A group of local homebrewers is having a barrel of fun. Actually, FOUR barrels of fun! The Nordeast Brewers Alliance is on an epic mission: to fill four 59-gallon French oak wine barrels with some big batches of homebrew. Twin Cities’ own Chop & Brew webshow rides shotgun on barrel fill day and checks in for a three-month taste panel to see how the beer are progressing. See this episode page link for the club’s barrel beer recipes and more.
Category: general beer
Summit & St. Paul Summer Beer Fest Medallion Search
Summit Brewing Company and St. Paul Summer Beer Fest are teaming up for a Medallion Search contest in the lead-up to the 5th annual St. Paul Summer Beer Fest on Saturday, June 15th. The prize: four VIP passes to the festival and six cases of Summit beer. See this video for an introduction to the contest from Summit founder/president Mark Stutrud and follow Summit Brewing Company and St. Paul Summer Beer Fest on social media for the clues posting at 10 a.m. each day Monday June 10th – Friday June 14th until the medallion is found.
Chop & Brew #6: Growing Hops at Home (Part 1)
Another spring, another hop crop gets underway in Minnesota. This episode of Chop & Brew looks at the basic steps to planting hop rhizomes in containers and in the ground. The C&B crew helps new hop-growers with tips and techniques for the start of the growing season. Chop & Brew will do several episodes over the coming months on maintenance, harvesting, drying and of course a fresh-hop brew day episode. For related links and resources see the official episode page at Chop & Brew’s website.
Also, check out this Chop & Brew Lagniappe video “Cooking Hop Shoots (Hop Asparagus)”
Chop & Brew #5.5: Not an Official Episode
In this shorter “unofficial” episode of Chop & Brew, Chip pulls himself away from grad school work for a few moments to share some announcements, thoughts, and homebrewing/cooking resources. Got a crazy idea for a homebrew session, a go-to house beer recipe or mad skills in the kitchen you’d like to share with the people? Chop & Brew is looking for Twin Cities area homebrewers and/or home chefs with ideas for and interest in being featuring in future episodes. If you are game, contact them at chopandbrew@gmail.com.
Alpine Beer to Brew in Minnesota?
Interesting. Southern California’s Alpine Beer is close to inking a deal to expand their operation by brewing beer at Cold Spring. Of course even more interesting should some of said beer find its way into our market. According to this U-T San Diego article, the move would allow the brewery to supplement the 1500 barrels they produce annually with an additional 5000 bbl.
Obviously no word as to whether the beer would become available in Minnesota, but at 5000bbl, I’m not holding my breathe.