The Brewery Adventure

All I Want for Beermas

• Courtney • Season 1 • Episode 23

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’Tis the season for cozy pours and craft beer presents! This adventure took us through a few favorite breweries and a brand new craft cocktail lounge on Black Friday.

Plus, we’ve rounded up the ultimate gifts for the craft beer lover in your life and don’t miss our Twelve Days of Beermas, our top picks of dark, cozy beers guaranteed to keep you warm this winter.

Grab your mittens and your pint glass and join us for some festive fun!

EPISODE BEERS (from Trove Brewing):
Both: The Fathoms, Milk Stout

LINKS:

 

Visit our website at https://thebreweryadventure.com or contact us by sending an email to courtney@thebreweryadventure.com.

Be sure to subscribe to our Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thebreweryadventure!

SPEAKER_03:

Twas the night before beer mist and all through the house not a creature was stirring because they were drinking stout. Follow me for more portrait.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the Brewery Adventure. I'm Courtney.

SPEAKER_03:

And I'm Dan. We're here to dive into the world of your local brewery.

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It's not just about the beer, it's about the vibe, the people, and the stories behind every tap room.

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From small neighborhood spots to big bustling brew houses, we'll bring you along for the ride. So grab a pint and join us on the brewery adventure. Cheers.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey, that was pretty smooth.

SPEAKER_03:

If by smooth you're talking about this stout, you are correct.

SPEAKER_02:

I would be correct. I didn't bonk the table either.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I couldn't resist. I had to go straight from clink to mouth.

SPEAKER_02:

I've never seen you not bonk the table.

SPEAKER_03:

It's always tradition.

SPEAKER_02:

It is tradition. Kind of sorta. So we are back at Trove in Burnsville for the second recording in a row because this is where we are. That's right.

SPEAKER_03:

It's your Sunday spot.

SPEAKER_02:

We're recording this on a Sunday, so exactly.

SPEAKER_03:

We had to we had to be here.

SPEAKER_02:

You met me where I am.

SPEAKER_03:

I did. Thanks for that, Dan. Yes, no problem.

SPEAKER_02:

And that does mean that we are drinking the Fathoms, the milk stout that they just put on tap, I believe, last week. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

He said they just tapped it. Yeah. Fresh, fresh. And I've never had this one before. It's good.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I thought I'd never had it either until you told me I had two spots of it on on tap.

SPEAKER_03:

And then I saw your two enthusiastic untapped ratings.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It was funny the other day when we were hanging out. Where were we? Where you were like having much consternation about rating a beer somewhere in the threes, and I thought you were going to have some sort of uh It was at St.

SPEAKER_00:

Paul Brewing.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh yeah, you were having an extra existential crisis. I was. Kind of sort of. Because you rate on the higher side, and that's okay.

SPEAKER_02:

I really didn't.

SPEAKER_03:

Your face right now is really funny.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, we've gone we've gone the last few weeks over to St. Paul Brewing because they've been doing Porter Fest.

SPEAKER_03:

That's right.

SPEAKER_02:

So every week they've released a different flavored porter, and they've they've been really good. Except I didn't particularly care for this week's option, which was a cheesecake.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh a cherry cheesecake. Cherry cheesecake. Dreamline.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. Which surprisingly, when I would I did have to sit there and stare at my untapped for quite some time trying to figure out what I was gonna do with that.

SPEAKER_03:

It was like 17 minutes of awkward silence, and Courtney didn't say a word. She was just like It was like that open one of the opening scenes in planes, trains, and automobiles when Steve Martin is in that they're in that meeting, and his boss is in a desk up elevated, and he's looking at three different ad proposals, and he's just like, hmm, hmm. And there he's like, I gotta go. I gotta go. I have to make my flight. And then and then right after that, there's a Kevin Bacon cameo. Yeah. That's really crazy. I just that that is fresh in my head.

SPEAKER_02:

I just watched it last week.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. That's one of my yearly traditions. I watch it every year on Thanksgiving night.

SPEAKER_01:

On Thanksgiving night.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Because it's a Thanksgiving movie.

SPEAKER_01:

It is.

SPEAKER_03:

And then last night I watched I Like Me, the John Candy documentary. Oh. And cried like a baby. I haven't watched it yet because of it. It's so heartfelt. And just so tragic and kind of sad. Because he was only 43 when he died. Oh. Which is really like too young for really anybody. But we've outlived him. Yeah, we have. That's really crazy. Yeah. So, but yeah, that's uh yeah. You were you were channeling um Steve Martin's boss and planes, trains, and automobiles as you were trying to log in your untapped. We we got there eventually.

SPEAKER_02:

We got there. I I mean the other ones that we've had have been so good, and that one for some reason just had a very artificial flavored feeling taste to it that I didn't I didn't really want to drink it. Yeah. And I felt really, really bad.

SPEAKER_03:

They can't. I mean, not everybody's gonna like every beer. That's okay.

SPEAKER_02:

This is true, but it it's just not often that I don't like a beer.

SPEAKER_03:

I was a little worried about that. I was like, we need to do a trust fall. Do we need to do something? But we're kind of putting the cart before the horse because we're gonna talk about Porterfest in its entirety a little bit later in the show. First, talk about Black Friday.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

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The fun we had at Bad Weather.

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Bad weather.

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Bad weather in St. Paul, Minnesota. Great place to go if you're a Minnesota wild hockey fan because they do a shuttle to and from the game that also makes it crowded on game days, which is kind of fun.

SPEAKER_02:

I was concerned.

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A lot of energy. But they always do a really fun release on Black Friday of their Calamity, which is their barrel-aged Imperial stout that they usually put in some kind of really fun barrel. I know many, many times they've done Jake Harver Spirits Barrel of some kind, but they were doing like a specific flight for Black Friday. So it was the barrel-aged calamity, old-fashioned ominous. What was the why am I drawing a blank?

SPEAKER_02:

Dude number nine.

SPEAKER_03:

Dude number nine, which was a breakfast stout clocking in at 14.2%. And then was it Winter's Night? Winter's Night. Which was a an old ale inoculated with Britanamyces.

SPEAKER_02:

Your favorite?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, my favorite. That's uh I do like spontaneously fermented beers. Britanamyces is one that's it's a little jarring to my palate, but I know a lot of people love it. So though that was like the preset flight. But you could also mix and match because you did not get you didn't get the due date. You got the peanut butter.

SPEAKER_02:

I looked, I was looking at the list and I'm like, I'm not gonna get the due date number nine. It has the 14.2 ABV. I'll be I'll be fine not including that in my flight. But then I went and tossed the calamity in, and that was 13.7, so it's not like there was a big difference. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that was fun. Bad weather is so good. I mean, there's really never a bad time of year to go to bad weather because they have so many good beers on tap always, but they're I think their winter beers are really nice. They have just a nice variety. Omnus is so good, it's just like a very satisfying like double brown ale. When Calamity's on tap, that's a good that's a good beer to drink when it's like really cold out because it just kind of warms you up. The nice thing about getting that flight is like if you're especially if you're there with a friend or somebody to talk with, and you kind of like the beers will get warmer quicker, and that really releases a lot of the different uh more subtle flavors and aromatics in a in a big dark beer, which I really enjoy.

SPEAKER_02:

And they're sipper beers.

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They are sipper beers. Yeah, these are not these are not ones to shotgun.

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You're not knocking them back.

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If you do, you're gonna wind up staying the night on your far stool. So bring your CPAP if that's your plan.

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But it was a it was a fun contrast because we've been there, I'd been there with you a couple times in the summer where it was very much summer vibes and summer beer.

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Get your get your different lagers, you know, their Italian pills, their regular pills, all sorts of good stuff. Well, I did have one one lighter beer. It was a Czech pale lager called Lijac 12. I think Lijac 12 degree, or was it 12 or 10? No, I'm mismere. I might be misremembering my numbers. I'm not a mathematician, so that's okay. But that was a really good opener to have just to kind of like I ran into my French there, and I'm like, yeah, this is this is like dipping your toe in the pool before you go in with the 14% or big beers. So it was really good. Very bready, very floral. I really liked it. So they they have such a talented team of brewers there, and they all do such great work. So I I love bad weather. So I was happy. I mean, there were like a bazillion different Black Friday events we could have gone to. So I felt like that was kind of like the best of both worlds because it wasn't super duper crowded. We went during the game, which is a pro tip. If there is a wild game, go during the game, and then it's you can easily find a seat at the bar. But yeah, what was your favorite of the of the beers you had on your flight?

SPEAKER_02:

We're gonna talk about that beer during a few years. Oh yeah, now I'm putting the cart before the horse.

SPEAKER_03:

We should just rename this putting the cart before the horse podcast.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep, I think that might just be the name of it. I did have the the Lizak in my flight. I put that in instead of the flight. That was the surprise beer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

You love to put the put the pressure on the bartender to be like, pick, pick one for me.

SPEAKER_02:

But she did a great job. She did. That was kind of a nice, a nice opener. Yep, yep. And the other thing I will say about bad weather, I really like their beer artwork. So every beer style, every beer that they have has really gorgeous artwork that goes with it.

SPEAKER_03:

And the taproom mural is just so cool. It's really, I love that place. That place is a good always a good go-to, never disappointed. That's one of the places where I will recommend if somebody's visiting, like especially if they're staying in St. Paul, make sure you go to bad weather.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03:

And then you can go anywhere else. But just like go to bad weather. Because most people, if they're visiting or they they kind of they've heard of the popular breweries, they're probably going to Barrel Theory, they're probably going to Black Stack, they might be going to Summit. Bad weather probably doesn't. I don't know if it has a regional regional reputation or not, but it should because they're their beers are very good.

