Lagunitas Lucky 13

First month of summer has come and gone and it went fast. So far it’s been a busy one. The first weekend was my Tour de Cure, a 50 mile bike ride through the Twin Cities to help raise money and awareness for diabetes. This is my second year and one that strikes close to home being that my sister has been a diabetic since she was 13. So after the month of May with no rain it finally decided to rain that morning about an hour into the ride and it rained fairly hard the rest of the way, by the end my shoes were spraying water out of their sides with ever pump of the pedal. Had a good turn out for riders this year for our team 1FS which stands for One Fucking Speed as we all were fixed or single speed riders. One including fellow beer blogger and biker, Beckel, and we were one of the top teams in fundraising raking in close to 3,000 and that is impressive for the motley crew we were. Plus I had a Summit tour at 1:00 and I made it with time to spare but man was I wet, good thing I brought a change of clothes… except the shoes… damn.

The next weekend was the big ride, the MS 150. A 150 mile ride from Duluth to the Cities (actually it was Proctor to Nowthen but when I say that no one know what the heck I am talking about). This was a real fun time, party at night and ride during the day, 75 miles a day. Friday night in Proctor we were treated to a spaghetti dinner and then we headed over to a couple of Proctor bars where I watched the Red Wings lose the Stanley Cup to the Penguins. We ended up staying out till about 12:30 which was not in my plan but waking up 5:30 wasn’t that hard, yeah. After breakfast we hit the road and got on the Munger Trail which is an awesome bike trail that goes all the way from Duluth to Hinckley. The first day was easy but the last 10 miles my ass started to hurt something furious. But then we got to Hinckley, pitched the tent, got some Summit Red which was about the only thing good at the store and chilled out with some tunes while people dropped like flies into their tents and I got to bed around 10:30. Woke up later the next day but we still made good time and we got to Nowthen at around 3 and my ass hurt probably the whole way. I have to admit that there were times when I thought I wanted to give in but that was not in the plan. The first 30 miles were not too bad but the next 30 were pretty painful, my legs and energy were fine, energy was a bit lacking, obviously, but it was the butt and shoulders and really started to feel the pinch. Our team, team 1FS again also with Beckel again, started to break up the last 45 miles, one stretch I was on my own during the hills and this is when I really felt like throwing in the towel but I knew I wasn’t going to do that. Finally the last 15 miles a group of us stuck together and took it leisurely, and this is where we got our first maintenance stop, flat tire. Imagine that, about fifteen of us and nothing happened until the last 5 miles. Either way we made it, signed up for next year, headed home and fell asleep at 8 and took the next day off from work because I was torn up, but not sore, guess I am more in shape than I think.

The next weekend it was father daughter time. Kelly went to her hippie Phish concert in Alpine Valley for two nights and that left me with Delia alone for the weekend for the first time in her two years. Sure there have been times when Kelly was gone but never overnight for two nights. So to add to the month of biking this is what we did, I put her in the Burley and we went all over, stopping at swing set after swing set. We even got a call from a friend who was in town and we biked to the restaurant to have lunch. Saturday night my mom came into town and we went to an indoor park and out to dinner. Delia was a great sport the whole time. He first nap she was crying for mommy but after that she handled it pretty well. My plan was to just play and play that way she was always busy and didn’t have a chance to fuss because that seems to be her MO these days when she has nothing to do. Sunday night was the best though. We had hopped into my truck and took a ride around and stopped at the grocery store where she picked out her dinner, sort of, and we went home where I made it for her and then we hung out in the living room and just chilled and she went to bed very easy that night and the whole time she was very sweet. It was one of those moments where your questions of “Am I a good father?” get answered.

Finally the last weekend was cabin party weekend. If you are familiar with this blog you may remember where I talked about how my ability to party like an animal is not what it used to be. So this year instead of doing the whole two day thing I decided to make it one, and even that was hard on me. My dog Sydney and I headed out Saturday morning and be-lined it up to Cotton, MN with a 12 pack of Summit Pilsner and two bottles of Hop Stoopid, I figured I would share the Hop Stoopid and the Pilsner would be just enough for me. Well I gave one Hop Stoopid away and I am not sure what happened to the other, I could have drank it but after about 7 things were pretty fuzzy. It’s really great seeing everyone but man do we get plowed and my body cannot handle that and honestly I really do not like that uncontrolled wasted feeling. Sure, I usually have a beer or three every night but that’s it, getting drunk just isn’t for me anymore. But it is once a year, so I think I can handle it. This year my good friend Scott who I haven’t seen in like 3 years showed up, unfortunately it was around 7 or 8 and by then I was fumbling around, I can barely remember what we were talking about. I don’t like that feeling. So maybe next year I show up later…. yeah, pretty soon I am going to drive up there at midnight and have my three beers and go to bed just to leave at 9 in the morning. Well, at least I didn’t puke this time. But my hangover did last for a good three days.

