August 29, 2025 • 45 mins
Pull up a barstool for an exclusive tasting session with Brian "the mad scientist," head brewer at Five Alarm Brewing in Lake Mills, Iowa. This special episode takes you behind the scenes of a firefighter-owned brewery making waves with inventive craft creations.
Brian unpacks the art and science of brewing as we sample seven distinctive beers, each with its own remarkable story. From a traditional German Maybach lager that celebrates spring to a spicy dill pickle beer that's transformed the brewery's Bloody Mary game, these aren't your average craft offerings. The brothers' banter reveals fascinating brewing insights – like why grocery store honey ruins beer, how "cold crashing" works, and what happens when you accidentally add too much habanero (spoiler: someone still buys a growler every week).
The standout moment comes when we taste a never-before-released Double Chocolate Oatmeal Stout – a happy accident resulting from a grain shortage that forced Brian to improvise. This world premiere tasting reveals a smooth, chocolate-forward brew without the burnt coffee notes that often turn away new craft beer drinkers.
We explore Five Alarm's community connections through their Iowa fire department patch collection and seasonal offerings created specifically for local celebrations. The conversation highlights how craft breweries respond to customer preferences – like when Brian accidentally created a lower-alcohol version of their popular Mosaic IPA and customers demanded he keep the "mistake."
Whether you're a dedicated hop head or craft beer curious, this episode celebrates the creativity and community spirit driving America's small breweries. Next time you're near Lake Mills, Iowa, stop in – you might find the head brewer himself pouring your pint.
Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at northbeerguy@gmail.com.
You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, X (Twitter), Instagram and Tik Tok.
If you are on Untappd, look up NorthwoodsBeerGuy and send a friend request.
Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts, or you can click on our RSS feed as well.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Grab a beer and pull up a chair.
Welcome to the Northwoods BeerGuy podcast.
Hey, ladies and gentlemen,welcome back to the Northwoods
Beer Guy podcast.
This is Mike B, northwoods BeerGuy.
This week we are in theWisconsin Dells area and we are
getting ready to go check outsome breweries in the Dells and
in the Baraboo Wisconsin area.
(00:45):
But before that, we are sittinghere around a table and I am
joined by my brother, brian themad scientist.
How's it going?
Oh, pretty good, that's good,and we also have Larry here,
hello.
So, guys, I guess we're doing alittle pre-checking out beers,
so to speak.
Brian, as you know, does thebrewing at Five Alarm Brewing in
(01:05):
Lake Mills, iowa, and heactually brought down some of
his beers to kind of have us tryand see what we think.
So I guess, brian, if you wantto kind of let us know what
you've got going on there, gotanything cool going on recently
and what kind of stuff did youbring with?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Well, at the brewery we just had our town festival a
couple weeks ago, so everythingwas kind of geared towards
getting ready for that.
So now it's kind of a littlewind-down period for about the
next couple weeks and then we'llbe starting up again for
Oktoberfest time period and thewinter months.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Okay, so you've got I'm guessing like some
Oktoberfest beers in process.
Yep, okay, yeah, I'm behind.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
You've got some Oktoberfest beers in process,
yep, okay, yeah, I'm behindschedule.
I don't know what they aredoing.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Better late than never.
Yep, awesome, well cool, Iguess.
What did you bring for us totry?
What's the first thing we'regoing to sample?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
here.
Well, the first one I broughtis a new recipe for a Maibach,
for a Maybach, which a Maybachis a strong, pale German lager
that was originally made tocelebrate the coming of spring
in Germany, so they called it,pronounced Maybach, or Maybach,
as some people would say.
So yeah, it's a lighter coloredGerman lager and real clean and
(02:20):
refreshing.
Okay, but it is stronger.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
It's 7% ABV, all right, I say it's definitely a
little darker, you know, darkerthan a pilsner color, things
like that.
Yep, oh, got a good aroma on it.
Wow, that's pretty good.
So, like when you're decidingwhat beers to brew, do you?
Are you looking seasonally?
Are you looking at do peoplerequest things?
Do you just?
You know, I guess, what goesinto the process.
(02:44):
All All of the above, all ofthe above.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
If there's something that people are constantly
asking me to make every week,then I'll put it on the list of
ones to do.
Okay, otherwise?
Yeah, I try to.
I have three, at least, that Itry to keep on all the time, but
then I try to rotate the otherfive taps.
Okay, but yeah, so I always tryto have one seasonal tap, so
you know it's always rotatingthroughout the year.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Okay, nice, so yeah, so you said this is 7%.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, it's my buck 7% and I believe it was 20 or 22
IBUs.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Okay.
So, larry, what did you thinkof the my buck?
I like my buck.
It doesn't have a big harsh hopbite or anything.
It's got a good flavor, smooth,I think.
I agree, I do think that thisis really good.
I get a little bit of hop, butit's not, you know Right.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
The grain in it.
The sweetness of the beer kindof mellows out the hop bite.
Okay, all right, cool.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So the beer kind of mellows out the hot bite.
Okay, all right, cool.
So when you're making this likehow long for an average beer,
do you think, what do you say?
From start to finish, it takesyou to brew.
I know it kind of depends onthe style, but Right, like a
lager from a time I'm.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
The brewing process takes the same pretty much in
all the beers, anywhere fromseven to seven and a half hours
for a batch.
But then the fermentation likethis one took it was in the
fermenter for five weeks beforewe cold crashed it and then
bottled it or not bottled it butkegged it.
Ales are usually in about threeweeks in the fermenter,
(04:19):
depending on which one.
Of course, stouts are usuallythree to four weeks Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Now, when you said cold crash, what does that mean
for people listening?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
We hook it up to a glycol chiller and we run glycol
through a cooling line that'sin the fermenter and it cools
the beer down to 38 degrees.
So that way all the yeast goesinto suspension and falls out.
Oh, okay, so it's safe fromhaving to filter as much, gotcha
.
Okay, so we'll leave it on thechiller, for I usually try to
(04:52):
leave it on for anywhere fromthree to five days.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
To have as much yeast fall out as possible.
Okay, so when the yeast fallsout, is it like you see?
You know, I've seen other likeprograms where they have, like
the great big, they call it theyeast cake or whatever.
It's all the.
It looks kind of nasty yeah it.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Well it doesn't.
With only doing it for three tofive days, it doesn't
accumulate as much on the earthas they accumulate it's all
falls down, but it doesn'tsolidify gotcha.
So after usually after two days, I'll go in and I'll drain the
yeast off that's on it, and thenanother day or two I'll do it
again and just see If it'sgetting to where it's just beer
coming out.
(05:32):
That's when I'll keg it up.
Okay, nice.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, hey, larry, what did you think?
As far as for a score, you knowour scores go from zero to five
by a tenth of a point.
What do you think of theMaybach?
Well, to a five by a tenth of apoint.
What do you think of theMaybach?
Well, you know, I have to kindof watch my scoring since I
drink a lot of Brian's beer.
But no, I really like this beerand I'm going to go, I'm going
to say like a 2.8.
Okay, yeah, and Brian's kind ofeyeballing me right now.
(06:00):
So it is, it's kind of scary,yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
No, I think I'm used to people judging my beer every
time they come down, I canimagine.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
So, yeah, it's, I do like it too.
I was going to say like a 2.8as well.
Um, like I saidi just I likehow, how kind of crisp it is,
you know, and it's got thatreally good flavor to it and
that little bit of sweetness.
Yeah, I think that's a good job.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I'd ask Brian, but I would say he's going to say a
tan, a tan.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
That's right.
We told him we could only go tofive.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
All right.
So the next one I brought is Ihaven't even tried this one.
Oh, this is an exclusive.
Yeah, this is a brand newrecipe for a new Kolsch beer.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Now at the brewery, do you go through and name all
of your beers or do some of them?
You just kind of call it bywhat it is.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I started out trying to name them and the last year
and a half, two years, I justput up there what it is.
Okay, I figured the ownersaren't going to distribute the
beer anyways, so right, I'm justgonna call it what it is, and
sure you should probably leteverybody know about how the
owners are on the firedepartment and yeah, where I
(07:16):
brew is five alarm brewing.
It's in lake mills, iowa.
Started out, uh, there's fourowners.
All four of them were on thelocal fire department, so hence
the name Five Alarm.
You go in there and it's madeup, decorated a lot like you're
in a fire hall.
They have a lot of the oldretired equipment, old old fire
extinguishers.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Now, when I was in there last time I saw you had a
wall and it had like an outlineof Iowa, but then it had all
sorts of patches from was itother fire departments?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yep, people from other fire departments come up
and they'll bring their patcheswith them, so that way they'll
give one to the brewery and thenthey'll put it on the wall,
paste it on the wall in thegeneral area where that town is
on the map.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
That's cool.
Yeah, that's really cool.
So this you you said was a newrecipe, so you have never brewed
this particular one before.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
No, we made a honey colch before and it was the
previous see.
There we was four owners.
Now there's down to two owners.
Okay, that have it.
And one of the former ownersdid the brewing and he had a
honey colch recipe, which wasgood, um, but I just want,
always want to try new recipes,so this is a new recipe that I
came up with, so is this a honeykolsch also?
Speaker 1 (08:30):
no, this is just a straight cold.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I wanted to.
I wanted to get the kolschrecipe down first, before I
started adding anything to itsure, perfect the first, you
know the base first and then gofrom there.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
It's got a good aroma .
Yeah, that's pretty good.
I'm gonna say it definitelytastes like a Kolsch.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It's nice and clean.
That's what I'm happy with.
I mean, I honestly it would beeasy to add the honey or other
things into it, Right?
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Well, I was going to say just the way it is.
I think somebody that's neverhad a Kolsch before they could
definitely taste.
Or you know, drink it Right andit he's got like a really
overpowering flavor.
You know what I mean?
I mean it's very, very mellow,very smooth.
I enjoy that.
Yeah, I think it'd be an easydrinker.
I agree, score-wise.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
He's looking at us so now I have to try and source
some local honey.
I have learned don't get honeyfrom the grocery store.
Oh yeah, it's not the same asif you get honey from someone
that's got.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
it has bees and so as far as like taste wise, or yeah
, it's it tastes.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
It makes it taste completely different.
If you get stuff that wasbought in the store, huh, I
don't know if it's from what.
I don't know what they do intheir process.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Right, obviously it's different than the, the
beekeepers, oh sure yeah, youknow, and it's funny because
I've seen places where, uh, likeselling honey or whatever, like
, say, a farmer's market orwhatever, but then they even say
if it's this type of flower orfrom this you know.
So I guess that even affectsthe taste of the honey.
So I can totally see where thatwould change something in a
(09:59):
beer.
