New Beers Coming Soon

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Holiday time is busy time.
We will release our Blacked Out Oatmeal Stout Winter Version on Monday. More details then.
For the hop heads our next Seasonal will be a Rye P.A. and I hope to have some kegged hopped Deep Seven on as a Limited Release soon.
Have a great New Years and I'll keep you posted on releases.

Limited Release...

Our McCann's Golden Ale infused with Raspberry. Only on tap for a short time.

Tripel Trouble Now On Tap

Our strong Belgian style Seasonal is now on tap:
Brewed with over 900 pounds of the finest Belgian barley malt and a moderate addition of noble hops. Clocking in at 8.5% abv this honey colored brew packs a punch. Brewed with a Belgian monastary yeast which adds hints of light fruit and a subtle spicyness.

On Tap Tomorrow...

McCann's Classic American Brown Ale:

We are pleased to introduce our latest addition to our Dark Seasonal line up. Brewed with pale ale, chocolate and black malts and balanced with American Crystal hops. We have added a special twist to this style by adding blackstrap molasses to the brew kettle during the boil.

A nicely balanced dark brown ale with more American muscle than those import browns in the clear bottles. A wonderful deep caramel and chocolate background juxtaposed with a moderate hop bitterness.

New Dark Seasonal Coming Soon

We will have our new Dark Seasonal on early next week. Stay tuned here for details.

Limited Release! Pumpkin Spiced Ale

Now on tap at McCann's:
Pumpkin Spiced Ale
A deep Golden ale infused with pumpkin pie spices.
This will not be around long, so no dilly dalying :)

WJON Interview

WJON radio interviewed me a few weeks back.
You can catch it here:
http://www.wjon.com/LocalNews/tabid/4262/newsid9787/31413/Default.aspx

The Return of Deep Seven

Deep Seven is now back on tap. Sorry for the delay.

Spaltfest Release Today-4pm

Our new seasonal Spaltfest will be released today at 4pm.
Spaltfest is a celebration of St. Cloud's sister city Spalt, Germany Which is in the Bavarian region. Spalt is known as the "city of hops". This octoberfest style lager highlights the Spalt variety of hops and is a little more hop foward than most octoberfests. 100% German malt rounds out the character of this brew.
Ein prosit!

Autumn Brew Review Saturday

Saturday I'm off to the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild's Autumn Brew Review. Always a great time meeting fellow Minnesota beer lovers.
Next week we will release our new Seasonal-details soon.
Deep Seven is in the fermenter and will be on it's way soon-promise!
A new Dark Seasonal is also in the works-stay tuned!

New Seasonal, Blog

Our new seasonal Spaltfest will be released soon, stay tuned...
Also, I have started a new blog you can check out here:
http://woodfiredjournal.blogspot.com/
Yeast wrangling is my business!

Update

Yeah! My malt delivery is scheduled for Monday. Time to get caught up on brewing. Sadly, we may run out of a few beers in the mean time, but I'll be working hard to get things back on tap. Thanks for your patience.

New Website is Up!

Check out McCann's Food & Brew's new website:
http://mccannsfoodandbrewpub.com/
More content coming soon.

Brew Pub Club Memberships Now Available!

In review:

Lifetime Membership
gone when you are
$5 Growler refills everyday
5 cent Craft Beer pints every Saturday 4-6pm
Free Birthday Meal
$2. 50 pints anytime
10% off All Food Anytime
Exclusive to Members:
Release Parties of New Beers
Get it before anyone else does
Membership $40 until August 31st, $50 after

Prairie Porter is Back!

We are please to release and old favorite-Prairie Porter:
Brewed with four English malts and two English hop varieties giving this beer a dark, rich, roasty background with light smokey undertones. Bittersweet chocolate flavor develops in the finish.

Another Solo Show

Last minute I know, but I'll be playing The White Horse tonight at 10pm.
I'll be warming up Tom VandenAvond from Austin, Texas.

Row at the Market

Cannery Row will be playing the St. Joe Farmewrs Market Friday at 3:30 for the Berry Festival-mmm, berries!

I'll be doing a solo show in French Lake(near South Haven) at Weber's Deck, Sunday the 26th around noon. The band Sucker Punch will follow me. I had the chance to see these guys the other weekend and they lay down some of the best blues I've seen. Don't miss it.

