First, a few photos from our visit to the packed Surly Brewing Co. grand opening on Saturday. We arrived around 2:00, bellied up for some free beer and took the tour. Between the two of us, we had a chance to get a good taste of everything (Bourbon-Barrel Bender {yum}, Furious {which, after a few months of sampling pints, reminds me of my latest homebrew, albeit less biscuit-y}, Bender and the Belgian-style beer whose name currently escapes me {actually it reminds me of the best hefeweizen I’ve ever made, with WLP380}), and had a really good time.

And since I needed more CO2, we decided to drive over to St. Paul after getting Surly and get an exchange at Northern Brewer. Along the way, I decided that I was hungry and Dawn needed to “PEE REALLY BADLY!” so we decided to visit the Green Mill on Hamline and Grand so Dawn could relieve herself, I could eat and more importantly, MNBeer could get a list of what’s on tap at the Green Mill since we’ve been slacking on that one since day one. For those of you like myself who are too lazy to pick up a phone, Green Mill’s seasonals are currently a Bitter and a Honey Brown Ale.

Finally, we’ve added a few photos to the breweries and brewpubs pages. Just a few, mind you (Summit, Surly, Schell’s and an outside shot of Green Mill), but it’s a start. In the meantime, if you have any photos of Minnesota beer-related events and places that you’d like to share, let us know!

One last reminder about Surly’s grand opening… I plan on visiting sometime on Saturday, I’ll be the one with the 1-liter “tasting” mug… er, ah, the guy that they kick out…

Hello Surly Nation

One last reminder,

Our open house is this Friday 4-8 and Saturday noon-4. Directions and info
are on our TOURS page and there is a link to Mapquest directions.

Stop on by and check out Minnesota’s newest brewery!

Omar

If the stress ever gets to me and I decide to kiss the design/printing industry goodbye, this is the kind of job I’d enjoy… talking homebrew, working with other brewers, getting discounts at the homebrew shop, considering an afternoon of brewing to be “homework,” etc., etc.

Anyway, Northern Brewer is hiring.

We’re looking for an enthusiastic worker for our retail store. This
Full-Time Position is to start around the first week of June.*

*Qualifications: Must like Beer.*

*Homebrewing, winemaking, cider and mead knowledge is a plus.*

*Start at $11/hour*

*Benefits include Medical, two weeks Paid Vacation, simple IRA and of
course an excellent employee discount.*

*Duties include helping customers, taking orders by phone, light
lifting, stocking and gaining knowledge about everything related to
fermentation.*

*Please contact Juno at 651-291-8849 or juno@northernbrewer.com

Here’s an update from Duluth’sLake Superior Brewing Co.

We have received our new bottling and it is running very well. Outbreaks of bottling induced Tourette Syndrome have been reduced by around 90%. It is a 2006 six head Maheen Merlin built just for us and it operates at over twice the speed of our old line. It also produces very little waste and doesn’t break down. This new line will enable us to ramp up output in the coming months.

Our current seasonal is the Seven Bridges Brown. This is a small beer brewed form the
second running of our Old Man Winter Barley Wine. This is one of a very few true small
beers commercially produced, so check it out.

As always, everyone is more than welcome to stop by the brewery and have a beer with us.
Give us a call at 218 723 4000 when you are headed up north.

Prost!
Don Brewington
Lake Superior Brewing

In case you haven’t been to Great Waters in bit, we’ve updated their beer list to reflect the most recent seasonals. They include The Apocalypse (cask double IPA), Mr. Smooth (cask mild), Tartar Control IPA and The Blackwatch Oat Stout. For those of you who are sticklers for detail, Great Waters was out of their Pot Hole Porter on Saturday night.

A frew of us convened upon Great Waters’ patio for dinner and some beer on Saturday evening. After sharing a sampler with Dawn, I settled in and slowly consumed “The Apocalypse” with dinner. Near the end of our dinner, the Vulcans arrived. Though we had a couple of St. Paulites in our midst, we were all a bit puzzled to see the Vulcans out in warm weather.