Brues and Blews
Brues and Blews
What goes better with the blues than beer? OK, you got me right away, probably rot gut whiskey and moonshine, but, for the long haul, it’s beer. Cheap wine you say? Probably if you are way down IN the blues, but for getting WITH the blues, beer, at least for me.
Back in the day, or at least my day, Minneapolis had among the funkiest blues scenes anywhere at all. We’d think nothing of stopping in the funky piano bar side of the Silver Dollar Bar at Lake and 35W almost any night to see Lazy Bill Lucas, often with Spider John Koerner or Li’l Sun Glover, and that just couldn’t happen in any other US city. Sometimes Snaker Ray solo, my all time favorite of this scene; sometimes Spider John solo or duo with someone like Lazy Bill, sometimes Li’l Sun Tony Glover.
Of course Koerner, Ray, and Glover probably created a blues scene that could be sort of accessible to the very funky among white America with their Blues, Rags, and Hollers records. They also influenced others across the sea, namely an emerging group starting with B. I never saw them together at the Silver Dollar or anywhere, but singly or as duos they loomed far above, setting the tone for Blues Heaven. They were also very nice to Lazy Bill who was one of the coolest people I’ve ever seen. Lazy Bill played with all sort of luminaries before settling in Minneapolis in 1962, maybe most notably a young Sonny Boy Williamson.
The Silver Dollar was an old time C&W ballroom and I don’t even have any idea who moved it along to the blues scene. There were all kinds of crazy characters hanging out there almost any night; it was around about 1970 after all. Hippies, sharkskin suit blues guys, pot dealers – mostly guys as best I can remember, but there were also crazy dancing nights with local R&B stars, Willie Murphy and the Bumble Bees, and various visitors who were recording with, or being produced by, Willie. Not least by far was a young guitar star called Bonnie Raitt, whose first record was recorded with the Bees and Junior Wells out on Lake Minnetonka. It remains one of my all-time favorite blues records. Murphy and Koerner recorded the fabulous Running, Jumping, Standing Still record that one reviewer said was, “…perhaps the only psychedelic ragtime blues album ever made.”
All sorts of folks could be found playing the Silver Dollar. I saw the classic harp superstar Charlie Musselwhite, with Robben Ford on guitar. Mojo Buford, Muddy Water’s harp man for some time, had his own Minneapolis-based band and played often. The original hard core blues version of the famous Lamont Cranston Band, led by still another harmonica great, Pat Hayes, was a staple, and they could hang with the absolute best. One crazy funky week I spent many nights in a row with a Schells Deer Brand in my hand watching the fabulous Muddy Waters and band. Mud was booked in for a one nighter, and the legend says that they had too much fun and nowhere else to be, so they just stayed. Luther Johnson, Pinetop Perkins, and all. Mojo sat in several times. I think this was about $5 a crack and unbeatable.
I was in a college hiatus after completing my eligibility as a wrestler, and had spent those years in Winona on the banks of the Mississippi, just above Lacrosse, home of G. Heileman Brewing at the time. For a reason I never knew, Lacrosse was kind of a Miller town at the time, but I dug Old Style, and it’s still a great ice cold lawn mowing beer. Hungry for something more distinctive in a day when there weren’t many options, I got into Heileman’s Special Export, known to us as the Green Death because it was easy to swill too many of those green bottled slightly skunky tasting bad boys. Maybe we’d see some Anchor Steam once in a while, but that was really exotic. X was a rice adjunct super refreshing one that wasn’t for everyone. It’s still good in cans fished from a chest of ice on a smoking hot humid Minnesota afternoon.
When I landed in Minneapolis and found the Silver Dollar and the other funky blues scene places like the Triangle and 400 there were other possibilities. The freaks were becoming aware of the origins of their night time nectar, and of course most locals at that time originated with a key ingredient from just across the Minnesota River in Shakopee at Rahr Malting. There was even a loose collective R&B/Blues group called the Rahrs and Js after everyone’s two favorites.
My memory may be clouded – that’s ridiculous – there’s no maybe about it! Anyway I can’t recall that the SD served anything but Schell’s Deer Brand, maybe because of the cool graphics, but it doesn’t matter. It was a richer, more malt forward, slightly addictive brew, and I liked looking at the deer while thinking about where Lazy Bill’s blues came from. Schells originated this one before the prohibition, and it featured their own yeast. It had the added advantage of often being found on sale at three cases for under ten bucks!
