10 Surly Notes

From Omar:

Hello Surly Nation,

A few quick notes about what’s up.
#1 – January 16th @ The Happy Gnome – debut of Surly Mild, our sessionable Mild Ale.
#2 – January 23rd @ Acadia Café – debut of two, our 2nd anniversary ale. Remember Acadia Café has moved to Riverside and Cedar in Minneapolis
#3 – January 30th @ Common Roots Café – coffee bender
#4 – We have a photo competition running; winner receives a Surly Prize Pack that includes a bottle of Darkness and a Surly Jacket! Send us your Surly pictures. We will announce the winner at the debut of Surly Mild.
#5 – We donated 6 bottles of Darkness to EnergyCents, a local charity that helps keep the power on; over $1400 was raised by auctioning off the bottles on Ebay!
#6 – No tours until Spring. We are cutting out 3000 square feet of the brewery so we can add more tanks.
#7 – Beer prices are going up. Sorry everybody, but barley and hops have both increased over 50% since we started 2 years ago.
#8 – The Surly Second Anniversary dinner is approaching soon, check the web-site for details because it will sell out fast. The date is February 11th, I’m not saying where, tickets are not yet for sale.
#9 – Rumors are floating around about a new canned seasonal… more on that soon. (No, it is not Darkness)
#10 – We will have some two bottled up in 750s for sale at the brewery. No date on that yet.

See you drinking,
Omar

January 12, 2008 | Filed Under Beer, Craft/Speciality, Local Brew | 1 Comment 

Oakdale’s Cork & Barrel January Sale

Find these beer deals at Oakdale’s Cork & Barrel through January 26th:

Left Hand BreweryAlong with these specials, Cork & Barrel is featuring a “Bomber” special through 1/26. They’ll be featuring a variety of bombers (22oz or 750ml bottles) from craft breweries around the country, including Flat Earth, Left Hand, Summitt and more.

Source: 1/5/08 Pioneer Press ad.

January 5, 2008 | Filed Under Beer, Craft/Speciality, Domestic, Imports, Local Brew, Northern Suburbs | Leave a Comment 

Brew52.com - A New Minnesota Beer A Week

This week marked the launch of Brew52.com, a local, community-driven blog dedicated to sampling and reviewing a different Minnesota beer each week.  The idea is great, and the design of the site is beautiful.  Be sure to check it out.

The first beer on tap?  Schell’s Snowstorm.

From Brew52.com:

Minnesota has a ton of great breweries and participants of Brew52 will sample many of them during the 52 weeks of 2008. In addition to sampling beer in the comfort of their homes, participants meet up for the occasional beer-sampling at local brew pubs. These events will be announced in the upcoming weeks and anyone is welcome to join.

January 3, 2008 | Filed Under Beer, Local Brew | Leave a Comment 

Oakdale’s Cork & Barrel Holiday Sale

You can find these beer specials at Cork & Barrel in Oakdale through December 22nd:

Source: 12/15/07 Pioneer Press ad.

December 15, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Craft/Speciality, Domestic, Hard To Find Beer, Imports, Local Brew, Northern Suburbs | 1 Comment 

Schell’s Rolls Out 1 Millionth Case

I’m a few days late on this one, but the good folks at August Schell Brewery celebrated a significant milestone this week with the boxing and shipping of their 1 millionth case of beer.  Check out the nice feature of the event from the Mankato Free Press.

Think about that for a moment. One million. A million cases of beer from a small brewery with a 153-year history, a history that spans the Great Depression, the Dakota Conflict that burned down the town, Prohibition, and other hurdles to economic prosperity.

“This means a lot,” Ted Marti said. “We’ve had some tough times over the years.”

December 15, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Craft/Speciality, Local Brew | Leave a Comment 

MGM Beer Specials

This MGM special runs through December 15.

December 8, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Craft/Speciality, Domestic, Eastern Suburbs, Local Brew, Minneapolis, Northern Suburbs, Southern Suburbs, St. Paul, Twin Cities Metro, Western Suburbs | Leave a Comment 

The Brewing History Of Fergus Falls

It seems that Doug Hoverson’s book, “Land of Amber Waters:  The History of Brewing in Minnesota,” is inspiring others from around the state to take a local at their local brewing history.  Check out this story by Jeff Hage of the Fergus Falls Daily Journal for a historical take on brewing in that city.

