A visit to Pryes Brewing

I recall about 5 years ago when I was at The Nook in St. Paul, I had miraculum from pryes brewing on tap.  By that point I had seen this beer on tap at many watering holes but I had never seen anything else from the brewery itself aside from this one beer. Me being the inquisitive individual i am, I made a remark on Untappd/Twitter asking if this was indeed the only beer that pryes brewing had made.  Much to my surprise, they replied that indeed it was and that they were working on perfecting Miraculum before moving onto the next one.

Fair enough!

Well almost five years later, they have opened up a swanky taproom in Minneapolis on West River Road overlooking the Mississippi River and the number of beers they make instead of just one has increased to.....a lot. From their flagship Miraculum IPA, to more varied styles like Sours & Pastry Imperial Stouts.

Coming off of my recent vaccination and having been stuck at home for the past year, I figured now is a perfect time to start visiting tap rooms again and to commerate this, I visited Pryes Brewing on Easter Sunday; Mask in hand of course!

Now when I was there, all of the seating was outdoors but from what I saw inside, it's a fairly large space with tables and such and the fixtures were a mix of rustic I'm not sure if this is due to city ordinance but it this is not one of those days where one sits inside. This was 70 degree patio weather, and at the start of April in Minnesota nonetheless. Usually at this time of the year, we're contending with 30-40 degree weather and the occasional blizzard that Old Man Winter likes to dump on us one last time as a reminder that it's an ever lingering presence in our fine state.

But enough about the weather, we’re here to talk beer! Followers of my Instagram account will know that I’ve taken quite a liking to Pryes’ offerings, in lieu of my regular beer reviews that I used to write extensively about before switching up the format. That said, I tried out a few of their offerings and here is what I have to say about them:

 

Outside The Grid – A Pastry Imperial Stout made with Stroopwafel. This delectable beer sports a nice and roasty dark chocolate malt flavor with a very nice caramel and brown sugar sweetness with just a hint of honey and a light hoppy finish. Overall, a delicious desert beer that I could see myself pairing with a stroopwafel or a slice of tiramisu. Haven’t seen this in cans yet but you bet I’d grab this if I saw this in stores!

Stratacaster – A New England/Hazy style IPA. In this day and age, most breweries have their own interpretation of a Hazy IPA and Pryes is no exception to this rule. Made with, what else, Strata Hops; This bundle of goodness comes loaded with citrus and melon flavors with just a touch of cantaloupe. It’s a fine beer and I can’t find anything wrong with it. Shame it’s a limited release because this would be a hit if it were in cans (assuming it already isn’t)!

Lost Moon (2021) – Rounding my visit off, I decided to once again embrace the darkness again with their annual Imperial Stout release. Nice & rich chocolate malt and toffee sweetness here, with an ever so slight coffee roastiness. According to what I read, it’s supposed to be inspired by Belgian Candy. I’m not sure what that means but I’d be lying if I said that this wasn’t a tasty beer; Far from it. It’s not overly roasty and the toffee aspect here does the flavor justice.

Before visiting Pryes Brewing, my opinion of them was already quite high but it's even more-so now after paying a visit. The beer selection is great, the taproom and space itself are nice and the food served is also top notch; Like the Spicy BBQ Pizza pictured above. So if you find yourself in Minneapolis and are looking for good food and beer, Pryes Brewing is where you need to be at!

Where my life is headed....

To all of my readers,

For the past couple of years, I've had the pleasure of calling Duluth, MN my home. From the beautiful sights, the great people and of course, who could forget about the great craft beer scene? When I first accepted a job offer here, I quickly learned that Duluth is a unique & wonderful place that is unlike anywhere else I've lived. I have gotten the chance to meet some truly remarkable people here and have made memories that I will remember for the rest of my life.

At certain times, I have talked about myself at some length but mainly for the purpose of relating to the post at hand. For the first time ever, this post will be about myself in general.

