Why the Minnesota State Fair has 70 new ‘cocktails’ but not a drop of hard liquor

A Hurricane. An Espresso Martini. A Bloody Mary. A dill pickle margarita.

What do these new Minnesota State Fair cocktails have in common? None contain hard liquor, because the fair doesn’t permit it.

With the rise of hard seltzer — a fermented malt beverage that is allowed at the fair — breweries are mixing concoctions that look more like cocktails than lagers, while keeping alcohol levels below those of spirit-based drinks.

This shift in focus for breweries mirrors the national trend: U.S. beer consumption has fallen to its lowest level in more than 40 years as drinkers turn to alternatives like seltzers and canned cocktails. This year, many of the fair’s 70 new specialty drinks don’t resemble beer at all, leading to creations like the tropical Scooby Slush, a spiked strawberry lemonade and countless spins on frosé.

But what fairgoers still won’t find is a true cocktail mixed with Minnesota-made spirits.

It’s become a punchline for Mark Schiller, the co-founder of Northfield’s Loon Liquor Co. and the president of the Minnesota Distillers Guild. “What’s the difference between a seltzer and a vodka soda? One can help Minnesota farmers and small businesses directly.”

At the Distillers Guild’s booth on the far North End of the fairgrounds, visitors are often surprised to learn spirits aren’t allowed. “And then they tell us that we’re wrong, like, ‘I just had a margarita,’” Schiller said. “No, that was a seltzer — that’s fermented sugar water.”

Still, changing alcohol rules at the fair takes more than customer demand.

Before 2000, only low-alcohol 3.2 beer was sold at the fair. Since then, legislative acts allowed wine (in 2003) and local beer (in 2007), leading to this year’s more than 400 beverage options, including dozens of fair exclusives.

But spirits are not on the table.

“We’re not interested in pursuing a change at this time,” said Danielle Dullinger, food and beverage manager for the fair. “I’m not saying it won’t ever change, but at this time, it’s not something that we’re looking to expand.”

One reason: Most fair drinks must stay under 8% ABV, or alcohol by volume, with wine the exception. Distilled spirits are naturally higher.

Another reason: Past changes came because brewers and winemakers pushed hard. Starting in 2015, for example, brewpubs worked with the fair and legislators to win the ability to sell their products in the craft beer hall.

“The line was pushed by the industry, and we were in tandem with them,” Dullinger said.

Even Schiller admits distillers haven’t made the same effort. “I don’t think that there’s ever been too big of a voice” on the push to get spirits to the fairgrounds.

“We are in the nascent stages of conversation,” he said. “Since our guild is made up of a bunch of small-business owners, no one has had the time to put forward formalized control options for the fair, or what an investment into the fair would look like.”

Schiller envisions a centralized building for spirit-based drinks, perhaps with lower ABVs and strict controls. That dream is years away.

Two years ago, LuLu’s Public House invited Tattersall Distilling to collaborate on a cocktail-inspired base for a Schell’s seltzer. “I emphatically said yes,” said Dan Oskey, Tattersall’s co-founder and a longtime Twin Cities mixologist. He developed a mule, then a mojito and this year’s Blackberry Bramble. He started the recipe with gin, then swapped in seltzer until it mimicked the original.

The result, Oskey said, is more complex than a canned seltzer. “It seems very lemon forward at first, and then the blackberry becomes more prominent. In a weird way, it’s a lot like a cocktail. It’s more playful on the palate.”

And it gives them a place at the state’s largest event.

“You just have to face reality that spirits probably will never be allowed at the fair, but this is a way for us to get involved and put something out there,” Oskey said.

For another brewery-distillery collaboration, Lift Bridge Brewing Co. partnered this year with Minneapolis’ Earl Giles Distillery on the Shamrock Slushie, a cross between the McDonald’s seasonal shake and a supper-club-style Grasshopper that’s served at O’Gara’s.

“It’s been a big addition to our toolbox,” he said. Out of the 35 beverages Lift Bridge is selling at the fair this year, 27 of them are made with a seltzer base (and almost half of them are slushies).

“Beer is down year over year,” Glynn said. So, these creative, seltzer-based drinks are “the best way for us to get close to matching what the public is wanting, which is some kind of cocktail experience at the fair.”

Earl Giles CEO Nick Kosevich has leaned into the trend. His distillery collaborated on four drinks this year, including making a bitter orange syrup for a wine spritz that tastes like it has Aperol, even though it doesn’t.

“Beer bases made a wave, but they were just like flavored LaCroix. They weren’t really telling that amazing of a story,” Kosevich said. “Now, we have the ability to create a full-flavored cocktail experience.”

By next year, he said, Earl Giles plans to “dominate the cocktail world at the fair.”