Minnesota Breweries vs Iowa Breweries

Wait...there are breweries in Iowa?

 

Several other out state breweries via http://mnbeer.com/breweries/
Olvale Farm, Leech Lake, Cold Spring, Bank Brewing Co, Brainerd Brewing

 

Just had some brews from Topling Goliath. I was impressed. Good stuff.

 

Being from Iowa but working in MN 12-18 times a year I can tell you- Iowa has a LOOOONG way to go to catch up. Iowa has some nice brew pubs (Court Ave) and nice little small town brewries but MN takes the cake when it comes to commercial brewries and brew pubs. There are more of them, and they have better distro and more products to choose from.

 

Take this for what it is, numbers taken from wiki:
Largest metro area in Minnesota accounts for 3.3 (Twin Cities) of the 5.3 million residents in the state (62%)
Largest metro area in Iowa accounts for .5 (Des Moines) of the 3 million residents in the state (17%)

 

I have heard there is a little brewery down in New Ulm too.

Boathouse in Ely, Borealis Fermentory and Castle Danger on the north shore, McCann's in St. Cloud...

 

I do really enjoy Great River, as i have said before. The Rye DIPA and Coffee stout are top tier.

I believe Bemiji brewing is coming at some point, as is Big Swamp in Grand Marais. MN has less small town breweries then WI and IA, but we're catching up it would seem.

 

Do you mean to say that the breweries aren't listed here, or that the towns aren't?

Seems to me that there's been so much growth in the Iowa brewing community that there aren't enough people in the state to drink it all!

Seriously though, it's great to see that small town Iowa leads the metropolitan areas when it comes to innovation in a particular area of the marketplace.

 

There are towns in IA with OVER 5k people?!?!?

 

Sleepy old Iowa is actually much more progressive than it often gets credit for. This is a nice development that I hope catches on elsewhere. Truly "drinking local," as it was prior to prohibition.

 

I think this is interesting but may slightly be missing the point. As mnstorm99 pointed out, the metro Mpls area accounts for the same population as all of Iowa. Taken like that, each new brewery in Mpls is serving the whole city but also serving the neighborhood it is in. Hey..either way, we all win! Cheers!

 

Actually, maybe not missing the point, just that I think you can slant the OP view another way.

 

Yes In Iowa we have had tap room laws on the books longer,you can buy beer on Sunday and Bill can marry Jim! Minnesota is still in the dark ages with the last two items! ; )
I had a blast on my February Visit to the Cities I have to say you have it going on up there but you also have a larger population to support more brewery's than our humble state!

 

I second this.

Mark my words, Toppling Goliath is going to be a brewery you hear a lot about in the coming years.

My fiance is from Minnesota, and I have always grabbed Surly every time we go to MN (as anyone would, one of the best breweries in the country). I have to say, Toppling Goliath's Golden Nugget IPA is every bit as good as Surly's Furious IPA. We just got it at a couple of places here in Waterloo / Cedar Falls. It is delicious. They also make a very good Oatmeal Stout. Right now, their stuff is only available on tap at bars/restaurants throughout Iowa, Wisconsin (maybe southern Minnesota?) and growlers direct from the brewery. However, I think they are going to start bottling very soon and I see this place blowing up. Best Iowa brewery, by far, in my opinion. Runner up goes to Millstream.

 

Council Bluffs, IA / Omaha, NE metro - 877,110
Des Moines, IA Metro - 580,255
Quad Cities (Davenport, IA; Bettendorf, IA; Rock Island, IL; Moline, IL) - 381,342
Cedar Rapids, IA Metro - 260,575
Waterloo/Cedar Falls, IA Metro - 168,289
Iowa City, IA metro - 154,893
Sioux City, IA metro - 144,062
Dubuque, IA Metro - 94,668
Ames, IA metro - 89,663

 

Sounds like somebody is still pissed we tried to take the goal post.

 

I don't really agree on Millstream (just an opinion), but I think you are 100% spot on with TG. Now if they would just stop trying to brew 100 beers and perfect 10 they would be heading in the right direction.