50-plus events. 10,000 minutes of MN crafts. One guide.
Every week is craft beer week in MSP, but May 13-19 is officially so thanks to Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild. 10,000 total minutes of craft beer events across the state. More than 70 tap takeovers, special firkin tappings, release parties, block parties, and brewer Q&As. And one comprehensive guide to it all. We humbly present a Weekend Playbook dedicated to every beer event you need to know about
The Herk'll be tapping their Gose Speziell Weizen, a "cross between a Belgian Wit and a Berliner Weisse" at 3p. More
Hit Bar Louie at 4p to tap Fulton's Cask of Insurrection Imperial IPA. Here's the skinny on Bar Louie
Lucid's hitting Old Chicago EP at 4p to relive their new 9% Double IPA "Duo". The deets
Third Street Brewhouse is taking over 3 Squares Resto for a kick-off party where they'll have Rise to the Top Cream Ale, Lost Trout Brown Ale, Bitter Neighbor Black IPA, Sugar Shack Maple Stout and Three Way Pale Ale, plus two hop rockets. Find our more about Three Square
Badger Hill's spending 5-7p at Minnetonka's Golden Nugget with three beers on tap and a "super hopped" PIN of High Road Everyday Ale available for sampling. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-eck it out. Check it out.
From 5-8p, Vine Park's rocking a cheese and all-grain small batch beer open house to celebrate the release of their Oui IPA, a collab with the students at Better Beer Society University. Vine Park teaches you how to brew
Bad Weather comes to Northbound Smokehouse with their entire arsenal at $3/ pint from 5-7p. See what the experts had to say about Northbound
Russian Roulette, Town Hall's GABF Gold Medal winning Chocolate Imperial Stout hits the tap lines. More on Town Hall Acadia Café will be tapping a firkin of Schell's Pils dry hopped with experimental hop #2009/043/030. Acadia Cafe, also home to some radical fries
Fulton's War & Peace, Sweet Child of Vine, Lonely Blonde, The Expat, and The Ringer are taking over George & The Dragon's Lynnhurst taps at 4p.
From 4-7p, Third Street'll be bringing Rise to the Top Cream Ale, Lost Trout Brown Ale, Bitter Neighbor Black IPA, and Three Way Pale Ale to the Golden Nugget. Skeez some info on Third Street At 5p, the cats at Northbound will be pouring Harriet's West Side IPA through a Hop Rocket Randall (gives beer one last aroma hop kick right before it's served) with Cascade and Centennial hops. $3 pints until the keg blows!
Rock Bottom'll be hosting free, no-reservations brewery tours (6-8p). Eight beer flights? Wowza
Forget happy hour, Town Hall's got Happy Tuesday; meaning happy hour pint pricing all day. And that pricing is?
Buster's on 28th is tapping a 30 liter Schell's Zommerfest Kolsch dry hopped with Sorachi Ace hops at 5p. Read on
Fulton's back at it, this time at Cocina Del Barrio at 3p to takeover their taps with Sweet Child of Vine, Lonely Blonde, Ringer, War & Peace, and a cask of Insurrection. But wait, there's more! There'll also be War & Peace Lamb Barbacoa Empanadas, Bacon wrapped Sonora Dog with Sweet Child Mustard, and Blonde-battered Mahi Mahi tacos. Dig deeper into Barrio Edina
Adam Turman'll be at 612Brew pedaling a limited-run t-shirt and poster. See why Turman at 612Brew makes sense
Downtown St. Paul sports bar Bullpen Sports Saloon's having the cats from Flat Earth over to release Ovni, their French-style bier de garde with a "substantial malt character with a mild hop bitterness". There'll also be a firkin of Oatmeal Stout. Our words on Bullpen
At 6p, Steel Toe's releasing this year's Size 11 at Lyn-Lake's Muddy Waters. See the Muddy Waters tale
Summit "invades" the Roseville Old Chicago from 5p until close with eight taps (Extra Pale Ale, Saga IPA, Summer Ale, Meridian Session Ale, Horizon Red Ale, Pilsener, Oatmeal Stout, India Pale Ale; and $4 pints/ flights. More about OC Roseville Meet the dudes behind Badger Hill at Northbound Smokehouse from 5-8p, with $3 Badger Hill pints to boot. Skip this the first time?
Town Hall's releasing their 2013 barrel-aged Scottish-style Wee Heavy
Bryant Lake Bowl gets in on the action at 5p as they've invited Schell's in to tap the "extremely rare" Imperial Grain Belt Premium fass dry hopped with Apollo hops. This also happens at Bryant Lake
The Golden Nugget is invaded yet again, this time by Lift Bridge crew who'll fill the entire tap tower with their beers from 6-8p. Bet you don't know a whole lot about the ol' Nugget
At 3p, Steel Toe's releasing Size 11 in their taproom.
