Brooklyn Comes to Minnesota

Brooklyn Brewery in Minnesota… Late 2010/early 2011. Thanks Frank!

August 17, 2010, 12:09am :: Posted by ryan in misc. mn beer 3 Comments »

Tuesday Ale Jail Tasting: Sam Smith

With the plethora of new US and Minnesota craft beers flooding our market, it’s sometimes easy to forget the international pioneers. Well this Tuesday, you’ll have an opportunity to reaquaint (or acquaint) yourself with one of those classic breweries, Samuel Smith, at St. Paul’s Wine Thief/Ale Jail. Tomorrow night from 5 p.m. until the bottles run dry, they’ll be sampling the majority of Sam Smith’s exported products including the India Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Imperial Stout, Pure Brewed Lager, Strawberry, Raspberry and Cherry ales, Nut Brown Ale and the Stingo “Oak Aged Dark Ale”.

This tasting is part of their regular Tuesday night beer tastings, the full schedule which will be posted in the next couple days.

August 16, 2010, 08:43pm :: Posted by Eric in beer events, beer stores, free beer No Comments »

Summit Firkin @Old Chicago

Hey South Metro! Summit’s got some lovin’ for ya. They’ll be bringing a firkin of Summit IPA to Old Chicago in Eagan. Last time they brought one, the thirsty crowd blew through it in two hours so if you are thinking about going, don’t dawdle – get there closer to 6:00 than not.

August 14, 2010, 11:08am :: Posted by Kris in beer events, cask beer No Comments »

What Local Establishment Sells the Most Surly Furious?

In case you missed this hard hitting report and the findings within, the answer is The Blue Door Pub, according to “Who Sells the Most?” from the Star Tribune’s Tom Horgen in his column this week. The article attibutes this to the $2 price tag during happy hour, but I would wager that their amazing line up of burgers, tots and more has a bit to do with it as well.

Take a gander yourself to find out who comes in a very close second as well as who’s selling the most Summit EPA, the most Grain Belt and what Sheik’s sells the most of (that comes in a bottle). Then go out, have a beer, and impress your friends with your newly found knowlege.

August 13, 2010, 01:32pm :: Posted by Kris in bars 4 Comments »

Congrats Schell’s

Congrats to Schell’s – they’ve been named a finalist for the 2010 Minnesota Family Business Awards! The Minnesota Family Business Awards are dedicated to recognizing outstanding Minnesota-based family businesses, and promoting the considerable value family businesses bring to the state’s economy and quality of life. Winners will be named on October 26th at the International Market Square.

August 13, 2010, 12:02am :: Posted by ryan in breweries 1 Comment »

Schell’s Beer Dinners

Schell’s will be doing two beer dinners next week with Axel’s Bonfire restaurants. Schell’s President Ted Marti will be hosting a dinner Wednesday, August 18th at the Woodbury Location at 6:30pm. Jace Marti will be hosting the dinner on Thursday, August 19th at the Pylmouth location, also at 6:30pm. The menu’s for both are:

1st Course
Gazpacho made with Bonfire’s signature bloody mary mix, California avocado and crispy tortilla strips. Served with Schell’s Pils.

2nd Course
Butter Lettuce Salad with heirloom tomatoes, daikon radishes, gorgonzola and bacon-buttermilk dressing. Served with Schell’s Hefeweizen.

3rd Course
Onion Jack “Slider” Burger with crispy shoestring potatoes and chipotle ketchup. Served with Schell’s Firebrick.

4th Course
Braised Beef Short Ribs with four year sharp cheddar polenta, spiced carrots, and guajillo jus lie. Served with Schell’s Hopfenmalz.

5th Course
Flourless chocolate and caramel cake with coffee ice cream, crème anglaise and raspberry sauce. Served with Schell’s Stout.

