From Gose to Stouts—All the Beer for 4th of July Weekend

Photo via Schram Haus Brewery

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 clean, crisp, and bright beers to thicc hazy milkshakes, we’ve got it all here. It’s a weekend to celebrate and while most of the beers go light in color and body, with ample blonde ales, refreshing lagers, and cream ales, there is a wide breadth to enjoy that hits all the way from salty gose to roasty Russian imperial stout.

This week sees returning summer seasonals, new twists on classics, and a reworked flagship from one of Minnesota’s oldest breweries. Holiday weekends mean many things: celebration, relaxation, charity, reflection, and, finally, looking forward. Captured below, there is a beer for the moment, however one celebrates.

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

3rd Act No Place Like Home – A malt-forward and smooth-drinking cream ale made with Minnesota-malted grains and Minnesota-grown hops. 6.1% ABV, 11 IBU.

Duluth Cider Smoothie Cider – This cider has extra blackberry, raspberry, plum, and sea salt to go with its apple base.

Oliphant Ennui’d Mosaic – A single-hopped IPA showcasing the Mosaic hop variety. 7.5% ABV.

Torg Tropical Stout – “A dark, luscious tropical stout debuts Friday, July 2nd,” the brewery has announced.

Wooden Ship Grillin’ SZN – A smoked saison with peach, peppercorn, and salt-packed hops. Brewed in collaboration with Tin Whiskers.

New beers available this week

10K Brewing   

• Babe the Blueberry Ox – A cream ale with a light fruit addition. 5.5% ABV.
• Mimosa – A cream ale with both Cara Cara orange and blood orange, inspired by the brunch cocktail. 6.2% ABV.
• Pineapple Banana Vanilla Milkshake IPA – A milkshake-style IPA with banana and pineapple that 10K describes as balanced with light sour notes and subtle vanilla. 7% ABV.

14 Lakes Brewery   

• Dew Drop Sour: Passion Fruit – A fruited sour at 4.5% ABV, 13 IBU.

22 Northmen Brewing Company

• Salted Lime Sommer Lager – “A light lager made with pureed limes and a touch of sea salt—it’s the perfect, thirst-quenching brew,” the brewery says. 4% ABV.

3rd Act Brewery

• No Place Like Home – Top Flight selection.

612Brew

• Sea Salt Lime Lager

Alloy Brewing Company

• Hell’s Bellows Helles – “This crisp, bright, German lager is well-balanced with a light Pilsner taste,” Alloy says. 5.8% ABV, 17 IBU and back on tap now.

Bad Weather Brewing Company

• Munich Helles Lager – A clean and light-bodied Munich-style Helles lager with subtle floral hop tones.
• Sun Pillar – A blonde ale with Pilsen malt and Belgian character.

Badger Hill Brewing Company

• F5 Mango Kettle Sour    – Tapped last weekend.
• Walleye Hunter IPA – Tapped last weekend.

Big Wood Brewery

• Wheat Beer Lake – A summer season with a hometown name, this wheat ale has lemongrass, ginger, banana, and coriander flavors with a smooth and crisp finish. 4.7% ABV, 12 IBU.

BlackStack Brewing

• Now Presenting: Mango, Passion Fruit, Guava & Pineapple – A Berliner Weisse base sets the tone for this smoothie-style ale with added tropical fruits and lactose. 6.3% ABV.
• Loon Squad – A 7.0% ABV IPA brewed to celebrate the Minnesota United FC.

Copper Trail Brewing Co.

• Brambleberry – A 5.6% ABV blackberry and orange kettle sour with a summer-minded blend of sweet and tart.
• Legacy Laker – A light and crisp Bohemian-style Pilsner with light toasty notes and fruity undertones, the brewery says. Brewed in partnership with Legacy Of The Lakes Museum.
• Rebellious – In contrast to Legacy Laker above, this is a Russian-style imperial stout with big roasted flavors plus notes of dark fruit and coffee. 11% ABV and “dangerously smooth,” the brewery says.

Day Block Brewing

• Gose Just Wanna Have Fun

Duluth Cider   

• Smoothie Cider – Top Flight selection.

Fair State Brewing Cooperative   

• Rock, Flag, & Eagle – A dry-hopped, cold-fermented IPA collaboration with Dangerous Man, described as “Bright, crisp, appropriately bitter, and intensely hoppy” with West Coast–like characteristics, the brewery says.

Fair State & Dangerous Man Rock, Flag & Eagle • Photo via Fair State Brewing Cooperative

Firestone Walker Brewing Company

• Mezcalita Dreaming – Inspired by the Mezcalita drink, this beer was brewed with agave, chile peppers, flaked corn, and sea salt, then aged (mostly) in mezcal barrels—a portion was aged in orange bitters barrels and blended before fresh lime zest was added.
• Tequila Barrel Sunrise – This beer builds from a base of Helldorado blonde barleywine, which was aged in Extra Añejo tequila barrels, and blended with set aside portions aged in cherry and orange bitters barrels. The finished product also uses orange zest and hibiscus, resulting in a beer version of the Tequila Sunrise cocktail.

Fulton Brewing

• Lemonade Hard Seltzer – Available now both at the taproom and at area liquor stores in 12-ounce cans.

HeadFlyer Brewing

• Tropical JLo Shotz – An 8% ABV seltzer smoothie with pineapple, orange, mango, papaya, and lactose.
• Velvet Porter – A small-batch Beyond The Door series porter made with coconut, vanilla, and chocolate. Served on nitro for an extra creamy body.

