breweries – Page 64 – MNBeer – Craft beer information from the Twin Cities, Minnesota, Minneapolis, St. Paul and beyond

Schell’s Stag Series #8, August’s Bock

By ryan on September 10, 2013in breweries

Here’s another one to watch for from August Schell Brewing Co. For the 8th beer in their Stag Series, they’ve teamed up with Gold Ochsen Brauerei in New Ulm’s sister city, Ulm German. Both cities are also host to 5th generation family-owned breweries and both breweries were founded by men named August. Working in collaboration, they decided to brew a Blonde Doppel Bock. Both breweries used specialty malts from Weyerman with each brewery using their own base Pilsner malt – Rahr for Schell’s and Schwabenmalz for Gold Ochsen. Both breweries used Emerald, Tattnanger and Saphir hops during the boil and then each brewery used a different newer German hop variety in the whirlpool and as a dry hop. Schell’s used Polaris hops and Gold Ochsen used Mandarina Bavaria. Both beer were then fermented with the respective brewries’ house lager yeast and will mature for a couple of months before packaging. August Bock should appear in both breweries’ markets in November.

Kramarczuk’s Kielbasa Festival & Surly Dampfbier

By ryan on September 5, 2013in bars/restaurants, beer events, breweries

Here’s another cool event to throw into this weekend’s rotation – Kramarczuk’s Kielbasa Festival. “Meat Us In Nordeast.” The Kramarczuk’s parking lot will be tented and they’ll have live music and family entertainment as well as Kramarczuk’s always awesome food as well as local & European beers on tap for your drinking pleasure. Also, this year Kramarczuk’s will receive a proclamation from the City of Minneapolis proclaiming the day, “Kielbasa Day,” in Minneapolis.

Bonus: Surly Brewing Company brewed a beer for this event, Dampfbier, a German style beer that’s was once popular n southeastern Bavaria near the Czech border. According to a BYO profile, Dampfbier is “an all-barley ale, brewed mostly in the summer. It is medium-bodied, very gently hopped, low in effervescence and, by German standards, warm-fermented at slightly above 70 °F. It is made with a standard Bavarian Weissbier yeast, which gives the beer a slightly phenolic aftertaste.” Dampfbiers aren’t entirely common, but if you were lucky, you may have tried Schell’s take on it when they released their 150th Anniversary Series of beers.

Kielbasa Fest runs from 5-10pm Friday and 11am-10pm Saturday. Check it out!

215 East Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55414
www.kramarczuk.com

Fulton II, Electric Boogaloo

By ryan on September 4, 2013in breweries

Updated.

http://fultonbeer.com/blog/were-building-another-minneapolis-brewery/

Fulton Brewing Co. announced today that they’ll be building a new brewery in Northeast Minneapolis and should be brewing by late 2014. They’ll be moving into the Caswell/Meggit Building at 2540 2nd Street Northeast with a new 80 barrel brewhouse, high speed bottling and kegging lines. They expect an initial capacity of 20,000 bbl. Let’s hope they don’t outgrow this one TOO soon.

Once the new brewery is up and running, all of their distributed beer will be brewed in Northeast Minneapolis, leaving their North Loop brewery open for small batches to supply their taproom. And lest you get excited about another taproom in Nordeast, don’t count on it. The guys plan to maintain their taproom in North Loop, and due to Minnesota law, they can only have one taproom.

Exciting news… congrats guys! It seems like just yesterday that I was sampling a homebrewed version of Worthy Adversary.

August Schell Fresh Hop Pilsner Series

By ryan on September 4, 2013in breweries

On the heels of last year’s super-awesome Stag Series beer, the fresh-hopped Citra Pils, our friends at August Schell Brewing Co. have announced that they’ll be brewing a fresh hopped pilsner each fall. Jace Marti tells us that everyone at the brewery had a blast brewing Citra Pils last year and it only made sense to do it again this year.

According to Marti, This year’s beer will feature Mosaic hops and will be brewed as a single batch, single hop Pilsner. Hops? How about 550 pounds of Mosaic hops? The brewery expects to get those hops in the latter part of the month and since it’s a lager, you’ll probably have to wait another 5-6 weeks to enjoy it.

Minnesota State Beer… er Fair

By ryan on August 23, 2013in bars/restaurants, breweries

In case you live under a rock, the Minnesota State Fair started Thursday. St. Paul, can I get a collective “Oh shit!”? I used to work on Energy Park Drive and always cringed in the days leading up to the Fair. My company usually had a flood of last minute creative and print work for one of the broadcasting companies AND traffic absolutely sucked. I still can’t figure out why some people choose to go to (or leave) the State Fair during rush hour. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Hungry? Look no further than HeavyTable (Twitter) for State Fair food information. You really don’t need to go anywhere else. Seriously. Stop typing.

Thirsty? Here are a few of our suggestions. Do you have your own? Leave them in the comments.

Fair Exclusives:

Lift Bridge’s Mini Donut Beer
Our friends at Lift Bridge have produced what is said to be the first-ever mini donut flavored beer. The fruits of the brewery’s labors will be available exclusively at the Ball Park Café. Expect a malty sweet sipper that weighs in at about 5% abv. Mini-Donut will be served in a glass rimmed with cinnamon and sugar. Suggest pairing: Mini-donuts. Duh. And while it’s been suggested that perhaps Lift Bridge “jumped the shark” with this one, we tend to think that it sounds tasty enough to try before passing judgement.

Summit State Fair IPA
This beer was brewed by our good friend Jeff Williamson. This beer is full of great Minnesota ingredients like wild rice, honey, ~~pronto pups~~ corn and Cascade hops from Hippity Hops Farms. Look for it daily at the International Bazaar. 95 IBUs and 5.5% ABV.

Great Beer Destinations:

Ball Park Café
The Ball Park Cafe is essentially the Minnesota State Fair’s very own craft beer bar with a strong focus on local beers. It’s the only place that you’ll find the aforementioned Lift Bridge Mini Donut Beer and this year they’re making onion rings with a beer batter made with Indeed’s Day Tripper Pale Ale. Other craft beers at the Ball Park Café include Surly Furious, Bitter Brewer and Hell, Lift Bridge Mini Donut, Hop Dish and Farm Girl, Bent Paddle Black Ale, Third Street Jacked Up, Steel Toe Size 7, Mankato Original, Excelsior Bitterschaple, Badger Hill White IPA, Lucid Dyno, Indeed Day Tripper & Midnight Rider and one out-of-towner, Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale.

The Land of 10,000 Beers
The Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild returns to the Agriculture/Horticulture building with an expanded “Land of 10,000 Beers,” featuring beers from 26 Minnesota breweries. Once again the exhibit will showcase craft brewing in Minnesota with brewers, displays and presentations throughout the duration of the Fair.

This week’s presentation schedule:

Thursday, August 22

3pm – Getting to Know the Guild: Clint Roberts, Guild Executive Director
6pm – Beer Tourism: Dan Justesen, Guild President, Vine Park Brewing Co.

Friday, August 23

3pm – Member Showcase: 612Brew, Indeed Brewing Co.
6pm – The Art of the Cask: Tony Digatono of Great Waters Brewing Co.

Saturday, August 24

Noon – Homebrewer Award Program
3pm – Primary Fermenter Showcase
6pm – Member Showcase: Surly Brewing Co., Fulton Beer

Sunday, August 25

Noon – A Historian’s Perspective: Craft Beer with Doug Hoverson
3pm – Minnesota Hop Star: The U of M’s Charlie Rohwer, Ph.D.
6pm – Member Showcase: Third Street Brewhouse, Boom Island Brewing Co., Flat Earth Brewing Co.