Craft Beer Guide 2019

OCTOBER 2019

fARIBAULT DAILY NEWS NORTHFIELD NEWS OWATONNA PEOPLE’S PRESS

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CRAFT BEER GUIDE

OCTOBER 2019

Spontaneous Fermentation The fermentation of most brews is carefully controlled.

Spontaneous fermentation puts Mother Nature in charge and the yeasts come from the open air, lending the beer a particular, unique sense of place.

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“‘Wild beer’ is generally used to describe any beer that displays the earthy characteristics of Brettanomyces yeast strains, regardless of whether the beer is a light golden ale or a strong, dark stout. If the brewer adds acidifying bacteria to the beer, it is termed a ‘sour beer’,” Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Co. told the Oxford Companion to Beer.

COMMON WILD FLAVORS

Here are some common microorganisms found in spontaneously fermented beers, according to Craft Beer & Brewing.

Brettanomyces: Common in Brett ales, wood or barrel-aged ales, gose, biere de garde, lambic, gueuze, Flanders. It lends a leathery, horsey taste with a light to moderate or fruity acidic character.

Lactobacillus: This critter gives us sauerkraut and yogurt. It’s common in Berliner weisse, Flanders beers and saison. It’s tart and tangy.

Pediococcus: Swims around in lambic beers and gueuze. It tastes of buttered popcorn or butterscotch.

Acetobactor: A microorganism that produces acetic acid that’s found in lambic, Flanders red and wood-aged beers. It tastes of vinegar and pickles.

BREWERIES USING SPONTANEOUS FERMENTATION Black Project, Denver James and Sarah Howat’s brewery, founded in 2014, has taken home a handful of Great American Beer Festival medals already. Every beer it makes is fermented with microbes captured from the local environment or foraged from nature.

Allagash Brewing Co., Portland, Maine Allagash has a coolship project, which crafts beers using a coolship, a large shallow pan used to cool the hot, unfermented wort. During the cooling process, microbiota from the air inoculates the beer before it’s transferred into French oak wine barrels to be fermented and aged from one to three years.

Russian River Brewing Co., California Russian River’s Beatification is inspired by the lambic beers of Belgium and is fermented using a coolship and, like Allagash’s brews, are transferred to oak wine barrels to continue fermenting and age.

CRAFT BEER GUIDE OCTOBER 2019

A special publication of the Faribault Daily News, Northfield News and Owatonna People’s Press

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CRAFT BEER GUIDE

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Craft Beer Growth Slow, Steady Craft beer has grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade, and while it is still growing, industry magazine Beverage Dynamics says that growth has slowed.

More than 7,000 craft breweries are now churning out great beer all over the U.S., the magazine says, with another 2,000 predicted to come online in the next two years.

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

Craft breweries grew 4% in 2018, the Brewers Association reported, with a retail dollar

more beer choices than ever.

Brewers are going to have to try harder than ever to capture consumer attention, either with innovative new brews or by perfecting tried-and-true favorites. value growth of $27.6 billion.

“Whenever we are asked, The number of barrels pro‘Are there too many craft brewduced hit a five-year high, with eries?’ I always ask, ‘Are there more than 25 million barrels of too many BBQ joints in Kansas beer produced. More than a City?” Natalie Gershon, vice thousand craft breweries president of marketing for opened in 2018, but less than Boulevard Brewing Co., told 300 closed, meaning the mar- Beverage Dynamics. “While ket is still going strong. the market may have slowed a bit, there is still a ton of opportunity for breweries to carve All these breweries mean out spots where they can that the average consumer has become the neighborhood bar.

SATURATION

focus on a narrowing handful There’s never been a time where folks have lived closer to of brands, not 28 brands, and spending money supporting so many brewery options.” those core brands. We need to free this thing up a bit so that Yeah, that seems like an the momentum can get back oxymoron, but craft breweries to the positive numbers. are finding themselves more “We must professionalize and more with a ton of prodour branding efforts. Think ucts in rotation. Fighting this about it: Nobody has really battle means acting more like built a brand in craft beer like a macrobrewery, some brewAmazon, Apple or Coca-Cola. ers told Beverage Dynamics.

Someone in craft right now “You look at the beer indus- could be the next person to try as a whole, we’re all fightbuild America’s next greatest ing over that same 15% market brewery. There’s opportunity share, and not that 85%,” said and a need to fill.”

Mike Stevens, cofounder of Founders Brewery in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “We need to

GOING MACRO

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CRAFT BEER GUIDE

Coming Soon!

