Last night it was Call of Cthulhu brought to you by Schlenkerla.
I shall be running The Mirror Collection at Gamehole Con and this was an initial run through. Overall, it went well, though I learned a couple things about plot progression for next time. And the rauchbier was excellent.
How come no one told me there was such a thing as a dunkel cheese?! I still have a little smoked cheddar to eat before I dig into this stuff but I am looking forward to it. I wonder what kind of brew they use.
I discovered last night that Longtable Beer Cafe carries 3 varieties of Schlenkera. Mmm...
I finally tasted Caravans & Shifting Sands from Vintage Brewing.
Made with, amongst other ingredients, West African fonio grain, long pepper (a.k.a. - cubeb), grains of paradise, and allspice, it tasted like no other beer I've ever had. There's honey in there as well and so it had this honeyed malt sweetness with the allspice rather prominent. The cubeb and grains of paradise added a faint spiciness to it.
Tasty stuff from Scotty!
I was at the Great Dane earlier this week and sampled their Strawberry sour or tart or whatever they call it. The brew was very tasty. Light, a bit of strawberry, and a nice tartness. Not deadly like Destihl and not barely discernable. It was just right. A fine summer brew.
With an impending trip to the UK (hopefully), I decided to get in the mood by drinking like a Brit. Lakefront is helping out with this ESB.
I took it out of the frig and let it warm a bit. Very tasty! Smooth maltiness with a really nice leathery kind of taste. Just enough herbal hops too. Well played, Katie.
Seen yesterday, 25 June 2025:
Just in time for the summer solstice. Uff da! We're still 3 months out from Oktoberfest and horny deer running out in the middle of the road.
On the bright side, I tried this which I thought it was great.
I was quite surprised to run into this brew at my local bottle shop. The last time I was there I bought up their remaining stash of Dovetail's Rauchbier. On my way out, I stopped to ask the guy behind the counter what they'd be getting next from the venerable Chicago brewery and wouldn't it be nice if it was the Grodziskie. He replied that it would be a much less smoky brau, their Pils.
On a recent return visit I did indeed see the Pils in the cooler. But also this, Summer Hopfenlager, which is a hoppy lager for the lazy, hazy days of summer. While I might have run into mention of it at the Dovetail website, I had never seen it in the wild and so I grabbed a 4-pack. It wasn't until I got home that I actually read the label which noted traditional brewing methods - yay! - and modern hops - uff da! Oh boy. What was I getting into here?
The nouveau hops in the recipe were Vista and Strata. Strata rang a bell but Vista only registered bad memories of the much-maligned OS from Microsoft. While I knew that I'd have fruity flavors on my hands, I avoided researching them on the interwebs so as not to prejudice things or set any expectations. I wanted to drink this stuff and taste what I could taste instead of tasting what some hop dealer's webpage told me I should be tasting.
Beyond the hops, I wasn't sure what kind of brau we were looking at here. Was it their Old Country Helles given a New World hop makeover? Or perhaps it was more of a Landbier, some kind of bespoke lager brewed to accommodate a modern hopping regimen. Whatever it was to be, I expected a pale lager of some sort. And for my sins they gave me one.
Is it me or does the label have a Pet Sounds kind of thing going for it?
My tasting was done outside shortly after I had mowed the lawn which seemed wholly appropriate.
Has it really been nine and a half years since I've had a wood aged beer, Heart of Oak by Leine's? Bourbon barrel aged brews don't count as I think the idea is to infuse your beer with a spirit rather than a strictly arboreal flavor. While I'm on the subject, kudos to Lakefront for Wendy, a doppelbock which utilized bourbon-soaked oak chips that imparted a more subtle bourbon taste that complemented rather than overwhelmed the beer.
Plain, unspirited/unwined barrel/wood aged beers are hard to come by. Even more rare than Rauchbier. It's not exactly a mega popular flavor and dealing with wood must be a pain. You don't want any microbial thingies on your chips, staves, logs or whatever that would give your brew an off taste. Wood is a major flavor in wine so why isn't it in beer? And, as barrel aging goes, why is oak so popular?
