Legislative Events, Newsfeed

Sunday Liquor Sales Bills Introduced in Minnesota Legislature

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visit sundaysalesmn.org Sunday Liquor Sales #SundaySalesMN #ItsTime #MnLeg

Lawmakers introduce several bills aimed at easing the restrictions on Sunday off-sale liquor sales.

Sen. Dave Osmek (R -Mound) introduced the first Senate version of a Sunday liquor sales bill, SF58. SF58 would allow off-sale transactions from 12:00pm to 10:00pm on Sundays. Expect another version at some point from long time Sunday sales champion Sen. Roger Reinert (D -Duluth).

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A six-pack of liquor bills have been introduced in the House. Bills include everything from a Sunday sales pilot program, to growlers for qualifying brewers, a local option, and full repeal. The most appealing of the House bills is likely the bipartisan authored HF115, the full Sunday repeal. Special interest groups have fought growlers as much as a full repeal in the past, they are likely to do so again. Opposition might as well fight full repeal, a bill that serves every Minnesotan. A full repeal bill may also act as a the local option. When Sunday liquor sales are legalized at the state level, cities may still choose to restrict the days and hours of sales, as they already do. Expect at least one more version of a repeal bill from Rep. Jenifer Loon (R -Eden Prairie). Representative Loon has been working hard to repeal the prohibition on Sunday liquor sales for some time.

The Bill

H. F. 115, A bill for an act relating to liquor; permitting off-sale intoxicating liquor sales on Sunday; amending Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 340A.504, subdivision 4.

Description:
Intoxicating liquor off-sale permitted on Sunday.
Authors:
Drazkowski (R -Mazeppa)
Liebling (D -Rochester)
Pugh (R -Chanhassen)
Whelan (R -Anoka)
Lien (D -Moorhead)
Petersburg (R -Waseca)
Lucero (R -Dayton)
Hertaus (R -Greenfield)
Christensen (D -Burnsville)
O’Neill (R -Maple Lake)

Bipartisan Support

The effort to repeal Sunday is supported by both the Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt.

“Commerce is well enough established as seven days and nights a week now, ” Dayton said. “For us to say it doesn’t apply to this or doesn’t apply to that really doesn’t make much sense. There are an increasing number of Minnesotans for which Sunday isn’t a religious holiday.”
– Star Tribune, December 28, 2013

Speaker Daudt went so far as to make it his new year’s resolution.

“In 2015, I want to be able to buy beer on Sundays in Minnesota.”
–Star Tribune, January 4, 2015

Trouble Ahead

However, not everyone supports bringing Minnesota into the modern era. Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk (D -Cook) has voiced opposition to the repeal of the blue law. A recent article from Star Tribune cites Bakk as supporting the Sunday liquor sales ban on behalf of government run municipal liquor stores.

“Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said he remains opposed to a repeal on behalf of municipal liquor stores….”
– Star Tribune, January 11, 2015

Commerce Committees have always been a sticking point. Regardless of overwhelming support Commerce Committee Chairs are not required to give Sunday sales bills a hearing in their committees, and usually do not. Senate Commerce Chair, Sen Jim Metzen (D -South St. Paul), has never given a full repeal bill a hearing. Let’s hope incoming House Commerce Chair, Rep. Joe Hoppe (R -Chaska) hears the bills.

What Now?

Take action!

Sunday Liquor Sales #SundaySalesMN #ItsTime #MnLeg

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Tickets for 2015 Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild Festivals On-Sale

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Tickets for 2015 Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild festivals are on-sale beginning at noon, Monday, January 5th. These events are among the best in region, and the bulk purchase is your best way to make sure you have your spot. These events will sell out, so if you can swing the cash it is worth it.
Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild Seasonal Six Pack Tickets
One change to the festival program from last year is the Guild’s premiere event, Winterfest. The Crème de la Crème of beer fests will be split into two nights. The change was made to keep the fest’s intimate atmosphere and accommodate the growing number of brewers. You can hear Guild President, Dan Schwarz talk about the changes on the latest BeerCast.

