The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast
We love craft beer! Each week we will taste a number of beers from around the country and give you our thoughts, not only will we talk about the flavor, but also the artwork and anything else that comes to mind.
We will also go on location and visit breweries and try a number of their offerings and give you our thoughts as well.
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The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast
Ep 114 - Beyond the Label: What Happens When You Drink Outside Your Comfort Zone?
What happens when craft beer enthusiasts dive into mystery brews from across America? This episode takes you on a flavorful journey as Mike and his brother Brian, an experienced homebrewer, sample eight diverse beers from a Beer of the Month Club subscription.
The brothers work their way through a carefully arranged tasting flight, starting with lighter options like the Hardywood Pils—a traditional German-style lager brewed according to the historic Reinheitsgebot purity law of 1516. Their expert commentary reveals how this centuries-old brewing approach continues to create clean, refreshing beers worthy of modern appreciation.
As they progress through the lineup, unexpected favorites emerge. The Sierra Blanca Outlaw Lager from New Mexico surprises with its rich caramel profile and balanced finish, while certain offerings from Bent River Brewery prompt thought-provoking discussions about flavor expectations versus reality. When breweries claim exotic hop flavors like strawberry and honeydew melon that don't materialize in the glass, it raises important questions about marketing integrity in craft beer.
The tasting culminates with River Horse's Oatmeal Milk Stout, unanimously crowned the winner with its velvety texture and complex malt character. Throughout the episode, Mike and Brian share valuable insights about brewing techniques, beer styles, and the challenges of introducing craft beer to newcomers—including hilarious stories of Coors Light drinkers finding even mild craft offerings "too strong."
Whether you're a seasoned beer enthusiast or just beginning to explore beyond mainstream options, this episode offers a perfect blend of education and entertainment. Listen in, and you might discover your next favorite beer—or at least learn which flavors to be skeptical about when reading those ambitious beer descriptions!
Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at northbeerguy@gmail.com.
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Grab a beer and pull up a chair. Welcome to the Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. This is Mike, the Northwoods Beer Guy, and once again this week we are joined by my brother, the mad scientist brewer Brian. How's it going? Hey, everybody Doing well? Yes, I am Good. So this week he brought another. How many do we got?
Speaker 3:We got eight this time Eight more beers that were in the Beer of the Month Club.
Speaker 2:So, looking at these, there's not most of them I've never even heard of, no, I think the first one I've had before, but I can't guarantee it. So we're going to try them out, though, and, and if you remember right last, well then we got three, I should say, from bent river, which I may have tasted one I don't remember what they had on tap, but I don't remember those ones for sure. So I may have had them I'm not positive but the other ones I haven't even heard of. So we're going to give them a whirl and see what happens. So what have you been up to since last week or the last time you were on the podcast?
Speaker 3:Not a whole lot, just trying to get caught up on stuff. There you go.
Speaker 2:That's pretty much all you can do. So awesome, well, cool, well, hey, we might as well just. We got eight of them. We might as well just jump right into it, jump right into it. So the first one we got is in a little shorty can and this is Hardywood Pills. It's a German-style lager and I looked on untapped and again, we don't have information cards on them or whatever. So I looked on there and they've got a fairly decent length of a paragraph here. It says crisp, clean and uncomparably quaffable, quaffable.
Speaker 3:Is that like a technical term or what? I'm not sure what quaffable is.
Speaker 2:Okay, hardywood Pils sparkles a brilliant shade of gold, with rich cloud white head, handcrafted with only the finest Europeanan pilsner malt and german noble hops pills, is patiently conditioned for weeks in our lagering tanks, maturing into a beer that refreshes the palate and satisfies the soul, brewed in strict accordance with the how do you say that? The ryan ryan?
Speaker 1:hartsebolt that thing Does it have the year on?
Speaker 3:there? No, isn't it like 14 and some crazy thing?
Speaker 2:That's their purity law in Germany, the German purity law? Yep. This classic Pilsner is the quintessential lager beer in its purest form. Tad drier than its bohemian cousin, with a signature snappy, herbal spice of Bavarian halerto hops to balance delicate maltiness. This Pils offers a nod to old world tradition by the innovative brewers at Hardywood Prost Boy they're talking it up.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, the Reinheitserbult beer purity law.
Speaker 2:Isn't it from like 1457 or some crazy thing like that?
Speaker 3:1516. Oh, I was off. The Reinheitserbult law was put into effect. Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, I was 60 years off.
Speaker 2:That is the German purity law saying that beer is supposed to be made out of water, malt, yeast and hops yep, like I say, we had talked about that when toby was on the podcast one time about that. That law, and it's like you think about it it's pretty much stayed the same since 14 or 15, 16 or whatever you said there's a lot of adjuncts and different stuff that's added into them.