And to christen the end of my hangover and the end of this busy month, which I still have to get past the 4th of July before I can return to normalcy, I cracked open a bottle of Lagunitas Lucky 13 Mondo Large Red Ale. If it seems that I am reviewing Lagunitas beers often it’s because this brewery seems to release a new beer every week. Every week when I go to the store there is always something new from these guys that I have not tried, heck there are a few that I have had but not reviewed. And most all of their beers I really enjoy. This is a big beer company specializing in hops, as I said they brew big beers but it seems most of their beers are also loaded with hops. This pours with an orange hue and a thick body the smell reminds me a lot of a double IPA but with a more sweet malt aroma than a pale. Now the smell is pretty hoppy but the taste delivers a more caramel body with a strong hop finish. This was perfect beer for this occasion, having been dry for three full days drinking this was perfect. It tasted like the first time I had a beer like this. Part of me wants to hold out for a month and then see what these beers are like… good luck with that though. This is an imperial red ale in what seems to be a plethora of big red’s coming out. Maybe they’ve always been around and I’ve never really noticed. Tonight I am invited to a beer tasting at a friends house where he has a slew of red’s he picked up in Colorado. Blog on that will be soon but it may be picture less being I forgot my camera today, but we’ll see.

Anyways to sum it up this was probably the busiest month in a long time. Not only did all these events happen on the weekends but the weekdays were also filled with rides, happy hours and playtimes outside. July will be much more mellow sans two weddings and some Summit tours. August will be even more uneventful but that is fine by me. It will give me a chance to catch up on my lazy.

Lagunitas Lucky 13

A

Lagunitas 2009 Correction Ale

Had some celebrity deaths this week. First was Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson’s sidekick and the Publisher’s Clearing House spokesman. Then It was Farrah Fawcett and then it was Michael Jackson, the King Of Pop and rightfully so. We all have our “moonwalk” attempts and I am sure everyone had that kid in class that wore a glove on one hand and got the obnoxious red zipper jacket and shades. As a kid I loved MJ but these days the only thing that I really like of his work was ‘Off The Wall’, a discoed up breakthrough solo album that was probably the last piece of work he did when he was somewhat sane. Throughout the end of the 90’s and early 2000’s his life was a tabloid mess and his insanity even more insane. Sort of a tragic end. But to me he was a victim of the entertainment world. He was propped up and then struck down both by the same entity. A sad society we live in where this is what we do to people that entertain us. A cruel society.

But when Farrah Fawcett died the first thing that struck me was not “Charlie’s Angels” or her famous poster but was her role as Francine Hughes in “The Burning Bed.” A true story of domestic abuse and the society, at the time and in some instances still today, that shoves it under the rug. I saw this when I was 9 years old and it shook me. I never saw stuff like this before. Sure, I saw violence but this was different, this was a mommy and Farrah played the role like a pro. I remember crying while watching it, heck I even cried again when I saw it again a few years ago. This was during a time when though it was still illegal it wasn’t enforced and shelters were few and far between. One night after a beating Francine packed up the kids went to where her husband was passed out and promptly set him on fire then turned herself in. In the movie it is set in the courtroom and we hear the story through flashbacks. Why do women stay in these relationships? It is a question most asked by people who have never been in these situations before so it is easy to say “leave” but there has got to be something else that the rest of us cannot get. So if you get a chance watch this movie. It is not cheerful at all but it is so powerful. I  remember Farrah and that movie because it was another small piece that made me the person I am today.

So last night I had Lagunitas 2009 Correction Ale. Kind of hard to follow up with a beer review after thinking about that movie so I’ll do my best. It’s good. As the label says “This Is Not A Double IPA, It’s Just A Good American Ale” and they correct in the good part at least. Still fairly hoppy and a tad strong at 7.2 I would say it is an IPA but this is Lagunitas, so I guess they can call it whatever they want. I think that they make so many hoppy beers that they probably didn’t want to have another one on their hands so they called it this. Oh well, it is still good and worth getting.

If you know of anyone or see something that concerns you please get in touch with these folks.

Lagunitas 2009 Correction Ale

B+

Cascade Hop Vines and Founder’s Centennial IPA

The cascade hops are starting to grow. Last night I strung up some string and wrapped the vines around them. I am thinking I may need to swap the string soon because I have heard of string rotting and this is just cheap stuff I found in my garage but I needed to do something because they were starting to get long. So if anyone knows of some good stuff to use let me know. I also plan on laying down some mulch tonight as well to keep the moisture in, I should have done that earlier but, well, I didn’t. I planted these kinda late but I did keep the soil moist. Each plant is Cascade, I ordered two kinds, Cascade and Mt. Hood. When they arrived I had three Cascade rhizomes, even though I only ordered one, and one Mt. Hood. I planted the Cascades together and was going to bring the Mt. Hood up top my parents but decided to give it to a friend. The instructions told me to separate them 3 feet apart but it is obvious that I did not. I figured that I may cut back on the middle one if they start to get weak but I think I should be fine. So hopefully my homebrewing will start soon so in about two or three years I can use these for some dry hopping.

So after busting a sweat tying these things up I cracked open a fine beer that uses Cascade hops, Founder’s Centennial IPA. IPA’s are my favorite style and IPA’s like this are my favorite because of their high usage of Centennial, Cascade and Columbus hops and the citrus aroma and flavor they produce. The head is nice and frothy leaving a lacing that clings to the glass like a spider’s web. The taste is simply exquisite, not too boozy or too hoppy but just enough. Founder’s has just recently came to Minnesota and we are glad they did. They have a great selection of beers including their famed Breakfast Stout which to me is probably one of the best stouts I have had. I plan on getting all their styles this summer and I am looking forward to their Red’s Rya PA and their Pale Ale. I was at Stub and Herbs for their arrival in MN and had the Centennial and Canadian Breakfast Stout and found the Stout to be unimpressive, especially for it’s 5 dollars for 5 ounces price tag. But the other beers I have had from them are great, especially the basic Breakfast Stout. So welcome to Minnesota, Founders. Glad you could join the party.

