Welcome to Shelf Stars, The Growler’s cheap wine column in which we discover the best under-$15 bottles in town. This edition of Shelf Stars is brought to you with underwriting support from Central Avenue Liquors. Whenever a wine drinker in the Twin Cities comes across the chenin blanc grape on a menu at a restaurant, … [ Read more]
Shelf Stars: Two Endearing Lambruscos
August 20, 2020 by
Welcome to Shelf Stars, The Growler’s cheap wine column in which we discover the best under-$15 bottles in town. This edition of Shelf Stars is brought to you with underwriting support from Central Avenue Liquors. The height of popularity for lambrusco in the United States coincided roughly with that of the Pet Rock and feathered … [ Read more]
Bite of the Week: Puerco Pibil at Nixta Tortilleria
August 19, 2020 by
Bite of the Week is a weekly feature showcasing an exceptional meal or dish, curated by The Growler. We’d like to thank Dual Citizen Brewing Company for their underwriting support. The essence of Bite of the Week is to highlight good food, and for the most part that’s what we’ve done. But once in a while, you … [ Read more]
Shelf Stars: Never met a Bobal I didn’t like
August 13, 2020 by
Welcome to Shelf Stars, The Growler’s cheap wine column in which we discover the best under-$15 bottles in town. This edition of Shelf Stars is brought to you with underwriting support from Central Avenue Liquors. Is it a coincidence that many words with multiple B’s are used to describe fun and cheerful things? Bubbles. Baubles. … [ Read more]
Bite of the Week: Farmer’s Market Green Curry Ramen at Tori Ramen
August 12, 2020 by
Bite of the Week is a weekly feature showcasing an exceptional meal or dish, curated by The Growler. We’d like to thank Dual Citizen Brewing Company for their underwriting support. One-dimensional ramens and curries at mediocre restaurants obscure the fact that a carefully built broth is an awesome and multilayered thing of beauty that can stand on … [ Read more]
Field of Dreams: CBD hemp farmers like Patrick Finnegan of Two Harbors are changing the face of Minnesota agriculture
August 11, 2020 by
This story is a part two of a two-part series on CBD and hemp underwritten by J.C. Younger. The Growler maintained editorial control over the content. Afew hours north of Minneapolis–St. Paul, a hockey player-turned-CBD hemp farmer named Patrick Finnegan has his mind set on being part of the leading vanguard of his industry. Finnegan … [ Read more]
Shelf Stars: For great rosé, en Gard!
August 6, 2020 by
Welcome to Shelf Stars, The Growler’s cheap wine column in which we discover the best under-$15 bottles in town. This edition of Shelf Stars is brought to you with underwriting support from Central Avenue Liquors. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, it can be maddening to find the right rosé. Wine stores often … [ Read more]
Bite of the Week: Fried Chicken Bao at Dumpling
August 5, 2020 by
Bite of the Week is a weekly feature showcasing an exceptional meal or dish, curated by The Growler. We’d like to thank Dual Citizen Brewing Company for their underwriting support. Generally, the word “bao” conjures up the soft, pillowy, fist-sized steamed pork dumplings that crowd dim sum carts from coast to coast. It does not, in … [ Read more]
Cooperative Evolution: Food coops like Seward and the Wedge have adapted quickly during troubled times
August 4, 2020 by
Access to food is about as elemental as it gets. But in troubled times with lives on the line, not every grocery store has responded to the pandemic with equal skill and speed. Well into April and May, we visited grocery stores in Minneapolis where masking, even by employees, was sporadic, social distancing was irregular, … [ Read more]
Craft Beer, Represent: The importance of increasing diversity in the brewing industry
July 31, 2020 by
The craft brewing community likes to lean on one word as one of its pillars: community. But high profile incidents of racism and industry data released in the past year have demonstrated that the community isn’t always diverse or inclusive. Two recent news stories from Minneapolis have exposed just how far our local beer industry … [ Read more]
CBD, From Seed to Salve: Stigma, a Minneapolis-based CBD store, emphasizes its supply chain and local pedigree
July 31, 2020 by
This story is a part one of a two-part series on CBD and hemp underwritten by J.C. Younger. The Growler maintained editorial control over the content. We wanted to be the Summit Brewing Company of the cannabis industry in Minnesota,” says Josh Maslowski. Maslowski is the owner of Stigma Hemp, a Minnesota-based company that sells … [ Read more]
Artist Profile: Dogfish Media’s Brian Geihl
July 30, 2020 by
Brian Geihl is no stranger to working through changes. He has been passionate about creating art and drawing all his life, but when he started at St. Cloud State University, he wasn’t in the studio right away. Following his love for the outdoors, he decided to pursue a degree in meteorology. But, after taking several … [ Read more]
Shelf Stars: A Better Vinho Verde
July 30, 2020 by
Welcome to Shelf Stars, The Growler’s cheap wine column in which we discover the best under-$15 bottles in town. This edition of Shelf Stars is brought to you with underwriting support from Central Avenue Liquors. Every spring, my good friends down the block host a gathering in their backyard called the Vinho Verde Opener. It’s … [ Read more]
‘Let the Saloons Come’: When Fargo went dry in 1890, liquor ruled in Moorhead
July 30, 2020 by
For 25 years, between 1890 and 1915, Moorhead, Minnesota, was infamous for being a rough and rowdy saloon town. The reputation was well deserved, as alcohol sales were the city’s number-one industry. Since the arrival of the first settler-colonists in the Red River Valley in the 1870s, there had been a moral, political, and economic … [ Read more]
Amaro at Alma
July 30, 2020 by
Filled with mystery and allure, amaro is a liqueur worthy of our attention. In fact, it demands it. Dualities of bitter and sweet, backed up by bold herbaceous, spicy flavors require us to slow down. Most purveyors guard their proprietary blends of macerated botanicals, leaving us to tune into our palette in order to uncover … [ Read more]
