Is this oyster stout fresh?: My Turn - Aidan by Lakefront Brewery

I am finally caught up on my salt & vinegar chips reviews and this post will get me caught up on beer reviews.

Aidan is Lakefront's - what? - 800th entry in their My Turn series? Well, maybe not quite that many but I am happy to see that it continues nonetheless. It has turned out some tasty brews and is the only way to get the venerable Milwaukee brewery to brew a smoke beer. "Smoked" and "rye" on the label drew immediate interest from me and I ogled the 6-pack with a male beer gaze. I mean, these are the two best things you can do to a beer. But what about that "oyster"?

Pulverized oyster shells were used here, not the meaty bits. Chemistry dictates that the calcium carbonate in the shells aids in clarifying beer and the practice dates back to the late 19th century, if AI is to be believed. The calcium carbonate gets proteins and yeast, which can make a beer cloudy, to coagulate and settle to the bottom of a brewing tank where they can easily be separated from the precious clear elixir.

Huh.

So do the shells add any flavor of the ocean? Lakefront says it adds a "subtle mineral quality". Interesting.

If memory serves, Aidan came out over the winter and my can had best by date of 04May2026 so I squeezed this in just under the wire.

My pour produced a big, tan head that had true staying power. The liquid was a deep, dark brown and admitted no light to pass through it. I don't recall the last time I saw a brew as Stygian as this one.

 

I see an oyster stout

And I want it brewed up black

 

Well that makes about as much sense as clarifying a beer that one cannot even see into. Ha ha! Who am I to question the folks at Lakefront?

 

I assume the oyster shells did their thing and clarified the beer but we'll never know. The aroma was roasty with a bit of sweetness that was redolent of haw flakes.

 

Taking a sip I found that it had a nice bit of fizz to it. The body was light-medium which took me by surprise as I figured a 7.1% A.B.V. stout would be on the heavier side. While I sampled it more or less straight out of the refrigerator, I found that the key to mining Aidan's vein of smoky rye deliciousness was to let it warm up.

 

This is something I need to work on with ales. I've gotta practice letting them warm up a bit instead of immediately consuming them in a sipping frenzy like that great white shark nomming on poor Chrissie Watkins.

 

Once I let my glass of Aidan enjoy a little bit of the temperate temps of spring, it took on many wonderful flavors. A general roasty taste was joined by milk chocolate giving a solid stouty base. A little stone fruit, some all-too mild smoke, and a hint of sweetness added to the mix. The rye wasn't spicy to my taste but rather is was earthy. I am beginning to suspect that rye becomes "spicy" in beer via melding with hops in a certain way. When I sup a Roggenbier such as, say, Tippy Toboggan, the rye has a mellow earthiness to it, a grainy flavor less sweet than wheat but not a sharp peppery one or a brisk turpene-like burst. As for the hops, they had a nice herbal aspect to them and let my tongue know they were there but the were not overpowering.

 

The grainy flavors lingered a bit on the finish and, as they faded, some dark roast coffee came into the picture before the herbal hop flavors came in. Bitterness and dryness were both middle of the road and made for a satisfying denouement.

 

Beyond wishing the smokiness had been a bit more prominent, this was one tasty brew. I was surprised that the malts didn't seem to add any bitterness as most American stouts (& porters too) generally have a fuliginous flavor from black malts or whatever kind of deep, black, burnt malts they use. Instead, Aidan had a nice, rounded roasty taste. Was this the result of the types of grains used? Or did the oyster shells have something to do with it? Honestly, I didn't catch that promised "subtle mineral quality". Maybe it was really subtle. Or perhaps that rounded malt quality is also known as a subtle mineral quality. After all, the both have the word "quality" in them.

 

Regardless, Aidan's malty profile was simply delicious. Roastiness, rye, and smoke made for a luscious pas de trois. Plus sweetness was held at bay and the delightfully light and nimble body belied the fairly high booze content.

 

Aidan was a great treat for me and I hope it's not too long before the My Turn series yields another brew with smoky malt in it.

 

Junk food pairing: If you have any Aidan lying around, drink it up for heaven's sake! And pair it with a bag of Mrs. Fisher's Dark potato chips. The extra sugars in the spuds yields more Maillard goodness and allowing you to drown in roasted gluttony.

Risking life & limb for Roggenbier - that's the Chicago Way: Winter Beer by Goldfinger Brewing

On my annual autumnal trek last year to lovely Lombard, Illinois for Chicago TARDIS, I had it in mind to seek out some Winter Beer by Goldfinger Brewing. I'd heard tell of it a week or so before and I was intrigued. Besides the immanence of winter and the necessity of winter seasonal beers for survival, it was a rye lager and rye is my grain of choice. To top things off, Goldfinger went against the grain, so to speak, and made a winter beer that wasn't extra potent and instead relied on a hearty maltiness to hold back the nipping of Jack Frost.

