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 137 - Barrels, Blueberries, And Big Bottles
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A house band, wax-dipped bombers, and six barrel-aged beers later, we walked away surprised by what truly stood out—and what didn’t. We lined up a spectrum: a 5.1% blueberry pastry sour from 608 Brewing, a Russian imperial stout from Bad Weather, two heavy hitters from Barrel Theory (including a Blanton’s-aged collab), and a pair from Forager culminating in a five-thread English-style barleywine. Along the way we challenged labels against the glass, debated whether exotic adjuncts matter if you can’t taste them, and unpacked why some barrels sing while others barely whisper.
The pastry sour proved sweeter than expected, with blueberry and vanilla riding over a very light barrel note. Calamity looked the part but felt restrained on flavor, sparking a discussion about IBUs, roast, and what age can take away. Barrel Theory’s Cursed Visions returned the depth we were craving—thick, chocolate-forward, and polished—while Eternal Frost showcased how 19-year Old Fitzgerald barrels can deliver silk without the burn. From there, Forager’s Nuts promised coconut, roasted nuts, and five origins of vanilla bean “caviar,” yet the adjuncts stayed in the background. Then Romp changed the narrative: a blend of five barleywines aged across Eagle Rare, Blanton’s, George Dickel, and Rock Filter barrels, layered with dried fruit, caramel, leathery oak, and holiday spice. It was cohesive, warming, and our top scorer by a clear margin.
We also pulled back the curtain on process and context—how collabs could better explain who brings what, why Minnesota’s distribution laws separate Forager and Humble Forager, and how English-style barleywine can be a smoother entry point than its American counterpart. If you love barrel-aged beer, you’ll get tasting notes you can trust, respectful critique for rising programs, and a short list of bottles worth hunting down—starting with Romp.
Enjoy the pour? Follow the show, share this episode with a fellow beer nerd, and drop a rating or review to help more listeners find us. Tell us your favorite barrel-aged release this season and what you want us to try next.
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House Band, Introductions, And The Plan
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the North America. I didn't know if you know this, uh, Toby, but we got a house band. I did not know that. We uh upped our budget a little bit as a house band. So uh in honor of the beers you brought, we thought we'd have, you know, have him play this type of music to start with. Very fitting. Yeah, yeah. Well, hey, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Northwoods Beer Guy podcast. This is Mike, the Northwoods Beer Guy, and I am joined this week in the studio by Toby. Hey, thanks for having me. Yeah, and some other guy that shall not be named. Yeah. Oh, wait. Ah, yeah, he's over there crying. And Jim's here too. Oh, thanks. Such a nice welcome. Good to be here, Mike. Yes, I'm I'm glad you're here. It is a little more crowded in the studio with the house band here now. It is. Oh, definitely.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Angus, sit down. Okay. He had his air guitar. He had an air guitar. All right. Well, hey. So uh we had to play a little uh back and black in honor of the beers that uh Toby is greasing us with this week. Yes. Uh we had talked about this for a while, and we decided why not start our uh barrel aging now.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Never never too soon to start. See, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Toby said he's gonna be like he's ready. I say he said he had some beers for us to try, and then we were like, okay, and then he said they were barrel-aged, and we said, Okay, you have our attention, and uh here we are. That's right. So, what's interesting, though, these look a little different than most cans of beer, don't they? Oh, these are like the big old bomber bottles. These are where we need other people to help drink these because they're uh we don't want to waste all of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I had them sitting off to the side, and someone said, You drink wine now? And I'm like, No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't insult me. But I had to explain it, being they're like, I didn't know they came that big.
SPEAKER_02I'll say that's kind of what they look like. They do almost I think Julie said that once too. Did she saw these beers too? Oh, we're talking about beers. Forgive me. I I was talking thinking of something else. Uh-huh. I think she mentioned that those airplane bottles. Yeah. Wow. Nice. Well, hey, I guess um, yeah. So we're we're looking at uh what do we got? Seven? Nope. How many we got? One, four, six. Six. Sorry. You didn't go to you didn't go to Leon Tech, did you? Nope, I sure didn't. I think he's been drinking already. Nope, I haven't. I've been saving myself for this. So but we got six uh all barrel-aged. Yes. So this should be uh should be interesting. So Toby, I guess what do you want to start with? How do you want to do these? Or do you have any background on them?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, not a lot of background. You know, I I think someone once said, Where do you where do you find stuff like this? And you just got to keep your eye open and um when you see it, you buy it, you know. You never know what you're gonna get. Um, I do have uh a buddy of mine that uh has some connections because he likes to travel and and go to places that when they offer the barrel age stuff, he picks it up. So it's nice to have those those people out there willing to do that. So um yeah, just kind of a variety of things that we have. Uh I think uh Jim threw one in here too to to give us a a six-pack. Well, there you go.
SPEAKER_02He's good for something. So this is a little different six-pack though. I mean, I don't yeah, you need a little you can't put them in the little plant those cardboard containers that they have. So and if you drink this six pack by yourself, you might need a wheelbarrow to help get us out of here. Yeah. I think you're right. Did you see the A B Vs on some of these? Um, I haven't really looked, but I I'm guessing they're gonna be a couple of them at least that are a little bit higher. Yes.
Wax, Bombers, And Barrel-Aged Pastry Sour
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think we're gonna start on the lower end with with one that uh it's from a local place, I think. Uh nice. It's uh a blueberry coconut crisp from 608 Brewing in Lacrosse. Nice. And it's a interestingly, it's a pastry sour. Barrel-aged. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I can you can hear the excitement in Jim's voice. Wait. So I did you see it's a collaboration too?
SPEAKER_01Who's the brewery they're in collaboration with? How do you Zigmer?
SPEAKER_02Zig Murgy? Z Murgy. I don't know. Wait, you guys are supposed to know this. You guys are smarter than I am. Well, that's yeah, but that doesn't mean we know the name. Z Y M U R G Y. Now, this one is 5.1%. So that's kind of interesting. Now, pastry sour with blueberry, toasted coconut, raw coconut, cinnamon, and vanilla. Cinnamon and vanilla cinnamon and vanilla. So two types of coconut, and co told me you love coconut, don't you?
SPEAKER_00Well, uh, you know, honestly, coconuts are not one of my favorite things, but uh sometimes in a beer it it can add some flavor that that matches some of the other ingredients. We'll see how this one tastes when Mike gets it open.
SPEAKER_02Well, if we can get it open, it's got wax on it, and we didn't cut enough of the wax off. Wipes off, white. Here, you try it. All right. I'm gonna turn the the opener over to Toby because uh see? Yeah, you're right. Boy, I tell you, we have to get the right utensils. We should have done one of those things where it peels the wax off. I saw there's a gentleman that's at the beer shop that also goes to the long branch, that he had one he bought online somewhere, and it you yeah, you just go around it and it cuts the wax and then you pop it open, and it's like, where'd you get that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm not gonna lie to you. I have one at home. Do you? It's a good spot for it at home.
SPEAKER_02That's a great spot for it. How's that working? Of course, we can't really say much because you brought a bunch of these beers, so hey, no problem. Jim needs a better opener, is what it is. Yeah, the plastic opener. We might have to have the the the crowd work on the other ones to get the oh come on, you're so close. Okay, well, take our word for it.
SPEAKER_00It's looks like it's gotta be close, isn't it? It took took the advice, you know, we don't need to cut all the plastic off, just enough to get the to get well.
SPEAKER_02If we had a normal a normal opener, it would have. Yeah, let's try that opener. Hey, we found another opener. Whoa, careful. Look at wait. Oh, there we go. I heard it. Sounded good. There we go. That's all we needed was just a metal opener instead of the plastic one. A volcano. No. No, no, that is for sure. So we looks a little blueberry-ish. Kinda, yeah. Yeah, that is kind of a purplish. Yeah, yeah, a little bit different color. So it's like, hmm, interesting. Now it'll be interesting to see if if the aroma, if you can smell, is it the coconut or is it gonna be the we can leave a little bit left in the yeah, perfect. Here's here we go. There you go. I smell barrel. Oh that's what's well. There's some booze in there for 5.1% though. That's what I don't get that.
SPEAKER_00I really think though that the that blueberry flavor is kind of deceiving. I think that enhances what we're we're used to with the bourbon barrel.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think you're right. That could be part of the aroma. Because it's a strong aroma, really. Yeah, yeah. Boy, that's sweet. That's sweet. That is sweet. That's very sweet. Full with buckets. It's not it's not Mike sweet either. It's it's even sweeter. I on the on the finish when you're sitting there, I can taste the blueberry. Yes. I get that for sure. But boy, that's sweetness. I get a lot of vanilla too. Yeah, you get vanilla. Yeah, at the end. Yeah, and then but boy, that's sweet. It's almost like Avery. It's not quite as bad, but it's getting there.
