Archive: Author: sandbox_atpnzs

Cross-section of the seam that holds the lid to the body of a beer can

With both the revamped Pyro and the new Roasted cans here at the brewery, we are gearing up for a week of hard core canning, which brings us to this edition of our Ask the Brewer question!

Ask the Brewer

How does the beer get into sealed cans anyway?

That is a good question. While our canning line is easily visible through the taproom window, and we have definitely had people working it while the taproom is open (do not taunt the brewhouse workers, they scare easily), it can still be hard to see (and understand) exactly what the process is.

One of the things that often surprises people is that the cans get shipped to us as open topped containers. The can body is separate from the lid, and the canning line fills and assembles them, seaming the lid onto the body. The picture above shows the cross section of a properly formed seam.

Canning beer can be broken down into 5 distinct steps that need to be performed properly to get a correctly filled, leak-proof can of beer:

• CO2 filling
• Beer filling
• Lid application
• First seam
• Second seam

Prior to being put on the canning line, each can is rinsed with a mild sanitizing solution to ensure that the beer is going into a clean container. Once placed on the canning line, the cans are moved forward in groups of three to the first operation of filling those cans with CO2. The CO2 is heavier than air, so it stays in the can, providing an oxygen free environment that maintains carbonation and inhibits flavor changes. The second step is filling the cans with beer. Again, the cans are moved forward until they are under the fill nozzles, which drop down into the bottom of each can. Beer flows from the brite tank to each of the three fill nozzles, into the cans and displaces the CO2, so that it is laying between the top of the beer and the rim of the can.

In the third step the canning line pushes the filled cans under the lid dispenser and into the seaming portion of the operations. The lid dispenser puts one lid on each can, trapping the bed of CO2 as well as the beer beneath it. The fourth and fifth steps are the actual sealing of the can, which is called double seaming. Each operation in the double seaming process needs to be precisely timed so that a tight and leak-proof seam is formed. The fourth operation consists of the curled edge of the cover getting interlocked with the flange of the can body. The fifth operation is the rolling and compression of those inter-locked edges. Correctly done, the end result is a hermetically sealed container.

Once filled and seamed, the cans are rinsed, removed from the canning line and snapped into four-pack holders. They are then placed into cases, put on pallets, and stored in our walk-in cooler for pick-up by the distributor.

Taproom Tidings

The first weekend of December continues our tradition of food on Friday and Saturday. Tollefson Family Pork Farms will be here with locally raised pork sausages accompanied by their made from scratch side offerings on both days.

We are open our regular hours, with growler and grumbler fills available all of the days we are open.

• Thirsty Thursdays are your chance for $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (Remember, St. Paul doesn’t let us fill growlers after 8pm on Thursdays, so get here early)
• Whistler Soda has several new soda flavors, including a a caramelized pineapple and a mango soda.
• Tantalize your taste buds with a Gingerbread Custard Cupcake from Groundswell. Gingerbread with pumpkin custard and spiced whipped cream.
• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey, Cranberry Shandy and Raj-Agni IPA, with the “brewer’s choice” of a Minnesota Mild also on tap.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for that perfect gift for your beer loving recipient, give us a call or stop in. We have growler gift sets, shirts, hats and gift cards available in any denomination.

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook, North Pole Postal, Twitter or Google+.

Cheers!

The first Roasted Coffee Ale can off the line at the Ball facility in Indiana

As you can see above, we now have Roasted Coffee Ale cans! They were printed on Tuesday at the Ball facility in Monticello Indiana, and will be arriving in Minnesota on Wednesday morning, along with a shipment of Pyro cans. We will start canning Roasted next week, with it hopefully hitting stores, restaurants and bars soon after.

Ask the Brewer

We took the time to ask ourselves what we, as a business, are thankful for, and this is what we came up with!

First and foremost, we are thankful for our customers. The comments we receive, through our distributors, liquor buyers, store owners, and directly on social media or in person make our endeavors worthwhile. Every time someone says “Wow! This is really good beer, and gluten-free too?” we smile inside. Every time we hear of someone getting to have a beer with friends after years of drinking wine or cider, we get warm fuzzies. Each e-mail, tweet or post we get asking where can I buy your beer, I live in (pick a state), we are thrilled, and wish we could expand as fast as people are hearing about us. All of you have made our deciding to leap from home brewers to professional brewers worthwhile, and we thank you!