Ever since I was a junior in college, I have always wanted to run my own brewery. In fact, I did a presentation on it for a senior year project about 3 years ago. I had constructed a business plan complete with an overhead cost analysis, forecasting, marketing trends and the whole works. I made that plan with the idea that I would one day use it to open my own brewery.

When I graduated, however, I had to put all of that on hold because I became too preoccupied with the sudden reality of becoming a working adult. This meant going to work in the morning & coming home in the evening on a daily basis. The idea of owning my own brewery and getting those plans off the ground had pretty much become dead in the water. In fact, the very reason why I made this blog was so that I could keep myself in the loop as far as the craft beer scene was concerned.

About a year after I started blogging, I was contacted by Dave Grandmaison from The Duluth Experience, who wanted me to help promote his Roundtable discussion event, which focused on the craft brewing scene in the NE Minnesota/NW Wisconsin area. It was a life-changing event for me because, like the majestic Phoenix, it made that idea of having a career in the craft brewing industry rise from the ashes and it started shining brightly again!

Suddenly I was no longer just a blogger with a love for craft beer, I was taking an active role in promoting and raising awareness to the regional craft beer scene. It was the first time since I had been in college that I had something to actively work on that I truly felt a sense of accomplishment from. A couple months later, I connected with Lee & Marissa from Northland Beer, who I would ultimately end up writing for. I could finally, for all intents and purposes, call myself a writer.

With all these positive changes in my life, I still harbored a desire to one day open up my own brewery. I enjoyed my day job but I knew deep in my heart that it wasn't something I was content with doing for the rest of my life. Then one day, my wife suggested to me that rather than continuously dream about opening my own brewery, that I instead start exploring options as to how I can start laying down the foundations to one day open one up. Fast forward a few months, hours upon hours of studying, research and countless applications later, I was given a very unique opportunity to help make this dream of mine become a reality: I was accepted to Graduate School. I will be the first in my family to attain an MBA and it is something I am very proud of.

There is, however, a trade off for this opportunity and it is one that took a lot of soul-searching. It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that I will be moving back to Minneapolis this summer so I can pursue my degree. This was not an easy decision by any stretch of the imagination and I am giving up many things to make this possible but at the end of the day, it is a change that I am willing to make.

Sure I'm going to miss being within walking distance of Fitger's Brewhouse and being able to have their newest beer on tap or heading down to Carmody's Irish Pub to have a pint and catch a local band playing. Most importantly, however, I'm going to miss all of the people that I've gotten to know here.

As such, I still plan on doing beer & product reviews like I have been doing these past couple of years. I also plan on continuing writing for Northland Beer as there is much to cover down in the Twin Cities. I'm also hoping to do Twin Cities beer round-up posts....if my timing and finances permit of course.

The path to getting my MBA will no doubt be a long & difficult journey but I took this opportunity knowing all of this. Plus I always enjoy a good challenge as it gives me something to work towards! It was not a choice that came to me easily but in the big picture, it's the right thing to do. None of this would've been possible were it not for all the people I've met and the events I have attended over this past couple of years. Everything from the roundtable events to meeting with existing and aspiring brewers, who one day, plan to open their own brewery. All of this inspired me to take a good look at what I wanted to do with my life.

All of this helped me come to the conclusion that the dream that I had back in college is worth pursuing after all! I'm going to end this post with a quote from a card my Grandma gave me when I first graduated from High School and it has stuck with me since then.

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."

- Dr. Seuss

Minnesota Craft Beer Week 2014 - Day 5 (A personal account)

Early Saturday morning while I was running out to grab some breakfast, I made the startling discovery that my car had been leaking transmission fluid for the past couple of days. I say couple of days because we had been driving my fiance's car as a means of getting around because of gas mileage. Fearing the worst, I made a stop at AutoZone to get some sealant for my transmission (Spoiler Alert: It didn't work but that's another story.)

