How much to they love hops at Bell’s?

John Mallett's license plate

Eccentric Cafe entranceLet’s start with the license plate on the back of production manager John Mallett’s truck (above).

Then there’s the collection of plates at the entrance of the Eccentric Pub, which is where Larry Bell started what was then called Kalamazoo Brewing. They still brew “downtown” but most of production — which will surpass 100,000 barrels this year — takes place in the purpose-built brewery in nearby Galesburg.

Four 200-barrel fermenters in the brewery look just a little different than the others. They have special large tops to make dry hopping easier. The brewers can easily open them to dump in a bunch (yes, the technical brewing term) of Centennial hops.

This car spotted in the pub parking lot indicates a certain level of satisfaction with the effort.

Bell's fan

The world’s largest six-pack – updated

LaCrosse Six Pack

Old Style Six PackOur travels through Wisconsin allowed us to update our photo of the “World’s Largest Six Pack” i LaCrosse.

We’ve got a little collection of the “world’s largest . . .” going on this trip. We’ve seen the world’s largest cross country skis, the world’s largest fly fishing rod, America’s biggest mall and more. So an update seemed like good enough reason to drive through the heart of LaCrosse.

When Heileman, then Stroh, owned the brewery the six pack, as you can see, featured cans of Old Style. When City Brewery bought the operations the cans were remodeled as LaCrosse Lager. Prettier, don’t you think?

The sign with information about what in the lagering tanks may have been touched up a bit, but otherwise looks exactly the same. It says there’s enough beer inside to fill 7,340,796 12-ounce cans and placed end to end these cans would extend 565 miles. They would provide one person a six pack a day for 3,351 years.

Thought you needed to know that.

My kind of store, sort of

Locals LiquorI love the name of this store in Banff, Alberta.

Although I think the name is meant to imply it’s a place for locals rather than tourists the cooler included a few regional beers.

I grabbed Hop Head from Tree Brewing in Kelowna, B.C., located about half way between Vancouver and Banff. The clerk was less than helpful — “It tastes like the name” — but the beer was fresh and focused.

The Session: #17 rounded up, #18 announced

The SessionRob has posted the roundup for The Session #17, organizing the 28 posts into three categories: “those who thought the question was bollocks, those who thought the question was bollocks but figured cracking open a stout would appease the Session gods, and those who humored me by admitting a certain fondness for the unorthodox beer out of season.”

Not long until The Session #18, and Ray has picked “Happy Anniversary” as the topic.

Use this as an excuse to celebrate. Open a limited release anniversary beer from your favorite brewer. Enjoy that special beer you normally only open on your wedding anniversary or birthday. Either way, tell us about it. Why is it a beer you may only drink once a year? Why is that brewery’s annual release the one you selected?

All bloggers are welcome to join us. It’s easy. Post to the theme Aug. 1, then send Ray a note.

Why

To answer a question, since I received a friendly (it seemed friendly) e-mail asking why I wasn’t posting more drinking notes . . . Yes, one of our goals on this extended adventure is to eat and drink local products, but I have no plan to write about all of them. We’ve had some excellent beers, which I may eventually mention, and some duds, better forgotten.

They point of our journey is better summarized by what occurred in a few seconds along U.S. Route 2 in Minnesota.

Driver: (There’s the) Big Fish Supper Club. (We’re keen on supper clubs.)

Navigator: Look at the fish.

Driver: Holy shit!

Passenger: Laughing loudly as driver tries to brake without the contents of the RV banging around too wildly.

We managed to turn around without any damage, just to capture this photo.

Big Fish Supper Club

There’s more about the journey at The Slow Travelers, but I’m running behind on updating Flickr photos because campground wi-fi connections continue to suck.