HeadFlyer JLo Shotz • Photo via HeadFlyer Brewing

Humble Forage

• Humble Bumble v2 – “This all-natural tropical seltzer is buzzing with passion fruit, hibiscus blossoms, pink dragon fruit, mango, and sweetened with basswood honey,” the production brewery offshoot of Forager says. 5% ABV and available at liquor stores.

Insight Brewing

• Raspberry Pineapple Tart Wheat Ale – Available now in four-packs in liquor stores.
  

Invictus Brewing Co.   

• It’s 3 O’Clock Somewhere – A hazy pale ale helping with a charitable cause.

Junkyard Brewing Co.   

• Chompers – A chocolate-forward stout brewed with malted milk ball candy as inspiration: “This desirable stout is filled to the brim with over 120 pounds of malted milk balls, vanilla, and lactose,” Junkyard explains. 6.7% ABV.
• Tangerine Super Slush – A tart and creamy beer with tangerine, lactose, and vanilla. Expect sour orange with extra depth from being brewed with lactose and conditioned on vanilla beans.
• Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes – A fruited sour with dragon fruit and mangosteen, which imparts slight sweet and tangy flavors similar to strawberry and passion fruit. 5.8% ABV.

Kinney Creek Brewery   

• Frozen Monk – A Belgian-style lager, tapped last week.

Lake Monster Brewing

• CBD Infused Seltzer – A limited pilot batch right now, this is a non-alcoholic citrus-flavored seltzer with CBD that Lake Monster describes as “refreshing and relaxing.”
• Pale Ale – “Just good old Centennial hops and pale ale malt,” the brewery says. 4.8% ABV, 40 IBU.

Lakes & Legends Brewing Company

• Stars and Steins IPA – “This IPA uses Amarillo and German Callista T45 hops and malts from Vertical Malt and Weyermann Specialty Malts making this beer a 50/50 mix of American and German grown ingredients,” the brewery says. 6.3% ABV.

Lift Bridge Brewing Company

• Farm Girl – A reformulated take on the Lift Bridge flagship, Farm Girl is now a golden ale with a new label too. This version no longer utilizes a saison yeast but maintains a malt sweetness with notes of orange citrus and a hop-driven bouquet with a slightly hazy appearance. “The refreshed, Farm Girl for 2021 and beyond is a golden ale, which uses a cleaner yeast strain, malts that include golden two-row malt and small amounts of wheat and oats for a silky smooth mouthfeel, and newer varieties of hops, including Calypso, which has some citrus and melon aromas,” the brewery explains, with a bump in ABV from 5% to 5.5%.

Luce Line Brewing Co.

• Cuyuna Hard Tail IPA – A West Coast-style IPA with a focus on dry, crisp, and bitter, this 7.1% ABV, 70 IBU recipe has flavors of grapefruit, peach, stone fruit, and subtle pine, the brewery says.
• Singing Hills Summer Wheat – “A classic American wheat beer with watermelon and prickly pear. Expect this to be light and crushable with watermelon and prickly pear flavors and a bright red color,” the brewery sums up. Tapped on Wednesday.

Oliphant Brewing

• Double Fruit Blackberry Raspberry Anutart – This one is a new sour ale at 5% ABV.
• Ennui’d Mosaic – Top Flight selection.

OMNI Brewing Co.

• Knowst To Us – A 6.4% ABV kettle sour.
• Very Badly Burned – A New England-style IPA: “Motueka and Citra hops lend fruity pebbles-esque lemon-lime notes upfront that gives way to melon, orange peel, and pineapple,” OMNI says. 6.2% ABV.

Stacked Deck Brewing Co.

• Weekend at Larry’s – A hazy IPA, back for a sequel in 16-ounce cans now.

Surly Brewing Company

• Occult Philosophy – A hazy double dry-hopped double IPA brewed with Lotus, Mosaic, and Strata hops. 9.2% ABV.

Surly Occult Philosophy • Photo via Surly Brewing Company

Tilion Brewing Company   

• Mango Milkshake – A New England-style IPA.

Torg Brewery

• Eye Dew Ewe Two – A “reimagined” version of their saison. On tap today.
• Toasted Coconut Amber Stout – Unnamed at press time, this new stout debuts today.

• Tropical Stout – Top Flight selection.

Union 32 Craft House   

• Northern Lites Lime

Wild Mind Ales

• Atmosphere of Chaos – A smoothie-style sour ale with watermelon, strawberry, and milk sugar sold in liquor stores.
• Golf Cart Cart Juice Box – One of two Arnold Palmer-influenced beverages, this is a sour ale with lemon purée, black tea, and milk sugar. 6.5% ABV.
• Golf Cart Cart Juice Box – An Arnold Palmer-inspired sour ale with blood orange, kiwi, lemon purée, black tea, and milk sugar. 6.5% ABV.
• Sultry Mythical Creatures – A smoothie-style sour ale with passion fruit, dragon fruit puree, and milk sugar sold in liquor stores.

Wooden Hill Brewing Company

• Mosaic Summer – A West Coast-style IPA dry-hopped with Mosaic. 6.5% ABV.

Wooden Hill Mosaic Summer • Photo via Wooden Hill Brewing Company

Wooden Ship Brewing Company

• Grillin’ SZN – Top Flight selection.

Beers just announced

Fulton Brewing

• Band Together – A new fundraising IPA on sale as 7th Street Entry re-opens to the public on July 9 with performances by Monica LaPlante, EVV, and Partial Traces. The beer will help raise funds for the Minnesota Independent Venue Alliance.

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.

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