Mighty Axe Hops, Minnesota’s largest hop farm and processor, is up for sale as the result of a storm that devastated the hop farm’s 2019 crop. Late in the evening on Labor Day in 2019, roughly halfway through their harvest season, Mighty Axe’s hopyard in Foley, Minnesota, was hit by 55-mph straight-line winds that snapped … [ Read more]
The Next Phase In Local Craft Beer: Homegrown Hops
For the casual craft beer drinker in Minnesota, supporting local breweries usually means frequenting area taprooms and buying Minnesota-made beer at the liquor store. But with the increasing availability of locally grown brewing ingredients such as hops, the next step in the craft movement involves seeking out beers that go one step further and use ingredients harvested as close … [ Read more]
The Mill: Mighty Axe prepares for mightiest hop harvest yet
August 23–August 29 After expanding their three-and-a-half acre hop growing operation in Ham Lake to a 40-acre hop yard in Foley, Mighty Axe Hops are preparing to haul in their largest harvest to date. “We’ve got 80 acres of trellis installed—40 acres of hops planted, and the next 40 is what we’re doing now,” Mighty … [ Read more]
Mighty Axe Hops expansion more than doubles Minnesota’s hop acreage
The Friday before Memorial Day, folks are often packing up the car to head to the cabin, sneaking off from work early or firing up the grill. Not Eric Sannerud and Benjamin Boo. They were in a field, in the cold rain, training tendrils of hop bines up strings of twine 20 feet in the … [ Read more]
A U of M Design Class Crafted Tap Handles for Three Minnesota Breweries
Photos by Warren Bruland If you were at the University of Minnesota’s Campus Club on December 16, 2014, you got a firsthand look at an exciting collaboration between some of Minnesota’s best craft brewers and designers. If you weren’t, don’t worry: You can see the fruits of the collaboration at Excelsior Brewing Company and Fair State … [ Read more]
The Mill: 612Brew Day and Charitable Drinking
The Mill is feeling content with long nights, cribbage marathons and the occasional Hamm’s. Don’t forget to hop on the Green Line this weekend and support some construction-plagued businesses. We sure plan to, and we’ll update you as we do. Events: Mayor Hodges will declare this Thursday “SIX ONE TWO BREW DAY” in the city … [ Read more]