Breweries opening in Minnesota 2015/2016

It is interesting, and I'm not the OT police, I'm just curious about what people's thoughts are about Able opening up this weekend.

 

I too was a little disappointed when I found out that initially they would use commercial malts for their brews. I'm not sure I believe it will really make that big of a difference in taste, but without that "special" factor, they're just another brewery in a crowded Northeast brewery scene. Unless I'm missing something.

All that being said, I'll probably still check it out Friday or Saturday.

 

I'm happy to see Able opening. It will give me a place to stop during that brutal half mile trek from 612 Brew to Indeed. :-)

 

Fixed it for you.......

 

Ahh, yes you did!

 

Was down at U4IC the other day...getting closer...

 

I was going to do the same thing! haha

 

How about Angry Inch? They sure went quiet compared to their activity this summer. There's also that other brewpub opening across the same parking lot.

 

Angry Inch is -- They are visiting with the fabricators (in Oregon?) next week.
Lakeville -- Here's their latest blog entry.

Others:
Woodbury plan -- There's no name yet, but it's one of the principals behind Tamarack Taproom.
St. Paul plan -- It's called "Brewmasters", and there's not very much information, yet.

(Edited)

 

Looks like Bald Man Brewing in Eagan is official.

http://bringmethenews.com/11994579/#.VjqCEbWAKVk.facebook

 

Bald Man Brewing is the worst name of all time http://youtu.be/DTc--4jz0GQ

 

It's a terrible name, but as long as they're making good stuff, they could call themselves "White Van Free Candy Brewing" & they'd still be welcome!

 

I wonder if they are building new or going into the existing multi business one across 13?

 

It appears, according to the following article, that it will be an existing building.
http://m.myinforms.com/en/a/18295927-eagan-beer-maker-looks-to-open-microbrewery/

 

Pour Decisions and Bad Habit are much worse in my opinion, but Bald Man is a definitely in contention for third place. It makes me wonder if their taproom will be decorated with ham radios and an ever exponentially increasing number of cats.

 

I went to 10k Brewing's kickstarter party tonight. They have a great space in downtown Anoka. The extra time it took them to open shows as they have a really nice bar, refinished hardwood floors, restored brick walls, etc. It looks like a well lived in room even though it literally still smells new. Very impressive.

The brewing equipment is tiny and all behind the bar. This is a small operation for the time being. They did have two beers on tap - an IPA and a wheat beer. Both were pretty solid, although not very risky. I think they were good choices for the local crowd. They have a vanilla oatmeal milk stout going on tomorrow that seems like it could be a little more adventurous. No food on site, but lots of restaurants close with menus to browse.

Anoka is a pretty cool little town for those who haven't been there - kind of like going back in time. The city and brewpub's charm make this worthy of a recommendation, and the beer has promise to be great as well.

 

I visited Bad Habit Brewing in St Joseph this evening. The brewery is located on the main drag in town, Minnesota Street. It's on the first floor of a multi-use building. There is an Italian restaurant, a couple boutiques, and some apartments that share the building. The brewery has a welcoming interior. Nice wooden bar top and stools.

They had 4 beers on tap: a chocolate milk stout, an IPA, a red ale, and a saison. The saison was well-executed. It was definitely more on the spice side of the fruity to spicy saison spectrum. I believe they actually add some black pepper to the boil kettle, so that likely accounts for the pronounced spiciness. The Eldorado IPA as it was called was certainly enjoyable, but it wouldn't stand out amongst other IPAs in my opinion. I found it to be clean tasting with no off flavors, moderately hopped, citrus focused, and only mildly bitter. The red ale was my least favorite of the bunch. The menu advertised it as an Irish-style red ale, but I thought it missed that mark. The predominant aroma and flavor was a fruity ester rather than the toffee, caramel, and toasty quality that I look for in the style.

The star of the show for me was definitely the chocolate milk stout. This one would fair well in a head-to-head against any other beers of that style that I have tried. It's been a few months since I have had DM's version, but Bad Habit's brew might take top honors. It had a very rich, modestly sweet, smooth, milk chocolate smell that carried over into the taste. Very solid beer. That'll be my next pour for sure.

I also met the brewer tonight. He introduced himself and asked me my thoughts. He seemed like a very nice guy. I also overheard him talking to another group, and he said that he is hoping to make tweaks here and there based on all the comments from his customers. Overall, I would certainly recommend a stop here if you're in the area. Plus, you can hit Beaver Island in St. Cloud for a double header! Cheers!

 

Continuing the trend of early reviews for newly opened spaces, I did end up making it over to Able tonight.

The space is really nice. Big open space with high ceilings, brick walls and a view of the downtown skyline lights when it's dark outside.

The beer (although brewed with commercial malts) was quite good, but like other new breweries, they played it safe with their offerings.

The Pale Wheat Ale was my least favorite, but I feel like it was at least drinkable and free of brewing flaws, just didn't stand out to me.

The House Red is a nicely balanced red ale. Again, no technical flaws but not really memorable.

The stout (Blk Wlf) is interesting. Very light bodied (something like 3.7%) with a nice light roast and coffee nose and flavor profile. It's available on nitro and about as easy drinking as a stout could possibly be, and probably a great introductory stout to those who aren't necessarily craft beer (or "dark" beer) fans. I assume they were going for a session stout of sorts with this one, and if that's the case, I think they did a nice job.

The IPA (First Light) was quite nice. A solid citrusy IPA, that I would personally prefer over most other NE breweries' IPAs. My favorite of the four.

Overall, I think it's a nice start. I am interested to see what they can do when they start working with their in house malt.

 

Feel free to enter that as a review, right here.

 

November is off to a flying start in the local brewery scene

Bad Habit - Open
Able - Now Open
10K Brewing - Open

Next Up :

Lake Monster - Just had their soft opening last night Nov 6 ! So I think their opening is right around the corner . They will be open by end of November like they had planned .

Lakes and Legends - Taproom floor finished and beer menu boards this week and furniture coming in this week.
They'll be open in December for sure.

Urban Forage Winery and Cider House- Just heard they finished the production area in their building and will drop their equipment into place this weekend . Will be in production by end of the year. Please note their upper taproom level build-out won't open until later in 2016 so for now they are purely a production winery/cider-house.

Probably 2016 for these 4
Blackstack - Inbound - Modist - Bryn Mawr