All posts by Andrew Schmitt

Andrew is just a guy that likes beer. You can usually find him on the twitters or spending time with his family.
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Republic Uptown opens indoor bocce courts

republic calhoun square bocceRepublic Uptown has announced the opening of bocce courts inside their 2nd floor Calhoun Square location.

“Bocce is an ancient game, with origins dating back to at least 264 B.C. when Roman soldiers played between battles, but we prefer our version – in the comfort of Minnesota’s finest craft beer bar,” said Republic co-owner Matty O’Reilly. “Playing bocce requires skill, fitness, strategy and cunning, all characteristics we frequently see in Republic’s customers, so this is a natural match.”

Bocce courts Republic Uptown are open to customers daily. The courts are also available for reservations by organizations, companies and anyone else that can be pulled off their barstool. Those interested in more information or to reserve a bocce court may call 612-886-2309

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ENKI Brewing 1st Anniversary and Celebration

I ANNO ENKI ALEENKI Brewing Company has announced that the company will celebrate its first year of business by hosting an anniversary party in the ENKI taproom and brewery grounds. The party will start at noon on Saturday, June 21st,and continue through 11:00pm, featuring live music by the Tex Pistols, food by School of the Wise, and games. At 1:00pm ENKI Brewing will tap I ANNO ENKI ALE, a special anniversary ale. Everyone ages 21 and over is invited. No cover charge.

Over the past 12 months we’ve made great headway in our mission to make the world a friendlier place two beers at a time. To date we’ve sold nearly 150,000 pints of ENKI beer. “That’s a whole lot of new friends,” observed John Hayes, co-founder, ENKI Brewing.

In anticipation of this occasion being our biggest and best event ever, ENKI Brewing was granted a special permit, expanding our public space to all of the brewery grounds—comprising the entire city block. “This is going to be a great and continue through 11:00pm, featuring live music by the party. I’m excited to share our newest beer with friends who we’ve met this past year and to a crowd of new friends,” remarked Jason Davis, Brew Master, ENKI Brewing.

Enki Brewing Beers

“I’ve already made more friends in Minnesota than at any other time or any other place in the previous 35 years. I hope to see all of you at our party so together we will raise a pint in appreciation of friends old and new,” remarked Dan Norton, co-founder, ENKI Brewing.

Featured, Home Brewing

Minnesota home brewers earn acclaim at National Homebrew Conference

Several Minnesota homebrewers returned from AHA’s National Homebrewers Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan with heads held high and awards held even higher. Over 8,000 brewers across the country took part in the competition last weekend. Seven Minnesotans placed in the top 3 of their entered categories, a remarkable feat. We have a lot of talent here in Minnesota.

Minnesota Homebrewers National Homebrewers Conference
Chris Smith, Brett Glenna, Steve Fletty
Picture via @EganPatty

Minnesota Home Brewers Association won the Gambrinus Club Award.

Named for King Gambrinus, the (unofficial) Patron Saint of Beer, this award is given to the club having the most Final Round points per the number of entries from the club in the National Homebrew Competition. Matthew Weide, Brett Glenna, and Sean Kampshoff combined to earn the prize for their club, MHBA.

“This year’s National Homebrew Competition fielded the largest group of entrants in the competition’s 36 year history. The level of competition has never been higher, meaning the National Homebrew Competition winners are truly among the most talented brewers in the world.”
-AHA director Gary Glass.

Matthew Weide took home Meadmaker of the year & 1st place for his Melomel (fruit mead). The Meadmaker of the Year award is awarded to the maker of the mead of all gold medal winners in all three mead categories.

1st Place

Matthew Weide
Melomel (Fruit Mead) 25C
Minnesota Home Brewers Association

1st Place

Sean Kampshoff
Specialty Beer 23A
Minnesota Home Brewers Association

1st Place

Steve Fletty
Other Mead 26A
Saint Paul Homebrewers Club

2nd Place

Brett Glenna
Standard Cider and Perry 27A
Minnesota Home Brewers Association

2nd Place

Christopher Smith
Specialty Cider and Perry 28B
Northern Brewer Fermentation Brigade

3rd Place

Juma Essie
German Wheat and Rye Beer 15A
Nordeast Brewers Alliance

3rd Place

Mike Spores
Light Lager 1A
Saint Paul Homebrewers Club

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Father’s Day gift ideas for the dad that likes beer

Father’s Day is quickly approaching. Here are a few Father’s Day gift ideas for the dad that enjoys beer. So, pretty much every Dad.

Beer Island - Jeff Nelson

Odds are good that Dad likes to escape to “Beer Island” once in a while. This map from local artist Jeff Nelson will make he never gets lost, or at least he will hit all the landmarks on his next journey. (Link)

Beer Soap

Cologne? Na, that is played out. Get Dad a puck of beer soap from Swag Brewery. Pro-tip, get him the soap that smells like mom’s favorite beer. (Link)

craft meister growler tablets

Does Dad like to fill get his growler filled at his favorite brewery? Or, perhaps he fills it at home with his home brew and shares with friends and neighbors? Growler tablets from Craft Meister are exactly what he wants this Father’s Day. No brushes, no scrubbing, just 1 tablet and 10 minutes yields a clean growler ready for filling. (Link)


vinobrew

Show Dad you really love him, get him a customized flight paddle from Vino Brew with something cheesy like World’s Best Dad. A personalized flight paddle is way better than a new tie. (Link)

 

enki Brewing

Treat your him to a beer, or a few. Bring dear old Dad to Enki Brewing this Sunday. The Enki Brewing taproom will be regularly enjoying recently loosened legal restrictions, beginning this Sunday from 12-6pm.

