Ep 137 - Barrels, Blueberries, And Big Bottles - The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:24):
Welcome to the North America.
I didn't know if you know this,uh, Toby, but we got a house
band.
I did not know that.

(00:45):
We uh upped our budget a littlebit as a house band.
So uh in honor of the beers youbrought, we thought we'd have,
you know, have him play thistype of music to start with.
Very fitting.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, hey, ladies and gentlemen,welcome back to the Northwoods
Beer Guy podcast.
This is Mike, the NorthwoodsBeer Guy, and I am joined this
week in the studio by Toby.
Hey, thanks for having me.

(01:05):
Yeah, and some other guy thatshall not be named.
Yeah.
Oh, wait.
Ah, yeah, he's over therecrying.
And Jim's here too.
Oh, thanks.
Such a nice welcome.
Good to be here, Mike.
Yes, I'm I'm glad you're here.
It is a little more crowded inthe studio with the house band
here now.
It is.
Oh, definitely.

unknown (01:26):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
Angus, sit down.
Okay.
He had his air guitar.
He had an air guitar.
All right.
Well, hey.
So uh we had to play a little uhback and black in honor of the
beers that uh Toby is greasingus with this week.
Yes.
Uh we had talked about this fora while, and we decided why not
start our uh barrel aging now.

SPEAKER_00 (01:49):
Yes.
Never never too soon to start.
See, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 (01:52):
Wow.
Toby said he's gonna be likehe's ready.
I say he said he had some beersfor us to try, and then we were
like, okay, and then he saidthey were barrel-aged, and we
said, Okay, you have ourattention, and uh here we are.
That's right.
So, what's interesting, though,these look a little different
than most cans of beer, don'tthey?
Oh, these are like the big oldbomber bottles.
These are where we need otherpeople to help drink these

(02:13):
because they're uh we don't wantto waste all of it.

SPEAKER_00 (02:16):
Yeah, I had them sitting off to the side, and
someone said, You drink winenow?
And I'm like, No, no, no, no,no, no.
Don't insult me.
But I had to explain it, beingthey're like, I didn't know they
came that big.

SPEAKER_02 (02:26):
I'll say that's kind of what they look like.
They do almost I think Juliesaid that once too.
Did she saw these beers too?
Oh, we're talking about beers.
Forgive me.
I I was talking thinking ofsomething else.
Uh-huh.
I think she mentioned that thoseairplane bottles.
Yeah.
Wow.
Nice.
Well, hey, I guess um, yeah.

(02:47):
So we're we're looking at uhwhat do we got?
Seven?
Nope.
How many we got?
One, four, six.
Six.
Sorry.
You didn't go to you didn't goto Leon Tech, did you?
Nope, I sure didn't.
I think he's been drinkingalready.
Nope, I haven't.
I've been saving myself forthis.
So but we got six uh allbarrel-aged.
Yes.
So this should be uh should beinteresting.
So Toby, I guess what do youwant to start with?

(03:11):
How do you want to do these?
Or do you have any background onthem?

SPEAKER_00 (03:14):
Yeah, you know, not a lot of background.
You know, I I think someone oncesaid, Where do you where do you
find stuff like this?
And you just got to keep youreye open and um when you see it,
you buy it, you know.
You never know what you're gonnaget.
Um, I do have uh a buddy of minethat uh has some connections
because he likes to travel andand go to places that when they
offer the barrel age stuff, hepicks it up.
So it's nice to have those thosepeople out there willing to do

(03:37):
that.
So um yeah, just kind of avariety of things that we have.
Uh I think uh Jim threw one inhere too to to give us a a
six-pack.
Well, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 (03:46):
He's good for something.
So this is a little differentsix-pack though.
I mean, I don't yeah, you need alittle you can't put them in the
little plant those cardboardcontainers that they have.
So and if you drink this sixpack by yourself, you might need
a wheelbarrow to help get us outof here.
Yeah.
I think you're right.
Did you see the A B Vs on someof these?
Um, I haven't really looked, butI I'm guessing they're gonna be

(04:09):
a couple of them at least thatare a little bit higher.
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (04:12):
Yeah, I think we're gonna start on the lower end
with with one that uh it's froma local place, I think.
Uh nice.
It's uh a blueberry coconutcrisp from 608 Brewing in
Lacrosse.
Nice.
And it's a interestingly, it's apastry sour.
Barrel-aged.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (04:33):
So I can you can hear the excitement in Jim's
voice.
Wait.
So I did you see it's acollaboration too?

SPEAKER_01 (04:40):
Who's the brewery they're in collaboration with?
How do you Zigmer?

SPEAKER_02 (04:46):
Zig Murgy?
Z Murgy.
I don't know.
Wait, you guys are supposed toknow this.
You guys are smarter than I am.
Well, that's yeah, but thatdoesn't mean we know the name.
Z Y M U R G Y.
Now, this one is 5.1%.
So that's kind of interesting.
Now, pastry sour with blueberry,toasted coconut, raw coconut,

(05:06):
cinnamon, and vanilla.
Cinnamon and vanilla cinnamonand vanilla.
So two types of coconut, and cotold me you love coconut, don't
you?

SPEAKER_00 (05:14):
Well, uh, you know, honestly, coconuts are not one
of my favorite things, but uhsometimes in a beer it it can
add some flavor that thatmatches some of the other
ingredients.
We'll see how this one tasteswhen Mike gets it open.

SPEAKER_02 (05:27):
Well, if we can get it open, it's got wax on it, and
we didn't cut enough of the waxoff.
Wipes off, white.
Here, you try it.
All right.
I'm gonna turn the the openerover to Toby because uh see?
Yeah, you're right.
Boy, I tell you, we have to getthe right utensils.
We should have done one of thosethings where it peels the wax
off.
I saw there's a gentleman that'sat the beer shop that also goes

(05:48):
to the long branch, that he hadone he bought online somewhere,
and it you yeah, you just goaround it and it cuts the wax
and then you pop it open, andit's like, where'd you get that?

SPEAKER_00 (05:58):
Yeah, I'm not gonna lie to you.
I have one at home.
Do you?
It's a good spot for it at home.

SPEAKER_02 (06:02):
That's a great spot for it.
How's that working?
Of course, we can't really saymuch because you brought a bunch
of these beers, so hey, noproblem.
Jim needs a better opener, iswhat it is.
Yeah, the plastic opener.
We might have to have the thethe crowd work on the other ones
to get the oh come on, you're soclose.
Okay, well, take our word forit.

SPEAKER_00 (06:23):
It's looks like it's gotta be close, isn't it?
It took took the advice, youknow, we don't need to cut all
the plastic off, just enough toget the to get well.

SPEAKER_02 (06:30):
If we had a normal a normal opener, it would have.
Yeah, let's try that opener.
Hey, we found another opener.
Whoa, careful.
Look at wait.
Oh, there we go.
I heard it.
Sounded good.
There we go.
That's all we needed was just ametal opener instead of the
plastic one.
A volcano.

(06:50):
No.
No, no, that is for sure.
So we looks a littleblueberry-ish.
Kinda, yeah.
Yeah, that is kind of apurplish.
Yeah, yeah, a little bitdifferent color.
So it's like, hmm, interesting.
Now it'll be interesting to seeif if the aroma, if you can
smell, is it the coconut or isit gonna be the we can leave a
little bit left in the yeah,perfect.

(07:12):
Here's here we go.
There you go.
I smell barrel.
Oh that's what's well.
There's some booze in there for5.1% though.
That's what I don't get that.

SPEAKER_00 (07:24):
I really think though that the that blueberry
flavor is kind of deceiving.
I think that enhances what we'rewe're used to with the bourbon
barrel.

SPEAKER_02 (07:31):
Yeah, I think you're right.
That could be part of the aroma.
Because it's a strong aroma,really.
Yeah, yeah.
Boy, that's sweet.
That's sweet.
That is sweet.
That's very sweet.
Full with buckets.
It's not it's not Mike sweeteither.
It's it's even sweeter.
I on the on the finish whenyou're sitting there, I can
taste the blueberry.
Yes.
I get that for sure.
But boy, that's sweetness.
I get a lot of vanilla too.
Yeah, you get vanilla.

(07:52):
Yeah, at the end.
Yeah, and then but boy, that'ssweet.
It's almost like Avery.
It's not quite as bad, but it'sgetting there.

SPEAKER_01 (08:00):
That is, but what's weird is why did they sweeten it
so much, but it's only 5.1%.

SPEAKER_02 (08:04):
You know usually you don't add that sugar to what you
gotta remember, it's a sour.
It's a pastry sour, so it'sgonna be sweeter, right?
You know, anyway, and then theyput it in the barrel, and that
kind of enhances it as well.
Boy, I think I hate to say it,this might be heartburn type
stuff.
It's that sweet, you know.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (08:20):
So, you know, d I think the tricky part when when
people drink beer is they takethat first sip and they're like,
ooh, you know, and that's yourreaction.
You really do have to havemultiple drinks of it to get the
flavors.
So the sweetness I thinkdissipates a little bit when you
when you take a couple moredrinks of it.
I'm trying to get the cinnamon.

SPEAKER_02 (08:38):
Yeah, I don't taste cinnamon.
I don't know if can what cananybody tell me the difference
between a toasted coconut and araw coconut?
Yeah, one's toaster.
Toaster's not the flavor.
Or oh, one tastes toasted andone doesn't.
I don't know, but I don't tastethose.
That's what I'm saying.
Right.
I don't know if I get a lot ofcoconut at all, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (08:55):
No, and I'm okay with that.

SPEAKER_02 (08:58):
Yeah, interesting.
It's not bad, but I wouldn'tdrink like several bottles of
it.
No, I think it's just you knowthat real sweet to it.

SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
It'd be hard to drink.

SPEAKER_02 (09:07):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (09:08):
More than one.

SPEAKER_02 (09:09):
I agree.

SPEAKER_01 (09:09):
All right, Toby, since you're the new guy on the
block, what do you got for ascore?

SPEAKER_00 (09:13):
I don't know if I've ever had a barrel-aged sour.
So, you know, to put it in acategory and give it a rating,
it's nothing outstanding to me.
I'm probably, to be honest withyou, at like about a two on it.

