Twin Cities Beer: New and Old

Since we moved out of the Twin Cities nearly three years ago the craft beer scene has really been picking up. New breweries are opening at a pace that would be astonishing if not for the fact that the pace is as rapid if not faster in Portland. In addition, "The Surly Bill" was passed which will allow Surly Brewing to build their destination brewery as well as making the laws more favorable in general for breweries.

Thanks to some great friends I've been able to try some beers from the new places that have opened but that's nothing compared to actually visiting the breweries. While I didn't have enough time to make it around to all the new places my lovely "tour guides" Kat and Scott took me to two of their favorites (after putting down a good jiffy burger base at The Blue Door Pub St. Paul).

The interior of Dangerous Man has an industrial bent.

The first stop was Dangerous Man Brewing located in the heart of Northeast Minneapolis. Dangerous Man doesn't bottle any of their beer and due to recent demand they're limiting growler sales to a mere 10 per day, one per person. The place was packed when we arrived post-lunch although we were able to get our beer fairly quickly. Of the five beers on tap I was only uninterested in one - German Kolsch - simply because I'm not a great fan of the style. The three of us shared "short pours" (10 oz) of the other four - Double IPA, Matchbox Coffee Porter, Chocolate Milk Stout and El Dorado Rye.

L to R: Double IPA, Coffee Porter, Milk Stout & Rye

I'd heard great things about the Chocolate Milk Stout, most notably that it was adult chocolate milk, and it lived up to the billing 100%. The porter surprised me with the depth of flavor and just the right amount of coffee and the rye, while being one of the most rye-forward beers I've had, was very enjoyable. The Double IPA was a bit much on the booze profile for me but still an enjoyable and well-made beer.



Indeed's taproom uses more classic touches.

Next we headed over to Indeed Brewing which Kat had described it as the most Portland-esque taproom in the Twin Cities. She was right. Just the feel of Indeed was more to my liking with the classic wood bar, exposed brick wall and shuffleboard table. Indeed does bottle some of their beers and I had been lucky enough to try a bottle of their flagship Day Tripper American Pale Ale earlier this year.

Pretzels and Hot Box

They had that on tap along with three others that we shared - Midnight Ryder American Black Ale, Hot Box Imperial Smoked Pepper Porter and Burr Grinder Beer Coffee Ale. The Coffee Ale didn't do much for me and the Hot Box was heavy on the smoke but the Midnight Ryder was very good. I had commented earlier in the day that I prefer smoked beers with food instead of on their own so Kat grabbed a bag of Sully's Sweet & Heat Pretzels from the food truck parked outside. They increased my enjoyment of Hot Box considerably and even improved the Coffee Ale.

After that it was time to head to a couple of old favorites, places that a trip back wouldn't be complete without - Town Hall Brewery and Great Waters. Town Hall's weekly Pint Club from 4 - 5 pm Saturdays brought in many familiar faces and I got my French fry fix (theirs are the best on the planet hands down). The stop at Great Waters was a bit unplanned, I'd been hoping to take in Sunday Mug Club there, but due to the "holiday" they would be closed. Still I got to see a favorite bartender, Chuck, and enjoy a pint of St. Peter Pale Ale.

It was a great day of drinking new and old in Minnesota; one I would have liked to make two-day adventure. However due to lovely Minnesota laws, taprooms are not allowed to be open on Sundays (oh, and neither are liquor stores...the only place one can buy beer) so whatever beer I'll enjoy for the remainder of my time will be at a bar (which are allowed to be open) or from a friend's cellar.

A Return to The Tundra

I finally understand what all my non-Upper Midwest residing friends and family have been trying to convey for 30+ years. After moving to Portland a mere six months ago, my return to the tundra convinced me that the people who live there are crazy. Certifiably crazy.