Founder’s Centennial IPA

A+

Surly’s Darkness Day and Surlyfest back on?

It appears so.

Those dedicated to the “Darkness” will likely get a taste of it this fall.

A partnership between Brooklyn Center and Surly Brewing Co. has resulted in the city’s liquor store agreeing to sell Darkness beer during Surly’s annual festival in October.
“We spoke at a work session about an opportunity for Brooklyn Center Liquor to act as a third liquor store for a festival happening in October for our local brewing company – Surly Brewing Company. Because they have grown significantly, they are not able to sell their product as they package it. It has to be sold by a third party vendor,” said Daniel Jordet, director of Fiscal and Support Services, at the Tuesday, May 26, Brooklyn Center City Council meeting.

A lease agreement approved by the council allows Brooklyn Center Liquor to lease a space in the Surly Brewing Co. building, 4811 Dusharme Drive, to sell the beer for one day during the festival.

The beer [Darkness] will be purchased from Surly Brewing Co., delivered to the leased space and sold in special 750 centiliter bottles that are smaller than the previously sold growlers. A growler, as defined by Surly, is a “refillable, reusable glass beer jug” for individuals to purchase 64 ounces of beer to bring home.

Surly Brewing Co. was prohibited as of Jan. 1, 2009 by state law to sell growlers once production exceeded more than 3,500 barrels a year. Owner Omar Ansari said last fall that it was anticipated the company would produce at least 5,000 barrels in 2009.

“They [Surly] wishes to continue to control distribution of this product at this festival and not make it a general product,” Jordet said. “The way for them to do that is to have Brooklyn Center Liquor open a special space.”

The lease agreement, Jordet said in a memo to the council, does not violate state regulations. It is estimated the sale of Darkness beer will generate a minimum of $10,000 in net profit for Brooklyn Center Liquor after costs of lease, staffing and mobilization.

“Thank you for considering this,” Jordet said to the council. “It is an exciting opportunity for our local brewery and exciting opportunity for the city as we expect to profit from this venture.”

And, per Omar:

The city of Brooklyn Center has been very good to us. As a last ditch effort to keep D-Day going, I called Tom Agnes, BC Liquor store Manager. He was pretty enthusiastic about working on a solution to continuing D-Day. It looks like we do have something figured out. There are a few more people to sign off on this before we make official however. The State has to OK this stuff and I don’t want to jump the gun. As soon as there is a definitive YES, we will post the dates for Darkness Day and SurlyFest. The hope is we will have about the same amount of Darkness for sale or maybe a little more.
In other news, I met with local artist DWITT about designing this year’s Darkness label. Check out his stuff at www.dwitt.com. You can’t go wrong with a guy that started International Can beer Month!
Omar

Sweet

Three Floyd’s Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

I’ve been missing here in the blog world mainly because of two things. First is my volunteer gig at Summit has left me with a pile of beer in my basement and I think in the past 2 weeks I’ve had about maybe four new beers and only one of them I’ve had at home. Of course about three weeks ago I was at the Founder’s opening day in Minnesota at Stub and Herbs and had their elusive Canadian Breakfast Stout which is barrel aged with the barrels being both shared by bourbon and maple syrup, Not bad but definitely not the worth the 5 dollars per 8 ounces I had to pay for it. Rip off. However prior to the tapping of this they accidentally mixed up the Dirty Bastard keg with the CBS keg so a few lucky people got a whole 16 ounces of it, I missed it and it was going to be by next beer. Town Hall is coming out with their single hopped beers this summer. First up is their Cascade. Love it, going to get a pint tonight. I would explain it but the name speaks for itself. Not overtly hoppy but just enough. Very nice. Then up at the Campus Club here at the U of M they have two Left Hand Brewery beers, their Oaked Aged Imperial Stout and St. Vrain Triple. The triple was decent but pretty bland but the stout was really good. This was probably the better stouts I’ve had in a while, nicely balanced but rich enough to give it some complexity. It’s been aged  in Heaven Hill brandy barrels which makes it much different because it seems that most barrel aged beers are always some sort of booze from the scotch family, though I am sure scotch people will tell me there is no “family” so I apologize, hard liquor is not my thing. If you’ve read my prior posts you may know that I am not a big fan of the big dark beers these days but this one seemed to work for me, much better than my last stout which may come off as sacrilegious  to everyone who reads this.

Three Floyd’s Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout. The beer I drove 400 miles for. What is there to say about this beer. Where should I start. Well let me start off by saying that this beers is not too readily available to everyone. You can only get it one day a year from the brewery, hence Dark Lord Day. It currently sits at number 5 in Beer Advocates top 100 beers, their Vanilla Bean Dark Lord is now at number 3 and Founder’s brewery Canadian Breakfast Stout is at number 10. Vanilla Dark Lord and Canadian Breakfast Stout are really rare, you cannot get them in bottles and they seem to only pop up in small batches at certain events or at the brewery. In fact by looking at Beer Advocates top 20 off the top of my head only a certain few are readily available and that is sort of misleading because while number one and nine Westvleteren’s are available all year round, you can only get them at the source, the monastery in Belgium.