BY Mineral Springs Brewery With a planned grand opening of November 8, Owatonna’s Mineral Springs Brewery (MSB) will be the newest brewery/taproom in southern Minnesota. The operation features a relaxing environment along Owatonna’s riverfront, combined with an operational focus on the community.

MSB has transformed a slightly worn storage building into its taproom and brewery production facility, with indoor seating for nearly 90 and patio seating for nearly 70. With licenses in place already and production in fullswing, MSB is now operating the first brewery in Steele County since Prohibition.

Brewers Tim Pelton and Mark Sebring together have more than 20 years of brewing experience behind them, now engaging that experience on a far more sophisticated system.

OCTOBER 2019

Craft Everything Else

Sure, there’s a whole rainbow of craft beers to try and love. But now breweries are branching out to lend their skills to other foods and beverages. Here are some hot craft beer-adjacent trends this year.

COFFEE

Once MSB gets fully up to speed, they’ll offer 14 taps to help quench the thirst of local beer enthusiasts.

In addition, the patio space includes a dedicated food truck concrete pad, allowing for a rotation of food options to meet the interests and tastes of the region.

Craft brewers have long been putting coffees in beer, starting with heavy stouts and inky-black coffee brews. Now, coffee is moving into lighter varieties and brewers are even putting the beer skills into coffee.

Columbus, Ohio’s Hoof Hearted Brewery & Kitchen introduced its single-origin beans from Africa, Indonesia and South America in 12 oz. bags along with a canned cold brew.

Look for more of this in the coffee aisle of your local grocery.

Initially, MSB will have limited hours of operation as beer production ramps up. As production nears full capacity, the taproom will be open Th-Fri-SatSun each week, with options for private events during nonoperational hours.

Again, we know all about leavening bread with beer. And now, craft brews are turning into great loaves. Michigan’s Beer City Bread Co. bakes loaves from craft beer and natural European sourdough starters. Each bread is aged more than 24

BREAD

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hours and crafted using a unique dough handling technique.

Toast is a British company that goes in the other direction. They make beer from bread, which they contend is one of the most wasted food items every year. In the United Kingdom, they say, up to 44% of bread is never eaten. Toast uses that previously wasted bread to make beer, and says they’ve rescued more than 1 million slices.

CHOCOLATE

Chocolate brews are not new, especially the chocolate stout. Now, chocolatiers and brewers are teaming up to make beer chocolates. Moonstruck Chocolate Co. makes a truffle collection that features brews from Widmer Brothers, Rogue Ales, Deschutes Brewery and Full Sail Brewing.

The truffles feature four types of beer — wheat, brown, porter and IPA.

Steele County’s first production brewery since prohibition

Along Owatonna’s Riverfront

OCTOBER 2019

CRAFT BEER GUIDE

A Toast To All Local Crafters

BY Vintage Escapes Winery

As a Minnesota winery, we share a lot of similarities with local craft breweries. We all share a similar passion – a passion to craft delicious locally made beverages that people will enjoy. We share the passion to provide an experience for guests as they sip on a craft beverage and take in the unique setting each winery, distillery or brewery has to offer. We share a common bond because we share these similar passions, and because we also endure similar challenges and struggles. Of course there are also significant differences between a winery and brewery. The obvious difference is in the beverage alone.

Those that call themselves solely “wine drinkers” or solely “beer drinkers” know this first hand – wine and beer are different.

The process of making wine and beer is also

very different, including the ingredients used.

However, we can all agree that both crafts take a great deal of time and patience. For instance, a winemaker’s patience is tested through the several months, and sometimes years, of aging that each vintage of wine takes to achieve its utmost potential before it can even be put into bottles.

Further adding to the timeline, there is only one short window of time each year that the sole ingredient for wine can be obtained. Wine grapes are harvested only once per year, often between late-August to mid-October. If the wine runs out mid-year, the only option is to be patient and wait for next year’s harvest before beginning the extensively long winemaking and aging process all over.

Because wine is made entirely from grapes, a large quantity of grapes is required. Each grape variety yields varying

amounts of juice, but roughly 1,000 pounds of grapes will only produce about 50 gallons of bottled wine on average (or about 250 bottles). A small boutique winery may produce roughly 10,000 bottles of wine per year, give or take.

That’s a lot of grapes!

Even with drastic differences between wine and beer, one thing is for certain – it takes a combination of science, art and passion to craft an incredible local beverage. To those of you reading this that do call yourself only a “wine drinker” or only a “beer drinker,” we challenge you to venture out and try new craft beverages that your local winemakers, distillers and brewers have put so much heart and soul into creating. We welcome all our guests with open doors (and open bottles). Cheers!

