Brewery Discoveries on Vacation

[Al_4_State]

I'd recommend Barrel Theory. I went to Blackstack a few years ago and it was good, but that was before they were readily available in Central Iowa. I think Dangerous Man has gone out of business.

I know it's fallen out of favor, and people tend to hate the big boys, but I'd also put Surly on my list.

If you like stouts, a Barrel Theory/Surly combo would be lights out. If you're an IPA person, Blackstack.

Surly's legitimately slipped in quality over the past 8 years, pretty damn hard too. Furious and Abrasive are still really good beers, but that's about the extent of it. Schell's is fairly big time and I think they're the best brewery in Minnesota. One of my favorite breweries, period. So it's not just size and scope, IMO.

Blackstack is kind of a one trick pony to me. All they care about is IPAs. They're excellent at making them, but that's kind of all they do.

Twin Cities breweries that I would recommend that don't get as much love as some of these others would be Bauhaus and Fair State in north Minneapolis, Town Hall near downtown Minneapolis. I really like Pryes and Utepils, but have never been to either tap room. Steel Toe out in St Louis Park is good too.

 

[MJ29]

I'd recommend Barrel Theory. I went to Blackstack a few years ago and it was good, but that was before they were readily available in Central Iowa. I think Dangerous Man has gone out of business.

I know it's fallen out of favor, and people tend to hate the big boys, but I'd also put Surly on my list.

If you like stouts, a Barrel Theory/Surly combo would be lights out. If you're an IPA person, Blackstack.

I like all styles, but my travel partner perfers IPAs.

I'm bummed Dangerous Man is out of business.

I've heard Surly has good food too, so that might help that argument.

 

[CloniesForLife]

I like all styles, but my travel partner perfers IPAs.

I'm bummed Dangerous Man is out of business.

I've heard Surly has good food too, so that might help that argument.

I would echo Blackstack and Barrel Theory (although bothe are technically St Paul). If you're going to go to Blackstack then Falling Knife isn't too far away. They also have good IPAs.

Where in Minneapolis are you going to be?

 

[JP4CY]

I like all styles, but my travel partner perfers IPAs.

I'm bummed Dangerous Man is out of business.

I've heard Surly has good food too, so that might help that argument.

Surly does have good food. At one point they shut down their kitchen. I assume its back up and running.

 

[JP4CY]

Surly's legitimately slipped in quality over the past 8 years, pretty damn hard too. Furious and Abrasive are still really good beers, but that's about the extent of it.

Todd (of the Axeman) left around this time IIRC.

 

[CloniesForLife]

Surly does have good food. At one point they shut down their kitchen. I assume its back up and running.

They do have a kitchen. Malcolm Yards is a food hall right next door that has a bunch of really tasty food options as well

 

[gocy444]

Going to Minneapolis in a few months. Will likely only have time for two breweries. Maybe three if I'm persuasive. Which ones do I HAVE to hit?

Ditto on Barrel Theory and Black Stack. Also really like Modist if you're downtown/going to a Twins game. The atmosphere at Bauhaus is great, but the beer is pretty average. Utepils has an amazing hefeweizen if that's you're thing. Dangerous Man was my favorite but they shut down. Surly is overrated, but they do have really good pizza upstairs. I really like the sours from Pryes and 56 Brewing.

 

[gocy444]

I like all styles, but my travel partner perfers IPAs.

I'm bummed Dangerous Man is out of business.

I've heard Surly has good food too, so that might help that argument.

Dangerous Man messed up moving to Maple Plain imo. Their whole thing was that hipster brewery with funky beers and they moved 1 hour outside of the city. It was never going to work. They had incredible smoothie sours/ipa's. Makes me really sad.

 

[jcf817]

Going to Minneapolis in a few months. Will likely only have time for two breweries. Maybe three if I'm persuasive. Which ones do I HAVE to hit?

It's a small place, but I fell in love with Waldmann in St. Paul. It's in one of the oldest buildings in the city, okay food, nice little biergarten.

 

[Al_4_State]

Todd (of the Axeman) left around this time IIRC.

Yup. They never recovered from that. I've tried a lot of the beers they've put out since, and none of them really hit the same.

TG has obviously exploded and has stayed much closer to their initial quality (although it's not quite the same). That's because Mike Saboe is still there.

 

[Al_4_State]

Ditto on Barrel Theory and Black Stack. Also really like Modist if you're downtown/going to a Twins game. The atmosphere at Bauhaus is great, but the beer is pretty average. Utepils has an amazing hefeweizen if that's you're thing. Dangerous Man was my favorite but they shut down. Surly is overrated, but they do have really good pizza upstairs. I really like the sours from Pryes and 56 Brewing.

They make some simple styles, but I think they do a very good job with them.

 

[CloniesForLife]

They make some simple styles, but I think they do a very good job with them.

Yeah it's depends what you're into they have a Czech pils I really like but they aren't great if you're into ipas and stouts

 

[JP4CY]

Yup. They never recovered from that. I've tried a lot of the beers they've put out since, and none of them really hit the same.

