Category: hops

Bauhaus Bringing a Taste of Kentucky to US Bank Stadium

By on August 8, 2016in Bauhaus Brewlabs, breweries, cooking & food, food pairing, general beer, hops, misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com, new beer

Bauhaus is teaming up with Revival to bring a taste of the south to US Bank Stadium this fall in the form of a beer called Slawhammer—a Kentucky Common Style Ale. Matt Schwandt who is the President and head brewer at Bauhaus spent some time living down in Nashville and was excited to work with Revival on this beer which will also be featured at their restaurants. “When I lived in Nashville, I learned that there are really only two beverage options for Tennessee hot chicken: sweet tea or a cold beer. So we figured, why not marry those ideas” he says.

Kentucky Common Style Ales were brewed pre-prohibition and they were  popular in that region of the country. They were also cheaper than other styles being sold in and around Kentucky during that time period, sometimes selling for half the cost of other varieties such as Stock Ale.

The Bauhaus version will have some citrus and black tea notes from the hops that were used in the brewing process. It’s extremely drinkable at 4.8 % ABV and should pair nicely with that phenomenal chicken sandwich offered at the stadium.

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Nick Rancone who is a co-owner of Revival was happy to align with Bauhaus due to the product they put out, and their similar values. “We are thrilled about the partnership. Revival is all about tradition and modernity, and that is the same way we view Bauhaus. It’s so important to align with people that you respect and adore, and share values with, and it was most excellent that this collaboration came to fruition in the way that it did. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner” says Rancone.

Look for this beer to debut at US Bank Stadium in 16 oz. cans on August 10th, and on tap at The Revival/Corner Table family of restaurants in the Twin Cities in the following weeks.

Cheers!

Beer and Food Options at US Bank Stadium

By on July 12, 2016in 612 Brew, Bauhaus Brewlabs, breweries, Fair State Brewing, food pairing, Fulton Brewing Co., general beer, hops, Insight Brewing, Lake Monster, Lift Bridge, misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com, new beer, NorthGate Brewing, Summit Brewing Co., Surly Brewing Co.

Gone are the days of the humble Dome Dog and a Budweiser, after all it is 2016. The inaugural lineup of food options at US Bank Stadium are gonna be a hit, especially the local options. The beer….well that wasn’t available today. This is most likely due to the MillerCoors sponsorship which I’m guessing doesn’t allow for them to showcase the wonderful craft beer we have here in Minnesota.

But we were given a list of the local beer options that will be available. Summit, Surly, Fulton, Lift Bridge, Bauhaus, Castle Danger, Fair State, NorthGate, 612 Brew, Lake Monster, Sociable Cider Werks, Insight, and Finnegans will all be sold at the stadium in its first year of operation.

Local food partners featured at the stadium will be AZ Canteen, Be Graceful Bakery and Catering, Cinnie Smith’s, Curds and Cakes, Ike’s Food and Cocktails, Kramrczuk’s Sausage Company, Lola’s Cafe, Prairie Dogs, R Taco, and the much anticipated Revival Restaurant.

So how was the food? Well let’s dive in to some of today’s winners:

First up were the Lemongrass Meatballs from Rainbow Restaurant. These were tasty and will be a welcomed treat for those trying to avoid typical stadium fare.

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Next were the Smokey Nachos from Icehouse Minneapolis. A nice take on a stadium staple that would pair well with a Lonely Blonde from Fulton. Smokey meat paired with real cheese sauce. If the price is right, this might the item to get if you’re planning to share.

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The Jerk Bacon Sammie from Smalley’s Caribbean might go overlooked with all of the options. Our advice, don’t sleep on this slaw topped, thick-cut bacon sandwich. One of the best items on the menu today. Pair this spicy treat with a either an EPA or Saga from Summit.

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Prairie Dogs is offering a Chicago Dog and a Skol Dog. The Chicago Dog (pictured below) was pretty standard while the Skol Dog (topped with purple potato chips and bacon jam) impressed with its presentation and the smoke infused jam. Go with the Skol Dog and pair it with a Farm Girl from Lift Bridge.

