Photo via Bauhaus BrewLabs

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 light-body Pilsners to bourbon barrel-aged bottles, there’s a light/dark contrast in this week’s new taps. We see several Czech-influenced lagers with crisp and clean flavor profiles, often tapped side-by-side with a boozy stout—and maybe a side of blueberries or raspberries or maple syrup for added effect.

Multiple breweries have weeklong parties underway, and there are special beer releases at Dangerous Man, Arbeiter, Elm Creek, Oliphant, HeadFlyer, and more.

 

 

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

608 Brewing Company 608 Finest – A light-bodied Czech-style Pilsner with “a bright hop jab,” the La Crosse brewery says of its new mainstay lager. 5.5% ABV.

Bad Weather Brewing Company Calamity – The Russian imperial stout is available now, including in cans.

Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative Larger Than Life – A crisp Vienna lager with light toast and caramelized malt flavors along with subtle grassy/earthy hop tones. 5.4% ABV, 27 IBU.

Eastlake Craft Brewery Southside Pils – A Czech-style Kellerpils, described as “Crisp and refreshing, with noticeable bitterness and spicy aroma from noble Saaz hops.” Sold in 4-packs.

Modist Brewing Co. At the Center of Everything – A bourbon barrel-aged triple coconut imperial stout, conditioned on a blend of coconut, caramelized coconut, and toasted coconut. 14% ABV. Bottles go on sale (online) at 9am Saturday and the beer taps at 12pm at the brewery.

New beers available this week

608 Brewing Company

  • 608 Finest – Top Flight selection

Alloy Brewing Company

  • N/A Cherry Lime Wit – A 0% ABV, 20 IBU non-alcoholic wit, available only at the taproom. One of two non-alcoholic beers currently on tap.
  • T.I.N.G. Hard Soda: Red Code – Alloy’s latest hard soda builds off the previous round’s Mountain Dew influence, with added sweet cherry juice. 5% ABV.

Arbeiter Brewing 

Arbeiter celebrates its first anniversary with several new beers, tapping throughout the week.

  • Wednesday: Scottish Wee Heavy – A 9.9% ABV wee heavy with fig, toffee, raisin bread, and caramel flavors.
  • Thursday: Secret Anniversary Beer – Not announced as of press time.
  • Friday: 45th Parallel Apple Brandy Barrel-Aged Roggen Stickum Rye Sticke Alt
  • J. Carver Whisky Barrel-Aged Roggen Stickum Sticke Alt.
  • Saturday: Buffalo Trace Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

Bad Habit Brewing Company

  • Blueberry Pancakes Sour – A pastry sour ale made with blueberry and maple syrup.
  • Coffee Cake Blonde Ale – Hangup blonde ale with cold press, cinnamon, and vanilla added. Tapped last week.
  • Eye Roll – “Yeah yeah yeah, we know…..another triple dry hopped IPA,” the brewery says.
  • Finest Threads – A hazy imperial IPA, tapped last week in St. Joseph.
  • Sugar High – A wild berry kettle sour.

Bad Weather Brewing Company

  • Calamity – Top Flight selection

Barrel Theory Beer Company

  • Chazz Michael Michaels – A hazy IPA featuring Simcoe hops.
  • Haze Of Our Lives – Strata, Galaxy, and Nelson Savin hops come together in this hazy triple IPA.
  • Shooter McGavin – Back on tap now.

Bauhaus Brew Labs

  • Winterloper Baltic Porter conditioned on Cacao nibs, Aged Vanilla, and Coconut – A limited time infusion, on draft and available in Crowlers at Bauhaus.

 

Bemidji Brewing

  • German Blonde – Now sold in 12-packs in the Bemidji area and Brainerd Lakes areas.
  • Stout – A new year round offering from Bemidji, this oatmeal stout offers up roasted coffee, molasses cookies, and dark chocolate flavors.

BlackStack Brewing

  • Throw Pillows – Simcoe, Strata, and Sabro Cryo set the tone in this double dry-hopped tiple IPA at 10.4% ABV.

Big Axe Brewing Company

  • Doppelbock – Rich and malty and tapped near the start of the month.

Boom Island Brewing Company

  • Barrel Aged Czernobog Imperial Stout – A bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout. On tap and in bottles today.

Bricksworth Beer

  • Do You Take Checks? – This Czech-style Pilsner is brewed with Saaz hops and pours at 5.0% ABV.

Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative

  • Larger Than Life – Top Flight selection

Dangerous Man Brewing Company

There are multiple new beers available for Birthday Week at Dangerous Man:

  • Biere de Garde – On tap today, with limited bottles available for sale as well.
  • Peach Citra Milkshake IPA – A brighty and peachy juicy IPA with citrus notes.
  • Peanut Butter Lasagne Birthday Cake
  • Plum Dark-thirty Danger Zone – On draft only, this is a mixed culture ale with dark fruit notes.

Eastlake Craft Brewery

  • Dank Aaron – A double West Coast-style IPA with big dank and a big 9% ABV, 100 IBU. Idaho 7, Cascade, CTZ, and Chinook hops combine for rounded citrus and pine with earthy notes.
  • Southside Pils – Top Flight selection

Photo via Eastlake Craft Brewery

Fair State Brewing Cooperative

  • Satsuma – A citrus fruited sour in which, the brewery says, “The unfermented fruit sugar nicely balances out the acidity in the beer and contributes to the mimosa vibe.” Fair State will also host a bock poking on their patio this Saturday.

Elm Creek Brewing Co.

  • Heart of the Oak  – The first release in the Heart of the Oak Barrel Aged Series and also the brewery’s first bottle release, number one is a blended Russian imperial stout aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels and Vikre whiskey barrels. 10.5% ABV.
  • Goin’ Gose – A 5% ABV gose with coriander and sea salt. Released

Lake Monster Brewing

  • Hot Apple Cider Ale – A gluten-free cider ale with winter spices. Served warm on the patio on weekends.
  • Imperial Porter – A pilot batch taproom-exclusive “With a complex blend of toasted, roasted and crystal malts. A British yeast strain creates a balanced, malty brew, with a robust 8.6% to warm the bones on a cool winter night,” Lake Monster says.

HeadFlyer Brewing

  • Apple Fire Seltzer shot – A “high gravity seltzer featuring apple, cinnamon, and heat,” the brewery says. One of three new releases for a weekend of outdoor festivities at HeadFlyer.
  • Beyond the Door Doppelbock – A malt-forward doppelbock with rich and sweet tones and a smooth finish.
  • Tangerine, Blackberry, Guava fruited seltzer

Inver Grove Brewing Company

  • Batch 100 – “Massive chilled whirlpool additions of Zappa and Citra hop hash as well as a bit of Strata pellets give this beer a solid tropical and sweet fruit backbone with a slightly dank nose. Then we did multiple dry hop charges with Strata pellets and Citra/Mosaic Spectrum hop extract. To top it off, we used a bio-engineered yeast to release the thiols from the hops and malt,” Inver Grove says of it’s 100th batch and latest New England-style IPA recipe. 6.6% ABV, 20 IBU.
  • Pine Bend – A dark ruby in color wee heavy, named for the nearby refinery as a nod to its dark color. “Limited bitterness and a touch of alcohol warmth plays well with the rich malt profile,” the brewery says, with notes of caramel, toffee, and roast. 7.4% ABV, 35 IBU.

Modist Brewing Co.

  • At the Center of Everything –Top Flight selection

Oliphant Brewing

  • Bourbon Barrel Aged Blizzard of ’91 – A pumpkin-spiced brown ale aged in 45th Parallel bourbon barrels. A taproom exclusive, beginning on Saturday.
  • Maple Bourbon Barrel Aged Honees Honees – Another taproom exclusive, beginning on Saturday, this is a special take on Oliphant’s peanut butter and honey golden ale, this time aged in 45th Parallel bourbon barrels that also held maple syrup. 6% ABV.

OMNI Brewing Co.

  • That Escalated Quickly – A 6.4% ABV New England-style IPA.

Surly Brewing Co.

  • Dark Forest – This new collaboration with New Belgium is described as a wood-aged barleywine: bold, burly, tart, and fruity. “Both were laid down in freshly emptied bourbon barrels in Colorado and Minnesota, then blended in Fort Collins and finished on fresh Colorado spruce tips.,” Surly says. 11.5% ABV.

Torg Brewery

  • General En’Yu Endo – Back on tap now, Torg described The General as “A refreshing pale ale with fresh orchard aromas, nutty malt backbone, and lemon-lime hop notes.”

Unmapped Brewing Co.

  • Mind The Map – An English ale with malt-forward notes of toffee and bread, along with a slight fruitiness and balanced bitter element.
  • Tropical Smoothie Sour – A combination of raspberry, orange, and guava go into this fruited milkshake sour, also made with lactose and vanilla.

Wild State Cider

  • People’s Cider 2021 – The annual cider made with local backyard apples and pressed on site is on tap at the cidery now.
  • “This one-of-a-kind blend is semi-dry, tart, and a lil’ funky,” Wild State says.

 

 

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