​Rare Beer Picnic

By Heather Schuer

Hello, beer lovers! Saturday, July 16th, will be the 2nd annual Rare Beer Picnic hosted by Junkyard Brewing Company and Usher’s House. The picnic’s theme is “Aged, Infused, and Sours.” Breweries from Minnesota and North Dakota will be participating, and food will be served from Usher’s House. There will also be yard games and live music from musician Dustin Ellingson, part of the group Cropdusters.

Michelle Juhnke, part of Junkyard Brewing, shared her excitement with me and how the Rare Beer Picnic evolved. It was started last year between Junkyard Brewing, Usher’s House, and Bottle Barn, three north Moorhead businesses all on 1st Ave North who all wanted to work together to promote all three businesses and that area of the city/community. Michelle told me they came up with the idea of the Rare Beer Picnic because they were all “interested in the idea of a festival, and a focus-themed festival at that, called “Rare Beers.”

High Plains Reader had a chance to interview four breweries that will be featured at the event that perhaps not as many readers know about. Maybe you have heard of all of them, maybe not. Here is your chance to learn a little more about them, and at the end of the article is a list of other breweries that will be there as well and what they’ll be bringing.

Bent Paddle Brewing Company

Bent Paddle is the sixth largest brewery in Minnesota and they’ve been quite a success since they first opened in May 2013. The brewery has 4 owners, which is made up of two married couples: Colin and Laura Mullen, and Karen and Bryon Tonnis. The two couples were involved in the beer industry where they met at a charity event in 2010. If you look on Bent Paddle’s website, you will see a profile of each owner, and individually they all had impressive resumes before starting Bent Paddle.

Bryon’s most recent experience was as head brewer at Rock Bottom Brewery in Minneapolis and he had graduated from the Siebel Institute of Technology and World Brewing Academy (a combination program) before that. Colin was a head brewer at Barley John’s Brew Pub in New Brighton, MN. Both men also served on the board of directors for the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Guild. Laura, who is the VP of Outreach and Events, had started her own company at the age of 25 and she worked as Guild Coordinator for Minnesota’s Craft Brewer’s Guild, who was one of her clients. Karen, who is VP of Operations, had years and years of experience with distribution and operations management, and had also owned a photography company with Bryon. It is special to note that Bent Paddle is 50% female owned, which is pretty awesome in the brewery world.

Bent Paddle will be bringing two beers to the Rare Beer Picnic: HopMosa, which is their 6.2% Bent Hop golden IPA infused with oranges, and also Purple Grain, which Laura explained to me is a tribute to Prince. It is their 5.0% Venture Pils lager infused with blueberries.

Disgruntled Brewing

Disgruntled is located in Perham, MN, and they opened Super Bowl Sunday in February, 2016. Brett Doebbeling is the head brewer and he opened up Disgruntled with Andy Pettow and Craig Salmela. The name “Disgruntled” was decided upon because Brett says it is a word that describes him to a “T.” He says he’s always been a disgruntled employee and has always thought he could do better working for himself. As their website says, “every Disgruntled brand beer and ale is the result of Brett’s gruff, driven desire to do the job better—to just plain brew the best craft beers ever.”

Disgruntled is going to bring the following two beers to the Rare Beer Picnic: their Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout (10% ABV), and their Berliner Weiss (5% ABV kettle soured and re-fermented with tart cherries).

HammerHeart Brewing

HammerHeart was voted best suburban taproom this year by Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages (a publication very similar to High Plains Reader). They are located in Lino Lakes, a suburb north of the Twin Cities. They opened the taproom and began distribution in August of 2013. It was started by Nathaniel and his brother-in-law Austin. Austin was a home brewer and did an internship at Haand Bryggeriet in Norway. Nathaniel had also done some home brewing and had been working a desk job.

HammerHeart will be bringing the following three beers to the Rare Beer Picnic (plus possibly one more): Imperial Longship, which is an 11.5% barrel aged scotch ale; Barrel Flanary’s, which is a 7.5% barrel aged Irish stout; and a new beer called Sif’s Locks, which is a 3.6% Grätzer.

