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.
Come sit around the campfire and join in on the fun!
The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast
Ep - 127 - The brothers sample unique brews from Iowa's Five Alarm Brewing.
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Pull up a barstool for an exclusive tasting session with Brian "the mad scientist," head brewer at Five Alarm Brewing in Lake Mills, Iowa. This special episode takes you behind the scenes of a firefighter-owned brewery making waves with inventive craft creations.
Brian unpacks the art and science of brewing as we sample seven distinctive beers, each with its own remarkable story. From a traditional German Maybach lager that celebrates spring to a spicy dill pickle beer that's transformed the brewery's Bloody Mary game, these aren't your average craft offerings. The brothers' banter reveals fascinating brewing insights – like why grocery store honey ruins beer, how "cold crashing" works, and what happens when you accidentally add too much habanero (spoiler: someone still buys a growler every week).
The standout moment comes when we taste a never-before-released Double Chocolate Oatmeal Stout – a happy accident resulting from a grain shortage that forced Brian to improvise. This world premiere tasting reveals a smooth, chocolate-forward brew without the burnt coffee notes that often turn away new craft beer drinkers.
We explore Five Alarm's community connections through their Iowa fire department patch collection and seasonal offerings created specifically for local celebrations. The conversation highlights how craft breweries respond to customer preferences – like when Brian accidentally created a lower-alcohol version of their popular Mosaic IPA and customers demanded he keep the "mistake."
Whether you're a dedicated hop head or craft beer curious, this episode celebrates the creativity and community spirit driving America's small breweries. Next time you're near Lake Mills, Iowa, stop in – you might find the head brewer himself pouring your pint.
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 northwoodsbeerguy@gmail.com.
You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, X (Twitter), Instagram and Tik Tok.
If you are on Untappd, look up NorthwoodsBeerGuy and send a friend request.
Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts, or you can click on our RSS feed as well.
Five Alarm Brewing Introduction
Speaker 1Grab a beer and pull up a chair. Welcome to the Northwoods Beer Guy podcast. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Northwoods Beer Guy podcast. This is Mike B, northwoods Beer Guy. This week we are in the Wisconsin Dells area and we are getting ready to go check out some breweries in the Dells and in the Baraboo Wisconsin area. But before that, we are sitting here around a table and I am joined by my brother, brian the mad scientist. How's it going? Oh, pretty good, that's good, and we also have Larry here, hello. So, guys, I guess we're doing a little pre-checking out beers, so to speak. Brian, as you know, does the brewing at Five Alarm Brewing in Lake Mills, iowa, and he actually brought down some of his beers to kind of have us try and see what we think. So I guess, brian, if you want to kind of let us know what you've got going on there, got anything cool going on recently and what kind of stuff did you bring with?
Speaker 2Well, at the brewery we just had our town festival a couple weeks ago, so everything was kind of geared towards getting ready for that. So now it's kind of a little wind-down period for about the next couple weeks and then we'll be starting up again for Oktoberfest time period and the winter months.
Speaker 1Okay, so you've got I'm guessing like some Oktoberfest beers in process. Yep, okay, yeah, I'm behind.
Speaker 2You've got some Oktoberfest beers in process, yep, okay, yeah, I'm behind schedule. I don't know what they are doing.
Sampling German Maybach Lager
Speaker 1Better late than never. Yep, awesome, well cool, I guess. What did you bring for us to try? What's the first thing we're going to sample?
Speaker 2here. Well, the first one I brought is a new recipe for a Maibach, for a Maybach, which a Maybach is a strong, pale German lager that was originally made to celebrate the coming of spring in Germany, so they called it, pronounced Maybach, or Maybach, as some people would say. So yeah, it's a lighter colored German lager and real clean and refreshing. Okay, but it is stronger.
Speaker 1It's 7% ABV, all right, I say it's definitely a little darker, you know, darker than a pilsner color, things like that. Yep, oh, got a good aroma on it. Wow, that's pretty good. So, like when you're deciding what beers to brew, do you? Are you looking seasonally? Are you looking at do people request things? Do you just? You know, I guess, what goes into the process. All All of the above, all of the above.
Speaker 2If there's something that people are constantly asking me to make every week, then I'll put it on the list of ones to do. Okay, otherwise? Yeah, I try to. I have three, at least, that I try to keep on all the time, but then I try to rotate the other five taps. Okay, but yeah, so I always try to have one seasonal tap, so you know it's always rotating throughout the year.
Speaker 1Okay, nice, so yeah, so you said this is 7%.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's my buck 7% and I believe it was 20 or 22 IBUs.
Speaker 1Okay. So, larry, what did you think of the my buck? I like my buck. It doesn't have a big harsh hop bite or anything. It's got a good flavor, smooth, I think. I agree, I do think that this is really good. I get a little bit of hop, but it's not, you know Right.
Speaker 2The grain in it. The sweetness of the beer kind of mellows out the hop bite. Okay, all right, cool.
Speaker 1So the beer kind of mellows out the hot bite. Okay, all right, cool. So when you're making this like how long for an average beer, do you think, what do you say? From start to finish, it takes you to brew. I know it kind of depends on the style, but Right, like a lager from a time I'm.
Speaker 2The brewing process takes the same pretty much in all the beers, anywhere from seven to seven and a half hours for a batch. But then the fermentation like this one took it was in the fermenter for five weeks before we cold crashed it and then bottled it or not bottled it but kegged it. Ales are usually in about three weeks in the fermenter, depending on which one. Of course, stouts are usually three to four weeks Okay.
