How many minutes are there in a year? What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow? Did you order the code red? If you haven’t noticed, we’re doing trivia this week for the chance to win a free entry into our 5K fun run on Saturday, Aug. 17, organized by the Minnesota Brewery Running Series (more on that next week). Every day, we’re posing a new question on Instagram and Facebook having to do with either running or beer, and the first person to come into the taproom with the correct answer wins a card good for a free registration as well as a lovely beer koozie! Worried that you have the correct answer but that you might be too late? Fear not, for even if the daily free registration is already claimed, we have a number of $5 off cards as well. So be sure to come in to tell the beertender your answer, that is, if you can handle the truth.
Ok, What Is That?
Maybe this has happened to you: You’re in a bar or a taproom and you’re looking over the beer list and see a word that is complete Greek to you. Not wanting to look foolish, you either ignore that beer entirely or you just order it in an attempt to look knowledgeable and hope for the best. If that word is “saison,” you’re in luck, because we’re gonna take a minute to let you know more about this style of beer in our new section, “Ok, What Is That?”
The French word for “season,” saison’s are a traditional Belgian beer hailing from the French-speaking region of Wallonia, Belgium. Farmers in the area would typically brew this beer in the winter to be ready for the summer. More traditional versions were fairly low ABV, and were characterized largely by a light body, spicy taste, and dry finish.
If you happen to frequent a lot of breweries or are just quite familiar with the selection at your local liquor store, you’ve probably seen a few beers referred to as “farmhouse ales.” Officially, there is a difference between a saison and a farmhouse ale, but let’s just say that Venn Diagram is a loose oval. For all practical purposes, especially in the U.S., farmhouse is a nickname for saisons. And it’s fitting, given that the style originated as a beer made by farmers, for farmers. What’s more, saison’s will often have a grassy, almost alfalfa flavor due to the unique yeast strains used.
But true to their history, where they were made by farmers with whatever ingredients were on hand, modern saisons can’t be pigeonholed into one exact flavor profile. Some lean more into their hops, while others are borderline sour. But nearly all of them can be characterized as having a rustic flavor, with strong fruit notes.
Here at Klockow, we have an annual saison called Siduri’s Garden. As our International Women’s Day collaboration brew, it’s one of the few beers on our menu that our brewmaster, Andy Klockow, has nothing to do with. Spearheaded by Tasha Klockow with the assistance of beertender Amanda Lussier and friend of the establishment Marit Bjordal, a saison was chosen because “it was one we all really liked that didn’t have a lot of representation,” according to Tasha. “I like the fact that it’s more herbaceous and complex than a lot of other styles.”
The herbaceousness was what they wanted to lean into the most when creating Siduri’s Garden, which is why the brew ended up being infused with ginger, coriander, rosemary, and grains of paradise. As for the name, Siduri was the goddess of fermentation in the Epic of Gilgamesh, so we sampled from her garden to make this herbal delight.
Siduri’s Garden is on tap right now, so come on by for a pint! And keep your eyes peeled for our gin-barrel aged expression of the beer: Siduri’s Elixir! It’s still aging, so be patient. Don’t worry, it’s more than worth the wait.
We Barley Know You, But We Hop to Change That. It’s the Yeast We Can Do: Russ Alioth
Question: How long have you worked here?
Russ Alioth: This time, or…? Um, coming up on three weeks this year. But I worked here three months, just on Fridays, last summer.
Q: And in all that time, what is your favorite Klockow beer?
RA: Ooh, Song of Susannah is one of my tops for sure. I like the big, the bold, the hoppy. And it’s definitely not one of those sessionable beers, having five-or-six-a-day kind of beers. It just checks all the boxes for me.
Q: When you’re not drinking Klockow beer, what do you like to drink?
RA: You know, I really enjoy bourbon. I definitely get into that. Otherwise, if not Klockow beer, some other craft beer variety. Recently been on the Drekker train with some of their sours or even a couple of their hazy IPAs. Just kind of exploring their catalog, as it were.
Q: Do you have a favorite bourbon?
RA: Um, favorite, or favorite accessible?
Q: Either, or both.