In the meantime, we decided that day that we weren't going to be doing too much on account of us being burnt out from driving everywhere. We ultimately decided we were going to the Food Truck Rally over at Harriet Brewing.

Once we arrived, I was taken aback by how nice it was outside, a nice balmy 72 degrees Fahrenheit. After the long crappy winter we had endured, it was like I was below the 45th Pararell...oh wait, I was! We dined on the finest cuisine known to man: From Mac and Cheese Sandwiches to Philly Cheese Steak; From fried Mac & Cheese balls to probably the most outlandish of the bunch..

Behold! Probably the most unhealthiest food that I have eaten outside of the Minnesota State Fair! I present to you a chocolate chip cookie covered in Nutella and topped with bacon. Did I shorten my lifespan by 5 years simply by eating this? Probably. Was it delicious? Of course!

However, I didn't make this post to talk about food, I'm here to talk about the beer. Since flights were not an option I decided to have a couple of pints so I had to choose carefully! In the end, I ended up having 3 of them and here are my thoughts on the ones that I had.

Harriet Brewing West Side IPA - Their Belgian Style IPA. This beer possess a strong Belgian yeast character with some nice citrus hops and a strong candied caramel malty backbone. It was quite a tasty beer! Even my fiance, who generally tends to avoid anything remotely related to IPAs, had a sip of this and liked it so much, she ended up buying a pint for herself!

Harriet Brewing Saison Nourrice - Like their West Side IPA, this had a fairly strong Belgian Yeast characteristic to it. However, it had a fairly strong sour flavor to it by Saison standards along with some pale malts and floral hops. With that said, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's definitely a different take on the Saison Style but it works out surprisingly well.

Harriet Brewing Sour Barrel Aged Divine Oculust on Raspberries - A take on their regular Belgian Golden Strong Ale and part of their sour barrel aging program. This beer has a very strong fruity-raspberry profile along with some nice sour notes that are actually fairly mild and approachable and there are some light citrus notes to top it all off. If this is what the sour barrel program is aiming for, then I think it's done it's job quite well.

Even though our day was relatively short, between the great beer, food and surprisingly good live music, we still had an absolutely fun time. Anyone visiting Minneapolis who is into craft beer owes it to themselves to check this place out. I would definitely visit this place again if I were given the chance

Minnesota Craft Beer Week - Day 4 (A personal account)

Friday morning rolled around and before we were even out the door, I already had a laundry list of places to go to. Of all the days during Minnesota Craft Beer Week, I would have to say that this was by far the busiest out of all the 6 days as you will see why shortly.

For our first stop, we decided to swing by Town Hall Brewery which is right by my alma mater: Augsburg College. I have some fond memories of this place during my time in college: From having a pint with my classmates after a 4 hour lecture, to celebrating with my buddies right after finishing very last final of our college careers. Yes, it's safe to say that this place holds a special place in my heart.

The place had undergone some renovations since I had last been there, with an expanded back area and the main doors now being located on the east end of the building as opposed to the southeast corner. Still for all the changes that it undergone, it still had the same vibe that I had come to know and love from Town Hall.

Knowing that a rather long day was ahead of us, I opted for a flight this time around as opposed to a pint of just one beer. After all, variety is the spice of life and what better way to utilize that example than with beer?

Town Hall Masala Mama - Their signature IPA and considered by many to be Town Hall's flagship beer. This beer contains a strong citrus hop profile with a solid caramel malt backbone and a slight spicy/rye flavor to top it off. It might be a little intense for newcomers to the IPA style but this is an incredibly good beer.

Town Hall S.S. Cascade - Town Hall's APA which was on tap. This beer contains a very sweet floral hop profile and a good caramel malt backbone and it's got a fairly dry aftertaste. Not too complex in terms of flavor but still very good!