Speaker 1Now, when you said cold crash, what does that mean for people listening?
Speaker 2We hook it up to a glycol chiller and we run glycol through a cooling line that's in the fermenter and it cools the beer down to 38 degrees. So that way all the yeast goes into suspension and falls out. Oh, okay, so it's safe from having to filter as much, gotcha. Okay, so we'll leave it on the chiller, for I usually try to leave it on for anywhere from three to five days.
Speaker 1To have as much yeast fall out as possible. Okay, so when the yeast falls out, is it like you see? You know, I've seen other like programs where they have, like the great big, they call it the yeast cake or whatever. It's all the. It looks kind of nasty yeah it.
Speaker 2Well it doesn't. With only doing it for three to five days, it doesn't accumulate as much on the earth as they accumulate it's all falls down, but it doesn't solidify gotcha. So after usually after two days, I'll go in and I'll drain the yeast off that's on it, and then another day or two I'll do it again and just see If it's getting to where it's just beer coming out. That's when I'll keg it up. Okay, nice.
Speaker 1Well, hey, larry, what did you think? As far as for a score, you know our scores go from zero to five by a tenth of a point. What do you think of the Maybach? Well, to a five by a tenth of a point. What do you think of the Maybach? Well, you know, I have to kind of watch my scoring since I drink a lot of Brian's beer. But no, I really like this beer and I'm going to go, I'm going to say like a 2.8. Okay, yeah, and Brian's kind of eyeballing me right now. So it is, it's kind of scary, yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 2No, I think I'm used to people judging my beer every time they come down, I can imagine.
Speaker 1So, yeah, it's, I do like it too. I was going to say like a 2.8 as well. Um, like I saidi just I like how, how kind of crisp it is, you know, and it's got that really good flavor to it and that little bit of sweetness. Yeah, I think that's a good job.
Speaker 2I'd ask Brian, but I would say he's going to say a tan, a tan.
Speaker 1That's right. We told him we could only go to five.
New Kolsch Beer Tasting
Speaker 2All right. So the next one I brought is I haven't even tried this one. Oh, this is an exclusive. Yeah, this is a brand new recipe for a new Kolsch beer.
Speaker 1Now at the brewery, do you go through and name all of your beers or do some of them? You just kind of call it by what it is.
Speaker 2I started out trying to name them and the last year and a half, two years, I just put up there what it is. Okay, I figured the owners aren't going to distribute the beer anyways, so right, I'm just gonna call it what it is, and sure you should probably let everybody know about how the owners are on the fire department and yeah, where I brew is five alarm brewing.
Speaker 2It's in lake mills, iowa. Started out, uh, there's four owners. All four of them were on the local fire department, so hence the name Five Alarm. You go in there and it's made up, decorated a lot like you're in a fire hall. They have a lot of the old retired equipment, old old fire extinguishers.
Speaker 1Now, when I was in there last time I saw you had a wall and it had like an outline of Iowa, but then it had all sorts of patches from was it other fire departments?
Speaker 2Yep, people from other fire departments come up and they'll bring their patches with them, so that way they'll give one to the brewery and then they'll put it on the wall, paste it on the wall in the general area where that town is on the map.
Speaker 1That's cool. Yeah, that's really cool. So this you you said was a new recipe, so you have never brewed this particular one before.
Speaker 2No, we made a honey colch before and it was the previous see. There we was four owners. Now there's down to two owners. Okay, that have it. And one of the former owners did the brewing and he had a honey colch recipe, which was good, um, but I just want, always want to try new recipes, so this is a new recipe that I came up with, so is this a honey kolsch also?
Speaker 1no, this is just a straight cold.
Speaker 2I wanted to. I wanted to get the kolsch recipe down first, before I started adding anything to it sure, perfect the first, you know the base first and then go from there.
Speaker 1It's got a good aroma. Yeah, that's pretty good. I'm gonna say it definitely tastes like a Kolsch.
Speaker 2It's nice and clean. That's what I'm happy with. I mean, I honestly it would be easy to add the honey or other things into it, Right?
Speaker 1Well, I was going to say just the way it is. I think somebody that's never had a Kolsch before they could definitely taste. Or you know, drink it Right and it he's got like a really overpowering flavor. You know what I mean? I mean it's very, very mellow, very smooth. I enjoy that. Yeah, I think it'd be an easy drinker. I agree, score-wise.
Speaker 2He's looking at us so now I have to try and source some local honey. I have learned don't get honey from the grocery store. Oh yeah, it's not the same as if you get honey from someone that's got.
Speaker 1it has bees and so as far as like taste wise, or yeah, it's it tastes.
Speaker 2It makes it taste completely different. If you get stuff that was bought in the store, huh, I don't know if it's from what. I don't know what they do in their process.
Speaker 1Right, obviously it's different than the, the beekeepers, oh sure yeah, you know, and it's funny because I've seen places where, uh, like selling honey or whatever, like, say, a farmer's market or whatever, but then they even say if it's this type of flower or from this you know. So I guess that even affects the taste of the honey. So I can totally see where that would change something in a beer. Now, again, this is a silly question, but when you're brewing with honey, are you doing that in the boil and all?
Speaker 1that At the end of the boil.