SPEAKER_02:

They're great. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03:

And after bad weather, then we needed some food because you were like, I haven't eaten lunch yet. I'm like, uh oh. Before breakfast, I had no food. We better go find some sustenance. We went to the Nook, an old school St. Paul institution right across the street from Crete and Durham Hall. Actually, on the exterior of the building, there's a brick that marks the distance of a Joe Maurer home run ball. Seriously? Yeah. Yeah. It was dark, so I didn't point it out, but uh we'll go sometime during the daytime. Yeah, but that's a that's a really cool place. I think their burgers are really good. I will go out on a limb and say I think they have the best juicy Lucy. If you're just talking about just a regular juicy Lucy, not like Blue Door Pub has a bunch of different juicy Lucies. I don't think you can compare those. You have to compare apples to apples. So I think the Nooks Juicy Lucy is far superior to Matt's bar. You're probably gonna get some angry fan mail, but I don't care. And then 5.8, they're okay. The only thing I really like about 5.8 is they put an extra piece of cheese in there. They put more cheese than the regular ones. So, but yeah, the Nook, regular juicy nookie, go for it. Every time, all the time. And don't just bite into it right away, which is hard.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, I didn't bite into it right away. I thought I let it sit there for an appropriate amount of time, and I had the messy version of a cheesy loosey. I think you only waited like a minute longer before diving into your burger, and yours was totally fine.

SPEAKER_03:

But I've had no self-control before, and I've bitten in right away, and it's like liquid cheese. At least yours was kind of like more of the consistency of like a cheese sauce. Yes. So it wasn't crazy gross and like everywhere.

SPEAKER_02:

And it wasn't spurting out to people sitting next to the house.

SPEAKER_03:

No, I ruined a shirt one time. I like bit into it. It was like a it was like a grease cheese grenade went off in my mouth. It was it was so delicious. But I I like the nook. I like the nook very much. We sat at the bar, it was funny. I was like, oh, we might. I mean, I've been there before where it's been like an hour wait.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And that was probably at peak diners, drive-ins and dives popularity because it's been on there a couple times. And uh we did not, we just like walked right in, and then like five minutes later, like the bar was packed. So we just we got sometimes timing is everything, so sometimes it all works out, and then we so we had some sustenance, some burgers, and then we were off to St. Paul Brewing to get our Porter Fest punch card. Yep. And it was like you alluded to earlier, the cherry cheesecake porter, which I've had in the past. I went back and looked at the last time I checked it in on Untapped, and it was like back in 2018. So that beer's been around for a long time.

SPEAKER_02:

I really feel like maybe they changed the recipe or something because it is very highly rated on Untapped, which is unusual for any beer ever. Or maybe I'm just like so opposite of the rest of the world and drinking beer. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03:

It's okay to not be the same as everyone. That's what makes the world fun. I also I don't know. I guess I don't know. I I wonder, I think just based on what I know about St. Paul brewing before the current ownership and after, I know that before they did not put many resources into the products. So the brewers were kind of handcuffed with what they could do, which is unfortunate. So I don't know, maybe maybe they changed up a bunch of different ingredients. I'm guessing that with this Porter Fest, I don't know for sure how each beer is made. I would imagine that there must be some adjuncts used, and I don't know what they're using for adjuncts to give the beers the different flavors. And sometimes there's a lot of different ways to create a certain flavor in a beer, and some of those are some people like better than others. It wasn't my favorite one. I think my favorite one that we've had so far was the s'mores porter, the grand design.

SPEAKER_02:

That one was really good.

SPEAKER_03:

But we started, we didn't get the first one. The first one was a raspberry.

SPEAKER_02:

Mystic Rhythms was the first one.

SPEAKER_03:

Mystic Rhythms was raspberry chocolate porter. We got the second one that was the hazelnut porter called Trees.

SPEAKER_02:

Also really liked that one.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that one was really good. Then we did the s'mores one, and then it was the cherry cheesecake. Next week's one is a pepper.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Hold your fire.

SPEAKER_03:

Hold your fire pepper one. I'll be I'm probably not gonna go get that one. But there's a punch card, and if you get five stamps, you get a free hat. A free beanie. A free beanie. Yeah. So that will be in our because I know then after the hold your fire, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00:

Mystery Porter.

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Mystery Porter. Made with the ashes of Agatha Christie because she was a very popular mystery writer.

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It could be.

SPEAKER_03:

And then after that, it's the Puka Irish Cream. Puka Irish Cream. I've had that. That one's delicious. I'm really excited for that. And then the last.

SPEAKER_02:

Then we have Making Memories as a gingerbread.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, that's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_02:

And Sweet Miracle is a salted caramel. Or caramel, depending on how you say it.

SPEAKER_03:

Caramel, caramel, potato, potato. It's all it's all good. One of the things that I the so the beers released, they st it starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. So you only have like one week to go in and try them, and then they disappear. I don't know at the end if then they put them all on tap or what. But that would be kind of cool. My issue is like if you like miss a week, you miss you miss the beer. Yeah, you miss the beer, which is kind of a bummer. I guess that's how some places do it. I know Big Beer Week at Lupulin, you know, they release the beers, certain beers get released on certain days, and you have to get up there. Town Hall used to do that with their barrel-aged week, and now they just release them all at the beginning, which I love, because then you can go and you don't have to rush or like break it down into certain days, and then you can make travel plans for when you're going. Beer should not stress you out. But I feel like trying to organize my social calendar around which porters I want, it's a little finicky. So, but I'm happy that the only one I missed was the first one, and I'll be able to get all the other ones that I want, and then the free beanie.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm really looking forward to a free beanie.

SPEAKER_03:

Because that's exactly what I need is another beer hat. I'll be this might literally be the straw that breaks the camel's back, and I'll be reporting live from my garage for the rest of my life.

SPEAKER_02:

Which do you need more or less, Dan? A beanie, a beer hat, or a stein?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, that's a good question because I have a lot of them. Actually, I probably need a beanie. I don't have as many beanies as I do trucker hats, like beer, beer hats, like baseball hats. Yeah. And I have a I have a lot of Steins. So no more, I don't need any more Steins.

SPEAKER_01:

We're done with Steins.

SPEAKER_03:

We're done with Steins. The Stein era is over. Unless you go and listen to that episode, which aired several months like a couple months ago. Yeah. So but yeah, so Borderfest goes for a while. And when you go, get the punch cart, and then you could still, could you theoretically still get your beanies if you did everyone?

SPEAKER_02:

There's still five, there's still five left.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. So you could go. I mean, I guess if you built a time machine and went today, because this will come out on Tuesday. So you'll be in the pepper week.

SPEAKER_02:

Well then there's set, yeah. Pepper week when this comes out. Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

Gingerbread. No, pepper mystery Irish cream, gingerbread, salt, gingerbread caramel. Oh, yeah, perfect. Yeah, so you can do it. You got time. Oh, that was a lot. Did they do nine total? Is that how many they have? Again, math, not really forte.

SPEAKER_01:

It's nine.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. So that's that's a nine-week beer event. That's pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

And you only need five.

SPEAKER_03:

Right. Oh, I was thinking, like, we're not gonna make it, but we will. Oh, we're making it. Okay, perfect. Excellent. So that's uh that's a fun thing. Porterfest, St. Paul Brewing. We've talked about St. Paul Brewing before, but I continue to kind of be wowed by how much better it is for lack of a better thing. The new owners really know what they're doing.

SPEAKER_02:

And now there's a whole new reason to go hang out over there.

SPEAKER_03:

If you love the Tower of London or Game of Thrones, you're gonna love the new crowbar. This is a big crow right on the side of the building. It's a mural, it's beautiful. This is kind of the unveiling of their cocktail lounge.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And their Volier spirits, their Volier line of spirits. Previously, there was a distillery there called Elevenwells. That's no longer. And Volier is the new that's the new line of spirits. And I think Eleven Wells was very kind of hit or miss. We between the three of us, we had three different cocktails, and they all kind of featured several of their spirits. They were all very good, I thought.

SPEAKER_02:

The three of us?

SPEAKER_03:

Three of us. No, the two of us. We had three. My imaginary friend, Dr. Cantaloupe. How dare you? Yeah, there were three two of us. There were two of us and we ordered three drinks. That's what it was. Again, not a mathematician. But it was really cool. But before we even ordered a drink, I thought the interior and the all the different stuff on the walls was really interesting. What did you think about when you first walked in?

SPEAKER_02:

I couldn't even like form words when we walked in, Dan. I was so taken in with all of the things to lay my eyes upon. There was just so much to look at, so many cool things to look at. They have all kinds of like these little spaces put together where the lighting's really neat. There's good artwork on the walls. It's eye candy everywhere.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I thought that was really cool. I like places that have like little nooks and crannies.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

There was it's still a bar downtown Minneapolis called Kieran's, but they've got these little areas out of there called snugs.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Or these little areas where it's like just you can go for like, you know, some of them are like fit two people at the most. So it's like if you really want to have like a quiet conversation with somebody, you can find those areas. Sometimes if you're in a cocktail room and it's like so loud and a lot of them are like shiny, so like the sound is bouncing off the surfaces. It just is really hard. That's one thing I've noticed as I've hit my mid-40s. It's like, oh, it's sometimes if a place is ridiculously noisy, I don't have as much fun. There were a lot of different places, different kind of styles of seating. We were sitting in like a high top, a two-top with high with a high top table. There was an area just to our left, which I thought was closed off, but there was like a little couch and some different seating. There was like an old school TV box with some seashells in there, and there was there was like a big circular light fixture. Red light. A red light, and on the opposite wall, there was a huge stone columns that had a bunch of cans. Yeah. And just kind of there was a confessional that we saw that you you went in there, um, where you could like write a note on the wall. There was a big doily, like a mural that was actually if it looked from far away like you was it was painted.

SPEAKER_02:

I thought it was paint.

SPEAKER_03:

And so when you got closer, it was like a bunch of doilies in cloth that was like kind of all fused together in kind of like a fabric mosaic, which was really cool. And so, yeah, just very, very eclectic space, quirky. There's also a patio. Obviously, we didn't sit out there because it was butt cold and snowing, but that was pretty cool. A neat place. So already you walk in and it's got a cool atmosphere. Yeah, it was pretty crowded when we walked in there. There is a bar, not that many bar seats. I counted six.

SPEAKER_02:

It was a it was a small seating area at the bar, which makes me a little bit sad because I when you do those kinds of cocktails, I really, really enjoy watching people make them. I know, I know.