SPEAKER_02 (09:26):
Okay.
All right.
Yep.
There's no wrong answers.
No, no, Mike.
Um, you know, for me, it'sbecause I think you and I, Jim,
have had like one otherbarrel-age sour as all.
So not many, so not many at all.
But this one, it's it definitelyhas that sweet and sour thing
going, you know.
Uh, like you said, I I totallygot the blueberry.

(09:46):
You got the vanilla.
I I didn't taste the coconut orthe cinnamon really.
And I just it's it's not bad.
5.1 is not bad, but again, Idon't I don't know if I could uh
have more than one bottle ofthat.
Right.
So I'm gonna go I'm gonna say a2.4.
It's close to average.
I think it's not bad.
I don't like flavor-wise, it ithad flavor, you know.

(10:06):
Uh and it's just it was reallysweet.
And then it, I suppose, to coverup some of the sour.
Yeah, yeah, it was okay.
I I don't mind.
I I wouldn't rush back out tobuy a whole bunch of it, but
it's it was good.

SPEAKER_01 (10:15):
So I kind of I hear what you guys are saying for me,
because I'm not a sour guy.
That's the only thing thatreally I mean to me, I the
tartness of the blueberry waskind of and I the tartness of
the blueberry still came througheven with the sweet as it was,
which is weird.
I didn't think it would, Ithought it would more balance
itself out.
And I was hoping for the otherflavors to come through the
cinnamon, the vanilla, thecoconut.
I was kind of, you know, thatwould have been a really good

(10:37):
balance.

SPEAKER_02 (10:38):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (10:39):
So I'm in there with you guys.
I think it is a little bit belowaverage.
I'm gonna I'm gonna go stay withclose to Toby.
I'm gonna go 2.1.
Just wasn't it's not bad, it'snot horrendous, but I don't
think I'd recommend that one tothe first person having a craft
beer.
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (10:52):
Probably want to shy away from that one.
Maybe one of these other oneswould be good.
Yeah, like I said, it's it's notbad, and it has the flavor.
I mean, you get the blueberryfor sure.
Yes.
We haven't had many.
That's like I said, it's oursecond one of these in your
first, and it's kind of hard tofigure out how to rate it.
You know what I mean?
Because it's really in its ownlittle class.

SPEAKER_01 (11:10):
Oh, wait, I got a way you can read it.

SPEAKER_02 (11:13):
Oh, here we go again.

SPEAKER_01 (11:15):
Look at this.
All right, just happen to ithappen to have some info here.

SPEAKER_02 (11:19):
Hang on.
I'm just checking to see if Tobyhas only one page or if he had
multiple.
Okay, we're good.

SPEAKER_01 (11:25):
All right, so easy question.
Now, as we all remember, I'llread the question.
Don't blurt out the answer, waitjust a couple of seconds when
you get the answer.

SPEAKER_02 (11:32):
Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 (11:33):
So, recently, speaking of October 31st, what
was special about that day?
And don't blurt out your answer.
Think about it.
It's not as obvious as what youthink because it's related to
beer.
Easy question.
I actually wouldn't even give itto you since it's so easy.

SPEAKER_02 (11:50):
See, he always says that because he's got the
answers looking at him, youknow.

SPEAKER_01 (11:54):
So but I knew this before I typed it out.
That's why it was like allright.

SPEAKER_02 (11:59):
So Well, we know the obvious answer.
It was Halloween, but thatdoesn't have to be a few.
It was Halloween, correct.

SPEAKER_00 (12:04):
But that's not the answer I'm looking for.
I'm gonna say in on this day, insome year, they came out with
the first pumpkin flavored beer.

SPEAKER_02 (12:13):
Oh, that's a good qu a good guess.
Good, good, very good guess.
I like that.
That's nice.
But you can't no, I know.
Uh on this day and some year inthe past, uh, they came out with
uh that's a really good that's areally good one.
Uh what would they have come outwith?
On the Halloween, they had Idon't uh the first barrel age

(12:38):
beer.
I'll say that's not it.
I have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 (12:40):
So you guys have very good answers.
You guys are just so close.
You're right there.

SPEAKER_00 (12:43):
You weren't even close.

SPEAKER_01 (12:45):
So it's Minnesota Beer Day.
That was started by theMinnesota Craft Brewers Guild.

SPEAKER_02 (12:51):
When was that?
Did that start?

SPEAKER_01 (12:52):
Does it say it just said since 1848, the citizens of
Minnesota have counted on beerfor their livelihoods and sense
of community, enjoyed beer'seconomic benefits, and have
enjoyed locally brewed beer intheir community.
Beer has been and still is anintegral character in the story
of Minnesota, and we celebratethat history and culture.

(13:13):
I thought I had a ringer herewhere you would know that right
off the bat.

SPEAKER_02 (13:16):
Well, I thought that was easy.
I couldn't get an easierquestion than that, right?
It should have been, but I'venever even heard of that until
now.

SPEAKER_00 (13:23):
And I and I can understand why a state like
Minnesota would do that duringtheir NFL season, just distract
a little bit from I'm gonna giveyou plus 10 points of that.

SPEAKER_01 (13:32):
Toby plus 10, Mike.
Your answer was not even minus500.

SPEAKER_02 (13:37):
Well, ladies and gentlemen, if Jim's microphone
just happens to shut off duringthis, don't think nothing of it.
All right.
Well, can we get a can can weget the beer?
I'm not talking to Toby.
Hey, Toby, I'm not talking toJim no more.

SPEAKER_00 (13:47):
I understand.

SPEAKER_02 (13:48):
That's what that's why I'm here.
All right, so what do we gotthere, buddy?
So the next one we have isCalamity, and this is from Bad
Weather Brewing Company.
This is the year I've had thisone for a while.
2020, yeah.
And it's so they're out of St.
Paul.
Yep.
Interesting.
I I'm not sure.
I wonder if we've had beer fromBad Weather.
We probably have.
Where are you from?
Minnesota.

(14:09):
Oh but there's all sorts ofbreweries too, and I'm not sure
if we've had a beer from theseguys or not.
We probably have.
I don't think so, but I could bewrong.
Then why are you complaining tome then?
Well, no, because I thought youwere from Minnesota.
Every brewery.
Well, I don't haven't been toall of them.
Oh, so this one is just slightlyabove ABV from the first one.
Okay.
So this one is 11.4%.

(14:31):
That's a little jump.
And what Jim is waiting for, 70IBUs.
Yeah.
This could be a wee bit hoppy.
So this one is bourbon and ryewhiskey barrel-aged Russian
Imperial Stout.
And it's bold and daring.
This full-bodied Imperial Stoutis for the fearless.
So Jim's out.
Those who like it dark, roasted,and big on flavors.

(14:57):
Yeah.
Yeah, I like big on flavors andstuff.
Settle in for a sweet yet bittertaste with notes of chocolate
and dark fruit.
Now, this one is one of themgigantic bottles.

SPEAKER_00 (15:08):
Yeah, it is a big bottle.

SPEAKER_02 (15:09):
So if you want to hand me your glass, yeah, go be
here.
Ooh.
That one's just a little bitdarker than the first one.
Kind of looks like Motor Oil.
Slightly.
What kind of a head is on that?
None.
Nope.
Zero.
There is no such thing with thisbeer.
This beer has no head.
Yeah, I don't know why I'mtrying to not pour it so it

(15:30):
foams up because there's no foamcoming anyway.
Alright, so now we got to makesure we get we're cinched in
tight, right?
Now the label on this one ispretty cool.
Yeah, it is good artwork on thatone.
We'll post a picture of it.
It's hard to describe.
I don't even know how you woulddescribe that, to be honest with
you, but that's pretty cool.
All right.
So this is a bourbon and ryewhiskey barrel age.

SPEAKER_00 (15:49):
So we really don't know what what flavors we're
looking for here, other thandark.

unknown (15:53):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (15:53):
Yeah, and it just said, yeah, sweet.
Might be chocolate, sweet yetbitter.
What's a dark fruit?
Grape.
Is that like jet grape?
Well, is it that or like plum oris it a raisin?
Yeah, I don't know.
It could be raisin too, younever know.
We should look that up.
Not a crazen.
Not a crazen.
I hope it's not prunes.
Oh if Toby gets up and takes amad dash, we'll know that.

(16:14):
We'll wait for a second beforewe taste it and see what
happens.
Well, it's definitely notbitter.
I mean, well, there's a there'sa little bit, but not 70.
I don't honestly, there's not ahuge amount of flavor.
No.
That's kind of weird.
Have you noticed on that, Jim?
I mean, it's I was expectingreally big so you know, there's
a do you think because we didn'tdrink it right away, waiting a

(16:35):
few shouldn't impact at all.
So that's all so the only thingthat possibly could is it's it
is a little bit cooler, but Iget a little bit of the barrel
flavor, right?
Yeah, but I don't really getit's like uh on the aftertaste,
you almost have like a if youwanted to say a chocolate, but
it's just that like roasted typeflavor.
Right.
It's it's weird.
That's how usually people,especially with these, are

(16:57):
there's a lot of flavor.
I mean, that's already inherentfrom the barrel from what you
put in.
This is like hardly anything.
This is kind of confusing.
Wait, what do you what do youthink, Toby?

SPEAKER_00 (17:06):
It's you know, we we've got a friend of ours that
that uh isn't a fan of thebarrel age, yeah.
You know, the dark beers, andsometimes he describes it like
uh coffee and cigarettes.
Coffee and cigarettes, yeah.
And I'm not saying this is thatbad, but I think he would
definitely say that tastes likecoffee and cigarettes because
there's not not any greatflavors to it.
It's just kind of that mundane.

(17:27):
It's weird.

SPEAKER_01 (17:28):
I know it's I was really I've had this beer for a
long time, and I was likewaiting for the right
opportunity to slide it into oneof the podcasts.
So I've been holding on to itfor a long time, and I'm like,
because it's like theappearance, you know, like the
the cover to the book lookedlike it was gonna be a great
one, and then just kind of likefalls flat.
Like the first one had moreflavor than this one.

