Things To Do In Fargo If You Drink Part 1

Recently, my wife Sarajo, as well as Tyrone and Annette Babione (both BJCP judges) all took a road trip up to Fargo for the Prairie Homebrewing Compainions' Hoppy Halloween competition.  This was a fantastic trip and we stopped in at a ton of breweries, beer bars, distilleries, and even a meadery!  So I'm going to do my best to remember details and write it all up.  Keep in mind that enjoyment of craft beer can be subjective, and also that these visits were a snapshot in time and may not reflect the day-to-day quality of a place.  I'm always curious what others think, so feel free to comment if you have had a similar (or different) experience at any of these places.

In my previous post HERE I mentioned stopping at Hayes' Public House on the Thursday evening on our way out of Waconia.  After that brief but fun stop, we kept driving up north and west until we reached the bustling (OK, not really) town of Fergus Falls.  My family has a cottage on Ottertail Lake fairly near Fergus and growing up, this was the closest city to us during summer trips.  I'm sure the town has changed since I was younger, but we didn't see much in the dark just driving through.  Our destination was Union Pizza and Brewing Company, where we had plans to stop for dinner.

Union opened in early 2015 and is the first brewery in Fergus Falls since well, probably Prohibition!  The place used to be a Dominoes Pizza, but has been upgraded to serve woodfired pizzas and craft beers.  Recently they've begun serving their own house-made beers in addition to a good mix of local Minnesota craft beers and ciders.  Hence our trip there!  When we arrived the place was pretty packed but we didn't have to wait for a booth, which was nice.  There was a lady performing live music in the corner of the main seating area--she was decent but the volume was way too loud for such a small place.  I believe one of the owners took a break from running the bar part way through and played guitar for a short stint as well.  We had a fun server in a wonderfully terrible Christmas sweater who walked us through the food and drink options like a pro.  They had a lot of pizzas to choose from, including a fantastic Reuben pizza with saurkraut, pickles, and spicy sauce drizzle.  We tried all three of their beers between the three of us who were drinking: Traveller is an IPA that had good citrus-orange hop aroma and flavors up front, but had a rough and astringent finish (2.5/5).  The Jeff Davis is a porter with deep dark color, but some tart/sour aromas and flavors that indicate sanitation issues (2.75).  The UPBC Cincinnati is a pale ale and was the best of the bunch, but still not quite to my liking (3).  These guys have only been open a short time and brewing even less, so I'd give them a little slack on the beers for now.  The pizza was great and the service good.  I'd go back if I was in town for sure!

From there we drove (in the dark now) the final hour or so to Fargo, and to our final destination--the Country Inn and Suites, where the Hoppy Halloween event was held.  We ended up hanging out in the world's saddest hotel bar (tiny and understocked) until it closed and then walked around the corner of the building to Green Mill...and shut it down too!  Heck of a start to the weekend!

On our next day (this would be Friday) I judged beer in the basement of the hotel with a bunch of locals and some other visitors.  They run a well-oiled and fun show at this competition!  After judging was finished for the afternoon (we split early) we were ready to go explore what Fargo had to offer.  I was suitably impressed.

1000's of colorful bras adorn this building...

 Our first stop was Wurst Bier Hall for some food.  This place is something that would be right at home in Nordeast or Uptown Minneapolis--full of metal and woods, funky murals, and wacky jackalopes.  While the name of the place sounds like it should be a classic German oompa band, lederhosen, and spetzel kinda joint, it's really more of an upscale sausage and meat emporium.  Sausages of all kinds with a plethora of toppings share the menu with burgers, porketta, and more.  They also have a very large beer (or bier) list boasting several German offerings, but mainly American craft beers from all over.  Oh, and a bacon sampler that came paired with beer samples!  Yum!  We could have stayed here eating and drinking longer but didn't want to fill up too much before more Fargo debauchery!

From Wurst we drove to an industrial warehouse area at the edge of town to try out Kilstone Brewery, who were open before all the other breweries in town.  This place is brand new.  Brand-brand new.  The website isn't up yet and even the Facebook page is pretty bare, so we were a little unsure of where we were going and if they were really open.  But we had nothing else to do so we persevered and were rewarded for our troubles.  We discovered the small brewery hidden deep among the tall metal-sided buildings at the far end of a parking lot (yes parking is easy!)  There's a large garage door that opens up to let some sun and air into the tiny taproom in nice weather, and we lucked out in getting there during a beautiful fall afternoon.  The L-shaped bar and a few small tables provide a spot to sit and sample, but the place is tiny.  A big happy labrador lolled about in the sun, and came to investigate the new visitors.  A pocket sized brew system and a few conical fermenters sit in the back of the place, nestled in with bags of malt and other brewing tools.  A mural of trees and running water provides some color behind the bar, but the place is very utilitarian overall.

