There are a couple of breweries that have been on my “must visit” list for a couple of years now. The issue is that they are usually a bit out of the way or may have beers that may not be that approachable. When my friend Mitch expressed that he had a night free and wanted to visit a brewery I realized that the stars had aligned. It’d be just us, two craft beer lovers always looking for something new. I was quick to suggest HammerHeart Brewing Company, and he was quick to accept.
Continue Reading…u4ic Brewing
August 11, 2017
We pulled off Highway 169 and descended into the Minnesota River Valley. I’m always surprised that the landscape changes so dramatically from the pastoral scenery of the surrounding area. Our windows were down to enjoy the warm summer air and after a small bend in the road our destination emerged from the forest. u4ic Brewing was now in sight.
Continue Reading…Southern Pines Brewing Company
July 28, 2017
One perk of taking long road trips is the ability to visit friends you don’t often get a chance to see. A side effect of having a beer blog is that those friends are eager to share their local breweries with you. Not many complaints here! After a respectable amount of driving we rolled into our friends’ driveway, stretched our muscles in the balmy air, took a quick tour of their new home, said hello to our old friend Roxy (a Great Dane we knew as a puppy), and then hopped in their truck. A short drive through endless pine forests and we arrived at Southern Pines Brewing Company.
Continue Reading…Burial Beer Co.
July 16, 2017
After a late night of drinking, an early rise, and a heck of a long drive the destination on our GPS finally seemed attainable. As we transitioned into the hills of Tennessee and headed across the border to North Carolina the last episode of S-Town came to an end (absolutely fantastic). I had done some scouting and knew that we’d be crossing the Appalachian Trail. We were running late so we only had a short window of time to jump out of the car, stretch our legs, take a short walk on the trail, and enjoy the amazing weather. We had planned to meet our friends Nicole and Eric in Asheville to share a hotel for the night as well as hit up a pair of breweries. So we jumped back into the car and made an incredibly windy path through the mountains to our first stop: Burial Beer Co.
Continue Reading…Wild Mind Artisan Ales
May 9, 2017
Flipping through my Instagram feed on a late March day I happened upon a post from Wild Mind Artisan Ales. It described their first bottle release event for their Golden Ho/rye/zon American Wild Ale. I made a mental note but promptly forgot about it. The day of the event I was grumbling at work about being cooped up during the unseasonably warm weather and searching for any excuse to get outside. Just like that the event popped back into my head and, after a quick call to my wife, we were off.
Continue Reading…Motorworks Brewing
April 12, 2017
This March we were given a rare chance to start patio season a little early. My wife’s family had rented a house on Anna Maria Island. We went down for a week, and my parents visited the week prior. Since we arrived on a Friday night and my parents weren’t leaving until Saturday afternoon, they wanted to take us to lunch before they hit the road for the long drive home. It didn’t take too much to convince my father that a brewery was a good idea, and as long as there was food my mother was happy. I’d done a little pre-trip research so I figured what better way to kick off our trip than a visit to Motorworks Brewing, Bradenton’s first craft brewery.
Continue Reading…Bald Man Brewing
March 5, 2017
In late November we were settling into winter and trying to prepare for the months ahead. When our friends Megan and Mitch asked if we wanted to visit the newly opened Bald Man Brewing we jumped at the chance. After all, we needed another stamp for our Northern Ale Guide and our list was quickly dwindling.
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We’re experiencing a renaissance of craft beer across the country and in 2016 Minnesota really hit its stride. With a new brewery opening weekly there were a glut of new breweries to visit and a many others establishing themselves within the community. Since it was my first full year blogging and after visiting over fifty breweries, I figured it would be worthwhile to do a recap of my year in Minnesota craft beer and hand out some awards for my own personal favorites. Read on to see the winners!
Continue Reading…Harriet Brewing
August 15, 2016
Hoping once again to use our Northern Ale Guide and an expired Groupon we joined up with our friends Mitch and Megan to make a trip into Minneapolis for yet another weeknight brewery trip. This time we were headed to Harriet Brewing which is located in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis.
Continue Reading…Insight Brewing
August 14, 2016
After some food and a couple of drinks at Fulton Brewing we made our way to the second and final stop of the night: Insight Brewing. It wasn’t our first visit to their taproom but it was one we had anxiously been waiting to try again; this time with a free beer courtesy of the Northern Ale Guide.
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