Winter was to set in early with a major blizzard forecasted the next day so I set out to get my beer shopping done early so I could settle into the hotel with Christopher Eccleston and Jo Martin until the storm had abated.

With the threat of several inches of snow looming, I hastily made a trek to Binny's. There I found some interesting brews, to be sure, but no Goldfinger Winter Beer. Well, crap. After lunch I attended another panel discussion or two before making the drive to Goldfinger HQ. Walking in I found that place to be hoppin'. I also found no Winter Beer. However, I did find some of their Baltic porter. More on that later.

Discouraged, I went back to the hotel with my tail between my legs and enjoyed myself at the con. But I would not be defeated!

The next day the storm began with snow coming down at quite a clip. Once fully caffeinated, it occurred to me that there are liquor stores that are not Binny's and so consulted the Google oracle. Sal's Beverage World sounded like they'd have a good selection. I mean, it's a whole world of beverages! It was also helpfully located near a peri peri chicken joint which sealed the deal. I could get beer, a family pack of peri peri chicken, and then ride the storm out at the hotel with a bunch of fans dressed up as Cybermen meaning we could recreate The Tenth Planet.

It seems a large percentage of the western burbs had a similar plan because Roosevelt Road was packed and treacherous. Jagoffs in SUVs and Subarus ignored conditions and barreled down the road at normal speed, i.e. - 10MPH over the limit. I kept things steady as cars fishtailed all around me and the street threatened to turn into a demolition derby. And I made it.

My luck was in as Sal's had the precious Winter Lager - and more besides. I stowed my beer securely in the back seat and then made my way to the peri peri joint where I bought a family pack so I wouldn't be forced to eat any of my fellow con goers to survive, er, I mean go to the hotel restaurant. The drive back was frought with peril but I made it back to the safety of the hotel unscathed.

Having risked life and limb, I hoped that the beer was worth it. A Goldfinger lager? Of course it'll be tasty.

 

The beer was a gorgeous copper hue and clear as day. Sitting atop the sea of rye elixir was a big head of loose, off-white foam made of large bubbles. It lasted an average amount of time, I'd say. Inside the glass were oodles of bubbles. The aroma featured biscuit with a slight caramel accent. Hops were grassy.

 

My initial sip confirmed what my eyes had told me: this stuff was good'n'fizzy. At first it seemed odd to be drinking a winter beer that had but a medium-light body to it but the ad copy was right - the brew may have a low A.B.V. of 4.2% but it is rich in malty goodness. The rye provided an earthy bready flavor which was complemented by a touch of doughy sweetness. A nice balance was struck by hops that were a bit on the herbal side but also hay-like. Overall the brew was malt heavy and clean with a touch of astringency.

 

The finish was perfect as the lingering breadiness slowly gave way to the hops which took on a slightly floral taste. They provided just enough bitterness to balance the malt and add a touch of dryness.

 

Unsurprisingly I found this Winter Beer to be great. It was richly malted (including tasty rye!) but not heavy; the hops were tasty and added just the right amount of bitterness. Plus I loved the floral taste they took on during the finish. A most pleasing alternative to the usual winter brews.

 

Junk food pairing: Grab a bag of peri peri flavored potato chips to go with Goldfinger's delicious rye brew. The spicy heat will warm your innards as the earthy spud taste joins the rye for an earthy overload.

The Unbearable Sweetness of Ambers: R and J's Rowdy Raccoon by Young Blood Beer Co.

This is another brew that I first encountered sometime in the summer, I do believe, and got lost in the divorce shuffle. 

Young Blood Beer Co. is one of my least favorite breweries in Madison as their portfolio is 99.9% fruity this and pastry that. Reading their beer lists is like reading a menu that consists of nothing but Hawaiian Punch and Hostess snack cakes. There seems to be little more than gimmickry at work here of the most vicious kind.

"Fruit Punch Sour with Lemon, Passion Fruit, Orange & Guava"

"Fruit Punch Sour with Winter Melon, Passion Fruit, Orange & Guava"

blah blah blah

 

I found their helles to be tasty but pilsner-like and their smoked porter to be not bad. Despite never having considered going to their outpost on North Street despite not living far from it, I still try their beer tasting beers if I find something appealing at the liquor store and such was the case this past summer when I discovered that they had brewed a lager with my favorite grain, rye - R and J's Rowdy Raccoon.

