Happy Thirsty Thursday!

While sipping our half-pint flight of beers at Northgate one beautiful Saturday, Rob instinctively looked up a brewery that we’ve been wanting to go to for some time. It was just Too. Far. Away… from us.

However, Rob’s iPhone indicated it was just 16 miles north of Northgate, about a 19 minute drive. We hadn’t any plans for the rest of the afternoon and didn’t want to finish the couple of half-pints in the flight that we didn’t like so much… so why not? We took the little jaunt north up to HammerHeart Brewing Company.

It was a beautiful Minnesota spring day, but one filled with mud! Such was the case getting into and finding a spot in their muddy parking lot.

But upon stepping across the threshold into HammerHeart’s taproom, the first thing I heard was the sound of bagpipes wailing! I believe that it was just for a special event that bagpipers were in the house that day; but I felt like I was being personally greeted. Ha!

HammerHeart Brewing gets its influence from Celtic and Nordic cultures as well as metal music. It’s a very interesting combination that you can read more about on their website. Rob thinks my brother would love this brewery, but we only had so much time during his visit. This just means you’ll have to come back for another round, JR!

So what drew us to HammerHeart, you ask? Well, we’d been wanting to go for some time after reading their every-changing tap menu online over the past year or two.

But what may surprise you after yesterday’s post is that HammerHeart focuses heavily on smoke in its brews. So why on earth would their tap menu intrigue me? There is something else. Can you guess what it is?

Yes, that’s right – the bourbon barrel aged beers! Like many tap rooms, they are not available all of the time; but we saw on the website that there were several available that day. No matter what, HammerHeart has many more different beers on tap at a given time compared to most other breweries in the Twin Cities metro; so there is bound to be something for everyone. But just be careful to order the right beer…

Rob ordered a beer for himself and then added “and one Flanary’s Brew” for me. However, he hadn’t read the entire menu to see that there was a non-Bourbon Barrel Aged Flanary’s Brew on the bottom. {See menu above.} And of course, it was the Bourbon Barrel one that I wanted and the original that I was served.

I told him that it was just fine. But he took one for the team because he wanted to make my one beer of this brewery visit count. He went back up to order me the correct beer. He would just have to drink the mistake. 😉 It was a win-win for both of us. For the record, it was worth it! I could handle a mildly smoked oatmeal stout if you aged it in a bourbon barrel. Go figure.

Rob also returned with a growler and a pint glass for our collection, too.

This is a great brewery for locals. If we lived anywhere near Lino Lakes, we’d be back on a regular basis. But, alas, we don’t. So we’ll just have to save HammerHeart for a special occasions. But I will tell you, it’s entirely worth the trip.

Do you like smoky foods or beverages?

If so, what’s your favorite?

Cheers~
Carrie