Category Archives: Beer News

News from the industry.

612Brew and Steel Toe Brewing Taprooms Open This Week

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612brewlogonew

I first met the guys from 612Brew in the early spring of 2010 while working on a piece about soon-to-be breweries for Heavy Table (there were only five at the time…crazy!). They were working in a South Minneapolis garage, tweaking recipes on a cobbled-together homebrew system and dreaming of bigger things. Two years later their “garage” is a 5000 square-foot warehouse space in a multi-million dollar commercial re-development in Northeast Minneapolis. The five-gallon, glass carboys have been replaced by 30-barrel tanks of mirror-polished stainless steel. The steps in-between included three business plan revisions, two cancelled leases, and a change of personnel, including hiring brewer Adam Schil.

Almost three years after than initial meeting, the crew is ready to launch. 612Brew already has beer in metro-area bars. The taproom at the corner of Central and Broadway will open tomorrow night, February 13th at 4:00pm.

612Brew (2) small

The taproom retains the retro-industrial ambiance of the 1924 factory building that it occupies. Thick, maple timbers rise up two stories from the polished concrete floor. The bar top is made of re-purposed bowling alley lanes, while the bottom is faced with boards salvaged from an 1850s-vintage home. The gleaming brewery is separated from the public space by wooden standup bars. A tall, glass overhead door looks out onto a patio and rain garden, which is anchored by a stone amphitheater where live music is planned for the warmer months.

612Brew (9) small

612Brew’s focus is on hop-centered session beers. They aim to satisfy that craving for bitterness with lower-alcohol brews that allow for more than one pint after work. They are launching with four beers. Six is a sessionable American Pale Ale with biscuit malt and bright citrus hops. This is the same beer – with some recipe tweaks – that I sampled three years ago in the garage. Zero Hour is an American black ale brewed with roasted wheat for a smoother, less-bitter roastiness that lets the hops shine through. Bitter Cold Winter Ale is a single-malt, single-hop IPA brewed with Maris Otter malt from England and Willamette hops from the Pacific Northwest. My favorite brew is Rated R, a balanced rye IPA. The focus here is on flavor and aroma hops. The bitterness bites, but not too hard. Spicy rye notes come in late and linger into the finish.

It’s hard to believe that I would call a one-and-a-half-year-old brewery old, but in today’s crazy world, with breweries popping up like popcorn, it’s the truth. Steel Toe Brewing Company is old. But that doesn’t make them any less wonderful. In my view Steel Toe is one of the top-five breweries in Minnesota. Size 7 might just be the best IPA made in the state. A recent blind tasting re-confirmed for me the brilliance of the light and lovely Provider Ale.

The opening this Friday, February 15th, of Steel Toe’s long-awaited taproom makes this a busy week for Twin Cities beer fans. The fun begins at 3:00pm and I’m guessing it will be crowded. Steel Toe is located at 4848 W. 35th St. in St. Louis Park. Be there!

Summit and Smashburger Team Up for Beer & Burger Pairings

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Summit Brewing Company and Smashburger are pairing up to bring beer and burger pairings to the Twin cities. The collaboration could be seen as a partnering of pioneers in a way; Summit an original in Minnesota’s better beer scene and Smashburger the leader in what they call “better burger” restaurants.

Actually the Denver-based burger franchise has introduced some interesting innovations to fast food fare. They use all Angus beef, for one thing.  Their menus allow for regional inspiration. While there are some standard sandies across the chain, each location creates special burgers tailored to local foodways, such as the Twin Cities burger with garlic-grilled onions reflecting the regional love-affair with the onion. I didn’t know that we had a love affair with onions, but that’s something I learned during a special media tasting prior to the pairings launch. In terms of the beer and burger program, the company is working with a different brewers in every city to create pairings that are unique to the market.

Smashburger takes its name from their process of smashing the burgers onto the griddle while cooking them. This creates a caramelized crust on one side and seals in the juices, according to founder Tom Ryan. They do make a juicy patty. I’m not sure how innovative the burger smash is. It seems to me Steak & Shake has been smashing since the 1930s. But Smashburger does it with a patent-pending, cookie-cutter-like gizmo as seen in this video of Mr. Ryan making a burger.

