Tag: MN Beer

Local Flair Takes a Front Seat at Target Field

Minnesotans take immense pride in their culinary traditions. Food here is more than just sustenance—it’s a way of bringing people together, celebrating the seasons, and honoring local farmers and artisans. The Minnesota Twins always consider this when selecting vendors to fill the menus at Target Field. Dill Pickle Pizza, Walleye Tacos, Sweet and Sour Pork from Chef Yia Vang, and a Spam Sandwich headline the new options at Target Field this summer.

The Twins are coming off a disappointing season, but are looking forward to changing that this year as evidenced by the move to promote Derek Falvey to President of Baseball Operations and Business Operations. He was on-site to help introduce the new culinary options at 1 Twins Way in downtown Minneapolis. Pete Spikes, the GM of Delaware North is proud of the new lineup. “We’re excited to welcome back Twins fans with a full lineup of new food and beverage options for the 2025 season, featuring, as always, an array of local partners,” said Pete Spike, Delaware North’s general manager at Target Field. “With everything from walleye tacos to refreshing boba teas, we’ll have something for everyone as they cheer on the Twins.”

Here are some of the options that stood out.

Lord Fletcher’s Walleye Tacos: Seasoned and grilled walleye gets the taco treatment with a nice acidic punch from the dressing of vinaigrette and sour cream baja sauce combo. Big ups for avoiding the typical deep frying technique and embracing the healthier grilled preparation.Choose the newly available Summit Lager to accompany these and you won’t regret it.

Truly on Deck Market SPAM Sandwich: SPAM, bacon, and caramelized onions bring legendary flair to the ballpark from the folks at Hormel who introduced SPAM back in 1937 out of necessity during World War 2. The onion bun is a nice touch as well. Pick up a Twins Pils from Summit to wash it down.

Vinai Sweet and Sour Pork Fried Rice: Chef Yia Vang has an aura about him. A chef as humble as you’ll find with a passion for cooking like noone I’ve ever met. Pickled carrots adorn pork that is tossed in a sweet and sour sauce and served on a bed of cabbage slaw with cucumbers. Pair it up with a Summit Pale Ale for that mid-afternoon lunch at the ballpark.

 



Kramarczuk’s Cherry Bomb Sausage: The premier sausage house is offering a sausage made with tart cherries and it’s a hit. An acidic element is welcome with this iconic baseball food item. Go all in with a Prye’s Miraculum and make all of your hipster friends proud.



Pizza Luce Dugout Dill Pizza: The debate has long been over in Minnesota between dill and sweet pickles. Dill pickles win out 100% of the time and the folks at Pizza Luce confirmed that with this offering. Twins Pils from Summit is the perfect match for this slice of ‘za.

Cheers!

Steel Toe Brewing Moving to Cans

Back when Oskar Blues first starting canning their beers in 2002 many people wondered why they went that route. Now just about everyone is going to cans for many reasons, one of them being that you can take them anywhere. Just ask Steel Toe Brewing owner Jason Schoneman who tells me that they are going to start canning their suds—which are expected to hit a limited number of stores on July 13th. “The big reason we are going to cans is that we want our beer to be everywhere” he says. “We like going to the lake too, and bombers (22 oz. bottles) are a pain in the ass” he says laughing.

STB3

 

Steel Toe will be canning their popular flagships Size 7 IPA and Provider Golden Ale to start with other varieties to follow. The regal design of these cans will showcase the signature boot logo in a black on silver look that features the color associated with each brand. Green for Size 7 and yellow for Provider. They will be sold in 6 packs of 12 oz. cans and as stated above will start out at select retail locations across the metro beginning on July 13th. The plan then is to roll them out to all of their retail locations by the end of the year. You’ll still be able to find their other varieties in bomber bottles around town for now.

STB2

They had been talking about this change for a while but tank space was always the concern. So why the switch now? Two words: The customer. “We’ve had so many requests for this format. It’s what the customer wants” says Shoneman. Here’s to hoping Sommer Vice and Size 4 follow suit.

STB4

So grab your camping gear and don’t forget a six pack or two on your way out of town.

Cheers!

City Pages Beer Fest Moves to West End

City Pages Beer Fest has moved around over the years, this time to West End in St. Louis Park. The event is taking place from 5 – 9 pm on Saturday, May 21st and will feature over 50 breweries—many of them from Minnesota. Some of the highlights include Castle Danger, Steel Toe, Bad Weather, Oskar Blues, Clown Shoes, and Blacklist Artisan Ales out of Duluth. This is one of the longest running beer festivals (now in its 24th year) here in Minnesota and part of the proceeds this year will go to Finnegans.

