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 128 - Craft Beer Tasting at Pal's Brew Pub
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Wisconsin's craft beer scene takes center stage as we embark on a 12-beer tasting adventure at Pal's Brew Pub in Wisconsin Dells. Joined by my brother Brian (the mad scientist), my dad Dave, and Uncle Larry, we dive into flights spanning traditional styles and boundary-pushing flavors.
The standout surprise? A garlic-infused pickle beer that completely redefines what pickle beer can be. While most pickle beers on the market offer a one-dimensional experience, the subtle garlic note in Pal's Big Pickle creates a complex, satisfying flavor profile that earned unanimous praise from our tasting panel.
Close behind was their Jalapeno Cream Ale, delivering perfect pepper flavor without overwhelming heat. As Brian (our resident brewer) explains, creating balanced pepper beers is surprisingly difficult – too often brewers either under-flavor or create something painfully spicy. Pal's nails the perfect middle ground with fresh jalapeno character that quickly dissipates.
Not every offering hit the mark. The Boysenberry fruit beer lacked the sweetness we expected, the Barrel Bent Imperial Stout needed more aging time to develop true barrel character, and the Pineapple Express left us searching for actual pineapple flavor. This reinforced our brewing philosophy: if you name a beer after a flavor, that flavor should be prominently featured.
Beyond tasting notes, we share brewing insights throughout – how honey integrates during the brewing process, why jalapeno beers can sometimes be spicier than ghost pepper varieties, and the crucial difference between English and American porter styles.
Whether you're planning a Wisconsin Dells visit or simply love exploring regional craft beer, this episode offers both entertainment and education. Which would you try first – the garlic pickle beer or the perfectly balanced jalapeno cream ale?
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.
Grab a beer and pull up a chair. Welcome to the Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to the Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. This is Mike B, northwoods Beer Guy, and this week we are actually down in the Wisconsin Dells area, or I should say over in the Wisconsin Dells area, and I am joined today by my brother, the mad scientist, brian. How's it going? Oh, pretty good, that's good, and we're also here with my uncle, larry. How are you doing? Good, and, of course, dad, it's me, it's you. There you go.
Speaker 1Today we are at Pal's Is that the name? Yeah, yeah, pals Brew Pub, pals Brew Pub, and we decided we were going to check out a brewery and they were pretty close to where we're staying. So we actually have 12 beers that we're going to be trying. We've never tried any beers from this brewery before, so it'll be interesting to give it a whirl. It looks kind of like there are quite a few different styles that we'll be trying.
Speaker 1Yeah, the first one we have is Boysen Berries. It's a fruit beer. It's 5.8% ABV and 18 IBUs. Okay, it looks kind of like purpley, wouldn't you say? Yeah, it's definitely purple in color. It looks like a fruit is sour. But it's not a sour, it's a fruit beer. But it's not bad. I was expecting it to be sweeter. Yeah, you know what I mean. It's got a little tartness on it, but it's kind of dry on the finish and then when you look at it, I thought it was going to be thicker, almost like the slushy. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1Like a lot of us in the sours are like that, really big, yeah, yeah, where this isn't like that, it's hard to say for me. I guess, if I taste a lot of the boysenberry, I guess I don't really know what a boysenberry is supposed to taste like. But no, I don't either. It's. It's interesting. I don't think I could drink a whole pint of it, right?
Speaker 1So, score-wise, what would you give the Probably fairly low for me? I'm thinking I'd say 1.9. Okay, larry, what did you think of it? I'd go probably a 2. What's up? It just wasn't one of my favorite ones, right? It was a little tart for my taste, so I'm going with a 1.8. Okay, listen, I'm going to go like a 2 as well. It was just, it's not bad, but I was expecting more fruity. When I think fruity beers, I think a little sweeter, typically, yeah, and, like I said, this one was not quite there, so not bad. I mean, if you're into that kind of thing you probably like it. But it just really was kind of not my, not my cup of tea. So the next one now this one I'm kind of interested in.
