Edina Liquor can help you get in the Irish spirit this St. Patrick’s Day with a few of their favorite local brews.
Eric Pellinen, manager of Edina Liquor, says hard cider is very popular in Ireland. Edina Liquor’s local options include Loon Juice, out of Four Daughters Winery in Spring Valley Township. Loon Juice has a lighter apple character derived from 100 percent Minnesota Honeycrisp apples and finishes with a subtle tart snap.
Finnegans Irish Amber and Dead Irish Poet are brewed for Finnegans by Summit Brewing in St. Paul. The Irish Amber is medium-bodied with creamy, malty notes. The Dead Irish Poet is inky-black and heavier-bodied, featuring coffee, roasted malt and burnt chocolate notes and a hint of smokiness.
Worthy Adversary and War & Peace are seasonal brews from Fulton Brewing Minneapolis available through March. Worthy Adversary is a Russian imperial stout, which Pellinen says “is kind of like an Irish stout on steroids.” This means a higher alcohol content and a strong, bitter flavor due to barley roasted like coffee beans. War & Peace is aged in a fermentation tank with whole-bean Peace Coffee (also based in Minneapolis). According to Pellinen, with War & Peace, “You don’t just get hints of coffee from the malt, you get big coffee flavors from the coffee beans.”
Lift Bridge Irish Coffee Stout is a seasonal brew aged in whiskey barrels in Stillwater. Described as rich and heavy, the stout is developed with cold-pressed coffee and milk sugars to add creaminess. “Sounds like a good way to start St. Patrick’s Day,” says Pellinen, “Milk, coffee, whiskey and beer, all in one tasty glassful.”
