West Coast IPAs face off against NEIPAs for IPA supremacy

Insight Hop Spin: Double West Coast IPA & Bricksworth Stern, But Fair NEIPA • Photos via the breweries

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. 

The IPA battle between the coasts isn’t over. This week sees plenty of double dry-hopped juicy New England–style entries on local tap handles, but West Coast–style dank and bitter beers are continuing their comeback.

Beyond the hop-forward IPAs, we see a dark beer week in Bemidji, rare bottles in Moorhead, and intriguing barrel-aged saisons, peanut butter stout (nitro), maple-laden tripels, strawberry-rhubarb desserts, and the continually blurry line between cocktail, beer, and seltzer flavors.

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

Dangerous Man Dangerous Dual – A double West Coast-style IPA brewed in collaboration with Dual Citizen. “Brewed with Caramel Malts and hopped with Idaho Gem, Zamba, and a touch of Chinook. It bursts with juicy citrus, tropical fruits, and finishes with extra pine,” Dangerous Man says. 8.4% ABV, 80 IBU.

Duluth Cider Daisy Chain – A semi-dry cider with chamomile and Citra hops for a bright and refreshing impression. On tap today.

Elm Creek Sustained Illusion – “Citra and Engima hops give this juicy IPA a bright pop of citrus and tropical fruit NE IPA,” the brewery says. 6.5% ABV and also sold in 16-ounce cans.

Insight Timber Radler – Available at the brewery only, this is a 50/50 blend of German-style lager and lemon-lime soda at a refreshing but sessionable 2.5% ABV.

Falling Knife All Sunshine – A hazy double IPA made with Citra and Citra Cryo hops that combine for flavors reminiscent of pineapple, mango, papaya, and other tropical fruits. 8.3% ABV.

New beers available this week

22 Northmen Brewing Company

• Brick Withouse – A wheat ale with Belgian yeast, coriander, and orange peel. 5.6% ABV.
• Johnny Utah – A dank and dry IPA with resinous flavors and notes of citrus. 7.5% ABV.

608 Brewing Company

• Citranado – Back on tap this Friday, the 7.2% ABV house IPA.
• Jolly Shocker Pops: Blue Raspberry – A blue raspberry flavored “candy sour” at 6.5% ABV.

612Brew

• Mango Marmalade – Newly tapped last week.

Alloy Brewing Company

• Double Berry “What Happened” Brandy Cream Ale – First tapped at Pride Dabbler last Friday, “The next offering in the ‘What Happened’ series takes two of our favorite berries, blackberry and blueberry, and melds them with deliciously sweet brandy in our refreshing cream ale,” Alloy says. 8% ABV, 11 IBU.

Bad Habit Brewing Company

• Mimosa – A cocktail-inspired sour.

Bad Weather Brewing Company

• Munich Helles – A crisp and clean Munich-style later with subtle floral hops. On tap at Bad Weather now and in cans next week.

Bemidji Brewing

The brewery celebrates Dark Beer Week from July 20–25 at the taproom.

Available on draft:

• 2018 Double Porter
• 2018 Maple Syrup Barrel-Aged
• 2020 Chocolate Coconut Double Porter
• 2020 Maple Reserve

Available in bottles:

• 2017 Bourbon Barrel-Aged Double Porter
• 2017 Double Porter
• 2019 Double Porter
• 2019 Maple Syrup Barrel-Aged Double Porter
• 2020 Coconut Chocolate Double Porter
• 2020 Maple Reserve

Bent Brewstillery

• O.P.P. – Tapping at 2 pm today, this is a hazy fruited sour with orange, passion fruit, papaya, and lactose.

Bricksworth Beer

• Stern, But Fair – A New England-style IPA made with Citra and Ahtanum Cryo hops, 2-row malt, oats, wheat, and spelt. 7.8% ABV.

Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative

• Volume I: Imperial Porter – Previously released, Broken Clock and Brewing Change Collaborative and bringing the imperial porter back on Saturday 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.

Castle Danger Brewery

• Honey Raspberry Wheat – A light-body wheat beer with a crisper and floral aroma and hints of berry.

Copper Trail Brewing Co.

• Dark Horse – An employee-created black IPA with subtle chocolate sweetness, berry and fruity undertones, and resinous bitterness, the brewery says. 5.6% ABV, 80 IBU.

• Night Owl – A red ale with coffee, featuring natural roasted malt flavors complemented by cold brew coffee. 5.8% ABV, 20 IBU.

Dangerous Man Brewing Company

• Dangerous Dual – Top Flight selection.
• Dangerous Lite – A 3.9% ABV light lager with a crackery malt bill and a crisp, dry taste.
• Dangerous Lite Lime – See above, with lime.

Disgruntled Brewing

• Rhuberry Pie-O-My! – An imperial stout with rhubarb and strawberry: “Flavorsome layers of vanilla non-dairy soft-serve, vanilla, lime, cinnamon, graham crackers and marshmallow for added fluff,” the brewery says. 8% ABV.
• Rising Sign – A margarita-style gose with orange, lime, pineapple, agave, and sea salt, brewed in collaboration with Witch Hunt of Fargo/Moorhead. 6% ABV.

Duluth Cider

• Daisy Chain – Top Flight selection.

Eastlake Craft Brewery

• Kirby Pucker No. 25 – A limited supply of this sour gose No. 25 is available now, infused with tangerine and coconut.

Elm Creek Brewing Co.

• Rare Candy: Raspberry – A 6.0% ABV fruited sour.
• Sustained Illusion – Top Flight selection.

ENKI Brewing   

• Love Makes the World Gose ‘Round – A new kettle sour with lemon and herbal notes.

