Beer and Breweries
Castle Danger Brewery’s 15th Golden Anniversary
Castle Danger is celebrating 15 years of crafting a North Shore experience. Enjoy a full day of specialty beers, live music, great food, family-friendly activities and the finale of our Golden Anniversary ATV Giveaway. Whether you’re a longtime fan or visiting for the first time, there’s something for everyone.
11 a.m.–1 p.m Woodblind
1:30–3:30 p.m.Mid Dream
4–6 p.m.Big Wave Dave & The Ripples
7–9 p.m.Indecent Proposal
Enjoy food from BoB-a-Q Smokehouse & Grill and The Rainy Rose, plus sweet treats from Love Creamery.
Bring the whole family for face painting, rock painting, Hug a Hen, a bouncy house obstacle course, cornhole, giant ladder golf and more.
Meet local organizations and vendors throughout the day, including Seagren’s PowerSports, Superior Hiking Trail Association, Stuff the Bus, Wildwoods, Two Harbors Area Food Shelf and more.
Matt Heckler
The bluegrass multi-instrumentalist performs. Folk duo Pine & Fire opens.
Canal Park Brewing takes silver medal at 2026 World Beer Cup
Duluth’s Canal Park Brewing Company won a silver medal in the wood- and barrel-aged beer category at the World Beer Cup, held April 22 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Night Trekker Baltic Porter, aged in a Vikre Distillery Aquavit barrel, with its hints of coffee, dark fruits and caramel, earned the award. The beer also won a gold medal in 2025 at the Minnesota Brewers Cup. (more…)
Earth Rider lands gold at 2025 World Beer Cup
Superior’s Earth Rider Brewery won a gold medal in the oatmeal stout category at the World Beer Cup, held May 1 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. North Tower Stout, an ale with malty accents of chocolate, coffee and dark fruit balanced with a restrained hop presence, earned the award. The beer has now won three medals in its category at the World Beer Cup, having previously won a gold medal in 2022 and a bronze medal in 2018. (more…)
Ursa Minor earns bronze at Great American Beer Festival
Duluth’s Ursa Minor Brewing won a bronze medal for its Equanimity Irish Style Red Ale at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver on Oct. 12. It’s the brewery’s second bronze medal at the festival; the first came in 2019 for Thistle Dew in the Scottish-Style Ale category.
Equanimity also won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2022 and another gold at the World Beer Cup in 2023. (more…)
Duluth-area beer production back on an upswing
When Perfect Duluth Day last took stock of regional craft beer production in 2020, the Twin Ports and surrounding region had generated roughly 50,000 barrels of brew — more than 1.5 million gallons. Pandemic production dipped slightly but has stabilized and started to rebound. The 2022 tally shows a production level of more than 61,000 barrels of brew as well as optimism that there’s still some untapped potential for growth. (more…)
Ursa Minor takes gold at 2023 World Beer Cup
Ursa Minor Brewing in Duluth won a gold medal at the World Beer Cup on May 10. It’s the sixth medal for Duluth-area breweries at the annual competition.
Ursa Minor’s win was in the Irish-style red ale category for its beer Equanimity. (more…)
Mr. Bierhalter, what is bock beer?
As bock season kicks into high gear — Earth Rider celebrates this weekend; Fitger’s is waiting until April this year — we look back 110 years to get Fitger’s brewmaster John Bierhalter’s definition of the strong, dark beer traditionally brewed in fall and consumed in spring. (more…)
Warrior Brewing opens tap room
The Duluth News Tribune reports Warrior Brewing Company opened a tap room at its Lincoln Park neighborhood brewery on Sept. 24. The brewery began producing off-sale beer for distribution in cans and bottles in 2021.
Lake Superior Brewing to open soon; no beer until Labor Day
A specific date hasn’t been set, but WDIO-TV reports that Lake Superior Brewing will open soon. It will initially be just a restaurant and bar, however. The brewery’s beer won’t be ready until September. “Hopefully by Labor Day,” co-owner Sarah Maxim told WDIO. (more…)
Blacklist Brewing Company new location flythrough
Blacklist Brewing Company made the move to 206 E. Superior St. in May. Ethan Schultz of ShotxSchultz did a flythrough before the move, during construction, and now has returned to show the new Blacklist location in action.
Twin Ports breweries nab three medals at World Beer Cup
Representatives of Bent Paddle (left) and Earth Rider (right) accepted medals at the 2022 World Beer Cup.
Bent Paddle in Duluth and Earth Rider in Superior each won gold medals at the World Beer Cup on May 5. It’s the first time more than one medal was won by the region’s breweries at the competition. Bent Paddle also took home a bronze medal. (more…)
A look at the future Blacklist Brewing Company location
Blacklist Brewery‘s move to 206 E. Superior St., announced about a year ago, is nearing reality. An opening date announcement is expected soon.
Until then, à la Bryant Lake Bowl and Glensheen, a drone flythrough tour is available. The video is by Ethan Schultz of ShotxSchultz.
