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.

Beer + Bikes with Hoigaard’s: Town Hall

By on June 1, 2011in beer events, brewpubs

Up for a pub ride Saturday? I’ll be joining some of the crew from Hoigaard’s & other friends for a nice little ride from the store to Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery on Saturday, June 4th. We’re doing a series of low-key “beer rides” this summer to combine two of our favorite things – bikes & beers.

Saturday, June 4th (that’s this Saturday, bucko) we’ll leave Hoigaard’s about 1:30pm and ride to Town Hall. At 3pm, we’ll tour the brewery, sample great beers and learn about the brewing process. $7 includes a tasting glass, a pint of beer, samples and a 10% food discount after the tour. If you don’t want to do the tour, you can still ride to the pub & enjoy some great beers with us.

If you want to join us for the tour you must sign up here. We’ve got about a dozen spots left, so please sign up quickly if you’re going to join us. You can also sign up for next month’s ride to Flat Earth.

Saturday, July 23rd – Flat Earth Brewing Co., St. Paul. – We’ll ride from Hoigaard’s over to St. Paul and tour this young craft brewery. Flat Earth opened their doors in 2007, not far from another St. Paul brewery, Summit Brewing Co. The tour & samples are free and perhaps we’ll stop for a beer on the way there and/or the way back. We’ll leave Hoigaard’s around 2:00pm.

Saturday, August 13th – TBD. We’re working on either touring a larger brewery or perhaps we’ll do a small bicycle pub crawl along the greenway. Watch this space & our Facebook page for details.

Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA Tasting at Heritage Thursday

By on May 23, 2011in beer events, beer stores

Latitude 48 hop breakdown with the crew from Heritage. Stop in from 5-7 on Thursday, May 26th and take part!

The single hop IPA…..homebrewers love it, as do those who want to expand their beer expertise. While it’s not a new idea, Samuel Adams has made the single hop IPA affordable and accessible with their Latitude 48 IPA Deconstructed 12-pack. They’ve taken apart the Lat 48 hops formula to show us exactly what it’s made of, comprising five varieties of hops — Hallertau Mittelfrueh from Germany; East Kent Goldings from England; and Ahtanum, Simcoe, and Zeus, all from Washington state’s Yakima Valley. The beer’s name refers to the 48th latitude line, where all these hops are grown.

Each strain of hops carries different characteristics — pine, citrus, and floral notes, for example, along with varying degrees of bittering power. With the Deconstructed packs we’re able to assess each individually. For this week’s Thursday tasting, we’ll have all 5 single hop versions as well as the original open to try. We’ll walk you through them and quench your thirst…for knowledge.

Our Thursday night tastings run from 5-7PM

Summit 25th Anniversary Beer

By on May 19, 2011in breweries

Summit Silver AnniversarySummit celebrates 25 years of beer this year. Many of us have fond memories of our first Summit… For me, that was likely sometime around ’94 when I cracked open a 6-pack box of Extra Pale Ale and enjoyed what had to be one of the hoppiest beers I’d ever tasted. (Of course in college and younger Busch & Budweiser were a bit more readily available.)

In any case, what better way to celebrate 25 years with a special release? Summit’s Silver Anniversary beer is an assertively hopped version of their flagship EPA. The beer will be brewed with 2 row and crystal malts, American ale yeast and Citra, Centennial and Cascade hops and weighs in at 6.5% abv and 80 IBUs. I’m looking forward to trying this… and forward to another 25 years of Summit. Congrats guys!

Release dates to come. As always, watch this space!