News & Updates

Pour Decisions Release Events This Week

By on September 10, 2012in bars/restaurants, beer events, breweries

How about some Pour Decisions? This week, Pour Decisions is celebrating around the metro, releasing The Pubstitute and The Patersbier at a variety of venues with giveaways, pint & food specials and more fun. Read on for details:

9/10 – Monday – Stout’s Pub – Roseville – 5pm
Sitting on the north side of Larpenteur ave, just off UMn St Paul campus, Stouts is an up and comer in the Roseville beer scene. We’ll have both beers on tap and importantly it’s the first time you can get The Patersbier ANYWHERE and it’s right in our own Roseville backyard. There will be pint and appetizer specials for most of the evening. Be the first of your friends to try the Patersbier!!

9/11 – Tuesday – Muddy Waters – Minneapolis (Lake/Lyndale) – 4:30pm
For those that haven’t been to Muddy’s, you are missing out! They have excellent coffee and superb food but the beer selection, thanks to the beer chops of Paddy Whelan, is one of the best craft  selections in the Cities. They’ll be doing a pint and a bite special where they will be custom making one of their famous specialty dogs to go specifically with the Patersbier. Pint in one hand, dog in the other. Repeat, ad nauseam. Then do it all again!

9/12 – Wednesday – Stanley’s Bar Room – Minneapolis (Northeast) – 5pm
For those in the know, Stanley’s is the place in the Northeast to go. Stanley’s, in the former Stasiu’s Bar, have kept the famous urinals but went gang busters with the phenomenal food and craft beer selections. For our release Stanley’s has come up with some great pint and food specials including both of our beers and their delicious sliders and ungodly awesome smoked brisket nachos! To add a little more fun to the mix, BJ considers himself the ‘king of bags’ so if you are up for it, challenge him to a toss off on the patio! You might be able to win a beer off him!!

9/13 – Thursday – Lone Oak Grill –Eagan– 5:30pm
The newly opened Lone Oak Grill (in the old Joe Sensor’s building) is quickly becoming the new go-to craft beer place in the southeast metro. Lone Oak Grill has a wonderful tap selection of which they will be serving both of our beers. Did we say that The Pubstitute goes great with a nice bourbon on the side? Well it does and boy does the Lone Oak have a great bourbon selection!! May we suggest the Knob Creek Single Barrel? The Pubstitute does a great job of cutting the cask strength deliciousness! There will be food and pint specials plus a little competition. Have you seen the bocce pitch!? Want to win a free pint? See if you can beat Kristen rolling the stone balls as there definitely will be some Bocce vs the Brewer action going on!

9/14 – Friday – Grumpy’s Bar – Roseville – 5pm
At less than a 5 minute walk from our back door, Grumpy’s is literally our ‘backyard’ pub. We’ll be walking the ceremonial first keg poured at Grumpy’s from the brewery, right to the Grumpy’s cooler. There will be food and drink specials and again, if you feel competitive, we’re sure you can talk BJ and Kristen into a little pool, darts or bags…quite sure actually. You might even win a beer off them!

Minnesota Brewery & Brewpub Map

By on September 8, 2012in breweries, brewpubs

The Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild has their map, Minnehaha Media had theirs… here’s our map. Contract breweries aren’t listed – there’s no sense in sending you to an office with no beer. Breweries & brewpubs that have yet to open are marked in yellow. In-progress breweries listed are, for the most part, in the latter stages.


View Minnesota Breweries & Brewpubs in a larger map

Bemidji Brewing Company

By on September 8, 2012in breweries, Features, MN

Paul Bunyan & Babe are just blocks away

Do yourself a favor and spend some time in Bemidji; you won’t be disappointed.  It’s a pleasantly bustling, yet relaxed town with plenty of nature around to admire and get lost in.  In fact, if you stop by on a weekend you can sample the Mexican-Scandinavian fusion food truck, the Local 303.   The novelty of a lefse fish taco made with walleye should alone be reason enough to bring you in, but I’ll give you more: it will soon be the only place to find the beers offered by the Bemidji Brewing Company.

