Lupine Brewing--A Wolf Among Sheep

Recently my wife (Sj) and I took a Sunday drive into Delano to visit the two breweries in town.  You can check out my South Fork Brewing review HERE.  After finishing our beers there, we bundled up against the bitter wind, the last pink light of dusk lighting our way the two blocks to Lupine Brewing Company.  I managed to grab a couple pictures of the exterior before the light completely failed us and the howling tauntaun-killing cold turned my exposed fingers to icicles.

Entering the old 1800's era building we were struck by blessed warmth, mellow lighting forming comfortable pools of yellow radiance around the space.  My first impression was of restfulness, age, and history.  Exposed brick walls added a depth of character, while reclaimed rustic wood from the other half of the building formed the bar and the tops of solid tables scattered about the taproom.  Before we had our coats completely off, one of the owners, Michael Dumas, had handed us a bowl of pretzels and introduced himself to us.  With this warm greeting we were seated at one of those hefty tables.  There were about 8-10 people in the taproom, resulting in a quiet buzz of conversation that was not overly distracting but actually added to the comfortable and relaxed atmosphere.

Not long after getting seated, another of the three owners, Eric Sargent, came over to say hello. I met Eric briefly at All Pints North in Duluth this past summer while he was pouring beers and he seems to be very good at remembering people!  Sj and I sampled through the whole line-up of beers and Eric stopped in a couple more times to see what we thought of them and tell us more about their process and recipes as well as history.  Apparently the building had most recently been a Mexican restaurant and after tearing up several layers of flooring they discovered 1900's birch hardwood floors that now add character to the taproom.  They were also able to recover the original tin ceiling tiles.  I recently talked to Paul Jostwick (owner of the fantastically beer-centric Hollywood Roadhouse) and apparently he was involved in the build-out of that restaurant and was sad to see all those old features covered up.  Here they are again, revealed and used to best effect!  Their 10 barrel brewery equipment had been located in St. Cloud prior to moving to Delano, and they'd been using it there since 2014.  I honestly hadn't realized they'd been brewing that long and had assumed they were contract brewing somewhere.

Here's my quick review of the beers with a rating on 0-5 scale.  3 is average, 4 I'll actively seek out, and 5 worthy of my secret dragon's hoard.

1) Wheat Ale--An American wheat beer.  Easy drinking, clean and well balanced.  Not my favorite style but well crafted. 3.75

2) IPA--Fairly sweet with some caramel notes.  Hint of diacetyl buttery flavor.  This tastes much more like a pale ale than an IPA and just lacks the hop punch in flavor and aroma that I'm looking for.  Still pretty drinkable though. 3

3) Rout Brown Ale--A very flavorful and balanced English brown ale.  Wayyyyyy better than Newcastle.  4

4) Murder of Cranberries--An oatmeal stout with cranberries.  Interesting beer and more subtle than expected.  I've had this before at Hollywood Roadhouse and liked it.  Some oatmeal slickness on the palate helps with the body.  Roasty.  Mild tartness from the cranberry.  3.75

5) UnCayndness Stout--Not bad.  Very subtle chili pepper spice on the finish.  I want more pepper!!  3.5

6) Three Bandits--Locally roasted coffee infused in this stout.  Very strong cold-press coffee flavors dominate this, but the mouthfeel is still full and creamy.  I'm a home coffee roaster and love the freshness of this brew.  Not for the hater of coffee!  My favorite of the night.  4.25

7) Oatmeal Stout--Had a strange Smarties roll candy aroma and flavor that hurt this for me.  Sj described it as Necco Wafers without me even mentioning my thoughts... This one was odd since Lupine proved to me that they can do stouts well (see above!) 3

Lots of dark beers to choose from, perfect for the season!  Overall, I was fairly impressed with the line-up.  While a couple of the beers had some minor flaws or stylistic issues, all of them were drinkable.  The Three Bandits was my favorite for sure and I took home a growler of it for later...

Lupine was a bit of a surprise to us.  We were immediately put at ease and really loved the ambiance and service of the taproom.  The beers weren't too shabby either!  I would highly recommend a visit to the brewery.  I'll be watching what the guys do closely over the next year and hope they continue to try new and interesting things.

Take the Other Fork in the Road: South Fork Brewery Review

Recently, my wife Sarajo and I took a quick jaunt to Delano to visit the two new breweries there.  Our first stop was South Fork Brewing Company, located in the old down-town district.  The brewery is in what used to be a plumbing and heating building and more recently was the site of The Bohemian Wine Bar and Pub.  I actually wrote up the place back in 2013 and talked with Sarah about that venture HERE.  Interestingly it looks like the brewery has a similar 1 year or lifetime membership options for free or discounted beers and growlers on their website.

