A visit to Flatland Brewery

The last brewery I stopped at in the Fargo area was a little place called Flatland Brewery over in West Fargo and was located just a few blocks from our hotel room. Unlike the last two breweries, which were located in old buildings or a warehouse, this place was located in a brand new stripmall/condo development area. Come to think of it, all the hosues, apartments and buisnesses in the area surrounding Flatland looked like it had been built maybe 4-5 years ago. I can only imagine what the area must've looked like before all this development rolled in.

As for Flatland Brewery itself, they opened up here very recently at the end of July of this year, so they're a fairly new brewery. Most of the owners are also experienced homebrewers and decided to take their passion to the next level. They're also the first brewery in West Fargo proper, which is a completely separate town from the City of Fargo.

Go Bulldogs!

Even though the taproom itself is very new, it has a certain industrial/rustic appeal and look to it which fits the setting quite well. Plus to make the experience even more enjoyable, they had the hockey game of University of North Dakota taking on University of Minnesota-Duluth; I may no longer live in Duluth, but you know I'm always gonna show some love to the UMD Bulldogs!

Now let's talk about the beer itself. These guys had a wide variety of beers to choose from. However, much like Kilstone I wasn't able to try them all out due to the fact that I had places to be and was on a schedule but I managed to sample a few libations while I was there.

Roggenbier - (Rye Beer, 4.8% ABV, 14 IBUs) - Subtle rye notes with a solid pale malt backbone and light flora hop notes, with a pretty dry aftertaste. Nothing special but this one is nice and drinkable

Weisse (Berliner Weisse, 3.6% ABV, 2 IBUs, Not pictured) - Light malted wheat notes with some lemon tartness on the back end of the palate, with an aftertaste that is rather dry. A nice & simple Berliner Weisse as far as I'm concerned

Octobeardfest -(Oktoberfest, 5.7% ABV, 22 IBUs) -  Floral hops with some light citrus notes paired with some Munich & Toffee malts. It's one of the better Oktoberfest beers I've had this year and it's worth trying out.

Brown Porter (Porter, 5.4% ABV, 20 IBUs) -  Roasted barley and chocolate malts with a slight hint of floral hops. Typical porter but a drinkable one nonetheless.

Orange APA (American Pale Ale, 6.2% ABV, 31 IBUs) - Orange and citrus notes with some mild bitter hops and light yeastiness on the end. A very tasty and crisp tasting beer and one that I could've drank all night!

Fresh Hop IPA (India Pale Ale, 6.1% ABV, 70 IBUs) -  Fresh Citrus hop and grapefruit notes with some mild toffee malts and a bittersweet aftertaste. Two for two as far as the fresh hop IPAs are concerned. Too bad there's not more of them!

All and all, I enjoyed this a great deal and I'm happy that I stopped in to this place. Like Kilstone before it, I hope these guys do great things in the future and I look forward to seeing what these guys will do again in the future!

On one final note, after I was done at Flatland, I mistakenly left my credit card there after I paid and through means that aren't known to myself, they somehow managed to find the hotel which we were staying at and called to informed us (well, my wife actually) about the credit card. So I wanted to give a special thanks to Flatland for saving my weekend vacation by finding us, I really do appreciate it!