 

For all the gimmicks Young Blood employs, this beer sure looked mighty fine. A loose tan head shrank while sitting atop several ounces of gorgeous beer. It was a beautiful amber hue and clear to boot. Many a bubble was to be seen inside the glass. Taking a whiff, my nose caught, disappointingly but not unexpectedly, caramel. Plus black pepper and grass. It reminded me a bit of Eliot Ness from Great Lakes.

 

While I do not seek to have the taste of caramel banished from beer, American brewers are almost unable to produce a brew that isn't yellow or black that isn't a Werther's candy in liquid form. It is weird. When I was in England back in September, I sampled a few amber ales and the caramel taste ranged from little to none. These were not sweet beers.

 

I don't know what English brewers and their maltsters do. Perhaps they take sacks of Maris Otter out to Stonehenge and perform some druidic voodoo on them, reading profane passages from a Barclay Perkins grimoire. Whatever diablerie they practice, English brewers manage to make amber ales that don't taste like candy.

 

So this stuff looked wonderful but had a prominent caramel aroma. But that didn't necessarily consign it to the candy bin. I hoped.

 

My first sip was fizzy heaven and then came the bready sweetness followed by caramel. Underneath those bubbles was a very smooth beer. It also had a savory/bready taste that I presumed was the rye. Oh, and there was a dash of cubeb or Grains of Paradise in there too.

 

The sweetness lingered on the finish but a modicum of spicy hops eventually crept in. Bitterness was medium and dryness a bit less.

 

Despite a near optimal level of fizziness, this beer was a bit too sweet. It never tasted cloying but I wished that it had leaned towards the breadier with less Werther's. Perhaps keeping it more on syrupy side kept the A.B.V. at a moderate 5.2%. The hops and rye were tasty, though.

 

Junk food pairing: This lager pairs well with pretzels, especially Snyder's Jalapeño Pieces. The spiciness tempers the sweetness of the beer and adds a complementary zing to the rye.

Instant buy

I saw this and snagged it immediately. I suspect it will taste like the Elixir of the Gods.

The Grain That Could Help Save Agriculture in the West

That is the name of an article in a recent issue of The Progressive and it is about my favorite grain, rye.

In Southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley, where farmers track rainfall and snowpack like stock prices, alfalfa and potatoes bring in the highest profits. But those crops strain the alpine desert valley’s limited water supply. Rye, by contrast, requires far less water—and it’s hardy, resilient, flavorful, and versatile, for good measure. 

But there’s one major problem: Almost no one is buying it.

“People think rye tastes like molasses and caraway because that’s how they’ve had it in rye bread,” Jason says. “But that’s not the grain. Rye on its own is sweet, a little nutty, super complex.” Still, its unsung merits have yet to translate into a profit for those who grow it in the valley. 

I did not know that rye used less water than many other crops. No wonder it is able to absorb so much. Well, dear farmers, please know that your crop is most welcome here. Please send it to me at ##### ****** Strasse, Madison, WI, 537##. I will personally distribute it to the brewers and bakers of Madison.

My refrigerator is full of beer

While down in Chicago's western suburbs last week, I went a bit overboard in my beer buying. I had a list of brews to seek out with Goldfinger's winter seasonal at the top of the list. It is a rye lager and I just could not resist. My stop at Binny's yielded nothing but I would not be denied. So I drove to the brewery one evening but they too were out. Thankfully I found some at Sal's Beverage Emporium or whatever it's called.

While Goldfinger was out of rye lager - not even a drop to be had on tap - they did have another brew suitable for winter, Bałtycki. Why yes it is a Baltic porter. 

I also found Rauchbier, my first ever brew from Art History, I do believe.

Old Irving Brewing is a new favorite of mine. While they brew IPAs that hold no interest for me, they do other styles more appealing to my tastes and do them well. I also think it helps that they are in a neighborhood near where I grew up.

Lastly, I grabbed a 4-pack of this Polish-style pilsner from Revolution in concert with Moor’s Brewing whom I'd never heard of until I saw this beer. A leftover from the summer, it was a mere $5.97.

'Tis the season for Tippy

With a polar vortex upon us, let the winter brews flow! 

'Tis the season for Tippy Toboggan and Vintage has it on tap now.

In addition to the Queen of Bocks, Vintage is offering her older cousin:

 I foretell a visit is in my future...

Smoke? Rye?

I will be doing a thorough investigation of this beer.

Roggenbrot, 23 October

I busted out the breadmaker yesterday and tried my hand at making a loaf of rye bread. Well, "making" is a bit of an overstatement since I was, after all, using a breadmaker.

The recipe was from the manual that came with it and called for a ratio of something like 2.5:1 wheat to rye flour. I tweaked it to roughly 1.5:1 and am proud to say that this loaf turned out much better than the last one:

Chewy crust, tender & juicy inside - it was rather tasty. But it still needed more rye taste so I will continue to increase the amount of rye flour in subsequent loaves. I believe using fresh yeast is what made the difference here.

