A Day in the North Loop

Nestled on the northern edge of downtown between sports arenas, music venues and skyscrapers, the North Loop is an entertainment and housing district with a booming restaurant and bar scene, all within walking distance. Spend time hopping between the area’s several breweries, or pregame an outing at Target Field, First Avenue, Target Center, the Guthrie Theater, Acme Comedy Company and more. Check out Minneapolis Water Taxi’s guided river tours, the Mill City Museum for local history, the Stone Arch Bridge and St. Anthony Main for a historical tour with stunning views of the skyline on foot and, if you need a moment indoors, Thr3 Jack is a sports bar with indoor golf simulators and gaming.

Your first brewery stop should be Fulton Brewing for its modern craft beers and modest taproom just a block from Target Field. The atmosphere is friendly and low-key, a reminder that it started as a homebrew operation in a south Minneapolis garage. The Hop Kingdom lineup offers an IPA for everyone: juicy, hazy, and clean-and-balanced. There is also a kitchen onsite, with simple sandwiches and tacos.

Just down the road you’ll find Modist Brewing, a modern brewery with bright decor, reflective subway tile, and angular artwork. Expect a sleek environment that manages to blend contemporary style with a working-class atmosphere. Dreamyard hazy IPA has won numerous local awards, but the brewery also makes unique and high-quality oak-aged lagers of equal quality. Many of their taps push style boundaries to the edge but never go too far.

Don’t miss the other beer havens in the neighborhood. Bricksworth Beer Co specializes in hazy IPAs, sour ales, and Detroit-style pizza. StormKing Brewpub pours mostly European-style ales and is known for their barbecue. Nearby is Inbound BrewCo, which is well suited to groups because of its social seating options. Their beers are modern craft and are often made with atypical ingredients. The Freehouse is a full-service brewpub with cozy booth seating. Order the No. 1 Kolsch with the cheese curds for a full Minnesotan experience.

Where to Eat

There are countless dining options in the North Loop. For parties who want to sample, food halls provide diverse menus with unique flair and flavor. Right by Modist, Graze | Provisions & Libations has a fast-casual, two-floor dining hall with cocktails, plus locally owned restaurants such as Union Hmong Kitchen, Soul Bowl, and Avocadish. There’s something for everyone, with vegan options, global foods and a coffee shop. Nearby, North Loop Galley is a food hall with four food vendors (Hawaiian, Italian, Japanese and pizza) and a central bar that is also good for groups. Sit down options in the neighborhood include burger joints like Red Cow, steakhouses like JD Hoyt’s, and Parlour, which falls in the middle between these two styles and is known for their no-frills, let-the-patty-speak-for-itself burger.

The Great Outdoors and Nearby Breweries

Outdoorsy people should head to Theodore Wirth Regional Park, one of the biggest parks in the metro, for its hiking/biking trails, fishing, flower gardens, golf, and cross-country skiing in the winter. Afterwards, look to the nearby breweries for recovery. La Doña Cervecería offers a colorful Latino theme and a wide range of styles. Popular beers include Fría, a Vienna-style Mexican lager with a notable malt presence and notes of toffee, caramel and corn, plus La Reyna, an IPA with a prominent malt bill with dank and piney notes, offering flavors of corn tortillas, melon, pineapple, and tropical fruit.

Utepils Brewing is located on the banks of Bassett Creek. The brewery has a spacious European-influenced setup with high ceilings and prominent copper and stainless steel displays. The brewery’s beer garden on the creek gives relaxed vibes, direct sun and, on the right day, views of migrating waterfowl — all just a few minutes from downtown. Helles is a clear, golden lager with bread-like flavors and a clean finish, perfect for sitting by the creek. Ewald the Golden is a hefeweizen with a sweet wheat base and pleasant banana and clove notes.

