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 144 - Inside Callahan Lake Resort Through Craft Beer
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The air hurt our faces, so we made the weather our beer fridge. From there, it turned into the perfect Northwoods night: eight carefully chosen beers, one runaway favorite, and a deep dive into a small, family-first resort that lives bigger than its map pin. We’re back at Callahan Lake Resort—14 miles east of Hayward—sharing what’s new: brighter cabins with space for real weeks, pull-in RV sites, a growing beach and swim area, a smarter dock layout for pontoon drop-ins, and a plan to restore the beloved floating “Loose Caboose.” Picture quiet mornings casting for musky and bass, afternoons drifting on Mud Lake, and evenings where neighbors feel like cousins.
On the beer front, we start with Drecker’s fruit-forward sours—gluten-free, summer-friendly, and surprisingly restrained—before we swing into stout country. Jack Pine’s Deadfall variants split the room at first: the rum barrel leans dark-fruited but shy on rum; the peach brandy barrel wakes up gloriously as it warms, turning into a layered, cellar-temp treat. Then we open a four-bottle run from Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative that flat-out sings. Midnight Hour Bourbon Barrel is pure balance—caramel, vanilla, toffee—while the Rye Barrel adds peppered lift without the weight. Raspberry Bourbon gives fresh fruit that integrates instead of shouting. And the standout? Midnight Hour Mexican Chocolate: rye-barrel backbone, chocolate-vanilla-cinnamon grace, and guajillo and morita peppers that glow rather than burn. We called it a Beer of the Year contender on the spot.
Between pours, we trace the trails you can ride right from the resort—ATV in summer, staked snowmobile routes in winter—and we shout out the local network of taverns, barbecue, fish fries, breakfasts, and festival weekends: Musky Fest, cranberry runs, Fall Fest, and the legendary American Birkebeiner. It’s a place where owners share parts and couches, send guests to each other’s dining rooms, and celebrate community wins. If you want a getaway where lake time is unhurried, the beer is thoughtfully chosen, and the welcome is real, this one’s for you.
If this episode made you thirsty or sparked a trip idea, hit follow, share it with a friend, and drop us your favorite barrel-aging style in a review. And if you walk into the lodge and say you heard us here, the first beer’s on Brian.
Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at northwoodsbeerguy@gmail.com.
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Frigid Welcome & Trip Setup
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to the Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. This is Mike, the Northwoods Beer Guy, and this week we are in the frigid north.
SPEAKER_01I don't know, frigid's even the right word.
SPEAKER_00This is beyond frigid.
SPEAKER_01This is ludicrous. But uh butt ass cold, if I remember from uh Grumpy Old Man.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. So as you can tell, we are uh in the Northwoods and we are joined by BK.
SPEAKER_01Hello.
SPEAKER_00How's it going, man?
SPEAKER_01It is going cold. Slow. Yeah, it's cold out. That's 14 below is cold out. That's the way it works. Uh I think we're at a balmy four below, and I always joke that we're what we're doing is we're probably borrowing uh degrees from May. Yeah, right? Yeah. You know, we're just sucking the warmth out of May.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. It is just crazy. And this we I guess we decided to do this uh uh on the coldest day of the year so far. So, you know, shame on us.
SPEAKER_01Well, today's an inside day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, today's an inside day, not an outside day, but we were outside, but you know, yeah, we picked the worst day of the entire year to go pick up a couch. Yeah, no, well, we were told volunt to go to go in and get this couch. Oh, yes. Well, hey, we are back at Callahan Lake Resort. And uh yeah, we decided to make the the trek up here to do some stuff, and here we are, and we're gonna do a podcast.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we can we can travel and have beer there.
Why Callahan Lake Resort Matters
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, hey, last time we were here, Brian, you know, we had brought up about the lodge and some of the changes you're gonna do. So today what I'd really like to do while while we are tasting beers and giving our thoughts on those is kind of just tell the people about the resort itself because there's a lot that we didn't talk about, you know, and I think there's a lot of people out there listening that really would be interested, you know, in making a trip up here and we can kind of get fill them in, we'll fill them in as we go on the options that are available kind of thing, and uh kind of go from there. But uh, I mean, does that sound like a yeah?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. You know, it's new to me too. And and uh your listeners probably know we've camped up here for a long time as well as you have, and so buying it was I I think I told you today it's kind of surreal that I I plug in home on my GPS to come back here and it shows up at the resort that was always kind of a vacation spot. But uh no, the resort itself is is uh closed right now, most of it. Um, but in the summertime when we get to opening weekend, it's uh it's bustling all summer. So yeah, it'll be an exciting year.
Beer One: Strawberry Lemonade Sour
SPEAKER_00That is for sure. So yeah, why don't we uh break into a beer because I'm a little parched.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, most definitely.
SPEAKER_00And we'll uh we'll start there and then uh we'll kind of go. So today the beers that we're doing, it's it's gonna start out a little different, but then we get kind of back into our our groove. There you go. Uh we do have a couple of are they sours?
SPEAKER_01This is uh it is a fruited sour. Both of these are from Drecker Brewing. I will say Drecker's had a lot of weird stuff, yeah. Um, but we've had some really good stuff from them too. These were leftovers for sure that I bought for my wife who has celiac. So they're gluten-free and lactose-free. And I think it's humorous on this particular can and the other that they don't really give too much of a description on it. Yeah, uh, but it tells who the artwork is, which is I always like when they give the artwork. But it says on the side it says lactose-free, gluten-free, and then it says gimmicks. And it the gimmicks are strawberry, lemon, and lemonade.
SPEAKER_00Well, there you go. Hey, at least they call it out.
SPEAKER_01There you go. So, this is a strawberry lemonade fruited sour. So, yeah, we'll have to give her a Fargo North Dakota drecker.
SPEAKER_00And you know, you might be wondering when we get done, it'll make more sense why we added these two to this. But uh, when we get there, we'll explain. But uh, yeah, so we we need uh oh, it's uh red.
SPEAKER_01That is a hundred percent what I think I thought it would be.
SPEAKER_00That looks like some kind of guava juice or something, almost looks like transmission fluid. Oh wow, that has like a really sweet smell. You know what I mean? It's almost like uh really sugared uh Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid, you know what I mean? That's not bad. Strawberry lemonade. No, it really is on a hot day. I could drink one of those.
SPEAKER_01Or it's gonna be heartburn on ice, or it's gonna be heartburn.
SPEAKER_00One of the two, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Well, or both, right? Yeah, it's hot and it tasted good. And you got and he got heartburn.
SPEAKER_00It's not bad. I don't honestly, I don't mind it.
SPEAKER_01It's not too fizzy.
SPEAKER_00No. Uh, which a lot of them again, these are these are skinny cans, so think seltters think um or like those frescas or I mean some of those they're the uh um carbless.
SPEAKER_01Carbless, yeah. The in fact we just got some in the bar downstairs, the crystal lights come out with one and and whatnot. Yeah, this is if you look in the glass, there's a lot of floaties in there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's just uh it's strawberry puree or whatever. It's a gimmick, is what it is. Yep, according to the can.
SPEAKER_00Like I said, I give them credit for at least giving that kind of information. You know what I mean? I don't know why they call it gimmick.
SPEAKER_01I don't know either.
SPEAKER_00But I I believe on pretty much all of their stuff they do that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it's kind of interesting.
SPEAKER_01No, that's not bad. It it's obviously not what I would prefer on a negative four day, but on a pontoon or sitting on a beach or on a warm day, they could certainly drink one of these. And I think over ice it'd be better. I think if you watered it down with ice a little bit, it would take away a little bit of the tartness of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'd agree with you there.
SPEAKER_01That's not bad.
SPEAKER_00No, it's kind of surprising.
SPEAKER_01It's a good it's kind of what I expected, although better. It's not as sweet as I thought it would be.
SPEAKER_00And you know, uh, you and I are we're not really seltzer guys or really some of the software. We're not connoisseurs. Yes, that's not our forte. But uh it's not bad. I mean, would it be my first choice? No. But if somebody offered me one now, I'd I'd drink it. You know, it's it's not bad. So what are your kind of your thoughts on it?
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, you know, I give them credit, it's as advertised. It's tart, which I like better than sweet. It smelled like to your point, it smelled like they dumped Kuwait in the sugar jar, but it's not that sweet, it's actually tart. And I think maybe that's the the the strawberry was really sweet smelling.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I'm again, it's it's not really in my wheelhouse as far as um liking one versus another. I give it two nine.
SPEAKER_00Okay, yeah, I agree with you. I mean, uh it's it's not bad. And and I'm not gonna run like run out and buy a whole bunch of it, you know what I mean? Because I do think that uh myself I probably get tired of the flavor eventually, you know what I mean? Right, but it's that's like that with many of those sours that's well.
SPEAKER_01You can do that with beer too, like you can.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01You can only have so many Guinness, which is a lot, don't get me wrong. But yeah, am I gonna drink four of them and run around the resort all day? No, that's not gonna happen.
Beer Two: Blue Raspberry Fruited Sour
SPEAKER_00No, I agree with you there. So, yeah, for a score, I uh I think I'm gonna go like a two eight. It wasn't bad. Like I said, it's this the aroma was actually pretty good. And the the flavor is good, it does have a little bit of tartness, not terrible. So yeah, I it was all right. I give them credit.
SPEAKER_01It's lingering, let's put it that way. Yeah, as far as that goes.
SPEAKER_00I have a feeling we've yeah, later on I might be burping and saying, you know, I really kind of didn't think that through.
SPEAKER_01We're gonna try and kill it with the rest of them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. There we go. Well, hey, so for those of you listening, if you're not aware of you know Callahan Lake Resort, it is roughly it's about what 14 miles east of Hayward on the Lake. Hayward on Highway B. Yeah, on Highway B. And it's on Callahan Lake. Yep. Uh the lake is act that lake actually is connected to Mud Lake, which is even a bigger lake. So this, I believe Callahan Lake is altogether.
SPEAKER_01I think we're right at 700 acres.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was gonna say it's just under 300, I think, for Callahan, and mud's bigger. Slightly bigger, slightly bigger, and then there the chief river comes in. Yep, and then eventually I think it does it dump into the flowage.
SPEAKER_01Everything goes to the flowage, so yeah. So so from the chief river it comes through here, and then it goes down. I don't think it goes into another lake until it hits the flowage, but then it comes in, I believe, on the East Fork.
SPEAKER_00Okay, and on Calhan, uh, it's a musky lake. You know, they have muskie, there's panfish crappies, which I was surprised by. I remember my daughter was little and caught a crappie. I'd never seen a crappie here before, but there's that. There's uh northerns, thank you, DNR.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, so this lake really has ebbed and flowed um since I started fishing it. It used to be a really good muskie lake. And then the northerns came in down the river and and really it ruined a lot of the fishing. Um and so I think over the course of I don't know how many years we've had a pike tournament and and uh Charlie rest in peace uh here in the in the campground used to have a the crib. And so anybody that caught a northern could throw it in there and he would he would clean them and pickle them. Yep. And so I think we've done some damage. And then a few groups of people come up and and uh ice fishing hard for with tip-ups for for northern, kind of in their prime when they're when they're spawning, uh helped as well. So now I feel like we're we're starting to get back into the groove of things. We there are some big northerns still in the lake. They stocked 500 muskies. Oh, really? They stocked 500 muskies this fall up the cheap on the on the chief river coming down. So they were they were not little ones, they're 11 inches. So hopefully that they'll take off. Uh, and then the bass population's been fantastic. Yeah, it's been a great largemouth lake.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was gonna say that's one thing that I've I've caught way more bass than I have, you know, muskies in that. But uh yeah, it's and it's really uh, you know, it's pretty nice. I mean, not a lot of people, honestly. You know, you can go you can get out on the lake and and fish and not really be you know wall-to-wall people or whatever. And so it's it's really nice and it's quiet. And you know, I did a lot of times we'll go out and and uh just float. You know what I mean? You take the the pontoon boat and we just start fishing or out whatever, don't even drop an anchor, just go for a while and then drift. Yep, drift and then start go back up and do it again.
SPEAKER_01So mud mud is for the most part is four to five feet deep, and yeah, and the weeds in the summer then get really tall. So you don't really need a trolling motor, you don't need and it's not recreational over there, it's all fishing for the most part.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Uh minus the the booze cruises on pontoons and whatever. Right. Uh Callahan out in front of the resort here is is deeper with uh less weeds, so the skiers and the tubers and whatnot. We have a few jet skis once in a while, but for the most part, it's a quiet lake.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So that's always good. So awesome. Well, hey, what's the uh what's the next one we have?
SPEAKER_01So we have another drucker here, um, out of the same multi-pack, and its gimmicks are blueberry and raspberry. So this one's called blue ras. I can only assume that the color is gonna be the same color as I can.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say, I'm guessing it's gonna be blue. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be blue. So we'll see if you want to crack that bad boy open and we'll see what uh well surprisingly, it is not blue.
SPEAKER_01It is not, it's kind of uh deep, deep, I'd say pomegranate red.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was gonna say almost not purple, but a reddish, dark reddish. I was expecting blue, like a blue raspberry, exactly.
SPEAKER_01Like a little bit of the raspberry.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I see I don't smell blueberry.
SPEAKER_01Or I mean blueberry, not much raspberry. Yeah. That's different. I didn't I I don't know what it is, actually. Is it the raspberry? Is it the blueberry? Blue raspberry. I don't think there are such things as blue raspberry.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. It does have a little different uh it's almost like a graham cracker taste in it or something. It's it's different. I don't know. I I to me it it doesn't when you you taste it, it doesn't really I don't think a blue raspberry.
About The Lake, Fishing, And Quiet Water
SPEAKER_01No, it's as blue you know a malt beverage with blueberry and raspberry. So to me, maybe it's more blueberry, I get it could be, but it's not as sweet, it's not tart. That that's actually a that's a good taste. I like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would say this one doesn't feel like it'd be heartburn as much.
SPEAKER_01Not as much as the first one. And it's we didn't mention it. Both of these are six percent, so they're not oh yeah, they're not low on the uh the totem pole as far as alcohol, but uh both of them don't taste boozy. Oh, this one's well first does surprise me because it was red, which is just interesting to start with.