Town Hall Hefeweizen - Fairly potent clove & banana sweetness upfront with some malted wheat, light fruity citra-hop sweetness. Not too much else going on here, but quite good nonetheless

Town Hall Parkway Java Porter (On Nitro)-  I'm not much of a coffee drinker because I'm not a big fan of the taste. However I found this to be surprisingly good! It has some fairly strong coffee and roasted barley notes and chocolate malts to help even things out. Being that it's also on nitro helps in terms of drinkability and makes the strong coffee flavor seem less overpowering.

Town Hall Czar Jack - Their signature Russian Imperial Stout aged in whiskey barrels. It shows particularly in the flavor with some strong vanilla notes, chocolate malts, mild whiskey and oak notes. Even though all of the beers were extremely good, this was probably by far my favorite beer. I know it's not available all the time so I consider myself to be very lucky that I got to try it out.

After finishing lunch, we decided to make our way down Washington Avenue toward The Freehouse, a fairly new brewpub that opened late last year. Unlike Town Hall, this place had more of a contemporary/modern feel to it as opposed to Town Hall which invoked more of a classical atmosphere.

I wanted to do a flight but the closest things they had to that were what they called "ponies", which are little vase shaped glasses as you can see above. Since we had a couple hours to kill before moving on to our next destination, my fiance opted to finish some of her homework while I decided to sample each one of the house beers using the pony glasses

The Freehouse IPA - A fairly straightforward IPA with some good citrus and piney hop notes and a nice caramel maltiness. It was also fairly smooth in terms of texture, so I found this to be a very easy drinker.

The Freehouse IPL (India Pale Lager) - Brewed specifically for MN Craft Beer Week, it's a style which I have seen catching on slowly over the past couple of years. This starts out with a strong pale malt backbone with a fairly prominent piney hop and mild citra-hop flavor. I've been kind of a sucker for IPLs recently and this is certainly no exception.

The Freehouse Bock - Just in time for spring! This beer possessed a fairly bready/yeasty flavor with subtle roasted malts, light chocolate and caramel malt sweetness. Nothing that I haven't seen before but a very solid beer nonetheless.

The Freehouse American Wheat Ale - I had a few witbiers during that week and this one struck me as quite different. It had a very strong malted wheat, grassy and light floral hop flavor profile but none of the berry-fruity sweetness that I have come to expect, giving it an organic-like flavor.

The Freehouse Hoppy Amber - I'm not terribly big on Vienna/Amber Lager style with the exception of Great Lake's Elliot Ness. With that said, I found Hoppy Amber to be surprisingly good. A nice roasted barley profile along a solid Munich Malt backbone topped off with some piney hops. Not my favorite beer of the bunch, but much better than I expected.

The Freehouse Stout - A nice chocolate malt flavor balanced out with some roasted barley and a mild hoppiness. On top of that, it had a very smooth texture and mild carbonation. It's easy to drink and pretty tasty.

The Freehouse Kolsch - Light grape flavors along with light floral hops and pale malts. Nothing too complex or anything; Just a very simple and easy to drink beer.

The Freehouse Brown Ale - The last pony glass of my stay. Nice chocolate malts and a minor roasted barley profile paired up with some minor dry hoppiness. It's not too different from other brown ales I've had in the past but it's still very good!

After finishing up at The Freehouse, we decided to make our way up to Barley John's Brewpub in New Brighton for the tapping of their Warrior's Passage 2.0 Imperial IPA on Falconer's Flight Hops as part of an event for MN Craft Beer Week. Seeing as how we were anticipating it to be quite busy when the event started, we arrived about half an hour before the actual tapping of the keg/pin took place.

When we got there, it was pretty empty with the only two people in the place sitting at the bar waiting to get their hands on the Warrior's Passage. Since we had a bit of time to kill before it took place, I decided to help myself to a couple of beers while we waited.