Fair State Brewing Cooperative

• Nannerz – A smoothie seltzer collaboration with Forager, made with banana and guanabana. A taproom-exclusive at 6.0% ABV. Also available as a slushie.

Fair State is hosting “Mini Mixed Culture” on Saturdays, sharing limited pours of varied sour beers on the patio. This week, as described by the brewery:

• Biere de Coupage – Blend of wood-aged sour and young saison, dry hopped.
• Mojito Sour – Barrel-fermented pale sour beer with lime and mint.
• Rasberry Lemon Sour – Barrel-aged mixed fermentation sour re-fermented with tons of raspberry and lemon puree.
• Vanilla is Baseline – Double barrel-aged imperial stout with (lots of) vanilla beans.

Falling Knife Brewing Company

• All Sunshine – Top Flight selection.
• Sunstorm – “Tart yet crushable with real mango, Tangerine and key lime, this tropical sour hits you with waves of bright flavors on each sip,” the brewery says.

Fat Pants Brewing Co.

• Blue Beered – A crisp and refreshing lager with blueberry.

FINNEGANS Brew Co.

• Grapefruit Cosmic Snowball – An American IPA with pale malt, Comet hops, and grapefruit purée.
• Bearded Ears – A Belgian-style saison, brewed with spelt and aged in barrels, “The nose on this beer reminds me of tart cherries or fresh-baked rhubarb pie. It’s sharp as it hits your tongue, but the large amount of spelt gives it a smooth mouthfeel,” the brewery says. 6.7% ABV, 14 IBU.

Fitger’s Brewhouse

• Red, Wheat & Blue – “Imagine a blueberry raspberry jam,” Fitger’s says of this 5.3% ABV wheat ale.

Insight Brewing

• Hop Spin: Volume 3 – A double West Coast-style IPA with piney and resinous flavors and a classic bitter finish, Insight says.
• Juice Lite – “Slightly sweet, medium-bodied, with flavor and aroma pumped in from plentiful hot and cold side additions of Talus, Mosaic, and Mosaic Cryo,” Insight says of this more sessionable 4.9% ABV juicy IPA.
• Timber Radler – Top Flight selection.

Junkyard Brewing Co.

It’s a “Rare Beer Weekend Bottle Release” at Junkyard right now, with a lineup that includes:

• Appropriate Moment
• BA King Size
• BA Mega Munchies
• BA Queen Size

The brewery also recently released:

• Counting Clouds – A new IPA with Amarillo, Lotus, and Vic Secret for strong orange and tangerine flavors with hints of apricot. 7.3% ABV.
• Mango Super Fizz – The mango-fruited hard seltzer is now sold in Crowlers. 6.6% ABV.
• Western Romance – A fruited sour with prickly pear and plum.

Lakes & Legends Brewing Co.

• The Wanderer: Groves Edition – The latest Wanderer hazy IPA was brewed using Lemondrop, Motueka, Sorachi Ace hops, and lemon peel. 7.3% ABV.

Left Hand Brewing Company   

• Oktoberfest – Summer’s days are numbered, after all. A 6.6% ABV Märzen-style lager.
• Peanut Butter Milk Stout Nitro – A brand new bottled nitro offering from Left Hand.
• White Russian Stout – “It’s a blonde ale we get creative with in order to mimic traditional stout flavors,” Left Hand explains. “Creamy and rich, this 8.9% seasonal is cascading in cans near you.”

Luce Line Brewing Co.

• Bootlegger – A seltzer inspired by the Bootleg cocktail, conditioned on lemon and lime puree, juniper berries, and mint.
• Work From Home – A soft and creamy double IPA brewed with Citra, Citra Cryo, and Ekuanot hops for flavors of ripe peach, melon, and papaya.

Lupulin Brewing Company

• B.A.M. Nectar w/ Orange and Vanilla – A fruited imperial IPA at 8% ABV, 45 IBU, on tap at the brewery.
• Coffeeドキドキ “Doki Doki” – A 4.5% ABV, 11 IBU rice lager with coffee. On tap now.
• Sticky Puddles – A fruited imperial sour with a combination of mango, pineapple, passion fruit, and vanilla. 9% ABV, 7 IBU.
• Vicious Rumours – A 6.66% ABV, 70 IBU red rye IPA.

Mankato Brewery

• Ribfest Beer – A 5% ABV beer with Minnesota musician Steve Murphy on the can. Available at the brewery now.

Modist Brewing Co.

• Indacounch – A double dry-hopped double IPA made with a blend of Mosaic, Galaxy, and Mosaic Cryo hops. On tap this Saturday at the brewery and in liquor stores next Tuesday, July 27.

Oliphant Brewing

• Double Fruit Mango Anutart – A mango-fruited sour ale at 5% ABV.

OMNI Brewing Co.   

• Crystal Kolsch – Coming to Crystal Frolics on July 22–25 via OMNI’s “Traveling Circus” beer cart.

Pryes Brewing Co.

• Ocean Glow – A tropical smoothie-style sour made with passion fruit, dragon fruit, and vanilla. On tap at the brewery today and in liquor stores beginning Monday August 2.

Shakopee BrewHall

• Duck Duck… – “Loaded with peach and passion fruit, this slightly puckering sour provides a nice hit up front, very quickly the fruit comes into play, while the finish is smooth and refreshing,” the brewery says.
• Fun Bus – A double dry-hopped New England-style IPA that just tapped yesterday showcases Citra and Galaxy hops. Brewed in collaboration with Drastic Measures.
• Murphy’s Landing – A Belgian-style tripel with clean, crisp, and dry character and an addition of locally sourced maple syrup.

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