Martini Night

OK, I know not everyone is into beer, so head on over Thursday nights 3pm to close for $3.50 martinis upstairs.
In music news...
I'll be playing solo at The White Horse tomorrow night at 10pm. Stop by and say hi.

Sol Now on Tap

Here's the 411:

Meaning "sun" in Spanish this beer celebrates the summer season with it's thirst quenching properties. This unfiltered American ale is a beautiful golden color with a dash of exotic coriander to contribute a citrusy zest to it's flavor. Served with a slice of orange to top off this refreshing brew.

New Seasonal Beer Tomorrow

Stay tuned...

Last Minute Gig

I will have the honor of warming up Charlie Parr tonight at 5pm at the Corner Bean(http://www.myspace.com/cornerbean) in St. Cloud. This is a benefit for Anna Marie's Alliance(http://www.annamaries.org/). A good cause indeed!

Deep Seven is Back on Tap

In other news...
Myself and the band will be playing at the White Horse tomorrow night 5-8pm. Stop by and have a beer with us!

McCann's Brew Pub Club!

Here's what cha get:

Lifetime Membership

gone when you are

$5 Growler refills everyday

5 cent Craft Beer pints every Saturday 4-6pm

Free Birthday Meal

$2. 50 pints anytime

10% off All Food Anytime

Exclusive to Members:

Release Parties of New Beers

Get it before anyone else does

Membership $40 until August 31st, $50 after

D7 Update

Deep Seven will be back around the middle of next week. Sorry for the outage.

New Limited Reserve: Bourbon County Black Out

Two great things that go great together:

A careful blend of our Blacked Out Oatmeal Stout and the finest Kentucky straight bourbon. Only here for a short time.

Father's Day Brunch

Our Father's Day brunch will be Sunday, June 21st, 9am-2pm.

Dads $5.99-Adults $11.99

Seniors $9.99-kids 12 and under $5.99

If your name is the same as Wendel's dad(Doug) you eat for free!(bring ID)

Carving station: ham/roast beef

Buffet: eggs, deviled eggs, eggs beneidict, sausage, potatoes & gravy, bacon, baked chicken, soup, cinnamon rolls, salad, breakfast potatoes, fresh fruit just to name a few.

Omelet bar/pancake station/french toast/dessert buffet.

Reservations: 320-217-5800

Spalt Delegation Visits

Yesterday we hosted our friends from St. Cloud's sister city Spalt, Germany. I can't tell you how friendly and appreciative they were and we all had a great time enjoying our beer and food together. I was fortunate enough to meet the Mayor(or Bergmeister) of Spalt, Udo Weingart. It turns out he is the head of the Spalter Brewery and he invited me to travel to Spalt next year and visit the brewery and the Weihenstephan Brewing University near by. I guess I need to start saving money for the trip!

As I have mentioned before, I aquired some Spalt variety hops and plan to do a special brew this year with them to honor our friendship with Spalt. Our city mayor was excited about this and I will be on his radio show to talk about the special beer when it is released.

So, all in all a great time and I'm looking foward to Friday when Cannery Row gets to play for the delegation at a pig roast just outside of town.

Riding to the Gig

I've wanted to do this for a long time and it seemed the timing was right Friday. Loaded up the bike with my guitar and gear and proceeded to ride out to St. Joe. I had a stiff head wind the whole way, but I arrived on time. Unfortunately, out of no where the weather went bad(not forecasted) and we were pelted with high winds and a downpour. The farmers market venders scrambled to take down their tents and I had to abandon my mission and hitch a ride home with a band mate. Luckily, we will be playing the market again and I will go for a repeat.

Cannery Row at the St. Joe Farmers Market

The gang and I will be playing the farmers market in St. Joesph tomorrow around 4pm. Weather permiting, I'm going to bike to the gig with my Bob trailer in tow with my guit string and other equipment. I'll have pics this weekend. Going green, gettin' lean and playing mean!

Spalt Delegation to Visit Our Brewery

June 2nd marks the day that we will be having 60-80 guests from Spalt, Germany visiting the brewery. Spalt is St. Cloud's sister city and the delegation will be kept busy during their visit in Central Minnesota. I will be giving tours during the afternoon and they will be able to sample our craft brews and enjoy some food. Spalt's brewery is the last remaining brewery in Germany to be municipally owned. I hope to connect with the brewery in the future to form some type of partnership. I was able to secure some Spalt hops in this years hop contract, so look for special brews in the future. I'm really excited to show our guests what American craft brewing is all about.

