Fear of the Dark: Slingshot by Backpocket Brewing

Backpocket Brewing's hometown is Coralville, Iowa but it has an outpost in Dubuque, some 90 miles to the northeast. My Frau and I happened to be in Dubuque last month and we managed to hit 3 out of the 4 brewpubs in town (that I could find mention of) on a whirlwind tour. None of them distribute to Madison so it was all new to us. (Do any Iowa breweries distribute to Wisconsin other than Toppling Goliath?) Now that I think about it, it's likely that I've tried Backpocket's beer previously at the Great Taste of the Midwest but cannot say when or which beer.

Truth be told, Backpocket's Dubuque outpost is really more of a tied house as the beer is shipped in from Coralville but this is more distinction than difference. As with 7 Hills Brewing Company that we visited earlier that day, Backpocket is located in the gentrifying Millwork District and is in a building that was once home to Novelty Iron Works. And so the interior was post-industrial chic with exposed joists and other structural bits lit by those faux Edison lights or whatever you call them.

My Frau had a Belgian blonde ale which we both agreed was tasty but the highlight for me was their Crispii Pilz, a pilsner which was crisp and fizzy and really hit the spot on a blisteringly hot evening. We grabbed a six pack of their Dunkel, Slingshot, to bring home. Along with Slingshot, Backpocket offers a Helles as a year-round beer. It was nice to see not one but two German style lagers on offer all year long instead of a slate of hazy juicy IPAs.

Things started off oddly immediately after pouring the beer into my glass. There was a lovely tan head and the beer was clear with a smattering of bubbles to be seen inside. The problem was that it was a dark amber color – too light. I was able to see through it. I smelled just a smidgeon of roasty grain in addition to plum, some malt sweetness, and a nice grassy hop scent.

This theme of not being dunkely enough continued in my mouth. There was very little of that grainy roastiness, no hints of chocolate or coffee either. It was sweeter than I am used to for the style with both malty and fruity (again, think plum) kinds of sweetness. There was also an earthy-floral taste like vanilla as well. On the finish I tasted a lingering honey-like sweetness complemented by a mild spicy hop flavor.

I've encountered this before – I think it was with Bull Falls' Schwarzbier – where a dark lager wasn't dark enough and it comes across more like an Altbier. As far as any semblance to a Dunkel, Slingshot misses the mark. For starters, it's too light in color. Roastiness and some coffee and dark chocolate, qualities which are normally present in the aroma and taste and are the things I crave in the style, are basically M.I.A. here.

What redeems Slingshot is that vanilla flavor. Combined with the sweetness, it gives the beer a cream soda-like countenance. And when the beer is nice and cold, it dulls the sweetness a bit so you end up with this slightly sweet, vaguely vanilla-y drink with a nice fizz to it. Now, I'd rather have those Dunkel qualities on full display but Slingshot is a pleasant drink that is not totally unlike cream soda which is really quite tasty, especially during a heatwave. I found it to be a refreshing treat.

Junk food pairing: Slignshot will pair well with pizza flavored foods such as Pepperoni Pizza Combos.

The Corona Diaries Vol. 20: Meanwhile, Back in Dubuque

Mid-June 2021

In my previous entry I noted that my Frau had become enamored of that steakhouse staple, the wedge salad and was determined to make them at home. And so she did. The one pictured below was merely the first of many and iceberg lettuce is now a permanent item on our shopping lists.

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Also in my previous entry I noted that the Frau and I took a trip to Dubuque. When I left off, she had taken a rest while I wandered around downtown. She awoke in the late afternoon and then we ventured out into the heat for dinner. We ended up at Backpocket Brewing, a brewpub in the Millwork District that, like 7 Hills, was in a repurposed industrial building.

As an aside, every time I type "Millwork District" I chuckle to myself thinking that it's next to the Hammock District.

Back on track. Their air conditioning was in fine order, thankfully. We each had a couple beers and victuals. Because dunkels rule, I had a pint of theirs, Slingshot. It was OK. Not dunkely enough, though. But it did have its own virtues which I intend to elaborate upon in a post dedicated to the brew. Regardless of how far it strayed from style guidelines/my preferences, it was a good choice for the weather. I followed that up with a pint of Crispii Pils which was very good and the perfect choice for battling the heat. For her part, the Frau enjoyed her Belgian blonde quite a bit.

