We have just updated the schedule for tours and taproom hours for this week. 

• Wednesday, Nov. 23 – 3-8 PM Taproom Open, Pints and Growlers
• Thursday, Nov. 24 – Closed
• Friday, Nov. 25 – 10 AM-8 PM Taproom open
• Saturday, Nov. 26 – Tours 1 & 3 PM and Taproom open 2-5 PM

When the Taproom is open, you can pick up your bottles of Commander, fill your growler or stop in for a glass of fine beer.

Commander Bottles Update

We have Commander bottles available for sale, $18/bottle, limit 6.  Next week we will be delivering Commander bottles to fine beer stores throughout the metro.

Commander on Draft

We have a limited number of kegs which will go to customers beginning the week of November 28th.  Please stay tuned for locations. 

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

After the Beer and Cheese tasting and some food, we went stopped over at the Pearl Street Brewery.  Joe Katchever took the time to tour us around his brewery, tasting room and cooler.  I loved the space and think they did a great job of integrating the tasting room in to the brewery.  We really enjoyed spending time chatting.  Thanks again to Joe and the Pearl Street Brewery for having us over.

Joe serving up some beer in the tasting room

Brew house

Fermenters

Joe and Jim looking at the bottling line

We went down to La Crosse, WI to help out at the Beer and Cheese tasting.  While down there, we got a tour of City Brewery.  The scale of the brewery is hard to imagine to say the least.  It covers several city blocks, grain comes in on train cars, warehouses full of cans, bottles, and other packaging.  It was interesting to see how things are done on a large scale.  Thanks to Jeff for the hospitality.

Good to be the King

World’s largest Six-Pack

Brew House

Joe and assistant brewer at Gluek Brewing Company was nice enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to tour us around their brew house.

On Friday January 18th, 2008, Jim Pierson, Kevin Hubbard, Steve Rinker, Steve McLean, Jim Bartkey and I took a tour of the Gluek Brewing Company.  In addition to brewing their own brands Gluek, Stite, and Northern Reserve, they are also the number one producer of energy drinks in the United States.

One of the most unique things about the brewery is that they sit on a spring that is fed from an underground glacier lake.  The water filterd down through the granite into the lake making their water source naturally pure.

The brewing starts with a spring water in a 300 barrel batch.  The wart is chilled by 58 degree spring water which is fed into a hot liquor tank for the next batch of beer.  They have a highly configurable bottling and canning line that allows them to package many different sizes of bottles and cans.  Beer is pasteurized and then sent to the packaging line.  Everything is automated from filling to pallets.

The day we were there they were filling energy drink cans.  It is a fun process to watch.  Joe gave us some samples of Honey Bock, Red Bock, Stite and Stite Lite.

If you are ever in the Cold Spring, MN area, I suggest you check out the events and contact the brewery about a tour.  Thanks to the Joe and the rest of the staff for the hospitality.