Pop the Champagne…IPA! Celebration beers are on tap this week

Hoops Champagne IPA • Photo via Hoops 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. 

Is beer a cause for celebration or a form of celebration? This week: probably a bit of both. There’s a champagne IPA to toast with, a Birthday Cake Brew at Waconia’s anniversary, a matrimonial hazy, and a 23rd annual birthday beer for a brewer’s family member. And that’s just the start.

From champagne IPA to hazies and West Coast and milkshake and red, the pale ale spinoff continues its wide and diverse influence, whether dry and bubbly, dank and bitter, or thicc and juicy. Freshies this week lists many of the hop varieties that make each beer unique (not just IPAs). Citra, Mosaic, and Strata are among the most popular, with more Ekuanot, Talus, Sabro, Nelson Sauvin, and experimental breeds still coming.

What is your favorite?

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

Canal Park Carved Pumpkin Lager – A 5.6% ABV, 22 IBU pumpkin lager with a similar profile as Canal Park’s Oktoberfest.

Hoops No. 23.1 Daisy’s Best Ale – An annual birthday beer for Daisy Hoops, described as a red ale or red IPA with rich malt and fruity hop character.

Lake Monster St. Paul Pub Ale –  “A traditional English-style ale served on nitro for a creamy head. A malty backbone, notes of orange marmalade and a bit of floral hops make for a balanced, super drinkable pint,” the brewery says. Tap only.

Utepils Loonar Eclipse – Available exclusively at Lunds & Byerlys for the next two weeks, this Czech-style dark lager is back in a limited early release. It will tap at the brewery on Oct. 29, followed by a full release in 4-packs and in the Hygge Winter variety pack. 5.1% ABV, 42 IBU.

Wooden Hill Mexican Hot Chocolate – An imperial pastry stout brewed with cocoa, cinnamon, lactose, peppers, and vanilla beans. “Expect cinnamon and milk chocolate on the nose, a sweet full-bodied cocoa flavor, and a light and pleasant heat from the peppers long after the finish,” the brewery says. 9% ABV. On draft and sold in Crowlers.

New beers available this week

608 Brewing Company

• Rype: Darkberry Crisp – Newly tapped, this fruited sour combines blackberry and boysenberry, along with marshmallow and toasted coconut for a tart, yet richer and full-body beer at 6.0% ABV. Available at noon today, on draft and in 4-packs.

Able Seedhouse + Brewery

• Bumble Beer – “Brewed with generous amounts of corn and fermented with wildflower honey, it has a smooth, creamy mouthfeel that finishes crisp,” the brewery says of this new honey cream ale.

Alloy Brewing Company

• Belgian Dubbel – “A bready nose, solid mouthfeel, and a rich, dark caramel color makes this beer everything that a devout craft beer drinker deserves,” says the brewery.
• Blueberry Rhubarb Earthshake IPA – A milkshake IPA made with Mosaic, Callistra, and Citra hops — plus blueberry and rhubarb too. “This beer is smooth and bright from start to finish,” the brewery says. 9.6% ABV, 40 IBU.

Arbeiter Brewing

• Acid Factory Gose – A new sour series, this gose was brewed with Sabro hops for a citrus kick, plus a touch of coriander. “A subtle saline flavor on the periphery of the palate gives way to a clean tartness of the lactic acid blended with the citrus of the coriander,” Arbeiter says.
• Sessionista – A 4.7% ABV, 23 IBU session IPA with apricot and grassy notes from the German-grown Callista hops.

Bad Habit Brewing Company   

• Lookie-Loo – A Citra-hopped pale ale.
• Punk-O – A Halloween seasonal spiced ale with pumpkin puree.

Barrel Theory Beer Company   

• October Rust – A medium-body Märzen lager. Tapped earlier this month.

Bemidji Brewing

• Autumn IPA – Pine, berry, and citrus flavors.
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout – The name says it all.

Bent Paddle Brewing Co.

• Wilderness Tuxedo: Blood Orange + Papaya – A new American sour that first debuted at the taproom but is also sold in 6-packs.

Big Axe Brewing Company

• Axetoberfest – Tapped late last month.
• Berserk Squirrel – A brown ale that tapped in late September.

BlackStack Brewing

• Is West Coast IPA Okay? – Simcoe, Mosaic, and Strata hops build the profile of this clear West Coast-style IPA from the mostly hazy-focused brewery. 7.3% ABV.
• Ales for ALS – A limited and charitable triple IPA that debuted on October 7 with a juicy hop profile that combines Citra, Mosaic, Talus, Ekuanot, HBC 630, HBC 344, and Sabro hops.

Block North Brew Pub   

• Runaway Galloway – Now pouring on nitro in Aitkin.

Bobbing Bobber Brewing Company

• O’clock Shadow – A cream ale with coffee, served on nitro.

Boom Island Brewing Company

• Saison d’Hiver – A farmhouse ale with added cranberry, orange, and ginger.
• Light the Lamp – A new hazy IPA with peach, melon, and lime zest-like flavors from Sabro, Grungheist, and Idaho Gem hops.
• We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Oat – A oatmeal stout that taps today.

Bricksworth Beer

• Smell You Later – A 6.9% ABV New England-style IPA made using all Nelson Sauvin hops (and named for Nelson of The Simpsons).

Canal Park Brewing Company

• Carved Pumpkin Lager – Top Flight selection.

Copper Trail Brewing Co.