Barley John's Rosies Old Ale - A beer that is released once every 3 years according to the brewery's website and it clocks in at a whooping 18% ABV, so it's a good thing that I just got a sampler glass of this beer. Very strong booziness along with some oak, rum raisin, vanilla and caramel malts. That, along with the slight burning sensation in my throat made it seem like I was drinking a shot of Malibu Rum; Don't worry though, I love my rums!

Warrior's Passage 2.0 Imperial IPA w/ Falconer's Flight Hops - Equally strong caramel malt and citrus hop notes. In the background is also a lingering bitter floral hoppiness. Very smooth and lightly carbonated. It goes without saying that I found it to be quite tasty!

After that, we decided to call it a day and head back to my fiance's place where we proceed to have a nice steak dinner while we watched the Wild proceed to beat the Blackhawks 4-2, though little did we know that the playoff semi-finals would go to the Blackhawks. Maybe next year, but the Wild victory still made an already great day even better!

Badger Hill Minnesota Special Bitter Review

Name: Badger Hill Minnesota Special Bitter
Style: Extra Special Bitter (ESB)
ABV: 5.7%

A couple years ago, a new brewery called Badger Hill Brewing opened it's doors in Minnetonka, Minnesota. The name of the brewery is from the names of the two brothers, who founded the brewery, translated into Old English. Currently they share their building and equipment with another brewery which is also fairly new: Lucid Brewing (Keep an eye out for a review from them in the near future.)

Today I'm having their Minnesota Special Bitter (or MSB), an ESB style ale which is one of their most popular beers. To my knowledge, it's also one of the first beers which they released.

MSB pours a darker orange color with a slight haze. The head is very thin and has more of a creamy appearance to it. Also in case you were wondering, I took a couple sips before taking the photo so that's why there isn't any foam present in the photo above.

The aroma has some mild floral hops and biscuit notes. There is also a slight malty and marmalade sweetness in here as well. Nothing too out of the ordinary here.

The flavor is what you’d expect of an ESB with yeasts, malts, and light orange/marmalade sweetness. However, there is a surprisingly strong floral hop presence here along with a bitter resiny aftertaste.

Compared to other ESBs, it's got a heavier weighted body along with some with some mild carbonation. It has a somewhat creamy feel which helps out tremendously with the drinkability.

I thought this was pretty good; It's got a nice balanced flavor with some good hoppiness to boot without being too overwhelming. All and all, MSB is a solid offering from Badger Hill and I can't wait to try out more beers from these guys.

Badger Hill Minnesota Special Bitter - 8.25/10

Swag Brewery Apricot Wheat Soap Review

Now onto the second beer soap which I received courtesy of Swag Brewery, a craft beer-themed gift company based out of Minneapolis, MN. They have everything from hop candy to earrings & apparel and even soap! Check them out if you haven't already.

Last week, I reviewed their Porter Soap which I thought was quite awesome and made me want to eat the soap because it smelled THAT good. This week, it's I have their Apricot Wheat Beer Soap so I'm very eager to try this out and after a good workout, what better time to try it?

This has an orange appearance with tiny specks of what I assume are the wheat and walnut. It looks like something that one would find at Bath & Body Works (I mean that in a good way!)

As for the smell, it has a very sweet & fruity apricot aroma along with a slight spiciness and a touch of wheat. Compared to the Porter Beer Soap, this smells more like an actual soap you'd find at Bath & Body Works (Again, in a good way!)

When applied to the body, it leaves behind a sweet yet pleasant apricot scent and a slight spicy/wheat smell. On top of that, it gets rid of all of that sweat and body odor and it leaves the skin feeling moist. Certain soaps leave my skin feeling rather dry but this one leaves it feeling refreshed.

I really like this! This is the perfect gift for that beer geek in your life. I can safely say that this has the potential to be a really big seller. As a standalone soap, it holds up quite nicely and I hope more people take note of that.

I wasn't too sure about the concept of beer soap before but after trying out some of Swag's offerings, I am a believer in the power of beer soap!