Pie

I made a pumpkin pie yesterday. Instead of sweetened condensed milk I used the evaporated stuff. This allowed me to adjust the sugar content and it turned out less sweet than with condensed milk. The sweetness doesn't obscure the gourdy goodness.

No, sadly, it is not a rye crust. 

Going solo with pie crust

After having been given a lesson on making pie crust, specifically rye pie crust, I made one solo for the first time.

Just like the last one, this pie was apple because the Paula Reds on my kitchen counter weren't going to make a pie out of themselves. It turned out fairly well.

Not the most aesthetically delightful pie ever, but it tasted good. Not sure if you can tell but the crust (bottom too) was a real Frankenstein job with gaps (and chasms) being patched with spare bits. But, as I said, it tasted good and went over well at gaming. 

 

 

Oh, and I mulled some cider as well. Why yes, it was from Lapacek's. It too turned out tastily.

 

A pie of rye

Having made my first visit to Lapacek's Orchard of the season recently, I decided to make an apple pie. It occurred to me that the crust should be made of rye instead of wheat because it just sounded like a tasty idea and my Slavic ancestors would be proud to boot.

I enlisted the help of a friend who knows more about baking than I shall ever know but had never made a rye pie crust. A learning experience for both of us. All the apples were from Lapacek's and included Duchess, a Wolf River, and other varieties unknown. Our efforts yielded this:

With the near Stygian crust, the gurgling apple lava, and the uneven vent holes, it was the Necronomicon of pies. 

I served it with generous portions of Sassy Cow vanilla ice cream.

With such a mass of deliciousness, we succumbed to madness. The crust turned out well with my butter grating skillz coming in handy as it was nice and flaky. Lacking the sweetness of wheat, it instead had a lovely nutty taste which made me want to bake further rye-crusted pies, including savory ones.

The Camera Rye: Choice Rye Lager by Pipeworks Brewing Co.

The other day I had a conversation with a friend of mine about bread. We discussed the art and science of making it and both of us admitted to lacking the requisite abilities to make a good loaf of the Staff of Life. At one point I opined that rye bread is the tastiest and my friend agreed. Knowing that I had fellow ryeophile was heartening.

My love of the grain borders on the monomaniacal though I am developing a love for buckwheat. Regardless, I seek out rye bread and Gardetto's rye chips, was near ecstatic upon discovering that Origin Breads here in Madison offers a Sourdough Rye Dark Chocolate Brownie, and still lament years after the fact that Nabisco discontinued their rye Triscuits and that Snyder's did the same with their Pumpernickel & Onion pretzels. Plus I buy any beer with rye that isn't an IPA.

My M.O. was on full display back in January at the Binny's in Schaumburg - this was the stop where I found that Viking beer from Old Irving Brewing - when I spied Pipeworks' rye lager. What luck! A couple months previously at a Binny's I had found Phase Three's Rye Lager and then I find another. Gambrinus was truly smiling down upon me.

With two varieties of Rauchbier, a Helles, and that Pastrami on Rye beer with both rye and smoked malts, the venerable Chicago brewery was already a favorite but a rye lager put Pipeworks into my even gooder graces. They understand that beer is, metaphysically speaking, about fermenting sugars culled from grains and not about hops that taste like tropical fruits.

 

I really lucked out as I was able to capture the lovely off-white head that topped my glass in a photograph for a change. It sat atop the clear, amber liquid for a good while. A modicum of bubbles were to be seen inside. The aroma was positively delightful with the malts giving spicy, earthy rye and bready notes while the hops contributed green, hay-like smells. Either there was no canned/best by date on the can or there was one but in a cryptic code instead of a date but my guess is that my 4-pack was not old as this stuff just smelled fresh to my nose.

 

My first sip revealed a medium-light body with a healthy fizziness. The rye contributed its lovely earthy-spicy flavor while the barley had a cracker taste. I also detected a slight caramel sweetness. The hops seemed to add a peppery flavor. All the malt flavors lingered only briefly after swallowing as the spicy hops offered a medium level of bitterness and a fairly dry denouement.

 

For once we have some truth in advertising. Pipeworks wasn't lying when they named this beer "Choice" because this is one toothsome brew. The restrained sweetness allowed the piquant rye flavor to shine. And credit to the hops as well with their complementary spiciness that was the perfect balance to the grains and made for a refreshing finish to boot.

 

Junk food pairing: You can't go wrong by pairing this fine rye lager with a bag of Herr's Cheddar Horseradish potato chips and a tub of Helluva Good!'s Bacon Horseradish dip.

