Part 2 of our USA blog entails the Minneapolis leg of the journey which includes the Craft Brewers Conference in Minneapolis, MN (that's Minnesota, if you're not familiar with the Fargo franchise). Is there much to tell about the conference itself? Arguably, not heaps—it's where we've gone to glean inspiration and froth over shiny new equipment like tanks, hoses, dry-hoppers, barrels, packing lines, and every other stainless-clad pipe and pump you (we) hadn't even known existed. And the beers——oh, the beeeeers——the local breweries there are hitting home runs (that's a baseball term, something to do with rounding bases and whatnot. I dunno.)
It's also where a number of other Australian craft breweries went for the same inspiration, crossing paths with us and other fellow Aussies half-way around the world from home. It makes the world seem small, and just confirms that beer really does bring people together.
Thanks to Yakima Chief Hops for having us out to their Here We Grow party at the Pourhouse in downtown Minneapolis! What an event—the ears are still ringing from that one.
Additional thanks to Konvoy Kegs for having a whole slew of Australian brewers out to Surly Brewing for a good time, it was a great to hang out, talk the usual shit and try some fantastic beers from a local brewery that makes Hawkers look tiny. What an excellent evening!
In non-beer related experiences, it was a non-negotiable requirement that we try a local culinary invention known as a 'Juicy Lucy'. We, of course, naively obliged. This, friends, is the Zeus, the thunder god, of all burgers. Imagine, for a moment, a burger cooked with the cheese inside the patty. The resulting crime against your arteries is a magma-filled cheese-geyser that packs enough calories to run a small city for a few days. Furthermore, if you're not taking surgically precise care in your first bite, there is high risk for casualties within your company. This is, of course, speaking as a first-hand witness to a friendly-fire of molten cheese lightening taking out two of our number. Hilarious, yet tragic.
When in Rome, get the Juicy Lucy. Bring extra napkins, though.
Read all about the famed heart-stopper here. We had ours at a joint called Hell's Kitchen, downtown Minneapolis.