Now, again, this is a sillyquestion, but when you're
brewing with honey, are youdoing that in the boil and all?
that At the end of the boil.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Okay, after your 60-minute boil is done, when you
shut the heat off, that's whenyou add the honey in.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Okay, so then that basically melts the.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
So it's just dissolving into the beer, but
it's not boiling it Okay gotcha.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I often wondered that you know so, all right,
interesting it okay gotcha Ioften wondered that you know.
So, all right, interesting.
So, larry, getting back to thescore, um, I'm gonna, you know,
actually throw you out therefirst.
You see, I was hoping you'd go.
Uh, I like it.
I'm gonna take another tastehere.
I think this one I'm gonna golike a two seven, just because I
I think it's an extremelysmooth and melon.
Anybody could drink it and Ican't wait to try it.
(10:42):
Once he starts adding things aswell, he puts his own little
spin on it, but I think it'sdone really well and I would
agree with you.
I was going to actually go thatscore, but I wanted to throw
you under the bus first, but hewasn't paying attention.
He was getting the next beer out.
So I think we're okay.
But no, I do think it's reallyrefreshing and on a hot day this
would be really good.
Oh, it would be very good, verygood sitting out there.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
No, I'm used to criticism and I always say, well
, that's why I make a lot ofdifferent beers.
There's always somethingsomeone likes.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
But I mean, like Kolsch, I honestly think that's
one that somebody that you knowis into more of the big beer
brands they could drink, thatyou know, and it's going to have
more flavor than they're usedto, but it still is very mellow
and I enjoyed that.
This one looks a little darker,reddish kind of hue to it.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Yeah, this is the extra pale ale that I brewed.
Okay, I always liked Summit EPA, that they made Yep, and I love
IPAs and that in general.
But I wanted to make one in IPAor pale ale that was a little
maltier, a little less bitter,but still has you can definitely
taste there's hops in it.
Okay, I think it came.
(11:50):
I should have wrote it down.
Oh wait, we took a picture ofthe board.
Oh, I try to remember all theABVs and all that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, Now have you made this one before?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yes, this one I have.
Well, I think this is thesecond or third batch of this
that I've made.
Okay, I just I throw it outthere every once in a while.
I have a one ipa that I keep on, try to keep on all the time um
the mosaic ipa, and then weswitch out the other ones, so
not to cut you off, but you hadsaid you have like three that
you have on there all the time.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
What are those three?
Like the?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
your.
I have a delmation ale.
Cream ale and the mosaic arethe three that I try to keep on
all the time.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
The delmation ale is what kind of a beer is.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
It's a lighter ale okay, it's a lawnmower beer okay
, so those are your three.
That, and they're always on,yeah okay, and the delmation is
I, we love spotted cow when wecome toisconsin and that's just
an easy drinking beer you candrink a lot of okay.
So I said I wanted to makesomething like that because I
was.
I was kind of setting my wayswhere I was trying everything
(12:52):
was seven percent or higher, ohsure.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
And then I'm like now you can't drink a lot of them,
right and that's usually a goodbeer for someone who's just
getting into craft beer to startout with sure it's got a little
more flavor than your averagedomestic beer.
Yeah, exactly.
So when you guys are at FiveAlarm, I'm sure you've had
people come in.
What do you have?
That's like whatever.
Just about every week.
(13:15):
Okay, so that's the one thatyou recommend.
Yeah, that'd be one of them.
Or Bryant's Cream Ale Okay, andthey usually are pretty
receptive Yep, Okay.
Bryant's Cream Ale Okay, andthey usually are pretty
receptive Yep, yep, Okay, cool,See, that's the thing I do enjoy
when people come in.
You know, I've told you beforethat was always.
One of those things that alwaysdrove me to drink is when
somebody would go into a craftbrewery and see if they had a
(13:36):
nationwide beer.
You know, but you know now itsounds, especially when you guys
are there, that when they askfor that you can kind there.
When they ask for that, yourecommend these beers and it
seems like they're very open totry it and I'm sure they
probably really enjoy it.
Personally, I think it's kindof disrespectful to the brewer
(13:56):
or brewery if you're not willingto try one of their beers when
you come into a brewery.
Right, If you just want anotherbeer then you probably shouldn't
come to a brewery.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, why would?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
you go to a brewery to get that that's always been
crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Okay, so now getting back to this.
So the extra pale ale is 5.6%alcohol.
Okay, and 41.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
IBUs Okay, and you said you've made this a few
other times.
Okay, and, like I said, thecolor is really nice.
I mean it's like a dark, youknow deep amber type color,
almost reddish.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Ooh, I like that you get the malty notes up front and
you get a little of thebitterness, a little bitter at
the back.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yep, I was going to say that that's good.
This is one of my favoritebeers that he makes down there.
I usually, when I'm down there,I have at least one or two of
the epas okay, nice.
So yeah, I can.
I can totally see, larry, whereyou'd like to drink a few of
those, because that really issmooth and that I like that
malty.
You know, you know it's thatand it's not over overly, you
(14:55):
know, and I think a lot of timeswhen people hear esb they're
like, oh, that's going to bereally harsh.
You know, um, you know, this isgood, I really like that.
What the?
So you're back up first, larry.
Well, so you know, I'm gonna gobecause, like I say, this is
one of my favorite beers when Igo down there.
So I'm gonna throw out a 3.5.
There you go.
I say I was looking at like a3.2 for sure.
(15:17):
All day long, if not more,that's I like that.
No offense, but I would say thefirst three, that's my, that's
the top one for me so far.
I really I wanted to bring thelight ones up first because, uh,
when you start getting into theipas, and then all of a sudden
you can't taste nothing on thecoal show we've had uh, we've
(15:37):
done these before and and yeah,you'll have a strong one and
then when you have that lightone that you can't hardly taste
it, it gets penalized.
You know so good thinking.
So, yeah, good job on this one,man, I like that.
So this one isn't on tap allthe time, but you make it every
so often.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yep, I would say I try to.
I have a black helmet IPA.
That's a black IPA or Cascadianblack ale.
That one is very popular downthere also, so I usually try to
keep that one on.
I'll rotate that one with thezombie fire that I brought with
me.
Okay, oh, it's not hot but it's.
(16:15):
I tried looking it up and, uh,there's a actual fire called a
zombie fire.
Okay, a fire that's in peatground.
Oh, so you can't see the flames, but it's burning really huh
interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
So have you ever had requests for a beer that you're
just like?
There's no way?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
you know, I mean just some really outrageous, you
know yes, and it usually leavesmy memory pretty quick, because
it's it, uh.
You know, usually they'rearound those super hot peppers.
Okay, you know and uh, soyou've had people ask for oh,
yeah, we wanted a.
One guy wanted me to try andbrew them with ghost peppers and
(16:54):
I'm like no, I'm like there'dbe no point.
It'd be like my habanero, mangohabanero I did, where you have
one person out of a hundredthat'll drink it.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Oh, because it was really.
You know, that's what happenswhen you're drinking fire,
exactly.
Huh, interesting, because Ioften wondered about that.
Now, you had said before thatyou had a request for somebody's
wedding dance, wasn't it, orsomething?
Wedding reception.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I did a spicy pickle, d dill pickle.
I brought that one with also.
That one is not as hot as thefirst one I did, but they got
the idea from the first one.
Okay, the first one was reallywarm and there's a jalapeno dill
pickle and I just had too muchjalapeno in it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Okay, I suppose that's really a touchy, just
getting to know how to how muchto use.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You know yes but it makes amazing bloody marys, oh
yeah well, there you go.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Awesome, all right, so we're up to our fourth one so
I think the next one.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Well, we'll do the zombie fire next.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Okay, and what is the Zombie?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Fire, it's an IPA.
The Zombie Fire, it's an IPA.
That's I believe it's 6.8% ABVand 65 IBUs.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Okay, this is another one that, once it's on the
board, it doesn't last very long.
Oh yeah, so this is a popularone.
This is a popular one, yes, Yep.
Now something like this can youbrew that any time of year, or
do you try and?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
yep, it uh.
Yeah, then these ones I can doany time.
Like I said, I think the lasttime I made this it maybe lasted
three weeks.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Wow, oh that's got good aroma, color wise it's.
It's a little darker, I mean,as far as yep, you know what you
think of, like your normal IPAis a lot lighter.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, it's got more of almost like an amber type
color to it.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah, white head on it.
You can definitely smell thehops.
I get that kind of citrusy kindof smell.
I like this one.
I like hoppy beers and thisone's hoppy, but it's not
offensive.
That's got a little differentflavor, yeah, and I kind of like
it.
I mean, honestly, that's, it'snot your standard.
(19:09):
Okay, here's another ipa, right, you know not that that's a bad
thing, but you know what I'msaying?
It's something I can see wherethis one is different than a lot
of other people you know, andthat's good, yeah, I think I
have five different types ofhops in it, so, but yeah, yeah,
it's very popular down there.
Now, when you're brewing likethese, are you using like the
(19:29):
pelletized hops?
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, and then I mean in this Beer I think I have I
think it's two and a half poundsof pellet hops in one barrel
batch.
So I mean I would have to haveso many leaf hops that it would
just be a mess.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Okay, now, speaking of leaf hops, you have some
growing in your backyard.
Oh my gosh, I have a jungle inmy backyard this year.
Now, what variety are thoseNugget?
Okay, and you were telling methat they kind of are growing
out of control a little bit.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, they like this hot, humid weather.
Okay, now have you brewed abeer using yours Yep the Spruce
Tip?
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Okay, or Spruce Tip Pale Ale, that's right we had
talked about that on anotherpodcast that you were on,
remember, because it was theSpruce Tips that you got for me,
and then you use your hops, soit was pretty cool.
So, yeah, okay, so the zombiefire, I like that.
I honestly I'm I'm gonna saylike a three.
I I really think that, yeah,it's got a really unique flavor.
(20:32):
I shouldn't say unique, but youknow me, it's different than
your normal, yeah, but it's,it's really good.
Yes, another one.
When he puts this one on, I'llbe drinking mostly this, so I'll
go with three.
Okay, yeah, I'm impressed.
Like I said, you're alwayslooking to try and separate
yourself from everybody else,yep, you know, and just give it
(20:52):
that little twist, and I thinkthis one is for sure like that.
So I can totally see why thisone doesn't last long when it's
on tap.
All right, so we've got anotherone here, what's that?
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, this one is one that I made for the town
festival.
Okay, because, since we have,when they do it, they block off
Main Street and in front of thebrewery they fence off an area
for like a beer garden outside,so that way they can serve mixed
drinks also.
Oh, okay, but uh, I try to makelower abv ones that we can sell
(21:27):
outside, just because there'sso much drinking going on.
So this is the lazy days.
Uh session, hazy ipa.
Oh okay, it's uh 4.2% alcoholand it's 72.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
IBUs.