We are thankful for the retail establishments that carry our beer. Whether you have it in cans or on tap, are a restaurant, a bar, a pub or a liquor store, you carry our beer, and work to promote it. Without your support and assistance, we wouldn’t have grown nearly so fast, reaching so many people. Every time you recommend our beer to those who are looking for a local or Midwestern brew, or something gluten-free, you help people to discover us. We couldn’t do this without you, so, thank you!

We are also thankful for our distributors and our vendors. Without your support, things would be so much harder! You make helpful suggestions, you identify potential avenues of exploration, and you are tolerant of the vagaries and struggles of a start-up small business.  Your assistance and willingness to work with us has been invaluable, so we thank you, as well!

We hope that all of you have a lovely Thanksgiving, irregardless of how you celebrate it, and get some time to spend with friends and family, and the chance to reflect on all you have to be thankful for.

Taproom Tidings

This fourth weekend of November continues our tradition of food on Fridays, and hopefully Saturday. Unfortunately, the Crepe & Cake truck will not be joining us this weekend. Rusty Taco graciously agreed to step in at the last minute, and will be with us from 6 to 8 on Friday, and if they can make it work, Saturday as well. So, take a well deserved break from the Christmas shopping and stop in for a “brewers choice” beer and tacos!

With Thanksgiving happening on Thursday, we have changed our taproom hours for this week. We are open Wednesday from 4 to 8PM, closed Thursday (Thanksgiving), and then open Friday from 2PM until 10PM. Saturday and Sunday are back to the regular hours, with growler and grumbler fills available all of the days we are open.

• Thirsty Thursdays will be on hiatus this week due to the holiday, but we are extending the offer to this Wednesday with your chance for $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (Remember, St. Paul doesn’t let us fill growlers after 8pm on Thursdays, so get here early)
• Tantalize your taste buds with our seasonal offering of Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes from Groundswell. Pumpkin cake with cheesecake filling and cinnamon whipped cream
• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey, Cranberry Shandy and Raj-Agni IPA, with the “brewer’s choice” of a Minnesota Mild getting tapped on Friday.

Final Thoughts

Forget the Mall. The best way to spend Black Friday is with great friends and your favorite craft brews at the Harley-Davidson Museum^® in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From 4 to 7PM the Black Friday Beer Fest will sample a variety of beers from IPAs to ciders from many of the Midwest’s best craft breweries, including Burning Brothers. We hope to see you there!

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook, Pensieve, Twitter or Google+.

Cheers!

Dane dumping beer in the early days of recipe development

Locations in South Dakota and Wisconsin have started ordering kegs so they can offer Burning Brothers beer on tap. As always, you can check the “Find” link on our website to see where our beer is – The red beer stein icon is for locations with taps. Prost!

Ask the Brewer

Does every batch of beer turn out the way you want it to?

The short answer to this question is no. However, sometimes the way a beer turns out is an unexpected surprise, other times it is a huge disappointment. There are also times when you are brewing a tried and true recipe, and it just doesn’t work. Whether you are developing a new recipe, or working with one you’ve used before, there are enough variables in brewing that each batch is it’s own creation.

When creating a new recipe, you have many options in the grains, hop varieties, and flavorings that you can use. You can also vary boil times and the timing of various ingredients additions. On top of that, you can use any one of many different strains of yeast, depending on what you are creating. With all of theses different factors, you can end up with something very different from what you were trying to create, yet still delicious, something that is right on the mark, or something that is completely undrinkable – see the picture above! When the beer is undrinkable, it is always a little heartbreaking.

When you are working with a tried and true recipe, even in a commercial brewery, you can have things go wrong that cause the beer to go off. If there is an equipment malfunction, such as a chiller blockage or a fermenter thermostat failure, you can have beer that is left too hot for too long after the brewing process, or fermented at the wrong temperature, either impeding or accelerating fermentation, sometimes with poor results. Yeast, as a living organism, can be very particular about the temperatures it performs best at. While the large breweries can do much more than home brewers can to control the environment the beer is in, and replicate successful recipes exactly, there are still times when things go wrong. In those instances, the brewers grit their teeth, and send barrels of beer down the drain.