Speaker 3:But it is, yes, it is still. You start with those four main ingredients, and it's pretty crazy that it's been that way for 500 years Exactly. Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Speaker 2:That's what I say. So this one it's not bad. I mean, you look at it, it's a little cloudier than like your American Pilsners.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know, so I'm guessing it's not filtered.
Speaker 2:But taste-wise, aroma-wise, first off, I mean it smells like a Pilsner. Yes, Taste-wise, this would be a lawnmower beer. Yeah, it's not a bad beer, but I mean, it has some flavor to it. I give it that you know.
Speaker 3:No, I give them credit.
Speaker 2:They did a good job. But uh, and it's in a little shorty yeah bottle. That's kind of weird.
Speaker 3:I'm guessing it's a 12 ounce bottle, but it's a 12 ounce bottle, but it's only about six inches tall.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a little shorty one shorter and thicker, I guess, is what you would say we got two of those in this uh tasting it's kind of funny.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's. Uh. Where did we say? Oh, it's out of rich Virginia, 5.2%, 35 IBUs. Remember the last time we tried these they were mostly out west, yep. So it'll be interesting to see if most of these now are in the eastern half of the US or what. But once again, brian had got them from a Beer of the Month club and so we're getting them whirled here. See what they taste like. So this one is not bad.
Speaker 3:I don't mind it. No, it's a good beer. It's nice and clean. No bad off flavors. It's not overcarbonated yeah, not like a couple of those we had the last time.
Speaker 2:Yes, they were definitely, you could tell were overcarbonated.
Speaker 3:You open the bottle and it starts foaming up right away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had a couple of them like that that were a little sketch, but yeah, this one is decent, I mean. As far as so score wise, you know our normal scoring system zero to five stars and by tenth of a point I'm going to give this like a two, eight, two, seven, two, eight, I go two, eight. I think it's better than average. Good crisp flavor to it. Not a huge amount of flavor, but it's still there's. There is flavor. It's more than some of the ones that we had last time.
Speaker 3:I'm going to go 2.7. Okay, just a little bit below. It is a really good beer, good lawnmower beer, like you said. I'm not a big fan of Pilsners, right, but this is way better than some of the other ones we've had.
Speaker 2:I was going to say especially and I hate to say it this way, but especially out of the Beer of the Month Club some of the Pilsners we've had out of there before have been a little bit, you know, but this one is not bad, you know, this would be a decent one if it's hot out, ice cold.
Speaker 2:Yep, you know, I think it would be a good one. Well, I guess we can jump right into the second one we got, and this is by Sierra Blanca Brewing Company, outlaw Lager. It's a California Common, is what Untappd says? Okay, 5.2%, 34 IBUs. It's out of Moriarty, new Mexico, and it says this unique lager balances a rich caramel malt flavor with a smooth, hot finish that keeps the palate crisp, reddish amber in color. This is a complex California Common beer style with a great malt-hot balance.
Speaker 3:So most of the time, that's the one I have not made is a California Common.
Speaker 2:When I think of California Common, I always think of, like Anchor Brewing. Yes, you know, that's kind of the one that everybody knows about. Yep, you know. So you know. You said you haven't made a California. Do you know what makes it?
Speaker 3:Some of them, some of them, they do natural fermentation on them Right. I think that's what Anchor did yes In these great big tubs or whatever, so it was just open to the air for the fermentation, and myself I don't like that Right. Oh yeah, there's too good of a chance of getting infected with something.
Speaker 2:See, that's what I was going to say. It seems like that leads to chances of bad things getting into there. You know you got to sift out the bugs if they get in your beer or whatever. You know. Yep, and maybe it's because you know, in Minnesota, wisconsin, iowa, those type of upper Midwest, you have more bugs. Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 3:Right, but I just think that I've never been to California, so maybe they don't have bugs out there, but we have a lot of them here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've only been there once, and it wasn't around a brewery that was doing that, so I don't know. It just seems like you're opening yourself up to more things to make it go bad. So it definitely is like an amber-type color. That's not bad, no.
Speaker 3:I mean that's got a pretty decent. It's a pretty malty beer, yes, pretty sweet caramel flavors, uh. So they've used probably a lot of caramel. I'm gonna guess 80 or 120 malt.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they don't say what they use for them, but you definitely get that caramelly kind of a flavor to it. Yeah, I, I like that. I think's pretty good. That's not a bad beer at all. No, no, I would drink a bottle of this and it is a lager.
Speaker 3:Yes, which is surprising, I mean, a lot of times the lagers have a lighter grain bill, so they're all lighter in color, you know. But no this is more like your darker amber style beer, just that it's lager.
Speaker 2:That's actually pretty darn good. It's pretty good. It's surprising, honestly, when I think back to the ones that we tried before those six. This one is right up there with the top ones at this point. Yes and yeah, this is good. I like this, and I don't exactly think we'll ever get any more, probably not From New Mexico.
