Things To Do In Fargo When You Drink Part 2

Continuing the epic story of Tyrone, Annette, Sarajo, and myself on our weekend roadtrip from Waconia, MN to Fargo, ND--and back again!  Check out Part 1 HERE.  At this point in the trip we were taking Uber around to let poor Sj stop sober-driving us all over creation. We left off with Prairie Rose Meadery...

From there we were meeting some of Annette's cool family (she's almost a local) at Rhombus Guys Pizza.  Apparently this place started as a smoothie stand in the early 2000's, changing into a pizza place in Grand Forks, spreading a pseudopod into Fargo, and now they even have a small brewery!  The brewery itself is in Grand Forks, but the Fargo site just started serving the beer prior to our arrival.  Like they knew were coming!  They had a lot of cool and unusual pizzas to offer and all of us were happy with our choices.  The brewery itself hasn't been open long and the beers still need a bit of time in my opinion.  I tried the Into The Darkness porter which I gave a 3 and an "OK", as well as the Octoberfest which I gave a 3.5 and noted that it tasted more like an ale.  Still, cool to try another brewery's beers that we can't get in Minnesota!

Next up after taking our leave of Annette's family was the nearby Viking themed Drekker Brewing.  Located very close to Wurst Bier Hall, this place has a great location in the center of the city.  The space is long and narrow with a fair amount of seating and a decent sized brewery set-up in the back.  This is a fairly young brewery and feels a bit like the paint just dried.  They had a lot of beers to choose from for such a new place--even splitting a couple of samplers our group didn't try everything.  Looking at my Untappd notes (which were getting spotty by this time of night) I gave most of their beers between 3-3.5 stars.  My favorite of theirs was the Coffee Broken Rudder, an Irish red ale that was very well done and unusual (4 star).  My least favorite was the Azacca Attacka pale ale with plastic phenols (2.75).  Overall, a cool space with a fair amount of money behind it, but it seems a little too nice, like they haven't really found their own vibe yet.  The beers still need a little work to make me search them out, but not bad.  Drekker is still young so I'll let them practice a bit!

Ty showing off his inner Viking!

At this point in our long day we were feeling a bit like Hunter S. Thompson on his addled journey through the Nevada desert.  The night was dark, but we were shiny.  We tramped around downtown Fargo.  We spent time ogling the theater with thousands of colorful bra's dangling from it.  We molested a couple of large painted bison to the disgust and dismay of NDSU fans everywhere.  In a bison-tinged haze, we kept moving to avoid crowds of pitchfork wielding peasants.



We next found ourselves as if by magic in front of Fargo's only distillery--Proof!  This is a craft distillery specializing in Vodka and Gin.  Unusual (compared to Minnesota) is the fact that they can actually serve food at this distillery.  They had a tapas type menu from a small restaurant on one side of the large open building, but we were too full on sausages and pizza for any more sustenance.  The place is big with high ceilings, but separated into areas by a strangely oriented bar and some other oddly angled seating.  The bizarre angles and height differences made for an weird vibe and a feng shui would offend the ancestor spirits and nature spirits alike.  Lovecraft would be proud.  There was a very strong monkey-cages-at-the-zoo aroma permeating the place that I found very distracting. This rotting and fermenting silage smell hints at poor cleaning and grain removal in the distillery itself since I didn't see any poo-flinging monkeys around.  We asked our server for a sample of the vodka to decide which type of drink we wanted and our server was very obliging.  However, the vodka had a very strong aroma reminiscent of nail-polish remover or rubbing alcohol.  Avoiding the vile vodka, we all ordered some Minions Gin based cocktails and all were decent but didn't knock our socks off.

Just down the block was a place known for their cocktails, and we were almost in the doors when strangely we looked about ourselves at the graying dawn's light and decided that perhaps we should call this a day and rest up for the following day's planned debauchery.  And so we made at least one good decision this fine day.  The rest of the bison herd would rest easy...for now...

Oh, and then in a Cold War game of "I can stay up drinking longer than you!" we all ended up at Ty and Annette's nicer-than-ours suite room for some 18% ABV Bruery beers and Cards Against Humanity.  Luckily our room was a close stagger down the hall...

The next morning I was up and judging beers at 9 AM.  Turn down those dim basement lights please!  The Hoppy Halloween challenge continued and I tried many good beers and meads while trying to provide good feedback.  Once the afternoon judging session was over, our group took a quick field trip to the only brewery we didn't get to visit the previous action-packed day: Fargo Brewing Company.