Blackberry is Gone-Strawberry now on Tap...In Other News...

After going through a virus attack, losing a hard drive, fighting off hackers, upgrading all my software, installing firewalls, being threatened with being cutoff by my email provider, and a host of other problems... I have fixed my computer...and NOW it works exactly the way I want it to!

Spring Fruit Limited Reserve Series

Two new fruit beers available:
On tap now: McCann's Blackberry Ale
Up next: Strawberry Sunrise
These are only available for a limited time.
Happy Monday!

Me...in Concert

I'll be playing in Big Lake at The Tropical Brew coffee shop Saturday. I'll be joined with local brew godess Jen Meyers and my dear sister inlaw Diane Ohmann. we will each do a set from 2pm-5pm.
This is my first solo show so hold on to your hats. It will be mostly original material with a few covers possibly thrown in.
I will then hustle to St. Joe to the Local Blend to meet up with fellow Cannery Row members Mike Sharp and Gary Dockendorf to do a show there starting at 7:30.

Word.

I Am A Craft Brewer from I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.

Mother's Day

Hey, then why don't you get out of the house?

Mom's, McCann's is having a Mother's Day Brunch from 9:00am-2:00pm on Sunday May, 10th

Mom's are $5.99 and anyone with the name of Nancy eats for FREE in honor of owner Wendell's Mom!


Hey, cool :)


Happy Mother's Day!

The Hawk is My Co-Pilot

I was out mountain biking the Jail Trail today when suddenly I heard a bird calling as it flew over my head. I stopped and looked up in the trees to see a broad winged hawk perched looking down at me. Cool. As I rode away and got farther from the hawk, it vocalized again, flew and landed in another tree close to me. This went on about ten times as he followed me through the woods. It was probably protecting it's territory, but I'd like to think it was along for the ride. Raptors rule!

Cannery Row & Jerry Ostensoe Tomorrow Night

We will be playing at Bo Diddley's in St. Cloud Friday night as part of the Granite City Folk Society's line up. It's really a honor to be a part of this series as there are some pretty heavy musicians that roll into town for these shows.
You can get tickets and details here:

Granite City Folk Society

I have also started a "solo" MySpace music page for myself as I will be doing my first show soon. I'll put up the details here when things are confirmed. I have enough of my own songs to do a set now, and I feel it will be a good challenge for me. The goal is to play out from time to time and hopefully bring other musical friends with with me for back up.

Blacked Out Oatmeal Stout Back on Tap 4/29

Sorry for the shortage.
Back on tomorrow-pinky swear!

Bavarian Mind Block on Tap Tomorrow

No, it's not a wrestling hold, it's a German style Mai Bock. Unlike many bocks that are deep amber to ruddy brown, mai bocks belong in the "helles" bock catagory. Helles means light in german and clocking in at 7% this refers to it's golden color not strength. This malt forward lager is balanced with Saaz hops which provide a nice floral counterpoint to this brew.

Don't forget...

Americana Music Night tomorrow starting at 7pm!

Americana Music Night At McCann's!

Cannery Row will be playing at McCann's Friday night with very special guests The Melvilles from the Twin Cities. Music starts at 7pm with The Row up first. Our new Maibock will also be released that night. Like The Row, The Melvilles are a bunch of beer nuts, so it's the perfect line up. Should be a great time all around.

Spalt Fest

Last night I attended a meeting at City Hall with the mayor regarding Spalt Fest the first week of June. Spalt, Germany is St. Cloud's sister city and a large crew from Spalt is coming for a visit. There will be many activities for our guests during the week and hopefully visiting our little brewery will be one of them. Spalt's city band will be performing three times ay various locations around town during the week. The festival is in the early planning stages, so details will follow. I hope to someday form a relationship with the Spalt Brewery and possibly do a coop brew with them. Just a dream for now, but who knows?
Things have been busy at the brewery lately. Business has picked up nicely over the winter. All of my fermenters are full and I am doing the best I can to keep up. I could use another tank or two lately. These are nice problems to have!

Stop Snowing Already!