When we left in June Minnesota was nearly as green and lush as Portland. When I returned there was snow on the ground and temps were in the 20’s. For the first time I was seeing the stark contrast that visitors had been seeing instead of the gradual change in landscape and climate I was familiar with. That was only the start as Mother Nature let loose, dropping 1 ½ feet of snow on the metro and holding Sunday and Monday’s high temps in the negative single digits. Reminding myself not to let the weather get in the way, I mostly kept to my preset plans to visit my favorite watering holes.

Before things got nasty I budged my way in on the Friday night Surly tour. Starting with a warm welcome by Omar, followed by my fill of Coffee Bender, and an evening with fellow volunteers, it made for a great night. The cherry on top was through the generosity of Keith and Omar, I’d be able to take some of that Surly goodness back to Portland.

Saturday Kat and Scott got into the spirit of things with me and agreed to get the Suburu out to make our way to pint club at Town Hall. Yes, there were multiple warnings that if one didn’t have to go anywhere it would be better to stay put. We cast those warnings aside, planned a non-highway, most-likely-to-be-plowed route, and hit the road. The longer than usual drive was amusing to say the least and the reward of being back at Town Hall was worth the hassle the snow provided. Sitting at “our” table, drinking tasty pints brought by one of my favorite servers, and watching the entertainment provided by drivers, skiers, and cyclists, made me pine for this now lost part of my weekly routine.

Sunday the snow had stopped, the cold had descended, and sun shown brightly on the snow. We bundled up and made an easier drive to Great Waters for pint club. Although many friends were digging out once again after the winds had erased their efforts, I was thrilled with the ones that were able to come out and share some beer with me.

You might now be wondering where more details about the beer I drank are at. They aren’t here. The beer was great and I thoroughly enjoyed every pint, but it’s my “beer friends”, my wonderful friends that I miss most. Thank you to everyone! You made braving the snow and cold more than worth it.

Great Weather = Patio Drinking

It occurred to me this morning that every day of this past weekend I was enjoying great beer out on one patio or another.

Friday night it was Great Waters, where I got to try out their new Opening Day IPA which rivals another recent addition, Glacier Pale Ale. Both have great hop flavor and at about 5% each make for pretty good session beers.

Saturday afternoon, no surprise, it was Town Hall. But what was a surprise was seeing Festivus back on tap! That’s right, someone must have stashed a keg of Festivus for the rest of us in a corner somewhere and forgotten about it. Not that I’m complaining, I’ll happily drink this more wintery brew while those around me are delighting in a hefe or some other warm weather beer.

Sunday was even nicer than Saturday and this time the patio of choice was Stub & Herb’s. Very quiet when we arrived in the early afternoon, we took advantage of the sun, warmth, great tap list, and happy hour pricing. The beer went down easy, including one I ordered but didn’t think I’d like very much, Great Divide Hoss Rye Lager.

Hopefully you found the time to do some patio drinking yourself. Gotta take advantage of it when you can. You know, before it decides to rain for days on end, sky rocket into the 90’s or remind us exactly where we live with one last taste of white flakes.

A Wassailing We Go

Thursday night we decided to head down to Great Waters with Kat and Scott for Wassail Night. If you're not familiar with wassail, it's "a delicious blend of Brown ale, hard cider, baked apples, and spices served hot." Great Waters was serving this out on their beautiful ice bar. Created for the Winter Carnival by Liam, this year they've got more than just a big, cool throne. There's also an actual ice bar, where the wassail was being served as well as various seating and high top style tables.

Back to the wassail itself. I was surprised that it was not as sweet as I thought it would be but don't take that to mean it isn't sweet. Served in a coffee mug, one was more than enough and Liam correctly describe it as a dessert drink. After one I was happy to switch back to beer, including a cask of Winterye, a version of their RyePA, that debuted at Winterfest.

Although next week it'll be March, winter hasn't completely let go and Great Waters will be doing a second Wassail Night on the 4th. So go get some wassail, add your butt imprint to the ice throne and enjoy the fire. Just be sure to follow the rules.