Rye lager? Make it so.: Rye Lager by Phase Three Brewing Co.

Years ago my annual trek to Chicago TARDIS down in lovely Lombard, Illinois meant a visit at Binny's where I'd eagerly snatch up some Hoss, a rye Märzeny kind of brew from Denver's Great Divide. At some point, that beer, quite unsurprisingly, stopped gracing Binny's shelves in the fall when I was there. This made me sad because this autumnal pilgrimage had become a tradition and Hoss was (is?) a great beer. Oh well. All good things and whatnot. As time wore on, I became inured to being rye lager-less as the winter solstice approached.

Until this year.

Chicagoland has many a brewery which can make perusing the local beer shelves at Binny's something of a chore because a lot of breweries means a lot of IPAs. As in a number that feels like it approaches infinity. There's a mesmerizing quality to scanning the shelves as the letters fly by...I-P-A. Soon every beer looks to be an IPA. And so it was last month. Until I ran across Phase Three's Rye Lager. Could it really be? The IPAs beneath and above and to either side beckoned me.

"Come taste of our faux tropical fruit..."

I felt like Captain Picard in that Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where he's being tortured.

"There are four-packs of rye lager!" I roared back in defiance of the Citra siren calls.

Shaking off my hypnotic haze, I found that indeed there were four-packs of rye lager staring back at me from the shelf. I already had two Rauchbiers, a Dovetail flavor I'd never had, plus multiple brews from abroad. Did I really need more beer?

Yes!

Phase Three is a brewery in Lake Zurich, Illinois, a northwestern suburb of Chicago. I have no doubt seen their brews before but don't recall ever having tasted any of them. Without meaning to sound overly cynical, I admit to tempering my expectations. There were a lot of Phase Three IPAs on the shelf too so could they pull off a decent lager?

Luck was on my side and I managed to capture one of my pours where there is some head. My glass was happy to have a lot of the light tan foam and, thankfully, it stuck around a while. The brew was a lovely clear amber and I saw a fair number of bubbles inside. No haze; a good start. My luck continued as I took a whiff and smelled grains: a bit of bread, at first, and then some earthy rye. A berry-like fruitiness followed as did some herbal hoppiness.

A medium-light body held a firm fizziness. My initial sips were malt madness with bready and doughy flavors complemented by that earthy-spicy rye goodness. The hops stayed below the fray but I could taste their herbal tentacles weaving themselves between and among all those malt flavors. The rye and a touch of malty sweetness lingered on the finish but eventually ceded to the hops which took on a deliciously spicy aspect. Fizz and hops united for a mellow dryness accompanied by a gentle bitter bite .

What a wonderful surprise. I had my doubts about what appeared to be another IPA factory dipping its toes into the lager waters but Phase Three meant business. For me, this was an easy drinker despite being 6.6% A.B.V. and I had a hard time sitting there with a rye lager in front of me and not pouring it down my maw. The rye flavor was great and benefited from the beer not being particularly sweet. Plus the hops complemented the malt flavors perfectly and I appreciated how they orchestrated a refreshingly zesty finish.

I hope Phase Three brews this again next year so that rye lager returns as an autumn tradition.

Junk food pairing: Pair P3's Rye Lager with a big bag of Mike's Hot Honey potato chips from Utz. (Utz's Mike's Hot Honey potato chips?) The mild sweetness from the honey and potatoes will complement the rye perfectly. These chips don't burn like the fires of Hell but that little bit of heat goes well with the hops and really accentuates their peppery taste on the finish.

The maples want more Citra and the oaks ignore their pleas: Oaked Smoked Helles Lager by Pipeworks Brewing Co.

I recently found myself trapped in the indecision of the massive beer selection at a Binny's outpost in western Chicagoland. I really didn't need to bring home a lot of beer as I would be the only one drinking the stuff and I was clutching a couple of packs already. But I just couldn't let the prospect of more Rauchbier pass me by. On the shelf before me was Pipeworks' Smoked Helles as well as their Oaked Smoked Helles. Which to choose?

If memory serves, I checked each for dates on the bottom of a can but I cannot recall what I found. The date on the Oaked Smoked cans were smudged but they were dated this year and the month appeared to be August. They cost the same or very nearly so thusly price was not at issue. In the end, as you can see above, I went with the latter. Oak smoked Rauchbiers are just less common and I don't think I've encountered one of the Helles variety before so I fell on the side of rarity. But look at that poor oak! Talk about trouble with the trees. No doubt it was the work of a malicious maple.

I generally hold Pipeworks in high regard. They brew more than IPAs and I am surprised that I never reviewed their Pastrami on Rye: Manny's Deli Edition beer which was very tasty.** (Indeed, it appears I haven't reviewed any of their beers since 2013. How odd.) To my mind, that they brew zwei types of smoked Helles speaks to their eclectic/good tastes and makes them a cause worth supporting, even if only one 4-pack at a time.

