This year Capital Brewery of Middleton, WI turns 25. To celebrate the occasion brewmaster Kirby Nelson has a unique idea to carry the brewery on it’s next 25 year journey. It’s called Eternal Flame, a blend of Autumnal Fire and a new beer called Imperial Fire. Each year a portion of the current batch will be saved by Kirby for addition to next years batch, creating an eternal beer.

Kirby started the process at the breweries 25th anniversary party:

Nelson came up with the idea of brewing a special version of Autumnal Fire for the brewery’s anniversary that he’s calling “Eternal Flame.” He stared a 50-barrel batch during the party, amidst music and libations. Later this week, he’ll start a similar brew that he’s calling “Imperial Fire.” This will be added to the first batch of Autumnal Fire, and together this blend will be the “Eternal Flame.” Every year hence, Nelson will hold back a portion of the previous batch, and blend it with a new vintage. Through this process, the beer will live up to its name. [The Isthmus]

The beer will be available this fall in 4-packs. I for one can’t wait to try it, Autumnal Fire is one of my favorite non Square Series Capital beers every year. Kirby – congratulations on 25 years of great beer, I look forward to 25 more!

Weizen Bam Farmhouse Wheat Beer
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales – Dexter, MI
4.5% ABV
750ml bottles
Batch 563, bottled 6-9-10

The Bam series of beers from Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales is, their specialty beers series. Jolly Pumpkin focuses on open air fermentation, oak barrel aging, and bottle conditioning. They are “dedicated to elevating the craft of brewing into an art!” And I for one am thankful. This is what sets craft breweries apart from those other guys and that’s why we love them.

This beer pours a rich cloudy golden color with a nice thick head that you would expect from a wheat beer, and with yeast floaties in it. The aroma, on the other hand is not what I was expecting. I purposely try not to read the label’s description until after I taste it. It had hints of banana with a unexpected tartness of green apple. This intrigued me, and with good reason. IT’S A SOUR! I love sour beers, and, I’m the only one here that does, so that worked out well. The flavor is true to the aroma with tartness, hints of banana and green apple and not too dry. The balance of sweet and sour, with almost no hint of hops. The mouthfeel was a little more carbonated than I expected, but I’m alright with that, as it made it crisp and refreshing. I would really like this during a nice warm sunny day, and will have to revisit this when the summer shows up finally.

This beer is very drinkable as the low alcohol and high flavor means you can tackle the whole bottle yourself, and not be finished yourself. I can’t wait to try more from Jolly Pumpkin.

Brittain’s score 4.5 of 5

Hopslam
Bell’s Brewery Inc. – Kalamazoo, MI
10% ABV
Can and Draft / Seasonal

Bell’s Hopslam combines six different hop varieties with a massive dry hop addition in the fermenter. Like the Surly Abrasive Ale we covered recently, Hopslam also has a big malt bill that balances the hearty hop character with a strong and smooth malt backbone.

This Double IPA pours a cloudy golden color with a foamy white head. The dry hop addition of Simcoe hops we mentioned earlier produces a strong and fragrant floral bouquet, the 10% abv adds a touch of alcohol on the backend. Upon first taste you know you’ve got yourself a big beer. The complexities of the six different hops produce a spicy, fruity, citrus flavor that simply cannot be described by this inadequate keyboard.  The malt provides some balance but also contributes the 10% alcohol, which can be very distinctly noticed on the finish of this powerful IPA. This isn’t a bad thing, unless you were trying to best your Miller drinking friends during the next Power Hour. The powerful citrus from the hops masks any harsh alcohol flavors and creates harmony throughout.

I honestly can’t find much of anything wrong with this beer. The label was slightly crooked is about all I got. Hopslam’s biggest fault, it’s too good?

Mike – 5 of 5

Special Double Cream Stout
Bell’s Brewery, Inc. – Comstock, MI
6.1% ABV

My last opportunity to [personally] review a beer from Bell’s was their Winter White Ale.  It was an enjoyable beer, but it was also just a solid, average beer.  Winter White did well for style but placed low in our holiday lineup, only because it wasn’t much of a holiday warming beer.  Bell’s has consistently rated high on this blog since then, not the least of which was Expedition Stout, which Mike raved about two months ago.

It would seem Bell’s knows a thing or two about stouts, because here we are again.