Okay, yeah, this one is lighterin color than the last one.
Now, you know, based on, likeyour market there, what would
you say is the kind of the morepopular styles that you've seen
so far, or is it just kind ofall over the board?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
For the craft beer drinkers.
They love about anything, but Imean IPAs are big, Scalops are
still big Sours.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Do you see a lot of younger people starting to come
in more?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
We haven't really had a big uptick in it.
It's about the same number.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I often wondered, because you always hear stories
of you know how all the craftbeer industry is kind of
suffering because now theyounger people aren't really
drinking beer, they're intoother recreational right things.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
You know, and I didn't know if that yeah, I mean
we, we still get about the sameamount of young people coming
through as we always have, butuh, yeah, so we haven't really
noticed that.
Okay, but I, you know we don'tget as many as you would like.
If you're in a college town, ohsure yeah, yep, I can totally
understand that.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Okay, so this one was lazy days, yep all right
session hazy ipa yeah see,that's got a definitely a
different flavor than that lastone.
It's still good.
You know, like I said, I'mthinking this one it seems like
the hop flavor lasts longer.
You know to me where that otherone?
It was pretty, it hung aroundbut then it was gone.
You know, this one kind ofhangs on.
(23:11):
So I think this one would be alittle bit more to your IPA
drinkers.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
You know that are looking for that, that you know
that kind of that hot finish.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
So but yeah, and then , like I said, it's 4.2 percent,
so this is one of the ones thatwe were serving out in the
street, yeah, um that weekend.
So okay, and this, what's thename of the festival?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
uh july jubilee?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
oh okay, gotcha in july, I'm guessing, every year
always happens the weekend afterthe fourth of july.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Oh, okay gotcha.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
so every year you have always happens the weekend
after the 4th of July.
Oh, okay, gotcha, so every yearyou have.
Do you have beers out there oryou're just?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
you know they can go in and out, both we have.
The tap room is still open, butthey set up a second tap room
out in the street for, like,when the street dance is going
on.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
But then out there, I suppose there's fewer choices.
You don't have your full lineout suppose there's fewer
choices.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
You don't have your full?
Yeah, no, they usually.
They think they had like two orthree of our beers out there
then they had a couple ciders.
Oh okay, yep, just for a coupleother like linings, beers or
something, gotcha okay, awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Well, hey, who's up?
Are you up or am I up?
Oh man, yeah, this is it.
I still do like that and, likeI said, I think when you're
looking at kind of that ipacrowd, they would really really
enjoy that.
So, honestly, I'm gonna go.
I'm still do like that and,like I said, I think when you're
looking at kind of that IPAcrowd, they would really really
enjoy that.
So, honestly, I'm going to go.
I'm going to do like a 2.9 onthis one because I do like the
flavor and the only thing is, ifa new person tried, I think
(24:31):
that the hops would maybe turn,because you know, I know we've
talked about before that hopsare very touchy, you know kind
of thing, to where you knowpeople are like oh, and it's
like yeah, but you don't realizeall beers have hops.
You know, to some extent, youknow Yep.
So yeah, I'm going to go 2.9.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I'm going to go 3.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Okay, again, it's another one of my favorite beers
.
Well, yeah, because you were.
It was always funny, becauseBrian and I were always more the
stout guys and then you werealways IPA guy.
Ipa, yeah.
So then that was the first beerstyle that I decided I'm going
to just drink as much of it as Ican in a year to get used to it
.
That's what I did, and that'swhat I did.
I'm still trying to get used tothe porters and the stouts,
(25:11):
because I think it's just forthe fact that I don't drink
coffee, right, and a lot ofthose.
The way the malt is roasted, Iget a coffee flavor that I
really don't care for.
Oh sure, you know, I think if Iwas a coffee drinker, maybe I'd
like it more.
Well, that's what I always say,though, is I don't drink coffee
unless it's in a stout.
That's right, that's right.
(25:32):
I'm wondering Because, if youremember my grandmother, your
mother always told us thatcoffee would stunt your growth.
That's right.
And she was short, yeah, so Ibelieved her, all right.
So what's the next?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Well, the next one that I brought is something
different For the wedding thatwe were talking about earlier.
There was a.
The people wanted a spicy dillpickle beer and they wanted a
sangria ale.
Okay and uh, so this was apeach raspberry sangria that I
(26:09):
added extra sugar into to bringthe ebv up to about six percent,
okay, and then carbonated itlike a beer okay.
So sangria is, is a wine, awine, okay, so a sangria is.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Is a wine A wine?
Okay, okay, so the sangria is awine and you made this for that
wedding.
Yeah, okay.
So what did they think of it?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Oh, they really liked it.
Yeah, yeah, the gal that workedthat was, she was a bartender
at the brewery.
Okay, that asked me about it.
And it was so hilarious becauseshe, she asked me when she was
working there about, uh, gettingsome kegs for a wedding that
she was in or they were hostingor something at the, because
they own a campground outside offour city, iowa.
(26:48):
Okay, and uh, I'm like, yeah,no problem, just give me a heads
up, you know, a couple monthsahead of time.
Well, she called me a monthbefore the wedding and she's
like, so are we good on thosebeers?
And I go, uh, what beers?
You know, this has been likesix months, you know, and she
hadn't, since they opened up,she hadn't been there.
Oh, and I'm like, uh, remind mewhat they were again.
(27:09):
So I had, it takes a month tomake a wine and I had I had uh,
33 days before the wedding, allright, so I was kegging it the
morning of the wedding or theday before and then force
carbonated it.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, Wow, Like this was your second batch of this.
You made Yep, and I have to saythat this here was my favorite
batch that he made Really.
So what kind of flavors are welooking for in this Peach?
You said it's a peach raspberry.
Oh yeah, I definitely get theraspberry.
I'm not like a wine guy oranything like that, but it
(27:48):
tastes different than that.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Right, yeah, it was funny.
I texted her and asked her howwas the sangria?
And she's like that isdangerous.
She said I drank so much ofthat that night at the wedding I
was so drunk I'm like I'm sorry, what ABV do you know?
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Six, oh, six, okay, and normally it would be like
around four, four-two, butthat's still not terrible, but I
suppose, depending on how muchyou drank, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
All she said is it'll creep up on you, yeah that's
Well.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
What is their deal they have down in that in Lake
Mills, around Valentine's Day,that thing?
Oh, galentine's Day, and that'swhat you made the first one for
right.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Because we always made a mixed drink for
Galentine's Day.
Okay, it's around Lake Mills,they have this thing called the
Galentine's Day.
Okay, it's around Lake Mills,they have this thing called the
Galentine's Day and you can payto get a flute glass and you can
go around to all thesedifferent shops and they have a
specialty drink that you can getand they have some kind of
sales and whatnot going on, andthen at the end of it they pick
(28:54):
who had the best drink.
Well, the year before we hadgotten picked as the best drink
because we made a.
It was basically a mix of ciderand champagne, okay and uh.
So instead of doing that whichwe still did that all offered
that, but then I made this sameuh, peach raspberry sangria and
(29:15):
that one didn't last long eitheroh that, okay.
Yeah, it was gone that day.
Okay, I only make five gallonsof it, or make six gallons, six
gallons okay, five gallons weregone that day and then the sixth
gallon lasted maybe, or thefinal one like a week Okay.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I think your mom wants them to make a 16-gallon
one, the final one, like a week.
Okay, I think your mom wantshim to make a 16-gallon one.
Yes, I do know that Mom hadsaid that.
I think.
Well, you had said, brian, thatwhen you were filling up a
crawler, it like blew the kegand that was the end of it.
So we're probably could be introuble, but we're going to
blame Brian for that.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I agree I'll go along with that.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
So I guess you know, score-wise we should probably
score it and I guess I don'tknow really what to compare it
to, but I thought it had areally good raspberry flavor.
I'm going to say a 3.1.
Just because I really like theflavor, I'm going to go a 3.2.
Okay, Like I said, I'm not likea big cider drinker that's kind
of what I compare it to and I'mnot a wine drinker either, but
(30:19):
I could drink that Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
So what are you pouring right now?
This is the spicy dill pickle.
Okay, I start off withbasically like a cream ale-based
type of beer, a lighter beerlike that, and then I added,
after primary fermentation, Iadded in three of the big jars
of zesty dill pickles, okay, andI sliced them up and put them
(30:47):
in the Molson bags and droppedthem in there, and then I added
in jalapeno puree.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Okay, so you're using actual pickles.
It's not like pickle juice.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Well, I put the pickle juice in also.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Oh, you did too Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
But yep, I put the pickles themselves in a bag, so
it wasn't such a mess.
And that's through the entireboil or at the end.
Nope, that's just in thefermenter.
Oh okay, so you make the normalbeer and then, after primary
fermentation is done, you drainthe yeast off and then you add
(31:23):
the pickles in.
Oh okay, um, basically before Iwould say, like a week before,
before you're gonna keg, I'lladd the pickles in, okay, and
then it just, and that just sitsin there for that yeah, just to
get that flavor okay, all right, boy, I get the pickles and
it's not overpowering, though,like some of the pickle beers
that we've had before.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Some of them get really like you're almost
drinking pickle juice RightStraight.
But then at the end I do getthat little bit of heat and, if
you like, I get the aroma fromthe peppers right away.
Yep, and that's pretty crazybecause, like I said, I know
we've had some other pepperbeers that are the same thing,
where you know, and you saidit's jalapeno.
(31:58):
Yep, pepper beers that are samething, where you know and it's,
you said it's jalapeno.
Yeah, okay, because again it's.
Uh, it's just interesting to mehow jalapenos vary so much in
heat.
Yeah, you know, and I'm surewith the puree it that helps
that a little bit.
But, boy, I tell you, this is,this is really good, because
I've had, uh, distal.
They make a spicy pickle,pickle sour, Sour but it's very
(32:21):
spicy yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
And just their regular pickle sour is very
pickling.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Oh yeah, it's like you're drinking the pickle juice
.
Yeah, it'll make you pucker upwhen you drink it?
Oh yeah, Well, it's SuckerPunch or whatever is the name of
that one.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yeah, I don't remember the name of the spicy
one, but boy.
The thing I noticed was boy, itwas hot and I don't typically
mind hot stuff, but that waslike wow.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
This is my second time doing this.
The first one was that waywhere it was like, because I
only make one barrel, so halfthe barrel was just straight
dill pickle ale, because we hadan older lady that came in, her
and her husband come in, and shealways yelled at me about not
having pickle beer on it.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Okay, so that goes back to people requesting yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
So then I added jalapeno into the second half.
That was still in the fermenterand it was just too much.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Oh sure.
So now, when you did this one,you did the entire yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I'm like it's going to have to be otherwise.
