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 139 - From Resort Dreams To Reality BK's New Venture
It’s 12:55 a.m., the first flurries are flying, and our quiet plan to record turned into fifty people at the bar, a late dinner, and a lineup of beers too good to skip. We share what it’s really like to buy a Northwoods resort, reopen a bar on the snowmobile trail, and build a place where community, good beer, and a warm fire meet.
We dig into the changes we’ve made at Callahan Lake Resort: open on Mondays when others close, adding a DIY Bloody Mary bar, moving walls and TVs to make game days easy, and—most importantly—curating a rotating selection of craft beer you don’t usually find this far north. Getting beyond the same few regional taps is a grind when distributors limit what they’ll deliver outside major markets, so we talk through how we hunt for variety, why Facebook and trail apps send new guests our way, and how neighboring bar owners have become unexpected allies.
Then the tasting flight: Wooden Ship Oktoberfest brings classic malt and bread-crust notes that feel like fall in a stein. Metronome’s Coal Porter surprises with silky creme brulee aroma and a balanced caramel-roast profile at just 4.8%—a perfect gateway dark beer, even better at cellar temps. Jack Pine’s Deadfall Russian Imperial Stout leans roasty and bitter at 9.4%, a clean, textbook take that drinks smoother than it sounds. LUPULIN’s Campfire Munchies rides in at 10% with marshmallow-first sweetness, stout bitterness mid-palate, and a graham-cracker finish—decadent, shareable, and nostalgic. We close with Scaldis Noël, a Belgian strong dark ale at 12% that’s shockingly smooth, pastry-leaning, lightly spiced, and endlessly sippable.
If you love craft beer, small-bar stories, and the nuts and bolts of building a welcoming space in the Northwoods, you’ll feel right at home. Pull up a chair, learn why serving temperature matters, and hear how we’re preserving a decades-old legacy while planning a kiln-dried hardwood bar build for spring.
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Welcome to the Northwoods Bear Guy Podcast. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to the Northwoods Bear Guy Podcast. This is Mike, the Northwoods Bear Guy. And today, we are in the very well, it feels very frigid to me right now. Up up north in the Northwoods. In the North. And that that means we are here with BK. Hello. How's it going, man?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, you know, it's up north, and it's starting to feel a little almost past fall. Yeah. Today, uh, there were some flurries and whatnot. But uh, yeah, it's good to be back up here for sure.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no doubt. Now uh we do have to fill you in on something. This is either like you said earlier, Brian, it's whichever way you look at it, it's either the latest time of day that we've ever recorded a podcast or the earliest. Or by far the earliest.
SPEAKER_02:Because it's uh yeah, it's uh it is exactly 12 55 in the a.m.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's kind of crazy.
SPEAKER_02:But hey, we were a little busy today. Well, and not only that, but we do this for you, right? Yeah. You the listener. Yeah. We make sure that we get this done.
SPEAKER_01:And we thought, well, we could, you know, go to bed, sleep on it, think about maybe in the morning, or we could drink beer, and it was unanimous. I guess we're gonna drink beer. All two of us. Yeah, so it was two zero.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, yeah, you can't drink all day if you don't still be able to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it was kind of weird because I think our wives actually voted for us to drink beer today.
SPEAKER_02:I think they did, and that they were ready for bed.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm not sure, yeah. I'm not sure about that. But craziness, man. Yeah, it's uh it's been flurrying out a little bit, it's cold, it's uh yeah, I'm not ready for this.
SPEAKER_02:No, well, you know, uh in my life, and things have changed a little bit, I haven't prayed for snow since I was about six. But in my line of work now, my second job, and that uh I bought a resort. So we're on a snowmobile trail, we've got a bar, officially, unofficially, the the host of the Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast Bar.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:Um, not that we're naming it that, but no, uh Callahan Lake Resort is the resort that we camped at for years and and it came up for sale, and my wife and I pulled the trigger and made the the jump into it. So uh we are now bar owners as opposed to just uh bar patrons, right? Uh so yeah, we were gonna record this, I think it was about 4 30 or 5 o'clock. Things had slowed down. Uh we were doing some decorating, the the wives were for Christmas coming up and and Thanksgiving, and and one, two, three, four, seven side by sides came in, a couple trucks, and we had a bar of 50 people. Yes, that's the way it works up here up north, so to speak. And so then we had uh barful until about 11 o'clock. So uh we quickly ate dinner uh because we were starving. We were gonna eat earlier too, and that's just the way it goes. But yeah, I'm glad to have glad to have people around and glad to have uh Mike back up here. Our first visitors officially, so yeah. Um not camping in our in our new abode, so to speak. And uh it's been a it's been a crazy day, to be honest. No doubt. I mean, we we got a lot of stuff done today. We most certainly did. We're uh mostly water related, like get it out of your camper, get it out of here, button this up, but we we moved a piano.
SPEAKER_01:We did move a piano that was heavier than I thought it was, but yeah, we got it out of there. There's a reason why they sit. Exactly. People don't take them with them. Yep, you got that right, man. So yeah, I guess uh no one thing I'd I would like to to talk a little bit about too is you know some of the changes at in the bar. I mean, you you you've brought in craft beer, uh, you know, I did as much as I could. Yep, and the thing I like is you you're bringing in different stuff, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_02:So my goal was um, and and again, my wife doesn't she's gluten-free, so she doesn't really drink beer, but Mike and you and I have been to every bar within 40 miles of here for the most part, and there's the same research purposes only, yeah. Tax right if I didn't know research, yeah. Hated every minute of it, but it's it's the same two or three breweries. Now, don't get me wrong, Angry Meadow Brewing is up here, fantastic beers they have. Uh South Shore out of Duluth and Superior, great beers, but it's the same three every Castle Danger is spotted cow spotted cow, new guerris, right? So there's the same thing every time, and and some of them I have to carry, you know, as a bar owner. Spotted cow is one people ask for. Um uh I have a more mud puppy porter than I knew was possible. Uh the previous owners loaded up on that, but um, you know, I didn't want the stuff that everybody gets. I didn't want the the the regular everyday stuff. So I got some stuff from uh like Summit, Summit Saga, it's an IPA. I've got two or three IPAs, I've got some Goose Island, I've got, and these are not things you see on tap, yeah, they're not things you see uh in bottles anywhere. So I just tried to go out on a limb. We don't sell a lot of craft beer in the wintertime, probably more of a summer thing. Um, we've got a couple of stouts and they're tough to get, and that's again, uh in in the next few months I'll get a little better handle of it. But it's really difficult to diversify your your beer uh through the through the distributors based on how far you are away from Milwaukee or how far you are away from the twin cities. Sorry, but we don't drive that beer that far away from which it doesn't make sense to me. Right. Um when I can go to the grocery store in town and buy it, but I can't get through the distributors. So there's some challenges there. Uh, but there's also some stuff that that I can get that most people can't, and and and we're working to it. If everybody uh wrote their suggestions on a hundred dollar bill and handed it to me, it would make life a lot easier. There you go. Because that we have an eternity of people that that visit the bar and God love all of them, and they, you know what you should do, or you know what I what you ought to do. Those are the uh those are some of them are great ideas and some of them are yeah, but do you know how much that costs? Right. So it's been a it's been a crazy what nine weeks now that we've quote unquote on it. We took over on the 20, 28th of uh August. We've had all of September, all of October, and and we're just getting in November. So uh we've made some major changes. We've knocked out some walls, we've brought in tables, we've uh planned to rebuild uh a new bar. We've we've got TVs, though we've got TVs moving everything, and there's games, and today we had lots of people watching college football. Tomorrow the NFL is on, so you know, just the things to bring people to the bar. We have a Bloody Mary bar morning at 11 o'clock where you can make your own Bloody Mary. So things to bring people together. The goal of of ours is my wife and I is not to uh be millionaires. We're we're we're we're taking a leap of faith that we can make this work. Uh I work in telephone, she was a nurse. I figure, yeah, we can serve beer, you know. Yeah, you know, I guess uh, you know, one plus one equals seven. But uh it's been a it's been a fun journey thus far. We're when we're not even quite three months into it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and you know, other things that I really like that you're doing too is you know, uh your wife has her mart her martini uh menu and she changes that up quite you know fairly regular. You've got old smoked old fashioned, you've got brought in a lot of different bourbon, or you know, you're still building that right as well, but but still it's things that hadn't been here before. Yep. And it's it's really been a surprise to me, uh, in a good way, the number of people that you know this is uh the first time we've ever been here, or or we thought this was a a private bar, you know, and I mean just the sheer vibe, like today when you said there was 50 people, there was a whole bunch of that all those people, like maybe one or two of them had been here before in that group, and it that was it, you know.