First Flight: Boysenberry to Barrel Bent
Speaker 1This is their barrel bent imperial stout. This one is 10.7 percent abv. I never remember right. It said it was aged for three months in a barrel. It it's uh, that one's interesting. I like that one. It's real definitely. It reminds me of a coffee spout. It does have that kind of a an aroma, a little bit of maybe a bourbon kind of very faint aroma. That way, for 10.7 it drinks pretty smoothly. Yes, I don't get any barrel. No, I thought the aroma might have been no bourbon of any kind. Yeah, because they never did say that it was bourbon, you know, they just said aged barrel. So again, we don't know what, if it was just, you know, american oak barrels or if it was actually a used barrel. So I don't mind that.
Speaker 1Score-wise for the barrel bent I'd probably go I'm gonna say like a 2.7. I think it's a little better than average. Drinks very smooth for 10.7%. I do enjoy that. Maybe if it had a little bit more flavor to it. I think it would be a little more, you know, a little score a little higher. Yeah, I was close. I was gonna say a 2.9. It is very good. I wish it would have had a little bit of the vanilla, like from the barrel, coming through, yep, but it just wasn't aged long enough to get to that point.
Speaker 1Yeah, ed, what did you think of it? I thought it was pretty good. I'm pretty sure it was a 2.7. Okay, larry, yeah, okay, larry, yeah, I'd probably go 2.7. I guess it had a little more flavor than I thought it would for only being aged for three months. Right, that was the one thing that I thought. I was like well, that's not very long, you know, and who knows, like I said, maybe if they'd have left it longer you'd have picked up more of that vanilla. Yeah, you would have got some of the vanilla, but if it is actually a coffee stout, you probably wouldn't have caught any vanilla on it, right? Well, I picked up on the coffee. Yes, it tasted like it was brewed like a coffee stout. Yeah, yep, and then you wouldn't get the vanilla because it's just overpowered, right? Yeah, coffee would tend to do that. So all right.
Speaker 1So the third one and we're kind of rifling through these. We got 12 of them. So the next one we got is Almost Red Mild. It's a red ale, 5.5% ABV and 30 IBUs. So is this going to be, when it says like a red ale and it says other, I don't know what, that if there's other varieties of red ale, I suppose, like English and things like that, yeah, I'm not sure why they have author on there because and look on, on tap is ready, it has its own category. So it's that's not, it's a good, pretty good flavor.
Speaker 1I thought, yeah, I was like that's a pretty good beer, pretty refreshing, you know, almost red. Yeah, I like that one. It's a real wonky, seem like it had a decent amount of flavor for a red ale, because a lot of times red ales are kind of lacking. You know, it seems like red ales and brown ales are kind of the same way, unless you add some kind of adjunct to it. But this one seemed pretty good. I did like the flavor on that one. Yeah, I did too. I'd probably do a 2.8 on that one. 2.8? Okay, yeah, that one I liked, I think. I hate to say it, I'm going to go with a 2.9. I'm going to score it higher than the Barrel-Aged one. I think that one, flavor-wise, was pretty good. I agree on that. I think a guy could drink a pint of that easy. Yeah, exactly, I'd go 2.8. I thought it was a pretty good flavor. Like I said, typically that's always been the knock for me anyway on red ales is they don't have a whole lot of flavor with that and they did a pretty good job. Yep, all right.
Speaker 1So the last one in Brian's flight is the Chris Lager. It's an American lager, 5.7% ABV and 18 IBUs. So I'm guessing we're going to see if this was a lawnmower beer or how it would be described. It's very, very light, kind of your normal Pilsner lager color. After the first three, there's not a whole lot going on there. As far as Flavor-wise, oh, I mean, that's, it's your standard American lager, right, it's nice and clean. Yep, you can drink a bunch of them.