More dumpage from Momma N. again yesterday. I'm really ready for spring this year. The biking bug is actually flittering in my gut and sadly, it's been a while-I've got the girth to prove it. Memories of my trim 210# body(I'm 6'5") back in the mountain bike racing days make me wonder what path I've been on the last two years. While I've lost my competitive fire, I would really like to log some miles and do a few overnights on the bike this season. I'm amazed how much the hills hurt now and it's going to be some work to get comfortable on the bike again. Of course, it's the journey not the destination.

Anyway, enough personal reflection, on to beer...

I'll be playing catch up firing up the brew kettle three days in a row to get some tanks full. There's a big lager in the works and another batch of Blacked Out Oatmeal Stout is on the way. We have had overwhelming response for this beer, so it's back. We have Drink Your Oatmeal shirts hot off the press for your purchase-stimulate the economy a little eh? I'll get a pic of the shirt on here soon.

All for now...

Big Show Tomorrow Night

I will be playing with my mates Cannery Row tomorrow night with the talented Gentry Bronson. We will do a set then back up Gentry for his show.

Details:

http://www.ppfive.com/index.aspx?s=181&ss=467

Also, The Cloudy Town Brewers, our fearless local home brew club will be holding their March Mashness event Saturday. We are proud to host judging Friday night and Saturday.

More details here:

http://www.cloudytownbrewers.org/competition/

and the Limited Releases Keep on Rolling...

On tap tomorrow will be our Coffee Infused Oatmeal Stout. We have once again hit up our local roaster Muggsy's Beans for some fresh Paupua New Guinea beans. We use a cold extraction process to get all of the flavor out of the bean and leave behind any bitterness. Only three kegs will be available of this release. Growlers are allowed! I'm looking foward to watching the snow melt this weekend and enjoying a pint or two.

A Weekend of Music

I'll be playing with Cannery Row tonight at Studio Jeff in downtown St. Cloud around 8pm. This is a dance instruction studio and we will be playing for two hours. I hope we have that many "dancing" songs-lol.

Then, I'll be off tomorrow to the Winter Bluegrass Weekend in the cities to do some pickin'. Last year was my first time and it was great. Hours of jamming really gets your chops in order!

A bunch more Row gigs follow. As always check out our MySpace page on the left column for upcoming shows.

Hey Hop Heads!

Now that I'm getting caught up, howz about a Limited Reserve keg of Keg Hopped Deep Seven? I'll be packing a keg with Cascade hops tomorrow and filling it up with our Deep Seven IPA. It will be on tap by tomorrow afternoon. This keg will go dry quick, so don't miss out.

Blacked Out Oatmeal Stout Coming Monday

Here's the 411:

Our newest Dark Seasonal is brewed with the finest English pale ale and dark roasted malts and a generous addition of oatmeal in the mash that increases the body of this favorite Irish style ale. This stout is a little stronger than it's Irish cousins coming in at just under 7% abv. Hints of chocolate and espresso mingle with a velvet like mouthfeel creating a truly enjoyable brew.

Row at the Blend Tonight

Cannery Row will be playing The Local Blend in St. Joe tonight. Start time is 8pm.
Really looking foward to playing. Our mandolin player Gary and I did a open mike on Wednesday to get us fired up for tonight. We headed over to the White Horse afterwards to enjoy a little Surly Darkness served by none other than Omar himself-tasty!
I've got a new song to try out tonight if I can get it memorized by then. It's my first waltz(maybe last), so it might be interesting.

Deep Seven Back Monday

Come hell or high water the Deep Seven will be back on tap Monday. Sorry about the wait.
A Oatmeal Stout is also on it's way soon-stay tuned for details.

Tripel Trouble Now On Tap

Here's the 411:

Belgian Monastery breweries have been making the worlds most interesting beers for many years. Many of these beers are only available inside the monastery walls only for the monks enjoyment. Beers of high strength are brewed to sustain the monks during their fasts. Our Abbey style Trippel is one such beer. Trippel means that it's three times the strength of a regular beer. Brewed with over 900 pounds of the highest quality Belgian malts and candi sugar. Belgian candi sugar looks like "rock candy" and contributes a "rummy" flavor to the beer. A Belgian monastery ale yeast gives this beer a fruity/spicy complexity while maintaining drinkability despite it's strength. Hints of honey, carmel, light fruits and a subtle spicyness are experienced in it's flavor.

