St. Paul Statue Fun 🙂
Day 3 began with a lovely brunch at the St. Paul Crown Plaza Hotel, recently re-branded InterContinental St. Paul – Riverfront and the new Citizen Supper Club. Â We enjoyed a lovely brunch with fantastic Bloody Mary’s.
We had time to spare before our Afternoon Tea reservations, so we made the most of it with a few more brewery stops.  Our first destination was Tin Whiskers Brewing.  I loved everything about this place; large open screened windows and a huge robot on the wall 🙂  Here we tasted everything they had available: Wheatstone Bridge*, Flip Switch IPA, Schottky Pumpkin*, Ampere Amber, Short Circuit Stout, Belgian Dubbel (had this also the previous evening at Republic) and 2 specialty brews that were casked ( I forgot the names).
Light on the Flight
Robot Love
Great Waters Brewing
We then made our way to Great Waters Brewing, were I again order flights of everything we could try. Â Here we tasted: Golden Prairie Blonde Ale*, Sir Lawrence Irish Tavern Ale*, Frudi Rudi IPA*, Teresa’s Meadow Octoberfest*, St. Andrew’s Cross*, Blackwatch Oak Stout*.
Afternoon Tea
It was now time for a lovely stroll through downtown St. Paul to the historic St. Paul hotel for Afternoon Tea. Â Here we were treated to a sweet adventure of 5 courses and a floral specialty Black Current tea. Â We enjoyed a trio of finger sandwich and crostinis, a lovely garden veggie bisque, a scrumptious maple nut scone with cinnamon butter, an assortment of sweets (Maple Sugar cookie, Pumpkin Spice Truffle and Apple Creme Brulee rice pudding) and for the finale an Apple Crisp. Â To say the least, we were stuffed! Â We were happy for another walk and some statue shenanigans before our next destination.
Next we were off to enjoy Oktoberfest at BauHaus Brewing Labs.  This place was awesomely industrial amidst a brick courtyard.  They were in full Bavarian party mode with live music, pretzels, brats, caramel apple strudels and of course brew flowing like water.  We came mostly to enjoy a beautiful outdoor setting with music and tasted Schwandtoberfest* and Sky Five*.  We also were pleasantly pleased to run into some friends we happened to make at Fair State the evening before 🙂  Beer friends are dear friends!
Live Music at BauHaus Oktoberfest
Just up the road was 612 Brew, so we headed that direction. Â They boast a nice outdoor seating area and a tap room that has you almost right in the brewery. Â By now I am sure you know what I did….FLIGHT!
612 Brew Flight
Awesome wall art!
Here we tasted:
Oktoberfest*,
Seven Heads,
Unrated Rye IPA*,
Zero Hour, and
Six.
At this point, it was again time to take the ladies back to their hotel.  We then stopped off at Indeed Brewing.  Again, a lovely brick building in an industrial area with a logo that reminds this Mom of Frozen 🙂  The area was full of bike racks and had a great outdoor patio with plants and lighting and inside there are TWO, YES TWO tap rooms!  Here we met up with my girlfriend from Shakopee and her boyfriend.  I enjoyed sips of other’s brews, but as they don’t do flights I enjoyed the Wooden Soul #1: Saison w/Brett*….a wine barrel aged Saison…SO GOOD!  I also tried my brothers Wet Hop Ale*.
The next destination was Insight Brewing…I love the logo and had wanted to try their beers for some time.  They brew legends and it is in the brew artwork and in the flavor!  Again, it was epic flight time….we had everything on tap. (4 people splitting tasters…drink responsibly!)  Our journey allowed us to taste Lambton Dragon*, Hell Chicken*, Sunken City*, Troll Way IPA*, Phantom Taxi, French Saison*, Doe Eyes*, Wild Hunt*, Lambton Dragon Cask*.  Now these were fabulous, but the Doe Eyes made from Door County Cherries won us over by far 🙂
Doe Eyes
From Insight we headed to my Twin Cities beer Mecca, SURLY!  Arriving at Surly was surreal.  We were driving in the dark, down dark roads surrounded by brick studio spaces and others that felt long forgotten, then suddenly we came down a hill and like a beacon of brew salvation stands an ENORMOUS uplit building with SURLY glowing in the dark.  I had an “AAAHHHH” moment!  The outdoors is landscaped, with water features and semi private fire pit areas.  The inside is modern industrial from the bathroom trough sinks to bar.  This building also has a merchandise store and 2 restaurants, one higher end (we will get to that one next time).  I can’t wait to one day see this place during the day.  Another thing to know is they don’t do flights and 8 oz glasses of beer can mess you up quick, thank goodness again for a table of 6 to taste and eat together (My friend and her boyfriend and my other friend and her brother).  I enjoyed the MERGUEZ LAMB SAUSAGE and loved it!
So hard to choose
Here we tasted: Coffee Bender*, CynicAle*, Nein*, Surly Pils, One Time Sour*, SurlyFest 2015*, Simpson’s Scottish Ale*, Smoke*, and #Merica! .
Surly was the end to our amazing day! Â I had tried 39 new beers on day 3, a total of 107 new brews for the trip.
Libertine Brunch
Day 4 was our day to travel home. Â I ended my family visit to the Twin Cities with brunch at Libertine in Uptown. Â I again enjoyed bone marrow and a Bacon Chop…and to finish it off, I had one more pint of Doe Eyes by Indeed that was on tap because I knew it was very unlikely that I would ever have it again.
After brunch I headed back to Hello Pizza to pick up the friend who rode with me. Â We headed back down Hwy 169 for home, but it wasn’t for the fall colors this time, but to stop at Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store!
Taffy for days in every flavor!
Loving every Adventure in Life~!
I had an amazing time on my #TasteTC2015 trip!
As always, I can’t wait to plan the next grand adventure!
~Cakes~
earthcakes & cupquakes 