JD's Kiln

The kilning process is very labor intensive as it requires constant monitoring for three days. Not to mention many hours of loading pieces in the kiln for firing and the removal of pieces after the process is over. Helpers take shifts to add wood to the fire and keep an eye on things.

Adding Wood To The Fire

Getting Hotter!

JD's Wood Fired Pizza/Bread Oven

JD also built a wood fire oven for pizza and bread. We enjoyed some of the best pizza my taste buds have ever come across-Thanks JD!

Busy August

Summer is our slow time. With people out at the lakes and St. Cloud State without students, we just don't see the numbers we do in the fall and winter. But, I gotta tell you things have been pretty good lately. Beer is selling well and I'm brewing a good bit lately.

I still do not feel people in the area really know they have a craft brewery in town yet. Some of that is our fault, having a limited advertising budget as a new business. I've tried to get some interest from the local paper, but they do not seem to care there is a brewery in their town. Sad, considering the rich brewing history this town has. I suppose we will have to bite the bullet and do some advertising with them to get their interest. to bad it has to be that way.

Central Minnesota just doesn't have the beer culture the Twin Cities has, but I'm doing what I can to change that. I keep telling my self-one person at a time and it will come. This is my matra.

Fall is looking really good with the students coming back to town and people coming home from their cabins. We now have over 500+ growlers out in circulation and folks are coming back for refills, so things look good there also. I'm looking into growler deliveries starting next spring, but I have many details to work out. I'd like to deliver on my bike if possible to promote the "green" thingy. Not sure I can pull that off though. Peace Coffee delivers by bike in the cities and I really like that model. We'll see. Any other ideas you beer lovers may have? Let me know-I'd love to hear them.

Great Lakes Brewing News at McCann's

You can now pick up the "brewspaper" Great Lakes Brewing News at McCann's. It's free and a great way to catch up on all the local brewing goings on in the great lakes area.

Middle Town Braun Now On Tap

Here's the skivvy:
The Middle Town area of St. Cloud(now Downtown) was settled by Germans in the mid to late Eighteen hundreds. This dark amber lager is brewed in their honor. By using a large portion of Munich malt with the addition of chocolate and dark crystal malts, we achieve a beer with balanced caramel/toffee notes with a light roasted background. Our cold aging process produces An incredibly drinkable beer you will keep coming back to.
4.5% ABV

This one will be about as light as our Dark Seasonal gets, but we are in the dog days of summer and I thought this would be a little more refreshing. We still have the Dubbel Donker if you want to get your dark on. It fits style wise somewhere between a Octoberfest and Dunkel. This one is just made for our liter mugs and patio. I'm really digging the deep maltyness this beer dishes out.
Prost!