It’s gonna be lit!

You read that right. We are about to poke some award-winning beer.

Firebox Winter Lager blew me away last month. Quote me on this – It’s my favorite Roundhouse beer to date.

I’m a beer nerd and I haven’t written a whole lot of details about Roundhouse beers since I have been writing for them. Today, that’s gonna change. Let’s get nerdy.

In beer, we often rate beers according to the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) style guidelines. It’s a 50 point system that declares if your beer is not to style, good, great, or excellent. We use (just about) all of our senses to analyze each beer.

The following are my notes on Firebox Winter Lager.

In the nose, I am picking up a medium toastiness, some good carameliness, and a hint of cherry.

Visually, it’s a deep rosey amber with a big thick fluffy head that lingers in there.

For flavor, roasted malts bring out spicy goodness. It’s almost as if cinnamon is hanging out in there. It’s a little bit floral as well, probably from the hops, with maybe a hint of that cherry again.

In the mouth, it’s full-bodied. Not fully crisp. But sits oh so nicely. It has nice soft carbonation.

In the ear, it’s a wet willy. (Teehee. I’m so funny.)

Remember when I said, it’s award-winning? Well yeah, it is. And it’s well deserved. At the Grandview Brew Fest a few weeks ago, Roundhouse took home the gold medal with this beer. It’s not just my favorite beer, it’s the people’s favorite beer. In a blind taste test against a lot of your favorite breweries, you chose this beer. Thank you.

Now you don’t have to take my word for it, take the people word. Come get a glass at the brewery today.

So now… let’s poke this beer…  with a red hot iron.

Beer poking dates back to the 1500s. It helped warm up the beer from the inside out, so you can warm up your ice cold soul from the inside out. Essentially, the idea is to pick a glass of beer, heat up an iron rod till it glows, and dip it in the beer for a few seconds and stir it around.

This will boil the beer that is directly in contact with the rod, adding lots of energy to the beer. Two things will happen to the beer here. 1. It will caramelize the beer, bringing out extra caramel and roasted marshmallow flavors. 2. It will cause the beer to foam over. This will change the mouthfeel drastically. It will be smoother and much creamier than beerfor, almost like we poured it on nitro.

This Saturday join us between 4 and 7:30 to poke your beer.
It will beer an experience like never beerfor.

Zach is a local beer blogger, who keeps up with all Northern MN beers and breweries. When he is not writing for us, you can check him out at zacharoobrew.com, or find him homebrewing in his garage.

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