Category: new beer

Got the Winter Blues? Modist Has You Covered

By on February 8, 2017in cooking & food, food pairing, general beer, misc. mn beer, MN, Modist Brewing, new beer, tap rooms

Summer festival season is still months away and the Modist crew wants to fill the void on February 18 from 5 pm until 10 pm with music, food, and beer. They’re partnering with ZZQ Smokehouse and Genius of Fun Promotions for the event which will feature music from Hurricane Harold & Doug Otto, Brothers Band, Black River Review, and Jorgensen Tagg Band.

Tickets will cost $39 and include:

3 pints of beer (see list below)
2 BBQ (pulled pork or chicken) sliders and a side (potato salad or coleslaw)
Live music
Specialty beers
Discounted room rate ($149) at Hewing Hotel

Modist will be serving their flagships TOATS, Smoove, Wasteland, pHresh, and First Call—as well as something from their Deviation Series and several specialty beers. Additional food and beer will be available for purchase at the event.

Cheers!

Fair State Big Bottle Drop Saturday

By on January 27, 2017in Fair State Brewing, new beer

Photo courtesy of Fair State Brewing Cooperative

If you are a fan of sour beer, you may want to sit up and pay attention. It’s Friday. Perhaps you’ve just returned from a long lunch and plan to sit your ass down and argue the finer points of presidential politics in the comment section of your favorite news source. Stop it.

Put down the keyboard TRVMPLVR52 and NOTMYPRZ69. I have something you can agree upon.

On Saturday, January 28th (i.e. “this” Saturday), our friends at Fair State Brewing Cooperative are making three great sour beer available in bottles, including a personal favorite from last year’s Winterfest, Raspberry Roselle. Fair State has been making some amazing sour beer since their inception and these three will no doubt continue in this fine tradition.

The beers:

 

U-Pick – available on draft now

We went berry pickin’ with co-op owners, workers, and friends in August, and 280 pounds of raspberries later, this beer is the result. We added the fresh berries to mature barrel-fermented sour beer and allowed it to re-ferment.

IBU: 23, ABV: 5.5

Bricoleur #4 – available on draft 1.19

The fourth in the popular series, Bric 4 is an 80% stainless fermented mixed culture Saison, 20% barrel-fermented mixed culture sour blend, dry-hopped with Hallertau Blanc. We’ve been working on blending young Brett. beer with mature barrel sour beer. The result is a tart, funky original with a hoppy nose.

IBU: 18. ABV: 4.9

Raspberry Roselle – available on draft 1.26 (Taproom), first off-site tap 1.27 (Republic)

The return of the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Guild 2016 Winterfest (Friday session) Best Beer-winner. We re-fermented Roselle, our canned hibiscus sour saison, with a whole bunch of raspberries. The result is a fruit-forward, rose-hued beer that’s distinctly juicy and dry.

IBU: 10, ABV: 5.8

New Breweries to Look Forward to in 2017

By on January 22, 2017in breweries, general beer, misc. mn beer, MN, new beer, tap rooms

This is going to be very good year for new breweries here in Minnesota with many set to open this spring. The latest wave of brewery openings have been fairly disappointing but there is reason for optimism this year. Here are a few of the highlights to consider.

Barrel Theory – This highly anticipated brewery is set to open in Lowertown right next to Dark Horse. Brett Splinter and Timmy Johnson both formerly of Surly are looking to introduce some interesting barrel-aged offerings east of the river. Quality beer is going to be the theme here and given their experience, we should be very excited. Expect some very big beers and plenty of barrel-aged sours to come out of this space.

Oakhold Farmhouse Brewery – You know those fantastic sours that have been coming out of Fair State? Yeah, the owners of Oakhold are behind many of those and they are planning to open a farmhouse brewery out of Midway Township near Duluth, Minnesota. Expect some fantastic mixed culture sours along with some traditional farmhouse beers similar to those found over in Belgium or France.

Hoops Brewing – Canal Park has long been a popular tourist spot in one of the most picturesque cities in Minnesota. Soon it will be home to Hoops Brewing, headed up by the man (Dave Hoops) who put Duluth on the beer map while he was with Fitger’s Brewhouse. Now his team will be led by former Fitger’s Brewhouse brewer Melissa Rainville—who I’m told will be tasked with developing many of the recipes for their lineup. Expect a taproom that will welcome anyone including hockey fans, a group that Dave feels very much a part of. They will create a solid lineup of flagship offerings and will proudly feature a barrel-aged program that is certain to please even the most discerning palate.