South Fork Brewing is probably closer to what Sarah had originally envisioned based on my previous talk with her, and isn't a huge stretch to go from hosting taps of local Minnesota craft beer and wine to brewing up their own in-house.  The brewery is a small 3.5 barrel copper affair that requires two batches to fill the 7 barrel fermentors.  They've been open just over 7 months as of this visit.  The part-time head brewer is Brett Lincoln, a fellow homebrewer and member of Jack Of All Brews homebrew club.  He's beat me in a few homebrew competitions in the past and I respect his skills quite a bit.  The man makes a mean barleywine!  We stopped in on a Sunday afternoon and the place was pretty quiet.  Sarah's husband (and co-brewer) Ken was manning the bar and spent some time with my wife and I as we tasted through the beers.

The building itself hasn't changed much from its previous incarnation--consisting mainly of a large open room with big windows facing the street.  The outside of the building has a small logo on the front door, but otherwise lacks a large sign--you almost have to be looking for the place to find it.  Inside there's plenty of table seating and a rock-fronted serving bar along one wall.  Where the old place had a separate event room slightly elevated from the main floor, now the copper and stainless steel of the brewery resides there.  The setting is comfortable overall, but a bit sterile--the walls are mostly bare and there isn't much branding or brew/beer decoration to it other than a row of MN brewery growlers over the windows.

How about the beers?  I'll run through my impressions of the beers we tried on our sampler paddle!  My personal rating system is 0-5, with 3 being an average-I-will-drink-it, a 4 being outstanding, and a 5 being rare and worthy of my dragon's hoard.


1) As The Crow Flies Kolsch: Many craft breweries with have a kolsch or cream ale on tap, often used as a stepping stone for those not seasoned in the "dark" beers.  This one is drinkable, but has much more fruity ester and clove phenols that I tend to find in Belgian ales.  I would guess this comes from either stressed out or underpitched yeast or perhaps fermentation temp control problems.  Still not a bad beer, just not a great kolsch.  2.75

2) Session IPA:  This is a lower gravity IPA made for the drinker who wants to have more than one.  The aroma on it is great with a strong punch of orange.  The flavor also has dominant citrus/orange character, but is a bit too bitter and borderline astringent--throwing the balance off.  This could be from water chemistry or perhaps too much bittering hop. Not bad though. 3

3) Sunday Funday Red: Mellow Irish red ale.  Easy to drink.  Has a smoky aftertaste that I'm not sure should be there.  3

4) Dela No No Brown: This is named for the (gasp!) cabaret show that they hold at the brewery twice a year.  Strong chocolate aroma.  This has a pleasant chocolate covered strawberry flavor.  Roasty.  Slight soapy note on finish.  3.5

5) Pilgrim Chocolate Pumpkin Stout: Subtle dry cocoa.  Almost overwhelming cinnamon.  On nitro which mellows the beer.  Not bad. 3.75

6) Plunger IPA: Decent beer.  Good citrus character to hopping in flavor and aroma--better than the session version in terms of balance.  A bit mineral in the finish--probably water chemistry related. 3.25

7) Black Cat: Belgian stout.  I get more brettanomyces tartness than Belgian ale yeast esters and phenols.  I'm wondering if this one is infected or if deliberately "funked".

Overall the beers were all drinkable--no drainpours here!  But if I'm being honest, I think that several of them had some mild to moderate flaws depending on how acute your palate is.  Sarajo, who is not a beer judge (but who shares many a beer with me) picked up most of the things I did.  My favorite of the beers was the Pilgrim, with the chocolate strawberry beer coming in second.


We had an enjoyable visit to South Fork and I hope that the place does well in the coming years.  I'd like to see a bit more vibrancy or decoration to the place to liven it up a bit.  I also feel that this brewery--like many small new breweries I've visited--needs to work a bit on the core brewing.  Temp control, control of water chemistry, proper yeast handling, these are all things that breweries struggle with, but most tiny start-ups either lack the money or the experience to add all of these things right off the bat.  However, these are the qualities (as well as consistency) that make a brewery stand out and fight its way to the top of a growing sea of options.  From talking to Ken and Brett it sounds like they are continuing to work on enhancing these things in the brewery over the coming year.

The Bohemian Wine Bar and Pub

I recently had a get-together with some work mates of mine in Delano, MN.  We met at the very new Bohemian Wine Bar and Pub right in the old center of town.  Built in an old tire or auto shop, the pub has a large bank of windows fronting the street.  The main room is spare and wide open with local artisan paintings and photographs on the walls.  Some of the walls are painted a brick red and the rest (as well as the ceiling) are beautiful knotted and varnished wood.

Proprietress Sara Beamish serving up some beers to my friends!

