Cantilever Distillery and Weird Beers
The Tulip and Schooner Newsletter for Friday, December 13, 2024
The Tulip and Schooner is edited and primarily written by Louis Livingston-Garcia.
I’ve had some weird beers.
The one immediately popping to mind is from the now defunct New New New brewery from Dunedin, New Zealand. While there I had a wonderful time with Andy Duke who was in charge of brewery operations. While he gave me free pours of beer I immediately asked for Fear Not, their smoked eel stout.
It was definitely a robust stout. Layers of smoke, subtle manuka honey sweetness, and cocoa before a savory umami flavor finished things thanks to the conger eel. I loved it. But eel is something I almost always get when I’m at a Japanese restaurant. It’s a flavor of umami I would bathe in. It would make my wife vomit.
Maybe it’s not as weird as it once was, but Forager’s Pudding Dribbles has always been a favorite thanks to it replacing water with maple sap in the brewing process. It creates such a sweet dessert beer. When I first saw that beer years ago I couldn’t believe they replaced the water like that. And it’s still made today and delicious as ever. It’s just… sweet. It’s different. The mouthfeel is syrup. The flavor is adjuncts. If you gave me that and didn’t tell me it was beer, I’d think it wasn’t.
And although smoothie beers are “normal” these days, I’ve had a couple that stand out as weird. First, Rar’s lychee, watermelon, ice cream, and lactose concoction. It was a burst of fresh, thick fruit. A milkshake, really. A fruit smoothie.
But even weirder? Basically everything from Buffalo, New York’s Froth. The craziest smoothie beers they make are the cheesecake ones… with literal chunks of cheesecake in them. I don’t know if that can go bad, but I drank them quickly just in case. It’s a chunky beer, so if you’re weird about mouthfeel, it’s a huge turnoff. Or, like Corporate Ladder’s Butter Beer-inspired smoothie with cream soda, white chocolate, and butterscotch, you may just need to strain the chunks out. I did that for my wife and friends after cracking both of them! I get it; chunky beer isn’t normal.
And to end on one last “weird” beer, Pulpit Rock’s Juleol comes to mind. An ale aged in gin barrels with juniper berries, bay leaves, and sage. It’s a floral gin, juniper, citrusy gin, caramel, cocoa, boozy treat. It’s so weird and so delightful. I feel like it should be some sort of breakfast baked good.
I may have had some other weird beers I can’t remember, but those came to mind instantly. Honestly, I have only come across two places with chunky smoothie beers, and only New Zealand’s New New New has dared put eel in a beer as far as I know. More should put umami forward fish in their beers.
Because I love all of it. Exploring flavors is such a joy. If you’ve had any particularly weird beer, send me an email. [1] I’d love to hear about it!
CANTILEVER DISTILLERY
Craft cocktails and comfort in Voyageurs National Park
By Stacy Brooks
Last summer, I drove nearly five hours north from my home in the Twin Cities metro to one of Minnesota’s farthest-flung craft distilleries: Ranier’s Cantilever Distillery, just across the border from Canada. The village of Ranier (population 569) is known for its quirky sensibility, picturesque location on the shore of Rainy Lake, and the 25-foot tall fiberglass “Big Vic” voyageur statue. Today he’s a friendly photo op, but Big Vic was originally erected in the 1980s by local resident Vic Davis to protest the federal government’s use of eminent domain to create nearby Voyageurs National Park.
Some locals still harbor less-than-positive feelings towards Voyageurs (I got an earful from my guide during a private sunset boat tour of the park) but for Cantilever Distillery, the national park offers a business opportunity. In addition to the distillery and cocktail room, Cantilever’s three-story building in downtown Ranier houses a 31-room boutique hotel managed by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts as a Trademark Collection property.
Cantilever Distillery general manager Robert Olson explains that the hybrid distillery-hotel business model was part of the business plan from the beginning—it’s the closest hotel to the north side of Voyageurs National Park. Since Voyageurs is the country’s 11th least-visited national park, Cantilever is intended both to draw visitors to the park and to serve as an all-in-one destination with lodging and a full-service restaurant. It worked on me: the idea of exploring Voyageur National Park’s interconnected lakes by day (the park is nearly 40 percent water) and drinking craft cocktails and sleeping in a very comfortable bed by night was the inspiration for my trip.
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