Last year, the Twin Cities’ Surly Brewing announced that they would be building a “destination brewery” in Minneapolis’ Prospect Park neighborhood. The StarTribune has recently released images of what the proposed brewery is going to look like. Take a look at the architect’s renderings of the new $20 million brewery.
Here’s a weird consequence of our stunted economy; when the state government in Minnesota shut down July 1, MillerCoors “had 39 ‘brand label registrations’ that expired last month, and the employees who process renewals were laid off when state government shut down July 1 in a budget dispute,” according to an AP story published today online entitled MillerCoors becomes casualty of Minnesota shutdown. Area wholesalers and then retailers could be out of the effected brands in as little as a few days, the story cautions. Hopefully, there’s enough craft beer in the pipeline to satisfy demand and maybe even create a few converts in the process.
Today in 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state.
Minnesota
Minnesota Breweries
Minnesota Brewery Guides
Guild: Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Guild
State Agency: Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Alcohol and Gaming Enforcement
Package Mix:
Beer Taxes: 3.2 Beer
Beer Taxes: Over 3.2 Beer
Economic Impact (2010):
Legal Restrictions:
Data complied, in part, from the Beer Institute’s Brewer’s Almanac 2010, Beer Serves America, the Brewers Association, Wikipedia and my World Factbook. If you see I’m missing a brewery link, please be so kind as to drop me a note or simply comment on this post. Thanks.
For the remaining states, see Brewing Links: United States.
Today’s work of art is by contemporary artist Jamie Patrick Paul, who works in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The title of his 5-color screenprint is Lovely Day for a Bike Ride, and features the iconic Grain Belt sign in the background.
I love the work’s sense of whimsy. Below is a detail of the Grain Belt sign.
And he also did a night time version, A Lovely Night for a Bike Ride, though it looks far more dangerous than during the day.
He also did an interesting piece using a lot of different beer elements, including beer itself for a poster entitled Drunk Lightning. Here’s how he described what went into it:
Drunk Lightning poster, a poster made nearly completely of beer. Gmund Bier paper made of recycled hops, Beer was poured in each ink color. Stella in the red, Guinness in the black, Pabst in the varnish.
You can see more of Paul’s work at his design portfolio and his website.
Cold Spring Brewing in Minnesota announced yesterday that they will no longer brew the historic Gluek brand. Gluek began brewing in 1857, before Minnesota was even a state.
In 1857 on the bank of the Mississippi River in an area which would someday be known as Minneapolis, German immigrant Gottlieb Gluek started the Mississippi Brewing Company. Soon the name was changed to the Gluek Brewing Company, and by 1964 Gluek became Minneapolis’s oldest continuously-operated business.
In 1858 the company brewed 3,996 barrels of beer, and by 1901 the annual capacity was second only to the two “giants” the Minneapolis Brewing Company (later renamed as the Grain Belt) and the Theo. Hamm Brewery of St. Paul.
But after 1964 it fell on hard times and, like many regional breweries, was bought by G. Heileman. The original brewery was torn down but a new one was later built back in Cold Spring, Minnesota in 1997. A couple of years ago, however, they renamed Gluek Brewing to Cold Spring Brewing as fewer and fewer consumers knew or cared about Gluek’s history in the region.
As an AP story reports:
By September, Gluek will be phased out. But vice president and general manager Doug DeGeest says Cold Spring Brewing is keeping the Gluek trademark, and it’s possible the beer could come back.
DeGeest says it was a business decision to discontinue the Gluek brand. He says the Cold Spring-based company cannot keep up with production and needed to decide which product in its portfolio of beers to discontinue.
When I was the beer buyer at BevMo, we brought in some of the Gluek beer in cans and they also sold us a beer exclusively (for California, at least) which we sold as a private label beer. That was Fat Cat Lager, which was a decent enough all-malt generic lager. I believe Randy Mosher did the label design.
Regardless of Gluek’s ultimate place in American brewing history, it’s always sad to see another old brand consigned to the scrap heap of discontinued brands, but then I’m sentimental that way.
Continuing my unintentional theme of dead animals and beer, here’s an odd one from the archives of Minnesota news, as highlighted in Yesterday’s News, 140 Years of Minnesota News by Ben Welter. Although reported in the Minneapolis Tribune in 1900, July 19 to be exact, the incident actually occurred in Iowa. The report assures us, however, that it was near the Minnesota border. Since it’s archival, here’s the original news report in its entirety:
DEATH LURKS IN THE BEER
Three Men Die in Agony After Drinking Lager.
By Wire From Fort Dodge, Ia., July 19.
Four young men living in Cerro Gordo county, near the Minnesota line, purchased and drank a keg of Eastern-brewed beer some days ago, and as a result three of them have died and the fourth is now in terrible agony, and is reported to be on the point of death.
The day was warm and the beer was consumed hurriedly by the friends, who little realized that they were sipping a death-dealing draught. They were all taken sick immediately, and although a physician was soon summoned, the taking off of three of the young bibbers could not be prevented.
To ascertain, if possible, the strange cause of the sickness, the keg was broken into and the decomposed remains of a genuine rattlesnake was found. Improbable as the story sounds, it is true; and is rendered plausible by the fact that empty kegs are often left lying around for weeks before being shipped back to the breweries. It is thus easy for reptiles and insects to crawl into the kegs as cool resorts.
The scalding out of the kegs upon their return to the brewery would naturally kill any living organism, which would remain right in the keg. It was only a few years ago that a man here became sick from drinking keg beer and an investigation showed that a dead toad occupied the keg with the beer.
I’m certainly glad sanitation standards in breweries have improved markedly over the last 110 years.
This mug, believe it or not, is available for purchase at What on Earth.