Surprise! Free beer!

Well, folks, I’m back in San Diego. I have returned from Fargo up one sister-in-law and down a few bottles of homebrew. I was a bit sad to be out of San Diego for American Craft Beer Week and miss the events going on here, but I was pleasantly surprised by what Fargo brought to the table. Before I got on a plane to head to the Midwest, conversations with my parents included a beer tasting at the local bottle shop, Happy Harry’s. My mind went to a vision of a folding table set up in the corner with a few bottles of beer being cracked open to support what ever sale was going to be put on for the week. Looking back, this is something I’m ashamed to admit. Happy Harry’s basically became a little beer fest. There were 10 tables set up through the store each hosting one or two craft breweries, and each brewery brought at least four varieties of their beer. Oh, did I mention it was free? Handing out generous tastes and having really good markdowns on the packages is a bit of a genius move on Happy Harry’s part, people were doing some serious shopping by the time we left, and our cart was no exception. Spending two hours drinking beer I don’t get access to out here was a pretty great way to start my vacation. One table that really stood out for me was Tallgrass Beer out of Kansas. I was initially drawn to the fact that all of the beers are packaged in cans, and upon further inspection I saw the cans were kind of a funny size. Not a standard 12oz can, but not a huge tallboy either. Chatting with the brewery rep, I found out that the cans are pint sized. Heh. I tried three of their four beers: IPA, Buffalo Sweat Stout, and Oasis. For me, the Oasis was the one that came out the winner. The rep said it was a “double ESB slash IPA thing” which was a pretty accurate description. It had a strong bread-y malt character, and a nice balance with the hops that were on the earthy and spicy side, which worked really well with the malt. My dad liked the Buffalo Sweat, the sweet stout. No surprise there, my dad is a self-proclaimed porter man. One more point of note about Tallgrass Beer was the rep they had working for them, he was one of the best people to talk to at this event. A few of the other people representing breweries had that “wine snob” attitude that I’m really disappointed to see associated with craft beer. Fortunately, Tallgrass, Boulder Brewing, and Lucky Bucket had people there that really stood out as advocates for their brand.

On each trip to Fargo, I continue to be happily surprised by the growing craft beer scene there. I’m hoping that The Fargo Brewing Company will be up and running by my next trip home. I’m looking forward to see what F-town will add to the world of beer.