It probably shouldn't come as a surprise that Summit Brewing Co. will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a party that's actually smaller than its 20th birthday celebration. When the St. Paul brewery marked its big 2-0 with its Big Brew party on Harriet Island in 2006, the out-of-town headlining band (Cake) copped an attitude and pretty well blew. What's more, the beer trucks blew through product so fast they actually ran out of beer. That's right: The beer company ran out of beer at its own party. Jokes abounded about highjacking a barge on the river and rolling kegs downhill from the brewery to float back upstream.
Enter Summit's 25th anniversary bash, which is happening Sept. 10 right on the brewery's grounds -- greatly lessening the chances that the taps will run dry, while also keeping it small-scale enough to highlight the beermaker's affinity for and support of the Twin Cities music scene. The party will feature an all-local lineup including Solid Gold, the X-Boys (led by Chris Osgood of Suicide Commandos and Hugo Klaers of the Suburbs), Pert Near Sandstone, Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles and the Prizefighters. Tickets are no on sale for $12 on the Summit website. Half of the door money will go to a new local-music booster nonprofit called the Minnesota Music Coalition.
Of course, the brewery is also marking its silver anniversary by doing what it does best: making special beer. The Summit 25th Anniversary Ale is now hitting the streets, a hoppier, bolder batch of its flagship Extra Pale Ale. Summit's brewers also just unleashed the seventh installment of their beer-geek-adored Unchained series, the Honeymoon Saison, their first version of a French farmhouse ale made with a touch of Minnesota (the honey). In case you're wondering: I've had them both and can sincerely endorse them. Summit is also hosting happy-hour get togethers where the Anniversary Ale is on tap for $.25 (not a typo), including one tonight from 6-8 p.m. at the Groveland Tap. No bands are playing there, but who really needs music when quality beer is a quarter?
