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Episode 92 - Dan Presents: Door County Beers
117 Plays2 years ago
This week Dan has curated the episode as we sample four different beers from Door County, WI.
Theme music provided by Myke Kelli (@mykekelli)
Outor and break music provided by @FluidMinds
Check out all our episodes at www.themaltinghour.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Low-Carb Beers
00:00:00
Speaker
And I don't mean this in a bad way, but I feel like it's low-carb. Like, it's not... Yeah, it's not super-carb, but... So it's almost still like a white wine? This is great, it's a low-carb beer? No, no, that's not what he meant.
Door County Beers and Episode Introduction
00:00:13
Speaker
This week, Dan shares some beers from Door County, Wisconsin. This is episode 92 of The Malting Hour.
00:00:20
Speaker
What's the haps on the hops? Guy, ease that speech This the molten hour where we talk about our drink And tell you what we think every other week And if we get drunk, well we might slur our speech Gotta get a cab, the friends who wish you had Join us for a drink, join us for a laugh Time is never wasted, way you're getting wasted The molten hour here, people, people taking places People, people taking places People, people taking places
00:00:46
Speaker
Welcome to
Guest Introductions
00:00:47
Speaker
The Malting Hour. I am one of your hosts, Tony Miller, joined always with... Brandon Wininger. And to my left, Danny Potter. Hey man, how's it going? Alright, hey guys, not hey man. I looked at Dan when I said hey man. Hey man, how are you doing Dan? This is weird, you're being nice. Shut up. Brandon, how are you buddy? I'm alright man. Awesome. What are we doing this week guys? What's going on? Dan,
Dan's Brewery Adventures in Door County
00:01:06
Speaker
you've...
00:01:06
Speaker
curated thank you curated another episode yeah to continue with our travel episodes when we take a little trip I went to Door County last weekend with the family and tried to stop by I stopped by three different breweries and then one of them I got from a store
00:01:23
Speaker
So we have four different breweries represented. Right. That's exciting. In your trip to Door County, did you trip into a fire pit at all? No, I didn't. Much better trip than we had. I didn't fall into a fire pit. I should say Door County is in Wisconsin for this. Correct, yes. For those who don't know. Northern Wisconsin. Yes, there you go. Near a certain... We're not doing that. We're not doing that.
00:01:45
Speaker
Near did you drive by and lick the walls or something like no, I've been there by near a certain conspiracy theorist football team What are we drinking first Dan I so I'm gonna kind of go Sort of in order of when they
Review: Door County Trolley Red Cherry Lager
00:02:04
Speaker
were founded. Um, so like that you would actually like curate this, you know, that's good It also kind of goes in
00:02:13
Speaker
Style-wise sort of that way also, which I mean you would think yeah breweries that started back then and kind of brewing the same style those movies or newer or a little newer styles so This one is from one barreled off on his side Trust me, it's good From one barrel brewing company, which is this is the one I did not go to okay? But I feel like I'm familiar with them
00:02:39
Speaker
If you're familiar, there's also like one of the Budweiser's is like 12 barrel or something. I forget. That is true. Yeah, because I tried their stuff before. So this is a Door County trolley red cherry lager, which cherries and apples are big things up there. 4.8%
00:02:58
Speaker
And I thought there would be something on the can and there is not. Clark, can you get on that, please? Wait, what is it? One barrel? Yeah. Door County Cherry Logger. I like the can. The can design's cool. Looks like it's a Door County trolley ride. There's a trolley on it. Yeah. So it is brewed each summer as a nod to our friends who run the iconic Door County trolley around Wisconsin's finest peninsula.
00:03:25
Speaker
This mellow lager features additions of high quality dark cherry juice giving a gorgeous deep ruby hue and a lovely cherry flavor without cloying sweetness available over the state in limited supply each summer. They weren't lying about the color, I just poured some. It's got a nice little like a ruby red grapefruit juice color to it and it smells like cherry baby. It does smell really good.
00:03:55
Speaker
Laura, it's an interesting... interesting thing to put cherries with.
Review: Little Sister Wit Beer
00:04:02
Speaker
Well, I forgot to say, so these guys are founded in 2012. 2012. So they're the oldest of the ones that you present yesterday. There's two of them from 2012. I don't know which one's technically older, but... yeah. Hmm.
00:04:13
Speaker
You just failed your curating test. So I had to take a second sip. The first sip I had, I think because I had the colt, I was having like this weird... Metallic? Yes. And I still kind of have it.
00:04:26
Speaker
And it could be because we were drinking a culture beforehand And I just took another sip and swished it around and I got less of it and more of the cherry in the lager Yeah, same here. It is really light though. It's not like overpowering cherry No, it's not sweet at all like they said in the description if you swirl it around Brandon You know Dan if you're getting the same thing I got less of that I Do think it is because we were drinking something else before we started and has nothing no reflection of this actual beer No like doing that
00:04:52
Speaker
Totally different taste. It's a good beer. That cherry flavor is really nice. Like you said, Dan, it's not sweet at all. It's good because it's super, super subtle. Easy, easy drinking. And enough of it's there where it actually stands out in the beer. You'd notice it. It'd be a good beer to sit around in the backyard on a warm summer day to just sip on.
00:05:16
Speaker
I would say like the the aroma is more cherry than the the flavor. Sure. But it's there. But I like the way it smells like. And it is very much it's like.