Warrior Brewing’s stout takes silver at Great American Beer Fest
Co-owner and head brewer Ben Gipson and his wife Emily show off Warrior Brewing’s silver medal from the Great American Beer Festival. (Photo via Warrior Brewing Company)
Duluth’s newest brewery is also its newest medal winner. Warrior Brewing Company was awarded the silver medal for its Barbarian Imperial Stout at the Great American Beer Festival. The Lincoln Park neighborhood business released its first batch to liquor stores in June.
It’s the fifth year in a row that a Duluth or Superior brewery has won a medal at the festival. (more…)
Duluth-area beer production holds tight through pandemic
When Perfect Duluth Day last tallied regional craft beer production in 2018, the Twin Ports and surrounding region had tripled output over the previous five years, quenching area thirst with about 57,000 barrels of beer. Suds production has certainly slowed and dipped a bit since the previous audit. This mirrors the national trend, which indicates a 9 percent decline in production by small and independent brewers in 2020. (more…)
Blacklist Brewing finds new space downtown
Blacklist Brewing Company will move its taproom and brewing operations from 120 E. Superior St. to the Lange Motors building one block east this summer. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske).
A Downtown Duluth brewery and taproom is moving into a larger, newly renovated space just an axe-toss away from its existing location on East Superior Street.
Blacklist Brewing Company will move its brewing operations, taproom and axe-throwing lanes one block east into the historic Lange Motors building at 206 E. Superior St. The move will almost double its serving and entertainment space and increase its brewing capacity. (more…)
Rodolfo Nieto – “The Minnesota Beer Song”
Minneapolis-based actor/singer Rodolfo Nieto penned this new anthem for Minnesota beer, accompanied on piano by Jared Miller and backed by a chorus. The song references two breweries from northeast Minnesota — Bent Paddle Brewing and Castle Danger Brewing.
Nieto notes that he would “love it if others created their own pun-filled verses in the future, using the names of other Minnesota breweries.”
Warrior Brewing Company: Coming to Duluth This Spring
Matt Caple and Ben Gipson – Photo by Lissa Maki
A new veteran-owned brewery is moving into the former Lake Superior Brewing Company space at 2711 W. Superior St. Owners Matt Caple and Ben Gipson plan to have Warrior Brewing Company up and running by April to be sure their product makes it to liquor stores before summer. (more…)
Bayfield’s Adventure Club marks a year of brewing
Wisconsin’s northernmost brewery kept a bit of a low profile in its first year. Adventure Club Brewing owner Matthew Gerdts said his small-batch operation has been “Bayfield’s best-kept secret,” but the news is slowly getting out. (more…)
Hoops Brewing wins gold, Earth Rider two silvers at GABF
Duluth’s Hoops Brewing won its first Great American Beer Festival medal at the 2020 awards ceremony held Oct. 16. Hoops’ 325 Pineapple Chili was awarded the gold medal in the Chili Beer category. It’s the fourth year in a row that a Duluth or Superior brewery has won a gold medal at the festival.
Earth Rider Brewery in Superior took home two silver medals this year — Royal Bohemian Pilsner in the Kellerbier or Zwickelbier category and North Tower Stout in the Oatmeal Stout category. (more…)
Lake Superior Brewing gets new owners, will move to Lakeside
Seth and Sarah Maxim have purchased Lake Superior Brewing Company and plan to move operations into the former Xcel Xercise fitness center at 5423 E. Superior St. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
An iconic craft brewery, the first of its kind in Minnesota, has been sold and new owners plan to move operations from Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood to Lakeside. (more…)
Convivial Memories of an Epicurean Hedonist Con Mucho Gusto
My whole life was organized around going out for drinks. The party’s over.
The Duluth art and music scene seems preserved in amber. I can see it in my mind’s eye from every angle, but I can’t touch it.
Has the virus infected time?
I was days away from participating in a group art show in Duluth Coffee Company and its Roasteria taproom. The Facebook event page was hours from launching. All the art is on the walls. I left a hammer there I was going to go back for, just before the stay-at-home orders unfolded. It’s probably right where I left it, timelessly suspended as if let go by an astronaut in orbit.
The Embassy art-church had just opened, promising untold events, unseen sights, and unheard sounds. It reached as if for the hand of God in the Sistine Chapel — a frozen gesture. (more…)
Guide to Duluth-area Craft Alcohol During the Pandemic
Ursa Minor Brewing has offered curbside beer and pizza pickup via a drive-by canopy since April 8.
Small businesses have been struggling to stay afloat during the COVID-19 outbreak. Local craft beer, cider and spirits purveyors are finding ways to persist by distributing products through a variety of takeout, curbside pickup and delivery options. (more…)
Ursa Minor offers Duluth’s first non-alcoholic craft beer
Ben Hugus with Ursa Minor’s new NA beer – Photo by Lissa Maki
Ursa Minor Brewing quietly became the first Duluth-area craft brewery to offer a non-alcoholic beer option back in December. The brewery’s Constellation Cream Ale, is now available sans intoxicants. (more…)