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Ryan Tuenge
Ryan Tuenge is an avid home brewer and craft beer lover who
is not afraid to spend his last $5 on a pint of beer at the local pub.
As a member of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association, Ryan has tried a wide variety of beers and has toured many of the local breweries. He also has a blog about craft beer in Minnesota. He likes to read, write and travel with his wife. Follow him on Twitter @lodgefather.
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Posts about Beer
Weekend Festivities
Posted by: Ryan Tuenge Updated: October 10, 2012 - 9:13 PM
There are a couple beer-related events going on for those of you who are looking for something to do this weekend:
Out east, in Stillwater, on Saturday and Sunday they are celebrating Harvest Fest. On Saturday you can witness a pumpkin weigh-off or purchase tickets to take part in a beer tasting and chili cook-off featuring local favorite Lift Bridge Brewing. You can also ride the Joseph Wolf BierCycle, a multi-person pedal bike, throughout the two-day event.
On the BierCycle you will be able to take a tour of downtown Stillwater and see all that it has to offer. Right now the BierCycle is also available for private parties, and in the future you will be able to try out beer from the soon-to-be re-established Joseph Wolf Brewery—run by great granddaughters Pat Wolf and Kathy Wolf Swanson. More to come on the reemergence of Joseph Wolf Brewery at a later time.
If you are going to be out west this weekend, you may want to head out to Excelsior Brewing’s Oktoberfest on Saturday. Here you can check out Tim Mahoney, who was most recently on NBC’s hit show “The Voice,” at 2:00 PM while wolfing down some sausage and other german fare. At 4:00 PM, hometown surf rockers Thee Holy 3 will take the stage in front of the fitting backdrop of Lake Minnetonka.
Bitteschläppe Brown Ale will be on sale at the Excelsior tap along with Big Island Blonde, and XLCR Pale Ale. They will be doing cash and credit transactions so you don’t have to bother with tickets. The focus here will be on the fun. Get out and enjoy the weather before the snow starts flying!
Cheers!
Oktoberfest Bier Tasting and Dinner
Posted by: Ryan Tuenge Updated: October 8, 2012 - 8:43 PMMany of you are familiar with brewer behind the finely crafted beers at Barley John’s Brew Pub up in New Brighton. On Saturday, October 20th at 6 PM (doors open at 5:45 PM) brewer Brian Lonberg will be hosting a beer tasting and dinner at St. Paul’s on the Hill church with tickets going for $30. All proceeds from the event will go to the church.
At the event you can expect a lecture covering different styes of beer, a Q&A with Brian, and to learn how to pair beer with food and incorporate into your home cooked meals.
After the beer tasting you will be able to try out some appetizers and take in some german music performed by the organ master of the church and some members of the choir. A german themed dinner and a silent auction will round out the evening.
Speaking of Oktoberfest, get into Barley John’s where you can to try out the 9.4% double decocted brew before it runs out. Barley John’s has a German brewing system so they make this one true to form.
Cheers!
Beer Gone Sour?
Posted by: Ryan Tuenge Updated: September 25, 2012 - 11:34 PMOn September 29th Republic at Seven Corners is playing host to an event called Where the Wild Beers Are. They are calling it a “collaborative” festival for wild beer enthusiasts—think of it as a sort of potluck for wild beer. The cost to attend the event is $10 plus your beer contribution. For every 750 ml of sour beer you will receive 10 tickets for beer samples, assuring that everyone gets an equal amount to try. This is the 5th year that this event has taken place in the Twin Cities; bringing together fans of “wild or sour” beers—a style that originated in Belgium where wild yeast is introduced to the wort via open fermentation. Jeff Halvorson and Tim Stendahl are the men behind this event, as well as the one held in Brooklyn, New York.
The process of creating a sour or wild beer can be rather lengthy; often taking years for the beer to properly mature. Debuting at this year’s event will be Mark 1 and Mark 2, which are two special sour beers created by some of the previous year’s attendees from the bacteria and yeast left behind in the bottles at last year’s event. The ten-month old Mark 1 was made with white wine-soaked oak staves, while Mark 2 will feature cherries.
So, you may be asking yourself: Just what is a sour beer and what is the difference between regular and open fermentation?
According to University of Minnesota Associate Professor of Microbiology Jeff Gralnick, the difference between open fermentation and normal fermentation is all about how you “inoculate” the fermentation. “The open fermentation style in many cases is literally a fermentation vessel that you leave open to the air. Microbes floating around in the air (typically this can be around 100,00 per square meter) have a chance of landing into the vessel. The majority of things that land probably don't know how to live in this environment, but some of them do.”
One might wonder where an ideal place to execute an open style fermentation would be. “Sometimes these open fermentations are done in orchards, where the number of microbes who really like to ferment sugars can be higher in the air (think about rotting fruits, for example),” Jeff said. It may also be as simple as reusing your fermentation vessel, “In the next batch, the microbes can come from the nooks and crannies in the wooden vessel when it is reused.”