SPEAKER_00Right. It's like uh okay. If it had been blue, it'd have been uh As expected, as yeah, that's not bad.
SPEAKER_01And I and I appreciate the fact that these aren't super fizzy. Is it right? When you combine that that tart and that sweet, and then something that's highly carbonated, you know it's coming back. Yeah, right, yeah, exactly. Not not maybe not in the worst way, but it's definitely gonna haunt you a little later.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh no, this isn't bad at all. It's another one again. I think over ice it'd be fantastic. It actually kind of tastes creamy. A little bit there's a little bit, there's no lactose in it, but it kind of tastes like when we have some of those fruited sours that have lactose, it's got that little bit of a cream taste, smoothness to it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for me, I uh it's not bad. Like I said, the flavor isn't I'm not getting that, like I said before, like that, oh, there's gonna be heartburn. Yeah, you know, this one I I I like it slightly better, I think, than the first one, uh even though it's not blue, you know. So it's kind of kind of caught you off guard a little bit, but it's it's not bad. Again, would I would it be my first choice out of the cooler? Probably not, but I I would drink one of these. I'm gonna I'm gonna go a notch up, so I'll go a 2.9.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm I'm right there to me. They're about the same. This one, if I were gonna have two of them together, I'm grabbing this one over the other one. But I again, it didn't knock my socks off or anything. Uh to go a three, it's gotta be exceptional in my book. Um, it's good. I like it. There might be another one in the Closet of Wonder over there, and we call it the Closet of Wonder because it's I wonder where I put that. I'll go check there. It's it's uh it's decent, you know, and it wasn't too sweet.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Like I said, I I'm not disappointed really with either of them. You know, they're they're definitely drinkable. I think in the if we tried them in the summer, it might be different where we they may be even better than what we're thinking, right? You know what I mean? Uh ice cold, I think they'd be good.
SPEAKER_01So and they were ice cold. Yeah, we we we did the 15-minute chill outside.
SPEAKER_00Brian had the great idea that we'll use Mother Nature's cooler today, but we had to make sure we didn't let them explode. Or to set a timer, yeah. Oh, yeah. So back to the resort a little bit now. You have, you know, for for the people listening, uh at Callahan Lake Resort, there's there's a group of permanent campers. Yep. Then you do have they call it transient sites that you can rent by the it sounds terrible, but yeah, it is. Yeah, pull in sites is another pull insights. There you go, where you can do a weekend, you can do a week, whatever, you know. Uh, and then they have cabins as well.
Cabins, Campsites, And Upgrades
SPEAKER_01Correct. So we have five cabins. We have uh uh one one bedroom, three two bedrooms, one three bedroom. I say that fast enough. So I just we have cabins. And they're they're none of them have air conditioning, but they're modern. And the fact that they've got a full kitchen and a refrigerator, and and uh as of I think as of the last two years, new mattresses, we put new linens in them, and they're we're we I'm not gonna say we dejunked them, but we we tried to get tried to make them more spacious because you are coming for a week, you need room to put your stuff in there, and and uh we've done a lot of work to to just bring them up to uh uh a next step of cleanliness and brightness and and like for example, you uh we just put LED bulbs in, make it a little brighter in there, uh, add a add a new ceiling fan. So it's uh you know, just a little, a little on more on the upscale. Uh, but the cabins are fantastic. Uh before we had a permanent camper, we had a cabin for Labor Day weekend, we had one for Memorial Day weekend, we had kids in them. Uh the three-bedroom has bunk beds in it. Uh so yeah, it's they're they're great cabins and they're reasonably priced. If you look around the area, some cabins go for 3,000 a week,$3,500 for a week. We're less than that. We'll have new prices posted uh after the first of the year. And if you go out to Callahan Lake.com, I think the first thing you see is under construction. You know, we've got um actually our son is gonna help us do the page. We have a new reservation system we're gonna put in so you can see online what's available, what's not.
SPEAKER_02Nice.
SPEAKER_01Uh, and then again, that's for the for the pull-in sites as well. The pull-in sites are our 30 amp hookups. We don't have 50 amp, unfortunately, but they're they're made so you can back a nice size trailer in. We have seven of those at the time, or I think eight of them, sorry. Um, and then on the other, the new side of the camping, we have uh our camper that was a destination model that will be written out as well.
SPEAKER_00So kind of like a cabin, but not a cabin.
SPEAKER_01But not a cabin. Uh so a 42-foot destination model uh that we bought during COVID. And and it's it's basically brand new, you know, king-size bed, air conditioning, full-size fridge, heated vibrating massaging chairs in it.
SPEAKER_00You know, it's well waited. I thought I was gonna I was supposed to take those out of the swap those out.
SPEAKER_01Uh so yeah, some changes to come there and and uh and we're looking excited. It it's fun as a camper. We learned certain weekends are certain families, like they'll have all the cabins rented, they'll have four or five campsites rented, or they'll have all the campsites rented. So we want to keep that tradition going. And uh, as we talked about the last time, we don't want the the lodge to be a bar. I don't have I don't have beer signs everywhere, neon everywhere, three pool tables and whatever else. It's it's still a lodge, it's still for families.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01And uh we're just trying to make that more comfortable in the same time. We want entire families, bring bring generations. We have a couple weeks where we've got three generations of people coming from the same family. That's fantastic, you know, to share it with their with their kids and then their kids' kids and and going forward. And and that's kind of what my parents or not, what my wife's parents have done. So we've got our our son is coming, our daughter's coming for Christmas, and they're third generation Callahan people, you know. It's fantastic.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. You know, and one of the things I really enjoy about about Callahan Lake Resort is the camp, the campers and such are not right on top of each other. No, you know, there's other campgrounds that I've been to where you've got honestly six inches between your slide out and the person next to you's slide out, and it's just like Legos. Yeah, and it's just really weird and awkward. And here I mean that you got room to move around, you can have fun, and you don't have to be super quiet. No, as far as you know what I mean, you can you're you're you're able to have a good time.
SPEAKER_01Well, and like you know, and like where your camper's at, you've got a what a 30 foot 30 foot by 10 foot deck off the front of it, plus another smaller deck and a fire pit behind it, and and room to to to be a family. Yeah, right.
Beer Three: Jack Pine Rum Barrel Stout
SPEAKER_00Yeah, or or even just for the two of you, room for just the two of you to have a fire and not be cramped and yeah, you know, we moved our fire pit behind us in in the woods, uh, right behind our camper, you know. And when we first got our site, we had uh the camp, the uh camper we had was a lot smaller, and the fire pit was actually right by the road. So if a car came in, we had to move our chairs so the car could go by. Yep. Well, then when we got it the next camper we got was a little bit bigger, so then we were able to move the fire pit in the back, and now it's it's like, man, I can't not think about doing that, right? You know, because you don't have to worry about it. So cool. Well, hey, let's uh we're gonna now go into a little some beers that we're a little more uh back to our roots, yeah, back to our roots. So the last time that I was up, we tried the Russian Imperial Stout from Jack Pine. Jack Pine Brewing. And that the four-pack that I had bought, it actually had two of those of the right the original regular quote unquote uh Russian Imperial Stout, but it also had two kind of variants, so to speak. So we saved them for the next time we did a podcast together. So what are we gonna do first, Brad?
SPEAKER_01So I think we're gonna do the rum barrel first and Jack Pine Brewery. Uh we've had several of their beers instead of Baxter, Minnesota. And I think if I remember right, the Russian Imperial is really good, a really good base beer. It wasn't over the top, it was really, really a well, well balanced. This one is their rum barrel variant, Deadfall Imperial style.
SPEAKER_00Now, ladies and gentlemen, you know I'm a rum guy. Brian, you're a rum guy.
SPEAKER_01100% a rum guy.
SPEAKER_00You know, we are we definitely have got into bourbon as well, but I've I've said for years my spirit of choice is rum.
SPEAKER_01I I talk about my vitamin R guess.
SPEAKER_00Yes, my vitamin R level.
SPEAKER_01So this says months in a rum barrel bring out the chocolate and dark fruit notes of the sturdy beer. Hints of coconuts, raisin, prune, and milk chocolate come to the forefront, while bold roastiness found in the original fades into the background. Enjoy the myriad of flavors in this complex beer as your glass empty. Serve at cellar temperature 45 to 55. So I think we're probably on the lower end of that.
SPEAKER_00Probably, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, Mother Nature didn't uh she didn't plan it quite right for us to and this should be absolutely midnight dark if I remember. Oh yeah. That's like motor oil dark. Absolutely is. And it's got that nice dark head on it.
SPEAKER_00That looks glorious, to be honest with you. Yeah, it's not blue. No, no, it's not blue or red or any of that. It's dark. So this is the rum barrel. It didn't say what kind, but usually rum barrels you don't see where they call out the brand. It's not like bourbon.
SPEAKER_01We have seen uh where they said spiced rum barrels.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Or Caribbean, you know, Jamaican rum barrels. I've seen that, but uh not so much. You don't see them like where the bourbon companies are like, oh, we have weller barrels or happy barrel, yeah, or whatever. You know, you don't see that with the rum ones. It just smells like a smells like smells like a Russian imperial style for sure. Get a little bit of a little bit of something. Little bit. It's well, I think it's it might be a little cool yet, but I guess that'll be one of those. We can always test it later. Uh it tastes darker.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Like, like uh, and maybe that's where because it does say uh chocolate and dark fruit notes. So it is a little sweeter. There's some tartness there, so that would make sense.
SPEAKER_00On the aftertaste, I do get a little bit of a rum.
SPEAKER_01I get the kind of the raisin.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there you go. That does as soon as you said that that's what I taste is raisin. Wrinkled fruits. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Don't Google that. Don't Google that. No, no, no, no. Don't do that on your work. Kids, make sure to ask your parents first. That's not bad though.
SPEAKER_01No, it's interesting. Uh we had one other beer, and and I don't uh for the life of me, I I couldn't possibly name it, but we had one that was a raisin, and I'm trying to remember what what it was a dark beer, and it was it was a really good beer, but it was raisin. I remember that. Uh I can't remember the name of it. Anyway, no, that was a lot of beers ago.
SPEAKER_00That's a lot of beers ago.
SPEAKER_01This is not bad.
SPEAKER_00No, it's it's you know, it's that's one of those things, not to cut you off. I apologize. A lot of times with the rum beers, it's not as pronounced of a rum flavor. Like some of the bourbon barrel ones, I mean, you get you know there's boozy flavor. You know it, right? Now, I will say, do you remember was it founders had rum runner? Yep, when that first came out, whoa, that was super strong rum flavor. And I think they've kind of toned it down a little bit because I had it later and it wasn't it was actually way better. But this one kind of falls in line, I think, with a lot of the rum ones we've had where you don't really it's that's not the very pronounced no the the last one I think I had it was had coconut in it too.
SPEAKER_01And it was it was again kind of a tropical, it wasn't quite as strong, and I was gonna look and see if they have the ABB on here. I want to say that these for the most part, if I remember right, the last time were 10 or 11.
SPEAKER_00But I'll see if I can find something here as well.
SPEAKER_01I also like on this can too, and and another thing, besides the temperature, which I always harp on, uh, this beer will age well. Oh, well, there you go. Drink fresh or store in a cool dark place. So that's good to know as well. I don't think I've ever seen that on a can.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I know after Okay, this that is the barrel aged deadfall. Yeah, rum barrel-aged rum barrel imperial style. Here we go. Does it say I'm looking on untapped to see if it says and it does not have the ABB.
unknownInteresting.
SPEAKER_00So that doesn't help us either.
SPEAKER_01So unless I'm missing it on here, it just tells you probably it's the same as I would say it's probably the same as their Imperial style.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's gotta be very close to because that was double digit, if I remember right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Like I said, I I thought it was 11%, 11 or 12. It doesn't taste that boozy, which is good. Rum rum barrel ones usually don't. There is a little something in the aftertaste that it's not not the greatest. Right. I'll put it that way.
Beach Plans, Docks, And The Loose Caboose
SPEAKER_00Okay, the deadfall, the regular Russian Imperial stout is 9.4. 9.4. Yeah. So you would think in a barrel it would go up a little bit. You would yeah. Well, the next one is actually the same 9.4 that we have. Okay. And boy, they have I shouldn't even read these because they they apparently Deadfall is their barrel aging, their that line, because they've got rum barrel, they've got whiskey barrel, they have cinnamon vanilla, they have maple barrel, they have cherry brandy barrel, really, port wine barrel, and the next one, which we'll talk about when we get there. So yeah, that's rather interesting.
SPEAKER_01This this the AI overview says Deadfall Brewing Company. That's not brewing.
SPEAKER_00No, this is Jack Pine Brew.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Deadfall Russian 9.4, yeah, with dark and so I imagine they're probably nine four, nine to ten.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm thinking that it looked like they were all pretty much that same. So, what are your thoughts on the rum barrel? It's interesting.
SPEAKER_01I'm it's warming up a little bit, and I'm starting to get more of that. I want to after taste that I kind of wait for you know it's weird. I wonder if that's the prune or whatever that we're supposed to be getting out of there. Um, it's okay. I guess I'd like to have a little more rum flavor. This Imperial style itself is is great. I'd probably go in uh probably going like a 3-1. I'm a little disappointed in it. Um, it's a good beer, don't get me wrong. It's better than average. It's it's a great Imperial style. Um, I'm surprised it's Imperial at 9-4. Yeah, like that's a low end of what an Imperial anything is. Yeah, um, like I said, um something to do with the fruity part is an aftertaste that I'm not doesn't it's not it's not my favorite, let's put it that way.
SPEAKER_00I agree a hundred percent with you. I really and I'm gonna let this warm up a little bit. This can, and when we get done here, we'll come and try them. But I really would like a little bit more rum flavor. Yeah. And you know, again, like I said, I'm a big rum fan. And when you say rum barrel, I'm expecting to have some rum flavor. And I just I don't get that. Um, it is good, and like I said, I think the the base model of the Russian Imperial Stout, I probably like maybe even a little bit better than this one at this point. Yeah, you know, so I agree. I'm gonna go with a 3-1 as well. I definitely think if it warms up and and that rum comes out a little more, it it could be something to change the vote on. But uh it is again very good. And I I would drink it again, but I I would just like to have a little more of that rum.
