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The air hurt our faces, so we made the weather our beer fridge. From there, it turned into the perfect Northwoods night: eight carefully chosen beers, one runaway favorite, and a deep dive into a small, family-first resort that lives bigger than its map pin. We’re back at Callahan Lake Resort—14 miles east of Hayward—sharing what’s new: brighter cabins with space for real weeks, pull-in RV sites, a growing beach and swim area, a smarter dock layout for pontoon drop-ins, and a plan to restore the beloved floating “Loose Caboose.” Picture quiet mornings casting for musky and bass, afternoons drifting on Mud Lake, and evenings where neighbors feel like cousins.

On the beer front, we start with Drecker’s fruit-forward sours—gluten-free, summer-friendly, and surprisingly restrained—before we swing into stout country. Jack Pine’s Deadfall variants split the room at first: the rum barrel leans dark-fruited but shy on rum; the peach brandy barrel wakes up gloriously as it warms, turning into a layered, cellar-temp treat. Then we open a four-bottle run from Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative that flat-out sings. Midnight Hour Bourbon Barrel is pure balance—caramel, vanilla, toffee—while the Rye Barrel adds peppered lift without the weight. Raspberry Bourbon gives fresh fruit that integrates instead of shouting. And the standout? Midnight Hour Mexican Chocolate: rye-barrel backbone, chocolate-vanilla-cinnamon grace, and guajillo and morita peppers that glow rather than burn. We called it a Beer of the Year contender on the spot.

Between pours, we trace the trails you can ride right from the resort—ATV in summer, staked snowmobile routes in winter—and we shout out the local network of taverns, barbecue, fish fries, breakfasts, and festival weekends: Musky Fest, cranberry runs, Fall Fest, and the legendary American Birkebeiner. It’s a place where owners share parts and couches, send guests to each other’s dining rooms, and celebrate community wins. If you want a getaway where lake time is unhurried, the beer is thoughtfully chosen, and the welcome is real, this one’s for you.

If this episode made you thirsty or sparked a trip idea, hit follow, share it with a friend, and drop us your favorite barrel-aging style in a review. And if you walk into the lodge and say you heard us here, the first beer’s on Brian.

Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

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A cold night. Six dark beers. Zero mercy for labels that overpromise. We open with a “Mexican hot chocolate” milk stout that whispers cinnamon but forgets the heat, then pivot to a peanut butter chocolate porter that finally smells like the real thing. From there, the lineup swings through a maple pecan brown that plays it safe, a silky peanut butter chocolate milk stout with dessert-like glide, and two heavyweights that split the room: Brooklyn’s Black Chocolate Stout with baker’s-chocolate bite, and a barrel-aged imperial that brings spirit warmth without the harsh burn.

Along the way, we get candid about why some flavors vanish in the glass, what makes milk sugar such a winter workhorse, and how roast can tip from cozy to fatiguing. We unpack barrel-aging basics in plain English—what time in wood can do for sweetness and structure—and share quick pairing ideas that tame bitterness or elevate sweetness. When the peppers arrive in a 14.1% monster, we talk balance over bravado: gentle heat, cinnamon lift, and a finish that actually feels like Mexican hot chocolate done right. If you’ve ever wondered why some “maple” beers taste like plain brown ale, or why peanut butter is so hard to nail without going fake, this tasting cuts through the noise.

Expect a few holiday detours—favorite Christmas movies, “easy” trivia that isn’t, and friendly scorekeeping—plus clear winners you can hunt down now. If you’re stocking a holiday table, reach for the silky peanut butter milk stout for dessert, the salted-caramel mocha stout for coffee-cake moments, and the spiced imperial for late-night fireside warmth. Subscribe to the show, share this episode with your beer crew, and drop your winter stout picks in the comments—we’ll add the best to our next lineup.

Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

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A snowy day calls for a mixed pack and a little mischief. We cracked open eight winter beers that promised cookies, spice, and holiday cheer—and found a spectrum from burnt-roast stouts to a bourbon-kissed gem that actually delivers the season in a glass. Along the way, we test what makes a “Christmas beer” work: aroma that hints at the flavors to come, balanced sweetness, and labels that tell the truth.

We start with a “Christmas cookie” cream ale that forgets the cookie, then navigate a Rogue stout heavy on char. Three Floyds shows up with a hop-leaning porter in Krampus clothes, while Old Nation’s Frandor Claws finally hits the brief with cherry, vanilla, and cacao in harmony. A coffee bomb called Devil’s Invention pushes bold grounds without the grit, and Victory’s Very Merry Monkey proves that Belgian yeast and gingerbread spice can play well together when the sweetness stays in check.