00:05:31
Speaker
Feel like I get like a I don't know if it's just it's like on my tongue like the beginning of like it's gonna be a tart Yeah, but it's not it kind of stops after it. I wonder if sorry I wonder if it's a the way our brain reacts to it because of the types of cherry beers that we've had in the past that you are expecting like a little bit of a tartness or an Over like overpowering like cherry flavor and it was so it's it's pretty I mean, it's pretty cold can right now but I held my last step in my mouth for a minute and it is like
00:06:01
Speaker
dark fruit cherry. Like I know I said dark cherries that also could be a power of suggestion but it's not like a sweet cherry or you know that kind of thing. I just did what you said you did and I kept in my mouth and got swished it around. I got more of the balance of, there it is my favorite word to never use, balance of like the lager and the cherry flavor. This is this is really good beer. I feel like I want more of these. I got a
00:06:28
Speaker
brief moment of maraschino cherry. Maybe that's in my head, because maybe that's what I was looking for, just to be like, that would be interesting. Maybe your brain is doing that for the cherry flavor. But on the side of my tongue, both sides, it was kind of like that tanginess that you get, that little tart pop that I get from maraschino cherries.
00:06:52
Speaker
Not bad at all. I mean, even without that, this is super approachable. I really like it. I like that. I mean, for me, it's like a dry finish that keeps me wanting
Exploring Belgian Wit Beer Styles
00:07:01
Speaker
to sip more and more. That's why I've already finished my pour. I'm so thirsty. I need more. It was so dry. It's like I drank nothing. That's what dry means, you guys. Yeah, that is a really tasty, really solid beer. Door, county, trolley, red, cherry, lager. I want one barrel more of these.
00:07:22
Speaker
So where does it say where in Door County or is it just one of the I think it says now they can what where in Wisconsin? Madison actually. No, no, they have a location in Madison, Wisconsin and Door County, Wisconsin. Yeah, they have. I think it's in there's more than doors in Wisconsin. So I know that. Yeah, they have a taproom in Madison, which maybe that's where they produce their stuff, too. I don't know. But I think it's like Egg Harbor. That's a lot closer to us.
00:07:49
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it doesn't distinguish, but from my understanding, when you put multiple locations on a can, you produce from both locations.
00:08:00
Speaker
Yeah, like and it's their way of having one label. Yeah, I'm not having to like that's why I like it's produced it when like when I can eat is opened up in Chicago like immediately all of their labels say Chicago like it's on there and I think I think do they have an East they might have an East Coast spot now to
00:08:20
Speaker
Not entirely sure. I don't think so. I think they got a spot in Miami. I know that. Apparently like some are down in Florida because I was looking. I keep looking at their jobs page because then I'm looking to work for Lagunitas. I'm trying to get me a job there. Yeah. Well, that too. But I keep looking to see if they're hiring for the taproom.
00:08:41
Speaker
So, no, but there was listings for like these random jobs in like Miami. So I think they might have something down there. It's pronounced Miami. Oh, sorry. So yeah, the Door County location is an Egg Harbor, which is
00:08:58
Speaker
a little, like two thirds of the way up the little peninsula there. So past Sturgeon Bay, but not to Sister Bay, if you're familiar. If you're familiar with Wisconsin, which us being from the Midwest, now you live here Dan, you are from the Midwest, are.
00:09:16
Speaker
That was really good. Dan, good first choice, good pick. Way to go right off the bat. I thought that'd be a good opener. Yeah. That's fantastic. And yeah, you got to get that. If it's anything, Door County, you got it. Just going back to my thought, the Logonitas page has, the job is like, so the location, or the name of the location of the place that they were hiring for is Cervezieira La Tropical.
00:09:43
Speaker
All right. Lagunitas has something to do with that. Lagunitas, Brandon's looking for a job. But it's not on their website. It's not listed as one of their locations. They have a Seattle location, though. I know that. Dang. You know a lot about Lagunitas, man. I just saw that when I was looking at the page. They could be just sales reps. No, it says, visit us. It says, Petaluma, Chicago, and Seattle. Oh, weird.
00:10:09
Speaker
All right, well, we'll come back to Laguna after we drink this next beer. What's next,
Tasting Hacienda Beer Co.'s Astonishing Foresight
00:10:14
Speaker
Dan? So the next beer is Door County Brewing Company's Little Sister, a wit beer. Also coming in at 5.4%. Never mind, I was dyslexic. 5.4%. Door County Brewing.
00:10:27
Speaker
Is that where we went? I think they have that Pallet Jack IPA. Yeah. Pallet Wrecker. Something like that. Pallet Wrecker. Wait, no. Pallet Wrecker. I think it's Pallet Wrecker. There's a different one. Oh, yeah. No, it is Pallet Jack, actually. It's like a guy writing a Pallet Jack. Pallet Jack, yeah. We drank that when we were at the bar, the Bitter's Bar, where I did my shot. Yeah. Nielsen's Pub. Yeah, Nielsen's Pub. That's a really good sessionable IP. It's like a session IP or a session maybe. Sorry.
00:10:55
Speaker
I went to a restaurant all the way up there and I had the pallet jack IPA. I'm pretty sure their lines were dirty because it just tasted a little off. But I've had that years ago and I liked it. And just to preface this, door counting and brewing is where we stopped on the way up there. That's right. Yes.
