I Didn't Want To Be a Barber, Anyway: Boom Run by Wisconsin Brewing Company

It has been many moons since I've had a beer from Wisconsin Brewing Company. I recall having one of their pineapple hefeweizens this past summer. Or was it in 2019? This whole pandemic situation has really messed with my mind. That beer, Sandy Cheeks, was fine. A little too much pineapple which limited me to one glass but not bad. So what else is new with WBC?

As someone who was introduced to microbrews via WBC brewmaster Kirby Nelson's Mindblock, er, Maibock back in 1991 when he was at Capital Brewery, looking at their available beer list gives me an odd feeling. It's a little disconcerting to see so many IPAs. Bleeding Heart was an amber saison when first released 7 or 8 years ago. Now it's a Belgian Haze IPA which features a "fruity, complex Belgian ale" that is "attacked with copious amounts of hops". This description stands in such stark contrast to Nelson's comments over the years that I've read in interviews. He's always preferred to eschew extreme beers or ones that have a very lengthy ingredient list and instead create brews that are balanced, approachable, and however else you care to put "not extreme/ostentatious" across. His beers were all about aiding and abetting Gemütlichkeit and now he attacks malt with hops. What did malt do to deserve such treatment?

Ooh! Dark Something! I liked it back in 2016 when it was first released. A big rush of dark malty goodness that is now a barrel-aged imperial stout. Ooh! A Gose! D'oh! It's aged in tequila barrels and is 9%. I'll never taste any coriander through that agave miasma, if indeed any was added. Uff da.

One area that I think WBC excels in is dark beers. I really like their porter, Chocolate Lab, and have since Kirby was test brewing it at Vintage on the west side. Several years ago I heard a modicum of criticism of it, namely that it wasn't a true robust porter but I've always liked it robust or not. (It is no longer described as a robust porter, to my knowledge.) They added coffee to it and thusly Porter Joe was born. Again, I really like this beer with its nice balance of coffee and dark malts. And then there was the original iteration of the aforementioned Dark Something which was described to me as a porter-doppelbock mish mash, I think by Kirby himself. If memory serves, a batch of doppelbock didn't go as planned and it became a stygian ale with rich coffee and dark chocolate flavors.

Last on the available beer list is Boom Run, a stout which appears to be their winter seasonal. I first saw it last winter but didn't try it then for reasons lost in the mists of time. But, knowing how well Kirby and Co. do dark ales, I gave it a try this winter.

Boom Run's label features red flannel, a log, and a pair of crossed axes and probably could only have been made more Wisconsin by adding a blue ox. The lumber industry once ruled the northern half of Wisconsin and our fair state can (apparently) lay claim to having invented Paul Bunyan. A "boom" is a barrier in a river that catches logs as they float downstream. A boom run was, as near as I can tell, a bit of sport for loggers, at least the ones who worked on the water, in which they would run along the mass of logs trapped in the clutches of the boom.

As for Boom Run the beer, it is an oatmeal stout which also has lactose in it despite the WBC website not mentioning it.

It pours a deep, dark reddish brown that was clear as far as I could tell. The head was tan, though there wasn't much of it to speak of. I was reminded of dessert when I took a whiff with roasted grains and toffee coming through.

The dark chocolate and coffee flavors were tasty. Complementing them were some caramel-like sweetness from the lactose as well as some herbal hop bitterness. I am not sure what variety of hops were used, but I liked them immensely. No tropical fruit and no peppery spiciness. Instead, it had a greener taste with just enough bitterness to act as a foil to the milk sugar sweetness.

Indeed, the beer as a whole adheres to the Nelsonian Creed of brewing balanced, approachable beers. The oats and lactose make for a smooth beer but it's not too heavy on the tongue. Likewise, you can taste the milk sugar but it's never cloying. No one flavor towers over the others.

While full flavored, it's a moderate 5.6% A.B.V. so this isn't the heartiest of winter brews but it is quite tasty. Plus the chocolate notes and lactose lend the beer a nice dessert quality. I don't think I could drink Boom Run all night but it's nice to slip one in here and there. It certainly sits well alongside WBC's other dark ales and is further proof that they do them right.

Junk food pairing: It being winter, bust open a seasonal tin of Chicago mix. The magical combo of caramel and cheese popcorns is a lot like Boom Run but in snack form. You've got your sweetness along side the savory with dairy smoothness to boot.