Ryan worked with Summit Head Brewer Damian McConn to come up with eight pairings for the Twin Cities stores. How did they do? Well, let’s take a look.

Classic Burger & Summit EPA

Classic Smashburger & Extra Pale Ale: A pairing of classic with classic. This one didn’t do much for me. Both beer and burger are good. I’m a big fan of EPA and I like a plain ‘ol burger, but together they were just sort of “meh.” I also think that the burger overpowered the beer a little bit and made it seem bitterer than normal. Maybe it was the smash sauce – a combination of mayo, mustard, relish and lemon. I’ll say this though, the burger had ketchup on it. I hate ketchup and always have. It didn’t really taste like ketchup. Nice!

Mushroom Swiss Burger & Great Northern Porter

Mushroom Swiss Burger & Great Northern Porter: This was lovely. The combination brought out an earthiness in each part and there was umami on top of umami. Caramel malt spoke to caramelized beef crust. This was probably my second favorite combination. I was happy to learn that the mushrooms are crimini mushrooms, sliced fresh for each order.

BBQ Bacon and Cheddar Burger & Horizon Red Ale

BBQ Bacon and Cheddar Burger & Horizon Red Ale: This is the best pairing of the bunch. The caramel and citrus in the beer play very well with the tangy BBQ sauce. The pairing emphasized the hops in the beer, making it seem almost IPA-like. And again there’s that caramel to caramel handshake. And who doesn’t love bacon and beer?

Avocado Club Burger & Summit Pilsner

Avocado Club Burger & Pilsner: This was one of two pairings that were described as difficult to deal with. That’s because they really needed Summit Hefeweizen, which has been discontinued. The sliced avocado, smoked bacon, and ranch dressing on the burger would have been splendid with a hef. The pilsner brought out the bacon and cut through the fat, but spicy hops clashed a bit. It was the best pairing with the Summit lineup, but it wasn’t quite wonderful.

Twin Cities Burger & Summit EPA

Twin Cities Burger & Extra Pale Ale: Between caramelized onion, caramelized meat crust, and loads of cheese, this is one rich burger. The EPA did the job cutting right through it. All that caramelization brought out the maltiness in the beer, giving a more balanced impression than with the Classic burger. This pairing really worked.

Spicy Baja Burger & Saga IPA

Spicy Baja Burger & Saga IPA: Do hops amplify or dampen chili pepper heat? That’s the age old question in the beer-food pairing biz. I happen to think they do both; amplify first and then clear away. This burger is all about peppers. The heat of pepper jack cheese, chipotle mayonnaise, and raw jalapeno slices gives it a real kick that is tempered a bit by creamy guacamole.  Saga IPA was up to the task and the hops did just what they do. The citrusy flavors offered a nice contrast to the savory and spice of the burger. My mouth was left with a nice level of lingering heat.

Cucumber Goat Cheese Chicken Sandwich & Summit Pilsner

Cucumber and Goat Cheese Chicken Sandwich & Pilsner: This was the other sandwich that needed the hefeweizen. Let’s face it – chicken, spinach, goat cheese and cucumbers – a hefeweizen would have been great with every element of this sandwich. Pilsner again was the best choice from the Summit lineup, but it just didn’t quite do the trick. This was one of my favorite sandwiches though.

Crispy Buffalo Chicken Sandwich & India Pale Ale

Crispy Buffalo Chicken Sandwich & India Pale Ale: Spicy buffalo sauce and blue cheese paired with a balanced, English-style IPA. The beer is bitter enough to stare down the buffalo, but ample caramel malt keeps the combination from overheating. And blue cheese with English IPA simply can’t be beat. This was my third favorite pairing of the night.

Wanna Buy a Brewery? Leech Lake is for Sale.

