After over two years of waiting, Minnesota’s Surly Brewing Co. breaks ground for their new brewery! City Pages reports on the ground breaking for the expanded brewery and taproom site.

CBS out of Minnesota would like you to vote on your favorite Minnesota local beers!

A pretty neat article from Rogue's blog about their bees and tucking them in for the winter sleep. Who doesn't love bees? Mother Nature is kind of a badass.

Boulevard Brewing Company has been purchased by Duvel – the same company that bought Brewery Ommegang. Having heard first hand from Ommegang that they have been very happy with the Duvel merger, here is hoping Boulevard feels the same!  Sounds like the European market is starting to get interested in American craft beer!

And just for fun, a little quiz from Huffington Post.

Fitger’s Brewery has a lot of nostalgia for me. As a child, my parents frequently drove us up to Duluth, Minnesota to spend time along the north shore and Lake Superior. The wooden boardwalk that lead to the Fitger’s Brewery facility was a favorite trip. While I was too young to drink beer at that time, I do recall the candy store within the pedestrian mall that was attached to Fitger’s.

Fitger’s makes all kinds of fun styles of beers. I was privileged enough to try their anniversary Sour Cherry Mash while visiting on the way up to my brother’s wedding this fall. This review, however, is about another beer I found at the brewery. El Chupacabara.

El Chupacabara is a beer that is a Vienna lager infused with chipotle chili. In my life, I had never hear of such a thing. Naturally, this meant I had to try it. The first sip is very classic to a lager. Smooth, clean and clear. Wait for a few moments and you get an incredibly pleasing warmth throughout your throat and mouth.

It poured a goldish red color, which I attribute to the chili peppers in the brewing. There was not much head, and what head there was dissipated quickly. The nose only hinted at the chipotle taste of the beer. It smelled a bit peppery and intriguing. This beer isn’t too spicy and isn’t overwhelmed by the chipotle used in the brewing process. It was very nicely balanced.

I like the novelty of this beer. Fitger’s does not bottle their beer for retail sale. You can only get Fitger’s beers by visiting their gastropub or purchasing a growler to take home with you. I have a growler of this puppy in my fridge, which I enjoy pouring from time to time. I would never want more than one glass of El Chupacabara at once, but that warming feeling has been greatly appreciated as Minnesota winter approaches.

As a side note – This beer would be an amazing Bloody Mary chaser. As an additional side note, AutoCorrect would like to make Chupacabara into Copacabana. And this amuses me. Happy Wednesday!



Beer: El Chupacabara
Style: Vienna/Lager - Chili Beer
Brewery: Fitger's Brewery
ABV: 5.5%
Served from: Growler
Rating: 3.5/5

Schell’s released Star of the North, the first in the Nobel Star collection of their new craft brewing efforts, earlier this summer. Now, I am excited to see the release of the second – Framboise du Nord! Five THOUSAND pounds of raspberry puree was added across the first run of 70 barrels, due to be released in the next few weeks. BeerPulse has all the news on this and other Schell’s releases for the winter season.

Check out all the information for the party at the brewery Saturday on the Surly Blog. BeerPulse has another little write up about Darkness Day, as well. Looking to get your hands on a bottle? Sellers typically get the bottles AFTER the release party, so keep you eye out. They fly off the selves fast! This Russian Imperial Stout is mighty popular.

Released back in July, the Pioneer Press put out an article about craft brewing in Minnesota. It’s a pretty cool article that speaks about what is going on with both the big and little guys in the craft beer world. In the article, they state “Minnesota has a craft brewery for every 112,000 residents”. That’s crazy! We’ve got good taste out here in the Midwest! 

When I started blogging about beer so very long ago (three weeks?) I had an idea in mind. I wanted to present a blog that wasn’t just beer reviews and my thoughts on beers, but something that could reflect what I have learned or was learning about with beer and beer culture. Reviews are subjective, and while I may love a brew, unless you have the same taste buds as me, you may not feel the same. For example, I love sour beers. I love their complexity and their flavor profiles… while others think they taste like licking a horse or like drinking straight cough syrup. You’ll see me review a lot of sours on here because they are a style I have recently come to love.

