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.

St. Paul Santa Pub Crawl

By on December 6, 2009in bars/restaurants, beer events

The first annual St. Paul Santa Pub Crawl will take place on Wednesday, Decenber 16th, 2009. This is a charity event for Toys for Tots. $20 gets you on the bus and $20 and a toy to donate gets you complimentary drink tickets. The bus will take you to Groveland Tap, Tiffany’s, O’Gara’s, Eagle Street, Mancini’s, Shamrock’s and Billy’s. Specials at each bar! Prizes for best costume! (Including naughty and nice! “You must be in costume!” (?)) Sign up at any location.

Granite City Batch 1000

By on December 4, 2009in beer events, brewpubs

Bob McKenzie from Granite City dropped us a line with the lowdown on Batch 1000, which will be tapped at all Granite City locations on Monday. Assuming MNBeer Jr. doesn’t arrive this weekend, I’ll be crossing the street after work on Monday for a sample in St. Louis Park.

…this is either a Huge IPA, or a Light Double IPA, depending on your 1/2 full or 1/2 empty view point. We brewed it with large amounts of Cascade and Summit hops. The Summit was primarily for bittering, then the Cascade for Flavor/aroma and dry hopping. For malt we used a mix of 2 row, dark crystal and wheat malts. It has an OG of 1068, the fermentations have proceeded nicely, it turns out our yeast likes hops as much as our brewers, and we are looking at a finishing strength of around 7.5% abv.

If folks haven’t been to a Granite City for a while the beer should be a worthwhile reason to stop in. We still fill growlers for $5 on Tuesday’s and Thursdays, so choose your day and save some cash. One final request, if you enjoy this beer please let the management at the restaurant know.

Thanks,

Bob McKenzie,
Brewery Field Manager

Winterfest Sold Out in 8 Minutes!

By on December 1, 2009in breweries, brewpubs

Less than 20 minutes after noon, Laura (Winterfest, Arborfest and Autumn Brew Review’s event guru) e-mailed me to tell me that all 700 Winterfest tickets sold out in 8 minutes. 8 minutes! Damn!

My deepest regrets to those of you who wanted tickets but weren’t able to get them. I wish you better luck next year. For those of you who received tickets, congrats! Meet me for a sample or three at the History Center in February!

And for those of you trying to turn a buck on eBay or Craigslist, King Gambrinus is frowning upon you.