There’s only one problem. What Surly wants to do isn’t allowed by Minnesota law.

Minnesota maintains a relatively strict interpretation of the three-tier system. Breweries that produce less than 3500 barrels annually are allowed to sell growlers and 750 ml bottles from the brewery for off-site consumption, but cannot sell any beer to be consumed on-site. Surly surpassed the 3500-barrel mark a couple of years ago. The law allows brewpubs to sell their beer in the pub for on-site consumption and to sell growlers for off-site consumption, but they also face the 3500-barrel limit and are forbidden from distributing into the retail market. Further, packaging breweries are not allowed to have an ownership stake in any entity holding a retail liquor license for on or off-sale.

In short, if Surly want to make their dream a reality, they have to change the law. While the actual wording of the change could be simple, as simple as inserting a sentence allowing large breweries to sell draft beer from restaurants and beer gardens attached to their breweries, the process of getting the change enacted will be anything but. As has been demonstrated repeatedly across the country, changing state liquor laws means going up against well-connected lobbies with deep pockets.  The Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association, a trade group representing retailers, has already made public statements against the plan. While wholesalers have not come out publicly, speculation in the beer community is that they will also resist the change. Both of these groups carry considerable clout in the state government.

For its part, Surly has hired a gaggle of lobbyist to persuade legislators of the worth of the proposal. Surly claims that the new brewery would create 150 new permanent jobs and 85 temporary construction jobs. Increased production and sales would mean increased revenue for a state facing a 6-billion dollar budget shortfall. Surly is expected to introduce legislation this week. It’s going to be an interesting fight.

A smaller-scale battle over Minnesota liquor laws is developing on another front. Jason Alvey, owner of the Four Firkins Specialty Beer Store is introducing legislation that would allow liquor stores to sell hats, t-shirts, and other branded schwag from the store. Currently there is a list of things that stores are allowed to sell. Schwag is not on that list. What isn’t on the list isn’t allowed. I remember talking to Alvey not too long after he had opened the store two years ago. He had just purchased a load of Four Firkins branded T-shirts only to discover that he couldn’t sell them. Hopefully he will be successful, allowing him to unload these shirts, and allowing other of the state’s fine beer stores to do the same.

I’m going to make a confession that may seem to some like a heresy. I don’t care about the Ratebeer Top 100 lists. In fact, although I have been writing for the Hoppress blog on Ratebeer for over a year, I really never look at the Ratebeer ratings pages. Nor do I look at Beer Advocate or any of the other myriad beer-rating websites. I have never posted on any of them. Nor am I likely to in the future.

It’s not that I’m concerned about the much-discussed bias toward big and extreme beers. Craft-beer fans, like any other kind of geek, have a tendency to seek out the newest, biggest, and baddest. Like those who comment on internet news stories, I would guess that many people who feel compelled to rate beers on these sites tend to go for extremes. I can accept this. I do feel that the relentless drive toward extremes could harm the industry in the long run. It’s hard to grow market share beyond a certain point by recommending  an 11%, bourbon-barrel aged, tongue-scraping, triple IPA to Michelob Ultra drinkers. But it is what it is. Extremity is the nature of the beast.

Nor is it that I disagree with the breweries and beers on the lists. Many of my favorite breweries made the top 100; J. W. Lees, Founders, Samuel Smith, Dieu du Ciel, among many others. I am especially happy to see a couple of hometown brewers recognized. Surly and Minneapolis Town Hall are making some great beers. I go to Town Hall often. It’s my favorite Twin Cities brewpub. I love the beers that brewmaster Mike Hoops is making. But is Town Hall one of the best 100 breweries in the world? Probably not. And I do feel that Surly gets more than its fair share of hype. No offense Omar and Todd.

Aside from a certain novelty factor, I simply don’t have much use for these lists and sites. To my mind they promote beer ticking, and beer drinking for me isn’t about beer ticking. I’m not in hot pursuit of the next big thing. I don’t anxiously await such-and-such brewery’s upcoming limited release. I don’t need to try every great beer in the world, and couldn’t even if I wanted to. Besides that, the shelves of my local beer stores are stocked with way more great beer than I will ever be able to sample. I will get to them at my own pace and can decide for myself what is good or bad. I manage to stay reasonably plugged-in to what is happening in the beer world. I don’t need to rely on the masses to guide me. I don’t care what they have to say. Perhaps it’s the old-school, punk rock, anarchist still lingering in me from younger days. Or maybe I’m just a technophobe overwhelmed by the bombardment of information on the web.