Now, why did I mention this? Well it leads me to my opinion on why Dark Lord is so well loved. It is hard to get your hands on. Not that by any means it is a bad beer but why are the top beers there and other sites and blogs always seem to love the hard to get ones? Out of Beer Advocate’s top 20 I’ve had 5 and only two of them I really like, the Founders Breakfast Stout (the original) and Town Hall’s Masala Mama. So you can say my opinion is fairly baseless on the other 15 but most of them are hard to get or limited releases which beg me to question that are these really that good or do people get so worked up to try them that when they do their judgment is clouded by that fact. I know when it came to Dark Lord that at the brewery when I had my small glass I loved it. I also loved it at my friend John’s house that night but I was also drinking a whole bunch of other stuff that day so my palate was rather worn. Then I shared one of my bottles with Beckel at Legal Beer and this is when my opinion started to question the greatness of this beer. Before the DL we split a bottle of He’Brew’s 10th Anniversary beer and I found that to be very good. Then we cracked the DL and I found myself searching for the part of me that thinks that this was better than the He’Brew 10 and I couldn’t. Beckel was observing it, jotting down some notes, trying to figure it out and I was just thinking why I wasn’t getting into this. Maybe because it was room temperature? I do like my beers cold or at least cool, maybe that was the problem. So on Saturday night for game five of the Stanley Cup playoffs after I biked 50 miles in the rain for the Tour de Cure and did a 4 hour stint at Summit I chilled my final bottle, poured it into my snifter, sat back with my notepad and finally approached the DL mano a mano.

The appearance is straight up motor oil. Darkest stuff on the planet. Little bit of a brown frothy head but not much. The aroma was a smattering of malts, chocolate and coffee, plus some dark fruits. The flavor was pretty potent and way too sweet. There were also the typical flavors of an Imperial Stout but this was just too much. It lingered in my mouth all night with a waxy coating and by the end of the glass I was choking it down. When it came down to it I finally had to face the music and say that I did not really enjoy this. I even tried to pawn some off on my wife but after two sips she said that was enough for her. I really do not know why this is so popular, or maybe I do. Heck even with Surly Darkness I felt the same way though I think Surly’s is slightly better. I remember my first taste of it at Stub and Herbs at the Darkness tapping and I finally got a glass and was thinking, is this supposed to be this way? It’s too much, all of it, too much. It’s like a Jackson Pollack painting, everything just dump on a canvas and people in the art world just loves it while everyone else goes, “WTF?”

This is what Dark Lord tastes like.

Not that I do not appreciate abstract art because after all that is what I paint but to fawn over it so much? And not that I do not appreciate this beer but I really think that it is on the low end of the Russian Imperial Stouts I have had. So is it the hype or is it that this is just not for me? I think a bit of both. Though I cannot fairly judge people’s opinions I do know that the more something is unattainable the more people want it and when the finally get it they can let their pre judging effect their actual opinion. Then again maybe people actually do genuinely like this, I see no reason to not think that some people find this enjoyable. But for all they hype it gets and how it seemed to be such a crazy ordeal I can only guess that being it is such a pain in the ass to brew and they can only make so much and how word of mouth seems to be stronger than actually having it that making an event out of this works so much better that having it all year round and readily available. Because I would have to guess that if it were we probably wouldn’t see this or other “top beers” being so loved.

So will I go to Dark Lord again? For sure. As I stated Dark Lord Day was fun just being there. And getting a bottle or two would be fine with me but I will spend most my money on Three Floyd’s other gems. Dark Lord is hype Dark Lord Day is not.

Three Floyd’s Dark Lord Russian Imperisl Stout

C-

**EDIT** I might also add that Beer Advocate’s Top 100 is based on ratings compiled by member reviews not beer experts (but don’t tell them that). So that may also explain the group think mentality.

Dark Horse’s Plead The Fifth and Great Divide’s Belgica

Summertime. I love this time of year. Fall is still my favorite and I find pleasure in all seasons but I really also enjoy the end of spring and the start of summer. Still cool but warm enough to break out the shorts and spend the day outside doing various projects or just relaxing by the fire. Every year we have projects, you can read more about our at my wife’s blog, Raising Delia. This weekend we will be building a sand box and enclosure to the new swing set we put together for Delia, plus I will be doing another Summit tour and there will be back to back Stanley Cup finals games on Saturday and Sunday, Detroit and Pittsburgh again, some are upset over this but personally I am looking forward to a rematch, hopefully Detroit can get back most of their depleted roster by then. Anyways the big reason I love this time of year is that I am more active than in the winter. Winter, to me, is fun at first. I get to chill inside, make a fire, eat hot dish, watch hockey and bust out big beers.  But winter towards the end gets frustrating. You start to get that itch and you start to feel boxed in. It is dark from 8 to 5, the temp just hangs at 0 and for me, the big beers just start becoming too much. I love big beers. The barley wines, stouts, porters and of course this day in age everything is doubled so you get 14% ABV beers and eventually these start to get old.

Like Dark Horse’s Plead the Fifth Russian Imperial Stout. Great beer. Beautifully roasted malts and chocolate with a plethora of various fruits, earthiness and hops. It poured jet black with a sexy brown head. The first sip was excellent, as was the second but after that bottle I had no desire to drink another. In fact it took me about 2 weeks to finish off the 4 pack and I usually never let beer sit for that long. Not that I got sick of it, it was just too much and lately I’ve been on a lighter beer kick. Dark Horse Brewery still makes great beers and this one is their best in their 5 part stout series.

