I've had the good fortune to travel to Minnesota recently and visit the famed Minneapolis Town Hall brewpub.
It was a fairly quiet Wednesday night the day I stopped in the Town Hall for a burger and a taste of the famous Masala Mama IPA and other brews. I tried a $7 sampler of brews that included the Masala Mama, a pale ale, an oatmeal stout, a smoked dunkelweizen, hefe-weizen and Belgian-style quadrupel. I first sampled the Mama, thinking that the hops would further arouse my appetite. It did that and then some -- the Masala Mama was a huge IPA, one that I had sampled some years earlier at the Real Ale Fest in Chicago. The hop aroma from this beer made it seem like a grapefruit had been stuffed into the tiny sampling glass. As I sampled the brew I was overwhelmed by the brash tangerine pith and grapefruit flavors awash in a sea of creme brulee-like maltiness. The cask version of this beer was incredibly smooth and coated the tongue with wonderful caramel flavors soaked with citrusy hops. Simply wonderful for the hophead! The plain tap version of the Masala Mama seemed a bit fizzy, less smooth and (if possible) more bitter. The pale ale seemed like a watered down version of the massive IPA, but was still tasty and would definitely work as a session beer. The oatmeal stout, too, would be a great session pint. My little four-ounce sampler had a whiff of hop, then some chocolate and coffee aromas. I noticed a pleasant roast coffee flavor on the first sip, with a nice bit of bitterness balancing the sweet chocolate and caramel malts. The mouthfeel of the cask version of this beer was beyond smooth and simply luxurious!

I tried about a sip each of the rest of the beers in the sampler. The most interesting beer was the smoked dunkelweizen with smoke hitting the nose right away. The carbonation was a bit fizzy with this one, but the concept of a dunkelweizen laced with smoked malt was pretty interesting. The Bavarian Weizen had a banana bread flavor to it, with the quadrupel just being huge. I had to stay from that one as it seemed interesting, with some intense caramel flavors, heavy graininess, but warming alcohol.

I ate my dinner between sips of beer and the food was quite good. I had a "basic burger" that was, well, pretty simple and consisted of a burger patty and a bun. I added some blue cheese and it was quite tasty. The bun reminded me of an old fashioned burger joint; it was white bread with no sesame seeds. The burger was a third-pound and was served with skinny fries that reminded me of the ones you get at Steak and Shake. They were so light and starchy that they were useful as a palate cleanser between sampling brews.

I sat in the dining room on the kitchen side of the place, with the bar being on the other side. There was a pool table at one of the room and I faced the brewhouse, with the kitchen behind me. The Minneapolis Town Hall is not a big place, but it sure makes some great brews. My consensus was that the Masala Mama was the best beer and that it doesn't take a big brewery to make big beers.

What:
A visit to Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery
Where:
1430 Washington Ave. South, Minneapolis, Minn. Ph. (612) 339-8696
When:
Happy hour is 4-7pm and pints are about $1 cheaper than normal. The brewpub also taps a new beer for $1 a pint every other Wednesday. (Seems too good to be true.)

Bars and Pubs | Brewpubs | Breweries | Belgian Beer
Homebrew 101 | Suds Stories | Tasting Room | What's New