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Kramarczuk’s makes amazing sausage so these (Andouille, Cheddar Wurst, Bratwurst) are a no brainer if you’re looking for standard stadium food. Get the standard brat topped with kraut and pair it with a Wonderstuff from Bauhaus. This is guaranteed to make any Packer fan jealous.

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The Italian Porchetta Sandwich from AZ Canteen is something you don’t wanna miss. A top 3 menu item today. Perfectly seasoned and topped with enough greens to make up for the saturated fat. This would pair up nicely with a Parapet ESB from NorthGate.

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The much anticipated Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich from Revival is the real winner today. This juicy chicken sammie is delightfully crunchy, and is plenty spicy for those who have a palate for that sort of thing. Pair this up with a Surly Furious which will stand up tall to the heat. Be sure to order the mild if you are sensitive to spicy foods.

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Now for the not so great:

The Murray’s Short Rib Sandwich was a bit disappointing. This was tasty but was fairly dry. Dry enough where the coleslaw it was topped with couldn’t save it. The cost is probably also going to be a factor with this one.

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The R Taco is a good option if you are looking for something a bit lighter, but this thing is messy. The last thing you want to deal with while rubbing elbows with drunk strangers is pulling shredded pork and diced onions out of your beard. If you do go with this, wash it down with a Hell Chicken from Insight. The citrus from the yuzu fruit will play well with the shredded pork and accompaniments.

The Gramsky’s Italian Grinder Sandwich was served at room temperature and was very heavy on the bread. By the time we got to this it was rather soggy and aside from the meat, was fairly bland.

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All in all, these were the best offerings of a stadium in town. Pricing will also be a determining factor when purchasing these menu items so you’ll want to keep that in mind, especially if you’re bringing a family of four. So what was missing? I think there are a few vendors out there that would be nice little additions to the lineup. All of them would be a great branding fit as well.

Vikre Distillery out of Duluth. Aquavit cocktails showcasing flavors of cardamom and caraway seed would be a welcomed addition to the nordic themed stadium shaped like a viking ship.

HammerHeart Brewing out of Lino Lakes makes bold, smoky beers that would take fans out of their comfort zone and introduce them to an old-world method of beer crafting. A crowd people head banging to Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song with a Hammerheart beer in hand would be a sight to behold.

Northern Waters Smokehaus from Duluth. Imagine being able to order smoked fish and charcuterie made right here in the north country. It seems silly that we always go back to the standard stadium fare when these ingredients are sourced and readily available on the local level.

Whatever your tastes are, you’re sure to find plenty of delicious heart stopping food on the menu at US Bank Stadium. But just know that nothing will stop your heart faster than a field goal that goes wide left.

Thanks Gary…

Cheers!

Mighty Axe Hops Expanding Taking Local Hops to the Next Level

By on June 6, 2016in breweries, general beer, hops, misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com

There have always been issues for local hop growers here in Minnesota. For one, breweries need to be able to depend on large quantities of quality hops in which they contract years out. Another issue is that even if hop farmers could supply all of those hops, they’d need to process them with expensive equipment in order to satisfy the need (most desire pelletized hops) of the breweries. CEO Eric Sannerud and the Mighty Axe Hops team have a solution to this issue. A $4.6 million dollar project will assure that Mighty Axe Hops has the space to grow them and the equipment to process them all right here in Minnesota. Gillmanton Township near St. Cloud to be exact.

Staying close to the city was important to Sannerud. “We’re gonna be close. It’s only an hour from Northeast Minneapolis.” The facility will be 14,000 square feet and it will house a picker, a dryer, a pelletizer, and a freezer all of which will be state-of-the-art.

Eventually they plan to share some of their equipment with other growers around the state but as of right now, Sannerud is unsure how that will work. They will work with breweries via contracts the same way the system works right now and they’re excited to be able to offer this on a local level. “Right now everything is a special release” says Sannerud. With contracts, breweries will be able to make some of their standard beers with local hops as well meaning they won’t have to go out west for them. “We’re excited to be able to do long-term contracts like the breweries are already used to” he says.

