Visitors Guide: Minneapolis/St. Paul (MN)

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drewfull

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
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Location
Minneapolis, MN
Key Considerations in Minneapolis/St. Paul
  • Dedicated liquor stores: All (real) beer must be sold out of them. Anything seen in grocery stores or other is 3.2% ABV or lower and must be destroyed. With fire, ideally.
  • No buying on Sundays: Liquor stores and breweries are closed Sundays
  • Growlers can only be filled at the brewery and must be branded by the filling brewery. And can’t be filled on Sundays.
  • Brewery offsale can only happen via growlers or 750 mL bottles (which count as growlers to the law
  • Rapid growth: Due to legislature changes, the number of breweries in Minneapolis has tripled in the last 3 years. Some are great, some aren't I will try and call out some I've experienced, but other Minnesotans please chime in, as I haven’t been everywhere, man.
  • Travel: It’s not super easy to get between the two cities, I would recommend a car if you are trying to see both cities or the suburbs as they are 10-20 minutes apart
  • Duluth: Yes, it’s left out. You should visit anyways, Fitgers and Bent Paddle are awesome and only available up (even further) north.
Breweries
Minneapolis

Town Hall - Really aggravating website. Great brewery. Growler sales at the downtown brewery location only, but they also operate a bar and a bowling alley in South MPLS.
Dangerous Man - Northeast MPLS, on-site/growler only. Excellent tap room & beer, if expensive.
Indeed Brewing - Northeast MPLS, distributed throughout the twin cities. Excellent tap room & beer.
612 Brew - Northeast MPLS, excellent tap room, meh beer. Walking distance to Indeed though.
Fulton Beer - Right next to the Twins stadium. Excellent tap room, good beer, widely distributed
Boom Island - Bombers for distribution only. No tap-room/tours to my knowledge.
Harriet Brewing - Southeast MPLS. Good, Belgian-inspired beer. Can be found on tap, but no bottles are in stores at this point.
Northbound Brewpub - South MPLS. Good taproom, good beer. No bottles, on-site/growlers only
The Herkimer - Uptown MPLS. It exists. It’s ok. On-site pints only, but well located.

St. Paul
Summit Brewing - One of the original MN craft breweries. Great tours, good beer, good taproom
Flat Earth Brewing - They’re OK. Bombers widely available. Growlers at brewery
At least 4 breweries are scheduled to open in St. Paul in the next year. More to come here.

Suburbs
Surly Brewing - Brooklyn Park. Yeah, they’re building in Minneapolis, but for now they’re stuck in Brooklyn Park. Awesome brewery, bad-ass taproom. No growlers.
Steel Toe - St. Louis Park. Great beer, limited distribution, bombers/growlers only.
Pour Decisions - Roseville. Out of the way, but cool taproom and one of the more innovative breweries. Makes the only Gose produced in Minnesota (to my knowledge)
Hammerheart - Lino Lakes. Way out in the ‘burbs. Heard great things, haven’t visited. Way Viking/Norseman. You’ll understand from the website
Olvalde brewing - Rollingstone. You can't visit them, but you should check out a bomber of theirs. Recommend Brynhildrs gift, aurochs horn...

Others exist. Like I said, lots of recent growth here. I don’t recall everything.

Bars of Note
The Bulldog - 4 locations, various ownership/websites. All great beer lists
Pizza Luce - Various locations. Generally short high quality tap lists
Pracna - Downtown Minneapolis
MacKenzie’s - Downtown Minneapolis
Butcher & the Boar - Downtown Minneapolis
Republic - 2 locations, Downtown Minneapolis & Uptown
Muddy Waters - Uptown Minneapolis
Bryant Lake Bowl - Uptown Minneapolis
Matt’s Bar - South Minneapolis. Shitty beer list, but you really, really should go here.
New Bohemia - Northeast Minneapolis
Red Cow - South Minneapolis / Edina
Happy Gnome - St. Paul
The Muddy Pig - St. Paul. My personal favorite beer bar in the Twin Cities.
Groveland Tap - St. Paul
Blue Door Pub - Two locations...St. Paul & Minneapolis. Great burgers & beer

