Category: breweries

\m/ Bauhaus Hairbanger Returneth \m/

By on June 16, 2016in Bauhaus Brewlabs

Kick out the jams, friends. Our friends at Bauhaus have brought Hairbanger back… and they’ve brought videos! (See above.) Hairbanger features toasty malts and a classic Belgian yeast complimented by big, citrusy, tropical American hops.

“We’ve been very excited to welcome back our dressed up version of an American Pale Ale,” says Bauhaus President and Head Brewer Matt Schwandt. Schwandt explains, “Hairbanger has all the refreshing, tropical hoppiness you’d want in a modern APA, but we’ve fermented this beer with a classic Belgian yeast strain that gives it an awesomely complex fruitiness. So really, it’s heavy metal by name only. In reality, it’s one crushable summer concert beer.”

Look for this in 16 oz. cans and on draft in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Rochester and Mankato, as well as the Bauhaus taproom starting this week.

Surly Brewer’s Table Named Top Ten Restaurant by Food & Wine Magazine

By on June 9, 2016in beer dinners, breweries, cooking & food, food pairing, general beer, misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com, Surly Brewing Co.

Two years ago Surly hired Jorge Guzman as the Executive Chef for their new destination brewery, a position that came with a lot of pressure. Two years later the accolades are rolling in.

The Star Tribune named Jorge Guzman Best Chef of 2015, while award-winning local food critic Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl gave The Brewer’s table a glowing review a couple months back. Now, Food & Wine Magazine has named The Brewer’s Table among the top ten restaurants in the country. That’s right….the entire country!

The Chef & Brewer Pairing Menu consists of four courses including beer and will run you $70, not bad for a fine dining experience. The menu changes regularly, but if you see octopus be sure to order it. It was fabulous when this writer paid a visit.

Jorge is also competing in the national COCHON555 competition (June 18th in Snomass Village, CO) after he was awarded the title Prince of Porc (winner of regionals) back in February. The goal at the national event is to use a whole heritage breed hog (head-to-tail) and win over the judges by serving a selection of the dishes that won at regionals.

practice pig

If you’d like to check out the Brewer’s Table you can make your reservation here.

Cheers!

Posters and Pints 2016 Saturday

By on June 9, 2016in beer events, breweries

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Beer. Art. Who woulda’ thunk?

Posters & Pints is our favorite beer, art and charity combination – a special event that supports Art Buddies,a creative mentor program designed to help children discover what they can do and who they can become through the power of creativity.. Ticket price of $30 includes a pint glass and a ton of great beer samples.

Breweries include 612, Indeed, 56 Brewing, Able Seedhouse, Bauhaus, Boom Island, Dangerous Man, Day Block, Eastlake, Fair State, Insight, Lift Bridge Lionheart Cider, Modist, Northgate, Sociable, Summit and Surly. Follow the links below for complete details.
Saturday, June 11, 2016.
Uppercut Boxing Gym
Ticket sales.

http://www.postersandpints.com

Modist Brews a 100% Wheat Beer

By on June 8, 2016in breweries, general beer, Modist Brewing

modistmarkMaking beer with a 100% wheat malt bill is very uncommon. Only one other brewery in the country has made a 100% wheat beer to the best of this writer’s knowledge, and that is Tennessee Brew Works. They brewed Walk the Lime as a spring seasonal using the same filtration system that Modist uses. Keigan and the Modist crew decided that they wanted to try a 100% wheat beer because why not?

Well it turns out that most wheat beers use only 40 – 50% wheat because the wheat is high in soluble proteins and it becomes too sticky in the process—which makes it hard to extract all the sugars from the malt. Fortunately at Modist they have that fancy state-of-the-art filter that helps them out big time.

Head brewer Keigan Knee is excited to experiment with more of these 100% wheat beers. “Our mash filter brewhouse made easy work of the wheat malt due to its design” he says. As for those future batches, he intends to explore all of the possibilities. “It will be exciting to develop new flavor combinations from the wheat malt. The possibilities are endless.”

For this batch they used Rahr Red and White Wheat, Crisp Torrefied Wheat, and Weyermann® CARAWHEAT®. This isn’t a typical wheat beer at all in that it clocks in at 8.2% ABV yet it drinks like 4% beer. So how is the beer? Well this writer was able to try it at the St. Paul Summer Beer Festival and it was fantastic. The wheat flavor is very present and it would be easy to over do it on this since it goes down so easy.

Get down to Modist and check it out for yourself. I’m hearing it won’t last long.

Cheers!

News and Notes Early June 2016

By on June 7, 2016in beer dinners, beer events, Bent Paddle Brewing Co., breweries, charity, Fair State Brewing, general beer, Lift Bridge, misc. mn beer, MN, mnbeer.com, new beer, Summit Brewing Co.

On June 15th Fair State Brewing will release their sour Saison Roselle in cans. This beer is brewed with Hibiscus and is a perfect beer for warm summer days. Speaking of Fair State, they will be hosting a sour beer festival on June 25 called Mixed Culture. At this event they will be tapping 7 new barrel-aged mixed culture beers and bringing out some oldies from the cellar. Oakhold will also be previewing some of their beers at the event. As you may know, Caleb Levar (Co-owner of Oakhold) has been helping Niko and the Fair State crew around the brewery with their sour program.

The Lift Bridge folks made a trip out to Fort Collins earlier this spring to collaborate on a Belgian Ale with Odell Brewing called Peaks and Prairies. This recipe utilizes Colorado Palisade peaches and Cardamom and was aged on oak. This release is a part of Taps & Tables which is a celebration of craft beer and restaurants in June. For $30 you and a guest will be able to enjoy food and the beer at participating restaurants with a portion of the proceeds going to charity. Click here for the schedule.

This is the 5th year for Pride Dabbler which will take place on June 24th from 5:30 – 9:30 pm. More than 50 breweries will be on-site pouring beers while food trucks such as Natedogs, The Anchor Fish and Chips, Hot Indian Foods and more will be selling food. Grab your tickets here.

Summit will be releasing the 22nd variety in their Unchained Series called Zingiber Cream Ale with ginger. Expect this to hit shelves and tap lines in the next couple of weeks.

Bent Paddle’s Lollygagger Pale Ale hits store shelves this week. 5% of all sales of this beer will go to helping Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores build a 100 mile mountain biking trail system called The Duluth Traverse. This copper colored beauty is sure to please those that appreciate a well-balanced Pale Ale.

That’s it for now.

Cheers!