Looks like we’ll have another option if we want to drink pints at a brewery coming very soon.
Yesterday Steel Toe Brewing got approval for their taproom and we should be seeing it by the end of the year.
Check out the article from the St Louis Park Patch by clicking here.
Pour Decisions will be meeting with the Roseville City Council on Monday at 6:40pm to obtain a Brewery Taproom License. They’d love it if you could come show your support. If you can make it, you’re also welcome to stop by the brewery for a tour & progress update from Kris & BJ. The meeting is at the Roseville City Hall: http://www.ci.roseville.mn.us/index.aspx?nid=806 Bonus points for attendees who live in Roseville.
[Update: The taproom is happening, per their Twitter comments. Congrats guys!]
Congrats to The Four Firkins and everyone else who supported two bills that give liquor stores in Minnesota a little more flexibility. We covered them a few months ago here…
So what will these bills allow? One will allow liquor stores to sell store-branded apparel. The other will allow liquor stores to charge a fee for tasting/education events in order to pay folks like myself big bucks to sample beer with their patrons special guest speakers.
Also included in the omnibus liquor bill are provisions to allow for beer sales at the U of M’s TCF Bank Stadium (and if I follow correctly, sales can’t be limited solely to the suites) as well as a bill allowing breweries that aren’t distributed in Minnesota to sample beer at one festival a year.
What happens when three Minnesotans are “snowed-in” during a roadtrip to Denver? SNOW DAY! Brewing TV is forced to abandon plans for one episode — but salvage a day in Denver with visits to Denver Beer Company, Great Divide Brewing Company, and our first distillery Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey. And we sit down for a chat with beer writer Ed Sealover. Let’s hope we see more beer-friendly laws here in Minnesota that allow for a thriving taproom scene similar to this!
PS – this episode is followed by two hardcore homebrewing episodes back home in the Twin Cities. Get your fermentors sanitized and ready for it!
Our friends over at Minnesota Beer Activists shared the story earlier, and it’s one that we’ve been following for a week or so. It’s an interesting proposition, but not Here’s the language of H.F. No. 2432.
An exclusive liquor store, with the approval of the commissioner, may be issued an off-sale license by a municipality for off-sale of malt liquor filled at the tap and packaged consistent with the requirement of section 340A.301, subdivision 7, paragraph (b), by the licensee on the licensed premises. The malt liquor must be made available to the licensees in kegs or barrels by a wholesaler or manufacturer and be otherwise not available in Minnesota by can or bottle. All local ordinances and state provisions relating to public health are applicable.
As written, this would allow liquor stores a chance to fill growlers of kegged beer, providing it isn’t already available in Minnesota in a packaged form. So as an example, under the law you could buy a growler of Lucid Camo from your favorite beer store, but Surly Darkness would be a no-go. And with regards to growlers at brewpubs & breweries, this wouldn’t change a thing.
Launching this kind of operation won’t come without its costs, however. Stores will have to adhere to health standards and will need to invest in the proper cleaning systems, growlers and labeling equipment. And then there’s the labor. Don’t expect this in most stores, though the right store could make this pretty awesome.
What do you think? Would you buy a growler at a beer store? Would you be disappointed if the store couldn’t fill a growler of Flat Earth Rode Haring for you? How many beers a year could actually be filled with the language as-is?