Category: breweries

Surly Tour

By on January 9, 2007in beer events, breweries, free beer

No promises, but I may just show up at Surly this weekend too…

Hello Drinkers,

A quick note to let folks know that we are having a tour this Saturday,
January 13th,  from noon – 3:00. Tour times are around 12:30 and 1:15, or
whenever Sandy tells us to get moving. You don’t need a reservation, so come
on over for a tour of the brewery and a beer or two.

After you have wet your whistle, take home a growler of Furious and/or
Bender. We now sell beer at the brewery on the weekend!

Also, our new beer, one, debuts next week. Check back to the web-site for
details on where you can drink Surly’s newest limited-release.

See you drinking,
Omar

MNBeer Predictions for 2007

By on January 6, 2007in beer laws, breweries, brewpubs, mnbeer.com

I shouldn’t need to say this, but I will. Everything in this post below this line is pure speculation, un-informed guesses or perhaps even straight-up bull… er baloney. So without further ado… Minnesota Beer predictions for 2007.

Brau Brothers Brewing Co. beer will arrive in the Twin Cities in 6-packs and kegs. They will deliver the first case to my house for, uh, quality control…

Finnegan’s… just pure speculation here, but we’re guessing that they’ll give a bunch of money to charity… and a bunch of beer to the folks at MNBeer.

Flat Earth Brewing Company will brew some kick-ass Belgian and/or farmhouse ales and bottle them in bombers and/or champagne-style bottles. One of their beers will have “Minnesota” in the name. Strangely enough, an elf will deliver their beer to my doorstep in the middle of the night.

Gluek Brewing Company will continue to be pimped by Dan Gladden during Twins games. When we ask nicely, they’ll arrange to give us a tour on a Saturday. See above post about delivery elves…

Lake Superior Brewing Company is going to dig out the wild rice for a new brew. The company purchases more firkins and Don starts showing up in the Twin Cities with cask-conditioned beers on a semi-regular basis. Again, remember the elves…

Mantorville Brewing Company will break into the Twin Cities market in full-force with a new pale ale made with a combination of Amarillo and Centennial hops… no, wait, maybe it’s an IPA. Due the overwhelming success, Tod closes St. Croix to concentrate on new beers and recipes. Again, strangely, this new beer ends up on my doorstep in the middle of the night. My supply runs low and it magically appears again. Who needs magic beans or a beanstock? I have delivery elves/gnomes/dwarves… whatever they are…

Pig’s Eye Brewing drops by MNBeer world headquarters one Friday even and proceeds to get us hammered. Feelings of deja vu arise, though I remember that I am no longer the 16-year-old getting sloshed on Pig’s Eye in the College Manor apartments on the campus of the FFCC in Fergus Falls.

August Schell… Dave Berg puts on a show this year at Bockfest where he jumps 2 live deer and a peacock on his bike. He wipes out but is saved by the “bock fairy” (what, you’ve never heard of her?) and her magical, seldom-seen quadruple-bock. When he is out cold, he is inspired to revamp the Zommerfest recipe with a new ale yeast (something like Wyeast’s Ardennes…) and lemongrass. Friends take to calling Dave “Evol.”

St. Croix – See above.

Summit Brewing Company puts their Amber on hold as well as their Pilsner and IPA. Their Alt makes a return and old fans finally stop bitching about the fact that it is no longer available. Summit introduces a Saison mid-summer and revamps the Pilsner recipe.

Surly Brewing Company – Two words. Imperial Furious. Local drinkers learn to order it by hand signals. (Stick your left pointer finger in the air and make a rough “F” with your pointer and middle fingers on your right hand). A New York Times article follows. They mis-quote us.

Barley John’s undergoes a small expansion. Local food critics wet themselves over new menu items. Chaos ensues.

Fitger’s Brewhouse invites Dave’s brother Mike to brew a batch of Masala Mama. Duluth fans rave for more. Beer fans rally and help pass legislation to allow brewpubs to sell their beer to distributors in Minnesota.

Granite City opens a number of new locations, including Bloomington and Minneapolis proper. A new, larger brewing facility is planned and/or built in the Twin Cities. The other location is reserved for seasonal beers.

Great Waters changes the name of their Mild, cuz a little bird told them that “Mr. Smooth” was cheesy. Unexpected food items are placed in the mash tun and result in excellent beers.

Green Mill Brewing Company gets more attention in 2007 thanks to involvement in the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Guild and, uh, free pizza and beer for MNBeer readers…

The Herkimer surprises everyone with a highly-hopped IPA-like lager. People love it so much it becomes part of the regular line-up. It’s name? Duh. “The Prediction.” They also brew a steam beer which gets lots of attention.

Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery expands. Upward. …er… the crystal ball is hazy, folks… maybe they actually open a second location in the vicinity of the new Twins ballpark. Another cask is added to the line-up.

O’Gara’s totally revamps their brewery and surprises everyone.

O’Hara’s remodels and gets lots of attention for a new Imperial Porter that Chris brews.