Speaker 2Okay, after your 60-minute boil is done, when you shut the heat off, that's when you add the honey in.
Speaker 1Okay, so then that basically melts the.
Speaker 2So it's just dissolving into the beer, but it's not boiling it Okay gotcha.
Speaker 1I often wondered that you know so, all right, interesting it okay gotcha I often wondered that you know.
Speaker 1So, all right, interesting. So, larry, getting back to the score, um, I'm gonna, you know, actually throw you out there first. You see, I was hoping you'd go. Uh, I like it. I'm gonna take another taste here. I think this one I'm gonna go like a two seven, just because I I think it's an extremely smooth and melon. Anybody could drink it and I can't wait to try it. Once he starts adding things as well, he puts his own little spin on it, but I think it's done really well and I would agree with you. I was going to actually go that score, but I wanted to throw you under the bus first, but he wasn't paying attention.
Speaker 1He was getting the next beer out. So I think we're okay. But no, I do think it's really refreshing and on a hot day this would be really good. Oh, it would be very good, very good sitting out there.
Speaker 2No, I'm used to criticism and I always say, well, that's why I make a lot of different beers. There's always something someone likes.
Extra Pale Ale Discussion
Speaker 1But I mean, like Kolsch, I honestly think that's one that somebody that you know is into more of the big beer brands they could drink, that you know, and it's going to have more flavor than they're used to, but it still is very mellow and I enjoyed that. This one looks a little darker, reddish kind of hue to it.
Speaker 2Yeah, this is the extra pale ale that I brewed. Okay, I always liked Summit EPA, that they made Yep, and I love IPAs and that in general. But I wanted to make one in IPA or pale ale that was a little maltier, a little less bitter, but still has you can definitely taste there's hops in it. Okay, I think it came. I should have wrote it down. Oh wait, we took a picture of the board. Oh, I try to remember all the ABVs and all that good stuff.
Speaker 1Yeah, Now have you made this one before?
Speaker 2Yes, this one I have. Well, I think this is the second or third batch of this that I've made. Okay, I just I throw it out there every once in a while. I have a one ipa that I keep on, try to keep on all the time um the mosaic ipa, and then we switch out the other ones, so not to cut you off, but you had said you have like three that you have on there all the time.
Speaker 1What are those three? Like the?
Speaker 2your. I have a delmation ale. Cream ale and the mosaic are the three that I try to keep on all the time.
Speaker 1The delmation ale is what kind of a beer is.
Speaker 2It's a lighter ale okay, it's a lawnmower beer okay, so those are your three. That, and they're always on, yeah okay, and the delmation is I, we love spotted cow when we come toisconsin and that's just an easy drinking beer you can drink a lot of okay. So I said I wanted to make something like that because I was. I was kind of setting my ways where I was trying everything was seven percent or higher, oh sure.
Speaker 1And then I'm like now you can't drink a lot of them, right and that's usually a good beer for someone who's just getting into craft beer to start out with sure it's got a little more flavor than your average domestic beer. Yeah, exactly. So when you guys are at Five Alarm, I'm sure you've had people come in. What do you have? That's like whatever.
Speaker 1Just about every week. Okay, so that's the one that you recommend. Yeah, that'd be one of them. Or Bryant's Cream Ale Okay, and they usually are pretty receptive Yep, Okay. Bryant's Cream Ale Okay, and they usually are pretty receptive Yep, yep, Okay, cool, See, that's the thing I do enjoy when people come in. You know, I've told you before that was always. One of those things that always drove me to drink is when somebody would go into a craft brewery and see if they had a nationwide beer. You know, but you know now it sounds, especially when you guys are there, that when they ask for that you can kind there. When they ask for that, you recommend these beers and it seems like they're very open to try it and I'm sure they probably really enjoy it. Personally, I think it's kind of disrespectful to the brewer or brewery if you're not willing to try one of their beers when you come into a brewery.
Speaker 1Right, If you just want another beer then you probably shouldn't come to a brewery.
Speaker 2Yeah, why would?
Speaker 1you go to a brewery to get that that's always been crazy.
Speaker 2Okay, so now getting back to this. So the extra pale ale is 5.6% alcohol. Okay, and 41.
Speaker 1IBUs Okay, and you said you've made this a few other times. Okay, and, like I said, the color is really nice. I mean it's like a dark, you know deep amber type color, almost reddish.
Speaker 2Ooh, I like that you get the malty notes up front and you get a little of the bitterness, a little bitter at the back.
Speaker 1Yep, I was going to say that that's good. This is one of my favorite beers that he makes down there. I usually, when I'm down there, I have at least one or two of the epas okay, nice. So yeah, I can. I can totally see, larry, where you'd like to drink a few of those, because that really is smooth and that I like that malty. You know, you know it's that and it's not over overly, you know, and I think a lot of times when people hear esb they're like, oh, that's going to be really harsh. You know, um, you know, this is good, I really like that. What the? So you're back up first, larry. Well, so you know, I'm gonna go because, like I say, this is one of my favorite beers when I go down there. So I'm gonna throw out a 3.5. There you go. I say I was looking at like a 3.2 for sure. All day long, if not more, that's I like that. No offense, but I would say the first three, that's my, that's the top one for me so far.
