Visit Grumpy’s NE Thursday, Feb. 5th for some ale mulled over an open fire – Two Brothers Brewing “Avalon” Spiced Ale. Christian from Two Brothers will be present and there will be apple strudel and some other food to munch on too. Fire starts at 4, mulled beer will be ready by 5.
News & Updates
Winterfest Teaser: Fitger’s
Fitger’s never disappoints with their selection at Winterfest! Here’s the 411 on the great brewery up North:
Gale Force Cranberry Ale: Belgian style golden ale, infused with copious amounts of cranberry.Round full flavor with a tart dry finish. (8.2%)
Bourbon Barrel aged Edmund Imperial Stout: Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrels filled with strong stout. Flavors are allowed to age and marry for 1 year.
El Diablo: Belgian style Strong Golden ale. Warming alcohol notes with a medium body and strong malt presence. Dry finish use caution as this beer is highly quaffable.
Misty Mountain IPA: A super-charged English IPA. Brewed with low alpha English hops (one of our most expensive beers to make) and English malts. Very hoppy and malty then nitrogenized to create a barrier to the hops. The perception is a smoother much more balanced beer. We use around 8 lbs per barrel in this labor of hop love ale (7.5%)
Hair o’ the Monk: A Belgian style strong golden ale. gold in color flavors of bubblegum and strong citrus fruit notes.
Ole Redbeard Barleywine ’07: A strong long aged ale. Made with English maris otter malt and lots of hops. This ale is called Barleywine due to its strong alcohol content. Nearly that of wine.
Procrastinator Doppelbock: This malty lager is a German style standard. malt forward with notes of bread, toast, sweet toffee and slight fruit. doppelbocks are double strength bock beers usually brewed for sustenance during cooler months.
El Nino Double Hopped IPA: Our best selling ale. Very full bodied and not very balanced. Hops first second and last. There is enough malt to offset the hops. 6 hop additions as well as dry hopped. IPA’s were originally made by the British to survive the long voyage to India from Britain. High alcohol and hopping rate preserved the ales and ensured they would be drinkable upon arrival. California brewers decided to push that even further in the 1990’s. Our IPA is double hopped with a floral nose from the dry hopping.
In 2008 Fitgers Brewhouse started bottling 25 oz “bomber bottles” for the first time. Only special beers that are long aged in wood with multiple fermentation’s and or unique ingredients are being put in the corked bottles. We will realease some limited samples during the festival of:
Collaboration Cherry Grand Cru A joint effort with Town Hall brewery. T.H.’s Grand Cru and Brewhouse Cherry batch. Aged 3 years in two different wine barrels with a additional cherry addition in the last 6 months.
Fitgers Framboise: A 5 year project to brew a wild lambic type ale. This beer was pitched with 10 year old lambic and allowed to ferment in a lambic oak barrel. After 3 years aging we moved to another barrel and added raspberries.
Nice Press for Flat Earth
Check it out: Foodie File
Back to the growlers. While purchasing them at the brewery, you can have a great conversation with the people that actually brew this beer, drink some samples, eat pretzels, and get in touch with your local producers. I get such huge satisfaction out of supporting a small, family-owned business that invites the general public to buy from them (sans the middle man) and actually takes the time to answer questions and have a beer with the rest of us. I am hosting Jeff and his wife/business partner Cathie, and it will be a pleasure to cook with the craft brews fresh in my mind.
Winterfest Teaser: Summit
Ready for Winterfest? For those of you lucky enough to get tickets, we’ll see you Friday. Some of the MNBeer.com crew will be taking tickets – say hello! Here’s a rundown on what the fine folks from Summit will be bringing:
Cask-conditioned Winter Ale: Our traditional UK-style winter warmer ale combines a full body and mouthfeel with flavours of dark fruit and spice. Dry-hopped with Fuggles. (6.2%abv)
Cask-conditioned Extra Pale Ale: Summit’s flagship beer, light amber in colour with a refreshing bitterness and good malt character. Dry-hopped with Amarillo. (5.1%abv)
Great Northern Porter: the inclusion of chocolate malt in the grain bill gives this classic beer strong notes of espresso, dark chocolate and caramel. A balanced porter with great drinkability. (5.4%abv)
Heimertingen Maibock: our spring seasonal beer is liberally hopped with Mt. Hood and Saaz. An extended aging period lends a clean finish and smooth mouthfeel allowing it to “drink below its strength”. (6.8%abv)