Winter Warmers with Soothing Vanilla Toast the Coming of Winter

Lupulin Chocolate Orange Demigod & Barrel-Aged Polarnattens paradis imperial stouts • Photo via Lupulin 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. 

From leftover cranberries to holiday spice, holiday flavors in your beer glass are here to stay—unseasonal warmth or not. Expect dark fruit and complex winter warmers with baking spices, plus a dose of boozy barrel-aged beers and soothing vanilla this week.

While those dessert beers and once-a-year flavors are dominant, there is also a good balance. We continue to see dark lagers and toasty malt flavors across the style spectrum, proving that it’s not all juicy, hop-forward beers in the cooler this season.

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

Alloy 2021 Barrel Aged White Noise White Chocolate Stout – A white chocolate stout aged for 8 months in Rabbit Hole bourbon barrels. 9.7% ABV, 24 IBU.

Dual Citizen Mayhem & Mischief – A barleywine sold in 750-milliliter bottles.

Earth Rider Sour Red Ale – Available in gift boxes that also come with the 2020 vintage. “Cedar Sour Red was allowed nine months of secondary fermentation in a French Oak barrel with the addition of bacteria and Brettanomyces yeasts,” the brewery says. “Cedar blocks brought in a nice earthiness and warm woody tone to the lightly tart dark fruit flavors of this beer.” 5.7% BAV, 31 IBU.

Junkyard Bad Larry – A tropical-flavored New England-style IPA with notes of pineapple and mango with a soft body, the brewery says. 6.8% ABV.

Rogue 2021 Santa’s Private Reserve: Kringle Krisher – This year’s Santa’s Private Reserve beer “has mildly sweet pastry and vanilla flavors that balance with a robust aged rum and brings together notes of caramel and spice,” the brewery says. Adding, “These elements mingle with a rich base that has complex malt character, a light and clean hop bitterness, and shadows of oak.” 8.5% ABV, 33 IBU.

New beers available this week

22 Northmen Brewing Company

608 Brewing Company

• Dunkula – A crisp and clean, malt-forward dunkel lager at 6.5% ABV.

Alloy Brewing Company

• 2021 Barrel Aged White Noise White Chocolate Stout – Top Flight selection.
• Great Responsibility – BRU-1 and Galaxy hops set the tone in this new double dry-hopped juicy IPA at 7.6% ABV, 31 IBU.

Badger Hill Brewing Company

• Madness is the Method – A Belgian-style quadrupel that taps today. The brewery is also hosting a winter market on Saturday, Dec. 4.

Blackstack Brewing

• A Lil’ Loud – This 6.6% ABV IPA was made with a blend of Citra, Mosaic, El Dorado, and Galaxy hops.
• Any Way You Slice It – A “crisp, lean and resinous” IPA made with Idaho 7 Cryo and HBC 586 hops.

Castle Danger Brewery

• Nocturnal – A pilot system, taproom-exclusive, this new black lager (aka Schwarzbier) is light in body with subtle herbal hop notes and flavors of coffee, toast, chocolate, and tobacco with a clean, dry finish. Available for a limited time.

Dangerous Man Brewing Company

• Vanilla Hazelnut Latte Double Stout – An 8.2% ABV, 50 IBU double pastry stout with added espresso beans, vanilla beans, and roasted hazelnuts.

Disgruntled Brewing

• Mauldelo – Brewed in collaboration with the band Maul, this is a Mexican-style lager with lime and sea salt. Tapping today.

Drastic Measures Brewing   

• Drastic Times – A Vienna lager. 5.5% ABV.
• Hang Eleven – A 6.8% ABV fruited pastry sour made with pineapple, marshmallow fluff, and Sharkleberry Fin Kool-Aid.
• Humble Mumble – A cookies and cream-style double milk stout. 8% ABV.
• Super Stupid – This triple IPA pours at 10% ABV: “Galaxy and Citra hops just like Stupid Good, but on steroids,” the brewery proclaims.

Dual Citizen Brewing Company

• Mayhem & Mischief – Top Flight selection.