00:11:11
Speaker
that long long long lines which is in Bailey's Harbor which is on the southern tip like south of sister bay you guys this is why we do this show we give out all this information that people are dying to know where did those guys go which was why i will read this can oh thank you yes
00:11:30
Speaker
Sister Bey, which Little Sister's name in the beer again, Sister Bey takes its name from the two islands sitting offshore that, well, look alike. And just like real sisters, the little one is not as innocent as she seems. This pale and cloudy wet beer is brewed with equal parts Belgian Pilsner malt and wheat. A blend of coriander, orange peel and other unique spices provide bright citrus and zesty notes. It's intriguing, mischievous, yet easy drinking. I don't know if I would call Little Sister any of that.
00:12:00
Speaker
It made me very uncomfortable. Me too. Is it mischievous in the sense that it's like a 12% wit beer? No. 5.4. Okay. And it's got a little sister riding a bike on the can there. It made me uncomfortable, I gotta be honest. The description.
00:12:20
Speaker
let's try the beer and let that be the judge yeah so door county i did um pop in here i i actually went here when i went to lambo like i don't know four or five years ago did you do the lambo league while you were there i wasn't on the field but it was opening day against the seahawks and when did they want uh the package
00:12:38
Speaker
When was this? Four or five years ago, I don't remember. It was my 30th birthday, so five years ago. How about that? You're not 30. Five. You're not 30, by the way. You haven't even broken 30. So I went there and they have a really cool side patio area, which I didn't pay attention to see if it was still there. The side patio is there. And the side patio. They had a band playing and it was packed when I was there at the time. It wasn't super packed when we went, but there was a lot of people there and there was a band playing. We were like, wow, this is cool. But then we also...
00:13:07
Speaker
Then had to race to get to the ferry. Oh, yeah, if you guys if any of you listeners
Deserted Island Beer Choices
00:13:13
Speaker
do you had there? I haven't even showed the guys. Ooh, but I Slapped a couple stickers. Oh Shit, look at that. There's a hip-hop and A multi-hour step out there. So while I was there and they opened at 11 and I was there like 11 10 So there's one other person in there
00:13:32
Speaker
the building when I was there. We were on our way to the farm, which is like a petting zoo on our way out of Door County. But yeah, so stop by there, grab this, and yeah. What do you guys think of this beer? I haven't even said it yet. Brandon, have you taken it? I did. What do you think of this beer? What the funk? Is it in my head? There's like a funkiness to it. Not a bad funk.
00:14:00
Speaker
Yeah, that's what that's what it yeah, it's it's more for is light bodied and like it's very light but very light on the malt flavor that yeast is coming through heavy coriander Yeah, almost like the coriander itself is almost Lending it to be like a like a spiced beer. Yeah. Yeah, I want to say like a pumpkin spice beer
00:14:22
Speaker
But I have had a couple of pumpkin beers. That was the first thing that came to my head for how heavy this coriander is. It's like this reminds me of like a spice beer. In a mischievous way. Coriander is the number one ingredient listed on there. Oh, it's the number one ingredient in this beer.
00:14:38
Speaker
There was no malt. It was just coriander. We just made a coriander tea and put a shot of vodka in there. So in my head, I was trying to figure it out. And I spaced when Dan was reading it. But I was getting floral notes, and lavender and rose hips are in here. Interesting. I don't know who Rose is. They have ingredients? Things were going to end in her hips. Come on. Oh, maybe you didn't read that part. Oh, boy. So it's coriander, orange peel, a lavender, and rose hips. I feel like I get lavender.
00:15:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's. Hmm. I don't know. I'm still getting a like heavy coriander. I guess you can say that little sister is the lavender girl. I feel like coriander is like up front and then the lavender is like the aftertaste. That's that floral essence that I'm going back in. Yeah. Coriander. And I smell a little bit of the lavender on the nose.
00:15:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's heavy, like yeast, coriander, lavender. Yeast coriander. I guess I don't really...
00:15:42
Speaker
No, I've had stuff with lavender, but I guess I can't pick it out. I do get floral, so maybe that's, I guess that's what it is. I've come to realize that I'm not, oh, not come to realize, I've known for a while, I don't really care for coriander in beers. Which, if you listeners have been listening for a while, you know what that means, in two months, Tony's gonna be on a coriander beer. So here's the thing. I'm waiting for someone to find me a coriander beer, where I'm like,
00:16:09
Speaker
Clark can attest to this. He and I, we have a beer that we brewed a couple times called the Patriotic Lemon Party. It's a wheat beer that have coriander in it. The first time we made it, we were like, wow, this is so good. It's got like lemon in it as well.
00:16:28
Speaker
Uh, and then the next batch, you're like, this is not something that we don't like. It's not good. What did we do wrong? And come to find out that it's, we tried another beer and we're like, it tastes like the fucking beer we made. And it was the coriander and the coriander was throwing us off. So I'm not, I am, I've Belgian whip beers. They're hit or miss for me. This one, I would say even with how strong the coriander is, um, with how light it is and that floral, which I'm assuming is the lavender at the end.
00:16:59
Speaker
I'd have another one of these. I don't know if I would go crazy and drink it all the time, but it's like the Door County trolley lager that I drink all the time. This is good. This one I would categorize as like, interesting. Like, you're not going to find... I mean, I can't think of another beer that's like this that I had. Yeah. I'd want other people to try it for sure,
Overview of Hacienda Beer Co.