Speaker 1Yep, like I said, this would be one that if it was ice cold and you got done mowing lawn, you could crack one and you'd be totally, totally fine. You could have a couple while you're mowing. Yeah, if you've got a cup holder on your mower, you can have a cup holder while you're mowing. That's why they have cup holders on riders. That is true. I give you that because my rider does have a cup holder. It usually seems like it's either so dusty it would be full of mud eventually, or it'd slosh all over and I wouldn't get nothing of it to drink.
Speaker 1Alright, so of the first four, I guess what would you say was your favorite of those four? On the ones I had, I probably liked the barrel one the best. Okay, larry, I liked the red. Okay, the red is my favorite too. Yeah, honestly, I think I would go with the red first. The barrel one would be my second. I knew it was close, but I do think the red was the winner on that one.
Second Flight: Honey Wheat to IPA
Speaker 1The only one I kind of really didn't care too much for was the boysenberry. It was a little bit kind of nondescript. Maybe if we knew what a boysenberry was supposed to taste, that would help. But it's hard to keep a bunch of fresh boysenberries, you know, on the bar for you to taste that in a piece of beer. So, all right.
Speaker 1So the next one. I want to pass your ears down. We'll take Larry's next. Okay, actually, hang around. I think that's yours as well. Oh, mine, this is mine, yeah, but I think she mixed them up, oh, and she handed them. Okay. So we're going to start Now. The first thing I notice in the second flight is they're all very light colored. Yeah, they all look very much the same.
Speaker 1So the first beer that we have on this one is the honey wheat. It's a honey beer 5.9% ABV, 23 IBUs. Now, I can't remember, brian, if we talked about this before. But so when you're brewing the honey beer, are they just dumping like raw honey? Yep, that's what's happening. After you get it into the boil, after you shut the heat off, then you add the honey in at the end, okay, and then it just dissolves the honey. Yep, dissolves it, and then it adds more and does the sugars in the honey. Is that what the yeast then converts, or do you have to add sugar to it? No, most of your sugar comes from the malt. When you do the mash, okay, honey will probably add a little, but it's more for flavor, okay, now.
Speaker 1Now, as the listeners know, I'm not a huge honey beer. Now, I like meads, but your normal honey beers got kind of a weird taste for me for some reason. But this one I didn't think was too bad. I mean it still was a good beer. I was impressed with it. I mean it had a little bit of that kind of different flavor of the honey puts in it, but overall it was probably one of the better honey beers that I've had.
Speaker 1So, score-wise, what I would have to give that one? Probably a 2, probably a 2.7. Okay, that's exactly what I was thinking. I was going to go with a 2.7. Again, like I said, for whatever reason, I have this thing about honeybeers like honeyweisses and things like that just have a weird taste to it. But this one wasn't too bad, so I'm going to go a 2.7 as well. I think if you had a full pint of it you'd get sort of sick of the honey. Oh, sure, I was going to go like a 2.6. And that could be. You know, maybe that's what it is, but I don't know. What are you what? I'd go 2.5. I mean it was all right, but yeah, there was nothing there that really wowed me, right, and, like I said, whenever I have, you know, I keep referring to honeyweiss because I'm thinking of limey's honeyweiss and it just has a weird taste. Yeah, I always think. So I don't know, this one was better than that.
Speaker 1All right, so let's move on to beer number two. On this one, this is the Jerry light. All right, so we are back. We had a spotted a crack in the taster glass so we thought better just drinking it, because you never know our luck, we'd get no sure the glass or something. So luckily the bartender was very nice and and swap, didn't swap, and gave us a new one and such. So all right, so we're back to the Jerry light cream ale 4.8% ABV and 17 IBU.
Speaker 1So for a cream ale, I'm guessing it's gonna be pretty mellow, you know, pretty mild. Do you think they'd be creamier? But yeah, now do we talk, I think you and I talked about before now. In a cream ale they don't actually use cream, right? No, I'm not sure how it came, how they originally came up with the name cream ale. Yeah, no, there is no cream, no lactose or anything in it. Okay, so it's just lighter grains, I'm guessing. Yeah, lighter grains, the one I do use some biscuit malt in it. Okay, it's all lakes and lighter malts. So, taste-wise, the finish was very smooth. The initial taste had a little bit of a different taste to it. I thought it tasted like what I thought it would. Did it. Yeah, okay, it's just about like what ours is. Okay, all right, so that's good to know. Well, there you go. Yeah, because I'm looking at their menu board here for the beers and they must be headquartered out of Nebraska, I think, is what it said. Okay, because you see behind all the names and it has, I think, somewhere in Nebraska. I think it said so, this must be kind of a franchise type thing. So yeah, but score wise.