SPEAKER_01That is, but what's weird is why did they sweeten it so much, but it's only 5.1%.
SPEAKER_02You know usually you don't add that sugar to what you gotta remember, it's a sour. It's a pastry sour, so it's gonna be sweeter, right? You know, anyway, and then they put it in the barrel, and that kind of enhances it as well. Boy, I think I hate to say it, this might be heartburn type stuff. It's that sweet, you know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So, you know, d I think the tricky part when when people drink beer is they take that first sip and they're like, ooh, you know, and that's your reaction. You really do have to have multiple drinks of it to get the flavors. So the sweetness I think dissipates a little bit when you when you take a couple more drinks of it. I'm trying to get the cinnamon.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't taste cinnamon. I don't know if can what can anybody tell me the difference between a toasted coconut and a raw coconut? Yeah, one's toaster. Toaster's not the flavor. Or oh, one tastes toasted and one doesn't. I don't know, but I don't taste those. That's what I'm saying. Right. I don't know if I get a lot of coconut at all, you know.
SPEAKER_00No, and I'm okay with that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, interesting. It's not bad, but I wouldn't drink like several bottles of it. No, I think it's just you know that real sweet to it.
SPEAKER_00It'd be hard to drink.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00More than one.
SPEAKER_02I agree.
SPEAKER_01All right, Toby, since you're the new guy on the block, what do you got for a score?
SPEAKER_00I don't know if I've ever had a barrel-aged sour. So, you know, to put it in a category and give it a rating, it's nothing outstanding to me. I'm probably, to be honest with you, at like about a two on it.
SPEAKER_02Okay. All right. Yep. There's no wrong answers. No, no, Mike. Um, you know, for me, it's because I think you and I, Jim, have had like one other barrel-age sour as all. So not many, so not many at all. But this one, it's it definitely has that sweet and sour thing going, you know. Uh, like you said, I I totally got the blueberry. You got the vanilla. I I didn't taste the coconut or the cinnamon really. And I just it's it's not bad. 5.1 is not bad, but again, I don't I don't know if I could uh have more than one bottle of that. Right. So I'm gonna go I'm gonna say a 2.4. It's close to average. I think it's not bad. I don't like flavor-wise, it it had flavor, you know. Uh and it's just it was really sweet. And then it, I suppose, to cover up some of the sour. Yeah, yeah, it was okay. I I don't mind. I I wouldn't rush back out to buy a whole bunch of it, but it's it was good.
SPEAKER_01So I kind of I hear what you guys are saying for me, because I'm not a sour guy. That's the only thing that really I mean to me, I the tartness of the blueberry was kind of and I the tartness of the blueberry still came through even with the sweet as it was, which is weird. I didn't think it would, I thought it would more balance itself out. And I was hoping for the other flavors to come through the cinnamon, the vanilla, the coconut. I was kind of, you know, that would have been a really good balance.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01So I'm in there with you guys. I think it is a little bit below average. I'm gonna I'm gonna go stay with close to Toby. I'm gonna go 2.1. Just wasn't it's not bad, it's not horrendous, but I don't think I'd recommend that one to the first person having a craft beer. Right.
SPEAKER_02Probably want to shy away from that one. Maybe one of these other ones would be good. Yeah, like I said, it's it's not bad, and it has the flavor. I mean, you get the blueberry for sure. Yes. We haven't had many. That's like I said, it's our second one of these in your first, and it's kind of hard to figure out how to rate it. You know what I mean? Because it's really in its own little class.
SPEAKER_01Oh, wait, I got a way you can read it.
SPEAKER_02Oh, here we go again.
SPEAKER_01Look at this. All right, just happen to it happen to have some info here.
SPEAKER_02Hang on. I'm just checking to see if Toby has only one page or if he had multiple. Okay, we're good.
SPEAKER_01All right, so easy question. Now, as we all remember, I'll read the question. Don't blurt out the answer, wait just a couple of seconds when you get the answer.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01So, recently, speaking of October 31st, what was special about that day? And don't blurt out your answer. Think about it. It's not as obvious as what you think because it's related to beer. Easy question. I actually wouldn't even give it to you since it's so easy.
SPEAKER_02See, he always says that because he's got the answers looking at him, you know.
SPEAKER_01So but I knew this before I typed it out. That's why it was like all right.
SPEAKER_02So Well, we know the obvious answer. It was Halloween, but that doesn't have to be a few. It was Halloween, correct.
SPEAKER_00But that's not the answer I'm looking for. I'm gonna say in on this day, in some year, they came out with the first pumpkin flavored beer.
First Tasting: Blueberry Coconut Pastry Sour
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's a good qu a good guess. Good, good, very good guess. I like that. That's nice. But you can't no, I know. Uh on this day and some year in the past, uh, they came out with uh that's a really good that's a really good one. Uh what would they have come out with? On the Halloween, they had I don't uh the first barrel age beer. I'll say that's not it. I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01So you guys have very good answers. You guys are just so close. You're right there.
SPEAKER_00You weren't even close.
SPEAKER_01So it's Minnesota Beer Day. That was started by the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild.
SPEAKER_02When was that? Did that start?
SPEAKER_01Does it say it just said since 1848, the citizens of Minnesota have counted on beer for their livelihoods and sense of community, enjoyed beer's economic benefits, and have enjoyed locally brewed beer in their community. Beer has been and still is an integral character in the story of Minnesota, and we celebrate that history and culture. I thought I had a ringer here where you would know that right off the bat.
SPEAKER_02Well, I thought that was easy. I couldn't get an easier question than that, right? It should have been, but I've never even heard of that until now.
SPEAKER_00And I and I can understand why a state like Minnesota would do that during their NFL season, just distract a little bit from I'm gonna give you plus 10 points of that.
SPEAKER_01Toby plus 10, Mike. Your answer was not even minus 500.
SPEAKER_02Well, ladies and gentlemen, if Jim's microphone just happens to shut off during this, don't think nothing of it. All right. Well, can we get a can can we get the beer? I'm not talking to Toby. Hey, Toby, I'm not talking to Jim no more.
SPEAKER_00I understand.
SPEAKER_02That's what that's why I'm here. All right, so what do we got there, buddy? So the next one we have is Calamity, and this is from Bad Weather Brewing Company. This is the year I've had this one for a while. 2020, yeah. And it's so they're out of St. Paul. Yep. Interesting. I I'm not sure. I wonder if we've had beer from Bad Weather. We probably have. Where are you from? Minnesota. Oh but there's all sorts of breweries too, and I'm not sure if we've had a beer from these guys or not. We probably have. I don't think so, but I could be wrong. Then why are you complaining to me then? Well, no, because I thought you were from Minnesota. Every brewery. Well, I don't haven't been to all of them. Oh, so this one is just slightly above ABV from the first one. Okay. So this one is 11.4%. That's a little jump. And what Jim is waiting for, 70 IBUs. Yeah. This could be a wee bit hoppy. So this one is bourbon and rye whiskey barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout. And it's bold and daring. This full-bodied Imperial Stout is for the fearless. So Jim's out. Those who like it dark, roasted, and big on flavors. Yeah. Yeah, I like big on flavors and stuff. Settle in for a sweet yet bitter taste with notes of chocolate and dark fruit. Now, this one is one of them gigantic bottles.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is a big bottle.
SPEAKER_02So if you want to hand me your glass, yeah, go be here. Ooh. That one's just a little bit darker than the first one. Kind of looks like Motor Oil. Slightly. What kind of a head is on that? None. Nope. Zero. There is no such thing with this beer. This beer has no head. Yeah, I don't know why I'm trying to not pour it so it foams up because there's no foam coming anyway. Alright, so now we got to make sure we get we're cinched in tight, right? Now the label on this one is pretty cool. Yeah, it is good artwork on that one. We'll post a picture of it. It's hard to describe. I don't even know how you would describe that, to be honest with you, but that's pretty cool. All right. So this is a bourbon and rye whiskey barrel age.