My own blues? Well, my head sort of blew up at age fourteen in 1963 when I first heard Mr. John Lee Hooker Boom Boom Booming, Mr. Jimmy Reed bitching about the Big Boss Man, and Mr. Bo Diddley grooving the Bo Diddley Beat. Just a little bit later The Animals came at it from the Isles by way of the St. James Infirmary, and Bob Dylan blew minds and speakers at Newport with Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper. The Stones, who once opened for Bo Diddley, shook things up further still as they were also channeling McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters. Once people got over the shock and awe, Dylan’s Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat had white college kids looking for where it all came from. And of course, those kids discovered it with…you guessed it, beer.
A little later the rising hardcore blues band, Canned Heat, with Blind Owl Wilson, and Bob, the Bear, Hite, did Living the Blues, probably the seminal hippy blues record that I went to sleep with for years in college, and shortly after that, got hooked up with John Lee to complete the bridge from Woodstock back to Clarksdale Mississippi.
In those days it wasn’t lost on anyone that this scene was just a boat or train trip straight up the Mississippi Valley from New Orleans by way of Clarksdale Mississippi. However, it was also a car, or hitchhike trip along Dylan’s Highway 61. I think a lot of folks believe that Dylan’s 61 had more to do with where he is from physically, but conceptually he is from the intersection of Highways 61 and 49, and I believe that’s where it is at. That is Robert Johnson’s crossroads of course, and way more likely source place than Tofte Minnesota.
So Brues and Blews. Many, many, many, blues players have proved that whiskey and heroin don’t make for a long and lovely life. You just can’t hang in with that intensity of experience. Beer will fill you right up and put you to sleep before you can do anything too radical, unless you just plain want to of course. If you are looking for a great musical ride as you get along the way with a long and lovely life, enjoy your blews with a few brues. Enough is sometimes just right.
Upcoming event at Surly
Most of the Subzero Crew will be otherwise engaged on May 5th, but I encourage anyone out there to try and attend this fundraiser at the Surly brewery. Any ultimate frisbee and beer-related event is always a good time (some would argue ANY ultimate event is by definition a beer-related event), and some special sneaky beer always makes an appearance, as well. Marty was a fabulous teammate and a good friend of mine, and took me under his scrawny yet experienced wing when I first started playing for Subzero Ultimate in 1999. He is greatly missed and this endowment and award is a fitting tribute.
Benchmark Beers
Benchmark Beers
The phrase “benchmark beers” came to surface during one of the many discussions my brother –in-law (The Scientist) and I (The Grunt) were having during the Beer Dabbler at the St. Paul Winter Carnival. Throughout the next few days I found myself reminiscing about my life as a beer enthusiast. I could not stop thinking about what my benchmark beers were. To keep things straight, I refer to the term, benchmark, as a reference point to measure all other points from. These are beers that I think are some of the best I have ever had, opened new doors, use to measure others, and beer I believe will stand the test of times. My first “benchmark beer” would have to be Moose Drool Brown Ale, produced by Big Sky Brewing Co. located in Missoula Montana. I moved to Bozeman MT in 1996 and had been drinking exclusively Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer until I had my first pint of Moose Drool at the Haufbrau in 1997. Moose Drool slammed opened the doors to a hobby that I would love for the rest of my life. I had never had a craft beer up to that point and truly loved every sip. After falling in love with Moose Drool, I began to experiment with stouts, porters, and other dark ales. That was very easy in Bozeman, seeing that every store allowed you to make your own 6’ers. It was not until 2000 until I had my next benchmark. A few buddies and I used to make a couple of trips to Missoula MT every year, just to get a change of scene. We walked into the Crocodile bar, ordered a round of Bayern Pilsener Lager and headed toward the shuffleboard table. Bayern Brewing Company is also located in Missoula MT. I was addicted after the first sip. It was hoppy, creamy, and an extremely refreshing Bavarian pilsner that I could not get enough of. After this beer I became obsessed with finding as many craft brewed and European pilsners as I could. I started reading about the rich tradition and history this style had in the Czech Republic and Germany. My third “benchmark beer” is Deschutes Mirror Pond brewed Portland Oregon. My first taste of this very well balanced and sessionable pale ale was on a fly fishing trip in Bear Trap Canyon on the Missouri