Our standout of the night is Great Lakes’ Barrel-Aged Christmas Ale at 10% ABV—smooth, gently bourboned, aromatic with holiday spice, and friendly to drinkers who usually shy away from barrels. A 12% Milwaukee stout closes the flight with an unexpected tart edge that intrigues more than it satisfies. Between pours, we trade Santa lore—Sinterklaas, NORAD tracking, and the myths behind the red suit—because nothing pairs with winter beer like a little holiday trivia.

If you love seasonal beer, this tasting will help you shop smarter: seek clear spice on the nose, watch the IBUs on dark styles, and anchor your lineup with one approachable barrel-aged ale. Listen, share your top cold-weather pour, and subscribe so you don’t miss our next round of festive cans. Got a beer we should try? Send it our way and join the campfire conversation.

Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

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The snow hit early, the grill smoke curled over the pines, and we crossed a big milestone: our 1,000th beer review. To celebrate, we poured an ambitious holiday lineup that proves December beer can be more than cinnamon and nutmeg. Think cookie-inspired lagers, pastry stouts that smell like hot cocoa, a pistachio nut brown that actually tastes like pistachio, a polarizing cranberry sour, a hop-leaning winter warmer, and two heavy hitters that close the night with buttery praline comfort and smooth bourbon-barrel depth.

We start light with a Helles-style “cookie” lager that hints at spritz cookies without the sugar shock, then dive into Great Lakes’ Cookie Exchange series: Peanut Butter Blossom brings nostalgic aroma and dessert warmth, while Berry Jam Thumbprint goes big on raspberry jam. Along the way, we unpack why lactose anchors cookie beers and revisit the Viking roots of Christmas ale, from Yule traditions to King Hakon Ithr 1st's mandate to brew for the season.

Mid-show, Stevens Point’s Snowpilot surprises us with a real pistachio aftertaste and crowd-friendly balance. Boulevard’s Nutcracker promises molasses but leans more pine and grapefruit from Chinook hops—great for IPA fans, less so for those chasing winter-warm spice. Prairie’s Seasick Crocodile smells like holiday punch but drinks tart; ideal if you want a bright, sour contrast on the table. Then Southern Tier’s Chestnut Praline lands like a fireside treat—buttery, caramel, and cozy, best as a single-glass indulgence. We finish with Founders’ Cranfather, an 11.1% bourbon barrel ale that’s shockingly smooth: bourbon on the nose, cranberry up front, orange peel on the finish, and cherry whispering at the edges.

By the end, we’ve got picks for every palate and a practical game plan for your holiday cooler: start with a cookie lager, add a nut brown for depth, share a pastry stout after dinner, and pass around a gentle barrel-aged sipper to toast the night. Subscribe, share with a beer-loving friend, and tell us your favorite seasonal style—cookie, tart, hop, or barrel-aged? Your votes will shape our next holiday flight.

Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

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Seventeen taps, one table, and a promise to try them all. We dropped into Tumbled Rock Brewing in Baraboo with fresh palates and open notebooks, then worked our way from malty staples to modern haze and a final flight full of sours, spice, and a green-tinged saison. What we found was a brewery that prizes balance over bluster—clean fermentations, distinct styles, and a steady hand even when the ingredients get playful.

We start with the comfort zone: an Irish red that nails caramel and toast without dragging, a brown ale with gentle roast, and a cream ale that surprises with subtle sweetness. From there we pivot to a Danish-inspired lager seasoned with chamomile, lemon, ginger, and coriander, showing restraint where spice often overwhelms. A coffee oatmeal stout leans approachable rather than intense, more café aroma than espresso shot. The mid-run curveballs include a Mexican lager hopped with Motueka that divides the panel, and a lighter-than-usual doppelbock that wins points for drinkability over density.

Hop fans get a full tour: a double IPA boasting 88 IBUs yet drinking smoother than the number suggests, a hazy collaboration that actually earns the word “crushable,” and a strawberry–kiwi–hibiscus hazy where the color promises fireworks but the palate stays balanced. We also explore an English IPA that delivers dryness and subtle marmalade and a hoppy blonde that reads sweeter and citrusy rather than overtly bitter. The finale pushes boundaries—a pink lemonade wheat with patio energy, a tart strawberry sour that puckers instead of panders, a jalapeño tamarind mango sour that harmonizes heat and acidity, a dill pickle sour that needs more brine, and a French saison whose rustic yeast character meets eye-catching color.

If you’re mapping a Wisconsin beer trip, Tumbled Rock is worth the stop: a tap list with range, a space where you can watch the brewhouse, and beers that stay distinct without getting noisy. Hit play to hear our candid ratings, favorite pours, and the moments that surprised us most, then tell us what you’d order first. Subscribe, share with a beer friend, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find the show.

Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

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It’s 12:55 a.m., the first flurries are flying, and our quiet plan to record turned into fifty people at the bar, a late dinner, and a lineup of beers too good to skip. We share what it’s really like to buy a Northwoods resort, reopen a bar on the snowmobile trail, and build a place where community, good beer, and a warm fire meet.

We dig into the changes we’ve made at Callahan Lake Resort: open on Mondays when others close, adding a DIY Bloody Mary bar, moving walls and TVs to make game days easy, and—most importantly—curating a rotating selection of craft beer you don’t usually find this far north. Getting beyond the same few regional taps is a grind when distributors limit what they’ll deliver outside major markets, so we talk through how we hunt for variety, why Facebook and trail apps send new guests our way, and how neighboring bar owners have become unexpected allies.

Then the tasting flight: Wooden Ship Oktoberfest brings classic malt and bread-crust notes that feel like fall in a stein. Metronome’s Coal Porter surprises with silky creme brulee aroma and a balanced caramel-roast profile at just 4.8%—a perfect gateway dark beer, even better at cellar temps. Jack Pine’s Deadfall Russian Imperial Stout leans roasty and bitter at 9.4%, a clean, textbook take that drinks smoother than it sounds. LUPULIN’s Campfire Munchies rides in at 10% with marshmallow-first sweetness, stout bitterness mid-palate, and a graham-cracker finish—decadent, shareable, and nostalgic. We close with Scaldis Noël, a Belgian strong dark ale at 12% that’s shockingly smooth, pastry-leaning, lightly spiced, and endlessly sippable.

If you love craft beer, small-bar stories, and the nuts and bolts of building a welcoming space in the Northwoods, you’ll feel right at home. Pull up a chair, learn why serving temperature matters, and hear how we’re preserving a decades-old legacy while planning a kiln-dried hardwood bar build for spring.

Enjoy the conversation? Follow, share with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more beer lovers find the show. Got a beer we should try or a style we’ve overlooked? Email [email protected] and tell us what to pour next.

Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, X (Twitter), Instagram and Tik Tok.

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Five Bourbon County pours, one 20% curveball, and a table full of strong opinions. We line up the 2022 Goose Island Bourbon County variants—Original, Coffee, Biscotti, the 30th Anniversary Reserve with Knob Creek’s small-batch family, and the Two-Year Barleywine aged in Old Fitzgerald barrels—then bring out New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk D20 for a wild final act. Along the way, we talk about why some barrel-aged beers feel seamless while others come in hot, how char level and wood type shape flavor, and why great coffee stouts avoid that ashtray note.

You’ll hear how the Original sets a high bar with a blend of Four Roses, Heaven Hill, Wild Turkey, and Buffalo Trace barrels. The Coffee variant shows what happens when clean Burundi beans meet a careful stout base—subtle sweetness, no grit. Biscotti divides the room with anise and almond that finish in bold licorice, a love-it-or-leave-it moment that makes pastry stout so fun to argue about. The 30th Reserve wins hearts with polish and balance across Knob Creek, Bookers, Basil Hayden, and Bakers barrels, earning a Beer of the Year nomination. Then the Old Fitzgerald barleywine brings velvety depth at 17% ABV, trading dryness for rich toffee and fig.

We close with Dragon’s Milk D20, a 20% stout that’s surprisingly drinkable but sharper than the Goose Island lineup—a fascinating study in extreme ABV and barrel character. If you’re searching for Bourbon County reviews, coffee stout recommendations, or Old Fitzgerald barleywine insights, this tasting hits the sweet spot: practical notes, clear scores, and real talk about who should seek these bottles out.

Subscribe, share with a beer friend, and tell us your pick for the winner. Got a barrel-aged gem we should try next? Drop us a note and we might feature it on a future show.

Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

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A house band, wax-dipped bombers, and six barrel-aged beers later, we walked away surprised by what truly stood out—and what didn’t. We lined up a spectrum: a 5.1% blueberry pastry sour from 608 Brewing, a Russian imperial stout from Bad Weather, two heavy hitters from Barrel Theory (including a Blanton’s-aged collab), and a pair from Forager culminating in a five-thread English-style barleywine. Along the way we challenged labels against the glass, debated whether exotic adjuncts matter if you can’t taste them, and unpacked why some barrels sing while others barely whisper.