Speaker 3:I don't think we'll get down there, not until I rejoin the beer club again. Yeah, no, this is good. I think I had paused it until, I thought, last October, but it never restarted, so maybe it's this October. It could be this October, who knows.
Speaker 2:Well, like I said you, you know, I mean it is fun. It's really cool because you never know what you're going to get. Get beers from all over the country, but it is kind of expensive?
Speaker 3:Yeah it is. It's like $42 a 12 pack for it.
Speaker 2:Which, again, you and I have both spent more on single beers than we have. You do on that, but it still is kind of like Well it's more the inconvenience of when they tell you they're going to deliver it.
Speaker 3:You have to make sure someone's at your house to sign for it, see, and I don't, which luckily I got lucky where mom and dad could go up there and get it.
Speaker 2:Right, and you know, like for me, being in Wisconsin, a lot of these places can't ship to Wisconsin for whatever reason, and I'm sure it's that stupid three-tier crap that Wisconsin has going so that you can't get beer shipped here. You know, so a lot of times it's just like, oh, I'd like to get that, and then you go, oh, we can't ship to.
Speaker 2:Wisconsin, you know. So I don't know, we'll have to wait and see. But so I don't know, we'll have to wait and see. But yeah, I mean, this is good, I mean as far as score-wise. What do you think on the Outlaw Lager?
Speaker 3:I would probably do like a 2.9.
Speaker 2:I'm going to do the same. Like I said, it is definitely for me it's pushing that 3, but it's still a 2.9.
Speaker 3:But this is really good.
Speaker 2:I definitely think this is a good flavor of a beer, especially out of the Beer of the Month Club. Yes, and I know we talked about it last time. We don't know how these breweries choose these. You know, sometimes I just wonder if it's stuff they got stuck with.
Speaker 3:We can't sell this so we're going to send it over here, but this one is good.
Speaker 2:This one is very good, so I think they did a good job. So the next three we got are all by bent river and I just laid these out by the style of beer.
Speaker 3:Right, we can look at them. I think the first one is a wheat. Yes, yep, so we'll go with that one, and then we can. If we want to mix up the pale ales, we can switch them up with something else, sure yep, but like I said, you know this bent river.
Speaker 2:I've been to a couple times because that's when Callie played basketball at Bradley. Yep, their conference tournament was in Moline. We'd go there and we'd stop here before the game started, you know. So we'd hit that and it's a cool place.
Speaker 3:I just laid them out like this everyone. So it's basically going by beer style, right? Because anyone who who drinks ipas you know, if you drink a bunch of ipas and then you go to a pilsner, you can't taste nothing, right?
Speaker 2:so yeah, and my brother told me one time before, if you feel a cold coming on, you're supposed to drink six ipas. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yep, and that's supposed to get rid of the tannins in the hops. Help fight off a cold, so I didn't know. And I'm going to believe it because it came from a beer magazine.
Speaker 2:Well, like I said, I don't know if it's that or, by the time you're done with six of them, that you've got a buzz going and you really don't care that you're sick.
Speaker 3:Well, either or I have found, if I have a really bad cold and if anyone out there knows where you can get 120-minute IPA from Dogfish. Head and you got a bad chest. Cold drink a bottle of the 120-minute IPA and it burns it right out. I've done it many times. It's an amazing beer, oh sure, and it'll fight off your cold. See Now in 120 minutes that's like their top, and one right that's 120 IBUs, I think, and 17% alcohol.
Speaker 2:Well, because they have I don't know they've got 90 minutes. They've got 60 minutes, 90 minute, 90 and 120 right?
Speaker 3:yes, the 120, if you can find it.
Speaker 2:Where I used to get it, it was 43.99 a four pack I was gonna say memory, the one time we got it at eddie's and it was like 40 bucks for a four pack. You know and uh, and I know, ladies and gentlemen, that is expensive and and such, but in the grand scheme of things for a craft beer, Well, a craft beer.
Speaker 3:You're talking about 17% alcohol. Yeah, so you only have one. Yeah, you buy four, you put them in your fridge and you save them.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:And like.
Speaker 2:I said cost-wise. I mean we've spent more on you know, of course, your bourbon counties are typically more than that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're anywhere from $20 to $75 a piece for a bourbon county.
Speaker 2:And of course, you and I and Larry and Jim, we each kicked in and we bought a bottle of Utopia and that was $200 a bottle, and which that one is 29%, but it's kind of on the verge of not being beer yeah, you know but it was good, you know, and I I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so let's see. So this one. Getting back to this, the bent river american wheat ale uh, did we have nope on untapped? We have no description, so I don't care for that one. Well, looking at it, I had it at the brewery. So I'm going to see what I think now compared to what.
Speaker 3:I said then Nope, yeah, it's kind of really harsh. That is tart, yes, and it's crazy, because, wow, for an American wheat, it should not be that tart.
