Surly Beer Hall - revisit

We went back to the Surly taproom recently with John's mom and her husband Al, when they visited us for the week. We were there during the week and it wasn't too busy when we arrived so we were seated right away. It filled up quickly though.

I had the brisket with a side of corn. The brisket had a great smoky flavor and was very tender. They had two BBQ sauces, one sweet and one spicier. The spicy was quite mild. The corn had poblano, cotija, lime and it was a bit spicy. All of it was great and I'd order the brisket again.

 Al had the smoked polish with caraway kraut, kale salad, bootees mustard. Al had never tried kale and liked it a lot. 

 Surly burger for John's mom. It was a double cheeseburger with thinner patties. 

John had the chopped brisket sandwich topped with slaw and a side of fries

The food was all very good once again. I'm looking forward to going back and trying more things on the menu. It also seems like they change up the menu every so often, which helps keep it interesting. And the tap list seems to change often as well. There are always a few selections available at the taproom that we've never seen elsewhere.

Here is a link to our first visit: http://whereshouldwegomsp.blogspot.com/2015/04/surly-beer-hall.htm


Surly Tap Room
520 Malcolm Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN
(763) 999-4040
http://surlybrewing.com/breweries-tap-room/tap-room/

Surly Beer Hall

We are so out of the loop when it comes to visiting new places. The Surly tap room has been open for quite some time now, December of last year I think, and we just recently visited. Guess this blog is not the destination for reading about new, trendy restaurants. Oh well.

We seated ourselves at the bar and perused the beer list. They have enough taps for 20 different beers and the bartender said many of them are only available at the tap room.

I tried the Surly Hell and the Surly Mild. John had the Doomtree and the Todd the Ax man.

The space is very large and there are garage doors that open up to a large outdoor patio area. The place is quite loud and boisterous, but the atmosphere seemed fun to me, not overly loud.

They also offer a full food menu. We were not very hungry, so we shared a couple small plates.

The pretzel comes with pimento cheese dip and a spicy ale mustard dip. The pretzel was freshly baked and quite large. We did not care for the pimento cheese dip, but the ale mustard was quite spicy, flavorful and addictive.

We also ordered the smoked mushroom, goat cheese, garlic and thyme pizza. It is more of what I’d call a flatbread, with a thin cracker type crust. The smoked mushrooms were divine, tons of smoky flavor and they worked well with the goat cheese. This was a really good snack or entrée and I’d order it again. I love goat cheese a lot though.

The rest of the menu has a wide range, from salads to seafood and a variety of BBQ options too. I was scoping other people’s food and the brisket looked quite good as did the shrimp and grits.

It should be noted that there are no TVs in the tap room. We had hoped they would have the Wild game on, but no dice.

Also, tours are offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays at 1pm and 3pm, and Fridays & Sundays at 1pm, 3pm and 5pm. You need to sign up in the company store one hour before the tour, cost is $4 per person and you get four samples, a tasting glass and a donation to Open Arms Minnesota. Tours last one hour and you must wear closed toed shoes.


Surly Tap Room
520 Malcolm Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN
(763) 999-4040
http://surlybrewing.com/breweries-tap-room/tap-room/

Dayblock Brewing

We visited Day Block brewing recently because we had bought a Living Social offer online. Day Block is a newer brewery opened in 2014 in downtown Minneapolis and it is unique because it is more of a brewpub, with a large menu available.

We started with a couple flights of beers.

We got the bacon flight as part of our Living Social deal. The bacon flight flavors change daily. I’m not sure bacon needs additional flavor, though these were good.

I also ordered a pub pretzel. The beer mustard was really good; it was spicy but not too spicy. The pretzel itself was excellent, very hot, fresh and soft dough.

We got a growler to go and a T-shirt as part of our deal as well. I think we got Erik the Red as it was our favorite out of all of their beers.

The service was good and the space is very large and open. They even offer a full bar with liquor, so this might be a good option if you have friends that are not that into beer. The menu had appetizers, pizzas and some sandwiches, so there is a good amount of variety available.

Deals & discounts: I don’t think the Living Social offer is available anymore, but they do offer a variety of happy hour specials Sunday through Friday. I would imagine specials could change, so check out their website for more details.


Day Block Brewpub
1105 South Washington Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55415
(612) 617-7793
https://www.dayblockbrewing.com/