SPEAKER_02 (17:46):
Oh yeah, even though I didn't quite like that sour
flavor, but I was just gonna sayI smelled in like glasses to see
what the aroma was, and I'mstill smelling blueberry from
the last one.
But yeah, dude, I don't know.
I mean, now I give him credit,it doesn't taste like 11-4.
No, I mean it's there's notreally a burn at all.
No, it's but it's more there'sjust not a lot of flavor.

SPEAKER_01 (18:04):
I I will say though, like Toby mentioned right off
the bat, after the second sip,the third sip, I'm getting a
little bit more flavor.
Not not a lot, it's not likespike, but I'm getting a little
bit more.
So I don't know if it's numbingmy tongue or what.

SPEAKER_00 (18:19):
And you you can't identify it.
You know, I'm looking at thedescription, okay.
Roasted.

SPEAKER_02 (18:23):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (18:24):
You know, I uh okay, roasted coffee.
That that has a different flavorthan you know, non-roasted
coffee beans.

SPEAKER_02 (18:31):
I'm talking about notes of chocolate, which I kind
of get that chocolate on thefinish, but you know, dark
fruit, I don't really get anykind of a dark fruit flavor from
it.

SPEAKER_01 (18:39):
And here's another question to possibly ask your
brother again.
I definitely don't get 70 IPUs.

SPEAKER_02 (18:44):
No.

SPEAKER_01 (18:45):
I mean, I know there's a mathematical equation
how they do that, but I mean,realistically, I mean, this
would to me is in the 20s, ifnot lower.

SPEAKER_02 (18:53):
Yeah, it's not bitter.
No, no, when it's at 70, I waslike, oh my gosh, this is gonna
be almost an IPA type realhoppiness.

SPEAKER_00 (19:01):
And I almost wish it was a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 (19:03):
It'd have been it probably added a little flavor
to it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (19:05):
Well, Mike, you want to go first then?

SPEAKER_02 (19:07):
Yeah, um, yeah, I I pretty much said everything that
I can say really to describe it.
Um an 11-4.
And I'll give it a tenth of apoint for the artwork because
that was really nice.
So I'll give it that.
But I'm still gonna go like a2-5, honestly.
Right in the middle of the road?
Right in the middle of the road,because it's just there like you
said, Jim, it was getting alittle bit more flavor, but
still not much, you know, andand a beer like this,

(19:29):
especially, and again, we'verated yeah, oh my gosh, it's
gotta be at least 800 barrel-agebeers.
And we can pick out the flavorsin those.
I mean, that's really kind ofour specialty, and this one just
kind of there's not a lot to it.
Toby, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 (19:43):
Yeah, I'm uh, you know, I uh you could say
average, you know, I'm notdisagreeing with you, Mike.
Um, and like you said, youyou've got a lot more uh that
have crossed your palette than Ihave, but uh you know, if I was
recommending this to someone, itit probably wouldn't be my first
choice.
I'd say it's below average.
I'm probably about a two-two.

SPEAKER_02 (20:00):
Did you give them a tenth of a point for the
artwork?
I did.
Okay.
I was at a two-one, but theartwork bumped it up.

SPEAKER_01 (20:05):
But and then just to clarify, since for you, it's not
so much the flavors, the lack offlavor while you're giving it a
little bit.

SPEAKER_02 (20:12):
Correct.
Okay, yep.
And that's a great point.
Yeah, that's a very great, avalid point, too.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (20:17):
And I and I hear exactly what you guys are
saying.
And I, you know, the hard part,we always, I guess,
unconsciously give the beersthat are double-digit ABV the
benefit of the doubt.
Because it's difficult at bestto make these.
I mean, granted, we're notbrewmasters, we just like try
their product, but this one Idon't know.
Something they could have addedsomething more just to give it a

(20:38):
little bit more flavor.
And again, we don't know.
We haven't, I don't think we'veI haven't personally been to bad
weather brewing.
It probably could be a littlebit smaller, like 608, and maybe
you know, they're 2020.
This is maybe at the beginningof their barrel aging stuff.
I wish it was better.
I was I had high expectationsfor it.
I mean, because you can evenlook at the way the bottles,
this bottle's even made a littlebit different.
The actual shape of the bottlesdifferent.

(20:59):
I mean, they're trying some newthings, so kudos to that.
I'm gonna give them a tenth of apoint.
I'm gonna say uh a 2.4.
Okay.
So just wish it was a little bitmore.

SPEAKER_00 (21:08):
You know, that uh as I'm finishing up here, I think I
get a little bit of the ryebarrel-aged in it, you know,
that that flavor.
And maybe that would be oneflavor that I that that pops out
at me a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 (21:20):
So I can understand that.
So I do have some questions onthe bad weather brewery.

SPEAKER_01 (21:25):
Okay.
So um, speaking of their umlength of time they've been
opened, do you guys know whenthey started?
When they started and when theyactually opened their tap room,
and I'll give you a hint.

SPEAKER_02 (21:38):
Starts with a two.
Starts with a two.
I should get 10 points forknowing what you're saying.
You should say I should.
Yep.
Uh so when they started and whenthey opened their tap room.
Yep.
So I'm just gonna wing in aprayer it, and I'm gonna say
they started in 2010 and theyopened their tap room in 2012.
Okay, good answer.

SPEAKER_00 (21:57):
Who?
Toby?
Um I'm gonna say that theyactually opened in 12 and
started their tap room in 15.

SPEAKER_01 (22:07):
Thousand points for Toby.
So that's six years.

SPEAKER_00 (22:10):
You want to see my my script there?

SPEAKER_01 (22:12):
So on their website it says, Oh, look, here's the
answers.
Huh.
It was a hot and stormy night.
Oh, that's how it all starts.
That's how they all start.
Not to sound melodramatic, butthat's how the story really
begins.
Back in the spring of 2013, weset out amid treacherous weather
to help grow the local brewingcommunity.

(22:33):
One delicious crafted beer at atime.
So it was two two buddies, Zach,a banking analyst, turned
bartender, Joe, former biologymajor, quickly transitioned into
the dream team.
And then in 2015, they openedtheir St.
Paul location.

SPEAKER_00 (22:48):
Money.

SPEAKER_01 (22:49):
So right now they have today, it says they have a
20-barrel brew house and taproom.

SPEAKER_02 (22:54):
Okay.
Um did it say any.
Did you look and see like whatother stuff they make or do they
have on the website?
Um I guess my question is dothey do a lot of barrel aging
stuff, do you know, or do thenit really?

SPEAKER_01 (23:05):
Not as much as the next two beers.
Okay.
They're actually their wholefocus is on uh bear-aged beers.

SPEAKER_00 (23:13):
It is the next company.
Yeah, okay, nice.
I hear road trip in the futurethen.

SPEAKER_02 (23:17):
Well, I I got some good questions.
You guys are gonna have toanswer them for us to be able to
go.
Oh, do we have to answer themcorrectly?
Or can we just answer them?
One of us does.
So you got the best.

SPEAKER_01 (23:28):
Toby gets a thousand for that.
So he's up now one thousand andten.
Oh, wow.
And uh Mike is at minus twothousand.

SPEAKER_02 (23:36):
Oh, you know, whatever.
That's I'm used to that.
So, Jim, I was gonna email youthe other day because I saw an
article on it's actually socialmedia, but it was the top 30
breweries in Wisconsin.
Nice.
All right, all right.
So I I I was gonna try and printit off, but I saw it was on my
phone, and then I couldn'tfigure it out.
You couldn't print it from yourphone?
No.

(23:56):
Oh, so aren't you a technologyguy?
Can I will give you a chance toguess what the number one
brewery according to, and I Iapologize, I can't remember who
they this was drawn up by, youknow what I mean?
What organization or anythinglike that, or what it was based
on.
I should have done a littlebetter on that.
But what would you guess thatthe number one brewery in

(24:18):
Wisconsin?
So when you say brewery, is itcraft beer only or they were
craft?
They were craft breweries.
Okay, so Miller's good question.
Good question.
Miller's Miller's is out yep,no, it was craft breweries.
Craft breweries, yeah.
The number one in the number onein Wisconsin.
I'd have to say um New Glaris.
Okay, Toby.
It's a good guess.
Untitled art.
Okay, well, that's minus 10,000for Jim.
Nu Glaris was second.

(24:39):
Oh, gee.
I don't remember what UntitledArt so it was.
Number one, Central Waters.

SPEAKER_00 (24:45):
Oh that's pretty obvious.
I'm disappointed.

SPEAKER_02 (24:47):
I was guessing.
I was like, what?
Yeah, and I thought Nu Glaris.
I mean, the Nu Glaris was numbertwo.
Um I'm trying to remember theother ones that were in the top
ten because there was Why don'tyou print that out so we can I
know I I'll I'll try and dothat.
What kind of host are you?
Well, not very good.
You're not the hostess with themostess.
Well, because I knew why shouldI entertain and enlighten you
when you pick on me for thesequestions all the time?

(25:08):
But I'm educating the listeners.
Oh, that's right.
I'll print, I'll figure out away to print it off and I'll
bring it for the next time.
Yes.
But it was really interestingbecause there was a lot of
breweries that we've been tothat were in that list, and then
there were some I've never evenremotely heard of, you know, so
it's like wow.
So but yeah, I do remember thetop two.
Well, thanks for teasing thelisteners.
I mean, we all want to know whatthose are.
So act surprised.
All right.

(25:28):
The next time we talk about it.
So what do we got next?
What's the next one?
So the next one, uh Toby readthis, Toby should read this one.

SPEAKER_00 (25:36):
So this is one of his special ones.
So this is called Cursed Visionsfrom Barrel Theory Beer Company
from St.
Paul.
Sensing a theme here.

SPEAKER_01 (25:47):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (25:48):
In collaboration with Drecker.
Nice.

SPEAKER_01 (25:51):
We've had some good beers.
We've had Dreckers, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (25:53):
So we're we're up in the numbers a little bit.
We're up to 14% on the ABV ofthis one.
So this is a barrel-agedImperial stout that's aged 20
months in Blatten's barrels.
That's a good bourbon.
Yes, it is.
With chocolate toasted coconut,my favorite.
The chocolate, peanut butter,roasted cashew nut butter,

(26:19):
Haitian cocoa, cacao, cacao,cacao, cacao, nibs, and Costa
Rican vanilla beans.

