On Saturday, May 19th from 2-6 “Taste of River Lakes Craft Beer and Wine Expo” will take place River Lakes Civic Center in Richmond MN. The event advertises over 100 different varieties of craft beers and 30 varieties of wine to sample throughout the afternoon. From what I gather, if you don’t get your fill, the event will continue offsite with special bar tapping at local pubs. Advanced tickets are $25.00 (Cash Wise Liquor) or $30.00 at the door. All proceeds to benefit River Lakes Hockey.

Music by The Hell Country Truckers. Food available from Jimmy’s Pizza, Cold Spring Bakery and others.

WWW.RiverLakesExpo.com

That’s about all I have. Third Street Brewhouse and Cold Spring are sponsors, so no doubt they’ll be present.

Kip’s Irish Pub in St. Louis Park is holding their first beer dinner on May 21st, featuring beers from Maredsous. $40/person gets you three courses, each paired with a different Maredsous offering. Call or email for reservations, 952.367.5070 and kip@kipspub.com respectively.

Menu/pairings below the fold…

First Course

Waldorf Salad
Served with Maredsous Blonde, A delectable blonde ale with sprightly fruitiness, soft malting and a slightly dry, gently-hopped finish.

Second Course

Guinness Braised Beef Short Ribs
Served with Maredsous Brune, originally brewed as a Christmas beer and now available throughout the year.

Third Course

Black and White Chocolate Mousse Torte
Served with Mardesous Triple, a golden-bodied Belgian Triple, redolent with festive sparkle, creamy body and a luscious head.

Limited space available. Call 952.367.5070 or email kip@kipspub.com to reserve your spot today.

A couple of updates from Granite City for American Craft Beer Week… First, they’ll be tapping their Blueberry Ale tomorrow (Wednesday). If I remember correctly, their version reminds me a bit of a very lightly-hopped blonde ale with a very generous addition of blueberry.

Secondly, they’re advertising brewery tours – see manager for details. As you might know, their process is a little different than most brewpubs, with a brewhouse (worthouse, perhaps) in Iowa the produces wort that is then shipped to locations in something not unlike a dairy truck (broken into sections for beer varieties) and then fermented on-site. With the exception of St. Cloud, none of the pubs have a full brewhouse on site. Regardless, it might be interesting to check out. Fill us in if you take a tour!

Finally, they’re offering samplers now. $3.75 gets you 8 small portions of beer.

That’s right! This B-Side festival has made it across the river! The Pig & Fiddle (sister restaurant to the Muddy Pig) is also holding a Session Beer Festival this week. They are offering 12 sessionable beers, all under 5% ABV in flights. Get 3 5oz pours for $8. So, if you’re on the Minneapolis side & don’t want to make the trek all the way to Saint Paul, come check it out!

May 15 at 6pm
Uptown Cafeteria, Minneapolis
Sága IPA Release Party & Beer Dinner: Join us for the release of our newest beer, Sága IPA! There will be 6 different taps available, including Summer Ale and Sága IPA. Want to taste the difference from a cask-conditioned ale? We’ll also have 2 firkins available of the Summer Ale and Sága IPA!

Come for the beer, stay for the beer dinner! Each delicious course will be paired with a different Summit beer. Summit representatives and restaurant staff will be on hand to elaborate on the special pairings. Reservations required. Call 612-877-7263 to reserve your spot.

May 16 at 6pm
Sea Salt, Minneapolis
Summer Ale & Sága IPA Release Party: Join us at Sea Salt for the release of our newest beers, Summer Ale and Sága IPA! Enjoy a Summer Ale in front of Minnehaha Falls-the image on the packaging!

May 18 at 4pm
Grumpy’s NE, Minneapolis
Summer Ale Firkin Friday: Stop by Grumpy’s NE and enjoy pints of our cask-conditioned Summer Ale! The firkin will be tapped at 4pm and available until it runs dry. There will also be a special pig roast stuffed with sauerkraut to pair with your Summer Ale!

