Surly Brewing is once again sponsoring an extreme sports festival up in Sandstone, MN. The 2nd Annual Kettle River Paddlefest is happening next weekend, May 2, 3 and 4. Granted, the event is more about white water river activities, but I for one am as much looking forward to the evening activities at the Gas Light Bar as I am the ones on the water.
For full disclosure, I brew and drink with Tony, one of the event organizers. Don’t let that fact keep you away.
City Pages “Best of the Twin Cities” issue has hit. Congrats to all of our friends…
Brew52 won the reader pick for Best Website
Surdyk’s won the reader pick for Best Liquor Store
Groveland Tap won the reader pick for Best Burger
Andrew Kopplin won Best Barista
Summit Extra Pale Ale won Best Take-Home Beer
The Happy Gnome won Best Neighborhood Bar (St. Paul)
Buster’s on 28th won Best New Neigborhood Bar
No doubt I’m missing someone, but that’s not a bad list.
Huh? The Ugly Mug? Wha? No, it’s not that coffee house in Farmington… The Ugly Mug is the bar formerly known as Harvey’s. They’ll be closed this week for a remodel and will reopen on Friday as The Ugly Mug. Half price pints from 4-7pm and free Schell’s from 7-9. It’s listed as Schell’s Amber on BA, but last I checked,Schell’s didn’t have a beer with said name.
Mark your calendars for May 1st at 5:00 pm for the release of Flat Earth’s Black Helicopter at The Ugly Mug as well. Black Helicopter is a coffee stout. I’m hoping that Jeff brings some to Arborfest on Friday. Could I be so lucky?
A description of the beer…
Black Helicopter is a coffee oatmeal stout made with locally roasted Columbia coffee beans from Paradise roasters in Ramsey, MN. What makes this coffee beer different you ask? This is the first beer of its kind made with coffee brewed on a Clover machine, which uses a unique mechanism for extracting the subtle and complex flavors of a coffee bean. Don’t miss this chance to taste this one of a kind brew.
I can’t help but think of Kopplin’s when I think of Clover machines. Andrew’s coffee is top notch. I think this beer will be gooooood…
Tours: reservations are now available for for May tours. However, the fine folks at Surly have decided to shake things up a bit… like I mentioned, they’re taking reservations… in fact you’ll need one… and the only way you’ll get one is by making a reservation online… make one here! Secondly, tours will take place on Friday’s from 6-8pm. Sounds like fun!
Tanks: they’re here. Witn any luck, by the time you read this, all six will be in the building. More beer!
Doug Hoverson in Fergus Falls, originally uploaded by MNBeer.
Dawn and I were in Fergus Falls this weekend to celebrate her birthday with family. As luck would have it, the Ottertail County Historical Society was hosting an event with Doug Hoverson that included a talk on the history of brewing in Fergus Falls as well as a tasting of some Minnesota beers. I can’t stress just how much fun we had sampling beer in our hometown, learning about the history of beer in Minnesota and in Fergus Falls and watching the reactions of others.
