Pity the poor Minnesotan.
We estimate that less than three minutes elapsed between our arrival at the booth of Cold Spring Brewery and overhearing a Fargo joke directed at these rural Minnesotan brewers. One can only imagine how many times that particular tragicomedy played out over the course of the day. Luckily, Mike Feldhege from Cold Spring has a good nature to complement his good beverages.
They've been brewing at Cold Spring since 1874 (you might have encountered their products under the former name of Gluek), so they probably know what they're doing. In their first year at the NRA Show, they are showing off their new Spiker Ale, a bourbon-aged Imperial stout that's as smooth as it is strong (kind of like the silhouette of John Henry on the bottle). Right now you can only find it in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and California, but Feldhege reports that with all the distributors and intrigued customers who have crowded their booth today, it won't stay that way for long. "We are real happy so far," he says of the NRA Show. "People are giving good feedback."
Besides Spiker Ale and five other beers, Cold Spring produces mineral water, fortified fruit beverages, hard lemonade and more energy drinks than anyone else in the United States.
If you can't make it up northwest of Minneapolis for a brewery tour, try the next best thing and visit Cold Spring's booth for something refreshing. They're just just one of the 142 beverage exhibitors at NRA Show 2009, but probably the only one who will laugh at your Fargo joke as if they hadn't heard that one before.
Comments