Cost is $35 per person (tax and service charge included.)
For tickets call 651-735-0085 for the Woodbury dinner,
Call 763-398-7408

August 12, 2010, 11:54pm :: Posted by ryan in beer events, breweries No Comments »

Hops & Horses at Canterbury Park

Canterbury Park is holding an event that couples craft beer with horse racing on Friday, August 20, 2010 from 6:30 – 10:00 pm in the Longshots Party Area at Canterbury Park, billing it “A night of premier craft beers & heart-pounding live racing!” The event will feature 40+ varieties of craft beer from breweries such as Summit, Schell’s Widmer, Goose Island, Red Hook, Weyerbacher, Widmer, Abita and more. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. To purchase tickets, call 952-445-7224. Hops & Horses.

August 12, 2010, 11:02pm :: Posted by ryan in beer events, breweries 1 Comment »

Surly Five

From Surly Brewer Todd Haug’s Twitter feed:

Brewing FIVE (aka Pentagram) tonite http://twitpic.com/2e3xm5 100% Brett Black Ale aged in red wine barrels, released in April 2011 maybe

More details as we get ‘em.

August 12, 2010, 09:17pm :: Posted by Eric in breweries, general beer 2 Comments »

Lake Superior Cask at Groveland Tap Tonight

Jake from Lake Superior Brewing called and suggested that all y’all stop by Groveland Tap tonight & grab a pint from a cask of beer (what beer… I forget to ask… on the phone, juggling baby & dinner and…)

August 12, 2010, 07:38pm :: Posted by ryan in beer events, general beer No Comments »

Flat Earth Extra Medium at Stub & Herb’s Tonight

Extra Medium (and Rode Haring, for that matter) is one of my favorite Flat Earth beers. Apparently it’s already on at the Muddy Pig (perhaps others? Jeff? Cathie?). In any case Jon from Stub & Herb’s sent us a note to let us know they’ll have it on tonight as well, likely by 5pm. Jon says he’ll throw it on when it arrives. Cheers!

August 12, 2010, 11:44am :: Posted by ryan in bars, beer events, breweries 5 Comments »

Fulton August Update

Greetings!

Like all good Minnesotans, we try to start conversations by talking about the weather. So, how about this heat wave? If it keeps up much longer, we’re considering packing up our garagery and moving to Canada. You’ll be the first to know if that happens, but in the meantime, here’s what’s new in the world of Fulton.

Upcoming Events
Thursday, 8/12: Firkin at Eden Prairie Old Chicago
At 5:00, Old Chicago in Eden Prairie will be tapping a cask of our Sweet Child of Vine. We’re not available at a lot of bars in the SW Metro just yet, so this is a rare opportunity to get a SCOV (on cask, no less) in the area. Hope to see you out!

Friday, 8/13: Brew At the Zoo!
This will be our first Brew At The Zoo event, but they’ve told us that we’ll be serving beer from the Kodiak bear cages. We’ll be doing a sockeye salmon infused IPA. Seriously though, Brew at the Zoo is a great idea for a great cause. In addition to beer, there will be some great local music acts, including Tim Mahoney. All proceeds to go the Zoo’s Conservation fund. For tickets and more information, visit http://www.mnzoo.com/events/Events_brewZoo_10.asp

Sunday, 8/15: King’s Wine Bar 1st Anniversary
We’re not playing an official role, other than to mingle and show our support for the great folks at King’s. For those of you who haven’t been to King’s, Sunday would be a great time to come by. They’re one of the top Fulton accounts in the city, both by volume of Fulton served, and by general coolness. There will be specials and live music Sunday, so be sure to swing by if you’re in the neighborhood.

Sunday, 8/29: Tangletown Gardens Dinner
We already had the honor of participating in Tour de Farm with Tangletown earlier this summer. Let’s just say that food doesn’t get any better than when it’s picked that day and prepared by some of the best chefs in the country. Well, if you missed Tour de Farm, this is your second chance. This time, Tangletown is bringing in legendary localvore chefs Ryan Child and Dana Younklin from iconic California restaurants Chez Panisse and Boulevard. We’ll be preparing some special beers just for this event. To find out more, please visit http://www.tangletowngardens.com/

Finally, something for our mothers to be proud of
Big Win at the Beer Dabbler!
Some of you were in attendance on July 17th at the Highland Park Beer Dabbler. Those of those of you that weren’t missed out! There were 50+ great breweries there, and a lot of good beer to try (or “dabble,” in the parlance of the event). While we enjoy all beer festivals, this one was especially fun for us, because we came home with some serious hardware: The Lord Dabbler Cup!

