10k Watermelon Sour • Photo via 10k 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. 

It’s summer in a glass. This week sees new watermelon beers, berries and peaches, corn lagers and even a barrel-aged pickle beer that didn’t make it to the State Fair last year. This week likely also seems more West Coast-style IPAs than New England-style making the list, a notable shift in trends and a first in Freshies’ short history.

Between the return of bitter IPAs, local corn lagers, and even rice lagers coming soon, what will be the next revival?

 

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

Barrel Theory For the Culture – A Chardonnay barrel-aged saison with tangerine, blood orange, and Cara Cara additions. 6% ABV and also on draft.

Eastlake Barrel-Aged Pick-a-Peck Sour Gose – Originally brewed for the (cancelled) 2020 State Fair, this is a sour gose with pickle brine and spices. In celebrating Barrel Week this week, “This special batch rested in an oak barrel for six months, resulting in a new subtlety for the brine-forward sour,” the brewery offers. 4% ABV and sold in 750-milliliter bottles.

Portage Simply Mosaic – “As simple as it gets. Our American IPA base with all hand-selected Mosaic and Mosaic Cryo. Dank, berry, pine forward aromatics,” Portage says. 6% ABV, 65 IBU. Tapping on Saturday.

Wooden Hill Clouds – “A tart ale brewed with heaps of blackberry, raspberry, vanilla, and marshmallow fluff,” the brewery explains. 5% ABV.

Oliphant Seis Seis Seis: The Marg of the Beast – A margarita-style sour ale on tap and in cans. 5% ABV.

New beers available this week

10K Brewing   

  • Watermelon Sour – As the name says, this sour ale was made with a summery watermelon and pours at 3.7% ABV.

608 Brewing Company

  • Inquiring Minds: Strata + Cashmere – A new hazy IPA with tangerine, key lime, and guava notes with a smooth bitterness, the brewery says. 6.8% ABV.
  • Summer Jams – A thick smoothieIPA made with blueberry, plum, lemon, and vanilla.

Able Seedhouse + Brewery

  • Hidden Peach – Released last month, “This effortlessly drinkable hazy has a soft, yet full-bodied mouth feel that gives you flavors of stone fruit, peach, and coconut,” the brewery says. 6.1% ABV.

Alloy Brewing Company

  • Orange Creamsicle Cream Ale – An orange and vanilla infusion gives extra flavor to Alloy’s flagship cream ale. 5.8% ABV, 17 IBU.

Arbeiter Brewing

  • Hazy Harriet – “In honor of Jason Sowards, founder of Harriet Brewing, we’ve named our new beer Hazy Harriet. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Jason’s family,” the brewery says. It is a hazy session IPA brewed with German T45 Huell Melon pellet hops enriched with extra lupulin, and dry-hopped with Callista. The beer itself is soft and fluffy with honeydew and faint lime-citrus notes, Arbeiter says, and pours at 5.6% ABV, 12 IBU.

Arbeiter Hazy Harriet • Photo via Arbeiter Brewing Company

Back Channel Brewing Co.

  • The Great 8 – A New England-style IPA with flavors of succulent, white peach, and nectarine. 8.0% ABV.

Bad Habit Brewing

  • Born & Razz’d – A rose-in-color raspberry wheat beer.
  • Bros Gotta Hug – A Sabro-hopped IPA at 6.1% ABV.
  • Crush-A-Lot – A hazy IPA that’s described as “juicy, fruity, and aggressively dry-hopped,” with notes of peach, aprictor, and citrus. 7% ABV.
  • Jolly Melon – A 4% ABV watermelon sour, tapped on Thursday.

Bad Weather Brewing Company

  • Heritage Lager Series No. 1 – The first in a new series of historic-style lagers, this batch was made with help from Sig Plagens and Phil Gagne, formerly of Schmidt Brewery in Saint Paul, and is a classic American lager brewed with similar ingredients and techniques used at their former employer back in the day. On tap and sold in Crowlers.

Barley John’s Brewpub

  • Hop Yowza – A 9.2% ABV, 70 IBU double dry-hopped IPA made with 6 hop varieties, letting Citra and El Dorado carry the lead.