SPEAKER_03:

Plus, I always like to sit at the bar and just interact with the bartenders. And the bar is kind of in the corner, right next to a craps table, like a felt craps table that's tipped on its side as part of more of like a shelf. And that's where they have some of their spirits. So if you sat there and looked around, you would keep discovering things the more time you were there. Because I think at first it's like kind of dear in the headlights, there's almost too much to look at. So you need to sit down, take a beat, then you can start scanning. And by the end, I was like, Oh, that's cool. I didn't notice that right away. So you there's just different layers, which brings me to my next point. The drinks. Oh the menu was quite extensive with a lot of different options and types of drinks that I had never really kind of I would never think of on my on my own. So I know the person that does a lot of the cocktail menu planning. Her name is Greta. She's really smart, and I think she understands cocktails very well and what goes with what. And so I was pretty impressed with the different variety of things that they had. And I think when we sat down, there was only one drink that was they were out of. I think that was the Nochneed. Nochnees one. Yes. You ordered the one that would have uh given the uh St. Paul Fire Marshal heart palpitations because it was ablaze. That was called the I had the birdbath. The birdbath.

SPEAKER_02:

And it had fire listed as an ingredient, and I was really hoping that meant it was going to show up on fire.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Then Courtney told me uh a tale of one time when she did a f a flaming shot, and I was like, wow.

SPEAKER_02:

It was my first shot ever. Your first shot ever? My first shot ever was on fire.

SPEAKER_03:

Go big or go home, as they say. That's fun. Yeah, flaming shot. So you got a flaming cocktail.

SPEAKER_02:

I had a flaming cocktail, and it every drink comes in its own unique glass vessel.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and I'm just now putting two and two together in my head. That one was like a bird's egg.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, the glass was like a bird's egg, and then the like the top, the rim of it had kind of like some jagged points and stuff, like it had been cracked open on the top.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I'd be really freaked out if I was making an omelet and I cracked something and it was a flaming cocktail. I'm awake now. Yowza, yahosa, yowza. That was good. I had a little sip of it. It was very tropical. It was tropical.

SPEAKER_02:

It had some allspice in there though, too. So it was it was a nice balance of flavors.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and I think that's one thing in a cocktail, especially that I really look for is it shouldn't be one note in any particular direction. I like it when you get a little citrus, a little heat, a little sometimes if it has like one of the drinks had coconut cream in it, some smoothness, some to kind of mellow it out. All of those things. That was good. And then I ordered the prefix, and it was a wait, a little bit of a wait. If it was a lot of bit of a weight, and our uh server Shannon said they're remixing a batch, so it's a batch cocktail. And in my head, I was like, okay, something, I don't know what's going on. Maybe it was like 25-30 minutes. It was yeah, and the time like after you got yours, which I'm happy to report that it was very much worth the wait. Yes, it was a bourbon forward drink with a dark chocolate layer, it had a sage leaf in there. There was smoked cypress in there, so it had a lot going on. It wasn't sweet at all, it was very towards the kind of dry, almost bitter characteristic of dark chocolate, which I liked. And as and it came with a big rock, a big square ice cube, and as it melted, it kind of like got opened up a little bit more. But at first, I was like, Oh, yeah, this is bourbon. This is this is bourbon forward, and I was just fine with that. So that was that was really good.

SPEAKER_02:

I feel like every sip you took had a different flavor, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It did, yeah, which is kind of fun. You know, I just like that when it when you when you have a drink or a beer or a wine and you're you're sipping on it, and it kind of like starts to kind of display different layers of flavors as you continue with it, which I think makes I was like the whole reason why beverages are cool. Yeah, it was very good. I liked it. That was the prefix, and then Shannon being the excellent salesperson that she is.

SPEAKER_02:

She really had to twist her arms.

SPEAKER_03:

So another one? I'm like, oh, I don't know. Then we split one. We split it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

That was really good too. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_02:

That was the Luxor Nexor. I don't know if I'm saying it right now. Luxor Nexor. It was banana-infused bourbon with black sesame, lime, coconut cream, and pineapple. And it again like has some sweet flavors in there, but it wasn't a super sweet drink. It was very smooth.

SPEAKER_03:

I think the black sesame really balanced it out.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It gave it a little bit more of a depth. Because all of those other things were on, like, you know, pineapple, coconut cream, banana. All those are really sweet. But that was a man, I I don't think I could have I could not recreate those flavors in my own home.

SPEAKER_02:

No.

SPEAKER_03:

So that's another reason to go to the the crowbar.

SPEAKER_02:

And there were so many drinks that we didn't have.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, right. Yeah, you really, I mean, they well, it was quite extensive. I don't I guess I didn't count how many different ones they had, but there were like two drinks on each page, and there were like eight pages in the menu. I mean, at least 16 different ones, I want to say. And that was their first day opening. Their first day. So they opened at four that afternoon, and I think it was pretty good. It was kind of like a steady stream of people. When we got there, it was pretty packed, and I think then a lot of people left. It wasn't empty, but there were fewer people, and then kind of right before we left, another kind of wave of people came through. So it was good. I'd recommend going to the the crowbar over at the Hams complex. Is that what it's called? Hamstown. That's right. Hamstown. You're reading Ham at Hamstown. Yeah. So that was good. I I would on a scale of one to five, how would you rate that place?

SPEAKER_02:

Are you really? It's a five. It's like more than five.

SPEAKER_03:

Spoiler alert. I knew she was gonna say that. I was just making sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Why are you doing this to me?

SPEAKER_03:

I don't stop asking stupid questions, Dan. Sorry. Yeah, so five out of five stars. Courtney says, go give it a try.

SPEAKER_02:

Five out of five crows. Five out of also very funny that you you brought up a um a Shits Creek episode that night. Right. When I went home, like that's been the show that I've been putting on when I go to sleep at night. So I went home and the episode that was on was the that's exactly what it was.

SPEAKER_03:

The crowing.

SPEAKER_02:

It was the the premiere that they had for it where the the birds were released and didn't do great things and there was some cacaoing.

SPEAKER_03:

I love a good bird call.

SPEAKER_02:

It was great.

SPEAKER_03:

And the Tower of London. That's if you're into crows, go there. They have ravens, they're the size of buffalo. They're ginormous.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, they swoop and attack you.

SPEAKER_03:

They don't fly. They're wings. They could easily peck out an eye or two or four if you've got glasses. Okay. Well, I don't know if you noticed, Courtney. There's snow on the ground. There's Christmas music on the speaker, which from that noise you can tell. Courtney's not a fan. Um, but it's the holiday season. No matter what holiday you celebrate in the winter time, a lot of them involve gift giving.

SPEAKER_01:

They do.

SPEAKER_03:

Or if you've got like a winter birthday, you're gonna be doing some gift giving. So I always like to think about like what do you get somebody who's into beer? I mean, aside from beer, what else makes a good gift for a good beer-themed gift? A good beer-themed gift. Do you have you ever gotten somebody a beer themed gift?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know. I think I've I've given like the the hops passport I've given as a gift before.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

That's always a good thing. And that is on our list of of gift giving items is the hop passport. The hop passport is I think there's a couple of different brands that do something similar.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, there's like Pub Pass, Hop Passport.

SPEAKER_02:

There might be some others. It it's basically the the breweries and sometimes even some regular bars and other establishments are participating and kind of uh visit us and get some kind of discount. Most of the time I think it's uh buy one beer, get a second one for free. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Brewing Change Collaborative has a passport card. Like their own. Yes, we I should carry those around with me. Yeah, I'm gonna do it. They're in a stack on my desk. I wonder if I have any in my wallet. Yeah, it's it's a I think there's eight different businesses on there, and it's not a BOGO, it's just like a you go in, show that card, get a free beer. It's at places that we are aligned with from a value standpoint. There's a lot of good ones on there.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, that's a good one too. The last couple of years I've gotten hot passport. So I'll get it at the beginning of the year, and I get the one that's specific to Minnesota, and I think it does have some stretch into the Dakotas, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

SPEAKER_03:

Hot Passport is all over the country.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you can also get a national version that has everything across the country.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Which is crazy. They hate them.

SPEAKER_02:

They're participating.

SPEAKER_03:

I know it's uh it's weird though, because I think that breweries I think they're billed as like, hey, you should you should be on here because people come in here and hang out and well, people come, they get their free BOGO and then leave. They don't stay for more than one. I think that's at least I don't know what percentage, but a a large enough percentage of people with hop passports have them that were it does not necessarily make a ton of financial sense for the brewery. It's not a very thing.

SPEAKER_02:

Listen, before you got here, when you got here, I was over talking to a couple guys because they had a really cute dog and I needed to go say hi to the dog. And then it turned into a big conversation. Those guys were from Kansas City. They are traveling up here toward the St. Cloud area for work for one of them, and the other two are kind of along for the ride. They came to Trove today because Trove was in the hot passport. They were they were going to places that they were kind of checking off of a brewery list and that are in the hot passport. So they came here specifically because of that. Had multiple beers. It wasn't they didn't just get like the buyer.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and I think that's like that's like what that's as a brewery. I think you hope for that every time. I just don't know if it always happens.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm sure it doesn't always happen, but it can happen. It can happen. And they might not have ended up here today with their cute dog that I got to pet.

SPEAKER_03:

That's cool. There used to be.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

But then for me, I would making sure like, okay, if I go here, I want to have at least a couple beers. So I'm not just getting a free one and dipping, I'm staying and giving them the business, which I think is important. So yeah. So hot passports, those types of things make that's a really good gift.

SPEAKER_02:

And you can there's a digital version and there's a physical version that you can get where you're.

SPEAKER_03:

I think I would always I always opt for like the physical. I like a book. I like a something. I like a passport, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

I've never done the physical one because I always assume that I will forget to bring it with me. But then it turns out that even having the digital version that's an app on my phone, I forget to use it anyway.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, well, there you go.

SPEAKER_02:

It probably looks like I've been to two breweries this year if you look at my hot passport.

SPEAKER_03:

But if you look at your untapped, it's a little different story. That tells the tale of a of a lady who likes her beer.