SPEAKER_02 (26:26):
Wow.
Wow.
We're going traveling on this.
Very worldly Caribbean Adventurehere or something.
So, do you think there's goingto be any type of head on this
one?
Uh in my world, no.
I was gonna say there's that.
There's no chance.
Ooh, that's a little thick.
This is dark.
Nice.
Look at it.
That one pours like motor oil.
When it pours thick, there's nouh head on that one.
No, even pouring it from adistance.

(26:48):
Yeah.
It doesn't even look just likemotor oil coming out of it.
That is that is thick.
Do you remember, Jim?
We had one from I think it wasNew Glaris, wasn't it?
And it was like a red somethingor other, and it was super
thick.
It was you remember that one?
It was always like we forgot toroll it just like syrup.
And we're like, what in theworld?
And it was some kind of a almostlike a fruity type thing, but it

(27:08):
was like super thick.
It's the thickest I think I'vewe've ever had.
So this one's probably up there.
So, and I wonder, you know,where do they come up with the
title cursed visions?
What how you know becausewrapping out some of those we
actually could figure out.
I think if you drink that wholebottle, you're gonna be cursed.
You'll be cursed.
A lot of visions, you don't knowwhat the hell it is.
That smells like uh smellsfantastic.
I was gonna say that smellspretty good.

(27:30):
That one's that is not bad.
That's good.
Wow.
All right, Toby, you're kind ofoff the hook now.
You're yeah, the first two wewere questioning things a little
bit.
Well, the one is Jim.
Yeah, but one is my story.
So yours you were still in goodstand.
Jim's one that was in in kind ofquestion.

SPEAKER_00 (27:45):
No, we had to rebound after that last one.

SPEAKER_01 (27:47):
Yeah, so can anybody tell me what the roasted cashew
nut butter tastes like?

SPEAKER_00 (27:52):
Like cashews, duh.
I think it's got some of thatWisconsin butter notes to it
with a little bit of cashew init.

SPEAKER_02 (27:58):
You know, it's just like pistachios when I put it in
the beer.
What does that taste like?
Pistachio.
The only one I've ever had thatyou could taste it was that
pistachio cream ale.
That one you could taste it, butother than that, I I think all
the pistachio beers we ever had,you can never taste the
pistachio in it.
This is a high octane one.
Yeah, this is high, but I meanlike but it drinks good.
But the other flavors, you know,like the chocolate toasted
coconut.

SPEAKER_01 (28:19):
I taste more socket than I do coconut.
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (28:21):
Chocolate's definitely chocolate, I think,
is the predominant flavor.
With the cocoa nibs and orpeanut butter.
I don't taste peanut butter.
If you do, it's very, veryfaint.
Maybe on the finish, maybe maybea little on the finish.
Well, it could, yeah, I'm surethere is, but and you know, I
couldn't find anything.
Yeah, it does.
Very smooth.
How did Drecker know?
I didn't there was nothing onthe website that talked about

(28:41):
Drecker and Hawley.
You know, because it looks likethe Barrel Theory Beer Company
does a lot of barrel-aged beers.
Okay.
A lot.
That's like their their mainthing.

SPEAKER_01 (28:51):
Yeah, almost like I think G5.
Yeah, they did a really good jobin Blood.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (28:56):
But it didn't say really, you know, they don't
talk about the collab or whythey wanted to work together
with them or what what didDrecker bring to the beer barrel
theory, you know.
Right.
What their what their portionof.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (29:08):
I wish I I mean that would to me is kind of
interesting.
What why did they reach out tothem or what what did they bring
to the beer that they wereright, you know, they weren't
they didn't know about.

SPEAKER_00 (29:17):
Yeah, and you you you know that's become kind of a
just a network of those peoplethey'd connect with one another
and they talk about things, andI'm sure it's like, hey, let's
let's try this.
But for the listeners and forthe drinkers, it'd be great to
know that.

SPEAKER_02 (29:28):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (29:29):
You know, just to have an understanding of what
they were thinking and what theywere going for.

SPEAKER_02 (29:32):
Yeah.
You know, we've talked aboutthat before, where it's like
when you do a collaboration,what does each part of bring?
Right.
You know, is it are they justbrainstorming and they say, hey,
let's make a stout, what shouldwe put in it?
You know, is it like that?
Or does one say, Hey, I got thisidea.
This place has the barrels andall you know what I mean.
You don't know.
Because I wish they would tellus more of that.
That would be interesting tofind out.

SPEAKER_01 (29:49):
Because I think the one that always tells us, which
has been spot on every time, hasbeen Bourbon County.

unknown (29:55):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (29:55):
Because then they collab, they collab with a very
big, well known bourbon to usetheir very Barrels to put their
beer in, which there has beenpretty successful.
This one was in blanton barrels.
Yes.
Yes.
So I mean it they told us that,right?
But you know, so I kind of wouldjust wish that they would have
said or somebody at some pointwould say what what each partner
brings to the collaboration.
Yes, yes, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (30:15):
So I'll should I start off with one point?
So go ahead.
So I like it.
I mean, it's it is very tasty.
Um, however, comma, I actuallyhave a bottle of blanton's
behind a bar.
I don't know if I I do tastesome bourbon, but I don't I was
really looking forward to havingyou know something with that
blanton's flavor.
So I was so even though itdoesn't have that burn, I don't
know if I taste as much of thebourbon, is what I was kind of

(30:36):
hoping for.
We're trying the barrel agedbeers, and I was hoping for that
flavor.
So that was a little bit of aletdown for me.
I was looking for a little morethan that.
Um, and then some of the flavorsare just not standing out to me.
So I want to give it a higherscore because I know it's 14%.
I'm just struggling to come upwith the positives to put it
over the top of that three, thethree point over here.

(30:57):
So I'm gonna stick with a 2.9.
I want it, I want to go higher,but I I don't know if I could go
higher with some of the thingsthat it was missing a little bit
on.
Toby?

SPEAKER_00 (31:05):
Yeah, uh, it uh you know, I think a lot of times
that some places really try togo sweet to cover up that
bourbon flavor, and this ispretty sweet.
That that chocolate kind ofjumps out.
You're right with the other onesthough.
The the peanut butter, I'm I'mnot picking up on that at all.
Um, a little bit of vanilla.
Um, and again, what is theroasted cashew nut butter really
like?
I don't have anything to comparethat to.

(31:26):
But I think for me, I think thisis definitely a solid three.
Okay, that's good.

SPEAKER_02 (31:32):
Yeah, I was thinking of three point all as well.
Again, I think it's it'sdefinitely in the in the right
direction.
But again, I didn't taste anypeanut butter.
I didn't taste some of the otherstuff.
It is sweet.
I mean it's not as sweet as thethe blueberry beer, but uh it it
was had a sweetness to it.
And uh it's still decent.
14% drank very smooth.
Yes, just very thick.

(31:52):
No, really.
It was it definitely uh it kindof coated your glass and such.
So yeah, I it's all right.
I I wouldn't turn it down ifsomebody asked if I wanted to
taste it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (32:02):
Oh, definitely not.

SPEAKER_01 (32:03):
All right, so I have another easy question, and we're
gonna invite the whole audienceto join in on this question
because it's an easy question.
I mean, Toby's actually got thefirst two questions right.

SPEAKER_02 (32:12):
Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 (32:12):
And it's even without any helping, it's right
off because Toby's just thatsmart.

SPEAKER_02 (32:16):
Yeah, the this this whole question thing has been
under protest for three yearsnow because some of us get
rooked on the deal.
So the Barrel Theory Beer, itsname is derived from Liebig's
Law.

SPEAKER_01 (32:31):
What is that?
Liebig's can raise your hand ifyou Liebig's first L-I-E-B-I-G.
Liebig's.

SPEAKER_00 (32:36):
Um I'm gonna say that that law is if you let
something sit long enough, goodthings come out of it.

SPEAKER_02 (32:43):
Okay, very good answer.
I'm gonna I'll probably secondthat because I'm sure he's got
the answers.
So I'm just gonna say the samefor me.
No, no original thought process.
If we're both wrong, will I godown too?
Oh, yeah.
No, because you came up with theanswer first.

SPEAKER_01 (32:56):
How anybody in the crowd even got an answer?
Even want to come up withanything?
A wild guess?
Nope, let's go.
All right, so Liebig's law talksabout the minimum, so it
explains the capacity of abarrel is always limited by its
shortest stave.

SPEAKER_02 (33:11):
Oh, Liebigs.
We knew what Liebigs was.
Right, Liebeg is not Liebigs, wedidn't know what that was.

SPEAKER_01 (33:18):
All right, so minus 10,000 for Mike.
And Toby, I'm gonna give you athousand points for coming
close.

SPEAKER_02 (33:25):
He wasn't even remotely close.
Yeah, but I answered first.
Yeah, Toby.
Keep up the good work, Toby.
I don't know why I put myselfthrough this all.
Keep up the good work, you'redoing a heck of a good job.
Gosh, awesome! All right, sowhat's I'm not even listening to
the gym anymore.
So Toby's got his next beer up.
Yes, he does.
And this is by the same place.

SPEAKER_00 (33:41):
Yes, it is, yeah.
This is Eternal Frost.
Ooh, it's the seventhanniversary edition.
Nice again from the BarrelTheory Beer Company, this time
in collaboration with BackChannel, Brewing Collective, and
it's a uh 14% as well.

SPEAKER_02 (33:56):
We've leveled off.

SPEAKER_00 (33:57):
We're not we're not going to be maintaining, we're
maintaining, yes.

SPEAKER_02 (34:01):
There's the right word for it.
So let's see.
Do you want to read that or doyou want to uh go right ahead?
All right, it says this is uhour seventh anniversary beer in
Eternal Frost is an ImperialStout aged in old Fitzgerald
19-year-old barrels for 18months with Thai banana,
Philippine cacao, IndonesianWest Papua New Guinea, vanilla

(34:22):
beans, and roasted maplewalnuts.
I didn't know maple trees hadwalnuts.

