All Pints North 2025 Preview
It is All Pints North Week!!! Yes, your favorite festival celebrating Minnesota’s craft beer scene put on by the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild is happening this Saturday, July 26th in Duluth’s Bayfront Park. At the time of posting, there are some tickets left so if you need to secure your passage into a great time, you can order tickets here.
After missing last year’s festival due to travel, I am back this year and the beer list has me salivating like a pirate at a rum tasting. As always, there is a great collection of many of your favorite Minnesota Brewers Guild members pouring unlimited samples of their concoctions. All Pints North is more than just a festival, it is a lifestyle. In fact, if you go up for the entire weekend you will find fun things to do and drink all over town.
About a month ago, I sat down with Jess Talley (Executive Director for the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild), Lindsey Darling (Event Coordinatore for the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild), and Amanda Agamaite (Ursa Minor Brewing staff and Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild Board Member) to chat about all the logistics that go into putting on such a big festival. I learned a ton and it got me excited for the event. The podcast is linked below.
Beers I Am Excited For At All Pints North
The 2025 All Pints North beer list is available online. I have studied it with and without my contacts in. I picked out 20 beers that should be on your bingo card to ensure you give your palate the show it deserves. They range in styles from German pilsners all the way to fruited goses. I even threw in a barrel-aged stout because craft beer nerds. There are a ton of great offering from breweries all over the great state of Minnesota. This year, we even have some out of state visitors from Iowa and North Dakota in Drekker Brewing and Toppling Goliath.
I hope you find this list helpful. Put the beers you are excited to try in the comments and feel free to share this out to anyone in your crew who you think would find it helpful.
Bauhaus Brewlabs Ziskov Pilsner
If you go to Bauhaus Brewlabs, the Ziskov Pilners if available on a side-pour faucet, giving it a mahestic softnessand extra bit of panache. I think that this beer is a great example of why Czech pilsners are so fantastic if you want beer-flavored beer. It is crisp and clean so you will want to keep sipping-perfect for a Saturday afternoon in a park.
BlackStack brewing slopes-French-style pilsner
I have seen a handful of French-style Pilsners on tap and I had to talk to a beer expert on my podcast about what they are. Well, BlackStack brews a great example of this niche style in Slopes. The lagers at BlackStack are fantastic and I am excited to enjoy this at All Pints North.
Boom island brewing punkin pie
I know, I know, I am in the seemingly 1% of people who like pumpkin beers. Well, if you want to get tecnical, this isn’t a pumpkin beer, it is an amber ale with pumpkin pie spices. Boom Island won the Best in Show at the MN Brewers Cup Awards with this beauty. Try it, you’ll like it!
Castle Danger Brewery cucumber lime lager
When done well, a lager with lime is the perfect beer to pair with summer. I have no doubt that the masters at Castle Danger Brewery nailed this one. What could be better than walking around Bayfront Park with the breeze in your hair and a refreshing beer in your glass. Maybe a George Hunter Stout chaser?
Elm Creek Brewing Amore
I love many things that have connections to the culture of Italy. Food, Emmy award-winning HBO dramas, and, of course, Italian Pilsners. Until I get really tan in the summer, people often assume I am Italian. In fact, people routinely come up and tell me that I look like Steve Shirippa’s character from The Sopranos, Bobby Baccala. Italian Pilsners have a bigger hop bite than some of their other style counterparts. I think they are perfect and I know that Elm Creek Brewing makes a variety of good lagers. My hope is that I will fall in love with this one.
Gambit Brewing Space Ghost
Travel to Eurpope in this economy?!?!?! I didn’t think so. Lucky for you and your budget, Gambit Brewing in Saint Paul brews a beer you don’t have to go to Belgium to enjoy. This is a citrusy and refreshing white ale that will awaken your palate with coriander and orange peel. This beer is so perfect for summer and you need to stop by Gambit’s booth if you haven’t had it yet.
Hoops Brewing no. 11 Pilsener
Hoops Brewing in Duluth’s Canal Park always has so many different beers on tap. The common thread through all of them is consistency. If you want a great beer, you find a brewery that knows what they’re doing and you order a pilsner. There is no place to hide a flaw in that style of beer. So, while there are other things that Hoops Brewing is bringing to All Pints that I am excited about, the German Pilsner is the one I think everyone should try so they can be wowed by simplicity.
Jack Pine Brewery Dead on Dill
There are quite a few pickle beers to choose from this year at All Pints North. Jack Pine Brewery is bringing, what I believe is a pickle beer in a class by itself. I have enjoyed Dead on Dill numerous times in their Baxter taproom and it never fails to deliver on the herbacous dill and tart pickle flavor. Refreshing and balanced, this beer is one that you will remember. Bloody Mary sold separately.
Invictus Brewing Company Blame it on the Rain Amber Ale
Some people might say that next to the housemade bbq sauce at Applebee’s, the most bring thing in the world is an amber ale. Well, those people are buffoons. Blame It On The Rain from Invictus Brewing in Blaine is a great example of how this beer style can be exciting. There is a special roasty element of this beer that elevates it to a higher plane of existence. In fact, it won a gold medal at the 2023 MN Brewers Cup Awards. There aren’t that many other amber ales available this year at All Pints North, so make sure you grab a few pours of this one!