Monday, January 5, noon CT: Seasonal Four Pack on-sale includes one ticket to both nights of Winterfest, All Pints North and Autumn Brew Review at $200 per pack, a 15% discount over individual tickets. There are limited quantities of four packs available.

Monday, January 12, noon CT: Two day Winterfest package on sale, $135 for ticket to each night of Winterfest at Union Depot in St. Paul. There are limited quantities of two day packages. Winterfest tickets include unlimited craft beer sampling from Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild members, music, an upscale catered dinner, educational programming, and more. The line-up of breweries for each night of Winterfest will be published in advance of the Winterfest on-sale.

Friday, January 16, noon CT: Individual Winterfest tickets go on sale, $75 for ticket to a single night of Winterfest. Winterfest tickets include unlimited craft beer sampling from Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild members, music, an upscale catered dinner, educational programming, and more. There are limited quantities of tickets remaining, and this will depend on how quickly the two packs sell.

Click here for tickets

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Du Nord Craft Spirits Opens First Minneapolis / St. Paul Cocktail Room

Du Nord Craft Spirits, one of Minnesota’s first micro-distilleries, is now the first licensed cocktail room in the Minneapolis / St. Paul metro area. The cocktail room will open to the public on January 9, and will serve craft cocktails made using Du Nord’s Fitzgerald Gin and L’etoile Du Nord Vodka.

Du Nord Craft Spirits logoDu Nord’s cocktail room will feature craft cocktails ranging from the simple to the extravagant and feature local food. Du Nord worked with Mike Rasmussen (La Belle Vie, Marin, Bluestem Bar) to envision a cocktail menu that highlights Du Nord’s spirits through classic and new drinks. The cocktail menu will change with the seasons.

“We have something for everyone” said co-owner Shanelle Montana, “we’ve worked hard to do the classics well and create signature drinks you won’t find anywhere else.” Their location in the Hiawatha-Lake area of Minneapolis puts Du Nord in a ideal spot to work with local eateries and food trucks. Patrons will have plenty of food options to bring into or order to the cocktail room. “This area of Minneapolis is really taking off,” said co-owner and head distiller Chris Montana “we are surrounded by French, Indian, Ethiopian, Japanese, and American food, all of which go great with a cocktail.”

“We have something for everyone” said co-owner Shanelle Montana, “we’ve worked hard to do the classics well and create signature drinks you won’t find anywhere else.”

The cocktail room at Du Nord’s south Minneapolis location wasn’t possible before change to the law that allows micro-distilleries to sell drinks similar to how taprooms sell pints of beer. Prior to 2014, it was illegal to sell a cocktail directly to a consumer, micro-distilleries were mandated to only sell their products to distributors. “This is about common sense,” said Shanelle who is also President of the Minnesota Distiller’s Guild, “the cocktail room allows us to showcase our spirits the way most people consume them, but we have more work to do.” Minnesota law still prohibits micro-distilleries from selling bottles of their products to consumers, as well as operating a cocktail room on Sunday. Let’s hope this changes in 2015.

The ribbon cutting is scheduled for January 9th, at 4pm. After the ceremony Du Nord will be open for business. Get a look at their drink menu here. And, you can also listen to co-owner Chris Montana talk about the new cocktail room on the latest episode of the BeerCast.

Du Nord Craft Spirits
Cocktail Room
2610 E 32nd St #2
Minneapolis, MN 55406

Hours
Wednesday 4pm-10pm
Thursday 4pm-10pm
Friday 4pm-12am
Saturday 12pm-12am

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Drink Fly: Liquor Delivery App Comes to the Twin Cities

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I don’t know how many times I’ve been in a situation where I don’t have any beer and I’m not comfortable driving or too lazy to get to the liquor store to buy more. When I heard about Drink Fly, an app for iPhone and Android phones, I couldn’t wait to give it a try.