I don’t mean to sound harsh. It’s just that craft beer for me is about slow enjoyment and personal discovery. I make a point of revisiting old friends rather than always rapidly moving on to whatever is next. I enjoy the magic of discovering regional beers when I travel. I don’t care to have every beer available to me either in my local market or on the underground trading circuit. I like the anticipation of picking up beer from a brewery I’ve never heard of. It may be good or it may not, but I love making the discovery on my own.

I’ve also read too many reviews on these sites that clearly missed the mark. These are not just reviews with which I disagree, but reviews that knock a beer for the vary characteristics it is supposed to display; reviews by people who had no idea what they were drinking. And then there are those who simply trash or hype a thing just for the sake of trashing or hyping it. I realize that these are the minority. I have read the statements from statisticians saying that the beer-rating sites are examples of effective group-rating practices. But these things still leave a bad taste in my mouth. It messes with the flavor of my beer.

You may think I am being hypocritical. I do, after all, post tasting notes on my own Perfect Pint blog. But one should view those for what they are, my own subjective experience. Take it for what it’s worth.  Or don’t.

I say turn off your computer. Leave the hype. Escape the rat race. Forget about the lists. Pick up something that you like, or maybe something you have never encountered. Slow down and drink it. Then decide for yourself.

Saturday was the first ever St. Cloud Craft Beer Expo. St. Cloud, Minnesota is a medium-sized city about an hour-and-a-quarter northwest of the Twin Cities. While the Minneapolis and St. Paul see a number of great beer fests through the year, this was one of the first to take place in St. Cloud. No one really knew what to expect. Would anybody come? Would it be a drunk-fest of students from the nearby St. Cloud State University? How beer-knowledgeable would the crowd be?

The uncertainty was reflected somewhat in the beers that breweries brought. There were fewer selections overall and noticeably fewer special-releases. Even Surly, a brewery that normally has multiple beers and two or three specialty kegs or dry-hopped firkins, had only four beers, two of their regular year-round offerings and two seasonals.

What did happen at the St. Cloud Craft Beer Expo was a flood of 1900 eager and knowledgeable beer fans pouring into the St. Cloud Civic Center to sample beers and talk with brewers. 30 minutes after the doors opened, organizers had to turn people away. The crowd was a mix of generations and experience levels. Students were there, yes. But so were seniors and every age in-between. Far from the feared drunk-fest, this was by and large a gathering of serious aficionados anxious to sample beers and talk to brewers, distributor reps, and other vendors about their wares.

Photo by Mark Roberts

Although the selection was smaller than at some other fests, there was still a lot to sample. Over 40 breweries were represented from small to large, local to international. St. Cloud’s local brewery, McCann’s Food and Brew, was swamped all day and actually had to have more beer delivered from the brewery to keep from running out. Pale ales and IPAs seemed to be the most popular beers on the floor, but every style of beer was available from Coffee Porter to Kriek. While my personal pick for the best-of-fest beer was Pepe Nero, a black saison brewed with black pepper from Goose Island, attendees gave top honors to Surly Abrasive, the over-the-top double IPA from the Minnesota’s most sought after brewer.

Photo by Mark Roberts

My own sampling was limited, as I spent most of the day moderating the educational sessions that were offered. Northern Brewer covered basic homebrewing. Doug Hoverson, author of Land of Amber Waters, the authoritative history of Minnesota beer, talked about the history of brewing in the St. Cloud area. Master BJCP judge Chris Smith took the audience through sensory analysis and the process of judging beer. I did a session on pairing beer and cheese, giving out paired samples of cheese and beer from Minnesota and Wisconsin. If you want an incredible taste sensation, try Uplands Cheese Company’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve with Surly Bender.

The St. Cloud Craft Beer Expo was staged by Juno Choi and Mark Opdahl of Chop Liver LLC, the same folks who put on the St. Paul Summer Beer Fest. It was a well-organized and enjoyable event. I think everyone walked away happy, from organizers, to brewers, to those who came to enjoy good beer.

