Hey everyone! Sorry about the unexpected (but let’s be real, totally expected) lapse in the newsletter! Without Nathan being dedicated to writing the blog every week it all falls to dear ol’ Tasha who is constantly running around or laying down - no in-between. So what have we been doing in the month since we last checked in? So many things, events, projects, beers, etc!
As summer ramps up in June we get busier on the sales side of things since more people are in the mood for our refreshing beverages! Let’s talk about what’s new with those first!
Superior Lobe - Hefeweizen
Fun fact: Superior lobe is the glacier that swept through the region and deposited the agates us rockhounds yearn for and created Lake Superior! When we first made this brew in 2018-19, we used yeast harvested from the shores of Lake Superior - unfortunately the lab that was responsible for that yeast closed down during the pandemic but the beer persists in a new, still-delicious form!
Tandy’s Shandy - Cream Ale with Lemon & Blood Orange
For those of you that know us know we don’t take ourselves too seriously and that culminates in this beer. Tasha+Andy=Tandy and the base beer is our Cream Ale, Angry Arms, which is named after our daughter when she was an infant and her arms that would get increasingly angrier as she got hungrier for her milkies. I thought it’d be funny to feature mine and Andy’s dumb faces on the can which I still get embarassed about whenever I see it but YOLO as the children used to say.
Itsa Choice!
Pick your own flavor hard seltzer in the taproom has launched! We have 6 Amoretti flavors and 2 New Ulm-based Sweet Haven Tonics flavors in the lineup which, by the way, also make DELICIOUS mocktails with our non-alcoholic hop seltzer, Dukka Water! The flavors are: tropical, blood orange, wild strawberry, cherry limeade, watermelon lemonade, mojito libre, lemon basil lavender, and strawberry basil chili!
RAS - American Stout
Part of our small batch taproom-only release series, this Regular-Ass Stout is so straightforward by deisgn and execution that when anyone takes a sip they say, “yup, that’s a stout.” No frills, bells or whistles, just straight up fulfilling.
We have a couple more small batch taproom-only releases coming up very quickly from the brains of both Zach and Russ so stay tuned for those releases as they are in the tanks and almost ready to be unleashed into the taproom! I’ll leave you with a couple of teaser pics!
Okay, now what events have we been up to? Well, June brings Pride month, which for us is a given to support. Our business is community and that means everyone. As far we we are concerned everyone deserves dignity and support regardless of anything. We can give in to “what abouts” and “what ifs” but we find that until individuals prove us otherwise, we will welcome EVERYONE with open arms. People and planet over greed and hate every. single. time. With that being said, we hosted several fun events in June!
Northern Lights Mystic Market
What an amazing day! The taproom was a-buzz with beautiful arts and crafts from all over the region: paintings, candles, tattoos, chocolates, books, journals, jewelery, and of course our craft beverages! We were thrilled with the turnout and will host another Mystic Market in the near future so keep an eye out for that!
Judy Garland Bingo, Marjie Shrimpton Sings Judy Garland, and Wizard of Oz Screening with the Judy Garland Museum’s Judy Garland Festival
How many times can I type Judy in one paragraph? Apparently a lot. But it was a Judy-filled weekend! The JG Festival really brings in folks from all over the country and the enthusiasm is palpable in the best way!
Itasca Radiance: Judy Garland Homage Edition & Post Pride Picnic
The artistry and talent of the drag performers was so electric and eclectic - and the immesense love and joy that goes along with pure freedom of expression - let’s just say the vibes were immaculate (as the newer children say). The Pride Picnic at Old Central School hosted by Itasca Pride was so incredibly hot this year so people were enthusiastic but exhausted from the day but we all made it through and had a wonderful time!
Ditty Wish EP Release
Our Sunday taproom lady, whether behind the bar or leading Last Sunday Open Mic & Bar Sing, hit a huge milestone with her new EP release Songs About Home now availavle wherever you get your music! It was another beautiful community event with people from all over coming to support a talented, passionate artist and we could not be more thankful!
Pride Beer Dabbler
Down at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden over 6,000 folks showed up and showed off for an evening of colorful sampling and community. It was hot and intense in every sense of both words! Folks were excited to see a Northern Minnesota brewery represented at the event and we were happy to be there!
All of this was happening during our regular ol' taproom, production and wholesale weeks which is a lot to wrap your head around - keep in mind it’s just 4 full time staff (including me & Andy) and a good handful of part time staff. We literally could not do any of this without amazing folks working with us and will forever be thankful and grateful for them!
What’s coming up next? Well:
Rare Beer Picnic - One of our all-time favorite beer festivals hosted by our pals over at Junkyard Brewing! Happening this weekend, July 12th, in Moorhead! We’ll be there slinging beer with our other pals from HammerHeart Brewing! Stay tuned for some pictures!
Monthly Board Games & Records Day - All day in the taproom on the 2nd Sunday of each month which is July 13th!
Monthly 3rd Tuesday Trivia - Happening in the taproom on Tuesday, July 15th!
Rapids Radio Rockfest - Saturday, July 19th! The inaugural Rapids Radio downtown Grand Rapids party! We’re looking forward to seeing everyone cut loose with some classic rock tunes!
Car Show/Swap Meet - We look forward to hosting the beer garden July 25-27th again this year! We always have such an awesome time exploring the swap meet and seeing all the neat vehicles!
Monthly Last Sunday Open Mic & Bar Sing hosted by Ditty Wish - We love having Ditty on our stage so much that we have her host open mic and a bar sing every last Sunday, which is July 27th this month!
We got to see The Pines officially open since the last newsletter as well and we are so excited for Kyle and Amanda! If you haven’t made it over there yet, make sure to make it a priority! Everything is so beautiful and delicious! We snapped a picture of Nathan in action when we were there:
That is all I have for now because if I add anything else, I might implode. Might. Not quite yet though! Prost friends! Until next time!