Now Great Divide’s Belgica is the right beer for this time of year. A Belgian style IPA that is crisp, citrus, spicy (cardamom possibly?), floral and fermented with a Belgian yeast strain. It poured a golden hazy color with a nice frothy head that left a terrific lacing as it went down. These are the beers that I am enjoying these days. I knew that the time of the season was here when at Dark Lord Day I found myself liking the Gumball Head Pale Wheat beer more than the Dark Lord itself, in fact I have one bottle of the Dark Lord left that I really want to drink but I find myself waiting for the right moment when usually I really don’t give a rip. I think I will take it down this Saturday night. But anyways the Belgica is a fine beer. I love how the complexity is yet very subtle in it’s execution, a lot going on but easy enough to drink down. A nice ABV but nothing too toxic. I will be on the look out for more of these being that I grabbed the last one from The Cellars. As I have always said, I am a seasonal beer drinker. I live the seasons and I love how each season has it’s beers.

Dark Horse’s Plead The Fifth

A

Great Divide’s Belgica

A

Three Floyd’s and Dogfish Head’s Pop Skull

This weekend was all about planting. Not only did I get the vegetables in the ground I also planted my cascade hop rhizomes. I know it is a bit late but I don’t think too late, either way they were only 4 bucks and I am not too serious about it but being that they take like 2 years to be able to harvest I wanted to do it sooner than later. For some reason I got 3 in my bunch, not sure if this is typical but I planted them all in a 3 foot space which should get great sun and little wind. I know the instructions say to keep them 3 feet apart but I have mine much closer, I hope this doesn’t screw them up but as I said, I am not too serious about it, all I hope for is like two decent vines so I can use for dry hopping when I home brew which I should really start getting on but I seem to be really busy even though I really don’t know what is taking up my time. My wife and I will be looking at trellis in the next few weeks or I may just build one. It will be right on the side of my house and the roof is only like 12 feet high so it could be higher but oh well, I made due with what I could.

Last night I cracked my last bottle of the superstar brewing combo stylings of Three Floyd’s and Dogfish Head’s Pop Skull. When I had this at the brewery I thought it was excellent, but while with a clean palate it didn’t appeal to me as much the second time around. Don’t get me wrong, it is a very nice brew but second time around it tasted very similar to a lot of beers out there. The only bright spot was the fact that it was aged in Palo Santo wood which gave it a very nice all around flavor to it. Not powerful like oaked aging  but just subtle enough to give it an earthy flavor. But overall it is a brown, but an exceptional one, just not my favorite style. However by the end I found myself liking it even more so who knows, I have found myself to fall in and out of love with styles so maybe I should give these browns another chance.

Three Floyd’s and Dogfish Head’s Pop Skull

B

A letter from Mark Stutrud

Dear Friends and Family of Summit Brewing:

It is time to take some action.  As you know, many members of the Minnesota Legislature are planning to increase excise taxes and retail taxes on beer and other alcoholic beverages.  The most recent attempt was House File 885.  This bill was vetoed by Governor Pawlenty before the fishing opener.  However, Legislators are working on a veto override and are determined to raise revenue through the consumption of beer.

This proposed legislation is described as a “dime a drink” tax.  Sounds affordable, doesn’t it?  I would consider erasing the State deficit by leaving a dime at the bar each time I ordered a beer.  But this political position (read “spin”) is not straightforward or true.

First, most legislators or citizens do not really understand or recognize the significant amount of taxes that breweries pay today.  Summit Brewing Company’s gross sales for 2008 were $15 million.  Paid federal and state excise taxes totaled $1.04 million.  This level of taxation represents 7% of the brewery’s total cost!

So, let’s compare this 7% cost of tax to other operating costs.  Packaging, our largest cost, is 22%.  Labor, with benefits, is 11%.  Utilities and energy are 5%.  You have read about the cost and availability of hops and malt.  Our cost of raw materials, as a percentage, has increased from 11% to 17% over the past two years.  This dramatic increase in cost has battered margins and profitability.

The brewery projects sales of 88,000 barrels for 2009.  Assuming that 88% of the company’s sales would be in Minnesota, the level of sales would be 77,000 barrels.  Therefore, a tax base of 53,000 barrels is calculated considering the state excise tax exemption for the first 25,000 barrels sold.

The proposed legislation containing a 144% excise tax increase would mean a tax jump from $4.60 to $11.21 on every barrel of Summit beer, bringing the company’s annual state excise taxes from $244,000 to $594,000.  Federal excise taxes would be $924,000, totaling $1.52 million paid taxes.  Projected sales for 2009 are $16 million.  Total excise taxes would become 10% of the brewery’s cost – almost the same cost as labor!  Can you think of any other industry that is taxed to this extent?

This 144% increase on state excise tax would eliminate the brewery’s projected net profitability for 2009, 2010 and 2011.  The brewery’s growth would cease, projected new employment would be eliminated, cash would be diverted away from capital expenditures and operations would contract to survive.

It is obvious that we cannot simply pass off these increases to you and other Summit drinkers.