00:17:23
Speaker
like in a good way. Like you said, it's definitely under interesting. There's coriander in pedestrian.
00:17:29
Speaker
Is it really? Huh. I guess so. And I think we did it on the original batch too. Yeah. Yeah, I did. But we didn't toast it. Right. So I toast the coriander and drop it in there. But it's not enough. I feel like the malt bill and everything else kind of going on it. The alcohol that's in it.
00:17:52
Speaker
It's masked enough to where you don't notice it. It lends to the flavor. You don't want it masked, but it complements everything really well. Coriander, you end. It has to be done right. And you have to like Coriander. It's not something that you can just throw in and be like, here you go. I want to hear Belgian wit, and I think Coriander.
00:18:17
Speaker
What I was hinting at, so the two breweries that started in 2012, they both kind of have that classic brew pub style, like a wit beer and a cherry lager. Those are very, to me, old school craft beer brew pub. Especially wit beer, I think a wit beer and a lager. I remember the first time I had when 312 was brand new from Goose Island.
00:18:41
Speaker
That was like, whoa, this is amazing. Or Oberon, having Oberon. Even still having Oberon is still a really good wheat beer. But, yo, their wheat beer is not wheat beer, right? Is wheat beer like a spiced wheat beer? I believe, I think wit comes under, I think wit means it's a Belgian wheat beer. I'm not mistaken. Yeah, which would be different than an actual wheat beer. Right. Well, because the wit means wheat. Yeah. Well, but that's lending it's, you know,
00:19:11
Speaker
That goes along with it. It's a wheat beer that is top fermented beer, which is brewed with a large portion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German, Weissen beer, and Belgian wit beer. Other types include Lambic, Brenner Weis, and the Goes. So, or Goes, how do we pronounce it? So yeah, wit beer is a wheat beer. Yeah. We just had the Belgian pills, malts, and wheat. So, yeah. I really do like this though.
00:19:42
Speaker
I don't wanna give people a... Yeah, I don't think, because I don't, I mean, I don't... Yeah, Tony's just a hater. Come on, man. We're being nice this episode, you fucking fascist. This, I like this... Two times.
Tasting Sway Brewing's Lovely Strawberries
00:19:55
Speaker
Two times. This was the first time I said, done this episode. He's not a fascist, you guys. Just because I don't really care for it, like I said, I would definitely drink it again, but I'm not gonna run out and buy it. But I think this will...
00:20:09
Speaker
for a lot of people, this is a beer that would hit or scratch an itch that people are looking for. Yeah. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it. Kind of getting that hit a Coriander at first took me a second, but yeah, I would definitely drink this again more often than some other beers. Dan just poured himself a shot of vodka to get the Coriander out of now.
00:20:34
Speaker
a beer that you can drink in a hot summer day. Yeah. It is a good summer. Actually, these two beers are good summer beers. Yeah. I mean, they're probably, I don't know if they're both seasonal, but Cherry Lager for sure was. I don't think that that said it was seasonal.
00:20:47
Speaker
I mean, I want to get that fucking Pallet Jack IPA from them. Easy drinking IPA. Whoa. Is this with Bruton April, the cherry lager? What's that one? Canned on 421-2022. Oh, nice. So this is... I mean, as a whip beer, though, I'm not... Yeah. Yeah. That's... IPA's are really the one beer that I'm very, like, fucking adamant about getting as fresh as possible. Yeah.
00:21:15
Speaker
I have a hard time with like two month old IPA sitting on the shelf. This is interesting here. I know we were just talking about the Madison location with the one barrel. So this says Brewed and packaged by Door County Brewing Company, Bailey's Harbor, which is where I went and Sheboygan, which is a little South where like three sheeps is. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
00:21:34
Speaker
a little south of Dworkin. So I didn't, I mean, maybe they're brewing out of three sheeps even. Cause I know they have a, I've stopped by there before. I have a pretty big space there. So who knows? I haven't had any three sheep spear in a while. I haven't either. I don't know if they're down here very much. I don't think so. Do I have a hammer? Was that like stout or something? I think so. Yeah. Well, in any case, I think we need to take a break. Um, because
00:21:58
Speaker
I gotta get back to my zen mode and not be angry at you like I always am. It's a coriander, man. You brought it out. No, you brought it out of me. Brought it out of me, Dan. And I was trying to keep it bottled up. Despite all my rage. Still just a rat in a cage. Little bit of a cage.
Atmosphere at Sway Brewing
00:24:01
Speaker
And we're back. Fantastic. We're taking a trip through Door County, Wisconsin. Thanks, Dan. Dan, even though you just passed this bottle to me, I was going to ask you, what are we drinking? All right. I had it pulled up a second ago. It is? It's one of those bottles where we all get a nice pour. I like this. I can pass it back to you. You can have it right in front of you. All right, so this is from Hacienda Beer Co.
00:24:28
Speaker
This is Astonishing Foresight, 6.3% farmhouse ale. It is a blend of one, two, and three year aged, 100% spontaneously fermented beer, originally brewed in 2018, 19, and 20. The beer was brewed with our Baileys Harbor Wellwater, spoiler alert, Pilsner Mall and Wellwater, what? Oh no, I meant that they're in Baileys Harbor.