Speaker 2:I don't necessarily even taste the wheat in it, it is just sour. Yes, here's what I'm going to tell you. When we had it at the brewery, fresh out of the tap, I gave it a 2.1. This bottle here is nowhere near A 2.1. No, I'm just going to say right now I'm thinking a 1.5.
Speaker 3:Exactly what I was going to say I'm going a 1.5 because this is. It's hard to even drink a taster glass. I don't think I even am. I don't know. I probably will, because we always say you can drink a taster glass.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you got to at least drink the taster glass. It's only so much, but, boy, I think when we're done that one we might not try again, because that is just harsh, that's real bad. And hopefully for them it's just that bottle, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:But, like I said, I gave it a 2.1 at the brewery so I'll guarantee Jim was probably lower than that. Yep, but boy out of the bottle. Yeah, that's a disappointment. Yeah, I don't. Like I said, most of the time when you get a wheat beer you can taste that wheat flavor. You know what I mean. You know it's a wheat this one nope, it's like. I hope that it. It went bad in the bottle, like I said, but I just I don't know it Not good, yeah, I would not recommend this.
Speaker 2:New people coming into craft beer. No.
Speaker 3:I'm ready to my glass after that one.
Speaker 2:Here. I'll give you mine too. I'd rather not have any remnants of that one in there. For the next one Wow, that is just rough, all right, well, man, I hope the next ones aren't the same.
Speaker 3:Well, the next ones are IPAs. They're IPAs or pale ales. I think that's a pale ale. I think that one.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's see. Okay, I have not had this, so this is from Bent River as well. This is their Daytrotter Pale Horse Pale Ale, 5.2%, 30 IBUs, and they do have a description on here. Oh, there we go. All right, it says. For over a decade, day Trotter has shined a spotlight on up-and-coming brands oh, I'm sorry, up-and-coming bands by recording their work and giving them a stage to showcase their talents, their talents, here in the Quad Cities. When Bent River Brewing Company agreed to brew a beer with Day Trotter, they wanted to shine a spotlight on some lesser-known hop varieties. The Pale Horse is brewed with Azaca and Hull Melon Hops, h-u-l-l. Melon hops, which lends flavors of strawberry and honeydew melon to this refreshing, easy drinking pale ale. So let's see if we get strawberry or honeydew melon. I mean, it smells like an ipa. You know what I'm saying looks like an ipa.
Speaker 2:I get no melon or strawberry no, I don't taste that at all either. It's got kind of a. It has a different flavor. I'm gonna, I'm gonna say that for sure.
Speaker 3:It's a little over carbonated, yes, which could be just because of how long I've had it right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that could affect the flavor a little bit, but I don't get strawberry.
Speaker 3:No, I don't get honeydew melon.
Speaker 2:No, it does, like you said, that overcarbonate. It has that fizzy when you drink it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that really messes with the flavor of it.
Speaker 2:Right. So, man, I don't know what to think of this one. You know what I mean. It's not terrible.
Speaker 3:I'm hoping. When it's not like that, it's better Right. When it's not like that, it's better right.
Speaker 2:But even with the, with the, with the hops they called out, I just don't think you would get strawberry or melon, okay, because, yeah, you know you and I had talked about that earlier, about you know you hear these hot varieties and I I can tell you, you know some. Yes, you taste like grapefruit, a oh, it's like a tropical flavor. I really have never had tropical flavor and I can safely say I've never.
Speaker 3:Or the one that tastes like stone fruit. Yeah, I'm sorry. What the hell does stone fruit?
Speaker 2:taste like? That is exactly what Jim and I talk about. What does stone fruit taste like? Which?
Speaker 3:I should learn, since I'm a brewer. I need to go and I need to buy a stone fruit somewhere and see what it tastes like, but like this.
Speaker 2:Have you ever had a hop that tastes like strawberry?
Speaker 3:No, I've never had a beer that tastes I never have From the hops. The only beers that I have had that tastes like strawberry is because I put strawberry puree in it. Right, that's what I'm thinking, you know so it's, and it right, that's what I'm thinking, you know so it's, and it's it.
Speaker 2:Well in the same with honeydew melon because we know what you know honeydew melon. You know what a honeydew melon tastes like and I've never had one and I've never had that it's. It's either grapefruit, lemon zest or pine. That's kind of the three flavors for the most part, yeah you know. So I don't know when they, when breweries, call out, oh it's going to taste like strawberry or whatever, unless you put some kind of strawberry adjunct in there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, you're not going to get it Right.
Speaker 2:That's what I was thinking anyway, and boy, I'm getting burpy from that. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's over carbonated. It is over carbonated, yeah, so it's like whew.
Speaker 3:That's why I moved it back, so that one can get dumped out at the end.
