Breweries opening in Minnesota 2015/2016

Hmmm... interesting.

And I tried 2 good liquor stores on Saturday and neither one had the Mankato Original. I was a little bummed out. But Alaskan Summer is pretty good.

 

http://growlermag.com/for-the-love-of-barley-able-seedhouse-finds-its-brewer/

 

No growlers at Insight today after all. I must caught them in the brief moment between someone at the city telling them they could do it and them researching to discover they'd need a separate off sale license. Not too surprising.

 

I got a chance to hit this place as well. The brewer dude seems into it. Background is pretty much home brewing and some of the beers tasted along those lines. My quick snap shot review of their beers (1-10 per style. For a point of reference in how I do this, 5 is a decent, average beer):

American Wheat (8): Better than Gull Dams wheat which isn't bad either. Really thought this hit the mark for the style.

Amber Ale (2): Tasted off and like that home brew your uncle handed you back in 1990 when he got his first beer making kit. Needs a lot of work.

Red Ale (6): One of the better beers here. Some nice flavorful hops that never become bitter...floral

IPA (5): Floral, darker colored IPA...An IPA I could toss back a few pints of for sure. Has some of that home brew feel to it.

Stout (7): Pretty solid. After my initial taster I settled on this as my beer to drink for my next pint. Nothing phenomenal about it but it a solid drinker with some flavor.

Overall: Small place. Not a place to seek out at this point but worth a sampler and a pint if in the area. I'd rate Gull Dam's beers ahead of these and certainly Jackpines but this is ok...much better than the defunct Leech Lake Brewing...

On a side note I heard Gull Dam does not want to do Sunday growlers or be open on Sundays.....and why as a business in the Brainerd Lakes area when you have a billion people heading home from their cabins in the summer would you not want to be open on Sundays when they are heading back to get your beer in their hands? Some of these things just are beyond baffling. Big Axe and Jackpine both are looking at Sundays as big days. Gull Dam meanwhile will be open on Tuesday.......yup...good luck selling to the woodchucks and loons outside your place while all the people with money buy beer from your competitors on Sunday.....my rant is over..

 

He will be at Able Seedhouse and brewery in NE mpls.

 

This was mentioned last week and now they setup a Twitter account today and Website - Modist Brewing .

This is the one moving into the space near Fulton right ?

www.modistbrewing.com

 

And here the Article -
Dangerous Man's head brewer plans $1M brewery in North Loop

http://www.bizjournals.com/twinciti...t-brewing-north-loop-taproom-keigan-knee.html

 

And Spacebook, too.

 

It is nice to see a new brewery who has thought a few things out.

 

Saw somewhere that Bad Weather is expecting a late Summer opening.

 

They sent out an email update today...Equipment arrives this month and parking lot will be resurfaced and a cool art mural will go up . They hope to be fully open by end of August . Later than we all would wish but should be worth it ! That's a great spot to put a brewery.

 

It's nice that over a dozen of their friends/family/associates/stalkers/fanboys thought ahead to rate them 5 out of 5 on facebook long before the brewery is built let alone putting beer out into the market. I'm sure this is something that is out of their control for the most part so in no way does it add or detract from the natural scepticism I have toward them as a new brewery. It does, however, say something about the attitude of many Minnesota craft beer drinkers. What that something is is a whole other discussion.

Also, I agree that it is nice to see a new brewery actually doing something well in the marketing department. Sometimes change is refreshing.

 

I come from the West Coast/Mountain region, so my experiences and opinions are strongly rooted in that strong craft beer history. (No right or wrong, just stating the basis for my perspective).

Personally, I have found myself a bit bewildered\amused at what local beer drinkers here in MN think of individual breweries and how people here rate breweries in whatever order they do. I'll just say it seems that is has less to do with beer quality and is more around herd mentality, location, social buzz/hype, perceived "cool vibe" and similar. In many ways, there is nothing wrong with that as craft beer is an experience and why we love it so much.

Caveat*** I am NOT saying well respected MN breweries here are not making great beer and so on and so on.... I am just making a casual observation.

As a VERY GENERAL RULE (sorry about the caps, but I am not trying to flame anyone!!!) I feel that many MN craft beer drinkers are enamored with over-the-top flavors or rally around beers that have some type of flavor which may be considered slightly flawed in other areas of the country. This would include things like beers which are sweeter due to lack of full fermentation, or, brews that have flavor components that are subtle signs of inconsistent yeast management, among other things.

I am currently back out west with family and friends, some of who work in the craft beer industry, and brought along a number of local beers for them to try. This topic was brought up by the group - although the overwhelming response was positive about my cache. One theory is that the average MN consumer is so new to the craft beer boom, compared to San Diego or Seattle for example, that local palates are still in, as the owner of a brewery out West stated, "a youthful ride similar to making out for the first time". I thought that was funny.

And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else as a craft beer fan than living in MN right now. I think it will be incredibly interesting to fast forward three years from now and see what has happened.

You all want a really fun exercise? Do a thorough and well thought out blind tasting challenge among local beers. I bet you will be surprised at the results. I have done this a number of times and always love the look on people's faces when they see what they picked and panned. Probably a marketing thesis in there somewhere.

Love living here - Great Times

 

I think you are pretty spot on with your thoughts here. There is a lot of great beer here in MN but also a lot that is average or below and I am amazed at the popularity of some of these places.

 

18 x 5 stars = best vaporware beer, EVER!

By the same token there were once (and are still - just don't ask me who they are, find out for yourself ) brewery owners, brewers, brewer's wives, etc, rating their own beers here on BA, and retail "Beer Guys" rating the stores that they work at and so forth. It can be pretty irksome, but it is all just the way that social media works, and you've gotta shrug it off.

 

I, OTOH, view it as condescending if not insulting. I've been drinking craft beer for 30 years. How about your owner friend?

There is definitely a home-field bias in all craft beer reviews... including those from the sophisticated (?) palates of the NW & Cali.

 

You should update your State v. State thread with the results of this tasting. That would be interesting in its own right and also help me understand the contention you're making here. The idea that Minnesotans appreciate over-the-top flavors relative to San Diego residents in particular doesn't ring true at all to me (Washington residents may be a different story). I'm more sympathetic to the notion that Minnesotans, due either to palate unsophistication, excessive politeness, or blind enthusiasm born of the post-Surly Bill brewery boom, are less sensitive to flaws than are their West Coast peers, on average.

 

Sure you have been drinking craft beer for 30 years...I'm closer to 20 years myself... and many others are serious into craft beer but you can't argue that there are a lot of folks "into" craft beer now because it is the new fad and those are the people who couldn't tell you what a good craft beer tastes like. Those are the people that help make some of these places that brew bad beer successful. You want an example? Step into the tap room at a place located right on the St. Croix River in Stillwater...amazing they sell any beer. If we had such a wealth of great beer connoisseurs that would not happen.