SPEAKER_02:

That's awesome. A gift that would be worth giving. Give him an untapped subscription.

SPEAKER_03:

Now, what is what is that? What does that entail?

SPEAKER_02:

So un untapped is where both of us use it to log our beers and kind of rate different beers. I have a free version. So the the paid version gets you some extra perks, it gets you some discounts on merch and stuff like that, but it also allows you a more finite grading scale. So we're on the free version, so we can grade things on like uh 3.0, 3.25, 3.5. If you have a subscription, then you can do like 3.1, 3.25. Or it's just it's a more decimal point option. More decimal point options, more specific.

SPEAKER_03:

I've always wondered because sometimes a beer will have a rating of 3.61. I'm like, how do you do that when it's all 0.25?

SPEAKER_02:

They're fancy people, Dan, who have subscriptions.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I guess so. Probably have monocles and bowler hats and really cool mustaches, too.

SPEAKER_02:

They probably have all of those. Oh well.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm just here in steerage with no monocle, no mustache, and no bowler hat. Oh well, that's divine.

SPEAKER_02:

And untapped because I did look this up. It is six dollars a month if you're paying monthly, or it is fifty-five dollars if you're doing an annual subscription.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh okay. It's kind of cool. Yeah. You know, this just popped in my head. I don't know if you had this, but you could gift somebody a Patreon subscription to a one-pint stand. Yes, you could, Dan. If you really like, feel like if you're like, uh, I'm, you know, I need more beer podcasts in my world, you could do that. I just thought of it.

SPEAKER_02:

It's very easy. I actually I gifted my mom a subscription to your to a one pint stand when we did the um the all pints episode. Oh, yeah. Because there was maybe a discussion on there about uh an eye situation.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, yeah. The mystery of the pink eye.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I hope that's not the theme of the St. Paul brewing beer. It's like here's the mystery.

SPEAKER_02:

That'd be a bad mystery. You're gonna need some. But I I gifted her a subscription so she could listen to it, and I think she'd already listened to the regular version. I don't know that she went back and listened to the Patreon version because she never I never got like an alarmed text message from her.

SPEAKER_03:

And I never got any like I don't know how that works on my end because I did not get any kind of a notification that it doesn't just tell does it tell you that it it's just a subscription and not necessarily that it was gifted? Oh yeah, I just saw Oh, that's too bad. Okay, yeah, well, there you go. So that's a thing.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that's a thing.

SPEAKER_03:

What else? What uh what other beer gifts?

SPEAKER_02:

I've got a good one. Yes, I've got a really good one. There's this game called Heroes of Barcadia.

SPEAKER_03:

Heroes of Barcadia.

SPEAKER_02:

It pops up in my social feeds all the time, and I absolutely adore it. It's a it's a board game that you can bring into the brewery or wherever you're going. It has like little cards, so you're kind of building out this dungeon run as you're going. Your character piece is going to be uh pint glass with your drink in it. And so there are some certain situations in the game where you have to take a drink or you have to do this. It just it looks like a really fun bar environment game.

SPEAKER_03:

I like it. That's a good yeah, good, a good beer game.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

There I know there's other beer games. There's one called Unlabeled that's all about like you can take it. I actually have a free copy of it. Why have we got it? I don't know, because I just thought of it right now. Because I back in my former life in a former podcast, not not even a podcast, it was blog. My former blog life. We got free copies of this game. And I never played it. But since I can't mention the name of the former blog I used to write for, I'm not going to. You should play that. Beer board games. I'll bring it next time we go.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Speaking of board, like, what are some doesn't even need to be a beer game. What's a good board game to play at a brewery? I think that would make a good present. Is Settlers of Catan too complicated to play at a brewery?

SPEAKER_02:

I see lots of people playing that at breweries. I see breweries setting up like actual settlers event kinds of days. Right.

SPEAKER_03:

That'd be a good one.

SPEAKER_02:

I feel like that is the I think the learning curve to that game is pretty high. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

There's one I have brought to breweries. It's called Timeline. They have different versions of it. You basically, it's like these little tiles, and they have like a thing, like an invention, and you have to decide if it falls within the timeline of the two cards already there or on the outside of it. Oh. So, and there's a music one, there's an invention one, and a history one. Those would be great. So for music one, it's like thriller. Well, that came out, I think, in 1983. So if it was between like Baby Got Back, which came out in like 1991, and Staying Alive, which came out like 1975, where does that fit? If you place it in the middle, you get a point. If you get it wrong, you have to take another card. I I'll bring that next time we we hang out.

SPEAKER_02:

I am absolutely horrible with dates. Oh. Super horrible. Maybe not. You're like tossing out these years like it's nothing. And now I want to go look them up and see if you're accurate.

SPEAKER_03:

Good. I think, yeah, thriller. I want to say it's like was like 82 or 83. Maybe I'm I could be totally wrong.

SPEAKER_02:

Sound it sounds real, but if you like, if you nail these stands, I would say that's the same thing.

SPEAKER_03:

That's true. These aren't the droids you're looking for. See? There you go. It works. So yeah. The what is it called? The land of Barcadia. Heroes of Barcadia. Heroes of Barcadia.

SPEAKER_02:

I think it was a I think it was a Kickstarter thing. Maybe it still is a Kickstarter thing. Yeah. It just looks amazing. And you can buy like the actual game and you can buy little expansion things that add other characters and stuff to it. I do think your pint glass, your your pint glass is your playing piece. Okay. The pint glass also has your character picture and some stuff on it. So you might have to either pour your beer into it or maybe convince your beer tender that they should just put the beer in your hand.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I wonder if that's a problem. I don't know. That could be it could be interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a problem that could be solved.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Be a problem solver.

SPEAKER_03:

Alright, what else? What other gifts, beer gifts for people?

SPEAKER_02:

Things at your local brewery. So brewery merch, grab some crowlers. Most breweries, I think, have some kind of membership club program, whether it's like a monthly thing or it's an annual thing. Gift somebody a monthly membership thing to their local brewery.

SPEAKER_03:

Broken clock brewing cooperative. Yes. You could buy a membership.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, membership is a great thing. And actually, they were doing a Black Friday deal where they brought back, I think if you bought it on Black Friday, they brought back just for the one day where it's like you get a free beer per week. Oh so that's a that's a really nice perk. And uh like Arbiter has a Lager League membership. I know Boom Island has a membership.

SPEAKER_02:

They have a bunch of different memberships, a bunch of different ones. Yeah, a lot of places do.

SPEAKER_03:

Rabishaw has a mug club, and sometimes like breweries, those memberships will only be open for certain windows.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And so if you're curious, go ask. Yeah. Brewery merch is always good. I always love a good tin sign. Like if a brewery has like a tin sign, I finally got the tin sign that I bought at Urza Miners booth at AVR from Brie yesterday. So that's gotta go up in the I've got a bunch of signs to hang now. I've got a spiral one, I've got an Urza one, I've got the one I got at Shells, so I gotta put those up. Yeah, got a lot of fun stuff. But yeah, like tin signs or like I despise hoodies that don't have a zipper. I don't like putting my head through any holes because it messes up my hair.

SPEAKER_02:

I want the hoodie without the zipper.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, yeah. See, the the world has you in mind because that's every every place has those kinds of things, but I don't like my hair getting messed up. So I just saw that Modest has a bunch of like Carhartt style hoodies that have zippers. So check that out. If you want a lot of good stuff, or stickers or or branded glassware is always kind of a fun little little gift. Crowlers, growlers of you know something. Yeah, gift cards. Right now, a lot of places are doing if you like buy a$50 gift card, you get$10 or something. So that's that's also kind of like as we're on the the threshold of dry January. That's a good time to go buy a gift card for a friend to just get because most people, a lot of people doing dry January don't drink. I mean that's like the whole point. Luckily, a lot of breweries have NA options now, so it's different, but you know, that's a that's always a good one.

SPEAKER_02:

That is always a good one. There's also beer subscription services that you can get. So I I poked around at a couple of different kind of like a beer of the month thing where you get a different craft beer from who knows where.

SPEAKER_03:

I think they're if you've ever been to who knows where lovely this time of year.

SPEAKER_02:

It's going to be from a craft brewery. Um, there were some that were very specifically like nano breweries or some kind of you know you're getting it from a small place versus a more regional or larger, larger scale brewery. But something like that would be a nice beer exploration gift.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I like that. One year I got my wife a puzzle subscription.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

From a game store in like Buffalo, New York. And so once a month she'd get an email with like this list of like five different puzzles, and they were all 2,000-piece puzzles. So did she get to pick which one though? Yeah, so you pick and they're always a different variety. Those are that's kind of cool. So I like any type of subscription kind of a thing. She's also done like a craft project one. So each month you'd get like a different craft and you didn't know what it was. Yeah. So she'd open it up, and like one of them was a mirror thing that you built to like go on the wall. One was a picture frame, like a lot of cool stuff. So neat.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it can be a good one.

SPEAKER_03:

Beer subscription services. That's a great idea.

SPEAKER_02:

And then if you are in the Twin City area, Minnesota area, or you plan to be or would come to one of these events, there are tickets available right now for Winter Beer Dabbler and for All Pints North.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, yeah. Two of the really fun beer festivals. I know that yeah, and when you buy those ahead of time, I think you do get a little bit of a break. I think they're a little bit cheaper price. Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so Winter Beer Dabbler is gonna be coming up at the end of toward the end of February. And then All Pints, I don't have the date handy, but that'll be in the last Saturday of July. There you go.

SPEAKER_03:

So whatever the whatever date that is. Yeah, but the get your tickets. Ding ding!

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, those are those are good gifts.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. I came up with a couple gift ideas too.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I've got they're all books because I love beer books.

SPEAKER_02:

You've recommended some really good books to me.