SPEAKER_00So we really don't know what what flavors we're looking for here, other than dark.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it just said, yeah, sweet. Might be chocolate, sweet yet bitter. What's a dark fruit? Grape. Is that like jet grape? Well, is it that or like plum or is it a raisin? Yeah, I don't know. It could be raisin too, you never know. We should look that up. Not a crazen. Not a crazen. I hope it's not prunes. Oh if Toby gets up and takes a mad dash, we'll know that. We'll wait for a second before we taste it and see what happens. Well, it's definitely not bitter. I mean, well, there's a there's a little bit, but not 70. I don't honestly, there's not a huge amount of flavor. No. That's kind of weird. Have you noticed on that, Jim? I mean, it's I was expecting really big so you know, there's a do you think because we didn't drink it right away, waiting a few shouldn't impact at all. So that's all so the only thing that possibly could is it's it is a little bit cooler, but I get a little bit of the barrel flavor, right? Yeah, but I don't really get it's like uh on the aftertaste, you almost have like a if you wanted to say a chocolate, but it's just that like roasted type flavor. Right. It's it's weird. That's how usually people, especially with these, are there's a lot of flavor. I mean, that's already inherent from the barrel from what you put in. This is like hardly anything. This is kind of confusing. Wait, what do you what do you think, Toby?
SPEAKER_00It's you know, we we've got a friend of ours that that uh isn't a fan of the barrel age, yeah. You know, the dark beers, and sometimes he describes it like uh coffee and cigarettes. Coffee and cigarettes, yeah. And I'm not saying this is that bad, but I think he would definitely say that tastes like coffee and cigarettes because there's not not any great flavors to it. It's just kind of that mundane. It's weird.
SPEAKER_01I know it's I was really I've had this beer for a long time, and I was like waiting for the right opportunity to slide it into one of the podcasts. So I've been holding on to it for a long time, and I'm like, because it's like the appearance, you know, like the the cover to the book looked like it was gonna be a great one, and then just kind of like falls flat. Like the first one had more flavor than this one.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, even though I didn't quite like that sour flavor, but I was just gonna say I smelled in like glasses to see what the aroma was, and I'm still smelling blueberry from the last one. But yeah, dude, I don't know. I mean, now I give him credit, it doesn't taste like 11-4. No, I mean it's there's not really a burn at all. No, it's but it's more there's just not a lot of flavor.
SPEAKER_01I I will say though, like Toby mentioned right off the bat, after the second sip, the third sip, I'm getting a little bit more flavor. Not not a lot, it's not like spike, but I'm getting a little bit more. So I don't know if it's numbing my tongue or what.
SPEAKER_00And you you can't identify it. You know, I'm looking at the description, okay. Roasted.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, I uh okay, roasted coffee. That that has a different flavor than you know, non-roasted coffee beans.
SPEAKER_02I'm talking about notes of chocolate, which I kind of get that chocolate on the finish, but you know, dark fruit, I don't really get any kind of a dark fruit flavor from it.
SPEAKER_01And here's another question to possibly ask your brother again. I definitely don't get 70 IPUs.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I know there's a mathematical equation how they do that, but I mean, realistically, I mean, this would to me is in the 20s, if not lower.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's not bitter. No, no, when it's at 70, I was like, oh my gosh, this is gonna be almost an IPA type real hoppiness.
SPEAKER_00And I almost wish it was a little bit more.
SPEAKER_02It'd have been it probably added a little flavor to it, you know.
SPEAKER_01Well, Mike, you want to go first then?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um, yeah, I I pretty much said everything that I can say really to describe it. Um an 11-4. And I'll give it a tenth of a point for the artwork because that was really nice. So I'll give it that. But I'm still gonna go like a 2-5, honestly. Right in the middle of the road? Right in the middle of the road, because it's just there like you said, Jim, it was getting a little bit more flavor, but still not much, you know, and and a beer like this, especially, and again, we've rated yeah, oh my gosh, it's gotta be at least 800 barrel-age beers. And we can pick out the flavors in those. I mean, that's really kind of our specialty, and this one just kind of there's not a lot to it. Toby, what do you think?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm uh, you know, I uh you could say average, you know, I'm not disagreeing with you, Mike. Um, and like you said, you you've got a lot more uh that have crossed your palette than I have, but uh you know, if I was recommending this to someone, it it probably wouldn't be my first choice. I'd say it's below average. I'm probably about a two-two.
SPEAKER_02Did you give them a tenth of a point for the artwork? I did. Okay. I was at a two-one, but the artwork bumped it up.
SPEAKER_01But and then just to clarify, since for you, it's not so much the flavors, the lack of flavor while you're giving it a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Correct. Okay, yep. And that's a great point. Yeah, that's a very great, a valid point, too. Yeah.
Trivia Break: Minnesota Beer Day
SPEAKER_01And I and I hear exactly what you guys are saying. And I, you know, the hard part, we always, I guess, unconsciously give the beers that are double-digit ABV the benefit of the doubt. Because it's difficult at best to make these. I mean, granted, we're not brewmasters, we just like try their product, but this one I don't know. Something they could have added something more just to give it a little bit more flavor. And again, we don't know. We haven't, I don't think we've I haven't personally been to bad weather brewing. It probably could be a little bit smaller, like 608, and maybe you know, they're 2020. This is maybe at the beginning of their barrel aging stuff. I wish it was better. I was I had high expectations for it. I mean, because you can even look at the way the bottles, this bottle's even made a little bit different. The actual shape of the bottles different. I mean, they're trying some new things, so kudos to that. I'm gonna give them a tenth of a point. I'm gonna say uh a 2.4. Okay. So just wish it was a little bit more.
SPEAKER_00You know, that uh as I'm finishing up here, I think I get a little bit of the rye barrel-aged in it, you know, that that flavor. And maybe that would be one flavor that I that that pops out at me a little bit more.
SPEAKER_02So I can understand that. So I do have some questions on the bad weather brewery.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So um, speaking of their um length of time they've been opened, do you guys know when they started? When they started and when they actually opened their tap room, and I'll give you a hint.
SPEAKER_02Starts with a two. Starts with a two. I should get 10 points for knowing what you're saying. You should say I should. Yep. Uh so when they started and when they opened their tap room. Yep. So I'm just gonna wing in a prayer it, and I'm gonna say they started in 2010 and they opened their tap room in 2012. Okay, good answer.
SPEAKER_00Who? Toby? Um I'm gonna say that they actually opened in 12 and started their tap room in 15.
SPEAKER_01Thousand points for Toby. So that's six years.
SPEAKER_00You want to see my my script there?
SPEAKER_01So on their website it says, Oh, look, here's the answers. Huh. It was a hot and stormy night. Oh, that's how it all starts. That's how they all start. Not to sound melodramatic, but that's how the story really begins. Back in the spring of 2013, we set out amid treacherous weather to help grow the local brewing community. One delicious crafted beer at a time. So it was two two buddies, Zach, a banking analyst, turned bartender, Joe, former biology major, quickly transitioned into the dream team. And then in 2015, they opened their St. Paul location.
SPEAKER_00Money.
SPEAKER_01So right now they have today, it says they have a 20-barrel brew house and tap room.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um did it say any. Did you look and see like what other stuff they make or do they have on the website? Um I guess my question is do they do a lot of barrel aging stuff, do you know, or do then it really?
Bad Weather “Calamity” Russian Imperial Stout
SPEAKER_01Not as much as the next two beers. Okay. They're actually their whole focus is on uh bear-aged beers.
SPEAKER_00It is the next company. Yeah, okay, nice. I hear road trip in the future then.
SPEAKER_02Well, I I got some good questions. You guys are gonna have to answer them for us to be able to go. Oh, do we have to answer them correctly? Or can we just answer them? One of us does. So you got the best.
SPEAKER_01Toby gets a thousand for that. So he's up now one thousand and ten. Oh, wow. And uh Mike is at minus two thousand.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you know, whatever. That's I'm used to that. So, Jim, I was gonna email you the other day because I saw an article on it's actually social media, but it was the top 30 breweries in Wisconsin. Nice. All right, all right. So I I I was gonna try and print it off, but I saw it was on my phone, and then I couldn't figure it out. You couldn't print it from your phone? No. Oh, so aren't you a technology guy? Can I will give you a chance to guess what the number one brewery according to, and I I apologize, I can't remember who they this was drawn up by, you know what I mean? What organization or anything like that, or what it was based on. I should have done a little better on that. But what would you guess that the number one brewery in Wisconsin? So when you say brewery, is it craft beer only or they were craft? They were craft breweries. Okay, so Miller's good question. Good question. Miller's Miller's is out yep, no, it was craft breweries. Craft breweries, yeah. The number one in the number one in Wisconsin. I'd have to say um New Glaris. Okay, Toby. It's a good guess. Untitled art. Okay, well, that's minus 10,000 for Jim. Nu Glaris was second. Oh, gee. I don't remember what Untitled Art so it was. Number one, Central Waters.
SPEAKER_00Oh that's pretty obvious. I'm disappointed.