Not one new beer

As the weekend winds down it occurs to me that although I enjoyed plenty of good beer this weekend, not one beer that graced my lips was something I hadn’t had before. Now I’m sure that this has happened previously, but for as much as we enjoy trying out new beers this seems like it must be a rare occurrence.

Friday night was a good time serving up Surly beers during their tour (of course taking it upon myself to verify the quality from time to time), followed by a couple of beers at Great Waters with Kat & Scott. Saturday at Town Hall I stuck with their tasty Apricot Wheat, even passing on the opportunity to taste their Belgian Saison and Ol’ Jackfrost. During the game night we hosted that evening all the beers I had were from the beer fridge. And today, returning to Great Waters, I continued my re-exploration of their standards – Stout, House and Brown (many thanks to Lori for reminding me about the stout last Sunday and Kat for knowing that’s what I wanted to drink on Friday).

While it’s fun to try new beers it’s been a mighty enjoyable weekend filling my glass with tried and true thumbs up beers. Besides, with the exception of a Guiness Extra Stout Saturday night, all of ‘em were local. Local and good.

Equal Opportunity Drinking

After being proud members of Town Hall’s Pint Club for about a year and a half, we just became members #4 and #5 of Great Waters’ version. Theirs is the MBA, Master of Beer Appreciation, and works a bit differently than Town Hall’s but I think equally as good.

Joining us in the top twenty were Lori & Paul (#1 & #2), Steve, Scott (who kindly also picked up memberships for Kat & JD) and Cal (he came a bit later so he didn’t get to be in the picture).

Now we have one more reason to slack off on the weekends, spending time at a pub drinking mighty fine beer, likely in the company of some mighty fine friends!

Gotta love the locals!

There are many reasons to love our local brewers and the beers they produce. Besides being cool people in general, with jobs most of the rest of us are envious of, they are extremely creative. Last night I made it up to Flat Earth’s growler fill day, lured by the introduction of Starman Porter, their porter infused with star anise from Penzey’s that had been soaked in Ouzo. I was pretty sure I’d at least like it but man, this stuff is really good! The anise flavor is certainly there but not overpowering and I’m going out on a limb betting that even black-licorice-averse Mag is going to enjoy it. Luckily after gabbing with Jeff, Mikey, Drunk Dave, and the other folks that showed up to get growlers Kat and I were able to score the last two growlers of this ambrosia. Note to self: Next time, buy first, gab second.

While I had planned to go straight home after picking up my growlers, and possibly doing something productive, Kat and I decided a better plan would be to grab some dinner. We offered to have Scott and Mag join us but they both declined so we headed off to Great Waters. Some event must have been going on from the looks of the parking situation and how full GW was but we were able to get a table in the bar with a minimal wait. Just after we ordered our drinks, Bob, who was there brewing with Joel came over to say hi. He confirmed our theory that while there may be a recession going on in some parts of the economy, that is not the case with the beer crowd. They have apparently been going through their brews at an incredible pace. Luckily I was able to have a couple pints of what I assume was brewed for Halloween, Hop Scare. It’s hoppy, but not over the top, and a true joy to drink. If I would have had an extra growler in the car I would have taken some home, but that not being the case I may have to resort to plan B: seeing if I can get Scott to share some of his.

RyePA Returns!

Last night we met up with Kat and Scott at Great Waters. I don’t know what was going on in downtown St. Paul but street parking was nearly impossible to find and there seemed to be an inordinate amount of people with white hair. The patio at GW was pretty full but luckily they got there before us so we didn’t have to waste a beautiful night sitting indoors.

When our server came to take our drink orders I was thrilled to find that RyePA had returned! I’m not sure how long it had been absent, maybe up to a month. All I know is that when I was there a week or so ago there was none to be had and Liam didn’t mention that it was going to be on again soon. I just assumed that the rye time had passed and maybe if I was lucky it would return next year. I’d love to see this become a semi-permanent beer.

