Coren's Corner: Belle City Festival & Lakefront Seminar Review

            Happy Craft Beer Week to all of you wonderful beer people. If you haven’t noticed by now, Brian has a significant passion for craft beer.  Anyways, his love of all things brewing has seriously inspired me to take the bull by the horns and learn more about this great community.  This is why I’m trying to attend as many events as possible to expand my horizons. In fact, just this past weekend, I sat in a great seminar at the Belle City Brew Fest in Racine, WI that I wanted to share with you.

This was our first beer festival of the season (yes, we did go to one last month, but we were volunteers so it is a major difference).  There was about 20 different breweries all lined up inside the Racine Civic Center and Brian and I were getting anxious to try some great brews.

With this event being in Wisconsin, one could say a sizable chunk of the breweries from Wisconsin were on hand to represent their brand.  Lakefront Brewery, who has always held a special place in my heart, was there sampling their many beers.  Not only have I been on their brewery tour 10 times (I think the 11^th should be free…), but I truly love what this brewery has to offer.  Last summer at Top of The Hops, Brian and I had the opportunity to meet the owner and brewer of LFB, Russ Klisch.  With me being the big dork that I am, I was kind of nervous to meet him. Their IPA, Fixed Gear and IBA are among my favorite beers ever, but I did muster up the nerve to shake his hand and state how much I like his beer.  What I was pleasantly surprised with was how genuinely Russ wants to make good beer.

           Since that initial meeting, Russ does notice Brian and me when we attend any beer events he happens to be at.  Well, at Belle City, I walked up to the LFB table and said hi and mention that the newest inductee in the My Turn Series, Chad, truly hit the barley wine style dead on. Russ kindly said thank you and then let us know that he will be speaking at a seminar that day at 4 pm.  Brian and I knew this would be something we would not want to miss.

After beer notes began to overflow in our respective notebooks, Brian and I headed to towards the seminar. Of course, we were among the first to arrive, took our seats right in the first row.  Others began to join us, some rowdy, some tired, but all with a love for good beer.  Russ started his presentation letting people know a little history behind his brewery and how they started off.  Now, this was all well and good, but the blessing/curse was the fact Brian and I had a keg with a test batch of their IPA right in front of us. During the presentation, folks constantly were asking poor Brian to keep filling their glass, which did get a bit annoying. I don’t think he minded in the end, or at least I hope not.

           Anyway, Russ got into detail about barely is converted into malt and the way it changes the flavors of different bears. He actually passed around malted milk balls and other gains for everyone to try, highlighting the differences in the kilning process as the grains got progressively darker. He then ventured into the world of hops and started explaining why they are so important in a beer. At this point in the seminar, volunteers were pouring some beers so each person was able to try his creations. This was really useful though, because each person was able to experience the complexities of malt and hop varieties.
 

           One of the more interesting parts was how hops can be added at different times during the boiling process, which directly impacts what they do to the beer.  We found out that dry-hopping, for example, actually captured certain compounds better than boiling. This was only highlighted when the question came out of how to get different flavors/aromas from hops, like pine, and I just said, “Oh, like in Simcoe.”  At that moment, Brian, who knows plenty about hops and their characteristics, turned his head to me and proudly stated, “Great job….”

In the end, what really impressed me with the day was getting to spend time inside the mind of a very successful brewer.  Russ Klisch really impressed me with his knowledge of the beer culture and why he got into it in the first place.  His operation with Lakefront Brewery is truly one to respect, and I fully expect that to continue.  After all that was said and done, I went up to Russ and thanked him for his time.  Even though this was only an hour long seminar, Brian and I walked away smiling knowing this was the reason we keep going to festivals: the culture.

I am very excited to see what other beer festivals have to offer this year.  We will be attending Tighhead’s Beer Fest on June 15 and Glendale Beer Lovers Festival on June 22.  So, keep your eyes glued to this blog.  Plus, much more will be happening in the next couple of months as far as new beer and other reviews.

           And with that, to all the beer geeks out there, there is only one thing left to say: Prost!