Nice Write-up in Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine
The great people at MSP Magazine did a feature on the top 52 people, places, and things (nouns?) in the Twin Cities food scene, and were nice enough to include us! For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s in the August issue. Look for Andrew Zimmern on the cover.

And one more piece of great news: Brew Beer Here passes!
Thanks to the efforts of the Minneapolis City Council, especially Gary Schiff, it is now legal for packaging breweries (instead of just brewpubs) to sell growlers in Minneapolis! The whole beer community is excited about this, but we are especially so. Growlers are vital to the success of any small brewery, and they’re the best way for a customer to get the freshest beer possible, right from the source. We believe the passage of this law will in time help bring forth new breweries all over Minneapolis–including one of our own. For more on that, you’ll have to stay tuned…

Keep In Touch
Don’t miss critical (what could be more critical than news about beer?) Fulton updates!
Keep tabs on us at all of the following:
www.fultonbeer.com
twitter.com/fultonbeer
Become a fan of “Fulton Beer” on Facebook

And of course, tell a friend. Extraordinary beer is meant to be shared.

Cheers,
The Fulton Guys

August 12, 2010, 08:32am :: Posted by Kris in breweries 1 Comment »

News from SW MN

Some of this is a repeat from earlier news shared by the gang at Brau Bros. (that did not get posted on MN) and some of this is new.

Here’s what’s going down in Southwest MN, We’re just about ready to start hop harvest! Early hops, like Centennial and Hallertaur are just about ready to pick. Later hops, like Cascade and Sterling are anywhere from flowering to decent size cone. We’ll have enough to start brewing this year’s Fresh Hop in the next week or two. This year we anticipate a large enough yield to bottle and distribute the wet hop ale! It won’t be much, probably under 2000 cases. It will be called…drum roll…Hundred Yard Dash Fresh Hop Ale. Literally, it’s about 100 yards from the hopyard to the brew kettle. We pick our hops minutes before they are introduced to wort or beer. Not sure what final IBU will be; I’m not even sure we’ll test them this year. However, the plan is to use up to 100lbs of fresh hops per batch! (unless we get tired of picking them).

Barley is swatted and is resting in windrows right now in the barley patch. After a few dry days, it will be combined, cleaned, and ready for malting. As always, our two-row barley is malted and blended into all Brau Brothers Beers. Not sure if we’ll have time to do an estate beer this year. Hopefully next year we’ll have more time on our hands. The experimental barley patch has been a huge success, and we look forward to expanding its footprint and our usage of locally grown raw materials.

Now to the big news, the Brau Family is growing! Daniel Stavig has agreed to join us here at the brewery and will be brewing full-time here in Lucan! We’ve been extremely behind for months, and we found a sucker – I mean motivated individual – to join the team. Many of you know Dan from the Four Firkins, and are well aware of his knowledge and genuine interest in beer and brewing. We’re excited to bring his experience with unique styles to the brewery, and hope to expand our pilot- and R&D- brewing in an effort to create new and exciting beers and experiment with funky brewing techniques. Fresh eyes and ideas are always a positive! I suppose we’ll have to change to Lucan Minnesota, Population 222.

 Finally, this is a great time to come out and visit. If you haven’t already been out to see the brewery, just give a call or send an email mary@braubeer.com and schedule your tour. No hired tour guides, no script, and no hourly schedules. Just a personal, guided tour through the brewery and hopyard.

Take care, and thanks for supporting the brewery!

Dustin

August 11, 2010, 03:53pm :: Posted by Mag in breweries No Comments »

Flat Earth August Update

Normally we like to spread our beer releases out a little bit more, but sometimes you just can’t do that. The next 4 weeks are going to be crazy for us and we hope you can come along for the fun too.

