Leech Lake Brewing Company

Thirsty Thursday

Posted by Rob The Beer Dork on March 8, 2012
Posted in: 47* North IPA, Lager of DeVINE Destruction, Leech Lake Brewing Company, liquor barrel, Loon Eye Red, Staples Mill Brewing Company. Leave a Comment

Leech Lake Brewing Company 47* North IPA
7% ABVLeech Lake 47* North IPA
93 IBU

Leech Lake Brewing Company is another Minnesota beer I hadn’t had the pleasure of drinking until last night. The 47* North India Pale Ale, according to the label, is brewed with 2-row pale and crystal malts. English Fuggle hops benchmark the conspicuous bitterness and lend a subtle, earthy quality to this refreshing brew. I was made aware of this brewery when I made contact with the brewmaster, Greg Smith, about this site. He wished me luck and appreciated any promotion I could provide for his brewery. In addition, he gave me a list of metro area liquor stores that carry his product. Those liquor stores include: Haskell’s in St. Paul, Liquor Barrel locations in New Brighton, Miracle Mile, Mahtomedi, Golden Valley and the Ale Jail in St. Paul(More Locations can be found on Leech Lake’s Facebook page or in previous posts on this site). I purchased my bottle from Northgate Liquors in Blaine, a liquor outlet I hadn’t visited in awhile. I must say I was very impressed by their craft beer section and their pick your own 6 pack selection. Back to the beer, I would say this is a beer you should seek out and support another Minnesota brewer. I can’t wait to taste other examples from this fine brewery, like the soon to be released Loon’s Eye Red Ale I wrote about yesterday. I forgot that Greg had given me the specifications on that beer as follows from the newly approved label:
Could it be that loons enjoy life viewed through rose-colored eyes? Perhaps. Just as the perfect combination of malted barley and hops, resulting in a beer with a reddish hue, might inspire euphoric sensations with each mouthful. 2-row Pale and Maris Otter malts, along with a hint of Roasted Barley, are blended with the subtle qualities of English Fuggle hops (25 IBUs), giving rise to a light-bodied Irish ale. Have one, and experience the effects of Loon’s Eye beer goggles.
6% ALC/VOL, 1PT., 6 FL. OZ.

Have a great Thirsty Thursday and give this beer a try or any other Leech Lake Brewing products.

**BREAKING NEWS**
Staples Mill Brewing Company logo

I received a press release last night from Staples Mill Brewing of Stillwater in regards to a release party for their Spring Destruction Series Release: Lager of DeVINE Destruction. This party will be held at their taproom on Wednesday, March 14th, a day before the beer is available in liquor stores, from 4:00-8:00 for the small price of $10(collected at the door, NO advance tickets necessary). For the price of admittance you will receive a 750 ml bottle of the Lager of DeVINE Destruction and a pint of the lager to taste. Click on the following link for more information on the beer and the party from their press release:
Staples Mill Lager of DeVINE Destruction Release Party

I will plan on making it to this event and I hope you will too! If you do get there, seek me out and we can meet in person!

CHEERS!!

Sips – Beer News Snippets

Posted by Rob The Beer Dork on March 7, 2012
Posted in: 3 Squares Restaurant, 8-Bit Pale Ale, Abrasive Ale, Air, alaskan brewing, ale jail, Bender, Burger Jones, Campus Pizza & Pasta, Carbone's Lakeville, Chatterbox Pub, Common Roots, Cynic, Doppelbock, Easy Rider Pale Ale, Farmers Daughter, Firkin Fest 2012, Footprint RegionAle, Fulton Brewing, Furious, Groveland Tap, Hell's Kitchen, Irish Coffee Stout, KBS, Leech Lake Brewing Company, Lift Bridge Brewing Company, Lone Spur Grill, Loon Eye Red, Lucette Brewing Company, Lucid Brewing, Marshall Liquors, Mild Ale, muddy pig, NgonVietnamese Bistro, Pracna on Main, Smoke, Staples Mill Brewing Company, Stout's Pub, Summit Brewing Company, Sunshine Factory, Surly Brewing Company, Tallgrass Brewing, The Blue Nile, The Cellars Roseville, The Hole Sports Lounge, Unchained #9 Dunkel Weizen, Williams Uptown, Worthy Adversary. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 comments