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Leech Lake Brewing Company

Some time ago someone (I don’t even remember who) mentioned in passing that Leech Lake Brewing Company in Walker, Minnesota was up for sale. I took note and meant to do a search to verify this myself, but promptly forgot…until today.

For anyone wanting to break into the brewing business, Leech Lake is indeed for sale. The asking price is $500,000 for the whole kit and caboodle – that’s building, 1-bbl brewery, land, and all the accoutrement that come with running the business. You can check out the listing here.

I contacted Leech Lake co-owner/brewer Greg Smith to get the skinny.  In an email he said:

We listed LLBC for sale with the intent of selling it for nothing less than our asking price—$500K.  We are continuing to operate the business as usual until such time as we close on a deal with a suitable buyer.  I have plans to develop and market a product in the sports and fitness industry for which I’ve held a patent for the past seven years.  It’s been a goal of mine much longer than has been founding a microbrewery.  So, whenever it happens we’ll move on to the next project (although I’m simultaneously pursuing the other project while operating the brewery).  Not much else to tell you at this point.  Just moving forward each day…

So there you have it. This is your opportunity. Will you take it?

Leech Lake Brewing Company

Four New Craft Beer Projects in the Twin Cities Metro

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The Minnesota beer scene continues its mighty growth surge. Yesterday was a big day for beer-world announcements – two very public and one that came to me late last night in an email.

612 Brew

I first wrote about the 612 Brew guys (and gal) in the Heavy Table two years ago (almost to the day). At the time they were working out of a garage just south of Uptown, brewing small batches and dreaming of big ones. They had done a few publicity events, leading me to wonder just exactly what they were. Were they homebrewers showing off their beer at very public gigs, or were they a production brewery that didn’t seem to have beer available anywhere but these shindigs? Turns out the homebrew side was closer to the truth, but they were in the process of getting licensed, so the TTB put a stop to those events.

Not much had been heard from 612 since, until yesterday. On 6/12 – get it, 612 – they announced that a lease had been secured, a brewery had been ordered, and things were moving forward to open a brewery in Nordeast. The building at the corner of Broadway and Central sits below street grade. It’s an old industrial building about to be redeveloped that the brewery’s press release says will feature “exposed brick and timber along with polished concrete floors, an outdoor patio and a rain garden, creating a perfect atmosphere for the brewery.” Indeed, renderings of the finishes space make it look very inviting. The team is working with local manufacturer Minnetonka Brewing and Equipment, to build a custom 15-barrel brewhouse designed to be architecturally compatible with the space.

612 is steering away from the big beers that have been all the rage in craft-brewing for the last several years. They plan to make lower alcohol session beers, starting with SIX, an American pale ale, and Rated R, a spicy and hoppy Rye IPA. Other brews are also in the plan including a German lager with ginger called Mary Ann (a Gilligan’s Island reference for those too young to remember). The plan is also to serve Indian street food in the taproom.

Fitger’s Brewhouse

The second big announcement came from up north. The Star Tribune reported that Fitger’s Brewhouse plans to open a new brewpub in downtown Minneapolis at 107 3rd Ave. N. They plan to open in late fall or early winter, but the brewery won’t be in place until sometime next spring or summer. In the meantime they will feature some made-in-Duluth Fitger’s brews along with guest taps from other Minnesota beer makers. The design may include outdoor seating and a possible rooftop beer garden. This is big news to many Twin Cities beer fans that currently have to trek the 150 miles to Duluth to enjoy some of the best beers in the state.

Blacklist Brewing and Wolf Revival

The last announcement came to me in an email with the subject line “Two More Beer Projects.” The first of these project is something called the Blacklist Brewing Beer + Art Project. The brainchild of 7-year veteran brewer Brian Schanzenbach and marketing guy/Certified Cicerone Jon Loss, Blacklist will operate as itinerant brewers in the mold of Mikkeller in Denmark, leasing time and space in other brewery’s facilities to make their beers, although they haven’t ruled out eventually building their own plant. They’ll form collaborations with regional artists to meld unique beers with artwork to match, a different beer and a different artist every month. The pair plan to work on a membership model similar to Crooked Stave in Colorado. Membership buys you a monthly shipment of beer and art starting in 2013. Different membership levels get you different amounts of each. Memberships are already available for purchase at the Blacklist Kickstarter project page. A glance at the proposed beer list reveals some creative concoctions including a lot of sours. How ‘bout a white grape strong Belgian golden or an imperial IPA with fennel and spruce.