Photo by Mark Roberts

The secret is this: There are no standardized brews at Rock Bottom.

That’s right; every beer at every store is an original creation of the head brewer at that store. While some beer names are used across the chain, the beers behind the names are unique. The food menu is standardized, but the beer menu is not. Brewers have essentially total control of the beers that they produce.

Over the 20 years that the chain has been in existence, this open policy toward brewers has resulted in 45 GABF gold medals and countless silver and bronze medals. Rock Bottom brewers are consistently among the medal-winners in the World Beer Cup and other prestigious brewing competitions. Many Rock Bottom brewers have gone on to open their own breweries or to work at other successful breweries. Surly brewmaster Todd Haug is one example. Anyone who has visited Rock Bottom with any frequency knows that this chain brewpub is different from the others.

This difference is in jeopardy. The recent merger between Rock Bottom and Gordon Biersch has been widely reported. Initially Frank Day, co-founder of Rock Bottom and board chairman of the newly formed company CraftWorks Restaurants and Breweries, stated that no re-branding would occur. “Each brand will stay separate and do its own thing…we’re not wanting to homogenize the restaurants.” The problem with this statement is that while it may rule out homogenization between the different concepts, it doesn’t preclude increased homogenization within each concept.

That appears to be exactly what is happening at Rock Bottom. As first reported on Brewpublic.com, it seems that the new corporate management intends to limit the amount of control that Rock Bottom brewers have over their production. Sources inside the chain have leaked the information that a number of system-wide, standard beers will soon be required at each location. Because the chain has never done a particularly good job of marketing the fact that each store’s beers are unique, this isn’t technically a “re-branding.” It is, however, a bad idea on many levels.

Unlike the Hops, BJ’s, and Gordon Biersch chains that serve the same beers across the entire system, each Rock Bottom store has a different brewery setup. While every Gordon Biersch has a reverse osmosis system in place to standardize the brewing water, every Rock Bottom location uses different water. Consistency across batches is hard enough for a small brewery. Consistency across a number of small breweries with different systems and water is a near impossibility. If management’s intention is to give guests a consistent experience from store to store, they will most likely miss their mark.

And besides, who really wants another Hop’s, BJ’s, or Gordon Biersch? In a world overflowing with Benihoulafridaybee’s restaurant concepts do we really need another totally-interchangeable, cookie-cutter dining experience? Craft beer is the only segment of the beer industry currently seeing consistent growth. Part of that success is due to a growing desire in the public for all things local. People are beginning to seek out fine food and drink. Grocery stores are beefing up gourmet food sections. Restaurants and bars are offering more and more eclectic beer selections. The number of operating farmers markets saw 16% growth from 2009 to 2010. Why is CraftWorks looking to homogenization when uniqueness and higher quality are the trends of the future?

Rather than trying to limit brewer freedom at Rock Bottom, CraftWorks should be developing a coherent marketing strategy to sell it. They should be shouting from the hilltops that every visit to Rock Bottom is a unique experience. They should boldly declare that their brewers are among the nation’s best, and they should be trotting out their competition medals to prove it.

I am encouraging beer-lovers to send this message to CraftWorks management. Send an email to operations@rockbottom.com. Use the power of Facebook and Twitter to spread the word. Blog about it. Tell your friends.

Let’s save Rock Bottom.

A year ago on New Year’s Day I began listing all of the beers I drank each day. It would have been a fascinating list to look at today, but by mid February it became clear to me that the task was too herculean for me to keep up with. Even looking back to the first two months of the year would have been interesting, but I can’t find the document on my computer. Did I delete it? Hmmm…

My favorite beer of 2009 was Ommegang Rouge. I won’t say best beer, because who really knows what the best beer was. Rouge is now available in the US under its real name Cuvee de Jacobins Rouge. In the first days of 2010 it held tenaciously to its much deserved position. Then I tried Rodenbach Vintage 2007. Vintage 2007 was a single-barrel, 100% wood-aged version of the famous Rodenbach red ale. It was deeper, smoother, woodier, more complex, and just plain better. I tried to stay true to Cuvee. I tasted and re-tasted. But Rodenbach stole my tastebuds. It took top honors as my favorite beer of 2010. I still have a bottle in my basement……….