With all of this being said, we are sad to say that the initial fresh-hopped IPA made for the brewer’s choice offerings has gone to the beer trolls that live in the trench drains. While they were very happy about it, the rest of us wept a little. We have now recovered from that disappointment though, and are ready to try again.

Taproom Tidings

This third weekend of November continues our tradition of food on Fridays and Saturdays. The fine folks with the Tatanka Truck, winner of Outstanding Food Truck at this years Charlie Awards will be here on Friday. Saturday brings us something new with the arrival of the Signature on Wheels truck, bringing locally inspired chef favorites to our taproom.

The taproom is open its regular hours all weekend with growler and grumbler fills available all of the days we are open.

• Thirsty Thursdays is your chance for $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (Remember, St. Paul doesn’t let us fill growlers after 8pm on Thursdays, so get here early)
• Tantalize your taste buds with our seasonal offering of Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes from Groundswell. Pumpkin cake with cheesecake filling and cinnamon whipped cream
• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey, Cranberry Shandy and Raj-Agni IPA

Final Thoughts

Join us and sample the best that Minnesota’s local brewers and winemakers have to offer at “Raise a Glass – A Toast to PACER,” a beer and wine tasting event this Friday, Nov. 20, at 6 pm at Muse Event Center, located at 107 3rd Ave N, in Minneapolis.

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook, Language of Flavor, Twitter or Google+.

Cheers!

Humulus Lupulus (AKA Hops!)

This week we saw two loads of kegged beer head out the brewery doors! One batch is destined for South Dakota and the other for Wisconsin. Now you will be able to get Burning Brothers beer on tap in states besides Minnesota. Prost!

Ask the Brewer

Are hops used for anything besides beer?

While the first documented use of hops in beer dates back to the 9th century, hops actually have a long history of being used for a variety of reasons with some references going as far back as Roman times (Pliny the Elder in 23-79 AD). At that time, hops grew wild and the fresh spring shoots would be consumed much the same way we eat asparagus today. By the 14th century, hops were regularly being used in the Netherlands for ales.

Medicinally, hops have historically been known to help with both stomach issues and to address trouble sleeping. Today, they are also being investigated for their antibacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-cancer properties.

• The oils that make hops bitter also make them an effective tonic for stomach issues as they help to improve appetite and cure indigestion.
• Since hops are a member of the Cannabaceae family, it should also come as no surprise that they can have a sedative effect. In fact, they are often found in sleep aids along with Valerian, another herb known to promote the Z’s.
• The antibacterial and anti-fungal properties in hops are due to the bitter acids contained within the flowers. India Pale Ales came about because English brewers needed to add extra hops to the beer being shipped to India during the late 1800’s. Without the additional hops, the beer would spoil before reaching it’s final destination.
• Hops bittering agents are also being evaluated as a cancer preventative with initial research indicating that they can reduce the size and number of some cancerous lesions.

And here we thought that hops in beer was just an indulgence!

Taproom Tidings

This second weekend of November continues our new tradition of food on Saturdays. The fine folks with the Tatanka Truck will be here on both Friday and Saturday, as well as the following Friday (11/20) slinging their Native American deliciousness. The Saturday following (11/21) brings us something new with the arrival of the Signature on Wheels truck bringing locally inspired chef favorites to this taproom.

The taproom is open its regular hours all weekend with growler and grumbler fills available all of the days we are open.

• Thirsty Thursdays is your chance for $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (Remember, St. Paul doesn’t let us fill growlers after 8pm on Thursdays, so get here early)
• Tantalize your taste buds with our seasonal offering of Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes from Groundswell. Pumpkin cake with cheesecake filling and cinnamon whipped cream
• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey, Cranberry Shandy and Raj-Agni IPA

Final Thoughts

For those of you who don’t fear the winter (and love good beer), the tickets for the Winter Beer Dabbler have just gone on sale. This is by far our favorite beer festival but isn’t for the faint of heart (you try keeping the beer flowing when it’s below zero!). February 6th from 3:30 – 7:30pm at the MN State Fairgrounds, it includes samples from 120+ local, regional, and national craft breweries, live music, and fun winter activities. You can find tickets at the Beer Dabbler website.