SPEAKER_02:And one of the other beauties today was too, and and we've run into this, and and again, we we're we try to be part of that group is there were four people that were part of that large group that came in today that you witnessed, and four of those people own bars, yeah, they own resorts in the area, and so the the absolute wonderful part about this area is everybody's for everybody else. There's no we don't like this guy or we hate them or or whatnot. Restaurants and bars, hey, you know, where's a good place to go get this? Oh, go right down the road to here, or you know, if you like an old-fashioned and try one smoked, go down to Callahan Lake Resort. There's been a lot of a lot of that camaraderie and an open arms, like hey, new owners, hey, we hope you make a run of the place. We're the only bar open on Mondays, right? So a lot of people are excited, including other bar owners that have been in on Mondays.
SPEAKER_01:Well, how many times have you heard that all even the bar owners are excited because every place else is closed during the winter, you know, and they're just like, man, this is awesome. Is another place we can go? And I think you had said you're you're on the trail uh map or for like the snowmobile trail and all this stuff. I mean, that that's huge.
SPEAKER_02:And we had a group today. Uh, my wife has been very active on Facebook, letting people know when we're open, when we're closed. We've had some setbacks and sewer issues where he had to be closed, but you know, they heard about us on Facebook because algorithms are what they are, right? Yeah, and then they popped on the trail trekker, they run a side-by-side ride and they found us. Like we're already on there. Eventually we'll be on the printed map, too. Right. Uh yeah, I know it's exciting that that people, it's that easy to find a place now, whereas before you had to be in magazines and on the radio and God knows what. And now it's a few keystrokes and a few keywords, and and you let the technology work for you.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, exactly. Wait, I don't know about you, but I we've got like five beers standing here, yeah, like staring me in the face. Absolutely. And I think we need to like start, you know, we should probably start. And then, you know, we were like, okay, we're done with Oktoberfest, and then you found one that we've never had before. Never heard of the brewery.
SPEAKER_02:I've never seen the beer, and and uh again, I work downtown Minneapolis, and there's a couple small uh Haskell's Wine and Wine is downtown close to where I work, and they don't have a lot for beer, but usually they're good for a couple of oddballs that I've never seen before. Well, this time there were four that I'd never seen, and and four that uh three of the four I'd never heard of the brewery, right? Right. So this is an Oktoberfest, um, and I think it's just called Oktoberfest. Yeah, but it's from Wooden Chip Brewery. Yep. It's 5.2%.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm looking on Untapped, and here's here's their description. Very short, very sweet. It says multi yet light, traditional, crystal clear, perfect for fall weather. Okay, so maybe we missed the fall weather a little bit, and I'm not sure when it says crystal clear. I'd give you a dollar if it's crystal clear. If it looks like water, I don't know about it. I'm gonna be like, whoa, they did not lie. Well, we might have to put blinders on it, but a blind taste test. There you go. So this one is in a pint can. Yep. So uh it'll be interesting. Well, it's not crystal clear. No, which is good because I'd really been kind of like, Well, you can't make an Oktoberfest crystal clear.
SPEAKER_02:That's like clear Pepsi. It does, it doesn't work.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly.
SPEAKER_02:All right, it looks just like October.
SPEAKER_01:It looks like an Oktoberfest. And on untap untapped, it says it's a fest beer, so I don't know for sure if it's because the can says Oktoberfest. Right. Right. It's got a good smell, good aroma to it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's just a solid Oktoberfest, not anything fancy.
SPEAKER_01:You know, it's it's funny because I'm sure you you've listened to our where Jim and I did some of the Oktoberfest, the American ones. And this year it just was weird to me because we did an episode where it was all German. Right. Amazing. Yep. Super good flavor. Then we did well, two full episodes of American, and then we had now this is like another episode where we have at least one. Right. And the previous ones, the like the 2025 versions, just kind of fell flat. They were really kind of not that good.
SPEAKER_02:We've had several in the bar. Um we had Tidal Town Oktoberfest, uh Green Bay. Decent, plain, a little light on flavor, to my uh and my ex, you know, to my taste buds, but it was a decent one. Uh Central Waters Oktoberfest lager, right? Right. A little darker, a little darker than this one. Great flavor. Yep. That's kind of a unique one. It kind of stands on its own. We've had lineys. Linies, right? Linies in, but the Nuguera Staghorn is a really good Oktoberfest. I've I've really enjoyed having that. It's been hard to get since we had we ordered several cases and it sold really well, so we ordered two more and figured, well, it's not even October yet, and then they were gone. Oh, really? So I I happened to I happened to across a six-pack to buy for myself at the grocery store.
SPEAKER_01:No, and I think was it Sam Adams you also had in some.
SPEAKER_02:Sam Adams, we had a we had a case of the Sam Adams Oktoberfest, and that one went quick too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. See, and that's the thing that I do enjoy. And I know you and I have talked about this for years. If if we ever owned a bar, if we ever did this, ever did that, you know, because uh a lot of times you don't see craft beer a lot of places, and is you know, we've I've always said you don't have to buy a palette of it, no, just buy a case or two and see how it goes, you know. And like I said, I of course I'm pretty sure, ladies and gentlemen, you had a good idea that Brian, I really like to try a whole bunch of different beers, right? And that's what I think a lot of people enjoy that, you know.
SPEAKER_02:I think this winter I do I do have some stouts left, and and I'm waiting to get into the good stouts. Everybody, oh, it's too early for that. They're distributors and like it's never too early. Right. Um, it may be too early for you to get it, but it's never too early. But the difficulty is with inventory, right? Making sure you don't sit on something that costs too much. Now, obviously, there's a difference on what I pay as as a as a bar owner than what you buy in a grocery store or liquor store on sales, so on and so forth. Buy in bulk, you get more, it's cheaper. But we've been pretty lucky for the most part. Uh I'm I've been sitting on some IPAs. I got them a little later in the summer. We've been pretty lucky. But then you'll get you'll get a cabin full of people here, and those that that um those that have never heard of here, we have we have five cabins, we've got a campground. We'll get two guys that come in here and they'll they'll hammer almost all of my sudo su out, right? Because they love IPAs, or they'll hammer all the goose island out, whatever the case may be. So you you take a risk on some of the stuff because the craft beer does cost a little more. Right. But uh for the most part, it doesn't go bad. You can usually turn it back into someplace that's got it. It's not fancy. It's they didn't try to they didn't try to uh outkick their coverage, right? This is right down the line a solid Oktoberfest. Um little little malty, um not in your face or in your nose. Some some of them get a little too much, they get hot.
