Fair Beers debut and Festbiers multiply on taps and shelves this week

Each week, the Beer Dabbler team highlights five of the most tantalizing new beers available around the great state of Minnesota that we’re most excited to try. Top Flight beers are not necessarily available for purchase at Dabbler Depot–call for availability. 

Falling Knife Brewing Co. Academy of Doom – A 5.7 % ABV hazy pale ale with bright, juicy, and dank hop flavors from a cocktail of Vic Secret, Australian Topaz and Galaxy.

Fair State Brewing Cooperative Fire Sale – A foeder-aged smoked dunkel, “This dark beer was lagered for extra crispiness, which really makes the smoked malt pop. It was then moved to the foeder for further lagering, where it also took on some smooth tannic creaminess from the oak,” the brewery says. 5.5% ABV.

Insight Brewing Phantasmic – A double dry-hopped New England-style IPA made with Mosaic, Mosaic Cryo and Talus hops, plus Phantasm Powder for extra tropical fruit notes. Sold in limited 4-packs now.

Lakes & Legends Brewing Company Tootsie Hop – A Minnesota State Fair exclusive that is tart, sweet, and spritzy with added raspberry and chocolate.

Unmapped Brewing Co. Hops!… I Did It Again – Strata, Belma, and Sabro hops combine for fruity and juicy flavors like pineapple, coconut, strawberry, and tangerine in the latest entry in The Britney Series.

New beers available this week across Minnesota

10K Brewing

• Jolly Melons – A watermelon sour with candy-like flavors.
• Kiwi Lime Hard Seltzer – 5.5% ABV
• Maple Black – A black ale with maple for a slight sweet note. 6.8% ABV.
• Watermelon Hard Seltzer – 5.5% ABV

612Brew

• Basic Instinct – A dank West Coast-style IPA with citrus and pine character, back on tap now. 7.2% ABV, 70 IBU.

A-Side Public House

• Enchanté – “Our new French Monaco Sour,” says A-Side, “[is] a traditional French beer cocktail made with a light lager, grenadine and lemonade. We put our own spin on it and used our sour base to create a light, tart, zesty summer brew.”
• Spookybier – An Oktoberfest-style lager brewed in collaboration with Insight.

AEGIR Brewing Company

• Rán Amber Ale – A malt-forward, slightly sweet amber ale. Also served with lemonade as an “Amber Palmer.”

Alloy Brewing Company

• TING: Orange Shocker – This Is Not Generic Soda has a new flavor line, a sweet and orange-flavored 4.8% ABV hard soda.

Badger Hill Brewing Company

• Alcoholic Haze – Available today, “Cascade and Hallertauer hops added to the mash of Alcoholic Haze allows the specially bred yeast strain to do something transformative. The fermentation unlocks explosive passion fruit flavor. Finishing with Mosaic and Galaxy in the dry hop rounds out the tropical hop character,” the brewery says of its latest offering.

Bemidji Brewing

• West Coast Pils – A German-style Pilsner meets West Coast-style IPA, aka a dry-hopped Pils with a crisp base, combined with bop notes of shite grape juice, passion fruit, and subtle citrus. 5.5% ABV, 40 IBU, taproom only.

Brooklyn Brewery

• Oktoberfest – A Marzen-style lager, in stores now.

Eastlake Craft Brewery

• High & Dry THC Seltzer: Grapefruit – The latest flavor is now available for Eastlake’s non-alcoholic, no-carb seltzer, with each 16-ounce can featuring 5pm of hemp-derived THC.

Earth Rider Brewery

• Festbier – “Earth Rider’s Munich-style Festbier is a golden lager with bready malt character and subdued floral-hop aroma,” says the Superior, WI brewery.

Eastlake Craft Brewery

• Kirby Pucker #34 – Available at Ball Park Cafe at the Minnesota State Fair from now until Labor Day.

Elm Creek Brewing Co.

• Scramble Mode – A hazy pale ale made with malted wheat and flaked oats, and dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin and Tadau for notes of citrus, pear, and pineapple.

Excelsior Brewing Company

• Heady Crystals – Hazy pale ale.
• Huckleberry Lemon Hard Seltzer
• Oktoberfest – A fall lager available on tap and in cans.
• Open Bow – Unfiltered Pilsner
• Watermelon Kettle Sour

Fair State Brewing Cooperative

• CBD Hop Water – This new take on Fair State’s Hop Water features Citra hops and an infusion of 25mg of CBD.
• Fire Sale – Top Flight selection
• Strata IPA – A 6.2% ABV hazy IPA with a creamy body and strawberry-like flavors.

Falling Knife Brewing Co.

• Academy of Doom – Top Flight selection
• Kaiju Smash – A sour ale with peach, calamansi, pineapple, and Cara Cara. Tapped two weeks ago.
• Multiple Jetskis – A citrus golden ale dry-hopped with Motueka hops. 4.5% ABV.
• Very Old Painless Bourbon Barrel Aged English Barley-wine

Fat Pants Brewing Co.

• Smith 1877 Coffee Cream Ale – A cream ale with a smooth and sweet note of roasted coffee.

Fulton Brewing Co.

• Festbier – On tap and sold in 4-packs of 16-ounce cans in liquor stores. The brewery will also be hosting Oktoberfest-related events in September-October. 5.6% ABV.