Speaker 1On the cream ale without the glass, what did you think of it? I would do probably a 2.8. Okay, I was gonna go with 2.5, I think. I mean it was a decent cream ale, don't get me wrong, but I think it was. For me it was kind of average. What do you guys think? I think it's 2.5 is right in there, where it should be big. Kick the flavor after you take that initial step down, right, yep, that was my thought too. I'd go a 2.8. I thought it was actually a good beer, good, okay, nice. So now this one you said was their beer of the day. Is that what you said? This is their Pineapple Express. So it's another fruit beer.
Speaker 1So we're going to see if it's more fruity than the, the boysenberry, 5.9% ABV and 13 IBUs. It smells like an IPA. It's more kind of that aroma to it. The citrusy yeah yeah, very citrusy smell, but you don't have the hot bite, you know, from that bitterness. No, I kind of like that one. I don't mind it. But I don't really taste pineapple. I was expecting more of a pineapple-y flavor. Yeah, I was getting more citrus. Yep, I'd agree with that. Actually it's hoppier than I thought it would be, at only 13 IBUs. On the aftertaste I'm getting more of a hoppy kind of bite to it.
Speaker 1Well, after you drank it, you know and here again I hate to be a stickler on that kind of thing, but when the name is pineapple and you can't taste pineapple, that gets back into that. If it's on the can, it should be in the can kind of thing. It's still. It's a good beer but, like I said, I feel like it's almost more of an IPA style than a fruit beer. So if they'd have said IPA, I'd have probably rated it higher than what I'm going to, but it's still decent. So what do you think there, brian, for a rating, I would say it's average. I'd say 2.5. Yep, I'm right there with you, but I'm actually going to go to a 2.4 because of the false advertising protocol.
Speaker 1You know, I was expecting pineapple. I thought we were going to have a pineapple note to it and I just didn't pick that up. And again, not that that's terrible, but that's what I was expecting and that's, I think, a lot of people that would buy it. They'd be thinking the same thing. That's why I'd go a 2-3. 2-3, okay, I was thinking a 2-4, and then everybody's like, okay, yeah, and again, it was a refreshing, good flavor, but to me it had more characteristics of IPA, I thought you know. And no pineapple. So all right.
Speaker 1So the last one that we have on this flight is knobs IPA American IPA, 7%, 55 IBU. Maybe it'll taste like pineapple? Yeah, wouldn't we be like wait a minute? Yeah, wouldn't we be like wait a minute? No, we don't. It tastes like pineapple. It has a different aroma to it. Yeah, I can't tell what. Yeah, you have to make sure you smell it, because it's got almost a sweeter aroma to it. And I can't tell what hops they used in it. I'd almost think that was the pineapple one. Right, that's what I'm wondering. I'm wondering if she maybe messed up the glasses. Yeah, that's got a that has more of a pineapple. Mm-hmm, I think you got the two of them, don't you think? I agree, I think the glasses were mixed. Oh, that one is. No, that tastes like glass. Oh, okay, okay, well, that's kind of weird. Yeah, it is Because this one has more of a fruity flavor to it. It has like a fruity smell to it. Yeah, it has like a sweet smell. You know for what? 55 IBUs.
Speaker 1I didn't think I was very happy tasting it at all, not at all. Man, score-wise, this is kind of tough. This one's confusing. Yeah, I'm going to go 2.4 on that. 2.4? Cut that man.
