Staff & Contributors

A Curmudgeon Possibly Named Gaspar

Jim Lundstrom

This one had been catching my eye for a while, and on the evening of a recent mid-November day that never got warmer than 20 degrees

A Lusty Pumpkin Wheat and Volcanic Stout

Jim Lundstrom

This beer called to me for weeks before I finally broke down and bought a sixer. It just seemed a little too forward for my tastes – Pumpkin Pie Lust? Really?

Easy Come, Easy Gose

Jim Lundstrom

So, when you discover a new style of beer, as I recently did with Gose, a salty, coriander-spiced sour beer, ya gotta try all you can get your hands on

Who Said Americans Can’t Make Great Pilsners and IPAs?

Jim Lundstrom

In the past I have lamented the fact that American craft brewers just can’t seem to get a handle on what may be my favorite style of beer – Czech pilsner

A Capital Experience

Jim Lundstrom

Lucky for all of us, I caught myself before starting this piece with something to the effect of, I remember back in the good old days…

A Must-Have IPA

Jim Lundstrom

Dogfish Head Sixty-One, a “continually hopped India Pale Ale brewed with Syrah grape must.” Hmm, that doesn’t sound right, does it? Grape must? Must be one of those wino terms.

A Fall Trio

Jim Lundstrom

Another beautiful rainy, gray day – perfect for some fall beers. I just happened to have a trio of them in the fridge, and one in particular called out to me.

Dark and Stormy Stouts

Jim Lundstrom

It was a dark and stormy night, a perfect time for a couple of dark and stormy stouts.

Get It On With Samuel Smith’s India Ale

Jim Lundstrom

Staring at the wall of beer, I am befuddled. The usual siren call is silent. Nothing beckons…

Another Salty Beer

Jim Lundstrom

A week after that discovery, I’m at my other local wall of beer and see the word “Gose” pop out from a purple-colored can.

The Kaiser Creeps Me Out

Jim Lundstrom

The Kaiser, a 9.5 percent Imperial Oktoberfest, part of the “Dictator Series” from Avery Brewing Co. of Boulder, Colo., is big and fruity, kind of like Kaiser Wilhelm himself.

Salt and Apples

Jim Lundstrom

Brewed with malted wheat and barley, the slight sourness comes from lactic bacteria. Germans drink Gose in tall, cylindrical glasses and sometimes add raspberry or woodruff syrup, as is also done with the sour beer Berliner Weiss.

Liquid Music from Big Pink

Jim Lundstrom

At first I ignored the pink bottle’s weird siren call, but I think it was the Papa Lazarou association that allowed the creepy little voodoo doll to seep into my brain until one day I just had to have a bottle

How About Some Cherries in Your Stout?

Jim Lundstrom

Yummy chocolate tones of the stout become undertones here as the stinging Maynard Ferguson-like high notes from the Door County cherries take the lead. I love that effect.

Black Gold

Jim Lundstrom

Being a homebrewer, I was already well aware of Sprecher and especially of its delicious Black Bavarian Lager.

Brasserie du Bocq’s Blanche de Namur

Jim Lundstrom

The weirdest thing happened upon my first taste of this beer. I found myself invoking Lawrence Welk (you can look him up, kids), saying out loud with each sip, “Wunnerful! Wunnerful!”

Summit Hits New Heights with Union Series

Jim Lundstrom

Meridian Session Ale was brewed in 2013 with Concerto pale malt from the United Kingdom and Meridian hops from the U.S.

The Ryes Have It

Jim Lundstrom

It seemed sharp and without much depth of character, which is unusual for a rye.

Morimoto Hazelnut an ale tasty enough to warm souls near and far

Jim Lundstrom

“I have a great fondness for good micro beers and make a point to try to find new ones,” Bauman wrote. “I have been a fan of micros since the mid ’80s and enjoy the good ones whenever we find them.”

Poe and The Poet

Jim Lundstrom

Fill with mingled cream and amber, I will drain that glass again. Such hilarious visions clamber Through the chamber of my brain. Quaintest thoughts, queerest fancies Come to life and fade away. What care I how time advances: I am drinking ale today.

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