The Beer Traveller

I was under the impression that I had found a new brewery to add to www.goodbeermaps.com. I was looking for Dells Brewing Co.; turns out they’re one in the same. Cool looking place constructed of large logs (i.e. log cabin) w/ lots of seating (for 600) & lots of dead animals on the wall.

Ben the Bartender served me well & even Beata the non-beer drinking waitress came over to chat. The beers were just ok/average. Ones that stick out were the Raspberry Creme Ale, that tasted like H2O’d down Kool-Aid. It was Likable; no beer flavor, but not too fruitty/sweet either. Jaime also makes an excellent Stout.

Jaime Martin is the brewer for Moosejaw & the first woman brewer that I’ve met. Ben called her to come down & meet me. She stopped down w/ her assistant Jonathon. We chatted for quite a while until she had to get back to work, but offered me a tour once I got done w/ my beers. She ended up finishing her day before I finished my beers & came down to have a beer w/ me.

She’s got an interesting history; went to school for brewing, but no-one would hire her. She work as an apprentice here, for free, for 5 months before her boss batted for her getting paid. After a while scrubbing floors & other shit labor, she finally worked her way up to brewmaster. She informed me that WI Dells has the most water parks/capita of anyplace in the world. She also said this was where the 1st water park started.

I also got the lowdown on making beer, beer types, hop situation, mergers/acquisitions, & many other things. Thanks for the chat Jaime & keep up the good work.

So after waking up in the rest stop after a miserable night driving & feeling a little hung-over, I decided to treat myself to a nice breakfast & crank out some blogging (my trips in MN). Four hours & 12 cups of coffee later, I felt as though I had stayed long enough.  Two things clued me in…the waitress asking if I was now interested in ordering lunch & the newly developing bed sores.

So after leaving Great Waters Brewing in Minnesota, I figured I’d just hop on the freeway until I saw a camping sign.  I’ve had good luck in all the other states & usually find a campground within a few exits.

I pulled off three separate WI exits, all of which advertised a campground.  I proceeded to drive about 15 miles (each exit) in search of the advertised campgrounds.  For those of you who have not been to rural WI, picture no signs, no lights, & lots of bugs.  Now at this point I’m a little tired & a lot of cranky.  Each time, no campground was found & I spent an additional 20-30 minutes trying to find my way back to the freeway.  BTW…my gps doesn’t always work in east fuck Wisonsin.

On the last one I did find the campground; it was blocked off by a big gate & a sign that said “Warning, nude sunbathers present”.  This would have made the hassle worth it, but it was obvious no one was around & there was no way to get in.  I also had some concerns of getting stabbed; could have been a gay campground.

I finally gave up & pitched the tent @ a rest stop.  But only after cooking myself a can of soup.  Last meal I had was…I don’t remember.

I leave Michael a VM yesterday to find out if he had any luck w/ Marly. After 4 hours in Perkins (updating my blog) I went back to my car to find a VM awaiting me. It was Michael & he said that Marly was picked up by the pound. Hip Hip Hooray!

Michael (& Marly) was now headed back to WI to visit his family. He was moving up in the world & was now traveling w/ a Canadian couple in a Winnebago. Lucky SOB! Best of luck Michael!

Great Waters was the climax of my trip to Minnesota.  It seems like the bars just kept getting better (unless I was just getting drunker). In all honesty I don’t know if these guys were catering to The Beer Traveller T-shirt or if they treat all their customers this way, but I received VIP treatment to the max.  Not only do they brew some awesome brews, but they don’t foget the details when it comes to accurately tasting beers as well. First sign that these guys know what’s up is the fact that they only poured me 3 beers at a time for my sampling. They wanted me to try them fresh off the tap.  Now I know a lot of folks say beer is served colder to cover up things, but they guys only wanted consistency in my tasting.  I’m not sure if I’m an asshole, difficult, or just extend my welcome but just about all my stops lately have involved a changing of the bartenders.  Liam started off by only pouring the original three.  Paul later came over & was amazing in regards to answering my questions & treating me like 1st class.  I believe Liam was also floating around.  So now you’re wondering if they can brew beer…they absolutely can! I’ll admit it was the end of the day & this was my last stop, but 4 out of their 9 beers scored my Exceptional. Cywren Saison = fucking amazing.  Giant Star IPA, Kaizerweizen Hefeweizen, & St. Peter Pale Ale (cask) all received my highest rating.  The other 5 brews received Likable; there wasn’t 1 Drinkable or Undrinkable in the lot.  More detailed reviews will be coming shortly when I can get some more time.  Don’t worry I took copious notes (not always legiable) to accuratly record my experiences.  The other detail I noted was delivering a iceless water w/o my asking; it’s a lot like laundry, nobody discusses the rinse cycle but it’s an intricat part. Giant Star was one of the original pours of the night, but Chuck recommended saving that for last.  When I was on my last round, Chuck proactively dumped my IPA to get me a fresh one.  These guys are top notch & their beers were rated independatly of all the ass kissing I received.  Keep up the great work!