But that’s not all. Loss and Schanzenbach are involved in a second project centered in Stillwater.  They are collaborating with the great-granddaughters of the Joseph Wolf family to revitalize the pre-prohibition brewery of the family name. They plan to introduce 750 ml bottles of Belgian strong golden and Berliner Weiss in Stillwater and limited outlets in the TC Metro later this summer. Initially these beers will be brewed at Dubrue in Duluth. Apparently the group is trying to purchase the old Wolf brewery buildings on Main Street in Stillwater, but are running into some difficulty.

It’s definitely an interesting time to be a beer fan in Minnesota.

Jeff Williamson Out at Flat Earth

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In news that has shocked the MN beer world, Jeff Williamson posted on his Facebook feed this morning that he has been sacked from Flat Earth Brewing Company, the brewery that he founded in 2007. In his post Williamson said, “We’ll it’s been an interesting ride, but I was just fired from Flat Earth this morning.” A few minutes later Cathie Dirks-Williamson, Jeff’s wife and Flat Earth Co-founder followed up, “Jeff was fired this morning from our beloved Flat Earth Brewing Company. Thank you to all our family, friends, and fans. We brewed for you and we hope you enjoyed our beer in good times and bad. Peace out.” I have not yet reached the Williamsons for comment.

A spokesperson at the brewery declined to go into detail, but said that Williamson “has chosen to leave the company.” According to this spokesperson the decision was made by Williamson a month ago and they were tying up loose ends before he actually departed. The current Assistant Brewer Bob Roepke will continue brewing until hiring decisions have been made. Flat Earth currently has an ad on Probrewer.com looking for an Assistant Brewer.

The Williamsons founded Flat Earth in 2007. By 2010 the brewery had hit financial difficulties and the decision was made to sell the company to an investor to head off foreclosure. John Warner bought Flat Earth in that year, with Jeff Williamson staying on as Brewmaster. There have been rumors of tension between them for some time.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: 10:15 AM, 4/9/12

Flat Earth Brewery just posted the following statement on its Facebook feed .

“Jeff submitted his intent to leave the company over 3 weeks ago, yesterday was his last day, why he chooses to say he was fired is not accurate. Please be sure you know all the facts. We wish Jeff the best.”

UPDATE: 2:39 PM, 4/9/12

Flat Earth Brewery has removed the statement above from its Facebook Feed.

The Williamsons have declined to comment citing possible legal questions and stating “we certainly don’t want to battle the brewery on FB.”

Crispin Cider Sells To Miller Coors – More Details

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The internet lit up this morning with the announcement that Minneapolis-based Crispin Cider had been sold to MillerCoors. Early reports in the Milwaukee Business Journal and the Pioneer Press gave little detail, stating only that the company had been purchased for an undisclosed amount and was to be run as a unit of Tenth and Blake, the craft-and-import division of the brewing giant named after the Miller’s 10th Street Brewery in Milwaukee and the Coors-owned Sandlot Brewery located on Blake Street in Denver, Colorado. Reports disclosed that the deal includes both Crispin and its affiliate Fox Barrel. Tenth and Blake CEO Tom Cardella cited the precipitous growth of the hard cider sector since 2008 when Crispin was founded and said, “We were looking at the best way to participate in that growth. Crispin stood out.”

I had the opportunity to chat with Crispin founder and CEO Joe Heron this afternoon to fill in some of the blanks. The whole thing came together quickly as far as these things go. Discussions began last year on November 4th and the deal was finished on February 4th. For Heron, selling the company that he started in 2008 wasn’t about money. The company has grown 200 percent since its inception. It was doing quite well. Instead the sale was intended to bring to Crispin a higher level of expertise and access to markets that would take the cider maker to the next level, or as he put it, “To put muscles on the mouse.”

