Visiting Minneapolis/St. Paul - April 2016

Intro Notes - This guide is not intended to be an exhaustive list of everything about visiting Minneapolis/St. Paul from a beer standpoint, rather it's intended as a primer to hopefully answer the majority of the basic questions people ask such as "What breweries should I visit?", "Which bars are worth going to?", and "Is a drive to Duluth or Hudson worth it?". If you're looking for something specific, skim through the bold headers for what you want. If you've read through this and still have questions, ask away, but please give us enough information to answer your question. The most helpful information you can give us when you're looking for recommendations:
1) What part of town you're staying in
2) Whether or not you have a car
3) How much time you have

On the question of recommended breweries, it's always a bit difficult to build a list without personal bias creeping in. I've tried to mostly stick to commonly held opinions rather than my own (views, but some people are likely to disagree with me. When in doubt, check the BA Places reviews, there are a lot of reviews on there that can provide depth that a short summary like this can't. On the two tiers of smaller breweries, the differentiation isn't one of quality or superiority as much as a feeling that the Tier 1 breweries get recommended more often than the Tier 2 breweries. Many of the Tier 2 breweries are churning out great beer, and I would recommend visiting if you have time. Additionally, there are plenty of other breweries making solid beer, but most people visiting only have a certain amount of time and I've tried to provide the best options.

The guide will be updated on a quarterly basis (or maybe a little less often...) and if anyone has any advice on sections to add next time around, feel free to respond and/or PM me.

General Advice -
Public Transportation - Minneapolis/St. Paul have a light rail system with two lines - Green line (Downtown Minneapolis to Union Depot/downtown St. Paul) and Blue Line (Downtown Minneapolis to the Airport and Mall of America).
Fares are paid at the station before you get on the train, $2.25 per ride (rush hour) and $1.75 (non rush)
Buses are decent - I advocate for using Google Maps transit option to figure out routes, stops, and timing.
You can also get prepaid cards or short term passes: https://www.metrotransit.org/go-to-card
Cars - Parking isn't that bad in Minneapolis/St. Paul, compared to other large cities, so car travel/rental isn't a bad route. If you stay close to either downtown, there are enough clusters that you can hit that have plenty of stops within walking distance that you can get to with public transit or a cheap Uber/Lyft/Taxi
If you don't have a car, Uber/Lyft are good options to get around but you'll obviously want to plan your brewery order well to maximize the utility.

*Note - No Sunday alcohol sales in Minnesota. You CAN get growlers filled and buy 750 mL bottles at breweries/taprooms.

Basic Resources:
mnbrewery's excellent map (https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zf-NUOXSi-o0.kLjWBdR3AtFI)- Lists all the breweries/tap rooms in the state. Many are included in the list below, but this map is all encompassing. (potential to make an expanded map that includes liquor stores and beer bars, etc.)

Who Fills Which MN Growlers? (http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/who-fills-which-mn-growlers.196417/)-Minnesota recently updated their growler laws to allow breweries to fill ANY 32 oz or 750 mL growler (i.e. other brewery's glass), but it doesn't mean they are REQUIRED to. This thread list which breweries will fill any growler for you and which will make you buy their glass.
A few breweries have also started filling 750 mL crowlers and will sell pre-packaged 750 mL bottles to go as well.
MN recently started allowing breweries to sell growers/crowlers/750 mL bottles on Sundays. Large breweries (over 30,000??? barrels/year production) a.k.a. Surly, Summit, August Schell's, are not allowed to sell "to go" beer on site. Surly is included in this.

Hudson, Wisconsin is about a 30 minute drive from Minneapolis. Wisconsin DOES have Sunday alcohol sales as well as the ability to fill growlers at liquor stores. Some notable breweries that you can access in WI but not MN:
New Glarus
The Bruery
Dogfish Head
Almanac

 

The Big/Well Distributed Breweries - Since you're into beer, you've probably had their beers before. If you're a fan, each brewery has its pros and cons that might make it worth visiting:
(TBD - break out list to list larger breweries here)

The Smaller Breweries You Should Visit - Tier 1:

Breweries/Taprooms
Tier 1
Surly
Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery
Fair State
Dangerous Man
Indeed Brewing Company
Sisyphus Brewing
Steel Toe Brewing