Klockow Brewing Siduri’s Elixir
Siduri’s Elixir from Klockow Brewing is palate-energizing confluence of flavors and aromas and should not be missed. This is a big saison aged in a gin barrel. The botanical nature of this beer is herbal, perfumey, and bright. It contrasts, brilliantly, the bigger alcohol saison. I am so excited to be able to enjoy this at All Pints North.
Liftbridge Brewery Grape Ape Seltzer
Wait a minute, I thought you said this was a beer blog?!?!? Yes, it is, but I also have a soul and enjoy all beverages that bring me joy. The Liftbridge Brewery Grape Ape Seltzer is insanely delicious and quite an admirable homage to the drink.
Little Thistle Brewing Med City Beet
I don’t know how they do it, but Little Thistle Brewing out of Rochester, Minnesota, creates so much balance between sweet, earthy, and tart in Med City Beet. This is one of the more unique offerings at All Pints North. Don’t be afraid to try this, it will refresh you and probably has some health perks given the ingredients. This is what Schrute Farms wanted to be, but Mose had some difficulties maintaining the sanitation protocols in the brewhouse…
Lupulin Brewing Barrel God Cuvee 2025
When it comes to barrel aged beers, there are few breweries who showcase the skill and patience to do it well. Lupulin Brewing knows what they are doing when it comes to putting liquids into a barrel. The Barrel God Cuvee 2025 is a curated blend of the best of the best of their Barrel God beers. Folks at All Pints North are lucky to be able to try this because there is only a finite amount of the beer on the planet. Barrel God Cuvee 2025 has a smooth and rich mouthfeel with flavors of dark chocolate, molasses, leather, and dark fruits that reveal themselves in a cacophony of barrel-aged joy on your palate. This is truly a special treat.
Modist Brewing Watermeloncholy
One of the biggest travesties in the last decade, aside from the Coldplay kiss cam debacle, is the fact that so many breweries were doing awful, heartburn-inducing fruited sours that were liquid garbage. Well, thank goodness that Modist Brewing in Minneapolis understands that ingredients matter. They use real watermelons in their fruited gose, Watermeloncholy. The sweet and refreshing watermelon goes with the slight salinity of the gose characteristics of the beer. This will cool you down and dazzle your palate. Make sure you have this on your All Pints North dance card.
Rapids Brewing She Gone Lager
Earlier this summer, I enjoyed several delicious pours of this rye lager up in Grand Rapids when I visited The Tied. It is a dynamic beer for rye lovers. Rye is a polarizing ingredient. Some people don’t like the spiciness of it. However, I have been writing my state representatives to replace vegetables on the food pyramid with reubens ever since hitting puberty at the age of 27. I love all things rye and the She Gone rye lager from Rapids Brewing feels like a liquid love letter to my beer loins. I cannot wait to have this again.
Shakopee Brewhall Cinco de Shako
Ben Salyards, the Head Brewer at Shakopee Brewhall, is first and foremost a wonderful human. He also brews some incredibly good beers that span a variety of styles. The Cinco de Shako, is a great, MN Brewers Cup Award-winning beer. This easy drinking Mexican Lager perfect on a patio, in a taproom, or next to one of the Great Lakes. Make sure you stop by and enjoy, if you close your eyes, it will feel like Cancun.
Spiral Brewery Downward Spiral
IPAs with bright and juicy aromas of citrus that finish with a piney, earthy hop bite are becoming en vogue again in the marketplace. If you are a Spiral Brewery regular, you know that Downward Spiral has always delivered on classic IPA aroma and flavor. Morgan Smith brews many spectacular offerings, but this is a true gem for IPA lovers who are craving more of the old school, West Coast IPA vibe.
Ursa Minor Brewing Perfect Skipper
Amidst all the wonders available from Ursa Minor Brewing at All Pints North, what might be the most special is a well-made pale ale. You won’t find any unicorn tears or candy bars in this beer. Just good old-fashioned quality brewing acumen. A cold and crisp mosaic pale ale ranks right up there with sunsets, a good hug, and all-you-can-eat buffalo wings in my book. To savor this beer is to admit your soul craves good things.
Venn Brewing Helles
Venn Brewing brews lagers as deftly as Nigella Lawson hand-whisks egg whites into stiff peaks while never breaking eye contact with me in my dreams. I am partial to their Venn Pils and their Vienna Lager. I am looking forward to trying the Helles lager at All Pints because I am sure it will be just another shining example of how they brew a crisp and clean lager.
Wandering Leaf Brewing Pils are Good
Wandering Leaf Brewing does so many styles and I appreciate that they have something for everyone. However, Pils Are Good, is their mainstay lager that made me become a regular. They brew a lot of avant garde beers that have a myriad of different flavors and textures. This Czech pilsner is a nice pace-setter for your palate. It is always a nice beer to start with in the taproom. At All Pints North, it is always good to refuel with some lagers to stay hydrated and reset your palate. This is one of those beers.
See You At All Pints North!
There is no denying that All Pints North is a special weekend. From the planning to the pours, there are so many great memories created in Duluth during this festival weekend. Whether you are a festival first-timer or a seasoned veteran, my hope is that this list is a helpful read. I will be a man about town in Duluth this weekend, so if you see me, stop and say hello. I love celebrating the Minnesota craft beer scene and a huge part of that is the people who share that passion with me. Cheers!
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