River. I had always enjoyed Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale, but Mirror Pond hit me like something else. Over the years it has become my “go to” beer for all occasions. In 2005 my nine year stay in amazing Montana ended when I moved back to the Midwest to another “M” state, Minnesota. I say back to the Midwest because I grew up in one of the country’s most popular craft beer states, Michigan. Too bad I was too young to indulge in the over 75 breweries growing up there. Surly Furious! Holy Shit! I had never had a beer with this much hop intensity, or should I say as the name suggests, attitude. My lips were first introduced to Furious at my brother-in-law’s wedding where he had flats of Surly varieties at the reception. I now have discovered the world of hop crazed beers and set out to discover as many hopped up beers as I could. It did not matter if it was a hoppy stout, red, amber, lager, etc., just hop crazed. During my search I discovered fresh hop or wet hop ales. Any time I had a chance to try one, I did. They were all wonderfully amazing but none of them stood out from each other until about six months ago when a group of us headed to Lucan MN to visit Brau Brothers Brewery. The timing couldn’t have been better. When we got there they were serving 100 Yard Dash fresh hop ale made with hops that were harvested only, as the name implies, 100 yards away. This was the juicy fruit of all the fresh hop ales I have had to this point, and I am calling it my favorite beer of 2011. It was an instant party in my mouth, and I was truly sad it had to end. So, those are my “benchmark beers”. I have always enjoyed tasting as many varieties of beer as I can, and look at it as adventure, one that I will be able to enjoy for many years thanks to the availability of great craft beer in this country.
Pairings – Timberwolves Edition
What are notable Timberwolves drinking tonight after this basketball game that they are trying very hard to lose, but not quite succeeding due to the significant suck factor emanating from the Kings? We can only speculate. Here’s what Subzero Brewing thinks:
Brad Miller – He’s old. Probably like a Hot Toddy or something.
Derrick Williams – Deepest voice I’ve heard from an NBA player in awhile. Colt 45. Wish his jump shot worked every time.
Wes Johnson – Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill. Come on Wes.
Wayne Ellington – Tripels. All tripels.
Anthony Tolliver – Instant energy off the bench. Vodka red bull.
JJ Berea – To reminisce about the good old days in Dallas…Shiner Bock.
Luke Ridnour – Might be the only craft beer guy in the bunch, AND he played college ball in Oregon. Mirror Pond. On tap.
Kevin Love – He’s on a health kick. I’m guessing Bud Select.
Nikola Pekovic – Eastern European Dunkel.
Ricky Rubio – Is he of legal age? If so, probably whatever the Spanish version of Schlitz is. Schlitzo maybe. Hammo.
Michael Beasley – Shots. All shots. (In fact, he’ll probably order a bunch for the whole bar but they’ll never get passed) (Buh bum bump)
It’s a shame there’s no southpaws on the team, as there are so many fine Left Hands.
Bonus basketball pairing…is there any question that Demarcus Cousins drinks all Bitch Creek?
Busy like Phillips. She’s on Cougartown. Okay, bad pun.
It was an eventful week or two here in Subzero-land, culminating in our 2012 planning meeting and then ensuing Beer Dabbler Winter Carnival at the St. Paul Farmer’s Market last Saturday. We made a half-hearted attempt to get Winterfest tickets, but hear that is indoors and therefore for pansies (unless we somehow score tickets). Just tough guys and gals on Saturday…so very Subzero (although I believe the temperature was technically super-zero (aside: hyper-zero?)). Earlier in the week, somewhat on a limb and at the last minute, I attended a beer pairing event at Kitchen Window that I heard about last minute on the twitter or facebook machine from Michael Agnew, and hosted by newly minted Master Cicerone (one of 4 in the world (and the only female)), Nicole Erny presumably in town for the Upper Mississippi Mash-Out (to which we submitted our black ale for competition). It was a really good event, and although I was somewhat skeptical about the simplicity of the menu when I first saw it (ceasar salad, margherita pizza, cheesecake), they were pretty smart choices and a good lesson that really interesting pairings can happen even with what might be called basic foods. Ceasar salad was paired with a geuze (Oud Beersel Oude Geuze Vielle) and a dunkelweizen (Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dark). The soft sour from the geuze (from the blend of 1, 2, and 3 yr old beers) punched up the lemon in the ceasar and was nicely complimentary (yet with good contrast due to it’s intensity), while the dunkelweizen played a back-up singer role and accentuated (or substituted for even?) the croutons with some nice toasty notes. Margherita pizza was paired with an English bitter (Coniston’s Bluebird