And by the way, the 25,000 barrel per year tax exemption mentioned above, known as the “small brewer’s tax credit” is being spun.  Legislators are stating that “small” brewers will not be harmed by this proposed legislation because of the tax credit.  These legislators are simply honoring an existing tax exemption.

Secondly, these federal and state excise taxes are marked up twice.  The taxes are a part of our price to the beer distributor as they pick up Summit at the dock.  The retail account, restaurant, bar or liquor store, purchases the beer at wholesale.  The retail account adds their margin to cover their costs before you buy that 12 pack of Extra Pale Ale.  And finally, retail sales tax and an additional retail tax on alcoholic beverages are put on your tab.  This is why excise taxes are described as hidden and regressive.  Again, most people do not think about the taxes paid by the brewery.  And most people do not think about these taxes are marked up and taxed again!

Third, this legislation proposes to double the rate of the alcoholic beverage retail tax from 2.5% to 5.0%!

Does this still sound affordable to you?  According to the Star Tribune and other media, 80% of Minnesotans support tax increases on beer, wine and liquor.  I believe that the majority of Minnesotans do not understand the full picture.  It is vital that you contact your legislators and educate other Minnesotans on what is going on.

Some other thoughts to share with your legislator:

·         Minnesota is currently taxed higher than our neighboring states of Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.

·         Almost 40% of the retail cost of a beer in Minnesota is tax.

·         When the U.S. government doubled the rate of excise tax on beer in 1991, 60,000 jobs were lost in the brewing industry and the related industries.

·         65% of beer consumers earn less than $45,000 annually.

·         Excise taxes affect the middle to lower income individuals the most.

·         The proposed increase of excise taxes on beer unfairly targets a single industry.  (Neo-prohibitionists actively support these efforts.)

These are the actions to be taken:

1.      Sign the petition at http://www.stopthemndrinktax.com/.

2.      Email, write or call your legislators.  They will listen to you when you contact them directly.

3.      Not sure who your legislators are?
·         Go to http://www.gis.leg.mn/mapserver/districts/.
·         Enter your home address.
·         All the info will pop up and you can call or email from there.

4.     Join the facebook group, Minnesotans Against the Beer, Wine and Spirits Tax Increase http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13948682#/group.php?gid=75774225887&ref=mf.

Follow on Twitter  http://twitter.com/StopMNdrinktax.

6.     Raise a cold beer and cheers to No New Beer Taxes and forward this email to friends, family and colleagues.

Thank you for your attention and political action.

Cheers,

Mark O. Stutrud
Founder and President, Summit Brewing Company

Bearded Brewer’s El Muerto and The Gringo

Time to see if I have a green thumb. Last fall my wife and I decided that we should really get into gardening. Before the snow fell I built a simple box in our backyard and we planned on what we were going to grow. We decided on growing the majority of the ingredients of my homemade salsa plus a couple of other vegetables. So in about the next few weeks or whenever the night get warmer we will be planting and transplanting some tomatoes, sweet corn, hot peppers, bell peppers and cilantro. I am excited to get into this. I’ve always tried to shop at the farmers markets or my local Fresh and Natural Foods but it is so much easier and cheaper to get my vegetables at the chain stores. I am not a stickler at all when it comes to this, if I have to I have to but I try my best to buy organic, real organic, and try to stay away from Franken foods. But with Delia growing older and more aware of what we do I want to give her the best impression me as possible and also have her grow up in a family that doesn’t solely rely on fast food or bagged meals.

When I grew up, like other my age, my grandparents had a huge garden and they always made real home cooked meals. My mother did the same but when she took on a full time job her garden slowly went away and we started to eat strictly boxed meals or hot dogs. And this is sort of how I lived for about the next 15 years. My god did I eat bad, compared to now at least. When I moved out I think I lived on the dollar menu for about 5 years or other quick and cheap and fake foods.

When I met my future wife and my friend Zach moved in with me things began to slowly change. My wife at the time was a quasi-vegetarian so I picked that lifestyle up for about a year. I started to eat better but nothing was balanced, and I was also still in college so that left little time to focus on cooking. Then when my friend Zach moved in he inspired me to, one, start eating meat again and two, cook meals, like interesting meals not the run of the mill standards. Now, don’t get me wrong I am no chef and I really do not cook that often but I do enjoy my foods to be made, not heated if you get my drift.

These days my wife usually does the cooking and she does such a great job. I get home after her and there is almost always some new recipe she made up, some have stuck with us while others have not. I am the griller in the family so that is my duty but I am sort of a minimalist when it comes to that and I have yet to get away from the steak, burger, chicken or brats but I am planning on this summer to experiment more on more complex grilling techniques. Any suggestions feel free to let me know. And with the garden soon to be in effect I am really excited to break away from the chains of the supermarket and the questionable practices of the mass growers in the world.

So while we were tilling the garden and applying the new dirt and compost, which if any of you have the word on a cheap compost bin or a easy set up let me know, while we were doing this I decided on my break to enjoy a local home brewer brews. The Bearded Brewer is out of Minneapolis and has been brewing beer for about 3 years now. What caught my eye with him is his labels that he makes himself. They say you cannot judge a book by it’s cover but if the cover is dull then it more than likely will not catch the attention of people that are just browsing. We met at Town Hall so he could drop me off some of his new brews. We talked for a bit over a Raspberry Chocolate Milk Stout which was freaking awesome and we realized how similar our attitudes were about beer, the beer community and even our lives. I had a real nice time even if it was only a half hour.

