Photo via Bent Paddle Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

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. 

Hops are front and center in new beers this week. There are all manner of IPA styles from East Coast to West Coast and everything in between. One trend of the moment is showcasing how different hops can change a beer, be it in flight form at Bent Paddle, or with dry-hopping and late additions to boost the bouquet.

While IPAs are certainly plentiful, it’s not all hops though. We have multiple beer-poking parties going on, which is a good time for winter patio drinking, of course, but it also pushes caramelized malt to the forefront.

 

 

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

A-Side Public House American Wheat – A collaboration with Lakes & Legends, this was brewed with American Pale Malt and American White Wheat from Rahr in Shakopee “This beer has a wonderful hazy glow from the proteins in the wheat malt, as well as the low-flocculating yeast – 100% unfiltered. Pillowy, fruity, approachable, and light, with a zesty spice from the Super Saaz hops,” the brewery says.

Fulton Brewing Thunder God – A limited-time stout with added maple syrup, vanilla, and cacao, sold in 4-packs. 7.5% ABV.

La Doña Cervecería 3 The Hard Way – “This purple and blue corn lager hints at a mild tartness on the nose with a crisp and slightly bitter finish. With each sip you’ll get a smooth backbone from the blue and purple corn with an easy dry finish,” the brewery says. A collaboration with 612Brew and Wild Mind.

Milk & Honey Ciders Kingston Black – A single varietal cider at 7.8% ABV.

Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. Barrel Aged Knock One Bock – Available on draft in Decorah, IA, this doppelbock is a collaboration with Wisconsin Brewing Company,  barrel-aged with vanilla, toasted toffee, and malty flavors.

New beers available this week

10K Brewing

  • Maple Black Ale – 7% ABV and back on tap now.

608 Brewing Company

  • Mongorita – An 8% ABV imperial sour with mango, line, and sea salt, just in time for Margarita Day earlier this week. “Thick mango nectar meets the perfect amount of citrus acidity with a refreshing salt essence on the finish,” 608 says.

A-Side Public House

Open since last fall in St. Paul, there are currently eight beers on draft at A-Side, each available in Crowlers. 

  • American IPA – 6.7% ABV
  • American Wheat – Top Flight selection
  • English Brown Ale – 5.5% ABV
  • English ESB – 5.9% ABV
  • French Saison – 7.5% ABV
  • Milk Stout – 5.0% ABV
  • New England IPA – This newly tapped New England-style double dry-hopped IPA is a 6.9% ABV collaboration with 9 Mile Brewing.
  • Pils – 5.0% ABV

Alloy Brewing Company

  • Rock Out with your Doppelbock Out – The featured beer at this Saturday’s bock poking party.
  • 300 Brew Days – A double dry-hopped triple IPA showing off the flavors and aromas of Sultana and Mackinac hops. 9.1% ABV, 40 IBU.

Bad Weather Brewing Company

  • Glory Daze – A West Coast-style IPA made with Amarillo, Centennial, Ekuanot Cryo, and Columbus Cryo hops. On tap, in Crowlers, and sold in 4-packs.

Badger Hill Brewing Company

  • Death Star Disco Ball – Triple IPA
  • Minnesota Truffle Imperial Pastry Stout

Bent Paddle Brewing Co.

The Duluth taproom is now serving a limited time hop-forward remix flight:

  • Bent Hop
  • Citra Bump
  • Double Dry Hopped
  • Slightly Angled
  • Cali Breeze – A taproom exclusive IPA featuring El Dorado and Citra hops for bright citrus and floral notes with moderate bitterness and a dry finish, the brewery says. 7.4%⁠ ABV, 50⁠ IBU.

Brau Brothers Brewing Co.

  • Crappie Flop Amber – 5.9% ABV, 30 IBU
  • Double Cross Pale Ale – 4.5% ABV, 10 IBU

Bricksworth Beer

  • Cool Under Pressure – “Fermented cold, spunded for natural carbonation and hopped with some refreshingly dank Simcoe, Centennial and Chinook,” the brewery says of this 7.0% ABV cold IPA.
  • Per My Last Email – A 7.4% ABV New England-style IPA made with Mosaic, Simcoe, and New Zealand Motueka hops. On draft and available in Crowlers.

