Microbrewed Adventures - Charles Papazian [46]
Every homebrewer in Fargo—and there are a lot of homebrewers in Fargo—seems to have taken the day off. As we stop by the Country Cannery Homebrew Shop, we walk through to the rear into a nearby woodworking shop where more than 30 homebrewers are actively brewing and finishing four separate batches of homebrew. The sweet, tantalizing aroma of malt and hops fills the air and fogs the windows as the snow continues to fall outside. There are dozens of different homebrews offered in bottles and on tap.
Next limo stop on the prairie: the Granite City Pub and Restaurant, a unique brewpub importing unfermented brewed wort from their sister brewpub in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to lovingly ferment in the tanks at Granite City. The cask-conditioned dark and English-style bitter are magnificently welcome. It is still snowing.
Limos with the Prairie Homebrewing Companions
Limos with the Prairie Homebrewing Companions. Courtesy Prairie Homebrewing Companions.
Prairie Homebrewing Companions’ ringleader and brewster supreme, Susan Rudd, leads us to the club meeting at the Hjemkomst Center, where we are greeted by 65 more club members. Two commemorative beers were brewed, bottled and labeled for the evening’s events.
Beer’d, it is 10:30 in the evening and still snowing as we wrap up the first day of our tour. Tomorrow is going to be another workday.
Day 2: We arrive in Minneapolis. It is still snowing. We check into our hotel, visit two homebrew shops and rendezvous at the Minneapolis Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurant with 40 members of the Minneapolis Homebrewers Association, local brewmasters and beer enthusiasts. It’s a long day.
Day 3: In the morning we’re off early, heading for Madison, Wisconsin. I’m deeply disappointed about not having allowed enough time to visit the Summit Brewing Company and brewmaster Horace Cunningham, whom I had met many years earlier while he was the head brewer at Banks Brewing Company on the Caribbean island of Barbados.
On our way to Madison, we stop for lunch at the legendary all-American Norske’s Nook in Osseo, Wisconsin—an absolutely must stop for any person who considers himself a pie aficionado.
With no time to check into our hotel, we head directly toward the Wine and Hop Shop, one of the oldest and most supportive homebrew shops in the country. Then on to visits at brewpubs JT Whitneys, Angelic Brewing Company and Great Dane. It’s a day and evening filled with meeting new friends and reunions with those who have continued to be involved with homebrewing for more than 20 years. I recognize Dean Coffey, the multi-award-winning brewmaster at Angelic Brewpub, as the guy who years ago had worked at Lolita’s delicatessen, across the street from the Association of Brewers’ office in Boulder, Colorado, often making my lunch sandwiches to go. Dean had begun homebrewing years ago. Inspired by the experience, he moved to Madison and became a brewmaster, going on to win several medals at the Great American Beer Festival and more awards at the 2002 World Beer Cup than any other brewmaster in the world. The essence of microbrewing has trickled into our souls.
We leave late in the evening to check into the Landhaus Inn by 11 P.M. in New Glarus, 30 minutes to the southwest.
Day 4: After our morning visit and lunch with New Glarus Brewing Company owners Deb and Dan Carey, we head east to Chicago. It was snowing when we left New Glarus, but the warmth of our journeys made us oblivious to the cold April weather.
We spend the rest of the evening visiting at Chicago’s Goose Island Brewpub with one of the nation’s largest beer clubs, the Chicago Beer Society. More than 80 beer enthusiasts and relations turned out for the event, presentations, food and beer. I’m greeted by two Korean women as I enjoy a glass of Honker Ale. They introduce themselves as the wife and daughter of the Korean brewmaster from the Oriental Brewery in South Korea who had won an award in the 1996 World Beer