Husband-and-wife duo opening Chanhassen Brewing Company on April 15
Matthew Rosati, co-founder of Chanhassen Brewing Company • Photo by Jordan Wipf Chanhassen has a small skatepark, plenty of coffee shops, local boutiques, and a collection of restaurants—but Laura and Matthew Rosati felt the town was missing one crucial piece to the community puzzle: a brewery. The husband-and-wife duo [...]
U.S. Craft Beer Declined 9%, Minnesota Breweries Suffered 18% Drop in Sales in 2020
Graphic via Brewers Association Infographic via Brewers Association Here's some bad news that you probably already knew instinctively but now get see illustrated by data: COVID-19 totally knocked craft beer on its ass in 2020. Two reports released this week, which were commissioned by the Brewers [...]
Parfaits, Pastries, and Pies—Dessert Beers on Tap for Easter weekend
Jack Pine Blueberry Pastry Sour • Photo via Jack Pine Brewery Welcome to Beer Dabbler’s Freshies, our weekly rundown on the newest beers hitting the store shelves and taproom coolers in Minnesota from your favorite local and national breweries. Dessert-minded beers are plentiful as we near Easter weekend, [...]
Lift Bridge Brewing Company opening Wisconsin brewery with Big Watt Coffee
Lift Bridge and Big Watt's founders pose outside of their New Richmond facility. L to R: Dan Schwarz (Lift Bridge), Caleb Garn (Big Watt), Tom Meyer (Big Watt), Brad Glynn (Lift Bridge) • Photo via Lift Bridge Stillwater's Lift Bridge Brewing Company announced Wednesday its plans to expand [...]
3 Minnesota Breweries Represent in 50 Largest U.S. Craft Breweries in 2020 List
Brewers Association's annual Top 50 U.S. Craft Brewing Companies by Sales Volume • Graphic via Brewers Association Despite the industry-wide decline in beer sales in 2020, three Minnesota breweries landed again on the top 50 craft breweries in the U.S. by sales volume. Summit Brewing Company in St. Paul [...]
Want to live in an 155 year-old brewery in Jordan, Minnesota?
Schutz and Hilgers Brewery–AKA your new home–circa 1940 • Photo via SCHS Collections We've all been there. You're having a few drinks at your favorite brewery and a brilliant thought pops in your mind: "They should just build apartments in here! I'd totally rent one and then I'd [...]
3 Must-Drink Ciders made by the ‘Best Cidery in the U.S.’—Milk & Honey Ciders
Milk & Honey Ciders • Photo by Jordan Wipf We Minnesotans instinctively raise our hackles whenever a national publication rolls out their "Best Of" lists. Either the North Star State is completely overlooked (ignorance!) or the editors and voters attribute something so nonsensical to Minnesota's rich culture that [...]
Oberon Season is Back and Wheat Ales Reign Supreme
Bell's Oberon returned this week • Photo via Bell's Brewery Welcome to Beer Dabbler’s Freshies, our weekly rundown on the newest beers hitting the store shelves and taproom coolers in Minnesota from your favorite local and national breweries. From gose to grodziskie, hefeweizen to wit, wheat is a vital [...]
Thin Wit Duke Sour Belgian White All-Grain Recipe
Thin Wit Duke Sour Belgian White • Illustration by D.Witt Witbier is a wheat-based ale that originated in east-central Belgium. Its name literally means “white beer,” although its actual color is more of a hazy straw gold. But it would have looked quite pallid next to the dark [...]
Goodbye Green Beer, Hello Colorful Kettle Sours
Disgruntled Sourbet pastry sour • Photo via Disgruntled Brewing Welcome to Beer Dabbler’s Freshies, our weekly rundown on the newest beers hitting the store shelves and taproom coolers in Minnesota from your favorite local and national breweries. At this point, most of the green beer kegs have tapped. Taking [...]
Raise a toast to St. Patrick’s Day at these Twin Cities Metro Breweries and Cideries
A growler being poured at FINNEGANS in Minneapolis • Photo via FINNEGANS Happy St. Patrick's Day, Dabblers! Whether you're a descendant from the Emerald Isle or just an honorary Irish person for the day, we can all agree that we deserve a few sturdy pints of plain and [...]
New releases for International Women’s Day and Irish ales for St. Paddy’s Day on tap this week
Shakopee Brewhall The Riveter Irish Cream Ale • Photo via Shakopee Brewhall Welcome to Beer Dabbler’s Freshies, our weekly rundown on the newest beers hitting the store shelves and taproom coolers in Minnesota from your favorite local and national breweries. Berries and cream, Irish red ales and stouts, and [...]
Witch Hunt MPLS on changing the ‘Boy’s Club’ brewery culture, 2020 collabs, and future goals
Members of Witch Hunt during a brew-day visit to Arbeiter Brewing • Photo by Witch Hunt Founded in Minneapolis in 2017 after a successful collaborative brewing project at Thirsty Pagan Brewing, Witch Hunt has been a standard-bearer for Women-led initiatives within the Twin Cities craft beer scene. Now [...]
Women used to dominate the beer industry—until the witch accusations started pouring in
Illustration from John Ashton's The Devil in Britain and America (1896) What do witches have to do with your favorite beer? When I pose this question to students in my American literature and culture classes, I receive stunned silence or nervous laughs. The Sanderson sisters didn’t chug down [...]
Snarky Loon Brewing Co. opening March 11 in the ‘Gateway to the Whitefish Chain of Lakes’
Snarky Loon Brewing Co. is set to open in Jenkins, Minnesota, on March 11, 2021 • Photo via Snarky Loon Brewing Company Jenkins, Minnesota, might be a small town of just over 400 people, but its proximity to the Whitefish Chain of Lakes brings in plenty of campers, [...]