well, i went to great water with my SIL and a good friend of mine that lives in minneapolis, definitely enjoyed their beers, they have some good cask ales that fit the CAMRA standards. i particularly enjoyed their pflugenpflager, which is a 6.5% ABV oktoberfest that was fermented with an ale yeast (I assume something like a kolsh/altbier), but it was really tasty. unfortunately the cask version had been kicked before we got there, but good beers overall for sure.
next went to the happy gnome as suggested and enjoyed it thoroughly... the only thing that was frustrating was having soooo many beers to choose from... not a bad thing to be frustrated about. ended up having the victory yakima something IPA (awesome), hanssens gueze (very funky and tart, my SIL almost moved tables once she smelled it, couldn't get it out of her nose... i said, yeah, that's the Brett funk), a french biere de garde that i can't remember the name of, a magic hat #9, the goose island imperial stout, which is delicious and a summit kolsch... a great night for sure. thanks for everyone's input on where to visit in the twin cities. i'll definitely hit summit and surly next time. cheers!