The Duluth Experience

Give Dad the gift of The Duluth Experience. The Duluth Experience is a local Duluth business focusing on the north shore tours. The Duluth Experience gives great brewery tours, but they have recently expanded to history and adventure tours as well! (Link)

Does Dad like beer fests? Get him tickets to Pride Beer Dabbler at June 27 from 5:30–9:30pm in Loring Park. He can go nuts with craft beer samples from 27 Minnesota breweries, and see how many of the 27 local food trucks he can pair with his beer (food not included in ticket price). (Link)

Featured, Newsfeed

Target begins selling liquor in Minnesota

targetAccording to Sam Black at Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, Minnesota’s own Target Corporation is set to begin selling wine, liquor, and beer in the land of 10,000 lakes.

The retail giant isn’t jumping into the deep end of liquor retail just yet, more like dipping a toe in the water. The Ostego, MN Target store is the only location has been approved for a liquor license so far. It will serve as a test to see if concept works in Minnesota. It is unknown if other stores will needed for a proof of concept

Target is a retail juggernaut. They have sold alcohol in other parts of the country for almost two decades. It would be odd to see the retail heavyweight get into the liquor game if they didn’t think it made sense.

What do think, would you buy your liquor, wine, or beer at Target?

Legislative Events, Newsfeed

Democratic Visions on Minnesota Liquor Law

Mary Stanik: Minnesota Liquor Law

Author, Democratic Visions commentator, and Minnpost contributor Mary Stanik gives her thoughts on the failure of a 2014 Minnesota legislative bill that would have permitted Sunday liquor store sales.

Democratic Visions is hand crafted by volunteers (mostly DFLers) from Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Edina and Bloomington and can be seen on the following cable systems:
Hopkins, Minnetonka, Edina, Richfield and Eden Prairie – Comcast Channel 15 – Sundays at 9 p.m., Mondays at 10:00 p.m. and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m.
Minneapolis – MTN Channel 16 – Sundays at 8:30 p.m. ; Mondays at 3:30 a.m.; 9:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m
Bloomington – BCAT Cable Channel 16 – Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m.; Fridays at 9:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. & 2:30 p.m.

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Crowdfunding a brewery

Another week, another brewery, another crowdfunding campaign.

It seems like not a week goes by without hearing about a new brewery in planning and the launch of their crowdfunding campaign. Don’t misunderstand me, I have absolutely nothing against new businesses taking advantage all the tools at their disposal. But, it seems like there is an extremely close relationship to startup breweries and crowdfunding sites like indeigogo, kickstarter, or Razoo.

One cannot blame these new companies for trying to entice people to kick in a few bucks. Starting a new brewery can be very cash intensive. And the truth is these creative funding sources work more often than not. Recent success stories include BauHaus BrewLabs, Sisyphus Brewing, and Hayes’ Public House.

There is even a company called Crowd Brewed that focuses on crowdsourced brewery investors. Crowd Brewed lets you buy a small slice of the company pie with a chance to see a return on a long term brewery investment.

To most breweries crowdfunding is more than just than some additional funding. Along with these campaigns comes added benefit of media exposure and word of mouth advertising. Breweries like BauHaus and Sisyphus have made it clear that their crowdfunding campaigns were to enhance their business plans with added value like patios and art. They added to their business plans instead of making crowdfunding a critical part of their business plan.

My only real concern with crowdfunding a brewery is with the campaigns that really need the money to get off the ground. The craft beer market is getting more crowded by the day. If a new brewery is underfunded or ill-prepared from the outset, the odds of successfully navigating all the remaining challenges faced by a small brewery are slim.

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Finch’s Beer Co. flies into the Minnesota beer market

Finch’s Beer Co. is making their Minnesota debut this week with a calendar full of events and tastings.

Finch’s Beer Co. has been brewing quality craft beer in Chicago since 2011 primarily for the local Illinois consumers. Their distribution partnership with Artisan Beer Company is making the Windy City brew to available to Minnesota beginning this week.

Part of how we evaluate markets relies heavily on the can presence and the quality of the beer in the market. We’re incredibly excited to be in the Minnesota market for both of those reasons, and being one of the first Chicago breweries to take beer to Minnesota will be very cool. Artisan Beer Company represents incredible brands and we’re excited to be considered among such an elite group. – Benjamin Finch

Although a fairly young brewery at only 3 years, Finch’s is highly regarded. They’ve won gold medals for their IPA and stout. The Finch’s core beers are Golden Wing Blonde Ale, Cutthroat Pale Ale, Threadless IPA, Secret Stache Stout, and Fascist Pig Ale. The pale ale and blonde ale may not make to the Minnesota this year, but the rest of the lineup as well as limited-edition specialties are already showing up on store shelves and in pubs.