The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast
We love craft beer! Each week we will taste a number of beers from around the country and give you our thoughts, not only will we talk about the flavor, but also the artwork and anything else that comes to mind.
We will also go on location and visit breweries and try a number of their offerings and give you our thoughts as well.
Come sit around the campfire and join in on the fun!
Episodes
173 episodes
Ep 173 - Tasting 3 Sheeps Barrel Society Stouts With Real Flavor
The quickest way to learn what you actually like is to drink outside your comfort zone, and we prove it with a table full of 3 Sheeps Barrel Society barrel-aged beers. We pour a tight lineup of imperial stouts and an imperial milk stout, then h...
Ep 172 - The Great IPA Taste Test
Seven IPAs hit the table and we do not protect anyone’s feelings, especially our own. Mike brings the Northwoods Beer Guy scoring brain, Jim brings the skepticism, Matt brings the blunt honesty, and Kate joins us as a self-proclaimed IPA lover ...
Ep 171 - Six Beers Before The Fourth
A salty lime lager that promises habanero heat. An orange ale that smells like fresh juice. A vanilla porter that stays smooth instead of burnt. Then we crank up the ABV with an imperial stout, a pastry stout that drinks like hot chocolate, and...
Ep 170 - Are Modern IPAs Still About Hops
An IPA episode that starts with skepticism and ends with us genuinely impressed. We line up six different India pale ales and do a true side-by-side IPA tasting, the kind that exposes what labels and marketing blur: some IPAs are hop-forward an...
Ep 169 - A Beginner-Friendly Craft Beer Flight Under 6% ABV
You don’t need a 9% hazy IPA or a syrupy stout to have a great craft beer night. We grab a lineup of lighter, session-friendly beers and put them through the simplest test that matters: do they taste good, and would we actually drink more than ...
Ep 168 - Scotch Ale And Barleywine Tasting With Big Surprises
7.5% turns into 13.8% faster than you think when we line up Scotch ale and barleywine on the same table. We’re back in the studio with Jim and special backup drinker Toby, because this tasting is stacked with higher ABV bottles and cans, plus a...
Ep 167 - Seven Drinks In The Pines With Ratings
Seven drinks, two guests, and a quiet Northwoods backdrop that makes every pour feel like it’s happening around a campfire. We’re joined by my brother Brian (our resident “mad scientist” brewer) and Larry as we work through a mixed flight that’...
Ep 166 - What Happens When You Taste Without Labels
A blueberry beer that tastes like raspberry. A lager brewed with jalapeno, habanero, and Carolina Reaper that somehow stays drinkable. And a homemade trophy that literally has a breathalyzer attached to it. Mike flies solo to recap our Memorial...
Ep 165 - Memorial Day Ready Craft Beers Rated By Two Friends
Cloudy skies, a long weekend, and a fridge full of “not our usual styles” sets the stage for a Memorial Day ready craft beer tasting that goes from crisp to chaotic. We’re chasing lighter, easy-drinking summer beer that still tastes like someth...
Ep 164 - Carbliss Malt Cocktails Taste Test
One convenience store stop turned into a full-on summer drink showdown. I’m Mike, and Suzy is back at the mic with me as we crack open four brand-new Carbliss malt beverages in the big 19.2 oz cans and find out whether “zero sugar” can still ta...
Ep 163 - Do Stouts Need Barrels To Be Great
Six stouts. Zero barrels. One big question: can a stout still hit hard on flavor when you take bourbon, rum, and oak out of the equation? Mike and Jim line up a full flight of non barrel aged stouts, starting with a nitro Scottish stout that de...
Ep 162 - VIP Beer Tasting Notes From La Crosse's Beverages And Bites Fest
They took a festival that ran for decades under one name and hit reset. We head to La Crosse's newly branded Beverages and Bites Fest (formerly Between the Bluffs Beer, Wine and Cheese Fest) with our usual mission: get into VIP early, talk to t...
