Best New Brewery - Lucid - 2013 Best of MN

There are in-town newcomers with more buzz — in the trendy sense, and in alcohol terms — but this Minnetonka-based brewery struck a welcome balance between accessibility and hard-core microbrew standards in its first year of business. Its two lighter year-round beers, Air (blonde ale) and Dyno (American pale), go down easy but have subtly complex flavor, and even its hopped-up mainstay Foto (American IPA) isn't overbearing. But Lucid also proves it's no namby-pamby brewery with many of its seasonal brands, including the doozy of a double IPA, Cammo, and especially its oak-aged Imperial red ale, Duce, pronounced "doo-chay," like its Italian brewmaster would say it. Look for the latter beers in special 750-milliliter, and the rest in six packs and bar taps. lucidbrewing.com