10 Best Breweries in Minnesota

Same's true of Seattle...

 

612 above Surly and Indeed? I must be missing something.

 

Just sayin, this has already been posted several lines down: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/10-best-breweries-in-minnesota.196903/#post-2620922

 

They brew beer in Minnesota?

 

Right? I like the taproom, but no way in hell they're a better brewery than Indeed. And Town Hall doesn't even make the list?? C'mon Thrillest.

 

no way 612 should be that high and I love R-rated!!! but its the only good beer I've had by them, should be 7 or 8. Indeed should be higher, but I couldn't agree more with picks 1 & 2!! espcecially #1!!

 

Wait a second, this list is perfect. They are keeping all the wanna-be's away from the best brewery in the state (TH). We should be praising them and this list. Pure genius!

 

The people who created the list are getting what they want... for it to be talked about (any attention is good attention for a journalist).

 

Rated too low: Bent paddle, Surly, Indeed (top 3 in my book) Steel toe

Rated too high: 612, Dangerous man, Harriet, Summit (definitely top 10, but not #1)

The reviewers have a strange rating system (or palette) to me.

 

That 612 rated higher than Surly is a complete joke. I LOL'd at "incredible suds".

 

Surly not #1? Those rankings are a joke.

 

The fact that they listed Bender as Surly's "Key Beer" shows that they have only a rudimentary knowledge of their line. Not Abrasive (arguably the best DIPA in the country) or Furious or - what's that stout that they brew that's pretty decent? Oh yes, Darkness. That loses them any credibility they might have had.
That - and listing Surly below 612.

 

Abrasive and Darkness are arguably the best DIPA and RIS in the country, which alone should put them ahead of the other breweries.

 

No Fitgers, Two Harbors? They're in Minnesota right?

 

sorry, Castle Danger.

 

Darkness and Abrasive aren't year-round releases. I suspect that has something to do with it. Still, I would have picked Furious.

 

Someone help this guy out - I'm unqualified.

 

Check out this thread.

 

Wow! The Surlyites certainly have their panties in a bunch over this list.

First, the article gave no hint (that I could find) regarding their method other than collecting 5 people and telling them to provide their personal top ten list. Second, not everyone is a hop head, so assuming they went for the best-known beers for each brewery, there is a descent chance one or more of those judges just didn't like Furious or Abrasive (I know I don't). These were not judges or official tasters, they were people who like beer. As near as I can tell from the bio's at the end, only 2 of the 5 are beer writers; one seems to be a beer buyer at a liquor store, and 2 seem to be foodies in general. Given that, the results are hardly surprising, and they may, in fact, represent a broader-based ranking that what you would get from members here.

If you notice, the breweries were assigned points based on each reviewer's ranking: 10 points for the #1, 9 for the #2, etc. Summit, ranked #1 overall, only had 30 points, so it was NOT unanimous. In fact, it "averaged" a #5 ranking among the judges. This would indicate that there was a much more diverse list among the individual rankings than just those final 10.