Venn Brewing in Southeast Minneapolis is slated to open as soon as this month, and overall things have been pretty quiet, media-wise. I wanted to learn more about co-owner and head brewer, Kyle Sisco, as well as the Venn taproom, which will serve a beer desert, an area previously only served by Northbound Smokehouse (and the late Harriet Brewing). Kyle and I became acquaintances during my occasional forays into beer judging, namely at The State Fair and the Minnesota Mashout.

With so many breweries proximal to the heart of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the amount of airtime that Lupulin Brewing gets may be surprising. The quality of their beer is no secret, though, and their lines at festivals routinely stretch a dozen or more deep. For the average beer drinker, a 45-minute trip to a taproom may not be a regular thing, but somehow, Lupulin manages to draw from a wide radius. I’d guess that their cans of legendary hazy IPA and the occasional bomber of

It’s hard to visit a brewery lately without some mention of hop science. Dry-hopping is now ubiquitous in many taprooms, and there has been increased discussion about how whirlpool additions of hops contribute to bitterness in addition to flavor. Recently, terms like hop powder, hop extract, and hop dust are populating beer menus, which leads me to ask, what exactly are these things? Credit: Buffalo Beer Biochemist I’ll admit that I am fond of the unrealistic but romantic not

When it comes to craft beer, the real buzzword may always be hops (not yeast, malt, and certainly not water). Hops get all the airtime. Many beer lovers can name several varieties without giving a thought to malted barley. But when I think about the nuances of the brewing process, malt is of much more interest to me. Whereas hop oils are volatile and unpredictable, malt is trusty. Hops finish the brewing process, but malts initiate it. And this moment right now is a very exci

After 10 years of complete brewing stagnancy, the Winnipeg beer landscape is finally changing. Fueled by a major legislative change making taprooms legal, three new breweries have opened this year with more (some reports say about 10 within the province) on the way. For Manitoba craft beer drinkers, this has been a very long time coming, and the growth is palpable at bars and restaurants. I’d place money on Winnipeg having the most rapid craft brewing growth of any city ever:

I take it as a sign of maturation within our beer market that the general public can name specific types of hops. Hop varieties are listed in descriptions on many beer menus, and several very popular beers are named for the hops they contain. Within the last year, several varieties have become popular by name among the drinking crowd – Mosaic, Simcoe, and Citra seem to be getting the bulk of the buzz lately. Without going into too much detail, I’ll remind you that while hops

For part one, click here. First in the Biggest Mistakes series was a look at the problem of new breweries serving premature beer to paying customers. Turns out I am not the only one who has experienced this, and it’s a frustrating reality. But you, dear readers, pushed me further on the issue – “what about plain, garden-variety, BAD beer?” You asked. Fair enough. My previous series outline will be scrapped to appease the masses. The reality is that there are shortages in this

I have a science degree. I am a smart individual. I even took advanced biology and microbiology in college. Still, when I first learned about cultivating wild yeast, my mind was blown. It may come as no surprise to many of you that plucking wild yeast out of thin air is not all that difficult. These single-celled organisms are everywhere, on the surfaces we come into contact with every day, in the air we breathe. Convincing the tiny creatures to do our bidding is only a matte

Living in Minnesota, I am no stranger to seasonality. There is a certain rhythm that accompanies Midwestern living – the anticipation of spring, a longing for more summer days, but also some respite in the cooler months of fall. Next comes dread, not to mention denial… though one can’t help but resourcefully replace the ice scraper in the trunk sometime in October. Venturing to North Carolina several times over the last few years has widened my understanding of seasonality. T

Sour beer is no longer the oddity within the beer market that it once was. When I first wrote about sour beers, I got several messages from people, shocked by the availability of sours in the Twin Cities compared to other areas. One of the area’s newest breweries is churning out hands-down the most impressive sour beers in the Twin Cities. If you’re a co-op member or merely a frequent visitor, of course you know I mean Fair State. Some of their sours are consistently availabl

The Beer Belongs advertising campaign, which ran in a series of 132 ads from 1945 to 1956, was one of the most successful American ad campaigns of all time. It was seen by millions of Americans and is quite possibly the reason why so many of us have beer in our homes at any given time. Read more in part one of this series here. “The leading commercial artists of the times were used including Douglas Crockwell (he did seventy paintings) Steven Dohanos, Haddon Sundblom, Mead Sc

“In this friendly, freedom-loving land of ours – beer belongs…Enjoy it!” Craft beer is no longer an outsider’s beverage. It’s not an insider’s one, either. It isn’t owned by the hippies or by the upper class. It is no longer a rare find in stores or unrecognizable to baby boomers or college students. Craft beer has no age limits (beyond a legal one), no gender gaps, and no boundaries. Taprooms are becoming a favorite gathering place. Volunteerism organized by breweries is com

Uinta Brewing is the latest well-established brewery to break in to the Twin Cities market. Following in the footsteps of Avery, Oskar Blues, and Ballast Point, Uinta has been very well-received here over the past few weeks. With multiple year-round 6-packs as well as specialty, limited-release bombers available, Uinta didn’t just throw their flagship at Minnesota hoping for the best. Their varied selection includes pale ale, IPA, black lager, and rauchbier, to name a few. Th

Two brewing operations out of northeast have recently put their product into convenient carrying packages for all the world – or in this case the Twin Cities – to enjoy. I’m talking about bombers from Fair State Brewing Cooperative and 16oz cans from Sociable Cider Werks. I visited Sociable for ABV back in the beginning stages of production to get a sense of their identity. There was much confusion about how a cider producer could have a taproom and also brew beer, since cide

I had whet my palate for Half Acre days before, at Blue Door in Armitage, and was pumped to visit the place. Half Acre is located north of downtown, east of Logan Square. It has a taproom alongside the brewery and store, and is very easily accessible from the L, Metra, and bus. Half Acre is the local favorite, it seems, although it is probably a three-way-tie. They are a full production brewery that sells growlers and cans, too. The place is steeped in local with not a single

Wild Woods Brewery and Bru are the newest places that we visited during our great beer (and bathroom) tour. After leaving Upslope, Bru was a very short drive away. Not quite two years old, Wild Woods has made a splash as a sort of quiet, tiny underdog in Boulder’s brewing scene. The brewery’s concept came together for owners Jake and Erin Evans (a nurse, no less!) while on a visit to Colorado from their former home in the Midwest. We opted for one flight between the three of