A martini at Nye’s Bar is a fine drink to reflect on the year 2018 in local spirits. In January, this bar, Nye’s in name only, opened in the dust of the demolished Polonaise Room, a place whose divey charm earned it the Best Bar in America designation from Esquire in 2006—a lifetime ago, from the … [ Read more]
Year in Review: Minnesota Wine & Spirits in 2018
December 3, 2018 by John Garland
Filed Under: Drink, Homepage Featured, Spirits, Wine Tagged With: 1000 Drops Craft Distillers, 11 Wells Spirits, Alexis Bailey Vineyard, Brother Justus, Carlos Creek Winery, Dampfwerk Pear Brandy, Far North Spirits, Grumpy's, Hai Hai, Heirloom Pineapple Amaro, Heyday, hodges bend, Itasca grapes, J. Carver Straight Wheat Whiskey, Lawless Distilling, Loon Liquor Co., Market Bar-B-Que, Martina, Next Chapter Winery, Northern Hollow Winery, nyes, Rye, Smalley's Caribbean BBQ, Spirits, Studio Distilling Rye Malt Whiskey, the rabbit hole, Vikre Distilling Bent Paddle Black Whiskey, wine, Year in Review
Cold Climate Wine Competition 2017: La Crescent, Marquette reign supreme
August 18, 2017 by John Garland
The Growler was on hand to help judge the 2017 International Cold Climate Wine Competition, which always gives us a good barometer on the state of local wine. The competition is open to any winery using non-Vinifera, cold-hardy grape varieties to make wine, and some of the region’s finest wineries were among the winners this … [ Read more]
Filed Under: Drink, Homepage Featured, Wine Tagged With: Carlos Creek Winery, Cold Climate Wine, Indian Island Winery, Itasca, La Crescent, marquette, Minnesota Wine, Next Chapter Winery, Northern Hollow Winery, Parallel 44, Richwood Winery
Lawsuit challenges locally grown mandate in Minnesota wine
The Institute for Justice, joined by Alexis Bailly Vineyards of Hastings, and Next Chapter Winery of New Prague, announced yesterday a lawsuit that will challenge the language of Minnesota’s statutes for farm winery licenses. Currently, the statute mandates that Minnesota wineries must use a majority of Minnesota-grown grapes in their yearly winemaking output. The lawsuit … [ Read more]
Filed Under: Cider & Wine, Drink, Wine Tagged With: Alexis Bailly Vineyard, cold climate grapes, Institute of Justice, lawsuit, local wine, Minnesota Wine, Next Chapter Winery