The first one was the El Muerto which was one of his first beers he brewed and was a clone of Dead Guy Ale from Rouge. He tweaked the recipe since the first time and what came out was a very interesting beer. At first I was thrown off by the flavor. I t had a very unique combo of fruits and hops. I don’t want to say I was not impressed because I was, it just was very different. The hops lingered throughout and the flavor that I was thrown off by quickly adapted to my palate and by the time I was finished I wanted the other one. The aroma was very subtle, malty and hoppy but nothing that stuck around for too long. The body was light but chewy enough to make it bold. The appearance was very cloudy with unfiltered remnants floating around that added to the character. I have to say I liked this one but still think there need to be some more tweaking. Not sure what but just a bit more or less of something. I will leave that to the expert.

Next after the yard I had what was probably one the best beers I had in quite some time. The Gringo which is an imperialistic Mexican cerveza. This was the second time he has done this one and I am not sure how the first one turned out but this one was fan-freaking-tastic. He wanted to jump aboard the “imperial” bandwagon that we all seem to be on these days so he did something that others have not, at least not that I am aware of. He basically made a Mexican cerveza but hopped it up and added some Agave Nectar. Jesus H. Christ, I wish I had a case of this. Now we all know Corona, most of us hate it. I for one do not hate it but will never buy it but you have to admit that in 90 degrees it goes down pretty smooth with a lime. This is like a Corona but hoppy with a hint of bitter sweetness. It pours a transparent gold with big frothy head. The aroma is very crisp with citrus and sweet honey. The taste has a very sweet and hoppy feel to it but the Cerveza qualities come in at the end. To me this could be a style that helps a up and coming brewer take off. This beer could be a great starting point for those that have not crossed the MillerBudCoors line but still be special enough for the die hards to still enjoy. I implore the Bearded brewer to double his batch for next year.

El Muerto

B

The Gringo

A+

Dark Lord Day

Finally I am just getting over my exhaustion. Where do I begin? Well, I guess we can start from the beginning when Three Floyd’s Brewery announced Dark Lord Day was coming soon and the newly established ticket system, as opposed to a first come first serve system. Before, as I heard from others, was a very stressful and possibly disappointing day because there is no guarantee that you would leave with a bottle let alone 6, so people would be standing in line for 5 hours having driven possible 300 miles and when they get close, “Sorry folks, we are all out.” This happened last year to the people in front of us.

The Golden Tickets

So this year they decided to set up a “Golden Ticket” system where you would have to register on their website and then on the day of St Patrick the “doors” would open and you could buy up to two tickets per household for 10 dollars a ticket, proceeds going to charity. This was to ensure that people would not be disappointed and who knows, possibly prevent a riot. I was aware of this day since it was announced but felt it was too much money and too far away and just too much of a hassle so I did not register but was offered a chance to tag along with Aaron, The Captain, but was probably not going to do it and that was the end of that.

Then one day I got about 5 tweets from Dave the Drunken Polack saying he wanted to ask me something, he finally gave up and decided just to straight email me which we all prefer anyways, tweeting just seems dorky yet we still do it. And imagine my surprise when he said that he had two tickets yet was not able to go and he wanted to know if I would want them. Hells yeah I would, I knew I had a ride already and all I had to do was send him back his share which was no problem so it was a perfect scenario.

John reaping the reward

But after about three different scenarios came and went I settled on the best one, going to Madison and driving from there with my good friend John and driving back and staying with him and his family. So it was all set. I got the tickets and Dave’s money, saved up some cash myself and waited for the day to hit the road.

I left Friday morning at 10 a.m. with a cooler of Summit’s Horizon Red, a growler of Town Hall’s Masala Mama and a growler of Fitger’s Hair of the Monk which for trades that never really happened. It was a very nice ride that day if not too hot and I made it to Tyranena Brewery where I was meeting the Captain and his brother-in-law just in the nick of time for our 3:00 private tour with Jessie their Beer Ambassador.

The Captain and I enjoying a Scurvy.

We started off with a glass of Benji’s Chipotle Smoked Imperial Porter which was very well balanced, it had nice chocolate notes with a peppery aftertaste and a smoky body, not my favorite style but it was something that I enjoyed. The brewery itself is very small, not Flat Earth small but still one of the smaller ones I have seen, but possibly the cleanest, I was ready to eat of the floor. The bottling operation is all hands and that day they packaged and shipped out my favorite beer from them, one in which I have already reviewed, Scurvy. After the tour we went back into the bar and proceeded to have a Bourbon Aged Rocky’s Revenge and then at five they tapped the Scurvy, perfect timing for us I might add. We chatted with assistant brewmaster Nevin McCown who was very hospitable and we each picked up a growler of the Scurvy which I, John and Jenny (John’s wife) polished off that night along with a bottle of some Three Floyd’s Winter Ale and Stout.

Being that I am allergic to cats I stayed in the basement and to my surprise they did not bother me at all so I slept like a rock and woke up at 7 all set to go. After a hearty breakfast that Jenny made we hit the road at 8 and we were off to Chicago. We got a I-Pass from Jenny’s sister so that really helped us bypass the tolls quickly and after one stop we made it to Munster, Indiana which is just over the border of Chicago.

We made it!

