With curiosity getting the better of me, I looked it up on my phone and the top search result was: LocAle Brewing Company. Upon closer inspection, I saw that LocAle was a mere 2 blocks away from my hotel room, which meant that I didn’t have to rely on my phone or car to get there from where I was at.
LocAle Brewing is actually located in a pretty busy part of Mankato, right off of South Riverfront Drive, which runs along the Minnesota River, and a block from South Front Street, which is the main hub of Restaurants and Shops in downtown Mankato. Which means there’s plenty of food options for you to bring in should it be warranted.
The brewery & taproom itself are pretty brand new having been set up during the last part of 2018; No idea if the building is brand new. The taproom is pretty roomy, with plenty of seating options as well as a nice bar space, complete with a big screen TV to watch your favorite local sports on. Patio seating is also plentiful as well but I preferred the colder temperatures of the indoors. After all, I had spend a good portion of that day outside.
Then there’s the beer. Since I had pretty much lighter beers of similar styles that day, I decided to switch it up. Yet I had to keep in mind that I had to take Mrs. Nick’s Beer Blog out for our 5th Wedding Anniversary Dinner after I was done, so I knew that couldn’t get too crazy at that point. It’s also at this time I wanted to give a shout out to LocAle for having both regular pint glasswear as well as half-pint glasses; More breweries need to do this….seriously
Name: Helles
Style: German Helles
ABV: 4.5%
IBUs: 13
My first beer after walking through the sweltering head. Plus this beer (at the time of having this) has been released the prior day. This beer has a nice pale malt profile & some mild floral hoppiness with a reasonably dry aftertaste; Oh did I mention the body was very smooth and light. Perfect beer for a 90 degree day like it was that day.
Name: Saintson
Style: Saison
ABV: 5.3%
IBUs: 20
I’m all about locally made beers, but I know that there are some instances that craft breweries will often source their ingredients from outside of their local area/state. That is not the case with Saintson as all the ingredients are sourced from Minnesota. To save myself the time of listing the ingredients and origins, I’ll just show it in the picture below.
Saintson has a nice Belgian Yeast & Clove foundation while the malted wheat and mild citra/bitter hoppiness builds upon that and lingers throughout the palate. The aftertaste is on the dryer side, save for a mild earthiness, which I didn’t expect. Overall, it’s a solid beer and a nice change of pace from the lighter beers I had earlier in the day.
Name: Norselander 2.0
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 8%
IBUs: 70
My last beer while I was there. If you assumed that a beer named “Norselander” would have some Scandinavian ingredients in it…..you’d be right. This is a beer made with Norwegian Farmhouse Yeast with very non-Norwegian Wai-Ti, Pacifica, & Motueka hops. This beer has a nice bright flavor profile of citrus, mango & kiwi with some toffee maltiness and light bittersweet orange peel on the back end of the palate. All and all, a great beer to close out with.
Overall, I was pleased with the offerings from LocAle. The taproom itself has plenty of room, there’s ample seating, it’s in a great location and there’s a good variety of beers to choose from. Plus there’s plenty of places close by to grab some food from should the occasion warrant it. If you’re ever in the area, check them out; It’ll be worth your time!
They are located at:
LocAle Brewing Company
228 Poplar St
Mankato, MN 56001
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