Category: breweries

Got the Winter Blues? Modist Has You Covered

By on February 8, 2017in cooking & food, food pairing, general beer, misc. mn beer, MN, Modist Brewing, new beer, tap rooms

Summer festival season is still months away and the Modist crew wants to fill the void on February 18 from 5 pm until 10 pm with music, food, and beer. They’re partnering with ZZQ Smokehouse and Genius of Fun Promotions for the event which will feature music from Hurricane Harold & Doug Otto, Brothers Band, Black River Review, and Jorgensen Tagg Band.

Tickets will cost $39 and include:

3 pints of beer (see list below)
2 BBQ (pulled pork or chicken) sliders and a side (potato salad or coleslaw)
Live music
Specialty beers
Discounted room rate ($149) at Hewing Hotel

Modist will be serving their flagships TOATS, Smoove, Wasteland, pHresh, and First Call—as well as something from their Deviation Series and several specialty beers. Additional food and beer will be available for purchase at the event.

Cheers!

Barrel Aged Darkness Cometh

By on February 3, 2017in Surly Brewing Co.

A 12% ABV Russian Imperial Stout wasn’t enough for you, was it? Nope. You wanted a barrel-aged monster, ripe with oaky rye whiskey notes and a big of bling on the bottle, right? We know you. We do. Hang on to your cowboy hats for a few more days ready yourself for the release of Surly Brewing Co.’s Barrel-Aged Darkness. You’ll find it in bottles and on draft in Minnesota and beyond (7 states, to be exact). Should you find yourself in Minneapolis, this beer will drop at the brewery on the 8th.

I probably don’t need to tell you barrel-aged beer nerds any specifics, but here goes: for this release, 2016 Darkness spent over three months in High West rye whiskey barrels before bottling. Mmm. Rye. Spice. Wood. Play Doh (kidding).

Barrel nerdery begins February 6th

Insight is Going Solar!

By on January 31, 2017in Insight Brewing Co.

Great news from our friends at Insight Brewing Company: in 2017, Insight will become Minnesota’s first brewery to offset 120% of its energy usage with solar power.

The brewery is partnering with Innovative Power Systems to build a community solar garden in Carver County this summer. Insight will make use of nearly half of the energy output of the solar garden, offsetting 120% of the brewery’s energy needs for 2017.

Why is this cool? The process of brewing beer is energy intensive. Breweries use a lot of energy, be it boiling water, running coolers, forklifts, etc. Insight’s efforts to offset their energy use should be commended.

We at Insight feel an obligation to be stewards of the environment and continually find ways to reduce both water and energy usage as well as finding ways to become a greener company, overall. At a time when it seems our new government will soon be taking a step back in energy and environmental policies, it feels like there is no better time to move forward with this initiative so that we as a community, state, country, and world, don’t lose the positive momentum we currently have towards curbing global warming and creating a greener, more sustainable future.

Fair State Big Bottle Drop Saturday

By on January 27, 2017in Fair State Brewing, new beer

Photo courtesy of Fair State Brewing Cooperative

If you are a fan of sour beer, you may want to sit up and pay attention. It’s Friday. Perhaps you’ve just returned from a long lunch and plan to sit your ass down and argue the finer points of presidential politics in the comment section of your favorite news source. Stop it.

Put down the keyboard TRVMPLVR52 and NOTMYPRZ69. I have something you can agree upon.

On Saturday, January 28th (i.e. “this” Saturday), our friends at Fair State Brewing Cooperative are making three great sour beer available in bottles, including a personal favorite from last year’s Winterfest, Raspberry Roselle. Fair State has been making some amazing sour beer since their inception and these three will no doubt continue in this fine tradition.

The beers:

 

U-Pick – available on draft now

We went berry pickin’ with co-op owners, workers, and friends in August, and 280 pounds of raspberries later, this beer is the result. We added the fresh berries to mature barrel-fermented sour beer and allowed it to re-ferment.

IBU: 23, ABV: 5.5

Bricoleur #4 – available on draft 1.19

The fourth in the popular series, Bric 4 is an 80% stainless fermented mixed culture Saison, 20% barrel-fermented mixed culture sour blend, dry-hopped with Hallertau Blanc. We’ve been working on blending young Brett. beer with mature barrel sour beer. The result is a tart, funky original with a hoppy nose.

IBU: 18. ABV: 4.9

Raspberry Roselle – available on draft 1.26 (Taproom), first off-site tap 1.27 (Republic)

The return of the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Guild 2016 Winterfest (Friday session) Best Beer-winner. We re-fermented Roselle, our canned hibiscus sour saison, with a whole bunch of raspberries. The result is a fruit-forward, rose-hued beer that’s distinctly juicy and dry.

IBU: 10, ABV: 5.8

New Breweries to Look Forward to in 2017

By on January 22, 2017in breweries, general beer, misc. mn beer, MN, new beer, tap rooms

This is going to be very good year for new breweries here in Minnesota with many set to open this spring. The latest wave of brewery openings have been fairly disappointing but there is reason for optimism this year. Here are a few of the highlights to consider.

Barrel Theory – This highly anticipated brewery is set to open in Lowertown right next to Dark Horse. Brett Splinter and Timmy Johnson both formerly of Surly are looking to introduce some interesting barrel-aged offerings east of the river. Quality beer is going to be the theme here and given their experience, we should be very excited. Expect some very big beers and plenty of barrel-aged sours to come out of this space.

Oakhold Farmhouse Brewery – You know those fantastic sours that have been coming out of Fair State? Yeah, the owners of Oakhold are behind many of those and they are planning to open a farmhouse brewery out of Midway Township near Duluth, Minnesota. Expect some fantastic mixed culture sours along with some traditional farmhouse beers similar to those found over in Belgium or France.

Hoops Brewing – Canal Park has long been a popular tourist spot in one of the most picturesque cities in Minnesota. Soon it will be home to Hoops Brewing, headed up by the man (Dave Hoops) who put Duluth on the beer map while he was with Fitger’s Brewhouse. Now his team will be led by former Fitger’s Brewhouse brewer Melissa Rainville—who I’m told will be tasked with developing many of the recipes for their lineup. Expect a taproom that will welcome anyone including hockey fans, a group that Dave feels very much a part of. They will create a solid lineup of flagship offerings and will proudly feature a barrel-aged program that is certain to please even the most discerning palate.

Star Keller – We’ve been waiting for far too long for this place to open. Jace Marti (from Schell’s Brewing) has been concocting recipes and plans to make more of those fantastic Berliner Weiss beers in the Noble Star collection, as well as a variety of blended mixed culture sours, and even a Flanders Red Style. My biggest concern about the Star Keller is the location. Here’s to hoping that New Ulm embraces having an all sour taproom in town.

Most of these breweries are expecting to open this spring, but I’d expect Oakhold to take a little while longer with a late 2017 opening date.

Cheers!