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook, Genome Sequencing, Twitter or Google+.

Cheers!

Beer moves that can land you in the clinker?

We have received our can proofs for both the re-work on the Pyro cans (updated logo and such) and the initial run of Roasted cans. Next steps in the process are the creation of the printing plates and then the scheduling of our can production run at the Ball manufacturing facility in Monticello, Indiana. Needless to say, we are eager to keep the ball rolling!

We are also happy to announce that the TTB approved our formula for Roasted and Raj-Agni, so that means we can sell them across state lines. That means Coffee ale and IPA will be available for all the states we are distributed in!

Ask the Brewer

So, some beer laws are a bit strange, what are some of the weirdest?

We were able to find some pretty odd beer laws, most are courtesy of the Thrillist Food & Drink website. While their list is comprehensive towards all forms of alcohol, we chose to focus on the beer related laws (because…. BEER!).

In Oklahoma, beer that is more than 4% alcohol cannot be sold chilled. It has to be sold at room temperature. While this may be a great serving temperature for some beer, it’s not so great for the shelf life of many others. In particular, craft beer, which in most cases is unpasteurized.

In Georgia, individual cities get to set their own open container laws (say what?!). So, while you can drink publicly in Georgia, any slurring, stumbling or other inebriated behavior could land you in the clinker.

Texans are only allowed to have three sips of beer if they are drinking while standing. If they actually want to finish the beer, they have to sit down.

In Alaska, it is illegal to give beer to a moose (“Hey Rocky, pass me a Pyro…”). This actually makes a person wonder what happened, that a law like this had to be put on the books!

And, in Colorado, you can’t drink and ride a horse, or drink while riding a horse. It seems a horse is still considered a vehicle in Colorado, making you subject to DUI laws if caught.

Taproom Tidings

The taproom is open its regular hours all weekend. Growler and grumbler fills available all of the days we are open.

This first weekend of November also starts our food on Saturdays!  Rusty Taco this weekend, Tatanka next weekend.

Other highlights include:

• Thirsty Thursdays is your chance for $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (Remember, St. Paul doesn’t let us fill growlers after 8pm on Thursdays, so get here early)
• Food on Fridays (FoF) brings us delicious tacos. Rusty Taco is back with their mouth-watering selection of tacos, on both Friday and Saturday!
• You can also tantalize your taste buds with Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes from Groundswell. Pumpkin cake with cheesecake filling and cinnamon whipped cream
• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey, Cranberry Shandy and Raj-Agni IPA

Final Thoughts

If you did not get a chance to see it, the Pioneer Press put out a premium section on October 22nd celebrating St. Paul’s history with beer. This publication is exhaustive and entertaining, so if you get a chance, check it out!

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook, Dead Languages, Twitter or Google+.

Cheers!

Bube’s Brewery… haunted or not?

Brewer’s choice offerings are coming along nicely.  We have two brews done and in fermentation.  One is a lovely fresh-hopped IPA featuring Mighty Axe Hops, locally grown in Minnesota, and the other is a Minnesota Mild.

Ask the Brewer

In honor of Halloween, all things spooky and people’s enjoyment of a good scare, we decided to ask ourselves whether or not there were any haunted breweries out there. Believe it or not, we came up with three of them, courtesy of the Drinking in America Blog.

The first haunted brewery on their list, pictured above, is Bube’s Brewery. Bube’s is located in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, and is the only intact brewery in the United States left from the 1800s. Bube’s offers a ghost tour and has been featured on the SyFy channel’s “Ghost Hunters”.  While Bube’s lays claim to several ghosts, the most often seen apparition is that of a young woman down in the cellars. She is supposedly the former owner’s granddaughter who went insane in the 1920s.

The second haunted brewery is Moon River Brewing Company in Savannah, Georgia. While Moon River is more recent, starting operations in 1991, the building they are housed in dates from 1821 and housed the town’s first hotel and post office. The hotel closed in 1864 after General Sherman marched through with the Union Army, midst a wave of increased violence. There have been reports of bottles being thrown and people being touched, pushed and slapped by haunts.