I made a resolution last year to revisit beers that I love. I am a notorious serial drinker, always looking for the new thing that I haven’t yet tasted. In part this is for work. I conduct beer tasting events professionally. I write about beer for a number of different outlets. I want/need to know what’s out there. In part it’s just because I am a geek. Whatever the reason, this utter lack of brand loyalty has led me to neglect beers that I love. I made good on this promise to myself. Among the beers that I went back to in 2010 were Tripel Karmeliet, Saison DuPont, Boulevard Tank 7 Saison, Aecht Schlenkerla Helles, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Surly Bender, Coniston Bluebird Bitter, Black Butte Porter, Schell’s Firebrick, Schneider Weisse, and Bell’s Two Hearted. There were many more, but you don’t want to read an endless list of beers, so I’ll stop there. I made the same resolution this year.

Related to this idea of serial drinking, I had the realization in 2010 that I can’t taste everything. I don’t have the time, money, or liver capacity. Beer chasing has only led me to stockpile of beer in the basement. It seems I don’t actually taste the beers even when I chase them. This epiphany led me to stop beer chasing. I feel a new-found sense of calm, a Zen-like release from the self-imposed stress of beer-geekdom. New releases, special and limited-editions, collaborations, and rarities come and go. I may taste them, I may not. Either way it’s okay. Another will come along, probably the very next day. Maybe I’ll taste that one.

2010 has been a good year for beer. The craft beer industry has grown with leaps and bounds. More and more people are jumping into the craft beer wagon. It has been a particularly great beer year for me both personally and professionally, but I won’t go into that here. I look forward to 2011 being even better.

Great Waters Brewing Co.

Located in the heart of downtown, Great Waters Brewing Co. is the only brewpub in St. Paul. It is within easy walking distance of many St. Paul attractions including the Science and Children’s Museums, the Excel Energy Center, and the Fitzgerald Theatre (for you Prairie Home Companion fans). Great Waters is housed in the historic Hamm Building, of Hamm’s beer fame. Once the site of the St. Paul Cathedral, the building has its own spring, from which the brewery now takes its brewing water. How many brewpubs in the country can boast their own spring?

Brewer Bob DuVernois keeps a rotating selection of up to nine beers on tap, four of which are CAMRA-compliant, hand-pulled, cask-conditioned ales. Among the popular year-round beers are Golden Prairie Blond Ale, Brown Trout Brown Ale and St. Peter Pale Ale. Special and seasonal beers range from New Centurian, a dark-colored, malty, low-alcohol session beer to Patio Daddio, a big, bitter American Pale Ale with three different hop varieties. In addition to draft beers on site, you can also take growlers to go.

The atmosphere at Great Waters suggests a European bistro, with high ceilings and an open floor crowded with tables. Outdoor seating is availablein the summer months. The menu is varied and delicious with entrees ranging from Minnesota standards like broiled Walleye to more upscale and unique items such as grilled duck breast glazed on maple sauce and Pollo Caracas, a Venezuelan influenced chicken dish.

Barley John’s Brewpub

Located just north of Minneapolis in New Brighton, Barley John’s Brewpub is a bit off the beaten track. But the easy drive up I-35W is worth the trip. Unique brews, tasty food, and a cozy atmosphere have earned Barley John’s the title of Best Brewpub and Best Suburban Bar in the Twin Cities Guide published by the City Pages weekly.

Barley John’s four barrel brewhouse is the smallest decoction capable brewhouse in the country. The brewhouse is not the only thing that is small at Barley John’s. The dining room only seats about thirty, with room for maybe ten more in the bar. But there is ample seating on the spacious patio which is garlanded with hop vines in the summer. In the evenings there is often a fire going in the firepit, making it a nice place to enjoy a pint on a cool Minnesota night.

Barley John’s beer does suffer from some consistency issues. The great beer you had on one visit may not be quite as good on the next. Or it may be even better. But the constantly rotating selection of seasonal and specialty brews means there is always something good on tap. Of special note are Dark Knight, a rich and roasty 13% imperial porter, and Rosie’s Old Ale, a big, barrel-aged, English style old ale. I love the Wild Brunette wild rice brown ale. They also have a number of guest taps available.

