Lakefront Brewery - Wisconsinite Summer Weiss

BEER REPORT CARD - Lakefront Brewery - Wisconsinite Summer Weiss - 4.2%

So I was stopping by the liquor store here in Brookings on my way home from work today to decide what beer to evaluate tonight, and came across a brewery that I have not heard of. I know I'm new, but I have not heard of Lakefront Brewery and was interested in trying a beer from Wisconsin with "local ingredients".

Brookings is currently in a 4 day heat advisory, so when I saw this was a Summer Weiss I was hoping it would be light but still have a lot of flavor, which sounded good because of how warm it was outside.

When pouring into a glass, it actually looked more clouded than I expected and had good carbonation. A very sweat type of aroma, and on my first sip can definitely get a sweat cider taste. Aside from the cider I don't really get a lot of flavors out of this beer, seems more dull and bland than I had hoped. I can't see myself having more than a six pack of these, but might be good for those people that into the sweat summer type beers. In the end, this is a little more sweat than I like, but it's really hard for me to say that I ever "hate" a beer (very few fall into this category), so I feel it was average overall.

Overall Grade: C

Summit - Saga India Pale Ale

BEER REPORT CARD - Summit - Saga India Pale Ale - 6.4% ABV

As I'm still on an IPA kick right now, I saw this at the liquor store tonight and being a fan of Summit and never hearing of it before, I was very excited to try it.

"Our Condolences To The Smelling Impaired", this is what comes up on the Summit website about this beer and they aren't kidding. As soon as I opened the bottle I am overwhelmed by the smell the hops......and it's awesome. When I poured it into my glass, I was kind of surprised at how light the body looks for it being a strong IPA and fairly heavy in alcohol content. I do really like how Summit provides a scale for their beers if you were to research it ahead of time (which I did not):

On my first sip, I immediately catch that strong, bitter hop taste and while it may have caught me off guard, I really liked it. It's almost like drinking whiskey straight, it gets easier after every sip.

Not an actual picture of my wife - my contract
states that I have to say that

Knowing that my wife is a) curious of new beers I bring home, and b) doesn't like IPA's because of how bitter it is, I couldn't help but offer her some saying that she should try it. She took the tiniest sip and immediately gave the scrunched up, bitter beer face look. I wanted to act shocked and concerned, but all that came out was laughter as she immediately put the glass back down on the counter.....guess we'll try next time.

There is a slight fruity flavor, but is definitely overpowered by the hops. I was eating some spicy foods as well and found out that the hoppier the beer is, the less it helps with spicy foods, so if there was a grade for that, it would be an F.

I do like beers with a good hop taste, while this did have that (and I did enjoy the beer) it was almost a little too much after a couple, especially with food, so that is the only part that is keeping this from a higher grade.

Overall Grade: B

Anchor Brewing - Liberty Ale

BEER REPORT CARD - Anchor brewing - Liberty Ale - 6.0% ABV

Matt's Review


I'm starting to really like the steamed beers from Anchor, I've been reading about them in different publications and figured it was something that wasn't available in South Dakota. I was very happy the other day when trying to decide which beer to get at the liquor store and saw some different beers from Anchor and immediately wanted to try them all.


Blame it on the marketing side of me, but it seems like when people grab a bottle of a beer they have never had before, one of the first questions they have is, can I twist this off or do I need a bottle opener? Sometimes this results in a first attempt at trying to twist it open, which either works or lead you to keep trying harder until your cut up your fingers. Well there is no secret with this beer when you look at the top of this beer...."Use Opener".





You can tell there is something different with the natural carbonation, not too thick but doesn't affect the taste of the beer at all. The aroma and body smell/look just like an amber ale and has an orange hint to it. I really like overall taste and get the hop flavor towards the end but it finishes really smooth. This is a great summer beer where it's light enough to have more than one, and still has a lot of favor.