Parking was a mess, we could tell that the road to the brewery was full so we parked at a park by the road and walked the mile to the brewery. Closer we got the more things were picking up. When we turned the corner there it was, the line. Now keep in mind that we got there about quarter to 11 and that is when the doors were opening but we knew it as going to be long but this was looonnnggg. It started at the brewery and went about 2 blocks down to about the end and then coiled around inside a parking lot, when we got there we were just at the part where the coil was perpendicular to the other part of the line but after about a half hour it was a coil about 3 loops deep, if that makes any sense, you can probably see it in the picture though this is after about an hour of standing in line. About a half hour later Aaron, his brother-in-law and a friend showed up and we let them in line , I hope no one was pissed but it was near the end and the line did move pretty fast, I know that there were people cutting in towards the front of the line and that to me was much worse that doing it at the end with friends. Anyways, standing in line was probably the best part of the day next to getting the Dark Lord, we met some cool people around us, we shared beer and brewing stories as well as talked about everything and anything. We were able to leave in groups to use the bathroom, the brewery was selling their other beer which you could buy whenever which I shared with the group.

The looonnnggg line.

I bought a sixer of the Gumball Head which was a very nice Wheat beer, a nice combo of wheat and hops, a much more hoppy wheat beer than others I have had but nothing “imperial” just a nice balance and I also picked up a bottle of a Three Floyd’s and Dogfish Head collaboration, Popskull which was a very nice German Brown Ale with Palo Santo Wood and Botanicals. Then, after about 2 and half hours we were getting very close, the lone guy without a ticket in our party moved our stuff to a location in the grass and we were set to enter the final stage of the line.

The parking lot of the brewery was a clusterfuck of tasting tents, guest brews, porta-potties and basically people standing around and getting sloshed. This is the area where you could get Vanilla Dark Lord and Oaked Aged Dark Lord and other stuff but if you know me well you know that the one thing I hate is thick, obnoxious drunk crowds, I would have loved to try these but it just wasn’t worth it for me and it seemed I wasn’t alone because I don’t think any of us went.

Chicago line friend and I enjoying the line.

Getting back to the Dark Lord line this is when it started to get hectic and discombobulated, people that were well behind us blatantly walked in front of us, I looked right at them and they really didn’t seem to give a shit. But the line just bolted, by the time we hit the parking lot and the door it was about 15 minutes to a half hour. The last part of the line was probably one of the coolest feelings I felt in a while. I mean, in the end it is just a beer but the moment of hearing about it, then getting tickets, then the journey and then the line and then actually knowing that you are going to have it because honestly I still was not 100% sure it was all going to pan out, I anticipated a car breaking down, tickets flying out the window, the beer running out, but after all this we were there, we got our beer and we hurried back to our spot in the grass and secured them with the rest of our booty. Now you got 4 bottles per ticket. For me I got two tickets and 4 of the beers were going to The Drunk Polack and I was splitting mine with John so in the end I got two which I really do not mind because that is plenty for me and it was nice just to experience the day. But to my surprise The Captain’s brother-in-law cracked open one and split it with all of us, very cool. And my god what a beer. Almost like desert. Just a mashing of flavors. I will actually reserve a review for the beer on a later date so I can explain it better. So it was roughly 2 p.m. when we were all back to base camp. We were leaving at 4 so we had a good two hours to mingle and enjoy the day. I talked with our line buddies from Chicago and got to try some home brews. I cracked open my Fitger’s Hair of the Monk Triple and share some with the crowd as did Aaron with his Masala Mama. It was around this time that I was starting to get tipsy as was everyone else including some poor schmo that ralphed in front of everyone.

Too much Dark Lord Day

I made the dumb mistake of not getting Dread Naught, I think I was all set but for some reason thought I would get a sixer of Alpha King instead. It hit 4 p.m., I grabbed a can of Bitter Brew for the walk back and we were off to Madison before hitting a liquor store to pick up something that we couldn’t get in Madison or Wisconsin which was nothing but two bottles of Three Floyd’s Barley Wine.

The ride back was wet and cold but fairly quick. We topped off the night with one of John’s bottles of Dark Lord, a bottle of Popskull, a bottle of the Barley Wine and we foolishly drank from John’s growler of his homebrew clone of Duvel, we were already in the bag by then.

John's Home Brew

Needless to say I zonked out and slept in till 10 waking up very fuzzy and being that I had a 4 hour drive ahead of me was something I was not looking forward to. Along the way was sporadic rain that was at times very dense that it made driving a pain in the ass, I also stopped at a liquor store to see if there was anything that I could not get in Minnesota, and there was, but it was all looking not very appealing to my current state so I bought no booze but instead some Taco Bell. I finally got home at 4 and saw my daughter Delia for the first time in like 3 days and she was probably the most beautiful person I have ever saw as was my wife, it is so good to get home. We played and hung out and Delia eventually went to bed and I finally felt better and had a few Alpha King’s which were excellent, bolder Pale Ale than some others out there. At about 9 p.m. Delia woke up screaming and proceeded to do so most of the night which kept me waking up on and off. She stayed home the next day so I went to work in the morning and left early, shipped out The Drunken Polack’s bottles and I went home to finally relax. And I did, Delia felt better, I went to be early and sweated out all the beer I drank this weekend and slept like rock and now here I am. What a weekend. Can’t wait to it next year.