News & Updates

Town Hall Brewery Barrel-Aged Week Preview

By on February 16, 2017in Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery

Barrel-aged beers are trending in Minnesota and across the country. Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery has always been ahead of the trends here in Minnesota winning a gold medal in 2001 at The Great American Beer Festival for their Russian Imperial Stout, Czar Jack.

Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery is celebrating Barrel-Aged Week beginning on Sunday, February 19th at 10 am with the pre-sale of 750 ml growlers. This means that you will wait in line to get tickets which will allow you to return to the brewery the day that beer is released and pick up your growler. There will be new beers released every day of the week beginning with the Foolish Angel Series.

Barrel Selection:
The art of barrel-aging beers begins with the barrel selection process. Head brewer Mike Hoops heads down to Kentucky every year to select the whiskey barrels that he will use to concoct many of these beers. There are a multitude of factors that go into choosing the correct barrels. Most bourbon barrels are made out of white oak from the southern portion of the United States. The barrels are then “charred” which mellows the tannins found in the wood and acts as sort of a carbon filter. This will contribute to the flavor of the whiskey, and afterwards the beer stored in the barrel.

According to Town Hall head brewer Mike Hoops the barrels are an ingredient just like hops and grain. The base beer can be the same every year, but the beer will come out a little different each time. “Barrels are harder and harder to get now” says Hoops. Back in the year 2000 (the first year that he made Czar Jack) he was able to purchase that barrel from the Jack Daniels General Store. “We paid $45 for that first barrel, and $75 to ship it” he said chuckling.

One of the biggest factors is the level of humidity in the space where the barrel is stored. This often means that barrels that are stored higher up in the warehouse could be considered more desirable. Barometric pressure causes the bourbon (during first use) to penetrate deeper into the staves which creates the ideal vessel for imparting flavor into the beer during the barrel-aging process. Hoops wouldn’t elaborate on the extent of his standards but it was clear in speaking with him that the level of char, and the depth that the whiskey penetrates the staves are important in this process.

Manhattan Reserve is one of the best barrel-aged beers made at Town Hall. The story behind it is just as interesting. Hoops’ father-in-law loves a good Manhattan cocktail. Mike wanted to create those flavors in a beer and gave it a whirl. The result is nothing short of spectacular. This beer starts out as a Grand Cru on red tart cherries, and is then stored in Woodford Reserve bourbon whiskey barrels for a number of months.

This is the best event put on the brewery all year so you don’t want to miss out. For the full schedule of releases, see below:

Barrel Aged Week Release Schedule 2017:

Sunday, February 19th | 10am

750ml Growler Pre-Sale | If you’re looking to take home this year’s barrel-aged releases, this is your chance! Tickets go on sale at 10am; beers can be picked up once they are released on tap.

Monday, February 20th | 5pm

  • Foolish Red | Belgian-style Quadrupel aged in French oak red wine barrels.
  • Foolish Angel | Belgian-style Quadrupel aged in bourbon barrels.
  • Single Barrel Reserve Foolish Angel | A very special single-barrel offering.

Tuesday, February 21st | 5pm

  • Manhattan Reserve | Belgian-style Grand Cru with red tart cherries, aged in bourbon barrels.

Wednesday, February 22nd | 5pm

  • Twisted Trace | American Barleywine aged in bourbon barrels.
  • E.T. Wee | Scottish-style Wee Heavy aged in bourbon barrels.

Thursday, February 23rd | 5pm

  • Eye Wine Red | Minnesota Honey Ale aged in French oak red wine barrels.
  • Eye Wine White | Minnesota Honey Ale aged in American chardonnay barrels.
  • Le Baltique | Baltic Porter aged in French oak red wine barrels.

Friday, February 24th | 5pm

  • Project 3106 | Belgian-style Strong Brown Ale with kumquat and chocolate, aged in bourbon barrels.
  • Buffalo Bock | German-style Weizenbock aged in bourbon barrels.

Saturday, February 25th | 11am

  • Czar Jack | The grandaddy of them all. Russian Imperial Stout aged in Tennessee whiskey barrels.

Got the Winter Blues? Modist Has You Covered

By on February 8, 2017in cooking & food, food pairing, general beer, misc. mn beer, MN, Modist Brewing, new beer, tap rooms

Summer festival season is still months away and the Modist crew wants to fill the void on February 18 from 5 pm until 10 pm with music, food, and beer. They’re partnering with ZZQ Smokehouse and Genius of Fun Promotions for the event which will feature music from Hurricane Harold & Doug Otto, Brothers Band, Black River Review, and Jorgensen Tagg Band.