Overall Grade: B+

Tallgrass Brewing - 8-Bit Pale Ale and Sand Creek Brewing - Oscar's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

BEER REPORT CARD - Tallgrass brewing - 8-bit pale ale - 5.2% ABV; Sand creek brewing - oscar's oatmeal chocolate stout - 4.5% abv

Doing a double report card this week since I missed out last week.

Matt's Review


Last week I had the 8-Bit Pale Ale from Tallgrass Brewing at 5.2% ABV. I had heard about this beer from a couple other friends, but was immediately curious when I saw the can looking like an old Atari with a Pac Man like appearance. The first thing I noticed about this beer was the really strong hop taste (which I loved), there wasn't much for a hop aroma however. Even though I've been into beers lately with a really strong hop taste, this one hit the spot but don't think I could drink too many in one sitting because of how strong the hops are.
Overall Grade: B-

The next beer that I just opened tonight, is the Oscar's Oatmeal Chocolate Stout from Sand Creek Brewing at only 4.5% ABV. It definitely has that chocolaty smell to it, and didn't seem to have too much head/carbonation when pouring it into the glass, which seems to be normal among stouts. I typically do not like dark stout beers, but I'm not sure if it's the low ABV, but this one really finishes smooth with a sweet taste that I really enjoyed. I figured this would be a good one to try while down in the man cave because the basement gets really cold and a dark stout would taste better. However, I don't think this would be terrible outside on a warm day, not saying I'd drink this while grilling, but doesn't really have that dark beer feel to it that would scare off summer drinking.
Overall Grade: B

Widmer Brothers - Pitch Black IPA

Beer Report Card - Widmer Brothers Pitch Black IPA - 6.5% ABV

In an effort to expand our tastes of different beers, Blake and I will be doing a combination of PTI mixed with beer tasting.....Beer Report Card!

Each week on Monday we take turns buying either new beers on the market or a beer we haven't tried yet, and evaluate it, then give it an overall grade. Since this is our first "beer evaluation", you'll have to bear with us if you are more seasoned at doing this, but I welcome all comments and suggestions for what to look for when evaluating a beer.

Matt's Review:

I am not usually one for darker beers, however I do like IPA's so I was very interested to try this beer. Definitely get a dark roast smell right away when opening the bottle. Inside each bottle cap has something to "cheers" towards that I thought that was pretty cool. On the bottle it says "Smooth, Dark and Hoppy", it is definitely smoother than most dark beers I've had and no doubt that it has a dark body from looking at the picture. However I did not get as much of a hop flavor as I had hoped. We had this beer while grilling out for Memorial Day and it's actually getting kind of cold and windy outside so it's not as bad having a dark beer for this occasion. Overall I did enjoy this beer more than most dark beers, just wished there was more of a hoppy taste.
Overall Grade: B

Blake's Review:

I typically enjoy medium to moderate dark beers for many occasions. My taste for hops has noticeably increased dramatically over the past year to 2 years. That combination had me pretty excited to try the Pitch Black IPA from Widmer Bros., whom I have been a fan of for quite some time. That said, I very much enjoy this beer for a noticeable roast flavor initially that blends right into the hop character that certainly isn't overbearing for an IPA. I would rate this beer very good for smoothness and for a blend of dark with some hops, I very much enjoy the beer start to finish. The hops hold on to my taste buds just long enough to at least warrant its IPA classification and the blend is incredibly well done.
Overall Grade: A-

Stuck Fermentation

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to apologize for the lapse of posting and everything as of late. No, we're not having troubles with our yeast or wort. Simply unfortunate personal delays that have caused the world renowned Brew-A-Palooza to be delayed for a few weeks. Blake and I will have to circle the wagons again and determine when we can give this another shot. I will definitely be making another post later this week on something actually beer related, but wanted to get this posted out to let everyone know.

The 3 Month Event Known As "Brew-A-Palooza"

Hoffman and I are looking to get more familiar with the whole brewing experience, so we are introducing an event known as "Brew-A-Palooza".