It's just you never know howhot it's going to get Right.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, I really enjoy this here.
Larry, what do you think onthis one?
Yeah, I like this one too.
You know, lately we've beendrinking a lot of pickle beers.
For some reason I'm not surewhy.
Yeah, this one here, like yousay, the pickle doesn't
overpower it.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
It's got just the right amount of heat to it.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Yep, score-wise, what are you thinking?
I'm going to go a 3.3.
Okay, well, I'm going to up youa little bit.
I was going to go a 3.5.
I really think this is good.
I like that combination of thepickle and the spice from the
peppers and, like I said,they're both, I think, work
extremely well together andthey're both the right amount.
(34:07):
You know what I mean.
Yeah, you get a little the heaton the back side, right, but
it's not, uh, overpowering.
Yes, you know, and even this,like this one here a new person
could try it and they're not.
They're not going to get blownout by the pickles or the
peppers you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
the funny part down there is we'll have someone
that'll order it and they'lllike it, and then they find out
that we have we can make it intoa bloody mary on this.
So you mix this in with like abloody mary I'll I'll take some
of the this pickle beer and thenI add uh delmation into it and
then top it off with with bloodymary mix put some celery salt
(34:49):
on top top.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yep, and then, to get people to really love it, he
throws a pickle and a beef stickin there.
Oh sure, so that's kind of wildthat you can.
You know it's nice that theycan make the Bloody Mary.
Yeah, so that's cool, and I cantotally see where somebody
would be like, well, wait aminute, I've got to try that.
I'm sure it gives a littledifferent spin.
Typically.
(35:13):
I'm sure it gives a littledifferent spin.
Typically we're down there onSunday and the one bartender he
loves just mixing up differentconcoctions.
But we kind of started thatwhere it's not super busy, so
we'll just say, well, I wonderwhat it would taste like if we
mix this with this.
And sometimes you know it'slike okay, we probably shouldn't
have done that.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Sometimes it doesn't work.
Sometimes it does, though.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Sometimes it's like, hey, that's pretty good, you
know, okay, interesting.
Like he makes a.
Uh, in the winter time he'llmake a caramel apple ale yeah,
caramel apple cream, ale, yeah.
So then we found that it'sgonna sound funny, but you put a
shot of cinnamon whiskey inthere and it's like drinking
apple pie.
So interesting, that's crazy.
So all right is this?
Speaker 2 (35:50):
our last one I brought with is another new one
that's not even on tap yet.
Oh, it's uh, the doublechocolate oatmeal stout.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Okay I have already tasted this one because, well, I
know a guy, you know a guy,well, and you're kind of like
the quality control or somethingwell, yeah somebody has to do
it it a terrible job.
I'm in training for myretirement job.
Yeah Ooh, that one's likepretty dark.
That says definite potential.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
The funny part is with this one.
I was originally just going tomake my normal chocolate oatmeal
stone, but I didn't have enoughof the one grain, so I had to
quick adjust everything andturned it into a double
chocolate oatmeal stone.
Well, you got to do what yougot to do, right?
Yep, and now it's probablygoing to be in the rotation,
(36:38):
okay.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
What's the ABV, do you know?
This one is 6.5.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Okay so it's still not super.
It's like 6.5 and 30 IBUs, butyou don't even notice the IBUs.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Sure Wow, I can get the chocolate.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
It's got a little bitterness, but it's almost like
it's from the chocolate, right?
That's what it seems like.
Yeah, it'd be like a darktasting, a dark chocolate.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah, wow, boy, that's smooth too.
You know, I was wondering if itwas going to have like that.
Really, I call it sometimescall it the burnt flavor, you
know that really roasted maltflavor?
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Yeah, right, but it doesn't you know?
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Nope, because I can see, you know, I know people
that you know they'll havecigarettes and coffee.
You know that's what they callthe stouts, or that it's burnt
or whatever, and it's like this.
No, this is you know, and thatsay you get more of the
chocolate, like a betterchocolate taste than a coffee
(37:36):
taste.
Yeah, right now on this, Idon't taste chocolate or
chocolate.
I'm sorry, I don't taste coffee, right At all.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
You know what I mean.
You know just the chocolateyou're getting.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yeah, that is good, the smooth mouthfeel.
I can see this one should sellquite a bit.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Yep, you know.
Yep, I have one.
We're running low.
I have one that's calledBreakfast of Champions, which is
, I always say, it's a cerealstout.
It's brewed with Reese's Puffscereal, okay, and it's got six
pounds of lactose in it.
It's like a milk stout type ofbeer.
But, yeah, I can't wait untilthis one goes on, because I like
(38:12):
this one more myself.
Right, the breakfast is good,don't get me wrong.
A lot of people like it, but Ithink this is going to go over
really well.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Oh yeah, I would bet you anything that it's going to
go over really well.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yeah, I got a text from Brian one morning.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
He was down brewing breakfast of champions and all
the cereal it was on the top ofthe kettle he was boiling it in
and he goes.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Yeah, he said, this is really, really smells good.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Would it be wrong if I ate this?
Speaker 2 (38:38):
I was like yeah, probably probably.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Yeah, so cool, so this is a new.
Nobody's even tasted this oneyet.
Nope, wow, so we're justbreaking news at this table.
We're breaking news.
Nice, yeah, I guess.
Uh, larry, what do you thinkfor a score on this one?
I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go athree, five on this one.
Yep, I'm going.
Exactly that same score.
I think this is pretty good andI can, like I said, I have no
(39:03):
doubt that this thing's gonnasell like crazy, because if they
like your other stouts I mean,this is really and, like I said,
I really just enjoy that extrachocolate kind of taste and you
know that'll be a big something.
This one here would go goodwith your cinnamon pretzels.
Yes, yes, that is for sure.
That would be good, so well,awesome.
(39:23):
So yeah, I guess that's kind ofthe tour of Five Alarm Brewing
and what you've been up tolately again we didn't have a
bad one in the bunch and they're.
The vast majority of those arelike really, you know anybody
could try them and drink themand there's not any, uh like,
other than the one, the one ipa,where that had the more hop to
(39:44):
it that you know I could see anew person going, but like even
this, I think a new person coulddrink it and go.
Oh, yeah, you know what I'msaying.
Yeah, usually if a new persongoing, ooh, but like even this,
I think a new person could drinkit and go.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Oh, that's, you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, usually if a new personcomes in and they're like I
don't really like IPAs, I go.
I have them.
Try the Mosaic, because ourMosaic is not bitter at all.
No, you don't taste any hop.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
There's no hop bite, I should say in that one.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
It's our most popular IPA that we have.
It still is 60 IBUs, but you'dnever know it.
I mean, it's really smooth.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
What's the ABV on that one Six?
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yeah, well, it's six now.
Originally, when Jason theformer owner, that was a brewer
made it, it was 8%.
Okay, but one time I messed upand I forgot to add in eight
pounds of sugar into it at theend of the boil.
So I'm like, well, I figured itout when I was transferring it
(40:34):
into the fermenter.
So I'm like, well, it's toolate now, so we're just going to
see what everyone thinks.
And everybody liked it more.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Oh, there you go it had a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
It wasn't as sweet, so it had a little bit more pop
to it, okay.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
And everybody liked the fact that it was only six
percent instead of eight percent.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Okay.
So we, we kind of pulledeverybody that came in and then
you like better and left it.
They said, leave it.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Leave it like this they said I can, then I can have
a few of them.
They said there you go.
Nice, now people can come inand do flight.
You guys do flights, yeah,offer flights.
So you know, and that's alwaysa nice thing, and I'm sure if
somebody has never had somethingsaid, hey, could I taste that?
You probably use a little yepyeah, and you see, that's the
nice thing too that you can doI'm notorious for if.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
If new people come in and never been there, they'll
usually do flights, yeah, andthen I'll end up having them
sample the ones they didn't getto so sure now.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, if you're ever in
that area, if you stop down now,not only does Brian brew the
beer, but you bartend at timestoo.
Yep, you know.
So how many brewers can saythat their head brewer is
actually there and you can talkto him while he's serving you a
beer?
Speaker 2 (41:43):
And some days I'm serving him beer while I'm
brewing beer.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
I'm like I'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
I've got to run back to the brewing room.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
That would be multitasking, and that's how the
mango habanero came to be fired.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Yep, what is that story?
Well, the young man that wassupposed to bartend that day
forgot that he was supposed tobartend, so he didn't show up
and I was making the beer.
Uh, it got to be noon and hewasn't here.
So I'm like, okay.
So I went out, opened up,unlocked the door, turned, sign
on going back and forth, and uh,so I added part of the puree in
(42:19):
, let it sit for a half hour,brought out a sample for me and
larry, and you couldn't eventaste yeah, I told.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
I told him.
I said well, I really don't getany heat from this.
I said so he went back anddumped the rest of the bottle in
there.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Well, when I was going back there, a big group of
people come in the door.
So I'm like oh crap.
So I ran back in there, I justdumped the rest of the puree in
there, sealed it up, went backout to bartend, and then a week
later I got a phone call and hesaid, yeah, we shouldn't have
done that.
Well, I wasn't taking all theblame, you know, but you ended
up selling it all, though.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Right, he has customers come in and we'll buy
a whole growler.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
Yeah, there's a guy there's.
We got one loyal customer thathe comes in and yeah, he'd buy a
growler of it every week.
Huh, I tell him I still have it.
I said because it's just, it'stoo hot, I think, to really put
on tap.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Okay, yeah, you get the burn instantly and it hangs
on for a long time.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Well, I'm going to have to remember that.
So when I come back again, I'mgoing to have to get some and
try it, Because, like I said, Ihave tried anything from
jalapeno to ghost pepper beer,and jalapeno is still the
hottest I've ever had.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
But I'm going to have to try that Well he and
jalapeno is still the hottestI've ever had, but I'm going to
have to try that.
He's got something for you andyou know, like the spicy, the
super hot jalapeno dill pickleone, we use that for Bloody
Marys, okay, and when we run outof that one, who knows, we may
try to use the mango habanerofor Bloodies.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
Right, the Bloody Mary mix would cover up some of
the mango flavor.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Yeah, I'd have to put less of it in For sure.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
You'd have to just experiment a little bit to see
what the right level is.
Well, cool guys.
Thanks for Brian, thanks forbringing the beer and, you know,
thanks for sitting in here,larry, and kind of giving us
your feedback and, like I said,you're down there quite a bit
and you know, I just likehearing how you guys.
You know, when people come andtalk to you guys on, you know,
recommending beers or new people, and now you know how it goes
(44:15):
because that's always been.
You know the kind of the goalof our podcast too is trying to
get new people to try it.
You know, and we always say,you know, buy local, because
that money stays local.
You know, and yeah and uh,there's always something at a
craft brewery for anybody.