- The BIG news this week is the release of Summit Unchained #9 Dunkel Weizen, below are release parties:

* Thursday, March 8: The Hole Sports Lounge in Minneapolis, 7-9 p.m.
* Friday, March 9: Burger Jones in Burnsville, 3-4:30 p.m.
* Friday, March 9: Carbone’s in Lakeville, 5-7 p.m.
* Thursday, March 15: Ngon Vietnamese Bistro in St. Paul, 4-6 p.m.
* Friday, March 16: The Cellars in Roseville, 4-7 p.m.

Other places around town that currently have this beer on tap are:

* Stout’s Pub
* Campus Pizza & Pasta
* Hell’s Kitchen

A few liquor stores currently are offering this beer:

* Zipp’s Liquors
* Marshall Liquors
* The Ale Jail

Unchained #9 Dunkel Weizen will be widely released on March 19th, look for it on your local liquor store shelves that week!

- Today at The Muddy Pig they will be tapping an Oaked Fulton Worthy Adversary cask at 11:30 this morning. Free up your afternoon and get there and get some of this beer. Also, the Fulton crew will be around this evening.

- Tonight at The Blue Nile they will be celebrating a Day of Surly from 4:00-10:00. They will be offering 6 Surly brews: Abrasive Ale, Smoke, Mild Ale, Furious, Cynic, and Bender. The special is 2 for 1 on four of these selections and they will be serving 3-4 ounce flights for $7.

- Another upcoming event at The Blue Nile, on March 10th from 4:00-9:00 they will feature Imperial March. Which is heavy beers from 12 different breweries; 4 Imperial Stouts, 4 Double IPA’s, 4 Barley Wines. No word on which products will be featured, but I will update you on Friday. Once again, they will be serving 3-4 ounce flights for $7.

- Thursday March 8th, The Groveland Tap will be holding a release party for Odell Footprint RegionAle from 7:00-Close. I have written about this beer previously, it is a beer brewed with ingredients from the 10 states that make up Odell’s distribution footprint, including Minnesota wild rice.

- One of the newest beers to the metro area is Lucette Brewing Company, brewed in the home of my Alma Mater, Menomonie, Wisconsin. They have a tap at Groveland Tap and now will be having taps at The Public House on Thursday March 8th. They will be celebrating a release party for their Farmer’s Daughter tomorrow from 7:30-9:00 and will feature Farmer’s Daughter and Easy Rider Pale Ale. They will also be offering FREE samples of these beers from 7:00-7:30!

- Another newer local brewery, Lucid Brewing, is now on tap at Williams Uptown, Common Roots, 3 Squares, Groveland Tap and Chatterbox. They will also be tapping Lucid Air at the Sunshine Factory tomorrow, Thursday March 8th from 7:00-9:00. Lucid Air also will be available March 14th from 5:00-8:00 for Happy Hour Specials at Lone Spur Grill.

- Upcoming samplings at The Ale Jail in St. Paul:
* Friday March 9th from 5:00-7:00 they will be welcoming Rob from Tallgrass Brewing. He will be pouring cans of Tallgrass 8-Bit Pale Ale as well as other Tallgrass beers.
* Tuesday March 13th they are celebrating the release of Alaskan Brewing’s Birch Bock with Shawn from Alaskan Brewing Company. Shawn will be pouring samples of this unique beer made from glacier-fed water, a blend of Pacific Northwest hop varieties, premium two-row and specialty malts and birch syrup from the Alaska Birch Syrup Company and Kahiltna Birchworks. No Info on the time for this event, I will update you as soon as I hear, check the Beer North Facebook page.

