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Category: Minnesota

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Dangerous Man Brewing Company, Minneapolis, MN (July 7th, Brewery Stop #33)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Dangerous Man Brewing Company, Minneapolis, MN (July 7th, Brewery Stop #33) (recovered post) The 33rd brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) and last brewery visited in Minneapolis was Dangerous Man Brewing Co. We are really happy that we found this brewery was open, as it really had more of the environment we were looking for during our roadtrip. There were a few other breweries in the downtown area that were closed the day we were in Minneapolis, this just gives us reason to go back some day to try the one’s we missed. After leaving Surly, we headded back towards downtown to the Northeast Arts District, were we admired this historic neighborhood with really cool with a local vibe. The stark contrast between the two brewery settings is like comparing a small mom-and-pop shop to that of wallmart. It’s a reality of being successful in that you grow, succum to the drive to produce more with increased demand, expand, produce more, then cycle repeats. This is how the industry works, unless you actively choose to stay smaller and keep your quality high. There are a few examples …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Surly Brewing Company, Minneapolis, MN (July 7th, Brewery Stop #32)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Surly Brewing Company, Minneapolis, MN (July 7th, Brewery Stop #32) (recovered post) The 32nd brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) and second in Minneapolis was the Surly Brewing. After spending an hour or so at Fulton Brewing in downtown, we decided on driving out to Surly next. We had only heard of Surly through reputation, be it that they do distrubute around the mid-west and east coast and have a pretty large production as compared to smaller ‘micro’ breweries. They are located out in an industrial park, sort of off the beaten path. You need to use navigation or have a good map to find them. When we pulled up, we found that they have ample parking and lots of warehouses and a humongous production facility. We figured they would be busy, but we had to park almost a full block away they were so busy. The parking lot(s) are really big. After walking up, we realized they were a bit more ‘corporate’ than we anticipated, in that it looks super slick, overproduced, and expensive when you go inside. They have lots of artwork up along the …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Fulton Beer Company, Minneapolis, MN (July 7th, Brewery Stop #31)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Fulton Beer Company, Minneapolis, MN (July 7th, Brewery Stop #31) (recovered post) The 31st brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) and first in this city was the Fulton Beer Company in downtown Minneapolis Minnesota. After driving up from the Chicago area, we were ready to take a break from the car find some lunch and a few beers. We first stopped by the YardHouse outside of downtown so Gary could meet up with one of his former students and to sample some of the local beers and grab some food. We were able to try a few local brews at Yardhouse that were pretty decent that were from breweries that were not open that day, which was a bonus. After eating, we headded back into downtown and stopped by Fulton, hoping they would be open (typically they are not unless there is a ball game that day, which there was). Luckily they had just opened so we grabbed a nearby parking spot (which is not easy in that neighborhood) and made our way in. We chatted briefly with the hostest about their establishment as we were curious …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR, Portland OR to Portland ME and back… 24 June-9 July, 2015

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR, Portland OR to Portland ME and back…7800 miles later… From late June to early July 2015 I was lucky enough to go on a cross country road trip with Gary and our nephew Devin. We drove my car from Portland Oregon to Portland Maine in just about three weeks. We took a ‘central US’ path East and came back taking a more northern passage. Regarding where we went each day, we made it to about 40 breweries and a handful of tap-houses, bars, and brewpubs to find local beers and food along the way. While the long distance driving was challenging some days (10+ hrs at a time), we really enjoyed the trip with it’s the ever-changing scenery and wonderful cities, towns, and people we met. Before leaving on the trip, we gathered and then took a couple of cases of local specialty beers for our friend Rusty in Pittsburgh. The sucky part was that while we wanted the beers to not get ruined by the heat, we ended up unloading and reloading it a LOT as we stopped each night. This is a valuable learning experience, to stick to mailing stuff like beer and wine, …

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