Photo via Pryes 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. 

We’re a week into Lent, a few days from Pi Day and rapidly approaching St. Patrick’s Day. We might even have a Twins season coming soon. As we look forward, local beer menus are pouring a plethora of Vienna lagers, plus the usual suspects like hazy IPAs and fruited kettle sours.

But that’s not the only beer news right now. Many local breweries recently tapped Brave Noise as part of a national celebration of International Women’s Day (while raising funds for important causes), but many more unique beers came out this week to celebrate and highlight women in the industry.

 

 

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

Keepsake Cidery Snow Fort – “This is a fortified cider blend with apple brandy, then aged in a barrel for a full, smooth, sweet and complex sipper. Limited quantities only available at the cidery,” Keepsake notes — on tap and in 750-milliliter bottles.

Lift Bridge Brewing Co. Free the Bibs – A dunkelweizen wheat beer with chocolate, coffee, and banana flavors, brewed by the women of Lift Bridge for International Women’s Day.

Little Thistle Brewery HollaBock Girl – A bock with rich caramel and toffee flavors, tapped in celebration of International Women’s Day. 5.3% ABV.

Pryes Brewing Co. Fourth Wave – Brewed in February and tapped for International Women’s Day, “The recipe for Fourth Wave was developed by brewer and lab tech Kara,” Pryes explains. “The beer leads off with Columbus hops which contribute a dank flavor and aroma along with Cascade and Centennial for the classic citrus notes of a West Coast IPA. They also utilized a small addition of Cashmere — a relatively newer hop — to lend citrus and herbal notes.”

Utepils Brewing In All Places – A brown ale brewed by women brewers from over 20 Minnesota breweries. 

New beers available this week

Arbeiter Brewing

  • Citralus – An 8.1% ABV, 30 IBU double IPA with Citra and Talus hops. “Complex flavors that greet you with citrus rind and woody sage notes, moves into a bit of a coconut cream flavor and finishes with a clean hop leaf bitterness,” the brewery says.
  • Zwinkel – A dip-hopped hazy lager, brewed with help from Arbeiter GM Kate Winkel for International Women’s Day. “We wanted to make this a tropical, hoppy, dip-hopped Zwickelbier that breaks the rules and stands apart from the status quo,” the brewery says, with juicy and tropical citrus notes and resinous tones.

Photo via Arbeiter Brewing Co.

 

Back Shed Brewing

  • Balboa – An Italian-style Pilsner with a crisp body, and a slightly spicy, earthy, and floral hop balance from Saaz and Hallertau Blanc hops, the brewery says.
  • Ledge N Dairy – A nod to the dairy farmers of Stearns County and Back Shed’s neighbors at The Ledge Amphitheater, “An abundance of specialty malt, earthy hops and lactose sugar create this soft, rich and slightly sweet stout,” the brewery says.
  • Outlaw – A rye IPA

Bad Weather Brewing Company

  • Neon Sunrise – A new hazy IPA, on tap at the brewery.
  • Sun Pillar – The Belgian blonde is back as a spring seasonal. Expect Belgian-style character like bubblegum and clove along with a light body. On tap now and coming to liquor stores soon.

Badger Hill Brewing Company

  • Irish Red Ale – Tapped this Wednesday.

Bemidji Brewing

  • Lemondrop Blonde – A 5.0% ABV fruited blonde ale infusion of German Blonde. “Lemondrop hops and lemon peel added to the kettle create a floral and citrus background while lemon puree added right before packaging supplies a bright aroma and snappy, refreshing finish,” the brewery says.

Bent Brewstillery

  • Thawless Victory – A cold fermented IPA with a crisp, clean finish. On tap at 2pm today.

Bricksworth Beer

  • It’s Not Delivery It’s…Citra – A New England-style IPA made with Citra and Citra Cryo hops. 7.0% ABV.

Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative

  • Banana Cream Pie Porter – Tapping on Saturday (just before Pi Day), this is an American brown porter with dark chocolate and toffee flavors complimented by ripe banana.
  • Blueberry Pie Vienna Lager – Also tapping on Saturday, this is a Vienna lager with light and crisp malt tones, plus subtly grassy and earthy hops. Broken Clock describes it as: “It has a lightly toasted and caramelized malt character, and sweet blueberry finish.”

Photo via Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative

Dangerous Man Brewing Company

  • Blackberry Lime Popsicle IPA – An IPA, “Hopped with Mosaic and conditioned on blackberries for a big juicy berry body and lime for a bright tart zing,” Dangerous Man says.
  • Danger Lite – A 4.2% ABV light laver with a crackery malt profile, the brewery says.
  • You Can Sit With Us – A fruited sour tapped on International Women’s Day.

Disgrunted Brewing

  • Turned To Stone – Medusa and Citra hops give this New England-style hazy IPA a tropical fruit-forward experience. 5.6% ABV. On tap and in liquor stores.

Elm Creek Brewing Co.

  • Coastal Visions – Nelson and Hallertau Blanc hops form the core of this double New England-style IPA.
  • Creekside – A kolsch-style ale on tap.
  • Rare Candy – A pineapple and mango smoothie sour.
  • Seismic Drift – A West Coast-style IPA.

Fair State Brewing Cooperative

  • All Of All Of Us – A hazy IPA with juicy and tropical flavors as well as pine and citrus due to the use of older hop varieties. 6.3% ABV.
  • Big Doinks – Big Doinks dank IPA is now sold in 6-and 12-packs of cans.
  • Vienna Lager – The amber lager is now sold in 4-packs at liquor stores.

FINNEGANS Brew Co.

  • Clover Honey – Available in the Celtic Fan Pack mixed pack along with Dead Irish Poet, Rock Cashel, Clover Honey, and Irish Amber Ale.
  • Rock Cashel – Available in the Celtic Fan Pack, detailed above.

Firestone Walker Brewing Company

  • Blanc Noise – A Propagator Series IPA that uses Hallertau Blanc and Nelson Sauvin hops. 6.0% ABV and sold in the canned IPA Mixed Pack. The brewery is also selling a different bottled IPA Mixed Pack in select markets (not Minnesota).

Hoops Brewing Company

  • No.10 EPA – A single-hopped pale ale made with Motueka hops. 5% ABV.
  • No. 65 Munich Lager – An export Helles-style lager. 5.4% ABV.

Humble Forager

  • Coastal Sunshine v1 – A sour ale fruited with real passion fruit, mango, guava, and pineapple. Back in cans now.

Inbound BrewCo

  • Rumble Bees – Inbound’s PB Honey Ale, aged in rum barrels. “Warm honey, creamy peanut butter, and beachy rum will send you overboard,” the brewery says. 5.5% ABV, 15 IBU and available in the taproom now with limited Crowlers hitting liquor stores.

Invictus Brewing Company

  • Pistachio Power – A 5.1% ABV nut brown ale.

Keepsake Cidery

  • Snow Fort – Top Flight selection

Lake Monster Brewing

  • Rare Species Number One – The first in a new hop-forward series focused on unique hop flavors without adjuncts. Number One features Cryo Mosaic, Citra, and Strata hops.

Lakes & Legends Brewing Company

  • NA Cranberry Sour – A new tart non-alcoholic sour.
  • NA Czech Pilsner – Back on tap.

Lift Bridge Brewing Co.

  • Free the Bibs – Top Flight selection

Little Thistle Brewery

  • HollaBock Girl – Top Flight selection

Lupulin Brewing Company

Big Beer Week runs through Sunday March 13.