Duluth Cider

• Hot Mulled Cider – Served every Thursday until Christmas in conjunction with Duluth Cider’s Holiday Market.
• New Ginger Lime Barrel-Aged Cider – A cider made with fresh-pressed apples, ground-up whole limes, and ginger paws, then aged in Jamaican rum oak barrels. “Smooth tones of lime and ginger will serenade your palate, followed by notes of sweet molasses, caramel, smokey oak and boozy hints of rum,” the cidery says. 6.9% ABV.

Earth Rider Brewery   

• Raspberry Imperial Stout – On tap at the Cedar Lounge Taproom at 5 pm today.
• Sour Red Ale – Top Flight selection.
• Valhalla Scotch Ale – “This full-flavored Scotch ale boldly delivers a malt character of caramel and dark fruit,” the brewery says of this winter seasonal, back on tap now. 8.6% ABV, 31 IBU.
• Vikre Sugarbush Whiskey Barrel Aged Imperial Stout – Tapping tonight in limited supply.

Eastlake Craft Brewery

• Kirby Pucker No. 26 – Available at the brewery now, this sour ale is an açaí berry and peach gose.

Excelsior Brewing Company

• Revenge of Krampus – An 8.8% ABV, 75 IBU black IPA.

Fair State Brewing Cooperative

• Pic-a-nic Basket – A wine barrel mixed fermentation beer blended with a fresh saison and then refermented on rhubarb, plus tart and sweet cherries. “The end result is somewhere between funky cherry wine and an abbey ale,” Fair State says.   

Falling Knife Brewing Co.

• Secret Vision – “Combining passion fruit, agave nectar, habañero, and sea salt with a smooth sour base,” the brewery says. On draft and sold in bottles.

Fat Pants Brewing Co.

The brewery released four beers in honor of its anniversary recently:

• Delta 88
• Influencer ESB
• Mangonificent 7 – A fruited manto IPA at 7.7% ABV.
• Space Monkey

Forbidden Barrel Brewing Co.

• Down the Rabbit Hole – Back on tap now.
• MN Rice Cranberry

Foremost Brewing Cooperative

• Oatmeal Stout – A creamy body oatmeal stout with dark malt flavors and chocolate tones, served on nitro. 6.6% ABV, 30 IBU.

Fulton Brewery

• Strange Noise – A West Coast-style IPA dry-hopped with Citra, Ekuanot, and Bravo hops. 6.4% ABV.

Goat Ridge Brewing Co.

• Cosmic Donkey – A soft-bodied hazy IPA with sweet fruit notes of pineapple, peach, and berry. Dry-hopped with HBC 630, Bru 1, Citra, and El Dorado hops.

Half Pint Brewing Company

• Blackberry/Basil Hard Seltzer – Made with real ingredients and tapped in mid-November.
• Full Court Press – A coffee milk stout that also raises funds for the Waseca Basketball Association. Tapped mid-November.
• LLLoyd – A hazy IPA with a blend of Lotus and Lemondrop hops. Contains lactose.

Humble Forager

• Fishing With Horus – A coffee imperial stout with hazelnuts, coconut, barrel-aged maple syrup, and coffee beans. 13% ABV.

Invictus Brewing Co.

• Hot Apple Pie Shine – “Aromas of baked apple, pie crust, and cinnamon rise from the glass and follow the scents of a freshly baked pie onto the palate for a delicious, incredibly smooth flavored craft beverage,” the brewery says.

Junkyard Brewing Co.   

• Bad Larry – Top Flight selection.
• Mega Munchies – Tapped on Black Friday, this pastry-style beer offers creamy caramel, rich chocolate, and smooth peanut flavors, the brewery says.

Kinney Creek Brewery

• Lost Elf
• What’s The Big Dill? – A new pickle-inspired beer.

Lakes & Legends Brewing Company   

• Brave Noise – A 4.2% ABV pale ale, brewed as part of a charitable nationwide campaign. Proceeds from this beer go to Brewing Change Collaborative – Minnesota.