- Tickets are going fast, as of last night there were less than 100 remaining for the Lift Bridge Irish Coffee Release Party Saturday March 10th from 4:00-8:00. In addition to the beer the ticket will get you a glass and you can enjoy fine Irish music. More info can be found on their blog, CLICK HERE.

- Another event that you need to plan ahead for and be sure to get tickets is, Firkin Fest at the Happy Gnome on Saturday March 24th from 1:00-5:00. Click HERE for more info and to purchase tickets.

- Pracna on Main will be having a KBS Release Party for Founders KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout) on Thursday March 15th at 6:00.

- An update from Leech Lake Brewing Company, they have gotten label approval for their Loon Eye Red and started brewing it yesterday, look for it in about a month.

- Another charitable Minnesota brewer, Staples Mill Brewing Company has announced that all profits from the sale of their limited release Doppelbock will go to Valley Outreach. Valley Outreach is a community based, community-supported, privately funded non-profit organization serving our St. Croix Valley neighbors in need of food, clothing, household essentials, and emergency financial assistance. Please look for this beer during the month of March at your local watering holes or go to the brewery and purchase a few bottles! Click HERE for locations.

- The final news story for today is that Mark Stutrud, Summit founder, has been named the Honorary Irish Person 2012 by St. Paul’s St. Patrick’s Association.

Before I go today, I need some feedback from you. I hope you had a chance to read yesterday’s post about how I want to structure this site. What I need from you is any suggestions you may have to help me become better so that I can serve YOU to the best of my ability. A friend of mine and of the site communicated to me that he didn’t care what this prominent businessman said about the site and that I should continue to offer my personal opinions about the beer I taste. I told him that because I do not have the education I really can’t offer my opinion and that I don’t want this to become a “review” site. My ultimate goal for this site is to make YOU aware of what beers are available and beer related events. I want to partner with local businesses to promote their products and services to help them be more successful. However, I, like most of you don’t taste the underlying flavors and we know what we like and can’t exactly explain why. Possibly, as a compromise I may unveil a subjective rating system that is based on my feelings about a particular beer. This subjective rating system will be based on a 3 Pint scale. One Pint is a beer that is OK and I would drink when nothing better is available. Two Pints is a beer I enjoyed and would feature in my refrigerator. Three Pints is a beer that I go out of my way to find and make sure I get more before it disappears and I highly recommend. Along with these ratings I will share what beers are similar(If you like this beer you’ll like this one). I will not attempt to describe the beers flavors, colors, etc. for this I will defer to the brewery descriptions and allow you to see what you find. I appreciate any help you can offer me, thanks in advance.

CHEERS!

Finally Friday!

Posted by Rob The Beer Dork on March 2, 2012
Posted in: August Schell Brewing Company, Bell's Brewing, Groveland Tap, Keeweenaw Brewing Company, Keweenaw Brewing Company, Leech Lake Brewing Company, Lift Bridge Brown Ale, Lucid Brewing, Maifest, Odell Brewing Company, Olde Ore Dock Scottish Ale, Pick Axe Blonde Ale, Red Jacket Amber Ale, Schell's Brewery, Size 11, Steel Toe Brewing Company, Summit Brewing Company, Surly Brewing Company, Vine Park Brewery, Widow Maker Black Ale. 2 comments

Here we go again, another Ho-Hum weekend in terms of special events devoted to our favorite beverage. I have spent the week combing my sites and visiting liquor establishments and this is what I have found, if you are looking for things to do the next few days.

- Minnesota Monthly Food & Wine Experience is this weekend inside Target Field. Other than food and wine, they are also highlighting Summit Brewing, Bell’s Brewing, Schell’s Brewing and Surly Brewing, click HERE for the tap list. Tickets are sold out for tomorrow, but tickets are still available for Sunday. Click HERE for information.