A bit further east is Pryes Brewing Company, which has a huge patio next to the Mississippi River that’s decked out in string lights and heaters in the fall. They brew a variety of beer styles so there’s something for every craft beer drinker. Whether you order something that’s hoppy and bitter, sour and fruity, cloudy and hazy, or crisp and classic, pair it with a wood-fired pizza and settle in on the patio or in the taproom for a game of feather bowling.

A Night in Northeast

The modern Minneapolis beer scene was born in Northeast Minneapolis, a formerly industrial corridor northeast of the Mississippi River, where warehouses have been converted into artist studios and, in many cases, breweries. Close to downtown, history practically seeps from the brick buildings as the freight trains rumble outside. Local activities include ample bike trails, enjoying the river, and an abundance of artist studios. The Solar Arts Building and Northrup King building are artist spaces open to the public.

Indeed Brewing Company, founded in 2012, is in the Solar Arts Building and has a quaint old world charm, with a railroad-adjacent patio. Their popular beers range in style but began with Day Tripper pale ale, a hop-forward bitter near-IPA, though their Mexican Honey lager and sour beers have won awards too. Pistachio Cream Ale is a popular cream ale with a notable malt-driven nuttiness, no nuts added, that’s a perfect sipper for fall.

A short walk away is Bauhaus Brew Labs. Spend time in their incredibly colorful taproom sipping on German-inspired beer styles. They often host large concerts, local makers markets, trivia nights and more. Also find Animales Barbeque Company, one of the best food trucks in town, parked in the lot. Order delicious brisket, ribs, pork pastrami, birria tacos early, because the crowd-favorites will sell out.

Across I-35, Falling Knife is a slightly out-of-the-way popular brewery that does a bit of everything, drawing praise for their big imperial stouts, their hazy IPAs, and for Tomm’s Lager, which is a classic light and sweet “beer that tastes like beer,” with big, familiar flavors of bread, honey, and some herbal and floral notes. Their IPA, Hidden Temple, is thick and hazy with orange juice, pineapple, papaya, and berry flavors.

Now Entering Prospect Park

Surly Brewing is beer king in this neighborhood near the University of Minnesota. More than a beer hall, the brewery grounds include Surly Festival Field music venue, and has two restaurants onsite, a bar food burger/bowl main attraction and, upstairs, a classic and simple pizzeria with an overhead view of their spacious outdoor beer garden. Furious IPA and Hell lager are top sellers, but with 20+ taps there is something for everyone, from seasonal lagers to tart ales. Axe Man IPA is a West Coast-style IPA that reflects the brand perfectly, and Coffee Bender is a malty changeup, a coffee-infused variation of their original beer, Bender brown ale.

Surly is adjacent to the popular Market at Malcolm Yards. It’s a food hall in a former machinery building that highlights the growth of a former industrial neighborhood now booming with housing and drinking and dining options. Inside you’ll find global flavors, locally sourced ingredients, pour-your-own beers and wine and cocktails in a casual environment. For the ultimate whiskey lounge experience, walk over to O’Shaughnessy Distilling. Enjoy a glass of whiskey in one of the comfortable couches or on their patio by a firepit and snack on charcuterie creations, dips, and flatbreads.

Nearby, University Avenue offers a variety of dining experiences with many ethnically diverse independent shops that parallel the Green Line light rail transit as you head toward Saint Paul. To the west, Tea House is a comfortable, traditional Szechuan-style restaurant. Go a bit further and you’ll run into Dinkytown, which rubs shoulders with the University of Minnesota and Stadium Village. Al’s Breakfast, Wally’s Falafel Hummus and Bakery and Shuang Cheng’s authentic Cantonese cuisine are favorited by college students.

Take Our Local Brews Home With You

Can’t make it to all of the breweries on your list? Most breweries offer cans or bottles onsite for take-home options. Additionally, Surdyk’s and Ombibulous are two notable liquor stores in Northeast, with extensive or curated selections – Ombibulous specially focusing on Minnesota-made beers. South Lyndale Liquors, Elevated, and Zipps have strong selections on the south side of town to help you bring your experience home with you.