00:24:50
Speaker
Each batch spent a night in our cool ship to naturally cool and inoculate with local microflora before spontaneously fermenting and aging in oak barrels for over two years. No yeast or bacteria was ever intentionally pitched into this beer. After blending, we naturally re-fermented the beer over many months in the bottle. So this Hacienda Beer Company was founded in 2018 and it is a offshoot of Door County Brewing.
00:25:18
Speaker
Really? Yeah, and that was kind of like their
00:25:22
Speaker
they're gonna do like hazies, sours, like that kind of thing. And so, it's like Hubbard's Caves. Unani. Unani's Hubbard's Caves. Yeah, whatever. We knew what you meant. The first smell that I got from that, I was like, ooh, this is funky, like in a good way, you know, sour funkiness going on. I'm really impressed after hearing the description of how this beer came to be.
00:25:50
Speaker
It's really delicious. Yeah. I'm gonna go on a limb and say that this was, what was the beer that we had from Green Bench? Green Bench. It was something to do with the Decahedrons. Yes, that's right. I don't remember what's going on.
00:26:07
Speaker
As far as beers that you've brought, this is maybe number two of the best beers that, I mean, you've brought some really good beers, but the ones that pop out, like if I went through a list maybe, but like ones that stand out, that one, and then this one. This is really good. This is really, really good. What shocked me on this was how funky it smells, but it's, you're expecting like a sour or something like that, and it's there, but it's not overpowering.
00:26:36
Speaker
really light and smooth and Yeah, dude, this is something starts with the letter B But even like if you let it sit in your mouth you get It feels like you're drinking like a super sour beer Like I get it on the side of my tongues, but it's super juicy. It's super like
00:27:05
Speaker
refreshing. Yeah. Yeah. Um, this is really good beer. It's like a night. It's like, reminds me of like, if you drink a good wine, you know, like, I think that's why I like about wild fermented beers is that are spontaneous fermented beers, like wild ales.
00:27:19
Speaker
There's like this taste that I get is just like, it's like a, it's like almost like natural fruit type, like aftertaste. And that's what I think I really enjoy about it. The fruits are hard for me to pick out, but it's really refreshing. I could, I mean, it was like six and a half percent, you said. That's the highest alcohol of the beer so far. And this is, um,
00:27:42
Speaker
I could easily drink that entire bottle myself. And just the fact that it was all a cool ship to spontaneously ferment it. But they didn't intentionally pitch any yeast. Which a cool ship, you probably know if you're listening, but it's like a giant metal tub that's a couple feet deep maybe at the most and then the beer cools and collects, like they said, all the micro stuff that's floating in the air around the area.
00:28:07
Speaker
sense of terroir as they say in line. And going back to like when he was reading the description it is brewed with Bailey's Harbor well water. Yeah that's right so there's yeah there's a lot of natural things going on with this beer and
00:28:26
Speaker
for them to like this be the the product holy shit and they have just to let you know like this beer occasionally
Beer Rankings and Favorites
00:28:33
Speaker
hacienda gets dropped in chicago my buddy actually gave me this beer for my birthday he got it at beer on the wall nice and i think it's still there um but yeah it's very very good beer might have to get it yeah but so they brew i don't know if they brew out of the same i think they brew out the same one as door county brewing but uh if you go to door county brewing they have like two menus like the door county one and then the
00:28:55
Speaker
The Hacienda one. They're both in the same cooler if you go in there. Fantastic. I might have to stop by a beer on the wall and see if they've got any more of these because I did not. Yeah. Maybe they did. Maybe I did see it because even when you pulled the bottle out, I'm like, oh, that label looks kind of familiar. So they have it. I might grab one. This is really good. I really, really, really like this beer. I could drink a lot of these. Yeah, I've liked a lot of Hacienda stuff that I've had.
00:29:24
Speaker
They do a lot of Saisons and Sours and all that. They also do, like I said, a lot of hazies. I can't remember if I've even had any of their hazies, but I really like what they're doing Saison-wise and Sour-wise. There's like this grape, like, yeah, like a white wine character. Yeah, I think that that's what's standing out the most to me for this beer.
00:29:48
Speaker
Brandon, you're right, like letting it sit in your mouth, you get the tartness of it, but really, like right off the bat, it's like this nice white wine that has a little like earthiness to it. To kind of play off of that, and I don't mean this in a bad way, but I feel like it's low-carb. Like it's not, yeah, it's not super-carb, but so it's almost still like a white wine. This is great, it's a low-carb beer. No, no, that's not what I meant.
00:30:16
Speaker
Yeah, you're absolutely right. There's not a lot of carbonation in this beer. It's lightly carbonated. Which I think, I feel like too much carbonation in this, you would lose some of those subtle characteristics. Yeah, subtle flavors that I'm getting from it. Good job, Dan. Yeah, this one's, yeah. Thanks, and this one, yeah, is more of a. This is my top for the night, I would say. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. No doubt. Jeez.
00:30:46
Speaker
That was really good. It's really good. You can't, you can't like chug it. I feel like it's like a little too like tart complex to like chug it. Yeah. But it's really delicious. It's funny cause you guys have fit like, this is the first, one of the first times, not one of the first times ever, but like normally I'm one of the first people to finish the beer on the show and I,
00:31:08
Speaker
and keeping like I keep taking small sips because I really like it but I also don't want to finish it somewhere in the bottle yeah we'll save it for later yes qv with the fishers party peanuts fishers there's a party in every net
00:31:29
Speaker
We do have Fisher's Party Peanuts, though. Sorry. You know what, planners? You didn't get to us. You didn't reach out. So I'm going to try Fisher's Party Peanuts. Tony's moved on. I'm sorry. Just not that into you.
