It's been awhile since I was out this way and I notice several new breweries have popped up. I know Junkyard is #1 and that will be our main focus but curious if anyone has any thoughts on the other breweries and/or beer bars to hit. I've been to Drekker and Fargo Brewing. Will probably make a stop at Drekker again.
Here are recent articles on point - https://www.fargomoorhead.org/food-drink/article/brief-guide-fargo-breweries/ and https://www.fargomonthly.com/fargo-moorhead-breweries-beer-resources/. http://www.drumconrathbrewing.com/index2.html in Mapleton sounds interesting. 'JL Beers', https://jlbeers.com/, has locations in downtown Fargo, south Fargo, West Fargo, and in Moorhead (not that far from Junkyard). For breakfast I recommend the 'Cajun Cafe' in south Fargo (https://foursquare.com/v/cajun-cafe/4bf6a7eabfeac9282fb49436/menu), great omelets and the sweet potato pancakes with cane sugar syrup are sublimely good.
Junkyard and Drekker are top two. The newest breweries are in South Fargo. Nothing really stood out to me from any of them, I wouldn’t say they are bad though. Prairie brothers has a nice tap room that seems fun. Flatland is fine, you can get some pizza from spicy pie next door. Kilstone is ok, smaller tap room. They are moving into a new space downtown later this year that will be interesting. Front St downtown Fargo may have a few ND brews possibly unavailable in MN where you are. Either way, MN distro is far better than ND, so in general you’d be more likely to find something noteworthy on tap over there. JL probably does have the best selection, there are 4 locations in town. You could check on the app to see what each is pouring.
I'll agree with what the others have said about the breweries. Later this year Pixeled should be open, we will have to see about their beer, but they just started moving in all the video games. I'd also mention Prairie Rose Meadery and Wild Terra Cider, not your typical brewery/taprooms but a good change of pace if you wan something a bit different.
Here's the recap on our visit over a couple days and thoughts. Stop 1-Junkyard. Elite. Everything they had on tap from a Bohemian Pilsner to a Simcoe DIPA was just simply elite. Really there is no need to go anywhere else.... **But I like to explore and I'm not sure how much fun the wife would have had sitting in Junkyard for two straigtht days so.... Stop 2-Drumconrath Brewing. Out in the prairie just off 94 in a little pole barn like shack. Very good beer. Solid all across the board. Pool table. By far the #2 Brewery on this trip. Stop 3-Flatland. Not real impressed with the beer. A couple were ok but a few were definitely off. Cool facility though. Stop 4-Front Street Tavern. Liked this place. All regional beers pretty much and got a chance to try Laughing Sun out of Bismarck for the first time (Impressed). Ordered Rhombus Guys Pizza while here and bit the bullet on the $28 dollar meat lovers T-Rex. Good pizza, I liked the crust but come on $28? I'd do Blackbird for a gourmet higher priced pizza any day over Rhombus and probably would be better off with a Sammy's or Duanne's House of Pizza for a more reasonable price. Stop 5-Prairie Brothers. Nice facility. OK Beer. A few were off. Stop 6-Wild Terra Cider. Had half of the my wifes mead from the local mead place and the Revelation Strawberry Rhubarb saison. It was good. Cool little place. Stop 7-Wurst Beer Hall. Had to take advantage of the fresh Hoffbrau Hefe I hardly ever see. Excellent. Also had an outstanding Hoffbrau Dunkel and the pretzel with the beer cheese sauce (recommended). Stop 8-Fargo Bluesfest. Fargo Brewing, Surly and Leinie ofest were the best options. Great music and the beer prices weren't too bad $7.50 for 24 ounces of Leinie. I think it was $8 for the 24 of Fargo Brewing. Stop 9-Paradiso by the hotel. Pacifico on tap (decent). Food was run of the mill for Mexican. Stop 10-Zorbaz Detroit Lakes. As always a great selection and some excellent huge burritos for not much $$$
Hahahahaha, Zorbaz and Paradiso. You're bringing back some memories. I moved away from Fargo before craft beer was really a thing, so I've only been to a couple of the breweries around there.
This last Saturday I stopped at Junkyard, with its quite new taproom addition, and at Drekker's Brewhalla, which is also quite new. Both up the game in the area for taprooms. Junkyard's is new construction, while Brewhalla is a renovation of an old railroad maintenance building. Drekker's space is more epic and requires more time to admire all the architectural features and details, but the Junkyard space is cool and modern in its own way. I recommend a stop for either when one is in the area. I still prefer Junkyard's beers overall but I have found a few of the Drekker beers that I think are well done.
