7/28/23 – 8/1/23
I’m back on the road!!! I was hoping to get out a little sooner, but the heat has been so bad I didn’t want to roast in the van. My first few stops are planned, but after that it’s all up in the air.
I’m going to Minneapolis to see Ryan, Nick, and Stacy. I got on the road around noon and made my way to Big Lake, MN. I learned that Lupulin Brewing is just outside of the cities. They have a very nice brewery and some good beer. I hung out with some locals for a while before continuing to Minneapolis.
On the 29th I met up with Stacy for a few beers at Barrel Theory. After a couple hours she had to meet up with people so I got a hold of my uncle and met my family out at the lake in Wisconsin. We were only able to hang out for a couple hours, but it was still nice to see them. I headed back into the cities to meet Ryan and Nick. I met them at a frisbee golf course for a round then we went pretty much across the street to Forgotten Star Brewing.
This brewery is in the old Northern Pump Company boiler room. They used to make naval guns in WW2 here. It is an amazing space and I would recommend checking it out. They only had one beer that I really liked though. I stayed there until they closed and watched the UFC fights on the patio.
On the 30th, my birthday, I didn’t do anything. I went to Old Chicago for a free birthday pizza. I guess it’s just another day, but with free food.
On the 31st I drove down to Rochester, MN to meet up with Ashley. She was in town to visit Mayo Clinic. We had supper at the Tap House, then walked around downtown, and hit up Forager Brewery and Kinney Creek Brewery before heading back to the hotel.
On the 1st, while Ashley was getting her tests done I wanted to check out a couple of the other breweries in town. I started at Little Thistle Brewing. They had free hot dogs today!!! I chatted with the staff and locals for about an hour then took off to Thesis Beer Project. I liked Little Thistle way better than Thesis.
Ashley called me while I was at Thesis, so I finished my drink and met her at the hotel. We were originally going to meet up with some of her friends, but they cancelled last minute. We were then going to go back to Tap House for fish tacos and then Crave for sushi and desert. I was still full from the beer and hot dogs so we skipped Tap House and went straight to Crave. Ashley ordered some salad and brussel sprouts and I got a dynamite roll. We shared another sushi roll and I helped her with the sprouts. It ended up bring the prefect amount to eat. After supper we went back upstairs to have a bottle of wine and chill for the night.