I’ll start on the Minneapolis side of the Mississippi River.

Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery

The Town Hall Brewery is by far my favorite brewpub in the Twin Cities, in no small part due to the fact that I can walk there from my house. This is always a good thing when good beer is involved. And Town Hall makes good beer. Brewmaster Mike Hoops keeps six full-time beers on tap along with an ever-changing list of seasonal and special-release beers. There is a new release nearly every week.

The full-time beers are good. Most people likely pick Masala Mama IPA, a big and zesty American-style IPA, as their favorite. I prefer the West Bank Pub Ale, a more standard English Bitter. But then I’m a sucker for bitters. Others include Dortmunder Local, Hope and King Scottish Ale, and Black H2O Oatmeal Stout.

The real attractions for me are the rotating specialties. These are always interesting and often a step-up from the full-time offerings. The regular seasonal rotation includes a dangerously drinkable Hefeweizen in the summer, an English-style IPA in the fall, and Czar Jack Barrel-aged Imperial Stout for winter, among others. New and surprising special releases pop up all the time. Some work spectacularly, like the Blueberry Milk Porter that was available the last time I was there or their amazing Wee Heavy. Others don’t, like the wine-barrel aged Saison that I tried last year or the undrinkably spicy Chipotle Wee Heavy. But they are all worth a try.

The food at Town Hall is solid, standard pub food with a couple of more elegant choices. The ambiance conjures my image of what a 19-century American saloon might have been. The brewery tour is among the best in the Cities. $7 buys you a pre-tour beer, the tour, a tasting glass, and special tastings in the cellar. You can also visit the newly-opened Town Hall Tap in South Minneapolis.

The Herkimer Pub and Brewery

The Herkimer is unique among the nation’s brewpubs in that it specializes in German lager style beers. The long conditioning period required to make good lager beer ties up tank space and lengthens the turnaround time for each batch. In an industry where money is made by getting beer out the door, this extended brewing process is something that most brewpubs and small breweries can’t afford. But for the Herkimer it is their stock in trade.

The Herkimer went through a rough period a few years back, during which beer quality suffered. But when brewer Gustavo Vale started in 2008, he turned things around, tweaking recipes and improving the brewing process. Now you will be treated to solid representations of classic German lager styles in seasonal rotation. Styles include Dortmunder, Schwarzbier, a pair of Bocks, and a gold medal winning Kellerbier. There are even a handful of German style ales including Alt and Hefeweizen, and the seldom-seen, salty/tart Gose style.

The atmosphere at the Herkimer is a bit like an upscale college sports bar. TV sets, usually tuned to sporting events are mounted above the bar. A shuffleboard table completes the effect. Decoration is spare with a sleek, minimal, modern feel. Booths line the windows and there is plenty of seating around the central bar as well as at tall and short tables in the dining room. The brewery is visible behind glass. It can get quite loud on busy nights, but there is patio seating during the summer if you want to escape the noise.

Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery

The thing I didn’t know about the Rock Bottom chain, until I got an ear-full from the brewer at the Chicago store, is that each store’s brewmaster has absolute control of the beers brewed. Every beer at every store is unique to that store. Bryon Tonnis, the brewmaster at the Minneapolis location has created some great ales and lagers, including the GABF Silver Medal winner Bastogne Blonde.

The regular line-up includes North Star Premium Lager, Itaska Extra Pale Ale, Erik the Red, Big Horn Nut Brown Ale. The Itaska Extra Pale is sort of an American-English hybrid, with English flavor characteristics and a more assertive American-style hop presence. I like the brown ale. It’s rich, bold, and slightly roasty with nice spicy hop flavors.

In addition to the full-time beers, Rock Bottom offers a nice selection of rotating seasonal and special-release beers. Their summertime release El Jefe Hefeweizen is very good. I’ve had a beautiful Mild and a velvety barrel-aged Imperial Stout here as well.

While the beers may be unique, the menu and ambiance are not. The overall concept of the Rock Bottom chain is pretty cookie-cutter and the Minneapolis store is no different. Look for the same food and décor as any other Rock Bottom you have ever visited, not that this is a bad thing. The Minneapolis Rock Bottom is in the heart of the Hennepin Theatre District and only steps away from Target Field where the Twins play. It is a popular pre and post-game hangout and can be quite crowded on game days.

