There are over 6,000 disc golf courses scattered across the US today, an enormous number for a niche activity. Craft brewing has seen a similar explosion, so it should come as no surprise that there has been a convergence of these two interests.
Goodbye boring pub grub. As the role of the brewery has evolved over the last decade, so has the relationship between the beer being brewed and the food being served.
When Surly Brewing Co. of Minnesota released renderings of the new, $20 million brewery it plans to build in an industrial area of Minneapolis, criticism of its “Brutalist” design aesthetic began pouring in.
A syrup made with honey and leftover galangal root from a homemade stir-fry night adds flavor to Hell, an unfiltered Helles lager from Surly Brewing Co.
Opened in 2006 in the Minnesota capital’s Cathedral Hill neighborhood, The Happy Gnome’s drink selection now includes 300 whiskeys and 100 bottled beer selections.
With help from the its fan base, the “Surly Nation,” new Minnesota laws allow Surly Brewing Company to sell beer at its own location. Now, plans are in the works for a $20 million, 6 acre destination brewpub.
Illinois breweries fighting to keep right to distribute; Goose Island acquired by A-B InBev; Surly campaigns to change law and build brewery/restaurant; Mexican brewery unveils world’s first beers for the LGBT community; and Indiana state laws may stifle breweries’ growth.
There’s a growing trend among brewers to craft a big beer, name it something demonic or outlandish, and create a big buzz around its release by using grassroots word-of-mouth marketing.
In less than a year and a half of brewing, Surly Brewing Company, a tiny Brooklyn Center, MN brewery, has already put the industry’s big boys on notice.
Ordering a can of beer has always been trouble. Call for one and you run the risk of being identified as an unsophisticated ignoramus and subjected to ridicule at the hands of even the most open-minded beer geeks.