Premier was reorganized in 1935 as the Fergus Brewing Co. Heinies was renamed Heinrich’s. Six Horse, Staat’s and Lord Chumleys were also being brewed in Fergus Falls — as well as brews for the Armed Forces, according to “Land of Amber Waters”. And to what should be no surprise in these neck of the woods, the company also brewed Viking Lager from 1935-1948.

After a 1948 reorganization the brewery saw its greatest success when the product line was simply Falls Pilsner and Falls Velvet. The Falls brands was being sold in both cans and bottles. Financial troubles and a failed expansion as far west as Montana were eventually the brewery’s doom in 1951.

December 7, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Local Brew | Leave a Comment 

MPR Reports On The Hops, Barley Shortage

In a report that features Ryan Anderson from MNBeer.com, Chris Laumb from McCann’s Food and Brew, and Dustin Brau from Brau Brothers Brewing, MPR gives a local take on the hops and barley shortage that’s driving up craft beer prices.

The increase in the price of ingredients is toughest on small brewers. But brewer Dustin Brau admits paying more for ingredients is better than not being able to buy them at all.

“We look good until mid to late next year. That’s when we’re going to be nervous,” Brau says.

Brau is the brewmaster for Brau Brothers, a family-owned microbrewery in the small town of Lucan in southwestern Minnesota. Brau hopes a better harvest of hops worldwide next fall eases the shortage. But in the meantime, he and his brothers are planning to grow some hops of their own.

Read or listen to the full story here.

Check out Ryan’s review of the report on MNBeer.com.

Finally, Chris mentions the interview on his blog, The Brewers Diary.

November 23, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Craft/Speciality, Local Brew | Leave a Comment 

A Holiday Update From Surly

We figured you would probably need a break from the family over the holiday season, so we have a number of cask events to help out, and Darkness info.

November 21st – Mackenzies Pub. Tea-Bagged Furious, tapping around 7:00. Pints for $4.

November 23rd – Café Twenty-Eight. Oak-Aged Cask Bender and Darkness. New late-night menu! 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm

November 28th - Rix Bar & Grill. Oak-Aged Furious on Cask at Rix and some Darkness. Order some grub and get a free cask beer. 7:00 pm

December 4th – Muddy Pig. Official release of “Smoke”, our oak-aged, smoked Baltic porter.

December 15th – Surly Brewing Company. Sale of Darkness in 750 ml bottles. Sale time will be afternoon/evening. 2 bottles per customer. Many more details to follow at www.surlybrewing.com. We will not be taking any reservations or holding bottles for people. We should have 480 750s available for sale.

See you drinking,
Omar

November 19, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Local Brew | Leave a Comment 

August Schell Copes With The Rising Cost Of Hops

From KEYC TV in Mankato:

Costs to operate just about anything go up over time and that’s the case in New Ulm, where Schell Brewery is facing more expensive costs on their ingredients. News 12’s Max Jensen found out what the brewery is doing to offset the high costs. For a brewery that has been open for close to 150 years, rising prices are nothing new. But when it comes to the main ingredient, one change in supply can have a big effect on the cost of a cold one.You have to eat the price increases and try to pass on what you can what you reasonably can and go from there. The price of Hops has shot up because of a recent shortage. With many producers fresh out, some breweries looking to other breweries for their supplies paying a lot more money in the process. Going forward you’re looking at higher prices because of those pressures and although recent rises in prices made the costs of ingredients go up, Schell Brewery says they will make money saving cuts in other areas to keep production strong. Look at ways of saving energy, look at ways at improving efficiently, reduce your internal loses and wastes, just become more efficient. While every industry tries to become more efficient in their ways of work, Schell Brewery isn’t going to compromise their product. We’ve never sacrificed the quality of the product I don’t believe in that. Making that beer that everybody knows and is used too, will become harder but it won’t get to the point where the brewery has to close its doors. We’re all stable companies, nobody is going to lock their doors over this. It’s going to get tougher, obviously. Whether it works itself out or we continue to see prices rise, Schell Brewery says they’ll be all right and continue to brew the products they’ve become famous for.

Check out KEYC.com for a video of this story.

November 15, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Local Brew | Leave a Comment 

← Previous Page — Next Page →