SPEAKER_01Another thing, you know, if again, if it's a four-pack and I'm grabbing my first one, I'm probably gonna grab the regular Imperial style.
SPEAKER_00Yep, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yep, I agree 100% with you now that I've had both, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00Yep, exactly. And thank goodness we actually have another can of that if we want to visit that later tonight. So yeah, so uh getting back to the resort a little bit, so there's there's plenty, you know, of things here to do. They you have like a a swimming area right in front of the lodge. We do uh you know a beach. So a beach, yeah. There's a beach, and then it's uh like a little roped off area where people which we're expanding this year.
SPEAKER_01So uh out in front of the lodge, and and if you look at pictures online, you can see um the main docks and then the big liney side, an old liney side.
SPEAKER_00Old liney sand, that's cool.
SPEAKER_01Um and there's sand in a beach, and and what we're our plans are is to expand that beach. So there's an old fire pit that they used to cook, have barbecues and stuff on. It's kind of just taking up space. It really is not, I don't know, it gets in the way of families and whatnot. And people set their stuff on it, but I'd rather put a picnic table there. Right. So we're gonna try and knock that out and and bring in some more sand and expand that that swimming area. And we when we say swimming area, they brought in sand and it doesn't get past, I'm gonna say, two and a half, three feet until you get to the end of the dock, and then you can swim out to the loose caboose, which we'll talk about in a minute. Yeah, so we're hopeful to expand that area, and then on top of that, we have quite a few, I'm gonna say grandparent age couples that have uh cabins on the lake, you know, and they come in via pontoon most of the time, and they really never had a good place to park. Right. So we're gonna take one of our longer docks and move it to the other side of our boat launch, uh, so it's easily accessible to get a to get in, come into the lodge, have a pizza, let your grandkids swim, have a drink, whatever else, um, have a larger beach to kind of accommodate extra people and extra kids. Uh, because it can get really crowded down there really fast. So we're excited. Hopefully, we can expand that beach and make it a little more uh larger family friendly, uh, so that you're not sitting on top of one another.
SPEAKER_00Yep, exactly. Uh, and it's like I said, it's been here as long as I've been here, yeah. That beach, and it gets used a lot. And and there's times you'll see, you know, adults that have floaty type things and they'll just float in there, you know, and it's it's really a neat a neat deal. So that'll be cool if you expand that and and uh it's just gonna make for more fun. Yeah, you know, exactly. And like you said, I do agree with the that uh cooking deal there. I've only ever seen it used once a year, typically in the past, you know, now it's turtle races. Yeah, they used to they used to heat the spaghetti up. Yeah, they'd have a spaghetti spaghetti dinner for everyone. But yeah, that that'll be a good a good thing. So awesome. Well, what uh what's the next beer that we got?
Beer Four: Peach Brandy Barrel Stout
SPEAKER_01So we do have another jackpine, and and both of us, I think we've been kind of waiting to try this one. Uh, this is their deadfall imperial stout again. But this is a peach brandy barrel aged one. Months in a peach brandy barrel. Impart a subtle fruity sweetness to this aggressively dark imperial stout. Full-bodied beer loaded with dark chocolate, roasted notes, providing a sturdy base for barrel aging with a fruit brandy. Enjoy a myriad of complex. So the same things.
SPEAKER_00So here's on untapped. I looked up their description here and it said, uh, we took our big and bold Deadfall Imperial stout and aged it in a peach brandy barrel for a year. The original flavors, flavors of chocolate, roast, roast, chocolate, you know, roast, caramel, and coffee line up beautifully next to the hint of peach and booze. This beer is decidedly and dangerously drinkable. Oh boy. Those are bold words. If you I can't remember, it was a couple episodes ago uh when Jim and I were tasting some Christmas beers, and one said that it was like the the greatest something. And I go, you know, they're building themselves up and they didn't really hit that mark.
SPEAKER_01Unfortunately, your nuts are big enough enough if you're gonna climb that.
SPEAKER_00Yes, exactly. Now, I don't know, Brian, if you've had money Christmas beers this year, but we had two episodes with Christmas beers, and honestly, kind of a disappointment, to be honest with you. We had there was a few that were really good, don't get me wrong, but as a whole, there was a lot of them that were just kind of not very Christmassy, you know.
SPEAKER_01If you remember the last time we we had uh an episode here, we had that something Noel. Yes, that bottle and that was that that Belgian super strong, and that was fantastic. That was good, yes. I thought, well, if this is the way Christmas beer gonna go all year, then we could be in in for a tree.
SPEAKER_00Um, I didn't I can safely say that that's not how no no they were to everybody knows now.
SPEAKER_01My hands are cold because I've been palming this beer to warm it up a little bit before we got that.
SPEAKER_00Smells pretty good, actually.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it definitely smells different than the horse.
SPEAKER_00It almost has a hint of a peach smell to it. Do you pick that up? A little bit. Yeah, let's say it's faint, but I kind of get a little bit of that. Oh, that's I can taste, I can taste the peach. That's good. Yeah, that's really good. Yeah, wow.
SPEAKER_01So think as a remember the remember the um oh the the peaches you used to get your parents would get your mom would get you that were the halves that had a little bit of red on them. Oh, yeah, they were always kind of crunchy. Yep, and you hope they were crunchy and they weren't the slimy ones. That's the taste you get from this one.
SPEAKER_00This is impressive, honestly. I I I can probably safely say this is the first peach barrel. I don't think I've peach brandy barrel. I've never had a peach brandy barrel beer before. I've had beers with peach or peaches in them, yes, but not from a brandy barrel.
SPEAKER_01And I've had and when I do my old fashions, I I do uh peach wood smoked. It's one of my favorite woods to smoke an old fashioned with. This is a really good beer.
SPEAKER_00This is this makes up for the rum barrel. Yeah, I think it does. Although I'm not a brandy guy, but I'm not I don't mind peach that much, but it's not like my favorite, you know what I'm saying? As far as subtle, it's a subtle enough. This is very subtle, and and you get that hint and you know what it is, but it's not overpowering. No. Um, that that's good. That's a really good bit. That's good.
SPEAKER_01Um kind of covers the bitterness of this of the stout, which is okay. I mean, it doesn't always have to have that super bitter. Um, I did notice when I poured it, there was almost no head to it, and that's kind of odd.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01No, that's a fantastic beer.
SPEAKER_00That is good, and it's 9.4%, is what it says on untapped.
SPEAKER_01It doesn't taste boozy, so no, I I would agree with that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I do too. Score wise, boy, I I kind of like this. And I'm I'm honestly thinking like a I'm going like a 3.8. I think uh I think I I don't know, it just seems to work. It works really well together.
SPEAKER_01I might adjust it once it warms up a little bit, but I was gonna say three nine, like it's almost a four. Almost, it's it's getting right to that ballpark. Uh and and this if there's one thus far that we're gonna go back and finish after we shut these microphones off, it'll be this one for sure.
SPEAKER_00There will not be any of this one left.
SPEAKER_01None of the blue raspberry, that's not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00No, that is I'm just impressed at how well that works with the the flavor of the Russian Imperial.
SPEAKER_01I get a little bit of a woody flavor too, and maybe that's just the barrel. It could be, yeah. Earthy, you know how uh the char, I guess. And like I said, it's it's that raw, I would say raw peach. So it's if you think of raw peach versus in syrup or in water or whatever. Yep, it doesn't taste fake.
Bottle Hunting, Barrel Programs, And Sampling
SPEAKER_00No, you know, no, that's the one thing that I'm definitely noticing is it has like a real peach flavor, and it's not but it's not like peach. You know what I'm saying? It's not like it doesn't scream peach, no, but you get it just peach, but you get that hint of peach and you know instantly what it is, but you can't smell it.
SPEAKER_01No, that's weird. I smelled it a little bit, not much, but it's not discernible. You don't smell it and go, Well, that's a peach.
SPEAKER_00No, you know, when you taste it though, you can tell it's yeah, absolutely you can. That is really good.
SPEAKER_01I'm impressed with that one. Unfortunately, I don't think we have another one of those.
SPEAKER_00Nope.
SPEAKER_01There's only one of them in the four pack, so but they were they were bought uh locally near my W-2 job.
SPEAKER_00So yes, so that was good. Yeah, if we ever see some more of that, we'll have to pick it up.
SPEAKER_01I don't think that'll be too hard. I think I can find them. Thankfully, for those that don't know, we bought the resort, bought the campgrounds, and then I still maintain a job in the city. So uh I still have uh accessibility to a large selection of of craft beer. And this one's this one's right up there. This is good.
SPEAKER_00Well, when uh on Black Friday, Jim and myself and a couple of our friends met my brother and uncle over in Rochester at the new Total Wine in Rochester. Drinkers main mall. Yeah, yes. Well, it was funny because we went, because it was we're looking for the the the new uh Goose Island, Bourbon County, and we stopped at Woodman's in Lacrosse, and they had the regular and one variant is all they had.
SPEAKER_01How many come out? It was like four or five.
SPEAKER_00Well, there's like the regular and I think five variants, but one you one of them you can only get in Chicago at the brewery. So then we left there and went to Rochester to meet to meet up with my brother, the mad scientist, and and they had all of them, except for the one, only the one that's in Chicago. So we almost wiped them out of some of those. And uh then you're walking down the aisles and they're like oh hey, well, here you're giving samples of I didn't even know it was name your liquor. You could have tried any of it, you know, and and we're just like, Well, uh, we got a bunch more places to stop. Yeah, you know, we can't Uber home from here. Yeah, a couple guys had a couple samples and such, but um, so that was that was cool. So I'm glad that they actually built one closer to us.
SPEAKER_01Total wine is really good about that. Um that I usually stop at one of them and I think it's uh Woodbury or or I think it's Woodbury. Anyway, Total Wine in in Minneapolis, St. Paul. And uh it is if you're gonna drop$50,$60 on a on a bottle of tequila and they've got it sitting out, and you can say, Hey, can I have a little bit of that? Then they'll give it to you. You know, or if you're a bourbon guy, usually they they don't have the high height.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but they got a lot that you can taste.
SPEAKER_01Last time I was in, they had a they had a special on Eagle Rare, and they had a you know, and that they're good about giving you a sample before you buy.
SPEAKER_00And that's nice, because then I mean how many times and I know beer is different, but how many times have you bought a six-pack or something like that of beer and you get it home and taste it, and it's like uh I'm pretty sure there's still some in the closet of wonder. I was gonna say, I know I've done it several times, so you try to pawn those off on people that are hanging around your camper. Drink this one first, and then I'll give you a good one. So so back to the resort for a minute. Um if you have young kids and such, they actually have a really nice playground.
Beer Five: Midnight Hour Bourbon Barrel
SPEAKER_01We do I call it the Callahan Ant Farm. Um many years ago, uh when my kids were little, uh, the the camp the the playground consisted of uh two swings and a slide, none of which would were OSHA approved. Right. Um, and so I got together with uh a bunch of the dads and grandpas and said, Hey, I'm gonna design something. And uh is everybody good pitching in however many people we can get to pitch in family-wise uh and get it done. And I'll I'll get permission from Jan, who owned the resort previously. And uh and everybody was uh resounding, let's do it. So I don't remember what weekend it was, it was about 10 years ago. I took these plans to Jan and I said, I said, we would like to redo the playground. And Jan being Jan, oh, does it need is it something wrong with it? No, we just want to make it bigger and better. And uh we built the Callahan ant farm, and there's a bridge, and there's a climbing wall, and there's one, two, two swings, a baby swing, there's uh monkey bars, there's uh a sandbox underneath it. So uh, and somewhere we get a great group picture of a bunch of dads and grandpas that uh built it in a day, right? Built in one day. Uh so yeah, that was kind of a labor of love uh with our kids. I had I had many fathers and grandfathers say, I got three grandkids. There's got to be at least three swings. So we had to make sure that we had enough swings so that there weren't there wasn't infighting, right? Um and I every year I go over there and I maintain it, and I made before I bought the place, I would go over with uh with a gun and a couple extra screws and make sure stuff's tight and make sure stuff's this. And the kids know uh up here, a lot of them call me Uncle Dude. They'll go find Uncle Dude if something's too bad or if they get a splinter or whatever else. And so it's been kind of a labor of love of mine. I I this year looks pretty good. This year is uh loose caboose year. We've got to do some major uh rehab on the loose caboose. The loose caboose floats outside of the swimming area. Uh it's um, I don't know, it's probably 10 by 12 or 12 by 14 dock, floating dock on barrels. Uh it's got a I'm gonna call it a cabin. There's a couple doors and windows in it, and then you can there's a ladder to go to the very top. And uh it doesn't look that tall unless you get up there. Then you're up there, it's like, you know what? I'm off this is like jumping off my deck. Um and so it's it's beloved by many generations. Uh and so when we brought it in this year, um as an owner, I I I really wasn't around usually when they brought it in, but it needs some serious work, so we're gonna have to do some donations and get some people with construction sense, and we'll before we throw it out this spring, we're gonna have to uh touch it up a little bit. Well, we gotta go dry dock, right? Yeah, like a ship in the dry dock. We gotta we gotta pull her up a little further and and uh get some boards replaced and whatnot.
SPEAKER_00But well, and the thing that's always kind of cool, I thought, is in the past, like if it didn't matter if it was a kid or an adult. Usually you saw the kids do it, but when they jump off loose caboose, then their parents would buy them the t-shirt that said, I jumped off a loose caboose, and it had like a little drawing of the loose caboose and kids jumping off it. Yes, it does. And as kind of a rite of passage a hundred percent, you know.
SPEAKER_01So for many years, my youngest daughter, uh Ainsley, was she was not quite well, she just turned three and she jumped. And it was cold that day, and and and I remember staying on the dock with her and saying, Are you you want to jump off that? And she said, Uh huh. And I go, right now, uh huh. So I should get my swimsuit on. Yep. And we climbed up to the top, and I held her hand. And I go, Are you ready? And she goes, Yep. We just she didn't know fear. She jumped off. I jumped off. She swam back and she stood there shivering, waiting for a t-shirt.