What MillerCoors brings, according to Heron, is resources, expertise, and access to markets that will enable the company to upscale. The intent is to continue making the product in the current Colfax, California facility, but to expand and update that facility as demand increases. In addition the connection with MillerCoors will help Crispin place its cider into lucrative chain-store accounts.

Heron has been approached by others in the past, but was holding out for the right buyer. “The chemistry here is great,” he says. Clearly MillerCoors, like the other big brewers, recognizes the growth of the craft segment in the face of falling sales for their mainline brands. They are looking to get in on that growth by expanding into more innovative product lines. They have entered into partnerships with other small producers such as Georgia-based Terrapin. Heron says that part of what made the offer appealing to him was the sincerity of the folks at Tenth and Blake. “People see these as huge monolithic companies, but these are real people who are all about beer. They make their regular products, but they are just as much into the craft stuff as anybody.” He says that the company was interested in maintaining Crispin’s position as an innovator in the cider sector. In his words, “They like us because we make cool shit.”

Heron will stay on as the head of Crispin. “This is the most fun I’ve had in my entire career life.” he said. “I’m not going to leave it now.” Crispin will be given a large degree of autonomy from MillerCoors. That autonomy was another selling point for Heron. Crispin will maintain its own sales force. Cider production will remain in Colfax, California. The company will continue the kind of adventurous cider making that has begun to spawn imitators. Upcoming projects include a barrel-aged version of their Lansdowne named after late singer Marvin Gaye, and Bohemian, the next of their alternative yeast explorations, this one fermented with a German lager yeast.

Time will tell what this sale will mean for Crispin. If the MillerCoors promise of autonomy holds and the company is allowed to continue in the direction it has already set for itself over the last three years, it could prove to be a good move, expanding the market for the product beyond its current niche status. If quality suffers it will only alienate the brands current consumers. I for one don’t see Miller Coors doing that. As Heron said, they are purchasing a part of the future. They want to cash in on that growth market. They would be shooting themselves in the foot to mess with that. That said Killian’s Irish Red is not the beer it once was.

Mankato Brewery – A First Look

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Within three days of launch, Mankato Brewery had already sold 30-barrels of beer. That’s 930 gallons, the entire capacity of one of the brewery’s three fermentation tanks. The rapid sales took them by surprise. When I visited on Thursday, January 12th they had only one sixth-barrel keg left in the cooler and had ramped up their brewing schedule as much as possible. After only a week in business, they are already shopping for more tanks. It’s a good problem for a new brewery to have.

I first talked to Mankato Brewery co-founder Tim Tupy for a June 2010 article on The Heavy Table food blog. At that time Tupy and his partner Tony Feuchtenberger were just getting started. Their website was mostly a space-filler. They had yet to nail down a space. And their search for a brewer was just beginning. They needed someone willing to build the brewery and the brand from the ground up, and willing to relocate to Mankato. As it happens, Mike Miziorko, then a brewer at Summit, was looking for just such an opportunity. He read the Heavy Table article and picked up the phone to call Tupy. In July of last year he celebrated his last day at Summit and headed south to join the team.

The three view themselves as the legs of a three-legged stool. Each one brings a different talent to the partnership. Tupy is an entrepreneur with marketing experience and deep connections in the civic life of Mankato. Feuchtenberger’s background is in production and operations management. Miziorko is the man who makes the beer. Of his switch from Summit’s 220-hectolieter, fully-automated system to the much-smaller and totally-manual 15-barrel brewery at Mankato Miziorko says, “This is brewing. This is what I went to school for. I’m much closer to the beer.” He’s enjoying the ability to put his stamp on the thing from build-out to beers.