Fair State Brewing Cooperative

  • …And The World Is Mean – A barrel-aged companion to Life Ain’t Fair barleywine. This 15% ABV big beer offers notes of caramel, toffee, spirits, vanilla, and oak. The taproom will pour Life Ain’t Fair samples on Saturday for comparison.

Foremost Brewing Cooperative

  • Bob’s Bock – The featured beer at the bock poking party this Saturday in Owatonna.

Fulton Brewing

  • Thunder God – Top Flight selection

Hop & Barrel Brewing

  • Barrel Aged Ridiculous Idiots – Available at both locations (Hudson and Spring Valley,m this is an imperial stout, barrel-aged).
  • Ridiculous Idiots – The non barrel-aged edition of Hop & Barrel’s imperial stout.

Klockow Brewing Company

  • Hays on Tay – A new batch is now available from the Grand Rapids brewery.

La Doña Cervecería

  • 3 The Hard Way – Top Flight selection

Lakes & Legends Brewing Company

  • Darth Lager

Lakeside Tavern & Brewery

  • Schillers Shameless Plug – Eukanot, Galaxy, Mosaic and Citra hops come together in this hazy IPA that is back on tap.
  • Smitten Mittens – A dark winter lager with clove, cinnamon, and orange peel.

Little Thistle Brewery

  • Swipe Right –Pink in color (for its Valentine’s Day tapping), this limited beer is “loaded” with Jolly Ranchers candy.

LocAle Brewing Company

  • Chocolate Raspberry Distant Dawn – A limited release porter with cocoa nibs, raspberries, and vanilla beans.
  • Sun Dog – “This 5.5% ABV seasonal hazy pale ale is packed with hop aroma and flavor thanks to Minnesota grown Civil Sass Hops Centennial hops, a pair of unique hop blends and also saturated with concentrated Mosaic hops,” the brewery says. “Not only that, but we used a new yeast strain to accentuate the hop characteristics to give that blast of tropical citrus and dank hop character.”

Luce Line Brewing Co.

  • New Zealand Joy Ride – “The second installment of our Joy Ride West Coast IPA series that features new and innovative ingredients and processes. We hopped NZ Joy Ride with New Zealand grown Cascade, Motueka, and Nelson Sauvin hops across multiple additions to create a smooth bitterness and unique flavor experience consisting of lemon, lime, gooseberry, pine and white grape,” Alloy explains. 7.5% ABV, 70 IBU.

Lupulin Brewing Company

  • DDH Hooey – The hazy IPA, double dry-hopped variant. 6.2% ABV, 60 IBU.

Milk & Honey Ciders

  • Kingston Black – A single varietal cider at 7.8% ABV.
  • Pet-Nat Estate    – A 7.8% ABV cider sold in 750-milliliter bottles.

Mineral Springs Brewery

  • Garage IPA – A red IPA brewed in collaboration with a local homebrewer.

Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub

  • Amateur Sketch IPA – An Amarillo-hopped IPA with fruit and citrus notes along with Pilsner malt and red wheat malt. 6.7% ABV, 73 IBU.
  • Wild Rice Amber Bock – The rich and nutty amber, made with wild rice, is back on tap now.

Nouvelle Brewing

  • Hazelnut Mocha Stout – “This imperial mocha stout was brewed with chocolate malts and brown sugar to create a rich and complex base to condition on copious amounts of Dogwood Coffee’s Mixtape blend, toasted hazelnuts, cacao nibs, and Madagascar vanilla beans,” the brewery says. 10.6% ABV.
  • Willy Chonka – A wheat and oat-heavy pastry sour conditioned on blueberry, cherry, plum, lemon, apricot, and vanilla beans. 6.0% ABV, contains lactose.

Oliphant Brewing

  • 2Cloned2GetStoned – A 5% ABV key lime pie-inspired sour ale.
  • Milkman Manbaby –  A milk stout made ith hefeweizen yeast. 6.5%

Toppling Goliath Brewing Co.

  • Barrel Aged Knock One Bock – Top Flight selection
  • Term Oil S’mores – A s’mores inspired stout from Toppling Goliath. It’s also the first time the brewery is releasing a barrel-aged stout in cans.

Torg Brewery

  • Five Bobs – A London-style porter aged on vanilla beans for a month. Tapped one week ago.

Wooden Hill Brewing Co.

  • Lemon Soirée – A 5% ABV lemon cream ale, inspired by lemon meringue pie and made with purée, lactose, and vanilla.

 

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