SPEAKER_00Are you cold? No, I'm not cold.
SPEAKER_01Just waiting for it. And I think she wore it for three weeks straight.
SPEAKER_00There you go. Say my daughter, she jumped off when she was young like that, too. And then all of a sudden it took another two years or so before she jumped again. But then it was like, really? But yeah, she got the t-shirt. And with the$12 shirt. Yeah. Exactly. Well, hey, so the next well, the next four beers we got, I've really been looking forward to. We certainly have, but we uh we actually went to this brewery. I think it was like a birthday weekend or something.
SPEAKER_01Turning 49 or something.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And it's broken clock brewing.
SPEAKER_01Cooperative. So there's multiple brewers that come together.
SPEAKER_00Yes. And they had some, they had two of these. They had some on tap, but not the four next four we have, I think at least two of them we didn't haven't had because they didn't have them on tap. And they're these are all Russian Imperial Stouts as well. They had variant. There you go. Yes, they had different variants. So we bought these four, and we've been hanging on them for a little bit. And I'm I can't wait.
SPEAKER_01I think it's gonna be because the beers we had there were really good. We had four or five. I think you and I both had a flight, and all of them were dark. Yep, all of them were fantastic. And we're not talking the three, two, three, three beers. No, these were four higher.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and so there's there's two in here we really are excited about, and we're waiting on and these these glass bottles, I'm feeling them, and they're feeling like we're getting to the proper times.
SPEAKER_00Okay, good. We've been stalling long enough. There we go. So these ones are all in regular sized bottles. Does it say the ABV on them?
SPEAKER_01It says 11.3. So Russian Imperial's bourbon barrel aged, 11.3, and that's it's just a bourbon barrel-aged Russian Imperial style.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
ATVs, Trails, And Regional Events
SPEAKER_01It just says it out of Minneapolis, and it just says 100% member owned. So I don't know from a cooperative standpoint. I wonder if there's a bunch of different brewers that come in and share time. It could be, yeah. Yeah. Just so everybody knows, I am using chapstick to open the beer.
SPEAKER_00It's it's one of the most uh the coolest things. You gotta come up here and and ask them to open a beer bottle with a chapstick.
SPEAKER_01My chapstick.
SPEAKER_00All right, it's not as dark. I was gonna say it's not as dark as the jackpine ones were. No, but it is higher alcohol, so oh, that's uh yeah. Oh, it smells it smells pretty good.
SPEAKER_01That smells exactly like you want it to. Yeah, so this would be the base for the rubber for the next couple that we're gonna have. That's smooth.
SPEAKER_00Oh boy, that is smooth. That's like really good and rich, yeah. Like not sweet, but rich. It's you know how some we talked about it earlier, how some of when you get the bourbon barrels, he really has that strong boozy flavor. This you can tell that there's a little booze kind of flavor to it, but it's super smooth.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's well blended. But to me, this is the difference between you bought your uh your choice steak and then you went to the grade A prime steak. Like the the difference in in texture. Yes. Um, this is a fantastic beer. Not as dark ahead as I thought it was gonna have, but a fantastic beer.
SPEAKER_00I was just gonna looking on untapped here. I was gonna see if they had any other description or anything like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there there's I I have I have zero complaints about this beer. Uh I don't think they could do anything that I wouldn't like at this point.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. That is and this is their midnight hour. I think we said that. Yep, or maybe I didn't. I don't know. I was so excited to open it. I know. I know.
SPEAKER_01Okay, here's honestly, it's kind of a they've got a fun label. It's it's simple.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Uh it's got an owl on it. But I'm looking at our other ones, and and again, we talked about we have a four-pack of them. And the owl's dressed different in everyone. Yeah. So it's kind of fun.
SPEAKER_00It's a cool deal, yeah. Okay. And it basically had kind of the similar Russian Imperial South aged in bourbon barrels for ten and a half months, giving this balanced, smooth beer, finishing notes of caramel, vanilla, and toffee. I get all of it. Yeah. I was gonna say, I'd I I again I know Jim always says, I wish they would tell you what kind of bourbon, but this one you really this is one of the few, honestly, where they don't tell you that it's still very good. It's there and it's mellow, you know.
SPEAKER_01It it uh and if I remember correctly, when we were at this brewery, there were barrels everywhere.
SPEAKER_00I believe so, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, this is wow, that's good.
SPEAKER_01If everything, if everything takes it a step further based on what this recipe, we're in for a treat for the next ones. Score wise, what uh well, first of all, I was gonna say this this bottle will not remain full.
SPEAKER_00No, we won't have to worry about trying to finish it.
SPEAKER_01Um God, it's really smooth. I I think I gotta go about a 4-1. It's smoother than a regular Russian period. It's 11.3 in it and it tastes as boozy as the six point or six percent sours we had. Right. Um, it's not heavy. That's the other thing with this one. It's eleven three, but it it doesn't taste heavy.
SPEAKER_00No, you're right.
SPEAKER_01That's what like the jackpine is only nine four, but it's a heavy syrup here. Wait, it's not the right word.
SPEAKER_00If you want to say it like that, texture wise.
SPEAKER_01Yes. No, I could drink well, I could drink several, but then that's yeah. Unfortunately, we only got one. Yeah, well I'm just saying nobody want to be around me if I drank a bunch of them, but this is terribly drinking. Yeah, I gotta go a 4.1. Yeah, this is very good.
SPEAKER_00I I'm gonna go a 4.0. I still think I I'm all right there with, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think it's we're at the prime temp too.
SPEAKER_00I think I think you're right. These ones we waited long enough.
SPEAKER_01Glass versus aluminum or whatever, but this again, maybe and maybe some of that's in the jackpine thing. Maybe if it was on tap, right, that that rum barrel would have come out a little more or it would have been a little different. But I don't know. This this is what a Russian Imperial Stout should be.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. I agree a hundred percent with you. That was very good, and will be continue to be good once we finish that bottle. Yes. Uh let's see what else. So, you know, uh, we've talked about kind of the the cabins with the the cabins which are named after trees. Trees.
Beer Six: Midnight Hour Rye Barrel
SPEAKER_01Uh so that's kind of a cool the princess pine, we have the old log, the old log being the oldest uh cabin that's here. Uh we have the tamarack, we have the spruce, and we have the Norway. The Norway is not a tree, but more of a country.
SPEAKER_00Well, there's Norway, yeah. Norway pine or whatever there's yeah. Is there a pine tree named Norway? Yep. Now, another thing, you know, if if you can when if you were to come here and uh camp or stay in a cabin, you know, they do have boat a boat launch, boat docks, you know, you can dock a boat. You have boats they can rent. We do you got paddle boats, uh you got kayaks, kayaks, you've got because you they do you have motors as well. We do, well, yeah.
SPEAKER_01We were one, we have one motor, but we're gonna have a few more motors. We've got rowboats, uh a pontoon that you can rent to rent, and we will have a second one this summer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, and you can rent the pontoon by it's like a half a day, a day, uh probably more than a day. You can do a week, you know.
SPEAKER_01You can do a whole week if you want. So we've had some people come and do the whole week. We've we will, I think, budget permitting, have some paddleboards to rent to, they're very popular. And again, this week's not so busy that you can't stand up and paddleboard.
SPEAKER_00Right, exactly.
SPEAKER_01It really isn't. Yeah, um, so we'll do some of that when we get to it. If you if you're camping here and you've been here for whatever uh long, like we will store your kayaks down there. We have a lot of campers that store their stuff down there next to the water, easier than dragging it up every day.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01Um, and then as far as the the the other rentals here or around the area, if because they've opened up ATV uh for the most part, you can leave from our our campsites or our resort, and you can drive down highway B to get on the trail system. So you can take your side-by-side leave here and literally drive 90 miles on trails and pop into different bars or resorts, or uh it's really interesting to to cruise through uh the middle and I mean nowhere. And these and you'll see logging trucks and whatever else. And it's it's really kind of a neat experience.
SPEAKER_00Oh, exactly.
SPEAKER_01And for anybody that's that's up here and never heard about the Berkey, uh, which is a a very long cross-country ski event, I I'm not a cross-country skier.
SPEAKER_00Um no.
SPEAKER_01No, I wasn't even uh what was the what was the um the upright exercise machine that was a cross-country skipping? Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00The uh Norditrack.
SPEAKER_01Norditrack, not even a Nordic track guy, but that's a big deal in Hayward and and uh the last couple of years has been pretty rough on it. I think this year will be fine.
SPEAKER_00What month do you know that that they can handle that or hold that? It's February. In February, okay in February, yeah. Yep. So I know I think uh Susie and I are talking about trying to make it up here.
SPEAKER_01So if we really want to see that friends of ours uh who have a cabin across just a mile down the road or so. His dad was one of the founders of the Berkey. Um and they live down kind of down your way. He lives down in Westby.
SPEAKER_00Okay, yeah. Um the ski jump, yeah. It's another thing I want to get to at some point. We've been lived there for 25 years, and I've never been to the Westby ski jump.
SPEAKER_01I don't I don't ski jump either.
SPEAKER_00So no, those are little little fellas that do that. Yeah, right, right.
SPEAKER_01Uh but yeah, so so again, now it's ATV friendly, which is we've had a side-by-side, you have a side by side. The previous folks had four wheelers and you always had to throw it on a trailer and drive, and then you gotta go so far and leave your trailer, leave your truck, and all that now. We can leave from here and and go do our our ride, and it really is you can ride 30 miles or you can ride 130 miles and come right back to the resort.
SPEAKER_00So hopefully that'll bring in some new people that but uh and I I I we had never went on the trail system up here before two years ago when we got ours, and it is honestly one of the funnest things. That's amazing. It's they're beautiful rides through the woods, and it's really neat. And there are some where you get into a little bit of water, yeah. You know, depending on or a lot of water, you know, um or a lot of dust, or a lot of dust. We've been on both before. On in the same day, in the same day, almost. But uh, yeah, it is super fun, so that's always cool too. So what's uh what's the next beer we got?
Local Food, Friendly Resorts, And Community
SPEAKER_01So the next one again is the broken clock brewing cooperative. It's midnight hour again, so I'm assuming the same base as we have for the rest. This is their rye barrel age Russian Imperial style. Uh this one is 11 3, and that's all I say on here on the bottle itself.
SPEAKER_00So on untapped, it's very similar to the last one in the description, but it says it's you know, Russian Imperial stout, barrel aged for 10 and a half months in rye barrels, providing notes of caramel, vanilla, and light smoke to a smooth, rich base. Yep.
SPEAKER_01So I'm I'm just getting into more whiskies, more bourbons, and whatever, and and and uh rye was never something that I ever really cared for. And now I've gotten a few different ryes that are fantastic. They get peppery, they get smoky, they get peedy, they almost not to the scotch point, but more peppery and more flavor to them. And I've I've started to kind of fall in love with a couple of them uh and want to try more rye ones. So I'm I'm interested in this one. This will be a fun one. I don't think when I when we probably purchased these, uh, I was in that mode. Right. Like rye barrel's rye barrel, whatever. It's whiskey, it's not. Uh, but I'm kind of excited to try this, only because again, I've got an affinity for rye whiskey now.
SPEAKER_00In the whiskey market, I mean, rye has really come on strong.
SPEAKER_01I think it's because it's cheaper to make per se.
SPEAKER_00Right. Uh, and it's got more flavor. It really does. And like you said, it's always been even the other rye barrel beers we've had, it has that peppery, not more kind of like a black pepper, you know, not like hot peppers.
SPEAKER_01No, no, yeah, we're not talking chilies or or hot peppers, but it's it's got a the aftertaste has got a little, like you said, black pepper taste to it.
SPEAKER_00I don't know, Brian. That's smooth too. You know? I get the rye right away though. Yeah. Right away, I do. It definitely has a different flavor than the first one. It does. And that's still and there's an odd sweetness to the end of it too. Yeah, there there really is.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. That's that's different. And I'm glad to see it's different.
SPEAKER_00It almost I hate to it, not that it tastes like this, but it reminds me of like dark chocolate or like a baker's chocolate. Kind of you know what I mean, where it's not real sweetness, but it's got just that hint of it, you know. Yeah, I can taste the rye immediately.
SPEAKER_01It's not bourbon.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, oh no.
SPEAKER_01It is whiskey, it is rye. So you get that pepper, that peppery taste up front, very distinctive of a rye. And in the end, like you said, I think it maybe it's because of that, it gets a little sweeter. Yep, it's not sweet though, it's just a hint of it.
SPEAKER_00Right. That's the thing that's kind of surprising me and kind of impressing me about it.
SPEAKER_01Kind of like if you have uh what is it they put on uh urine. That's what we call urine. What did you say? I called it urine because my father-in-law calls it urine, but mirin, which is uh uh it's a rice wine sauce that they put on sake. Oh, okay. But it's it's for everybody listening, it's really good on a ribeye. Um but it caramelizes nice, but it's not it's sweet, but it's not, and that's kind of what this reminds me of a little bit. It's M I R I N, not U-R-I-N-E.
SPEAKER_00I am trying to decide if I like this better than the first one. Because I mean, uh to me, they're neck and knack.
SPEAKER_01They are this one's smoother to me.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, likely because I like rye. If you don't like rye whiskey or you don't like the whiskey taste, right, but you like bourbon, this is not right, you would it's good, but it's not what you want. Right.
SPEAKER_00You wouldn't pick you wouldn't like this one more than yeah, than bourbon if you're a hundred percent bourbon guy. Yep. To me, this is good. This is very good. They've both been super smooth, and like you said, they're the right temperature right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're in we're in the sweet spot.
Beer Seven: Raspberry Bourbon Variant
SPEAKER_00We're in the sweet spot now. Boy, um, for me, score-wise, man, I'm trying to think which way do I go on this? Um, because I could go either a notch above or a notch below. Uh, I think I'm gonna go a notch above. I'm gonna go with 4.1. I do like how smooth this is. It does have that faint little sweetness. Two notches. Oh, I went, I did, didn't I? Yeah, you went three nine. I'm sorry. Uh not to pull a gem on you and talk about math, but yeah, so I'll go with 3.9 then. So I did, I still want to notch up. But uh just like I was saying, it it has that little bit of that sweetness on the finish. I get the like you said, the rye, the pepper kind of flavor early. Then it goes into that sweetness, but it's super smooth. And at 11-3, yeah, there's no way I would have guessed these two are 11-3. I mean, they drink like a seven, you know.