This week (August 9 – 14) is Extra Medium Week! We are filling a limited amount of Extra Medium American Wild Ale. This beer is tart and refreshing and the only sour beer available from a Minnesota brewery. We are lining up a few places to tap a keg or two of it this week. Check our website and Facebook page for confirmation on locations.

Next week (August 16 – 20) is Northwest Passage IPA Week! To celebrate the first bottling run of our IPA, the hoppiest beer made in the Midwest, we will start with growler sales on Monday the 16th, 22 oz bottles will go on sale on the 17th around town. Wednesday we will be tapping a keg Northwest Passage.

Rush Week! (August 23 – 28) Cygnus X-1 Porter was originally designed as a tribute to our favorite band Rush. They will be playing the State Fair on Friday and to celebrate we will be releasing a special Rush inspired porter every day this week. Growlers will be available at the brewery and the beers will be on tap at different bars around town.

Finally Bermuda Triangle Week (August 30 – Sept 3)! This will be the first year we bottle our Belgian-style Tripel. We will kick off the week with growlers of tripel being available at the brewery on Monday, bottles will be available starting Tuesday and we have a keg tapping party on Wednesday.

Plus we will be heading out to Brew at the Zoo on the 13th, The Great Taste of the Midwest 14th, Brewery tour on the 21st and

Cheers!

Flat Earth Brewing Company

www.flatearthbrewing.com

Follow us on Facebook & Twitter

August 10, 2010, 03:07pm :: Posted by Kris in breweries 8 Comments »

Patio Party @Longfellow Grill

It’s summer and it’s time to soak in the heat on a patio. You can also soak up some tasty suds and one of summer’s staples, the brat, at Longfellow Grill Wednesday with $3 pints of Surly and $2 brats.

August 10, 2010, 10:34am :: Posted by Kris in bars, beer events No Comments »

Stub & Herb’s Ch-ch-cha-changes…

Sorry… the above rock-n-roll blip was uncalled for… in any case, here’s some info from Jon (harvested from BA) at Stub & Herb’s about some changes with Stub & Herb’s and local beer. The first few paragraphs resonate heavily with the MNBeer crowd. The latter will likely ruffle some feathers. Though we don’t necessarily agree 100% with what Jon has to say (though we applaud the focus on local beer 100%), these are his words in their entirety & you can form you own opinions. Cheers!

I am about to make some changes that may make some of you unhappy. We have worked really hard at Stub’s to turn our place into a haven of great American craft beers over the last three years. It has been a blast. However, now there are many great beer bars that do a fantastic job of supporting craft beer in our community.

When we made our change a few years back it was a goal of mine to support local beer as well as craft beer. Somewhere along the line, I strayed from my commitment to the local guys. We have not supported breweries like Summit, Flat Earth and Brau Brothers to the degree that I think we should. In the last few months, all of the breweries that I just mentioned have stepped up their game by offering products that continue to get better and more consistent. All of the local breweries deserve more support from us at Stub’s.

From now on, you can expect to see more locally produced beer at Stub’s and less of the other great American craft brands that are available in our market. I am sure that this commitment will mean that I will no longer be on the short list of bars that is considered for some of the limited availability kegs that come into MN. Usually, not supporting a brewery’s everyday brands costs you when the specialty stuff comes available. I realize that having specialty and hard to find kegs at Stub’s is how I made friends on this site. I am sure some of you will be disappointed with my decision. I apologize; however, I know the struggles of operating a small, local business. I will be happier watching Stub and Herb’s dollars being spent to support companies that employ local people, use local resources and give us a reason to be proud of the fact that we are Minnesotans.

I want to make clear that my new commitment will be to quality, local beer. Some of the local guys make some real stinkers! I will not buy bad beer just because it is local. I will also not buy beer from companies that sell themselves as MN-made and produce their products in other states. I have seen the look of disappointment in quite a few customers faces when I get asked where the Fulton Brewery is located (Because the answer is WI). I don’t have time for businessmen when there are some actual breweries trying to establish themselves in my community.

Sorry for the rant. I just wanted you guys to hear it from me first.

August 9, 2010, 04:03pm :: Posted by ryan in bars, breweries 67 Comments »