New Craft Beer at the 2018 Minnesota State Fair
Two of my favorite things are beer and planning. I’ve been a planner my entire life. Task me with a vacation itinerary, a to do list, a system for tackling all the peak TV I need to watch, I’m happy - blissful, even. And if it involves beer, well shoot me over the moon. This is why I love the state fair. It’s become an entire craft beer event itself and every year there are more and more new exclusive fair brews.
I remember a few years ago stopping by Big Wood Brewery and chatting with one of their owners, who gave us a sneak preview of their chocolate chip cookie beer for the fair. I thought, “Exclusively for the fair?? Wow that’s crazy, neat and fun. I love it.”
These days, it’s hard to keep up with the craft creations you can find at the fair. Luckily, we have help from the good people at The Growler, who round up the entire list. Last year, I listed out a route for finding all the new styles. This year, I’m doing you one better and giving you your own map complete with the most efficient beer route for the fair. (Shoutout to Allison Nolden for the design help!)
Use this map to find your stops, then reference this list for the 2018 debuts you can enjoy any of the 12 days before Labor Day.
1. Blue Barn, Lulu’s Public House and the Schell’s Stage
Blue Barn Strawberry Mint Fro-Le
Freehouse LimeLight
Sociable Slipstream Black Currant Apple
Sociable Mimosas & Belinnis
Starkeller It Takes 2 to Tango and 3 to Mango
Surly Juicy LuLuLucy
2. Coasters, Frontier Bar, Cafe Caribe
612Brew Margarita-Style Kettle Sour Ale
Fulton Frontier Summer IPA
Lakefront Funnel Cake Cream Ale
Lift Bridge Key Lime Pie
3. Warner Coliseum
Excelsior Horse Apple Ale
4. Shanghaied Henri’s
Summit Helles Ya, You Betcha
5. O’Gara’s
Castle Danger Orange Cream Ale
Finnegans St. Pat’s Green Ale
Lakes & Legends St. Apple Malted Cider
Surly Gaelic Dark & Stormy
6. Giggle’s Campfire
Beaver Island Uffda Ale
Tin Whiskers Dill Pickle Ale
7. The Hangar
Mankato Cake’d Up Celebration Beer
8. Ball Park Cafe
Bauhaus The Shandlot Pink Lemon Shandy
Bent Brewstillery Raspberry Champow
Bent Paddle Passion Fruit Pils
Eastlake Kirby Pucker #34
Surly The Kloser IPA
9. Mancini’s al Fresco, Dino’s Gyros
Bad Weather Spumoni Tsunami
Lake Monster Brewzo Lager
10. Hideaway Speakeasy, Grandstand Concessions
Finnegans Caramel Corn Cream Ale
Cannon River Winery Mobster Mule Bubble Trouble
Tell me which ones you’re most looking forward to and TAG ME IN YOUR PICS at the fair!