Speaker 2:Score-wise, I'm going up 2.0 myself. I think it's just. What they're calling out is what Jim has said the whole time. If it's on the label, it should be. If it's on the can. It should be in the can. I get no strawberry. I get no honeydew melon no so I, I'm, I got it. I'm gonna give him a two because it's just it's. It is over carbonated, which will affect the flavor a little bit, but I don't think that is what.
Speaker 2:No it didn't affect it enough to take the flavors away, right so I'm gonna do the same 2.0 okay again, not a knock on them because, like I said, I've been to the brewery a couple times and they've got a really cool place. They have some really good beers and it could be like you said. It's been sitting for a while but I've never tasted a hop that made a beer taste like strawberry or honeydew melon.
Speaker 3:Yep, yep, yep. The only time I get a lot of them, flavors like that is what I put into it, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know. So the first four we're halfway through Brian, Halfway through this extravaganza, and we're at 50-50 so far.
Speaker 3:Yeah, right now we're 50-50 going.
Speaker 2:eh, I'm like darn it.
Speaker 3:I should have tried these first, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, because you got, when you get these, these, do you get like two bottles each three bottles. Ah, three bottles, three bottles, okay, so you have some of these still sitting.
Speaker 3:Two breweries, two beers, three bottles each. Okay, yeah, so I got more of these at my.
Speaker 2:I got two more of each of these.
Speaker 3:I think what you need to do is have a little beer tasting oh you have other people oh yeah, it'll be on my deck this summer when we're doing a big cookout. There you go. You want a good beer? You got to drink one of these first.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 3:I mean, we're doing samplings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, samplings, samplings, that's what it is, all right. Well, now we're on to our third and final Bent River, and this is their undercurrent IPA, and I have had this one before and at the brewery. It was pretty good. This is what I'll tell you right now. Let's see. So the description on this one is a lot shorter. This is copper color, sweet citrus fruits up front, almost floral, moderate and delicious, bitter finish. Done. You know, that's it, okay. So, like I said, this one they did have on tap at the brewery when we were there and we'll see how it compares to what I think of it. Compared to when we were there, that one definitely has a little more flavor to it.
Speaker 3:Yes, it's a little more balanced.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is not bad. No, it's a little more balanced. Yeah, this is not bad, no it doesn't say what the hops they used. Not on the description, it didn't. It is 6.8% ABV and 68 IBUs.
Speaker 3:It seemed a little higher on the malt. So, yeah 6.8%, it is.
Speaker 2:They did say you know that it has malt, you know Well, actually, no, they didn't Copper color sweet citrus fruits up front, almost floral, moderate and delicious bitter finish.
Speaker 3:This is about the same color as my Mosaic IPA. Okay, but a little less of the hop flavoring, but it's a little less hop. Compared to yours, yours has more of a hop flavor to it yeah, my mosaic ipa is, which I only use mosaic hops in it. Okay, but we we put a lot of mosaic hops in it, sure, but the nice part is that that's one of them beers that even the non-IPA drinkers will drink, really. Yeah, there's not a lot of bite and not a lot of bitterness to it.
Speaker 2:Okay, because I was going to say, with a lot of hops you'd think there'd be a lot more.
Speaker 3:You would think it would be, but it's with all the Mosaic hops. It does have more of the citrus flavor.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And where people are like, oh, I don't like IPAs, we're flavor okay. And where people are like, oh, I don't like ipas, we're like, okay, hold on, try these two, because I have that one on right now. And then I have a black we call black helmet ipa which, uh, anyone that's in the beer world, um, it's a cascadian black ale, okay, but the owners wanted to call it a black ipa because it's like 60 ibus. Oh, gotcha with that one, the roasted malts mask a lot of the hop bitterness. Okay, so even the non-ipa lovers will drink it because, because of the coffee flavor in it interesting, okay?
Speaker 2:so yeah, because we've talked about it before where hops are definitely very polarizing.
Speaker 3:Yes, and they scare people away, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you know, when you get a lot of people that aren't very craft beer savvy together and you give them, you know, even bring out just an APA or a regular pale ale, you know there's people that think that's just, oh my gosh, that's terrible. You know it's so hoppy. They don't even know what the flavor is. They just instantly are turned off Because all they drink are your big brands that have no flavor. Yep, so yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 3:Which I even had one guy one time in there when I was bartending that night. My lawnmower beer that I served on there is called Dalmatian Ale. It's a very mild ale, moderately hopped, it's not real bitter. But I had a Coors Light drinker try it and, oh my God, I thought he was going to fall on the floor. Oh God, it's so strong and I'm like what it's like. This is the mildest beer I've ever made wow, yeah I'm like, okay, whatever well, that I'm sure you remember.
Speaker 2:you know, a number of episodes ago, when I was talking about people that drive you to drink, that would be, yeah, you know, when I was talking about the person that goes to a brewer, craft brewery, and ask what, what's the closest thing you have to this? Yes, you know, and it's like the water we made it out of, you know, and it's like oh, we get that a fair amount where people ask what do we have?
