Minneapolis Under Siege

Minneapolis has been taken by storm, literally. The city just survived the 5th worst (or epic) storm in Minnesota history.  The blizzard dropped 17 inches of snow over night. Snow Emergencies have been declared in a number of communities in the Twin Cities, local businesses were shut down and the airport was basically at a stand still during the brunt of the storm.  Its been interesting to witness the recovery of the snow laden city firsthand.  Parking is a disaster and streets have yet to be plowed.  With nowhere to put the snow, the city has been hauling the snow out of Minneapolis by truck.  The most devastating blow delivered by the storm was the destruction at the Mall of America Field; home of the Minnesota Vikings. The roof couldn't hold the weight of the snow and caved in late Saturday night. Thanks to FOX sports already having their equipment set up for Sundays game against the NY Giants there was some amazing footage taken of the roof implosion:



Not all was lost though!  The city is rapidly recovering from its snowy beat down, the Vikings get to play outside on Monday Night Football at the new TCF Stadium on the University of Minnesota's campus, and I get to go ski. Can't beat that.

Breweries Are Getting Crafty On Us

No one is buying beer anymore. According to the Beer Marketer's Insights president Benj Steinman, "They're the worst trends we've ever seen". Apparently, total beer shipments were down 2.1% for the first eight months of the year and five of the top six mega brands are slumping.

This is an interesting since I was just read an article not 20 minutes ago about a local craft beer that cant brew their beer fast enough to keep up with their orders. Surly Brewing, which was started with a home-made brewing kit in a garage 4 years ago has a 2 year waiting list for bars to get its original brews on tap.

It seems the market is shifting from the big bully everyone thought they should be friends with to the under-appreciated little guy that spent more time with his chemistry set than with friends at the beach for some summer fun. This is typical in today's culture. People don't want to be told what to drink; they want to discover it. They want a beer made with the absolute best ingredients available which produces delicious, small, sustainable batches; not the mass produced innards for a recipe that produces 986 million gallons a year. Today's beer drinkers need a face and a story behind the brews their swilling; not a board of directors and a bunch of factories.

Craft beers represent 7% of all beer sales in America and its trending higher every year. As for Surly, its the fastest growing brewery in the country and was named the Best Brewery In America by Beer Advocate Magazine's June 2007 issue's Top 50 American Breweries.

Hey MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch: people are definitely still drinking beer, their just not drinking yours.

Minneapolis recieves a healthy dose of Primus

I was sitting at home last Friday night and decided to go fishing for a ticket to the Primus show at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. I cast a shiny lure out on craigslist.com the day of the show and a couple of hours later I found a lonely abandoned ticket for a mere twenty spot.

The show was a refreshing blend of music, art and gymnastics (they had gymnasts performing in-between acts). Fitting for a tour labeled "The Oddity Faire". Les Claypool didn't disappoint at all. He ripped some amazing solo's and even indulged the audience by donning a pig mask while ripping on his home-made bass guitar. There was one over zealous fan who got the best of Mr. Claypool during the song Jerry Was A Race Car Driver. Les stopped mid-song to politely ask the fan to stop throwing cheese on stage by stating; "contrary to popular opinion, that's not very original. Please just keep the cheese to yourself". The fan had a clear need for a song from Primus's album Sailing the Seas of Cheese.

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