Category: MN

Badger Hill Brewing and Valley Fair Team Up for High Roller Extra Park Ale

By on May 5, 2016in Badger Hill Brewing, breweries, cooking & food, general beer, misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com, new beer, tap rooms

High roller tap handle

Valley Fair is turning 40 this year and they wanted to celebrate with a special beer offering at the park. The folks at Badger Hill met up with Valley Fair last month to come up with a beer (Extra Pale Ale) that will be available at 3 locations within the park. Those locations are Atomic Beer, Chickie’s and Pete’s, and Depot Refreshments.

The beer will be called High Roller Extra Park Ale and will also be available in the Badger Hill Taproom when the beer is officially released on Friday, May 13th. Oh, and the tap handles are made out of reclaimed wood from the famous High Roller ride that was built back in 1976. The beer checks in at 5.2% ABV and hits 43 on the IBU scale.

Who says that kids get to have all the fun?

Also, The Curious Goat’s little brother The Smoking Cow will be debuting at the Badger Hill Taproom tomorrow (Friday, May 5th) from 4:30 until 8 pm. Ian Gray and Kiri Anderson are the ones behind both of these trucks, and they are known for serving up some of the best locally sourced food around. Heads up: If there’s brisket on the menu, order that. You’ll thank me later.

Cheers!

Indeed Puckers Up with New Belgium on a Sour Ale

By on April 27, 2016in general beer, Indeed Brewing Co., misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com, new beer

Josh Indeed

Mention the name New Belgium to sour beer lovers and they will often tell you that La Folie (first brewed back in 1997) was their introduction to the style. Now veterans of brewing up these funky beverages, New Belgium is teaming up with Indeed to collaborate on a kettle-soured beer they are calling Strawberry Fields. It’s easy to see where the name comes from (the last collaboration was called Come Together) when you know the history of Indeed and head brewer Josh Bischoff’s love of 60s music.

The beer itself will be brewed right here in Minneapolis and it will be brewed with strawberries to compliment the Belma hops which already produce berry notes. The brew date happening this Friday will serve as a homecoming for New Belgium brewers Travis Burge and Matt Pollock. Pollock worked for Indeed before moving over to New Belgium and Burge is a Minnesota native. Pollock considers Bischoff his mentor and one can’t help but think this won’t be their last collaboration.

Distribution will be limited but the timing will be perfect with this release. A patio beer in May…sign me up.

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!

Dangerous Man and Electric Fetus Collaborate for Record Store Day

By on April 14, 2016in beer events, breweries, misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com, new beer, tap rooms

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A typical brew day at Dangerous Man starts very early, and if you were to walk in you’d hear music blasting from the speakers. Operations Manager Hilari Bandow loves music so much that she worked with the Electric Fetus to set up a collaboration beer with the Minneapolis institution. “We always have music playing here, so it’s cool to have something [a special beer] to enjoy while you’re listening to music. Music for our brewery is woven in, and we’re all big vinyl collectors.”

The beer this year will be called Record Store Day Organic IPA and it’s brewed with Amarillo and Bravo hops. This beautiful looking beer is super citrusy and very refreshing so it will pair well with this awesome weather. Co-owner and head brewer Rob Miller had this to say about the beer this year. “It is a light refreshing, tropical IPA. A beer you would want to drink sitting outside on a spring day listening to your favorite Peter Tosh vinyl.”

Sarah Bonvallet who also owns the brewery and is the Creative Director loves music, and can often be seen at shows around town—usually with other staff members. “We have a deep love for music at Dangerous Man, whether it is jamming hard at the brewery to P.O.S. or our staff going to see shows together. So it feels like an honor to work with Electric Fetus, such a Minneapolis staple in the music community and be able to support each other.

The artwork for the event can be seen on the new merch which will be available for purchase at Electric Fetus. “We used a local designer and screen printer to create the art. The whole thing has Minneapolis dripping off of it, which we love” says Sarah. “The beer itself pushes that fruity IPA boundary to the max, which I think is indicative of the Electric Fetus and their support of experimental art on all levels” she says.