Foundations

The seeds of the Bemidji Brewing Company were sown while Tom Hill, Tina Hanke and Justin (call him Bud) Kaney were in college.  There, they experimented with homebrewing and developed a passion for good beer and always harbored an inkling they would someday make a living out of it. Their careers took them, collectively, across the country from Alaska to Rhode Island, Texas to Montana and gave them some great experiences with craft beer.  In those years, Tom became a Certified Cicerone and worked at Northern Brewer while Tina and Bud had become well-practiced in community organizing, programming and marketing.  Feeling need for a change to the daily grind, the three chose to come back to their Northern Minnesota roots (Tom and Bud are BSU grads) and make their passion for beer into a full-time endeavor. The first step, though, would be getting back to Bemidji.  When they decided to launch the business, Tina and Bud were in Missoula while Tom was in Saint Paul.   These geographic limitations meant Skype meetings and document sharing were the norm while the three of them hashed out their plan for the brewery.  They launched (and successfully funded) a Kickstarter project [see the MNbeer.com profile of the Kickstarter trend here] and their nano-brewery was off and running.

Running in place, that is.  With a plan, but without a facility, the three were entertaining the thought of working from a shared-space when, by pure serendipity, Harmony Co-Op  in Bemidji opened the doors to their Community Kitchen.

Harmony Co-op Corner

One of the co-op’s visions for the kitchen is to be the extra push needed for a food producer to get a professional business off the ground and Bemidji Brewing’s plan presented a great opportunity for both the brewery and the co-op.

Making it work

This fortune came with a unique twist when it came time to obtain federal approval.  The TTB informed them they were the first brewery in the country to operate out of a shared space and as such, required more detailed assurances than normal.  Harmony Co-Op proved to be a steadfast supporter and was willing to assist with making necessary adjustments to obtain the federal approval. Working within a shared space means, among other things, Bemidji Brewing needs to clear out at the end of a brew day, so their equipment needed to be nimble, compact and for the most part, portable.  They found this in a custom-built steel brewing stand that is equipped with two burners and can hold three 30-gallon kettles. Perhaps most importantly, the entire stand can be loaded in and out as needed. To utilize the available fridge space in the co-op they use 26-gallon keg-style fermenters and a caged area in the existing walk-in cooler will house the finished product.

Finally, the three founders of the Bemidji Brewing Company are back, settled in, and finished with Skype meetings and long trips away from home.  The facility is set and the equipment is at the ready.  Federal approval came in August 2012 and now with state approval pending, Bemidji Brewing is only waiting to start selling beer and become a success story for the Co-Op’s Community Kitchen.

Expect to see Bemidji Brewing beers on tap this fall at select Bemidji locations. Keep up with the latest on their website  and on Facebook.

FermenterBrew Stand

 

Darkness 2012 Label Art

By on September 7, 2012in breweries

MnBeer.com via Beerpulse.com brings you the artwork for the 2012 Darkness label. No surprise, it’s hauntingly awesome.

Label text:

The lycanthropes gather under the full moon at Surly Brewing Company, awaiting their transformation. Though they fear the light, they yearn for the Darkness that will soon wash over them. Drawn together to share the night, their stories and their treasure, they know Darkness will soon be theirs. It is as black as the sky on a moonless night, but these souls aren’t so lucky. Their metamorphosis is imminent, but they all agree that it is a price they are each willing to pay.

Each year, we select a different artist to create a Darkness-inspired monstrosity. Local artist, Brent Schoonover, brought this year’s shape-shifting beast to life.

Brewing TV #67: How to Make Hard Cider

By on September 7, 2012in homebrew, video

‘Tis the season for making hard cider. And Brewing TV is helping you get it done! In this episode, you’ll learn the differences between using fresh-pressed apple cider and store-bought cider. BTV’s Chip Walton and Northern Brewer cohort Chris Smith show you how to treat, ferment and finish hard cider. Their discussion includes tips on back-sweetening cider as well. After watching this video you’ll be ready to start making your own hard cider at home. See this link for more a hard cider recipe and more resources.