00:31:42
Speaker
Thanks for coming out there, Dan. I appreciate it. I know. By the way, anybody listening, Dan has not shown us any beer. He's being very secretive and pulling it out. But he's also very much like, let's keep this moving. No, no, no. He was ready to go. It was good. But he does have a bag. He's pulling these out, so we have no idea what we're drinking. All right, Dan. We're ready. We're in the next one. Is this the last one, too? Yeah. This is the last one.
00:32:02
Speaker
So this is from Sway Brewing Company, which was started in 2022 in June. So very new brewery. And this is called Lovely Strawberries. It is a barrel fermented Saison with local strawberries.
00:32:23
Speaker
A blended beer brewed with barley, spelt, wheat, and Wisconsin hops fermented with our house mixed culture in oak barrels before re-fermenting on local strawberries. Brewed and canned by Sway Brewing and Blending in Bailey's Harbor, Wisconsin.
00:32:41
Speaker
This beer is reformented and naturally carbonated in this can. Yeast sediment will form. Chill well before serving. Sway is 100% brewer owned and operated and creates simple, easy-going beers. We believe beers should be an accent to experience, a facilitator of connection, a thoughtful balance, sip of Sway in good company.
00:33:01
Speaker
Well, we are all in good company right now so Time to sip that sway this I have not hated this beer, but I did stop here and Maybe One of my most like in my element breweries. I've ever been to Let me start by saying so sway. What's your element?
00:33:24
Speaker
What would you say is your element Dan? Sway was founded by, I just had his name up and I closed my phone like an idiot. Idiot. Sway was founded by Matt Sampson who is the barrel guy at Hacienda Brewing Company. And he wanted to be able to, he still works at Hacienda and he wanted to be able to sort of like
00:33:50
Speaker
go his own way, sort of make whatever he kind of wanted to. So he does this little side project, not to use the name of a different brewery, but where he brews and ages his beer in the same small little like garage area that Hacienda does.
00:34:07
Speaker
And it's like next to a restaurant that was closed when I was there. But he had, it was their Oktoberfest night. He had a guy playing records, like a DJ, vinyl DJ, was playing records there and had like outdoor patio. There's no indoor area. And the pet brewer is the only one that's there, like serving the beers. Like he was super cool and talking, like talk to me and...
00:34:30
Speaker
The DJ was really cool too. He was playing a lot of stuff from his hip-hop or sampled in hip-hop and stuff like that. Really? He had really new stuff. He had these sticky notes. We're nerding out right now Tony and I. He had these sticky notes on his records and it was a lot of like jazz and funk and jazz funk stuff and then he had sticky notes for every song that was on there that was sampled and like who sampled it and what song it was. That's super cool. I need to do that.
00:34:54
Speaker
Okay, so I haven't had this beer before, and I haven't even taken a sip yet, but go ahead. Brandon, you took a sip, and you smelled it. What do you think while we... It's lovely.
00:35:04
Speaker
It is actually It's it's got that it lends to that funkiness And it's it's tart, but I feel like that tartness is coming from the strawberries and it's got a really good strawberry flavor like that's what's prominent and That's what I I'm enjoying about this. This is this was I
00:35:28
Speaker
Really good. I want everyone to know that Dan lost his mind. I think he crapped his pants when he took a sip. Like I've never seen Dan so excited over a beer while you're reading that description or you're giving your view on it, Brandon. When I was there, I had the Oktoberfest and I had their table beer, which was, most of those were awesome. So I just knew like from the description of this brewery and everything that they brew, it's another
00:35:54
Speaker
kind of like if you're from Chicago like an is-was-esque brewery that does a lot of different types of Saisons and I knew this was going to be awesome just because I knew he worked at Hacienda and that's where he was getting like cutting his chops and
00:36:08
Speaker
Yeah, it's awesome and strawberry is such a difficult fruit in beer for me like to have like beers I've had unless it's like a stout where it's like that like candy strawberry, but this is truly like a fresh strawberry flavor. It's really good is
00:36:26
Speaker
You can smell the strawberry in there. I have to admit, I can't imagine how many strawberries they used on it. The farmer, so I didn't know this while I was there, but there was this older guy there when I was there talking to the head brewer for a long time.