SPEAKER_03:

First one is called Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher. It's a great intro to beer, kind of like learning the nuts and bolts, especially if you're if you're interested in taking like any Cicerone exams, like level one, level two, level three, or level four. It's a good base foundation book for that. That basically gets you through the level one thing. So if you want to become a certified beer server, get tasting beer, read it cover to cover, then that test is really easy. Another one is called the Oxford Companion to Beer, put together by Garrett Oliver. It is just this huge tome of beer words and definitions. Beer words and stories and different things. It's fascinating. It's so cool. It's such a neat read. Like it's one of those things where you could just every night before you go to bed just read like half a page and you'll learn so much about beer. It's so good. Last but not least, the Beer Bible by Jeff Allworth. They came out with a volume two a couple years ago. I want to say 2021. That's a very accessible thing. It's a nice mix between like nuts and bolts understanding of beer styles and then some beer storytelling. Those are my three favorite books. I guess if you want a really good beer story, you can do my year in beer. And I can't remember who the author is.

SPEAKER_02:

I was so surprised that wasn't on your list.

SPEAKER_03:

Basically, the woman decides she wants to take the Cicerone exam, which the Cicerone is like the beer version of a Somalier. And so she studies for a year, and it and the entire book is about her journey. She goes to Europe, she goes to like hop farms, she does all sorts of neat stuff, and it's about and she also likes it's a lot of work. She kind of puts a lot of other things on pause, and she has a family, and so it it was a lot, and it's just kind of crazy that she could just set it set off to do it. And I'm not gonna tell you how it ends, but uh if you read between the lines, you could probably figure it out. There wasn't a volume two, my second year in beer, how I failed the such. So that's that, but that's it's just great storytelling. God, I can't remember her name. It was fascinating. I bought it at Powell's Portland. Yeah, yeah, that place. Woo! Uh in the words of the great Rick Dora, I spent a week there one night. Powell's amazing. It's like a seven-story bookstore. Pretty fancy stuff. So I like I always like a beer book. And I have so many beer. You could get the the book on malt, hops, water, boring, and yeast. The water book, it's like if you hate somebody, get them that book. It's contrary to what you would think. It's dry as hell. It's cold water, it's boring. A lot of science, a lot of equations, very different, very different things. Yeah, that's good. I love that you know, I love giving a good beer gift, and that's that's really great. Well, Courtney takes a break to gather herself. I uh will say that. Also, if you want to buy a one-pint stand enamel pin, come find me. I have a QR code for those.

SPEAKER_02:

You get one with a Patreon.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you get one with a Patreon. Save yourself five dollars. Just get the Patreon.

SPEAKER_02:

Just get the Patreon. You get so much more.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, great. That's a that's a good gift. Or any beer Patreon. There's a lot of beer different things out there. I don't want to toot my own horn, but you know, if you like supporting local Minnesota podcasts like the beer, the brewery adventure, you know, one pint stand is also a good listen.

SPEAKER_00:

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, speaking of winter time, oh yeah. I was always a fan of the next thing. Beers, we each have a list of what do we call it?

SPEAKER_02:

It's the wait, what did I did call it something cool. It's the 12 days of beer miss.

SPEAKER_03:

12 days of beer miss, that's right.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. We're gonna count down 12, not even count down like one is better than the other, because I I'm mine for sure are in our own. Yeah, no particular order.

SPEAKER_03:

But I think it's fun. I think a lot of us, myself included, we kind of get into our routines and sometimes we forget that there's a lot of different breweries out there. Oh, jeez.

SPEAKER_02:

How many times are you gonna spell like breaking out of it? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, this thing is like not I'm like Hagrid over here. This is like a teeny tiny weed table. And I'll keep bumping into it. I think we forget about a lot of seasonal beers. Like there's a lot of breweries that do really cool seasonal beers, and sometimes we get, you know, when I go to Arbiter, I always get the ha ha, but I forget that they do some different seasonal beers in the winter, in the spring, in the summer, in the fall. So we came up with kind of a I think it's a fun.

SPEAKER_02:

It's like a cozy beer. A cozy beer list, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Went uh, you know, beers for beers for winter, the cold the cool months. That most of these should be on tap. So you should be able to find most of these beers on there. So how do you want to do this?

SPEAKER_02:

You want to say promising that mine are on tap because I I think and I don't know how you did your list. We should probably talk about this. The beers I have on my list, some of them I've had, some of them I have not had, but the descriptions sound really good, and I want to go find them.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. I've all mine are ones I've had, and I'm 98.5% sure that they are all on tap.

SPEAKER_02:

I also want to ask you how long ago, because we've we've talked about doing this, how long ago did you start putting together your list?

SPEAKER_03:

I've been kind of having it in my head the last two weeks. So that was like my impetus for going to well, not my impetus for going to northbound for Wing Wednesday, because the Wings were my impetus. But I was I was also, I'm like, oh, they just tapped their winter ale. I've never had that before.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm gonna go try it. Spoiler alert, it was delightful and it's on my list. It's one of the things that I want people to go seek out.

SPEAKER_02:

So just to be clear, while I have been thinking about this for a while, I did not compile my list until this morning, which I think is evident to you based on the text messages that I was sending you, like, oh, what about this? And what about this? I got really sidetracked.

SPEAKER_03:

I put more effort into this list than I did prepping for the ACT when I was in high school. So it'll be no, that's fine. That's okay.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm just I'm a procrastinator danger. Remember, procrastinators. Beer is fun.

SPEAKER_03:

Beer's fun. Okay, what's your first one? Okay, in no particular way.

SPEAKER_02:

Again, these are not, these are not in order of like, oh, this is like my best thing to my not best thing. These are just like these are just on a list. My first one that I put on here from bad weather, and it's gonna, it's gonna kind of be two because they have their ominous beer, which is a double brown ale, and they will flavor it with things. So when we were there on Black Friday, we had the peanut butter ominous, and we also had the old-fashioned ominous, and they were both absolutely delightful. Ominous on itself, yeah. Great beer. Put in the peanut butter flavoring, it changes, it's delicious. You put in the old-fashioned stuff. Brandy barrels finished on a sweet cherry and orange appeal. It's so good.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I agree. I like that. I mean, that base beer is outstanding. And then you throw in a couple different variants like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Like the r the the cherry really is what kind of really shined through in the old-fashioned one, but that peanut butter version is really, really good. Yeah. That's a nice one.

SPEAKER_02:

And again, you know more about how the sausage is made. I would I see flavor.

SPEAKER_03:

Is that just because I look like a Sopranos character?

SPEAKER_02:

No, it's Were you in Sopranos?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. Until my voice changed, and then I had to join the baritone. Oh, shit. Okay, so do you want to hear one of mine now?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_03:

Summit Winter Ale.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Classic.

SPEAKER_01:

Classic.

SPEAKER_03:

Winter warmer. Has, despite the fact that there are no spices in it, it has some nice like winter spice notes to it. And it's a seven and a half percent beer, so it it will warm you up.

SPEAKER_01:

You're gonna get warm.

SPEAKER_03:

Metaphorically and figuratively, or literally and maybe metaphorically too. But uh one time, so I have a holiday party every year, and I typically get a keg of Great Lakes Christmas ale. Now, I would put that beer on this list in a heartbeat, except I was trying to stick to Minnesota breweries. Yeah. But one there have been two times where that keg wasn't able to be procured. And one year I went with the Summit Winter Ale, and another year I went with the Breckenridge Christmas Ale. And I would say that like the Summit Winter Ale is a lot of people really love it. It has a tremendous cult following. But it's a good dark beer. Kind of, I think it's just called a winter warmer. It doesn't give like more detail than that. So it's a like a darker beer, probably similar to like a double brown ale or something like that. So it's one that's readily available everywhere. You can find it on tap wherever summit is sold in the wintertime. So that's that's a good one. I like that one because it's you just anything with Summit, Summit is not very flashy, but you know when you order a Summit beer, it's going to be a good beer. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

My next one is from Trove, where we currently are. Coincidentally, it was just placed on the table for me. It's all falling into place right now.

SPEAKER_03:

Bingo, bango, bongo. Which one is this?

SPEAKER_02:

This is the in-between. It is Trove's cherry vanilla porter.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, yep, that's very good. Yeah. We had that last time. So we were here.

SPEAKER_02:

The in-between, I I feel like I have several logs of this on untapped, and I I might not have even realized it. The in-between is actually I had it, they did like a special release, a special tapping of it at Winter Beer Dabbler last year. And it was like my most favorite thing that I drank at Winter Beer Dabbler. And so I came down here immediately the next day to have more.

SPEAKER_03:

Sounds like that beer hit you where you needed to be hit.

SPEAKER_02:

It hit me where I needed to be hit.

SPEAKER_03:

That's fun.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and we also had um we both started out today with the fathoms, they're melt stout. They also have the heavy, which is a Russell Imperial stout, which is very, very good. Oh, yeah. But I I never order it here because it it does have a higher ABV.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And despite that, it's very easy to drink.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's the thing. Those are the beers that get you in trouble.

SPEAKER_02:

So I I try not to order that even though I really want to.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I mean, that's that that makes sense. I'm trying to trying to look up your rating for that one. I'll have to do that.

SPEAKER_02:

There's probably two different there's probably ratings when I was giving everything fives, and then there's a slightly lower rating when I was told I couldn't give everything.

SPEAKER_03:

That should have been your untapped name. High five.

SPEAKER_02:

High five.

SPEAKER_03:

High five, Courtney. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, no, that's it. That's a very good beer. I mean, Trove does. Yep. Yeah, it's a year-round thing, which I like. I I appreciate uh ready access to dark beers in the summer months. Not every place has one.

SPEAKER_02:

Because I still drink them. When I walk in the door, both Grant and Jeffrey see me and ask me, do you want the in-between?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. And you're like, Yes, I do. Of course I do. My next one is the northbound Smokehouse and Brew Pub Winter Ale. It's a double brown ale. Yeah. Very, very cut, very British, kind of like roasty, you know, good with. I mean, I had it with wings. You could have it without wings. You could have it with smoke food. The wings are optional. The wings are optional, but flavor is always there. It was really good. I and I'd never had that one before. So I was telling Andy when I was there, I was like, oh, this is this is a new to me beer.

SPEAKER_02:

How did they have something that you haven't?