Speaker 1It wasn't bad, but it just there's no bitterness, there's no. No, not that hot bite, right. And we've had American IPAs and they at least have a little bit. Yeah, you know, I mean they don't have to be over-the-top bitter, but they at least have a little bit of a flavor, like you'd expect. Yeah, score-wise, I think I'm going to do a 2. I'll go 2.5 on this one. I don't mind it. But again, like I said, I thought it was a different beer. I thought that might have been the pineapple one. So, yeah, 2.5 for me, 2.3 for me. I didn't care for it, I'll go 2.5.
Larry's Flight: Jalapeno to Big Pickle
Speaker 1So, of those four, what would you think if you had to pick a winner? That makes it tough when you get a couple. Yeah, well, they were all. I don't want to say nondescript, but they were all not like really right. I'd probably pick the cream ale. Yeah, I think so too. Honestly, I was like I don't know if the honey or the, honestly, that last IPA, because at least it had flavor pretty minimal, but huh, all right, well, larry, we might as well break into yours. Oh, let's do it. And so the first one we got.
Speaker 1I'm actually pretty, pretty interested to try this one. This is their jalapeno cream ale, 5.4% ABV, 13 IBUs, and it says it's a chili. Yeah, but I mean it's. I'm sure it's a pepper beer, yeah, and I'm sure is there beans in it? Yeah, now, hopefully it's not like that Hormel chili beer. Oh, whatever that one was, come on, that was good. Yeah, oh, you can smell the jalapeno in there. There's not a lot of heat there. You can get the flavor. Yeah, very good flavor.
Speaker 1I think I like jalapeno beer. It's not like the first one that I made, when I put jalapenos in and I put much jalapeno in and it has a little bite to it warms up Again. The hottest beer I've ever had was a jalapeno ale and I've had ghost pepper beers. I've had habanero beers, you know any kind of chilies they make beer out of. I've had I have not had like a ghost pepper. No, I had ghost pepper, not like Carolina Reaper, but I like a ghost pepper. No, I haven't had ghost pepper, not like Carolina Reaper, but I've had ghost pepper and the hottest one to this day is still a jalapeno ale.
Speaker 1And we were going down to oh, I think it was when Callie was in Peoria and we stopped at this brewery and the brewer was there and his buddy and his buddy was like huge into peppers, so those two would brew pepper beers together. So I was talking to him and I'd asked him. I said you know? I said why is it? And I told him I had all these beers that had these different peppers in it and the hottest one is jalapeno ale and I go, why is it? And he goes.
Speaker 1Jalapenos are tough. He goes because some of them are real hot, some of them aren't. He goes and you got to use more typically than you'd use, like for ghost peppers or whatever. You know what I mean, because you don't want it to be as spicy, but he goes. Yeah, it's, it's tart, and he goes. They we've had some, but they themselves have had some really hot jalapeno ales and I'm like it's just crazy because you would think you would be the other way around. These are pretty bad.
Speaker 1Now, this one, I thought the aroma was really good, the flavor, I mean you get that pepper flavor. I like he went away really quick. You got that fresh pepper flavor. Yeah, exactly, score wise, I think I'm going like a 3.2 on that. I really like that. Yep, I was going to do a 3.1. I'd go a 3.2. I thought it was really good. Pepper goes a good, solid 3. Yeah, that's one of those that surprised me so far. That's the biggest surprise one I think that we've had here at Pat's. All right, so surprise one I think that we've had here at Pat's, so alright.
Speaker 1So the next one we have is their Chameleon Hazy IPA and it says it's a triple New England. It says and it's 6.2 ABV and 29 IBUs. Now, if it is a triple IPA, that seems pretty low for, yeah, triple IP ipa typically, yeah, up in that area. It's not real hot either. I like that. That's a good plate.
Speaker 1Definitely hazy, that's for sure. It looks just the shade, almost like pineapple juice. Yeah, and consistency, you're really stuck on that pineapple thing. I am. I am. They promised me pineapple. That's not bad but, like I said, I don't get any hot bite. Really, taste-wise, I mean, it definitely is a hazy. Yeah, it really definitely reminded me of that. Yeah, that's a good beer. That's a decent beer. I mean, good representation of a hazy IPA. Yeah, that's the one thing with hazy IPAs Could have been a little more citrus flavor to it. A lot of times they have almost a sweeter citrusy flavor.