You know, know, yep you justhave to be willing to try it.
Just go in with an open mindand you're going to find
something that you're going tolike, you know, and that's true
(44:36):
in any case.
Awesome.
Well, I think we have a fewmore here.
We can go break back into someof these and try some more of
these beers again, or revisitthem after this.
So cool, well, thank you somuch, guys.
Thanks for listening.
Ladies and gentlemen, like wealways say, we hope your
campfire is always warm.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
And your beer is always cold, see ya.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Thank you for listening to the Northwoods Beer
Guy podcast.
If you have a question, acomment or a beer you'd like us
to review, please feel free tosend us a message at.
You can also find us onFacebook, twitter and Instagram.
If you're on untapped, look upNorthwoods Beer Guy and send a
friend request.
Until next week, I hope allyour campfires are warm and all
(45:16):
your beer is cold.
Grab a beer and pull up a chair.
Welcome to the Northwoods BeerGuy podcast.
Hey, ladies and gentlemen,welcome back to the Northwoods
Beer Guy podcast.
This is Mike B, northwoods BeerGuy.
This week we are in theWisconsin Dells area and we are
getting ready to go check outsome breweries in the Dells and
in the Baraboo Wisconsin area.
(00:45):
But before that, we are sittinghere around a table and I am
joined by my brother, brian themad scientist.
How's it going?
Oh, pretty good, that's good,and we also have Larry here,
hello.
So, guys, I guess we're doing alittle pre-checking out beers,
so to speak.
Brian, as you know, does thebrewing at Five Alarm Brewing in
(01:05):
Lake Mills, iowa, and heactually brought down some of
his beers to kind of have us tryand see what we think.
So I guess, brian, if you wantto kind of let us know what
you've got going on there, gotanything cool going on recently
and what kind of stuff did youbring with?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Well, at the brewery we just had our town festival a
couple weeks ago, so everythingwas kind of geared towards
getting ready for that.
So now it's kind of a littlewind-down period for about the
next couple weeks and then we'llbe starting up again for
Oktoberfest time period and thewinter months.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Okay, so you've got I'm guessing like some
Oktoberfest beers in process.
Yep, okay, yeah, I'm behind.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
You've got some Oktoberfest beers in process,
yep, okay, yeah, I'm behindschedule.
I don't know what they aredoing.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Better late than never.
Yep, awesome, well cool, Iguess.
What did you bring for us totry?
What's the first thing we'regoing to sample?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
here.
Well, the first one I broughtis a new recipe for a Maibach,
for a Maybach, which a Maybachis a strong, pale German lager
that was originally made tocelebrate the coming of spring
in Germany, so they called it,pronounced Maybach, or Maybach,
as some people would say.
So yeah, it's a lighter coloredGerman lager and real clean and
(02:20):
refreshing.
Okay, but it is stronger.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
It's 7% ABV, all right, I say it's definitely a
little darker, you know, darkerthan a pilsner color, things
like that.
Yep, oh, got a good aroma on it.
Wow, that's pretty good.
So, like when you're decidingwhat beers to brew, do you?
Are you looking seasonally?
Are you looking at do peoplerequest things?
Do you just?
You know, I guess, what goesinto the process.
(02:44):
All All of the above, all ofthe above.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
If there's something that people are constantly
asking me to make every week,then I'll put it on the list of
ones to do.
Okay, otherwise?
Yeah, I try to.
I have three, at least, that Itry to keep on all the time, but
then I try to rotate the otherfive taps.
Okay, but yeah, so I always tryto have one seasonal tap, so
you know it's always rotatingthroughout the year.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Okay, nice, so yeah, so you said this is 7%.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, it's my buck 7% and I believe it was 20 or 22
IBUs.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Okay.
So, larry, what did you thinkof the my buck?
I like my buck.
It doesn't have a big harsh hopbite or anything.
It's got a good flavor, smooth,I think.
I agree, I do think that thisis really good.
I get a little bit of hop, butit's not, you know Right.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
The grain in it.
The sweetness of the beer kindof mellows out the hop bite.
Okay, all right, cool.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So the beer kind of mellows out the hot bite.
Okay, all right, cool.
So when you're making this likehow long for an average beer,
do you think, what do you say?
From start to finish, it takesyou to brew.
I know it kind of depends onthe style, but Right, like a
lager from a time I'm.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
The brewing process takes the same pretty much in
all the beers, anywhere fromseven to seven and a half hours
for a batch.
But then the fermentation likethis one took it was in the
fermenter for five weeks beforewe cold crashed it and then
bottled it or not bottled it butkegged it.
Ales are usually in about threeweeks in the fermenter,
(04:19):
depending on which one.
Of course, stouts are usuallythree to four weeks Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Now, when you said cold crash, what does that mean
for people listening?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
We hook it up to a glycol chiller and we run glycol
through a cooling line that'sin the fermenter and it cools
the beer down to 38 degrees.
So that way all the yeast goesinto suspension and falls out.
Oh, okay, so it's safe fromhaving to filter as much, gotcha
.
Okay, so we'll leave it on thechiller, for I usually try to
(04:52):
leave it on for anywhere fromthree to five days.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
To have as much yeast fall out as possible.
Okay, so when the yeast fallsout, is it like you see?
You know, I've seen other likeprograms where they have, like
the great big, they call it theyeast cake or whatever.
It's all the.
It looks kind of nasty yeah it.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Well it doesn't.
With only doing it for three tofive days, it doesn't
accumulate as much on the earthas they accumulate it's all
falls down, but it doesn'tsolidify gotcha.
So after usually after two days, I'll go in and I'll drain the
yeast off that's on it, and thenanother day or two I'll do it
again and just see If it'sgetting to where it's just beer
coming out.
(05:32):
That's when I'll keg it up.
Okay, nice.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, hey, larry, what did you think?
As far as for a score, you knowour scores go from zero to five
by a tenth of a point.
What do you think of theMaybach?
Well, to a five by a tenth of apoint.
What do you think of theMaybach?
Well, you know, I have to kindof watch my scoring since I
drink a lot of Brian's beer.
But no, I really like this beerand I'm going to go, I'm going
to say like a 2.8.
Okay, yeah, and Brian's kind ofeyeballing me right now.
(06:00):
So it is, it's kind of scary,yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
No, I think I'm used to people judging my beer every
time they come down, I canimagine.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
So, yeah, it's, I do like it too.
I was going to say like a 2.8as well.
Um, like I saidi just I likehow, how kind of crisp it is,
you know, and it's got thatreally good flavor to it and
that little bit of sweetness.
Yeah, I think that's a good job.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I'd ask Brian, but I would say he's going to say a
tan, a tan.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
That's right.
We told him we could only go tofive.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
All right.
So the next one I brought is Ihaven't even tried this one.
Oh, this is an exclusive.
Yeah, this is a brand newrecipe for a new Kolsch beer.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Now at the brewery, do you go through and name all
of your beers or do some of them?
You just kind of call it bywhat it is.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I started out trying to name them and the last year
and a half, two years, I justput up there what it is.
Okay, I figured the ownersaren't going to distribute the
beer anyways, so right, I'm justgonna call it what it is, and
sure you should probably leteverybody know about how the
owners are on the firedepartment and yeah, where I
(07:16):
brew is five alarm brewing.
It's in lake mills, iowa.
Started out, uh, there's fourowners.
All four of them were on thelocal fire department, so hence
the name Five Alarm.
You go in there and it's madeup, decorated a lot like you're
in a fire hall.
They have a lot of the oldretired equipment, old old fire
extinguishers.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Now, when I was in there last time I saw you had a
wall and it had like an outlineof Iowa, but then it had all
sorts of patches from was itother fire departments?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yep, people from other fire departments come up
and they'll bring their patcheswith them, so that way they'll
give one to the brewery and thenthey'll put it on the wall,
paste it on the wall in thegeneral area where that town is
on the map.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
That's cool.
Yeah, that's really cool.
So this you you said was a newrecipe, so you have never brewed
this particular one before.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
No, we made a honey colch before and it was the
previous see.
There we was four owners.
Now there's down to two owners.
Okay, that have it.
And one of the former ownersdid the brewing and he had a
honey colch recipe, which wasgood, um, but I just want,
always want to try new recipes,so this is a new recipe that I
came up with, so is this a honeykolsch also?
Speaker 1 (08:30):
no, this is just a straight cold.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I wanted to.
I wanted to get the kolschrecipe down first, before I
started adding anything to itsure, perfect the first, you
know the base first and then gofrom there.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
It's got a good aroma .
Yeah, that's pretty good.
I'm gonna say it definitelytastes like a Kolsch.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It's nice and clean.
That's what I'm happy with.
I mean, I honestly it would beeasy to add the honey or other
things into it, Right?
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Well, I was going to say just the way it is.
I think somebody that's neverhad a Kolsch before they could
definitely taste.
Or you know, drink it Right andit he's got like a really
overpowering flavor.
You know what I mean?
I mean it's very, very mellow,very smooth.
I enjoy that.
Yeah, I think it'd be an easydrinker.
I agree, score-wise.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
He's looking at us so now I have to try and source
some local honey.
I have learned don't get honeyfrom the grocery store.
Oh yeah, it's not the same asif you get honey from someone
that's got.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
it has bees and so as far as like taste wise, or yeah
, it's it tastes.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
It makes it taste completely different.
If you get stuff that wasbought in the store, huh, I
don't know if it's from what.
I don't know what they do intheir process.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Right, obviously it's different than the, the
beekeepers, oh sure yeah, youknow, and it's funny because
I've seen places where, uh, likeselling honey or whatever, like
, say, a farmer's market orwhatever, but then they even say
if it's this type of flower orfrom this you know.
So I guess that even affectsthe taste of the honey.
So I can totally see where thatwould change something in a
(09:59):
beer.
Now, again, this is a sillyquestion, but when you're
brewing with honey, are youdoing that in the boil and all?
that At the end of the boil.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Okay, after your 60-minute boil is done, when you
shut the heat off, that's whenyou add the honey in.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Okay, so then that basically melts the.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
So it's just dissolving into the beer, but
it's not boiling it Okay gotcha.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I often wondered that you know so, all right,
interesting it okay gotcha Ioften wondered that you know.
So, all right, interesting.
So, larry, getting back to thescore, um, I'm gonna, you know,
actually throw you out therefirst.
You see, I was hoping you'd go.
Uh, I like it.
I'm gonna take another tastehere.
I think this one I'm gonna golike a two seven, just because I
I think it's an extremelysmooth and melon.
Anybody could drink it and Ican't wait to try it.
(10:42):
Once he starts adding things aswell, he puts his own little
spin on it, but I think it'sdone really well and I would
agree with you.