Speaker 1I really I wanted to bring the light ones up first because, uh, when you start getting into the ipas, and then all of a sudden you can't taste nothing on the coal show we've had uh, we've done these before and and yeah, you'll have a strong one and then when you have that light one that you can't hardly taste it, it gets penalized. You know so good thinking. So, yeah, good job on this one, man, I like that. So this one isn't on tap all the time, but you make it every so often.
Speaker 2Yep, I would say I try to. I have a black helmet IPA. That's a black IPA or Cascadian black ale. That one is very popular down there also, so I usually try to keep that one on. I'll rotate that one with the zombie fire that I brought with me. Okay, oh, it's not hot but it's. I tried looking it up and, uh, there's a actual fire called a zombie fire. Okay, a fire that's in peat ground. Oh, so you can't see the flames, but it's burning really huh interesting.
Speaker 1So have you ever had requests for a beer that you're just like? There's no way?
Speaker 2you know, I mean just some really outrageous, you know yes, and it usually leaves my memory pretty quick, because it's it, uh. You know, usually they're around those super hot peppers. Okay, you know and uh, so you've had people ask for oh, yeah, we wanted a. One guy wanted me to try and brew them with ghost peppers and I'm like no, I'm like there'd be no point. It'd be like my habanero, mango habanero I did, where you have one person out of a hundred that'll drink it.
Speaker 1Oh, because it was really. You know, that's what happens when you're drinking fire, exactly. Huh, interesting, because I often wondered about that. Now, you had said before that you had a request for somebody's wedding dance, wasn't it, or something? Wedding reception.
Speaker 2I did a spicy pickle, d dill pickle. I brought that one with also. That one is not as hot as the first one I did, but they got the idea from the first one. Okay, the first one was really warm and there's a jalapeno dill pickle and I just had too much jalapeno in it.
Speaker 1Okay, I suppose that's really a touchy, just getting to know how to how much to use.
Speaker 2You know yes but it makes amazing bloody marys, oh yeah well, there you go.
Speaker 1Awesome, all right, so we're up to our fourth one so I think the next one.
Zombie Fire IPA Experience
Speaker 2Well, we'll do the zombie fire next.
Speaker 1Okay, and what is the Zombie?
Speaker 2Fire, it's an IPA. The Zombie Fire, it's an IPA. That's I believe it's 6.8% ABV and 65 IBUs.
Speaker 1Okay, this is another one that, once it's on the board, it doesn't last very long. Oh yeah, so this is a popular one. This is a popular one, yes, Yep. Now something like this can you brew that any time of year, or do you try and?
Speaker 2yep, it uh. Yeah, then these ones I can do any time. Like I said, I think the last time I made this it maybe lasted three weeks.
Speaker 1Wow, oh that's got good aroma, color wise it's. It's a little darker, I mean, as far as yep, you know what you think of, like your normal IPA is a lot lighter.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's got more of almost like an amber type color to it.
Speaker 1Yeah, white head on it. You can definitely smell the hops. I get that kind of citrusy kind of smell. I like this one. I like hoppy beers and this one's hoppy, but it's not offensive. That's got a little different flavor, yeah, and I kind of like it. I mean, honestly, that's, it's not your standard. Okay, here's another ipa, right, you know not that that's a bad thing, but you know what I'm saying? It's something I can see where this one is different than a lot of other people you know, and that's good, yeah, I think I have five different types of hops in it, so, but yeah, yeah, it's very popular down there.
Speaker 1Now, when you're brewing like these, are you using like the pelletized hops? Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2Yeah, and then I mean in this Beer I think I have I think it's two and a half pounds of pellet hops in one barrel batch. So I mean I would have to have so many leaf hops that it would just be a mess.
Speaker 1Okay, now, speaking of leaf hops, you have some growing in your backyard. Oh my gosh, I have a jungle in my backyard this year. Now, what variety are those Nugget? Okay, and you were telling me that they kind of are growing out of control a little bit.
Speaker 2Yeah, they like this hot, humid weather. Okay, now have you brewed a beer using yours Yep the Spruce Tip?
Speaker 1Okay, or Spruce Tip Pale Ale, that's right we had talked about that on another podcast that you were on, remember, because it was the Spruce Tips that you got for me, and then you use your hops, so it was pretty cool. So, yeah, okay, so the zombie fire, I like that. I honestly I'm I'm gonna say like a three. I I really think that, yeah, it's got a really unique flavor. I shouldn't say unique, but you know me, it's different than your normal, yeah, but it's, it's really good. Yes, another one. When he puts this one on, I'll be drinking mostly this, so I'll go with three. Okay, yeah, I'm impressed. Like I said, you're always looking to try and separate yourself from everybody else, yep, you know, and just give it that little twist, and I think this one is for sure like that. So I can totally see why this one doesn't last long when it's on tap. All right, so we've got another one here, what's that?
Speaker 2Yeah, this one is one that I made for the town festival. Okay, because, since we have, when they do it, they block off Main Street and in front of the brewery they fence off an area for like a beer garden outside, so that way they can serve mixed drinks also. Oh, okay, but uh, I try to make lower abv ones that we can sell outside, just because there's so much drinking going on. So this is the lazy days. Uh session, hazy ipa. Oh okay, it's uh 4.2% alcohol and it's 72.
Speaker 1IBUs. Okay, yeah, this one is lighter in color than the last one. Now, you know, based on, like your market there, what would you say is the kind of the more popular styles that you've seen so far, or is it just kind of all over the board?