A cap of loose, white foam sat atop the aureate elixir. Unfortunately, the head was off like a prom dress leaving a glass of lightly golden goodness that was perfectly clear. A stray bubble was to be seen inside here and there. Upon sniffing, smoke came first followed by a bit of honeyed sweetness. There was just a hint of grassy hops to be had underneath it all.

My first sip revealed a medium-light body with only a modicum of fizz. The promised oaked smoke took pride of place but there was also a little breadiness and a hint of sweetness, just like the aroma. Similarly, a mild grassy hoppiness was to be had as well. The luscious smokiness lingered on the finish as the hops took on a herbal tinge to allow for a bit of bitterness and dryness.

Sweetness was minimal allowing me to drown in oaked smoke gluttony. Although I would have liked a tad more fizziness, this stuff went down easily. And at 5% A.B.V., this wasn't a problem. I am not sure if the restrained hop flavor was intentional or if my 4-pack was reaching senescence. (The 4-pack was not refrigerated.)

While part of me notes that this brew lacks the full-breaded flavor of Schlenkerla's smoked Helles, in truth, this is a very fine beer regardless. The smokey taste is excellent and there's just enough of everything else to round out the overall flavor. A wonderful smokey midsummer brew became a true autumnal treat.

Junk food pairing: Oaked Smoked Helles Lager will pair well with just about any potato chip but I recommend either All Dressed or Cheese & Onion varieties.

**Madisonians should note that Delta Beer Lab has a rye beer called Make Rye Not War that is a "collaboration" with Stalzy's Deli. Or has the name on it, anyway. This brew is once again available.

The West Coast Moves East: River Rye'd Lager by Yazoo Brewing & Leinenkugel's

When I ran across this brew over the summer, I was delighted to see a rye lager in the beer cooler and a bit perplexed at the same time because I'd never heard of Yazoo Brewing. Yazoo Records, yes; Yazoo Brewing, no. Looking them up, I asked myself if a Nashville brewery was truly trying to make inroads into Wisconsin. I thought that, here in 2024, unless your brewery has a cachet known throughout Christendom, you don't expand too far from your homebase. Then I read the fine print and saw that it was a collaboration with Leinenkugel's as part of Yazoo's 20th anniversary celebration. Now this made more sense.

The rye lager is one of the great neglected bastard children of the brewing world. I still lament not being able to get Hoss every autumn and occasionally consider petitioning some government agency to rectify this terrible situation. And so, when I see one available, I am quick to fork over some of my filthy lucre.

Having read the fine print on the front of the label, I then neglected to do the same on the back where the text boasted that the beer was "generously hopped" with the Cascade variety. While I am not anti-Cascade, I do normally interpret their presence as something of a warning sign, namely to expect an American hopping regimen that gives a lot of fruity taste. My apprehension wasn't that my tongue would OD on grapefruit flavors as much as the citrus taste would overwhelm the rye.

Again, the label was the clue to it all. It said "lager" with the word "pilsner" nowhere to be seen. My understanding of beer taxonomy is that, when an America craft brewer designates their beer a "lager", they mean an American light lager like Miller/Coors/Bud with no expectation of subtle malt goodness being implied. It's a lawnmower beer or a craft beer to appease Miller/Coors/Bud drinkers. On the other hand, "pilsner" tends to mean the beer stands a chance of having a nice grain flavor with some attempt to balance malt and hop. Presumably River Rye'd would be a showcase for the hops.

Well, too late as I had brought the six-pack home. Iacta alea est.

River Rye'd looked either like your typical American light lager such as Miller or Bud or a fine pilsner, depending on your disposition. It was a lovely light yellow and clear as day. My pour yielded a very nice, loose head of brilliant white foam that lasted a little while. There were, as you can see, some bubbles inside. The aroma was ambiguous but delightfully so. Those hops gave pine and citrus scents but there was some cracker to be had too. A very nice start. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad after all, if I was able to smell some malt.

My lingering reservations aside, I eagerly took a sip and discovered a light-medium body with a healthy dose of fizz. Waves of pine and grapefruit cascaded over my tongue while a modicum of flavor of grain did its best to undergird the ostentatious display of hops. Sweetness was minimal.

For the finish, the hops lingered, grapefruit first followed by pine, as the malty base, such as it was, faded leaving a mild bitterness and only the barest hint of dryness.

River Rye'd was much as I suspected it would be after having read the label in full: it was like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale without the strong malt backbone. The Cascade hops took center stage here. While I was disappointed that the grains generally and the rye specifically were muffled by the hops, I still enjoyed the beer. But one per session was enough for me as the hops were just a little too generous.

