Summit Brewing Company

I have written a lot about some midwest beers like Schell, New Glarus, Rush River, etc. Yet I realized that I haven't given any love to the grandaddy of craft brewing in Minnesota, Summit Brewing Company. Summit has been brewing in St. Paul since 1986 and to quote their site: "The brainchild of St. Paul beer lover Mark Stutrud, Summit brewing Company was founded with one goal: To bring back the remarkable craft beers once brewed throughout the Upper Midwest."
On a personal note, I was one of the many that spent college drinking shitty, cheap beer. Aside from another midwest favorite, Leinenkugels, my first foray into craft beer was Summit. I think it was probably Summit Extra Pale Ale, a beer that at the time was far too hoppy for my uneducated tastes. But actually the first Summit that reeled me in was their Maibock. Released in early March, it became a beer that we couldn't wait to see its signature blue and white checkered tap handle at our regular bar. Since most of us weren't accustomed to drinking a beer as strong as Maibock, it was always quite the event.

Over the years, Summit has turned into my fall back beer. Meaning, the beer I choose if I'm being too indecisive or just need to run in and grab a sixer. For starters, I'm a sucker for beers that pay homage to their local traditions, and Summit (a famous St. Paul avenue) is the perfect example. Their packaging has a picture of St. Paul and several names of their beers (Great Northern Porter, Scandia and the former Grand) feature tributes to their home city and state. They also contract brew one of the most socially responsible beers, Finnegans Irish Ale, which donates 100% of their proceeds to charity. But most importantly, Summit makes great beer.

Their flagship is Summit Extra Pale Ale. This beer is a light bronze colored ale that is hopped with Cascade, Horizon, and Fuggles. It has a great carmely presence in the body and a nice hoppy bitterness. As their website says, there isn't a beer lover in the cities who isn't familiar with this beer.

I mentioned the Maibock, a limited spring release. It's malty and smooth, with a presence of Saaz hops. This beer is 6.7% abv and pours a golden color with a thick white head. One of my favorite beers of all time. I've yet to have a better Maibock.

Their Great Northern Porter is the beer that forever changed my views of porters. I have tried quite a few porters since (I even have a post about it) and yet Summit's still is the best. This is a roasty black porter. It is malty and smooth, with a bit of a hop presence. It's jet black with a thin tan head.

Summit also has an ESB (which I've only had a couple of times). They also renamed their pilsner from Summit Grand to Summit Pilsner. Apparently they changed the recipe as well. I'd had Grand before and it was a nice, light, crisp pilsner. I have yet to try their new recipe.

I recently had their Winter Ale, which is a dark brown, almost black beer. It has a great roastiness with a nice chocolate presence. Unlike most winter warmers, this one lacks spices. Its just a nice full bodied beer for the frigged Minnesota winters.

I've only had their IPA once, and I don't remember much about it, so I'm going to skip the description. Sorry I didn't buy some for this posting, but I bought the porter instead!
Their summer beer has changed locally. For the longest time Summit released a Hefeweizen, I personally really liked it. There was a nice cloviness to it, and a refreshing, crisp body. However, I know a lot of people who didn't like it. They stopped making it locally and now only have it in the Chicago market. Perhaps some of my Chicagoland readers can chime in their impressions if they've had it. What it's been replaced by in the cities is Scandia Ale, their Belgian witbier. While this isn't my favorite Belgian witbier on the market, I do like it. It pours a cloudy pale yellow and has hints of cardamom, coriander and orange. Its really crisp and refreshing, and a nice change of pace from their normal line-up. They also release an Oktoberfest which I've never had.

Last spring, I finally went on a tour of the brewery. I live very close to it and don't know why I'd never gone before. But anyway, my friends Brian and Jeff (from the Town Hall experience) and another friend Bob went over on a Saturday morning for their free tour. There wasn't anything super special about the tour itself, a pretty regular brewery tour. But what we were really struck by was how cool and nice everyone there was. We ended up having a great time, drinking a ton of great, free beer, and all walked away wanting to support Summit as much as possible. For anyone who lives in the Twin Cities, or the midwest, it's a tour really worth your time. It's free, but there's a big waiting list and you have to call ahead.

If you can support Summit, it's worth your while. Its a great brewery and I think that because they've been around for 21 years, they tend to get overlooked a bit in the local market. Understandably, the new breweries of Flat Earth and Surly have been getting a lot of attention. What's really nice is that all three are doing different things, so we are starting to have a nice variety in the beers in the Twin Cities market.

Cheers!
-The Bearded Brewer