News & Updates

Bent Brewstillery’s Cocktail Room Push

By on March 21, 2019in Bent Brewstillery

Our friends at Bent Brewstillery are making a final push to change a law that prohibits them from having a Cocktail Room. Current law prohibits businesses from owning both a Brewer’s Taproom License and a Micro-Distiller’s Cocktail Room License.

According to a recent email, they’ve reached the end of their run at changing the law this year and need as much personal support as they can get before March 24th. If you’re interested in learning more, please take a look at some information on their website: www.bentbrewstillery.com/advocacy/

If you’d like to lend a hand, please contact your state representatives now! Follow this link if you need help contacting your state representatives: www.gis.leg.mn/iMaps/districts/

Be sure to let them know that you support SF158 (Senate) or HF347 (House). Be sure to include your address so that they are aware that you are a constituent!

Winterfest 2019 Preview

By on January 21, 2019in beer events, breweries, brewpubs

It’s that time of year again. Dust off your best outfit and prepare for some of the biggest and most unique beers being made in town. The Union Depot will once again play host to Winterfest, which is the premier beer event and a fantastic showcase of food and beverage featuring only local breweries and restaurants. It’s fitting that the state capital (St. Paul)  is home to the premier Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild event.

The event was held at the Minnesota History Center for years, but the number of breweries has grown exponentially so it moved to the Union Depot a number of years ago. Food has been disappearing from beer festivals over the years to try and keep ticket prices down, but the food at Winterfest is usually very good and worth the bump in ticket prices.
Here are five beers that I’m looking forward to trying at this year’s event:
Ice Cream Social from Barrel Theory Beer Company – This Imperial Stout with strawberry, vanilla, cacao, and marshmallow was aged in Willet bourbon barrels. I don’t suppose this will last very long so you might want to put this near the top of your list.
Brave Woman Scottish Ale from Little Thistle Brewing – Steve Finnie knows his Scottish Ales, and I expect this to be one of my favorite beers at the festival. Named after his great, great grandmother who saved the lives of 15 fishermen in a storm, this beer promises notes of caramel, toffee, and chocolate. It boasts a modest 5% ABV which is always welcome at a festival that features so many heavy beers.
Twelve Parsecs from Junkyard Brewing – Lemonade meets IPA. Flavors of summer are here to save us from this bitter cold weather, and I’m excited to taste and smell those Ekuanot Cryo-Hops that they used at the end of the brewing process.
Munich-Style Dunkel from Steel Toe Brewing – Michael Wagner has been tinkering in the brewery over in St. Louis Park for a couple years now, and the results have been great so far. I’m excited to try out his version of this classic style which is very hard to anywhere these days.
#1225 Cherry Ale from Hoops Brewing – If there’s one thing that Dave and his crew are great at, it’s fruit beers. An unapologetic beer that is supposed to taste like cherry pie, just like your grandmother used to make. Door County cherries are the star of the show and will come through in both the flavor and the aroma.
Cheers!

Updates!

By on January 8, 2019in general beer

Well hello there dear reader… you’re still out there, right? It’s 2019 and if you’ve found your way to this site, there’s a good chance that you’re amped about Minnesota craft beer. We’re right there with you! 11 years ago it was a “challenge” to drink only Minnesota-made beer for the year. Today it’s practically a reality.

In 2019, we plan to keep up our “feverish” schedule of posts. 😉 Right now I’m working on a database to organize the breweries, combining breweries and brewpubs into one listing. For those who care to understand the difference between the two, we promise to add the business model to the database. We’re also planning to bring our brewery map back. …and hopefully keep on top of every brewery opening (and sadly, closing) in Minnesota.

Finally, our hearts go out to Portage Brewing Company in Walker. If you haven’t heard, a fire caused massive damage to their building. Given the time that it takes to build a brewery, one can only guess that they have a long road ahead of them. No doubt there will be options to help support them in the future – if you’d like to get a jump on things, there’s a silent auction and benefit Sunday at Chase on the Lake in Walker.

Be good to each other beer nerds,

Ryan

Review – Surly Frost Pack Newcomers

By on December 9, 2018in general beer, new beer, Surly Brewing Co.

Mention Brut around this time of year and visions of iconic (and I use that term loosely) commercials and thoughts of endcaps full of personal care products bubble up in the brain. Apparently, the holidays are the one time a year people need to be reminded they might smell bad and should probably do something about that.

However, Brut – the green, long-necked bottle of seventh grade – is not what’s on topic here. Nor is Stetson, Preferred Stock or White Diamonds. I’m talking about Brut the style descriptor – usually of champagne/sparkling wine, but more recently used to describe a style of very dry, effervescent IPA. Surly has brewed their own version of this style, as well as (for the very first time) a genuine porter and put them in their winter variety twelve-pack. Please enjoy these tasting notes of warmth and celebration for your holiday season.

 

Surly Mortal Sun

American Porter

ABV – 5.5%

Aroma: Crisp and chocolatey with bitter coffee notes. You can tell it’s going to be dry right from the first whiff.

Appearance: Dark brown to black.   

Flavor: Dark chocolate and coffee. Very toasty body with sustained bitterness from start to finish.

Mouthfeel: Light on the palate and drinkable. This is not Darkness (i.e., heavy and sippable).

Overall Impression: If you don’t know what you’re getting from Surly by now, you haven’t been paying attention; a great representation of the style that is turned up to 11. 

 

Surly Liquid Stardust

Sparkling/Brut IPA

ABV – 7.0%

Aroma: Bitter and citrusy. Complex. 

Appearance: Between yellow and dark yellow. 

Flavor: There’s a lot to unpack here. Lemon peel slaps you in the face right away and the other fruity hop notes play underneath that banner – melon, mango and pineapple all popped out, but that lemon bitterness carried throughout. 

Mouthfeel: Not an understatement when they say incredibly crisp and dry. Very refreshing, but the bitterness makes you pace yourself. 

Overall Impression: I had to do a couple rounds of tasting to get a good impression of this one. This included stopping in the taproom and comparing it to the Brut IPA on tap there. There was a distinct difference between the two and I see why they chose to can this version. The multiple fruit undertones along with the bitterness make it a more interesting and tasty. 

Rum King!

By on December 4, 2018in Indeed Brewing Co.

Just in time to cut a chill from the air, Indeed’s Rum King is back, now available in 12 oz. cans and on draft. For those of you not familiar, Rum King is an Imperial stout aged in Jamaican rum barrels and I think it’s as good as it sounds. (And if you think the descriptions sucks, then perhaps you should take a pass…)

For those of you lucky souls living in the Twin Cities, Indeed will also have five-year flights of Rum King in the taproom. Please try the ’14, ’15, ’16, ’17 and 18 and report back.