Bottle Shops of Interest
Zipps Liquors - Minneapolis. Great selection, solid prices, close to downtown
South Lyndale - South Minneapolis. Great selection, solid prices as well
France44 Liquors - Southwest Minneapolis. Great store, helpful people, solid prices
Four Firkins - St. Louis Park (suburb immediately west of Minneapolis). Strictly a craft beer store. Really cool, slightly spendy
Wine Thief & Ale Jail - St. Paul. Great little shop
1st Grand - St. Paul
Thomas Liquors - St. Paul. Right next to St. Thomas University
Blue Max - Burnsville. Way south suburbs, but great store with wide selection
Princeton’s - Maple Grove. North suburbs. I’m told a great store as well. Haven’t been.

Minnesotans, please continue to chime in with other edits, additions and name calling.
 
Last edited:
Key Considerations in Minneapolis/St. Paul
  • Dedicated liquor stores: All (real) beer must be sold out of them. Anything seen in grocery stores or other is 3.2% ABV or lower and must be destroyed. With fire, ideally.
  • No buying on Sundays: Liquor stores and breweries are closed Sundays
  • Growlers can only be filled at the brewery and must be branded by the filling brewery. And can’t be filled on Sundays.
  • Rapid growth: Due to legislature changes, the number of breweries in Minneapolis has tripled in the last 3 years. Some are great, some aren't I will try and call out some I've experienced, but other Minnesotans please chime in, as I haven’t been everywhere, man.
  • Travel: It’s not super easy to get between the two cities, I would recommend a car if you are trying to see both cities or the suburbs as they are 10-20 minutes apart
  • Duluth: Yes, it’s left out. You should visit anyways, Fitgers and Bent Paddle are awesome and only available up (even further) north.
Breweries
Minneapolis

Town Hall - Really aggravating website. Great brewery. Growler sales at the downtown brewery location only, but they also operate a bar and a bowling alley in South MPLS.
Dangerous Man - Northeast MPLS, on-site/growler only. Excellent tap room & beer, if expensive.
Indeed Brewing - Northeast MPLS, distributed throughout the twin cities. Excellent tap room & beer.
612 Brew - Northeast MPLS, excellent tap room, meh beer. Walking distance to Indeed though.
Fulton Beer - Right next to the Twins stadium. Excellent tap room, good beer, widely distributed
Boom Island - Bombers for distribution only. No tap-room/tours to my knowledge.
Harriet Brewing - Southeast MPLS. Good, Belgian-inspired beer. Can be found on tap, but no bottles are in stores at this point.
Northbound Brewpub - South MPLS. Good taproom, good beer. No bottles, on-site/growlers only
The Herkimer - Uptown MPLS. It exists. It’s ok. On-site pints only, but well located.

St. Paul
Summit Brewing - One of the original MN craft breweries. Great tours, good beer, good taproom
Flat Earth Brewing - They’re OK. Bombers widely available. Growlers at brewery
At least 4 breweries are scheduled to open in St. Paul in the next year. More to come here.

Suburbs
Surly Brewing - Brooklyn Park. Yeah, they’re building in Minneapolis, but for now they’re stuck in Brooklyn Park. Awesome brewery, bad-ass taproom. No growlers.
Steel Toe - St. Louis Park. Great beer, limited distribution, bombers/growlers only.
Pour Decisions - Roseville. Out of the way, but cool taproom and one of the more innovative breweries. Makes the only Gose produced in Minnesota (to my knowledge)
Hammerheart - Lino Lakes. Way out in the ‘burbs. Heard great things, haven’t visited. Way Viking/Norseman. You’ll understand from the website
Olvalde brewing - Rollingstone. You can't visit them, but you should check out a bomber of theirs. Recommend Brynhildrs gift, aurochs horn...

Others exist. Like I said, lots of recent growth here. I don’t recall everything.