SPEAKER_01 (34:28):
Well, how did they get those in the Caribbean?

SPEAKER_02 (34:30):
Or what all these other you get a Thai,
Philippine, Indonesia, Pau Paw,and then a maple nut.
Well, you know, it happens thatway.
What kind of tree is that?
A maple walnut tree.
A maple nut tree.
Oh, all right.
Well, let's let's taste thatbutton.
I thought Jim went to school,but apparently he didn't.
All right.

(34:50):
Now they did have a little bitmore about the theory.
This is something we are askedfrequently, and although we will
be producing our share ofbarrel-aged beers, there is more
to it than that.
At barrel theory, we don'tdefine our brand by our
best-selling or most successfulproduct, but by the overall
quality of our beers andcustomer service.
Our quality control philosophyis simple.

(35:12):
If the beer isn't somethingwe're proud of, we won't serve
it to you.
Wow, no, that's a good see.
There you go.
So why don't the big box brandsdo that?
Well, because they're like, wedon't care if it's good, just
take it and drink it.
Ooh, this is also a little thickthere, Tobe.
It is.
Drink and be happy.
There you go.
That's a really good philosophy,though, isn't it?
Yeah.
If it isn't something we'reproud of, we won't serve it to

(35:33):
you.
That's right.
I wish I would I wish there wasa few other ones that we've had
recently that had thatphilosophy.
But I'm sure once you you pushall your chips in on a beer and
you make it, you're kind of hotcommitted.
Especially with something likethis, because it's been sitting
there for a year and a half.
Right.
You know.

SPEAKER_01 (35:49):
And you got old Fitzgerald 1919 barrels.

SPEAKER_02 (35:53):
Those can't be cheap.
I wouldn't I wouldn't guess.
I don't know what the price onsomething like that would be,
but and then it was in there fora year and a half.

SPEAKER_00 (35:59):
You know, so it was sitting there.
And perspective is everything,right?
I mean, they may th say theproduct is something that they
think is fantastic, but right.
So they have to rely on theconsumer.

SPEAKER_02 (36:09):
Well, that's what we always offer up our services to
help taste their beers beforeanytime.
I mean, if anybody out therelistening wants us to taste
their their beer, we'll give usthe honest opinion, right?
Boy, that's you need to tastethat.
I will say that.
Must be good.

SPEAKER_00 (36:22):
He didn't even answer your question.

SPEAKER_02 (36:23):
No, I I'm not answering any more of Jim's
questions.
I answer quite even if he's justtalking to me and I answer a
question, he's taking pointsaway.
Well, that's there's some flavorthere.
And the one thing you I thinkyou notice too, when it anytime
there's been a beer that hasbanana in it, it's almost had
like a smoother mouthfeel.
I don't know if you've noticedthat or not, but it it has like
that, like a little bit of a Idon't know how you want to
describe it, call it a tonguekind of a you just got done

(36:45):
eating a banana.

SPEAKER_00 (36:45):
Yeah, kind of like that.

SPEAKER_01 (36:46):
Yeah, yeah.
I don't know.
Is it bad?
No.
Do I taste all the things thatwe just mentioned or we talked
about?
I can't tell you the differencebetween a Walmart banana and a
Thai banana.
I mean, I had I had a bananathis morning, but I can't don't
know if I tasted that in here.
And Philippine cacao.
I mean I said I don't taste abanana.

SPEAKER_02 (37:02):
I so I mean so here's the mouthfeel of the
banana.

SPEAKER_01 (37:05):
So my here's my point.
I'm assuming it costs a littlebit more to get these products
from these out-of-countrylocations.

SPEAKER_02 (37:12):
I would guess, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (37:13):
And you're putting them into a beer, but if it's
not really gonna over theflavor's not gonna be amped up
because I was assuming thenbecause you got it from a
different place, maybe thatflavor would be even more
dramatic.
I don't really taste anythingdramatic.
You could go to Walmart, I couldget these same things from
Walmart, it might taste thesame.
Is that does you guys does thatmake sense to you guys?

SPEAKER_00 (37:32):
Yeah, it makes it make sense, but you know, if if
this read banana, cocoa, vanillabeans, and walnuts, we'd be
criticizing that as well.

SPEAKER_03 (37:40):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (37:40):
So uh they're trying to appeal to the consumer.
Yeah, you know, in this case,it's adding adjectives or places
of of where it came from, somaybe it's more intriguing.

SPEAKER_02 (37:50):
It makes there you guys just say it makes it sound
more exotic if it's from allthese different countries as
well, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (37:55):
I mean, and and the other part is I wish our other
compadrey was here, the bourbonconnoisseur, because I don't
know if I've actually tastedOldfish Gerald.

SPEAKER_02 (38:04):
I think we have.
Yeah.
I mean, like just for bourbonitself.

SPEAKER_01 (38:06):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure we have.
So I'm I would then have toassume that a 19-year-old barrel
of Old Fish Gerald would bepretty smooth.
I don't I can taste something.
I don't is that the Old FixGerald?
I mean, I so it it again, I wasreally intrigued when it said
anytime whether it says likemaybe it's Pappy Van Winkle or
Oldfish Gerald 19.
Wow, that is like that's a beenage for a long time.

(38:27):
So the when they you know put itfor 18 months, it's gonna pull
out a lot of that flavor.
I don't know.
So you know, it's just aquestion.

SPEAKER_00 (38:32):
Yeah, and so maybe on the flip side of it, maybe
it's a perfect balance.
Again, this is our opinion ofwhat we're looking for.
Yep.
And there may be a whole line ofconsumers that are like, well,
this is great, it's it's gotsuch an easy, smooth taste.
This is very drinkable.

SPEAKER_03 (38:46):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (38:46):
You know, you because you're right, there
isn't any of that bourbon bitethat I think you enjoy if you're
a bourbon drinker.

SPEAKER_01 (38:53):
And maybe Mike alluded to this early on.
Maybe we've tasted so manybourbon.
We actually, I think we ran intothis when we were doing our
Oktoberfest.
I don't know if we're toocritical or overcritical, but I
think I guess we've tasted somany.

SPEAKER_02 (39:06):
Uh we have a probably a pretty knowledgeable
background of what we're saying.
Does that right, Mike?
Or am I putting words in yourmouth?
No, I agree.
And I say, Toby, I don't know ifyou've listened to the
Oktoberfest ones, but you know,when we did the German, the
actual German Oktoberfest beerswere amazing.
Then we did the Americanversions, and they were just not
very good this year.

(39:27):
The 2025 versions had no flavor,did they, Jim?
I mean, it was just liketerrible.
And so I don't I don't know whatthey changed, but they got to go
back.

SPEAKER_00 (39:35):
Yeah, and you know, I I think I brought this up uh a
few other times when I've beenlucky enough to be a guest here.
I do wonder about beer and thecraft beer industry, and are
they coming back to more of a acommon palate to continue to
appeal to a buddy of mine usedto call the foo foo beers, you
know, where you're drinking theMiller lights, the bud lights,

(39:55):
just the kind of more of thatbland flavor and just to hit
more of a uh a consumerpopulation.

SPEAKER_02 (40:01):
And it could be, you never know.
Well, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (40:04):
Maybe if Mike would even let us even contemplate
that, possibly we could doanother podcast in addition to
this one that might actuallyhave some very good flavors with
it that are bourbon barrel-aged.

SPEAKER_02 (40:17):
No, and not if it's not if you want to do it.
No, we're not doing that.
In fact, I'm gonna throw awayall of your bourbon barrel
beers.
Toby and I'll take care of it.
Yeah, we'll get to it.
We'll take care of that for you.

SPEAKER_01 (40:26):
So because so my point being is now we've got um,
we've had uh tasted somebreweries that are probably on
their very beginning stages oflearning how to do, and maybe if
we tried one that is very wellingrained and knows what they're
doing, yep, maybe we can youknow be able to compare and
contrast.

SPEAKER_02 (40:44):
Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
That's kind of where the where Iwas 300% with you.

SPEAKER_01 (40:49):
You know, like the these last two have not been
horrendous.
No, no, no, but do you am Ibeing too nitpicky when I'm
talking about the the you knowthe little things?

SPEAKER_02 (40:58):
I don't, I'm just trying to like well, we've said
it so many times that whenyou're listing all of these
flavors that we should betasting, and you're really not
tasting them, it it's kind oflike you know, but you know,
like you've said when sometimesin some of the breweries, when
we list them off, you can tasteevery single flavor, and it's
like very pronounced and rightthere, and you're like, wow,
that is like spot on.
Yep.

SPEAKER_01 (41:17):
All right, well, let's get back to the points
here again.
Oh, okay, yay.
Uh oh, so uh not to jump aheadtoo far, but what brewer are we
gonna be going to next?

SPEAKER_02 (41:26):
What brewery are we going to next?
In this tasting, yes, forager.
Forager.
Okay, and we know they're fromRochester, Minnesota.
We've been there.
Yep.
How did they get their name?
Don't blur it out.
How did they get their name?
Wow.
I think he directed that rightat you.
He did.
Wondering what you did to him,but boy.

SPEAKER_00 (41:43):
Well, I think he's giving you a chance.

SPEAKER_02 (41:45):
Oh, so how did they come up with Forager?
Yes, because they scroungedaround for the ingredients.
Close, Toby.

SPEAKER_00 (41:53):
Uh, I'm gonna go with they wanted to advance um
the craft beer at the time, andso they foraged the way with the
industry.

SPEAKER_01 (42:04):
Awesome! Spot on.
So it's they got their name forthe code.

SPEAKER_02 (42:07):
You know, now I know why he put names on these lists
because I don't have the answerson here.
I just have the beerdescriptions.
Yeah, me too.
I don't know about that.
I think there's some some youguys are in cahoots again
somehow.
Come on, Mike.
Oh, yes.
Oh, yes.
This is under protest.
So they got the concept offoraging for local ingredients.
That's what I said.

(42:28):
No, but Toby said it first.
So you got it right.

SPEAKER_01 (42:33):
So that's it.
Awesome.
Somebody get Toby anotherthousand points.