The third haunted brewery on our list is actually in England. The Greengate Brewery is in Middleton, Greater Manchester, England. The Greengate house was built on this property in 1791, with the property being purchased by John Lee for building the brewery in 1828. In 1878 the brewery was renamed as the JW Lees & Co brewery. As of present day, the brewery is still in the same family, now on the sixth generation since the founder. In 2004, this brewery was featured in the Television show “Most Haunted”, with an investigation into the three ghosts said to haunt the premises.

Taproom Tidings

The taproom has its regular hours all weekend except for Saturday. On Halloween we will be closing early at 8PM. Growler fills available all of the days we are open. Highlights include:

• Thirsty Thursdays is your chance for $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (Remember, St. Paul doesn’t let us fill growlers after 8pm on Thursdays, so get here early)
• Food on Fridays (FoF) brings us an old favorite. Moondog will be here slinging their delicious selection of brats and dawgs along with the usual fine selection of toppings
• You can also tantalize your taste buds with Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes from Groundswell. Pumpkin cake with cheesecake filling and cinnamon whipped cream
• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey, Cranberry Shandy and Raj-Agni IPA

We are also thrilled to announce that we will be featuring food trucks on both Fridays and Saturdays starting the first weekend of November. That first weekend will feature Rusty Taco, the second will feature the Tatanka Truck. We can’t think of a better way to spend a cold November day then over a good pint and meal with friends.

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook, Telegraphy, Twitter or Google+.

Cheers!

Our lovely taproom manager!

Fall is FINALLY here, and with it, beer festival season eases up. You would think that means we get to kick back with our feet up, but really, there is beer to be made. That means we are strapping Dane back onto the pilot brew system (it does make things awkward) and encouraging him to get creative. We’re not sure exactly what the result will be, but expect to see and hear more about our Brewer’s Choice offerings soon.

Ask the Brewer

So, who all works at your brewery and taproom?

Our taproom is managed by Hannah Hautman, pictured above, who greets our customers with warmth and hospitality. Since the taproom just wouldn’t be the same without her, and she seems to know our regulars so well, we thought it was only fair that our customers got to find out a little about her, hence this quick interview.

What do you do at Burning Brothers?

I’m the taproom manager and all around office assistant (but I can tell you she does much more than this would imply – she washes cases of growlers and grumblers every week, manages all of our charitable donations, keeps our website map up to date, files taxes, and takes care of restocking everything from taproom swag to ingredients).

What’s the best part of your job?

Talking to customers – I’ve realized that I learn something new every day that we have the taproom open. Customers have a way of telling you things that make you realize you’d never really thought about that subject from that angle before.

What’s the worst part of your job?

Moldy growlers! However, I just power my way through them, making sure they are as clean and sanitized as the rest.

What’s your favorite Burning Brothers Beer?

The Spiced Ale that we brewed this past January. The cinnamon, orange and ginger flavors, for me, set it apart from the other beers we have brewed.

What is your favorite other beer?

Shiner Ruby Redbird! It tastes like ginger, and I love ginger! (As mentioned above)

Pirates or Ninjas?

Pirates – Johnny Depp, duh.

If you could add one thing to the brewery/taproom, what would it be?

If it has to be one thing, I would say increased ambiance. To me, that means more artwork, different lighting, more sound baffles. I also wouldn’t say no to an automatic growler washer!

Taproom Tidings

The taproom has its regular hours all weekend.  Growler fills available all of the days we are open. Highlights include:

• Thirsty Thursdays is your chance for $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (Remember, St. Paul doesn’t let us fill growlers after 8pm on Thursdays, so get here early)
• Food on Fridays (FoF) brings us something new. Crepe and Cake will be here to tantalize us with the fine art of French crepes and be offering both savory and sweet options made on buckwheat crepes. Sounds delicious.
• Rumor has it that yesterday was National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day, and what better way to celebrate than with one of our lovely Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes from Groundswell. Pumpkin cake with cheesecake filling and cinnamon whipped cream.
• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey, Cranberry Shandy and Raj-Agni IPA.