SPEAKER_00:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:And uh this is warm, cold, it doesn't matter as it warms up in this glass. I think I could drink a ton of them. Like I if I were gonna grab one of the big mugs that the gals carry around in Oktoberfest, this would be one that I would want. So no, this is a fantastic Oktoberfest. And and again, no frills, no nothing, just a solid beer. Yeah, so score-wise, what would you uh I would probably go with I'd probably go a three, three, one. It's it's well better than average. It it didn't knock my socks off. I think we had that one from Missouri that uh was fantastic. Yeah um and this one didn't, but this is absolutely solid. It doesn't, it doesn't try to do anything that's not. I didn't judge anything on the label. It's just a really solid beer.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I agree with you. Honestly, the uh the aroma actually kind of had that malty aroma that they were talking about. And and like I said, I don't know what it was this year, but the 2025 versions of a lot of the Oktoberfest that were good really fell flat. Where this one, now again, this is the first time we've had this, right? But I I thought it was good. I I was gonna go a three as well. And yeah, that's that's the aroma reminded me of of uh of a loaf of bread. Yes, I had that bready type flavor or uh aroma.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. No, it was solid. Yeah, absolutely solid. And when you ship now, I gotta look them up because they're you know local to Minneapolis, and I'm gonna have to see what else they've got. I'm gonna have to check them out. If they can nail an Oktoberfest, which is not an easy one to nail, yeah. Let's just pray that they have a porter. Yeah, no doubt, or an Imperial Style, or at least something else, or a red ale or something like that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I agree a hundred percent. So cool. Well, hey, so the next one that we have, and this one seems interesting.
SPEAKER_02:When I looked it up on this is the one I texted you a picture of, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, and I don't know which one it is for sure. So we're gonna try and figure this out. I did not they're not out of Connecticut. They're these people, this brewery's out of St. Paul.
SPEAKER_02:St. Paul, Minnesota, yep.
SPEAKER_01:Now, again, there when I go on untapped, there's two it could possibly be.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:You know, so I'm like, uh, okay. So they have and it it's the same. I'm gonna just go with this first one, and they have no description. So well, I think there's one on the back of the can. Oh, is there okay?
SPEAKER_02:So now this is by this is by Metronome.
SPEAKER_01:Metronome Brewery out of St. Paul.
SPEAKER_02:It says, in this can is a duet of fermentation and music, a harmony for a greater good, with a portion of the profits providing music education for underprivileged youth in the Twin Cities. So drink up here what beer can do, which is kind of a cool, yeah, kind of a cool motto. Um, this says, uh, let's do it, let's fall in love with the cool the coal porter, silky smooth with luscious tones of creme brulee. Okay. Life is short, have dessert first, it says. And on the picture of the front, the front's what caught my well, first of all, it says creme brulee on it. Yeah. And that kind of got me. And then it's coal porter, which obviously is a musician. Yep, I thought that was a pretty slick. It is a pretty slick little bite. And it's not high octane, it's 4.8. Uh, but if it's got flavor, who cares, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, yeah, we should have said too that that Oktoberfest, I don't remember if we said that. That was 5.252. 5.2. Which actually for that is is a little higher than a lot of Octoberfests. Yeah, they they usually go, yeah, 4-8 to 4-8 to 5. We've had a few that were a little bit higher, but yeah, uh, for the most part, they're kind of in that ballpark.
SPEAKER_02:This is actually a lighter colored porter, which I I kind of expect with the with the lower alcohol. And since it's lower alcohol, I just gave us a little extra. It is a 16-ounce can. I mean, we're not quite to the big boys yet, so right.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Don't mind me. I'm looking up the next one as we go. So, oh, this one the next one has a description.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, this one smells fantastic. Oh, I mean, it smells this is when they say dessert first, it smells just like wow, that smells like a creme brulee.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, I believe them. That's a good beer. That's got a little different flavor, but it's it's not over the top sweet. No, you know what I mean? But it's got that that caramel-y flavor, kind of a flavor. It's getting the porter, is what I'm tasting.
SPEAKER_02:There's a little bit of porter in there that I wasn't expecting because it smells so sweet, but the uh the underto aftertones are all creme bret. Yeah, oh yeah, for sure. Like the brown sugar, and it's not dark, it's dark, but it's not but it's porter dark. It reminds me of uh about as dark as the old creamy dark was. Yeah. Wine is creamy dark.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. And aroma-wise, I mean, that's like I said, you get that that sweet smell, but it's not, it is sweet, don't get me wrong, but it's not super sweet, it's not avery sweet, you know, but you get that, like I said, that caramel flavor just jumps out at me, you know, right off the bat.
SPEAKER_02:This is so just so everybody knows, uh, we originally planned to have this podcast about 5 30, 4 30, something like that. Right. So the outdoor cooer, of course, is working in in northern Wisconsin. So we just threw everything on the bench right outside the door, and that was seven hours ago. So, and then we just brought it in. So these are a little chilly, a little bit chill. I really think this one is one where temperature matters. It but it's this is a really good beer.
SPEAKER_01:It looks good. I'm impressed.
SPEAKER_02:Like I said, I'd never heard of this brewery for five five percent, and maybe this is a pop-up, right? One of those ones where it's kind of like um Finnegan's was for a while. Yeah, Finnegan's was kind of a pop-up brewery, it was all charity-based, right? And then now they've they've got several fantastic beers that they make all year. Okay. I stare out the window like Garfield in a minivan and stare at their brewery from my workplace.
SPEAKER_01:I know in uh on Untapped, it said that it's a nano brewery, so it is definitely a smaller very small, yeah. But it it's in our this makes me want to I wish this was eight percent. Yeah, yeah. I was saying this is another brewery that it'd be I'm I'm gonna have to look them up and just see you know what else they have, you know. Because when when you sent me that picture, I was like, man, I've never even heard of them, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Well, originally I thought Metronome was the name of the was the beer, right? Yeah, and then and then it was and I looked at it coal porter and I went, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01:As soon as I read that, I was like, that's pretty cool. That's cool. I mean, honestly, I I because it's spelled like coal like C O A R L.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, as opposed to C O L E. Yeah, you know, and I I think some of the best beers we've ever had were crime ballet beers.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, we've had some good ones.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, this is this is really good.
SPEAKER_01:There's a lot going on for no alcohol, and I'm not saying no alcohol, but 4.8, but that and it's in a pint can, but you could drink a couple of them, you know, and not get it's not too sweet, get burned out, you know.
SPEAKER_02:This is this is one, and we did this on one of the didn't we do this with the trees? Yes, where we came back after they warmed up. I think we ought to set this one aside. We've got plenty to try it one more time.
SPEAKER_00:Yep, I agree.
SPEAKER_02:This would be interesting again, and this would be this is a gateway beer we've talked about before. If you wanted to try one that's not super dark, that's not uh super bitter out of your wheelhouse, but something that's still drinkable, this gets you right into the wheelhouse of a good porter and even a stout, pastry stout where it's sweet, it's not over the top with alcohol. I think people would really enjoy this.
SPEAKER_01:I agree, man. Like I said, I because you never know, especially with a newer, new to us brewery, you never know how it's gonna be.
SPEAKER_02:No, but boy, I tell you what, that's creme brulee is a polarizing taste, right? Just like marshmallow or some of the other ones we've talked about. You either nail it or you don't. And for low alcohol, right? It's easy when you just when you hammer a beer with brown sugar, you gotta feed the yeast, right? We've said that a hundred, I've said it a hundred times. Maybe you've said it 99 times. But this is a really good blend of sweet and uh that like kind of baltic porter bitterness.
SPEAKER_01:This is a really, really well-blended beer. I agree, dude. Uh like I said, I I could drink a can or two of this at a setting. This is this is good. I I'm impressed. So here's um, here's what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_02:Just so because there's not a whole lot, we're gonna set these aside. We got extra glasses. Oh, yeah. That way we for sure get it warmed up a little bit.
SPEAKER_01:That there. Uh, score-wise, I'm honestly I'm thinking like a 3.3. That's exactly what I was gonna say. I think I like I said, that caramel creme brulee type flavor really is predominant. It's it's on the can, it's in the can.