Drink Fly

Drink Fly is a service that allows you to easily find liquor stores in your area that deliver alcohol. To get started, visit their website at www.drinkfly.com, enter your address, and click “Drink UP” to be shown a list of participating liquor stores near you. Or, simply search for and download the app to your phone. After choosing your liquor store, you will be shown a menu of their available stock broken down into Beer, Wine, and Liquor. The menu is easy to navigate and shows you a graphic of each product along with its price.

Drink Fly works just like many other familiar shopping sites and apps. Simply add items to your cart, and check out when you’re ready. The app is free, aside from any usual fees from your liquor store, there is no additional cost for using Drink Fly. Advertising within the app covers development and maintenance of the infrastructure. All you have to do is sit back and wait. Your delicious refreshments will arrive in no time. The best part is that you never have to leave the house!

Follow @DrinkFlyMini on Twitter, and to learn more about Drink Fly visit http://drinkfly.com/

Get it on Google Play

download on the App Store

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Surly Beer Hall Opens

On May 25th, 2011, Governor Mark Dayton signed into law a change to the three-tier system of Minnesota’s liquor laws to allow breweries to both sell their products on-site yet maintain the right to distribute beer to bars and restaurants. This proposed “Surly Bill” came after the announcement of Surly’s plans to expand into a new facility which was to include a restaurant and beer garden. Three and a half years later, Surly Brewing Company open its doors to the public at the new facility in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis.

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The new location, sandwiched in between the two downtowns, is prime location just off of Metro Transit’s new Green Line and minutes away from TCF Bank Stadium and the University campus. Public transit users planning on going opening weekend should visit Surly’s website – Metro Transit is offering free rides to and from the brewery with a pass you can download and print.

It will truly function as a destination for Surly beer lovers both local and national. The brewery looks to offer a full lineup of Surly beers, including some taproom exclusives. You can still get your Furious on draft or any of your other favorites. I personally recommend the new West Coast IPA, Todd the Axe Man. It’s a fantastic single malt and single hop IPA.

The Surly Beer Hall kitchen, led by Chef Jorge Guzman, is offering up a small, but mighty menu featuring a variety of chef-driven, beer-focused food items. “It’s fuckin’ awesome!” says the new Executive Chef describing the excitement to be a part of such a large project.

Chef Jorge comes most recently from Solera, primarily a wine bar with a big focus on pairings. “Beer pairs better with food,” says Guzman, “it’s easier.” The wide variety of beer flavors and styles will allow Guzman more room to be creative with the menu and their pairings. “I’m scared as hell to have a project of this size, but humbled to be involved.”

The chef’s recommendations on pairings for the beer hall menu include the barbecue and Surly Furious or the Surly CynicAle with lighter dishes like the salads.

As for the brewing itself, Surly is over tripling its brewhouse size moving from 30 barrels (60 Kegs) to 100 barrels (200 kegs). The fermentation space is also upgrading 10 fold per unit, so Surly should be able to pump out a whole lot more beer to keep up with demand. At Brooklyn Center, Surly would only able to produce 42,000 barrels a year total. Todd Haug, head of brewing operations, says that the new location will aim to produce 1200 barrels of Surly’s flagship beer Furious every week.

Surly Brewing Co. has certainly taken a strong foothold and has become one of the centers of craft beer identity in Minnesota in the last decade. Now Surly aims at the national market and has begun distribution outside of Minnesota as well.

Follow me on Twitter @TCBeerDude for more news about MN Breweries

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Red Wagon Pizza Co. opens for lunch hours, orders Hop Rocket

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Red Wagon Pizza Co. adds new lunch service this Friday and New Hours, 11am – Midnight

 

The 50-seat restaurant on Penn Avenue in South Minneapolis is expanding their service and expanding their beer palate, according to chef/owner Peter Campbell. They have been doing evening and weekends for a few weeks, but they are ready to stretch their wings. The restaurant specializes in modern American pizza paired with American craft beer. “We use local high quality ingredients in a simple way, ” says Campbell, “which is actually a very authentic Italian thing to do, but we combine them in inventive ways for modern American tastes.”
Red_Wagon_Pizza_Beer
Campbell and his wife Jacquie Campbell have been running Red Wagon as a part-time passion project for a few years, building a fan-base from their regular perch at The Linden Hills Farmer’s Market. Campbell’s pizza skills have been recognized all over town. Shortly before opening the new space he was tapped to formulate the pizza’s for St. Paul’s Rival House.
Red_Wagon_Pizza_Beer_Taps
Red Wagon is setting themselves apart with their food and beer selection. Some of their pizzas include The Banh Mi Pizza with sweet soy-glazed pulled pork, The Red Wagon Pizza with banana peppers house made sausage and soppressata, as well as a beet pizza with fresh chevre.

