Author Archives: Nik Bronder

Minneapolis: Baseball & Beer

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Julie and I headed out with a group of friends to Minneapolis for the Mets – Twins series at Target Field. Being that it’s Minnesota and April there was a decent amount of snow on the ground. They managed to have the field clean for Friday’s game and the Twins offered free hot chocolate and coffee throughout the game. I think I stayed until about the 5th inning with the Mets leading by 8 runs or something. Julie managed to stay for the long haul.

Gluek’s
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Before the game and after we headed to Gluek’s Restaurant & Bar which is considered the oldest restaurant in Minneapolis. Gluek’s Resturant dates back to the early 1930’s but the Gluek’s Brewery has ties that go back to 1857. The bar is a large German style beer house with a good beer selection and live music.

Al’s
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Saturday morning we made our way over to Al’s Breakfast near the University of Minnesota’s campus. As expected we ended up waiting about an hour in line before getting a spot. Al’s is a diner that dates back to the 1950’s that is basically a building that has been wedged in an alley. They’re known for their pancakes.

Walking Brewery Tour

Saturday afternoon we headed out to three breweries which were all within walking distance to each other: 612 Brew, Indeed Brewing and Dangerous Man Brewing.

612 Brewing
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After breakfast we hopped a cab over to 612 Brewing and began our walking brewery tour. 612 Brew took a little while to find the entrance as it’s in an industrial building nearly under an overpass. Their space was huge and they had the Cajun 2 Geaux food truck out front taking orders so we were well stocked with beignet. The brewery is rather new so the beer selection was small. I preferred their Zero Hour black ale over the other beers.

Indeed Brewing
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After 612 Brew we walked several blocks to Indeed Brewing which was in a similar industrial area but a some what smaller place. They also had a food truck outside serving. The beer selection at Indeed was much better than the other places we stopped. I also like the old tavern feel of their brewery compared to the others.

Dangerous Man
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We headed to Dangerous Man next but were temporarily halted by a doorman and a waiting period before we could enter. This setback in addition to our evening plans limited us to one quick beer. I went for the IPA. I wish we would have spent more time here but that wasn’t the case.

Pittsburgh Hockey Trip

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This past Friday I headed to Pittsburgh for my annual Hockey road trip. It was a challenge to get six tickets to a Friday night Pens – Rangers game so we ended up with Standing Room Only tickets. There was little info on what that actually meant so we went into the game thinking we’d basically be watching the game at a bar from within the arena. It turns out that Consol Energy Arena has specific spots for each SRO ticket and we had a great view of the game except for the Shootout when everyone in the arena stood.

This was by far the best game we’ve attended on any of these trips. Fleury had an amazing game, Jussi Jokinen scored his first goal as a Penguin, there was a fight and the Pens beat the Rangers in a Shootout. The beer selection at Consol was solid.

D’s SixPax & Dogz
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On Saturday we headed over to D’s SixPax & Dogz for lunch and drinks. D’s is known for their hotdogs covered in basically anything you can imagine and their massive Beer Cave. Their Beer Cave consisted of a walk-in cooler and a back room that is the size of most liquor stores. They also had a great tap list including Tröegs Nugget Nectar which was one of the better beers I’ve had in a while. In addition D’s had 1919 Draft Root Beer which was fantastic.

East End Brewing Company
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After lunch we stopped by East End Brewing Company for a tasting. The night before, Tom, our host set us up with two pony kegs of Big Hop IPA and Black Strap Stout. We didn’t purchase any beer but we did make our way around the sample list. They also had a Root Beer which was good.

Arsenal Cider House
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In the afternoon we stopped at Arsenal Cider House where I proceeded to make rarely funny jokes about their rules. The setup is a small bar were you buy growlers and there are some tables in the back, all amongst civil war paraphernalia due to the close location to site of the Allegheny Arsenal. We had a great selection of cider, my favorite was the Honey Crisp.

Side Notes:

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* The View From My Seat.

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** Only one of these beers is an American Beer – Yuengling.
*** Previous Hockey Trips: 2010, 20112012,

Fish Fry Season

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As the 2013 Fish Fry Season has come to a close I believe it has been one of the best in recent memory. Todd and I have managed to hit three Fish Fry’s in four weeks:

The quality of the fish at St. Andrew and St. Alphonsus was great. St. Andrew was a little better being that it was sourced from New England Seafood Company but both were real hand battered fried fish for $10. For the BYOB we made stops at either Half Acre Beer Company or Atlas Brewing Company for a growler and a couple of bombers. It just seemed like the way to go.

With St. Andrew and St. Alphonsus kicking up their Fish Fry game we no longer have to travel all the way out to St. Ferdinand’s on the West Side, plus these were all BYOB. Nothing against St. Ferdinand but their fish was of the elementary cafeteria variety but let it be known they cornered the market in Fish Fry entertainment.

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