drewfull
Well-Known Member
Key Considerations in Minneapolis/St. Paul
Minneapolis
Town Hall - Really aggravating website. Great brewery. Growler sales at the downtown brewery location only, but they also operate a bar and a bowling alley in South MPLS.
Dangerous Man - Northeast MPLS, on-site/growler only. Excellent tap room & beer, if expensive.
Indeed Brewing - Northeast MPLS, distributed throughout the twin cities. Excellent tap room & beer.
612 Brew - Northeast MPLS, excellent tap room, meh beer. Walking distance to Indeed though.
Fulton Beer - Right next to the Twins stadium. Excellent tap room, good beer, widely distributed
Boom Island - Bombers for distribution only. No tap-room/tours to my knowledge.
Harriet Brewing - Southeast MPLS. Good, Belgian-inspired beer. Can be found on tap, but no bottles are in stores at this point.
Northbound Brewpub - South MPLS. Good taproom, good beer. No bottles, on-site/growlers only
The Herkimer - Uptown MPLS. It exists. It’s ok. On-site pints only, but well located.
St. Paul
Summit Brewing - One of the original MN craft breweries. Great tours, good beer, good taproom
Flat Earth Brewing - They’re OK. Bombers widely available. Growlers at brewery
At least 4 breweries are scheduled to open in St. Paul in the next year. More to come here.
Suburbs
Surly Brewing - Brooklyn Park. Yeah, they’re building in Minneapolis, but for now they’re stuck in Brooklyn Park. Awesome brewery, bad-ass taproom. No growlers.
Steel Toe - St. Louis Park. Great beer, limited distribution, bombers/growlers only.
Pour Decisions - Roseville. Out of the way, but cool taproom and one of the more innovative breweries. Makes the only Gose produced in Minnesota (to my knowledge)
Hammerheart - Lino Lakes. Way out in the ‘burbs. Heard great things, haven’t visited. Way Viking/Norseman. You’ll understand from the website
Olvalde brewing - Rollingstone. You can't visit them, but you should check out a bomber of theirs. Recommend Brynhildrs gift, aurochs horn...
Others exist. Like I said, lots of recent growth here. I don’t recall everything.
Bars of Note
The Bulldog - 4 locations, various ownership/websites. All great beer lists
Pizza Luce - Various locations. Generally short high quality tap lists
Pracna - Downtown Minneapolis
MacKenzie’s - Downtown Minneapolis
Butcher & the Boar - Downtown Minneapolis
Republic - 2 locations, Downtown Minneapolis & Uptown
Muddy Waters - Uptown Minneapolis
Bryant Lake Bowl - Uptown Minneapolis
Matt’s Bar - South Minneapolis. Shitty beer list, but you really, really should go here.
New Bohemia - Northeast Minneapolis
Red Cow - South Minneapolis / Edina
Happy Gnome - St. Paul
The Muddy Pig - St. Paul. My personal favorite beer bar in the Twin Cities.
Groveland Tap - St. Paul
Blue Door Pub - Two locations...St. Paul & Minneapolis. Great burgers & beer
Bottle Shops of Interest
Zipps Liquors - Minneapolis. Great selection, solid prices, close to downtown
South Lyndale - South Minneapolis. Great selection, solid prices as well
France44 Liquors - Southwest Minneapolis. Great store, helpful people, solid prices
Four Firkins - St. Louis Park (suburb immediately west of Minneapolis). Strictly a craft beer store. Really cool, slightly spendy
Wine Thief & Ale Jail - St. Paul. Great little shop
1st Grand - St. Paul
Thomas Liquors - St. Paul. Right next to St. Thomas University
Blue Max - Burnsville. Way south suburbs, but great store with wide selection
Princeton’s - Maple Grove. North suburbs. I’m told a great store as well. Haven’t been.
Minnesotans, please continue to chime in with other edits, additions and name calling.
- Dedicated liquor stores: All (real) beer must be sold out of them. Anything seen in grocery stores or other is 3.2% ABV or lower and must be destroyed. With fire, ideally.
- No buying on Sundays: Liquor stores and breweries are closed Sundays
- Growlers can only be filled at the brewery and must be branded by the filling brewery. And can’t be filled on Sundays.
