Beer League Beer Review | Grain Belt Nordeast
The 2022 Winter MNWAHL season kicked off Sunday night. After losing basically all of the 2021 winter and fall seasons due to Covid restrictions, my team the Hosers made their triumphant return to the ice and a Grain Belt Nordeast to wash away the sorrows of dropping the first game.
We opted out of the 2021 winter season because we were required to wear masks while playing in Minnesota at that time. While we weren’t against the mask mandate, too many of my teammates didn’t think they were in a physical condition to skate with a mask. The fact they are almost all firemen in my community made me question their overall physical fitness. The irony was not lost on them. When it was time to sign up for the 2021 fall season the Delta variant was making its way across the country and indoor mask mandates were put back in place. Many of the players thought the state would again require masks be worn while playing so we opted out of the fall season. The mandate never came to fruition. I did skate during the fall season as a team I sub for from time to time saw their goalie have surgery.
A few of my teammates didn’t skate at all over the Covid break, while a few had done a small number of pickup skates. I think I was only one of two who skated regularly during this time.
Anyway, it was a good team the team captain brought beer because it was a long night where I saw over 40 shots in what ended up being a 6-4 loss. We scored a 5th goal, but with only one ref working our game the opposing team convinced him we had a phantom player skating behind him offsides on a play that resulted in a goal. No such phantom player existed.
In the cooler bag were three options; Bush Lite (no thank you – only grabbing one of those if it is the only option), a Summit EPA (of which I wrote about last week), and a Grain Belt Nordeast American Amber Lager.
Grain Belt is a Minnesota brewery located in New Ulm. The brewery’s origins go back to pre-prohibition times and is now part of the storied Schell’s brewery. The name of the beer Nordeast pays homage to Minneapolis’s Nordeast (north east) neighborhood. It’s pronounced Nordeast just as the neighborhood’s original northern and eastern European settlers used to say it.
As for the beer itself, it is a light American amber lager clocking in at a 4.7% ABV. It has a smooth, malty yet sweet taste that is quite refreshing after a busy night in the net. It’s actually a beer that I often order if there isn’t anything on the menu that I haven’t tried and they don’t have Guinness. If you’re traveling through Minnesota I do have it on my list of must try local beers.
Here is to hoping there is more good beer in the locker room this week.
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