Note that on Saturday, October 31st (i.e., Halloween), we will be closing the taproom at 8pm. If you need a pint or a growler that day, make sure to stop in before that.

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook, Anagram, Twitter or Google+.

Cheers!

Brewer Humor

We have received back our hard copy proofs for the Roasted Coffee Ale cans, so the next steps are proof approval, and then getting onto the schedule at the Ball factory in Indiana. Still on track to hit store shelves in time for the holidays!

Ask the Brewer

It seems like working in a brewery is a lot of fun, is it?

We would refer you to the picture at the top of this weeks newsletter!

Taproom Tidings

The taproom has its regular hours all weekend, except for Saturday, when we have extended hours. Saturday we will be open from 10:30 AM until 10PM.  Growler fills available all of the days we are open. Highlights include:

• Thirsty Thursdays is your chance for $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (Remember, St. Paul doesn’t let us fill growlers after 8pm on Thursdays, so get here early)
• Food on Fridays (FoF) brings us Crazy Puppy with their gluten-free fair food. This is the last visit from Crazy Puppy for the season, so don’t miss it! To celebrate her wonderful customers, Crazy Puppy is offering $1 off curds, pups and combos this Friday. What a wonderful way to say goodbye to summer!
• Our featured cupcake from Groundswell is the Pumpkin Cheesecake. Pumpkin cake with cheesecake filling and cinnamon whipped cream.
• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey, Cranberry Shandy and the newly named Blackstrap IPA, Raj-Agni. Growler and grumbler fills on everything.

Final Thoughts

On Saturday, October 17th starting at 10:30am, we will be hosting the MN Brewery Running Series at the Burning Brothers taproom. This event celebrates being active, drinking beer, and supporting the local community. Featuring community partners like Mill City Running and I Love Kickboxing along with food from Cafe Racer and Cool Jerk, it’s sure to be a good time. So come on down, cheer on the runners, have good food, have a beer, and support the community.

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook, Navajo Code, Twitter or Google+.

Cheers!

Where growlers are concerned, cleanliness is next to goodliness!

While an order has not been placed yet, the artwork for the Roasted Coffee Ale cans is finished, and we have begun the conversation with the can fabricator as to submitting said order. If all goes as planned, cans of Roasted will be on store shelves in time for the Holidays.

The Cranberry Shandy is already on-tap in the taproom for the fall and winter, and the Blackstrap IPA, now named Raj-Agni (Hindi for Fire King) will be back on tap this Friday.

Ask the Brewer

I drank the beer in my growler, now what do I do with it?

We regularly get asked what to do with growlers once they are empty (i.e., all the beery goodness has been enjoyed). The best answer of course is to bring it back in and re-fill it! However, since that could be anywhere from an hour to a couple of weeks in-between when you finish your growler and when you get to bring it back to us, we thought we’d do a quick run-down on growler care.

First off, don’t put the cap back on! When empty growlers get capped and left to sit, the residual beer inside gets funky and provides the perfect medium for new life forms to sprout and grow (Note that if you open that cap and the growler starts talking with you, that is typically a bad sign). We recommend giving the growler (or grumbler) a thorough rinse, and then leaving it open to dry out. That’s it! You don’t need to scrub, wash, or otherwise try to clean the growler.

Once your growler comes back to the brewery, we put them through a thorough cleaning and sanitizing process. We also examine them for chips, cracks or other flaws that mean they need to be pulled and recycled, as well as insuring a gluten-free, clean fill that allows the flavor of the beer to be enjoyed to the fullest.

Taproom Tidings

The taproom has its regular hours all weekend, with growler fills available all of the days we are open. Highlights include:

• Thirsty Thursdays is your chance for $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (Remember, St. Paul doesn’t let us fill growlers after 8pm on Thursdays, so get here early)
• Food on Fridays (FoF) brings us Chef T-Bone with Tollefson Family Pork Farm. T-Bone specializes in made to order farm fresh offerings designed to delight.
• Our featured cupcake from Groundswell is the Pumpkin Cheesecake. Pumpkin cake with cheesecake filling and cinnamon whipped cream.
• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey, the last of the Parched Lime Shandy, Cranberry Shandy and the newly named Blackstrap IPA, Raj-Agni. Growler and grumbler fills on everything.