While we were trying to decide on our sampler beers from a fairly sizeable collection, a lady that we initially took to be a regular started to give us some pointers.  Her name was Jan Wigen and it turns out that she was one of the owners of the brewery, (along with her husband Randy), and she introduced us to one of her two sons (Brock) who are the brewers there!  Apparently Randy was the homebrewer and has turned his sons into pro brewers to help out the family business!  Brock took us on an impromptu tour of the site and talked shop with us, and seemed very eager for feedback on the beers.  Where the basic appearance of the place was not outstanding, we all had such a great experience with the hospitality of the Wigen family that this ended up being one of our favorite stops on our whole Fargo trip!

Our sampler's were served on platters and in small jelly jars for a fun effect.  While we tasted through the entire line-up Brock explained that almost all of these beers were probably only the first or second batches of the beers and that they would be working hard to tweak recipes over time and get used to the brew system.  I'll zip through a couple of my notes from tasting here:  My favorite of the lot was between the Apple Cinnamon Brown (served with cinnamon sugar on the rim at request) and the Pac's Porter--I gave both a 4 which is pretty high praise from me!  They also had a respectable Citra IPA, and a slightly (but still good) diacetyl-ridden Ironstone Irish Red.  My least favorite was the pale ale which seemed to have a bit of plastic phenol to me, but Ty and Annette liked that one the most.  Overall the beer quality was well above all of our expectations, and if these are the first batches I think Kilstone has a good start.   Thanks for the time and hospitality Wigens!

After a favorable trip to Kilstone, we headed back across the border to Moorhead where we visited Junkyard Brewing.  I loved that place and am affording them their own blog entry to come.

Moving back across the river into Fargo we next stopped at Prairie Rose Meadery. This place is the long-time dream of world famous mead-maker Susan Ruud.  I've judged mead with her at homebrew competitions, and have had her judge my own meads--she knows what she's doing!  Sarajo and I got to try a couple of her first commercial meads at NHC in California this summer and were both very excited to see what she had planned for the meadery.  Oh, and for those who don't know meads--it's wine made of fermented honey.  Like wine, mead can be dry, semi, or sweet.  One can also add spices, fruits, juices, and more to them.  Prairie Rose is located in a small office park (like most brewing facilities) and is a little tough to find at first.  Once you enter the somewhat non-descript entrance you find yourself in a cozy little space that reminds you of an elderly family member's parlor.  I mean this in an entirely good way!  A couple of comfy couches and a small tasting bar with honeycomb shaped back-bar complete the picture.  Susan's wonderful husband Bob was tending bar and gave us the star treatment, serving us samples of all the meads and even a couple of fun mead cocktails that they've concocted.  I believe we tasted about 6 different meads (and maybe a sneak peak of a a few more) while we were there!  The Mint and the Anise were very well done--especially amazing that I liked them since I'm not a fan of either flavor.  The Cherry and the Blackberry were both very drinkable--too drinkable for safety!  My favorites were the Traditional (such a well balanced sweet honey character) and the Ginger mead (of which only Steve Piatz can give Susan a run for her money!)  We bought quite a few bottles and Bob was kind enough to bring them over to us the next day.  These are some of the best commercially available meads I've ever had.

Think this is enough for two days?  Not a chance!  Up next: Drekker, Proof, Rhombus Guys, Fargo Brewing, bison molestation, and more!  Stay tuned for Part 2!


Too much to write about!  I'll split this travelogue into two parts...

Musings on Macro

Ok, I'll admit it, I payed absolutely no attention to the Superbowl this year at all.  I know, I'm the only person in the country who didn't care about it.  Having missed big show I discovered some activity about a Budweiser advertisement this morning.  I watched it on YouTube.   My bile has risen and a red veil of anger has dropped over my vision.

For those who haven't seen it: check it below.  I hesitate to give AB-Inbev free publicity, but you won't understand it if you don't see it.

Ok, so my craft beer fan tail feathers are up.  My impression is this: AB-Inbev/Budweiser is basically saying people who want to taste, smell and enjoy their beers are stupid.  But beechwood aging is super special.  Here is some info for those who don't know: beechwood adds no flavor to the beer, it just speeds up clarification of the beer so they can speed up the fermentation process and get more out the door faster.  And faster turn around time means more money!

And let us talk about Pumpkin Peach Beer.  Yes, we craft folks sometimes take things too far into territory that doesn't work.  On the other hand, AB-Inbev just spent Millions of dollars to purchase the craft brewery Elysian.  Elysian's head brewer Dick Cantwell is known for trying out unusual ingredients and every year hosts the Great Pumpkin Beer Festival, where they release 10-15 of their own pumpkin beers as well as many more guest pumpkin beers.  Last year's included Elysian's own Gourdgia On My Mind Pecan Peach Pumpkin Amber ale.  Yup, AB-Inbev you just slapped your newest acquisition right in the nads on national TV in front of millions of watchers.