SPEAKER_02I was guessing. I was like, what? Yeah, and I thought Nu Glaris. I mean, the Nu Glaris was number two. Um I'm trying to remember the other ones that were in the top ten because there was Why don't you print that out so we can I know I I'll I'll try and do that. What kind of host are you? Well, not very good. You're not the hostess with the mostess. Well, because I knew why should I entertain and enlighten you when you pick on me for these questions all the time? But I'm educating the listeners. Oh, that's right. I'll print, I'll figure out a way to print it off and I'll bring it for the next time. Yes. But it was really interesting because there was a lot of breweries that we've been to that were in that list, and then there were some I've never even remotely heard of, you know, so it's like wow. So but yeah, I do remember the top two. Well, thanks for teasing the listeners. I mean, we all want to know what those are. So act surprised. All right. The next time we talk about it. So what do we got next? What's the next one? So the next one, uh Toby read this, Toby should read this one.
SPEAKER_00So this is one of his special ones. So this is called Cursed Visions from Barrel Theory Beer Company from St. Paul. Sensing a theme here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00In collaboration with Drecker. Nice.
SPEAKER_01We've had some good beers. We've had Dreckers, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So we're we're up in the numbers a little bit. We're up to 14% on the ABV of this one. So this is a barrel-aged Imperial stout that's aged 20 months in Blatten's barrels. That's a good bourbon. Yes, it is. With chocolate toasted coconut, my favorite. The chocolate, peanut butter, roasted cashew nut butter, Haitian cocoa, cacao, cacao, cacao, cacao, nibs, and Costa Rican vanilla beans.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Wow. We're going traveling on this. Very worldly Caribbean Adventure here or something. So, do you think there's going to be any type of head on this one? Uh in my world, no. I was gonna say there's that. There's no chance. Ooh, that's a little thick. This is dark. Nice. Look at it. That one pours like motor oil. When it pours thick, there's no uh head on that one. No, even pouring it from a distance. Yeah. It doesn't even look just like motor oil coming out of it. That is that is thick. Do you remember, Jim? We had one from I think it was New Glaris, wasn't it? And it was like a red something or other, and it was super thick. It was you remember that one? It was always like we forgot to roll it just like syrup. And we're like, what in the world? And it was some kind of a almost like a fruity type thing, but it was like super thick. It's the thickest I think I've we've ever had. So this one's probably up there. So, and I wonder, you know, where do they come up with the title cursed visions? What how you know because wrapping out some of those we actually could figure out. I think if you drink that whole bottle, you're gonna be cursed. You'll be cursed. A lot of visions, you don't know what the hell it is. That smells like uh smells fantastic. I was gonna say that smells pretty good. That one's that is not bad. That's good. Wow. All right, Toby, you're kind of off the hook now. You're yeah, the first two we were questioning things a little bit. Well, the one is Jim. Yeah, but one is my story. So yours you were still in good stand. Jim's one that was in in kind of question.
SPEAKER_00No, we had to rebound after that last one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so can anybody tell me what the roasted cashew nut butter tastes like?
SPEAKER_00Like cashews, duh. I think it's got some of that Wisconsin butter notes to it with a little bit of cashew in it.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's just like pistachios when I put it in the beer. What does that taste like? Pistachio. The only one I've ever had that you could taste it was that pistachio cream ale. That one you could taste it, but other than that, I I think all the pistachio beers we ever had, you can never taste the pistachio in it. This is a high octane one. Yeah, this is high, but I mean like but it drinks good. But the other flavors, you know, like the chocolate toasted coconut.
SPEAKER_01I taste more socket than I do coconut. Right.
SPEAKER_02Chocolate's definitely chocolate, I think, is the predominant flavor. With the cocoa nibs and or peanut butter. I don't taste peanut butter. If you do, it's very, very faint. Maybe on the finish, maybe maybe a little on the finish. Well, it could, yeah, I'm sure there is, but and you know, I couldn't find anything. Yeah, it does. Very smooth. How did Drecker know? I didn't there was nothing on the website that talked about Drecker and Hawley. You know, because it looks like the Barrel Theory Beer Company does a lot of barrel-aged beers. Okay. A lot. That's like their their main thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, almost like I think G5. Yeah, they did a really good job in Blood. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But it didn't say really, you know, they don't talk about the collab or why they wanted to work together with them or what what did Drecker bring to the beer barrel theory, you know. Right. What their what their portion of. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I wish I I mean that would to me is kind of interesting. What why did they reach out to them or what what did they bring to the beer that they were right, you know, they weren't they didn't know about.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you you you know that's become kind of a just a network of those people they'd connect with one another and they talk about things, and I'm sure it's like, hey, let's let's try this. But for the listeners and for the drinkers, it'd be great to know that.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00You know, just to have an understanding of what they were thinking and what they were going for.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You know, we've talked about that before, where it's like when you do a collaboration, what does each part of bring? Right. You know, is it are they just brainstorming and they say, hey, let's make a stout, what should we put in it? You know, is it like that? Or does one say, Hey, I got this idea. This place has the barrels and all you know what I mean. You don't know. Because I wish they would tell us more of that. That would be interesting to find out.
SPEAKER_01Because I think the one that always tells us, which has been spot on every time, has been Bourbon County.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02Because then they collab, they collab with a very big, well known bourbon to use their very Barrels to put their beer in, which there has been pretty successful. This one was in blanton barrels. Yes. Yes. So I mean it they told us that, right? But you know, so I kind of would just wish that they would have said or somebody at some point would say what what each partner brings to the collaboration. Yes, yes, you know.
SPEAKER_01So I'll should I start off with one point? So go ahead. So I like it. I mean, it's it is very tasty. Um, however, comma, I actually have a bottle of blanton's behind a bar. I don't know if I I do taste some bourbon, but I don't I was really looking forward to having you know something with that blanton's flavor. So I was so even though it doesn't have that burn, I don't know if I taste as much of the bourbon, is what I was kind of hoping for. We're trying the barrel aged beers, and I was hoping for that flavor. So that was a little bit of a letdown for me. I was looking for a little more than that. Um, and then some of the flavors are just not standing out to me. So I want to give it a higher score because I know it's 14%. I'm just struggling to come up with the positives to put it over the top of that three, the three point over here. So I'm gonna stick with a 2.9. I want it, I want to go higher, but I I don't know if I could go higher with some of the things that it was missing a little bit on. Toby?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh, it uh you know, I think a lot of times that some places really try to go sweet to cover up that bourbon flavor, and this is pretty sweet. That that chocolate kind of jumps out. You're right with the other ones though. The the peanut butter, I'm I'm not picking up on that at all. Um, a little bit of vanilla. Um, and again, what is the roasted cashew nut butter really like? I don't have anything to compare that to. But I think for me, I think this is definitely a solid three. Okay, that's good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was thinking of three point all as well. Again, I think it's it's definitely in the in the right direction. But again, I didn't taste any peanut butter. I didn't taste some of the other stuff. It is sweet. I mean it's not as sweet as the the blueberry beer, but uh it it was had a sweetness to it. And uh it's still decent. 14% drank very smooth. Yes, just very thick. No, really. It was it definitely uh it kind of coated your glass and such. So yeah, I it's all right. I I wouldn't turn it down if somebody asked if I wanted to taste it, you know.
SPEAKER_00Oh, definitely not.
SPEAKER_01All right, so I have another easy question, and we're gonna invite the whole audience to join in on this question because it's an easy question. I mean, Toby's actually got the first two questions right.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.
SPEAKER_01And it's even without any helping, it's right off because Toby's just that smart.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the this this whole question thing has been under protest for three years now because some of us get rooked on the deal. So the Barrel Theory Beer, its name is derived from Liebig's Law.
SPEAKER_01What is that? Liebig's can raise your hand if you Liebig's first L-I-E-B-I-G. Liebig's.
SPEAKER_00Um I'm gonna say that that law is if you let something sit long enough, good things come out of it.
SPEAKER_02Okay, very good answer. I'm gonna I'll probably second that because I'm sure he's got the answers. So I'm just gonna say the same for me. No, no original thought process. If we're both wrong, will I go down too? Oh, yeah. No, because you came up with the answer first.
SPEAKER_01How anybody in the crowd even got an answer? Even want to come up with anything? A wild guess? Nope, let's go. All right, so Liebig's law talks about the minimum, so it explains the capacity of a barrel is always limited by its shortest stave.
SPEAKER_02Oh, Liebigs. We knew what Liebigs was. Right, Liebeg is not Liebigs, we didn't know what that was.
SPEAKER_01All right, so minus 10,000 for Mike. And Toby, I'm gonna give you a thousand points for coming close.