Speaker 1This one was good. I didn't mind it. Score-wise, what I would do? A 3.1. I was going to say a 3. I thought I could drink it and it wouldn't get burned out from the hop. You know too much of a hop flavor. I was impressed. That was good. What do you guys think? Yeah, I thought it was good. I'd probably go on 2.7 on it. I was gonna go 2.9, 2.9, yeah, yeah, that was good.
Speaker 1Last two have been so far. Larry's flights been more solid than our two. You're saying we didn't pick it. What did you give that one. I gave that a 3.0. So now we're down to our last two.
Speaker 1The bigger pickle yeah. The next one is the big pickle. I bet they better have pickle in it. Yeah, this is a cream ale 5.2% ABV and 15 IBUs. We've got a real good pickle beer at home in the fridge. It's better. It has pickle in it, but it doesn't taste real.
Speaker 1You've made a pickle beer before. Right, aroma-wise it's better. Well, you can taste it right away. I've done a straight pickle ale and I've also done jalapeno pickle ales. It tastes like what? Oh, so you, it tastes like garlic. That tastes like garlic. Like garlic, yeah, that's what it is. That's what it is. That's not bad. I don't know.
Speaker 1Now, when you make a pickle beer, do you just dump pickle juice in it, or is it in the brewing process? You're not actually putting pickles in it, are you? Yes, you do In the fermenter. Well, that's right. After the primary fermentation is done usually a couple days, two to three days before I'm going to keg it I'll add in sliced up pickles. I'll put them in a Molson bag and drop the Molson bags in there, sliced up pickles, and then dump the pickle juice out of the jars in there with it, okay. So I just often wonder that if you actually you know they put pickles or they just dump flavoring in, you know, I don't know what they do the big companies, when they're doing 100 barrels, they probably use flavoring. Then Okay, but yeah, with a one-barrel system you can get by with actual pickles.
Speaker 1Okay, I totally think that was a garlic pickle. Yeah, I agree, I tasted garlic. I think so too. I'll give him credit. That's a pretty. That's a very nice change. Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1Okay, boys, we're down to our last one. So what do we score that one? Oh, I don't think we scored it. No, oh, I don't think we scored it. No, not yet. Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself. What would you score it? I'd do a 3.0. Yeah, I'd do the same. Same with me. Yeah, a good sour 3.
Final Thoughts on Pal's Brewing
Speaker 1Like I said, most of the pickle beers, I've had some that I had one that tasted like cucumber more than pickle, and then we've had Distal. They have a good pickle, a pretty good pickle. So theirs is a sour, and then they had a spicy pickle. That was actually pretty spicy. If this actually was like a garlic pickle, that was a good touch to put in there. That's what I was going to say. This is definitely. If that was a garlic pickle flavor, I think it was that's way different than most of the other ones. It was a good change. That was very well done. Alright, now we'll go on to the last one of our flights here.
Speaker 1This is the English Brown Porter. It's an English Porter, 4.7% ABV and 23 IBUs. Typically, I think your English Browns are kind of lower ABV. Typically, if I remember right, that definitely has that malty smell. Yeah, coffee, you brought that coffee taste in. I like that. I mean it definitely has that. You get more coffee than anything I would. With it.
Speaker 1Being a porter, I wish it was a little bit more bitter on the backside. No, it's not, but that's still good beer. Do you think, is it because it's an English porter, that it might be that little less bitter? Do you think it's possible? I don't think I've ever made an English porter. I think I've done every other kind of porter Right. But you're right, I always have that bite on the backside.
