Jason Schoneman of Steel Toe Brewing is making his mark on the Twin Cities beer scene, two bottles at a time. In the corner of his St. Louis Park brewery sits a tiny, two-line, counter-pressure bottle filler. Schoneman will be bottling late into the evening to meet demand at his two retail accounts, the Four Firkins and Liquor Barrel. If the future popularity of his beers is at all proportional to their quality, he's going to need an equipment upgrade pretty soon.
One of the newest additions to the Twin Cities brewery boom, Steel Toe Brewing has developed quite the following in its first few months. Last week, we snagged the last two bottles of Steel Toe's Size 7 IPA from the cooler at Four Firkins. The clerk even intimated (or in his words, blasphemed) that Schoneman's Rainmaker Double Red Ale gives Surly Furious a serious run for its money. Allow us to be unequivocal -- it does.
So far, those who have gotten hold of his brews have likely tried the Provider Golden Ale and, easily his most popular beer so far, the Size 7 -- an intensely juicy and citrusy IPA. "The key with this beer is what I call 'clean bitterness,' not this harsh, lingering bitterness," he says. "It's packed with hop flavor, but it's not over the top."
Q: You have three draft accounts. What's been your process in selecting these locations?
A: Our landlord had recommended Mill Valley Kitchen, just down the street from us. The food's really good there, and they seem pretty serious about high quality with everything there. With [St. Louis Park] Woodfire Grill, we did the Stomp [benefit] with them at Warehouse Winery, so we sent them a keg. And Muddy Waters was our first official draft account. They are seriously focused on beer quality. They have great, high-end beers, and their pairing of beer and food is tremendous. That was a no-brainer.
Q: What, in your mind, separates Steel Toe from the other craft breweries in town?
A: Super clean, consistent flavors -- that's the main thing. Lots of flavor, but not overdone. And then part of our whole ethos here is buying used equipment when we can, repurposing equipment, and trying to source everything as locally as possible. Since I started brewing these recipes I've used Briess malts, and they've been very good to me. I think they're just top-quality. They're North American-grown, and malted in Chilton, Wis. That's important.
Q: What would an ideal 2012 look like for Steel Toe Brewing?
