Fargo Brewing Company - Fargo, USA

With a happy clink our beer flights are placed down in front of us. A mixture of deliciously named beers of all kinds picked out by Kevin who's knowledge of the beers he is putting down is only second to the cheerful passion he show as he tells us about what he has chosen and the order best to try them. We are having a snack and tasting at the Fargo Brewing Company and this is a good start.

Fargo Brewing Company was started around 7 years ago after two brewers returned from brewing in Portland. They connected with two other people and the Fargo Brewing company was born. As one of the oldest breweries in Fargo the brewery definitely has the well established feel of a smoothly run brewing operation but is managing to also maintain that unique craft brew atmosphere. Their beer menu seems to actively cater for both the newbie craft beer enthusiast all the way to the seasoned crafty. As for the food, all I can say is great, we had soup, salad and a cheese platter and all of them went perfectly with each sip of beer. 

Now, I could ramble on about each beer I tasted here but actually I think the more interesting tale to tell is about the offering of a couple of beers with both normal carbonation and Nitro. Both Dads Pale ale and Stones Throw Scottish ale are offered in normal and nitro which makes for an interesting taste test. It's not often that I get to taste two different beers with two different carbonation's styles so of course I definitely jumped on it.

So after tasting all four I am happy to say that nitro brewing is something I am very excited about. Not because it makes every beer better but because it change a beer so much. The mouth feel, the taste and even the aroma. It turned out when we tastes the quartet and compared notes both of us came up the same. Dad's Pale Ale was a better beer non-nitro, but Stone Throw Scottish Ale Nitro Weighted in ahead of its non-nitro sibling. The dad's seemed to loose with nitro just as much as the Stones throw gained. This is why i'm excited, as someone who has been interested in, and drinking craft beer for a long time this comparison goes to reinforce that the slightest change to a process gives unbelievable change in the outcome. Which means even with many small breweries popping up all over. The craft scene is only just finding and stretching its legs into what could be. I would love to see a tasting of 4-5 beer styles all in nitro and non-nitro just to compare.

So whether you're out and about in Fargo on a weekend away (like me) or you have lived there but have never been, make sure you check out Fargo Brewing Company they are doing very cool things. Go see Kevin at the Ale House and grab some grub and a growler. On this hot day back home in Canada, i'm pretty happy to have to some refreshing Kenny's Lemonade radler to relax on the deck with and write this post.