I personally do not like or enjoy best of or worst of lists of any kind. These lists are
usually biased (they are all subjective, no list can be un-subjective?) they are about personal
taste and for the most part are meaningless. So, that said, I m going to do a best of list of
my top 13 breweries/taprooms in Minnesota. Why the number 13 Jay, you may ask?
Because I like the number 13 and it is my personal taste. There I go again being subjective.
With this list, I m going to pretend that I know something about what other people will like
and not like.
Now how did I get myself in such lather over this? Well, almost every time I go on
Facebook or some other form of media there is some sort of best of list of something and
these lists are like totally (California girl
speak) about accumulating as many likes as
possible so their page or site gets noticed,
which of course means, the more hits on
that infamous like button, the more
popular their page becomes. It is a situation
that feeds itself, just like an Ouroboros
(snake eating it self, tail first.) Yes, I m
subjectively pissed about best of lists but, I
will step off my soapbox and save that rant
for another day.
So, I have decided to have 4 categories
of criteria (my definitions, again subjective)
to evaluate my very subjective best of
breweries/taprooms in Minnesota.
Historical: Could be an old building, its architecture
or something historically significant.
Charisma/Charm/Ambiance: This is something not
easily explained. Just has the it factor.
Beer Quality: Of course taste is subjective (If I did
not already get that concept across, I hope by the
end of this you will understand) but, we have been
around the mash tuns a few times to know good
beer from bad.
Food: For me, I m looking for food other than the
ubiquitous burger and fries theme. So here we go.
Schell s Brewing and Fitgers Brewing/Brewpub:
These are my top 2, simply because they mostly fit all 4 criteria. These are benchmarks in
Minnesota brewing lore. To me, any list that does not have these is not worthy of my time.
Flat Earth Brewing: Flat Earth wins here by default, mostly because they are located in the
old Hamm s complex. You could have put Budwater in this old place and they would have
made my list.
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