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know. I mean, I mean, it's possible that because if I'm there in the winter, I'm probably having if Doppelbach is on tap, I'm having that. I always get the Pravi pills. That's like my pace setter beer. I don't know. Also, it goes in ebbs and flows. There was a while where like Northbound had kind of fallen off my radar just because so many other places came, and then they started doing lagers, and that that's obviously what they win a lot of awards for their loggers. So now I'm kind of like, and their wings are so good. I was trying to deny myself those for a while and be like, no, don't. And I just need to to give in. Give in to the wing. Yeah. But yeah, the winter warmer, uh, winter warmer at northbound, on tap now. Very delicious.

SPEAKER_02:

You're very good about knowing things that are on tap.

SPEAKER_03:

I just I don't know.

SPEAKER_02:

We're gonna get sketchy here at the bottom of my list.

SPEAKER_03:

Capri Send, bikini blast ale. Probably not on tap, but delicious.

SPEAKER_02:

All right. My my next one is from our friends at Wandering Leaf Brewing Company. I think the first time I ordered this, it was slightly for the style of beer, but mostly because of the name. Do you want to guess? Oh. You know it.

SPEAKER_03:

I do. I know the style.

SPEAKER_02:

What's the style? Porter. Oh yeah. It's the English style porter. It's the feral female. Feral female, yes. Yes, dark, roasty, and mysterious.

SPEAKER_03:

That's right. That's how I like them. My beers, dark, mysterious, roasty, and my women. Uh yeah, that's a that's a very good beer.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and I don't think it's a I don't think it's a seasonal beer for them. I think it's something that's there all the time. Because I'm pretty sure I had it the summer teacher.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I gotta put on my teacher hat now.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03:

And explain a little bit because we've got us a lot of porters on here.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

On our on both our lists. And there's a difference between like a British porter and an American porter.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know that.

SPEAKER_03:

American style porters are way hoppier.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep. A English porter is going to be more along the lines of roasty, but not bitter. Whereas American style porters, they're roasty with an extra layer of bitterness that kind of comes across as roasty. Because roasty and bitter are I mean, there's bitterness in roast. Yeah. Uh depending on how how how roasty it is. But that's a little little fun fact. I need a I need a little uh fun fact sounder on here. Let's try there. Here, fun fact of the day brought to you by beer. Yeah. Feral female, that's a good one. I need a feral female sound on here. What would that be? Like very similar to the crow? Yeah. The crowning.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So I also had a problem because when I went to their website just to get all the details that I needed for that beer, they also have uh dormancy, which is a barrel-aged imperial stout, and elevensies, an oatmeal stout right now. And both of those are making me think, why didn't we stop there on Black Friday?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh darn it. We were right on the road. Literally, we were. We were on West 7th. I thought about that. Oh, we should have. Shoot Steve.

SPEAKER_02:

I I feel like there's a visit to Wandering Leaf coming up in our near future.

SPEAKER_03:

Let me check my magic aid ball. All signs points, yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03:

Sounds good. Yeah, that's a good one. Ready for another one?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm ready. Hit me.

SPEAKER_03:

Arbiter Nochtrider, a German Schwartz beer.

SPEAKER_02:

Schwartz likes space balls.

SPEAKER_03:

May the Schwartz be with you. Merchandising. Merchandising. I said, comb the desert. We've been out here for two hours. We ain't found shit. Uh no. Schwartz as in black. So the it's a German. So it's like just like a black lager. So that's the yeah, so that's good. And um, I'm gonna tell you a funny little story. Now, you, because you're a Patreon person.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, I am.

SPEAKER_03:

You there's an episode coming out this week that is all about Arbiter's haha pills. But there's there was a funny incident that happened in the middle of the taping of that. We took a break, and I had mentioned in the first half to Aaron that I was like really excited about Noctrider coming back because it's it's a great beer. And he's like, Oh, you're in luck. We've it's in the tank right now. We could try some. Uh we we went down during the break and had a little bit out of a pitcher. And I was like, this smells like my snowblower. And it yes, exactly. That that face. And it's uh he's like, wait, what? I'm like, smell this. He's like, oh, hold on. And then he poured another little bit out of the tank and it didn't have that smell. Well, there's a thing called I don't know what's happening. There's a thing called a Zom meter.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

That measures CO2. And it other brewer Pat was like, oh yeah, this smells like Zomlube. And so that led that opened the floodgates to a myriad of Zomlube jokes. So if you want to hear that whole thing, you gotta subscribe to the Patreon. It's coming out. That's a Patreon exclusive. That will never be out in the open. That's just for the 28 Patreon subscribers.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm one. You are one.

SPEAKER_03:

You are one.

SPEAKER_01:

I try to talk in a beer glass.

SPEAKER_03:

Talking in a glass, drink the microphone. It's the wave of the future. So Arbiter, Noct Rider. Hey, a poet, and I don't even know it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that was good.

SPEAKER_03:

We're gonna do the rest of this in iambic pentameter.

SPEAKER_00:

No, we're not.

SPEAKER_03:

Forsooth. I that is not happening. So Noctrider, Arbiter, great uh German Schwarzbeer, German Dark Lager.

SPEAKER_02:

There's just so much there that makes me laugh.

SPEAKER_03:

I guess. What's your next one?

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, my next one is also, I think, a year-round beer because I'm pretty sure I've had it there in the summer and it's on all the time. It is totally worth it on nitro, specifically at Udipils. So that's a dry iver stout, really low ABV, delicious. They do have a more seasonal dark beer that is Ewald the Dark. I haven't had it. I think it would be absolutely delicious because I really love Ewald the Golden.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh yeah, with the dark one, is that all like is that a Weisenbach?

SPEAKER_02:

It's a Dunkelweizen.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, Dunkelweizen, yeah. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so that's also on my kind of to-do list is to get over there to have some Ewald the Dark.

SPEAKER_03:

And their lunar eclipse is a dark check lager. So that's also very tasty.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's been a while since I've been to Oodpils.

SPEAKER_02:

Let's go to Oodapils.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, let's do that.

SPEAKER_02:

They've got some cozy beer options.

SPEAKER_03:

They do. And it's a fun like I like sitting outside. That's what I actually that was a COVID spot when I went. Like sitting outside. I went there a lot during COVID because they had spaced out tables and that was really good.

SPEAKER_02:

They also, Dan, by the way, fun fact. They have a countdown on their website. As soon as you hit their website, there's a countdown to Oktoberfest in 2026. Sweet. They're getting ready.

SPEAKER_03:

Write that in my notebook. Have that there. All right. I got another one. The Lupulin Coffee Shop Assault Vehicle.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, number one, I would drink it just because of the name.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Well, and when you see the can art, when you look at the tattoos on the guy's arm, there's a little spoiler alert. There's a funny little drawing. Okay. You know what I'm talking about because I pointed it out to you in the save. Yeah. But um, oh, there's a actually so much in that in that artwork. So that was originally brewed in a collab with a guy from Beer People who has a cat. So on the coffee shop assault vehicle, there's a cat on the handlebars, and that's why that's there. There's a lot of fun little things, but it's a it's made with a local coffee up there, and it's a really it's a just a really good coffee stuff. Very tasty. Oftentimes they will barrel age that or put a flavor into it for their big beer week. So that's it. That happens. That they just released the date for that. This year, it's going to be 10 days. 10 days? 10 days. Starts on, I believe, March 6th.

SPEAKER_02:

Is it like a different beer on every day?

SPEAKER_03:

Goes from the 6th to the 15th up at Lupilin. Well, last year they had like 46 different things that came out. Yeah. But it's their 10th anniversary, and I'm like really excited for Do you have some Airbnb plans that are nearly usually when I go up there I just stay at Jeff and Eric's house for one night.

SPEAKER_02:

So that's well, that's convenient.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I only go one night, so that's uh I mean, but if it spans two weekends, I might have to make alternative plans and just go up there twice. I don't know. There's so many good things. But coffee shop, assault vehicle, a lupilin. Great coffee beer, great dark beer, just great can art.

SPEAKER_02:

I love good can art.

SPEAKER_03:

It's got all the things.

SPEAKER_02:

I did include a lupulin on my list too. It is the for far different reasons. You're able to go for some like classic things. I put cookie monstrosity on my list because hey, listen.

SPEAKER_03:

I love it. I love co I love cookies. Cookies are great.

SPEAKER_02:

Who doesn't love cookies? It's an Imperial style.

SPEAKER_03:

Did you ever see the movie Twins with Danny DeVito and Arnolds? I love the cookies. I can't wait to toss them. Do you remember that one?

SPEAKER_01:

I was not expecting that.

SPEAKER_03:

We are twins. Oh, obviously. The first time I met you, I thought I was looking in a mirror. Very good. Very good stuff. Cookie Monstrosity. The label for that one is cool too.

SPEAKER_02:

Really?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I I haven't had this. This is on my like to-do list of beers I need, I need to have. And that's one of them because it just had like such a long list of coconut, salted caramel, cacao, graham cracker, honey, and vanilla. Like there's like a monster cookie. I need to know what that tastes like.

SPEAKER_03:

Tastes good and sweet. It's very sweet. Was that a good it's good though.

SPEAKER_02:

I want all those flavors. Yeah. I don't need like an abundance of sweet, but I want to taste all those different things together.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a good beer. That's good beer. I've got uh next up for me is Bad Weather Brewing Evantide. Yeah. It's a dark check lager. It's very good.

SPEAKER_02:

Delicious.

SPEAKER_03:

I think you might have had. The la not not on Black Friday, but the last time we were there.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's just a classic. You know, when I think of bad weather, I think of great lagers, and that definitely fits the bill there. So that's why I picked that one.

SPEAKER_02:

And I also um had an Arbiter beer on my list, which and I'm you can correct me if I don't say this correctly. Gochu. Gazoon type. Yep. It's go-choo stout.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah, because it's like go-chu jang, like the the pepper. The pepper sauce.

SPEAKER_02:

So it's uh it's a stout with some chocolate multi flavors with a hint of spice. And we had it when we were recording there. I think I've had it another time we were there as well.

SPEAKER_03:

It's really good because it has that kind of like almost drying pepper. It's not spicy. No, it there's like a little hint of pepper dryness. It's almost kind of a savory.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, like there's there's like raisin, like dry raisin kind of a thing going on. It's um because there was a time, believe it or not, that I could not handle spice.