SPEAKER_02:The aroma up front is fantastic. Yeah, it smells just like you, like if you just had a big meal and they brought out that flaming crusted right bowl. Um, no, that's fantastic. And 3-3 is right where I was at with that. Uh like use like we've talked about before, it's on the can, it's in the can. Uh, and who knows, in in another 25-30 minutes, it may go to a 3-5 or 6, you know. Right.
SPEAKER_01:So we'll find out. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:That the as as complex as that was with the low alcohol, I am truly impressed with that beer.
SPEAKER_01:I am too. Like I said, it definitely makes me want to research them more, see what else they have to offer. Hopefully, we'll run into some more at some point. But yeah, that's well done. Yeah, that's all I can say. Absolutely well done. Awesome. Well, hey, so now we're we're gonna pump up the volume a little bit. Yep. Uh now the next one we have this this is the only one we have that's in a normal 12-ounce can. Yep. Oh, there's trees on the side of this one too. And boy, they uh it looks like the one we cut down. We got a write-up on the back, but I I'm gonna read it off of untapped. Yeah, it's kind of a it's kind of a hard, a tough read on the can. So this one is by Jack Pine Brewery, and they're out of Baxter, Minnesota. Yep. And this is their Deadfall. This is a Russian imperial stout, 9.4%. Jim just rolled over in his bed. You could tell he just probably went, huh? Wait a minute. Oh, wait a minute. I'm sensing some uh something in the foresting it.
SPEAKER_02:There's a disturbance.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. So the description on this one is opaque and pitch black. Deadfall is a big and bold stout with an assertive but smooth, lingering hot bitterness. A slightly sweet and creamy, full-bodied beer with distinctive dark chocolate and roast character backed up by notes of dark fruit, caramel, and subtle coffee. Decidedly and dangerously drinkable.
SPEAKER_02:Well, we'll be the judge of that.
SPEAKER_01:Now, here's a question for because Jim and I have, and I I don't know why I haven't looked it up, but what exactly is a dark fruit? Is that like raisin?
SPEAKER_02:Is it like prunes, prunes, raisins, uh uh jackfruit is one of them that's a I believe is a dark fruit. Trying to think one of the other ones that I know of. I I think even cherries are considered a dark fruit.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, because we've always said, you know, you see all these descriptions where it talks about dark fruit, and it's like, okay, what exactly is a dark? And we always talk about it and then we forget to look it up.
SPEAKER_02:So it sounds it sounds terribly political, is what it does. And you just gotta be careful when you talk about dark fruits. Yeah. So I've had a bunch of Jack Fine beer, and and we we typically Oh, that one's a little darker.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, no, it's way darker. That's dark.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so Walker, Minnesota's where Leech Lake is at. And uh my in-laws and I and my wife go up used to go up there. I'd say I say that lovingly, and the fact I'm not gonna have time to do that next summer.
SPEAKER_01:Um and you remember when you used to fish?
SPEAKER_02:Back when I used to go fishing, back when my handicap and golf was about an eight. Um, but jackpine is predominant up there because they they're in Baxter walk over that area. And I've had a lot of their beers, and I don't believe I've had this exact one. They had another Imperial Stout, but I don't think it was a Russian Imperial Stout. Okay. But of the four-pack, uh, you and I bought the same four-pack at the same time, and I came home while while my in-laws were helping us pack, and my father-in-law had already dug into the other one. So I tried some of the others, but I didn't have the plain one. Okay. I think I still have one in the closet. I haven't tried it. But they have some fantastic beers.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So we've got this four-pack, there's two of this standard one, if you want to call it that. Yeah. And then we have two other ones, and we're gonna save those for another different podcast. Uh, because those sound very interesting as well. So it was kind of neat that there's three different beers in this four-pack. So boy, I tell you, the aroma on this is super dark. It's pretty, pretty roasty, pretty strong. Right up there with uh Russian Imperial, what you'd expect. Oh, yeah, for sure. Dark in color, almost no head whatsoever.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it needs to warm up a little bit, but that is that is your great base for a great imperial style.
SPEAKER_01:That that is a very good example of a Russian imperial stout.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, it's it's a little, and I say it needs to warm up because it's got a little bit of the CO2 taste to it right now. Right, yeah. But it's bitter, it's dark, it's it's not overly sweet, but it's also not more than 10%. Right. Right. Yep. So for an Imperial, that's pretty low, right? Because most of your Imperials get up to 10, 12 plus.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, or yeah, or more for sure, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Uh but well done. This is a well balanced stout to start with. But yeah, being Imperial, it's starting to creep on the alcohol, and this is a good one.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm impressed. I mean, it's uh like I said, it it's not overly, and I always you know, I always talk about like that burnt flavor of the roasted stuff. This isn't it isn't that roasted, you know what I'm talking about? It doesn't have that burnt flavor.
SPEAKER_02:Well, when they say subtle coffee, yeah, right, sometimes it's that roasted flavor that can get in your face. No, it is very subtle, and everything about this is subtle except for the bitterness. It's a stout, it needs to be bitter, right? Uh, it's a Russian imperial stout, it needs to be it needs to be angry, you know. Right. The mamoushka, it needs to be mad. Uh, but it's not. This is a very smooth one. It smells sweeter than it tastes. Yes, I would agree with you on that. Um, it does have a bitterness to it. The the smell, you're thinking 12%. When you taste it, it's not there, you know, and it's not because it's well blended, it's because the alcohol's not there. Right. But now it really makes me want to try the others, right? Because I think some of the others might be a little stronger. I didn't look at them for sure. Right. Yeah. Uh, but if this is a base for a Russian imperial style, then they've just creeped in the Imperial side of it. Well done. It's a well that's a well-balanced barrel.
SPEAKER_01:And if I remember right, I believe the other two that we're gonna do in a in a different podcast are both barrel-aged and they're different barrels than what we're kind of used to. At least one is for sure. 100% for sure. You know, so it'll should be interesting to see how they how they take this and how it gets transformed from those barrels.
SPEAKER_02:No, Jack Pine has done a lot of I they've got a um they've got a jalapeno creme ale. Okay. Uh, that is not for the faint of heart. Look spicy. Oh, good lord, yes. And and I love hot stuff. I mean, I I enjoy things that most people feel painful eating wise, as long as they taste good, right? I'm not in it just to hurt myself, but it's even for me, like I had two of them and it was enough to it's like, all right, well, the Ameprasol better work tonight, right? But it's they make some really good, really good beers. Uh so if you ever are in the market and you see Jack Pine brewing, I've not had a bad one. They have some good IPAs, their regular cream ale is good. Okay. Uh they have a butt-orange one that's actually pretty solid. Uh so yeah, if you see them out there, uh give them a sh give them a try. I've had quite a few of their beers, and and mostly because I'm well, I used to live in Minnesota, uh, just north of the cities. But there's a couple liquor stores, MGM is one of them that uh I'll give them a shout out. They carry a lot of the local Minnesota breweries and and uh they they carry the jackpine stuff and an entire long line of it. You and I were there and until we got over to the to barrel aged and dark aisle, and then we forgot about the long line of other stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Like, uh, wait a second. Yeah, I I Like this too. I think this is got this one. Would you recommend it to somebody that's never had a Russian imperial stout? I I would say if they're honestly wanting to try one, yes.
SPEAKER_02:I would yeah. The only thing that I would say is you have to like the bitterness of a stout. Right.
SPEAKER_01:That's what I was gonna say. This one does have a bitterness to it.
