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Pat is a National BJCP Judge with mead certification. Pat grew up in Midland Michigan. He has been drinking beer for half a century and from the start he pursued small local and regional brands and anything he hadn't seen before. He brewed his first home brew in the mid 60's - a complete flop and then dabbled a little during the 70s. A three month trip to England (2 weeks) and Amsterdam (2 1/2 months) in the early 70s was an eyeopener to the world of beer. He followed that up with 4 years in Toronto during grad school in the 70s when the major Canadian brewers there produced a much broader range of brands and he drank every one of them. At the end of the decade, a trip to Portland introduced him to the first vestiges of craft beer.
Settling into Minneapolis in 1979 the lack of beer diversity rekindled his interest in Homebrewing and he brewed around 300 batches between 1980 and 1990. By 1990 craft beer had spread enough where he could feed his craft beer habit without spending the entire weekend in his basement. During the 90s frequent road tips through Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan were at times required to ensure sufficient diversity in beer but by the dawn of the new century it required far less travel to find good craft beer.
Pat publishes a monthly newsletter Romancing the Foam about the enjoyment of good beer and has just launched a website at www.romancingthefoam.com. If you do not see him biking around Minneapolis to the various craft breweries and excellent craft beer bars, he is either in his garden sampling craft beer or siting on his computer adding to his website. It is a great time to love beer.
Jameson Barrel Aged Purple Monkey Dishwasher by Evil Genius Beer Co. was judged as a Specialty Wood-Aged Beer.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups meet Irish whiskey and porter. The beer pours a brilliant deep chocolate brown color under a modest light brown cap with moderate retention. A little... Read More
28C American Barleywine, 33B Specialty Wood Aged Beer. The brewer nails the use of pine, picks barrels with just the right amount of bourbon and lets this beer sit for just the right amount of time in the barrels. Dried berries, and spice, dark sugar and bourbon start the aroma as the pine... Read More
Wine Barrel Aged Magic Trait by Speciation Artisan Ales was reviewed as a BJCP category 28C Wild Specialty Beer. This beer is brewed with blackberries and black currants and aged in red wine barrels. Red wine berry smells with a trace of vanilla and oak rise from the glass. Mild funk joins low... Read More
Enter Night Pilsner by Stone Brewing Co. was judged as a German Pils, BJCP Style Category 5D (German Pils).
Like hops but are getting tired of all the hazy, milkshake IPA and looking for something clean and bitter? This is your beer. It looks and smells like a German Pils, pouring... Read More
Honey Project by Wild Leap Brew Co. was judged as a Braggot.
This delightful beer is a braggot – a beer/mead combo – aged on Earl Grey Tea. The combo evokes a marriage between a sparkling semi-sec mead and a saison. Honey leads the... Read More
Category 28C Wild Specialty Beer. It’s like sticking your face into a fresh spring bouquet with banana, berry, spice, floral, faint orange, pepper, almond, light toast and a hint of tobacco rising from the glass. It pours hazy gold as streams of fine bubbles race to the surface under a moderate... Read More