SPEAKER_02He wasn't even remotely close. Yeah, but I answered first. Yeah, Toby. Keep up the good work, Toby. I don't know why I put myself through this all. Keep up the good work, you're doing a heck of a good job. Gosh, awesome! All right, so what's I'm not even listening to the gym anymore. So Toby's got his next beer up. Yes, he does. And this is by the same place.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it is, yeah. This is Eternal Frost. Ooh, it's the seventh anniversary edition. Nice again from the Barrel Theory Beer Company, this time in collaboration with Back Channel, Brewing Collective, and it's a uh 14% as well.
SPEAKER_02We've leveled off.
SPEAKER_00We're not we're not going to be maintaining, we're maintaining, yes.
SPEAKER_02There's the right word for it. So let's see. Do you want to read that or do you want to uh go right ahead? All right, it says this is uh our seventh anniversary beer in Eternal Frost is an Imperial Stout aged in old Fitzgerald 19-year-old barrels for 18 months with Thai banana, Philippine cacao, Indonesian West Papua New Guinea, vanilla beans, and roasted maple walnuts. I didn't know maple trees had walnuts.
Ratings, Brewery Background, And Style Talk
SPEAKER_01Well, how did they get those in the Caribbean?
SPEAKER_02Or what all these other you get a Thai, Philippine, Indonesia, Pau Paw, and then a maple nut. Well, you know, it happens that way. What kind of tree is that? A maple walnut tree. A maple nut tree. Oh, all right. Well, let's let's taste that button. I thought Jim went to school, but apparently he didn't. All right. Now they did have a little bit more about the theory. This is something we are asked frequently, and although we will be producing our share of barrel-aged beers, there is more to it than that. At barrel theory, we don't define our brand by our best-selling or most successful product, but by the overall quality of our beers and customer service. Our quality control philosophy is simple. If the beer isn't something we're proud of, we won't serve it to you. Wow, no, that's a good see. There you go. So why don't the big box brands do that? Well, because they're like, we don't care if it's good, just take it and drink it. Ooh, this is also a little thick there, Tobe. It is. Drink and be happy. There you go. That's a really good philosophy, though, isn't it? Yeah. If it isn't something we're proud of, we won't serve it to you. That's right. I wish I would I wish there was a few other ones that we've had recently that had that philosophy. But I'm sure once you you push all your chips in on a beer and you make it, you're kind of hot committed. Especially with something like this, because it's been sitting there for a year and a half. Right. You know.
SPEAKER_01And you got old Fitzgerald 1919 barrels.
SPEAKER_02Those can't be cheap. I wouldn't I wouldn't guess. I don't know what the price on something like that would be, but and then it was in there for a year and a half.
SPEAKER_00You know, so it was sitting there. And perspective is everything, right? I mean, they may th say the product is something that they think is fantastic, but right. So they have to rely on the consumer.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's what we always offer up our services to help taste their beers before anytime. I mean, if anybody out there listening wants us to taste their their beer, we'll give us the honest opinion, right? Boy, that's you need to taste that. I will say that. Must be good.
SPEAKER_00He didn't even answer your question.
SPEAKER_02No, I I'm not answering any more of Jim's questions. I answer quite even if he's just talking to me and I answer a question, he's taking points away. Well, that's there's some flavor there. And the one thing you I think you notice too, when it anytime there's been a beer that has banana in it, it's almost had like a smoother mouthfeel. I don't know if you've noticed that or not, but it it has like that, like a little bit of a I don't know how you want to describe it, call it a tongue kind of a you just got done eating a banana.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, kind of like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Is it bad? No. Do I taste all the things that we just mentioned or we talked about? I can't tell you the difference between a Walmart banana and a Thai banana. I mean, I had I had a banana this morning, but I can't don't know if I tasted that in here. And Philippine cacao. I mean I said I don't taste a banana.
SPEAKER_02I so I mean so here's the mouthfeel of the banana.
SPEAKER_01So my here's my point. I'm assuming it costs a little bit more to get these products from these out-of-country locations.
SPEAKER_02I would guess, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And you're putting them into a beer, but if it's not really gonna over the flavor's not gonna be amped up because I was assuming then because you got it from a different place, maybe that flavor would be even more dramatic. I don't really taste anything dramatic. You could go to Walmart, I could get these same things from Walmart, it might taste the same. Is that does you guys does that make sense to you guys?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it makes it make sense, but you know, if if this read banana, cocoa, vanilla beans, and walnuts, we'd be criticizing that as well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So uh they're trying to appeal to the consumer. Yeah, you know, in this case, it's adding adjectives or places of of where it came from, so maybe it's more intriguing.
SPEAKER_02It makes there you guys just say it makes it sound more exotic if it's from all these different countries as well, you know.
SPEAKER_01I mean, and and the other part is I wish our other compadrey was here, the bourbon connoisseur, because I don't know if I've actually tasted Oldfish Gerald.
SPEAKER_02I think we have. Yeah. I mean, like just for bourbon itself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, I'm sure we have. So I'm I would then have to assume that a 19-year-old barrel of Old Fish Gerald would be pretty smooth. I don't I can taste something. I don't is that the Old Fix Gerald? I mean, I so it it again, I was really intrigued when it said anytime whether it says like maybe it's Pappy Van Winkle or Oldfish Gerald 19. Wow, that is like that's a been age for a long time. So the when they you know put it for 18 months, it's gonna pull out a lot of that flavor. I don't know. So you know, it's just a question.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and so maybe on the flip side of it, maybe it's a perfect balance. Again, this is our opinion of what we're looking for. Yep. And there may be a whole line of consumers that are like, well, this is great, it's it's got such an easy, smooth taste. This is very drinkable.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, you because you're right, there isn't any of that bourbon bite that I think you enjoy if you're a bourbon drinker.
SPEAKER_01And maybe Mike alluded to this early on. Maybe we've tasted so many bourbon. We actually, I think we ran into this when we were doing our Oktoberfest. I don't know if we're too critical or overcritical, but I think I guess we've tasted so many.
Barrel Theory x Drecker “Cursed Visions” Stout
SPEAKER_02Uh we have a probably a pretty knowledgeable background of what we're saying. Does that right, Mike? Or am I putting words in your mouth? No, I agree. And I say, Toby, I don't know if you've listened to the Oktoberfest ones, but you know, when we did the German, the actual German Oktoberfest beers were amazing. Then we did the American versions, and they were just not very good this year. The 2025 versions had no flavor, did they, Jim? I mean, it was just like terrible. And so I don't I don't know what they changed, but they got to go back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you know, I I think I brought this up uh a few other times when I've been lucky enough to be a guest here. I do wonder about beer and the craft beer industry, and are they coming back to more of a a common palate to continue to appeal to a buddy of mine used to call the foo foo beers, you know, where you're drinking the Miller lights, the bud lights, just the kind of more of that bland flavor and just to hit more of a uh a consumer population.
SPEAKER_02And it could be, you never know. Well, you know.
SPEAKER_01Maybe if Mike would even let us even contemplate that, possibly we could do another podcast in addition to this one that might actually have some very good flavors with it that are bourbon barrel-aged.
SPEAKER_02No, and not if it's not if you want to do it. No, we're not doing that. In fact, I'm gonna throw away all of your bourbon barrel beers. Toby and I'll take care of it. Yeah, we'll get to it. We'll take care of that for you.
SPEAKER_01So because so my point being is now we've got um, we've had uh tasted some breweries that are probably on their very beginning stages of learning how to do, and maybe if we tried one that is very well ingrained and knows what they're doing, yep, maybe we can you know be able to compare and contrast.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. That's kind of where the where I was 300% with you.
SPEAKER_01You know, like the these last two have not been horrendous. No, no, no, but do you am I being too nitpicky when I'm talking about the the you know the little things?
SPEAKER_02I don't, I'm just trying to like well, we've said it so many times that when you're listing all of these flavors that we should be tasting, and you're really not tasting them, it it's kind of like you know, but you know, like you've said when sometimes in some of the breweries, when we list them off, you can taste every single flavor, and it's like very pronounced and right there, and you're like, wow, that is like spot on. Yep.
SPEAKER_01All right, well, let's get back to the points here again. Oh, okay, yay. Uh oh, so uh not to jump ahead too far, but what brewer are we gonna be going to next?
SPEAKER_02What brewery are we going to next? In this tasting, yes, forager. Forager. Okay, and we know they're from Rochester, Minnesota. We've been there. Yep. How did they get their name? Don't blur it out. How did they get their name? Wow. I think he directed that right at you. He did. Wondering what you did to him, but boy.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think he's giving you a chance.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so how did they come up with Forager? Yes, because they scrounged around for the ingredients. Close, Toby.