Speaker 1That's one thing on the podcast that I did recently with Jim that we had a porter, and he said the exact same thing that when you drink a porter he really likes that kind of bitterness on the finish and that one didn't really have it either. But I'm like that one would have held its own in a porter class, this one. In a normal porter class it'd be mid-pack, maybe a little lower. It honestly reminds me more of an English Mild Sure in a porter. Yeah, that's what it reminds me of. Yeah, because I mean the flavor was pretty mellow, yeah, and stuff like that.
Speaker 1So I don't know, I guess, score-wise, what are you thinking? It's a good beer, but I'm probably going to have to give it like a 2.9. Okay, it's a good beer, but I'm probably gonna have to give it like a 2.9. Okay, I was gonna go a 2.7 for kind of the same reason that you just said, because I think that when I drink a porter I want kind of that little more of a harsh not a harsh but a, you know, the stronger malt flavor and then that little bit of bitterness at the end. And again, I don't know if it's because it's an English porter or what, but it's still a very good flavor. And yeah, I went 2.7.
Speaker 1And would it be my first choice? Maybe not, but I wouldn't turn it away. If somebody said, hey, I'll buy you one, I'd say, okay, no problem. If they would have been called it an English Mild, I'd have been like, oh my God, that's awesome, right, how do you give it a 3.2? Sure, but being a porter, I just can't do that.
Speaker 1Larry, what do you think? I'd go a 2.5. Okay, I'm not real huge, I'm not coffee tasting beer, right, and this one did have kind of a coffee taste to 2.6. 2.6? Okay, it's a little bit better than half. So, boy, larry's flight's going to be difficult for a whole different reason than mine was. Mine was difficult because there really wasn't a whole lot of flavor, and Larry's all had flavor. Right, all had flavor. So what do you think?
Speaker 1For me it'll be a toss-up between the jalapeno and the big pickle. Okay, I like the big pickle. Of course I like pickle beer. I was going to say the jalapeno. I think it's 1A and 1B. Yeah, 1a and 1B, I could go either of them, because the thing that I still say I really like about the pickle beer was, I think it's garlic flavor in it. That is really unique, I thought for most pickle beers. But then that jalapeno ale was really good.
Speaker 1So if we're going to get another drink here I don't know which one to get, because right now it's like dang. They're both pretty good Also. Well, I mean, overall, I'm thinking those two are kind of the cream of the crop, the cream of the crop, you know, jalapeno cream ale, but I think they were probably the top two and I do think that, well, I shouldn't say that, because then all of Larry's probably finished ahead of the. I was going to say how did they compare to the red? Well, I kind of like the flavor on these two more than the red. Yeah, I think I would have to say that too. Yeah, that was my opinion. So what did you think? We don't even need to talk about that column. No, my claim is that that one was kind of in. That was a little not much going on, exactly.
Speaker 1So what were your impressions of Pal's Brewing? All the beers were really good and the food that's been coming out looks amazing. Yeah, but that's too bad. We already ate. Yeah, we ate before we got here. We were smart to eat before we got here. Were we really smart, though? Technically not.
Speaker 1Yeah, larry and I decided to split a 50-ounce Bloody Mary that came out with man. What was it? Two burgers, chicken tenders, chicken tenders, chicken tenders, wings, mini corn dogs, wings, wings All kinds of veggies, cheese oh my gosh, it was a great. It was a meal in itself. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen. So, yeah, maybe we weren't the smartest thing, but whatever Got our primed pump. I mean our pump primed yeah, that too, well, cool.
Podcast Outro
Speaker 1Well, yeah, guys, thanks for saying you'd want to stop over here and try these beers, because this is the first time we've ever had any beers from pals. So definitely, if you're in the Wisconsin Dells area, I'd say stop by, you know, and try them. They've got a number of different beers, not a whole lot of dark beers, but it could just be that it's this time of year, you know, because in some places it seems like that's more of a seasonal thing, right, but I would definitely try the jalapeno cream ale or the pickle, if you're into a pickle beer, because it's definitely a pretty unique flavor. Well, cool, man, thanks for being a part of it, you guys. And like we always say, hope, your campfire is always warm and 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 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 beer is cold.