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