Bauhaus Brew Labs – Prague Metal (4.8% ABV)

A dark Czech-style lager, on first sip you might mistake this for a stout. The beer pours near-black with a foamy tan head, giving bold roasty flavors with a careful balance between bitter roasted malt, subtle coffee, and sweet milk chocolate. While it has a similar flavor profile to a stout, the body is soft and lighter on the tongue for a very smooth, sessionable sipping experience. It’s a “small beer” with big flavor. It’s on draft at the brewery all winter, and is sold in Bauhaus’ Frostbox seasonal mixed pack along with a cream ale, American stout, and hazy IPA.

Bauhaus Brew Labs opened in 2014, brewing modern American craft beer inspired by traditional German recipes with a jovial beer hall-style taproom. They also make popular hard seltzers and THC beverages in addition to beer.

Utepils Brewing Co. – Smokey The Beer (6.1% ABV)

A lightly smoked lager, this light body, 6.1% ABV beer adds a new element to a familiar style. The core lager pours amber in color and highly carbonated, with a sweet, malty base befitting of the season. The addition of smoke gives new depth and soul. Where many malt-forward lagers end on a sweet note, Smokey wisps away at the end, smooth and clean. This is a light smoke element, where the smoke compliments instead of overpowering, leaving drinkers with something simple enough to enjoy at a backyard campfire, but flavorful enough to pair with heavy winter food as well.

It is available until April, on draft at the Bryn-Mawr neighborhood brewery, a short hike or cross country ski from Theodore Wirth Park. Further cementing the winter spirit, Utepils has a partnership with The Loppet Foundation, and they are the official beer sponsor of the 2024 Loppet Winter Festival. Utepils also sells a seasonal mixed pack with a red lager, Italian-style Pilsner, doppelbock, and amber ale, available in liquor stores throughout Minneapolis.

Fair State Brewing Cooperative – Mister Falcon (7.3% ABV)

Winter beers don’t need to be dark. Mister Falcon is a hazy IPA collaboration with Barrel Theory (located in Saint Paul), showcasing three different hop varieties, and brewed with malted oats to give a thick and satisfying heavy, yet fizzy, body. It’s a very aromatic beer that gives off orange juice, melon, tropical fruit and citrus tones. The beer itself is big and flavorful, at 7.3% ABV. Initial flavors include pineapple and tropical fruit, developing into a dank finish with a hint of bitterness. While there is a big dose of the tropics, it’s a fitting winter beer with classic citrus and pine undertones that set the mood. It will be available beginning in January.

Fair State is one of few cooperative breweries in the country. Their Northeast taproom offers a local, neighborhood atmosphere with a wide variety of beers available, including lagers, sour ales, IPAs, and stouts. Many restaurants are located near their Central Ave NE base of operations.

Pryes Brewing Co. – Tellement (12.2% ABV)

Mixed culture sours are a labor of love for brewers, often with wine-like, complex flavors that aren’t common in other beer styles. The Idyll Forest program at Pryes specializes in this style, with Tellement described as a “Pinot Noir Wine Hybrid Wild Ale.” This unique recipe pours bright red with a color tone between cranberry and cherry. The bouquet offers notes of cherry and raspberry, plus an earthy element. The flavor is equally complex and sometimes contradictory. First, it hits with tart cherry that grows sweeter toward hibiscus. As it finishes, the previous flavors merge with light citrus and tobacco with a little bit of funk. It goes from tart to slightly sweet to sour, all connected with an earthy musk that maintains that, while wine-like, this is, indeed, a beer.

Supply of Tellement (and all Idyll Forest beers) is limited, with bottles available for purchase at the brewery. Other Idyll Forest beers include Vie de fête (lambic-style with orange and coriander) and Bonne Nuit (wine hybrid with black currant). Pryes is located along the Mississippi River near downtown and features an in-house pizza kitchen and a feather bowling lane with a multi-level restaurant meets warehouse atmosphere.

The Freehouse – Infinity (10.9%)

Jet black in color and a big 10.9% ABV, Infinity is as dark and bold as the season we’re celebrating. A bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout, it begins boozy and strong, with prominent bourbon notes, a roasty stout base, dark fruit character, and sweet caramel notes. Like most high ABV beers, it mellows as it warms, revealing more chocolate and sweeter flavors to compliment the underlying raisin, date, plum, cherry and subtle oak. Then it finishes with a big, sweet vanilla kiss of bourbon. More silky, chocolatey goodness shines through the more the beer sits and warms. It’s a complex, big beer that showcases the best traits of the style without relying too heavily on any single note. 750-milliliter bottles are available for purchase at the North Loop brewpub.

Operated by Blue Plate Restaurant Company, The Freehouse is a brewpub in central Minneapolis with historic character inside and a winterized patio outside. They have a full in-house kitchen, and many of their beers are available on draft at other Blue Plate-owned establishments, such as Longfellow Grill and The Lowry.

Keep building your flight of winter beer...

With all the styles of beer to try, the winter is no time to hibernate. Additional beers that are perfect for the season include Breffix at Modist, Snownami at Northbound Smokehouse, plus Town Hall Brewery’s Black H20 and Hope & King, Loretta’s at Indeed Brewing, Blood Orange Pilsner brewed by Finnegans (now found in the Fulton Taproom), or Nitro Coffee Ale and Winterize lager at Surly.