Looking at a map of Wisconsin, I can imagine "Here be Bud Light" printed in the northwest part of the state, starting in Washburn County, continuing into Sawyer, and finishing off with the last couple letters in Price County.
Well, maybe it's not quite that bad but breweries, craft or otherwise, are fewer and farther between up there than in the southern part of the state as well as in the Green Bay area. The breweries that are there tend not to distribute here in Madison nor in Milwaukee so they don't garner the attention of drinkers and beer writers in the state's more populous areas. And so, when I head up north, I try my best to drink local and give these breweries that are beera incognita in these parts some love.
Last month I found myself north of Highway 29 - truly "up north" - in the northwest part of the state and, after a very nice hike, I headed to Cornell, home of MoonRidge Brewing Company, for refreshment. While it was my first time at the brewpub, it was not my first encounter with their beer.
You can get a selection of their brews at the Woodman's in Altoona and I bought a six pack of their Haymeadow, an Irish blonde ale, there 2 or 3 years ago. I don't know anything about this style. Is it just a different name for a pale ale? Perhaps the brewer is a guy named Seamus and he made a blonde ale and called it an Irish blonde ale just to mess with people like me. When I opened up a bottle of it at home, I was disappointed to find that it tasted tired. This stuff seemed to have been on a shelf for just a little too long.
I haven't bought any MoonRidge at Woodman's since. But I am pleased to be able to say that the Haymeadow I had at the brewpub last month was just swell. Perhaps tempting Fate, I brought home a mixed six pack from MoonRidge's own cooler. After all, if Winona Ryder can find redemption after getting busted for shoplifting, so too can a brewery for an outdated six pack.
The story so far:
The name refers to the Cornell Dam, originally built in 1913 to harness the Chippewa River and provide power to the local paper mill, today it seems to be owned by Northern States Power Company/Xcel Energy and generating electricity for them.
My tasting began well. No off scents upon opening the bottle. My pour produced a very nice tan head that, sadly, went away quickly. This stuff looked like motor oil going into my glass and appeared black. No light getting through that beer. The aroma seemed par for the course as American stouts go - dark chocolate, coffee roastiness, and some plum. It smelled very nice indeed.
For a stout, it had a fairly light body which I found very odd considering this beer looked like Valvoline. Fizziness was on the low end of the scale. Coffee and dark chocolate dominated the flavor while a more generic stone fruit taste held court in the background. As it warmed, that roasty bitterness took on a black licorice bent and what I thought was the oat smoothness became more noticeable.
A little bit of coffee and dark chocolate lingered on the finish as a mild grassy hoppiness entered the gustatory stage. Bitterness and dryness were minimal. Just enough to notice and to bring the malty flavors' times at center stage to a denouement.
I found Below the Dam to be too thin. I liked the coffee and dark chocolate flavors quite a bit and they came in at the right strengths and proportions too. But it was watery and needed a richer, fuller body to let those great roasty flavors reach their full potential. My bottle didn't taste old, it didn't taste like wort or skunky. There were fine flavors there just like paint on a palate. It's simply that there wasn't a suitable canvas.
A middling effort but I am not ready to give up on MoonRidge yet.
Junk food pairing: MoonRidge offers pizza at the brewpub so pair your Below the Dam with a bag of Pepperoni Pizza (flavored) Combos.
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