It’s no secret that I’ve got a thing for old buildings. When I heard that a food market was coming to the Schmidt brewery complex I was intrigued. After I heard that Keg & Case was also going to have a craft brewery in their ranks they flashed brightly on my radar! Immediately after they opened I drove over for lunch to check things out. Not only were the food stalls unique and lunch options amazing (Revival Smoked Meats anyone?) but the brewery on the mezzanine called to me. It didn’t take long to get a group of coworkers to visit Clutch Brewing Company for a couple of beers.
Continue Reading…Giesenbräu Bier Co.
April 8, 2019
I’m from New Prague, a small Czech community south of the Twin Cities. That’s where I was born and where I spent over 20 years of my life. When rumors of a craft brewery began I was pretty excited. When I found out it was going to be a German inspired brewery my reaction was mixed. On one hand, I love German beers and our trip to Oktoberfest was the reason I started this hobby. On the other hand, instead of German it would’ve be nice to have a Czech inspired brewery in town. Either way, Giesenbräu Bier Co. brought craft beer to my hometown, and that’s a good thing!
Continue Reading…Wooden Hill Brewing Company
April 7, 2019
I keep a very detailed list of every craft brewery in the State of Minnesota for a project that I’m working on. Because we live in Bloomington, a city that does not allow them, I’m always on the lookout for new locations opening near us. When I saw one that popped up in Edina, Minnesota it instantly went to the top of our “we want to go to a brewery but don’t want to drive” list. That brewery: Wooden Hill Brewing Company.
Continue Reading…Barley John’s Brewpub
March 24, 2019
I’m at an age where you start to see your friends less and less often. Everyone has a family and they’ve settled into their own routines. There are a few people that I’m lucky to see more than once a year. I’ve been working in St. Paul for over a decade and one day it dawned on me that one of those friends lives relatively close to my office. It took just a few texts to line up a time after work to meet my friend Adam at Barley John’s Brewpub in New Brighton.
Continue Reading…Waconia Brewing Company
March 24, 2019
I had never attended a baby shower before. Of course, I’ve heard about them. You play silly games, talk with people you’ll never meet again, and graze on miscellaneous snacks. All of my expectations were met but what the other guests may have not expected was my competitiveness. Nobody sent me the memo that the games were meant to be fun, not to be won. After a fierce round of baby jeopardy with the oddest rules I’ve ever encountered, I needed a drink. My wife wasn’t present to temper my competitive streak, she was dealing with a screaming baby. Needless to say, she needed a drink too. So we popped the kid in the car and made for Waconia Brewing Company.
Continue Reading…Imminent Brewing
March 22, 2019
While my wife and I were on our thru-hike of the Superior Hiking Trail we had 22 days to discuss our approach to parenting. It was a nice way to kick off a new chapter of our life by getting aligned about one of the biggest changes in it. One year later and we had our baby girl! Something we agreed was that we would regularly plan some individual time away from our parenting duties while the other filled in. When my turn came up I called my friend Mitch and we decided to visit Imminent Brewing, the only Northfield area brewery that either of us had yet to imbibe.
Continue Reading…Eastlake Craft Brewery
March 13, 2019
One of my primary goals for 2018 was to use all of our expired Groupons. When my brother in-law and sister in-law reached out to us for week night brewery visit I looked at my stack and was surprised to find that only one remained! A couple of texts later and we were on our way to Eastlake Craft Brewery.
Continue Reading…Keepsake Cidery
February 28, 2019
When we visited Anna Maria Island last year there was a small barbecue place next door to our condo. While lunch there we learned they had two locations and the other was actually in Northfield, Minnesota! We swore to ourselves that we’d visit them sometime after we returned. It took us half the year to remember to stop at Smoqehouse and since it was one of the hottest days on the year we determined that a cidery would be the best place to quench our thirst. Next stop Keepsake Cidery!
Continue Reading…Summit Brewing Company
February 26, 2019
It was the first wedding anniversary since our daughter was born. My wife was on maternity leave and I was on paternity leave and we were determined to get out of the house and enjoy what was left of the summer. We chose to begin by giving the tread of our new stroller an off road test on Fort Snelling’s Pike Island. Instead we got lost immediately after leaving the parking lot, took a harrowing trip down a steep path, and ran out of energy before we really began. Once we pushed the stroller back up the hill we agreed that it might be more fun to just go have a drink at the Summit Brewing Company Ratskeller.
Continue Reading…Copper Trail Brewing (Old Location)
February 23, 2019
Before our child was born, my wife and I were determined to hold on to as much of our previous life as we could. That’s why we were in a car driving north to spend the second week of our daughter’s life at a resort on Lake Clitherall. We’d taken her to the Minnesota State Fair when she was only 6 days old but now it was time for her first brewery, an environment with a lot less of a safety valve than massive fairgrounds with over 100,000 people. With some degree of trepidation I took hold of her carseat and stepped into the taproom of Alexandria’s Copper Trail Brewing.
Continue Reading…