Tier 2
Bauhaus Brew Labs
Fulton Beer
Insight Brewing
Harriet
Northbound
LynLake


Newcomers
Lakes & Legends
Able Seedhouse + Brewery
Lake Monster
56 Brewing

St. Paul:
Bad Weather Brewing Company
Summit Brewing Company
Tin Whiskers Brewing Company
Bang Brewing Company & Urban Growler (These two share a parking lot, simple to hit both)

The Suburbs
(Disclaimer - I'm no expert in this area, so feedback is welcomed. This list may not be all inclusive, so suggest more places I missed that should be included. I can split out by tier 1/tier 2 or more by geography based on what other locals feel is best)
Badger Hill Brewing -Shakopee
Barley John's Brew Pub -New Brighton
Big Wood Brewery - White Bear Lake
Excelsior Brewing Company - Excelsior
Hammerheart Brewing Company - Lino Lakes
Lift Bridge Brewery - Stillwater
LTD Brewing Company - Hopkins
OMNI Brewing Company - Maple Grove
North Loop Brew Co -Minnetonka *They do not have a taproom but can get samples and buy growlers to go*

Just Beyond the Metro
(Disclaimer - I'm no expert in this area, so feedback is welcomed. This list may not be all inclusive, so suggest more places I missed that should be included. I can split out by tier 1/tier 2 or more by geography based on what other locals feel is best)

Birch's on the Lake -Long Lake
Enki Brewing -Victoria
Lupine Brewing Company -Delano
South Fork Brewing Company -Delano
Schram Vineyards Winery & Brewery -Waconia *no beer on Sundays but can buy growlers and bottles to go*
Waconia Brewing Company -Waconia

Map with all the MN tap rooms (some less notable or further flung were not listed above)
mnbrewery's excellent map

What remarkable beers are currently on-tap?
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/on-tap-in-the-twin-cities-march-edition.390871/

Liquor Stores- Minneapolis
Elevated Beer Wine & Spirits
France 44 Wines & Spirits (Will ship beer nationwide)
South Lyndale Liquors
Stinson Wine, Beer and Spirits
Surdyk's (Controversial listing as many local BA's, boycott this place for past pricing of Surly Darkness)
Zipp's Liquors

Liquor Stores- Saint Paul

1st Grand Avenue Liquors
Big Top Wine & Spirits
Boozemart
Heritage
Merwin Liquors- Falcon Heights
The Wine Thief & Ale Jail
Thomas Liquors & Fine Wines

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1057/?view=ratings
Liquor Stores- Suburbs
Blue Max - Burnsville
G-Will Liquors - Brooklyn Park

Total Wine - Locations in Roseville, Bloomington, Burnsville (again, controversial since they aren't 'local" and are a big chain.)

Noteable Places to Drink
Republic
Dark Horse
Grumpys NE
Happy Gnome
Muddy Pig
New Bohemia (NE MPLS, Uptown MPLS, Golden Valley, Eagan)

Noteable Places to Eat (Beer Focused)
Butcher and the Boar
Blue Door Pub (St. Paul and Minneapolis)
Haute Dish
Red Cow (St. Paul, Minneapolis, Edina)

Noteable Places to Eat (Not so Beer Focused)
Revival (Fried Chicken, southern style)
Travail
Matt's Bar
Casper and Runyon's Nook
St. Dinette
The Strip Club (steaks)
Nighthawks
Hola Arepa
Brasa
112 Eatery
Burch
Smack Shack

Ethnic Hole in the Wall Places
Marla's
Emily's Lebanese
Evergreen
Quang
Victor's


Convenient Brewery/Bar/Restaurant Clusters:
(to be updated with more detail in future iterations)
Northeast Minneapolis
Minneapolis 7 Corners
North Loop
Green Line Light Rail

Events:
GetKnit - events are excellent introductions to the area if youwant to visit or are visiting during one those. They regularly have breweries bus tours and light rail brewery hops. They always are very well organized and very reasonably priced.

 

I'd be down to do that if the mods would help/facilitate. There has also been talk of getting this made into a sticky. However, it wasn't done in the past so I'm assuming that Mods don't support the idea or don't have the time to do it. I'm just following the example/format I've seen in other regional threads where the thread is re-posted with updates and edits on a monthly or quarterly basis.

 

Getting ready to incorporate some previously mentioned edits into the baseline info and post a new thread for late spring/summer. Would love any feedback or suggestions for additions for the upcoming iterations of this.

 

How about now, boys?

 

Putting this in here as a place holder for the update:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/ranking-minnesota-breweries-may-update.416031/

I'll use this discussion to guide the Tier 1, tier 2, etc breweries