Minneapolis Breweries Day by Day #13: Eastlake Craft Brewery / Minnesota Breweries One by One #107

In 2016, I underwent a journey of visiting as many of Minnesota's breweries and taprooms as I could, and I made it to 113. Maybe you read some of the reports on these visits. If not, you should, they can be kind of fun and I enjoyed writing them. When I enjoy writing, you can probably enjoy reading. Look for the tag "breweries one by one."

There was one that I didn't get to until December 15, which might seem odd since it was the closest one to me. (Four blocks away for the first five months of the year, 13 blocks away for the rest.) And the one that I worked at for the first five months of it's existence. Wait, was that why? Well, I'm not telling. But I will tell you that I'm talking about Eastlake Craft Brewery in the MidTown Global Market.


I finally went back, because I told myself that I had to, and I had the beers. A Dank Aaron Double IPA, a Nicollet Nicollet Mauler Mauler, a Tsathaggua rum barrel-aged Imperial Stout, and a Kirby Pucker # I forget-which, and I took pictures and I took some notes, too, but I have no idea where they went.  I dragged my feet on writing the report, because I wanted to tie it to the notes on the bottle of Tsathaggua that I was a bit disappointed by.  I didn't want to put out a middling review on the brewery that let go of me because of what is now called "optics." And the notes got lost, and it became one of many in the big pile I never got around to writing.

And I didn't visit them at all in 2017. Do I need to tell anyone this, is it information that has to be included? The Bitter Nib always asks the tough questions, even of itself. There are so many local breweries to keep track of that we can't spread ourselves evenly. Someone gets the short straw.

And in 2017/18, I begin another, shorter journey to close the gap on Minneapolis' breweries. And on Thursday, January 11, it's been snowing all day and I decided to stay close to home. Get on the 21 and take it down to Chicago Avenue and see what's up at Eastlake, which is much the same as it was three years ago, while still quite a bit different. Owner/brewer Ryan Pitman came over and talked about his plans for opening a new spot for the brewery and other plans. And I sat down for some beers.

Like I so often do, I reached for the double IPA, one named in punning fashion after  baseball legend Hank Aaron. Sports puns and themes have always run through the names of Eastlake's beers. Some of them, like Dank Aaron and Kirby Pucker seem so obvious you can't believe no one came up with it before. And this is one I was

See how many baseball puns, jokes, & riffs you can
find, kids!

quite happy with, definitely dank, fresh, citrus-y and piney, vibrant, pithy, tangy...all the things I like. Keep making this one, and keep making it this nice.

Beer #2 was their take on the hazy, NE-style IPA that they call Sun Dogs', for reasons I don't get. Does that apostrophe means that there are Sun Dogs who are the owners of this IPA? Never mind. I'd post my notes here, except I already did, from a bottle in this place.

Third up, the brandy barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout Tsathuggua. I scribbled things down in the ol' notebook, but you can read more in-debth ramblings in this post here. This was making me forget the snow. Set a nice fire inside me. Good stuff.

Did I have a fourth beer? My notes don't show one, but my pictures do. Guess I just tired of scribbling, but not of drinking.
It was called Everyone's Invited, and it was a pale ale brewed with guava and strawberry. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Some tropical, fruity feelings to stave off the clammy grip of winter. A nice capper to this visit and the multiple and various flavors of the beers. There were more available than I was accustomed to, but then again, I've really only stopped in twice in the course of two years or so. And here's where I'll admit that I hadn't come in to try the beers because I'd heard less promising words from others. All kinds of rumors and scuttlebutt and such. Well, it looks like things are on the up-and-up, onward and upward, riding high into the sunset, and so forth. Glad to hear it, gladder to see it.

Four beers was plenty and it was time to take my take-out and bring it home, along with the bottles I was bringing. Back out into the snowy wasteland, and taking a 21 down Lake Street, which Ryan will continue to tell us, is for lovers, and it is alway sunny on. Sure. Okay.

Thirteen down, nineteen to go.