SPEAKER_00Uh, I'm gonna go with they wanted to advance um the craft beer at the time, and so they foraged the way with the industry.
SPEAKER_01Awesome! Spot on. So it's they got their name for the code.
SPEAKER_02You know, now I know why he put names on these lists because I don't have the answers on here. I just have the beer descriptions. Yeah, me too. I don't know about that. I think there's some some you guys are in cahoots again somehow. Come on, Mike. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. This is under protest. So they got the concept of foraging for local ingredients. That's what I said. No, but Toby said it first. So you got it right.
SPEAKER_01So that's it. Awesome. Somebody get Toby another thousand points.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh, Mike.
SPEAKER_01We're giving you five thousand five thousand to the bad. Good try, though, buddy.
SPEAKER_02Good you're actually, I'm so mad I almost like it right now. That's how mad I am right now. That is yeah, I'm to that point where it's just like it can't go anywhere now.
SPEAKER_01But you see how Toby thought that through came very But I had the right answer, but his is very well spoken.
SPEAKER_02His wasn't right. Uh we checked. I checked with the judges. Well, here we go. He's looking in his in the room with his furnace.
SPEAKER_01Checked with the judges, and they still confirmed that Toby's right.
SPEAKER_02Toby, I'm so mad right now.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it uh I need another beer. Uh I would agree. Can we rate this last time? Oh, yeah, we gotta rate it.
SPEAKER_02See, he jumped ahead. Now I'm really mad. Toby, you're first of whack here. Um Toby's first. See, I get a question right, and it threw him totally for a loop, and they had to figure out a way to hose me on it, and then he forgot to get our scores. Come on, buddy. Admit that Toby's right. That's all you had to do. I will not. I was right. Okay, Toby, what was your score?
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm scared to give it now.
SPEAKER_02You're safe. Jim, not so much.
SPEAKER_00So I think this is a little bit better uh than that other one that we had. Um, but I do agree, you know, that with what you're saying and what we're looking for. We're looking for the flavors. So when I say a little bit better, I'll go 3-1 on it.
SPEAKER_02Nice, good score. That's solid. I think this one had a little bit more flavor. Uh, but it again, there was so much that was missing. Very smooth for 14%. I I'm gonna do the same as Toby. It was, I think it was a little bit better, so I'm gonna go three-one also. And like I said, it it doesn't drink like a 14% at all, but I wish there was a little bit more, you know.
SPEAKER_01And you guys, I think Toby had the my notes because I had written on mine 3.1.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I know I know Toby had your notes because that's where the answers are. Oh, because they copied my score.
SPEAKER_01I had 3.1 listed on there. So same, same exact thing. I mean, I will have to say, I mean, so far I think that's the best one that we had today.
SPEAKER_02So it does rate the highest score we've got. Yep. I would agree with you. All right, so what do we got next? All right, so the next one that we have is nuts. And there's five Zs. Yeah. From Forager. Yep. 14.5% ABV. Yosa. We stepped it up. Just uh now you do you remember when we were at Forager and John was with us, and we were sitting down, John was gone, and we're like, where'd John going? Hey, hey, you guys want to go in the back room? And we're like, all right. And it's still what sticks in my mind is remember they were barrel aging a beer. Yep, and the dude pulled out a rusty nail and filled up a thing. Here you go. Yeah, so and they hadn't even named it, hadn't even named it yet. So we tried to rate it, but they had no name, so we couldn't rate it. So all right, so this is nuts 14.5 percent. Yep. This is a blend of double stouts from large and small format barrels ranging in age from 19 to 28 months. We conditioned this blend on heaps of toasted coconut, Toby. Again, piles of roasted pecans and almonds. That's a lot. That's a technical term. Yep, yeah. Uh, and five regions of vanilla bean caviar from Columbia. Is that fish aches? Taiwan, Mexico, Zanzibar, wherever that's at, and the Cook Islands. It is loaded with layers of nutty vanilla delight, riding a rip curl of Forager's rich barrel character. Toby, where's the Cook Islands from? You're the teacher, or know what that's he's not a teacher, you're not a geography teacher.
SPEAKER_01So you have to clarify. I thought all teachers were knowledge and knowledge.
SPEAKER_02Did you notice these bottles are like they're black like coated with something? That's pretty crazy. That's wild. Is that good or bad? Well, no, it's just different. I I just thought they were dark bottles with didn't we find out one time that like the coating that it doesn't let if there's sunlight if they're keeping it. Oh, I'm sure it prevents. I was gonna say, I'm sure it keeps the sunlight out because this is like totally a uh a dark bottle. Yeah, it's this one also pours very thick. We had a little drippage here. Hey, Angus, can you grab us a towel or something? We're playing ACDC, so yeah. I saw the house band when you came in, right? I think we sent them upstairs. Angus couldn't sit still. All right. All right. All right, drips are so the hard part is can't get that. We don't know ranging in barrels. So it was age and something.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it didn't say what. What what's the difference from the large and small format barrels?
SPEAKER_02Well, because I think isn't large. We saw the one that when we're at forge that were smaller barrels. Right. So it's I think the ones we saw in Rochester were the half ones. I think so.
SPEAKER_00So do you do you think that affects the the amount of time it has to be in the barrel? I mean, what you know what what's the intent of using different sizes?
SPEAKER_02That's a good question. Cheaper? Uh that's probably part of the bar. Cheaper's probably a big part of the yeah. Maybe they couldn't afford it. An expensive larger one. Hmm. Oh, there's a aroma.
SPEAKER_00There's an aroma. I can definitely smell the five different regions.
SPEAKER_02I think I I was picking up on the the kind of the sandies smell of zanzibar. I thought it was the Mexico once.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it could have been that too. You guys are missing it's all Taiwan. Oh.
SPEAKER_01But what isn't caviar fish eggs?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, this is a caviar, I guess. Or is caviar an adjective? Yeah, probably.
SPEAKER_00Isn't caviar mean like kind of the a better version of something?
SPEAKER_02Oh, kind of like a better version of Mike, then, right? I'm gonna say exactly. I'm gonna say caviar is the like you know, a flock of seagulls, it's a caviar of vanilla. No, Mike.
unknownI guess.
SPEAKER_02Come on, you gotta give him credit for that. No flock of seagulls? Come on. You know, you know what you mean.
SPEAKER_01Murder of crows. You know, your wife and I actually went. Your wife and I actually went to watch the that band in concert.
SPEAKER_02A flock of seagulls? Yes. It starts it makes sense, total sense now, doesn't it? It's all coming together at the Virginia State Fair in Richmond, Virginia. He wouldn't go with me to see Five Finger Death Punch, but he went to see flock of seagulls.
SPEAKER_01Because I wasn't invited, that's why.
SPEAKER_00I don't know if we want to go down this path. But uh I I I think that as as uh part of our audience is pointing out here, uh based off of a wonderful Google search, is that uh caviar is sometimes something considered the best of its kind. Oh that's why we brought you, Toby.
SPEAKER_01Toby, you are the best of your kind. So I do have a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00I'm one of a kind. So I do have a question, Mike.
What Do Collabs Actually Add
SPEAKER_02I have a question. Thank you, audience. I appreciate that. I'm raising my hand. I have a question. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_00Hey Mike, the listeners can't see that.
SPEAKER_02That's why I said I'm raising my hand. So if they're saying that it's the best of its kind, which of the five vanillas is the best of its kind?
SPEAKER_00It's the best of all of those.
SPEAKER_02So they're all the best of their kind.
SPEAKER_00They have multiple vanilla beans.
SPEAKER_02So basically they're saying that Colombian vanilla is the best vanilla in Colombia. Right. So again, I mean I go back to the last beer, right? Taiwanese vanilla is the best vanilla in Taiwan. Yeah, I think that's what they're saying.
SPEAKER_00We're going down a rabbit hole here.
SPEAKER_01So, like I said the last time, right? What so I understand so they they are talking about vanilla, right? Yeah. And they want to have vanilla in their beer, and I'm just being rhetorical. Do you need vanilla from five different countries? And then I don't even taste it. Why why not just use one and put the flavor in your beer?
SPEAKER_00So that I guess I'm just I don't know. I don't mean and I think the hard part is is what what are we you know what are we trying to pull out? Right. What is that flavor then?
SPEAKER_02Well, because you honestly you look at it, I don't taste the coconut, I don't taste pecans or almonds, and I really don't taste the vanilla. I mean, I taste the the barrel, right? The the barrel, you know, and it's not overpowering, but I mean it really doesn't taste like 14%. But I'm again it tastes like 14.5. You know, did they need to have five different countries?
