Cleveland to Minneapolis

I will be heading to Minneapolis for Thanksgiving week and was looking for advice on under the radar stops that might deserve a visit. I’ve done the usual suspects many times (Binny’s in the South Loop, FFF, Great Dane, Vintage Brewing, Town Hall, etc). In particular what, if anything, is around South Bend and between Madison and Minneapolis?

Also which new brewpubs and stores are worth visiting in the Twin Cities? I don’t want to do too much driving but would love to work on getting the MN numbers up a bit.

Casanovas in Hudson, WI. is worth a stop, not to far off the hwy. They normally have a good selection of growler fills plus Topplin’ Goliath bombers.

New Glarus in Madison..

Originally posted by liquidcrack
New Glarus in Madison..

Dangerous Man and Hammerheart in the Twin Cities

Minneapolis-Dangerous Man, Fair State, Indeed, Hammerheart (a little ways North)

It would be great to meet up for a beer!

All of the following rankings are based purely on my current opinion of how good the beer is (not atmosphere). If they have a specialty, I note it. There are a bunch of other places I’m not mentioning because they’re unnecessarily far out of your way or I don’t recommend them.

In Western Wisconsin, on or within a few miles of I-94 on the way to Minneapolis, all of the following are worthy of a stop:

1. Dave’s BrewFarm (taproom; Wilson; great – unique farmhouse beers)
2. Das Bierhaus (brewpub; Menomonie; good – German-style)
3. Real Deal (brewpub; Menomonie on the same block as Das Bierhaus; pretty good – at a vegan restaurant with a coffee shop vibe called The Raw Deal and extremely under-the-radar)
4. Pitchfork (taproom; Hudson; pretty good)

In Minnesota, in the east metro (closer to St. Paul than Minneapolis), there are a few good places. HammerHeart unfortunately is a little out of your way, probably about 15 miles north of I-94.

1. HammerHeart (taproom; Lino Lakes; good – smoked beers)
2. Summit (taproom; St. Paul; pretty good)
3. Lift Bridge (taproom; Stillwater; pretty good)
4. Bang (taproom; St. Paul and next door to another taproom called Urban Growler that is okay; pretty good – organic and quite under-the-radar)
5. Great Waters (brewpub; St. Paul; pretty good – cask beers)

Once you get to Minneapolis itself, you have a lot of good options. My rankings for Minneapolis proper are as follows:

1. Town Hall (brewpub; Seven Corners area; great)
2. Dangerous Man (taproom; Nordeast; great – its beer is available only at its taproom)
3. Indeed (taproom; Nordeast; very good)
4. Sisyphus (taproom; southwest part of downtown; very good – nanobrewery whose beer is available only at its taproom and about as under-the-radar as you’re going to get besides Real Deal)
5. Fair State (taproom; Nordeast; good)
6. Bauhaus Brew Labs (taproom; Nordeast; good – lagers)
7. Northbound Smokehouse (brewpub; South Minneapolis; pretty good – smoked foods)
8. Rock Bottom (brewpub; downtown; pretty good – chain)
9. Harriet (taproom; South Minneapolis; pretty good – Belgian styles and sours)
10. Fulton (taproom; Warehouse District; pretty good)
11. Day Block (brewpub; downtown near Town Hall; pretty good – pizzas)

If you want to get some sake ratings, moto-i in the Uptown / Lyn-Lake area of Minneapolis supposedly is the only sake brewpub in the world outside of Japan, has good Japanese street food, and is generally a cool place. It’s one of my top recommendations for visitors in general because of its uniqueness. There are a couple lesser breweries on the same block, The Herkimer (brewpub) and LynLake (taproom), neither of which I recommend but you may choose to visit just because they’re right there.

There are several decent options west of Minneapolis, but the main one I would recommend is Steel Toe in St. Louis Park (very good). The rest are too far away to be worth your time with so many other options. Not far north of Minneapolis is Barley John’s in Fridley (great), but it appears you’ve been there already.

FYI...Barley John’s is not in Fridley, I believe it is in New Brighton or St. Anthony.

Originally posted by tennisjoel
FYI...Barley John’s is not in Fridley, I believe it is in New Brighton or St. Anthony.

As for Northern Indiana, Iechyd Da in Elkhart, Bare Hands in Granger, and Evil Czech in Mishawaka are 5-10 minutes drive from I-80/90, and are all worth a stop for different reasons. Iechyd Da probably has the most solid all around beer and good food, Bare Hands has the best chance to blow your mind with beer but has a limited food menu, and Evil Czech has a killer food menu, but the beer isn’t quite on par with the other two. Fiddler’s Hearth in downtown South Bend and Wheatberry in Buchanan, MI are my two favorite beer and food restaurants in the area, though you can wait for a seat at dinner hours. As for bottle shops, City Wide in downtown SB (not too far from Fiddler’s) has a humidor that is like 85% cellarable beer as well as a walk-in cooler. The Chalet Party Shoppe stores in Elkhart/Goshen also at least get decent amounts of special releases, and the store on Cassopolis St. in Elkhart is maybe 5 minutes away from I-80/90. Definitely some places worth hitting in the South Bend/Elkhart area. Come back through in a year or two and there will be maybe a half-dozen more breweries open!