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. 

Is it a return to the classics? There are ample Pilsners, bocks, West Coast-style and even funky IPAs on tap this week across the Land of 10,000 Lakes. While we reflect on Brett IPAs and honey bocks, let’s also note that there’s a beer for every holiday, including pink beers for Valentine’s Day in a couple of weeks and an already tapping surplus of red lager and red ales as we near St. Patrick’s Day.

Check out those styles, and many more, in Freshies below. And keep reading to see which breweries are celebrating milestone anniversaries this week. Can you guess who is turning five?

 

 

Each week, the Beer Dabbler team highlights five of the most tantalizing new beers that we’re most excited to try.

Boathouse Brothers Brewing Co. RUA SEOL – A roasty, toasty Irish-style red ale with caramel, roasted grain, and coffee flavors. (Pronounced roo-ahh shoal.)

Castle Danger Brewery Beargrease Brown Ale – “A medium bodied oatmeal brown ale with aromas of chocolate, dark fruit, caramel, and toffee. It’s only pouring at our taproom in Two Harbors while it lasts,” the brewery says.

Clutch Brewing Vienna Lager – “A slightly darker version of this moderate strength lager, it has soft maltiness and crisp finish, while showcasing a rich toasty, bready character without trending too sweet,” the brewery in the Keg and Case market says.

Earth Rider Brewery Haakon Honey Bock – A smooth lager with a floral honey aroma and toasted malt flavors, the brewery says.

New Glarus Brewery Spotted Cow Grand Cru – Available to the east, this special Spotted Cow edition is a limited farmhouse ale with coriander and orange peel.

New beers available this week

608 Brewing Company

  • Berry Punch Bowl – A sour ale with added boysenberry, blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, peach, tangerine, lime, and also marshmallow. 6% ABV.
  • Pastry Potluck – This new 11% pastry sour has a bit of everything: pecans, cinnamon doughnuts, chocolate cake, coconut, vanilla, maple syrup, cocoa, marshmallow, and almonds.

Photo via 608 Brewing Company

Alloy Brewing Company

  • What Happened?! Bourbon Cream Ale – Back at Alloy, “This bourbon cream ale is a suped-up version of our flagship cream ale that is smoother, sweeter and aged with oak staves,” the brewery says. 8.1% ABV, 11 IBU.

Bad Habit Brewing Company

  • Johnnie Lager – “Brewed exclusively with Red-X malt. This beer is delicately malty, slightly toasted and just a hint of caramel. It’s super crisp,” the brewery notes.

Badger Hill Brewing Company

  • Just Look At It! – A new Pilsner, on tap now.

Big Wood Brewery

  • Bad Axe – A limited release imperial IPA, on tap and sold in 4-packs now. 9.8% ABV, 76 IBU.

Birch’s On The Lake

  • Bourbon Barrel Vanilla Milk Stout – An 11.0% ABV stout aged in Four Roses bourbon barrels with whole bourbon vanilla beans for one year.

BlackStack Brewing

  • Just Circling Back – Mosaic, Citra Cryo, and Idaho 7 Cryo hops form the foundation of this 6.6% ABV IPA.
  • Wild, Wild West – A funky West Coast-style IPA made with BlackStack’s house culture an aged in an American oak foeder.

Boathouse Brothers Brewing Co.

  • RUA SEOL – Top Flight selection

Bobbing Bobber Brewing Company

  • Peanut Butter Row Your Boat – A robust porter with peanut butter. Back for a limited time.

Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative

  • Willie’s Wee Heavy – A 9.0% ABV Scottish ale with toffee and caramel-like flavors, with subtle and earthy hops notes.

Canal Park Brewing Company

  • Ankle Deep Pilsner – 5% ABV, 25.5 IBU.
  • The Great Loch – A Scotch ale at 8.5% ABV, 16.5 IBU.

Castle Danger Brewery

  • Beargrease Brown Ale – Top Flight selection

Chaotic Good Brewing Company

  • Quest Giver – A nut brown-style ale.

Chapel Brewing

  • Irish Red – A malt-forward red with caramel notes.

Clutch Brewing

  • Vienna Lager – Top Flight selection

Copper Trail Brewing

  • Belgian Workhorse – A Belgian-style golden strong ale.
  • Lakeside Wheat –  This new batch of Lakeside adds extra orange, both zest and puree, for a citrus boost and sweet orange finish. 6.0% ABV, 18 IBU.
  • Pink Passion – A sour ale made with pink guava and passion fruit.

Cuyuna Brewing Co.

  • Miner 51 Light Ale – Tapped last week for Cuyuna’s fifth anniversary, “It is a light bodied, cold brewed ale,” the brewery says.

Day Block Brewing Company

  • Lack of Virtues – A kettle-soured and double dry-hopped IPA brewed to celebrate Day Block’s eight anniversary. “This hop forward IPA is loaded with pilsner malt, oat, and wheat; kettle soured for a tart dry finish; hopped and double dry-hopped with Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, and Hallertauer Blanc, then laid to rest on softly toasted French Oak,” the brewery explains. 7.2% ABV, 45 IBU.

Disgruntled Brewing

  • Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should – “Smooth, light and subtle upfront apple flavor finishing with light blackberry, the brewery says of its first hard seltzer.” 6.2% ABV.
  • The Perham-based brewery is hosting its fifth anniversary party this Saturday with two beer releases, one of which is brand new. As of press time, the brewery has not announced its lineup.

Dual Citizen Brewing Company

  • Saturday Night Kind of Pink – A pineapple, blackberry, and lemon sour ale and the first canned fruited sour from Dual Citizen. 5.5% ABV.
  • This Must Be The Pale – A 5.8% ABV American pale ale made with Strata, Simcoe, and Citra Cryo hops.