SPEAKER_00Hear me out on this. Does this kind of taste like a Girl Scout cookie? You know what's what I'm talking about? Samoas?
SPEAKER_01Oh, small, yeah. Kind of a little bit.
SPEAKER_00I mean, like the that coconut and sweet.
SPEAKER_02See that, yeah. But what's the didn't we talk about a lot of pecans and almond pile? A pile a pile. Was the pile this high or was it this, you know? Right. Again, that's one of those flavors. I don't know. Can you really pick it out? I really not really in in this. I like I said, I all eye taste really is the the barrel. I mean, that's it's not bad. No, I mean I'm not saying it's bad, but it is like you said, it gives you all the spectrum, especially with that much of an LA, it should be pretty pronounced. Uh that's out, and I just don't know if I get that.
SPEAKER_01Again, I was this was another one of those that Toby had that. I was like, uh, you read the label because all this that we talked is on the label, which is like, wow, this is gonna be like super well, and the name of it, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, nuts. So, I mean, they're implying that you're gonna get some nut flavor out of this, and and and and I I really don't.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so Mike, you want to go first? This one, yeah. Um, it's a good beer, but I I just wish that, like I said, with the amount of vanilla that apparently is in there, I wish you could taste it. I don't taste the the nuts, I don't taste, you know, 14.5 drink smooth. It is very very thick. Yes. Um, I'm gonna go, do I go above or below that last one? I'm gonna go with 2.9. I just go a little lower. Go a little lower. I just think that it had so much potential. And and really with the vanilla, I thought it was gonna be with five different vanillas, that was gonna be like the predominant flavor, and I don't taste it at all.
SPEAKER_01And you know, not to cut you off, but I always when we talk vanilla, I always go back to the snow drift vanilla plant. Yeah, yep. And I mean that vanilla flavor is so good, and it's on a lower octane beer. That's what I was kind of expecting for a vanilla flavor.
SPEAKER_02So not to cut you off, but that's what I was that was agree 100% with you.
SPEAKER_00Toby, what do you got? Um You know, I think uh I'm a Forger fan. I I like a lot of their products, and and I was do you like their salmon sandwiches? The the food that they serve is a different conversation for sure. Um a guy of my stature. Um so I I was expecting just a little bit more out of this. I thought I'd have some good flavors to it because um I think some of their other beers do, and I I think they hold true to the descriptions. So I was disappointed. I'm even below you, Mike. I'm a two-eight on this one.
SPEAKER_01Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_00All right, I wasn't I wasn't out of line then.
Barrel Theory “Eternal Frost” And Philosophy
SPEAKER_01So again, I guess I understand. I think Toby really pointed out, you know, I understand what they're trying to do. They're trying to entice you by what they put on the outside of the label. But I think Mike and I always come back to the point, you know, what's on your label, I'm sure is inside the bottle, but I can't taste it. So I'm buying your beer to taste those flavors. I'm not buying the beer because it's a forager, I'm buying because those flavors sound like very good to me. That's that's why I want to taste your beer. And I I just didn't taste them all. I'm just falling in with you guys. So I'm gonna tap into Toby. I think you looked at my paper again. I'm gonna go 2.8.
SPEAKER_02All right, so Toby loses 5,000 points for that. Well, no, he got because you answered first.
SPEAKER_00You can mark that on your score sheet, Mike.
SPEAKER_01But he got a bonus for 5,000. So thanks, Mike. Yeah, no problem. All right, so I do have one final question. Yippee. Um, so actually, I'm gonna give you both a thousand points. I'm just gonna read this out. All right, how's that? Perfect, perfect. So I don't know if you knew this, but the the owner, there's two co-owners, right? So there was a lady, Annie Henderson. She never thought she'd own a brewery, she even wasn't even a home brewer at all. Hoping one day she was gonna move her operation, but then she didn't have her own beer kit or anything like that, but she did get one for her birthday, and she got hooked. So the point that I'm trying to tie in is that I'm glad he's getting to his point because I'm getting thirsty. So she she found a person that actually was knew how to brew the beer, and that's who she collaborated with to open up forage. Oh okay.
SPEAKER_02That's interesting. Austin.
SPEAKER_01Austin and and Ann. So again, I think we talked, Mike and I kind of hit on this at one other time. And I do believe, you know, we went to Forager in Rochester, and we always try to figure out well, why is the brewery here, and then right behind in the same parking lot, there's another parking, right? So part of what I found out, and that's why I was trying to allude to some of this. So currently they both have to operate separate entities because the two owners, the two owners, really, because in Minnesota they have to have completely separate distribution companies for Humble Forager.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Because we know we've asked, okay, Forager and Humble Forger, are they the same? They're both in Rochester, and they're owned by the same people. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So thanks to some convoluted Minnesota laws, they had to one had to step away from the role as a head brewer at Forager to become the owner of Humble Forager. Interesting. Because the one is district distributed to other states and countries.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01So they had to split it up. Even though see that again, I think did we talk about it? I think it was untitled Art we talked about.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Remember, we because in in Wisconsin, remember, they have that three-tier system. The three-tier system was just you can't cross lines, right?
SPEAKER_01Once you sign with a dis distribution network, you have to stay with that forever.
SPEAKER_02You can't right. But then it's also if because I I remember a few years ago, because that came was coming up for a vote, and the owner of Brewing Project did a speech in front of the Wisconsin uh Senator, whatever, you know, the government, and telling his story about how him and his wife you know owned or while they started Brewing Project, his wife was a part-time bartender as a second job, part-time job, and they wouldn't give him a license because she worked at in a bar, right? Even though it was part-time. And he he gave this whole this whole story about they were looking even at having his father or father-in-law, one of the two, to be the owner, and oh no, no, because there's still a connection there, you know, and it was just it's so ridiculous, right?
SPEAKER_01So, you know, that because I know we talked about about this every time we go to Rochester.
SPEAKER_02Why are they yeah, two different names in the same parking lot on one end and the other end of the parking lot?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's always it explains it because you can't get humble forager in forager, right?
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00You know, when you go in there, but you go to the store next door and they have it. Right.
SPEAKER_01That's I'm giving you 10,000 and only a thousand the mic. Good answer, Toby. You see, I'm glad we brought put you on 10,000, Toby.
SPEAKER_02All right, all right. So do we have one last beer? Yeah, we got another beer left. Oh, look, it's from Forager. This is Romp. Romp? Romp. And this one is 14.8% PBV. So this is the highest. This is the highest for today. Yes. And it says this unique blend consists of five of our barley wine recipes, each aged in different barrels. These okay, are you ready, Jim? Uh-oh, wow. These include a 28-month Eagle Rare barrel, nice, a 26-month Blanton's barrel, better, a 23-month 14-year George Dickle barrel, nice, a 33-month rock filter barrel. Sweet. I don't know what that is. Wow. And a 27-month Black Hamma rock filter barrel. Wow. Any one of those would be nice. This blend features a double mash barley wine, mixed grain barley wine, honey barley wine, maple barley wine, and Vienna malt barley wine, which make up the threads of this English style. Waves of barrel tones, leathery oak, figs, dried dark fruits, cocoa, cacao, uh, holiday spices. Which are good, which are good, roasted nuts, and caramel can all be found in this mahogany liquid. Wow.
SPEAKER_00More stuff. So as you were going through that, Mike, and I opened this. Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_02Um, there's stuff on the top.
SPEAKER_00The top of this, the the cap on this bottle definitely has more to it than the other ones do. You know, there's always that little code.
SPEAKER_02There's yeah.
SPEAKER_00So this could be thick.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it does look like a barley wine.
SPEAKER_02It kind of does.
SPEAKER_01This is good, and again, I'm not a big barley wine guy.
SPEAKER_00I've had a few recently that were decent way better than I expected them to be.
SPEAKER_02Well, on the podcast a little while ago, when we were I was up north and BK was on there, we had uh it was a four-pack where it was like an anniversary thing, and I I apologize, I don't remember the name of the brewery right off the top of my head. But they had two English barley wines that were in there. You can't tease us like that. And the English barley wines tasted way better than the American barley wines. It was so smooth. I couldn't believe it. I was just like, wow. You're teasing us again. I know, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01See, I try to do some research that enlightened the listeners.
SPEAKER_02I'm just telling you.
SPEAKER_01All right, dang it. All right, so this should be a barley wine, right?
SPEAKER_00So I mean, going to what you were just talking about, Mike, you know, it says the threads of this English style. So let's hope. Oh wow, here goes nothing.
