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.

Happy Gnome Cask Beer Program

By on December 28, 2006in bars/restaurants

I was too tired to go out and drink cask beer myself last night, so we thank Ben for the scoop on The Happy Gnome’s new cask beer program. He spoke with one of the owners, Nick Miller and got the skinny… Starting this week with the Surly kickoff, The Happy Gnome will have 3 gravity fed cask beers on tap. They will post the week’s offerings in City Pages and tap them each Wednesday. They will be pumping CO2 in on top to keep them fresh and will have cooled blankets on them. They will be 10 gallon casks so it will likely last a couple days. To start off they will have Surly, Summit, Bells and two Belgian beers rotating. There is currently a selection of 80 different cask beers they can select from.

Sounds promising!

Lost Twin Cities II

By on December 27, 2006in breweries, history

…is on TPT2 right now. There’s a small section on the Hamm’s Brewery and mansion in this documentary. Beer and brewing is but a small part of the show, but it’s pretty interesting to local history nerds like myself.

Did you miss it? Fear not, you can borrow a tape from the Hennepin County library system.

Edit: It’s been a while since I’ve seen this, and I’d forgotten that Hamm’s kept deer and peacocks on the grounds. That makes at least two breweries in MN with deer and peacocks, with the second being Schell’s. When are we going to see the Surly deer and peacocks?

City Pages’ Artist of the Year: Omar Ansari

By on December 27, 2006in breweries

I’ve had a hard time keeping my mouth shut for a week, but thankfully CP has let the cat out of the bag and announced their Artists of the Year…  GIf I was a swearing man, I’d say, “Fucking A, This Guy Deserves It,” but I don’t swear (…in front of my mom), so I’ll just let you know that Omar Ansari (and Surly Brewing, by proxy) was picked as one of City Pages’ Artists of the Year. Go Minnesota! Go beer!

Cask Surly at the Happy Gnome

By on December 27, 2006in general beer

I’m not sure if I’ll be present, but Surly will have a cask of Bender at the Happy Gnome Wednesday night as part of a kick-off for the introduction of cask beer at the Happy Gnome.

Get Tea-Bagged for free tomorrow! Come on down to the Happy Gnome in St.
Paul, Wednesday the 27th, to grab a free glass of Surly’s Bender Beer on
Cask. This little guy has been sitting on a pound of Amarillo hops for a
couple weeks and should be crowd pleaser. We are at the Happy Gnome to help
kick off their cask beer program. To help celebrate, the Gnome is giving a
pair of tickets away to our Anniversary dinner coming up on the 10th of
January. For our 1st Anniversary Dinner, all our beers should be available,
Bender, Furious, Coffee Bender, Darkness, Bourbon Bender and our newest beer – one.

In addition to the cask of Bender, Coffee Bender will be on tap tomorrow.
Tapping happens at 9:00, show up early to get a free drink ticket.

Who’s going?