Barrel Theory Beer Company

Barrel Theory celebrated anniversary number four last week, with some special bottles (mostly gone), but also new and limited beers on tap. The lineup included:

  • Birkin Bag – An imperial stout with maple, cinnamon, vanilla, and French toast donuts. 12.5% ABV and sold in 750-milliliter bottles.
  • Fourth – Aged in bourbon barrels, this imperial stout is a collaboration with 8th State Brewing and was made with pecan, vanilla, coconut, chocolate, and cinnamon.
  • Riddles In The Dark – “This is the barrel-aged version of ‘Pistachio Melange’” the brewery explains, made with coconut and pistachio.
  • For the Culture – Top Flight selection.
  • Hard Seltzer Slushies    – Limited weekend slushies include Sweet Cherry and Grapefruit, Pineapple, Lemon, and Ginger combos — as of last weekend.
  • Party at the Moon Tower – A hazy triple IPA made with Citra, Citra Cryo, Nelson Sauvin, and Strata hops (limited).

Bauhaus Brew Labs

  • Baloonicycle Hazy Pale Ale – One of four options in the latest Breezebox mixed pack.
  • Beyond Stoked – Using Bestoked IPA as a base, this taproom-exclusive variant is dry-hopped with Amarillo, Sultana, and Tropica hopes, adding earthy citrus notes and bitter tones.
  • Guilty Treasure – A West Coast-style IPA infused with grapefruit for added citrus.
  • Rindflayer Watermelon Gose – One of four options in the latest Breezebox mixed pack.
  • Short Pants – Back for the summer, this shandy-like beer is made with real lemon purée and zest. 4.5% ABV.
  • The Before Times Pre-Prohibition Pilsner – One of four options in the latest Breezebox mixed pack.
  • Thrashin’ Fruit    – “Pouring a golden straw color with a thin white head, Thrashin’ Fruit is a passion fruit-infused wheat ale that starts things off with a snappy tropical zing leading into a lightly sweet finish with just a hint of that classic wheat beer spice,” the brewery says.
  • Zeñata Mexican Amber Lager – One of four options in the latest Breezebox mixed pack.

Blacklist Beer   

  • Razz – A spiced witbier made with fresh berries.

BlackStack Brewing

  • Nü Metal – A corn lager, on tap now.

Boom Island Brewing Company

  • Cuvée de Boom – The featured beer at Boom Days, which returns at the Minnetonka-based brewery Friday-Saturday. The unique unhopped beer “consists of a hybrid of Belgian blond ale and Pinot Grigio,” Boom Island explains, and also “undergoes a parallel fermentation with both an ale strain and a Champagne yeast strain.” It is served on tap and sold in 750-milliliter bottles (limited).

Dual Citizen Brewing Company

  • Le Petite Bier – A sessionable table beer collaboration with Petite Leon, this 4.2% ABV, 20 IBU exclusive offers refreshing pear and grape notes with a dry finish. Available only at Petite Leon and Dual Citizen.

Eastlake Craft Brewery

  • Barrel-Aged Arcturan Mega Saison – “Arcturan is a super-sized saison. A Mega Saison, really,” Eastlake says. “This limited batch has spent two years maturing in red wine barrels, alongside St. Croix and Marquette grapes that were sourced right in south Minneapolis.” 12.3% ABV and available in 750-milliliter bottles.
  • Barrel-Aged Pick-a-Peck Sour Gose – Top Flight selection.

Fair State Brewing Cooperative

  • Farm Lunch – “Farm Lunch is an oak-fermented mixed culture beer made with raspberries, tart cherries, and vanilla,” the brewery says, and is available only at the taproom right now.
  • Tibanna – A collaboration with Hubbard’s Cave (Niles, IL), this is a hazy IPA with “jammy notes of fruity resin and blueberry pancakes,” the brewery says. 6.7% ABV.

Fair State’s Farm Lunch • Photo via Fair State Brewing Cooperative

Fulton Brewing

  • Band Together – A new fundraising IPA on sale as 7th Street Entry re-opens to the public tonight with performances by Monica LaPlante, EVV, and Partial Traces. The beer will help raise funds for the Minnesota Independent Venue Alliance.