Tin Whiskers Brewing

Tin Whiskers is the only brewery located in the Lowertown District of St. Paul (if any of you have lived or visited St. Paul, the city is slowly starting to not be known as the sleepy cousin of Minneapolis!). Great things are happening there: the new CHS Field for the St. Paul Saints, wonderful bars and restaurants such as Dark Horse (with around 40 excellent beers on tap), and artist condos and lofts that have been popping up over the past few years.

Tin Whiskers opened in June of 2014. It was started by three electrical engineering friends who graduated from the U of MN. While going out for happy hour after work in downtown Minneapolis, they would talk about their interest in craft beer and home brewing. After one of the owners, Jeff Moriarty, took a tour of Surly, he sent out an email the next day to his friends and coworkers to see who’d be interested in seriously considering and joining him to start a brewery. This is when the other two owners jumped in. All three have maintained their electrical engineering jobs and Jeff has been the most involved with the brewery, juggling two full-time jobs. He recently just left his electrical engineering job and will be able to solely focus on the brewery.

Tin Whiskers’ head brewer is Derek Brown. There was a lot of focus on financially getting the brewery started, and Tin Whiskers needed to find a head brewer. They had advertised on Probrewer but didn’t have much luck. But they ended up receiving an email from Derek stating he was interested in getting together and talking. Derek graduated with an Associates Brewing Degree from Siebel Institute and worked at Town Hall Brewery for about 8 months before he came to Tin Whiskers. If you check out Tin Whiskers’ blog and videos on their website, Derek is just as much into science as are the engineering owners.

Tin Whiskers will be bringing two beers to the Rare Beer Picnic: Tequila Barrel Aged Watts Wheat Wine (quite a tongue twister!), along with their taproom favorite Flip Switch IPA (brewed with Chinook, Warrior, Centennial, and then dry-hopped with Citra hops) that will be infused with mango and coconut. Chelsea describes it as “a tasty citrusy IPA with a refreshing summer twist.” (And FYI, Tin Whiskers also sells their beers at 99 Bottles and Bridgeview Liquors in Moorhead).

From all of the brewers, when asked if the craft brewing community is supportive of each other, they all said that it is very friendly while still competitive. Laura with Bent Paddle had a good description of it. She said they use the term “co-op—ertition.” I was told by everyone interviewed that there’s a camaraderie between everyone, but of course also a challenge for their own brewery to be a success, push boundaries, and bring craft beer and their brewery to a new level.

Come to the Rare Beer Picnic and discover for yourself some of the wonderful things happening in the beer community and see who some of the breweries are that have helped increase the number of breweries from 30 (back in 2011 when the Surly bill was passed) to now over 100 in the state of Minnesota!

Other breweries that will be there and what they’ll be bringing:

Bank Brewing: Denali Hop Bandit, Watermelon Sour Bomb, Bankruptcy, and Barrel Aged Bankruptcy.

Fargo Brewing: Kennys Lemonade, Lavender Lemonade, Raspberry Lemonade, Hot Cops, None More Black – Oak Aged 2015.

Junkyard Brewing: Big Kahuna, Experimental Blackberry Sour, 2015 Barrel Aged Coal Miners Daughter, and Peachy Keen.

Kilstone Brewing: They can’t serve due to licensing in MN, but they will be handing out swag.

Surly Brewing Company: Gose (pronounced “go-zuh”), and Three (their 3rd anniversary beer).

*Special Note: in addition to these breweries, 99 Bottles and Bridgeview Liquors will also be there, as well as Prairie Homebrewers, who will have about half a dozen people doing a live demonstration process.

Event Info:

When: Saturday, July 16th, from 4:00-8:00pm for VIP tickets, and 5:00-8:00PM for general admission tickets.

Where: Davy Park in Moorhead, beside Usher’s House, 700 1st Ave N, Moorhead, MN 56560.

How do you get tickets? www.eventbrite.com.

Price: $28.00--$34.00. Includes beer sampling, a picnic lunch from Usher’s, and a branded Rare Beer Picnic souvenir glassware.

More info: Check out the Facebook page for Rare Beer Picnic and also Junkyard Brewing.