People regularly tell us just how much they like our beer, often asking “How is it this pint is so good!?” I’m sure Andy and Tasha would be upset to have me divulge the secret, but… eh, what the heck!
It’s the taproom music.
Though not widely studied, the past decade has seen much more interest in the multi-sensory aspect of eating and drinking. Surely, we taste it, but much of the detail we get out of flavor is due to scent (both before going into our mouth as well as after, which is referred to as retronasal olfaction). But before any of that happens, as the saying goes, we feast with our eyes. And we haven’t even said anything yet about mouthfeel. Kinda hard to eat food without touching it.
But did you know that the subjective way that we interpret taste can be widely influenced by the music we hear when drinking? It should come as no surprise that if we’re listening to a song we like, and generally feel happy because of that, our entire experience is enhanced! Flavors become more vibrant. Our opinion of the different tasting notes: more positive. But did you know that the science goes even deeper than that? It’s been proven that if you listen to music with high notes, this will accentuate the sweetness of what’s in your glass. Have some bitter flavors, like hops? That calls for low notes.
I bring this up because it’s a particularly good weekend to enjoy Klockow, in the taproom and elsewhere, due to the presence of Brothers Burn Mountain this Friday and Grand Rapids Riverfest on Saturday!
For anyone who hasn’t experienced a Brothers Burn Mountain show, they’re certainly a spectacle to behold. This modern jam band has a sound that is a fusion of ethereal mood and untamed drumming. Poets in in both word and sound, the Brothers always bring in the crowd and always leave them wanting more… no matter how much they give them.

And even that is just a taste, an amuse-bouche, to the line-up for Riverfest the next day! I mean, you can rest assured that it’s going to be a great show when it starts in the early afternoon with Corey Medina and ends with Spoon in the late evening. And through it all, you can bet your bottom dollar that Klockow will be there, on site with a chilly beer trailer, pouring glasses of suds for the festival-goers. And I’m willing to bet that those are going to be some of the best damn tasting beers you’ve ever had. Just get lost in the music and we’ll do the rest.

We Barley Know You, But We Hop to Change That. It’s the Yeast We Can Do: Malachy Koons
Q: First off, how long have you worked here?
Malachy Koons: [Long pause] I should’ve prepared better. [Laughs] Um, I began this summer. I wanna say around mid, end of June is when I started. And then in July got regular Thursday evening shifts.
Q: But your day job is…
MK: My day job is I work at KAXE Community Radio station right here in Grand Rapids. I’m a producer there and I host music programs.
Q: In all your time here, what has been your favorite Klockow beer?
MK: The (Spawn) Pilsner and the (Hale Lake) Helles have not been on tap since I’ve been here. I surmise that they’re going to become my favorite. I’ve never tried them. But traditionally those are my favorite beers. My favorite so far has been Siduri’s Garden (Saison).
Q: When you’re not drinking Klockow beer, what do you like to drink?
MK: Probably my favorite beer is the coffee pale ale from Earth Rider Brewery. I lived in the Duluth area for awhile, so I’m very fond of beers over there. It’s where I really started drinking beer. The other would be the Cold Press from Bent Paddle.
So both coffee beers!
Q: So do you like coffee too?
MK: Love coffee.
Q: I figured. [Laughs]
MK: Yeah, makes sense. But good coffee beers are hard to find. They’re all over the place, but not always good.
Q: What are some of your favorite foods?
MK: Hmm, love tacos, but my all time favorite food is gnocchi. With a pesto sauce. Various meat option usually, but that can change. It’s more about the gnocchi.
Q: Is that something you can find around here, or is this something you make at home?
MK: I’ll make it at home. Best if my mom made it. And you can find already-made gnocchi. And then you just boil it; not sure if it’s freeze dried or what.

Q: What do you do here at the brewery?
MK: I am a beertender on Thursday evenings, so I pour people beer and chat with them if they would like to be chatted with. Hopefully I get that part right.
Q: That’s true. Not everyone wants to talk.
MK: And not every time. But yeah, pour people beer. Hang out. Hopefully pick good music.
Q: On that note, your main job is at KAXE, so you clearly know music pretty well. What can you tell us about some of the bands for Riverfest?
MK: Our headliner is Spoon, who are an iconic indie rock band. They started in the mid-to-late 90s, and I would say, since the early 2000s have been a critically acclaimed indie rock band. Always really consistent rock-based songs. They’ve got about 10 albums. I’ve never seen them live, but I’ve heard really good things about them.
We got Shakey Graves, which is kind of a mixture of blues and indie and Americana. I have seen Shakey Graves; really good live. He goes solo and full band. Has really catchy songs. And stage presence: level 100.
We have Sarah Jarosz, who is a folk-bluegrass prodigy. Started making music really young, in her teens. Has released a lot of albums already, and she’s just a little bit older than me. Really good singer, songwriter, and just a really good bluegrass musician who’s now doing some other stuff, like some folk, some country, some rock.
And we got S.G. Goodman. I’m super excited to see S.G. Goodman. She is from Kentucky and proud of it, but in a very “not everybody from the south is the way we are shown, but here’s the way we are” kind of way. And her music slaps!
Then we got Bemidji’s finest blues rock band, Corey Medina and Brothers. People may be more familiar with them, or at least their live show because they do play around northern Minnesota a bit. And they are always a killer live band. Very bluesy, rocky, sometimes getting into some Doors-y kind of stuff. Some Stevie Ray Vaughan kind of stuff. Yeah, just an awesome live band.
Probably more than you wanted!
Q: No, that was fantastic. But getting back to you, what’s a fun/interesting fact about yourself?
MK: I once, with a lot of help from my ex-partner, who actually spotted the car, we recovered my vehicle which was stolen. The cops didn’t seem to be making any progress, and we saw it a grocery store in Duluth. The cops still didn’t show up, so we tailed these people back to their house. And then finally reported where it was. And they got my car back and I drove it away!
Q: Oh awesome!
MK: I did leave a spare set of keys in the car though. So this was all my fault to begin with. I would’ve stolen it too! [laughs] But yeah, recovered a stolen car is the more interesting fact, on our own. Well, the cops did show up and help. But mostly it was us.
Q: Ok, final question, if you could go back and give any advice to your 18-year-old self, what would you tell them and why?
MK: My advice would be that thinking you have any idea what your life and career will look like right out of high school is ridiculous. But yeah, I could’ve skipped some steps or had an easier time if I wasn’t set on one thing.
So yeah, expectations out of high school: drop ‘em.

~

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 -

Pickled Loon - Grand Rapids
Boulder Taphouse - Grand Rapids
SuperOne Liquor - Grand Rapids
SuperOne Foods North - Grand Rapids
SuperOne Foods South - Grand Rapids
Willey’s Sports Shop & Spirits - McGregor
Pokegama Plaza Liquor - Grand Rapids
Sammy’s - Grand Rapids
Bottles & Brews Liquor - Grand Rapids
Unwined Up North - Grand Rapids
Hollywood Bait - Bovey
Sugar Lake Lodge - Cohasset
Raven Stone - Coleraine
Bear Ridge Pizza - Cohasset

Duluth, etc -

7 West - Duluth
Woodland Liquors - Duluth
Dovetail Cafe & Marketplace - Duluth
Boulder Taphouse - Superior
SuperOne Liquor - Duluth
SuperOne Liquor - Pike Lake
7 West - Superior
New Scene Cafe - Duluth
27 Liquors - Duluth