Stanley's Northeast Bar Room's tapping Fulton's Worthy Adversary and War & Peace at 6p, plus they'll be giving away a pair of tickets to Stanley's Art-a-Whirl Beer Fest. Stanley's
Stub & Herbs is offering BOTTOMLESS CUPS OF LUCID FOR ONLY $7 starting at 8p. They'll have Duo, the new double IPA along with Air (American blonde), Dyno (pale ale), and Foto (IPA). Don't screw up a deal this epic
From 5p on, the folks at Northbound will be giving a free pint glass to anyone who shows up for dinner or a beer wearing gear from an MN brewery
Rock Bottom taps their new Dry Stout and they're giving away free samples at 6p.
Just like they did on Tuesday, Town Hall's doing happy hour pint pricing all day on Thursday. St. Paul's Muddy Pig is sticking a spigot into Schell's Firebrick Vienna lager cask dry hopped with Hersbrucker hops. Explore the Pig
Sweeney's in St. Paul starts pouring Fulton's Insurrection Imperial IPA.
Summit brewer Gabe Smoley is hitting Tally's Dockside on White Bear Lake and bringing Saga IPA, Summer Ale, and Meridian Session Ale plus Summit prizes with him from 5-9p. Get directions to Tally's (and more)
From 3-10p, Steel Toe is tapping three barrel-aged beers in their tap room: Dissent, Wee Heavy, and Lunker
David Witt's making like Adam Turman and selling limited-run tees and posters at 612Brew Friday and Saturday to the backdrop of live music... AND BEER
Northound's brewers spiked their Big Jim IPA with zest from a Cara Cara navel orange, and they're tapping the byproduct at 5p
At 5p the Herk's tapping a firkin of freshly dry hopped Rye PA, which they say has a "blackcurrant, spicy, grapefruit-y aroma", and their Vanilla Bean Porter.
Town Hall debuts their Eldorado Golden Lager, a fresh beauty made from a single, newly-bred American hop.
Meanwhile, their sister shop, Town Hall Tap, busts into a cask of Schell's Pils fass dry hopped with Polaris hops.
Trek down to Stillwater where, from 6-10p, Lift Bridge'll be releasing their Belgian-style tripel fermented with raspberries, Minnesota Tan. Find Lift Bridge
Stop by Boom Island for a growler of Thoprock IPA and some tasting. from 5-730p. Same skeez on Saturday. Here's some Boom Island dish
From 6-11p, there's some fanciness called The Gatsby Gala afoot and Boom Island's the official craft beer of it.
In other fancy event news, Boom Island's also going to be at The Heavy Table's North Coast Nosh at the American Swedish Institute from 6-9p. North Coast Nosh?
Indeed's hosting a day-long beer fest called Rails & Ales: A Celebration of Music, Art & Beer from 12p-11p, where they'll be releasing L.S.D. Honey Ale, having about a million other beer specials, plus live bands and food trucks all day. THE story about Indeed
At 4p, Lucid's taking their 9% double IPA "Duo" along Air, Dyno, and Foto to the 508 Bar downtown. The skinny
Stanley’s Craft Beer Festival and Block Party (the first-ever) happens from 2-5p to coincide with Art-a-Whirl, and they'll have specials from Surly, Summit, Schell’s, Fulton, and Finnegans just to name a few. All the glorious festival deets are right here
The Nook's tapping a firkin of Summit's limited-release Union Series' Meridian Session Ale at 12p. Get to the Nook
During Psycho Suzi's day-long Art-a-Whirl party they're slyly tapping a firkin of Three Way Pale Ale with pineapple and ginger at 4p. Here's Suzi's
750ml bottles of Size 11 become available at nooner at Steel Toe
Northbound's tapping a super-secret firkin of Indeed at 3p, with $3 pints until it's gone and then at 5p they're busting out the Hop Rocket Randall again to pour their Light Rail Pale Ale through Cascade hops
Town Hall's releasing, ACES, their new American copper ale made with Amarillo, Citra, Eldorado, and Simcoe hops
The 7th Annual Brewers Bazaar's going down in Stillwater from 12-4p if you're looking for a drive. See the happs at the Bizarre.
Senyai Senlek Thai Rice and Noodles is cracking into a special firkin of Boom Island's Brimstone made with young ginger. Explore Senyai Senlek
And one more time like they mean it,
What better way to bring Craft Beer Week to a close than by hitting The Happy Gnome where they're slashing prices on all of their MN beers, and they've got almost everyone represented
Monday, May 20st
You are no longer technically "alive".