One can see the desperation in this advertisement.  Realizing that the craft beer market is growing exponentially while the Big macro brews are staying flat or even dropping off, the big beer companies are starting to get scared.  This advertisement smacks of fear.  Let's make fun of this "fad" of actually paying attention to beers and enjoying their flavor and aroma.  It's all about drinkability and the ability to put down a 12 pack during a game!

I can see the trend of the big conglomerates continuing to buy out craft breweries.  For years they have tried to break into the market, but they have failed to understand what motivates the craft beer drinker: taste!  Remember the Budweiser American Ale debacle?  Millions of dollars spent on branding, advertising, focus groups, and in the end the beer was a flop.  Why?  Because it lacked any distinguishable character!  After that they did a brief foray into a wheat beer and a pale ale.  I actually got to try those when they were in the testing phase.  They were bland and not surprisingly didn't do well when they were released to a larger audience.  Again, Macro was trying to break into the market with the mentality of "People like this wheat beer, we should make one.  But we can't make it too flavorful because the average beer drinker won't like that." They just haven't understood that it isn't about how much money you can throw at something to advertise it.  Beer isn't just a commodity, but something we enjoy tasting, smelling, talking about, and sharing with others.

Then they bought Goose Island and the craft beer world held its breath.  And lots of cursing and smack talking ensued.  I have said it before and I'll say it again: as long as my Bourbon County Stout doesn't change, I'll still buy it.  But I don't have to like doing it.  I noticed in the past two years that the Goose Island 312 wheat beer has really received the Budweiser treatment, getting a makeover and tons of advertising and distribution across the country.  Named for the 312 area code of Chicago where the beer used to be made, I find is sad that the beer is now made in New York (at least according to most recent account I could find on line.) And then they released 312 Urban Pale Ale.  This beer tastes exactly like the failed Budweiser craft trial version I had several years ago.  But now they have a respected craft beer name to attach it to.  Well done Budweiser.  Well done.

So at the same time the AB-Inbev mocks us, they try to sneak into our pocket books.  I recommend that my readers continue their efforts to buy craft, buy local, and buy according to taste and enjoyment.  I also recommend that you avoid drinking beer from a brewery that mocks you and others like you.  Get to know where the beers you drink are made, and if they are true small businesses or are owned by faceless corporations.

Finding Craft Beer Around Disneyland

Recently my wife and I celebrated our (lucky) 13th anniversary by taking a trip to Disneyland in California.  We did our honeymoon at Disneyworld in Florida, but this was my first time in CA.  I could write a book on our adventures in and around the parks, but since this is a beer blog, I'm going to focus on that!  Let's just say this about Annaheim: the craft beer revolution has been slow to arrive there.  I was able to find a few options for good beer, but had to search hard for them! 

We stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel right on Disney property, making for a very convenient commute into the parks.  This massive edifice of housing is quite impressive, clean and comfortable, but it can take you a while to traverse the length of it!

Disneyland itself is completely dry...being a family place and all.  This was very noticeable when we had a nice dinner in the Blue Bayou restaurant within the Pirates of the Carribean ride.  We had options of soft drinks, virgin mojitos, or lemonade to go with our main dishes.  Wine or beer would have been wonderful here! 

After a long afternoon of Disneyland chaos I was happy to find that our hotel Hearthstone Bar was open late and had a few options for craft beer (including Racer 5 IPA and Firestone Walker Double Barrel in bottles.) 

Accessed directly from our hotel, we were also able to visit Disney California Adventure (DCA).  This is the newer area of Disney, focused more on the Pixar era with giant mock ups of Cars scenery, Bug's Life, and even my old favorites the Muppets.  I discovered that Karl Strauss Brewing had a beer truck selling $8 pints of beer in plastic cups hidden away near the Wharfside eating area.  The beers were nothing stellar, but at least they were available!  The IPA was probably the best of them. 

Downtown Disney is the nightlife spot just outside the parks and hotels, with some Disney owned restaurants and shops as well as others like the House of Blues and Rainforest Café.  Most of these close pretty early (around 10 when we were there) so getting a night cap is unlikely at most places.  I think the best options for beers we discovered was at the Catal Restaurant and Uva bar.  They had about 10 taps at the bar and 5 in the restaurant, as well as some bottled beers to choose from.  I had a HUGE glass of Valiant DIPA that about did me in with my wonderful meal.  I highly recommend that place for dinner and beers! 

One would be remiss not to mention that The Bruery is a 15-20 minute cab ride from Disney property and have an amazing tap room.  I'll be writing that visit up separately!

So there you have it...a pretty short list, but I searched high and low and that is about as good as you will find right there at Disneyland.  I had a wonderful trip and really enjoyed the differences between the California and Florida experiences.  I do like drinking my way around the countries in Epcot though...