Legal Beer

New Belgium Eric’s Ale

Though this ale only showed up on our local shelves recently it was apparently the third release of New Belgium’s Lips Of Faith Series. This ale was the handy work of it’s namesake Eric Salazar who decided to play with their Belgian Style Blond Ale; aging it in Oak, adding peach juice & Brettanomyces yeast to create a unique sour ale. I was happy to find this bottle at The Four Firkins but it should be pretty widely available right now. Pours a completely translucent light copper hue that borders on peach with three fingers of clean white head that settles within less than a minute. Small bubbles continuously trickle from the bottom of the glass popping on the surface. Clean assertive tartness followed by gentle peach esters, very light malts and just a touch of alcohol. Smooth but potent sour esters remind me of cranberry & tangerine tannins and contrast with sweet peach, gentle malt esters, light bitterness and very subtle alcohol. Bright sour notes are very enjoyable and play very well with the sweet peach and smooth mouthfeel created by the oak aging. The 7% ABV of this beer is occasionally noticed but overall an after thought in this delicious brew. Body is on the light side of medium making this complex brew go down very easily. If you enjoy clean, full flavored sour ales this one is definitely worth your time. Additionally if you are new to the style this one isn’t a bad stepping stone as the fruit characteristics and oak aging make this ale very palatable for a tart brew. I would happily drink many more bottles of this brew, and might just have to. Give it  a shot and ride your bike.

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Charatible Bike Rides & Some Fun Beer Posts

Tiz the season for bike riding and as June approaches it is the time for me to heckle people for money, for a good cause of course. I don’t tend to enjoy asking people for money but these two charities are certainly worth your investment. Every year I participate in the Tour de Cure for the American Diabetes Association and the MS150 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The Tour de Cure locally is a 62 mile ride around the Twin Cities and nationally raised almost $17 Million last year to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. The MS150 is a two day, 150 mile ride from Proctor to White Bear Lake, Minnesota that has a goal of raising $2 Million locally this year to help cure Multiple Sclerosis and help support those suffering from MS. Both are wonderful rides that are very well supported with local variants in many cities. If you are interested in cycling and have a passion for any of these causes I would highly recommend you see what they are doing in your community as not only will you be able to help others but also have a lot of fun yourself. If you are able I would greatly appreciate of your support in our fund raising efforts. To donate to my team(s) please check my Donations page and follow the links there. Many thanks!

Back to the beer. Here are a few recent local posts that I have enjoyed. First from the Heavy Table and local author of  Land of Amber Waters; Doug Hoverson’s Let’s grab a beer chart. A handy and humorous guide to help you get what you really want to drink in times of distress.

Full Size Here

Less humorous but equally interesting was this recent post from Twin Cities Buisness Magazine complete with various statistics including barrel production and number of employees from almost all of the local breweries and brewpubs in Minnesota; in fact even some I didn’t realize existed. See the link above for original posting. I have copied the post in it’s entirety below in case they decide to break the link.

Ranked by barrels produced in Minnesota | List information taken from the 2009-2010 Business Information Guide
Source: Company representatives and Web sites. If you were not contacted for this list but would like to be in the future, please contact research@tcbmag.com.
*See note at bottom of list.

Note: Chatterbox Pub, The Herkimer Pub & Brewery, and Pig’s Eye Brewing Company, LLC, do not appear on this list because they would not provide ranking criteria. Crispin Cider Company and McCoy’s Public House do not appear because all products are brewed in another state.
• Finnegans, Inc., is a contract brewer that gives all profits to local charities.
• Blue Diamond Brewing Company and Lift Bridge Beer Company’s products are contract brewed.
• Vine Park Brewing Company operates exclusively as a brewery in which customers create their own beer on the premises.

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