Do you experience the passage of time? As a physical entity, are you affected by the phenomenon of entropy? Are you human?
If you answered yes to any of the above, then might we suggest checking out the goings-on at Klockow Brewing! This all starts with the fact that it is currently our Anniversary Week, Year 7!
Can you believe that it’s been 7 years already? Seems like only yesterday that our brew system churned out its first batch of Travelin’ Jack, and look at it now: still making a ton of Travelin’ Jack. But not all things have stayed the same! With over 500 batches of beer made, there’ve been more different styles made here than you can shake a stick at. And whereas we began with only serving beer and selling crowlers in the taproom, we now can a significant percentage of all beers brewed with our in-house canning line, and outside can and keg sales make up a majority of our business model.
Honestly though, it’s kind of surprising how much has stayed the same. Sure, there are little differences like the new small glass growlers and the fact we got rid of the pews against the wall. But when it comes to the overall look and feel and taste to the place, we’re still just Klockow; that quirky little brewery in the northwoods. That, more than anything else, is worth celebrating.
We look forward to seeing you come in this week! We have a huge 7-centric sale going on all week as a thanks to you, our favorite customers. That means $7 4-packs and growler fills, $7 shrubberies, $17 shrubbery 4-packs, and $70 shrubbery cases.
Though if entropy is getting you down, perhaps a little exercise is in order. Good thing we have you covered there too! On Wednesday, Oct. 30, we’re bringing back our Biking for Beer: A Bicycle Pub Crawl. This time, in honor of the season, it’s A Spooky Spokes Bicycle Pub Crawl, meaning that we’re expecting to see everyone in their very best bike-friendly Halloween costumes (anything with flowing robes might be tricky, no matter how cool it would be to see Dementors floating down the street).
Same as last time, we’re starting our ride at Rapids Brewing Company before riding across the river to Klockow and finally south of town to Pickled Loon Saloon. We’ll be starting at 4 and trying to keep each stop to about a half hour so as to keep the ride in some sort of day light. We definitely recommend you bring bike lights though. Light issues aside, we are aware of the time of year, so we’ll be paying attention to see if the weather is going to cooperate with us. If it’s too cold or otherwise too lousy, the ride will be canceled, so check for updates. The rest of the details for the ride will be on the event page, so check it out and we’ll see you on Wednesday!
Then after that if the human in you likes community efforts, might we interest you in a taste of this year’s Minnesota Beer Day? Klockow Brewing Company is a participating member in MN Beer Day 2024, meaning that we will be carrying the limited edition 2024 Beer Day glass in our taproom on Friday, Nov. 1. All day long, we’ll be showing support one glass at a time to the people behind the beer throughout our state. And for only $10, one of these glasses can be yours, and we’ll even fill it up for you.
If our anniversary week is about thanking you, the customers, then MN Beer Day is about thanking us, the brewers. So we hope to see you here that day as we celebrate craft brew throughout the state!
So what about time? I suppose we could do the Time Warp again. Yes. Yes! Let us do this, on Saturday, Nov. 2, let us come together out of the storm for a Rocky Horror Picture Show viewing party! Starting at 10 p.m., this will be a full-on audience participation event, with all the yelling and cajoling and junk throwing that have made these traditionally-midnight showings as infamous as they are throughout the country. We just think it’s our turn to have some of that fun. And to get warmed up, come early for The Time Warp, a psychedelic groove band straight out of Grand Rapids, MN. Music starts at 8 p.m. during regular business hours. Movie at 10!
We Barley Know You, But We Hop to Change That. It’s the Yeast We Can Do: Tia Marie of Smoke on the Water
Question: How long have you been a client of Klockow?
Tia Marie: Five and a half years!
Q: And where is our beer on tap for you?
TM: When I started off at UnWined, Klockow was the first place I contacted as far as having beer on tap. And with Smoke on the Water, it was the same thing. I can’t imagine having a bar and not having Klockow beer on tap.
Q: Always good to hear. What are some of your favorite Klockow beers, either to drink or have on tap for your customers?
TM: Supply Line (Hazy IPA) is one of my favorites, both to drink and to have on tap everywhere I’ve been. But my favorite… Guardians of the Beam (Barrel-Aged Imperial Brown Ale) is my absolute favorite beer of all times. I kept a bottle for my people that I love to open and share. It’s just delicious. I love all the barrel-aged things that you do.
Q: When you’re not drinking Klockow beer, what do you like to drink?
TM: I’m far more of a coffee/tea person. I wish I was a water person! I’m getting back into it though I’m not really good at that. Otherwise, if I’m going to have a drink somewhere, and it’s not a Klockow beer, it’ll be a Jack Daniels.
Q: I’m a little surprised you didn’t say wine!
TM: I’m surprised as well. But I’m not that much of a drinker for someone who owns an establishment. I love wine, but I don’t open a bottle of wine by myself because then what am I gonna do with it?
