3 minute read

Beer

from Mankato Magazine

by Free Press Media

from Mankato Magazine, page 50

From This Valley

By James Figy

Sweet draughts for your sweetheart

Flowers. Jewelry. An intricate interpretive dance accompanied by spoken word. There’s no limit to what people might give each other on Valentine’s Day.

But it can prove tricky to strike the right balance between creativity and tradition. And if you mix both to create something special and your sweetheart doesn’t love it, well, it can feel like an arrow in your heart. Fortunately, there’s one combination that’s sure to please: beer and sweets.

Now, you might not want to show up to that romantic dinner with just a six-pack. However, the right sweetsinspired beer provides the perfect refreshment for your festivities. And brewers across Minnesota continue to release solid craft brews with flavors of candies and cookies, cake and pastry.

Sometimes the flavors are more open to interpretation, such as Mankato Brewery’s Cake’d Up Celebration Beer series. These brews, which unfortunately drop in September, highlight flavors like vanilla or chocolate layer cake as well as triple berry cheesecake.

Sweets-inspired beers can also re-create the flavors of specific products. For example, Tin Whiskers Brewing Company in St. Paul has collaborated with Pearson’s to translate nine of its popular candies into tasty brews for different seasons. Bit-O-Honey Blonde Ale and Nut Goodie Porter rank among the most popular.

Mike Willaford, head brewer at Tin Whiskers, is no stranger to adapting unbranded flavors either, like chocolate chip cookies, pineapple upside down cake, crisped rice treats, popsicles and more. The process always begins with deconstruction.

“When we look to make a new candy or pastry beer, we think conceptually about the candy or pastry first. What do you taste? What kind of texture is it? How do the flavors layer on your palate?” Willaford said. “From there it's looking at the ingredients and applying them to a style that fits. Then we work the malt and hops to provide the best base we can to highlight the ingredients that are being added.”

When drinking something based on baked goods or confectionery, sweet is good. Cloying flavors, on the other hand, can leave a bad taste in your mouth and make it difficult to enjoy a pint or more. Sweets-inspired brews must be kept cold and enjoyed fresh. Unlike other styles, they won’t age well when warm and could

become volatile.

Some beers are more successful than others. Several years back, I remember many breweries trying to bring the wackier flavors normally geared toward festivals into primetime production, often with lackluster results. The bar has risen since then.

“For most of our beers, the balance comes in making sure the technical side is on point. Dialing in mash and fermentation temperatures can mean everything when trying to make a balanced and drinkable pastry beer,” Willaford said.

So, what can you look for this Valentine’s Day as the perfect amuse bouche, dinner pairing or nightcap?

In February, Tin Whiskers is bringing back its Synonym Toast Crunch, a Bourbon barrel-aged pastry stout with flavors of youknow-what breakfast cereal, and Orange Dream State, an orange and vanilla creamsicle cream ale. Two Pearson’s collaboration favorites –Barrel Aged Mint Patties Imperial Stout and Salted Nut Roll Ale – will also be available in the taproom and in cans.

In the liquor store or brewery, it’s typically not too difficult to identify these beers. Often the packaging and the beer’s names will give it away pretty quickly. If you’re having a tough time, just ask the folks behind the counter. If it’s something unique, they’ve probably already sampled it.

The most important thing is to remember these are intended to be fun, just like Valentine’s Day. The holiday rolls around once a year as a time to remember how amazing it is to be in love. You still care deeply for your partner the other 364 days. But caught up in the day to day, it doesn’t feel as brand new as on Feb. 14.

Sweets-inspired beers are the same way. Maybe they won’t become your summer lawnmower beer, and that’s OK. What they do is remind us that beer offers a variety of flavors and experiences, and that it’s best to enjoy them with someone you love.

James Figy is a writer and beer enthusiast based in St. Paul. In Mankato, he earned an MFA in creative writing from Minnesota State University and a World Beer Cruise captain’s jacket from Pub 500.