This is just a quick post today to alert folks about a cool little event that Town Hall Brewing is doing this week called Pollen Party. The event kicked off yesterday with a little party on the patio and after seeing the information, my wife Sarajo and I just knew we had to get there! Sj had actually been randomly wearing one of her Town Hall t-shirts so we took it as a sign. We dodged car crashes, shouted and cursed at terrible drivers, and basically sat in stop and go traffic for over an hour to get out there. It was worth it!

When we arrived we got to talk to Brewmaster Mike Hoops for a bit and sample the new Pollen Party beer release. The beer is a light summery refresher brewed with dandelion honey from Bar Bell Bee Ranch out of Squaw Lake, MN. The idea of this collaboration was to bring attention to the flying polinators and the flowers that suport them (and us). In order to get this beer out during the big dandelion bloom of spring (just look at my yard!) Mike had to plan a year ahead and use last year’s honey harvest for this new batch. That’s just the kind of brewer he is! We both found the beer to be bright, herbal, and with a slight bitter finish that keeps you wanting to drink more. This is a lot like the Town Hall mainstay Thunderstorm but without the strong lemongrass flavors of that wonderful beer. This is just a perfect beer to sip on a patio in springtime.

Chef Matt was out on the patio serving up Belgian waffles topped with house made liquid nitrogen ice cream made with the same dandelion honey. I’m lactose intolerant but I considered it worth the risk. Look what dangers I brave for you my readers! So worth it! That ice cream is on the menu for the rest of the week, as is a special chicken strip sampler with three honey based sauces that was quite tasty. Oh and they also had a pretzel wrapped bratwurst with house made honey mustard on the menu that looked great.

We were lucky enough to run into good friends Randy and Andrea there and had a great evening hanging out in my favorite brewpub. We were also able to get the Flight of the Honeybees beer sampler that included the new Pollen Party, as well as the stronger Eye of the Storm, and the Eye Wine Red (aged in red wine barrels). All of them were very tasty and showcase some seriously well used honey.

I encourage folks to head over to Town Hall in the next few days to try those new menu items and sample these amazing honey beers!