city of Minneapolis on one day, by bicycle. This past Friday, June 6, I had plenty of money in the bank, and set out to attempt this journey once more. Did I succeed? Not exactly. But now I know that it can be done. And here is how it happened.

I closed the bar the night before, and didn't get home until around 2:30 am, when I had a few more beers before turning in. This led me to awake at around noon, shower, breakfast, and ready to go, if a bit later than I would have liked. 12:46pm:leave home. 12:54: visit local bank to check on my statement and procure appropriate funds. Then, return home for my forgotten water bottle, but forget to change into shorts. It's a hot one today. Leave home and get on the greenway at approximately 1:04, an hour later than last time.

The Greenway is Minneapolis' pastoral bike path which took the place of an abandoned railroad line under neath 28th St. I followed it from 13th Avenue all the way to Bryant, in order to get to The Herkimer, but I had not need for it afterward.

Brewery #1,  The Herkimer Pub & Brewery, 2922 Lyndale Avenue,

A view of the Herkimer Pub from the street on Lyndale Avenue, wherein I am attempting to get a view of the brewing equipment, and instead get a reflection of the opposite side of the street, and my own self.

arriving around 1:18. I remember reading an early review from around 2000 or so, when owner Blake Richardson announced that this brewpub would not be brewing beers to suit the tastes of the beer geek set, instead designing them for the tastes of regular folks. Or some thing like that. That effectively dropped them from my must-check-out list. After actually trying the beers, I remained unenthusiastic. But things are changing. They had 2 IPAs, a Biere de Garde, and a Baltic Porter on this visit, in addition to the German-style stuff. I chose the Gose, called Speziell Weizen, my first time with this one. Cloudy, golden-toned, yeasty, with spicy notes and banana flavors. Slightly sour, salty and citric at once. Smoothness and complexity together.

Gose Speziell Weizen at the Herkimer.

The Official description: "Gose is a cross between a Belgian Wit and a Berliner Weisse. It's brewed with half wheat malt and spiced with coriander. Gose Special Weizen has a definite tartness and is balanced with a nice roundness. ABV-4%, IBU 40, OG-18.7, decoctions-2." This is one of their longtime offerings, and I chose it for two reasons, to try as many different styles of beer as I can today (the opposite of what I considered last time, when I pondered having all IPAs), and the lower ABV is a plus whe considering this journey. I'd thought about trying the Biere de Garde, being brand new, and a style they wouldn't have done years ago, but the 7.7% ABV made me pause. This is only the second beer I've had here since giving up on this place over 7 years ago, and I quite like this one. It's certainly going to be the only Gose I'm likely to find on today's trip.

The  view from the bar of the brewing equipment at The Herkimer .

Brewery #2: Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub, 2716 38th Avenue South. 

This time, I got it right. A view of the brewery at Northbound from the street.

1:46, leave, head up Lyndale to 38th St., then all the way to 28th Avenue. Almost 4.3 miles, a good 25 minutes.  If you use Google maps to plot your course, it has you taking the Greenway, but I opted again that, in order to enjoy scenic 38th Street. Arrive around 2:18. Having lunch at Northbound, a turkey club sandwich with cole slaw. Drinking a Hefe Weizen. Will this be the day of wheat beers, instead of IPAs? Possibly…but probably not. This one, too, was chosen for it's low ABV, somewhere between 4 and 5 percent alcohol. A half hour of travel, a half hour of eating and drinking and chatting with my co-workers while they work, and I don't.

A "selfie" on the patio, enjoying the smooth, and lightly fruity Hefe Weizen. 

Brewery #3: Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, 1430 Washington Avenue South

A view of the brewery at Town Hall, with the original sign from  17 years ago serving as decoration.

Now, the next trek will be quicker, a straight shot down Hiawatha Avenue to Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery...but not quite. I traveled behind one of those brave ones, who darts in and around traffic, zipping hither and yon, without a care. I have a care. I wait at traffic lights, and never jay-bike. It's just me. It's what happens when an accident with a car leaves you with twenty-five stitches on your face. You get cautious. (This happened sixteen years ago. I still have a small scar which glows bright red when I've had a few.) Another 3.7 miles, almost 25 minutes. arrive 3:17, a quick SS Cascade Pale Ale, only $3 during happy hour, and out the door at 3:33.

An all-Cascade pale ale, SS Cascade, is as hoppy, citrus-y and refreshing as you'd expect. Records show that this is a new one, un-reviewed by me. I'll return for a growler soon. That gallery on the wall displaying past beers is a new addition from their recent renovation, and it just makes me nostalgic for the old chalkboards and paintings that used to be there. Sigh...

Brewery #4: Day Block Brewing Company, 1105 Washington Avenue.

Tasty pale ale from Day Block, the Lot 56, 100% locally grown Cascades,  45 IBUs, 5% ABV. Was this to be a Cascade kind of day? No, just a minor trend, soon to be bucked. I did continue to keep it lower alcohol. For a while. 

I mentioned to brewer Paul Johnston that I intended to take photos of the brewing equipment when I could and he lead me downstairs to the cellar. In my fingers is a preview of an upcoming Belgian Pale Ale which won my seal of approval.

The shortest distance between breweries, over a bridge and down the road, approximately three blocks away. Arriving approximately 3:43 pm. A sign on the Eastern side of the street leads us towards the beer...

...on the opposite side of this chalkboard, however, we are guided towards "bacon." Although they are a pizzeria, Day Block has become renowned for their bacon flights.

By 4:15, I'm out the door, and heading West-ward on Washington, until I took a turn on 6th St., left toward Target Field, where I was slightly disoriented. A quick little swivel and lo, and behold, at 4:39, (2 miles from the last stop) there we are at....