- Steel Toe Brewing Company has announced that they will be selling growlers of their Size 11 today from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

- Zipp’s Liquors has announced a new brewery to Minnesota, Keweenaw Brewing from Houghton, Michigan.Keweenaw Brewing Company logo This beer is canned, so it will be a great addition to my golf bag or my beach bag. They brew 5 year round brews: Pick Axe Blonde Ale, Red Jacket Amber Ale, Lift Bridge Brown Ale, Widow Maker Black Ale, Olde Ore Dock Scottish Ale, to be fair I haven’t visited Zipp’s to see which beers they brought in. Another beer to add to my wish list!
Also Zipp’s announced that Odell Brewing Company is the Craft Beer of the month, which means special pricing on all Odell products.

- Leech Lake Brewing Company has made its deliveries to metro area stores yesterday, to view the list of stores check my Sips post from this past Wednesday.

- Lucid Brewing Company will be at Senser’s in Roseville tonight from 6:00 – 9:00, CLick HERE to read more.

- Lift Bridge Brewing Company’s taproom will be open today from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. and will have Milk Stout on tap. In addition you should be able to find their bottled beers on liquor store shelves for the first time since July!

- Schell’s Brewing Maifest will be released early for southern Minnesota in St. Peter tonight from 6:00 – 8:00 at Patricks. For more info on the beer and Patricks click HERE from mnbeer.com.

- Upcoming event for Monday March 5th:
Vine Park Brewery will be holding tours and tastings from 5:00 – 7:30, click HERE for more info.

I am sure this list isn’t complete, but you should be able to find something to do this weekend, if nothing else, patronize your local tavern and have a local BREW, CHEERS!!

**Tap List**
- GROVELAND TAP: To call this a neighborhood tavern is an understatement, it is a friendly bar with 40 beers on tap. A little overwhelming, but at least you have a variety of the best breweries in the nation. Here is there current tap list updated yesterday:Groveland Tap
Summit EPA

Summit Maibock

Summit IPA

Summit Horizon Red

Summit Pilsner

Harriet Westside

Millstream Backroad Stout

Founders Double Trouble

Lucette Easy Rider Pale Ale

Stone Levitation

Lucid Camo

Sam Adams Boston Lager

Tall Grass Oasis

Summit Oatmeal Stout

New Belgium Fat Tire

Abita Mardi Gras Bock

Brooklyn Winter Ale

Sam Adams Alpine Spring

Magic Hat #9

McNeill’s Pullman Porter

Breckenridge Vanilla Porter

Surly Furious

Surly Smoke

Deschutes Red Chair

Lift Bridge Chestnut Hill

Finnegan’s Irish Amber

Guinness Stout

Grain Belt Nordeast

Alaskan Black IPA

North Coast Old Rasputin

Shock Top

Lagunitas WTF

Stella Artois

Bell’s Best Brown

Ommegangg Seduction

Flat Earth Northwest Passage

Odell Cut Throat Porter

Schell’s Bock

Michelob Golden Draft Light

Pretty IMPRESSIVE list and as I’ve said before it is a very nice place to hang and have a pint or three!

***I need a favor from loyal readers like you, Please LIKE this on Facebook and become a fan of the Beer North Facebook page, SHAMELESS PLUG I know, trying to build my readership!!

HAVE A GREAT MINNESOTA MARCH WEEKEND, THINK SPRING AND HAVE A PINT OR THREE!

CHEERS!!!

