I had the opportunity to make a quick trip to a city/state that loves American Craft Beer almost as much as I do. Minneapolis, Minnesota! I knew that Minnesotans loved their beer, with about 13 breweries in the state… but I didn’t know how much brew history there was. The state of Minnesota is home to the second oldest family run brewery in the United States, August Schell Brewing Co. It survived the Sioux Uprising and prohibition remaining family owned thorough out that time! I found out about Schell’s history after trying some of their beer… which makes it even more interesting. During my first full day in Minneapolis I stopped at a bunch of different drinking establishments… an impromptu bar hop/crawl/swing starting at 3:00pm. The first stop was Old Chicago Restaurant and Tavern, a national chain that boasts over 101 beers. I enjoyed both samplers I tried. One was the American Craft Beer sampler and the other was a Staff’s Choice sampler. The staffs choice was great since it had some local beer like Surly Furious. It had a nice hoppy taste with a smooth finish. From there I stopped for a couple of games and some beers  at Bryant-Lake Bowl. This tiny bowling alley with only 8 lanes was extremely well maintained and was chocked full of character… it begged us to come in! After two very fun games And some Summit Extra Pale Ale we decided to make our way to the next stop… The Herkimer Pub and Brewery. This place had about five beers they brew at the premises. We tried the Sky Pilot Kellerbier and the Alt Bier during their happy hour (2 for 1!!!) At this point I was a bit too tipsy to remember what the beer was tasting like… I just know it was tasty. Next up was The C.C. Club a small bar with a pool table on our way back to the hotel. I had an old favorite… Fat Tire from a slightly surly (not related to the beer) bartender. It was smooth and chewy with some nice sweet bitterness… just like I remember it. After a quick game of pool and dirty looks to the bartender I decided to call it a night at 9:30pm. My first night in Minneapolis was full of fun times, cool places, nice people and great beers. Cant wait to come back!

Tags: american, craft, event

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 9:34 pm and is filed under Good Times, Travel, event. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.