Touring the Steel Toe Brewery in Minnesota.
With an awesome name like Steel Toe Brewery we wondered how it all got started. My Dad, as a gift, gave me a magazine about home brewing your own beers. It seemed like a novel idea to open a micro-brewery ourselves, but with the patience that it took to make just one kind of beer, it was easy for me to shelf the w hole idea pretty quickly.
For the owners of the Steel Toe Brewery that dream became a passion.
Not just to own a micro brewery but to generate a few well crafted beers as well. Do you want to give home brewing a try yourself? Here is a great way to get started with home brewing for under $50: Craft Beer Making Kit
Read on to learn more about Steel Toe Brewery tours and beers…
Awesome Beer Logo
Starting a micro brewery like Steel Toe Brewery takes time.
The fermentation of this idea of starting a micro brewery came after Jason created 3 different brews right in their home. Taking it to the next level the owner of the Steel Toe Brewery headed off to the World Brewing Academy for 3 months of schooling.
After graduation as a brewer, Jason landed a job with the Pelican Pub and Brewery in Oregon as a Cellarman and eventually worked his way up to Head Brewer. Bringing their brewing experiences, and a well thought out business plan, Jason and Hannah eventually found their way back to Minnesota.
The origin of the name for this brewery got me wondering and I found what
I wanted to know right on the Steel Toe Brewery website.
Here is an excerpt from Steel Toe Brewery:
WHY STEEL TOE? Jason has worn steel toed boots for most of his work career. It’s not a colored-collar thing, its a hard-work thing. That’s what we’re about. Your ‘steel toes’ might be stilettos, loafers, wing-tips or hiking boots, it doesn’t matter. It’s just about what makes you feel like you’ve earned the rewards at the end of the day, namely a great craft beer. Prost! Hannah, Owner/Enabler
Every Friday at 6 and 7 PM the Steel Toe Brewery offers guided tours.
Jason explains his beer making process, the equipment and the procedure in detail. This made for a very informative beer tour, almost as good as the Leinenkugels Beer Tour. After some Q&A we made our way back to the front of the brewery where we had a couple more beer samples and were able to make our purchases.
With a ‘Growler’ bottle of Provider beer (Silke’s favorite) and two new t-shirts in tow we felt we had accomplished our objective. If you are into micro-breweries or just want a good beer with great taste, give the Steel Toe Brewery a try. You will not be disappointed.
The Steel Toe Brewery opened it’s doors August of 2011.
Be sure to check out the Steel Toe Micro Brewery on your next visit to the Minneapolis, MN. Steel Toe Brewery is located at 4848 West 35th Street in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.
Have you ever tried your hand at home brewing beer? Let us know your experience.
Nick and Silke
Silke
Homebrewing is the brewing of beer, wine, sake, mead, cider, perry and other beverages through fermentation on a small scale as a hobby for personal consumption, free distribution at social gatherings, amateur brewing competitions or other non-commercial reasons. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages can be made at home.*:,,
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interesting..
isn’t the craft beer movement about maknig/drinking *good* beer rather than black-balling a brewery-company that gets too big b/c it’s simply popular/good? if stone, one day, ends up selling 2 mil barrels+, is it no longer craft beer? maybe the craft brew movement should seek eventual extinction when quality craft beer is simply known as beer.
You bring up a good point. I always wondered why he would want to stay ‘small’. My mindset was that he wanted to keep production costs and the such more manageable. Your comment has me wondering about the prestige of losing the ‘quality’ of his beer to ‘production’ beer or mass consumption.
Thanks for the feed back!
cool post! Keep up the nifty work!
I bought my dad a whole kit from Hawkins Bazaar a clpuoe of years ago, it was about a320 i think and made about 30 pints (10 at a time), he still uses it now, just buys the refills off the internet!I looked at proper brewing kits at the time to brew in bulk, but they were about a3200!
thanks for share!
For beginners, I ommrceend buying pre-assembled homebrew ingredients kits which are available in homebrew stores or else over the internet. If you have a homebrew store near you, they should also be able to put together a kit containing all the necessary tools. If NOT, then here’s what you’ll need in addition to the ingredients kit:(1.) A large metal pot (you will be brewing 2.5 gallons of liquid, so it must be BIG if you/your parents don’t have one, try a restaurant supply store).(2.) A long-stem (i.e. 10-12 ) metal thermometer to clip onto the side of the large brew pot in order to monitor the temperature (also available at restaurant supply stores don’t cost much)(3.) A utensil for stirring the beer while in the brewing process(4.) A container to hold the beer after brewing while it ferments (a large contractor-size paint bucket i.e. from Home Depot will suffice, but you will need a lid).(5.) Cleanser (i.e. unscented bleach or other unscented detergent) to mix with water this is VERY IMPORTANT because you will need it to cleanse EVERYTHING that will come in contact with the beer or else you risk ruining the entire batch).(6.) A metal strainer/cheese cloth/other mechanism to strain the beer before transfering it from the brew pot to the fermentation bucket.(7.) A glass hydrometer for measuring the alcohol content before and after fermentation (it’s possible to get by without one, but I ommrceend that beginners use one).Good luck, and have fun!_