Rock Bottom cranks adds a pulled beer to their line-up, much to everyone’s surprise. Men rejoice, ladies are so happy they cry, kids are jealous…

Wellington’s Backwater Brewing Company becomes a weekend destination for Minnesota beer geeks. Beer, barbecue and bowling? Yes. Parties ensue. Winona hotels are overbooked with Minnesota beer geeks.

MNBeer.com becomings a paying gig for two lucky sods. We’re all forced to work out daily, heavily, thanks to all of the free beer we’re forced to consume. Michael Jackson calls us for information on beers, wanting to know more about all of the great offerings in Minnesota.

In Minnesota, laws are passed to allow brewpubs to sell kegs to distributors. No less than 30 Minnesota bars carry at least three beers from Minnesota by the end of the year. Beer that was once only available to Minnesotans via travel to Wisconsin and beyond becomes available. Local brews, in turn, are sent far and wide. Two new brewpubs are opened as well as two new breweries.

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Okay, so one of these predictions is actually, mostly factual. Stay tuned in the new year to see which one is true. I’m not telling…

A Surly New Year

By on January 4, 2007in breweries

With much love from Omar at Surly Brewing…

Seems like a good time to take a moment to reflect on Surly’s first year of brewing. I was not planning on this, but my recognition from City Pages as one of their Artists of the Year gave me a reason to look back.

First thing, the article did not mention Todd Haug and his impact at the brewery. Without Todd, Surly would not be Surly. Todd’s dedication to brewing outstanding beer keeps him at the brewery many nights while I’m at home with my kids or at a beer event. Todd does not accept “good enough” which is a common refrain from me around the brewery. Minnesota beer lovers are fortunate to have such a skilled, artistic and creative brewer that won’t settle for anything but the best.

What a year. I was at my cabin this weekend, burning extra pallets and drinking canned Surly as the new year rang in. One year ago, Todd and I were at the brewery making our first beer. The brew took over 14 hours and the controls on our fermentors did not work properly. We now bang out a brew in a regular days work and Sarah Lawson has taken my place helping Todd out. Thank God – I can only listen to so much of Todd’s tunes, Ramstein, Hatebreed and Celtic Frost beore my ears start to bleed… We continue to be committed to brewing those big-ass beers people love so much. Our brewery is one year old, and this weekend I enjoyed a growler of Darkness that has aged for 6 months. That’s pretty awesome.

For our opening weekend, we had almost 1000 people come through the doors! My mother is amazed at the huge number of passionate drinkers out there. I call them Surly Nation. Surly Nation has helped us get into almost 100 different establishments. Without your support, Surly would not be around. On February 9th, 2006 we had 5 accounts – Cafe twenty-eight, Solera, Blue Nile, Mackenzies and Acadia Cafe.

One thing I have found is that our beer does not belong in every bar. I’ll never forget trying to do a beer promo at a bar where a Texas-Hold-Em tournament was occuring. Luckily I drank some Surly that night so some of our beer got drunk. Another bar told me that I should:
– have some cute girls passing out Surly beer samples
– have flashing buttons to get people attention
– get some posters with scantily clad women
I told them I would come back when I got all that stuff. I have not been back. I do not plan to go back. We plan, instead, on you – continue to spread the word about great Minnesota Beer.

It is really rewarding that the vision Todd and I spoke of has come to fruition. We were not really sure that people would want to drink the aggressive beers we wanted to brew. Well, our brewery is now maxed out and we have 5 more tanks on order that will increase our capacity to almost 5000 barrels.

Let’s see, what else. Oh yeah, we canned our beer. I get it all the time, “when are you going to start bottling?” We choose to can our beer, not because its cheaper, not because its easier, not because we couldn’t find a bottling line, because we wanted to. Because we think its best for the beer. It’s fun to change people’s perspecitve on beer in a can. A new beer in a can this new year…. perhaps.

A guy drove over from Milwaukee last weekend to buy a growler of Darkness! Holy Crap. We have sold over 350 growlers in the last few weeks. Thanks for being patient while we serve everybody. It took 1 1/2 years to get the city of Brooklyn Center to allow us to sell growlers, but I think it has been worth the effort.

I have delivered most of our beer in the Twin Cities. My back has not been as supportive as my wife, so Jim Mott is now helping out with delivering kegs and cans in the metro. We will keep all your favorite bars flowing and your local liquor store stocked.

We kept the doors open! Obviously. But there is no question that starting a brewery is a financial gamble. I’m glad to say it has worked and we’re still brewing.

What will happen in 2007? Probably nothing as exciting as 2006. Our goal is to continue to brew the finest beer around. Not as flashy as opening a new brewery, but that steady production of beer is a challenge. Those demands are even greater when more people want your beer than you can supply. As we add more tanks, we hope to get Surly to more liquor stores, more bars that want our beer, and into the hands of Minnesotan’s that have not even heard of us yet.

Thanks for Getting Surly in 2006 and see you drinking in 2007! We’ll work on getting you some flashing buttons.

Omar