When I saw this wood aged beer sans bourbon, a collaboration between Goldfinger and Revolution, I just had to try it. Goldfinger is a great brewery that combines care and tradition to make very tasty lagers. While Revolution dances with many an IPA, they brew other beers more to my taste. For example, not only did they throw my favorite grain, rye, into a stout, they also put some neat Repo Man artwork on the label.
The Oakriginal can doesn't say exactly how this beer got its oak flavor. Was it aged in oak barrels? Were oak chips involved? Did the brewmasters head to the woods with Husqvarna in hand, cut down a random oak, and throw some of the resulting cordwood into the fermenter? Now that I look closer, I see that Creative Oak is listed on the label and this California company's website notes the work of their master coopers.
The can does note, though, that "single forest French oak" was used. If horizontal lagering tanks weren't enough, this is definitely getting into hoity-toity wine territory. French oak apparently has more tannins than American oak which perhaps explains its use in winemaking. In addition to bitterness, oak has a clovey, vanillay, and, well, woody taste. How will these flavors fare in a Helles?
My pour produced a big, white head that I could hear. The bubbles churned away in a micromaelstrom like they do in soda, my cat's pleading meows for dinner were barely heard above the din. As with any Helles, the beer was a lovely yellow but had a slight haze which I presume was protein whatever you call it as Goldfinger's lagers have always been clear as day as is conventional. Maybe something is imparted by wood that gives a touch of cloudiness. There were a few bubbles here and there inside. My first sniff caught a luscious bready scent followed by wood, and then grassy hops.
My first sip revealed a medium-light body with the perfect fizz. Those Maillard reactions done good as I tasted that precious toasty bread flavor along with those grassy hops. A fine Helles indeed. Then I tasted the oak underneath it all. It was rather mellow but it added a smoothness that took the edge off the hops a shade, I think. Plus I like the flavor of oak so it had that going for it as well.
On the finish, the malt and oak flavors had one final flourish and then quickly faded as the hops, now with a herbal, almost minty, taste, made things fairly dry and slightly less bitter.
Goldfinger makes great beers so I was totally unsurprised that this was a mighty tasty Helles. The oak was subtle but easily discernible and its taste accented the grain flavor very well. Same with the hops. The oak gave flavors unlike the ones hops do yet they played nicely together. An excellent brew.
Junk food pairing: Pair Oakriginal Lager with Jays Hot Stuff potato chips. Their earthy flavors complement the oak while the Helles with soothe the burn.
While writing my post on Dovetail's Grodziskie, I discovered that Martyn Cornell died recently.
I never met the gentleman nor corresponded with him. But his blog was a joy to read, especially when he put paid to various myths about IPA and porter. I think I also gained a vicarious respect for English beer and pub culture from reading him. I never drink porter without thinking of him.
Tales of a Grodziskie by Chicago's Dovetail have long been told in these parts but I had never encountered it face to face until last month. I am guessing it's been my poor timing. Either I'd never make it down to Chicagoland when it was in season or the Binny's website proclaiming its availability had not been updated to reflect its absence. I also suspect that part of the problem is that Dovetail takes a very, um, European approach to seasonality. While most American microbrewers adhere to a strict release schedule for their seasonals, e.g. - their Oktoberfests hit shelves in late June, Dovetail seems to be the opposite and release their seasonals whenever they get around to it - within reason, of course.
Or maybe that's just my view from Madison.
Anyway, I was excited, perhaps a bit too excited, to find this Grodziskie. Being made with 100% smoked wheat, it was right up my uliczka as smoked beers are like manna from heaven for me. It is also perhaps the only native Polish beer style left these days and having some Polish blood in me means it's like drinking for the home team. Doubly so since Chicago is my hometown.
The Platonic ideal of Grodziskie was passed down to me from Ron Pattinson, if memory serves. It is to be light, smoky, hoppy, and fizzy. And I judge every Grodziskie style ale based on his description. Can one interpretation that doesn't exactly conform to this ideal still be tasty? You betcha! Tis but a starting point.
With a hazy yellow color and a very modest 3.8% A.B.V., this brew fit the light bill. A big, firm layer of foam rested atop the tantalizing liquid and, not being in a hurry to go anywhere, I was able to get a decent photograph. The aroma was of smoke along with a little bit of citrus.
