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| You know you've arrived with neon! |
My neighbor’s wife came by a few months ago and asked me to take her husband out for a little bit while she got his “surprise” birthday party ready. There was snow on the ground, and neither of us were currently working, so it was the perfect opportunity to follow through with a visit to the Northern Lights Brewery. I’ve heard people talk about this place for a while now. Nate was brewing his version of their Chocolate Dunkle, and my old high school classmate Adam raved about the Dunkle as well.
After a treacherous journey through the snow, Jason and I finally arrived. Interesting side-note, there is a distillery right next to the entrance. The neon lights inside the building drew us in like flies to a bug zapper. We bellied up to the bar, and there were only a few other people in the booths around us. Let me just say this, I absolutely love samplers! You get to try all the beers a brewery has for a really great price.
Northern Lights brewery has a plethora of beers to try, 11 on this particular trip. Since there are so many, I will keep my comments about them short and Jason will be my guest grader….
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| He's already tipped over, and we haven't even started drinking |
Imperial – ABV: Unk
Very good beer. Floral and Hoppy, but balanced with a little bit of bitterness.
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Crème Ale – ABV: Unk
Very light, with a little wheat. A great beer for those who like their sleighs pulled by Clydesdales.
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| 11 beers? Yes please... Long Live the Sampler! |
Pale Ale – ABV: 5%
Super fine hoppiness and a hint of bitter in the finish
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Amber Ale – ABV: 4.75%
Medium body with good flavor.
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Crystal Bitter – ABV: 5.5%
Clean, with medium bitterness, a little bit of copper, good body and very drinkable. My favorite of the day…
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So we’ve reached the halfway point of this incredible journey into beer debauchery. Knowing we would have to drive home at some point, we decided that some food might be a good idea. We ordered the World Sausage Sampler with Pale Ale Mustard, and that was just what we needed. The sausage was amazing but the real star was the Pale Ale Mustard. No French’s or Heinz… no sir. This was old world, peppercorn, give me a side of sauerkraut type mustard. Seriously, try it and if it isn’t absolutely everything I just described…. You know what, you’ll thank me anyway. Now back to the beer!
Gemelli Coffee Stout – ABV: Unk
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| World Sausage Sampler.... so delicious! |
Stout born of the marriage of fantastic beer and locally roasted coffee, it was like a coffee with alcohol, strong and sweet, dark and roasty. Jason said he wouldn’t be able to finish a whole pint.
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Blueberry Cream Ale – ABV: 4.5%
Very strong berry flavor in the beginning with a medium body and a sour finish.
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| A festive view at the fermentor tanks at NLB |
IPA – ABV: 7%
Hoppy kick to the face! Sweet body and a heavy bitter finish.
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Stellar Stout – ABV: 5%
Opaque in color, super sweet and syrupy mouth feel. Some chocolaty flavor, and Jason noticed some fruitiness in the finish
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Chocolate Dunkle – ABV: 6.5%
A little chocolate but now overpowering and more balanced than the stellar stout. Not too sweet either, just a hint, just right.
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This was a great day for being the NW Bearded Brewer. To finally experience a local brewery that isn’t even 10 miles away from my house. The beers here are fantastic, and the food is really good too. We were probably there for three and a half hours. It got so late that Jason’s wife called me and asked me how much longer we were going to be, because the party needed to get underway. Oops… time flies, right?
Oh, I almost forgot to mention the excellent stache on one of our servers…. Awesome!
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| Stache Envy... you have to love the handlebars. |
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