City Pages Beer Fest 2016

The food lineup is solid as well with Rusty Taco, Urban Sub, Big 10 Restaurant, WildEarth Wood Fired, Pinstripes, and Cheer on Top Confections. Free and Easy Band will be performing throughout the festival along with accordionist Bill Koncar and Brian Boru’s Irish Pipe Band.

Tickets will cost $30 and you can grab them here. See below for the entire brewery lineup.

Alesmith Brewing Co.
American Vintage Beverage
Bad Weather Brewing
Bank Beer
Bent Brewstillery
Bent Paddle Brewing Co.
Big Sky
Blacklist Artisan Ales
Boom Island
Bull Falls
Burning Brothers Brewing
Canal Park Brewing Company
Capital Brewing
Castle Danger Brewery
Clown Shoes
Company
Crazy Mountain
Empyrean Brewing
Enki Brewing Co.
Excelsior Brewing Co.
Fargo Brewing
Finnegan’s
Furthermore Brewing Co.
Fytenburg/St. Croix/Stage Coach
Goose Island
Harriet Brewing
Horny Goat Brewing Co.
Indeed Brewing Company
Insight Brewing Co.
Lakes & Legends Brewing
Lift Bridge
Mankato Brewery
Maple Island Brewing
North Loop BrewCo (Lucid)
Omni Brewing
Oskar Blues
Prairie Artisan Ales
RJM/Grays Brewing/North Lake Brewing/Killebrew Beverages
Rock Bottom Brewery
Sand Creek Brewing
Schilling Cider/Two Towns Ciderhouse
Schram Winery & Brewery
Sierra Nevada
Sixpoint Brewery
Sociable Cider Werks
Steel Toe Brewing
Stone Brewing
Third Street Brewhouse
Tin Whiskers
Wabasha Brewing Co.
Waconia Brewing

Cheers!

Growler Gala Fundraiser to Benefit Roosevelt High School Theater Program

Growler Gala

It’s been about twenty years since the curtains were last drawn in the theater at Roosevelt High School. Thankfully Rick Spaulding and some of our local breweries have stepped up to help raise funds to revive the program in south Minneapolis.

On Thursday, February 4th the Parkway Theater will host an event from 7 PM until 10 PM where you can dance, mingle, and enjoy some drinks with friends. Pepito’s will be there selling food and beverages and there will be both a live, and silent auction where you can bid for growlers donated by the following breweries.

Excelsior Brewing
Fulton Brewery
Harriet Brewing
Town Hall Brewery
Lakes & Legends
Tin Whiskers
Northbound
Surly
Urban Growler
Insight
Dangerous Man
Boom Island
Eastlake
Sisyphus
Fair State
56
Bang
Bauhaus
Bad Weather
Lake Monster
LynLake
Sociable Cider Werks

Tickets will be $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Don’t miss your chance to help bring the Roosevelt Theater program back to life.

Details:

Thursday, February 4th from 7 PM until 10 PM.

Parkway Theater
4814 Chicago Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55417

Cheers!

MN Beer Notebook: Early January 2016

LBSilhouette

Fulton will be brewing their 300 IPA year-round now. Brewed with Mosaic hops, this has quickly become a local favorite for hop heads. Expect to find this around town starting on January 18th.

Our friends over at France 44 Cheese Shop (MPLS) just tapped Hawaiian Speedway Stout from AleSmith Brewing. This highly coveted Imperial Stout is a version of their popular “Speedway Stout” but is made with vanilla beans and toasted coconut.
Summit Brewing is celebrating 30 years in 2016 and they plan to celebrate by releasing four special beers throughout the year. The first one will be a Double IPA (8.5% ABV) made with Pale, Concerto Pale, and wheat—and aggressively hopped with Mosaic, Citra, Equinox, Bravo, Orbit and Experimental 06300. Four packs of tallboys should begin to hit shelves in a few weeks.

Dangerous Man, The Minneapolis Beard and Moustache Club, and Chowgirls Killer Catering will be hosting the 3rd annual Beard and Mustache Contest at the Solar Arts space on Sunday, January 17th at 1 pm. This also kicks off Dangerous Man’s 3rd Anniversary Week. You can register on the day of the event and if you’d like to attend it will only run you $5. Dangerous Man beer will be available for purchase on site as well as those fantastic pasties from Potters.
Lift Bridge is hosting their Silhouette Release Party on January 23rd from noon until 10 pm. They conducted a pre-sale for bottles of Silhouette but will sell any remaining bottles they might have at the event. Tickets are only $5 and include a free beer token.

Cheers!