Duluth Cider

  • Mimosa – Crisp cider mixed with fresh orange juice for this limited taproom cocktail, available only on Sundays.
  • North – “A semi-sweet cider steeped with white pine needles and sweetened with 100% Minnesota maple the cider explains.”
  • Ya bro! – A semi-dry cider with Sabro hops and jasmine tea.

Earth Rider Brewery

  • Haakon Honey Bock – Top Flight selection

Elm Creek Brewing Co.

  • Strawberry Lemonade – Hard seltzer

Fair State Brewing Cooperative

  • Is That All I Get? A true to style foeder-aged dark English-style mild with molasses, caramel, and biscuit flavors with an oaky finish, the brewery says.

HammerHeart Brewing Company

  • Thor’s Fury – A variant of Thor’s Porter, with added peppers.
  • Thor’s Porter – One of the last batches to come out of the Lino Lakes brewery.

Hop & Barrel Spring Valley

  • Brett Favra – “Fermented with 100% Brettanomyces Claussenii and finished with Amarillo, Galaxy, and Simcoe. Tropical fruit forward with rounded citrus finish and an approachable funk,” the brewery says. 6.8% ABV.
  • Hazy Valley – The latest batch of hazy IPA in Spring Valley was finished with Idaho 7, Amarillo, and Citra. It pours at 7% ABV with orange, grapefruit, and tangerine flavors.

Imminent Brewing

  • Buzzin’ Like Neon – A recently tapped Belgian-style golden strong ale at 7.4% ABV, 28 IBU. The brewery described the beer as “Soft malt character backed by floral and fruity hops with a nice and dry finish.”
  • Morning Zoom Stout – A stout with added coffee and roasted cocoa nibs. 5.6% ABV, 35 IBU.

Lakes & Legends Brewing Company

  • Nobs For One – A new hazy IPA that will tap first, then hit liquor stores. The beer itself offers tangerine flavors with notes of orange, peach, and pineapple.

Lift Bridge Brewing Co.

  • Understanding Computers – Available at both Lift Bridge taprooms now and headed to liquor stores soon, Understanding Computers is a double dry-hopped double IPA with blueberry.

Lupulin Brewing Company

  • Blueberry & Marshmallow – A imperial fruited sour with a mixture of strawberry, banana, blueberry, marshmallow, and vanilla. 9% ABV, 7 IBU.
  • Coffee Shop Assault – Cacao nibs and bourbon barrel-aged coffee beans are added to an imperial stout for a big 11% ABV coffee stout with vanilla chocolate notes.
  • Little Black Rain Cloud – Tapped yesterday (and in bottles too), this barrel-aged wee heavy pours at 11.1% ABV is a charitable release helping raise funds for Brewed with Heart, a non-profit organization that benefits families dealing with childhood illnesses.

Modist Brewing Co.

  • Echos for Answers Flaked oats, malted wheat, and a blend of Citra, Citra Cryo, Mosaic, and Mosaic Cryo hops come together for this New England-style IPA. On tap this Saturday and in liquor stores next Tuesday.
  • Honeycomb Catacomb – A honey double porter made with Minnesota wildflower honey and Ghana cocoa nibs. On tap this Saturday and in liquor stores next week.

Photo via Modist Brewing Company

New Glarus Brewery

  • Spotted Cow Grand Cru – Top Flight selection

Oliphant Brewing

  • Cats Cats – A West Coast-style IPA made with Cascade and Centennial hops. 7.5% ABV.
  • Oh! Rangee? – A 5% ABV orange cream sour ale.
  • Sangy Squishy – Peanut butter, blackberry and banana come together in this 5% ABV sour ale.

Pryes Brewing Co.

  • Terraform – As Pryes puts it: “The good folks at Hemp Acres custom converted beautiful, hand-selected citra hops into pure, fragrant terpene oil, which we used to create a brand new, bright, juicy IPA.” On tap now.

Surly Brewing Co.

  • Ghost Empire – One of three new beers in the Unusual Suspects mix pack (and Furious), Ghost Empire is a dark lager with sweet, rich malt flavors.
  • Havoc Machine – Last year’s West Coast-style IPA is back, with a blend of dank and citrus flavors courtesy of its Cascade, Chinook, and Amarillo hop blend.
  • Hypermodern Idaho 7 IPA – “The Idaho 7 hop, developed by our friends at Jackson Hop Farms, bridges the tropical/citrus divide with striking notes of melon, pineapple, tangerine, and red berries,” the brewery says.

Urban Growler Brewing Company

  • Tornado Drill IPA – Tapped on the first Wednesday of the month, this 7% ABV, 79 IBU IPA offers pine and orange flavors derived from Simcoe and Bergamot hops.

Utepils Brewing

  • For their fifth birthday party this weekend, Utepils has limited new beers available, a $5 weekend menu, and a limited hours “Bloody Skolsch & Hefe-Mosa” option.
  • 5th Anniversary Pils – A 5.0% ABV, 34 IBU German-style Pilsner on tap for the brewery’s fifth anniversary on Saturday, Feb. 5.
  • Dragonfruit Ewald – Limited release.
  • Glocal IPA – A 6.5% ABV, 64 IBU Belgian-style IPA.

https://www.facebook.com/events/514391916604741/

Wabasha Brewing Company

  • White Chocolate Stout – A smooth and creamy, roast-forward white stout. 5.8% ABV, 39 IBU, and in limited supply. Tapped on Tuesday.

Wooden Hill Brewing

  • Triple Berry Swirl – A fruited ale with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, lactose, and vanilla. 6.4% ABV.

Have a new beer we should know about? Send the details to newbeer@beerdabbler.com for inclusion in Freshies.