SPEAKER_02:Sometimes, if you're gonna venture into something else, a little sweets, a little better, you know, to to dampen the blow, so to speak. This is a bitter beer, this is a dark bitter beer. It's fantastic. Like I remember the first time I had a Guinness many, many moons ago, a lot of beers ago. And I thought, oh, this is so bitter, but I like it. Like the it's strange, it was an odd thing to try. And now that's just a staple. You know what I mean? It's like to me, Guinness, and again, people don't realize Guinness is not even five percent.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_02:It's right up there with bush light, right? Miller light. It's the same alcohol content. Now, do you get full faster? Hell yes, you do. It's a stout, but I would rather have Guinness. If if I'm sitting down to have a meal, I'd rather have three or four Guinness than I would have, you know, three or four Bush lights or Miller lights or any other swill that I serve in my bar hundreds at a time. But no, this is a rock solid, rock solid Imperial style. I agree, I agree. So, score wise, what do you think on this one? This one's intriguing because I I I really I really want to give it higher than a three-two, but I I can't. Only because uh it lacks a little bit of luster in the alcohol content. Like I want it, I want a little bigger wallop with it. Taste wise, it's fantastic, but it is basic, right? Right, right. It is just a Russian Imperial style. They give I I don't really get the caramel. I get a little bit of the coffee. I taste a little bit of vanilla, I think. I don't know about the dark fruit, and maybe that's where I'm getting the vanilla from, but it it is a rock salad imperial stout, absolutely. Three, three, two in there. I'd like to give it more, but it needs a little more alcohol, I think.
SPEAKER_01:A little sweetness to it. Right, yeah. I was gonna go a 3-1, and honestly, exactly the point you had brought up, you know, I don't get a fruit flavor. And not that, you know, dark fruit when you hear it, it's not like it's tropical or something, you know what I mean? Right, but you know, I I just don't pick up a note of that. Coffee-wise, I do get a little bit, and maybe that's where the bitterness comes from. I'm sure again, I I would drink it, but I think some people might get turned off a little bit by that, but it's it's solid. I can't wait to try the other ones.
SPEAKER_02:So the the I mean, Imperial, obviously, and we've looked that up and we've talked about it, is the alcohol content, right? So anything past eight percent, I think they can call or they call an imperial. That's on a low end of an imperial stout, right? So to me, the imperial part is just that's selling, right? Hey, I'm gonna buy an imperial stout. It's a little higher alcohol, blah blah blah blah blah. The Russian part to me says bitter, and that's they it's in spades, they did a great job with it. They really did.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, I agree with you.
SPEAKER_02:And this one might be another one too. Who knows? We're not quite all the way through here. We'll set this can over here to the side and see what happens. And maybe this one would be another one that gets a little better when it warms up. We'll have to see.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, like I said, it it it definitely drank smooth for 9.4. Yeah, you know, I wouldn't I wouldn't have guessed that it was 9.4.
SPEAKER_02:What's what's funny is that from label to can, right? Or label to contents, I'm gonna say, I thought uh the creme brulee tasted stronger than it was, and this one tastes less than it is, right? Right. So it's kind of a weird dynamic that we had going there.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, and that's one thing that we've noticed a lot lately, too, is there's when they do it right, you don't get that big alcohol flavor most of the time. You know what I mean? They're those sneaky ones that you drink a can or two, and all of a sudden you stand up and you go, Whoa, I need to sit back down for a second, you know. Yeah, so I give them credit for that. And like I said, 9.4, it's higher than a lot of people would be used to. Yep. But for for I know for me, and I'm sure for you too, that it it drank super smooth.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and I was like, Okay, they're smoother as beers, but this one's uh it's an Imperial stout, it needs to be better, it needs to be in your face a little bit, and they did a good job of it.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, exactly. Well, cool. Well, hey, we might as well keep this party rolling. We got two beers to go. We do. The next one that we have is from Lupaline brewing out of Big Lake, Minnesota, and this is their Campfire Munchies, an Imperial Stout 10%. No, no, we've had a lot of their beers.
SPEAKER_02:Now, this is I think an Imperial paste is a double pastry, I think it says uh Imperial S'mores Stout.
SPEAKER_01:I think on the back it says something about pastry. I don't remember. I'm just I had to scan it because I'll read the details here. Campfire Munchies is a decadent Imperial stout layered with rich cacao, graham cracker, vanilla, and marshmallow flavor. Each sip delivers the gooey sweetness of a s'more, balanced by chocolatey depth and a subtle hint of oak smoked wheat. Interesting. Smooth, indulgent, and a little nostalgic. It captures everything you love about nights around the fire in a glass. Well, we're doing plastic, but we'll we'll give it our best shot.
SPEAKER_02:That's just technicalities there. So loopalines had a lot of good beers that we've liked. Oh, yeah, for sure. Yep. They tend to do well with these sweeter, gimmicky beers. I don't know how to put it, you know what I mean? The s'mores beer or chocolate cheesecake, whatever the case may be, but I'm interested because this now we've we've ventured into the 10% category. Yep. Right. And we'll see. This one's definitely dark. And it's starting to now we're starting to get into that head that's a little darker.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah. And this is in a pint can. Yep. And it's got like pictures of s'more on the cover on the front. So well, loopaline does a good job of uh attractive artwork on their canvas. Oh, yeah. They really do. Yep, they've got some interesting ones. The the what there that one IPA, the something something mullet. You remember it's got the dude with the mullet big blonde mullet on it. And anyway, I mean it's always it's always an interesting thing. That was one I brought one time and nobody had ever heard of it before.
SPEAKER_02:I bought it because there's a dude with a mullet on the front of it. Oh, this definitely is marshmallow I smell. Boy, this one's sweet. Oh, hell yeah. That's that's way sweet.
SPEAKER_01:It's like, whoa, definitely sweet. But it's bitter too. Yeah, this is interesting. Up front, the first thing I get is that sweetness. Oh, they hammer you with the marshmallow right away.
SPEAKER_02:Right away.
SPEAKER_01:That's I was gonna say the marshmallow is that first flavor. And then you then after that the initial swell, then that's when you get that bitterness comes out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they've again on the on the label and in the can. This is actually very, very good.
SPEAKER_01:That's interesting. 10% doesn't drink like 10%. No, I think it drinks way smoother than that.
SPEAKER_02:This reminds me, we had another s'mores beer, and I forget who it was. Um, I'll think of it about 3 a.m., which isn't that far away.
SPEAKER_01:Um all of a sudden I'll be here. Hey, guess what? I know what it is.
SPEAKER_02:A pound on the on the window or on the door. We had another s'mores beer and it was kind of the same, but this is a little stickier, I want to say, right? I'm not a big marshmallow fan, but it's not, it's not like that. It's different. This is a really smooth beer.
SPEAKER_01:Smooth, like I said, the definitely sweet. That's and I can't believe I'm gonna say this. It maybe that's a it's a little too sweet for me.
SPEAKER_02:Well, it is, you know, kind of it gets to the what I want to say, the it gets to the sweetness of I think when I'm when I was a kid, like that bazooka bubblegum sweetness. Yep, like sickly sweet almost, but it goes away. The stout gets in there and douses that fire, so to speak. And the 100% grand cracker at the end, little silver, a little bit of the pastry. It's a well-balanced beer. You gotta like a little bit sweeter beer. The 10%, where the hell is that at? You know, you can't taste the 10%. It's an interesting beer. It really is. Very interesting beer.
SPEAKER_01:It really is. And boy, score-wise, for me, like I said, the uh I I like it, but it's on that verge of way a little too sweet. I'm gonna go like a 3-2 on it just because of that. Yep. Um, I do like you said, it's an interesting contrast between that upfront marshmallowy flavor and then that bitterness that comes at this, you know, right after that. And it's it's decent, but I don't I don't know if I'd drink, I'd have a glass of it, and I don't know if I'd drink another one, you know, right away. Right. You know, my opinion, it's it's good, but like I said, to me, it's it's just a little bit on the sweet side.