SPEAKER_02 (42:36):
Oh my gosh, Mike.

SPEAKER_01 (42:38):
We're giving you five thousand five thousand to
the bad.
Good try, though, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 (42:42):
Good you're actually, I'm so mad I almost
like it right now.
That's how mad I am right now.
That is yeah, I'm to that pointwhere it's just like it can't go
anywhere now.

SPEAKER_01 (42:52):
But you see how Toby thought that through came very
But I had the right answer, buthis is very well spoken.

SPEAKER_02 (42:59):
His wasn't right.
Uh we checked.
I checked with the judges.
Well, here we go.
He's looking in his in the roomwith his furnace.

SPEAKER_01 (43:06):
Checked with the judges, and they still confirmed
that Toby's right.

SPEAKER_02 (43:09):
Toby, I'm so mad right now.

SPEAKER_00 (43:11):
Oh, it uh I need another beer.
Uh I would agree.
Can we rate this last time?
Oh, yeah, we gotta rate it.

SPEAKER_02 (43:16):
See, he jumped ahead.
Now I'm really mad.
Toby, you're first of whackhere.
Um Toby's first.
See, I get a question right, andit threw him totally for a loop,
and they had to figure out a wayto hose me on it, and then he
forgot to get our scores.
Come on, buddy.
Admit that Toby's right.
That's all you had to do.
I will not.
I was right.
Okay, Toby, what was your score?

SPEAKER_00 (43:36):
Well, I'm scared to give it now.

SPEAKER_02 (43:40):
You're safe.
Jim, not so much.

SPEAKER_00 (43:42):
So I think this is a little bit better uh than that
other one that we had.
Um, but I do agree, you know,that with what you're saying and
what we're looking for.
We're looking for the flavors.
So when I say a little bitbetter, I'll go 3-1 on it.

SPEAKER_02 (43:53):
Nice, good score.
That's solid.
I think this one had a littlebit more flavor.
Uh, but it again, there was somuch that was missing.
Very smooth for 14%.
I I'm gonna do the same as Toby.
It was, I think it was a littlebit better, so I'm gonna go
three-one also.
And like I said, it it doesn'tdrink like a 14% at all, but I
wish there was a little bitmore, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (44:13):
And you guys, I think Toby had the my notes
because I had written on mine3.1.

SPEAKER_02 (44:16):
Oh, I know I know Toby had your notes because
that's where the answers are.
Oh, because they copied myscore.

SPEAKER_01 (44:21):
I had 3.1 listed on there.
So same, same exact thing.
I mean, I will have to say, Imean, so far I think that's the
best one that we had today.

SPEAKER_02 (44:29):
So it does rate the highest score we've got.
Yep.
I would agree with you.
All right, so what do we gotnext?
All right, so the next one thatwe have is nuts.
And there's five Zs.
Yeah.
From Forager.
Yep.
14.5% ABV.
Yosa.
We stepped it up.

(44:49):
Just uh now you do you rememberwhen we were at Forager and John
was with us, and we were sittingdown, John was gone, and we're
like, where'd John going?
Hey, hey, you guys want to go inthe back room?
And we're like, all right.
And it's still what sticks in mymind is remember they were
barrel aging a beer.
Yep, and the dude pulled out arusty nail and filled up a
thing.
Here you go.

(45:10):
Yeah, so and they hadn't evennamed it, hadn't even named it
yet.
So we tried to rate it, but theyhad no name, so we couldn't rate
it.
So all right, so this is nuts14.5 percent.
Yep.
This is a blend of double stoutsfrom large and small format
barrels ranging in age from 19to 28 months.
We conditioned this blend onheaps of toasted coconut, Toby.

(45:31):
Again, piles of roasted pecansand almonds.
That's a lot.
That's a technical term.
Yep, yeah.
Uh, and five regions of vanillabean caviar from Columbia.
Is that fish aches?
Taiwan, Mexico, Zanzibar,wherever that's at, and the Cook

(45:52):
Islands.
It is loaded with layers ofnutty vanilla delight, riding a
rip curl of Forager's richbarrel character.
Toby, where's the Cook Islandsfrom?
You're the teacher, or know whatthat's he's not a teacher,
you're not a geography teacher.

SPEAKER_01 (46:07):
So you have to clarify.
I thought all teachers wereknowledge and knowledge.

SPEAKER_02 (46:12):
Did you notice these bottles are like they're black
like coated with something?
That's pretty crazy.
That's wild.
Is that good or bad?
Well, no, it's just different.
I I just thought they were darkbottles with didn't we find out
one time that like the coatingthat it doesn't let if there's
sunlight if they're keeping it.
Oh, I'm sure it prevents.
I was gonna say, I'm sure itkeeps the sunlight out because
this is like totally a uh a darkbottle.

(46:33):
Yeah, it's this one also poursvery thick.
We had a little drippage here.
Hey, Angus, can you grab us atowel or something?
We're playing ACDC, so yeah.
I saw the house band when youcame in, right?
I think we sent them upstairs.
Angus couldn't sit still.
All right.
All right.
All right, drips are so the hardpart is can't get that.
We don't know ranging inbarrels.
So it was age and something.

SPEAKER_00 (46:55):
Yeah, it didn't say what.
What what's the difference fromthe large and small format
barrels?

SPEAKER_02 (47:00):
Well, because I think isn't large.
We saw the one that when we'reat forge that were smaller
barrels.
Right.
So it's I think the ones we sawin Rochester were the half ones.
I think so.

SPEAKER_00 (47:07):
So do you do you think that affects the the
amount of time it has to be inthe barrel?
I mean, what you know whatwhat's the intent of using
different sizes?

SPEAKER_02 (47:14):
That's a good question.
Cheaper?
Uh that's probably part of thebar.
Cheaper's probably a big part ofthe yeah.
Maybe they couldn't afford it.
An expensive larger one.
Hmm.
Oh, there's a aroma.

SPEAKER_00 (47:25):
There's an aroma.
I can definitely smell the fivedifferent regions.

SPEAKER_02 (47:30):
I think I I was picking up on the the kind of
the sandies smell of zanzibar.
I thought it was the Mexicoonce.

SPEAKER_00 (47:37):
Oh, it could have been that too.
You guys are missing it's allTaiwan.
Oh.

SPEAKER_01 (47:42):
But what isn't caviar fish eggs?

SPEAKER_02 (47:45):
Yeah.
Well, this is a caviar, I guess.
Or is caviar an adjective?
Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_00 (47:50):
Isn't caviar mean like kind of the a better
version of something?

SPEAKER_02 (47:54):
Oh, kind of like a better version of Mike, then,
right?
I'm gonna say exactly.
I'm gonna say caviar is the likeyou know, a flock of seagulls,
it's a caviar of vanilla.
No, Mike.

unknown (48:09):
I guess.

SPEAKER_02 (48:09):
Come on, you gotta give him credit for that.
No flock of seagulls?
Come on.
You know, you know what youmean.

SPEAKER_01 (48:16):
Murder of crows.
You know, your wife and Iactually went.
Your wife and I actually went towatch the that band in concert.

SPEAKER_02 (48:23):
A flock of seagulls?
Yes.
It starts it makes sense, totalsense now, doesn't it?
It's all coming together at theVirginia State Fair in Richmond,
Virginia.
He wouldn't go with me to seeFive Finger Death Punch, but he
went to see flock of seagulls.

SPEAKER_01 (48:36):
Because I wasn't invited, that's why.

SPEAKER_00 (48:39):
I don't know if we want to go down this path.
But uh I I I think that as as uhpart of our audience is pointing
out here, uh based off of awonderful Google search, is that
uh caviar is sometimes somethingconsidered the best of its kind.
Oh that's why we brought you,Toby.

SPEAKER_01 (49:00):
Toby, you are the best of your kind.
So I do have a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 (49:03):
I'm one of a kind.
So I do have a question, Mike.

SPEAKER_02 (49:05):
I have a question.
Thank you, audience.
I appreciate that.
I'm raising my hand.
I have a question.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

SPEAKER_00 (49:11):
Hey Mike, the listeners can't see that.

SPEAKER_02 (49:13):
That's why I said I'm raising my hand.
So if they're saying that it'sthe best of its kind, which of
the five vanillas is the best ofits kind?

SPEAKER_00 (49:20):
It's the best of all of those.

SPEAKER_02 (49:22):
So they're all the best of their kind.

SPEAKER_00 (49:23):
They have multiple vanilla beans.

SPEAKER_02 (49:26):
So basically they're saying that Colombian vanilla is
the best vanilla in Colombia.
Right.
So again, I mean I go back tothe last beer, right?
Taiwanese vanilla is the bestvanilla in Taiwan.
Yeah, I think that's whatthey're saying.

SPEAKER_00 (49:37):
We're going down a rabbit hole here.

SPEAKER_01 (49:38):
So, like I said the last time, right?
What so I understand so theythey are talking about vanilla,
right?
Yeah.
And they want to have vanilla intheir beer, and I'm just being
rhetorical.
Do you need vanilla from fivedifferent countries?
And then I don't even taste it.
Why why not just use one and putthe flavor in your beer?

SPEAKER_00 (49:59):
So that I guess I'm just I don't know.
I don't mean and I think thehard part is is what what are we
you know what are we trying topull out?
Right.
What is that flavor then?

SPEAKER_02 (50:06):
Well, because you honestly you look at it, I don't
taste the coconut, I don't tastepecans or almonds, and I really
don't taste the vanilla.
I mean, I taste the the barrel,right?
The the barrel, you know, andit's not overpowering, but I
mean it really doesn't tastelike 14%.
But I'm again it tastes like14.5.
You know, did they need to havefive different countries?

SPEAKER_00 (50:26):
Hear me out on this.
Does this kind of taste like aGirl Scout cookie?
You know what's what I'm talkingabout?
Samoas?

SPEAKER_01 (50:32):
Oh, small, yeah.
Kind of a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 (50:34):
I mean, like the that coconut and sweet.

