Fair State Brewing Cooperative

Rather unatmospheric place in a mixed neighborhood of Minneapolis. At least 14 taps. No flights though. We went out back to the beer garden, also not the prettiest place but functional enough. Dogs welcome. No food served but you are welcome to bring food from outside. Having to drive, we only tried two beers but both were good. Not many dark beers on offer during our summertime visit.

Right in the NE area near-ish Indeed and Brauhaus, this is a mandatory stop. Tons of taps, including lots of sours. But no flights - very lame. Only full or half-pours, but at least the bartenders will give free samples. Beer quality was very high - I was impressed with almost everything. Great brewery.

nice tap room was busy but service was quick prices normal beer is solid

Very nice place located on Central in Minneapolis. Easy to find but parking is a bit limited. Nice brick interior along two wall and the third wall has photos of the co-op members. There is plenty of seating and a beer garden in the back although I did not check it out when I visited. In addition to their taps, they also have some bottles available that may or may not be on tap currently. Service was fast and very friendly and very knowledgeable about their product. No food but there are some menus for places nearby by the front door. Only draw back was no flights but no matter, their beer is very good and I would definitely go here again.

Fair State is a new brewery that actually has its beer figured out, which gives them a head start in bypassing some of the established operations in the echelon of twin cities. Beyond this, several of the beers are quite excellent; the IPA is absolutely a local standout. The space is understated, modern, clean design. No food trucks; there are a dozen or more good takeout options in close walking distance. An early growler I took away was somewhat aggressively poured and resulted in somewhat flat pours, but this hasn’t happened apart from this one occasion. I am very pleased to say that Fair State is legit.

Aside: I’m not sure that the co-op model here is more than a sustained kickstarter campaign, but this remains to be seen. A brewery allowing its member-owners to participate in recipe designs is an incredibly cool idea, depending on how broad the actual parameters of it are.

An update here has been deserved for a long while. Most of my favorite individual beers made in Minneapolis are made here. The level of quality, subtlety, authenticity and precision is seemingly always being elevated. My preferred brewery in the metro area and it isn’t close.

Those who enjoy sour beers, look no further, this is your stop in Minneapolis. From kettle sours to mixed fermentation sours, this is the place. It is right on Central Avenue where if you are a fan of foreign foods, every culture is available and inexpensive. Parking is not too difficult and the taproom can be busy to the point where no seating is available or it’ll be empty. Not only are their sours delicious, but there IPAs and lagers are first rate too. The staff is extremely friendly which might be due to them being a co-op. The co-owners seem very passionate and are actually decently involved in their operations. Another great NE Minneapolis brewery.

Final stop of the evening - fairly open and reasonable large space dominated by the bar in back. Some long and normal tables as well. Taplists on screens behind the bar. Not a lot of beers on tap - 9 while I was there, as well as about 5-6 bottles available to go. No flights, which is a bit of a bummer, but they do have half pours for only $3, which is a great deal. Beers were all pretty solid, clearly well crafted. Lichtenheiner was world class. The FSB Imperial Stout was really nice; all the flavor and most of the body of a traditional sticky BA impy without the overwhelming sweetness. Great basement barrel room tour from CLevar as well made this an a-list destination.

Smallish bar, kinda dingy beer garden to that back. That’s not meant to sound bad, it’s actually a really comfortable space. A little crowded as there was a new bottle release but the bar staff handled the crowd and bar patrons ably and were friendly. Beer quality was top notch, and this is one of the premiere breweries in the area. Sours to lagers, all beers were well executed. Solid pricing. Thanks to MatSciGuy for the downstairs tour!

This was my favorite brewery in MSP. Standard enough taproom up front, seven barrel brewhouse in the back. Barstaff were friendly and knew the beers well. Beer quality was high, especially the sours - not sure why we didn’t see many sours or saisons around the MSP area, but I hope that this place can help break that mold, and I’m glad they’re leading the way. Beautiful beer garden out back with picnic tables and benches that aided in socializing with your neighbors. CLevar was hard at work in the brewery, but joined us for a look around and generously shared some beers. MatSciGuy met us there as well, with stories about current collaborations and future plans for Oude Oak. Overall a fun place to hang out - if I lived in MSP, this would be my local.