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CRAFT BEER GUIDE

OCTOBER 2019

Cooperative Brewpub Movement

BY Nate and Emily Sherwood Family, friends, and neighbors agree: our community is longing for more locally owned options for food, drinks, and entertainment. We believe a cooperative business venture will help contribute to this, and to the continuing revival of our downtown areas. As active members of the community, and not to mention shamefully huge craft beer fans, we are easily in support of cooperative brewpubs coming to our city.

themselves economically and socially through mutual help. This basic philosophy has been developed into a list of seven principles: 1. Open and Voluntary Membership 2. Member Economic Participation 3. Democratic Member Controls 4. Autonomy and Independence 5. Education, Training, and Information 6. Cooperation Among Cooperatives 7. Concern for Community Brewery or brewpub cooperatives simply follow these same principles.

Additionally, today’s co-op brewpubs are getting creative with homebrew competitions where the winner’s beer will be brewed and sold onsite, and others have members help select new food options and formulate beer recipes. Ask someone who goes to a lot of breweries and they’ll share that there is something unique about the co-ops and the way people interact with each other. There’s a sense of community and belonging. It’s a deeper feeling in the taproom, an almost unspoken connection among the patrons.

So, what is a cooperative or co-op, and what are the benefits? A co-op is a specialized form of business that utilizes a member ownership, benefits, and control model which puts power in the hands of the customers rather than a single owner. Most are familiar with cooperative grocery stores: people purchase memberships that gives them access to discounts on products, invites them to special events, and other unique access. However, they are still inclusive in that anyone can visit and enjoy the establishment. Members also get voting rights and the chance to run for board of director positions. Overall, it is a democratic approach to running Because of the popularity and success a business, with numerous small owners making up a larger whole. of craft breweries overall, beer enthusiasts and entrepreneurs around Co-ops worldwide share a common the country are getting involved. creed. They share a fundamental However, with any flourishing industry, respect for all human beings and a fears exist around starting and belief in people’s capacity to improve stabilizing their business. This is where

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cooperatives shine. More than 47,000 co-ops operate in the United States alone, boasting more than 100 million member-owners. Co-ops overall have lower failure rates than traditional businesses. Only 10% of co-ops fail after the first year, while 60-80% of traditional businesses fail. After five years, 90% of co-ops are still in business, while only 3-5% of traditional businesses are still operating.

We believe this is because the cooperative model at its roots is community-based: local people choose to become a member to not only reap

its benefits, but to have a stake and a sense of ownership. Co-ops incentivize people to be more active with the business and what they’re doing in the community. And overall, when a business is heavily rooted in its community, it tends to be more sustainable and thus give back more in return. When these types of opportunities present themselves, we challenge the public to become a part of something bigger that benefits both them and the community; it is truly a win-win.

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OCTOBER 2019

CRAFT BEER GUIDE

Visiting A Taproom

Some brewery taprooms also feature one-off special brews that you can only get in the taproom.

CUTTING OUT THE MIDDLEMAN

Serving customers in the taproom cuts out paying a distributor, meaning more profits for the brewery.

However, it can also spoil retail sales if customers are getting all their product on the premises. It’s a delicate balance.

FINDING A TAPROOM

There are more than 7,000 craft breweries operating in the U.S., and many of them have taprooms.

Find the nearest one to you by using the interactive map at CraftBeer.com. You can also search along road trips or at travel destinations to find new regional brews you may not have heard of. Also ask around at your local liquor store for new brews and breweries you can check out.

TOP TAPROOMS

CraftBeer.com holds a survey of beer drinkers and ranks the top beer bars in each state. Several taprooms made the 2019 list. If you’re anywhere near these top places, check them out and see if you agree.

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Craft breweries are increasingly focusing on not just turning out great product but also on becoming a true neighborhood gathering place.

Willimantic Brewing Co., Willimantic, Connecticut: In a circa 1909 post office, Willibrew, as it’s known locally, offers up award-winning house beers, food and a knowledgeable staff.

Mankato Brewery, Mankato, Minnesota: Founded in 2012, this taproom offers high-quality beers in a great space.

Lewis & Clark Taproom, Helena, Montana: This brewery is covered in awards for their hefeweizen and has been named small brewing company of the year at the Great American

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Beer Festival. The taproom has a rotation of 12 to 20 craft beers and live music.

Craft Centric Taproom & Bottle Shop, Arden, North Carolina: Part tap-

room, bottle shop and nanobrewrey, Craft Centric was founded in 2017 and strives to have an exciting and balanced beer list.

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CRAFT BEER GUIDE

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