Ep 139 - From Resort Dreams To Reality BK's New Venture

It’s 12:55 a.m., the first flurries are flying, and our quiet plan to record turned into fifty people at the bar, a late dinner, and a lineup of beers too good to skip. We share what it’s really like to buy a Northwoods resort, reopen a bar on the snowmobile trail, and build a place where community, good beer, and a warm fire meet.We dig into the changes we’ve made at Callahan Lake Resort: open on Mondays when others close, adding a DIY Bloody Mary bar, moving walls and TVs to make game days easy, and—most importantly—curating a rotating selection of craft beer you don’t usually find this far north. Getting beyond the same few regional taps is a grind when distributors limit what they’ll deliver outside major markets, so we talk through how we hunt for variety, why Facebook and trail apps send new guests our way, and how neighboring bar owners have become unexpected allies.Then the tasting flight: Wooden Ship Oktoberfest brings classic malt and bread-crust notes that feel like fall in a stein. Metronome’s Coal Porter surprises with silky creme brulee aroma and a balanced caramel-roast profile at just 4.8%—a perfect gateway dark beer, even better at cellar temps. Jack Pine’s Deadfall Russian Imperial Stout leans roasty and bitter at 9.4%, a clean, textbook take that drinks smoother than it sounds. LUPULIN’s Campfire Munchies rides in at 10% with marshmallow-first sweetness, stout bitterness mid-palate, and a graham-cracker finish—decadent, shareable, and nostalgic. We close with Scaldis Noël, a Belgian strong dark ale at 12% that’s shockingly smooth, pastry-leaning, lightly spiced, and endlessly sippable.If you love craft beer, small-bar stories, and the nuts and bolts of building a welcoming space in the Northwoods, you’ll feel right at home. Pull up a chair, learn why serving temperature matters, and hear how we’re preserving a decades-old legacy while planning a kiln-dried hardwood bar build for spring.Enjoy the conversation? Follow, share with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more beer lovers find the show. Got a beer we should try or a style we’ve overlooked? Email [email protected] and tell us what to pour next.Send us Fan MailThank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, X (Twitter), Instagram and Tik Tok.If you are on Untappd, look up NorthwoodsBeerGuy and send a friend request.Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts, or you can click on our RSS feed as well.