SPEAKER_01If we finish all four of these at the end, we might figure out 11-3. Um it could be. I I completely agree in that the base is still there, right? Immediately I taste the rye, but only again, I think probably only because I've been branching out on the whiskey side and the bourbon side to try more rye stuff. I like the peppery up front, I like the smoothness, and again, they end with that that hidden kind of mysterious sweetness at the end. Finish is nice, yeah. I but it's completely different beer. It's completely different beer. Yeah, I I almost like I I almost expect to get some coca nibs or some chocolate in there, but that's not there, which is refreshing that they didn't go there, you know what I mean? Every other dark beer, if they want to get a little more or cover some stuff up, they go with the cocoa, they go with the chocolate, they go with whatever that they didn't hear. Yeah, and so whatever they did from the original, uh Russian Imperial style, and they did it just in a rye barrel, it covered that stuff up. It's really the aftertaste is completely different, yeah, than the other one. I have to go, I have I gotta go four, too. I gotta go notch up too. This is a really good and different beer, yeah. Uh than the original on the same base.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yeah, that's the thing that I think is really cool with the four beers we bought. They're all the same base, but they tweaked them. Yep. You know, and and these two are they're different, but they're both extremely good. That's the thing that I like, you know, that they're both good. They're fantastic. So awesome. Uh, what else do we want to talk about, Brian?
SPEAKER_01On the on the resort, man. So we're not the only game in town, right? So we're we're uh we are a resort with cabins and campsites. So like we talked about, you have pull-in sites and not. We do not have a restaurant, right? I got pizzas, I've got pretzels, and that's about it. Eventually we'd like to go there, but so as far as what's around us, this community is fantastic from a campground perspective and from uh a resort perspective. Uh Noelle, who my wife covers this is her job. Like I'm I'm still part-time. Like I like I I joke around and tell Mike all the time, I just work here, right? Right. She retired from nursing and this is her job. But uh the other resorts in the community that we live in with these other owners and whatever else, everybody will give their shirt off your back and they'll help you out, give recommendations. If I don't have a spot available, I've got four other resorts I can call. And they've sent people our way too. So if you come in and have a drink or you're camping here, hey, where can we go get a good fish fryer? Where can we go get a great burger?
SPEAKER_00Um well, and then not that far from here, just up, you know, what, a few blocks, technically, if you want to say it that way, there's a barbecue.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so there's Rusty Hook barbecue is right up the road. Ray Jay's is a staple, been there fish. The Robin's nest. I will say R and R Bayview. Chris, Chris comes in the cook over there in the area.
SPEAKER_00A great breakfast.
SPEAKER_01So there's there's lots of other spots here, and and and we everybody kind of scratches each other's back. It's it's really a wonderful community. We didn't know this coming in, right? We figured we're gonna have to start making those connections. And uh like I think it it was a couple Mondays ago, I had four resort owners sitting in my bar on a Monday because they're all closed on Monday and weren't open. And then, you know, telling us about this get on this t-shirt run, don't do this. Uh, but know that there's more than just our resort, but we'd love to have you stay here and love to send you to our friends. Yep. You know, that's that's the one thing good.
SPEAKER_00Because we always we you know, every year, my family we get together and we do the t-shirt runs and such. And this year we had a number of places that were saying, Hey, we heard somebody was buying Callahan Lake Resort. And this is still when it was kind of in the hush hush in the works, in the works, there you go. And we're like, Yeah, you know, and we were just surprised just how receptive they were. Oh, everybody was like, Man, yeah, that's great. We're that's awesome. And we heard that they're gonna, you know, got plans or whatever, and and you know, we'd love to talk to them and and all this, you know. I mean, it was it was unbelievable that that the news was already out there. Word of mouth is a real thing, yeah. But I thought, okay, how's it gonna be when it's another resort owner? Is he gonna see you're nothing but competition? I don't want nothing to do with you. That was 180 degrees opposite of what we witnessed. It was all everybody was like super pumped about it, and we're just like, this is weird.
SPEAKER_01Well, and the amount of people that didn't know we existed, right? Right. Um, and it's it's no offense to Jan or or the previous owners or or how they ran it or whatever. Well, you and I, again, some of our happiest memories are here. If not some of our absolute hundred percent, well, there's a few that we probably don't remember. Well, there is that.
SPEAKER_00We're not supposed to talk about that. Oh, that's right. That's shh, nothing.
Snowmobile Trails, Ice Conditions, Winter Crowd
SPEAKER_01That was in the NDA. Um, but the the the I'm gonna say the family of resorts up here. Uh, we just went and got a couch from a different resort. They were changing stuff out, they're a much larger resort than we are, but they were selling them, and I was like, Well, we got one that needs a couch, and and so we just we popped in on a random the coldest Saturday, yeah um uh for probably for the entire year of 2025. And uh, you know, and she helped she she helped us load it in the truck. So it's it's that kind of thing. And again, that was brought on by she was in the bar with us talking to us and this, that, and the other. And one thing led to to to the other, and all of a sudden, hey, we're gonna go grab a couch for one of our cabins because you know, we got one that's that needs replacing. So that word of mouth and the amount of uh group love, I'm gonna call it. And I know that kind of sounds 70 ish, but it's an amazing community. Yeah, amazing community.
SPEAKER_00And it's really seems like everybody looks out for each other. Yeah, you know what I mean. And that's the thing that's nice too. So, well, on that note, let's get another beer. Well, believe it or don't, there's another broken clock.
SPEAKER_01They're right twice a day, by the way. Yes. Um This is their midnight hour. And I will bring up again there's a little you'll have to see the picture online, but there's an owl on everyone. They're all dressed different, which is just it's the same design, just different color schemes. Yeah. It's kind of fun. It's a neat thing. Um, this is their raspberry bourbon barrel aged on untapped.
SPEAKER_00It says Russian Imperial Stout, barrel aged for 10 and a half months in bourbon barrels, and then conditioned on fresh raspberries, presenting a rich fruitiness to a smooth bourbon backdrop. So again, 11.3.
SPEAKER_01So know that raspberries can be polarizing.
SPEAKER_00For me anyway. You know, Jim and I had brought that up, and you and I have brought it up before, because remember the the dragon's milk, they had that raspberry hibiscus. And it was so strong a raspberry you could hardly drink it. Well, and then they put flowers with it. Yeah, but that is true. Yeah. Well, you can you get a faint fruit aroma of the raspberry, but it's not it reminds me a little bit of the of the blue. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Very smooth.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. All the raspberries up front. The raspberry, oh yeah. I say the raspberry is not overpowering. No. That's the part I like. Well, and it's natural. It's not right. It's not dumb. Because like I said, I love dragon's milk, but that that raspberry hibiscus was almost undrinkable because it was so strong a raspberry. Where this is you get the raspberry, but it's not it's strong, but it's not it's not fake.
SPEAKER_01No, no, it's it's very well it blends. I all I can say is it blends in.
SPEAKER_00Yep, I agree. If you're a raspberry fan, I think you'd like this. And you know, Brian, all of these so far, if it's a person has never had a barrel-aged beer, I think they could drink any one of these because the barrel itself, the it's not over the top, it's not over the top, strong, but it's still the you know what I mean. It's there, but I think that part because there's people that you know when they taste, oh, I don't like bourbon or whatever, right? But that's not the predominant flavors. The rye might be a little off-putting.
SPEAKER_01The rye maybe because it tastes like whiskey. And I know my wife would make a face that nobody wants to see, and and that this one she probably wouldn't. Right. The blend is so smooth, yeah. And in in all three of these, uh, this one's raspberry up front for sure, but again, it's that natural sweetness and that natural raspberry flavor that's not out of a bottle. I was uh kid around it, meal, right? You squeeze in your water, right? It's not that flavor. No, it's you can see the furry little fruit getting beer poured over it when you drink it.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01It's a podcast. We have to create that illusion. That illusion, you gotta paint that mental picture. Did I say delusion? I said illusion, whichever. Sometimes they're delusional, very drinkable. Uh it is it is a hundred percent raspberry. There's no question what it is. And again, I I'm I'm super impressed that these beers are light, not not in color, but uh they're not thick. They're not that, yeah.
SPEAKER_00There you go. Because we've talked about that before. Viscosity, there you go, whatever you want to say. It's not motor oil thickness, you know. Where where the jackpine was thick, both of them were both really thick. These ones are even dragon's milk is thick. Uh some of yeah, Urban County is is thicker, you know.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah. What was it? The the benchmark is used motor oil, whatever that one was from uh old motor oil or whatever. Yeah, from old speckled hen, whoever that English brewer is.
SPEAKER_00So score wise, what do you think on this one?
SPEAKER_01Raspberry not being one of my favorites. It's still really smooth. I mean, you can't knock it too much for that. I'm I'm gonna drop it down to a 3-9, just because it's still a really good score in my book for dark beer. It so far, if I would probably grab I would probably grab the peach brandy barrel jack pine before this one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh, but that peach brandy barrel would age in the cooler with the other two there.
Milestone: 6,000th Unique Beer
SPEAKER_00Right, yeah. You know what I mean? Yep. I'm gonna go the same score. Uh, I do think that this has almost the right amount of raspberry. You know what I mean? Well, I think it is the right amount. I'm just not a raspberry fan. Right. I I I like raspberry. I think because like again, like you said, it's really kind of that you gotta be on that fine line between there's you know, there's a fine line between way too much and and just right. And I think this is just right. I get that raspberry flavor. The bourbon, I don't really pick up a whole lot. I think the raspberry kind of overpowers the bourbon a little bit, but when you look at the other two, it kind of follows in line. But we didn't get a lot of bourbon in the first. That's what I was gonna say. It follows in line with their how they do it, and I think they they did a great job again. I can't I can't knock it.
SPEAKER_01No, raspberry for me is one of those herp beers, right? And I just oh well, that one's gonna come back a little bit later. Um it and it always has, but I'm really, really impressed on how again, viscosity-wise, they're not heavy beers, right? And I get it rum and bourbon is not heavy, right? It it's not thick, but but so many of those, I think they cover so much with sugar, yeah, and with whatever else, it's it's overpowering. Raspberry to me on this particular one is twice as much as the peach was, right? Yes. If they could knock it down to the peach level of raspberry, then I'm all in at that point.
SPEAKER_00That's a good way to say it.
SPEAKER_01Then I'm then I'm up in the four, four, one, four, two range because the base is so good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, I don't mind raspberry and beer, I don't mind blueberry and beer. I don't like salmon and beer. Salmon and beer, rotten salmon's bad, um pennies, pennies, pennies, metal, yeah, anything like that. Anything that has to do with change in your pocket, bad. Uh but I think if they'd uh if the if we could have blended it to the level the Jack Pine did that peach brandy barrel, I think then it would be in a four plus easy level.
SPEAKER_00I agree with you there.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely easy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, hey, so I guess another thing I did want to talk about is and it it's gonna be opening soon, the uh snowmobile trails. They are in fact. And uh from what I understand, Brian, you had told me earlier that they're gonna the snowmobile trails coming to Callahan.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, so we uh and again uh as a novice, uh winter person up here, I had snowmobiles for a while and I got tired of working on them. However, as the bar owner and as a resort owner, I don't care. I'm gonna be behind the bar anyway. But the the one of the main trails runs through Callahan, and I think it's I think it's snowmobile Route 18 or trail eighteen. I believe they're staking this weekend. So they must have seven or eight to ten inches of ice. They're gonna stake it, uh, which starts, and there hasn't been a good snowmobile year.
SPEAKER_00Uh at least the last two or three or three years, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01And even those years were sloppy years. Um, there was a video out yesterday uh from Round Lake, just down the road. Uh deeper lake, super clear water, usually one of the last ones to free up and get staked. They had six and a half to seven inches of super clear ice in the middle or 200 yards from shore and then up close to shore. They had good ice and bad ice, which turns into good ice today. At neg, uh I don't know, it was minus 14 this morning. Minus 14 this morning.
SPEAKER_00The last I saw it had warmed up to like minus four.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we were only in the negative four range. According to my phone, we're at neg three now. Oh, see, way warmer. We're having a heat wave, tropical heat wave. Um, we're making ice. Yes, and so it's exciting for us as resort owners and people that have a new payment. Um snowmobile season can be crazy. I've heard stories of looking out the window from your from your resort and seeing 90 plus sleds parked on the lake and waves of people trying to drink you out of bushlight, but people having fun. And that's the the wonderful part about my my other job. I call it I had the W-2 job and I have my job is that people come in, everybody comes in to the resort, comes into the bar, comes to the boat launch, they're there to have fun, right? Nothing's broken, I'm not sick, I don't have a problem with this. Why isn't my warranty good? Everybody's good and they're ready to have fun. They're they're primed and ready to enjoy themselves. And and we're just the the harboringer of making that happen, right? We're we're just there to lead them to fun. Uh it's the greatest job in the world for the most part. I may not say that in 10 years, but I'm telling you right now uh to have people that come in all the time and just want to have fun uh makes it a heck of a lot easier. Oh, yeah, than some of the other situations. Yep, for sure. Well, on that note, I'm gonna interrupt you. Yeah, I think we're are we on the precipice of a uh of an eventful beer.
Beer Eight: Mexican Chocolate Rye Barrel
SPEAKER_00We are. Uh some people may call it alcoholism. I call it a cool hobby. I see it. You're the only man that I know that beer drinking is a hot is is a hobby. I'm good at it, apparently. A skill. A skill. It's a skill. Uh so basically, I believe that this next beer will put me at the uh 6,000 different beer rated levels.
SPEAKER_01I want everybody to think about that for just a moment. If you drank a beer a day, you know, you put it that way, it really does sound like I'm a little bit. That sounds terrible. I know. Uh a beer a day, 365 beers. How long would that take? It would take you 10 years to get a little more than half. Wow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that you put it that way, it sounds bad. I just think your liver is like the Hulk. No, I'm the liver, my liver has always been the uh employee of the month.