Fargo Brewing Company was the first brewery in Fargo, starting out contract brewing at Sand Creek in Wisconsin fall of 2011, then moving to their own large warehouse facility in 2013.  When I first tried their Wood Chipper IPA in can I chuckled over the name, then spat it out in disgust since strong movie theater butter popcorn aromas and flavors abounded.  I've avoided them since. But now these guys have their own place and are selling a lot of cans out of their production brewery.  They have a lot of room to grow in the current building!  The taproom itself was just a small area of warehouse floor near the entrance, cordoned off from the main production floor.  They had a small corrugated metal and wood serving bar with about 11 different beers pouring, and a couple of busy bar-tenders serving the small but thirsty crowd.  A few etched and scarred picnic tables provided seating for us, and a bunch of games by the door provided additional entertainment options.  This is a no-frills working kind of place that reminds me a bit of Lucid's current brewery space--but bigger.

The beers at Fargo Brewing were better than the first time I tried them for sure!  Strangely, my favorite was the Fargo Original--a good example of a crisp but malty Helles--which I gave a 4.25.  Second favorite was the sweeter Stone's Throw Scottish ale which I gave a 3.75.  All the other beers we tried were average to slightly above.  I think perhaps they're playing it a bit safe and appealing to the large market of novice craft beer drinkers in North Dakota and don't fault them for it.  They are certainly putting out a lot of decent beers!

Returning to our hotel, we finished up the evening with a long and crazy Hoppy Halloween dinner and award ceremony, complete with costume contests (Ty and Annette won that!), homebrews galore, Prairie Rose meads, medals, and more!  This is hands down the most fun I've ever had at a homebrew competition and I'm glad we made the drive up for it.  And on the way home the next day we stopped at one more brewery--Beaver Island--with another write-up to follow!

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...

Halloween Round-Up and Unusual Pumpkin Beers...

In my effort to try and review as many pumpkin beers as possible this Fall, I have dug deep into the cellar this week and discovered some dusty treasures within.  We will start the show with a couple of sour pumpkin beers--at least they are different!  I will admit that I had a cold for tasting the first three on the list, and that could have influenced my senses a bit (especially aroma) and is partly why I chose powerful beers to try at this time.

New Belgium Kick: This is 2012's sour pumpkin ale made as a collaboration between New Belgium's Kim Jordan and Elysian's Dick Cantwell (also see my review of He Said by Cantwell.)  It was made with 75% ale with pumpkins and cranberry juice, and 25% ale aged in wooden barrels.  I couldn't find out if there was any wine or booze in the barrels.  I tried this ale last year at a brewclub meeting and really hated it, but kept my bottle hidden away in the hopes that it would improve with age. 
Aroma: Sour as anything!  Layered with acetic (vinegar) sourness and wild yeast sourness.  There is a musty forest floor aroma as swirled.  No spicing noted.  Some pineapple aromas as it warms.
Appearance: Deep golden color with a slight haze.  Small white head with large bubbles.
Flavor: Sharp bitterness up front and a strong sour zing.  I taste the pineapple esters from the Brettanomyces.  Tart cranberry and an astringent earthy note.  This has a very thin body and ends dry and raspy on the tongue. 
Overall:  I'm not a huge fan.  There isn't much to this other than SOUR!  Lacks complexity that I look for in sour beers and I don't get much pumpkin through that tartness.  I do like it better than last year (dumped) but still didn't have more than half a glass before I let it go.  A bit disappointed with New Belgium and Dick Cantwell for this one--it should have been amazing based on most of their other projects.  2.5 of 5 final score.

Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela: Jolly Pumpkin is a small craft brewery out of Dexter, Michigan that specializes in barrel aged beers.  Due to distribution issues the brewery recently pulled out of Minnesota and we can no longer find these amazingly complex sour beers in our area.  Strangely, it took them years to finally come out with an actual pumpkin beer.  La Parcela is that beer, made with pumpkin, cacao and spices.  I dug deep in the cellar for this one finding a bottle from Batch 610 circa 2010. 
Aroma: Fairly strong tartness is noted first.  I get earthy notes of a freshly tilled garden (but in a good way).  Brettanomyces horse-blanket aromas meld with a mild dry cocoa and nutmeg or cinnamon.  Some pear and apricot fruity esters are present as well.
Appearance: Deep gold to almost ruby in color, with no haze.  This beer has a huge fine off-white head that never seems to fade. 
Flavor: A very sour beer!  Light body that fades to a bone dry finish.  I get some earthy beet-like flavors as it warms (pumpkin?) combined with brett character that leaves a leathery, almost dirty character.  Mild nutmeg flavors.  Some oak tannins present.  A hint of bitter chocolate in finish.
Overall: This is balanced to the very dry and sour side.  Not much spice here, but that may have faded in three years since it was brewed.  The sourness likely has increased over time as well.  This tastes more like a gueuze from Brussels!  3.5/5.

Summit Unchained #5 Imperial Pumpkin Porter:  This was Summit's 5th foray into letting its brewers try out unusual recipes on a smaller scale.  This edition was dreamed up by brewer Nate Siats and included Sweet China Cinnamon, Jamaican Allspice, Powdered Cassia Buds, Ground Nutmeg, Ginger Powder, Ground Mace, and Ground Ceylon Cloves.  Released in October of 2010, I found it to be too bitter for me.  I left a few bottles in the cellar (more by accident than anything) and discovered them recently, lurking behind some bottles of Bigfoot.  A happy surprise!
Aroma: I get some molasses and boozy dark rum notes up front.  Some nutmeg and cinnamon are present and s spicy almost chili pepper note on the nose.  Strong semi-sweet chocolate aromas as it warms.
Appearance: Very dark brown with slight ruby highlights at edges of glass.  Fine tan head that fades quickly.
Flavor: Complex roast and chocolate flavor, mixed with a molasses and licorice root off-sweetness.  Medium bodied, but ends pretty dry.  Some oxidized sherry-like notes add complexity.  Spicing is mellow with just a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon.  There is a slight boozy warming note as it goes down.  As this warms up I get more coffee notes and an earthy astringency that may be due to the pumpkin.
Overall: This is tons better than it was last year--almost a different beer.  Age has added smoothness and complexity to this unusual beer.  I sipped this on Halloween night in front of a fire, while sneaking chocolate from our treat basket.  If you have any of these hiding in your cellar--drink them now! 4 of 5.

Swag from Hoppy Halloween!

I figured that in addition to drinking pumpkin beers, I should have some Halloween wrap-up as well.  First, I wanted to show off my swag for winning first place in the stout category at Hoppy Halloween with my perrenial favorite Olde Meconium Imperial Stout.  The guys at the Prairie Homebrewing Companions have been running this competition for 16 years now and really know how to put on a show.  I have yet to get out there for judging, but one of these years I'll make it.  They create different amazing ceramic beads for their medals, and I put entries in each year just to win one!  They also give out some of the best prizes I've ever seen at a competition.  I'm very excited about my swag this year: Pimp Deschutes track jacket; Jack Pine Glass (I contributed to Pat's Kickstarter and wish him much success); Honeycomb wood to put in a beer; bat shaped shuriken; and more!

A night out on the town!

I also wanted to give props to the crew at The Four Firkins for hosting cool Spooky Fancy Friday event at the store the day after Halloween.  Alvey was dressed up as a zombie Beer Barron; Ian as a disturbing Cat In The Hat; Doug as a distinguished English gentleman (who stayed in character all night); Michael as Heisenberg (I apparently need to watch Breaking Bad); and Bryan as a demented version of The Flash!  Sj and I dressed up in our steam-punk outfits for the event...because who wants to miss an opportunity to get dressed up? We talked Anna and Matt into joining us as well: Anna dressed up in her finest 80's gear (as if she was old enough to remember the 80's!) and Matt as Robin Hood--Man In Tights!  We sampled many fine beers including Jeff Williamson's Summit Unchained Bier de Garde and the newest Snowstorm from Schells.  We also sampled the disturbing Rogue Beard Beer that was inocculated with yeast from John Maier's beard.  Tasted Belgiany...

Once we had socialized and sampled enough we headed over to McCoy's Public House just down the road and had a wonderful dinner.  We were the only people dressed up in costume, but Bar Manager Nick Collins did not bat an eye!  He's good people. Having been sick on Halloween itself, this night out was a fine way to make up for it.  I still felt a bit off my game, but on the mend, and being with a lot of friends helped.