SPEAKER_01:

What?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, we call those the dark times, the non-spiciers. And I've I've been working my way up to different spices, but you know, when you when you rehydrate like dried chilies, some of them have like a very leathery kind of raisin-y character. So I think that I think there's some of those flavors in the gochu, the gochu jang hot sauce. That's a really good way to season stuff. I so that that style's really, really yummy. Fun fact that that the inspiration for that beer came from a brewery in Seattle, Washington called Lucky Envelope.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh.

SPEAKER_03:

And I went there because Juno, one of the owners at Arbiter, said, Hey, if you go to Seattle, here's Barry Chan's contact information. You should go there. I'll give him a heads up you're coming. And so we connected with Barry, the owner of Lucky Envelope, um, because Lucky Envelope is an Asian-owned brewery. There's not many Asian-owned breweries in the United States, and Arbiter is as well. So we had a great time going there. Their beers were excellent, and I got a cool shirt, just some they give you like a blue beer bag that's Lucky Envelope. It just was really cool. So I'd go back there in a heartbeat. So if you're ever planning a trip to the Pacific Northeast or Pacific Northwest, don't go to the Pacific Northeast. It sucks. But the Pacific Northwest, go to Lucky Envelope. There's probably some people there now because the Vikings are playing in Seattle. Oh and I don't know what the score is.

SPEAKER_01:

It's not on the TV that's by me.

SPEAKER_03:

It's not good now. When I went to P earlier, I'm like, how is it 0-0? It's not 0-0 right now. I'm scared. Um, yeah. So Gochu Jinx, Gochu Stout, very, very good. It's like that's a that's a good one. They uh it's not on our list, but there's can I say one more for Marbiter right now? Yeah, yeah. They have a Pfeffernous beer.

SPEAKER_00:

Pfeffer what?

SPEAKER_03:

It's not that kind of show. Um Pfeffernous. It's so Pfeffernous is like a German cookie. Okay. It's uh you're looking at me like you don't believe me. I they're super fun to they're easy to make and they're delicious. It's like molasses, like ginger. Have you ever had like a ginger snap?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's like ginger snap form of those.

SPEAKER_01:

I would eat that.

SPEAKER_03:

It's it's very tasty. Very good stuff. Uh, that's also on. So it's got like cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg flavors in it. It's good. Very good. I like it. So that was like your there's your bonus uh entry. Uh next one for me is Spiral Brewery Hard Left American Stout. This is just it's a classic stout. It's it's it's a year-round beer for them as well. I used it last year in my birthday cake. I made a birthday. I used that as like a cake beer. Yeah, cake beer. Cake beer, not just for kids anymore. It's for the grown-ups too. It has, it's just it's very roasty. It's not a pastry stout, it's old school stout, American stout. And it has just this great flavor, great texture, and I use it in my double chocolate stout cake, and it was really yummy.

SPEAKER_00:

So I want cake.

SPEAKER_03:

I always want cake. I wake up every morning thinking two things. Like, first, where am I? Second, I would kind of cake am I having a cake? Where am I? Gonna get some cake today. So that's always fun.

SPEAKER_02:

My next one is another beer that I have not had, but it is from a brewery that I want to go back to because I didn't get to spend a lot of time there the first time. Sunken Chip Brewery has a beer called Aaron Sweater.

SPEAKER_03:

How's that spelled?

SPEAKER_02:

A-R-A-N. So an Aaron Sweater is a water repellent, breathable, warm weather clothing for island communities of fishermen and farmers.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, cool. Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

So I think if you looked at, because I I had to look it up. If you look at the sweater, it has it's got some rib patterns and some cabling and stuff that you'd be like, oh yeah, it's that kind of sweater.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_02:

So this the sweater is cool. But the beer is an award-winning stout. It is supposed to be rich and malty and decadent with chocolate and coffee, caramel and toffee, and a silky smoothness stand.

SPEAKER_03:

Sign me up for that. That sounds delicious.

SPEAKER_02:

So that's at Sunken Ship. Again, I had I visited there over the summer looking for a gigantic rubber duck, which I thought was going to be at the brewery, but was not. So I chugged a beer.

SPEAKER_03:

At some point we need to address your night terrors on the shelf.

SPEAKER_02:

The brewery felt really cool. It had like some nautical and pirate themes going on, and I really wanted to spend more time there, except my day was devoted to the giant-sized rubber duck that I needed to go find. So we chugged a beer in there.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's that beer sounds really good. And someday you'll find that. Someday enormous.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I did find the I did find the rubber duck. Okay, well, good. It just wasn't. Hashtag mission accomplished. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's good. Next one for me, heavy rotation, London calling, an English dark mile.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's a classic. It's not it's not a holiday thing. It's uh it's actually a very low ABV beer, but has great flavor, great uh roasted malt, very dark. I mean, if it's it's like a perfect session beer. It's like you could have two or three in a span of several hours and and be fine.

SPEAKER_02:

And it's an easy go-to beer for me when I'm at heavy rotation and like, oh my gosh, what do I get? Just get London.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so heavy rotation. Go there, learn it, live it, love it, good stuff.

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly. My next one is another beer that I've not had. It's the Raven's Cry from Uncommon Loon. We've got a lot of bird noises today.

SPEAKER_03:

I've had the Ravens Cry.

SPEAKER_02:

Really?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, it's very good. It's very good. It was um gifted to me by the proprietor, oh, Brad from Uncommon Loon, gave it to me when I went up to visit and do a blog article. I had it at Winterfest. Oh. The last Winterfest I went to in 2019 when it was at the US Bank Stadium, and I had it. I was like, wow, this is a really good barrel aged stout. He's like, Yeah, every people love it, but not many people know about it. So I've been I've been trying to tell. I brought it to a bottle share. People were like floored, and there were like some other pretty major stouts there. They're like, this is as good as all of those.

SPEAKER_02:

It looks like they do like a version of this every year, they do a release every year for this.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, yeah, so it comes out right around this time of year.

SPEAKER_02:

So and I think when when they had the description on their website, instead of just saying chocolate, it has Tootsie Roll chocolate.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, because that's a different kind of chocolate flavor. Yeah, because that's kind of like that molassesy kind of more, which is good. I love that. I love the specific things because then that gives you a I don't know anybody who doesn't know what a Tootsie roll tastes like. Right. And I think like that is a a a sensory kind of waypoint for a lot of people. And you're like, oh, okay, so I know if you don't like Tootsie Rolls, you're don't drink that beer. Don't drink that beer. Yeah, just buy a bottle and send it to us, and we will drink it for you.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's supposed to be bourbon up front with notes of Tootsie Roll chocolate, dark fruit, and oak.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep. It's uh it's all of that go, ooh, I want that. Yes, yes, it does. Very good. Yeah, Ravens Cries.

SPEAKER_02:

And I I think I was specifically looking at on Kamalun because I think Grunge and Pug plays there quite a bit, and I've never been there, so they're kind of on my to-do list anyway.

SPEAKER_03:

It's a neat brewery, too. Very, very cool. Yeah, it's not it's not that far. It's a good spot to go. You know, one time we visited there on the way back from Alpines because you drive, we basically drive right by it. My next one is the Town Hall brewery Elves Elixir. It's a Baltic porter. You don't see many Baltic porters out there, and it's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_02:

What makes a Baltic porter?

SPEAKER_03:

So, Baltic porter is basically it's a porter, it's an ale fermented at lager temperature. So lagers ferment lower, okay, right around freezing. Ales ferment at around 66 degrees. What happens is at 66 degree level, you get a lot of esters, like byproducts of the yeast, and so you can get fruity esters and then lagers, it's just cleaner because you don't have a high temperature kicking off these esters. So there's it's more chocolatey. Sometimes you'll get some like black licorice notes, sometimes you'll get some dark fruit notes in there. They're really good.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm trying to think of other can we avoid the black licorice examples.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, that's here's the here's the weird thing. I do not like black licorice, and it's very subtle. Like it's not you're it's not like you're eating a black jelly bean. Yeah, it's not like the gross, because I don't like black licorice.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't either.

SPEAKER_03:

So, and if I had to kind of compare it to something if if you've ever had like German black licorice that is more kind of molassesy, it's more like that. Yeah. So that's that's where it's at. Baltic Porter. I like it. Actually, the Heavy Rotation had a beer that they brewed like a Baltic Porter, except they didn't, it wasn't high ABV, it was like more sessionable. But he basically brewed a lot brewed a like sessionable stout and fermented it at a lager temperature, so it was much cleaner.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, I was going to put on my list the Minnesota hug from Heavy Rotation.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But then I assumed that you were gonna put it on. And you didn't.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you know, that is that would be that would be a really good one. That would be a really good one. Because it is one of the things.

SPEAKER_01:

Because it was it was a good Minnesota hug.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's 9%, but very, very smooth 9%. It doesn't drink like 9%, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's a dangerous 9%, Dan.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that beer turned out really well. It was very, very yummy.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, that would have been on my list. I just assumed that you were gonna do it. And I didn't want to double up one of your beers.

SPEAKER_03:

No, I didn't want to be like, oh, here's the beer I held through.

SPEAKER_02:

But you should.

SPEAKER_03:

I should, yeah. Go to Heavy Rotation and get get a pour or two of Minnesota Hug. You won't be sorry. It's very, very yummy.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, we're on to another beer that I've not had from a brewery that I just need any reason to go back to. Bad Habit Brewing Company. I put Dark Addiction, their milk, milk sweet stout. That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

You know who will never forget that beer? Our good buddy Marcus Dotson.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, what what did Marcus what happened here?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, he didn't realize that it was a milk stout and he's lactose intolerant. Oh there they had like a bunch of different variants, and I guess it got a little dicey.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh.

SPEAKER_03:

So having him tell that story, or better yet, having Andrea tell that story while he's right next to her is pretty awesome because they made a day of it and it was pretty funny. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

There's definitely lactose in there.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh yeah. Yeah, there is. My God, I still remember the first time he told me that story. I couldn't, I was laughing so hard. It was like the you know, the F. Scott Fitzgerald incident that was uh on last episode. Right here.