What is "Brew-A-Palooza"?

Brew-A-Palooza consists of homebrewing 5 different kinds of beers over the course of 3 months. We will be deciding the first beer, and then asking friends to pick what beer they want us to make next via Facebook, Twitter and possibly even Google + (if anyone is on there). We are not looking at refining a recipe for any certain beer, but want to try some crazy recipes and just learn more about the brewing process in general.

How can I be a part of Brew-A-Palooza?

We will be creating a public facing Google calendar so everyone can see when we are brewing, transferring, bottling and of course....when the beer is ready to drink (this is my first time creating a public Google calendar, so let me know if you are having issues seeing it). The reason we wanted to have this calendar available to everyone, is because we want people to join us on this experience. If you have ever wanted to learn more about the brewing process or just love beer in general, you are definitely welcome to join us at any event!

The actual brewing process can easily be done in a day, what makes this challenging is the amount of time that the beer has to be in the primary and secondary fermenter, then letting the beer condition in the bottles for a couple weeks, and what we've found out to help, is having the beer kept cold a couple weeks before drinking it (this seems to really help on the overall finish of the beer).

When does Brew-A-Palooza start?

We just ordered our first beer, the Boundary Waters Wheat from Midwest Brewing, along with some additional equipment that we will need to pull of 5 different kinds of beers in 3 months. We thought what better way to start this whole event, then this Saturday on Cinco de Mayo! On this day we are looking at inviting over all our friends over to help in the brewing process of our first beer. To help kickoff of this event, along with actually brewing the beer we are looking at holding a blind-taste testing competition. The winner of this competition will get a free six-pack of the beer we are making that day (when it's ready of course).

Blind Taste Test Competition

This will be a fun way to test everyone's taste buds and see how well you can distinguish one beer from the next. Right now I'm thinking of having different categories, see if you can actually tell the difference in the domestic beer contest between Miller Lite, Coors Light and Bud Lite. Then we can have a section for craft beers and see if you can tell the difference between Red Ales, IPA's, Wheat Beer's, etc.

Campfire and grilling if weather permits

Along with all of the beer activity going on, we will be grilling outside (weather permitting) then ending the day with drinking different kinds of craft beers over a campfire.

Let me know if you are interested in coming over! Just comment below or email me at: pfieffer44@gmail.com.

How can I follow Brew-A-Palooza?

Over the course of these 3 months, I will be documenting each brewing process on this blog. I will be keeping everyone updated with pictures on how the beer is looking during fermentation, bottling and what it looks like when poured in a glass. I will also be letting everyone know about upcoming events and what we have been learning through the process.

So make sure to check back to this blog often!

Our Current Setup

Just so that everyone knows what Blake and I are working with, I thought I'd give you a quick overview of our current supplies (keep in mind that we just started).

So Blake and I originally started off with purchasing a home brewer's kit from Midwest Supplies, and have added some equipment to our arsenal over the past year.
Summary of equipment:

Home Brewing Equipment stored down in my Man Cave

• fermenting plastic bucket (that came with the kit and basically acts as a place to store equipment now)
• bottling bucket
• 2 glass carboys (with handles); 1-6.5 gallon, 1-5 gallon
• 5 gallon brew kettle
• bottle dryer
• steel spoon
• electric thermometer
• 12 and 22oz bottles
• bottle capper
• siphon equipment
• hydrometer (with a thief)
• air locks
• carboy brush
• cleaning stuff

The "heating contraption"

We recently purchased the 22oz bottles to help save time on bottling day and it has been awesome. Just have to clean/rinse about half the amount of bottles has definitely saved time. Right now we are looking and saving up money for a kegging system, but aren't quite there yet. During our last beer, Hoffman went out and purchased our latest gem....the fryer. Apparently this heating contraption speeds up the process by being able to raise the temperature of our wort faster than our electric stove tops....who knew?

