Fair State Brewing Cooperative | Minneapolis, MN
Beer Trip: Fair State Brewing Cooperative in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Fair State Brewing Cooperative was a name that kept coming up time and time again when searching for breweries in Minneapolis. With its vibrant atmosphere and top-notch beer, it was easy to see why.
The Brewery
One of the neater things we discovered was that Fair State is a co-op, meaning that it is owned by a large group of people from the community. Growing up in a small Kansas town, this reminded us of the grain co-ops found in many small communities. At Fair State, they have a saying: “Drink like you own the place,” which was pretty fitting because it seemed like many of the patrons likely do hold some ownership! They actually have a cool wall opposite the bar where every cooperative member’s picture is proudly displayed. If you’re a local and this sounds like fun to you, you can even join the cooperative yourself.
The place itself is located in a busy neighborhood, so parking can be a bit of a challenge. Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to search long and parked about a block down the road. The building is long and narrow with a bar on the left side of the room, tables lining the right side, and the brewery located in the back. Behind the building is a spacious outdoor patio with numerous picnic tables spread about. The area is surrounded by planter boxes full of native plants, making it feel somewhat remote rather than right in the middle of a city.
Fair State is long and narrow, but still has ample seating
Awesome wall featuring the hundreds of co-op owners!
The Beer
Fair State has tons of beer choices with 20+ unique taps. Of their drafts, they keep five of them as flagship beers and the rest of them rotate as they run out. Their menu is organized via beer categories of hoppy, lager, dark, and fruited/sour, with multiple samplings of each available. During our visit it definitely seemed like the hoppy and lager categories were the biggest hits, with 6 IPAs and five lagers available for the taking.
With so many beer options, we weren’t able to try very many - but what we did sample was all above-average in taste. One beer that stood out was the Party Forward, a New England-style IPA and one of their flagship choices. This one was a bit citrusy with an abundance of haze packed into it. Their Medieval England Reference ESB was recommended to us by the bartender as his current favorite. This wouldn’t normally have been on our list to try, but we’re glad that we did! This extra special bitter was served on nitro, which really toned down the hops and left you with a great, malty flavor.
Food, Merch, & More
Fair State doesn’t have a food menu, but they do sell and cook locally made frozen pizza - which seemed to be wildly popular, with their ovens constantly in use. In addition to the pizza, they also occasionally have bread or soft pretzels produced by the bakery located next door. While beer is their thing, they do have a couple of seltzer and THC water choices. Their merchandise selection included shirts, hats, glassware, a sign, and some to-go beer choices which we took advantage of.
Whether you’re looking to kill a couple of hours or you decide to visit for one of the countless events they host, Fair State makes a great stop. While Minneapolis has countless breweries to choose from, we’re definitely glad we were able to pay Fair State Brewing Cooperative a visit - hopefully, you will add it to your Beer Trip list as well.
Cheers!
Great patio area featuring seating in both the sun and shade!