SPEAKER_02That is uh a lot going on. There's a lot going on. There is yeah, a lot, but kind of a lot good. I don't mind. I agree bad. This is this is not bad at all. And so here, so I'll be the critical one.
SPEAKER_01So I like it a lot, but what would have happened if you would have just used the eagle rare, made a batch almost like the bomb? Right. Remember how the bomb deconstruct the bomb to have a single bottle that was in the eagle rare.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01One in the blinds. And then you have this one that has them all put together.
SPEAKER_02See, that's hypothetical. I don't know what you think. That would have been an interesting thing to see. Or, you know, to take again, we don't know how much they make. Right. As far as you know, their their quantity of of the barrels. We don't we don't know that. But that's a that's a big prairie artisan pretty much. Right. That would have been a pretty cool. But all these, I like all these bourbons. I mean, these are all very good. You really you can't pick out a bourbon. Right.
SPEAKER_01That's why I'm thinking they all kind of cancel each other out rather than the one good flavor coming through. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Am I way off of that or are you guys No, I mean I think that's definitely one perspective to look at it. It's just that, you know, obviously it wouldn't taste like this if they hadn't combined it all. So very good point. You know, so I mean, if this is what their intent was and they feel that they came out with a product that, in my opinion, is pretty smooth.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_00You know, it does not have that barley wine. I'm gonna call it a bite or you're right.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_00You know, so I I'm saying it's pretty good for what what's in that paragraph is a lot.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, a lot.
SPEAKER_00You know, I I I wish I could get maybe identify some more of the the individual flavors, but I think it's a pretty good balance.
SPEAKER_02And like I said, this one does fall right in in line with those other two English barley ones that I had. Where it it just I don't know, it's just the flavor and everything is just a little bit better, you know. And I don't know why it's holding smoother, but uh yeah, I I think this is this is good. I like it. So who wants to go first? You can go first, Jim.
SPEAKER_01All right. So this is the highest ABV. It is not bad at because I'm not a barley wine guy, so that's my challenge. I'm trying to overcome.
SPEAKER_02And my other hard part is I'm trying to, I mean, because I like Eagle Ren, I like Blanton's really a lot. I like I got bottles here that I because I buy that bourbon because I like it.
SPEAKER_01But can I differentiate those bourbon flavors in this? All right, I'm gonna have to say this is the best one I've had today. So I'm gonna say a 3.2.
SPEAKER_00Kobe? Uh I'm just gonna throw out right away. I'm a 3.5 on this one. I I think it's yeah, the best one we've had today. Um, and for barrel barley wine, uh bourbon barrel, I like it. Um, I'd recommend this to someone. And I mean, I think I could probably drink more of this large bottle than the other ones.
SPEAKER_02I agree 100%. I'm doing a 3.5 as well. I I agree 100% with you. I think this was the best one we had. And again, Jim, I I agree with you as well. I can't remember how many times have we had where there have been five different barrels. You know what I mean? There was the one brewery from California. Oh, yeah. Um that really blended a lot of different things. Yeah, I know. I can't remember the name of the brewery, yeah. But they did a really, really good job with their right. So, you know, I could they they could have had a very similar flavor with one or two barrels, too. Who knows? I we don't know. But I do I think it's really good. And I agree with you, Toby. I could drink more some more of that one. So yeah, that's that's the best one I think for today. Yeah, all right. So do we want to do a wrap-up? But since we got well, we Toby and I pretty much already said that was our well you said. No, no, no. I mean for the for the overall, I mean the whole category and yeah in general. Do you want to start? You want me to start? So, Toby, thank you very much for bringing those beers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01I I know that we've always wanted to have some of those beers from especially Forgers, but every time we go there, they don't have we're I'm not able to get some. So thank you for bringing those. Kudos to Minnesota.
SPEAKER_02Very good products. I'm so glad I'm sitting down right now.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's very good, very well crafted. I mean, everything was good. Was it? Can I use some other names? If you want, yeah. Was it to the standard of Central Waters or Bourbon County or Dragon's Belt? No, I mean they're probably in the tier right below it.
Forager “Nuts” And The Vanilla Debate
SPEAKER_02I was gonna say when you look at you know the breweries we had, they're all fairly newer. Yes. Yep, you know what I mean. So we we gotta give them credit for that. Yes. Well, yeah, no, you're 100% right on on that question.
SPEAKER_01You know, we have that upper level, and we have now these guys are are there, and to me, I think that's awesome because now we have the newer breweries are trying to get their claw their way up the mountain. They're not starting out at the top, they're working their way up. So for that, I'm very grateful because I mean, if you don't have other breweries out there trying to like make the market better, it's gonna get stagnant. Yep.
SPEAKER_02So were all the flavors perfect?
SPEAKER_01No. Do I think they could improve? Yes. So I will they listen to us? They might listen to me. I don't know about Mike, but they might not listen to him.
SPEAKER_02Well, see, right off the bat, again. So I'm trying to do so. If uh for me, I had like the I'd have to say the top four. My number my number one was the romp, number two was Eternal Frost, three was the Cursed Vision, and four was nuts.
SPEAKER_01They were they were like way above the the one I brought and the six and eight were down a little bit. I wouldn't even put them in the same category as those those last four.
SPEAKER_02Right. I'll leave it to you guys. Yeah, you know, and I mean I agree with a lot of what you said. I mean, these are our newer breweries that I give them credit for trying for you know, because barrel aging, there's not in the grand scheme of things, there's not a lot of breweries that are doing it, and especially not doing it to the level of a Goose Island or an uh Central Waters or Three Sheeps or any of that kind of stuff. But this was they were they were good, you know. I give them an A for effort, you know, and hopefully they keep going. Yes, you know, like I said, that last one was was very good, you know. I I I liked it. And would I recommend these for like a new person that's never had it before? Maybe not. Uh the 608 you could because that was lower ABV. The other ones, again, when you're getting into double-digit ABVs and such, if you're not really used to that, you know, people tend to get turned off, you know, because oh my gosh, it's terrible. Even though it's to us, it's very smooth, right? You know, so uh yeah, Toby, thank you so much for for bringing these. And Jim, thanks for throwing that one you brought in. The climate minus a thousand for Jim. No, just kidding. That was good too. But like I said, it was really interesting to try because we've I mean we've tried all these, you know, the the ones we know are safe. Yes. And these we we didn't know, you know, and yeah, I I'm glad they were it was good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, and I think uh like you you pointed out, Jim, there there's places that have kind of perfected it, you know. I mean, Bourbon County, in my opinion, is kind of like the grandfather of it and what they've done for years. Uh and and because it was successful in the timing, I think they have a bigger niche of the market out there where they can do what they're doing. So it is encouraging to see other places, you know, starting this and doing things. And and like you said, Mike, I I hope they keep going because finding these beers is exciting because you don't find them a lot. So when they're out there and you get them, um, you know, and it I do want them not not that I'm complaining about it because if you like something you pay the money, but but these aren't beers that you're paying 12, 15, 20 dollars for. Yeah, you know, some of these that we drank today were were fifty, sixty dollar bottles.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And um I give credit to the the breweries that are doing it, and um I I enjoyed them. Um, you know, I do feel bad for the 608. Did it fit in in our category today? Probably not. Um, I look back on my score, I you know, I only gave that a two. It wasn't bad for a pastry sour that was bourbon barrel-aged, I think. Like I said, first one I've ever had. Um, but you know, definitely this last one was the best. The romp, um, I enjoyed that. And and um the the nuts wasn't wasn't what I expected. You know, again, same brewery, so big comparison there. And then that that Eternal Frost was you know my next one that I really thought was good. So um I enjoyed them. Um, glad I got to share them with you and uh appreciate the uh the the time here on air with you, uh especially when I win the trivia, Mike.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I was just gonna point that out. Totally, you like smoked, Mike, again, for whatever reason. That's been like the fifth time in a row. You should be on like the game show thing, whatever that you like know all the answers for some reason.
SPEAKER_00As long as you're the host, I'm there.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna say, as long as Jim was hosting, you would never lose. So wow. Is it that obvious? No, no, not at all. Not at all. All right, awesome. Well, hey, guys, thank you so much. And again, this is our really our first barrel age of the season. Yep, it won't be our last, I can guarantee you that.
SPEAKER_01So let's hope we can step it up on our maybe we can do another one.
SPEAKER_02Well, we'll see what happens next week. All right, we'll see what next week brings. All right. Awesome. Well, hey guys, thank you so much. Toby, thank you for bringing those beers. Jim, thanks for your beers. Thanks for cheating me on questions again. Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for listening. And like we always say, we hope a campfire is always warm and your beers are always cold. See ya. 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 gmail.com. 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.