Speaker 3:that's like bush light, Exactly yeah.
Speaker 2:And we're like I'm sorry, why do you go to a brewery and ask for bush light? Yeah, why would you go to a brewery and ask for that? You know it. Why would you go to a brewery and ask for that? You know it makes no sense to me at all. So, yeah, yeah, those guys. Well, if you remember from my story when suzy and I were at industry brewing in peoria and that those two old guys came in and they were giving the bartender a hard time and she's like sir, you're at a craft brew, we brew our own beer. You don't have miller light hair and she looked like dug around in this little dorm fridge, looking you know little thing, and found one. I got this, okay, you know, and then they they left after they were done and I was just like you know we always really, you know it's disrespectful to the brewer oh yeah, to go to a brewery and not at least try one of their beers.
Speaker 2:Yep, well, you know, and it's funny I think I told you about it where the one time Jim had it was an Oktoberfest party at his house and we decided, oh, we're going to do a beer tasting. So, oh, because all these people are coming, oh, the one cousin of this friend of ours, oh, he's this huge craft beer guy. And all these other people, oh, they want to be in on it. Okay, so we did Oktoberfest, we did pumpkin and then wild card. Okay, so the guy that I was told was this huge craft beer guy, we got done with the Oktoberfest category and he went in the house and passed out, basically, and the pumpkin beers went, okay, you know. But then we went to wild card and jim had a goose island bourbon county stout, brought it out and there was like three of the people that ran it, looked at it, dumped it in the dump bucket and said, oh, it's terrible, zero. And somebody put miller light in the wild card. Oh, five, that's a five, all these people you know, and it's like I told jim.
Speaker 2:I said well, we can never do this again. Yep, I'm like you can't do a beer tasting with people that have no idea with non-craft beer drinkers Correct what they're doing, because it was so skewed.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. And we're just like are you kidding me? And it was funny because Jay, who's been at a number of our tastings I think he participated last September. It was the first time he ever actually participated Because he was never a craft beer guy, but he's slowly getting into it and this more he does it. You know he likes to hang out with us, but he ended up winning it, right, and so whoever won got a. He had a.
Speaker 2:Jim somehow got a big beer stein from Sam Adam. Well, I ended up trading him a sweatshirt for it because he's like, well, I don't need it, you know. But the funny thing was he was just like, you know, guys, I thought the funniest thing was, you know, jim breaks out that goose island and that thing is like 20 bucks a bottle and how many people just dumped it out without even tasting it and I'm like, yeah, you know, it was just rough, you know, and we've never done that since because it's like, no, you know, you can't when, especially when it's when people won't have an open mind about a, you know, trying different beers. Yeah, you know, and I think that's the the part of the craft beer industry that I really enjoy is the vast majority of the people.
Speaker 3:They're willing to try anything just get a beer and try it and we see something new and we're like oh yes, we're gonna try one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, and that's I mean, how many times have we been? Well, I do it all the time. I know you do it all the time. You're at the beer shop, wherever, whatever liquor store you're at you're like oh, I've never even heard of that I'm gonna try it, you know and it might be horrible, it might be great, but we're gonna try it, you know, and I wish more people would do that where they're willing to, to be a little more open, yep you know, to new things like that anytime we go to a new brewery, we get a sample of one of everything they make on tap.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, because, yeah, we want to see what they're doing, how it is and and if it's something I need to look into.
Speaker 2:Yep, well, you know, it's funny because, like when Susie and I went to Hawaii when Callie was playing in that tournament, you know last year and the same thing, we went to Hawaii, to Maui Brewing, and I got flights to every beer they had we tried Actually, we tried the normal stuff. We did a podcast of that the night before we had their I can't remember what they called it, but it was like their other series and I ended up trying all of those that night. Then, when we went to Waikiki Brewing, they had 14 beers on tap and we tried them all. I bought two flights and I think they gave me the last four because we told them what we were doing and all that and they were like here you go, and we ended up. We haven't done a podcast on it, I still have my notes on it and we should.
Speaker 2:But again, I'll give them a shout-out because their beers were really good. They had some amazing ones. They had a Habanero beer that was honestly really good and, uh, they had a couple other ones that were extremely good and then they they did have. They had one in my notes that said uh, smelled and tastes like dirty socks, so that one wasn't very good, but but overall their beers were great, the food was amazing, and that's the one thing I told the, the waitress that we had. I said you know, I can count on one hand the number of breweries that I had been to where the beer is great and the food is great, because usually it's one or the other Right or neither you know, but yeah, theirs was, they were very good, so all right. So we let's get back to the undercurrent IPA. What are you thinking on a score for that one?
Speaker 3:I'm probably. Hmm, I think I'm going to do a 2.5. 2.5 on it? Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2:I was thinking a little bit higher, but I was going to go like a 2.7, 2.8. I'll go 2.7.