Lake Monster Brewing

• Bourbon Barrel Aged Black is Beautiful Imperial Stout – “This taproom exclusive Nitro brew is tasting great, come on by and say cheers to six years!” says the brewery.
• Norwegian Wood – “Our newest Pilot Batch takes inspiration from Norwegian farmhouse Kveik beers, Finnish Sahti, and the first use of the sitar in a western pop song. Brewed with rye malt and juniper berries in the mash and aged on a blend of toasted oak and maple, Norwegian Wood brings flavors of pine and citrus with a hint of toasted wine barrel. At 7 percent ABV, make sure you look around and find a chair before cracking one open,” says the brewery.

Lupulin Brewing Company

Two new barrel-aged bottles go on sale at 11 am on Saturday:

• Chocolate Orange Demigod – “This imperial stout is a blend of our Chocolate Orange Lateralus aged 1 year in two Tattersall Distilling orange liqueur barrels, with Barrel God aged in one Tattersall Distilling rum barrel. At 13% ABV, this dark beauty will give you the perfect balance of sweet and earthy. Orange citrus is quite prevalent, followed by notes of clove, anise, and cinnamon, as well as toffee, chocolate & caramel,” the brewery says.
• BA Polarnattens Paradis 2021 – “The 2021 variant of our annual barrel-aged imperial coffee stout release was aged in Tattersall Distilling aquavit barrels. Notes of licorice and baking spices brighten this big coffee stout,” Lupulin explains. 12% ABV.
• BA Lateralus with Vanilla & Caco – Now available (and the first barrel-aged Lupulin beer in cans), this 13.1% ABV imperial stout is medium in body with notes of chocolate, vanilla, dark fruit, and brown sugar.

Modist Brewing Co.

• Liquid Strata Crystals – An all Strata New England-style IPA, made with Strata in the boil and also double dry-hopped with the same hop. On tap and in liquor stores now.

New Glarus Brewing Co.

• Mocha Berry Bock – A new chocolate and raspberry bock available across the (Wisconsin) border.

PawPrint Brewery

• Hate My Job – A coffee infusion of the brewery’s cream ale recipe. On tap as of last weekend.

Pryes Brewing Co.

• Holiday Sticks – A Belgian dubbel base sets the tone for this gingerbread cookie-inspired limited release made with cookies and molasses. On tap now.

Roets Jordan Brewery

Celebrating five years of business, the Jordan-based brewery is tapping several popular recipes from year one this weekend:

• Bearded Lad – A dark amber ale.
• Big Black Axe – A black barleywine.
• Cranberry – A Thanksgiving-minded radler with cranberry.
• Hoppy – An American IPA.
• IPA Infusion – An IPA with tangerine.
• Jordan Pale – A session pale ale
• Roets Beer – A light blonde ale.
• Roets Porter – An English-style robust porter.
• Roets Sour – A gose with mango and citrus.

Rogue Ales & Spirits

• 2021 Santa’s Private Reserve: Kringle Krisher – Top Flight selection.
• Newport Nights – An imperial West Coast IPA, back for the season in 16-ounce cans.
• Yellow Snow – A 5.5% ABV winter seasonal Pilsner with spruce tips.

Shakopee Brewhall   

• Prairieville Warmer – A new winter warmer with notes of gingerbread and cinnamon, recommended at a slightly warmer temperature.

Waldmann Brewery

• Dusseldorf Alt – This altbier provides “the nutty malt aromas of an ale and the dry finish and lingering hop aroma of a lager,” the brewery says. On tap now. Next Monday the brewery will host its family-friendly Sankt Nikolaus Tag event.

Wild Mind Ales

• Cinder – A saison with smoked wheat and rye and Czech Saaz and German Tettnanger hops. 7.6% ABV.

Wild State Cider

• Cranberry – This new cider is described as “The ideal balance of tart cranberries with a dry apple finish.”

Wooden Hill Brewing Company

• Cinnamon Crunch – A “light cereal-inspired-ale,” this brown ale with cinnamon pours at 4.9% ABV.
• French Toast Crunch – A similar theme as the beer above, this breakfast beer is a brown ale with maple syrup, cinnamon, and lactose. 7.5% ABV. On tap and in Crowlers.

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