- Brewery offsale can only happen via growlers or 750 mL bottles (which count as growlers to the law
- Rapid growth: Due to legislature changes, the number of breweries in Minneapolis has tripled in the last 3 years. Some are great, some aren't I will try and call out some I've experienced, but other Minnesotans please chime in, as I haven’t been everywhere, man.
- Travel: It’s not super easy to get between the two cities, I would recommend a car if you are trying to see both cities or the suburbs as they are 10-20 minutes apart
- Duluth: Yes, it’s left out. You should visit anyways, Fitgers and Bent Paddle are awesome and only available up (even further) north.
Minneapolis
Town Hall - Really aggravating website. Great brewery. Growler sales at the downtown brewery location only, but they also operate a bar and a bowling alley in South MPLS.
Dangerous Man - Northeast MPLS, on-site/growler only. Excellent tap room & beer, if expensive.
Indeed Brewing - Northeast MPLS, distributed throughout the twin cities. Excellent tap room & beer.
612 Brew - Northeast MPLS, excellent tap room, meh beer. Walking distance to Indeed though.
Fulton Beer - Right next to the Twins stadium. Excellent tap room, good beer, widely distributed
Boom Island - Bombers for distribution only. No tap-room/tours to my knowledge.
Harriet Brewing - Southeast MPLS. Good, Belgian-inspired beer. Can be found on tap, but no bottles are in stores at this point.
Northbound Brewpub - South MPLS. Good taproom, good beer. No bottles, on-site/growlers only
The Herkimer - Uptown MPLS. It exists. It’s ok. On-site pints only, but well located.
St. Paul
Summit Brewing - One of the original MN craft breweries. Great tours, good beer, good taproom
Flat Earth Brewing - They’re OK. Bombers widely available. Growlers at brewery
At least 4 breweries are scheduled to open in St. Paul in the next year. More to come here.
Suburbs
Surly Brewing - Brooklyn Park. Yeah, they’re building in Minneapolis, but for now they’re stuck in Brooklyn Park. Awesome brewery, bad-ass taproom. No growlers.
Steel Toe - St. Louis Park. Great beer, limited distribution, bombers/growlers only.
Pour Decisions - Roseville. Out of the way, but cool taproom and one of the more innovative breweries. Makes the only Gose produced in Minnesota (to my knowledge)
Hammerheart - Lino Lakes. Way out in the ‘burbs. Heard great things, haven’t visited. Way Viking/Norseman. You’ll understand from the website
Olvalde brewing - Rollingstone. You can't visit them, but you should check out a bomber of theirs. Recommend Brynhildrs gift, aurochs horn...
Others exist. Like I said, lots of recent growth here. I don’t recall everything.
Bars of Note
The Bulldog - 4 locations, various ownership/websites. All great beer lists
Pizza Luce - Various locations. Generally short high quality tap lists
Pracna - Downtown Minneapolis
MacKenzie’s - Downtown Minneapolis
Butcher & the Boar - Downtown Minneapolis
Republic - 2 locations, Downtown Minneapolis & Uptown
Muddy Waters - Uptown Minneapolis
Bryant Lake Bowl - Uptown Minneapolis
Matt’s Bar - South Minneapolis. Shitty beer list, but you really, really should go here.
New Bohemia - Northeast Minneapolis
Red Cow - South Minneapolis / Edina
Happy Gnome - St. Paul
The Muddy Pig - St. Paul. My personal favorite beer bar in the Twin Cities.
Groveland Tap - St. Paul
Blue Door Pub - Two locations...St. Paul & Minneapolis. Great burgers & beer
Bottle Shops of Interest
Zipps Liquors - Minneapolis. Great selection, solid prices, close to downtown
South Lyndale - South Minneapolis. Great selection, solid prices as well
France44 Liquors - Southwest Minneapolis. Great store, helpful people, solid prices
Four Firkins - St. Louis Park (suburb immediately west of Minneapolis). Strictly a craft beer store. Really cool, slightly spendy
Wine Thief & Ale Jail - St. Paul. Great little shop
1st Grand - St. Paul
Thomas Liquors - St. Paul. Right next to St. Thomas University
Blue Max - Burnsville. Way south suburbs, but great store with wide selection
Princeton’s - Maple Grove. North suburbs. I’m told a great store as well. Haven’t been.
Minnesotans, please continue to chime in with other edits, additions and name calling.
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