And just what, exactly, creates those unique, sour flavors? According to Jeff, “Often these wild microbes (both yeast and bacteria) make sour and funky tasting compounds in addition to ethanol, which an organism like Saccharomyces (the yeast species typically used in making beer) typically don't make.”
Many examples of this style can be found at places such as The Four Firkins in St. Louis Park, The Ale Jail in St. Paul, or Zipps in Minneapolis. So be sure to stock up before you attend this year’s event.
Cheers!
Recap of the Autumn Brew Review
Posted by: Ryan Tuenge Updated: September 19, 2012 - 8:49 PMThe sun was out, the beer was flowing, and the crowd was abuzz about craft beer on a perfect Saturday in September. Minnesota breweries were well represented with over 35 breweries pouring great new beers from all over the state.
Some new breweries made their ABR debut and this is what they had to offer:
Indeed Brewing was pouring some of the best new beer in Minneapolis including Day Tripper, a Pale Ale that is hopped like an IPA; Midnight Ryder, a hopped-up, roasty black ale; and Shenanigans, which is their summer ale. Their fresh hop ale also made its debut; a very hoppy brew with a nice, dry finish.
Pour Decisions, another new brewery in the Twin Cities area, brought their Scottish session beer Pubstitute Ale and their Patersbier, which is a tasty Belgian monk’s session brew.
Northbound Smokehouse Brewpub was pouring Big Jim IPA, which is named after brewer Jamie’s father. This was a nice, hoppy IPA with big malt character. They were also pouring their Wild Rice Amber Ale, which is not your typical amber style beer.
Here were some of my favorites from ABR:
Day Tripper from Indeed - This hop monster is a real treat from its heavy citrus aroma to its clean finish. The best part about it may be that the ABV is relatively low at 5.4% so you can enjoy a few of these.
Wild Rice Amber Ale from Northbound - This brew was very well-balanced and had a subtle vanilla flavor from the wild rice. It is a very clean beer that would be good in any season.
The Libertine from Fulton Beer - The malts in this one were very well-balanced, slightly but not too sweet, with a noticeable hop character. At 8.5% ABV, drinking a few of these may actually make watching the Twins bearable.
Spanish Fly from Fitger’s Brewhouse - What stood out about this hoppy brew made with cherries was the subtle heat from the hatch chilies in the finish. Dave Hoops is a master of fruit beers and this is no exception. [Correction: I am told that Spanish Fly was dreamed up by cask master Kelly Armstrong]
News and notes from ABR:
- Badger Hill Brewing is all set up to bottle and their MSB (Minnesota Special Bitter) brew should be arriving in local liquor stores within the next two weeks.
- Northbound Smokehouse Brewpub has a firm opening date: Thursday, September 20th. Two of their guest taps will be from Indeed Brewing—Midnight Ryder and their current seasonal, which is their fresh hop.
- Town Hall Brewery will release their Simcoe fresh hop beer this year on Monday, October 8th.
- Indeed Brewing hopes to have cans of their beer available in liquor stores in early to mid-October.
That’s all the news and notes from this year – hopefully you can join us next year if you didn’t get a chance. If you want to ensure that you will attend next year the Guild has created a ticket pack option (available December 10th) where you can buy tickets to all 3 of their annual events (Autumn Brew Review, Winterfest, and All Pints North).
Cheers!
Pickin’ and Grinnin’
Posted by: Ryan Tuenge Updated: September 3, 2012 - 7:42 PMIt’s almost hop harvest season and the fine folks at Lift Bridge Brewing are hosting a fun event where you can be a part of making their seasonal “fresh hop” beer called Harvestor. This is the second year that Lift Bridge has worked with local hop grower Hippity Hop Farms from Forest Lake to create this special brew.
The event consists of two parts: the pickin’ will happen on Friday, September 7th from 5-8 PM and is free for all ages; the grinnin’ is the after party from 9 PM till midnight where tickets will cost $8 in advance or $10 at the door. The ticket cost includes your first beer and the entertainment which will feature musician Pat McCurdy from Milwaukee, WI.
Food trucks, including the local favorite Nate Dogs and the MidNord Empanada Truck, will be on-site offering food for purchase—and as usual you will be able to purchase Lift Bridge brews in the taproom. There will even be a special new beer making its debut at the brewery that evening, but you will need to show up to see what it will be. A little birdie has told me that it may just have a little something to do with the coming season...
One other thing to keep in mind is that when you attend these types of events you should always plan to have a safe ride home—don’t ruin the fun for everyone else. This is your chance to help out your local brewery and have a good time while doing it so don’t miss out.
Cheers!
Artwork by Adam Turman
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