Surly Darkness 2009
It’s been more than six weeks since I published my last dedicated review, with a smattering of stories mixed in here and there. Call it the post-GABF slump. Since I’ve been blogging, I’ve tried to hold myself to a loose goal of two, sometimes three, stories a week. But following my trip to Denver, I think I pretty much expended most of my beer writing energy for a while. Which has been just fine, howeve

Fulton Beer Launches in the Twin Cities
Out of the garage and into a bar near you, the boys at Fulton Beer officially launched in the Twin Cities this evening with their tapping of Sweet Child of Vine at The Happy Gnome. I wasn’t able to attend, unfortunately, but I’m really looking forward to trying their stuff.   FOX 9 covered the event,

Surly Darkness Day 2009
5:15 a.m. and 37 degrees… The chill in the air was already seeping into our bones as our group of six rolled up to Surly Brewing in the still of pre-dawn, eagerly awaiting our first taste of this year’s vintage of Darkness. Not a single soul was standing in line on the street, save for a few tents pitched on the nearby lawn and a lone RV parked near the front gate. We planted

Won’t You Take Me To Funkytown
It’s nice to have generous friends. I was recently invited to a beer sampling over at a homebrewing friend’s house with the general theme of sour and/or funky brews, meaning any beer that puckered your lips or smelled like the Miracle of Birth barn at the State Fair was invited to the table. The list was impressive, including a number of beers I’d never tried before that aren’t read

AHA Rally at Surly
Collaboration beers are all the rage these days. But I’d be willing to bet not many breweries have so generously offered to brew a beer with about 400 of their closest homebrewing friends. Surly Brewing was the site this past weekend for the American Homebrewers Association membership rally, and what a turnout! It was pretty cool seeing a few hundred fellow homebrewers standing in line with their empty carb