Staff & Contributors

Love at First Sip

Jim Lundstrom

The Duchesse is a 6 percent Flemish red-brown ale that tastes like liquid candy. Think of a beery sweet tart.

A Vertical Tasting of Dark Yumminess

Jim Lundstrom

Yes, I am stealing a concept from wine drinkers – the idea of vertical tasting, or tasting several years of the same brew.

Valkyries in Blaze Orange

Jim Lundstrom

The last time I ran across this brewery they were called the Viking Brewery and I’d had a beer of their’s called Hot Chocolate, a chocolate stout with chili peppers. I liked their style, and I like it still with Blaze Orange.

A Mouthful of Hops

Jim Lundstrom

And that’s the big fun of this beer evolution/revolution – there are many choices. You don’t have to like them all.

A Little DAB’ll Do Ya

Jim Lundstrom

“Now this is beer,” I said aloud after the first big swig. Delicious upfront Noble hops followed by sweet biscuity maltiness.

The Ubiquitous Pint Glass

Jim Lundstrom

So how did the ugly 16-ounce pint become the most popular personal beer delivery system in America?

A Hunk of Burning Hops

Jim Lundstrom

It comes on with a big splurge of biscuit and smoky dark chocolate, and then finishes on a strangely thin and astringent note.

Why I Don’t Like Beer Snobs

Jim Lundstrom

I always wondered what turns a person into a snob. What makes someone climb atop a high horse because they are convinced they know more than anyone else on a subject?

It Was a Dark and Fiery Night…

Jim Lundstrom

I had my first taste while in England at the age of 18. I was living at a pub called the White Swan in the village of Bicker, Lincolnshire. The night before I first tasted Guinness

Aging Refines This Big Bruiser of a Beer

Jim Lundstrom

Age before beauty, I thought, and sampled the 2012 first and was immediately seduced by a refined and mellow beer that laid back on the palate and suggested the dichotomy of darkness and light.

Double Vision Tackles the Cold

Jim Lundstrom

As a killer arctic wind chill enveloped the land on the coldest day so far of this new year, I cracked open a roasty, toasty Double Vision Doppelbock

St. Peter’s Cream Stout

Jim Lundstrom

This British upstart makes a bunch of interesting beers, but I’ve only seen a few varieties here.

A Little Minnesota in Door County

Jim Lundstrom

I found a place in Sister Bay that sells 12-packs of bottled Grain Belt. Perhaps that means nothing to you, but I’m from originally from Minnesota. Duluth, in fact.

A Dip Into the Cellar

Jim Lundstrom

It had been a long week and I felt like I deserved a treat, so I closed my eyes and reached into my beer “cellar” (the bottom row of my fridge) and pulled out, ta da, a bottle of St. Peter’s Cream Stout

Beer Society

Jim Lundstrom

A Little DAB’ll Do Ya

Beer Society

Jim Lundstrom

Back into the Cellar

Beer Society

Jim Lundstrom

White Shield: The Taste of a True IPA