Junk food pairing: I recommend pairing River Rye'd, should you still have some around, with a big bad of Ruffles Flamin' Hot Cheddar and Sour Cream chips. The heat will take the edge off the pine while all that dairy adds a nice, mellow tasting counterpoint to the grapefruit.

Feeling my Slavic oats

I went grocery shopping yesterday and couldn't resist buying pączki. I have to go into the office on Tuesday and this prevents me from being able to stop in at the Ugly Apple Cafe, which seems to be the best bet for pączki in town. The ones at the grocery store were from suburban Chicago. No classic flavors - prune, rose - were on offer so I went with apple, apples not being a tropical fruit nor Bavarian cream.

While it's not as easy to find pączki here in Madison as it is in the Chicago area, they are much more common today than they were, say, 10 years ago.

After a stressful couple days, I decided to run with the Eastern European thing and made gołąbki soup.

I decided to use buckwheat instead of rice as the buckwheat in my cupboard wasn't going anywhere fast. It turned out rather well, if I do say so myself. Perhaps a touch more paprika next time and a dash of oregano, but I was pleased with how it turned out.

I finished the trifecta with some rye chocolate chip cookies.

Remarkably, these also turned out rather well. The rye gives them a really nice nutty taste. I think the recipe needs tweaking as the dough was a bit dry and, while this sounds impossible, it called for too many chocolate chips. There just wasn't enough dough to accommodate them all. Still, very tasty.

The Corona Diaries Vol. 94: Grist For the Blogging Mill

(Watch the prelude.)

(mid-June 2023)

My next destination was Dells Mill, just north of Augusta, a town that I think I visited once or twice in high school but I may be wrong. Truth be known, I don't have any memories of doing so but it's likely I went there for a basketball or football game.

Built in 1864 amongst the dells of Bridge Creek which was dammed to create a pond, the mill ground out flour and feed for over 100 years before it went out of operation in 1968. At least that’s what I gleaned from the historic marker.

Today, the water wheel still turns and it’s a true blast from the past. For a moment, I felt like I was in an old western movie and was expecting Clint Eastwood to ride up on his horse, hitch it to a post, and wander inside where Sondra Locke is hard at work baking biscuits with flour fresh off the millstone.

I didn’t think the wheel was actually attached to a screw or a cog or whatever it is that would transfer that motion to the grinding gizmo. Regardless, it’s hypnotic to stand atop the bridge over the creek and listen to the rush of the water as it falls over the dam and to watch the wheel spin.

Stepping inside the mill, I found a dimly lit antique shop. There were old saws, glassware, clothing, and this fine organ as well.

It looks to have the sheet music for the hit parade of 1925. Never heard of Wilmot Lemont nor Kathleen Lockhart Manning.

There is a gift store at the mill and behind the counter was an Amish girl who looked to be in her tween years. Not surprising as this is Amish country. All of the horse poop that litters the roads is a dead giveaway. While the cash register was strictly mechanical, I wondered how they got away with a smattering of electric lights. Is it OK if someone else turns them on and off?

I rethought my assumptions about the whether the mill is still milling when I saw all of the flour and homemade breads on offer. I bought a small loaf of einkorn bread, einkorn being an heirloom variety of wheat that, to the best of my knowledge, has not been tinkered with at the hands of Monsanto and so it’s more or less the same grain that my ancestors ate back in the day.

I also bought a bag of rolled rye thinking it’d be a good addition to my future loaves of bread. Only $1 a pound.

An Amish gentleman who looked to be in his mid- or late-30s - the girl's father, perhaps? - stopped in the gift shop as I was eyeing the shelves. We chatted a bit and he said that he'd heard that rain was in the forecast. Can the Amish read a newspaper and still remain doctrinally pure? Surely he didn't have the Weather Channel on in the back room. Maybe he cheated on the whole avoidance of technology thing with an old Philco tube radio. Yeah, it's electric but is pre-transistor.

During its heyday, the mill was a big draw and a community sprung up around it. There are newer homes in the area today but the old schoolhouse remains.

It seems to be used for storage these days.

I am not sure when it fell out of use as a school. It got updated with electric lights at some point. Still, heat appears to always have been provided by a wood-burning stove.

With a car full of uncommon or obscure grains, I took off for Osseo. Driving through the town of Augusta itself, I found the main drag was, as expected, very quiet. Perhaps it was the time of day but I suspect that most people do their shopping and take care of other errands in Eau Claire. I was disappointed to not find even a single ghost signs on any of the old buildings. The main street didn't look bad, just a bit lifeless. I suppose not being on the interstate means you don't get a bunch of tourists on the hunt for antiques. I did notice, however, that there is a Bush's Best baked bean factory in town.