I was going to actually go thatscore, but I wanted to throw
you under the bus first, but hewasn't paying attention.
He was getting the next beer out.
So I think we're okay.
But no, I do think it's reallyrefreshing and on a hot day this
would be really good.
Oh, it would be very good, verygood sitting out there.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
No, I'm used to criticism and I always say, well
, that's why I make a lot ofdifferent beers.
There's always somethingsomeone likes.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
But I mean, like Kolsch, I honestly think that's
one that somebody that you knowis into more of the big beer
brands they could drink, thatyou know, and it's going to have
more flavor than they're usedto, but it still is very mellow
and I enjoyed that.
This one looks a little darker,reddish kind of hue to it.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Yeah, this is the extra pale ale that I brewed.
Okay, I always liked Summit EPA, that they made Yep, and I love
IPAs and that in general.
But I wanted to make one in IPAor pale ale that was a little
maltier, a little less bitter,but still has you can definitely
taste there's hops in it.
Okay, I think it came.
(11:50):
I should have wrote it down.
Oh wait, we took a picture ofthe board.
Oh, I try to remember all theABVs and all that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, Now have you made this one before?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yes, this one I have.
Well, I think this is thesecond or third batch of this
that I've made.
Okay, I just I throw it outthere every once in a while.
I have a one ipa that I keep on, try to keep on all the time um
the mosaic ipa, and then weswitch out the other ones, so
not to cut you off, but you hadsaid you have like three that
you have on there all the time.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
What are those three?
Like the?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
your.
I have a delmation ale.
Cream ale and the mosaic arethe three that I try to keep on
all the time.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
The delmation ale is what kind of a beer is.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
It's a lighter ale okay, it's a lawnmower beer okay
, so those are your three.
That, and they're always on,yeah okay, and the delmation is
I, we love spotted cow when wecome toisconsin and that's just
an easy drinking beer you candrink a lot of okay.
So I said I wanted to makesomething like that because I
was.
I was kind of setting my wayswhere I was trying everything
(12:52):
was seven percent or higher, ohsure.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
And then I'm like now you can't drink a lot of them,
right and that's usually a goodbeer for someone who's just
getting into craft beer to startout with sure it's got a little
more flavor than your averagedomestic beer.
Yeah, exactly.
So when you guys are at FiveAlarm, I'm sure you've had
people come in.
What do you have?
That's like whatever.
Just about every week.
(13:15):
Okay, so that's the one thatyou recommend.
Yeah, that'd be one of them.
Or Bryant's Cream Ale Okay, andthey usually are pretty
receptive Yep, Okay.
Bryant's Cream Ale Okay, andthey usually are pretty
receptive Yep, yep, Okay, cool,See, that's the thing I do enjoy
when people come in.
You know, I've told you beforethat was always.
One of those things that alwaysdrove me to drink is when
somebody would go into a craftbrewery and see if they had a
(13:36):
nationwide beer.
You know, but you know now itsounds, especially when you guys
are there, that when they askfor that you can kind there.
When they ask for that, yourecommend these beers and it
seems like they're very open totry it and I'm sure they
probably really enjoy it.
Personally, I think it's kindof disrespectful to the brewer
(13:56):
or brewery if you're not willingto try one of their beers when
you come into a brewery.
Right, If you just want anotherbeer then you probably shouldn't
come to a brewery.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, why would?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
you go to a brewery to get that that's always been
crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Okay, so now getting back to this.
So the extra pale ale is 5.6%alcohol.
Okay, and 41.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
IBUs Okay, and you said you've made this a few
other times.
Okay, and, like I said, thecolor is really nice.
I mean it's like a dark, youknow deep amber type color,
almost reddish.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Ooh, I like that you get the malty notes up front and
you get a little of thebitterness, a little bitter at
the back.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yep, I was going to say that that's good.
This is one of my favoritebeers that he makes down there.
I usually, when I'm down there,I have at least one or two of
the epas okay, nice.
So yeah, I can.
I can totally see, larry, whereyou'd like to drink a few of
those, because that really issmooth and that I like that
malty.
You know, you know it's thatand it's not over overly, you
(14:55):
know, and I think a lot of timeswhen people hear esb they're
like, oh, that's going to bereally harsh.
You know, um, you know, this isgood, I really like that.
What the?
So you're back up first, larry.
Well, so you know, I'm gonna gobecause, like I say, this is
one of my favorite beers when Igo down there.
So I'm gonna throw out a 3.5.
There you go.
I say I was looking at like a3.2 for sure.
(15:17):
All day long, if not more,that's I like that.
No offense, but I would say thefirst three, that's my, that's
the top one for me so far.
I really I wanted to bring thelight ones up first because, uh,
when you start getting into theipas, and then all of a sudden
you can't taste nothing on thecoal show we've had uh, we've
(15:37):
done these before and and yeah,you'll have a strong one and
then when you have that lightone that you can't hardly taste
it, it gets penalized.
You know so good thinking.
So, yeah, good job on this one,man, I like that.
So this one isn't on tap allthe time, but you make it every
so often.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yep, I would say I try to.
I have a black helmet IPA.
That's a black IPA or Cascadianblack ale.
That one is very popular downthere also, so I usually try to
keep that one on.
I'll rotate that one with thezombie fire that I brought with
me.
Okay, oh, it's not hot but it's.
(16:15):
I tried looking it up and, uh,there's a actual fire called a
zombie fire.
Okay, a fire that's in peatground.
Oh, so you can't see the flames, but it's burning really huh
interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
So have you ever had requests for a beer that you're
just like?
There's no way?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
you know, I mean just some really outrageous, you
know yes, and it usually leavesmy memory pretty quick, because
it's it, uh.
You know, usually they'rearound those super hot peppers.
Okay, you know and uh, soyou've had people ask for oh,
yeah, we wanted a.
One guy wanted me to try andbrew them with ghost peppers and
(16:54):
I'm like no, I'm like there'dbe no point.
It'd be like my habanero, mangohabanero I did, where you have
one person out of a hundredthat'll drink it.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Oh, because it was really.
You know, that's what happenswhen you're drinking fire,
exactly.
Huh, interesting, because Ioften wondered about that.
Now, you had said before thatyou had a request for somebody's
wedding dance, wasn't it, orsomething?
Wedding reception.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I did a spicy pickle, d dill pickle.
I brought that one with also.
That one is not as hot as thefirst one I did, but they got
the idea from the first one.
Okay, the first one was reallywarm and there's a jalapeno dill
pickle and I just had too muchjalapeno in it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Okay, I suppose that's really a touchy, just
getting to know how to how muchto use.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You know yes but it makes amazing bloody marys, oh
yeah well, there you go.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Awesome, all right, so we're up to our fourth one so
I think the next one.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Well, we'll do the zombie fire next.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Okay, and what is the Zombie?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Fire, it's an IPA.
The Zombie Fire, it's an IPA.
That's I believe it's 6.8% ABVand 65 IBUs.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Okay, this is another one that, once it's on the
board, it doesn't last very long.
Oh yeah, so this is a popularone.
This is a popular one, yes, Yep.
Now something like this can youbrew that any time of year, or
do you try and?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
yep, it uh.
Yeah, then these ones I can doany time.
Like I said, I think the lasttime I made this it maybe lasted
three weeks.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Wow, oh that's got good aroma, color wise it's.
It's a little darker, I mean,as far as yep, you know what you
think of, like your normal IPAis a lot lighter.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, it's got more of almost like an amber type
color to it.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah, white head on it.
You can definitely smell thehops.
I get that kind of citrusy kindof smell.
I like this one.
I like hoppy beers and thisone's hoppy, but it's not
offensive.
That's got a little differentflavor, yeah, and I kind of like
it.
I mean, honestly, that's, it'snot your standard.
(19:09):
Okay, here's another ipa, right, you know not that that's a bad
thing, but you know what I'msaying?
It's something I can see wherethis one is different than a lot
of other people you know, andthat's good, yeah, I think I
have five different types ofhops in it, so, but yeah, yeah,
it's very popular down there.
Now, when you're brewing likethese, are you using like the
(19:29):
pelletized hops?
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, and then I mean in this Beer I think I have I
think it's two and a half poundsof pellet hops in one barrel
batch.
So I mean I would have to haveso many leaf hops that it would
just be a mess.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Okay, now, speaking of leaf hops, you have some
growing in your backyard.
Oh my gosh, I have a jungle inmy backyard this year.
Now, what variety are thoseNugget?
Okay, and you were telling methat they kind of are growing
out of control a little bit.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, they like this hot, humid weather.
Okay, now have you brewed abeer using yours Yep the Spruce
Tip?
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Okay, or Spruce Tip Pale Ale, that's right we had
talked about that on anotherpodcast that you were on,
remember, because it was theSpruce Tips that you got for me,
and then you use your hops, soit was pretty cool.
So, yeah, okay, so the zombiefire, I like that.
I honestly I'm I'm gonna saylike a three.
I I really think that, yeah,it's got a really unique flavor.
(20:32):
I shouldn't say unique, but youknow me, it's different than
your normal, yeah, but it's,it's really good.
Yes, another one.
When he puts this one on, I'llbe drinking mostly this, so I'll
go with three.
Okay, yeah, I'm impressed.
Like I said, you're alwayslooking to try and separate
yourself from everybody else,yep, you know, and just give it
(20:52):
that little twist, and I thinkthis one is for sure like that.
So I can totally see why thisone doesn't last long when it's
on tap.
All right, so we've got anotherone here, what's that?
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, this one is one that I made for the town
festival.
Okay, because, since we have,when they do it, they block off
Main Street and in front of thebrewery they fence off an area
for like a beer garden outside,so that way they can serve mixed
drinks also.
Oh, okay, but uh, I try to makelower abv ones that we can sell
(21:27):
outside, just because there'sso much drinking going on.
So this is the lazy days.
Uh session, hazy ipa.
Oh okay, it's uh 4.2% alcoholand it's 72.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
IBUs.
Okay, yeah, this one is lighterin color than the last one.
Now, you know, based on, likeyour market there, what would
you say is the kind of the morepopular styles that you've seen
so far, or is it just kind ofall over the board?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
For the craft beer drinkers.
They love about anything, but Imean IPAs are big, Scalops are
still big Sours.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Do you see a lot of younger people starting to come
in more?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
We haven't really had a big uptick in it.
It's about the same number.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I often wondered, because you always hear stories
of you know how all the craftbeer industry is kind of
suffering because now theyounger people aren't really
drinking beer, they're intoother recreational right things.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
You know, and I didn't know if that yeah, I mean
we, we still get about the sameamount of young people coming
through as we always have, butuh, yeah, so we haven't really
noticed that.
Okay, but I, you know we don'tget as many as you would like.
