Absence Makes the Liver Grow Fonder

Greetings fellow beer lovers! I apologize for the lack of new content in the last couple weeks, but I was on a ten day whirlwind tour of Minnesota (and briefly Wisconsin) and I couldn't tear myself away from all the fine beer and family gatherings to find an internet connection. I'll return to writing about local events and new brew as soon as I get back into the routine here, but to tide you over here's a few highlights from my trip to the frozen north.


Rochester, MN: Man, the place is a beer wasteland. I haven't spent much time there since I moved away 7 years ago, but from what I saw it doesn't look like the craft brew movement has made any impact on people since I left. None of the liquor stores carried anything more exciting than Moose Drool, and none of the bars had much of anything worth mentioning on tap. The Redwood Room provided a small measure of relief by having Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout available, but other than that the only good craft or import brews I found pouring in town were Sierra Nevada Pale and Summit Pale Ale. Don't get me wrong, they're both excellent beers, but it was a stark reminder of how well developed the beer scene is in Portland.

Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN: Obviously I didn't have a chance to get to EVERY bar in the cities, in fact I mostly stuck to the brewpubs, but they've made great strides in the time I've been gone. Town Hall has a classy (yet casual) bar serving some tasty brew, and had an excellent top-shelf liquor selection for those not in the mood for beer. Barley John's (New Brighton, MN) had incredibly tasty food, but unfortunately they had been hit hard the night before and many of their specialty beers were tapped out. To their credit they did have a keg of Surly Darkness brought in to fill the gap in their line up, and it was the only opportunity we had to try it, so I'm thankful for that. We also caught a show at The Cabooze, one of Minneapolis' prime music venues, and I was impressed by the selection of brews they had: a couple Samuel Smith's brews (only $5.50 for the big bottles!), 3 varieties of Summit, several imports,and a couple ciders. All in all they must have had 30-35 options. Oh yeah, somewhere in there we managed to stop at the Muddy Pig for a couple pints. The decor is warm and inviting, the staff was friendly, and they had a great selection of taps ranging from Surly Furious to Summit Wit to Young's Chocolate Stout. The only problem was the price; at $5.00/pint it was difficult to justify buying more than one or two beers.

The other highlight of the Twin Cities was a stop at Blue Max Liquors, home to over 1000 chilled beers. I really wanted to love this place, but in the end I had mixed feelings about it. On the good side, they did have a small singles selection, but unfortunately it seemed to be mainly old product that they were trying to get rid of and pretty much everything else was only available in 6 packs. It's also apparent that somebody knows the product, and it was definitely worth stopping to pick up the new cans from Surly Brewing, but at the same time it was disheartening to see things like dusty old Belgians (some in green bottles) and early 90's vintages of J.W. Lee's Harvest Ale languishing under fluorescent lights for who knows how long.

Duluth, MN: The only stop worth mentioning was Fitger's Brewhouse where we enjoyed a round of their IPA, Oat Stout, and seasonal Pumpkin Beer. The IPA was tasty and had more hops than the average Midwest brew, but the other two were a little less than impressive. The stout had potential, but it was running on nitro which killed what should have been a bevy of roasty flavors. The pumpkin brew was alright, but it was too thin-bodied to properly carry the array of spices and flavors it was loaded with. The one other notable thing at Fitger's is their Nalgene growlers. I was so enamored with the idea that I had to pick one up, and now that I've used it a couple times and checked it in my luggage for a safe ride home I'm surprised none of the breweries out here have caught on to the idea. This seems like it would be a perfect fit for the outdoorsy lifestyle that many Oregonians enjoy and I'm going to start lobbying local breweries to pick them up.

Hudson, WI: Since New Glarus abandoned all their territories except Wisconsin we were forced to hunt them down on the other side of the river. Chicone's Liquor in Hudson solved the problem by carrying Raspberry Tart, Belgian Red, the new Enigma, and roughly half a dozen of their regular line-up. Chicone's is located about 3 miles into Wisconsin (Exit 2 off I-94) and it should be a required stop for any New Glarus fans traveling in the Twin Cities metro area.

That's my vacation in a nutshell; drove all over Minnesota, saw some family, drank some beer, and shook my groove thang to the sweet sounds of Particle. It was a fun (exhausting) trip, and it was great to see my family, but I'm glad to be home in Portland.

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Tags: Beer, Minnesota, Town Hall Brewery, Barley John's Brewpub, The Cabooze, Muddy Pig Bistro, Blue Max Liquors, Surly Brewing, Fitger's Brewhouse, Chicone's Liquor