Barley John’s Brew Pub was the polar opposite of Town Hall regarding looks.  It appeared to be a little cafe/sub shop up on a lil’ hill outside of downtown. Quaint is good!  Inside appeared to be a converted diner, but behind the bar was pure brew pub.  Samples were larger (6 oz) than usual & served in Pilsner glasses.

Jim started me off & said he was fairly new here.  That didn’t change the fact that I bombarded him with questions hoping to get answers.  Later he tagged Hultman (yea, it took me a few times to get this right) in.  Hultman had a wealth of knowledge having been there for a while; he also was a big beer advocate.

Unfortunately they too were out of a couple of their beers. They could only provide me w/ 3 samples, but the 13.5% Dark Knight Barley Wine made up for alcohol consumption. Unlike some of the other Barley’s I’ve had, this reaked of booze & tasted like a mix drink.  Aroma alone will get you railing.  They call it Dark Knight…I’m thinking more like Dark forgetful night.  Hultman informed me that the yeast is the tricky part when brewing this AV%.  Something Sam Adams specializes in.

Wild Brunette had a unique, but tasteful, flavor due to the use of MN wild rice.  Now we all know bud has been known to use rice, but Barley John’s does it right.  Highlight of the trip was the Old Eight Porter.  Perfect combo of chocolate & roastiness w/o tasting burnt.  This one gets an Exceptional, while the Wild Brunette gets a Likable, & Dark Knight receives a drunkable Drinkable.

Another thanks to Hultman & Jim.  Wishing this place had more of their beers as I’m pretty sure I would have been pleased.

Town Hall Brewery is located in a historically old building on a street corner in downtown Minneapolis. They have a huge outdoor patio, but I choose the inside as it’s easier to pester the bartender.  The inside is amazing w/ vaulted metal ceilings & the smell of history.  Brandon the Bartender seemed to be having an off day, but hooked me up w/ a succulent sampler.

It was soon decided that it wasn’t quite as succulent as it looked.  There was nothing bad, but nothing great either.  I would classify their overall selection as safe or average; w/ all beers given a Drinkable or Likable rating.  They’ve managed to secure some hops as was evident in both the Masala Mama IPA & Evolution Ale (EVO in the cask).  Both beers should be reserved for hop-heads only; Ryan was unsure of the IBUs, but I’m guessing their up there.  Although average, there were some brews that stuck out.  The Cara Java is a coffee brew that has an amazing coffee flavor.  As a current Seattlite, I know my coffee.  This brewed was instantly reconized as being brewed w/ exceptional coffee; this was later verified as Peace Coffee by Brandon.  It was only given a Likable b/c it tasted more like a coffee bean than a cup of coffee; trival but true.  The other stick-out was American Blueberry Wheat, a seasonal.  This was worlds away from Northern Lights Bluebeery Creme.  It wasn’t overly fruity, but still had the distinct blueberry flavor.

I’m thinking this would be a great spot to hit @ night.  No idea on the food, but the beer is good enough to stop for. 

Detour caused a few wrong turns & some tours of sketchy neighborhoods, but I finally got to The Herkimer.  From the outside, it looks like an Irish Pub, but their beers are purely German. If you’re a local that likes variety, this may be the place for you.  They brew 17 different beers & use keep 6 on tap at any one time.

The brewmaster is from Germany & the beers are all German Lagers.  They had some equipment issues & had to scrap some beer so I only tried 5 of their brews.  Unfortunately I was not a fan; the one exception being the High Point Dunkel which received an exceptional.  The 2nd place finish was the Red Flyer Marzen, which is said to be the employee favorite.  The Dunkel Weiss was undrinkable with the other 2 beers falling in the drinkable category.  Full reviews will be coming soon.

On the upside, Iowa Ryan gave 1st class service w/ a smile.