During the last brew day where we used this "heating contraption", we did have a slight boil over, due to what sounds like a common brewing day problem....drinking too much beer while brewing. One of the joys of brewing day is getting together with friends and having some different kinds of beer while making beer, does it get any better?!

This equipment does get transported between Blake's house and mine. Each house seems to have it's advantages, and makes us both feel like we're a part of this brewing process. The house that gets decided upon is where we end up brewing, transferring between fermenters,  and bottle the beer, then we divide up all the bottles between each other.

One of the main problems with this, is that Blake lives in Volga, SD. Those of you that do not know where this is, it's roughly 3,405,345 miles from any other town.

Apparently Google Maps says Volga is only about 7 miles away from Brookings, this can't be...

Putting the Hoff in Anderhoff

Welcome to the glitzy world of Anderson (Matt) and my (Blake) efforts for publicizing our adventures into homebrewing. As we've started to dive into making our own brews it has become quite apparent how vast the knowledge base really is for home brewing. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why we're here.

I've considered myself a pretty unbiased beer drinker for quite some time. More or less I enjoy trying new things, and I thoroughly enjoy beer, so I figure it's my duty to try any and all variations to quench my curiosity (pun intended). Through all this experimentation I would say my taste in beer has expanded quite noticeably and it's not likely I would come across a beer I can't enjoy (fruity beers like Leiny's Berryweiss are the exception). It wasn't until Anderson started actually pushing the idea of homebrewing that I started to truly consider it. I had been told I should get into it in college, after college, etc.. but never really thought about it seriously. I can honestly say I'm very glad we decided to give it a shot.

Given my typical laid back attitude and personality of a borderline hooligan, most of my friends don't get to see my math/science geek side (and few of them ever will). I didn't even allow the inner geek to come out while getting a degree in engineering. Perhaps because I was too busy consuming the golden bubbly nectar of life to apply it in the classroom. But as Anderson started leaning on me to learn the science behind beer making, I instantly found an application for my inner geek to expose itself. Seriously, who would have thought so many calculations, experiments, lab work, etc. could result in a creation so fantastic. (Anderson created a monster)

So I hope to get this blog up and rolling, connecting with the rest of the group of crazies that enjoy this process (and result) as much as we do. I look forward to learning from the people who have been doing this longer than myself, sharing stories, and hopefully even sharing some beers with other homebrewers and beer lovers.

Remember, Always Drink Responsibly. Unless, of course, your friends don't own a phone/camera/other recording device.

Intro post: Who am I?

Hello everyone,
My name is Matt Anderson and it was about one year ago that a friend and I bought our first home brewing kit. We have always loved beer but really started to like the idea of being able to have a great beer and say "We made that!".  Last year also happened to be my first year as a Dad and needless to say, I didn't have a lot of time to put the home brewing kit to use.

The Little Monster

Blake and I put our money together to buy the home brewing kit and split the cost of the ingredients for each beer. Since we purchased the kit a year ago, we have made only 3 different kind of beers: Irish Red Ale, Blonde Ale and the latest one, Noble Trapist Ale. As I'm sure most parents can understand, after your kid turns one year old, time starts to free up and you can get back into your hobbies. My kid is sleeping more, self entertains, and most importantly for this brewer...he doesn't have colic anymore (worst 3 months of my life).

Brewing our first beer (Irish Red Ale)

So with all of that said, I realize that I am new to the home brewing and craft beer market, but I have a passion for it and am striving to learn more. Ever since I began home brewing, I started looking at beer in a completely different way and find myself liking beers that I never used to (craft beer), and not liking the ones I always used to drink (domestic light beers mainly).

Blake and I bottling our first beer

This blog will consist of Blake and I's journey to become better at brewing and our general understanding of beer. We welcome everyone to post and comment giving as much advice as they want, because like I said, we're learning and welcome any information that we can get our hands on.