SPEAKER_02 (50:37):
See that, yeah.
But what's the didn't we talkabout a lot of pecans and almond
pile?
A pile a pile.
Was the pile this high or was itthis, you know?
Right.
Again, that's one of thoseflavors.
I don't know.
Can you really pick it out?
I really not really in in this.
I like I said, I all eye tastereally is the the barrel.
I mean, that's it's not bad.
No, I mean I'm not saying it'sbad, but it is like you said, it

(51:00):
gives you all the spectrum,especially with that much of an
LA, it should be prettypronounced.
Uh that's out, and I just don'tknow if I get that.

SPEAKER_01 (51:05):
Again, I was this was another one of those that
Toby had that.
I was like, uh, you read thelabel because all this that we
talked is on the label, which islike, wow, this is gonna be like
super well, and the name of it,yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (51:19):
I mean, nuts.
So, I mean, they're implyingthat you're gonna get some nut
flavor out of this, and and andand I I really don't.

SPEAKER_02 (51:26):
Yeah, so Mike, you want to go first?
This one, yeah.
Um, it's a good beer, but I Ijust wish that, like I said,
with the amount of vanilla thatapparently is in there, I wish
you could taste it.
I don't taste the the nuts, Idon't taste, you know, 14.5
drink smooth.
It is very very thick.
Yes.
Um, I'm gonna go, do I go aboveor below that last one?

(51:50):
I'm gonna go with 2.9.
I just go a little lower.
Go a little lower.
I just think that it had so muchpotential.
And and really with the vanilla,I thought it was gonna be with
five different vanillas, thatwas gonna be like the
predominant flavor, and I don'ttaste it at all.

SPEAKER_01 (52:05):
And you know, not to cut you off, but I always when
we talk vanilla, I always goback to the snow drift vanilla
plant.
Yeah, yep.
And I mean that vanilla flavoris so good, and it's on a lower
octane beer.
That's what I was kind ofexpecting for a vanilla flavor.

SPEAKER_02 (52:20):
So not to cut you off, but that's what I was that
was agree 100% with you.

SPEAKER_00 (52:23):
Toby, what do you got?
Um You know, I think uh I'm aForger fan.
I I like a lot of theirproducts, and and I was do you
like their salmon sandwiches?
The the food that they serve isa different conversation for
sure.
Um a guy of my stature.
Um so I I was expecting just alittle bit more out of this.

(52:43):
I thought I'd have some goodflavors to it because um I think
some of their other beers do,and I I think they hold true to
the descriptions.
So I was disappointed.
I'm even below you, Mike.
I'm a two-eight on this one.

SPEAKER_01 (52:53):
Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_00 (52:54):
All right, I wasn't I wasn't out of line then.

SPEAKER_01 (52:57):
So again, I guess I understand.
I think Toby really pointed out,you know, I understand what
they're trying to do.
They're trying to entice you bywhat they put on the outside of
the label.
But I think Mike and I alwayscome back to the point, you
know, what's on your label, I'msure is inside the bottle, but I
can't taste it.
So I'm buying your beer to tastethose flavors.
I'm not buying the beer becauseit's a forager, I'm buying

(53:18):
because those flavors sound likevery good to me.
That's that's why I want totaste your beer.
And I I just didn't taste themall.
I'm just falling in with youguys.
So I'm gonna tap into Toby.
I think you looked at my paperagain.
I'm gonna go 2.8.

SPEAKER_02 (53:30):
All right, so Toby loses 5,000 points for that.
Well, no, he got because youanswered first.

SPEAKER_00 (53:35):
You can mark that on your score sheet, Mike.

SPEAKER_01 (53:37):
But he got a bonus for 5,000.
So thanks, Mike.
Yeah, no problem.
All right, so I do have onefinal question.
Yippee.
Um, so actually, I'm gonna giveyou both a thousand points.
I'm just gonna read this out.
All right, how's that?
Perfect, perfect.
So I don't know if you knewthis, but the the owner, there's
two co-owners, right?
So there was a lady, AnnieHenderson.

(53:59):
She never thought she'd own abrewery, she even wasn't even a
home brewer at all.
Hoping one day she was gonnamove her operation, but then she
didn't have her own beer kit oranything like that, but she did
get one for her birthday, andshe got hooked.
So the point that I'm trying totie in is that I'm glad he's
getting to his point because I'mgetting thirsty.

(54:20):
So she she found a person thatactually was knew how to brew
the beer, and that's who shecollaborated with to open up
forage.
Oh okay.

SPEAKER_02 (54:26):
That's interesting.
Austin.

SPEAKER_01 (54:28):
Austin and and Ann.
So again, I think we talked,Mike and I kind of hit on this
at one other time.
And I do believe, you know, wewent to Forager in Rochester,
and we always try to figure outwell, why is the brewery here,
and then right behind in thesame parking lot, there's
another parking, right?
So part of what I found out, andthat's why I was trying to
allude to some of this.

(54:49):
So currently they both have tooperate separate entities
because the two owners, the twoowners, really, because in
Minnesota they have to havecompletely separate distribution
companies for Humble Forager.

SPEAKER_02 (55:03):
Okay.
Because we know we've asked,okay, Forager and Humble Forger,
are they the same?
They're both in Rochester, andthey're owned by the same
people.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (55:11):
So thanks to some convoluted Minnesota laws, they
had to one had to step away fromthe role as a head brewer at
Forager to become the owner ofHumble Forager.
Interesting.
Because the one is districtdistributed to other states and
countries.

SPEAKER_02 (55:25):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (55:26):
So they had to split it up.
Even though see that again, Ithink did we talk about it?
I think it was untitled Art wetalked about.

SPEAKER_02 (55:32):
Yes.
Remember, we because in inWisconsin, remember, they have
that three-tier system.
The three-tier system was justyou can't cross lines, right?

SPEAKER_01 (55:40):
Once you sign with a dis distribution network, you
have to stay with that forever.

SPEAKER_02 (55:44):
You can't right.
But then it's also if because II remember a few years ago,
because that came was coming upfor a vote, and the owner of
Brewing Project did a speech infront of the Wisconsin uh
Senator, whatever, you know, thegovernment, and telling his
story about how him and his wifeyou know owned or while they
started Brewing Project, hiswife was a part-time bartender

(56:08):
as a second job, part-time job,and they wouldn't give him a
license because she worked at ina bar, right?
Even though it was part-time.
And he he gave this whole thiswhole story about they were
looking even at having hisfather or father-in-law, one of
the two, to be the owner, and ohno, no, because there's still a
connection there, you know, andit was just it's so ridiculous,

(56:29):
right?

SPEAKER_01 (56:29):
So, you know, that because I know we talked about
about this every time we go toRochester.

SPEAKER_02 (56:34):
Why are they yeah, two different names in the same
parking lot on one end and theother end of the parking lot?

SPEAKER_00 (56:39):
Yeah, it's always it explains it because you can't
get humble forager in forager,right?

SPEAKER_02 (56:44):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (56:44):
You know, when you go in there, but you go to the
store next door and they haveit.
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (56:48):
That's I'm giving you 10,000 and only a thousand
the mic.
Good answer, Toby.
You see, I'm glad we brought putyou on 10,000, Toby.

SPEAKER_02 (56:57):
All right, all right.
So do we have one last beer?
Yeah, we got another beer left.
Oh, look, it's from Forager.
This is Romp.
Romp?
Romp.
And this one is 14.8% PBV.
So this is the highest.
This is the highest for today.
Yes.
And it says this unique blendconsists of five of our barley
wine recipes, each aged indifferent barrels.

(57:19):
These okay, are you ready, Jim?
Uh-oh, wow.
These include a 28-month EagleRare barrel, nice, a 26-month
Blanton's barrel, better, a23-month 14-year George Dickle
barrel, nice, a 33-month rockfilter barrel.
Sweet.
I don't know what that is.
Wow.

(57:39):
And a 27-month Black Hamma rockfilter barrel.
Wow.
Any one of those would be nice.
This blend features a doublemash barley wine, mixed grain
barley wine, honey barley wine,maple barley wine, and Vienna
malt barley wine, which make upthe threads of this English
style.
Waves of barrel tones, leatheryoak, figs, dried dark fruits,

(58:04):
cocoa, cacao, uh, holidayspices.
Which are good, which are good,roasted nuts, and caramel can
all be found in this mahoganyliquid.
Wow.

SPEAKER_00 (58:19):
More stuff.
So as you were going throughthat, Mike, and I opened this.
Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_02 (58:23):
Um, there's stuff on the top.

SPEAKER_00 (58:25):
The top of this, the the cap on this bottle
definitely has more to it thanthe other ones do.
You know, there's always thatlittle code.

SPEAKER_02 (58:32):
There's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (58:33):
So this could be thick.

SPEAKER_01 (58:35):
Oh, it does look like a barley wine.

SPEAKER_02 (58:37):
It kind of does.

SPEAKER_01 (58:38):
This is good, and again, I'm not a big barley wine
guy.

SPEAKER_00 (58:42):
I've had a few recently that were decent way
better than I expected them tobe.

SPEAKER_02 (58:46):
Well, on the podcast a little while ago, when we were
I was up north and BK was onthere, we had uh it was a
four-pack where it was like ananniversary thing, and I I
apologize, I don't remember thename of the brewery right off
the top of my head.
But they had two English barleywines that were in there.
You can't tease us like that.
And the English barley winestasted way better than the

(59:06):
American barley wines.
It was so smooth.
I couldn't believe it.
I was just like, wow.
You're teasing us again.
I know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (59:13):
See, I try to do some research that enlightened
the listeners.

SPEAKER_02 (59:17):
I'm just telling you.

SPEAKER_01 (59:18):
All right, dang it.
All right, so this should be abarley wine, right?

SPEAKER_00 (59:23):
So I mean, going to what you were just talking
about, Mike, you know, it saysthe threads of this English
style.
So let's hope.
Oh wow, here goes nothing.

SPEAKER_02 (59:33):
That is uh a lot going on.
There's a lot going on.
There is yeah, a lot, but kindof a lot good.
I don't mind.
I agree bad.
This is this is not bad at all.
And so here, so I'll be thecritical one.