If you're in a college town, ohsure yeah, yep, I can totally
understand that.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Okay, so this one was lazy days, yep all right
session hazy ipa yeah see,that's got a definitely a
different flavor than that lastone.
It's still good.
You know, like I said, I'mthinking this one it seems like
the hop flavor lasts longer.
You know to me where that otherone?
It was pretty, it hung aroundbut then it was gone.
You know, this one kind ofhangs on.
(23:11):
So I think this one would be alittle bit more to your IPA
drinkers.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
You know that are looking for that, that you know
that kind of that hot finish.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
So but yeah, and then , like I said, it's 4.2 percent,
so this is one of the ones thatwe were serving out in the
street, yeah, um that weekend.
So okay, and this, what's thename of the festival?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
uh july jubilee?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
oh okay, gotcha in july, I'm guessing, every year
always happens the weekend afterthe fourth of july.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Oh, okay gotcha.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
so every year you have always happens the weekend
after the 4th of July.
Oh, okay, gotcha, so every yearyou have.
Do you have beers out there oryou're just?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
you know they can go in and out, both we have.
The tap room is still open, butthey set up a second tap room
out in the street for, like,when the street dance is going
on.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
But then out there, I suppose there's fewer choices.
You don't have your full lineout suppose there's fewer
choices.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
You don't have your full?
Yeah, no, they usually.
They think they had like two orthree of our beers out there
then they had a couple ciders.
Oh okay, yep, just for a coupleother like linings, beers or
something, gotcha okay, awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Well, hey, who's up?
Are you up or am I up?
Oh man, yeah, this is it.
I still do like that and, likeI said, I think when you're
looking at kind of that ipacrowd, they would really really
enjoy that.
So, honestly, I'm gonna go.
I'm still do like that and,like I said, I think when you're
looking at kind of that IPAcrowd, they would really really
enjoy that.
So, honestly, I'm going to go.
I'm going to do like a 2.9 onthis one because I do like the
flavor and the only thing is, ifa new person tried, I think
(24:31):
that the hops would maybe turn,because you know, I know we've
talked about before that hopsare very touchy, you know kind
of thing, to where you knowpeople are like oh, and it's
like yeah, but you don't realizeall beers have hops.
You know, to some extent, youknow Yep.
So yeah, I'm going to go 2.9.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I'm going to go 3.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Okay, again, it's another one of my favorite beers
.
Well, yeah, because you were.
It was always funny, becauseBrian and I were always more the
stout guys and then you werealways IPA guy.
Ipa, yeah.
So then that was the first beerstyle that I decided I'm going
to just drink as much of it as Ican in a year to get used to it
.
That's what I did, and that'swhat I did.
I'm still trying to get used tothe porters and the stouts,
(25:11):
because I think it's just forthe fact that I don't drink
coffee, right, and a lot ofthose.
The way the malt is roasted, Iget a coffee flavor that I
really don't care for.
Oh sure, you know, I think if Iwas a coffee drinker, maybe I'd
like it more.
Well, that's what I always say,though, is I don't drink coffee
unless it's in a stout.
That's right, that's right.
(25:32):
I'm wondering Because, if youremember my grandmother, your
mother always told us thatcoffee would stunt your growth.
That's right.
And she was short, yeah, so Ibelieved her, all right.
So what's the next?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Well, the next one that I brought is something
different For the wedding thatwe were talking about earlier.
There was a.
The people wanted a spicy dillpickle beer and they wanted a
sangria ale.
Okay and uh, so this was apeach raspberry sangria that I
(26:09):
added extra sugar into to bringthe ebv up to about six percent,
okay, and then carbonated itlike a beer okay.
So sangria is, is a wine, awine, okay, so a sangria is.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Is a wine A wine?
Okay, okay, so the sangria is awine and you made this for that
wedding.
Yeah, okay.
So what did they think of it?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Oh, they really liked it.
Yeah, yeah, the gal that workedthat was, she was a bartender
at the brewery.
Okay, that asked me about it.
And it was so hilarious becauseshe, she asked me when she was
working there about, uh, gettingsome kegs for a wedding that
she was in or they were hostingor something at the, because
they own a campground outside offour city, iowa.
(26:48):
Okay, and uh, I'm like, yeah,no problem, just give me a heads
up, you know, a couple monthsahead of time.
Well, she called me a monthbefore the wedding and she's
like, so are we good on thosebeers?
And I go, uh, what beers?
You know, this has been likesix months, you know, and she
hadn't, since they opened up,she hadn't been there.
Oh, and I'm like, uh, remind mewhat they were again.
(27:09):
So I had, it takes a month tomake a wine and I had I had uh,
33 days before the wedding, allright, so I was kegging it the
morning of the wedding or theday before and then force
carbonated it.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, Wow, Like this was your second batch of this.
You made Yep, and I have to saythat this here was my favorite
batch that he made Really.
So what kind of flavors are welooking for in this Peach?
You said it's a peach raspberry.
Oh yeah, I definitely get theraspberry.
I'm not like a wine guy oranything like that, but it
(27:48):
tastes different than that.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Right, yeah, it was funny.
I texted her and asked her howwas the sangria?
And she's like that isdangerous.
She said I drank so much ofthat that night at the wedding I
was so drunk I'm like I'm sorry, what ABV do you know?
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Six, oh, six, okay, and normally it would be like
around four, four-two, butthat's still not terrible, but I
suppose, depending on how muchyou drank, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
All she said is it'll creep up on you, yeah that's
Well.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
What is their deal they have down in that in Lake
Mills, around Valentine's Day,that thing?
Oh, galentine's Day, and that'swhat you made the first one for
right.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Because we always made a mixed drink for
Galentine's Day.
Okay, it's around Lake Mills,they have this thing called the
Galentine's Day.
Okay, it's around Lake Mills,they have this thing called the
Galentine's Day and you can payto get a flute glass and you can
go around to all thesedifferent shops and they have a
specialty drink that you can getand they have some kind of
sales and whatnot going on, andthen at the end of it they pick
(28:54):
who had the best drink.
Well, the year before we hadgotten picked as the best drink
because we made a.
It was basically a mix of ciderand champagne, okay and uh.
So instead of doing that whichwe still did that all offered
that, but then I made this sameuh, peach raspberry sangria and
(29:15):
that one didn't last long eitheroh that, okay.
Yeah, it was gone that day.
Okay, I only make five gallonsof it, or make six gallons, six
gallons okay, five gallons weregone that day and then the sixth
gallon lasted maybe, or thefinal one like a week Okay.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I think your mom wants them to make a 16-gallon
one, the final one, like a week.
Okay, I think your mom wantshim to make a 16-gallon one.
Yes, I do know that Mom hadsaid that.
I think.
Well, you had said, brian, thatwhen you were filling up a
crawler, it like blew the kegand that was the end of it.
So we're probably could be introuble, but we're going to
blame Brian for that.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I agree I'll go along with that.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
So I guess you know, score-wise we should probably
score it and I guess I don'tknow really what to compare it
to, but I thought it had areally good raspberry flavor.
I'm going to say a 3.1.
Just because I really like theflavor, I'm going to go a 3.2.
Okay, Like I said, I'm not likea big cider drinker that's kind
of what I compare it to and I'mnot a wine drinker either, but
(30:19):
I could drink that Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
So what are you pouring right now?
This is the spicy dill pickle.
Okay, I start off withbasically like a cream ale-based
type of beer, a lighter beerlike that, and then I added,
after primary fermentation, Iadded in three of the big jars
of zesty dill pickles, okay, andI sliced them up and put them
(30:47):
in the Molson bags and droppedthem in there, and then I added
in jalapeno puree.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Okay, so you're using actual pickles.
It's not like pickle juice.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Well, I put the pickle juice in also.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Oh, you did too Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
But yep, I put the pickles themselves in a bag, so
it wasn't such a mess.
And that's through the entireboil or at the end.
Nope, that's just in thefermenter.
Oh okay, so you make the normalbeer and then, after primary
fermentation is done, you drainthe yeast off and then you add
(31:23):
the pickles in.
Oh okay, um, basically before Iwould say, like a week before,
before you're gonna keg, I'lladd the pickles in, okay, and
then it just, and that just sitsin there for that yeah, just to
get that flavor okay, all right, boy, I get the pickles and
it's not overpowering, though,like some of the pickle beers
that we've had before.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Some of them get really like you're almost
drinking pickle juice RightStraight.
But then at the end I do getthat little bit of heat and, if
you like, I get the aroma fromthe peppers right away.
Yep, and that's pretty crazybecause, like I said, I know
we've had some other pepperbeers that are the same thing,
where you know, and you saidit's jalapeno.
(31:58):
Yep, pepper beers that are samething, where you know and it's,
you said it's jalapeno.
Yeah, okay, because again it's.
Uh, it's just interesting to mehow jalapenos vary so much in
heat.
Yeah, you know, and I'm surewith the puree it that helps
that a little bit.
But, boy, I tell you, this is,this is really good, because
I've had, uh, distal.
They make a spicy pickle,pickle sour, Sour but it's very
(32:21):
spicy yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
And just their regular pickle sour is very
pickling.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Oh yeah, it's like you're drinking the pickle juice
.
Yeah, it'll make you pucker upwhen you drink it?
Oh yeah, Well, it's SuckerPunch or whatever is the name of
that one.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yeah, I don't remember the name of the spicy
one, but boy.
The thing I noticed was boy, itwas hot and I don't typically
mind hot stuff, but that waslike wow.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
This is my second time doing this.
The first one was that waywhere it was like, because I
only make one barrel, so halfthe barrel was just straight
dill pickle ale, because we hadan older lady that came in, her
and her husband come in, and shealways yelled at me about not
having pickle beer on it.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Okay, so that goes back to people requesting yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
So then I added jalapeno into the second half.
That was still in the fermenterand it was just too much.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Oh sure.
So now, when you did this one,you did the entire yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I'm like it's going to have to be otherwise.
It's just you never know howhot it's going to get Right.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, I really enjoy this here.
Larry, what do you think onthis one?
Yeah, I like this one too.
You know, lately we've beendrinking a lot of pickle beers.
For some reason I'm not surewhy.
Yeah, this one here, like yousay, the pickle doesn't
overpower it.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
It's got just the right amount of heat to it.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Yep, score-wise, what are you thinking?
I'm going to go a 3.3.
Okay, well, I'm going to up youa little bit.
I was going to go a 3.5.
I really think this is good.
I like that combination of thepickle and the spice from the
peppers and, like I said,they're both, I think, work
extremely well together andthey're both the right amount.
(34:07):
You know what I mean.
Yeah, you get a little the heaton the back side, right, but
it's not, uh, overpowering.
Yes, you know, and even this,like this one here a new person
could try it and they're not.