SPEAKER_01Um when Mike and I met many moons ago, many beers ago, it was it was interesting to find somebody because I I traveled the world when I worked and I had beers from all over the world, all countries south, north, east, west, didn't matter. And and we started talking, and and uh I didn't know there were apps for that or any of that kind of stuff. I I haven't I probably haven't sampled as many as Mike, but of Mike's friends, I'm probably up there. I guarantee you're close. Uh up there with the uh the amount that I had. And and I remember coming back from Europe and and I couldn't drink beer here. It was terrible. It was awful. All that fresh stuff in Europe and the UK and Ireland and whatever else. But congratulations, Mike, on 6,000 and a hobby. And again, uh what people don't may not realize is we got what one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and we're gonna have our eighth beer, the six thousandth beer. We'll probably dump some of them out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's a but we do these last four, I don't think, we'll dump out.
SPEAKER_01The last five, yeah. No, that's five, yeah. We're not gonna do that. But but know that that it it truly is a hobby, it's something we enjoy. It's like I used to make fishing lures, and I I make this and I try this and try this, and and I get enjoyment out of it. This is something that uh that Mike has included me in. So I thank you for being there for 5,000 to start with.
SPEAKER_00Uh it's kind of funny because when I reached 5,000, I was at your house. My house, yeah. Now I'm reaching 6,000. I'm at your house. At my house, your new different house. That's right. So it's kind of crazy.
SPEAKER_01And so, yeah, officially uh Callahan Lake Resort is the number one sponsor of of the Northwoods Beer Guy. And uh anytime we want to we want to record up here, we're good. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00We're uh we'll be doing more, hopefully, when it's warmer.
SPEAKER_01Uh so yeah, no, it's it's exciting. And um, anybody online go check out uh Callahan Lake Resort. That's a terrible plug, but Callahan Lake Resort.com. Uh it's under under uh review under under work. Construction, there we go.
SPEAKER_00Hardware. But it will be coming up again here soon. And like I said, the thing I enjoyed hearing was that your reservation system, people can look and see what's available. Uh, I'm sure they can call here. Yep. You know, I don't know if you want to give the 715-462-3244.
SPEAKER_01I work in the phone industry, I got a lot of numbers in my hand. Uh yeah, but also know uh there's there's lots of other places to stay up here, and I I'd be remiss if I didn't say don't come visit the Northwoods because we're not available. Uh, but know that you can come up and stay. There's a casino close by. There's lots of restaurants, there's lots of bars and grills, there's the freshwater fishing museum, yeah, freshwater fishing hall of fame. If you want to go see the the uh lumberjack world championship, lumberjack world championship beer stealing and uh there's lots of things to do. And if for no other reason, just pop in and say, Hey, I heard you on the Northwoods Beer Guy podcast. And I'll say no, if you come in, if you come into a my bar and say, Hey, I've never been here before, and I don't recognize you, and you say, I heard you on the heard you guys on the Northwoods Beer Guy podcast, the first beer's on me. It may not be a craft beer, yeah. Because it because you know we're we're just starting out, but uh know that the first one's on me.
SPEAKER_00There you go. That's awesome. Well, hey, what's the uh last beer that we got?
SPEAKER_01So the last one we've been coveting for a while, uh, is again a broken clock brew cooperative. This is the Mexican chocolate barrel-aged and Russian Imperial Stout.
SPEAKER_00So I I have the untapped description on here, uh, and it says Russian Imperial Stout barrel-aged for 10 and a half months, again in rye barrels. I know, then conditioned on chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, and a combination of uh, do you know how to say that that pepper name? I don't know. G-U-A-J-I-L-L-O. Helio and Morita M-O-R-I-T-A peppers, giving a rich, smooth base, sweet, spicy complexity.
SPEAKER_01So no, everybody doesn't necessarily know this, but I like hot stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I like hot stuff, but not exactly to the extent your hot stuff does.
SPEAKER_01You and I are at different levels there, but yes, uh one of the best beers you and I had was when the first time I was ever on your podcast was a Mole style. Yeah, so that was amazing and LaDonna brewing. And ever since then, when we see a Mexican chocolate style or Mexican style, we have to we have to try out that kind of sold us. That was the first one that I had that was really good, and so we we we put this last because we're hoping for six thousand.
Top Picks, Scores, And Re-Tastes
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so oh, I already like it. I know I can smell the cinnamon type smell to it. It's like wow. I was gonna tell you no, remember, Jim and I joined the Barrel Society for Three Sheps, and I think I sent you a picture because one of the barrel-aged beers that we bought, and I bought so I could bring up for you to try, is one that has like four different types of peppers in it. Yeah, yeah. So that's gonna be interesting too. But boy, this one smells good. Really good. Oh, yeah. Cheese and rice. Yep. I I get the initial flavor, is that the cinnamon. I mean, you get the pepper for the rye barrel, then the cinnamon, and then on the aftertaste is where I get a little bit of the pepper. I get the I get the vanilla at the end. I say you get the yeah, that's what I get. Yeah, the very end is the vanilla.
SPEAKER_01Yep, a little caramel, a little vanilla. I get the peppers too.
SPEAKER_00That's good.
SPEAKER_01But it's super, it's super mild in the peppers. Yes. Um, it's not like and but I don't know if it's all pepper, if it's rye. So the rye barrel plus the pepper. It's an interesting combination.
SPEAKER_00And I think the cinnamon adds to it as well. You get that little bit of that, you know, the cinnamon is a top secret ingredient chili. Spicy thing, if you want to call it that. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01Yep. Yeah, that is good. Oh, that that's that's a really good beer. And 11.3. Again, it's so light. I mean, not like light beer. We're not talking right. Uh, somebody the other day, Miller Extra Light coming, you know, a two point is it six percent alcohol or whatever it is. I don't, I'm not sure. And it goes, I'll have another one of them halfers.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I'll get you half beer. Well, it's kind of like my wife will drink like the extra light. That's what I'm talking about, Miller Extra Light. Oh, yeah. And she flat out says it's water. She is it's bad one. Yeah. Because it's got Miller Light.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm sorry, Miller Light drinkers, but yeah, it's watered down Miller Light. And that's what the guy ordered a halfer. I'll take another half her.
SPEAKER_00Boy, I like this beer. I like these four have all been really good. Oh, they're fantastic. This one, but this one's in my this is a honestly, this is a this is the best one.
SPEAKER_01This one's in my happy place, right? A little cinnamon, a little pepper, rye barrels now. I'm I'm starting to warm up, way warmed up too. And an impossibly wonderful Imperial style, and it's light, it's not heavy to drink. Right. Which is rare, super rare. You and I had, I believe, an Imperial Porter. Yes. Down in Illinois when we went to one of your daughter's basketball games at one of the breweries that we had down there, and it was uh um brown sugar or something, I don't remember what it was specifically. I think it was at Rodell. But it was super light, and that's where I'm again like usually swirl a glass and you can tell the alcohol content. But you can't do it in this.
SPEAKER_00No, these ones don't have the where the the it clings on the side, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but it's but it's super liquid, but it's right. That's what I mean.
SPEAKER_00Right. And every one of these, I never would guess that are 113.
SPEAKER_01Oh, this one even even more than it's it's like uh somebody shoved a cinnamon roll with a little bit of pepper jelly in a bottle.
SPEAKER_00I I may be jumping the gun, but I might nominate this for a beer of the year candidate. I'm 100% with you. Because this this one, the the other three were very, very good. This one is like next level. This one gets I I honestly, Brian. I'm I'm just gonna jump ahead. I I'm giving this a 4.2. Um, I think this is very good.
SPEAKER_01I'm 100% on the 4.2. I would even again, I would go even go a 4.3. Yeah, this I could easily go a 4-3 on this. Um, and I will. It's but it hits my happy place, right? It's it's got a little peppery, it's a little rye, it's got the cinnamon and chocolate, uh, on top of what possibly could be one of the best Imperial Stouts base that I've ever had. Yep. Yeah, this is and and wow, and mostly because it's super light. It's just uh uh it's a viscosity thing, I guess. I don't know, I don't know how scientifically to put it, but this is like drinking 5 W30 instead of 10 W30.
SPEAKER_00That's right. It's it's 020 versus yeah, no, just but it's it's super light. These have been man, I I'm gonna have to look up and see if we can find out if they are ever do more like different flavors of this.
SPEAKER_01I may have to say, hey Brian, you gotta I'm um you know I I signed up for their their untapped thing, and they they do a bunch of IPAs because it's a cooperative, right?
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes, and I'm sure they different times of year and different things, but man, I I would love to try and find some other ones of of this style or this cult, you know, this midnight hour.
SPEAKER_01Whoever came up with uh the recipe for the Russian Imperial Stout should be given a medal. Yes, and then on top of that, how they keep it so so light, yeah, is uh people should take note of that. Yeah, the mad scientist should absolutely have one of these beers and no, because again, I love Russian Imperial Stouts, I love just stouts in general. It's gotta have that bitterness, it's got it. I it's gotta have uh the roasty notes, it's got it, but it also drinks as easy as like a McGoldenite as far as the way it feels in my gut.
SPEAKER_00And you don't get that bourbon burn on any of these, you know what I mean? It none of that. And it's not you don't feel as full as you just ate a big pack either, right? And and they again, like I said before, it's it doesn't drink like an 11% beer, it drinks way lighter, and those are the ones that'll get you in trouble. Yeah, because you drink, you know, oh that's good, and you have two, three of them, and all of a sudden you're like, I gotta I can't stand up. You know, well, I was gonna say, I'm uh I thought about calling in for work, but I don't think that'll work.
SPEAKER_01Call him drunk to work. No, no, uh, kudos to broken clock, bro. Very much so. Um, we again we sat on these for a while, and not because we wanted to be momentous or anything, it just we sat on them, and because we bought them together, we want to do this podcast together. Yep, bravo, my gosh, bravo.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they were all as good as I was hoping that they were gonna be. I'm not gonna throw this cup in the stack. I'm gonna go ahead and just fill it up.
SPEAKER_01Oh no, we're gonna keep yeah, let's just fill this one back up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we're just gonna keep drinking here. So I'd be done with that. Well, hey, Brian, thank you so much for being a part of this. And and like I said, I really wanted to give people more information on the resort. You know, we talked about the lodge the last time we were on, and there's more than just the lodge, you know, and there's a lot to do here, you know. If whether you're a fisherman or you're you know, just like the cruise around on a lake, or if you're trail riding or snowmobile, you know, trails and stuff, it it all all roads lead to Callahan Lake Resort.
Bonus Pour: Weeded Bourbon & Wrap
SPEAKER_01But also know uh, you know, in the area itself, there's lots of festivals. There's all summer, there's different musky fest t shirt run musky in June. Uh they have cranberry fest down in Stone. Lake. There's Fall Fest and Hayward. Fallfest, there's lots of other reasons to come up. There's three or four, maybe five t-shirt runs. Oh, yeah. Where you can go to different ones. Shot runs where we have different shots from different ones. There's a bourbon trail.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01They follow uh at least four bars. Hopefully five. Hopefully five here. Yeah. Uh where you you drink X amount of dollars worth of bourbon. You get a nice, a nice shirt. Super nice shirt. Not just your cheapy Haynes t-shirt. No. But there's and and there's places that have ice cream drinks. There's places that have uh outdoor volleyball. If you golf, there's all sorts of golf courses. There's wonderful golf courses around, which I do golf. I've golfed all of them. Uh I golf badly, but I've been to some of them. Um but know that there's every any time of year there's something to do, and and uh we're just one landing spot on what what is again, I didn't buy this place because I wanted to make a whole bunch of money. I bought it because I wanted to you didn't want to see the the tradition go away, so to speak. And but I also wanted to add to it, right? Yeah, I knew that I could I could I could put my spin on things, my wife and I, and leave another legacy, right? It's selfish, but it there are certain things that I want to see go forward, and this is one of them. But I also it's not just me, it's the area. Yep, and I just want to impress that on everybody. There's like there are two places that have the best fried chicken I've ever had in my life. There's a place of homemade pizza, there's a a German place just up the road that makes Schnitzel for your sake. Yep. Um there's wonderful things to do in Hayward. We're just a spot you might be able to lay your head or a stopping point on a side by side or pop in for uh for a drink and and see the place. Stop in, have one of Brian's famous smoked old fashioned. I do pride myself in taking time to make good old fashioned. So yes, that you do that.
SPEAKER_00So awesome. Well, hey, once again, you know, ladies and gentlemen, Callahan Lakeresort.com, or you can find them on Facebook, Instagram, uh, I heard Snapchat. Snapchat's coming, uh mostly Facebook and TikTok is uh also coming. And uh, like I said, once once the uh your website gets done, you'll be able to check out you know what's available during the year. Uh it's you know, we've always said it was a place so special that you wanted to keep it secret. Well, we really don't want to keep it secret per se. Not not per se. I have payments, you know, yeah, but you know, it and it's just one of those things I think that it's you know, you can bring your kids here at family.
SPEAKER_01100% more sharing. And again, you know, we we we pride ourselves on the fact that we've we've been a big family. This whole resort, all of the campers here literally are a big family. And they're if if something needs done, it's hey, you know, guess what, guys? We gotta go get that wire off that tree and do da da da da da da da da da da. And everybody's grabbing a ladder and grabbing a side by side, grabbing tools, uh turning this off, or or directing traffic or whatever the case may be. And that's kind of the mentality. And and we don't have enough of that in the world anymore. No, it's one of those scenarios where if you can't work together, it's an inconvenience. And and that's the rest of the world is all inconvenience now. So submerging yourself into what is essentially to start a family environment, uh, is great for kids, it's great for middle adults, whoever. Um, know that that's that's what we're trying to do. Again, we're not a bar and grill, we're not a uh a trendy uh what I want to say, cookie cutter resort, right? You roll in here and and and it's family. I mean, our kids grew up here, they were feral, they ran around, they did whatever they wanted, and other campers and and other adults watched over the kids. We do that today, yep, right? And even if you're just here for the week, there's some really good stories I'll tell on another podcast about our first couple weeks owning this place about how kids kids can be funny and kids can be honest and brutally honest at times. That's crazy, but just know that most of the places up here are all fine family centric, yeah. Uh, and that you can't go wrong, you really can't. And if you do, come tell me and we'll have words and we'll talk about it because that's that's not the what we're trying to promote.