SPEAKER_01 (59:46):
So I like it a lot, but what would have happened if
you would have just used theeagle rare, made a batch almost
like the bomb?
Right.
Remember how the bombdeconstruct the bomb to have a
single bottle that was in theeagle rare.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:00):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:00):
One in the blinds.
And then you have this one thathas them all put together.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:05):
See, that's hypothetical.
I don't know what you think.
That would have been aninteresting thing to see.
Or, you know, to take again, wedon't know how much they make.
Right.
As far as you know, their theirquantity of of the barrels.
We don't we don't know that.
But that's a that's a bigprairie artisan pretty much.
Right.
That would have been a prettycool.
But all these, I like all thesebourbons.
I mean, these are all very good.
You really you can't pick out abourbon.

(01:00:26):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:26):
That's why I'm thinking they all kind of cancel
each other out rather than theone good flavor coming through.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:32):
Am I way off of that or are you guys No, I mean I
think that's definitely oneperspective to look at it.
It's just that, you know,obviously it wouldn't taste like
this if they hadn't combined itall.
So very good point.
You know, so I mean, if this iswhat their intent was and they
feel that they came out with aproduct that, in my opinion, is
pretty smooth.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:49):
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:50):
You know, it does not have that barley wine.
I'm gonna call it a bite oryou're right.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:54):
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:55):
You know, so I I'm saying it's pretty good for what
what's in that paragraph is alot.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:00):
Yeah, a lot.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:01):
You know, I I I wish I could get maybe identify some
more of the the individualflavors, but I think it's a
pretty good balance.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:07):
And like I said, this one does fall right in in
line with those other twoEnglish barley ones that I had.
Where it it just I don't know,it's just the flavor and
everything is just a little bitbetter, you know.
And I don't know why it'sholding smoother, but uh yeah, I
I think this is this is good.
I like it.
So who wants to go first?
You can go first, Jim.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:28):
All right.
So this is the highest ABV.
It is not bad at because I'm nota barley wine guy, so that's my
challenge.
I'm trying to overcome.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:37):
And my other hard part is I'm trying to, I mean,
because I like Eagle Ren, I likeBlanton's really a lot.
I like I got bottles here that Ibecause I buy that bourbon
because I like it.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:45):
But can I differentiate those bourbon
flavors in this?
All right, I'm gonna have to saythis is the best one I've had
today.
So I'm gonna say a 3.2.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:53):
Kobe?
Uh I'm just gonna throw outright away.
I'm a 3.5 on this one.
I I think it's yeah, the bestone we've had today.
Um, and for barrel barley wine,uh bourbon barrel, I like it.
Um, I'd recommend this tosomeone.
And I mean, I think I couldprobably drink more of this
large bottle than the otherones.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:10):
I agree 100%.
I'm doing a 3.5 as well.
I I agree 100% with you.
I think this was the best one wehad.
And again, Jim, I I agree withyou as well.
I can't remember how many timeshave we had where there have
been five different barrels.
You know what I mean?
There was the one brewery fromCalifornia.
Oh, yeah.
Um that really blended a lot ofdifferent things.

(01:02:30):
Yeah, I know.
I can't remember the name of thebrewery, yeah.
But they did a really, reallygood job with their right.
So, you know, I could they theycould have had a very similar
flavor with one or two barrels,too.
Who knows?
I we don't know.
But I do I think it's reallygood.
And I agree with you, Toby.
I could drink more some more ofthat one.
So yeah, that's that's the bestone I think for today.
Yeah, all right.
So do we want to do a wrap-up?

(01:02:52):
But since we got well, we Tobyand I pretty much already said
that was our well you said.
No, no, no.
I mean for the for the overall,I mean the whole category and
yeah in general.
Do you want to start?
You want me to start?
So, Toby, thank you very muchfor bringing those beers.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:04):
Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:05):
I I know that we've always wanted to have some of
those beers from especiallyForgers, but every time we go
there, they don't have we're I'mnot able to get some.
So thank you for bringing those.
Kudos to Minnesota.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:16):
Very good products.
I'm so glad I'm sitting downright now.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:20):
I mean, it's very good, very well crafted.
I mean, everything was good.
Was it?
Can I use some other names?
If you want, yeah.
Was it to the standard ofCentral Waters or Bourbon County
or Dragon's Belt?
No, I mean they're probably inthe tier right below it.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:34):
I was gonna say when you look at you know the
breweries we had, they're allfairly newer.
Yes.
Yep, you know what I mean.
So we we gotta give them creditfor that.
Yes.
Well, yeah, no, you're 100%right on on that question.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:44):
You know, we have that upper level, and we have
now these guys are are there,and to me, I think that's
awesome because now we have thenewer breweries are trying to
get their claw their way up themountain.
They're not starting out at thetop, they're working their way
up.
So for that, I'm very gratefulbecause I mean, if you don't
have other breweries out theretrying to like make the market
better, it's gonna get stagnant.

(01:04:06):
Yep.

SPEAKER_02 (01:04:07):
So were all the flavors perfect?

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:09):
No.
Do I think they could improve?
Yes.
So I will they listen to us?
They might listen to me.
I don't know about Mike, butthey might not listen to him.

SPEAKER_02 (01:04:17):
Well, see, right off the bat, again.
So I'm trying to do so.
If uh for me, I had like the I'dhave to say the top four.
My number my number one was theromp, number two was Eternal
Frost, three was the CursedVision, and four was nuts.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:31):
They were they were like way above the the one I
brought and the six and eightwere down a little bit.
I wouldn't even put them in thesame category as those those
last four.

SPEAKER_02 (01:04:38):
Right.
I'll leave it to you guys.
Yeah, you know, and I mean Iagree with a lot of what you
said.
I mean, these are our newerbreweries that I give them
credit for trying for you know,because barrel aging, there's
not in the grand scheme ofthings, there's not a lot of
breweries that are doing it, andespecially not doing it to the
level of a Goose Island or an uhCentral Waters or Three Sheeps
or any of that kind of stuff.

(01:04:59):
But this was they were they weregood, you know.
I give them an A for effort, youknow, and hopefully they keep
going.
Yes, you know, like I said, thatlast one was was very good, you
know.
I I I liked it.
And would I recommend these forlike a new person that's never
had it before?
Maybe not.
Uh the 608 you could becausethat was lower ABV.
The other ones, again, whenyou're getting into double-digit

(01:05:21):
ABVs and such, if you're notreally used to that, you know,
people tend to get turned off,you know, because oh my gosh,
it's terrible.
Even though it's to us, it'svery smooth, right?
You know, so uh yeah, Toby,thank you so much for for
bringing these.
And Jim, thanks for throwingthat one you brought in.
The climate minus a thousand forJim.
No, just kidding.

(01:05:42):
That was good too.
But like I said, it was reallyinteresting to try because we've
I mean we've tried all these,you know, the the ones we know
are safe.
Yes.
And these we we didn't know, youknow, and yeah, I I'm glad they
were it was good.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:55):
Yeah, you know, and I think uh like you you pointed
out, Jim, there there's placesthat have kind of perfected it,
you know.
I mean, Bourbon County, in myopinion, is kind of like the
grandfather of it and whatthey've done for years.
Uh and and because it wassuccessful in the timing, I
think they have a bigger nicheof the market out there where
they can do what they're doing.
So it is encouraging to seeother places, you know, starting

(01:06:17):
this and doing things.
And and like you said, Mike, I Ihope they keep going because
finding these beers is excitingbecause you don't find them a
lot.
So when they're out there andyou get them, um, you know, and
it I do want them not not thatI'm complaining about it because
if you like something you paythe money, but but these aren't
beers that you're paying 12, 15,20 dollars for.
Yeah, you know, some of thesethat we drank today were were

(01:06:38):
fifty, sixty dollar bottles.

SPEAKER_03 (01:06:39):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (01:06:40):
And um I give credit to the the breweries that are
doing it, and um I I enjoyedthem.
Um, you know, I do feel bad forthe 608.
Did it fit in in our categorytoday?
Probably not.
Um, I look back on my score, Iyou know, I only gave that a
two.
It wasn't bad for a pastry sourthat was bourbon barrel-aged, I
think.
Like I said, first one I've everhad.
Um, but you know, definitelythis last one was the best.

(01:07:03):
The romp, um, I enjoyed that.
And and um the the nuts wasn'twasn't what I expected.
You know, again, same brewery,so big comparison there.
And then that that Eternal Frostwas you know my next one that I
really thought was good.
So um I enjoyed them.
Um, glad I got to share themwith you and uh appreciate the
uh the the time here on air withyou, uh especially when I win

(01:07:24):
the trivia, Mike.

SPEAKER_01 (01:07:25):
Yes, I was just gonna point that out.
Totally, you like smoked, Mike,again, for whatever reason.
That's been like the fifth timein a row.
You should be on like the gameshow thing, whatever that you
like know all the answers forsome reason.

SPEAKER_00 (01:07:36):
As long as you're the host, I'm there.

SPEAKER_02 (01:07:37):
I was gonna say, as long as Jim was hosting, you
would never lose.
So wow.
Is it that obvious?
No, no, not at all.
Not at all.
All right, awesome.
Well, hey, guys, thank you somuch.
And again, this is our reallyour first barrel age of the
season.
Yep, it won't be our last, I canguarantee you that.

SPEAKER_01 (01:07:55):
So let's hope we can step it up on our maybe we can
do another one.

SPEAKER_02 (01:07:58):
Well, we'll see what happens next week.
All right, we'll see what nextweek brings.
All right.
Awesome.
Well, hey guys, thank you somuch.
Toby, thank you for bringingthose beers.
Jim, thanks for your beers.
Thanks for cheating me onquestions again.
Ladies and gentlemen, thanks forlistening.
And like we always say, we hopea campfire is always warm and
your beers are always cold.
See ya.
See ya.
Thank you for listening to theNorthwoods Beer Guy podcast.

(01:08:18):
If you have a question, acomment, or a beer you'd like us
to review, please feel free tosend us a message at
Northwoodsbeerguy at gmail.com.
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 all yourcampfires are warm and all your
beers cold.

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Ep 137 - Barrels, Blueberries, And Big Bottles

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep 137 - Barrels, Blueberries, And Big Bottles