Speaker 2For the craft beer drinkers. They love about anything, but I mean IPAs are big, Scalops are still big Sours.
Speaker 1Do you see a lot of younger people starting to come in more?
Speaker 2We haven't really had a big uptick in it. It's about the same number.
Speaker 1I often wondered, because you always hear stories of you know how all the craft beer industry is kind of suffering because now the younger people aren't really drinking beer, they're into other recreational right things.
Speaker 2You know, and I didn't know if that yeah, I mean we, we still get about the same amount of young people coming through as we always have, but uh, yeah, so we haven't really noticed that. Okay, but I, you know we don't get as many as you would like. If you're in a college town, oh sure yeah, yep, I can totally understand that.
Speaker 1Okay, so this one was lazy days, yep all right session hazy ipa yeah see, that's got a definitely a different flavor than that last one. It's still good. You know, like I said, I'm thinking this one it seems like the hop flavor lasts longer. You know to me where that other one? It was pretty, it hung around but then it was gone. You know, this one kind of hangs on. So I think this one would be a little bit more to your IPA drinkers.
Speaker 2You know that are looking for that, that you know that kind of that hot finish.
Speaker 1So but yeah, and then, like I said, it's 4.2 percent, so this is one of the ones that we were serving out in the street, yeah, um that weekend. So okay, and this, what's the name of the festival?
Speaker 2uh july jubilee?
Speaker 1oh okay, gotcha in july, I'm guessing, every year always happens the weekend after the fourth of july.
Speaker 2Oh, okay gotcha.
Speaker 1so every year you have always happens the weekend after the 4th of July. Oh, okay, gotcha, so every year you have. Do you have beers out there or you're just?
Speaker 2you know they can go in and out, both we have. The tap room is still open, but they set up a second tap room out in the street for, like, when the street dance is going on.
Speaker 1But then out there, I suppose there's fewer choices. You don't have your full line out suppose there's fewer choices.
Speaker 2You don't have your full? Yeah, no, they usually. They think they had like two or three of our beers out there then they had a couple ciders. Oh okay, yep, just for a couple other like linings, beers or something, gotcha okay, awesome.
Speaker 1Well, hey, who's up? Are you up or am I up? Oh man, yeah, this is it. I still do like that and, like I said, I think when you're looking at kind of that ipa crowd, they would really really enjoy that. So, honestly, I'm gonna go. I'm still do like that and, like I said, I think when you're looking at kind of that IPA crowd, they would really really enjoy that. So, honestly, I'm going to go. I'm going to do like a 2.9 on this one because I do like the flavor and the only thing is, if a new person tried, I think that the hops would maybe turn, because you know, I know we've talked about before that hops are very touchy, you know kind of thing, to where you know people are like oh, and it's like yeah, but you don't realize all beers have hops. You know, to some extent, you know Yep. So yeah, I'm going to go 2.9.
Speaker 2I'm going to go 3.
Speaker 1Okay, again, it's another one of my favorite beers. Well, yeah, because you were. It was always funny, because Brian and I were always more the stout guys and then you were always IPA guy. Ipa, yeah. So then that was the first beer style that I decided I'm going to just drink as much of it as I can in a year to get used to it. That's what I did, and that's what I did.
Speaker 1I'm still trying to get used to the porters and the stouts, because I think it's just for the fact that I don't drink coffee, right, and a lot of those. The way the malt is roasted, I get a coffee flavor that I really don't care for. Oh sure, you know, I think if I was a coffee drinker, maybe I'd like it more. Well, that's what I always say, though, is I don't drink coffee unless it's in a stout. That's right, that's right. I'm wondering Because, if you remember my grandmother, your mother always told us that coffee would stunt your growth. That's right. And she was short, yeah, so I believed her, all right. So what's the next?
Speaker 2Well, the next one that I brought is something different For the wedding that we were talking about earlier. There was a. The people wanted a spicy dill pickle beer and they wanted a sangria ale. Okay and uh, so this was a peach raspberry sangria that I added extra sugar into to bring the ebv up to about six percent, okay, and then carbonated it like a beer okay. So sangria is, is a wine, a wine, okay, so a sangria is.
Speaker 1Is a wine A wine? Okay, okay, so the sangria is a wine and you made this for that wedding. Yeah, okay. So what did they think of it?
Speaker 2Oh, they really liked it. Yeah, yeah, the gal that worked that was, she was a bartender at the brewery. Okay, that asked me about it. And it was so hilarious because she, she asked me when she was working there about, uh, getting some kegs for a wedding that she was in or they were hosting or something at the, because they own a campground outside of four city, iowa. Okay, and uh, I'm like, yeah, no problem, just give me a heads up, you know, a couple months ahead of time. Well, she called me a month before the wedding and she's like, so are we good on those beers? And I go, uh, what beers? You know, this has been like six months, you know, and she hadn't, since they opened up, she hadn't been there. Oh, and I'm like, uh, remind me what they were again. So I had, it takes a month to make a wine and I had I had uh, 33 days before the wedding, all right, so I was kegging it the morning of the wedding or the day before and then force carbonated it.
Speaker 1Yeah, Wow, Like this was your second batch of this. You made Yep, and I have to say that this here was my favorite batch that he made Really. So what kind of flavors are we looking for in this Peach? You said it's a peach raspberry. Oh yeah, I definitely get the raspberry. I'm not like a wine guy or anything like that, but it tastes different than that.