May 23 at 7pm
Grumpy’s Downtown, Minneapolis
Drink Sága, Play Sega vs. Summit: Enjoy a few pints of Sága IPA while you take on Summit employees on Sega! Join us for the video games and beer, stay for the open mic comedy!

May 24 at 4pm
Valley Tap House, Apple Valley
Sága IPA Release Party: Head over to the Valley Tap House in Apple Valley and try our newest beer, Sága IPA!

May 25 at noon
Grumpy’s Downtown, Minneapolis
Summer Ale Firkin Friday: Swing by Grumpy’s downtown for a special pint of cask- conditioned Summer Ale! The firkin will be tapped at noon.

May 31 at 5pm
Whistle Binkies on the Lake, Rochester
Sága IPA Release Party: Enjoy $2 pints of our newest release, Sága IPA, at Whistle Binkies Old World Pub! Meet Brewers Damian and Nate from 5-6:30pm!

May 31 at 7pm
Whistle Binkies Old World Pub, Rochester
Sága IPA Release Party: Enjoy $2 pints of our newest release, Sága IPA, at Whistle Binkies Old World Pub! Meet Brewers Damian and Nate from 7-9pm!

In case you aren’t completely booked up already next week, there are still a few events you should know about! Bryant Lake Bowl will be holding a few good craft beer events during American Craft Beer Week!

Monday, May 14th at 5pm: Tapping a Bell’s Black Note Stout & a Harry Magill’s Spiced Stout

Tuesday, May 15th at ???: Black Keys post-show party featuring an incredibly rare keg of Lagunitas Waldo’s Ale.

Wednesday, May 16th: Fulton tap takeover featuring 7 Fulton beers including The Ringer Pale Ale, Libertine and 2 randallized creations!

They will also be featuring beers of the Upper Midwest throughout the week!

Without even leaving Minnesota!!! Four bars will be featuring breweries from different areas of the US all next week. Each day one of the venues will be offering special prices on their beers. On the day listed from 4-7pm the featured beers will be only $4! Here’s who’s doing what:

Muddy Waters on Monday – Beers of the west coast including: Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada, Anchor, Widmer, Alaskan and Stone.

Bryant Lake Bowl on Tuesday – Upper Midwest beers including: Fulton, Rush River, Furthermore, New Holland, Big Sky, Central Waters, Capital Brewery.

Pat’s Tap on Wednesday – Beers of the lower Midwest including:2 Brothers, Boulder, Left Hand, Boulevard, Goose Island, Tallgrass and O’Dells.

The Lowry on Thursday: East Coast beers including: Victory, Southern Tier, Brewery Ommegang, Great Lakes, Weyerbacher and Sam Adams.

Even if you can’t make it to one of these awesome Happy Hours, these locations will be pouring rare and limited release beers from their section of the country all week!

June 3 – Shepherd Song Farm – Boom Island Brewing
June 10 – Garden Farme – Harriet Brewing
June 17 – Living The Dream Farm – TBA
July 22 – Common Harvest – TBA
August 5 – Dave’s BrewFarm
August 12 – Hidden Stream Farm – Fulton
August 19 – Big River Farms – TBA
August 26 – Laughing Loon Farm – TBA
September 9 – Castle Rock Creamery
September 23 – Riverbend Farm – TBA

American Craft Beer Week is just around the corner and I bet you’d all like to know where to find all the awesome Founders Beer that is going to be poured during the week!

Starting on Tuesday, May 15th at 5:00pm Buster’s on 28th will be pouring FIVE tasty Founders brews inluding: KBS, Curmudgeon, Curmudgeon’s Better Half, Dirty Bastard and Centennial IPA.

Then on Wednesday, May 16th head down to the West Bank and check out The Nomad World Pub at 5:00pm. They will be tapping a KBS keg and running a special: $10.00 for a KBS, bacon and a chocolate truffle. Yum!

But, you’re not done there yet… At 6:00pm Acadia Cafe will be tapping a keg of Curmudgeon so you can mosey on down and have one.

And finally on Friday, May 18th Blackbird Cafe will be tapping a keg of Curmudgeon at 3:30pm to end the week with a bang!

So much Founders, so little time!