Brewery #5: Fulton Brewery, 414 6th Avenue North. Where I did not take a single good picture of the outside of the building. And my beer of choice was MPLS Mild, another instance of keeping it simple and small. Firmly in the tradition of an English dark mild ale, only 4% ABV, described as "silky, yet surprisingly substantial." Sounds about right. I was looking forward to seeing my friend Laura Preston, who runs the taproom, but she was not on the floor at the time, and I had a schedule to keep. (Sort of).

Once more, here are my fingers holding a pint of MPLS Mild, posing before the brewing tanks at Fulton. Mmmm...mild-y.

Were I not in the market for mild ales, there were many choices at my disposal at Fulton.  Worthy Adversary? Not today, I'm afraid.

The visit to Fulton was quick, indeed. Twenty minutes after arrival, just about 5 pm, I'm back on my Schwinn Traveller and down 6th Street to .Washington Avenue, again, then one block down the road to...

Brewery #6, The Freehouse, 701 Washinton Avenue, the last brewery to open in 2013, a creation of the Blue Plate group of restaurants and bars, and the final brewpub of this journey (I decided to skip Rock Bottom this time). They're all brewery taprooms from here on out.
I feel that they have decided on a "Prohibition" theme for this conception and it results in an unfortunate uniform for the servers and bartenders. Bowties, blue denim shirts, suspenders and grey khakis. It's the 1930's newsboy look. I felt so sad for them. Also, a bottlecap portrait of Andrew Volstead adorns one wall, and it mystifies me why you would celebrate the author of the Anti-Saloon Act. Shouldn't we be ashamed of the Minnesota legislator who sponsored the bill that created Prohibition?

I kept with the low-alcohol beers in choosing #1 on their list, the kolsch, which was exactly as a kolsch should be: light, crisp, with delicate notes of green apple and pear. I'll return to the Freehouse to see if their other beers are as on the money as this one.

Coming back from the rest-room, a quick snap of some fermenters at The Freehouse. As the day went on, I sometimes forgot to take the brewery photo and sometimes found it impossible to do so.

Freehouse was the site for my largest meal of the day, the Korea-town riblets, which I enjoyed. I wasn't feeling quite adventurous enough to try out the Oxtail Croquettes, Bone Marrow or Grilled Chix Waangs. Also, I stopped at the rest-room twice. This is no frivolous mention of going No.1, rather a handy spot to reinforce an important point, one which beer scribe Michael Agnew wonderfully introduces in the beginning chapter of his landmark tome, A Perfect Pint's Beer Guide to the Heartland.
I will quote this cogent section now: "Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that beer travel is really all about managing urination. Beer is a diuretic. Copious sampling tests the limits of your bladder. Take the opportunity to relieve the situation whenever it presents itself. Even if you feel it isn't necessary, make one more stop before moving on to your next destination. You'll be glad you did."
As for me, I've come up with a helpful pneumonic device. When entering a brewpub or taproom, think about IBU. Not "international bittering unit", I'm talking about IMMEDIATELY BEGIN URINATION.

I should also note that this was the last time I took notes...no, wait, I just jumped ahead a few pages. Ah. Found them....But I didn't note when I left 7th and Washington, but I'm going to guess sometime around 5:55.
 From the Freehouse to our next destination, it's another straight shot, just about a miles and only ten minutes in between stops, 13 blocks north on Washington Avenue, Brewery #7: Boom Island Brewing Company, 2104 Washington Avenue N., #300. 

The only signal that we are near a brewery is this sign in a window on Washington Avenue, just south of 21st Street. We must turn the corner, pass a bar called Cliff n' Norm's, and enter through the back to get to the Boom Island taproom.

We are technically in North Minneapolis now, and will be in NorthEast, or Nordeast to some, once we cross the river. But we're definitely out of downtown.

 Noire Black IPA, the highest ABV yet of this trip, a whopping 6.8%. Fermented with Belgian Candy sugar. dry-hopped with citra and columbus hops. While I do like the products of the Boom Island Brewing Company, they are incorrect in claiming that they produce Belgian beers. The brewery is not in Belgium, the brewer is not a Belgian, the beers, therefore are, in truth, Belgian-style.

My final attempt to capture images of the brewing equipment. From here on out, it either slipped my mind, or was inaccessible to the eye. 

The taproom at Boom Island, called the Boom Room, is a charming little place, with about eight seats around the bar area, a few tables, and more space in the parking lot patio, where the food trucks sit. Signs are in English, French, and Dutch. There is a scrim hanging over the bar stools which displayed a slideshow of the owners' visits to Belgium on my last stop (2 weeks prior), and an old black & white Bette Davis movie this time. I enjoyed my Noire, bade farewell to the barman, and made off to the next destination. It was an easy one. One block south (or is it east?) back to Broadway Avenue, then across the Mighty Mississippi river.

Here's the view from the bridge, looking back at the Minneapolis skyline. Note the overcast sky. Rain is coming!

My first pint at Dangerous Man in over a year was the mega-malty, 6.8% Scottish Ale, the boldest version of this style I've ever had. I can't recall ever being disappointed by a beer from here, and I'm going to make more of an effort to visit them.

Once over the river, we continue on Broadway until 2nd Avenue and take a left on that until we hit 13th St. Another mile and about 10 minutes after Boom Island, we're at Brewery #8: Dangerous Man Brewing Company, 1300 2nd St. NE.

Who's afraid of the Dangerous Man? Clearly no one is, based on this brewery's popularity. DMBC operates on a very unique model. It is a brewery which does not sell it's products to other bars, restaurants or liquor stores, and it's taproom does not have food trucks on the street, but instead allows guests to bring in or order in their own food.


to be continued......here.