Swag Brewery Porter Beer Soap Review

I recently received a care package containing a couple of goodies courtesy of Swag Brewery, a company based out of Minneapolis, MN that specializes in craft beer themed gifts. They have anything from your standard apparel, pint glasses, and coasters. However they also sell more speciality items like beer-cap earrings, hop candy and beer soap; You read that correctly: Beer Soap. It is also what I am reviewing tonight. The Porter Beer Soap is the first soap of the two I had received, the other being an Apricot Wheat Beer Soap which I will be looking at in the very near future.

Earlier today after getting off work, I had gone to workout for about an hour. After getting home, I figured I would put the soap to the test and have a nice shower beer to go along with it. Hey it's only fitting right? Plus, some scientists in Spain suggested that having a beer after a workout is good for you.

**NOTE** This will NOT make you smell like beer

Upon opening it up, I was treated to a surprisingly sweet & pleasant aroma of vanilla, chocolate, and licorice. This may sound a bit strange, but I wish that this was edible because it smells heavenly! Whenever I use soap, the only thing I usually care about is that it cleanses me. The aroma that this soap gives off is so good that, as strange as this may sound, makes me wish I could taste this!

However I don't want to get poisoning by ingesting soap, so I will resist temptation and use it for it's intended purpose: washing the body.

After drying off, I had a nice chocolate and light vanilla aroma to myself. It reminded me of a AXE deodorant I sometimes use but a little more subtle. On top of that, unlike some other soaps I have tried, this soap doesn't make my skin dry which helps considering how much lifting & running I do during my workout routine.

It's the perfect gift for that beer geek friend of yours and for those who are looking for something a bit different! What I enjoyed most about this is that it smells great, leaves the skin hydrated and I think that this could be a huge seller for Swag Brewery; All of which make this a very easy-to-recommend purchase.

Should You Buy This - Yes!



P.S. Keep an eye out for the other beer soap review in the very near future!

Surly's New Destination Brewery Plans Revealed

Around this time 2 years ago, the Taproom Bill AKA Surly Bill, was signed into law, which allowed Minnesota Breweries to sell pints of their beer on their own premises. This bill was spearheaded by Omar Ansari, the CEO of Surly Brewing but they didn't advantage of their namesake bill until recently.

The reason behind the bill was that Omar Ansari wanted to create a destination brewery/beer garden that would allow the brewery to sell their own beer but this was illegal in Minnesota up until 2011. So thanks to social media and a very active fan base known as the "Surly Nation", they were able to change the law and what followed was an explosion of breweries popping up all around Minnesota. The Surly Bill will forever be remembered as the linchpin that brought national attention to the Minnesota Craft Beer scene.

When plans for the Surly Destination Brewery were revealed in 2011, it looked like this....

As you can see while the architecture was definitely sound, it looked more like a building you'd expect to see at a college campus. It was different, but I figured it would work because of the quality of the Surly brand name. Keep in mind, this was just a colorful sketch of what Omar had in mind for his business and it was enough for him to change the laws to help make his dream a reality.


Well, last night at the Surly SeVIIn launch party, renderings for what I assume will be the actual brewery were revealed.....

Surly Beer, it's to die for!

I am not an architect by any means, but I have never seen a concept design that would contain ghosts drinking beer. On the plus side, the brewery looks great!

In all seriousness, the interior looks absolutely fantastic and nails what I would expect out of a destination taproom or brewery. I can only imagine how fun it'll be to tour the place once it actual opens.

Then of course, there's the exterior.....

If a Chipotle restaurant and a VCR had a baby, this what it would look like; In other words, I'm not a fan of the design. I know people aren't going to care when they're inside having a CynicAle or Furious but I expected something more aesthetically pleasing.

Well the important thing is that we know that development is coming along fine and is expected to open next year. Am I still going to go? Of course I am, I've been waiting for this to open up for a couple of years now and I probably will be there opening day. As long as they keep making quality beers, that's all I really care about.