Tupy began considering the idea of opening a brewery a few years ago. He’s active in several civic organizations, which makes him well connected to what’s happening in Mankato. He saw a demand. People still had a connection to the old Mankato Brewing Company that closed in the 1960s. Kato beer signs and t-shirts were a common sight. His entrepreneurial spirit – he’s already opened two other businesses – said “let’s go.” He approached his homebrewing buddy Feuchtenberger and the two began to plan. A public brew day at the Brau Brothers brewery in nearby Lucan, Minnesota sealed their resolve. Within three months they had the basics together and started their search for a brewer.

Mankato Brewery launched on January 5th with their flagship beer Mankato Original. Original is a classic Kölsch-style beer. The crisp, lager-like ale has bready malt flavor and subtle fruitiness in the nose. Spicy hops and moderate bitterness keep it balanced but leave it light and delicate. In talking about the beer, Miziorko, who’s college major was German, quotes and old German saying that the “first beer should ask for the third.” My first-hand experience says that the third goes down just as easily as the first.

Miziorko appreciates the subtle complexity of German beer styles. To him they are beers with both depth and drinkability. “I’m a beer drinker,” he says. “I want to be able to enjoy more than one.” He has spent a good deal of time in Germany and admires the sense of community and tradition that surrounds beer there. Beer is a staple of life; it’s food.  He says that beer drinking there is less about the beer and more about the time spent drinking it. “That’s Gem?tlichkeit.”

Mankato Brewery is only distributing in Mankato and St. Peter. If you want the beer, you’ll have to go there to get it. There are plans to introduce other year-round beers and a few seasonals, but those will have to wait until they can keep up with demand for Original.

Badger Hill Brewing Company

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I’m telling you, the rush of new breweries in Minnesota just can’t be stopped. Every time I turn around I learn about another one on the horizon that I had never heard of. On a trip out to the Lucid brewery today, I had the pleasure of speaking to Broc Krekelberg, one of the threesome behind Badger Hill Brewing Company, a new, soon-to-be brewery in the Twin Cities metro.

Badger Hill is still a couple months away from selling beer. They are still waiting for their brewers notice from the TTB to be able to get started. They expect that soon. They plan to launch with an ESB style beer. Other beers planned will be designed for a wide palate. A double IPA or the odd Belgian may be in the mix down the road, but the brewery’s focus will be on more sessionable beer styles. Kölsch was one that was mentioned.

Badger Hill will be brewing at Lucid Brewery in Minnetonka, taking advantage of the federal designation called alternating proprietorship that allows them to have their own brewer’s license while operating in another brewery’s space. It’s not contract brewing, they are a full-fledged brewery sharing equipment and space with another brewery. They have purchased and installed their own fermenters and have plans to bring in a bottling line, which would also allow Lucid to package their brews. Krekelberg emphasized how glad they are to have hooked up with Jon and Eric at Lucid. The chemistry between them is great and the arrangement has allowed Badger Hill to get up and running more quickly and with lower up-front capital needs.

I’m happy to welcome another new brewer to the state. I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more from Badger Hill Brewing very soon.

Yet Another New Beer Sales/Distribution Bill in MN

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An already-interesting year for Minnesota beer just got a little more interesting.

We’ve already got Sunday sales bill (not restricted to beer) and the “Surly Bill” going before the state legislature. Now a new beer bill has made its way to the capitol. S.F. No. 1013 proposes changes to the brewpub license.

Currently brewpubs are allowed to hold a retail license (meaning they can offer a full bar) and to sell draft beer manufactured on the premises for on-site consumption. They are also allowed to sell their own beer in growlers for off-site consumption and to sell their own beer at other retail outlets owned by the same entity (i.e. Town Hall and Town Hall Tap). Brewpubs have an annual production cap of 3500 barrels and are not allowed to sell beer to distributors for the retail market. They cannot sell beer for off-site consumption in any form but growlers.

The changes proposed in this new bill would eliminate the 3500 barrel limit for brewpubs and allow brewpubs to sell beer to wholesalers for distribution to the retail market. In other words, you could be able to get beer from Town Hall, Fitgers, Herkimer, or any other Minnesota brewpub at your favorite liquor store or beer bar. Some other states allow brewpubs to sell beer to distributors, including California, Utah, Wisconsin, Oregon, and New Mexico, among others.