Speaker 2Right, yeah, it was funny. I texted her and asked her how was the sangria? And she's like that is dangerous. She said I drank so much of that that night at the wedding I was so drunk I'm like I'm sorry, what ABV do you know?
Speaker 1Six, oh, six, okay, and normally it would be like around four, four-two, but that's still not terrible, but I suppose, depending on how much you drank, yeah.
Speaker 2All she said is it'll creep up on you, yeah that's Well.
Speaker 1What is their deal they have down in that in Lake Mills, around Valentine's Day, that thing? Oh, galentine's Day, and that's what you made the first one for right.
Speaker 2Because we always made a mixed drink for Galentine's Day. Okay, it's around Lake Mills, they have this thing called the Galentine's Day. Okay, it's around Lake Mills, they have this thing called the Galentine's Day and you can pay to get a flute glass and you can go around to all these different shops and they have a specialty drink that you can get and they have some kind of sales and whatnot going on, and then at the end of it they pick who had the best drink. Well, the year before we had gotten picked as the best drink because we made a. It was basically a mix of cider and champagne, okay and uh. So instead of doing that which we still did that all offered that, but then I made this same uh, peach raspberry sangria and that one didn't last long either oh that, okay.
Speaker 2Yeah, it was gone that day. Okay, I only make five gallons of it, or make six gallons, six gallons okay, five gallons were gone that day and then the sixth gallon lasted maybe, or the final one like a week Okay.
Speaker 1I think your mom wants them to make a 16-gallon one, the final one, like a week. Okay, I think your mom wants him to make a 16-gallon one. Yes, I do know that Mom had said that. I think. Well, you had said, brian, that when you were filling up a crawler, it like blew the keg and that was the end of it. So we're probably could be in trouble, but we're going to blame Brian for that.
Speaker 2I agree I'll go along with that.
Speaker 1So I guess you know, score-wise we should probably score it and I guess I don't know really what to compare it to, but I thought it had a really good raspberry flavor. I'm going to say a 3.1. Just because I really like the flavor, I'm going to go a 3.2. Okay, Like I said, I'm not like a big cider drinker that's kind of what I compare it to and I'm not a wine drinker either, but I could drink that Okay.
Spicy Dill Pickle Beer
Speaker 2So what are you pouring right now? This is the spicy dill pickle. Okay, I start off with basically like a cream ale-based type of beer, a lighter beer like that, and then I added, after primary fermentation, I added in three of the big jars of zesty dill pickles, okay, and I sliced them up and put them in the Molson bags and dropped them in there, and then I added in jalapeno puree.
Speaker 1Okay, so you're using actual pickles. It's not like pickle juice.
Speaker 2Well, I put the pickle juice in also.
Speaker 1Oh, you did too Okay.
Speaker 2But yep, I put the pickles themselves in a bag, so it wasn't such a mess. And that's through the entire boil or at the end. Nope, that's just in the fermenter. Oh okay, so you make the normal beer and then, after primary fermentation is done, you drain the yeast off and then you add the pickles in. Oh okay, um, basically before I would say, like a week before, before you're gonna keg, I'll add the pickles in, okay, and then it just, and that just sits in there for that yeah, just to get that flavor okay, all right, boy, I get the pickles and it's not overpowering, though, like some of the pickle beers that we've had before.
Speaker 1Some of them get really like you're almost drinking pickle juice Right Straight. But then at the end I do get that little bit of heat and, if you like, I get the aroma from the peppers right away. Yep, and that's pretty crazy because, like I said, I know we've had some other pepper beers that are the same thing, where you know, and you said it's jalapeno. Yep, pepper beers that are same thing, where you know and it's, you said it's jalapeno. Yeah, okay, because again it's. Uh, it's just interesting to me how jalapenos vary so much in heat. Yeah, you know, and I'm sure with the puree it that helps that a little bit. But, boy, I tell you, this is, this is really good, because I've had, uh, distal. They make a spicy pickle, pickle sour, Sour but it's very spicy yeah.
Speaker 2Oh yeah.
Speaker 1And just their regular pickle sour is very pickling.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, it's like you're drinking the pickle juice. Yeah, it'll make you pucker up when you drink it? Oh yeah, Well, it's Sucker Punch or whatever is the name of that one.
Speaker 1Yeah, I don't remember the name of the spicy one, but boy. The thing I noticed was boy, it was hot and I don't typically mind hot stuff, but that was like wow.
Speaker 2This is my second time doing this. The first one was that way where it was like, because I only make one barrel, so half the barrel was just straight dill pickle ale, because we had an older lady that came in, her and her husband come in, and she always yelled at me about not having pickle beer on it.
Speaker 1Okay, so that goes back to people requesting yeah.
Speaker 2So then I added jalapeno into the second half. That was still in the fermenter and it was just too much.
Speaker 1Oh sure. So now, when you did this one, you did the entire yes, okay.
Speaker 2I'm like it's going to have to be otherwise. It's just you never know how hot it's going to get Right.
Speaker 1Yeah, I really enjoy this here. Larry, what do you think on this one? Yeah, I like this one too. You know, lately we've been drinking a lot of pickle beers. For some reason I'm not sure why. Yeah, this one here, like you say, the pickle doesn't overpower it.
Speaker 2It's got just the right amount of heat to it.