Ep 161 - Blueberries Rum Barrels And One Bat Problem
Six Russian Imperial stouts. Double-digit ABV across the board. And one simple question: can a huge, dark beer still feel balanced instead of boozy, bitter, or flat? We put that to the test with a Minneapolis-heavy lineup, including multiple Su...
Ep 160 - Six Imported Beers And The Surprising One We’d Actually Drink
Imported beer has a certain promise baked into it: old recipes, proud traditions, maybe a flavor you can’t get at home. Then we grabbed a build-your-own six-pack from the imported shelf and learned a humbling lesson. With Jim riding shotgun and...
Ep 159 - Lager Reality Check
Most lagers promise the same thing: crisp, clean, crushable. So we decided to test that promise the only way that matters, by lining up six different craft lagers in one sitting and tasting them side by side. We build our own six-pack haul from...
Ep 158 - We Taste Six Pilsners And Rank The Surprises
Six pilsners should be predictable, right? We thought we were about to drink six cans of the same crisp lager and politely nod our way through it. Instead, we got a full spread of flavors, finishes, and surprises that made us rethink what a cra...
Ep 157 - Berry Seltzer Showdown
A berry label can mean anything from “tastes like fruit” to “tastes like carbonated regret” and we put that to the test with a full lineup of hard seltzers and canned cocktails. Cal is back with me to taste and score six berry-driven drinks, st...
Ep 156 - Pineapple Canned Cocktails Taste Test
Pineapple in a can can be either the perfect summer shortcut or a one-sip regret, so we put it to a real-world test. Mike is battling a cold, Callie is back in the Northwoods after her Missouri chapter, and we line up six ready-to-drink canned ...
Ep 155 - Battle Of The Barrels: Eight Heavy Hitters Go Head To Head
Eight heavy hitters. One long table. We lined up barrel-aged stouts from Central Waters, Epic, Founders, Surly, Dragon’s Milk, Destihl, Goose Island, and 3 Sheeps, then chased down the truth about single barrel vs blends, French oak finishes, a...
Ep 154 - We Taste Eight Fifth Ward Beers And Rank The Standouts
A suitcase of pint cans, a head full of Oshkosh history, and a guest who knows his bourbon—this tasting tour of Fifth Ward Brewing turned into a masterclass in balance and variety. We invited our friend John to the studio after his trip to Oshk...
Ep 153 - How A Bahamas Brewery Survived, Innovated, And Won Fans
A sun‑soaked taproom in Nassau, a flight that stretches from bright shandy to bold porter, and a brewer with a story that won’t quit. We drop anchor at Rip Tyd Brewing to taste through a lineup crafted by Christine, the co‑founder who turned a ...
Ep 152- From Sheboygan To Rochester: Chasing Big Barrel-Aged Beers And Honest Scores
A can that drinks like a cellar whale, a pastry porter that reads like a dessert menu, and a vanilla-forward barleywine that raises a simple question: at what point does “more” become “too much”? We pulled up five heavy hitters, welcomed two fr...
Ep 151 - Pirate-Themed Pints, Local Finds
A pirate theme, a cooler of local cans, and a fresh palate in the room—this tasting sails straight into what makes craft beer fun. We crack open seven Skeleton Crew Brew beers from Onalaska, Wisconsin and put them through our no-nonsense scorin...
Ep 150 - From Flannel Browns To Winter Whites: A Candid Craft Beer Review
Ever crack a winter beer that promises cinnamon, nutmeg, orange peel, and coffee… then wonder where the flavor went? We lined up eight seasonal cans—four Lift Bridge Fireside Flannel variants and four from the Sam Adams Winter Break pack—to sep...
Ep 149 - Two Podcasters Walk Into A Missouri Brewery And Learn Why Color, Style, And ABV Aren’t What You Think
A quick detour turned into a full-on craft beer adventure at Crossroads Brewery in O’Fallon, Missouri. We teamed up with Spencer from Maybe An Interview to taste through two flights that covered the spectrum: an easygoing American Pale Al...