I wasn’t planning on stopping anywhere (other than breweries) in Minnesota b/c there didn’t appear to be much worth seeing.  I saw a sign for Pipestone National Monument & figured as long as I’m here, I might as well.  I arrived at the monument about 10 minutes before closing, but the trail would remain open until dark.  I had all of about 30 seconds to check out the the pipestone pipes in the gift shop before having to move outside.  Now I completely understand the cultural significance of pipestone to the Native Americans, but the monument was not worth the stop.

The ranger @ the front desk informed me there was a Sun Dance starting Wednesday & I could grab some pics of tepees between now & than.  He directed me towards a dirt road that would get me up & close.  After traveling down this dirt road & driving through a field, I came upon a lot more than my expected single tepee.  There were several tepees, Indians, sweat lodge frameworks, & porta-potties.  At this point I was feeling rather out of place, but figured as long as I was here, I would snap some pics & be on my way.

I made my way out to last year’s Sun Dance tree and was waved over by a nice woman (Cheryl, I think) who was weeding the ceremonial mound for the pipes.  She got me more up to speed with exactly what was going on.  For those of you who are ignorant regarding the Sun Dance, it varies by tribe but this one is a cleansing ceremony. Men are pierced through the chest & tied to the tree; they than dance for 4 days/nights straight w/ no food or water (& you thought Crab Fishing was hard).  At the end of the dance, their objective is to tear themselves from the tree, thereby ripping their pierced chests open (or breaking the rope).  I don’t mean to be disrespectful as there is a lot more to it, but this is the main focus.  Cheryl recommended I stick around as least for the night if not the dance.

I was pretty focused on hitting the road, but decided to stay for the experience.  They were in the preparation phase & several folks had arrived early to help & hang-out.  Although I felt completely out of place, it was no fault of theirs.  There was a true community feel; everybody was doing their share of work & free food was provided to everyone helping out.  Vehicles, tents, & tepees were scattered.  I even acquired a blister machetteing sticks into tepee stakes.

Everyone was called to the food tent around dusk as Clyde Bellecourt was going to speak.  I had no idea who this man was but he talked of his past, an interesting one at that.  He also talked of the Sun Dance, the fact that it was outlawed until recently, his other Sun Dance experiences, & being Indian.  Clyde too, at age 72, was going to dance the Sun Dance.  Clyde discussed how Indians (incl. himself) have had issues w/ alcohol & how he is now clean & sober.  Now keep in mind…there’s a white kid in the corner w/ a T-shirt that has “The Beer Traveller” plastered on the front.  Oh, did I mention my truck (plastered w/ The Beer Traveller decals) was parked right at the entrance for everyone to see upon arriving.  The great thing is as anti-alcohol Clyde (& others) now are, I never felt judged.

I ended the night around a lantern talking with a few of the others & learning of their stories.  There was one gentlemen in particular that speaked of seeing through a white eagle, black matter oozing, black eagles, being recognized by a red-tailed hawk, being followed by a red tailed hawk (b/c he had a hawk feather in his headband), stealing a bulldozer & driving it to his house, & getting fined for having a turkey vulture in the bed of his truck.  Now who am I say if this really happened?  He also mentioned his 8 yrs in a mental hospital.

Granite City has a plain front & a boring name, but their food & Beer are quality & complimented by a tastefully done interior.  Jesse was working the bar & forthright in her favorite brews.  Other than her taste regarding wheats & wits, we are pretty similar in what we like & dislike (macro American lagers). 

Brother Benedicts Bock took my 1st place in sampling.  A mouth watering maltiness helped seal the deal.  Duke of Wellington IPA was the King of hoppiness without overdoing it.  The bottem of the list was the Northern Light Lager.  Jesse explained it as “closest to a domestic” as she served it up; she was right, too bad I can’t stand domestics (macro-brewed).

Again this bar sported a mixing of the brews, but this time actually marketed it as it’s own beer called Two Pull.  The mixing of Northern Light Lager & Brother Benedict cheapened Benny & brought some taste to the Lager.  My thought…why ruin a good thing.  The mix ranked down w/ the Lager as Drinkable.

The only downside to the whole experience was the G’damn smokers.  We all know that some states are behind others & SD is no exsception when it comes to smoking in public places.  I grew up w/ smoking parents, smoking sisters, & smoky bars (NY).  Since I have lived on the left coast, I have truly appreciated smoke-free zones.  Granite, you’re like the Two Pull; one half ruined by the other half.