The bar is at the back right corner, manned by Sara Beamish the co-proprietor of the place.  At the time of this writing they had 5 beers on tap, all Minnesotan, with a few bottles available as well.  Beers at that time ranged from Lost Trout Brown, to Lucid Air to Grainbelt (Nordeast I think.)  They also had a good wine selection, but I'll admit I didn't pay attention that side of things!  Spouses and non beer people will have plenty of wines to try.  They have a couple light snacks to serve like hummus and a cheese plate, but no real kitchen.  They also have a stage in the main room and most weekends have live music or other performers there.  The place definatly have a more upscale restaurant seating vibe than most small town drankin' bars.

I really like the idea behind this pub, admittedly because they are very into craft and local beers.  Sara was kind enough to take the time to answer some interview questions for me.  I was surprised at some of her responses, as you may be as well!  Overall I respect the love of exploration and discovery that drives this couple's dream. 

EW:  What prompted you two to open this type of venue as opposed to a typical small-town bar or restaurant?

Sara:  My husband and I are not satisfied with drinking much of what is offered to the public in terms of mass-produced wines and beers.  We really enjoy seeking out the beers and wines that everyone may not have already tried so that we can expand their knowledge base.  Our bar is the perfect venue to do that in; however, we were already doing that in our home when we would invite friends and family over for gatherings and parties.

EW:  Tell us more about your wine and beer for life/a year program.

Sara:  The beer/wine for a year as well as the beer/wine for a life program is a win-win situation.  For the people taking part in it, they receive a fantastic benefit: beer or wine!  There are slight differences in the programs which I will lay out.

1. The beer for a year costs $250, and this allows you to drink all the beer you like for one year.
2. The wine for a year costs $500, and this allows you to drink all the wine you would like for one year. 

3.  The beer for life program costs $1,000, and you drink all the beer you would like for life.

4. The wine for life program costs $1,000, and you are able to receive your first glass of wine each time you stop in for free. 

A couple things to remember are that the owners/servers reserve the right to cut you off if you are becoming too intoxicated (within the limits of the law), and this is not transferable to anyone else.  The 'For Life' programs expire at the end of the participant's life or the life of the business, whichever comes first (sorry for a slightly morbid statement!). For the beer or wine for a year participants, we are only allowing 20 people into each program. We currently have 5 people signed up for the beer.  Once the slots are filled, others will be placed on a waiting list. The people in each slot will have the option to renew when their year is up or the first person on the waiting list will have the opportunity to purchase the spot. We have 30 slots total for the beer for life and wine for life. Currently, we have 1 person already signed up for that. 

The reason it is a win-win is because this money is capital for us to complete our outdoor patio as well as move onto the next phase which will be a 3,000 square foot banquet hall or (fingers crossed...) a brewery in the back of our building.

EW:  What got you guys into craft beer and wines?

Sara:  Ken (my husband and co-owner) has loved craft beers for some time.  For the past four years, we have taken day trips and longer trips around the state, country, and even Mexico to find all the breweries and wineries we could.  We really enjoy doing tastings and immersing ourselves in the environment that comes with being at a brewery or winery.  There is something about taking a sniff of beer and smelling the aromas that can put you at ease for the afternoon!

EW:  Do you have any favorite local beers and wines that you would like to get into your place?

Sara:  We really are looking forward to getting in wines from Morgan Creek Vineyards out of New Ulm, MN.  It was the first winery we went to, and proceeds from the sales of that wine are going to be going into a fund that will promote the arts in Delano as well as New Ulm. My aunt, Bobbi, owned The Bohemian Bed and Breakfast in New Ulm which burned down in 2011 and took her life--one of the reasons we named our bar The Bohemian.  She was very much a 'bohemian' type of person and loved the arts. We are very excited to give back to the arts as a way to honor her memory as well as the memories of my two cousins who also died in the fire.

As for beers, we can't wait to get beers in from 612Brew.  They had a very interesting selection of beers, so can't wait to add them to our rotation.  We have already started to serve beer from Schell's, but there are so many to offer up! As fall comes around, we will definitely be serving their Oktoberfest as it is a favorite of Ken's and mine.

EW:  What are your goals for the future? Do you plan to increase your number of taps or carry some bottled beers?

Sara:  I gave our immediate goals with regard to the building renovations above. We are adding another three taps in the next week, and are working to increase the numbers to another three in the very near future. That would make for a total of 11 taps that we can keep a good rotation of craft beers on, which would appear to be one of the largest if not the largest selection of craft beers in the area! Depending on which path we take in the back area, we will add even more taps there.  We currently carry a gluten free beer, and are open to the possibility of adding some other bottled beers. So far, there hasn't been too big of a demand for the bottled beer, but you never know what the future holds!.

EW:   Thank you so much for spending the time to respond to my questions Sara!  I really like the place and would encourage anyone who lives nearby to stop in for a beer (or a wine if you swing that way.)  I really want you guys to succeed in this somewhat off the beaten path endeavor.  If I lived closer I would totally do the beer for life, especially with your plans to expand the taps!

The Bohemian Wine Bar and Pub

221 2nd Street North

Delano, MN 55328