Q: What are some of your favorite foods?
TM: That’s a really good question. Do you want me to list local favorites around here, or…?
Q: However you want to answer the question.
TM: I love ethnic foods. I wish we had a Thai restaurant in town. I make Thai at home! Fuji is one of my favorites. I do not attempt sushi at my house! I’m not good at it.
Q: It’s harder than it looks.
TM: Pastas are great. And give me a steak!
Q: Tell me a little bit about your establishment, Smoke on the Water, and what do you do there?
TM: Smoke on the Water is a little restaurant in Coleraine. It’s an old fire hall that we refurbished. We’re starting our second year, so things are starting to firm up much better. A lot of experiments in that first year. We have wood fired food. Homemade soups have become my love, so I make two or three every day. That’s been a passion of mine that I didn’t know I had. And we’re trying to get a smoker in there so we can expand our menu a bit more.
Otherwise we have craft cocktails as well. Amazing beers. Klockow’s always highlighted. Right now we have seltzers. At some point we hope to get back to where we wanted to be, making wines and ciders, but the state has to catch up with us.
Q: What do you like to do for fun?
TM: I swim. That’s my favorite. I swim a mile every day. But that’s stopped with the cold, so just a few days ago. Just got a fat tire bike, found one on the marketplace. So I’m going to play around with that and see if that’s my new fun! I love to read. I have to get a book from the library because I like to feel the books, and I like keeping our libraries going. Playing cribbage is one of my favorites; well, any board games I love to play. And you can tell I’m happy if I’m home and have my record albums playing along with a candle. That means I’m going to be home more than 45 minutes!
Q: What would fun/interesting fact about yourself?
TM: I’m from a family of nine. They adopted me as number 8 out of 9, so they’re a very wonderful breed.
Q: You’re adopted?
TM: I’m adopted. So family is very important to me.
Q: Where a lot of your siblings adopted?
TM: No, I was the only one. Actually, their oldest daughter had me, and so my parents found out about me when I was six weeks old. They had had me in an orphanage, but she hadn’t signed the papers. So they found out about me, came and got me, so there you go! Best thing ever to happen!
Q: So your parents are biological grandparents?
TM: Yeah. And it’s wonderful. Now I have a great relationship with my birth mom. Everything has worked out how it has supposed to be.
Another fun fact is that I rode my bike across country when I was 20. My pedal bike. Coast to coast, from Seattle to Atlantic City, back before cell phones.
Q: Last question: You have a time machine and can go to any year, future or past, what year would you pick and why?
TM: Definitely past, not future. I’m thinking when my mom and dad were younger, back after World War II… late 40s, early 50s, when they were raising their families. Just listening to their stories when they were alive of their lives back then, seems like a wonderful time to go back and just see what it was really like. Before that I was thinking about the flappers and all that, but there was so much going on in our country back then.
Q: Yeah, pros and cons.
TM: And there were pros and cons then too, but I think it was a simpler time. At least they pretended it was, so I’d like to go back and see if it was!
~
Thanks for checking out our humble little brewery! As long as you keep coming by, we’ll do our part by making the best damn beer possible and serving it in our always inviting atmosphere.
The Klockow Staff
Beer and Shrubbery Drops this Week:
Local, etc -
SuperOne Liquors - Grand Rapids
Dutch Room - Grand Rapids
Pickled Loon - Grand Rapids
SuperOne Foods South - Grand Rapids
Pokegama Plaza Liquor - Grand Rapids
Boulder Taphouse - Grand Rapids
Sammy’s - Grand Rapids
38 Outpost - Grand Rapids
Blackberry Junction - Blackberry
Bottles & Brews Liquor - Grand Rapids
Smoke on the Water - Coleraine
Rocket’s - Cohasset
Bear Ridge Pizza - Cohasset
S&S Bottle Shop - Deer River
Tavern on the Range - Bovey
Westworld, etc -
Landmark Liquors - Perham
Vergas Liquor Store - Vergas
Brew Ale’s & Eats - Perham
Seven Sisters Spirits - Detroit Lakes
1894 - Perham
Dorset Corner Off Sale Liquor - Park Rapids
Continental Divide Brew Pub - New York Mills
Iron Range, etc -
Marge’s Liquor - Eveleth
MJ’s Resort - Pengilly
The Great Outdoors Bottle Shop - Pengilly
KM Corner Store - Nashwauk
SuperOne Liquor - Hibbing
Keyboard Liquor - Chisholm
Crossroads Convenience/Liquor Store - Iron
SuperOne Liquor - Virginia
North, etc -
Timberwolf Inn - Marcell
Boathouse Brewery - Ely
North Star Lake Resort - Marcell
Frontier Sports - Marcell
Mike’s Drive-In Liquor - Ely
Ely Liquor
South, etc -
Westside Liquor - Waite Park
Top Ten Liquors - Roseville