On Saturday, Dawn and I joined a packed house for a tour of Flat Earth Brewing Co. Jeff covered all of the basics… a tour of the facility, some explanations about equipment and my favorite part, the q & a section. I’m always curious what people will ask and sometimes secretly wish I knew why. I resisted the urge to ask Jeff if he’d given up pants for a kilt and enjoyed my samples and snapped a few photos.

Two other things… look for Flat Earth in bombers soon… and keep your eyes peeled, eventually, for a Flander’s Red. Mmmm.

Straight from the brewer’s keyboard, Surly Two is:

Well, after 4000# of malt, 51# of hops and 1200# of fresh from the bog, Lost Lake cranberries, Surly Two is born. Look for it around New Years Eve.

Speaking of Surly, they’re heading to Chicago.

Surly is going to Chicago. Monday, November 12th, the Surly Crew will be at the Hopleaf and Map Room pouring Darkness. Tuesday, November 13th, the Surly Crew will be at Clark Street Ale House, Small Bar – Division, Kuma’s Corner and Sheffields. After that, you will be able to find our tap beer at a few bars in Chicago. More details to follow about the events. FYI, our distibutor in Chicago is Windy City Distribution – 630.809.1748.

I’ve done my best to keep my mouth shut about what (little) I knew about DUO Brewing until they were ready to share. Well, if you visit their website, clearly they’re ready to share:

To Craft Beer Lovers in Minnesota,

As we approach our goal of opening a microbrewery in Minnesota we want to share more information about who we are at DUO Brewing, and what we intend to accomplish.

It’s hard to believe it was two years ago when we sat down over a cup of coffee at Dunn Bros. to discuss the idea of opening a microbrewery in Minnesota. It’s hard to believe that at that time Surly had only been brewing for about 6 months, and Flat Earth was not even on the radar. Of course Summit needs no introduction as they pioneered Minnesota craft beer over 20 years ago. Though it’s easy to understand the success of the new entrants in the Minnesota craft beer market when you acknowledge the growing awareness and maturing palates of Minnesota beer lovers. That palate for a fuller flavor, full body, and bold representation of beer styles is what DUO Brewing will help satisfy in Minnesota.

To bring to light who we are, DUO Brewing is the vision of lifelong friends Dan O’Leary and Ian Davis. We share a passion for craft beer and it’s that passion that has driven us to open a microbrewery in Minnesota. Building DUO Brewing from the ground up has presented many obstacles to overcome, and we have a lot of work ahead of us before we can bring our craft ales to market.

As homebrewers we have been building the idea of DUO Brewing and perfecting our recipes in Dan’s basement. During this time we have worked diligently on our Business Plan and spent countless hours meeting with other professionals to properly set up and ensure the ongoing success of the brewery.

Our hard work has already begun to pay off. Our beers have been awarded four medals over the past two years. DUO Brewing has held two tasting parties in order to help get our name and idea out. The tasting parties also served as a means to test the popularity of our various recipes. Though perhaps the greatest benefit has been the satisfaction of seeing dozens of people enjoying beer you personally brewed. Any brewer could tell you that.

As we move forward into the coming year we are working hard to assemble the start-up capital required to finally transform DUO Brewing from an idea on paper, into a microbrewery Minnesota can be proud of.

Thank you all for your support and interest.

Ian Davis & Dan O’Leary