SPEAKER_00And you know, and I'm glad you said that about like most of the places up here, because I think a lot of the places, you know, everybody has that story where you go into an establishment somewhere and the people are rude or whatever. I can safely say the places we've been up here, that's not the case. You're not a number, it's almost like they've known you forever. Yep, you know, they make you feel like you're part of that, even if you just stopped in for a drink.
SPEAKER_01If it's busy, you might have to take a number, but you're not a number, right?
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SPEAKER_00Correct. That's correct. We decided, you know, let's try go back now because some of these have warmed up more. Yep. And let's retry them again and just see if it's changed. Well, if we dump them out, it's alcohol abuse. Yeah, we'd feel bad, especially when they're barrel-aged. So do we want to start with okay? So going into this, what were your top three? So without a doubt, uh, we saved the best for last.
SPEAKER_01We we had the Mexican Imperial bourbon barrel style, and it was fantastic. I again, I think you said it's rye barrel. Or the rye barrel, sorry. The rye and the peppers give it such a unique uh flavor profile to start with. Uh, we got a little bit of the sweetness, a lot of cinnamon, but it went away. It wasn't lingering. It was to me, it was in that category for beer of the year. It was fantastic. The next, I I'm kind of torn. I really like the rye barrel imperial style, and we have some of that left. Unfortunately, you and I have drank all the Mexican Imperial style. Something happened and it leaked out. Yeah. The rye barrel gives it a unique flavor profile, which I said just a moment ago. And I'm interested to see on the base layer of that, because I got a feel that they built from that to the Mexican with the chilies and that kind of thing, or with the peppers. I want to go back to that. It was a little cold, it wasn't it wasn't too cold, but I'd like to go back to that and see if I still recognize that that flavor profile. Um, and then one of the jack pines for sure. Uh the peach brandy barrel was a fantastic beer. So for me, that's my number three. Um, and I'd like to see where it goes. It was a little cold. Yeah, those were a little colder. Um, but also, you know, I want to see if the raspberry mails out all of the broken clock beers, and kudos to broken clock, brewing cooperative. My goodness, that that was uh that was a four-pack of and and it wasn't a four-pack, but we put four barrel or four bottles in there, right? Uh we I I don't know if we could have picked better. I mean, seriously, that that was probably one of the best four packs of beers I've ever had.
SPEAKER_00You know, when I was looking at these and listening to your talk, I'm like, head and shoulders, the best one was the Mexican chocolate. That's the dead shoulder, by the way. Yeah, that was the best one. But I'm like, man, all four of the broken clock beers were amazing. But then I'm like, okay, how the peach barrel, the preach peach brandy barrel from Jack Pine was super good. It was super good. So I it's hard for me to narrow it down to just three because I'm like, do I put that above the the bourbon barrel broken clock, or do I put it above the rye barrel? Why I how does this go? You know, so those were kind of you know, and I and honestly, uh, I want to try retry the rum barrel now that it's warmed up too, just to see if the rum flavor comes out more.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, you and I are rum people, so that so that makes sense. Like, I'd like to get that rum always has that layered sugary taste, right? And a lot of people don't get it, and I don't know if it it's because I I've drank so much Picardi that it's ingrained in my head, but there is a sugary taste of rum. Oh, yeah, it's made from sugar cane, and it is what it is, but uh there's always a a specific, absolutely specific flavor profile with rum. And we didn't get it. And that that right that bothered me a little bit. Uh, but it was cold. It was a little colder than it should have been. Uh now that we've been open there and yapping, I think they're they're probably a little past that. But uh if it's a stout, it can be up to 55 degrees. It's fine. And we're in the northwoods, it's only neg four outside.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think we'll be okay. We're okay. Well, hey, let's grab one and and let's revisit one here. Uh, like you said, unfortunately, the Mexican chocolate sprung a leak and is gone. So terrible. Let's let's do the rum barrel. Let's try the rum first. Well, actually, you know what? Let's not go rum first.
SPEAKER_01Okay. This is the one we're hoping gets the best after. Well, let's let's go back to the raspberry.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Yeah, let's do that. And see if that melken climb a little bit the raspberry version of their midnight hour, and we'll see how that one because that one we had high, and it was a fantastic beer.
SPEAKER_01We were kind of hoping once it warmed up, the raspberry would I don't want to say mellow out, but it would spread. So that's more not just up front, but more spread into aftertaste and not be as a front.
SPEAKER_00I definitely can still smell the raspberry aroma. You can't, that ain't gonna change. It's kind of unchanged. I was gonna say that's real similar to what it was before.
SPEAKER_01It it lingers a little longer at the end. Yeah, it the raspberry hangs on. But it's not uh it's not abusive to your taste buds. You know what I mean? Some raspberry, I had a friend of mine tell me one time that raspberry drinks feel like when you drink them, if you look close in the store, they're hairy. It's like hairy things on your tongue. I thought that was weird, but I I get what he's saying, right? Right, yeah, they hang on and they won't let go. I don't know. I I think I'm saying I'm the same on that one.
SPEAKER_00I'm I'm staying with the same score on that one. Yeah, I can't. It was still still a good beer. Yes, yes. I was gonna say colder or warmer, it's it still tastes the same. So I think, yeah, we we nailed that one. I think so.
SPEAKER_01I think colder it would, I mean colder is colder. Yeah, uh, I think you lose some of the upfront fruit taste when it's colder, but you lose all the good part of the stout, right? So you it's a catch 22, exactly.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I think uh yeah, we'll just keep that one where we have a good. Do we want to just kind of go down the line here? Yeah, why not? All right, so this we've been redoing. I'm gonna I'm gonna rinse a glass because we're running out of our glasses. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We weren't prepared for the bonus coverage, but when we got done, we were like, wait a second. We overgot we overkicked our coverage, yeah. We totally forgot to give our wrap up, and then we were thinking, well, let's revisit some of these that because I do think the jackpine hopefully knock on wood, maybe warmed up enough to where you know it's gonna be a little bit because they were cold when we um when we tried it. Our outdoor fridges on the fritz, yeah, it totally was so. Here's the rye barrel. So I'm looking forward to this one too.
SPEAKER_01So this is my number two beer out of all of them that we had. And again, if you'd asked me a year and a half ago, two years ago, it would not have been. But I've warmed up and started to really love the essence of rye.
SPEAKER_00Boy, I get the rye up front. Like we were talking. I smell the rye. When you were talking about that earlier, I totally right off the the get-go, you get that rye. So smooth. It is smooth. It's really smooth.
SPEAKER_01Such a smooth beer. Now I get it for the Mexican chocolate. You have this Imperial style that's got a little peppery flavor, it's got that crispness like a pepper's got. And I say that meaning not hot, but uh even a green pepper, you taste it, it tastes like a pepper. It's that fine line between is this gonna get hot or is it not?
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01And it's and it's right there, that rye barrel. And and I I gave you some rye yesterday from uh a new a new distiller that we're carrying in the bar, and I and I love it. There's like this this like tri pepper, it's a good flavor, pepper flavor, and this is there, and then it just stopped.
SPEAKER_00I really wish that the Mexican chocolate one wouldn't have sprung a leak because it would have been interesting to taste them side by side. It wouldn't. This is but this is it. But this is the base for that, and I totally understand how that one got even improved better.
SPEAKER_01This this is a fantastic. If you if you and I don't I don't know if they make it anymore or what, and this gosh darn it, this is sprung a leak too.
SPEAKER_00Um if you go 11 o'clock, there's something wrong with your bottles and keep going empty too big a hole.
SPEAKER_01Um if you were gonna if you're a dark beer fan and you're trying rise, something in a rye barrel, this is I don't know to me. This is like the pinnacle of what it should taste like. I agree. 608 had a rye barrel one that was really up in your face, and they had another one with a lot of sediment and whatever that was good, but it was I don't know, it was more whiskey to me. This is a beautiful blend.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I agree with you. I I think score-wise, I'm gonna keep it where we had it. Yep, but we had scored it pretty good to begin with, and it and honestly, it's it's just it hasn't disappointed, even when it got a little warmer. This is still good. No, it's you know, and absolutely fantastic. Yeah, I have no complaints with that. All right, well, so we got two jack pines left. We oh yeah, we did the raspberry. We unless you wanted to do the bourbon barrel. Well, we'll save that one. We'll save that one. Let's do the peach brandy. We're not hurting, so we're gonna go with peach brandy because that one I'd like to see if the peach comes out more now that it's sat around, you know. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Now, what we talked about uh the broken clock series of beers were really light, yes, right? Jack pines. I'm gonna pour a little now.
SPEAKER_00It's black.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's not even the color, but it comes out, it looks like oil, it comes out as a slurry, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's like oil, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So the viscosity is uh no, this is 1040 versus your synthetic. Oh yeah, but it's it's such a thicker beer, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Very much so. And I I get about the same aroma where again you get that peach kind of that undertones of peach.
SPEAKER_01Actually, the peach to me, or the smell has mellowed a little bit now that it's warmer.
SPEAKER_00That's way smoother. We may need to look at changing the score on that one. That is really good. That is good.
SPEAKER_01The peach mellowed way out. Now I'm can now I'm I'm I'm beer fused. Uh do you drink it colder? Oh, sorry. I I didn't let you finish. That was a terrible start to a question. Uh if you drink it colder, you get more peach. If you drink it warmer, it mellows, and that peach spreads itself, the taste, across the full, you know, start body aftertaste. I think throw it in a pint glass and enjoy it all. But this is way better than it was.
SPEAKER_00I gave it a 3.8. Yeah, no, that's this is that's going on.
SPEAKER_01What did I give it? A 3.9 or a four? Yes. You give it a three nine. Yeah, that's a four or four one.
SPEAKER_00This is a four-one, I think. When it's warm, warmer at the like the perfect temperature here. Unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01We gotta be on that, we gotta be above 55 degrees because it says 45 to 55. So my guess is they want a little more of the peach up front. And if anybody from Jack Pine's listening, then or gets tagged or whatever, let us know.
SPEAKER_00Nominate this for beer of the year or not. I mean, it's kind of I don't know. I'm it's close. That's what I'm trying to figure out. I mean, initially I didn't even consider it, but when it's warmer here now, it's a little bit more than a little bit. It was just like a fruity dark beer. It's like, hmm. Yeah, yeah. Right. Boy, that's uh I I'm I think I'm gonna not nominate it. I'm not I'm not either just because it's you know gosh, it's so close. But here's beer of the year needs to be unbelievably yes that Mexican compared this to the Mexican chocolate.
SPEAKER_01No, the Mexican chocolate chocolate was good, cold, good warm, good whatever.
SPEAKER_00That was in a class by itself.
SPEAKER_01Uh but I give credit to Jack Pines. Oh 45 to 55 degrees, right? When we cracked it, um I'm guessing 38, 39, 40 degrees. We were on the cold side.
SPEAKER_00Well, it was only minus 14 when we stuck it in the snow bowl.
SPEAKER_01But when it talks about there's a myriad of flavors, there's no question. There's no this is good. This and brandy in and of itself is wine made into brandy, and then they barrel it and blah blah blah, and then you're adding peach to it. There's a lot of oddities in there. Yeah. No, I think I'd have to nominate it for beer in the category. One of the top ten anyway. Yeah, we'll add it.
SPEAKER_00Because, like I said, it's fantastic. When it's warmer here, oh my gosh. I mean, it was it's a whole different beer. A whole different beer. Oh, I hope that rum barrel is like that too. You know, you're jinxing it. You're jinxing it. I probably jinxed it. Um, this is good. Jack fine is like wow. Kudos for ticking peach from Georgia and making it into a dark beer. That well, like we had said, I this is the only peach brandy barrel beer I've ever had. Well, no, I think the only ones we've ever had are apple brandy beer. We've had apple brandy, but not peach.
SPEAKER_01And it's a very delicious twist on things. Well, one of the ones I have downstairs that my wife ordered is that shiner Christmas ale or whatever it is, and that's got pecans and peach in it. Correct. Yes, and it's okay. You're not gonna drink four of them. No, you can have one and then go to swill or have an old-fashioned or whatever, or or preferably have an old-fashioned at my bar and then wash. And then, yes, there you go. But it's very upfront in your face, and I've never had one of those warmer, so I don't know. No, I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_00It's an ale, but nails are a little different than the man beers.
SPEAKER_01Now we're into the description, right? So, again, when I say absolutely beer of the year, a full-bodied beer loaded with dark chocolate and roast notes provides a sturdy base. Now I've got that. Yeah, right. I didn't have that before, right? And then now with the fruit brandy, now I've got that. So the description now matches the beer.
SPEAKER_00And you know, ladies and gentlemen, that that's one of those things where and I know Jim and I have talked about it, and Brian and I have talked about it, you know, with these bourbon barrel age stouts and such, any stout, really, it's that you know, 50 to 55 kind of, you know, that's where it where when it gets to those temperatures, more flavors come out. Yep, you know, you hide certain things, yeah, because cold hides stuff, and you know, your IPA is not there, you typically drink those colder. Yep.
SPEAKER_01And if you're and if you're a brewer, again, wear it on your sleeve.
SPEAKER_00I want this beer to taste like this, and you should provide that instruction. Yep, and we've talked about that. Jim's talked about it a lot too, where he we wish more breweries would put the temperature that you should drink them at on the cans because that is where you they're gonna shine.
SPEAKER_01But not only that, but that also affects how you buy it, right? So if you know, hey, I want some cold beers for a hot day, I'm not gonna go into the the peach brandy barrel section to get right for 55 degrees on a 90 degree day. I'm gonna go over to the IPA section or the uh sour section. Pyrus beer brewing.
SPEAKER_00I think it's Pyrus. Oh, in last week's episode, we just had their 2025 moon man from Pyrus.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so I didn't I didn't listen last week. I I I should have, but I'm I'm a I'm a terrible follower. So yeah, I I didn't I didn't get there, I didn't get there and listen to that, but the the the pyrus I know always have the temperature, but they also have a flavor profile. Yes, and it's this weird, I forget what kind of diagram it is. I'm an engineer, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's some kind of it's yeah, it's an amoeba.