SPEAKER_02:This is another one too, where you wonder a lot of these super sweet beers in a can are different if they're on tap, right? So we've we've seen that with Surly, right? You and I've been to Surle before. Their darkness is way different on tap. It's fantastic. I mean, it's great out of a bottle, but my god, on tap, it's it's unbelievable. And their Damien was their other one where they the leftover in darkness goes into that and it's uh hopped IPA, blah blah blah. Way different. This one kind of makes me wonder would it be different not in a can? Would it be different on tap or uh uh you know fresher? I'm gonna say it's not a bad beer. I'm I'm a little less because I'm not a big marshmallow guy, right? I'm right at the three, three, one, three, three, one. It really is a well-blended beer on the label to the can, but I also like its bitter, right? Right? It is an Imperial stout, so just like the Deadfall, like I still get that super bitter, but it's in the middle. It's weird that it's in the middle, right? Usually it's right up front the bitter, and then everything else mellows afterwards. Whereas this is like somebody shot you with a marshmallow, and then you're tasting a beer, and then they smack graham cracker inside your head. It's kind of where I'm at with uh, but it's it's still a good beer. Not one again. This would be one that you throw one in the fridge that case somebody's uh uh hey, I want to try something way weird or way different. We're not quite to the way weird, like uh, you know, I haven't have green hair and whatever else, but this is this is on the oddity side or uh um uh eccentric side for uh for a dark beer. No, kudos to them for for going out of a limb and doing it for sure.
SPEAKER_01:That's one thing I'd I'll say about them is they're not afraid to try different flavors and different combinations and things like that. And we've had a number of different s'mores beers, and like you said, some of them really miss the mark, some of them are pretty close. I mean, this is pretty close, but it's like wow, on the sweetness side, you know.
SPEAKER_02:I was always more of a bratwurst guy than a s'mores guy. So if I'm gonna put it on a stick and put it on a campfire, it's gonna have meat in it. But um, no, kudos to them. This is the first I'm gonna say dessert beer of this type of this type where it it's it's very distinctive, right? Immediately you you get the sweetness, then the bitter, and then it ends up with the graham cracker taste. It's it's very distinctive in how it drinks. Oh, yeah, it doesn't matter how big a swig you take or just sip it, it's very linear in how that happens.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. Yeah, that's it's pretty wild because like I said, it's just kind of surprises me how it transitions like that. Yeah, you know, that's an obvious thing. It's interesting.
SPEAKER_02:So I almost wish it had a little more chocolate.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's uh honestly, that's the one thing that is a little bit lacking. Yeah, it doesn't have a whole lot of chocolate. No, like you said, you get that big marshmallow, you get you know, then the graham cracker at the end, but I mean there's chocolate, don't get me wrong. There's a little bit, but not what I was expecting. I was expecting almost more. I get more chocolate in the creme brulee. Yes, than I did. Yes, I yeah, that's weird when you think about it.
SPEAKER_02:Because what is a s'more other than chocolate ruined with graham cracker and a little bit of marshmallow, right? Yeah, but they went on they went on a limb and they did a good job. Like, I got no, I got no qualms.
SPEAKER_01:See, some people may not see a s'more quite that way, you know, but I I know what you're saying.
SPEAKER_02:I'm opinionated, Mike. That's how this works.
SPEAKER_01:Well, hey, we got one more beer here, and we're actually gonna leave Minnesota. We are this beer is not from Minnesota. Well, we're gonna cross the pond here. Yes, this one uh is from uh it's from Belgium, yeah. Yep, it's a regional brewery, it says uh Brassiri B. That's Brazier, you can say it. Okay, it's it's Belgium for brother. Dublison. And it's a Belgian strong dark ale. Yep. And this is uh I don't know if this is pronounced correct. Scaldus. Scaldus Noel. Yep, and it's uh 12% ABV and 21 IBUs.
SPEAKER_02:So it says on the bottle, it says brewed especially for the Christmas period. So we're a little we're not as early as Menards or Walnuts.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Uh Scaldus Noel is a brilliant red amber uh that will delight the most demanding connoisseurs. So I think they overkicked their coverage by calling us connoisseurs, but we're gonna give her a find out.
SPEAKER_01:So on Untapped, it says the Scaldus Noel derives much of its roasted character from the use of roast caramel malts. The hops are carefully balanced with these, added in just the right proportions to develops what the right proportions to develops. I think somebody fat fingered masks. Well, uh it's oh translated. Yes, yeah, yes, it's uh it develops its subtle hop aroma. There's also a robust fruity character with the overall taste pleasingly consistent. There we go. Easy for you to say, easy for me to say. Well, when I was trying to, you know, read the Belgian. They do have a lot of embers. Yeah, and this is the only one we had that was in a bottle.
SPEAKER_02:And just so everybody knows, I did open that with my chapstick again.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, that is uh it's a theme with me. That is uh one of those things that you gotta see it to believe it. So this I said it's a red amber, and it certainly is. Yeah, it definitely is.
SPEAKER_02:Kind of a a little bit of an off-white head on it. It kind of looks like I'm gonna say a red ale head. Yep. I'm curious, are we gonna get all the Christmas spice BS that goes on?
SPEAKER_01:I don't think so. It's it has that kind of that Belgian aroma. The kind of the malty. Oh, that's good. You do uh yeah, you don't really get, you know, when you're talking about the you know, nutmeg or I mean just that Christmas.
SPEAKER_02:Some of them are just like it's like throw all the Christmas stuff, cinnamon and nutmeg in a in a sock and hit you in the face with it. This is not that. This is not that. This is just I think they just brew this at Christmas time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. This is actually I hate to say it, I kind of like it. It's really pastry-like, it's got that yeasty smell to it. And you do, it does have that Belgian flavor. It does, which I like. But it's not as super in your face as a lot of them are, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02:And at 12%? This drinks easy for my god of all of these beers. This one drinks way under yeah, yeah. That is wild. That is a good beer. Yeah. They had a couple more of these. I might go pick another one up.
SPEAKER_01:You're like, uh, hey, I was just in there. Boy, that's that is smooth for 12.
SPEAKER_02:It is, and it and it and it's got, well, you know that I like red beers. Yep. And it's got a little bit of that, and I always say it's an iced tea brewed type. It's got a little bit of that, but then it's I don't know what in the heck else it's got going on. It's got that yeasty flavor that a Belgian typically has. It's got that kind of red flavor. I'm gonna call it the red flavor that you get in like uh a red ale, but it's there's some spice in it. I I don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they really didn't give us a lot of cardamom. We we haven't entirely looked that up.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, could it be Heather?
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. Heather?
SPEAKER_02:Susan? No, I mean Heather. Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, this is like I said, we've had a number of Belgian beers, and they a lot of them seem to have that same uh like I I said earlier, that Belgian flavor from the yeast. But this one, it it does have it, but it's not it's got a pastry kind of smell to it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, uh when you when you think of all the pastry stouts and pastry porters, double pastry porters we've had, it's got that uh doughy bread style smell to it, but it it doesn't drink that way. It really doesn't, and it sure as heck does not drink like it's 12%. No, I mean this came in a four-pack, and you're not mowing the lawn after you drink all four straight away.
SPEAKER_01:You know, and 21 IBUs, I don't get a hop hoppiness really at all.
SPEAKER_02:But I think every time that they do a uh a red beer, there's um anything that's red has a little bit of an IBU to it because it's got that little bit different flavor to it. I I don't know what I like it, I don't think it's hoppy at all. Other people go, oh, that's uh Killian's Irish Red is like a 119 or 20, and is one of the most basic red beers that's available to the world, but it's like a 19 if I remember right on an IBU. Yeah, that is that's wild. But 4.2 percent. Like right. This is this is just as drinkable as this slightly higher than that. And this oddball, and again, honestly, when I saw this picture of the label, right? There's a house and it's snowing and whatever else. And my wife's name's Noelle, right? So Christmas, yada yada, and I can't even imagine the hell she went through growing up. Her name's Noelle, it's Christmas time, born in January, blah blah blah. Right, but it reminded me of uh Christmas vacation, the label did. Oh, sure. Like if you were gonna see a bottle of beer on the table and Clark Griswold's house, this that would like this like scald us Noel. I mean, seriously, it's like we scalded the Noel. But it's this it's this shiny red and blue and white and and and label never heard of it, never seen it again. Just an oddity that was there on the that's a really good beer.
