Nightlife news & notes: New distillery in Northeast

January 29, 2015 at 6:59PM
A local design guru and his nephew have teamed up with a St. Paul bartender to produce homemade bitters kits. Riding the craft cocktail wave, locally made bitters have become a trend in the past few years after about a century of obsolescence. Erik Eastman and Dan Oskey ("Easy & Oskey" is their company name), along with Erik's uncle James Eastman talked about their DIY kits at The Strip Club Thursday afternoon, July 18, 2013 on St. Paul's East Side. James Eastman, Dan Oskey, and Erik Eastman, fr
Dan Oskey (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Toast to Tattersall

Talented bartender Dan Oskey has said adios to Hola Arepa. Less than a year after the popular food truck-turned-restaurant opened, the leader of its vibrant cocktail program is leaving to launch a distillery. He and childhood bud Jon Kreid­ler are opening Tattersall Distilling Co. in the Thorp Building in northeast Minneapolis.

They hope to release their first spirit in May, with a 90-seat cocktail room following mid-June. While they plan to make vodka, liqueurs and eventually bourbon and rye whiskey, Tattersall's flagship will be a juniper-forward London dry-style gin, as opposed the more experimental New American gins.

"If you can't make a martini out of it, to me, it's not worth anything at all," Oskey said like a true bartender.

Super Bowl Stout

Fair State Brewing Cooperative, which has been an All-Pro on the northeast Minneapolis taproom scene, gets into the Super Bowl spirit on Sunday.

The brew dudes are setting up a projection screen for the game and will dole out free chicken wings while supplies last.

A special cask of their silky FSB Imperial Stout gets cracked around kickoff and Fair State's neighbors, Aki's BreadHaus, will be slinging pretzels and other treats.

Noon-10 p.m., 2506 Central Av. NE., Mpls., 612-444-3574, www.fairstate.coop

MICHAEL RIETMULDER

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