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Cheers!

On Tuesday, May 15th the owner of Summit Brewing Company and Minnesota Craft Beer pioneer Mark Stutrud will be at Chicago Lake Liquors for the official release of Sága IPA from 11:30 to 12:30. At this release you will be able to sample the beer and enter to win Minnesota Twins tickets, Blue Man Group tickets, free Summit beer for a year, or a $100 Chicago Lake Liquors gift card.

If you liked their 25th Anniversary Ale then you will probably enjoy Saga IPA which is made with Harrington and Caramel malts, Centennial, Amarillo, Citra and rare Rakau hops from New Zealand. Sága is sure to be hit with the locals and it’s the first year-round West Coast American Style IPA Summit has put on the market. Sága will be available in six packs for the introductory price of $7.99.

In case you haven’t been to Chicago Lake Liquors before, they are the home of the $10.99 Summit and Sierra Nevada twelve pack (a great value for your summer BBQ) and they have a great selection of Craft Beers in stock. It’s fitting that Summit would choose Chicago Lake Liquors as the place to release this special beer. After all, Chicago Lake sells the most Summit beer in the entire world!

Cheers!

 It’s been 15 years since Great Waters Brewing opened its doors in downtown St. Paul and on Tuesday, May 1st they are having a 5 course Cask Ale beer dinner at 7 PM. A pre-game staple for Wild fans, Great Waters has made a name for itself as a destination for making some of the finest Cask Ales in town and serving up a fantastic food menu.

The seating is limited and the cost is $65 per ticket which includes tax and gratuity and if you are an MBA member it is $55. Here are the details:

Location:

Great Waters Brewing Co.
426 St. Peter Street
St. Paul, MN 55102

Parking:

There are some parking ramps/lots in the area and some street parking should be available. Note that downtown St. Paul parking meters are done at 4:30 PM.

Contact:

If you plan on attending please call 651-224-2739 to make your reservation. Seating is limited for this event.

Great Waters Brewing Company makes for a perfect dinner date and a night out in St. Paul due to it’s close proximity to The Artist’s Quarter, the Fitzgerald Theater, the Ordway Center, and the Xcel Energy Center. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to celebrate 15 years of serving up delicious Craft Beer.

Cheers!

Summer in April? Now that the warm weather is here it is time to start checking out some of the local session beers available in the Twin Cities. What is a session beer? A session beer is generally a beer that is lighter in body and has a lower alcohol content, which makes it easy to enjoy a few without falling off your bar stool. This means that you can spend more time imbibing with your friends, perhaps outdoors, and less time worrying about how you are going to kill off that nasty hangover in the morning. Lucky for us our local breweries have given us many choices a few of which I have recently sampled.

The first session beer that I tried was the Finnegan’s Blonde Ale, which was light in body and tasted a little sweet with some bread flavors and a subtle hop flavor. The beer finished very smooth and would accompany your grilled fare nicely. Also, in case you didn’t know, 100% of the profits from Finnegan’s goes to charity and the Blonde Ale proceeds are specifically allocated to help fight hunger.

The second session beer that I tried was Brau Brothers Strawberry Wheat. This beer was very light in color but had a very nice malty, wheat flavor. I liked that the fruit flavor was subtle and did not dominate the flavor of the malt. This one went down very smooth and is perfect for those 90 degree days of summer.

Schell’s Pils was the last session beer that I tried. This beer was well balanced between the barley malt and the noticeable hop presence and it finished dry, perfect for summer weather. The straw yellow color is typical of the style, but do not be fooled, this is no Miller Lite.

One other session beer that is not local but is worth mentioning is Summerfest by Sierra Nevada. This pale lager is sure to please anyone with its crisp hop and biscuity malt flavor. You can find these beers at most of your local liquor stores. Now get outside and enjoy this early summer weather with your friends and family... and a beer, of course!

Cheers! 

What started as a little Craft Beer store in a strip mall has now grown into the ultimate beer only store located in St. Louis Park. The Four Firkins, run by Jason Alvey, is more than just a beer store, it’s a beer buying experience. From the Craft Beer on the shelf to employees themselves; one can’t help but notice that this isn’t your typical liquor store. Employees who are passionate about their work can be seen directing customers to the latest offerings often making suggestions and pouring beer samples.

One thing that really separates the Four Firkins from other liquor stores is the customer service. “It's a lot of fun, everyone who works here will be very happy to get to know you” said Jason. Another thing you will notice about the Firkins that you don’t always find is that the inventory turns over rather quickly, which assures that your beer will always be fresh. After arriving here in 2001 Alvey, an Australian native, spent plenty of time doing research before opening his store and he learned a lot in the process. “Before I opened the Firkins I spent a lot of time driving around to lots of different liquor stores. I would typically find one of two environments. Either it would be a huge liquor store with lots of wine and maybe a good beer selection but nobody there could tell me anything about the beer and a lot of the beer was dusty and old”. Anyone who has ever been a victim of hop fade or light stricken beer never forgets that experience—an experience you won’t get at The Four Firkins.

Operating a beer only store does not come without struggles however. The actual cost of running such a store may surprise you, “Beer is the worst margin of any alcoholic beverage” said Alvey. “Most liquor stores make their money on cheap liquor with a high margin. Even wine has a much higher margin than beer.” In other words, do not expect to see more stores like this popping up around the metro—even with the Craft Beer boom we have been experiencing recently.

The Four Firkins even has a Minnesota beer history museum inside, which draws a lot of attention especially from new customers. Alvey, as he is known by most, is usually on duty greeting his customers, often referring to them as “mates” and can be heard telling them stories or sharing a laugh. The non-elitist attitude is welcoming, especially to new comers. According to Alvey, “We often say that we are not ‘beer snobs,’ we are ‘beer geeks,’ that is to say we want you to enjoy good beer as much as we do.”

The Four Firkins is open from 10 AM to 9 PM Monday through Saturday. You can even scout their beer selection before you go with the new search feature on their website.

As Alvey would say,
Cheers Mate!