RA: Well, favorite and favorite accessible I’d probably do Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. It’s one that’s on the more rare side, but when you can find it, it’s not cost prohibitive. It’s just a solid bourbon for the price. So if not craft beer, some good bottle of bourbon.
Q: Sticking with the general theme, what are some of your favorite foods?
RA: Can’t go wrong with steak. I mean, really any kind of variety there; however you want to cook it, however you want to do it. Really can’t go wrong. Big fan of mushrooms too, especially paired together. My wife and I like to do a proper steak dinner where we find it from the farmer’s market or whatever we can from the grocery store, then sauté up some mushrooms.
Q: What do you do at the brewery?
RA: A little bit of everything. Got hired to do production and some deliveries and a little bit of sales here and there. So making the beer, packaging beer, moving stuff around the brew house, as well as running the beer out to the far reaches of Minnesota. And part of Wisconsin.
Q: That’s a quite a bit of stuff, so when you’re not doing all that, what do you like to do for fun?
RA: Love to hike, love to be out in nature. My wife and I split our time between Grand Rapids and Ely, so when we’re not working, we’ll typically go up and do some of the plethora of trails up in that neck of the woods. Or canoe or just be out in some of the state and national parks. We like being outside and running around with the dogs, exploring and looking at mushrooms and plants.
Q: Do you forage then?
RA: I aspire to. I haven’t gone out and properly “this is what I’m going to do.” Every time we’ve gone out it’s just been on a regular hike, and I’ll find one, maybe two edible mushrooms. But it’s not quite foraging if you only grab one. Looking to do more.
Q: What would be a fun/interesting fact about yourself?
RA: Maybe an interesting fact is that this is my third career path so far.
Q: Ok, what were the other two?
RA: Straight out of high school, I went to the University of St. Thomas for a year chasing an Air Force ROTC scholarship. That ended up not working out, so my initial plan was military, then it transitioned to EMS. I went to Inver Hills Community College to be an EMS for the better part of a decade. And now I’ve moved on to beer just in the last four years.
Q: Do you feel like you’re progressing each time? Finding something more interesting each time?
RA: Definitely so more on the interest level in what’s going on. Not that EMS wasn’t interesting, don’t get me wrong. The time was right to move on and now I’m doing beer, which I love. And I have some more exciting things to do here at Klockow, and a lot more learning. The ultimate goal is to be that head brewer somewhere, but I got some time. No rush.
Q: Last question: If you could turn into any animal for 24 hours, what would you morph into?
RA: 24 hours? See, that’s tricky because my wife and I have talked at length as to if reincarnation is a thing that exists, that I wish to be reincarnated as a cat owned by a millennial. It’s such a cushy lifestyle, you’re just hanging. But 24 hours?
Um, probably a bird of some sort. Maybe something in the hawk variety to be able to buzz around and have some… I mean, if you’re gonna go bird, have some claws and beak action.
Q: Little less risk of being eaten by a bigger bird.
RA: Yes, a little less risk there! But yeah, I like that concept. Kind of smaller size, but deep in the woods, and, I mean, who doesn’t want to be able to fly.
~
Thanks for checking out our humble little brewery! As long as you keep coming by, we’ll do our part by making the best damn beer possible and serving it in our always inviting atmosphere.
The Klockow Staff
Beer and Shrubbery Drops this Week:
Local, etc -
Pokegama Grill - Grand Rapids
Eagle Ridge Golf Course - Grand Rapids
Smoke on the Water - Coleraine
Pickled Loon - Grand Rapids
Pokegama Plaza Liquor - Grand Rapids
Boulder Taphouse - Grand Rapids
Unwined Up North - Grand Rapids
Bottles & Brews Liquor - La Prairie
S&S Bottle Shop - Deer River
Locker Room - Coleraine
Dutch Room - Grand Rapids
Sugar Lake Lodge - Grand Rapids
Raven Stone Abbey - Coleraine
38 Outpost - Grand Rapids
Cedar Creek Grill - Grand Rapids
Sammy’s Pizza - Grand Rapids
SuperOne Foods - Grand Rapids
SuperOne Liquor - Grand Rapids
Hotel Rapids - Grand Rapids