Minneapolis Visit

Yeah no.........
It appears that Town Hall is no place for a cheesehead in Minneapolis to be.

 

Masala Mama on cask is one of the best beers I have ever had, and I have had a ton of IPAs.

Of course you're entitled to your opinion, and I don't think you're "wrong" at all. I'm just surprised. Town Hall is by far my favorite brewery in the entire state of Minnesota, let alone the Twin Cities. The only other brewery that comes close is Hammerheart. I used to live there, though, and as @islay said, I think you begin to appreciate them more through repeated exposure rather than in a one-shot.

I agree totally that Republic is great, though I often find the clientele and the waitstaff a little too hipster and somewhat cold for my liking.

 

I was at Republic about 2 weeks ago, my first and only time there. It was OK, You can't judge a bar by just one visit usually. It seemed to be a mixed crowd but it was mid week for the Lupulin tapping . While I was there, I had a full pour of Hammerheart Stjørdal. Thought it was good, a odd beer. I am going to have to try more of there beer.

As for Town Hall. I have been there 3 times for a total of 7 full pours. None of these are barrel aged. Tally:
5 beers: ok, average to just about average
1 beer: above average was good I think it was a Scotch Ale? this was about 2 years ago
1 beer: terrible, bad batch or expired? skunky

Not a huge sample size, But with the same sample size I had better luck at LynLake

 

Hammerheart is amazing at what they do, which is smoked and odd styles. I loved Stjørdal and gave it a 4.75 (keep in mind I rate heavily to style, but i loved it on a more subjective level, too). I have never had a bad beer from them. If you are into metal, you will love the taproom even more (one of the owners is in an absolutely phenomenal metal band as well), but even if you hate metal, it is not played extremely loud, so it is enjoyable for everyone. Their taproom is sick.

I have been to Town Hall (or a satellite location) upwards of fifty times, and I have never had a beer that was less than a 3.5 to my palate. Most have been 4.25 or better. I went to LynLake probably ten times and did not have a single beer that I would rate above a 3.5 (I still went because I lived very close). I appreciate Town Hall for nailing a very wide variety of styles, some of which they completely crush. Few of their beers are extreme in any way, and most are about balance and subtlety, which is what I prefer in beers. Opinions, I guess.

 

Have you ever been to u4ic Brewing? I think you'd really enjoy it.

 

For those playing along at home, the “Sad Trombone” WAV file should have been set to auto-play.

 

So I take it the consensus here is Town hall is world class and Lynlake kinda sucks....... Note My visits to Lynlake have all been the last 2 months. There Bock was/is the weakest of the bunch I had. It was ok but lacked depth and flavor. Plenty of those darn hipsters at Lynlake Look out.

I was think of heading up to Hammerheart taproom, it's been on the radar for a while now. Never been there. I like heavy metal usually.