I want to be more inclusive than this. I want to teach, share, promote. Because of this realization, I wanted to provide you (the reader… at least, I hope there are readers…) with a glimpse of that may be in store over the path of this blog.

First and foremost, there will be reviews. I would love it if you would comment on my reviews with your own thoughts. Did you try this beer? Do you disagree with what I think? Would you like to try it? I’d love to hear feedback, because I always find it interesting what others think about the same topic.

Next, I want to do a sort of ABCs of beer. I’d like to do the ABCs of tasting terms. The ABCs of styles of beer. The ABCs of hops and what they bring to a beer. Things along this line. Sort of the newbies guide to beer and beer terms. I’d love to do a weekly round-up of things I’ve seen and heard going on in the beer world that I think may interest you.

Last, I want to bring my experiences at taprooms and beer tasting events to this blog. I want to share what went on, what were the highlights, what were the not-so-highlights. The craft beer community has so much to offer, and I want to share some of those in person experiences as I have them. Heck, someday it would even be fun to interview people on their experiences or interview brewers… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I know I said last, but truly last, I want to blog about what you want to read. Is there a topic you want me to write about? Do you have a question you would love to see answered? I’d be thrilled if you emailed me at [email protected] and shared what you want to read.

I want this to be an entertaining experience for you and me both, and I’m excited for the next few weeks where I really start to explore this path I’ve laid out. Until then, while I work on the content, enjoy my reviews as I post them up!

One of the perks of writing a blog about the world of beer is that I have an excuse to hit the town and try all the local fodder. NPR released and article naming Minnesota the number ten state for craft beers and breweries, which means I've got lots of local tap room hotspots to check out.

I knew Dangerous Man existed -- I had heard of them... I just didn't know where they were. Turns out, thanks to a call from my friend, I find out they are less than ten miles from my home. Naturally, this meant a trip on Friday night was in order.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I had never been to a taproom before. Are you shocked? Because my friends were. I was a little bit as well. Dangerous Man was at standing room only capacity when I arrived at 10pm on Friday night. It was packed and the energy in the room was excellent.

Dangerous Man opened their taproom in 2012. Their mission statement, as posted on their website reads:

To be a destination tap house brewery in Minneapolis, focusing on high-quality, small batch productions beers.

They do not sell their beer other than in their taproom. You won't find Dangerous Man in cans or bottles. They only way to get your hands on their brew is to walk through that door and order up a pint... And I have to say, I love the approach. There is nothing running on the taps that wasn't made by the brewery. Six rotating taps pour some crazy good beers.

As mentioned, the energy in the room was epic. Twice, the brewers hopped up on the bar to make announcements and the crowd actually stopped to listen... both times. In the self-involved world of today, this really struck me as pretty neat.

I ordered up a pint of their freshly tapped Kölsch. The color was absolutely gorgeous. That golden hay color with the classic cloudiness through out the glass. Just a finger of smooth, fine bubbled head. The smell was floral and bright - exactly like what I am looking for this style.

Taste wise, this beer hit it out of the park. It was creamy with a malt sweetness with just the right punch of floral noted hops. Not overly bitter, it was excellently balanced from start to finish. As the beer warmed, the flavors matured into more of that yeasty malt sweet flavor. I love a beer that transforms as it's temperature changes.

I also sampled a taste or two of their Oktoberfest. Had I not been driving myself, I would have hoarded a glass of my own. It was fantastic as well. Very mild hop flavor throughout with a rich red-amber coloring. The pour was beautiful. Had I had a glass to myself, I'd have a longer write up -- woe is me, I may have to go back and have one all to myself just for that reason.

I would certainly, hands down, 100% recommend the Dangerous Man taproom. If you are in the Minneapolis area, put this place on your to-do list. You will not be disappointed.

Dangerous Man Brewing Company
http://dangerousmanbrewing.wordpress.com/
1300 2nd Street, Minneapolis, MN