Bars of Note
The Bulldog - 4 locations, various ownership/websites. All great beer lists
Pizza Luce - Various locations. Generally short high quality tap lists
Pracna - Downtown Minneapolis
MacKenzie’s - Downtown Minneapolis
Butcher & the Boar - Downtown Minneapolis
Republic - 2 locations, Downtown Minneapolis & Uptown
Muddy Waters - Uptown Minneapolis
Bryant Lake Bowl - Uptown Minneapolis
Matt’s Bar - South Minneapolis. Shitty beer list, but you really, really should go here.
New Bohemia - Northeast Minneapolis
Red Cow - South Minneapolis / Edina
Happy Gnome - St. Paul
The Muddy Pig - St. Paul. My personal favorite beer bar in the Twin Cities.
Groveland Tap - St. Paul
Blue Door Pub - Two locations...St. Paul & Minneapolis. Great burgers & beer

Bottle Shops of Interest
Zipps Liquors - Minneapolis. Great selection, solid prices, close to downtown
South Lyndale - South Minneapolis. Great selection, solid prices as well
France44 Liquors - Southwest Minneapolis. Great store, helpful people, solid prices
Four Firkins - St. Louis Park (suburb immediately west of Minneapolis). Strictly a craft beer store. Really cool, slightly spendy
Wine Thief & Ale Jail - St. Paul. Great little shop
Blue Max - Burnsville. Way south suburbs, but great store with wide selection
Princeton’s - Maple Grove. North suburbs. I’m told a great store as well. Haven’t been.

Minnesotans, please continue to chime in with other edits, additions and name calling.
St. Paul also has 1st Grand and Thomas Liquors which have good selections. Haskell's locations are all over and can be a good spot to grab limited stuff after it sells out at other places.
 
Key consideration: no offsale of packaged beer at breweries EXCEPT 750ml bottles, which are considered growlers by law.
 
Key consideration: no offsale of packaged beer at breweries EXCEPT 750ml bottles, which are considered growlers by law.

Why would a capped beer be considered growler by law? Is any container over 12 oz a growler?
 
Why would a capped beer be considered growler by law? Is any container over 12 oz a growler?
Not sure why, seems to only be 750s though. I have purchased capped 750s at two breweries (Steel Toe and Town Hall).
 
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Love Mpls breweries every time in town I try to hit up a new one. My fav surly of course, dangerous man, north bound, big wood, indeed, 612, lift bridge and tons more coming up I can imagine .
 
There are several more options now:

Northeast:
Insight Brewing
Fair State Brewing (best of the new bunch)
Bauhaus
Sociable Ciderwerks
Northgate

Uptown/South MPLS:
LynLake Brewing
Eastlake

Downtown + environs:
Sisyphus
Day Block

St. Paul:
Bang Brewing
Urban Growler

Elsewhere:
Boom Island (Northside)
Bent Brewstillery (Roseville, formerly known as Pour Decisions)
 
Other edits:
TAPROOMS CAN BE OPEN SUNDAYS (still no growler sales though)
Breweries can fill any 64oz growler as long as it's marked with the Surgeon General warning
750ml growlers are becoming more common
Bent Paddle is distroed in the Twin Cities now
Green Line light rail between MPLS and STP downtowns
 
Must hits in MPLS proper:

Surly (new facility on Malcolm Ave SE)
Town Hall
Dangerous Man
Indeed

Steel Toe and Hammerheart are great but in the 'burbs. Luckily, Steel Toe is not that far from the city and is very close to he Uptown/Lakes/SW MPLS area. Hammerheart is about 20 miles north of the cities but makes some amazing BA brews.
 
Unpopular opinion... I don't really like MM
They put it on nitro one of my last days in town. I assume it was an old keg from the previous batch, because it was baaaaaad. Will reserve MM judgment until it's on tap for real.

Related note: why you putting all those IPA's on nitro, Twin Cities?
 
They put it on nitro one of my last days in town. I assume it was an old keg from the previous batch, because it was baaaaaad. Will reserve MM judgment until it's on tap for real.

Related note: why you putting all those IPA's on nitro, Twin Cities?
Yeah what is with that?

Oohhhh, flat, lifeless IPA!
 
Since I am far too lazy to go through the all the MPS breweries online. Is anyone doing decent sours or are there any events going on next weekend?

Work is sending me out for two weeks and I will have some time next weekend (June 6 & 7) to hit some places.
 
Since I am far too lazy to go through the all the MPS breweries online. Is anyone doing decent sours or are there any events going on next weekend?

Work is sending me out for two weeks and I will have some time next weekend (June 6 & 7) to hit some places.
I'm pretty sure Fair State will have some tasty sours on.
 
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