Tickets will cost $39 and include:

3 pints of beer (see list below)
2 BBQ (pulled pork or chicken) sliders and a side (potato salad or coleslaw)
Live music
Specialty beers
Discounted room rate ($149) at Hewing Hotel

Modist will be serving their flagships TOATS, Smoove, Wasteland, pHresh, and First Call—as well as something from their Deviation Series and several specialty beers. Additional food and beer will be available for purchase at the event.

Cheers!

Barrel Aged Darkness Cometh

By on February 3, 2017in Surly Brewing Co.

A 12% ABV Russian Imperial Stout wasn’t enough for you, was it? Nope. You wanted a barrel-aged monster, ripe with oaky rye whiskey notes and a big of bling on the bottle, right? We know you. We do. Hang on to your cowboy hats for a few more days ready yourself for the release of Surly Brewing Co.’s Barrel-Aged Darkness. You’ll find it in bottles and on draft in Minnesota and beyond (7 states, to be exact). Should you find yourself in Minneapolis, this beer will drop at the brewery on the 8th.

I probably don’t need to tell you barrel-aged beer nerds any specifics, but here goes: for this release, 2016 Darkness spent over three months in High West rye whiskey barrels before bottling. Mmm. Rye. Spice. Wood. Play Doh (kidding).

Barrel nerdery begins February 6th

Insight is Going Solar!

By on January 31, 2017in Insight Brewing Co.

Great news from our friends at Insight Brewing Company: in 2017, Insight will become Minnesota’s first brewery to offset 120% of its energy usage with solar power.

The brewery is partnering with Innovative Power Systems to build a community solar garden in Carver County this summer. Insight will make use of nearly half of the energy output of the solar garden, offsetting 120% of the brewery’s energy needs for 2017.

Why is this cool? The process of brewing beer is energy intensive. Breweries use a lot of energy, be it boiling water, running coolers, forklifts, etc. Insight’s efforts to offset their energy use should be commended.

We at Insight feel an obligation to be stewards of the environment and continually find ways to reduce both water and energy usage as well as finding ways to become a greener company, overall. At a time when it seems our new government will soon be taking a step back in energy and environmental policies, it feels like there is no better time to move forward with this initiative so that we as a community, state, country, and world, don’t lose the positive momentum we currently have towards curbing global warming and creating a greener, more sustainable future.

Fair State Big Bottle Drop Saturday

By on January 27, 2017in Fair State Brewing, new beer

Photo courtesy of Fair State Brewing Cooperative

If you are a fan of sour beer, you may want to sit up and pay attention. It’s Friday. Perhaps you’ve just returned from a long lunch and plan to sit your ass down and argue the finer points of presidential politics in the comment section of your favorite news source. Stop it.

Put down the keyboard TRVMPLVR52 and NOTMYPRZ69. I have something you can agree upon.

On Saturday, January 28th (i.e. “this” Saturday), our friends at Fair State Brewing Cooperative are making three great sour beer available in bottles, including a personal favorite from last year’s Winterfest, Raspberry Roselle. Fair State has been making some amazing sour beer since their inception and these three will no doubt continue in this fine tradition.

The beers:

 

U-Pick – available on draft now

We went berry pickin’ with co-op owners, workers, and friends in August, and 280 pounds of raspberries later, this beer is the result. We added the fresh berries to mature barrel-fermented sour beer and allowed it to re-ferment.

IBU: 23, ABV: 5.5

Bricoleur #4 – available on draft 1.19

The fourth in the popular series, Bric 4 is an 80% stainless fermented mixed culture Saison, 20% barrel-fermented mixed culture sour blend, dry-hopped with Hallertau Blanc. We’ve been working on blending young Brett. beer with mature barrel sour beer. The result is a tart, funky original with a hoppy nose.

IBU: 18. ABV: 4.9

Raspberry Roselle – available on draft 1.26 (Taproom), first off-site tap 1.27 (Republic)

The return of the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Guild 2016 Winterfest (Friday session) Best Beer-winner. We re-fermented Roselle, our canned hibiscus sour saison, with a whole bunch of raspberries. The result is a fruit-forward, rose-hued beer that’s distinctly juicy and dry.

IBU: 10, ABV: 5.8