Brewings Vol 37 Issue 4 | Page 9

Speaking of Pabst, a group of us took the tour of Pabst. At one time this brewery employed 5000 people, covered 7 city blocks, comprised 28 buildings and made over 1 million barrels of beer in a year. I got to sit at Frederick Pabst desk and in his chair, I really enjoyed that. We were also told that, there are 13 ghosts who inhabit the downstairs infirmary but, not to worry, they are happy we are told. This is a must take tour for anyone who is even remotely interested in brewing history. There is also a picture of myself posted on the batch page, lying on the floor of the Pabst taproom in a somewhat risqué manner, you might say. We also took the Miller Brewery tour which is also fantastic in its own right. We toured the Miller caves and this was absolutely fascinating, as Spock would say. These caves, 10 of them I think, were all dug by hand and when you see them, you just say, wow! My favorite part on any brewery tour is always at the end. Free samples! Ok, moving on from Canvention. I need to comment on two beers Teri and I had recently. One was a cask conditioned Robust Porter aged on oak and a Raisin Oatmeal Milk Stout on Nitro from Lyn-Lake brewing in Minneapolis. These beers were some of the best I have tasted in quite some time ( 2 days ??) and I did what I call "Beer-a-Lingus" on them, if you get my analogy. I'm quite the cunning linguist. They were spectacular brews. Of course North Star chapter Guzzle & Twirl is fast approaching (October 10th) and we plan on being there and YOU should too! If you come on and want to hit a brewery taproom, let us know, we have been to almost all of them and can help you get around. The annual Stubiefest will be past by the time you are reading this and I'm sure everyone will have had a great time. Here are some of the stats for Stubiefest, which I’m told are true. Held annually near New Ulm, it is a 16-day festival running from mid or late September to the first weekend in October, with more than 6 million people from around the world attending the event. Every year large quantities of beer are consumed, with 7.7 million liters served during the 16 day festival. Oh, wait I guess those stats are for Octoberfest in Germany, Stubiefest was much bigger than that. Now a shout out to Lori. I know, been there. I feel for you. Get well, thinking about you and see you soon. Till next time, Jay. Page 9