Speaker 3:Again, I do kind of like the maltiness of it, but it seems like the ipa side of it could be a little bit. Yeah, and then on mine it was a little charged again, right, yeah, you know. So that's. That's probably a skewing my score a little bit. It's still a good beer.
Speaker 2:It just, it just right, it could have been better. It's missing something or whatever. All right, so the next one that we have oh, we got a little bit of write-up. This is by upland brewing company and they are out of bloomington, indiana. This is their dragonfly ipa. Oh, I'm seeing some foam.
Speaker 3:It started. Yeah Well, it's not too bad when you pour it.
Speaker 2:So this is a 6.7% ABV, 65 IBUs, and it says Our Dragonfly India Pale Ale is brewed with four hop additions to create a powerful hop profile. A solid malt base, however, tempers the bitter American hops, giving Dragonfly a balance not often found in this style. The end product is a well-balanced malty beer with crisp taste of hops and an exceptionally floral nose.
Speaker 3:I wish they would have listed the hops. Yeah, they didn't say what they were, because there's nothing called American hops. Okay, yeah, it just have listed the hops.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they didn't say what they were, because there's nothing called American hops. Okay, yeah, it just said four.
Speaker 3:American hops.
Speaker 1:There are American strains of hops Right.
Speaker 3:So I wish they would have said what they were.
Speaker 2:So you wonder, did they just put four hops in the barrel?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's not very hoppy at all.
Speaker 2:No of the three IPAs. We had four. No three. Yep, this is hop-wise. And it's what did I say? They said it was 65.
Speaker 3:IBAs. It does not seem like it, but that could be the grain Bill, because it is pretty malty, yeah, and that will affect your hop flavor.
Speaker 2:Okay, but it seems to me this is like the bitter hop flavor. This is the lowest of the three. Yes, I would say Yep.
Speaker 3:So that's why I wish they would have said which hops Was it Willamette and Mountain Hood and Northern Brewer, which are all milder hops, okay, or what.
Speaker 2:But I still was worried about someone replicating it, so they didn't want to. Well, I'm sorry, but every beer out there has a clone recipe out there available to anybody, for the most part, yeah anymore.
Speaker 3:Yep, I mean it's not bad. No, no, I don't mind it, it's a good beer.
Speaker 2:Honestly, this might be my top of the three IPAs.
Speaker 2:Yep, but, like I said, you wish they would have been a little more, because they build it up to be like this big hop flavor and it's not that. Nope, you know, and again, I'm not ripping on it for that at all, but again, just times you wish they would. Like you said, if they listed here's the hops that were used, you know, then you'd have had a better idea that, yes, this is what we should expect, but, yeah, it's I. I don't mind it, I, I like I said the three IPAs we've had so far, I think this is the best of the three, Absolutely yeah. Yeah. Color-wise, it has a little bit of a golden color.
Speaker 3:It's a little opaque you can't see through it. It's a multi-beer. When you drink it it's got a little sweetness to it which, like I said, that will affect how hoppy it is, Right?
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's not bad. Score-wise, what are you thinking, so, of the IPAs? You gave a 2 and a 2.5.
Speaker 3:I'm going to do a 2.7. Okay, well, is that all right? I have a 2.7. Well, you have a tie, that's okay.
Speaker 2:I'll do a 2.8. How about that?
Speaker 1:I'll allow a tie.
Speaker 2:That's not a big deal to me, but if Jim were here, he'd have been like whoa, he would have threw down right there he would have said whoa, oh man, now that I look at my scores, I'm kind of painting myself in a corner, because if you don't want to do a tie, I've already used a 2.8 and a 2.9, and I had a 2.8 and a 2.9, and I had a 2.7 and a 2.
Speaker 2:It's not a 3 to me. No, it's not a 3 beer. Well, I'm going to cheat. The undercurrent is going to go to a 2.6, and this will go to 2.7. Just to keep it balanced there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because it's not a 3 beer, but it's not a bad beer either. No, it's just. I'd drink one of these on a hot day. We're just really picky on our beer scores.
Speaker 2:You know, and like Jim said, he just wants there not to be scores, because that way people can kind of gauge. This one was a little bit better than this one and I give him credit. That is a good reason you know to do that. So I I give him credit. But, like I said, it's always funny because like hey, you can't have a tie you know.
Speaker 2:So I was like okay so even and he's had to change some scores before because of that because you're like, oh, this one was that one was better than this one and I got to change this, or this is better than that, but it's not that, you know. So we have two beers left and these are going to be the two darker ones that we have for this group, and it's we got another little shorty bottle, yep, so let's see what we got here it's a dark lager from uh hardy wood.
Speaker 3:Hardy wood hard Brewing. An American dark lager.