Next week is St. Paul and the surrounding Metro.

I grew up in St. Louis and remember well when the Schlafly Taproom opened its doors in the early 1990s. My first visit to the brewpub, in what was then a sketchy part of downtown, was my first brewpub experience. It was an exciting breath of fresh air in a town dominated by Anheuser-Busch. I still have family in St. Louis, so I return a couple of times a year. And while a number of other very good brewpubs have opened in the city since I moved away, it is the Taproom to which I always return.

The two adjacent buildings in which the Taproom is situated are themselves a nice piece of early St. Louis architecture. They were built in 1902 and 1904 to house the Swift Printing Company, which occupied the building until 1969. After Swift left, the building sat vacant for 22 years. It was almost destroyed in a gigantic firestorm that swept the area in 1976. I can remember standing in my suburban back yard watching the smoke in the distance. Its derelict face was used as a location in the movie Escape From New York, helping to create the aura of a post-apocalyptic Manhattan.

The renovated décor of the Taproom is spare. The atmosphere is casual. The beautiful bar and backbar were hand-carved from lumber left in the building by the previous owners. They feature live music on Fridays and Saturdays. It’s a comfortable space for hanging out with friends over a pint and a bite.

I have always found the food at the Taproom to be mediocre. I’m told that you have to order the right things. I don’t seem to know what those things are. There are a few menu items worth checking out. The burgers are good, but they don’t come with a side. You have to order fries à la carte if you want them. The chicken white chili is a must order. And they are famous for the Sticky Toffee Pudding. When I was there a few days ago they had a venison special that was to die for. The meat came out very rare – the way I like it – and had the consistency of tuna sashimi. It was one of the tenderest pieces of meat that I have ever had. It was well complemented by the slightly sour and richly malty Oud Bruin with which I accompanied it.

It is the beer that keeps bringing me back. The taproom keeps a number of rotating taps going with a wide range of Schlafly beers. On this trip the beer menu featured everything from Kölsch and Pilsner to Robust Porter and Imperial Stout, with something for everyone in-between. In addition to the Oud Bruin I had a Winter ESB – “winter” because of its slightly elevated alcohol content – that was rich and malty with bright, citrucy hops and moderate but crisp bitterness. The real beer highlight of this trip was the Pumpkin Ale. When I first tried Schlafly’s Pumpkin Ale a few years ago it immediately became my ideal of what pumpkin ale should be. It’s a full-bodied beer at 8% ABV with deep Munich malt and caramel character, light cinnamon and nutmeg spice, and smooth pumpkin flavor from the pumpkin and butternut squash used in the brew.

In addition to draft beer, the Taproom also has sixpacks and growlers to go, as well as 750 ml bottles of Schlafly’s bottle conditioned and barrel-aged beers. The Taproom is located at 2100 Locust Street, just west of downtown. They are open Mon-Tues: 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Wed.-Thurs: 11 a.m.-1 a.m., Fri & Sat: 11 a.m.-1 a.m., and Sun: Noon-10 p.m.

Photo from Hartford.com

I travel a lot on business. My last trip was to Hartford, Connecticut, where I had the pleasure of dining and drinking at the City Steam Brewery Café.

City Steam occupies the brooding yet beautiful Cheney Building in the heart of downtown Hartford. Opened in 1877, the building once housed the largest department store in Connecticut. The brewpub is outfitted with original brass fittings and millwork salvaged from the department store, giving it an ambience of antique elegance. It is a massive place, with nine levels of seating and a 160 seat room for private functions. It has spaces for live comedy shows and musical performance. I didn’t explore the entire expanse of the place, opting instead for a seat at the bar the two nights I was there.

Photo from Boa Beer Blog

The brewery is steam jacketed, with steam provided by the Hartford Steam Company. Hartford Steam Company is a utility that heats and cools several Hartford buildings. The use of steam in the brewery is evident even in the bar. Every time the bartenders get a good tip it is celebrated with a blast on an antique steam whistle. This was one of the more annoying aspects of the City Steam experience as it scared the heck out of me with every blast.