So when is Record Store Day? Well technically it starts at 9:00 am this Saturday, but according to Electric Fetus owner Aaron Meyerring and Store Manager Bob Fuchs people will start lining up outside the door at 6 pm on Friday night. “It’s like crazy. It has become this national holiday. Last year was the most fun I’ve ever had” according to Aaron.

By lining up, many of the people who show up to Record Store Day are looking for the exclusive releases, but for most people they are just looking to pick up something new and they use the day as an excuse to support their local record shop. At the Electric Fetus they go big for this event with in-store performances from local musicians, food trucks lined up outside, and even a crafting area for kids.

On the collaboration, Meyerring says that the fit just makes sense. “Two years ago on Christmas, I wanted to carry some craft beer merch and they [Dangerous Man] wanted to sell their stuff here. We crossover pretty well.”

“There’s no shortage of love for beer around here.”

Here’s how it works. You show up and shop around, maybe hit a food truck or two and hang out for a while. Make a purchase and bring your receipt to Dangerous Man for $1 off your Record Store Day Organic IPA purchase. Please note the beer is NOT available for purchase at the Electric Fetus.

Here are the details:

Saturday, April 16th 2016 at 9:00 am

Electric Fetus

2000 4th Ave. S

Minneapolis, MN 55404

Food trucks will show up at 10:00 am and they will be Natedogs, Chef Shack, and Bubble Boy.

The music lineup will be:

10:30 am – DJ Jake Rudh of Transmission
Noon – The Honeydogs
1:30 pm – Prairie Fire Lady Choir
3:00 pm – I Self Devine/Muja Messiah
4:30 pm – Magic Castles

Cheers!

Modist Brewing Looks to Push Boundaries in the North Loop

By on April 13, 2016in beer education, breweries, cooking & food, education, general beer, grand opening, misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com, new beer

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It took a while, but Modist is looking to change the way we think about beer. First of all, founders Eric Paredes, Kale Anderson, Dan Wellendorf, John Donnelly, and Keigan Knee are all in on some state-of-the-art equipment that gives them efficiencies that other breweries just can’t achieve. “We’ve been able to reach 90 – 98% efficiency with our beers” says Paredes.

This is in reference to the fact that they “pulverize” their grain into a powder and filter it out afterwards rather than having to clean out the mash with a shovel. Essentially they run it through an expensive piece of filtering equipment which produces a cake of the unusable material.

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With the beer (reasonably priced at $3 for a tulip, and $5 for a 20 oz. pour) they hope to change the way we view beer. Paredes went on and on about how he wants people to see beer pair with food the same way that wine does. They aren’t big on making beers to fit into specific styles. Out of the gate they are pouring three beers, pHresh, TOATS, and Calibration Ale which are all very clean.

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PHresh is your sessionable patio beer. It’s described as “a refreshing tart beer” which it certainly will be. The initial batch didn’t quite reach the pH balance they were looking for so it’s not very tart out of the gate, but I’m told the next batch will be. “It’s super drinkable. A gateway sour beer” according to head brewer Keigan Knee.

Toats is my favorite of their initial offerings. People tend to think of robust and roasty Stouts, and a velvety mouthfeel with oat based beers. This one is clean, sessionable, and damn tasty with a citrus kick in the nose. A perfect example that the color your beer does not determine the bitterness, nor the alcohol content of your beverage.

Calibration is the first beer that they brewed on their new equipment. Years of homebrew experimentation inspired this one. This tasty sipper clocks in as their highest ABV offering yet at 5.9%. Once again, this is very drinkable and the Pilsner malt comes through nicely lending it a touch of sweetness.

The wait is over and Modist definitely lives up to the hype. With those prices, Twins fans are going to be very happy.

Grand Opening

Friday, April 15th 3:00 PM

Modist Brewing

505 N 3rd Street

Minneapolis, MN 55401

Cheers!