SPEAKER_01:It really is. I'm I was impressed. I was really impressed.
SPEAKER_02:This is one that I don't see it very often, but this would be one you gotta take to your brother and have him try right as a brewer. Yeah, like this is an oddity that he shouldn't he should sample.
SPEAKER_01:He everybody should experience it at least once, because this is definitely you know, because I I know some of the other Belgian beers we've had before, I think a number of people, if you've never had it before, they could get turned off because some of the yeast flavor is super strong. Yep. This one is not that, and it's and like you said, you know, wondering about the Christmas spice. You don't that's not if there's there's some kind of spice in there, but it's not over the top, and which is a good thing.
SPEAKER_02:No, it's interesting, but uh you know it's 12%. Yeah, how in the heck is this 12%? No, uh bravo, Belgian waffle people, whatever it is. Like I'm I'm serious. Like that. I'm I've never had any honestly, I've never had a non-dark beer at this high alcohol that didn't taste it, right? Especially a Belgian, like they're they're always a little up front with with everything that goes on. This is holy cow, this is a crazy, a crazy high alcohol beer that doesn't taste it.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, I agree. Score-wise, boy, I'm honestly I think I think this one for me is like a 3-5. I was gonna go three six. We talk about on the label in the bottom.
SPEAKER_02:We're not sure what the zero, you know, right? Um, it's a Christmas, Imperial Christmas sale, is what it says, which is I would say as vague of category as you can possibly get. Correct. There could be mistletoe in there, maybe that's it. I don't know. Maybe it is who knows? Uh what I do know is is that it's well balanced, it doesn't taste 12%. I feel like I could sit down and drink the bottle and not wouldn't be a chore.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:Right. And I would I would offer this to anybody, even if you're not a strong beer person. Like it kind of tastes like a red eel, it kind of tastes like Akkillians, it kind of tastes like a blue moon. Yep. Like it's gonna kind of got that little maybe that's the hop, like a little bit of hop blue moon has, because it's it's a Belgian style white. Yes, this would be a Belgian red, which I don't know if I've ever heard of before, but uh well done. Yeah. Bra country, whatever that is, Brazier, whatever it is. Well done, well done. There's three more. We're gonna have to rock, paper, scissors on the back.
SPEAKER_01:How this is gonna go from here. Wow, that's a really good. That's very good. I'm impressed. So, yeah, dude, all these beers have honestly been really good. Here's the deal.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know how it happens either. You and I together, for some reason, we attract good beer.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, it's a curse. Yeah, well, you can't turn it off, right? We always exactly wait.
SPEAKER_02:We've still got these two sitting here. We gotta try, we gotta go back to the uh dessert beat, right? So we gotta go back to the uh quickly the crimmer level.
SPEAKER_01:125 minutes. We'll see if it uh it still smells fantastic. Oh, it's yeah, definitely that sweet smell. Oh, it way mellows out. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's really mellows out with the with uh room temp. A little bit warmer, and uh yeah, it's oh that's even better. It really is it got rid of some of that a little bit of that sharp bitterness. The super sweet up front. Yes. That got rid of and it just blended everything. Yep. The marshmallow is still there, but it's not or not marshmallow, the caramel, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02:The caramel's still there, but it's it's a like a half a step back from where we've talked about it all the time, and and I've said multiple times on the podcast I've done with Mike. If you're a brewer out there and you have a vision for what your beer should taste like, put on the label temperatures, say take out the refri take out of a refrigerator 30 minutes before you want it. Yeah, 20 minutes, whatever it is. This for sure should be 55 degrees or whatever, whatever it is right now. I don't have my I know my tip gauge.
SPEAKER_01:I thought about that too, because I got one for Christmas. My daughter gave we got me one of those, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Well, we we we did it up at the at at your bar, yes, up on the upper crust, and she was like, Oh, let me do that. She was shooting all kinds of things with it. This I feel, and and I'm again, I'm not part of St. Paul, Minnesota Metronome Brewing. This is what they envisioned. Yeah. Right? The super smooth dessert style after you've had a big meal, creme brulee, French for dessert, or English. I don't know, I think it's French. I could be wrong. Right. It sounds like a Monty Python. Um creme I told him it was creme brulee. I taunted him again. Um no, this super smooth. Now it definitely tastes even more or less alcoholic now.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But it's yeah, this is like a little sipper after dinner.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, this is good. Like it's in yes, this one you'd you'd want to have it in that 50 to 54 or 55 degree range. It was it was good when it was colder, but it's even better. Take it out of the fridge when you start dinner, pour it when you're done.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. That would be my advice as you're as I'm sitting here drinking it now after 25 minutes of being out.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, for sure, let it warm up. Yep, I agree. Well, dude, that's a thank you so much for bringing these beers because the these were all really good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and again, uh, you know, thanks to the the small liquor stores that I've found over the course of the time, they're not great for for bulk buying oddities, but if you have the right eye and you and you know what you like, or at least I know what Mike and I both like, you know, have fun with it. You know, grab some stuff you've never seen before. Don't be afraid to buy a four-pack. Yeah, it's not cheap. I get it. Right. But you know what? I'll be honest, I I dropped a hundred dollars on I don't know how many beers, right? And every one of them was fantastic. I got really lucky. But so now, between you and I, and we'll split them, which we always do, and that's what Mike and I do. We'll each have one in the fridge. And somebody who doesn't like dark beer, or somebody who is not the big craft beer person, I got one for you to try. Let's let's try on this one now. Yep, you know, do you like creme brulee? We're gonna do a little dessert beer. Uh bring somebody else into the fold and have them do it because that's what keeps these small breweries going. It's what keeps uh the volume going so that small bone bar owners like I am. Did I say boners? I think I did uh small bar owners like I am get the chance to serve this to people, right? If we continue to let the large breweries buy out these small places, there's no innovation anymore. And there's no artistry in it. And it and it's great. And and I take great pride in and thank God for apps because otherwise Mike and I would never know what we've drank and what we've not done. Right. But I I I seek out the oddities. Wooden ship, wooden ship Oktoberfest. Never heard of this place. It's it's within 30 miles of my house, right? Yeah, we were just talking in one of the other podcasts we're gonna have as a as a broken clock, right? You and I went there, I think it was maybe a birthday weekend at a time. Yeah, yeah. What a fantastic little brewery. Uh you never saw any of the brewery. We were like an I'm gonna I'm gonna call it a bowling alley style building. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, it's fantastic beer. So don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone out there and and uh look for the odd can, look for the strange well, two of these beers that I bought today, they were the only four-pack there, right? In a small section. Oh, what is this? Well, obviously that's an Oktoberfest, it's blue and white checkered, right?