My tongue was not surprised at the beer's light body which also had a very pleasant smoothness to it underneath a fairly mellow dose of fizz. The smokiness was delicious and not overwhelming which allowed for a tad of a grainy taste to come through. For their part, the hops tasted herbal-spicy and complemented the smoke well without overpowering it.
The smoky taste held fast for a bit on the finish before the herbal-spicy hop flavor came in to deliver moderate dryness and slightly more bitterness.
Since I don't know how to say "Oh mama, this stuff was good!" in Polish I'll just say oh mama, this stuff was good! While I am not sure, I do believe that the wheat used in the Grodziskie was traditionally smoked with oak. However, I am not sure what wood was used to smoke the wheat here. I don't think it was applewood or cherry, though. But, oh mama, it tastes great! And the smokiness is not particularly strong despite the whole grain bill having been given the treatment.
I'll never know how this stuff compares to the brew the inhabitants of Grodzisk Wielkopolski drank back in the day but I love Dovetail's take on the style. Maybe a touch more fizz but that's a very minor quibble. This is a fine brew and made the perfect companion on a few spring evenings.
Junk food pairing: Pair your Grodziskie with a bag of Old Dutch Onion 'N Garlic potato chips. They provide a nice contrast to the smoke taste yet somehow also complement the beer perfectly.
When I first heard that New Glarus had a new beer out called Tailwagger, I felt a strong sense of déjà vu. Wasn't that the name given to their barleywine back in 2006 or thereabouts? Indeed it was. In fact, the puppy that appeared on the label nearly 20 years ago has returned seemingly having not aged a day to grace the one for the Tailwagger nouveau. Like Dorian Gray, but different.
When I learned that the 21st century Tailwagger was an amber ale, I got another flash of déjà vu. It felt like I had been transported back to the mid-1990's when Fat Tire was still in its infancy but steadily gaining in popularity and Pete's Wicked Ale was everywhere good (American) beer was sold as was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Here in Madison, Capital's Special Pilsner, Sprecher Amber, and New Glarus Edel Pils represented the home team. (I don't recall much Lakefront around at that time though I am sure Riverwest Stein was to be had.) It's a shame that New Glarus didn't release Fat Squirrel contemporaneously with Tailwagger for a real 90s throwback extravaganza.
Unlike in the mid-90s, I don't drink much amber ale these days but I am always up for tasting what Dan Carey and the rest of the brewing crew at New Glarus have come up with. Well, almost always. I have yet to take the plunge into their Splash malt beverages, for instance.
My first sip revealed a smooth, medium-light body accompanied by some very nice fizz. While I tasted caramel, it wasn't particularly sweet. There was also a slight roastiness and bit of stone fruit. The hops tasted grassy-herbal to me. Not a lot but rather just enough. When I swallowed, there were some lingering caramel and biscuit flavors that were quickly joined by grassy hops. Bitterness and dryness were both on the mild side.
I thoroughly enjoyed Tailwagger: The Next Generation. My notes say "Excellent!", in fact. Aristotle would have appreciated this brew as there just seemed to be the right amounts of everything with nothing in excess except general tastiness. It simply has that amber ale arete. I greatly appreciated the restraint in sweetness and how the caramel taste was complemented by biscuity malt. The light body made it go down easy.
Junk food pairing: Pair the new Tailwagger with a bag of Guinness Rich Chili crisps.
I am trying to recall how I heard about Bräu Buddies. Either I read about it in Lakefront's newsletter or I stumbled upon it on one of my periodic strolls through their website checking on what the year-round pale lager is these days. East Side Dark and Riverwest Stein have stood the test of time, I suppose, while the pale lager spot seems to change every year or 2. (Probably less frequently, truth be told.) Klisch Pilsner, a Czech-style pilsner, which was, I believe, one of the brewery's first brews, went the way of the dodo. I think it was replaced by Lakefront Pils, a German-style pilsner. From there it gets murky.
Did Bierzeit, a wonderful Kölsch that seemed to be in the Lakefront line-up all-too briefly, come next? What a shame. I felt a bit spoiled for choice for a little while there between it and Kid Kölsch.