They're not going to get blownout by the pickles or the
peppers you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
the funny part down there is we'll have someone
that'll order it and they'lllike it, and then they find out
that we have we can make it intoa bloody mary on this.
So you mix this in with like abloody mary I'll I'll take some
of the this pickle beer and thenI add uh delmation into it and
then top it off with with bloodymary mix put some celery salt
(34:49):
on top top.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yep, and then, to get people to really love it, he
throws a pickle and a beef stickin there.
Oh sure, so that's kind of wildthat you can.
You know it's nice that theycan make the Bloody Mary.
Yeah, so that's cool, and I cantotally see where somebody
would be like, well, wait aminute, I've got to try that.
I'm sure it gives a littledifferent spin.
Typically.
(35:13):
I'm sure it gives a littledifferent spin.
Typically we're down there onSunday and the one bartender he
loves just mixing up differentconcoctions.
But we kind of started thatwhere it's not super busy, so
we'll just say, well, I wonderwhat it would taste like if we
mix this with this.
And sometimes you know it'slike okay, we probably shouldn't
have done that.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Sometimes it doesn't work.
Sometimes it does, though.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Sometimes it's like, hey, that's pretty good, you
know, okay, interesting.
Like he makes a.
Uh, in the winter time he'llmake a caramel apple ale yeah,
caramel apple cream, ale, yeah.
So then we found that it'sgonna sound funny, but you put a
shot of cinnamon whiskey inthere and it's like drinking
apple pie.
So interesting, that's crazy.
So all right is this?
Speaker 2 (35:50):
our last one I brought with is another new one
that's not even on tap yet.
Oh, it's uh, the doublechocolate oatmeal stout.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Okay I have already tasted this one because, well, I
know a guy, you know a guy,well, and you're kind of like
the quality control or somethingwell, yeah somebody has to do
it it a terrible job.
I'm in training for myretirement job.
Yeah Ooh, that one's likepretty dark.
That says definite potential.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
The funny part is with this one.
I was originally just going tomake my normal chocolate oatmeal
stone, but I didn't have enoughof the one grain, so I had to
quick adjust everything andturned it into a double
chocolate oatmeal stone.
Well, you got to do what yougot to do, right?
Yep, and now it's probablygoing to be in the rotation,
(36:38):
okay.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
What's the ABV, do you know?
This one is 6.5.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Okay so it's still not super.
It's like 6.5 and 30 IBUs, butyou don't even notice the IBUs.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Sure Wow, I can get the chocolate.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
It's got a little bitterness, but it's almost like
it's from the chocolate, right?
That's what it seems like.
Yeah, it'd be like a darktasting, a dark chocolate.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah, wow, boy, that's smooth too.
You know, I was wondering if itwas going to have like that.
Really, I call it sometimescall it the burnt flavor, you
know that really roasted maltflavor?
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Yeah, right, but it doesn't you know?
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Nope, because I can see, you know, I know people
that you know they'll havecigarettes and coffee.
You know that's what they callthe stouts, or that it's burnt
or whatever, and it's like this.
No, this is you know, and thatsay you get more of the
chocolate, like a betterchocolate taste than a coffee
(37:36):
taste.
Yeah, right now on this, Idon't taste chocolate or
chocolate.
I'm sorry, I don't taste coffee, right At all.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
You know what I mean.
You know just the chocolateyou're getting.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yeah, that is good, the smooth mouthfeel.
I can see this one should sellquite a bit.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Yep, you know.
Yep, I have one.
We're running low.
I have one that's calledBreakfast of Champions, which is
, I always say, it's a cerealstout.
It's brewed with Reese's Puffscereal, okay, and it's got six
pounds of lactose in it.
It's like a milk stout type ofbeer.
But, yeah, I can't wait untilthis one goes on, because I like
(38:12):
this one more myself.
Right, the breakfast is good,don't get me wrong.
A lot of people like it, but Ithink this is going to go over
really well.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Oh yeah, I would bet you anything that it's going to
go over really well.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yeah, I got a text from Brian one morning.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
He was down brewing breakfast of champions and all
the cereal it was on the top ofthe kettle he was boiling it in
and he goes.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Yeah, he said, this is really, really smells good.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Would it be wrong if I ate this?
Speaker 2 (38:38):
I was like yeah, probably probably.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Yeah, so cool, so this is a new.
Nobody's even tasted this oneyet.
Nope, wow, so we're justbreaking news at this table.
We're breaking news.
Nice, yeah, I guess.
Uh, larry, what do you thinkfor a score on this one?
I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go athree, five on this one.
Yep, I'm going.
Exactly that same score.
I think this is pretty good andI can, like I said, I have no
(39:03):
doubt that this thing's gonnasell like crazy, because if they
like your other stouts I mean,this is really and, like I said,
I really just enjoy that extrachocolate kind of taste and you
know that'll be a big something.
This one here would go goodwith your cinnamon pretzels.
Yes, yes, that is for sure.
That would be good, so well,awesome.
(39:23):
So yeah, I guess that's kind ofthe tour of Five Alarm Brewing
and what you've been up tolately again we didn't have a
bad one in the bunch and they're.
The vast majority of those arelike really, you know anybody
could try them and drink themand there's not any, uh like,
other than the one, the one ipa,where that had the more hop to
(39:44):
it that you know I could see anew person going, but like even
this, I think a new person coulddrink it and go.
Oh, yeah, you know what I'msaying.
Yeah, usually if a new persongoing, ooh, but like even this,
I think a new person could drinkit and go.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Oh, that's, you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, usually if a new personcomes in and they're like I
don't really like IPAs, I go.
I have them.
Try the Mosaic, because ourMosaic is not bitter at all.
No, you don't taste any hop.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
There's no hop bite, I should say in that one.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
It's our most popular IPA that we have.
It still is 60 IBUs, but you'dnever know it.
I mean, it's really smooth.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
What's the ABV on that one Six?
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yeah, well, it's six now.
Originally, when Jason theformer owner, that was a brewer
made it, it was 8%.
Okay, but one time I messed upand I forgot to add in eight
pounds of sugar into it at theend of the boil.
So I'm like, well, I figured itout when I was transferring it
(40:34):
into the fermenter.
So I'm like, well, it's toolate now, so we're just going to
see what everyone thinks.
And everybody liked it more.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Oh, there you go it had a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
It wasn't as sweet, so it had a little bit more pop
to it, okay.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
And everybody liked the fact that it was only six
percent instead of eight percent.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Okay.
So we, we kind of pulledeverybody that came in and then
you like better and left it.
They said, leave it.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Leave it like this they said I can, then I can have
a few of them.
They said there you go.
Nice, now people can come inand do flight.
You guys do flights, yeah,offer flights.
So you know, and that's alwaysa nice thing, and I'm sure if
somebody has never had somethingsaid, hey, could I taste that?
You probably use a little yepyeah, and you see, that's the
nice thing too that you can doI'm notorious for if.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
If new people come in and never been there, they'll
usually do flights, yeah, andthen I'll end up having them
sample the ones they didn't getto so sure now.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, if you're ever in
that area, if you stop down now,not only does Brian brew the
beer, but you bartend at timestoo.
Yep, you know.
So how many brewers can saythat their head brewer is
actually there and you can talkto him while he's serving you a
beer?
Speaker 2 (41:43):
And some days I'm serving him beer while I'm
brewing beer.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
I'm like I'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
I've got to run back to the brewing room.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
That would be multitasking, and that's how the
mango habanero came to be fired.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Yep, what is that story?
Well, the young man that wassupposed to bartend that day
forgot that he was supposed tobartend, so he didn't show up
and I was making the beer.
Uh, it got to be noon and hewasn't here.
So I'm like, okay.
So I went out, opened up,unlocked the door, turned, sign
on going back and forth, and uh,so I added part of the puree in
(42:19):
, let it sit for a half hour,brought out a sample for me and
larry, and you couldn't eventaste yeah, I told.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
I told him.
I said well, I really don't getany heat from this.
I said so he went back anddumped the rest of the bottle in
there.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Well, when I was going back there, a big group of
people come in the door.
So I'm like oh crap.
So I ran back in there, I justdumped the rest of the puree in
there, sealed it up, went backout to bartend, and then a week
later I got a phone call and hesaid, yeah, we shouldn't have
done that.
Well, I wasn't taking all theblame, you know, but you ended
up selling it all, though.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Right, he has customers come in and we'll buy
a whole growler.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
Yeah, there's a guy there's.
We got one loyal customer thathe comes in and yeah, he'd buy a
growler of it every week.
Huh, I tell him I still have it.
I said because it's just, it'stoo hot, I think, to really put
on tap.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Okay, yeah, you get the burn instantly and it hangs
on for a long time.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Well, I'm going to have to remember that.
So when I come back again, I'mgoing to have to get some and
try it, Because, like I said, Ihave tried anything from
jalapeno to ghost pepper beer,and jalapeno is still the
hottest I've ever had.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
But I'm going to have to try that Well he and
jalapeno is still the hottestI've ever had, but I'm going to
have to try that.
He's got something for you andyou know, like the spicy, the
super hot jalapeno dill pickleone, we use that for Bloody
Marys, okay, and when we run outof that one, who knows, we may
try to use the mango habanerofor Bloodies.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
Right, the Bloody Mary mix would cover up some of
the mango flavor.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Yeah, I'd have to put less of it in For sure.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
You'd have to just experiment a little bit to see
what the right level is.
Well, cool guys.
Thanks for Brian, thanks forbringing the beer and, you know,
thanks for sitting in here,larry, and kind of giving us
your feedback and, like I said,you're down there quite a bit
and you know, I just likehearing how you guys.
You know, when people come andtalk to you guys on, you know,
recommending beers or new people, and now you know how it goes
(44:15):
because that's always been.
You know the kind of the goalof our podcast too is trying to
get new people to try it.
You know, and we always say,you know, buy local, because
that money stays local.
You know, and yeah and uh,there's always something at a
craft brewery for anybody.
You know, know, yep you justhave to be willing to try it.
Just go in with an open mindand you're going to find
something that you're going tolike, you know, and that's true
(44:36):
in any case.
Awesome.
Well, I think we have a fewmore here.
We can go break back into someof these and try some more of
these beers again, or revisitthem after this.
So cool, well, thank you somuch, guys.
Thanks for listening.
Ladies and gentlemen, like wealways say, we hope your
campfire is always warm.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
And your beer is always cold, see ya.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Thank you for listening to the Northwoods Beer
Guy podcast.
If you have a question, acomment or a beer you'd like us
to review, please feel free tosend us a message at.
You can also find us onFacebook, twitter and Instagram.
If you're on untapped, look upNorthwoods Beer Guy and send a
friend request.
Until next week, I hope allyour campfires are warm and all
(45:16):
your beer is cold.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.