Hoops Brewing Company

  • No. 48 Big Bold IPA – Available now. 8% ABV.
  • No.214 Raspberry Wheat

Humble Forager

  • Coastal Sunshine v14    – The latest in this fruited series presents a mangosteen, peach, and strawberry cocktail for sweet and tart flavors to mimic a Thai smoothie on the beach.

Inbound BrewCo

  • Pink Guava Lemonade – Available on draft on Monday for those looking to extend the weekend, this sour ale features lemonade tartness and sweet and tropical guava flavors. Coming to liquor stores soon. 5% ABV, 20 IBU.

Inbound Pink Guava Lemonade • Photo via Inbound BrewCo

Insight Brewing Co.

  • Macro – A new corn lager that pours at 4.8% ABV and is light, crisp, and super clear, as the brewery explains it.

Lakeville Brewing Co.

  • Berry Nice Volume 2 – Concord grapes, local raspberries, and plum give a fruity addition to a wheat beer base. At 4.8% ABV, Lakeville describes this one as having “a nice fruity sweetness and just enough tartness on the finish.”
  • Buzzin’ Imperial IPA – An imperial IPA made with local honey. 8.9% ABV.

Lift Bridge Brewing Company   

  • Lemon Bar Kolsch – A new exclusive brewed for Cub Wine & Spirits, this new recipe is inspired by lemon bars, pairing a light-body kolsch ale with lemon flavors.

Modist Brewing Co.

  • Feather Bar – On tap this Saturday and in liquor stores next Tuesday, this collaboration with J. Wakefield is an “imperial Florida weisse” with barley, wheat, passion fruit, pineapple, and prickly pear.
  • Top Dead Center – “A West Coast IPA with pale ale, Vienna and wheat malts, hopped & dry-hopped with Mosaic, Sultana and El Dorado,” Modist says. On tap this Saturday and in stores next Tuesday.

Oliphant Brewing

  • Seis Seis Seis: The Marg of the Beast  – Top Flight selection.

Portage Brewing Company

  • Simply Mosaic – Top Flight selection.

Shakopee Brewhall

  • Holmes Landing – A flavorful saison with banana up front, complemented by subtle orange and lemon with a dry finish.

Tin Whiskers Brewing Co.

  • BB-Coco-Fluff – A blueberry, coconut, marshmallow fluff, and vanilla wheat ale.
  • Fruit Punch Smoothie Sour – A combination of mango, pineapple, passion fruit, orange, guava, sour cherry, lemon, strawberry, and vanilla set the tone.
  • Tang Sour Ale    – Orange drink for adults, Tin Whiskers says, with a 4.1% ABV for kick.

Utepils Brewing

  • Bob’s Your Uncle – An English-style pub ale, on tap at the brewery now.

Waldmann Brewery

  • Waldmann 1861 – An earthy, subtle sweet golden lager made with American ingredients and reflecting on historical lagers of yesteryear.

Wooden Hill Brewing Company

  • Clouds    – Top Flight selection.

Beers just announced

Badger Hill Brewing Company

  • Table Beer – A collaboration with Wooden Ship, scheduled to tap next Wednesday, July 14, in Shakopee.

Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative

  • The Messenger Volume I: Imperial Porter – Previously released, Broken Clock and Brewing Change Collaborative and bringing the imperial porter back on July 24 at a release party with live music, food, and vendors. The Messenger series is named after a literary and political magazine serving the African-American community in the 20th century.
  • The Messenger Volume II: DDH Gose – Also on tap at the special release party on Saturday July 24.

Lupulin Brewing Company

  • B.A.M. Nectar    – A hazy double IPA with orange flavor. To tap on Tuesday July 13, it pours at 8% ABV, 45 IBu and features a combination of Bravo, Amarillo, and Mandarina Bavaria hops.
  • B.A.M. Nectar w/ Orange – A variant with extra orange will be available later this month.
  • Business Wrestler – A 12% ABV triple IPA, coming later this month.
  • Coffeeドキドキ “Doki Doki” – A 4.5% ABV rice lager with coffee, set for release this month.
  • ドキドキ “Doki Doki” – A 4.5% ABV rice lager slated for July release.
  • Sticky Puddles – Made with mango, pineapple, passion fruit, and vanilla, this is a 9% ABV fruited imperial sour.
  • Vicious Rumours – A red, rye IPA. 6% ABV and coming later this month.

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