Category: breweries

New Festival in St. Cloud: St. Cloud Craft Beer Tour

By on January 28, 2013in beer events, breweries, brewpubs
St. Cloud Craft Beer Tour

St. Cloud Craft Beer TourNew this year, the St. Cloud Craft Beer Tour will be gracing Central Minnesota hosted at the River’s Edge Convention Center.  1,500 general admission tickets will be available for the event which will take place from 2-5pm on Saturday March 16, 2013. An exclusive VIP hour is also available for purchase from 1-2pm with tickets including a t-shirt and extra hour of touring.

All attendees of the festival will receive a sampling cup to utilize for tasting some of the finest craft brews available.Brewery representatives will be on hand to answer any questions and share their knowledge of their fine products.  Sampling is unlimited, although they do ask tourists to drink responsibly.  A designated driver ticket is also available for those who choose not to partake in sampling of the craft brews, but want to celebrate at the festival as well.

The rules are as follows:

  1. Go to www.stcloudcraftbeertour.com to buy a ticket and learn more about the tour
  2. Show up at the River’s Edge Convention Center downtown St. Cloud on March 16th
  3. Enjoy the tour! (this is the #1 requirement)

612 Brew Debut & Taproom Grand Opening

By on January 24, 2013in beer events, breweries
612 brew logo

612 brew logoSay that ten times fast! We just got word that our buds at 612 Brew will be debuting all four of their beers this weekend at The Beer Dabbler Winter Carnival Saturday! Congrats guys!

Can’t make The Beer Dabbler on Saturday? Fear not, their taproom grand opening is February 13th.

Here are more details:

When: Wednesday, February 13
Where: The brewery, of course
Time: 4 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Why: Because we are all thirsty!

Want some food while you enjoy that beer? We will have the following food trucks on location.

Simply Steves, on Feb. 13 and 14
Melchs Meat Wagon, on Feb 15 and 16

Now for other news….Taproom hours starting on the 13th!

Wednesday – 4 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Thursday – 4 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Friday – 2:30 p.m. – Midnight
Saturday – Noon – Midnight

Check out our First Look profile on 612 Brew.

Fulton/Great Lakes Collaboration Beer

By on January 23, 2013in beer events, breweries
Fulton Brewing Co.

We like Fulton, and when we’re not drinking Minnesota-made beers, we’ve been known to drink a few Great Lakes Brewing Co. beers. So when we heard that the two had paired up to make a Baltic Porter, we figured we should probably taste it, eh? Brian and Mikey from Fulton went to Cleveland  to work with the Great Lakes folks and their 7 bbl pub system to brew a Baltic Porter that incorporates molasses and Great Lakes’ proprietary lager yeast.

Unfortunately, only about a half dozen kegs made it into the market. Your next chance to sample said beer will be on Saturday at  The Beer Dabbler. No Dabbler tickets? Be sure to stop by Bryant Lake Bowl on Tuesday, January 29th. You can also keep an eye out for a few more releases – watch Fulton’s Facebook & Twitter feeds.

Northgate Launches Monday at Grumpy’s Northeast

By on January 23, 2013in bars/restaurants, beer events, breweries
Northgate Brewing Co.

Northgate Brewing Co.Very cool, our friends at Northgate are hosting release party on January 28th at Grumpy’s Northeast (During “Minnesota Mondays” no less) and will be sharing their flagship year-round beer, Wall’s End English Brown Ale. The guys describe this beer as a “smooth Northern English Brown Ale that is refreshing enough for summer drinking and substantive enough for bitter Minnesota winters. Wall’s End is malt-focused, English-hopped and highly sessionable at 4.8% ABV.”

You can check out our feature on Northgate from August here: First Look, Northgate Brewing Co.

After the release of Wall’s End, Northgate Brewing will release its first round of seasonal beers at Winterfest on February 1st. Those not lucky enough to score a ticket for the sold-out event will be able to sample Northgate’s seasonal brews at several fine establishments in Northeast Minneapolis.

Maggie’s Leap: Our take on a traditional English Sweet Stout, a style once prescribed as a nutritional supplement and one of our brewer’s favorite beer styles. Sparse hopping and the addition of lactose creates a wonderful sweetness and body that perfectly compliment the beer’s roasted malt and coffee notes. 4.8% ABV.

OGW:  This wheat beer brewed up with orange peel and ginger was created with the beginning of summer in mind – we hope that it can take you out of winter for at least a moment. The orange and ginger notes are muted to compliment the character of the wheat beer rather than overpower it. One of the best smelling beers we’ve encountered, if we do say so ourselves. Which we do.  4.9% ABV.

Winter Warmer: It may be technically be an Old Ale by style, but this beer was brewed to enjoy fresh. Malt-forward with a touch more alcohol than our other brews, this beer is meant to create a bit of warmth in the season you need it most. 7.7% ABV.

ESB: Our ESB is our hoppiest offering at this time, but don’t expect it to give your tongue a lashing at 38 IBU. This traditional English Bitter has spicy and earthy notes from the English hops to pair with the complex malt backbone. 4.9% ABV.