Town Hall Brewery

With the incredible explosion of new commercial breweries in the area over the last 2 years, it can be easy to forget about the pioneers in the field.  Town Hall Brewery, a small brewpub in the 7 Corners area near the University, has been around since the 1990's and has been frequently winning medals at the GABF for its amazing beers.  Since my friend Dave turned me on to this place about 5-6 years ago, it has become my favorite local brew-joint.

The menu is fairly typical pub food, but the 7 Corners Burger is my favorite in the Twin Cities, loaded with bacon, stout BBQ sauce and cheese.  And yes, I do always order the same thing.  The venue is in an old building with tin ceilings and has a relaxed vibe.  Patio seating is very popular in the brief MN summer months.

The beers are brewed on premises by Mike Hoops and his assistant brewers and are quite varied.  They have a set of 6 beers that are always on tap, including the fantastic Hope & King Scottish ale.  There are usually 5-6 seasonals on tap and rotate very frequently, often including a fruit infusion.  If you are lucky they will have one of their Imperial Stouts or Barleywines on tap.  There are also usually 1-2 cask beers on, which was unheard of around these parts until the last few years.  Since I don't get down there as much as I would like, I often get the seasonal sampler to test out all the new brews at once.

Earlier this year the brewery had a garage sale to sell of some old merchandise and make room for more offices and equipment, and I was able to get my grubby paws on one of their old brewery signs that was up for silent auction.  It now holds a proud place in my garage brewing area, since it was way too big to hang in my basement bar.  On my way out of the brewery with the sign it was pretty hilarious listening to all the people outside freaking out that I was stealing the sign in broad daylight.  Ah, good times!