Bitter) and the classic Chimay Cinq Cents (technically, a tripel). I got some interesting chestnut-like character from the bitter, and again it played off the pizza in a background, supporting role. The bready, biscuit-ness (word? doubt it) from the Bluebird really set off the char from the crust, and made the acid from the tomatoes, spicy basil, and creamy mozz really pop. I got a lot of vanilla and estery fruitiness from the tripel…always interesting because you get these sweet flavors, but without the actual sweetness. Know what I mean? Anyway, that faux sweetness did not really work for me with the savory flavors of the margherita, but hey, I still pounded both. Sometimes the examples that don’t work are even more informative. Lastly, we had a really solid and rich cheesecake with mascarpone, paired with a Russian imperial stout (North Coast Old Rasputin) and a sweetened raspberry lambic (Kasteel’s St. Louis Framboise). These both worked quite well. The Old Rasputin was actually pretty heavy on the hop backbone…I think Surly Darkness would have been epic with this dish…but there were some very subtle cherry notes in the beer that were really highlighted because of how rich beer and dessert were together. Similarly with the framboise, some very light lemon notes were popping and the sweetness was really subdued because of the richness of the cheesecake. Overall, very solid event and Nicole was obviously worthy of the Master designation. I have since felt quite inferior, and have tried to force myself to think about what beers would go with every meal…this gets difficult with “Big Bowl of Noodles” and organic chicken nuggets. The beauty of beer, however, is that you could probably actually find something that goes with those everyday items. Good luck finding a wine that goes with fried chicken. I know you’ll try sommeliers…but you will be wrong.
Beer Dabbler was the bomb, highlighted by meeting THE Jake Keeler and THE Michael Dawson from Brewing TV (sorry Chip, didn’t get to say hi to you). Pitched them an idea about an episode on the proclivities of brewing in the Minnesota winter cold. Too bad we haven’t had any of that yet. Lots of good beer, and not as messy as usual, the highlight probably being a firkin of Mercenary IPA served personally by Doug Odell. Tropical, hoppy goodness…intense and light at the same time. What the hell Odell!? How did you do that!? As usual, for me personally, my physical height was the social lubricant for many conversations. I am well on my way to becoming the tallest homebrewer or Cicerone on record. Xanadu! We are getting smarter about going to these festivals. This time, the list of “must visit” breweries was not quite as long, so we were able to stay relatively non-obliterated. Plus, we got our techno-nerdiness on and set alarms for ourselves to remember to hit the food trucks early and often. Shout out to Gastrotruck! Holy bleeping yumminess! Can’t wait for the next event…thinking about a visit to Steel Toe Brewing in SLP.
Beer Dabbler tomorrow!
Start tapering your livers greater Minneapolis/St. Paul beer-tasting community.
Master Cicerone in the Hizzouse!
I’m going to this tonight! Anyone want to join!?
Tom Robbins
Did you know Tom Robbins has a kids book about beer? Yeah, that’s right. Quoting:
“Tom Robbins on his short ode, B is for Beer. ‘Beer is so universally beloved that 36 billion gallons of it are sold each year worldwide. Moreover, it’s been popular for thousands of years, with origins dating back to ancient Egypt and Sumer. It has deep connections to the earth — and possibly to outer space, as well. Bittersweet, like much of life itself, it’s exceptionally thirst-quenching and enormously refreshing; it’s cheerful, accessible, affordable, lovely in color, and somewhat nourishing, being one of our few neutral foods: perfectly balanced between acidic and alkaline, between yin and yang. Best of all perhaps, beer makes us tipsy. What’s not to ode?’”
Friday Night
Friday night means beer run night. Picked up the new Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA, Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale (good story on this 0ne), Lefthand 400-pound Monkey (Grandpa Pete’s favorite recently), and Rogue Chatoe Good Chit Pilsner. It’s going to be a good weekend…especially for the babysitter tomorrow (also Pete). Reviews to follow.
From the Lagunitas Sucks story:
“The nearly 10% ABV warmer is a staple in Lagunitas’ lineup, but it takes a long time to make and ties up brewery resources. Owner Tony Magee noted that for every case of Brown Shugga produced, the brewery was shorting 3 cases of their regular production beers. With their impending production increase, this shouldn’t be an issue next year. In the meantime, however, the brewery offered this gold nugget of an apology: ‘There is no joy in our hearts and the best we can hope for is a quick and merciful end. F*@& us. This totally blows. Whatever. We freaking munch moldy donkey butt and we just want it all to be over.’”