  • Releases this week, in addition to bringing back several limited draft options, include:
  • Barrel God Cuvée ’20/’21/’22 Blend – Available this Saturday, this is an imperial stout featuring a blend of four bourbon barrels and one rum barrel. 14% ABV.
  • Barrel God ’22: Islay Scotch – Released on Tuesday, this 13.2% ABV imperial stout was aged in Islay scotch barrels.
  • Barrel God ’22: Rum – Released on Monday, this 12.2% ABV imperial stout was aged in Tattersall and Appleton Estate rum barrels.
  • Opulent Octopus – “Opulent Octopus was brewed with Pekko and Sabro hops on the hot side, along with dry-hops of Citra, Strata, Vic Secret and Centennial. With over 10 lbs of hops per barrel, this triple dry-hopped triple IPA is juicy, tropical, citrusy and dank,” the brewery says. 10.5% ABV and available at the brewery, with limited distribution elsewhere next week.
  • Whiskey Demigod ’22 – Released on Wednesday, this is an imperial stout/brown ale blend of beers aged in malt whiskey, bourbon, and rum barrels. 13.6% ABV.
  • Whiskey Nuts ‘22 Woodford Reserve –An imperial brown ale aged in Woodford Reserve rye whiskey barrels. 12.7% ABV.

Oliphant Brewing

  • Double Fruit Blueberry Anutart – A blueberry fruited sour ale at 5% ABV. 
  • Marzen – A 6.5% ABV lager.

Pryes Brewing Co.

  • Fourth Wave – Top Flight selection

Shakopee Brewhall

  • 19th Amendment – Released for International Women’s Day this week, this is a sweet stout with hints of roasted coffee.

Talking Waters Brewing Co.

  • Dank A$$ Hop Nugz – A West Coast-style IPA collaboration with Lupulin. Another batch was previously tapped at Lupulin. Coming in cans next week.
  • Easy Bake – An imperial sour with sweet strawberry, tart cheesecake, and graham cracker flavors. 7.5% ABV.

 

Town Hall Brewery

  • Czar Jack – A whiskey barrel-aged Ol’ Jack Frost imperial stout. 9.4% ABV and tapped on Monday.
  • Double Barrel Czar Jack – The OG bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout, but aged twice in fresh bourbon barrels for this batch. 9.5% ABV.
  • Double Oak Tripel – A Belgian-style tripel aged twice in fresh bourbon barrels. 12.0% ABV and tapped on Wednesday.
  • Foolish Angel – Tapped on Tuesday, this is a Belgian-style quadrupel aged in fresh bourbon barrels. 10.0% ABV.
  • Project 3106 –Tapped on Tuesday, this is a Belgian-style bruin with added dark chocolate and kumquats, aged in fresh bourbon barrels. 9.6% ABV.
  • Twisted Trace – Twisted Reality barleywine, aged in fresh bourbon barrels. 10.0% ABV and tapped on Monday.

Urban Growler Brewing Co.

  • Golden Hammer – A balanced IPA at 7% ABV, 60 IBU, “This well-balanced beer takes cues from IPA brewing techniques from all over the country: West Coast style hop bursting blends with an East Coast maltiness on top of a smooth, round pallet reminiscent of the new breed of IPAs popularized in the Northeast,” the brewery says.

Utepils Brewing

  • In All Places – Top Flight selection
  • Vera Cruz Vienna Lager w/Lime – To be sold in the upcoming Summer Weekender Mix Pack, this Vienna Lager with lime is on tap at the brewery before it hits the shelves.

Venn Brewing Company

  • Irish Red Ale – A rich and malt-forward red ale with caramel notes.
  • Vic Secret Pale Ale – A hazy pale ale, on tap now.

Wabasha Brewing Company

  • Parts Unknown – “The aroma features notes of Cherry Fruit Roll-ups and Jolly Ranchers,” Wabasha says of their new black cherry sour, adding, “The taste is a wallop of sour that covers the tongue like a super-sour neon gummi worm or Warhead.”

Waconia Brewing Company

  • Vienna Lager – Available today.
  • Women’s Day White IPA – Now available.

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