SPEAKER_01It's some sort of a thing that yeah, it's a strange circle, and you put the profile there and it stretches and does all this and that anyway. Uh and I always appreciate that. Yep, because if I'm gonna buy the beer and it says strong on the raspberry and strawberry and rhubarb, but less on this, then I'm like, maybe I don't want that. Right. So coop, well, but kudos to that one's fantastic. That one lived up to what we hoped to the second time around.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yep. So yeah, we've we uh you know that like I said, we always w would like a brewery to say what temperature you should drink it at because they should hopefully know this is when it's gonna be the best.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, and we we believe, yeah, you and I believe, and your brother included, and I know that's hard for you to say because it's your brother, they're artists, right? Yes, they have a vision for what they want things to taste like. I love to cook, and there's a thing that I like to do. If there's something that I like to do and I want it to taste a certain way, then I make it a certain way. Yep, and people need to know that this is what it's supposed to be. This is what it's supposed to be, you know, and yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_00So we have one left. All right, let's go back to the rum barrel. I'm hoping this is even better. Yeah, I didn't get the pirate hat out. I thought about dirty scum arr. So remember, if you drink before noon, you're not an alcoholic. You're not a you're a pirate.
SPEAKER_01Um this is again, how many we've had? Four, five, six dark beers, seven dark beers today. This is by far the darkest one. And it smells a little a little more bougie. A little bougier, yeah. I shouldn't say bougie, boozy. Oh, boozy, yeah. No, no bougie. I I have my pinky up, but not that. Well, that's different. It's different, but it uh it's kind of the same, it's kind of the same profile. Yeah, it's similar to when it was cool. I think this is a dark rum.
SPEAKER_00It has to be. It has to be.
SPEAKER_01Uh not because of the color of the beer, but just because of the it's got the when you swirl it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Look at the the legs on the glass. Oh, I know. And it's only nine four. That's what's weird. It's because the higher ABV ones, it didn't do that.
SPEAKER_01Well, broken clock broke the mold social media. And believe in that, right? Uh I don't know how many, how many, how many years ago. Your brother's going, Oh yeah, swirl it and it climbs the glass, it's higher alcohol and whatnot. And uh the broken clock is like it like the seltters or the the sours we had that same day were worse. Um the flavor flavor profile has not changed on this.
SPEAKER_00No, it just got warmer. It's still good, but it's I'm not I'm gonna say where we were at for score.
SPEAKER_01I'm not yeah, that doesn't get a bump, unfortunately, but I had high hopes for it because I I am a rum guy. Um I think it's a dark rum, so all the flavors up front and it and it's uh and I'm just guessing, I don't know. I don't know. Baxter, Minnesota doesn't have a whole lot of a whole lot of rum kegs falling off of pirate ships and whatever, but they I thought they had a lot of uh sugarcane fields. Yeah, yeah. Oh, absolutely. It's tropical up there. Tropical. Um about three days out of the year. It's got that dark sugar texture to it, not like a molasses if you think of some of those uh really thick beers, but yeah, it's still good, it's still a good beer. None of these beers we've had today are oh no.
SPEAKER_00I would recommend them to anybody.
SPEAKER_01The sour, the sour and limited group, you know, but uh and well, and the rest of them to a limited group, too.
SPEAKER_00But well, we added those to get to 6,000. So I'm sorry. Yeah, sorry, that was the inside thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I didn't have any extra dark one, but I'm sorry. It's still a good beer. Yeah, yeah. You know, I'm not gonna give it, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna poo-poo on it because it's doesn't it didn't live up to what I hope was a rum beer.
SPEAKER_00There's definitely still a great beer. Yeah, it's still a good beer. Like I said, I just I really wish that it had a little bit more of a rum flavor, so to speak.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. No, no, I'm with you. It needs that that deep sugar molasses type salad. And again, that's why I say it's dark rum, because I get a I call it armpit sweet. So, but I also call uh uh cumin armpit spice, right? Right. So there's a sp there's a spiciness to it that reminds me of the uh the unfiltered dark rum you get in the islands, right? Yeah, so jackfruit or whatever the hell it is that's in there, and I get that I get that feeling from I get that taste from it. So I think I think that's why it's not as sweet as your Bacardi or whatever, your white rums, uh coconut rums and whatnot. But it's still a fantastic beer. And if you like that flavor profile or if that where you want to go uh in a taste profile, it's it's good. It's still I would still recommend you try it. If there's a four-pack of Jack Pine and one of them's the brandy barrel, and one of them's the or the peach brandy barrel, and one of them's the rum barrel, you should try it.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Because it might be in your wheelhouse.
SPEAKER_00So, Brian, another thing that I just thought about is this is the last episode of the Northwoods Beer Guy for season three. Or 2026 or 2025. Or 2025. So this is the last episode of 2025 for season our season three. We will be back to start season four. But I just wanted to make sure people knew that as I just thought about that, I was like, wait a second. And and hey, we hope everybody had a very merry Christmas. Yep. You know, hopefully, hopefully Santa was good to you. Nobody was on the naughty list. I know our listeners are on the nice list. Yeah, you and I everyone's on the fence, except for Jim. Jim's on the naughty list. Yeah, no, yeah. You and I we we tiptoe, you know, kind of on that edge of the knife thing. We're masters of the fence. Yeah. As long as Santa didn't talk to our wives, we're on the nice list. So and even if they did, that's a lie. Yeah. Yeah. We just want to put that out there right now. So yeah, I think revisiting these, Brian, the only one that honestly moved the peach brandy barrel, I think moved up. Yeah, we think we'll put that on the beer of the year possibility.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that that was one of them that that unfortunately for our sake, we didn't uh give it due justice. Right. And make sure. And I do have the laser probe. I should have gotten it out and checked.
SPEAKER_00Well, I have one too, and I left it at home. But got a bourbon that you've never had. Very close by.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, so we could try it. So we're not the bourbon bar podcast.
SPEAKER_00This isn't the Northwoods bourbon guy, but we're gonna we're gonna step aside.
SPEAKER_01It's a bonus, so why don't we do this?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. And you know, that's really one of those things that I've mentioned it before. I love bourbon barrel beers and all that, and I really have started to get into bourbon, you know, more. Uh, my spirit of choice has always been rum. And when my wife and I have gone on a number of cruises, and every time we go on a cruise to a new island, I'll make sure to get a barrel or a bottle of rum from that island because they taste so different from each other, you know. And then and you've been to my house a number of times.
SPEAKER_01Douglas Mike, he shares them all with me.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, he comes over and I crack those open, then we end up cracking bourbon over open later on the Casey Jones tour, and oh yeah, and it's cat's mad at me, and everything else. We've learned the cat doesn't like the smell of bourbon, so that's good. But rum, I really enjoy trying rums from the islands and such. And uh I've learned that there are rums that you just sip on, you don't mix them. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01And it's kind of like tequila. If you get into heavy tequilas, they're they're kind of the I'm gonna call it the south of the border uh bourbons. Yep, right? They're agave and blue agave and how they mix it and what water, and yada yada yada. And and uh Sammy Hagar did a good job when he when he bought what he bought. I have been there to Cabo Wabo. So that's you know, everybody's got their niche, and and tequila's got it, rum's got it. Yep. Uh some of those coconut water rum, the the dark the light ones. I like the light ones better than the dark ones. So as I looked over there, I've got um a tatter saw, which I believe is out of the Black River Falls, Wisconsin, bottled in Wisconsin, distilled in Minnesota. It can't be in Black River unless two different places, but yes, okay. Um, this particular one is uh Minnesota weeded bottled and bond. So this is 55 corn, 35 wheat, 10 barley, and then uh uh number four char 53 gallon American white oak, six plus years.
SPEAKER_00So this is a weeded bourbon, it's very dark. I mean, it's for bourbon, it's a dark for six years.
SPEAKER_01That's very nice flavor, very nice color. If you think of a red beer, yeah, killing's red, that's the color of this bourbon. Yes, but it's a weeded bourbon, so it's a little different. Yep, they've the six years a little harder to get. It's not terrible, but it's it's a little harder to get. But it's kind of their sweet spot. So I've started to become this. I'm not gonna say a bourbon snob, but I like to try the different ones. Oh, that smells good. It's a different, it's a different smell, it's a different taste profile than your regular six-year bourbon. Right. Uh the weeded, anybody that's out there that's have a that's had a um uh a wheat beer or uh or a hefweisen. The smell is a sweeter version of that of that wheat profile. The aftertaste is a little grainy like that, but but it's a six-year bourbon, so it's not super complex, but it's it's a really good one from Tattersol.
SPEAKER_00So uh Brian, I'm not sure how to say this, but you better hide that bottle because it might be making a trip south with me.
SPEAKER_01These this is so Tattersaw is a Wisconsin product, and I like it. That's good. Uh, even though I'm recently uh now you're yeah, now you're in Wisconsin, yeah. Uh they they really do they make a Berkey whisk whiskey, which is cured in maple syrup barrels, which believe it or not, I put in hot chocolate and it's really good. Really? Uh and they make a good old-fashioned, but anyway, this this is a different one. It's a weeded bourbon. Weeded bourbons are a different deal, right? It's not your standard bourbon.
SPEAKER_00So, for for the listeners, what does weeded mean? My understanding is they finish it more on wheat.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so there's more wheat, whatever else. Okay, it's it's X amount of corn, so it's still bourbon. But there's more weed in it, it's weeded, so I think it's a Minnesota wheat finished. Okay, that's my understanding. It's still River Falls, Wisconsin. Tattersol has a couple other couple other whiskey slash bourbon products that I really like. They also make vodka and whatever else. So kudos to Tattersall. This is a good one. That is a very good, it makes a great old-fashioned man.
SPEAKER_00That is that is probably one of the best weeded bourbons I've ever had. It is a that's good.
SPEAKER_01It is a really good one. And uh in a later episode, I will give credit to the distributor that pointed me in this direction. Let's put it that way. The tattersal and themselves, I know that there's a a bar in winter, Wisconsin, that carries pretty much tatters, everything. Vodka, all their real drinks are tettersol.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, I know in Illinois and Minnesota people know of tatters all, right? So they've they've had it. This one is an odd, not an oddity, but a weeded bourbon is different. And this one, again, weeded and rye also give that kind of peppery flavor. Yep. This is kind of a blend of the both of them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, this is really good. I'm impressed. May you have to look for a bottle of that because that is really good. So anyway, a little bit of curdball in there. Yeah. Well, we felt bad because we didn't give our our uh top threes. That's true. That's true. So then we well, we can't just do a two-minute thing, and and I'm glad we tried the retried the peach.
SPEAKER_01So so after we've revisited, Mike, what are your top three?
SPEAKER_00Oh boy.
SPEAKER_01Well, number number one is what I just gave.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, number one, of course, is the the Mexican chocolate. I 100%. 100%. Two, I'm honestly, I'm still struggling between the rye midnight hour and the peach brandy. I mean, I think those are are like neck and neck. Honestly, six and a half dozen. Yeah, I think they're almost a tie for number two, and that's my top three. I mean, it's the peach one totally shocked me the second time around. When it warmed up, it was a totally not a different beer per se, but unbelievably better beer, you know.
SPEAKER_01Agreed.
SPEAKER_00And so I think that jumped it up. That might almost be my number two, and then the the rye is a close two A or two B. Two A, two B, you know. So yeah, that's that's where I put it.
SPEAKER_01I'm in a in a hundred percent agreement with the Mexican chocolate style. That on the rye base was fascinating. That was that was by far the best. It's also a a mixing of rye's already got that little bit of an the edge of the pepper, right? Like I and it's hard to describe if you if you've had as many peppers as I have green peppers, garden peppers, gardenia pepper, and whatever. Yeah, it's that crispness, yep, that uh that a raw pepper, and it doesn't matter whether it's a jalapeno or a uh green pepper or a garden pepper or whatever, there's that crisp and that taste right away. It's there in that one, and then they threw the Mexican stuff on top of it, right? It was it was fantastic. Yeah, uh the rye to me is a is a great beer, but once that uh peach one warmed up, it spread that profile through the whole sip or through through the beer. Yeah, and then it made me want more. It was before it was like, well, I could pick out you could draw a line over the three seconds it hit your tongue, and you could draw a line. Well, here's the peach, and here's this, and here's that. And then after it warmed up, it was all together and that 100% my number two. Then uh the three is the rye, but the margins are very very close. 2A, 2B.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, I mean it's it it depends on what you're looking for, but yeah, they were amazing. Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, awesome. Well, hey, Brian, thanks for sticking around. But we had to revisit some of this stuff, and I didn't know about this whole what was the name of the bourbon? Tattersol. Tattersal, that is very good.
SPEAKER_01They have they have more than just uh bourbon and whiskey, they had a lot of stuff. And and if you want the Berkey, and it's called whiskey W I hyphen SK S K I okay. It's it's named after the the Berkey uh that's up here, and and again, that's um it's a worldwide event, actually. Yes, uh cross country skiing. Uh it's their whiskey aged in maple syrup barrels. Oh, nice, and it's sweet and it's wholesome and it's full-bodied, and it's fantastic an old-fashioned and or uh hot chocolate. Uh, I give them props for supporting local here, but also for blending a great whiskey.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, little bonus, little bonus. Well, we'll see, you know, if we're able to make it up for the Berkey this year, maybe we can uh the four of us can go into town and we can do a little uh on location type thing and talk about whatever and and check out the Berkey. I've never like I said, we've talked about it for years, last two or three years. They haven't last year they did it. The year before was was it a shorter thing because the snow was so bad?
SPEAKER_01Put it the bridge or nothing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and uh and the before that they had to cancel it because the weather was so bad. But the way this winter's starting out, they should be able to have it.
SPEAKER_01They should have it right now on the way out of them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is for sure. Yeah, Brian, we will definitely be back. We've got I got some ideas from other stuff that you and I can try that I think are a little more on our wavelength, so to speak. And uh yeah, so we'll be back. And ladies and gentlemen, thanks for listening. And like we always say, we hope your campfire is always warm. And the beer is always cold, especially at Callahan Lake Resort.com. 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.
