BlackStack Brewing

Now Open: BlackStack Brewing

Growler Magazine

 

I think the excitement of Blackstack is the beer is great on day 1. Too often we want to wait a month or two for the brewery to get their system dialed in. I enjoyed the beers I had last night.

I believe it shows the quality of Bob the brewer and Scott's ability to make it happen.

 

Scott said, they brewed 96 pilot batches before any of them went to public.

 

Yep the beer was all on point and no off- flavors for a change! So they deserve Kudos for bringing good beer to market on Day 1.

We got to try the IPA and Dark Lager & really liked both. That IPA is impressive right off. Not a huge Belgian beer fan so did not try the other two.

I'm hoping they can knock out an export Irish Stout or Dark Coffee Porter soon , they are next to True Stone Coffee so they would be stupid to not collaborate on it . After Summits amazing "Dark Infusion Porter", the cities needs another great coffee beer but available year round. it is BLACKstack after all.

More dark beer the better.

 

I spoke with Bob at length about this in the past. I could paraphrase his thoughts, but won't. In fact I believe that his thoughts are best conveyed directly, so I would suggest talking with him about it in person. He is both very approachable and very professional.

 

Precisely!

In recent years (and with the notable expansion in the number of taprooms) legitimate concerns have arisen over comments made on public forums attributed to persons in the industry by anonymous forum users. I'm couching this statement in some anonymity as well, but I'm also speaking in a much broader, historical sense.

Bob remarked on this phenomena a couple of summers ago, and a lot of it has to do with individual hobbyists being "bored while at work", and starting meta-conversations and asides in order to pass the time and alleviate their boredom. He also averred that there is a different feeling of collegiality in today's brewing industry than there was in the 1990s; More breweries equals more competition. I agree with him on all of that!

Although there's still a sense that "we're all one great, big brewing family", it's also true that all families (and all breweries) experience growing pains. Likewise, while it would be great if people who are passionate about beer (whether as a hobby or as a career) would exert some restraint while sharing 'intel', I understand just how difficult that can be with the tremendous (and continued) growth the industry has seen in recent years. All just food for thought, naturally.

Anyhow, beer is a hobby for me, too, so here's a photo I'd wanted to share since last June, but have held back 'til the time was right -- BlackStack's prototype tap handle. The production version has been refined, and is now in use in the taproom:

 

Should I be concerned about this place since they feel they need to use an air freshener?

 

Can you share anything Bob told you? The quality at Excelsior has gone up some since Bob left and he was assigned (rightly or wrongly I don't know) most of the blame of quality problems since he was the head brewer.

 

@Chaz is right, go talk to Bob about your feelings with his past projects he will more more than happy to privately answer your concerns and questions. IMO, his past work should have nothing to do with this brewery. It's night and day the differences between past projects of his to BlackStack Brewing. Bob, Murphy and Scott are a great brewing team who understand beer, love beer and are open to new ideas about beer. IMO, Scott has the gift to hire the right talent even in his distribution days he had the best sales force out there in fact many of them are on the street as week speak in higher levels of the beer industry. Without them his company would not have been able sell at one time 750 to 1,000 beer draft lines in metro area 15 years ago. That's a lot back then. In conclusion, give the beers a chance they are worth your time. This brewery will likely be one of the newer breweries to break out of the pack.

 

This is great! Most new breweries need a little time to sort things out and it sounds like Excelsior has figured it out. Bob is working for Scott an old beer guy who has brewed, imported and marketed some of the best beers on the planet! This project is different and Bob is a huge part of a great brewing team. They are all having fun working together on making great beer!

 

Rumor has it they are keeping the BlackStack logo, color and the font but updating the wheat spikelet. In my opinion, the "dated" mediocre spikelet portion of his logo is so ten years ago it reminds me of every other brewery who did it back then. Hell even Summit updated their spikelet!

 

Anyone know if there are TVs in the place? Looking for a good NCAA bball spot for thursday in st paul

 

Agreed, if there is any doubt about Bob or the rest of the Blackstack brewing team go talk to them and try the beer. The are all very friendly and approachable. It seems they work very much as a team. I've never felt so welcome at a brewery and the beers were all excellent!!

Nice chatting with Chaz and Islay also.

 

Here's what's in the pipeline for their Local 755 NE IPA: 1) Galaxy, 2) Vic Secret (with lupulin powder!), 3) a double dry-hopped version. Chatted with assistant brewer Murphy; super nice guy. NE IPA is definitely a style he's excited about. Their first iteration of the style is pretty on point, and I expect even better things in the future. Large, bright, and inviting space too. Just what St. Paul needs IMO. I'm enjoying a Local 755 right now, listening to Vampire Weekend, in an old-timey armchair next to a sea of windows

 

Citra version still on? Just hoping it will make it till tomorrow. If anyone can shed some light on how it's sitting that'd be great!

 

They plan to put on a Galaxy version Saturday, not sure that means the Citra won't run out.

 

Say spikelet again