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+