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_02:This one has a creme black bowl on it. But absolutely, those of you listening, go out there and grab the oddity because sometimes there's the diamond of the rough, and eventually you figure out your flavor profile, what your what your friends like, your your wife or husband likes, and then you can start cherry picking. There's zero question Mike and I are put we're only Plutonically friends, right? But honestly, we both know what each other like, right? And he can grab five beers and four of them will be something that they like, and I can grab five beers and four will be something he likes. Uh, but we're not we're also not afraid to just go out on a limb. So uh I say this as now a new bar owner, yeah. Like uh and and it goes for booze too. Like I, you know, I I'm into the bourbon market, right? The the new bourbon market is is almost like craft beer now. It's starting to shrink. I'm I'm on the tail end of what was like the the boom for craft beer. There were little distilleries popping up all over the place. Oh, I've got some extra corn, I'll do some bourbon. The staples were always there, and then there was the the buyout, right? So the big the big distilleries bought out all the little ones. So you've got Buffalo Trace that bought this, that bought this, and Angel's Envy, and yada yada yada. And there's basically you have to start looking at family trees to figure out where your bottle came from, and it's one of four.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02:But again, it's one of those things where all right, well, you can buy that at any total wine, and no offense to total wine, they're a fantastic store. Yeah, but any one of the big name liquor stores, you can get this$50 bottle of bourbon or this$80 bottle bottle of bourbon. Whereas, like you went on the bourbon trail, the Casey Jones Trail, there's some fun stuff you bought that we've sampled at your bar, your house. Yeah, and they don't get the limelight, but but they're also not part of the I'm gonna call it the the wheel turning bourbon section. So absolutely everybody reach out past where you're at, and and that's half the reason we love doing this podcast, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yep. We're just trying to, you know, encourage people to get out there and try things that maybe they normally wouldn't try. You know, and that's with you and I, you know, and Jim too. Uh we really we'll try any kind of beer, you know. We're not I know we we kind of you and I will cherry any kind of beer. Yes. I mean we we lean we do lean a little more towards the dark beer side, but we'll you know, we've tried any basically almost any style out there, we've tried it. And I mean there's been good and there's been bad. I'm not gonna deny that, but it's just like man, it wasn't that long ago when I always thought beer had one flavor. Yep, and it was beer. Beer, you know what I mean? That pills nerve Homer Simpson. That was it, yes. Yes, and that was it. And uh yeah, there's just a whole world out there of flavor, and you know, do you give do yourself a favor and try them? Go to your local bottle shop, or if there's a brewery close, or if you're traveling somewhere and you see there's a brewery there, go check it out.
SPEAKER_02:You know, they the other thing to know about these small breweries is a lot of times they have food or a food truck, or food trucks. So if you want to know where the local good burger is at, typically the local little brewery will tell you, or they have it already.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, exactly. Well, awesome, man. Hey, this is uh this was fun. Uh all these beers were good. It's getting later. But we still have beer to there. That's true.
SPEAKER_02:But also don't forget, uh, visit your local campgrounds and resorts. Yes. I'm a firm believer in that now. Well, I always was. You always were, yep. Um, but yes, Callahan Lake Resort, uh, Callahan Lake Resort.com. That's the website of what is gonna be the unofficial, official home of the uh Northwoods Beer Guy podcast. Um at some point we'll end up with merch merged of some sort. Some sort will do something for sure. We've recorded quite a few of them, and oh yeah, you've heard the chainsaws and the birds and whatever else. And right today we happen to be in the residence, but uh yeah. Thank goodness, because it's chilly out. Yeah, no, it no it yeah, it's nipply outside, as Clark Griswold would say. So uh thank you all for tuning in. I appreciate uh Mike coming up and and uh and sharing this with me. And now we get to share it in in a semi-professional manner. I didn't buy this for him, I bought it for my wife. But you know, it it's one of those things too where we get a little bit of the both sides of the aisle now, and it's kind of fun to play that dynamic.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, exactly. And uh like it's you know, we've been talking about changes at the resort and such, and I know you're uh expanding the bar. I am, yeah, in fact. And it's I can't wait to see it. You know, I've heard the plans that you've got, and it's it's really cool.
SPEAKER_02:The two guys that are doing it that are cutting the wood today or in did some measurements. They're gonna there's a guy gonna cut the wood and and uh gonna kiln dry it. And so sometime this spring, he'll let it go. Sometime this spring we'll shut down for a week and we'll rebuild. I'll do a temporary bar. Right.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Uh but we're gonna have some like two-inch solid walnut or cherry or I don't I don't know what it is. I let my I let my boss, I mean my wife, she takes care of that part of it. Uh it's gonna be a beautiful wood bar to go to go with uh the rebuilding of a of a and honestly a 55-year-old resort. So the Jan Smith who owned this place before and and uh Well actually is older than that because it was it was older.
SPEAKER_01:It was when she bought it.
SPEAKER_02:So she bought it from uh a gentleman before her, and so yeah, there's a lot of legacy here, a lot of family, a lot of a lot of memories. Uh I know uh my my wife has been here since she was about two. My wife was here about at the same time when she was the same time.
SPEAKER_01:And she was here when the original the gentleman that owned it before Jan's.
SPEAKER_02:Walt Ripley was his name. Yep. Uh owned it before Jan Smith and Perry Smith. And so we're we are, to my knowledge, we're like the fourth owners of resorts that's been here since the 30s.
SPEAKER_00:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:Right? It's almost a hundred years, and it's a legacy that again, it was uh we we talk with everybody is like, you know, dreams come true sometimes, and and so do nightmares. But um it was always a scenario where what Mike and I have had for a long time. in this resort has been beautiful. It's been it's a it's it's just far enough away that it's it's not close to home, right? Right. So it's it's not like you're dealing with the everyday stuff. But it it also is modern enough that like your wife could work here, you can check your email, we can we can get some modern things done. Yep. Uh but at the same time like we can let go of the BS of day to day. And we always talked about Noelle and I did a uh at one point hey you know hey we just had a good dinner and we're sitting having an after dinner drink and it's like what would we do if we could buy that place? What would we change? What would make people happier? You know what this makes me angry of what's happening there. Uh what would we do? And damn it if we didn't buy it. So now like we forgot all our note cards and our sticky notes and so we should actually wrote this stuff down the worst part is we did write some stuff down it's all packed in boxes and storage right now so at some point we'll find it but you know sometimes dreams come true and and that's that's another thing to follow right you know we you in and find your little local watering hole with people that you enjoy to be with it has nothing to do with getting drunk it has to do with enjoying the people and that's why Mike and I and love doing this podcast. I love doing it because Mike's already started it he does all the work I just drink beer with him but it but it makes a big difference right it it it's it's horribly important to enjoy uh enjoy it with somebody that you're that you know that you're close to so thank you Mike for involving me in this oh yeah I hope going forward we'll be able to do it other than what you know at at midnight but yeah our goal is to not start we'll get this we'll get this better this but you know what if I have a beer tomorrow after noon I'll be drinking all day oh yeah yep I hear you well awesome man thank you so much this is this is great and there'll be many more podcasts from here for sure ladies and gentlemen thanks for listening go out try and find any of these you know if you've if you've come across any of the type of like the style of beer that you think is really good let us know you know we'd love to hear from you guys and uh we'll try and see if we can check it out and get a the beer on the podcast absolutely and then and now that we've got a new avenue it's possible that a distributor would have something exactly and we may even get a distributor on the podcast that'd be kind of fun to be kind of cool too because that'd be definitely be uh an angle or a viewpoint that we've never really talked about before so and there I've I've met a couple of our distributors even for liquor right um super nice people uh they're as handicapped as we are in a small town of Hayward Wisconsin right uh they would they all wish they lived in Milwaukee where they everything is plentiful yep uh but super nice guys and I'm gonna see if I can't get one of those guys to come in and and maybe we're closer than ever I'm gonna say with doing barrel aged with the barrel right so all right we're gonna do a barrel aged a barrel aged stout and a weller barrel and then I can get the weller to go with it so yep we really want to do that Mike and I have talked a lot about it but uh maybe we get a maybe we get a uh somebody from distributing or whatever on with this it'd be a fun a fun addition it's that would definitely be fun absolutely that would be cool so awesome man well cool I think uh we're gonna uh probably look at going to bed now I would I would think so yeah but this was this was fun and uh thanks again for bringing these beers they're all really good I'm impressed with all of them and uh ladies and gentlemen like we always say we hope your campfire is always warm and your beer is always cold and just remember the campfire is always warm and the beer's always cold at Callahan Lake Resort in Hayward Wisconsin dot com.
SPEAKER_01:Dot com all right thanks a lot 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 beer is cold