One really had to expect that this was coming. Such laws have been proposed in the past and failed to gain support in the legislature. The issue has also been a source of tension in the state’s brewing community. There has been some resistance among production breweries to allowing brewpubs to distribute. Except for the sale of growlers by small breweries, production breweries are restricted from engaging in retail sales directly to consumers. Brewpubs can sell beer (and other alcoholic beverages) directly to consumers, and at more than one location. Allowing them to also distribute into the retail market was viewed by some production breweries as creating unfair competition. The “Surly bill”, which would allow breweries to sell directly to the public, must, I suspect, be viewed by some brewpub owners in the same way. Putting both bills on the table would alleviate that perceived imbalance.

The question had already been raised whether putting all of these measures forward at once decreases the chances of success for any of them. Are brewers overreaching by pushing for too much, too fast in a state that has been resistant to changing anything related to beer manufacture and distribution? Adding one more bill to the mix just adds to the flood.  I think the answer lies in part on who supports and who opposes the bills. Powerful lobbies like the beer wholesalers and the MLBA, whose flip-flop statements about Surly’s bill have become the stuff of extensive internet chatter, could do much to stop the proposals if they apply their leverage in opposition. Get their support and the chances of success are greatly improved. This new brewpub bill would seem to benefit both groups’ constituents; distributors get access to new brewery accounts and retailers gain new and desirable products to sell. But will support of one take away support of the other? That remains to be seen.

Stone Week Minnesota Begins March 29th

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Caution, the following post contains hyperbole and sarcasm. Deal with it.

Once upon a time in Minnesota, thirsty beer fanatics in search of the over-the-top elixirs created by San Diego’s Stone Brewing Co. had to make a long and arduous trek across the St. Croix to Hudson, Wisconsin. Wisconsin of all places! The horror! The infamy! But we swallowed our pride and trek we did.

Then one sad and dreary day Stone Brewing Co. pulled out of Wisconsin. Rumors flew. Was it distributor issues? Inability to meet demand? It could have been anything. The only thing certain was NO MORE STONE!

But then other more encouraging rumors began to bubble up from the trub at the bottom of our collective fermenter. Greg Koch, CEO and co-founder of Stone Brewing Co. was making frequent trips to the Twin Cities. What did this mean? Did it mean anything? The questions were swirling. Had the land-o-lakes been deemed worthy to receive the Arrogant Bastard (the beer, not Greg Koch)? Would the Vikings ever get their stadium?

Then, while no one was looking, a Facebook page was started; Stone Brewing in Minnesota. A regional sales rep was hired; Nate Sellegren. Finally, a distributor was announced; Original Gravity. It was real. Our dark night of the soul was over. We were worthy. No longer would we be without our Ruination Ale or Vertical Epic. This was epic!

Now the day is neigh when Stone Brewing Co. beers will be unleashed upon the state. Today the brewery announced STONE WEEK MINNESOTA. Beginning March 29th, the Twin Cities will experience five days of beer madness, the likes of which the state has never seen. CEO and co-founder Greg Koch, described in the brewery press release as “Grand Marshal to the never-ending parade playing out in his own head”, will return to the Mini Apple and the Pig’s Eye (sorry St. Paul, that was your city’s original name) to oversee a week-long lineup of earth-shaking events. And of course there will be beer. Again from the press release, “In addition to providing a prodigious portfolio of nine highly praised year-round releases, Greg dug back in the archives to break out some vintage rarities, barrel-aged niceties, and other treasured oddities.” Translation: there will be some really interesting beer.

There are too many events for me to even attempt to list them all. However, the March 29th kick-off event at Stub & Herbs is off the hook with 32 Stone beers on tap, including a vertical flight of Old Guardian Barleywine going back to 2007. The whole grand itinerary of Stone Week Minnesota can be found here. Be sure to click and show the beer lists. There’s some pretty amazing stuff.

BE THERE!