00:36:41
Speaker
And then I saw him post, like the day after I was there, it was the farmer from the, that gave him the strawberries. Oh, wow. Nice. So it was like truly like some guy he knew like from down the street or whatever. Okay. We want a whole bunch of your strawberries. Yeah. It's really good. It is really tasty. The strawberry really comes through. Um, Brett, I get a little bit of Brett little tartness. The,
00:37:07
Speaker
I burnt myself on Cezanne's a long time ago and I haven't really come back. I think I've told you this before and maybe on the show. So to have something like this, as I'm drinking it, it's like, I need to revisit Cezanne. I mean, I know this is very different. Cezanne is such an expansive style. Even if you think of the last beer we just had and then this one. Yeah, exactly. Totally different. And I feel like I need to go back and maybe
00:37:33
Speaker
give sezans another try because this is this is really really really but this goes back into that same argument about like who's arguing when are you on this fucking show well like your your original distaste for loggers and then having some like
00:37:49
Speaker
Good really good loggers, you know just makes you want to go back and I'm kind of in the same camp Like I enjoy a saison it's not my go-to. It's not something I can drink all the time but when you get something like this this is just like it it peaks the interest and like
00:38:04
Speaker
Not that I'm going to go find a random Cezanne. I want to find a beer that plays with fruits. That's a Cezanne that plays with fruits. I could see this being done really well if they used blueberries or other fruits. Yeah, my mind just goes all over the place with fruits. And then it comes all the way back and I'm like,
00:38:26
Speaker
what can we brew like with fruit to get that solid fruit flavor man that is just so freaking good um and it's it's funny because i i keep i'm looking at the cannon i see it says lovely and like everything i want to say it's like it's so lovely
00:38:43
Speaker
But it is man, this is this is a great beer and like I will give a big kudos to that man like good freakin job As someone who's like a preacher of Saison's which I think most people know probably now if you're listening But there's a lot of people that do really bad Saison's to like the overly yeasty Saison's fucking this is such like a delicate like beautiful version of you mean a
00:39:09
Speaker
Lovely. How do we tell Dan that the analytics prove that people tune out when Dan starts talking? That's awful. I shouldn't have laughed at that, but he's right. People do. Okay, real side question based off of what we know that you love, Cezanne. Would you say that that would be like if you had to choose one style? Okay, style of beer.
00:39:35
Speaker
Yeah. You would drink all the time. You're on an island. Yeah. You're one style. That's it. Yeah. Cause Saison's, I mean, like I was just saying, I mean, you could have like a table Saison, which is like 3% alcohol. And then you could have like a dark Belgian Saison. It's like 8% plus. Like there's such a wide. I've had it buried. I've had a dark, like high alcohol. It's from Texas. St Arnold maybe. I don't know. I'll have to remember, but I got it in a beer. I could have been in Jester King. Yeah.
00:40:00
Speaker
I think it was Jester King. They have that heavy metal one. That was really fucking good. I mean it's such a wide sway of beers in that style. Brandon, if you had to choose one style, what would it be? Like a go-to style that you're on an island and whoever put you on this island, that asshole, but it's also very nice to say,
00:40:25
Speaker
You get one beer style to drink the whole time you're here and that's it. Oh God, that's a, dude, that's really fucking tough for me because I feel like I enjoy so many styles and I'm surprised, I surprise myself when I crave something. Like, there's nights I'll sit down, you know, I'm down here doing stuff, whatever, and I'll grab, like, the Colche I have on tap and I'll have that, I'm like, this is good. And then it's like, my mind immediately goes to, I want something hoppy.
00:40:52
Speaker
And then, but there's also nights where it's like, I'll have that. I'm like, I want something barrel aged. I want something this, that.
00:41:00
Speaker
I would, I can eliminate ones that I would not want. I would not, like, if I was on an island, sure as hell I ain't taking a barrel aged beer with me. You idiot, it's hot. Although, those do taste good warm. I don't know about hot, but warm. Yeah, I honestly don't think I could answer that question. Theoretically, like, you can change your mind later, but like, as of right now,
00:41:27
Speaker
would there be a style in mind that you like that I could I could I could just drink and do you mean like do you mean specifically on an island do you mean like like when people say like your island albums or whatever like where it's like this is the only kind of style you're ever gonna have again yeah not that you're like thinking about the environment no no like this is the only thing you're gonna have I go deep salt water hot
00:41:48
Speaker
Pilsner or pale ale? Got Jack Sparrow missing the rum. Like, yeah, you know what? You kind of like pale ale probably would be because it's, you know, there's nothing like there's a lot of flavors you can get from pale ale and there's a lot of ways you can a lot of ways you can play with them. But I feel like that would be like pretty good. Like I could live with myself if I had pale ale.
00:42:15
Speaker
So recently someone we'd, I don't know who I was talking to, he was my wife, about like if I had to, if I was on an island and had to eat one food for the rest of my life, I used to say pizza. Because pizza, you can, it's universal. You can put like any toppings on pizza. It wasn't like, yeah that's kind of what I'm talking about. Like it's like when you say pale ale. You're stuck on an island with a pizza maker or a pizza machine and a bunch of dough.
00:42:41
Speaker
It's a pizza vending machine. And a garden. But like you said, there's different types of sazons that you can have. Pale ale. Pale ale is across the board, like a pale ale. But there's fun things you can do with a pale ale. You have like a more West Coast leaning, like American pale ale. Right. There's a whole bunch of stuff you can do. I'm sure there's a few. Belgian pale ale. You can call things a pale ale and then be three Floyds. And it's like. Calling you out again, three Floyds. But I ended up changing it to sandwiches, by the way, just so you guys know. Because sandwiches, I feel like a sandwich is more universal than a pizza, where I literally can like,
00:43:11
Speaker
Sandwich is the ultimate Meal ice cream sandwich. Yeah, I should boom look damn Okay, you've just redeemed at least one episode of me hating you right there. Good call So I would say that as far as style goes for me. I Probably paleo is is is very close. I would honestly and I kind of like
00:43:35
Speaker
had to think about it as I asked you guys, like I kept playing in my head what it would be. It would be IPA. Because there are different versions of IPAs that I can go with, like almost more so than pale ale. You know what I mean? I do love pale ales. Pale ale is probably my favorite, I mean we've talked about it too. Pale ale is probably my favorite style of beer to drink, but
00:43:56
Speaker
For the varieties that you can get from an IPA, double, triple, hazy, cold IPA. I mean, there's brute IPAs. Is that something? Hazy, our milkshake IPA. There's literally like... I know.
