It's been awhile since an update, been going crazy brewing up supplies for summer and even managed to crank out a few new ones.

This was our first brew that went through the oak aging process so I was a little nervous with how it'd turn out. Nothing to worry about as it ended up being one of the best brews we've ever done. Besides adding a myriad of flavors, the oak does an amazing job of really smoothing or mellowing out a beer, especially helpful with brews that have higher ABV's. It turned out so well that we'll be adding a few more different types to try, with one in the fermenter now and another to start brewing in a few weeks. For the first two batches we're using oak spirals that have been soaked or marinated with Scotch Bourbon, it doesn't to ABV as so little is soaked into the wood, but enough to infuse some more interesting or complicated flavors. Going forward we'll be getting a small quantity of oak barrels for some brews that require a much longer aging process.

As the colder you can get an environment the stronger the brew will end up being, this would have been a fun project last winter when it was hitting 40 below. Basically you're freezing the brew and as it thaws, the initial liquid is a more concentrated ABV, leaving behind a large ice crystal. For this brew, it was done two times completely and on third it would only freeze a small amount, hitting the max ABV for the temperature. While the higher ABV can be nice, it's still very smooth even at 27%, the downside is it uses up a ton of beer in the freezing process, leaving you with about 15% of what you started with. Still, it was an interesting brew to make and now have a fun project to look forward to during the frozen, barren parts of winter. 

Enjoy the new brews and have a great weekend!

Cheers,
The Brewing Loony

​Come on down to try it out with one of the 19 different craft brews on tap!

Stouts and porters are perfect for winter. They're a bit heavier than most but with the flaked oats or barley, have a nice, smooth finish like no other. The Shoepack adds an added twist with hints of vanilla and chocolate added to the mix. 

Come on down to try one out for yourself, with either a flight, pint, or growler to take home!

Cheers,
The Brewing Loony

We have a special treat this Friday with David Allen stopping by from North Dakota while on a brewery tour through North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.

He's played here once before and it was blast, we're excited to have him back playing selections from his latest album, Lovers are Liars, Gamblers are Thieves.

Cheers,
​The Events Loony

The Koochiching County Historical Society is putting on their fourth event this winter and it's an update or expanded version of Women in the Wild, highlighting some of heroic efforts and endeavors that women were involved with in the early days of Koochiching County.

More info about the event: "March is Women's History Month and to celebrate, we are bringing back our "Women in the Wild" topic! It was a huge hit last year and our single largest exhibit ever made for History on Tap. Join us as we celebrate and talk about brand new faces; some may be familiar to you and others you likely have never known! We will also be diving into topics that include the social impact women have had on Borderland's society as well as their contribution to major industry. Our discussions will dig up conversation that hasn't been talked about much before--including the contribution, controversy, and success of women in the paper mill, commercial fishing, and logging industries!" Sign up at the History on Tap event page.

See you on Thursday...

Cheers,
​The Events Loony

Our raspberry brew was changed up a bit with the last batch, going from a reddish caramel malt ale to a lighter version loaded with wheat and hints of Chamomile.

Now available on tap and for growlers to go, come down and try one out for yourself or bring some home to share with friends.

Cheers,
​The Brewing Loony

I'm happy to announce that we now have our 2nd NA brew now on tap with the Gingebiru Ginger Beer NA. Using only ginger and lemon for flavor it's also considered a Gruit style without having any hops.

Note that when trying one out, it'll taste a bit different than the common ginger beer that you're familiar with. This is from two key ingredient differences, the first is the traditional ginger beer uses sugar versus we use malt. This makes ours more of light amber color and provides additional flavor from the malt versus the relatively flavorless sugar. The second is we added a number of peeled, sliced lemons to the mix, giving more of a citrus balance to the ginger, which we were thinking would make it a better summer beverage.

Also of note is this is our second NA brew available and now on tap. We've found the NA brews to be much more popular that we originally thought so an expanded offering made sense. This is mostly from people coming out to have a regular brew, but wanting to stay out longer and still be ok to drive, so having one of our NA brews is preferred to some of the more standard NA options such as soda. Not sure yet if we'll do a third NA style or not but open to suggestions.