OTAN Olutta!

A small brewery in Finland has launched a NATO-themed beer to mark the Nordic country’s bid to join the Western military alliance.

Olaf Brewing's OTAN lager features a blue label with a cartoon version of a beer-drinking medieval knight in metal armor emblazoned with NATO’s compass symbol.

The beer's name is a play on the Finnish expression “Otan olutta,” which means “I’ll have a beer,” and the French abbreviation for NATO, which is “OTAN.”

CEO Petteri Vanttinen ... described the new lager as having “a taste of security, with a hint of freedom.”

Read the whole story at NBCDFW.

A nice day for the Beer Dais

 60°, fairly sunny...a nice day for outdoor beers 

Sadness and Fun in Saint Paul

I've had some Tin Whiskers canned beers, and they've been pretty tasty. On Friday, I finally paid them a visit to have some in person.

The menu was kinda limited, but they had a fair Vienna Lager, a magnificent Sweet Stout, an excellent Imperial Stout, and a real good barrel-aged version of the same.

Now the sad news: Tin Whiskers is closing next Saturday, May 7, after eight years in business. So if you haven't had a chance to try their beers yet, or you want to enjoy them one more time, you'd best do it soon. We picked up three crowlers of the Imperial Stout to savor later.

Google Maps sent us in a bit of a circle on the short drive to MetroNOME Brewery, but we got there anyway. This is a new place that uses money from their beer sales to fund musical instruments, lessons, and education for underprivileged youth in the Twin Cities Metro Area.

Nice place, fun people, good beers with great music-themed names. My favorite of the bunch was the Acoustic EPA, a 5.1% abv "extra pale ale" with a huge orange-citrusy hop flavor and a real nice bitterness backed by a graham cracker maltiness. But all of the beers were pretty tasty.

Next stop: Saint Paul Brewing, not far away. (There are a lot of breweries in and near downtown Saint Paul.) This is a spectacular place in the old Hamm's Brewery complex.

Their beer garden is in the now-outdoor ruins of the old ice house.

They had a couple excellent beers here too. Smoke on the Lager is nicely smoky and a little sweet. Hidden Passage is an English-style IPA, biscuity and fruity.

11 Wells Distillery is right next door, so we stopped in there for a Rye.

And finally and as usual, Aegir Brewing is on the way home, and as it happens, they have a new beer on tap. #11031 Unsolicited Deck Pic is a pretty tasty Hazy IPA, as Hazy IPAs go.

And Moose and I went back to Aegir on Saturday for a couple glasses of Shield Maidens Blonde just for good measure.

Weekend Beers

The weather was kinda crap this weekend, so it seemed like a good idea to drink more beer.

Here are a few more from nearby Lupulin Brewing:

#11005 Lupulin La Flama Blanca is a real tasty, clean, hoppy beer. Citrusy, floral, with a nice bready maltiness.

#11006 Lupulin Straight Hash Homie is a pretty typical hazy IPA. Thick, slick, and fizzy.

And finally, #11007 Lupulin Adult Sophistication is a nice Barleywine, nicely complex and really dangerous at 12.5%abv.

Back at home, we knocked back a few cans on Saturday.

#11008 Toppling Goliath Pompeii is an unusually tasty hazy IPA, hopped with Mosaic. Fruity and citrusy and reasonably well balanced, it's definitely a cousin of pseudoSue. We found the can at Northbound Liquor in Elk River MN.

A lucky find at the Costco in St. Cloud was this can, #11009 Surly Barrel-Aged Darkness 2022, an incredibly tasty complex strong beer,. Its 12% abv is very well hidden. We saved a second can to taste next year.

Three more from Northbound, starting with #11010 Warrior Valkyrie. It's a 5.5% abv Golden Honey Ale. Good beer, a little sweet for me.

I think I tasted the next one during an Omaha Beer Week event a couple years ago, but I must not have written it down. #11011 Stone Fear. Movie. Lions. is not a bad beer, as hazy Double IPAs go. Fruity Pebbles and citrus hops. The beer's name comes from the what3words version of the location of Stone's Richmond VA brewery.

And one more from Warrior, #11012 Warrior Samurai Imperial Red. Big, and yet kinda thin. Huge fruity hops and dark caramel malt. Finishes more balanced than it starts.

It seems like we just made a beer run, and yet the tasting fridge stands empty once more.

Tag des deutschen Bieres

April 23 is German Beer Day, the anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot.

And here am I with no German beers in the house.

Schlechte Planung.

Plans (or ideas, anyway)

 

A nice day for a beer or six

 Forty degrees and sunny yesterday, so we got out of the house to enjoy the day.

First stop: Hayes' Public House, about 45 minutes away in Buffalo MN. Good beers in a fun Irish-type pub setting. They've also got firepits and tables out front, and a patio on the roof with a great view of Buffalo Lake.

I'm a big fan of smoke beers, so I went straight for the Folliard's Smoked Irish Ale, pulled from a cask.

It's a Real Tasty Beer, although it wasn't all that smoky. A beer engine really makes for a smooth, creamy beer, but CO2 does release the aromas more efficiently.

I'm also a big fan of Schwarzbier, and they just happened to be pouring their Black Lager.

Medium body, chocolatey, and malty. Another real good beer. (That's Paris and Choo waiting for me to join them in the raising of the glasses; Kathy is just off-camera to the right.)

Heading back in the general direction of home, and after some Navigator misnavigation, we were at Bauernhof Klause Tap Haus & Bourbon Room in St Michael MN. There's a surprising number of good beers on tap, and an even more suprising number of bourbons on the shelf! Kinda spendy, but you have to pay for quality.

I've always said that a great name sells the beer, so I was drawn immediately to WarPigs Waking the Witch. I'm pretty sure this is brewed by 3 Floyds, but they might contract it out to Summit. In any case, it's a terrific Black IPA, malty and roasty and grassy.

The shot of Whistlepig Old World Cask Finish Rye 12 year required a chaser, so I ordered a nice, clean Third Street Minnesota Gold. Billed as a premium lager, it was refreshing and surprisingly flavorful.

We're running short on beer at home, so we made a quick stop at Northbound Liquor to stock up. No idea what we bought, though; it's still out in the car.

Finally, not that we needed a reason, but Aegir Brewing is right on the way home. They didn't have anything new on tap, but I enjoyed several Oaked Whiskey Rye IPAs and Allfathers Porters.

And now, a restful Sunday!