Down at Starkweather Brewing

A friend and I did our best imitation of the Charge of the Light Brigade earlier this week when we went into Starkweather Brewing and proceeded to place dead last in their trivia contest. On the plus side, there was good company and fine beer.

I first ordered a sampler, followed by a 12 oz. pour, of Sweet Heat Mango, a Gose with mango and scorpion pepper.

Neither the mango nor the chili was prominent. Instead they accented the citrusy sour of the beer well. While I continue to prefer my Gose unadulterated so I can taste the coriander, Sweet Heat Mango was nonetheless a nice diversion on a winter's night.

This was followed up by a pint of Atarashī Bīru, a Japanese lager given a dose of Koji rice.

It was tasty and I found that the rice added a fruity-floral earthiness to it. I have since discovered that Koji rice is rice that has been laced with a mold called Aspergillus oryzae. Given that the lager seemed to be of the American light variety, it acted as a showcase for the rice's intriguing flavors. An interesting brew which made me wonder what the Koji rice would taste like in a beer with a fuller body.

Strong Beers Reign Here: Ryewine by Giant Jones Brewing & Starkweather Brewing

Better late than never, I always say.

The last time I reviewed a beer by Madison’s Giant Jones was back in March when I gave the Baltic Porter they brewed with their neighbors down the street, Working Draft Beer Co., a spin. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly Baltic Portery to me.

“No big shakes,” I thought to myself. “After all, they now have a beer brewed with the best grain ever to sprout from the ground out. I will follow this up with their ryewine shortly and that will surely be good.”

Well, that was the plan.

I eventually got my hands on the ryewine that Giant Jones brewed with then rather new Starkweather Brewing in late March. “It’s too warm for a ryewine today,” I’d say. “When another cold day comes around, I’ll pop that bottle open.”

You know what they say about the best laid plans…

Cold nights never arrived or I just wasn’t in the mood for a ryewine when there was a chill in the air or I simply had some excuse I cannot recall. The upshot is that, before I knew it, everything was all verdant outside and it had gotten warm so I put my small stash on the door of the refrigerator for safekeeping.

“Don’t you worry,” I told the bottle reassuringly, “I’ll see you again come the autumn.” And, just as it does every year, the autumn came and I made good on my promise one chilly night recently.

It says here that Germany, Poland, and Russia account for the bulk of the world's annual rye production. (Furthermore, Germany only grew more wheat than rye in 1957. Old habits die hard, I guess.) Now, I have German and Polish blood so I suppose it’s little surprise that I love rye.

Someone else who loves rye is (or was?) Peter Schieberle. A food scientist of some stripe, apparently, he has co-authored papers such as “Potent odorants of rye bread crust-differences from the crumb and from wheat bread crust” and “Quantitation of odor-active compounds in rye flour and rye sourdough using stable isotope dilution assays”.

What I gather from the abstracts of these papers is that some of the more potent contributors to rye’s flavor are octenone which offers a mushroom-like taste, methional’s cooked potato flavor, and the green, fatty flavor of nonenal.

Huh. The More You Know*.

The crack beer reporter of our alt-weekly Isthmus, Robin Shepard, broke the news in early November that Giant Jones would soon have a new bottling machine and more brewing capacity which will allow them to distribute to more areas around the state. Considering all of their beers are big, potent brews made from certified organic ingredients and that they seem to offer only 1 IPA, it’s heartening to see them expanding.

My pour was graced with only a small, white head of foam and it was not keen on sticking around very long. The beer was a lovely golden hue with a slight haze to it. There were a few bubbles to be seen inside. It smelled strongly of honey with another floral scent as well. Adding to the sweetness component was a hint of caramel. In opposition were spicy hops, the delicious & nutritious rye, and that astringent boozy smell. (This stuff is 10.4% A.B.V.)

Mild carbonation did its best against a medium-heavy body that had a strong honeyed flavor to it. Those spicy hops were rather prominent on the tongue and, when combined with the rye, made a nice, sharp riposte to the sweetness. A boozy heat was present too. On the finish those hops really came to the fore with a solid bitterness and dryness. That boozy heat lingered a bit as some of the honey flavor stuck to my tongue.