Did Lakefront Lager come next? A "Premium Lager", I avoided it because I associate those words with Miller/Bud clone type brews. The pale lager annual spot is now taken by Dive Beer which appears to be another Miller/Bud type American lager. Oof.
Looking at the list of beers no longer made at the Lakefront site, I feel sad that Cherry Lager and Holiday Spice are long gone. Wisconsinite was tasty; why did it have to die? Boo!
Oh well.
So somehow I stumbled upon the existence of Bräu Buddies, a collaboration between Lakefront and Hofbräu München. Described as a "rustic, German-style lager" and having been brewed with Melanoidin malts, I just had to try it. And so I snagged a six-pack.
Similar to my procrastination in taking notes for that hibiscus kombucha, I went through at least a six-pack before I ever busted out a pad of paper and pen. I was just too busy slaking my thirst. But eventually I did take some notes and took a photo or two.
The brew was light yellow to gold, depending on which part of the glass I was looking at. Clear as day and topped by a white head that lasted an average amount of time, I spied a few bubbles inside. It looked mighty purdy. A Helles? A Landbier? I dunno but I do know that the aroma was marvelous with a luscious breadiness no doubt from that Melanoidin malt while the hops gave a grassy scent.
Taking a sip, I was entranced the beer's medium-light body which held untold depths of toasty-bready-biscuity malt goodness. Not particularly sweet, the Maillard-inflected flavor was joined by grassy/herbal tasting hops. Not too strong but a bit more than enough to balance the malts. There are Saphir hops in here but I never caught anything fruity. Maybe something a little something floral in the aroma but I never tasted the tangerine that websites assure me are part of the Saphir flavor arsenal.
The breadiness lingered on the finish a bit while the hops, having taken on a more spicy note, gently faded in to add moderate bitterness and slightly less dryness.
This, this should be Lakefront's year-round pale lager. With its high melanoidin payload, Bräu Buddies hits the spot with a rich malt taste that I couldn't get enough of which explains why I've purchased multiple six-packs of it. I am feeling spoiled for choice again as this beer is a fine complement to New Glarus' Two Women, another rustic/country pale lager full of mouthwatering Maillard temptation.
Alas, I suspect Bräu Buddies' days are numbered and it will be consigned to the Lakefront Beer Graveyard before summer. What a bummer.
Junk food pairing: Bräu Buddies' label features a pretzel and this is a fine idea to accompany a can of the stuff. I suggest a bag of Rold Gold Selects Flamin’ Hot® Honey Mustard twists.
I recently sampled this brew:
Funkytown is a black-owned brewery in Chicago and this beer appears to be available only in Chicagoland.
The can notes that it was brewed with steam beer yeast along with a combo of Motueka and Tettnang hops. Motueka is a variety from New Zealand and they gave a citrus flavor to the brew that was lemon-lime, to my taste.
I thought it was good. The fruity flavors weren't overpowering and the result was a very refreshing brew on a hot spring day.
Since I'd never heard of Funkytown, I checked out their website. I was happy to see some nods to the brewery's hometown in beer names - Summertime Chi and Gym Shoe Weather. How about Dibs Doppelbock for a late winter seasonal? Bungalow Brown Ale?
...aged beer.
This is tasty stuff. It's nice to see a helles(?) given a twist that doesn't involve fruity-tasting hops.
The lilacs are in bloom and the lawn has been mowed. This brew tastes wonderful! Light and smoky and refreshing and smoky. It has slaked my thirst with its smoky goodness.
I finally found some of Dovetail's heretofore elusive and smoky Grodziskie last weekend down in Geneva. Perhaps some will make its way up here. The gent at Harley's said they were to receive their Pilsner, however.
...yesterday was a nice day. My walk to the bus stop in the morning was bathed in a layer of gold.
While waiting on a BRT platform going home, I noticed that the roof was made of sunglasses. The sun was a brilliant dot.
And, when I got home, I had a golden post-work brew out on the deck.
The official beer of Gencon has been announced:
Thank Christ it's not another breakfast cereal beer such as Froot Loops Hazy IPA. Cyzer is apparently an apple ale which doesn't sound bad at all. Unless it is brewed with Apple Jacks...