Final Thoughts

On Saturday, October 10th from 1-4pm, we will be at the Nordeast Big River Brew Fest, pouring beer in support of East Side Neighborhood Services. Come and sample an exciting and diverse array of over 200 micro and craft brews, plus samples from local vendors. We look forward to seeing you there!

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook, Sanskrit, Twitter or Google+.

Cheers!

Autumn is beer drinking weather, just ask the Germans!

Well folks, keg distribution is just getting started, yet we already have a few early adopters with gluten-free goodness on tap:

• Sassy Spoon, Minneapolis
• Republic, Minneapolis
• La Ferme, Alexandria

Also of note, now that Fall has finally arrived (wasn’t it just 80 degrees the other day), we are bidding adieu to our summer seasonal (i.e. the Parched Lime Shandy) and welcoming back our winter seasonal of the (as of yet un-named) Cranberry Shandy. Both options will be available in the taproom this weekend, but once the lime is gone, well, it’s gone.

Also also of note (insert dry sense of humour remark here), you thirsty hop heads have drunk us out of our Blackstrap IPA. That doesn’t mean that it’s gone for good, just for the weekend while we wait for the batch in the back to finish fermenting. When I went back and asked it how it was doing it said “bloop bloop bloop”, which loosely translates to “I’ll see you next weekend”.

Ask the Brewer

So, what’s the big deal with Oktoberfest?

Oktoberfest is the world’s largest “Volksfest”, which is a beer festival and traveling fun fair. It is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, lasts for 16 days, and attracts over 6 million visitors! It runs from mid to late September into the first weekend of October.

Oktoberfest got it’s start in 1810 with the marriage celebration of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese. The event included beer and wine tastings, live performances, a parade, horse racing and singing. In 1811 a show was added to promote Bavarian agriculture, and in 1813 carnival booths were added. As of 1819, it was decided that it should be an annual event and has been held yearly since except for during times of war or disease outbreaks.

As of 2015, the Oktoberfest celebration in Munich has 14 large tents each capable of holding from 1,000 to 8,000 people, as well as 20 smaller tents that can each hold from 60 to 450 people. The festival opens with a twelve gun salute and with the Mayor tapping the first Oktoberfest keg and giving the first litre poured to the Minister-President of the State of Bavaria. There are only 6 breweries that serve beer at Oktoberfest in Munich, all of which operate within the city limit and conform to the Reinheitsgebot (the governing laws in Germany for beer purity).

Taproom Tidings

The taproom has its regular hours all weekend, with growler fills available all of the days we are open. Highlights include:

• Thirsty Thursdays is your chance for $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills (Remember, St. Paul doesn’t let us fill growlers after 8pm on Thursdays, so get here early)
• Food on Fridays (FoF) brings us something new with the inaugural visit of the Tatanka Truck who specialize in Native American Foods.
• Our featured cupcake from Groundswell is also new this week (Pumpkin Cheesecake), in honor of the harvest season. Pumpkin cake with cheesecake filling and cinnamon whipped cream.
• Tap selection includes Pyro APA, Roasted Coffee Ale, Fused Orange Blossom Honey, and the last round of Parched Lime Shandy! Sadly, our Blackstrap IPA is out until next weekend, but we do have the Cranberry Shandy back on tap. Growler and grumbler fills on everything.

Final Thoughts

On Friday, October 2nd, we will be participating in Pour FOR Parks. This event features over 15 local craft breweries and wineries, 6 Fan Favorite food trucks, music, bonfires and hammerschlagen. There will also be a VIP craft distillery tent.

On Saturday, October 3rd, we will be at the Rotary Club of Brooklyn Park, pouring for Hops for Hunger and Homeless. This fundraiser will have craft breweries and cideries, live music, a complimentary bratwurst lunch, and a souvenir tasting glass.

We look forward to seeing you at either or both of these events!

As always, if you have questions, drop us a note via Email, Facebook, Hidden Medallions, Twitter or Google+.

Cheers!