• Bravo Fiesta  –A Mexican-style lager with flaked maize, German lager yeast, and a touch of Citra hops for a citrus/lime note. 4.4% ABV, 13 IBU.
• Clouded Judgement – A hazy IPA with oats, wheat, and a hop combo of Citra, Azacca, and Ekuanot for notes of citrus, pineapple, and peach with bitterness. 7.4% ABV, 67 IBU.
• Hawaiian Shake – A Sequoia-hopped milkshake IPA with pineapple and pink guava puree that complement the pineapple and peach flavors derived from the hops. 7.0% ABV, 46 IBU.

Disgruntled Brewing

• Hoppily Ever After – A 6.4% ABV New England-style hazy IPA brewed to celebrate the marriage of a staff brewer. 6.4% ABV.

Dual Citizen Brewing Company

• Hop We Get Through This vol.2 – A fresh hop pale ale made with Oregon-grown Idaho 7 hops.

Eastlake Craft Brewery

• Cerveza Nero Black Mexican Lager – A Mexican-style black lager with a touch of caramel malt. 5.4% ABV.
• Mendoza Line    – This one-off batch of Mendoza Line was brewed with local fresh hops from Community Hops farm in Longfellow, Minneapolis. “This batch is delicious and crisp—notes of fresh-cut grass, honey, and lemon,” Eastlake says. 4.3% ABV, 125 calories and gluten-reduced.

Fair State Brewing Cooperative

• Double Doinks – Big Doinks gets bigger. A dank double West Coast-style IPA with notes of lemongrass. The brewery is also pouring a limited amount of lambic Methode Traditionelle during the taproom’s Cellar Saturdays event this weekend.

Firestone Walker Brewing Company

• Psychedelic Arcade – New in the limited Propagator Series, this is “a modern take on the West Coast Double IPA,” the brewery says, offering notes of tropical fruit, blueberry, and grapefruit followed by a crisp finish and rounded bitterness. 9% ABV.

Fulton Brewing

• Snow Emergency Stout

Hoops Brewing

• No. 23.1 Daisy’s Best Ale – Top Flight selection.
• No.41 Champagne IPA – A clear, hoppy, and dry IPA.

Junkyard Brewing Co.   

• Ugly Ted’s – A malt-forward imperial brown ale with nutty and caramel flavors.

Lake Monster Brewing

• St. Paul Pub Ale –  Top Flight selection.

Lakes & Legends Brewing Company   

• Farmcat – A 7.8% ABV West Coast-style IPA.

Lift Bridge Brewing Company   

• Pumpkin Pie Hard Seltzer – Tapped at the brewery’s annual “Big Carve” event this past Wednesday.

Lupulin Brewing Company

• Glossy Dream – A 5.8% ABV, 26 IBU American rice lager.

Modist Brewing Co.

• Ch Ch Ch Ah Ah Ah – A barrel-aged Black Forest cake imperial stout with cherries, cacao nibs, and vanilla. Available in bottles, sold online beginning at 9 am on Saturday.

Oliphant Brewing

• Gobias – Now available, an 8% ABV coffee black ale.

PawPrint Brewery

• DRE’gon’s Breath – A small-batch tropical sour ale fruited with mango and passion fruit. 4.5% ABV, 38 IBU.
• Pup’kin – “Slight pumpkin flavor to appease you pumpkin lovers,” the brewery says. 5.5% ABV, 27 IBU.
• Red Rover – “A 5.2% ABV, 21 IBU raspberry wheat ale with floral notes on the nose. 5.2% ABV, 18 IBU.

Pryes Brewing Co.

• HazeX – A new Strata, Azacca, and Cashmere-hopped New England-style IPA.

Stone Brewing   

• Xocoveza Tres Leches – An 8.5% ABV imperial dessert stout with chocolate, coffee, peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. “At the pop of the can, the aroma is intense—cinnamon and spice up front with lingering coffee, caramel and sweet vanilla,” Stone says. “Sweet spices are balanced with rich and creamy chocolate. Mild roast coffee flavor shines through and vanilla enhances the intense combination. Pasilla peppers impart a light hint of heat in the finale.”Smoked Black Ale – A black ale made with cherry wood smoked malt. 5.0% ABV.

Tin Whiskers Brewing Company

• Atomic Tangerine – Twenty-five pours of fresh tangerine per barrel went into the making of this tangy sour ale that taps today.
• Fruity Stay Puffed – A fruity ale inspired by a classic cereal. On tap now and headed to liquor stores next week.
• Thalassa – “Is an open-fermented Belgian-style saison blended in fermentation with Chilean white wine grape must. Aged in French white wine barrels and reconditioned on plums.” Available today.

Utepils Brewing

• Loonar Eclipse – Top Flight selection.

Venn Brewing Company

• Fruitality: Pineapple Upside Down Cake – A smoothie-style sour made with pineapple, cherry, lactose, and vanilla. It debuted at Autumn Brew Review and is on tap at the brewery now. 6.5% ABV.
• Smoked Black Ale – A black ale made with cherry wood smoked malt. 5.0% ABV.

Waconia Brewing Company

The brewery in Waconia, just south of the Twin Cities, is celebrating its seventh anniversary this week.

• Birthday Cake Brew
• Golden Cookie Ale
• Imperial Hoppy Lager  – “This is a modern, experimental take on a German lager. Double the malt and hops and a truly crisp, refreshing hoppy lager with a kick,” the brewery notes.
• Pumpkin Pie Sour

Wild Mind Ales

• Ideale – The return of the 5.0% Italian-style Pilsner: “This Pils is highly aromatic, saturated with citrusy and herbal noble hop flavors, crisp, and super drinkable,” the brewery says, brewed in a similar style as its German-style Pilsner, Ideal.

Wooden Hill Brewing Company

• Mexican Hot Chocolate – Top Flight selection.

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