Mayor R.T. Rybak recently wrote that the "business of Minneapolis is beer." With alcohol statutes being adjusted and the brewery boom in full swing, the city's new brewers face a real challenge in trying to distinguish themselves from one another.
Eric Biermann and Jon Messier believe they've found the right niche. Armed with 15 years each of home-brewing experience (Biermann has additional training by the American Brewers Guild), they've opened Lucid Brewing in Minnetonka (lucidbrewing.wordpress.com).
Lucid will attempt to walk the treacherous line between craft beer flavor and macro-brew drinkability. Its flagship ale, Air, is so light it may not appeal to committed hopheads. That said, their upcoming double IPA, Camo, definitely will. Camo even manages to retain very a light profile, despite weighing in at 9 percent alcohol.
Currently, Lucid is only available on tap. A bottling line tops their list of future brewery additions. Air is now available at Lucid's current accounts (including the Muddy Pig, the Nomad, Stub & Herb's and Pizza Luce Hopkins). Camo was officially released last Friday, and will proliferate in the coming weeks.
We visited Lucid's brewery and sampled its beers. We started with Air, a 4.5-percent-alcohol-by-volume American ale.
Eric Biermann: There's a hole in the market for easy-drinking craft beer -- ones lighter in alcohol that are sessionable. Air has enough flavor to appeal to the craft drinker, but also a light feel to hopefully bring in some Amstel or Stella drinkers.
Heavy Table: It is extremely light. You get some malt up front and the carbonation keeps that flavor on your tongue, until the finish, which is very clean.
Jon Messier: Even when we sampled this out to bars, they were saying it was a little too bitter to be considered a light beer.
