Ursa Minor Brewing

Plus side is excellent pizza, very tasty beer, with lots of options from Ursa Minor. Somewhat lackadaisical service, and odd configuration for buying and getting both food and drink, but I'd come back to get more beer and pizza, certainly.

Very large space in an up and coming area of Duluth. The staff very very helpful. They have some pretty good pizza. Nice variety of styles. Everything I had was high quality. They have a cooler of to-go beer and some cool merch.

Easily found location, street parking and a usually full parking lot, really nice beers with flagships, seasonals, on-offs and rotators, delicious brick oven pizzas and snacks, open feel to the room and outside. Loads of group seating, lots of tables outside, live music sometimes. Very friendly staff/servers and high energy! Lots to do. It can become packed with people at peak times. Have begun to see cans of their products down in the twin cities. A great place to go for fresh beer and food and smiling faces in Duluth.

Street parking. Attractive facade greets the customers. Approach via the patio which does not get much use when the sun is beating down on the courtyard. No bar seating at the time of my visit. Good selection of different styles but tend to stray more into hazy and fruity than Bent Paddle. I enjoyed the two beers I had, a schwarzbier and a fest bier. Service was decent but patience is needed once several people get into queue. Did not try the food but a lot of pizzas were coming out of the kitchen. Had to leave when a couple of older women came in that were full of Covid coughing and hacking away.

 

 

In a district of older brick warehouse type buildings. Lots of wood inside, walls, tables and such. They were building a sizable roof over their patio area and basically doubles the customer capacity. Their beers are mainly ales of various types and are good or quite good, based on the four I tried.

 

Just west of Bent Paddle . A beautiful taproom in side and out several seating option bar long tables smaller tables or outside. We sat outside and ordered some pizza it’s was thin crust and wood fire cooked. Several brews on tap a dozen or so with a good variety of style and adjuncts. Service was good knowledgeable ,I like this area on the west end its up and coming.

 

Good selection of beers, the pizza is wood-fired and thin, which is just the way it should be.

Only negative is on an IPA that was recommended...I asked the bartender what the IBU was and he had no idea what I meant. His coworker heard me and she pulled the binder out and told me.

 

 

 

 

Ursa Minor is a fine new brewery in Duluth. The taproom is gorgeous, with a bar, a couple of long bar height communal tables, and several smaller tables. The tables, including the long bar height ones, are basically finished cuts from long long trees. One of these has a carving of a map of Duluth, and it's very cool.

There were 13 taps when we were there. The selection is a bit out of the ordinary ... this is not a brewery with a predictable lineup of IPAs, Pale Ales, and stouts. Yes, they have a couple of IPAs, and a couple of stouts. But the conventional beers aren't what you notice about the offerings ... you'll notice the unusual beers -- the kettle sour with Mosaic hops, the Norwegian "Sauna" with spruce tips and Norwegian yeast. Each of the beers we had was quite well made, with individual character that meant you wouldn't mistake them for a routine craft brewery offering. And, contrary to the experience of another reviewer, the beers looked good, with mild heads, and lacing that lasted.

The kitchen does pizzas ... just three regular, plus a dessert pizza. The two pizzas we had were quite distinctive, and the crusts were terrific. There should be a chance to give this place a food rating, but it's not there. I'd give the food a 4.25.

The service was good, nothing out of the ordinary, but friendly and competent.

Prices are quite reasonable. And a flight of 4 tasters is available, for $8.

I'm a regular visitor to Duluth. Of the six or seven pubs and breweries I've been to here, this is one of the best.