The food is upscale casual and fairly reasonably priced. The first night I had slow-cooked, barbeque short ribs with mashed potatoes and veggies. The ribs were a bit overdone, but still very tasty with a tangy barbeque sauce. The veggie mix was magnificent with onions, scallions, tomatoes. It was a nice step away from the typical summer squash and broccoli. This dish paired well with their St. Brigette & St. Theresa English-style Double IPA. It was smooth and balanced with assertive bitterness and earthy/spicy hop character. It was a good break from the expected citrus and grapefruit of the American-style DIPA.

The second night I opted for one of their stone-baked pizzas. I had a white pizza with pesto, chicken, bacon, and artichoke. I heartily recommend it. The pizzas are big for one person. I am a big eater and still ended up taking two pieces home for later that night.  I paired this with Drinking Nun Belgian Tripel. A bit on the sweet side, it had subtle banana and cotton candy Belgian yeast with a touch of peppery spice that complemented the pizza.

I also tried their Autumn Sunshine Oktoberfest, Naughty Nurse Amber Ale, and Acapulco Gold Golden IPA. All the beers were clean and full-flavored. The Amber is an east-coast version with moderate bitterness and subdued hop character. The mostly caramel malt is underscored with just a touch of chocolate, which was nice. The Oktoberfest was good, but could have used a bit more bitterness to balance the sweet Munich malt. The Acapulco Gold IPA was again balanced with assertive, but not over the top bitterness and grapefruit/pine American hop flavor.

The bar offers a nice happy hour weeknights from 4 – 7 PM (except during events or game nights). Two dollars off all draft pours and three dollar bar bites like fried pickles and pulled-pork sliders make it an affordable way to spend a couple hours after work.

I enjoyed my visits to the City Steam Brewery Café. The only thing that made me wonder was the “sexy dirndl” outfits the female waitstaff was wearing. Was it just because it was October? Was there some special event happening, of which I was unaware? They seemed oddly out of place.

Tim Stendahl and Jeff Halverson

The format of the festival is unique. Halverson described it as a “beer potluck.” Rather than purchasing a ticket, attendees bring beer. Each 750 ml bottle “buys” a certain number of tastes. The beers that people bring are the beers that make up the festival tasting selection.

This format creates a welcome sense of unity at the event. As Stendahl put it, “the collaborative component of this event is really what makes it special.” The collaboration also makes for a more interesting selection of beers. Halverson explained, “If you were to try and throw this festival with only commercially available bottles purchased by distributors you would have two-dozen beers and it would be kind of so-so. But people travel. They bring stuff back. They ship beers and they trade for them. What better way to celebrate these rare beers than to have everybody bring it.”

And bring it they do. There were more than enough bottles there for everyone in attendance. At a certain point I overheard Halverson saying that there was probably enough beer for everyone to drink three 750 ml bottles by themselves. And it wasn’t just the easily-available, off-the-shelf stuff. The really wonderful thing about this festival is that collectors raid their cellars and bring special bottles to share. There was a 1994 Lindeman’s Cuvee Rene, a 3-liter bottle of Russian River Consecration, Duck Duck Gooze from The Lost Abbey, several bottles of the R&D series from New Glarus, Cantillon Cuvee des Champions, and an assortment of beers than no one had ever heard of. And all of that is in addition to the donated kegs of Flat Earth Brewing Company’s Extra Medium and Oud Beersel Framboise.

The impetus for Where the Wild Beers Are came from tasting events that Halverson used to put on. He’d have a representative sample of beers and then would open up something crazy. “You’d have people that have never had a lambic or never had gueuze, and they’d try it and half would be like, ‘oh my god, this is horrible.’ And the other half said, ‘oh my god, this is as good as champagne.’” That conversation sparked Halverson’s interest in staging such an event. With some pestering from Stendahl, he finally made it happen in 2008. After Stendahl moved to New York, a Brooklyn event was added.

For readers in the New York area, the Brooklyn edition of Where the Wild Beers Are is happening on October 30^th at Mission Dolores. It’s well worth checking out and admission is only a bottle of sour beer. In addition to the beers brought by attendees, there will be a donated keg of Allagash Larry for all to enjoy.

You can hear my whole recorded interview with Jeff Halverson and Tim Stendahl here.