Double Cream is aptly named in the sense that it will redefine your understanding of smooth.  It’s also deceptively named in the sense that it actually does not contain cream of any sort.  So maybe it’s more of a double perception.  Or double entendre.  Whichever, my guess is that it’s about twice as good as most other beers out there, and they know it.  It’s probably also the reason they threw the word “special” in the name – just to be extra certain you understand.

Double Cream filled my pint glass with total darkness, a seeming void of light which held up a fluffy tan head.  Roasted malts and sweetness emanated from there, eluding to the smoothness which would follow (in the event that anyone opted to not read the label.)

Velvet would be a choice word to describe the mouthfeel.  Buttery works as well, but don’t confuse that with flavor.  It’s strictly a buttery texture, not taste.  The flavor itself was an encyclopedic and layered journey, focusing primarily on what Bell’s could get malts to do for you.  Not the least of which is make you think there is actually something of the dairy variety included among the ingredients.  There isn’t.

Overall it’s sweet, it’s roasted, it’s marvelously complex.  It’s aptly named, and it’s delicious.  Normally I’d say go have one.  But in this case, you should make it two.

Eriq – 4.5 of 5

Abrasive Ale
Surly Brewing Company, Brooklyn Center, MN
9% ABV
Can and Draft / Seasonal

This is the first Surly beer we’ve covered on Midwest Beer and the first Surly beer I have personally had the pleasure of drinking. After this first experience I am sure glad they are expanding. This beer used to be called 16 Grit Ale before the brewery was forced to stop selling growlers, long story. Now it’s back, in can and draft form.

Abrasive Ale is golden amber in color with a persistent white head. The first time your nose meets this double IPA the powerful citrus and floral bouquet will knock your socks off. Basically, Abrasive is about as close as you can get to swimming in hops. I started growing my own hops in our backyard last year, smelling a fresh cone is about as close as you’ll get to the aroma this beer has.

Taking the first sip of this Abrasive Ale you’ll actually find a very smooth beer up front. Balanced with a great malt backbone this ri-hop-ulous beer has a fairly heavy body. It reminds me of a Dogfish Head 120, not syrupy but enough malt to give the robust hop character a run for its money. Despite the effort given by the malt, the hops just can’t be overlooked. The hop backend will cut through just about anything. Floral, pine and citrus destroy your taste buds as you imagine yourself with a mouthful of grapefruit and pine nuts. If you froze this beer it would make a mean hop popsicle (mental note, try this on a 90 degree summer day).

Surly and Abrasive sum up this aptly named beer. I can’t wait to have another and another until this 9% abv beer sneaks up and knocks me out. Want to pair food with Abrasive Ale? I can imagine this beer cutting through some pretty hardcore hot wings or Rattlesnake Pasta with ease. If you’re a hop-head, drink this beer now.

Mike – 5 of 5

By now many of you have heard, Anheuser-Busch, in its quest to control every aspect of the beer industry, has acquired Goose Island Beer Co. of Chicago, IL for $38.8 million. The reasons behind the deal have spurred a great deal of discussion on the internet. Goose Island had been looking for investors to expand the brewery because they, like Dogfish Head, are unable to meet the demand for their beers. Obviously a double-edged sword, the craft beer explosion is causing brewers to weigh the pros and cons of growing too fast. Selling the brewery to a company who has the capital to expand your operation and the muscle to market the beer sounds like a great idea, except, there is no guarantee Goose Island beer will stay the same. Will Anheuser-Busch keep brewing expensive specialty beers like Bourbon County Stout, Night Stalker and Pepe Nero? It doesn’t seem to fit in to the brewing giants modus operandi, whose product Budweiser defines the mass marketed, cheap,  pedestrian American Style Lager. Perhaps they feel threatened by craft breweries or they just saw a business opportunity in a growing company, either way I am worried about the future of Goose Island. I am sure the immediate future will be safe, but what about a few years down the line when A-B finds “efficiency” to be had.

Read more for the press release. Read more »

April 7th is National Beer Day.  A little history:

In 1933 during the prohibition era, the Cullen-Harrison Act was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt on March 23rd. That law was enacted on April 7th allowing the brewing and sale of beer in the United States again as long as it was <  4% ABV.

It’s said that people waited in line overnight on April 6th outside breweries in order to legally buy beer for the first time in over 13 years. Therefore April 7th will be known as National Beer Day and April 6th will be called New Beers Eve.

On the night of April 6, 1933, more than 25,000 people ,
representing the hopes and dreams of American workers, long since home from the war and demoralized by the Great Depression, gathered with eager hearts and tin cups in hand to once again sip the bittersweet nectar of Budweiser,a sensation unknown to them for 14 years.