The pastry sour proved sweeter than expected, with blueberry and vanilla riding over a very light barrel note. Calamity looked the part but felt restrained on flavor, sparking a discussion about IBUs, roast, and what age can take away. Barrel Theory’s Cursed Visions returned the depth we were craving—thick, chocolate-forward, and polished—while Eternal Frost showcased how 19-year Old Fitzgerald barrels can deliver silk without the burn. From there, Forager’s Nuts promised coconut, roasted nuts, and five origins of vanilla bean “caviar,” yet the adjuncts stayed in the background. Then Romp changed the narrative: a blend of five barleywines aged across Eagle Rare, Blanton’s, George Dickel, and Rock Filter barrels, layered with dried fruit, caramel, leathery oak, and holiday spice. It was cohesive, warming, and our top scorer by a clear margin.

We also pulled back the curtain on process and context—how collabs could better explain who brings what, why Minnesota’s distribution laws separate Forager and Humble Forager, and how English-style barleywine can be a smoother entry point than its American counterpart. If you love barrel-aged beer, you’ll get tasting notes you can trust, respectful critique for rising programs, and a short list of bottles worth hunting down—starting with Romp.

Enjoy the pour? Follow the show, share this episode with a fellow beer nerd, and drop a rating or review to help more listeners find us. Tell us your favorite barrel-aged release this season and what you want us to try next.

Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

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Ever balanced a flight so big it looks like a train car? We headed to Al Ringling Brewing in Baraboo, Wisconsin, home of circus lore and a taproom built with reclaimed bowling-lane wood, to sample all sixteen taps and rank them from easy sippers to bold experiments. Between the historic pipe organ and the clink of glassware, we dug into what makes each pour work: clean lagers, nuanced ales, and a few curveballs that sparked friendly debate.

We start with approachable classics like Ringling Original, the malty-smooth Hannaford Red, and a pine-forward West Coast IPA that proves IBUs don’t always match perceived bitterness. Cocoa Caliente, an American porter with chocolate and a hint of cinnamon warmth, emerges as an early favorite. From there, we explore a crisp Czech pilsner, a banana-and-wheat hefeweizen, and an English porter that leans roasty and dry. The blonde ale adds a touch of tang, showing how small deviations can make a familiar style feel new.

Curiosity ramps up with a juicy New England IPA, a chai tea–infused blonde that delivers real spice aroma without heaviness, and a tropical hazy loaded with passionfruit, orange, and guava. Then comes the wildcard stretch: a trio of hard seltzers where fruit punch steals the show, a salty-tart pineapple lime gose that divides the table, and Gherkin, a cucumber pilsner that’s surprisingly refreshing when cold. Along the way we talk scoring, palate fatigue, and why sequence matters when tasting across sixteen different profiles.

If you’re planning a visit to Baraboo, consider this your guide to what to order first and what to save for last. Hit play for our honest ratings, favorite picks, and the stories behind a brewery that blends circus history with modern craft. If you enjoy the ride, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find us.

Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, X (Twitter), Instagram and Tik Tok.

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Think stout has to be dark, heavy, and bitter? We crack open a lineup that challenges the stereotype—white stouts that drink silky and bright, classic nitro smoothness, and a surprise brandy barrel lager that channels a Wisconsin old fashioned.

We start with a final Oktoberfest check-in before diving into lower-ABV stouts, explaining what makes a white stout different and why the flavor cues—vanilla, coffee, white chocolate—can show up without the inky pour. Leinenkugel’s White Mocha Stout and Whole Hog’s Casper White Stout lead the way with balanced vanilla and mocha notes on a pale canvas, proving you can have stout character without the burnt finish. Along the way, we compare nitro vs CO2 mouthfeel using Left Hand’s Milk Stout Nitro and talk about how nitrogen transforms texture into that pillowy, pub-like cascade.

Local love continues with Stone Arch’s Vanilla Oatmeal Stout and Moon Ridge’s Below the Dam, where we weigh expectations vs reality on vanilla, roast, and carbonation. Then comes The Brewing Projekt’s Cow Cow Caramel Macchiato, a salted caramel-forward treat beer that dazzles in aroma and demands slow sipping. For a finale, we pop Lakefront’s Barrel-Aged Holiday Spice Lager—brandy barrel-aged with cinnamon, clove, orange zest, and honey—for a ruby-amber, season-ready sipper that’s smooth, warming, and impeccably balanced.

If you’re stout-curious or just want a fresh angle on winter beers, you’ll leave with a shopping list: start with Casper for your first white stout, keep Leinie’s White Mocha in the fridge, save Cow Cow for dessert, and share that Lakefront holiday lager on a cold night. Got a beer we should try next or a barrel-aged gem we can’t miss? Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and email us at Northwoodsbeerguy at gmail.com with your picks and hot takes.

Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, X (Twitter), Instagram and Tik Tok.

If you are on Untappd, look up NorthwoodsBeerGuy and send a friend request.

Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts, or you can click on our RSS feed as well.