TG has obviously exploded and has stayed much closer to their initial quality (although it's not quite the same). That's because Mike Saboe is still there.

Back when getting growlers filled at Hyvee was a thing, most of them had some Surly on tap and it was always a pretty good deal. Axeman was frequently $10. I would fill mine up as often as I could at that price.

 

[Al_4_State]

Yeah it's depends what you're into they have a Czech pils I really like but they aren't great if you're into ipas and stouts

I love lagers, and when they started that was pretty much their focus. German/Czech styles. They've branched out into IPAs and done a fairly nice job (I like Lounge Wizard), but they're absolutely a zig to something like Black Stack's zag.

 

[cycub51]

Dangerous Man messed up moving to Maple Plain imo. Their whole thing was that hipster brewery with funky beers and they moved 1 hour outside of the city. It was never going to work. They had incredible smoothie sours/ipa's. Makes me really sad.

Dangerous man moved out of their old spot? I lived up there 10+ years ago and the guy who’s face they used was a friend of a friend so we hung out a fair amount.

 

[Al_4_State]

Dangerous man moved out of their old spot? I lived up there 10+ years ago and the guy who’s face they used was a friend of a friend so we hung out a fair amount.

They've completely closed.

The unfortunate part was after they moved to a production only facility, I think they started putting out the best beer they'd ever made. I'd grab a couple 6 packs any time I was in the Twin Cities.

I enjoyed their original location, but really felt it was kind of overrated in comparison to other MSP breweries.

 

[MJ29]

I would echo Blackstack and Barrel Theory (although bothe are technically St Paul). If you're going to go to Blackstack then Falling Knife isn't too far away. They also have good IPAs.

Where in Minneapolis are you going to be?

We're staying in NE Minneapolis. It looks like we're only about 15 minutes from Blackstack.

 

[CloniesForLife]

Dangerous man moved out of their old spot? I lived up there 10+ years ago and the guy who’s face they used was a friend of a friend so we hung out a fair amount.

They ended up moving out and to a production facility in Maple Plains. They started a Kickstarter (or something like that) to build out a destination brewery there and it didn't gain much support so I think they just decided to close. I loved Dangerous Man but part of the appeal was their location and taproom. Maple Plain is like an hour outside the city so a lot of their supporters probably weren't too interested in investing money in a place they'd rarely visit when there are plenty of other local options to support

 

[CloniesForLife]

We're staying in NE Minneapolis. It looks like we're only about 15 minutes from Blackstack.

Ok some other options in NE for breweries (I would definitely recommend Falling Knife). Fair State and Broken Clock (also a coffee place and a big cool taproom). They are both coops so that's kind of cool. Just across the river I like Modist a lot or Pryes is solid and easy to get to. There are several others in the NE area or right across the river in the North Loop that have good beer and/or cool taprooms so feel free to ask about any you see and I can give you some feedback on what they are like.

Food: dinner - This is top tier. For all these places look into reservations now. Vinai (in the former Dangerous Man place) is Hmong food, Young Joni is pizza, Oro by Nixta is Mexican. All 3 of those are close to each other. Diane's Place is another Hmong Place that is also really good right down the road (they also do brunch). Right across the river is Owami which is all indigenous food.
If you can't get reservations or want some other options. Hai Hai is good. It is Vietnamese I believe. Centro for Tacos or Vivir is connected to it for brunch/breakfast. Stanley's is a classic bar and restaurant. Or the whole Central Ave area (where Fair State is) has tons of options. Their are also lots of options in the North Loop area.

Sandwich Shops - Carbon Kitchen (my favorite) and Marty's Deli.

Coffee - Mojo Cafe. Really neat coffee shop.

 

[MJ29]

Ok some other options in NE for breweries (I would definitely recommend Falling Knife). Fair State and Broken Clock (also a coffee place and a big cool taproom). They are both coops so that's kind of cool. Just across the river I like Modist a lot or Pryes is solid and easy to get to. There are several others in the NE area or right across the river in the North Loop that have good beer and/or cool taprooms so feel free to ask about any you see and I can give you some feedback on what they are like.

Food: dinner - This is top tier. For all these places look into reservations now. Vinai (in the former Dangerous Man place) is Hmong food, Young Joni is pizza, Oro by Nixta is Mexican. All 3 of those are close to each other. Diane's Place is another Hmong Place that is also really good right down the road (they also do brunch). Right across the river is Owami which is all indigenous food.
If you can't get reservations or want some other options. Hai Hai is good. It is Vietnamese I believe. Centro for Tacos or Vivir is connected to it for brunch/breakfast. Stanley's is a classic bar and restaurant. Or the whole Central Ave area (where Fair State is) has tons of options. Their are also lots of options in the North Loop area.

Sandwich Shops - Carbon Kitchen (my favorite) and Marty's Deli.

Coffee - Mojo Cafe. Really neat coffee shop.

We will have a toddler with us, so I probably won't do any of the places with reservations, even though they all sound amazing. If there is a good local place that delivers pizza, we are looking at that for our first night in. A good brunch place for Saturday or Sunday would be good too.

Thank you for all of this information. I have copied it into a Google doc for my travel group.