As the clock atop the brew house showed one minute past midnight on April 7, 1933, sirens and steam whistles sounded, the large wooden doors of the brewery’s Bevo bottling plant opened to the cheers of the thirsty, and 55 trucks laden with America’s favorite brew rolled out into the night,delivering the first cases of post-Prohibition Budweiser to the masses.

Luckily for us today, there is more than just Budweiser to choose from.  It’s taken 78 years for the craft beer industry to get where it is today, and we still have a long way to go.  So pour your favorite microbrew tonight, and raise your pint glass.

From all of us at Midwest Beer, to all of you, happy National Beer Day America!

Widow Maker Black Ale
Keweenaw Brewing Co. – Houghton, MI
Style – American Black Ale
5.2% ABV

I had seen Keweenaw on the shelves for awhile and never really gave it much thought as it came in a can, and my snobbery got in the way. Then I had tried a beer (that I had seen for several years) from out west called Oskar Blues and that put a kink in my exclusions of this. Then I read an article on the return of cans in the craft beer movement, and the kink ended my exclusion of cans and I for one am glad. there are a lot of beers out there in cans and a lot of them are good. Really good. There are some drawbacks to cans that I have found, but they are related to altitude, not something we have to worry much about here in the Midwest.

The beer poured a very dark brown, tan head sticks around for a bit. The aroma was malty and roasted, but not much in the hops dept. Slight hints of molasses. Flavor was malty and sweet, mildly complex and not bitter at all. I couldn’t really detect any hops in the beer, I kinda wish I had. Also, the roasty aroma I picked up didn’t really carry through to the flavor. The mouthfeel is light to medium body and smooth with the right amount of carbonation.

Overall this is a good overall beer. It is a great entry example to the realm of dark beers. So Back to the beer. It’s good. I want more. It’s great entry level dark beer for people who are scared of the dark. So many people think dark beer taste like used coffee grounds mixed with ether. There are so many good ones out there. Try this one. It will lead to others. I am a big fan of entry level beers. My goal with anyone who doesn’t like beer is to find one they like, because it always leads to more. Some take more time than others. Our very own eriq is one of these such people!

Brittain’s score – 3 of 5

Conway’s Irish Ale
Great Lakes Brewing Co. – Cleveland, OH
6.5% ABV

Before I begin, I’d like to note that this is the 100th post on midwestbeer.com.  We’d like to thank you all for coming back day after day to read our thoughts and reviews on craft beer happenings in the midwest.  We hope to continue doing this for many hundreds of posts to come…

Great Lakes is not a craft brewery anyone should ignore.  They consistently produce exceptional, high quality craft beers.  Eliot Ness and Nosferatu are both on my personal must-have list.  And as you may have read late last year, their Christmas Ale rated best in our 12 Day Seasonal Beer Review.  We’ve also recently mentioned that the brewery has now expanded twice in two years, much to our pleasure.

I recently enjoyed my first Conway’s Irish Ale, and while I will say it’s not my favorite brew from Great Lakes, it certainly is another solid offering from an excellent brewery.

Pour was an expected red amber color, with beautiful crystal-clear clarity.  Head was just slightly off-white with good to average retention.  The aroma managed to remain a bit on the reclusive side.  Some heavy sniffing detected malt up front, and a possible hint of caramel for those with time and imagination.

There was more flavor delivered than the aroma indicated.  Malt and caramel are neatly balanced with some dry, grassy, and pine flavors.  Mouthfeel is smooth, becoming crisp with a mild tingling sensation toward the end.  The first several sips showed the lacing to be prevalent, clinging and drying to the side of the glass.

Overall I can’t fault this beer.  I typically prefer Reds that are not of the Irish variety.  But I’m not surprised it was Great Lakes that may make me reconsider that.  It would seem that no matter what style you prefer, they have something for you, and then some.

Eriq – 3 of 5

The 3rd annual Kohler Festival of Beer is coming up this May.  Demonstrations, tastings and live entertainment featuring beer from breweries across the country will be featured, along with food, homebrew competitions and more.

From the Kohler site:

Join us in the Village of Kohler for a weekend of good food and great beer! Don’t miss this event featuring breweries from across the country, demonstrations, tastings and entertainment. The weekend’s events include: Eggs & breakfast buffet, Cheers to Beers, Craft Beer Tasting, Blackwolf Run Beer Challenge, Blues & BBQ Party, and more

Kohler Festival of Beer