Speaker 2:Oh, here we go. Okay, 5% ABV. Oh, I've got a little write-up here on untapped. If you enjoy Richmond's authentic craft lager in Hardywood oh, we had an issue, ladies and gentlemen, it was foaming up. Let me start over. If you enjoy Richmond's authentic craft lager in Hardywood, richmond Lager, you can't miss Hardywood Richmond Dark Lager this winter season. Richmond Dark Lager provides the same refreshing and crisp experience with an ever so slight, sweet, dark malt characteristic. Is it still foaming?
Speaker 3:Yep, I'll try and see if it.
Speaker 2:We haven't dumped it, I think, just try it.
Speaker 3:It seems like it's so foamy that all you get is a foam.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it just foams up instantly.
Speaker 3:Which, it sucks. The last one I had actually was decent. That's all right, though.
Speaker 2:yeah, the last time when we went to kelly's parents house, I brought one of each of these yeah and the pilsner foamed all up and this one didn't all right, so we're down to our last one, and this one is river horse oatmeal milk stout by river horse brewing company and they're out of ewing, new jersey, and it's 6.7 abv and it says a velvety smooth stout brewed with oats and milk sugar that create a creamy finish over a dark malt base, 6.7% ABV, available November through February.
Speaker 3:Well, they talked it up and it sounds amazing, so hopefully it lives up.
Speaker 2:Oatmeal milk stout. We had talked about a very good one last time, you know, in the Buffalo Sweat, Because that's isn't that an?
Speaker 3:oatmeal Yep, it's an oatmeal cream stout, cream stout.
Speaker 2:What's the difference between a cream stout and a milk stout? They're the same. Same, okay, just different. See the oatmeal cream stouts have flaked oats in it where the milk stout doesn't, but they both have powdered lactose in them. This isn't bad it's. It's not buffalo sweat, but it's.
Speaker 3:No, it's not bad. No, it's not a bad beer. No, they talked it up a lot. Yes, so I was a little um, I was expecting a little bit more by what. The write-up was right, but it is a good beer yeah, and again, we are partial to the stouts and things like that, but it's not bad no, but like I said, it's not.
Speaker 2:You know, we've definitely had some other ones that are that are better better, but I this isn't bad. I mean of of this group, this one here I can see going into it like a three.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'd say a three also. Definitely I mean for a beer. I got in the mail Right that we still don't know how they pick them and all that.
Speaker 2:No, I don't mind this. I'd say this is the best of the groups.
Speaker 3:Yes, I would say this is the best of the ones we did on this session.
Speaker 2:Yep, I would agree. It definitely has that malty flavor.
Speaker 3:Yep, the coffee notes, of course you know from the roasted grains. Yep, and you get that it's smooth from your lactose, I say your milk stock.
Speaker 2:They usually have that smooth mouth feel. This definitely has that. Yeah, you know. Yeah, I think this is 3.0. Uh, this is the best one that we had in this group yeah, I agree and after that I I would go after this one. I'd say you know, the milk salt was number one, the outlaw lager was number two. Yes, yeah, I think we're in agreement there that that was, uh, actually your dragonfly ipa.
Speaker 2:You rated it higher right, yeah, okay, but I think that was neck and neck yeah, yeah, they were, that was my third, you know, so it was yeah, they were close but yeah, I think these are definitely, definitely good and, like I said, you know same thing we said last time. You know these are beers we other than the bent river, you know yep we probably never would.
Speaker 3:Oh god, no them. Then you didn't know they were around.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, they're really good and, yeah, thank you so much for bringing them and, you know, deciding we're going to try them here and do a podcast on them. So, like I said, they were definitely good. I think all of these, for the most part, a new person could try them. You know a couple of the IPAs.
Speaker 1:Well, that wheat, ale I wouldn't have recommended to a new person, because that no, that wasn't good.
Speaker 2:It didn't taste like an actual wheat ale, so I guess you know. Thanks, brian, thank you so much for bringing them and being a part of the podcast and yeah, I'm sure we'll have you back real soon and uh, all that. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for listening. Hopefully, you know, some of these beers might be in your area, maybe that you know, or you could be like us where you you never would see them unless you had the beer of the month club or something like that, and if you're looking for something really fun to get in the mail, yeah, definitely look into the Craft Beer of the Month Club.
Speaker 3:There you go. Like I said, it's like Christmas every month, it's the gift that keeps on giving, exactly Because, if you wouldn't have got them.
Speaker 2:We wouldn't have had them right now. That's right, awesome, well, cool, well, hey, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for listening and, like we always say, we hope your campfire are always cold.
Speaker 1:See ya, thank you for listening to the Northwoods Beer Guy podcast. If you have a question, a comment or a beer you'd like us to review, please feel free to send us a message at northwoodsbeerguy at gmailcom. You can also find us on Facebook, twitter and Instagram. If you're on untapped, look up Northwoods Beer Guy and send a friend request. Until next week, I hope all your campfires are warm and all your beers cold.