SPEAKER_00:

We're sitting.

SPEAKER_03:

Exactly. Nate, wherever you are, I hope you're brushing up on your shipwreck knowledge.

SPEAKER_02:

You're making your own sound effects now.

SPEAKER_03:

That's when you know the podcast is at full, full steam ahead. Next one I've got is 56 Brewing Rye of the Tiger Imperial Stout that just released, and I want to try it. We didn't get there, but it's still gonna be on tap for a while. So and also um 56 has a Christmas tree lot right across from their parking lot from the brewery. So you could go there, buy a tree, have a beer, you know, one-stop shopping.

SPEAKER_02:

I like that.

SPEAKER_03:

Good stuff.

SPEAKER_02:

I did see that they had that. Um I I saw after Black Friday that they had like a release party thing for it on Black Friday. And I thought, oh, damn it.

SPEAKER_03:

I was like, you know, it's like if I had a warp whistle and I could just like go from place to place, that would have been it. But we were already on the east side of St. Paul to go to North Minneapolis. It just seemed like a lot of travel time.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, but the beer does sound really delicious.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I mean, I love rye. Rye is good. Any any place that advertises like a rye stout, I always get very excited about that. So also rye, rye bourbon makes a excellent old-fashioned rye whiskey in an old fashioned. You're from Wisconsin. Have we ever talked about old fashions?

SPEAKER_02:

We I mean, we have had some old-fashioned conversations, but they all kind of start with, I have never been a big old-fashioned drinker, although I aspire to be one.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Is that be so is that because you grew up drinking brandy old-fashions? Because that is the iconic Wisconsin version.

SPEAKER_02:

Drinking old fashions, Dan. Like, who does that? Well, people in Wisconsin, that's your that's just that's why I asked. I've been living in Minnesota longer than I've been in the world. I forget that.

SPEAKER_03:

That's true. But in Wisconsin, I mean, drinking age is practically. Yeah, exactly. I know people who celebrated their uh Pinewood Derby win with a beer blast at the local dive bar. So I was just curious. I didn't want to assume.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't remember old fashions being a big part of my Wisconsin life.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. That's fair. But they do brandy. They do brandy old fashioned. So I don't know. No, not for me.

SPEAKER_02:

So is it Wisconsin that's different from everybody else? Yes. Okay. Yeah, that makes that makes sense. That makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. So but rye whiskey in an old fashioned is a nice way to go because you get some of those spice notes.

SPEAKER_02:

Maybe I need an old-fashioned flight where I can that would be something. And this this is what I wanted at Crowbar too. Like, can I have a cocktail flight where you can give me mini versions of all these drinks?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that would be nice.

SPEAKER_02:

That's what I want. Yeah. I want to try everything, but I don't want to have to commit to the large size.

SPEAKER_03:

Right, yeah. Yeah, because if you do four old fashions, that's a that's a lot. That's an that's an evening and a half right there. That's trouble.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a lot. But I I would try it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, try anything once, right? Um four old fashions, sure. Yeah. Let's you can split them with somebody. Yeah. Yeah. You need an old-fashioned pal.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, wait.

SPEAKER_02:

A buddy system.

SPEAKER_03:

Old fashioned buddy. What do you got next?

SPEAKER_02:

My next one. We're on the part of the list that I've not had any of these beers. There is a driftwood nitro stout at Jack Pine Brewing. You're pointing at me like that was a good decision. Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

Um Jack Pine's awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

I really want to go to Jack Pine to begin with. I've had their beers at the beer festivals that we've been to, and they've all been great. I look at their artwork and I think that's really cool and it looks really neat. I just I want to go visit there anyway. Please serve me the Driftwood nitros nitrose out.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, they have a lot of they have a lot of beers on tap when you go there. And they have a really epic game section. So they partner with one of the game stores in town. So they have like all the good board games.

SPEAKER_02:

I want to.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm not just talking about Monopoly and sorry. They've got like all the good board games.

SPEAKER_02:

Do you think they have Heroes of Barcadia?

SPEAKER_03:

You know what they might? If there was if if I had to like guess a brewery that would have that, that would be the one.

SPEAKER_00:

I want to go.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's a good one. They also, if you go up there and they've got their s'mores stout on tap, get that because it comes garnished with a mini marshmallow. Really? It's it's good. It's perfect.

SPEAKER_02:

I need all that. Yeah. These are pro tips.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Next one I've got is the Padregs Brewing Northeast Porter. It's roasty and again, more like an English porter. Yeah. English style porter. So that one's.

SPEAKER_02:

I've been there a couple times with you, and they're just really lovely people there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I like.

SPEAKER_02:

That's a good time.

SPEAKER_03:

I like the crew. I like the crew. The the beer tenders and usually the owners are there too, which is kind of nice.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that's always nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Also, they brewed that beer exclusively for Merlin's rest. Oh. So it's always on tap at Merlin's West because Merlin's stopped being able to get Fuller's Porter, which is really sad. Then they were like, okay, we're gonna get this one for you instead.

SPEAKER_00:

Someone else has to step in.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so that's that's pretty cool. Yeah, so that's a good one. That's a good, you know, wintertime drinker. Always good.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, my last one. And you're I'm gonna try and say this correctly. I'm gonna try and say all these things correctly. Geese and broy. All right, I got a thumbs up. I got that part correct. That's the brewery, geese and broy. They make novi praha. Novi Praha. And it comes in two different versions. There's like regular version and then there's barrel age version. But Novi Praha means New Prague honey.

SPEAKER_03:

Novi Praha med. Med is the honey. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

All right.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

I almost got it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Well, you you pronounced it all right. Yeah, like a B plus. You just forgot one of the words.

SPEAKER_02:

I got a B plus.

SPEAKER_03:

Hey, I always tell my students, C equals degree. So, you know, shoot for the stars because if you miss, you still land on a cloud. Wow. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Somebody, somewhere, I there's a lot of people that have heard me say that. That's a really good one. Made with local new prag honey.

SPEAKER_02:

And I think that's a seasonal beer for them. I don't think it's currently on tap, but I would imagine it's going to be soon.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, they I want to say if it they probably have bottles of it. If it's not on tap, they have bottles of it. Because I know it comes out in the fall. I don't, I would imagine they have a lot of it. It's really good too. It's like very, very, very yummy.

SPEAKER_02:

Everything about it sounded good. And when you're brewing something with a bunch of local honey, like I I don't care what you're brewing. I just want that. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. That's and that's a fun little trip too. Yeah. Fun little jaunt down to New Prague. All right. The last one for me is Steel Toe Descent.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, classic.

SPEAKER_03:

Again, classic.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

But it's a stout I always want to drink when I go there. It's just so good. There's it's roasty. Even the the head on the beer is like tan color. Yeah. So it's like that's like the, in my opinion, the mark of a good stout. Because you know they got oodles and oodles of roasty malt in there.

SPEAKER_02:

That's just like a consistent go-to beer.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep. So that one's good.

SPEAKER_02:

12 days of beer miss.

SPEAKER_03:

12 days of beer miss. That's it.

SPEAKER_02:

I like it. Well, and I feel like my go-to when I go to a brewery is I look at what their dark beer options are. Which in the winter is great because winter seems to be like all the dark beers come out from hiding. Yes. In the summer, like you're lucky if there's one on the menu. And maybe there's just one that stays on the menu all year. And I don't know. I would drink more in the summer, but also in the summer I tend to skip the dark options and go to a lighter, more seasonal option that I can only get in the summer.

SPEAKER_03:

Right. And I think it's like, you know, balance, right? You want to have you know what? I want to have options for everybody. There's there's people, myself included, that will drink dark beers year round. I would drink. Just like you. You know, you want to have something for those people, but there's also the people that like when in the summer, all they want are IPAs, uh lighter like blonde ales and pilsners and like boat beers. And I don't fault them for that.

SPEAKER_02:

Healthavitons, that's a good summer beer, but the dark beers to me are always just more intriguing.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, when they're done well, they've got a lot of complexity. Like the um the in-between here. That's that's that's a that's a beer that kind of takes your palate for a spin. You know, you go on a little bit of an adventure. So that's always fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I love that. Well, that's gonna wrap it up for us here at Tro Brewing in Burnsville, Minnesota. Dan, where can people find you?

SPEAKER_03:

If you're looking for a one pint stand, you can find me at a one pint stand on Instagram. I'm on Facebook, Twitter, but I don't do Twitter very much. Blue Sky, TikTok, and a onepintstand.com is where you can find every blog article and every link to a podcast. But if you're a podcast person, I'm 100% sure if you just search up a one pint stand, it will show up. And if you're like, hey, I want some behind the scenes content, sign up for my Patreon. I've got three easy levels: a$1,$3,$5 level. If you do the three or five, you get access to some pretty cool perks.

SPEAKER_02:

So very accessible.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. How about you? Where can people find you?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we are thebreweryadventure.com, thebrewery adventure on Instagram. And those are those are the places, unless you want to email me, Courtney at the BreweryAventventure.com.

SPEAKER_03:

Or, you know, if it's Sunday or if it's come to Trove. She'll be here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

That's true. That's my Sunday hang.

SPEAKER_03:

That's right. Well, this was fun.

SPEAKER_02:

This was super fun. There's a there's a lot of good stuff in here. If you're looking for a Christmas gift, we got you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

If you're looking for a beer to a fruitsy beer, we've got you. We got you. You're looking for a big rubber duck.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, that happened in the summer, and I'm sure it's gonna happen again next summer. You've got to go find it. That's right. It's not necessarily where you think it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_03:

That's the fun of it. Aflack. All right.

SPEAKER_02:

That's it for us here at the Brewery Adventure. Go visit your local craft brewery, say hello to them, try some new beers, try some new experiences, and get out there and support your local community. Yes, cheers to that. Cheers to that. We will see you next time on the brewery adventure. All right. I don't know if that's bad luck for that with MD.

SPEAKER_03:

Nobody needs to be a good thing.

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