Author: ryan

Ryan Anderson (that's me!) is the editor & founder of MNBeer. Much has changed since the fall of 2005 and I'm proud to have been a part of it all. Sometime I'll tell you about my grand theory that links craft brewing to punk rock. Just ask.

Congrats Minnesota GABF Winners

Like everything this year, the Great American Beer Festival looked a little different this year. Breweries from all 1720 breweries in all 50 states submitted more than 8,800 beers to the competition. Out of all of those beers and breweries, four Minnesota breweries took home medals.

Gold:
Hoops Brewing – 325 Pineapple Chili
The Freehouse – No. 17 Scotch Ale

Silver:
Waconia Brewing Co. – Cookies and Cream Milk Stout

Bronze:
Lupulin Brewing – Doppelbock

Additionally, The Freehouse was named the winner of the Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year. Congrats!

Don’t Be a Dick

If you’re going to be a dick to brewery staff, stay home.

If you’re going to argue about the rules, stay home.
These things are entirely out of the hands of brewery staff and attempting to give them any sort of shit about it just makes you look like an asshole.
 
Sadly this behavior isn’t unique to Urban Growler Brewing Company. We’ve heard of similar situations at other great breweries as well. Knock it the hell off.

Updates and Random Thoughts

Hey all. It’s been a crazy year, has it not? Covid. The murder of George Floyd. An upcoming election. Closures. etc. It all sucks, albeit some things are obviously worse.

As always, we’re quietly churning along, attempting to keep the brewery directory up-to-date, and sharing the occasional blog post. We will continue to do so! And we appreciate the kind words, beer samples, and friendships.

Like everything beer-related, our “revenue” has taken a hit. It’s tough out there for hundredaires like ourselves. We’ve also realized that the Google ads, which once provided some extra beer money aren’t really worth the hassle. They look ugly and their payout isn’t that great. So we’ll slowly be dumping the Google ads and maintaining our square sidebar ads for a cleaner look.

We’re also looking at using Patreon to generate a few $$ to help cover the cost of hosting. This summer I took on the massive project of moving the entire site (15 years of posts, images, pages, etc.) to a new host. We’re not losing money, but we’re really not making it either.

Industry friends – we’re thinking about you. We don’t envy anyone who owns, runs, or works in our local taprooms. These are tough times and we hope you all look out for each other.

Cheers-

Ryan, Ryan, and David

Drink Minnesota Beer Posters

I’ve decided to do a limited run of my take on a “Keep Minnesota Brewing” poster. Let me know if you’re interested. The print will be 18″ x 24″ on a heavy matte paper. I’ll plan to have them drop-shipped from the printer and go directly to you.

This fine piece of swag featured a gigantic “Hopisota” surrounded by bottle caps featuring cities that are home to Minnesota breweries. $30 shipped.

ryan@mnbeer.com

Breweries: feel free to drop me a line with custom requests. (i.e. your logo “starred or capped” on its place in Hopisota.

 

Beer Magic with Dan from Utepils

An excellent illustration of the crisis that breweries in Minnesota are dealing with right now. Call your state representatives today and ask them to help support Minnesota breweries!

https://www.gis.leg.mn/iMaps/districts

Breweries in Minnesota have been near and dear to my heart for the past 15+ years. If the Minnesota legislature doesn’t lend a hand, it’s very realistic to think that we’ll lose some great breweries. Let’s do this!