00:44:13
Speaker
There's literally a shit ton of different IPAs. I like the hoppiness. Yeah, and it's funny that you said that because IPA was what I was thinking of. But in my head, I was thinking just IPA, I was like, oh, I can't have a double or a triple. No, no, no. It stopped. If I could have that, then I'd probably go IPA. It also would take in the other sub-styles. And I'm glad when Dan had said Cezanne, he goes, well, yeah, there's different Cezannes you could have. You could have a dark Belgian Cezanne or whatever.
00:44:41
Speaker
So, that's kind of what I meant. Because then I could have said like, Belgian. To go from like, you know, double, triple quads. Here's the thing though. Here's the thing for me. But even then, I wouldn't take that. There are times in my life, and I'm just playing devil's advocate on brain inside here, but there's times in my life where I'm like,
00:45:02
Speaker
I don't want an IPA. There's never been a time in my life where I wouldn't be like, I don't want paleo. Paleos are good all the time. Yeah, that's true. You could have a fruit of paleo. Yeah. Paleos are the best. Yeah, I mean, that's why I went paleo.
00:45:20
Speaker
You know, but, you know, but then thinking about it like the style wise of IPA. Yeah. You could go, you know, that, but, um, I'll stick with that a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. I think, I think that's a, that's the right choice. Brandon and I are right. You know what? I'm not even going to, I am not even going to dignify that with the response Dan.
Closing Remarks and Social Media Call to Action
00:45:41
Speaker
But I will say thank you for doing this episode, bringing it together and grabbing all these beers. They were all very good. Overall, I would, except for those. What order would you put them in? If somebody walked up on the street? Fuck, that's tough. I've got an order. I would say, what was the last one we had?
00:46:05
Speaker
the lovely strawberries. No, no, the one after, before that one. Oh, haciendas. Which one's the haciendas? The astonishing foresight. The astonishing foresight, the astonishing foresight, the lovely strawberry, the cherry lager, and then the little sister bell joint. Agreed. That's a great order. I...
00:46:25
Speaker
So the one and two are really close. I think I put the lovely strawberries ahead. Yeah. When you put your pants over it, I was like, that's his number one. I mouthed. Holy shit. Yeah. Like he threw himself like back physically. I really, yeah, he died and then came back. Honestly, I've never seen Dan react to that. No, that was that. That and the green bench.
00:46:47
Speaker
I'd have to really think about which one. Whoa, damn, throwing out some early Maltese information right there. But, anyways, anyways. Sorry, I may have some more fissure notes. Yeah, those two. And then I'd have to honestly think about the cherry and the...
00:47:00
Speaker
the wit. Really? Yeah. The wit was so unique to me. The cherry was like very subtle. So it was kind of like, you don't really get it. It's really delicious beer. You can drink a lot of it. The wit though was very like unique. So what's it going to be? I'll go with the wit and then the cherry, but they're one and two are really close and then three and four are really close. One and two are very close for me as well. Like that strawberry was
00:47:26
Speaker
Really, really good. I just never know what you're going to get with the strawberry beer. I'm always nervous. And they did it very well. Yeah, I was like, oh, whoa. I also think that the experience you had there kind of helps play into it, because it seemed like you had a nice time there, and it's a good place.
00:47:38
Speaker
It was. And I actually was, I was like chit-chatting with these two guys who were just like standing on the side and they were, one of them was a packaging guy for Hacienda and the other guy was like a barrel warehouse guy for Hacienda. So it was like, it was just like a cool little experience I got to have there. Well Dan, you did a fine job. Thank you, thank you. You get to keep your job here at the malting hour for another month. I passed.
00:48:01
Speaker
You did. He's coming with us to Denver, so we can't wait. Well, I was just going to say, at this point, by the time this album, this episode's out, we've already been to the Great American Beer Fest, so I was going to say you should come and find us, but I hope you found us. I hope you found us at the Great American Beer Fest, and we're going to have
00:48:24
Speaker
little recap episode and hope you guys followed us and on our adventure I'm gonna assume it was a good time yeah look for uh I'll be posting on Instagram I'm sure they will too it's where our this episode is out after we've already been there yeah you're right about it no jeez Dan hey can you edit that you just lost half a month I forgot you don't shut up okay you know what
00:48:47
Speaker
We're back to being addicted, Dan, from here on out. Dan sucks. This episode was weak. Uh, Brandon, love you, man. Love you too, bud. Dan, get it together. Thank you.
00:49:01
Speaker
This has been The Malting Hour. Be sure to follow us on all social media by searching The Malting Hour and at themaltinghour.com. You can also follow us individually on social media. Brandy can be found on Instagram as bmdub81, on Twitter, bdub81, and on Untapped as bdubdrinksbeer. Tony can be found on Instagram and Untapped under Ace of Hope Chicago. On Twitter, The Ace of Hope Chicago. Clark can be found as Clarkowski on all three.
00:49:29
Speaker
Dan can be found on Instagram as hip underscore underscore hops and hip hops on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe, like, and rate the show on your preferred podcast listening platform. Until next time, cheers from all of us at The Multihower.