Man, this was really good stuff. It was very smooth and that silky mouthfeel only increased as the beer warmed. The brewers did everything perfectly to keep the malt sweetness in check as it never got cloying to my taste and they kept the body rather light. I was expecting something richer, chewier so this was surprising. Sweet but spicy.

Junk food pairing: pair this ryewine with a bag of Annie's Extra Cheesy Cheddar Smile Puffs. You will keep the organic theme going and all of that extra cheese will make a nice, mellow counterpoint to the beer's sharp hop and alcohol flavors.

Doing the Numbers: Musical Couches by Starkweather Brewing Company, et al

On a Saturday afternoon last month, I made my initial visit to Starkweather Brewing. It was about 12:15, methinks, so the place had only been open for a quarter of an hour. Yet the bar area had zero empty seats while the other part of the brewpub with the larger communal tables had a smattering of folks enjoying a cold one, perhaps even carousing. Despite having changed owners and gotten a new name, the tavern at 2439 Atwood Avenue seems to have retained its neighborhood vibe.

Last summer it was still home to Next Door Brewing but the pandemic and a desire to spend more time with their families nudged the owners into accepting an offer for the business. Peter Schroder, who used to brew at One Barrel down the street, amongst other places, and his partners Tom McVary, Michael Chronister, and Tom Gosse bought out Next Door and rechristened the joint Starkweather Brewing Company.

Starkweather, named after the nearby creek, is my local brewpub so I was excited to hear of its opening which was on 10 February, if memory serves. The initial beer list was posted online and it was both impressive and worrying simultaneously. Impressive in that there were 15-20 beers on it. Worrying in that I could have been looking at a case of quantity over quality. I suppose Schroder had time to blow waiting on walls to be painted and bureaucrats to approve licenses so why not brew? Still, it came across as an attempt to dazzle with the sheer number of offerings.

Hell, maybe Schroder is a beer demigod with 18/00 brewing skills and they were all top notch. But I'd feel more confident if there were 4 or 5 brews, a more reasonable number of styles for someone to master. Heck, maybe most folks are content to be dazzled by a lengthy beer list and brews that are simply good enough. But I'm not a brewpub owner.

Despite some skepticism, I went to Starkweather excited to try their rye brown ale because, well, rye is a very tasty grain and tasty grains make for tasty beers. This would be the third or fourth rye beer I've had this year. A bumper crop! In addition, Starkweather is my local brewery. I want delicious rye beers to be available a healthy walk, short bike ride, or shorter bus ride away.

The rye brown ale is called Musical Couches. For this brew, Starkweather collaborated with not only the former occupants of the brewhouse, Next Door, but also Adventure Club Brewing Company up in Bayfield which I'd never heard of until I read the beer's description.

This beer looked magnificent with a lovely clarity and a deep brownish red hue. My pour produced a small off-white patch of foam that was off in a hurry. I couldn't see any bubbles inside. It was sweetly scented with a berry-laced honey aroma being most prominent followed by a dash of caramel and a pinch of grassy hops.

A light body was accompanied by an equally delicate fizz. I tasted berry and a little roasty grain on my first couple sips. Subsequent quaffing revealed traces of milk chocolate and my precious earthy rye. That berry-like taste faded shortly after swallowing leaving behind a mild dose of herbal hops that provided a modicum of dryness. A vaguely minty taste settled on my tongue as well.

While Musical Couches looks great, I found that it tasted watery with too much of that berry flavor. Maybe it's me because it seems like I am tasting that flavor a lot lately. Is my palate to blame? Is there a certain malt variety that's readily available in these days of shortages that's going around? I love the hops here but this beer tasted like a mess to me otherwise.

It looks like there's been a little turnover on their beer menu so I hope to try another Starkweather flavor soon.

Junk food pairing: as I type, Starkweather's kitchen is not yet open so, if you're drinking a Musical Couches there, run down the street to the gas station and grab a bag of Turtle Flavored Chex Mix.