Sips – Beer News Snippets

Posted by Rob The Beer Dork on February 29, 2012
Posted in: Brit's Pub, Cask Ale Night, Deschutes Brewing Green Lakes, Joe Senser's, Leap Day, Leech Lake Brewing Company, Left Hand Brewing Company, Leinenkugel's Brewing Company, Lift Bridge Brewing Company, Lucid Brewing, Maifest, Pig & Fiddle, rate beer, Schell's Brewery, Stickum, Stout's Pub, Summer Shandy, Summit Brewing Company, The Groveland Tap, The Happy Gnome, The Lowry Uptown. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

- HAPPY LEAP DAY! There are a few specials today to commemorate Leap Day:
Town Hall Brewery: $2.50 Pints ALL DAY, click HERE for more info.
Pig & Fiddle: Battle of the Blondes, starting at 4:00 today, they are facing off two Belgian blondes against one another. The beers are Maredsous Blond and Leffe Blonde, for $5 you can buy a 2 beer flight and keep the glass of your choice.
The Happy Gnome: Left Hand Leap Day today from 5:00 to 8:00, they are serving a variety of Left Hand Brewing products including: Ambidextrous Ale Imperial Milkstout, Fade to Black Pepper Porter, and Nitro Milkstout on tap. They also have a variety of Left Hand bottles as well. Click HERE for more info.
The Lowry Uptown: Is offering $2.29 for all of their beers on tap for today.
The Groveland Tap: $2.29 taps all day!

- The Cask Ale Night at Brit’s Pub that I reported about on Monday has been rescheduled for Tuesday March 13th due to the weather.

- Lift Bridge Brewing is resuming bottle sales for the first time since July 2011, they had a capacity issue. The release of bottles is slated for March 1st, please look for their fine beers on your local shelves in the near future.

- As you have probably already heard, Summit Brewing Company is planning a $6 million expansion over the next 2 years. Read the StarTribune article HERE.

- Speaking of Summit, your first chance to taste Unchained #9 will be next Monday night at Stout’s Pub, they are holding a Summit Beer Dinner March 5th at 6:00, please call for reservations. Click HERE for more info. Other release parties for Unchained #9 are HERE.

- The brewers from Lucid Brewing will be at Joe Senser’s in Roseville Friday March 2nd from 6:00-9:00 to celebrate getting on tap at the restaurant, Congratulations!

- A couple of releases to look for in the next couple of weeks from J.J. Taylor Distributing. Schell’s Maifest will be released the first week of March and Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy will be released in the next few weeks. Summer Shandy is being released about a month earlier due to it’s success in the market the last few years.

- Leech Lake Brewing Company is expecting (depending on weather) to deliver their beer to metro area liquor stores tomorrow, so look for them this weekend. The specific stores that are being targeted are as follows:

Haskell’s (St. Paul)
Liquor Barrel Miracle Mile
Liquor Barrel Golden Valley
Liquor Barrel Mahtomedi
Liquor Barrel New Brighton
Northgate Liquors (Blaine)
Rum River Wine & Spirits
Saint Anthony Village Wine & Spirits (both locations)
The Ale Jail

Other locations are on their site, I plan on picking a six pack up this weekend as well!

- If you find yourself in Mankato, Mankato Brewery is releasing a new beer today, they call it Stickum (Shtickoom) and it is a dark alt style beer. They will be having release parties as follows: Wednesday night from 5pm-7pm at Patrick’s in St. Peter. Thursday night from 5pm-7pm at Pub500 in Mankato. Friday night from 5pm-7pm at RedSky in Mankato. Click HERE for more info on the beer.

- According to RateBeer.com the Top 50 U.S. Beers of 2012 has been released in case you missed it, HERE is the list.

- In case you forgot, I profiled Wynkoop’s 2012 Beer Drinker of the Year’s 3 finalists. The winner was announced and it was the guy that fasted on beer, my pick! Click HERE for the article.

- AND last and definitely not least, I have launched a Facebook Page for this site, search for Beer North and become a FAN! Or just click the Facebook button on the home page…

****CORRECTION, in yesterday’s post I mentioned an organic beer from Deschute’s that I now have found out that it is NOT available in Minnesota. Deschute’s Green Lakes as of now is NOT available in Minnesota, ask you local liquor store to see if they can order it in for you, I am sure they would be willing to help you out.