Ranking MN Breweries (2017 Update #1)

I got bored, so I expanded the Untappd rating list to the entire Twin Cities Metro:
Surly (3.98)
Dangerous Man (3.93)
Steel Toe (3.89)
Fair State (3.85)
Wild Mind (3.83)
Town Hall (3.83)*
Hammerheart (3.83)
Barley John’s Brewpub (3.79)
Birch’s On The Lake (3.79)
Indeed (3.78)
Inbound (3.78)**
Fulton (3.76)
Sisyphus (3.75)
Lift Bridge (3.74)
Bad Weather (3.74)
Insight (3.74)
Modist (3.74)
Utepils (3.73)
LTD (3.72)
Bang (3.71)
Tin Whiskers (3.70)
Lupine (3.70)
LynLake (3.70)
Bald Man (3.69)
Badger Hill (3.68)
Bauhaus (3.67)
Lakeville (3.66)
Omni (3.66)
Waconia (3.65)
10K (3.64)
Boom Island (3.63)
Urban Growler (3.63)
Angry Inch (3.63)
Freehouse (3.63)
56 (3.63)
Lakes & Legends (3.63)
Enki (3.62)
Wabasha (3.62)
Northgate (3.61)
Able Seedhouse (3.61)
Flat Earth (3.60)
Summit (3.59)
Eastlake (3.59)
Big Wood (3.58)
North Loop (3.58)**
Urban Forage (3.57)
Lake Monster (3.57)
Bent Brewstillery (3.57)
Sociable Cider Werks (3.57)
Schram Vineyards (3.56)
Excelsior (3.55)
Herkimer (3.51)
Rock Bottom (3.51)*
Nutmeg (3.51)*
Sidhe (3.50)
Great Waters (3.49)
612 Brew (3.43)
Granite City (3.41)*
Wayzata Brew Works (3.41)
Maple Island (3.39)
Clockwerks (3.38)
South Fork (3.28)
Burning Brothers (3.21)
*Multiple locations or chain
**Share a taproom

 

I do not have any major issue with that list.

 

Yup. Several years ago my friend was playing music in their tap room and one of my friends ordered their brown ale to find a horrible infection.

We pointed this out to the owner and his response was "people are buying it".

Fuck off, Kinney Creek.

 

Sorry, but that list is screwed up. I'd guess it is as much influenced by hype as it is by good beer.

 

You seem to have missed Northbound. Looks like they're 3.75 (which seems a bit high).

 

True. Summit = Eastlake? Not in my world - I'd rather have a random Summit offering than a random beer from 90% of the places ranked ahead of it.

But that Untapped list seems somewhat accurate on a coarse level, despite the anomalies.

 

Let's all remember that Untappd exists for people to brag about what they are drinking, and nothing more. So let's view there list with that in mind. Fanboys will be fanboys; thus, Surly and Dangerous Man are on top, and Eastlake is way too high.

 

I am just not sure how they are still open. Went twice, two years apart and both times were quite possibly the worst beers I have ever had in my life. Do NOT visit them or put them on any list, unless there is a new lowest of the low category just for them and maybe Excelsior lol

Forager is head and shoulders above LTS and GR. LTS is ok but safe/boring as mentioned. GR is starting to figure things out, but still a bit behind.

 

I wouldn't say a larger fraction of Untappd users use it for bragging than BeerAdvocate or RateBeer. Most people just want to track what they've had and what they thought of it. You can still write a full review on Untappd. The character limit encourages conciseness. I don't want to read a paragraph describing the Mickey Mouse shaker pint from which a reviewer is drinking. If I go over the character limit, I just continue it in a comment.

Hype can influence ratings, but beyond the two breweries you mentioned, I don't think it significantly impacts other Minnesota breweries. The biggest factor is a brewery's typical beer styles followed by quality. There was a time that traditional English and German style beers were viewed as extreme relative to macro beer, but over the last decade the flavor intensity of craft beers has grown to a point that those traditional styles are more aligned on the flavor scale to adjunct lagers than American IPAs and RISs. The quality control of Summit and Schell's is impressive, but consumers would rather drink something differentiating even at the cost of quality. Eastlake makes crappy examples of big-flavored/unique beer and Summit makes good examples of blander beer, so it doesn't surprise that they would come out even in terms of ratings.

 

Hitting up grand round now. Any recommendations on which beers to try?

 

Mosaic IPA

 

I am no fan of Excelsior, but they brew quality compared to Kinney Creek. Excelsior can put out the occasional quality brew. I can think of a few other breweries that I would put on the low level before Excelsior.

 

at

Agreed. If Excelsior doesn't brew the blandest beers of any brewery in Minnesota they are at least high in the running's. However, I've never had a beer from them flawed with diacetyl, infection, oxidation, or carbonation issues. I've also never heard stories of their people being arrogant/insecure enough to completely disregard all criticisms of their beer.

*Please note that Kinney Creek is so bad they made me come to the defense of Excelsior.

**Also note that I feel like @Chaz for ending a post with an asterisked statement. I also know there weren't the requite asterisks within the body of the post, but I'm new to this so forgive me.

 

I'm confused. If consumers would rather drink something else, why is the combined sales of those two breweries north of 250,000 Bbls? Who is drinking that beer, if it's not the "consumers?"

 

Reminds me of this classic quote:

 

I thought the Kolsch and the Hawaii 507 Coconut Stout were both good beers myself.

I really need to hit up Rochester again.

 

I can vouch for the fact that- "I am a consumer"!

c

 

It's a common mistake. People often mistake our weird, obsessive, ridiculous little culture for the wider opinions on good beer.

 

I'm sure Schell's and Summit would rather be the top selling breweries in the state, instead of #1 on Untapped. They make good beers in traditional styles and have top notch quality, however they do not make beers that get the masses of beer geeks excited, they make beers that the masses of regular beer drinkers appreciate, they have also established themselves by being around much longer. Outside of Schells's Berliners, they do very little that is exciting or unique. They serve their place by being solid and reliable, while the smaller, newer and up and coming breweries are what excite the larger population on most social media beer geek sites. That's what this and untapped are, correct?

 

I can honestly say I get more excited, and I'm sure there are many beers geeks who would agree just check out the Schell Frost pack thread, when Summit and Schell's release Pilsners than anything released by "new" breweries.