Twenty-Nine - Local Beer

Keepin' it local can be hard when you are a fan of tasty, discussion-promoting brew. There are so many great microbreweries churning out thoughtful brews that the locavore mentality Laura and I have adopted is often hard to maintain. We know that beers are high maintenance products that often travel long distances (especially if you live in the midwest) to get to your hand. In the west, particularly Oregon, Colorado and California and in the east, particularly Delaware, Vermont and Maine, produce bountiful amounts of beer that get shipped all over the USA especially to areas like Atlanta, Georgia where beer consumption is high but local production is low (Georgia brew production and distribution info here).

Here's the deal: Laura and I need to either make our own brew and/or be content with the beer produced locally. By local we mean that all stages of the beer making and distribution processes are done in one of the Midwest states. However, the ability to drink within state and even in the metro area is becoming less of a problem with the increasing amounts of breweries popping up in the Twin Cities (Surly, based in Brooklyn Center, is a good example, which is hip to the square and actually offers great brew, even recently being name best brewery in America according to Beer Advocate.) Additionally, there has been an influx of breweries throughout the state putting out growlers over the last couple of years, and, thanks to a new microbrew-friendly Minneapolis ordinance Minneapolis brew esthete's have been allowed to sell these 64 ounce jugs of the fun stuff. Another great thing happening in the Twin Cities is the comeuppance of craft brew stores like Four Firkins and Wine Thief & Ale Jail that not only sell great brews elsewhere in the nation but local brews as well.

Source: http://bit.ly/9DzdcP

Even if Laura and I only drink locally we will still produce a lot of waste--recyclable, however--through the purchase and usage of bottles. It's too expensive, time consuming and limiting to only drink while dining out. The other issue is where the ingredients (hops, barley, wheat, malts) to make the brews (whether by myself or by local breweries) come from. The 100 Days Without Oil blog poses this question and lists most, if not all, of the local breweries and vineyards in Minnesota. Unfortunately, this would require one to either call up the brewpubs and breweries to find out the source of their ingredients. Plus, given the continental climate in Minnesota, many ingredients are shipped in from elsewhere. Although, during a Summit brewery tour in August, Laura and I found out that Summit's beer-producing practices are sustainable in many respects. Some of the grains used are purchased locally and when spent are sent to local chicken feedlots. This is something that you can't find out about online, rather only when talking to Summit workers can this information be found out. Local ingredients is something that has yet to be used by many local brewpubs and breweries but will soon enough be the case as many, even beer esthete's, attempt to completely localize their beer making and drinking experience.

So, what, exactly, have we committed to do? We have committed ourselves to only drink beer from the Midwest when purchasing at stores and will drink brews from anywhere only by tap when out and about. I have also committed to start brewing my own beer before year's end, hopefully replacing most of the beer that I purchase from stores. There are some local, wine making and home brew making stores that I could avail myself of. Here's a short list:

Northern Brewer
Midwest Homebrewing Supplies
Brew & Grow
Barkingside Co.

Also, here are some links to Minnesota beer and wine info, home brewing associations and organizations and a brew beer or wine-on-the-premises joint:

MNBeer
MN Craft Brewer's Guild
MNBrewers
Vine Park Brewing Co. (DIY) 

Also, here is a short list of local breweries and brewpubs in the Minnesota:

Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery (soon to open another location in South Mpls)
Flat Earth Brewing Co.
Great Waters Brewing Co.
Surly Brewing Co.
Brau Brothers Brewing Co.
Lake Superior Brewing Co.
Lift Bridge Beer Co.
Barley John's Brew Pub
Fitger's Brewhouse
Boathouse Brewpub & Restaurant

I don't know if I will be making my own wine anytime soon but there will be a post about that and local winemakers in the future.

Here's to a tasty drink!