Star Tribune Article on Winterfest

The Star Tribune had a nice write up on Winterfest. A couple of nice mentions for McCann's.
Thanks for the heads up sister in law!

Are You Looking For Trouble Punk?

Tripel Trouble is in the tank aging away. Look for it in a few weeks. Samples off the tank show great promise.

Thanks to everybody who stopped by our table at Winterfest. Flame was a big hit among the festival goers. It is so nice having a one on one talk with Minnesota beer lovers. I tried a great many amazing brews during the night. Minnesota brewers are brewing some great beers.

I apologize for our limited availablity of some of our brews at the pub currently. Our Fermentation tanks are full and things should be back on line soon-the Amber will be back on tomorrow.

A Crazy Week

Flame will be on tap tomorrow afternoon. I hope there is some left for the Cloudy Town Brewers meeting. If you are interested in home brewing stop on in at 7:30 and join the fun.
Flame is a strong amber ale brewed with exotic sugars and organic flame raisins. It is aged on toasted oak. Flame is where beer and wine meet in a torrid love affair.
After it's debut At the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild's Autumn Brew Review, we recieved many emails asking about it's return. There is only five gallons available at the pub(the other five gallons will be at Winterfest). Growlers will not be available at this time. I hope to someday have it bottled in 750mls.
I have four consecutive brew days planned to try to do some catching up, and of course we will be traveling to St. Paul Friday for Winterfest. A busy brewer is a happy brewer.

Live at The White Horse

I'll be playing with Cannery Row tomorrow night at The White Horse downtown St. Cloud. 5-8pm show. Not only the second best place for beer in town(wink-wink), they are the only bar in St. Cloud that has Surly on tap. The food is killer too.

Stop on by and say hello.

February 4th: Flame

Our very Limited Edition beer "Flame" will be on tap at the brew pub Wednesday, February 4th. Growlers of this beer will not be available at this time, but we will offer $5 growler refills on that night(every Monday & Wednesday), so you can stock up on our other beers.
Flame is a strong amber ale brewed with exotic sugars and organic flame raisins. It is then aged on oak.
The only other place you will be able to get this beer is at the Minnesota Craft Brewers WinterFest on the 6th, and if you don't already have a ticket for the fest , you are out of luck(it's sold out).
We'll have more details of the tapping soon.

Neko For Charity

Neko is absolutely GREAT! She is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. Enjoy!

Yes! Share the Love

Cold Snap Ale Now on Tap

Here's the 411:
Our new Dark Seasonal is brewed with six different grains including oatmeal which contributes a velvet like mouth feel. This strong ale is the cure for our bitter Minnesota winters. A generous portion of Simcoe hops are added to the kettle during the brewing process to keep the malt sweetness in check and giving this beer a foward hop presence.
6.5% ABV

It's a bit of a hybrid style oatmeal porter/pale ale. I enjoy pissing off the style police from time to time.

New Brew Tomorrow

Our new Dark Seasonal will be on tomorrow. Stay tuned for details.
-24 F this morning. Wanted to stay in my full body pa Walton underwear and stay in bed. Gotta love Minnesota!

Cannery Row Tonight

Well the weather is looking better than was predicted, so come on out to the Local Blend in St. Joe tonight to see us play. We start at 8pm.
Kids are welcome so no need to worry about a babysitter.
Hope to see you there.

Time For a Update

Well, it's been a bit of struggle keeping things on tap lately. Delays in malt orders for the most part. Most of our line up should be back next week. We have some fun things planned coming soon, including the return of Flame. This beer went over very well at the Autumn Brew Review and will be available in very limited quantities at the MN Craft Brewers Guild's Winterfest and at the pub. It is brewed with exotic sugars, organic Flame raisins and aged on oak.
Also coming soon will be a brand new Dark Seasonal-think oatmeal/think STRONG.
Oh, and Trippel Trouble will find it's way back in the line up shortly.
I will be playing with Cannery Row Friday the 9TH at the Local Blend in St. Joe. I put up two original songs on our MySpace page. They were recorded last Monday at practice. Farm Town was our first time playing it (and the first time the band heard it) so excuse the non polished performance.

Listen

OK, all for now. Time to hunker down for the incoming winter storm.