When Surly won its long fight to allow on-site beer sales in 2011, it kicked off the Twin Cities brewery boom. Fifteen years later, the metro has dozens of independent breweries, most of them with their own taprooms, most of them within bike distance of each other in Northeast Minneapolis. The list below is the ones we keep going back to.
The brewery that changed the Minnesota law and started the boom. The Prospect Park beer hall is enormous, the patio is the right summer move, the pizza is shockingly good, and the beer ranges from the iconic Furious IPA to a serious lager program. Pilgrimage required.
A Northeast taproom with a full-block beer garden. Lager program is the focus, the food trucks rotate well, and the live music programming is genuinely good. One of the best public-square experiences the metro has, summer or winter.
A Northeast brewery with a serious sour program alongside the everyday lineup. The patio is large, the rotating tap list is consistently exciting, and the team takes their barrel-aged releases as seriously as the daily drinkers.
A North Loop brewery that built its reputation on hazy IPAs and has been quietly making some of the most interesting experimental beer in the metro. The taproom is small but well-designed, and the patio is a North Loop summer staple.
A consumer-owned cooperative brewery in Northeast. The beer ranges from a classic pilsner to one of the best wild-fermentation programs in the upper Midwest. The taproom is unfussy, the prices are fair, and the cooperative ethos is real.
A Northeast brewery whose program reaches across global brewing traditions, from Japanese-inspired lagers to German weissbier to American IPA. The taproom is comfortable and the rotating menu always has something you have not had before.
A small brewery operating inside the Midtown Global Market, with a flight-friendly tap list and the food court of the rest of the building right outside. The beer is solid, but the situation is what makes it: a brewery surrounded by twenty different cuisines.
A North Loop brewery with a riverfront patio that is one of the most underrated summer hangs in the city. The beer is a solid mix of lagers and IPAs, the room is bright and high-ceilinged, and the location next to the Mississippi is the bonus.
A Bryn Mawr brewery focused on European traditions: kölsch, helles, dunkel, weissbier. The taproom is small and warm, the staff knows the styles deeply, and the patio in summer is one of the city’s quieter pleasures.
A St. Paul taproom whose lager program is among the metro’s best. Long picnic tables, rotating food trucks, and a yard that catches just enough afternoon sun. The lakefront murals on the side of the building are part of the charm.
A Northeast cider house with the most dog-friendly patio in the city. They take hops as seriously as they take fruit, the rotating cider menu always has a wild card, and the room turns into a four-legged social hour by 4pm.
A St. Paul brewery founded by three electrical engineers, with a solid range of approachable styles and a taproom right next to CHS Field. The pre-Saints-game move and one of the more reliable downtown St. Paul taprooms.