As far as the acreage goes, they plan to grow eighty acres. Forty the first year (CTV, Cascade, Centennial, and Crystal) and another forty acres (varieties not yet known) the year after that. The plan then will be that at the end of each season, the Mighty Axe folks will freeze whatever doesn’t sell and offer them in later years to experiment with. Much like a “vertical” where you can taste them side by side with the current year’s version. For example you could brew two batches of beer using the same ingredients except for the hops which would be from different years. Brewers could also experiment using hops from Minnesota and the Yakima Valley and find the subtleties between the two.

After all is said and done the goal will remain the same. To bring Minnesota hops to relevancy.

“Brewers are hungry for Minnesota hops, and that’s really exciting for us.”

Cheers!

Inbound Brewco Opens in North Loop

By on April 24, 2016in breweries, grand opening, hops, Lucid Brewing, misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com, new beer

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The North Loop is quickly becoming the new Northeast when it comes to craft breweries. Fulton has been there for years and Modist just opened in the past couple weeks. Now the folks behind Lucid are entering the market with Inbound Brewco.

Upon first glance the space is very cool. Wooden beams suspended from the ceiling make for a fun space to gather. The first beer I tried was a tasty Apricot Ale that was ridiculously refreshing on a 70 degree day in Minnesota. The Kolsch was nice but not my favorite example of the style, and the Special Bitter was my favorite—most likely because of the toasty notes from the Maris Otter malt.

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The feeling of the taproom is that of a skate park. Plywood can be seen throughout the space and the colors were kept to a very simple black and white. The building was previously used to house garbage so it took them a lot of time to get it into shape which had to be frustrating. They will have an outdoor seating area and they also have a private space upstairs. One thing that will set them apart is that they will have live music on the keg stage inside the taproom. It’s definitely worth making the trip, but if your’e looking for the best beer down there, you’ll still find that a block away over at Fulton.

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Inbound Brewco
701 N 5th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Cheers!

Wild Mind Ales Brewing Up Something Different

By on March 22, 2016in breweries, general beer, hops, misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com, new beer, tap rooms

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It all started back in college when Mat Waddell tried a Saison for the first time. “That got me into fermenting with fruit” he says. Next were a series of internships at breweries like Summit and Badger Hill where he says he learned the importance of quality when it comes to making beer. Now Mat finds himself taking the ultimate risk in opening his own sour brewery in south Minneapolis.

This isn’t just any brewery though. His beers are going to fall under the category of “coolship” which by definition are fermented in open vessels—meaning that they utilize wild yeast to munch on the sugars instead of those cultivated and sold to the masses. There are a number of breweries out there currently practicing this including Allagash Brewing and Jester King. This of course involves a lot of risk in that one beer won’t taste the same as the last. “I love the wild, uncontrolled risk” says Waddell. “You get a nice reward.”

There are two ways of making coolship beers. The traditional way with open fermenters sitting out doors which would ideally happen in late winter and spring, and what is called wood cellaring (Jester King does it this way) which is where the wort is inoculated with wild yeast after it has been transferred into wooden barrels.

The space currently is not much to look at with all of the construction going on. Eventually though, there will be windows throughout the brewery where you can peek inside the production area, and picnic tables to sit at while you sip your brew. There will also be an indoor projector and screen where you will be able to watch the Olympics all summer long.

The outdoor beer garden will need plenty of work (currently a barren slab of busted concrete) but in the end will be home to some fire pits and a nice plot of grass complete with trees and hopefully hops. Mat also plans to screen some outdoor movies on the wall out in the beer garden where he hopes people will gather and enjoy the beer and weather. In fact, the goal is to keep the glass garage doors open all summer so the entire space will feel open. “We’re going for light and bright open space” according to Mat.

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Upon opening he plans to have his House beer (and a Spanish cedar version), a Pale Ale using Conan yeast, and a House Stout that showcases bourbon sugar. After a couple of months you can expect to see some of the Barrel Fermented Saisons come out followed by their sours in about 6 months. Mat is hoping for an early summer opening.

Wherever there is risk, there are often rewards.

Wild Mind Ales

6031 Pillsbury Avenue

Minneapolis, MN 55419

Cheers!