After dinner we ventured a few blocks to the west to Jubeck New World Brewing for a nightcap. It was in an old storefront and had a really nice ambience. There was exposed brickwork and the ceiling was pressed tin. It was a much smaller space than the other 2 brewpubs we'd been at and felt more mellow despite being closer to capacity. The vibe was more like a neighborhood watering hole than trendy tavern. I think it qualifies as a nanobrewery, judging by the brewing setup behind the bar which was quite small. My best guess is that they could brew one barrel at a time. Despite the small scale, they brewed my favorite beer of the trip.

Their Lavender Honey Wheat was simply wonderful. My former girlfriend from Dubuque loved lavender and I acquired my fondness of it from her. Just last year I learned that medieval washer women would lay clothes on lavender plants to dry and my Frau carries on this tradition with her lavender scented dryer sheets. I love flowers in beer generally so I couldn't not try it. The beer had a great, mellow floral taste that really hit the spot. It was simultaneously a fine digestif but also perfect for the weather.

Our final destination of the evening was an ice cream shop a few blocks from the hotel. We found that they served Chocolate Shoppe ice cream made here in Madison so it was a little taste of home with which to end the day. Their Zanzibar Chocolate is perhaps the best ice cream in all of Christendom. Plus I spied more ghost signs on the way there.

The next morning, we got up early hoping to do some more sightseeing before the heat settled in as it was to be another scorcher. They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day so we were at the door of Habits Coffee and Mini Donuts a couple minutes before they opened.

Across the street some masons were getting ready to start their day of restoration work on an old building. I did not take many photographs of old homes and apartment buildings but there were plenty. From what I saw, Dubuque has preserved most of its old housing stock, which was nice to see. Newer buildings around downtown and environs were generally offices, not homes. It gave the area a distinctly old-timey feel.

When the door was finally opened, the barista was greeted by me standing there like a barbarian at the gates. The coffee was still brewing when I entered. Doughnuts there are made to order and ours were all warm and greasy and absolutely delicious. I had plain ones while my Frau had Boston Cream and churro, if memory serves.

Our destination after breakfast was the Dubuque Arboretum & Botanical Gardens. It's on the northwest side of town and was a roughly 10 minute drive from the doughnut emporium. I was impressed at how streets lined with older homes stretched quite a bit farther from the downtown area than I expected. Although not all dated back to the late 19^th century, we still were able to enjoy a fair amount of pre-war architecture before we entered a neighborhood populated with 1960s/70s ranch houses. 

Eventually we made it to the gardens and found that there were only a few cars in the parking lot. As we were pulling in, the Frau announced that there was no admission fee. Ausgezeichnet!

The entry:

An army of volunteers maintains the 56 acres and they have my gratitude. The gardens were exquisite and I was green with envy since I have a hard time keeping any basically any plant alive. Well, I have gotten pretty good at keeping cat grass alive.

Here we have a scene from the rose garden. 

Not pictured is a gazebo. I had a flashback to the early 1980s and the videogame Zork II when I saw it. Zork II was a text adventure and featured a gazebo in a garden. And so I had this funny feeling stepping into this rose garden and seeing a gazebo before me. Here’s what the game looked like:

I believe this is the English garden. Seeing it gave me flashbacks to Peter Greenaway's film The Draughtsman's Contract, and, if truth be told, the video for Jethro Tull's "Kissing Willie" with that guy running around the garden holding that big and highly phallic log.

And this is a pond that was home to many koi who had been trained to assemble at the bridge for feeding when they heard a human on it.

Although there is a funicular that goes up and down the bluff at 4^th Street, the Frau decided that it wasn't for her and I did not have a chance to take it when I was out and about on my own. Still, I did want to go atop the bluffs and check out the view. And so we left the gardens and made our way there. The views were spectacular.

Outside of Dubuque, my experiences with Iowa have been driving I35 down the center and a trip to Fairfield in the southeast part of the state. The middle of the state is, as near as I can tell, flat and full of corn. The area around Fairfield was prettier but Dubuque is by far my favorite bit of Iowa that I've seen so far. I never tire of crossing the Mississippi River or of spending time on and around its bluffs. When I worked at the Wisconsin Historical Society, I looked forward to the occasional drive out to historic sites upriver from Dubuque at Cassville and Prairie du Chien because the scenery was just so beautiful.

The Frau and I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Dubuque. I know just a smattering of its history but I presume that it took a hit in the 70s and 80s and saw a decline in its manufacturing base. Today old warehouses are home to your typical gentrified fare like brewpubs and restaurants so it seems that the city is doing alright. We left with a fair amount of tourist things undone so a return trip is likely in the cards.

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Bonus photos seen on a walk this past spring.