“From as young as I can remember, I was tossing pizzas with my Pop Pop and my Mom. Pizza was just what my family did. We’d cook pizza. We’d eat pizza. We’d be a family – all around pizza pies,” said Campbell.

Red Wagon serves 36 beers on tap, offers an eclectic list of 20 moderately-priced wines by the glass, and has lines dedicated to sours and ciders. A certified beer nut, Peter curates the 36 tap lines himself. (You can be sure he samples them, too!) But having a great tap selection isn’t enough. Peter has line dedicated to PBR. Why? Not for any hipsters that might happen to wander in. In early 2015 a “Hop Rocket” will be installed on the the line. It will allow him to infuse the beer with hops and whatever other whacky ingredients he throws in there.

Red Wagon Pizza Co. is located at 5416 Penn Avenue South and open every day 11 am to Midnight. More information and the latest menu can be found at www.redwagon-mpls.com.

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Eastlake Brewery & Taproom Opens in Minneapolis Midtown

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Eastlake Brewery & Taproom opened Thursday in the Midtown Global Market after a busy preview night. Wednesday was full of energy with staff and neighboring businesses passing out hearty food samples to accompany the beers. Manny’s Tortas, anyone? Owner Ryan Pitman was running around pouring, bussing and welcoming friends. I was lucky to get a few minutes with him to talk about his venture which has been in the works for a year.

The taproom is perfectly positioned on the south side of the building with windows facing Lake Street so there is no missing that a good time is being had inside. Long tables and ample bar and window seating make the space very welcoming. This bodes well for Eastlake as they are probably the only business that people can see from outside.

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Eastlake Brewery opened with four taps out of eight: Saison, American Rye Stout, Belgian Pale Ale, and a black IPA. Ryan says he definitely has an affinity for Belgian beers as we can see from his taplist. An American Pale Ale and a Belgian IPA will be on tap next week and the additional two will follow. I asked him about what style he wants to put on the map, Ryan says it’s the Nicollet Mauler, the Black IPA. He is particularly fond of his recipe because of its maltier backbone and his use of rye.

Eastlake craft brewery taproom
Photo Credit: Brad Ashton

One of the benefits of opening in Midtown is the array of food to be had. If you are not familiar, you can get East African, Vietnamese, Mexican, Korean, award-winning baked goods and so much more. Ryan is embracing the diverse food offerings by offering pairing suggestions on the menu below every beer. You’ll never have to worry about this taproom not having food or not having the right kind of food, there is something for everyone. Culinary choices aside, Eastlake also offers kombucha and root beer for the non-beer drinkers.

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I asked him about the 9am opening on weekends for Premiere League soccer and he told me that there weren’t places in South Minneapolis that showed soccer so it seemed like a good thing to try out for the neighborhood. Latin American soccer is a TBD (I think it might go over well). Beer, tamales and soccer – works for me.

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It was great to see a good mix of people, including families celebrating the opening. Several people I spoke with are from the neighborhood and were thrilled to have a taproom so close to home. South Minneapolis is definitely behind on taprooms compared to NE. Midtown is a Minneapolis gem that I know I don’t get to nearly enough, I have a feeling I’ll be shopping there more often.

Eastlake Brewery & Taproom
Midtown Global Market
920 E. Lake St. #123
Mpls, MN 55407

Opening Week Hours
Thursday – 11 am to midnight
Friday – 11 am to midnight
Saturday – 9 am to midnight
Sunday – 9 am to 6 pm
Closed Monday and Tuesday

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