Speaker 1Yep, score-wise, what are you thinking? I'm going to go a 3.3. Okay, well, I'm going to up you a little bit. I was going to go a 3.5. I really think this is good. I like that combination of the pickle and the spice from the peppers and, like I said, they're both, I think, work extremely well together and they're both the right amount. You know what I mean. Yeah, you get a little the heat on the back side, right, but it's not, uh, overpowering. Yes, you know, and even this, like this one here a new person could try it and they're not. They're not going to get blown out by the pickles or the peppers you know what I mean?
Speaker 2the funny part down there is we'll have someone that'll order it and they'll like it, and then they find out that we have we can make it into a bloody mary on this. So you mix this in with like a bloody mary I'll I'll take some of the this pickle beer and then I add uh delmation into it and then top it off with with bloody mary mix put some celery salt on top top.
Speaker 1Yep, and then, to get people to really love it, he throws a pickle and a beef stick in there. Oh sure, so that's kind of wild that you can. You know it's nice that they can make the Bloody Mary. Yeah, so that's cool, and I can totally see where somebody would be like, well, wait a minute, I've got to try that.
Speaker 1I'm sure it gives a little different spin. Typically. I'm sure it gives a little different spin. Typically we're down there on Sunday and the one bartender he loves just mixing up different concoctions. But we kind of started that where it's not super busy, so we'll just say, well, I wonder what it would taste like if we mix this with this. And sometimes you know it's like okay, we probably shouldn't have done that.
Speaker 2Sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes it does, though.
Speaker 1Sometimes it's like, hey, that's pretty good, you know, okay, interesting. Like he makes a. Uh, in the winter time he'll make a caramel apple ale yeah, caramel apple cream, ale, yeah. So then we found that it's gonna sound funny, but you put a shot of cinnamon whiskey in there and it's like drinking apple pie. So interesting, that's crazy. So all right is this?
Double Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
Speaker 2our last one I brought with is another new one that's not even on tap yet. Oh, it's uh, the double chocolate oatmeal stout.
Speaker 1Okay I have already tasted this one because, well, I know a guy, you know a guy, well, and you're kind of like the quality control or something well, yeah somebody has to do it it a terrible job. I'm in training for my retirement job. Yeah Ooh, that one's like pretty dark. That says definite potential.
Speaker 2The funny part is with this one. I was originally just going to make my normal chocolate oatmeal stone, but I didn't have enough of the one grain, so I had to quick adjust everything and turned it into a double chocolate oatmeal stone. Well, you got to do what you got to do, right? Yep, and now it's probably going to be in the rotation, okay.
Speaker 1What's the ABV, do you know? This one is 6.5.
Speaker 2Okay so it's still not super. It's like 6.5 and 30 IBUs, but you don't even notice the IBUs.
Speaker 1Sure Wow, I can get the chocolate.
Speaker 2It's got a little bitterness, but it's almost like it's from the chocolate, right? That's what it seems like. Yeah, it'd be like a dark tasting, a dark chocolate.
Speaker 1Yeah, wow, boy, that's smooth too. You know, I was wondering if it was going to have like that. Really, I call it sometimes call it the burnt flavor, you know that really roasted malt flavor?
Speaker 2Yeah, right, but it doesn't you know?
Speaker 1Nope, because I can see, you know, I know people that you know they'll have cigarettes and coffee. You know that's what they call the stouts, or that it's burnt or whatever, and it's like this. No, this is you know, and that say you get more of the chocolate, like a better chocolate taste than a coffee taste. Yeah, right now on this, I don't taste chocolate or chocolate. I'm sorry, I don't taste coffee, right At all.
Speaker 2You know what I mean. You know just the chocolate you're getting.
Speaker 1Yeah, that is good, the smooth mouthfeel. I can see this one should sell quite a bit.
Speaker 2Yep, you know. Yep, I have one. We're running low. I have one that's called Breakfast of Champions, which is, I always say, it's a cereal stout. It's brewed with Reese's Puffs cereal, okay, and it's got six pounds of lactose in it. It's like a milk stout type of beer. But, yeah, I can't wait until this one goes on, because I like this one more myself. Right, the breakfast is good, don't get me wrong. A lot of people like it, but I think this is going to go over really well.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, I would bet you anything that it's going to go over really well.
Speaker 2Yeah, I got a text from Brian one morning.
Speaker 1He was down brewing breakfast of champions and all the cereal it was on the top of the kettle he was boiling it in and he goes.
Speaker 2Yeah, he said, this is really, really smells good.
Speaker 1Would it be wrong if I ate this?
Speaker 2I was like yeah, probably probably.
Speaker 1Yeah, so cool, so this is a new. Nobody's even tasted this one yet. Nope, wow, so we're just breaking news at this table.
Speaker 1We're breaking news. Nice, yeah, I guess. Uh, larry, what do you think for a score on this one? I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go a three, five on this one. Yep, I'm going. Exactly that same score. I think this is pretty good and I can, like I said, I have no doubt that this thing's gonna sell like crazy, because if they like your other stouts I mean, this is really and, like I said, I really just enjoy that extra chocolate kind of taste and you know that'll be a big something. This one here would go good with your cinnamon pretzels. Yes, yes, that is for sure. That would be good, so well, awesome. So yeah, I guess that's kind of the tour of Five Alarm Brewing and what you've been up to lately again we didn't have a bad one in the bunch and they're.