Founders Brewing Co.

• Oktoberfest – In stores now.

Hacienda Beer Co.

• It Just Does Weird Things – Available this weekend, this hazy IPA offers flavors of tropical fruit, blueberry, peach, orange, watermelon, stone fruit, and a hint of pine.
• Smallish – A petite barrel-fermented saison: “This year’s blend for Smallish contained beers brewed with a good portion of malted and raw wheat, as well as malted rye and oats. Our house mixed culture in this beer creates a very pleasant fruit forward funk with a lemon-forward acidity,” says the Wisconsin brewery.

HeadFlyer Brewing

• Sub Plan – “A mash hopped pale ale brewed with Star Part thiolized yeast. This beer was brewed with local teachers and is being released Saturday supporting Project Success and Reclaim, two great, local youth focused organizations,” the brewery explains.
• Sweet Cake – Inspired by convenience store treats, HeadFlyer says of this small batch release.
• TaDow – A cold IPA brewed with Strata, Simcoe, and Sabro hops for sweet fruit flavors with complimentary dank and tropical notes. Available in cans and on draft.

Inbound BrewCo

• Blueberry Lemonade – A new fruited sour in the To Be Continued… series. On draft now and coming to liquor stores next week. 5% ABV, 20 IBU.

Indeed Brewing Company

• Oktoberfest – Available now, this annual beer pours at 5.8% ABV, 18 IBU and adheres to German tradition, with a light in color, medium in body lager with German malts and hops for a smooth beer with bready and biscuit flavors with a dollop of honey.

Insight Brewing

• Hazy Heller – A fundraiser beer for ALS research, defined as a New England-style pale ale at 5.9% ABV.
• Phantasmic – Top Flight selection
• Solar Squeeze – A seasonal Helles-style lager, served with lemon, lime, or both. Mixed 12-packs are also available in liquor stores.

La Doña Cervecería

• Oktubrefest  –A 5.9% ABV, 20 IBU festbier with a smooth finish and notable rye presence.

Lakes & Legends Brewing Company

• Tootsie Hop – Top Flight selection
• Oktoberfest – On tap now, Lakes & Legends’ presents a Märzen-style lager in advance of their Oktoberfest event coming on Sept. 24.

Lakeville Brewing Co.

• Captain Trips – “Brewed on August 9th, the anniversary of Captain Trips (Jerry Garcia’s) passing, this heady ‘IPA’ packs your glass full of hops gathered from around the globe,” says Lakeville. 6.7% ABV.
• Cherry Lemon Crush – “Brewed with local tart cherries from Welch Woods Farm and fortified with some sweet cherry and lemon puree, this summery treat is sure to please,” the brewery says. “Bright lemon and sweet cherry notes grace the aroma, with a pronounced cherry flavor and crisp, tart finish.” 4.5% ABV.

Lift Bridge Brewing Co.

Two Minnesota State Fair staples return, available at the Bridge n’ Barrel Root Beer stand, along with non-alcoholic Lift Bridge sodas.

• Key Lime Pie Beer
• Mini Donut Beer
• Oktoberfest – In stores now.

Lupulin Brewing Company

• Between Worlds – A 5.4% ABV India-style pale lager brewed in collaboration with Portage.

Modist Brewing Co.

• TINT – The first two flavors of Modist’s new line of non-alcoholic, low-dose THC seltzers is available at the taproom, served in flavors of Mango and Blackberry Lime. Each is made with real fruit and Minnesota-grown hemp-derived THC and features 3 mg per 16-ounce serving. To be distributed in the near future.

Samuel Adams Boston Brewery

• October Fest – In stores now.

Schell’s Brewery

• Fresh Prints – Schell’s has a cold IPA available in 12-packs now.

Oliphant Brewing

• Bourbon Barrel Aged Honees Honees – Oliphant’s peanut butter and honey golden ale, this batch agedin 45th Parallel bourbon barrels. 6.6% ABV, on tap at the brewery and available in very limited cans elsewhere.

Unmapped Brewing Co.

• Hops!… I Did It Again – Top Flight selection

Utepils Brewing

• Receptional – The fall seasonal is back now.

Wabasha Brewing Company

• Kata Hazy IPA – A hazy IPA made with Galaxy and Sabro hops.

Wild Mind Ales

• Idealé – An Italian-style Pilsner with citrus and herbal hop notes, now on draft.
• Lo & Behold – “We built this saison on a foundation of Minnesota grown sprouted wild rice. Step mashed and open fermented to dryness. Aged in our horizontal oak foeders to add a depth of flavor and nuance,” the brewery says. On draft and sold in cans.
• Sunken Cathedral – A distribution-only beer, this contained blackberry, lime, marshmallow, vanilla, and milk sugar.

Wild State Cider

• Apple Pie – On tap beginning today and heading to stores next week, this cider features a blend of apples, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and black pepper.

Wooden Hill Brewing Co.

• Cold IPA – The third edition in the Planet Hopper series, exploring different hopping methods, is a cold fermentation IPA made with HBC 630 hops. 7.3% ABV.

Yeorg Brewing

• Black Forest Lager – Tapped earlier this month in Saint Paul.

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