Star Keller – We’ve been waiting for far too long for this place to open. Jace Marti (from Schell’s Brewing) has been concocting recipes and plans to make more of those fantastic Berliner Weiss beers in the Noble Star collection, as well as a variety of blended mixed culture sours, and even a Flanders Red Style. My biggest concern about the Star Keller is the location. Here’s to hoping that New Ulm embraces having an all sour taproom in town.

Most of these breweries are expecting to open this spring, but I’d expect Oakhold to take a little while longer with a late 2017 opening date.

Cheers!

Modist Introducing the Deviation Series

By on October 13, 2016in cooking & food, general beer, hops, misc. mn beer, MN, Modist Brewing, new beer, tap rooms

The brewery in town known for pushing boundaries is launching a series of beers they’re calling Deviation. Keigan Knee and his crew of brewers plan to make use of a 10-barrel fermenting vessel they installed 6 months ago with the sole purpose of experimenting with ingredients and processes to create new beer experiences.

These “experiments” will be taproom only releases and will not be made in large batches unless they are successful—measured strictly by popularity with their patrons. Those cute names they’ve given their flagships offerings will not apply to this series. Each batch will only be assigned a number beginning with 001 and 002. The first two will be available in the taproom on Friday, October 14th beginning at 7 pm for 001, and 8 pm for 002.

Deviation 001 is being described as a dark beer that was brewed with pilsner, rye, wheat, and coffee malts. The hops used in this batch were Amarillo, Cascade, and Columbus. Only 17 kegs were produced so it won’t last long. 5.6% ABV, 43 IBU, 21 SRM.

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Deviation 002 is a wheat monster. In fact, it was brewed with 100% wheat malts (which is very uncommon) and tons of Citra, Bravo, and Ella hops. This should be a beautiful, hazy looking beer due to the use of 100% wheat malts. Only 20 kegs were produced. 7% ABV, 88 IBU, 4 SRM.

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These releases are one-of-a-kind so you don’t want to miss out.

The Modist vision:
At Modist, our aim is to modify beer and how it is perceived by defying rules and
expectations. We don’t abide by established style guidelines and refuse to bend to pre-
conceived notions. We push past traditional brewing by embracing creativity and
unconstrained experimentation, taking an innovative approach to ingredients and
techniques in order to harness raw inspiration and create a new beer experience.

 

Cheers!

Noteworthy Beers from Autumn Brew Review 2016

By on September 18, 2016in beer events, breweries, Dangerous Man Brewing Co., general beer, hops, Indeed Brewing Co., Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com, new beer, NorthGate Brewing

With so many fantastic beers on display at the 16th annual Autumn Brew Review, it’s hard to choose favorites. Instead I’ve highlighted some that stood out. Here they are:

Whiskey Queen from Indeed Brewing – A smooth Russian Imperial Stout that delivers flavors of bittersweet chocolate, vanilla, stone fruits and oak to the palate.

Twisted Zweig from Forager Brewing – This was probably my favorite beer at the festival. An Imperial Berliner Weisse aged on black currants. Sour, juicy, and extremely drinkable. You’d never know this was an 8% (ABV) beer, which is almost dangerous. This brewery has really impressed me this summer and it would be worth your while to visit them down in Rochester. I was honestly shocked that there wasn’t a line at this booth.

Imperial Chocolate Milk Stout from Dangerous Man – Smooth and creamy milk chocolate with a little bit of heat (alcohol) on the end. It’ll be fun to explore some these barrel-aged beers coming out of Dangerous Man in the coming months.

IWL from Town Hall Brewery – This wheat based lager was very heavy on my two favorite hops—Mosaic and Citra. Another fine creation by Mike Hoops and his team of brewers over at the Seven Corners brewery. There’s a reason it’s the first place I take anyone new to the Twin Cities.

Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout from NorthGate – Dark stone fruits, chocolate, and bourbon dominated the flavor profile of this one. Nice example of the style for a brewery that focuses on British ales. This one stood out among the many other Imperial Stouts available at ABR.

Cheers!