Speaker 1The vast majority of those are like really, you know anybody could try them and drink them and there's not any, uh like, other than the one, the one ipa, where that had the more hop to it that you know I could see a new person going, but like even this, I think a new person could drink it and go. Oh, yeah, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, usually if a new person going, ooh, but like even this, I think a new person could drink it and go.
Speaker 2Oh, that's, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, usually if a new person comes in and they're like I don't really like IPAs, I go. I have them. Try the Mosaic, because our Mosaic is not bitter at all. No, you don't taste any hop.
Speaker 1There's no hop bite, I should say in that one.
Final Thoughts and Wrap-up
Speaker 2It's our most popular IPA that we have. It still is 60 IBUs, but you'd never know it. I mean, it's really smooth.
Speaker 1What's the ABV on that one Six?
Speaker 2Yeah, well, it's six now. Originally, when Jason the former owner, that was a brewer made it, it was 8%. Okay, but one time I messed up and I forgot to add in eight pounds of sugar into it at the end of the boil. So I'm like, well, I figured it out when I was transferring it into the fermenter. So I'm like, well, it's too late now, so we're just going to see what everyone thinks. And everybody liked it more.
Speaker 1Oh, there you go it had a little bit more.
Speaker 2It wasn't as sweet, so it had a little bit more pop to it, okay.
Speaker 1And everybody liked the fact that it was only six percent instead of eight percent.
Speaker 2Okay. So we, we kind of pulled everybody that came in and then you like better and left it. They said, leave it.
Speaker 1Leave it like this they said I can, then I can have a few of them. They said there you go. Nice, now people can come in and do flight. You guys do flights, yeah, offer flights. So you know, and that's always a nice thing, and I'm sure if somebody has never had something said, hey, could I taste that? You probably use a little yep yeah, and you see, that's the nice thing too that you can do I'm notorious for if.
Speaker 2If new people come in and never been there, they'll usually do flights, yeah, and then I'll end up having them sample the ones they didn't get to so sure now.
Speaker 1Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, if you're ever in that area, if you stop down now, not only does Brian brew the beer, but you bartend at times too. Yep, you know. So how many brewers can say that their head brewer is actually there and you can talk to him while he's serving you a beer?
Speaker 2And some days I'm serving him beer while I'm brewing beer.
Speaker 1I'm like I'll be right back.
Speaker 2I've got to run back to the brewing room.
Speaker 1That would be multitasking, and that's how the mango habanero came to be fired. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2Yep, what is that story? Well, the young man that was supposed to bartend that day forgot that he was supposed to bartend, so he didn't show up and I was making the beer. Uh, it got to be noon and he wasn't here. So I'm like, okay. So I went out, opened up, unlocked the door, turned, sign on going back and forth, and uh, so I added part of the puree in, let it sit for a half hour, brought out a sample for me and larry, and you couldn't even taste yeah, I told.
Speaker 1I told him. I said well, I really don't get any heat from this. I said so he went back and dumped the rest of the bottle in there.
Speaker 2Well, when I was going back there, a big group of people come in the door. So I'm like oh crap. So I ran back in there, I just dumped the rest of the puree in there, sealed it up, went back out to bartend, and then a week later I got a phone call and he said, yeah, we shouldn't have done that. Well, I wasn't taking all the blame, you know, but you ended up selling it all, though.
Speaker 1Right, he has customers come in and we'll buy a whole growler.
Speaker 2Yeah, there's a guy there's. We got one loyal customer that he comes in and yeah, he'd buy a growler of it every week. Huh, I tell him I still have it. I said because it's just, it's too hot, I think, to really put on tap.
Speaker 1Okay, yeah, you get the burn instantly and it hangs on for a long time.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 1Well, I'm going to have to remember that. So when I come back again, I'm going to have to get some and try it, Because, like I said, I have tried anything from jalapeno to ghost pepper beer, and jalapeno is still the hottest I've ever had.
Speaker 2But I'm going to have to try that Well he and jalapeno is still the hottest I've ever had, but I'm going to have to try that. He's got something for you and you know, like the spicy, the super hot jalapeno dill pickle one, we use that for Bloody Marys, okay, and when we run out of that one, who knows, we may try to use the mango habanero for Bloodies.
Speaker 1Right, the Bloody Mary mix would cover up some of the mango flavor.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'd have to put less of it in For sure.
Speaker 1You'd have to just experiment a little bit to see what the right level is. Well, cool guys. Thanks for Brian, thanks for bringing the beer and, you know, thanks for sitting in here, larry, and kind of giving us your feedback and, like I said, you're down there quite a bit and you know, I just like hearing how you guys. You know, when people come and talk to you guys on, you know, recommending beers or new people, and now you know how it goes because that's always been. You know the kind of the goal of our podcast too is trying to get new people to try it. You know, and we always say, you know, buy local, because that money stays local. You know, and yeah and uh, there's always something at a craft brewery for anybody.
Speaker 1You know, know, yep you just have to be willing to try it. Just go in with an open mind and you're going to find something that you're going to like, you know, and that's true in any case. Awesome. Well, I think we have a few more here. We can go break back into some of these and try some more of these beers again, or revisit them after this. So cool, well, thank you so much, guys. Thanks for listening. Ladies and gentlemen, like we always say, we hope your campfire is always warm.
Speaker 2And your beer is always cold, see ya.
Speaker 1Thank 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. 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 beer is cold.