We also got the pleasure of another beer geek’s company, Michael, and one of the regular street musicians provided some good background music. Too bad it was only a Tuesday night and work was waiting for all of us the next morning.

Great Waters Saturday

After a stop at the St. Paul Farmers Market to load up on locally produced cheese, meat and incredibly fresh produce we stopped in at Great Waters for a few pints and lunch. Since it was a relatively nice day we opted to sit on the patio. Seeing that they still had RyePA on tap I dove in there first (and second). Figuring it would be a waste to be there and just have one of their beers I finished with the ever enjoyable standby, St. Peter Pale Ale. Mag moved around the board a bit more and among others, ordered their most newly tapped beer, the Cywren Saison. I’m not much of a Saison fan in general but couldn’t resist trying it and was pleasantly surprised. There wasn’t so much of a Belgian flavor to turn me off and the mouth feel…well, really it was like drinking velvet. Before heading home we settled on a growler of the RyePA for future enjoyment.

Rye for me

Last night I met Kat and Scott at Great Waters for a couple of beers. Upon walking in I was greeted by the always pleasant smell of beer being brewed. Bellying up to the bar I was pleased to see they had a nearly full board of beers- Golden Prairie Blond, Brown Trout, Kaizerweizer Hefe, Skip & Go Naked and RyePA for pushed and on the cask side House Ale, Black Watch Oat Stout and Tartar Control IPA. During the time we were there Mr. Smooth got put back on tap as well.

I played it safe with my first beer going with the Tartar Control and got to taste Scott’s Hefe and Kat’s RyePA. Not surprisingly the Hefe was too hefe for me. The surprise came when I tried the RyePA. I’m generally not a huge fan of rye beers but this was very pleasing, likely because of the amount of hops, which balanced out the rye. As I understand it, this is beer was creation of Joel’s and his first one for Great Waters. If this is any indication of his brewing talents, the powers that be are fortunate to have hired this young guy on. I’m looking forward to seeing what his next brew will be.

Good Day for Beer - Bad Day for my Nipples

Yesterday's Brewers Bazaar was...well, interesting. It wasn't your typical beer tasting kind of event in that we didn't see very many familiar faces and the crowd was mostly a non-craft beer kind of crowd with pockets of beer folks. It was fun, nonetheless. And the breweries and brewpubs were well represented. Kris and I had previously had opportunities to meet and chat with Jeff Williamson of Flat Earth and Bob DuVernois of Great Waters, but yesterday we got to meet and spend some time chatting with Dave Berg of August Schell, a couple of the guys from the new Lift Bridge brewery in Stillwater, and Trevor Brau of Brau Brothers. Hell, even Mark Stutrud, founder of Summit, was there serving beer and chatting up the attendees. The guys from Fitger's (Brian and Bob, I think) were familiar faces and I think they work at the brewery, but I didn't ask in what capacity. I will, yet again, re-declare that most of the folks that I meet at these beer events, including the brewers and their reps are damn nice folks.

Now, let's talk about my nipples. I know you want to. When we were in Portland several weeks ago, I'd picked up a cool Rogue shirt (kind of a Hawaiian shirt). I washed it before wearing it, but didn't wear a shirt underneath it. The material was a bit rough and I'll be damned if it didn't start wearing my nipples raw. God that hurts. So, early on I was forced with a bit of a Sophie's Choice. I could soldier on with my beer drinking, leaving my nipples to the ravages of Satan's threads or I could swallow my pride and find some bandaids or tape to protect my nipples. Turns out I don't really have any pride to salvage, so I begged for some tape from the fest workers. At the end of the day, I decided I'd rather go through the excruciating pain of ripping packing tape off my sensitive and hairy nipples versus the excruciating pain of tearing my dried-blood soaked shirt away from the ragged stumps of what were once my nipples.