My accommodations in Osseo were cheap but they did the job. The Osseo Inn is listed as a 1 star hotel on Google though it was probably at least one more star in quality back in the day when it opened for all of those motorists using the fancy, new interstate highway. Despite being a non-smoking establishment, the rooms still betray the bad old days when smoking was still legal in public accommodations.

Since you cannot light up inside your room, those who indulge gather outside. I've never talked to any of my fellow guests but the people I see out there with a ciggie perched between two fingers usually have a weary look on their faces. A couple of smokers appeared genuinely forlorn. I mean real "why hast thou forsaken me?" kind of looks, their ever-shortening cigarettes their only friends.

Are they traveling to the Twin Cities? Or to somewhere in Wisconsin? Perhaps some of them have just gotten out of prison or simply fallen on hard times and are looking for somewhere better. Maybe I just catch them in a pensive mood and they're really just a bunch of cheapskates like me.

A shower and a little downtime later, I met my pal Jason at the Northwoods Brewpub where we had a ball chatting away into the night. He'd brought our high school yearbooks and I was not surprised at how many people I couldn't recall. Jason went home with a few cans of Nutkrack candied pecans.

The next morning, I made a stop to get some insect repellent. While at the Augusta Wildlife Area, I got 2 ticks on my right leg within 10 minutes and I quickly came to the conclusion that the picaridin in the spray I had brought with me was just not cutting the mustard. I needed deet.

Despite tales of it being a carcinogen and only truly needed by our servicemen and women fighting in jungles far removed from the Upper Midwest, deet is, as far as I know quite safe, in addition to being the gold standard in insect repelling. Poking around the shelf at the store, I saw various cans of repellent. More picaridin. No thanks. I did find a few that were 25% or so deet. Nuh uh. Not good enough. I then spied a rather small bottle. 98.25% deet – now that was more like it! This was not an aerosol can where you just spray the stuff willy-nilly. No, it dispensed the Precious in small doses and you rubbed it on the areas needing attention. A little goes a long way.

My next destination was my favorite hiking spot, the Chippewa Moraine Recreation Area.

I believe I took the “correct” route and went down the path deosil.

The scenery was, as always, just spectacular. It wasn’t too hot out and, besides, I was walking mainly in the woods where it was shaded and cool. And my deet kept the skeeters at bay.

As I approached my favorite bridge on the longest trail:

I heard a woodpecker from across the water but couldn’t see it. Slowly I approached the bridge intending to get a wee bit closer before using my camera to search for it.

My first step lands with a gentle thud on the bridge and I see it take off just to my left where it was pecking on the dry part of a half-submerged log at the shore not 10 feet away. Oops. I guess I need to work on my hearing.

Since I love this spot so much, I sat down on the bench on the other side to take in my surroundings. Much to my surprise, a blue jay landed in the pine tree just across the path from me. I snapped photo after photo but this was the best I could manage.

This photo captured something at just the right angle because it looks like the blue jay has glowing Uncle Boonmee eyes. Lovely bird. But they’re mean SOB’s.

Further down the trail at another bridge, I spied a bird of unknown type that looked like it was in the middle of building a nest as it had a mouthful of dried grass.

As usual, there were many signs of the local beaver population.

I hope to someday witness a beaver actually fell a tree instead of just seeing the results of their nomming.

At some point I ran across this thing:

Part of me suspected there was some banal explanation behind this yellow blob such as that some kid left their Peeps candy on the log while another part of me suspected this was how Invasion of the Body Snatchers really got started.

Having finished my hike, I stopped at the interpretive center. Not only does it have a wonderful view as it’s perched atop a moraine, but there is an array of hummingbird feeders that draws a crowd which makes me insanely jealous as my feeder seems to repel them.

The hum from all of those wings flapping at 50 flaps per second or however fast they go was very loud and just slightly disconcerting. It kind of made me feel like something ominous was approaching. But hummingbirds are gorgeous and it’s fun to watch them dart around from feeder to feeder.

As usual, it was a wonderful hike. There is just something about this place that makes it seem like time stops when I'm out on the trail, makes it so easy to leave the workaday world behind and ignore the cities raging afar. No snakes seen on this walk but more birds. I briefly contemplated walking the two shorter trails instead of the longer one but opted not to. Perhaps next time. 

Now, I won’t lie and say that a 4.5 mile hike through some of the most beautiful scenery Wisconsin has to offer is work. It was a sheer joy. But it did make me thirsty.

********

Bonus photo. Here’s one from spring of Ma and Pa Wood Duck hanging out in a tree on Madison’s east side.

 

 

 (Now listen to the postlude.)