{"id":519,"date":"2010-05-19T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2010-05-19T17:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=519"},"modified":"2018-02-06T14:27:19","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T20:27:19","slug":"snapshot-right-brain-brewery-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/snapshot-right-brain-brewery-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Snapshot: Right Brain Brewery, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently spent a couple days in Traverse City, Michigan.\u00a0 In a state that’s rich with excellent breweries, the Traverse area is particularly lucky to have not one but two restaurants with brewpubs (Mackinaw Brewing Company and North Peak Brewing<\/a>, both with average to above-average beers) and a Jolly Pumpkin outfit<\/a> up north on the Old Mission peninsula.\u00a0 In addition to all of these, Traverse also has one of the most interesting yet unknown breweries in the state – Right Brain Brewery hidden in the Warehouse district.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The lack of discussion about Right Brain Brewing is, I believe, by design.\u00a0 If you had someone who I heard repeatedly described as a “mad scientist” of brewing working his magic in your own backyard, would you tell people about it?\u00a0 Or would you keep it under your hat and drink it all yourself?<\/p>\n

John Niedermaier is the man slaving away over a hot tub of mash and wort for our benefit, and the reason you keep going back to Right Brain is because you barely ever see the same thing twice.\u00a0 They don’t bottle, they offer kegs to a few limited local restaurants and otherwise keep everything on tap at their brewpub.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The offerings at Right Brain Brewery. Saw it on the website but not on the board? You’re out of luck (like we were with a Man In Black stout and a beer brewed with sugar beets).<\/p><\/div>\n

For another look at the board, I’m not sure the details are quite right in this RBB-related post<\/a>, but you can check out some of the other offerings from a year before.<\/p>\n

If it’s out, it’s out, nothing you can do about it.\u00a0 While they try to have a dozen on draft at any time, we showed up on a Friday night and they were already out of two, the next afternoon they were down another two.\u00a0\u00a0 You’ve got to act fast and have a good memory – if you love something, you’ll have to make it yourself if you ever want it again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A nearly-full view of the pub. It’s a small space but almost always busy.<\/p><\/div>\n

Rather than wax poetic about the brewery as a whole, or get too in-depth into beers you’ll probably never drink (unless you’re already on the way there RIGHT NOW<\/em>), I thought a quick look at one weekend’s worth of beer drinking would provide a pretty good idea of what goes on at (what Karl is calling) the Best Brewpub You’ve Never Heard Of.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beer #1) Empire Spear Ale<\/em><\/p>\n

We lucked into a visit during the Asparagus festival in Empire Michigan.\u00a0 The Traverse area is basically “all cherries all the time” 51 weeks during the year, except for last weekend when they honored the humble vegetable spear.\u00a0 To celebrate, RBB actually brought back an ale I remember them brewing last year – an asparagus<\/strong> ale.<\/p>\n

Yes, asparagus.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Empire Spear Ale. You’d never know it was asparagus-y.<\/p><\/div>\n

The natural followup question is, “exactly how asparagus-y is it?”\u00a0 The answer is “very asparagus-y.”\u00a0 If you don’t like the taste or smell of the vegetable, don’t even try this one.\u00a0 Okay, give it a shot – they’re happy to provide samples at RBB, which is very cool of them – but you might not enjoy a full pint.<\/p>\n

The asparagus taste is huge on the nose and definitely provides a lot of heft to the taste of the body, but the lemon zest keeps this from being a one-note brew.\u00a0 It’s not musty or dull or boring at all, which you might expect.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s bright, crisp, clear and well balanced.\u00a0 Even for people who appreciate a side of asparagus from time to time, don’t be surprised if you go in questioning the brewer’s sanity and come out questioning your own for enjoying it so much.<\/p>\n

Beer #2 – Tree Toad IPA<\/em><\/p>\n

The board described this selection as “bitter, malty and complex.”\u00a0 Oh, it was.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This was the 1st RBB brew I had, and yet I can still remember it. Must have been good.<\/p><\/div>\n

I filled in a while back on the Chicagoist<\/a> Beer of the Week beat, and filed a report on a bottle of Big Mug Amber and Arsenalnoye I picked up at a local central-European-centric grocery store, Gene’s Sausage Shop.\u00a0 I described the Big Mug as tasting “like prison wine mixed with sharp cheese…” which I meant in a bad way.\u00a0 This is going to sound like damning with faint praise, but that same wine-ness was present in the Tree Toad<\/em>, but it was good.<\/p>\n

Complex was right – it had all the malt and hops of a Lagunitas HopStoopid, and yet the finish was remarkably funky, multi-tiered and damn near indiscribable.\u00a0 I don’t know if they used wine yeasts, threw in some blended red or port, or any other number of brewer’s tricks, but the end of this beer was like nothing else.\u00a0 It went on and on, with a very long tail to the taste, and I wouldn’t honestly describe it as an IPA despite its hop presence.\u00a0 It was a Frankenstein of alcohol, well worth bringing to life.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow:<\/strong> The Naughty Girl Stout<\/em> (get it?), brewed with peppermint leaves, and the Stuck Rudder Michigan Common<\/em>.\u00a0 Also, I dive headfirst into the cask selection, a double-dry hopped black IPA called the Lizard King<\/em>.\u00a0 Yes, a cask conditioned double-dry hopped black IPA.\u00a0 Holy hell.\u00a0 I told you they were nuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[984],"yoast_head":"\nRight Brain Brewery Snapshot | Guys Drinking Beer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/snapshot-right-brain-brewery-part-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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