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Like a Tidal Wave of Stout, Darkness Looms for Summit
BMO Bank is suing Summit Brewing for $8 million over unpaid debts, Carson Hartzog reports (gift link) for the Star Tribune. Per court docs, that could result in a liquidation of assets that puts the pioneering St. Paul brewery's properties, including its brewery at 910 Montreal Circle, and equipment at risk.
The grim fiscal situation “reflects the difficult capital environment the entire craft brewing industry is navigating,” Summit CEO Brandon Bland writes in a court filing. The 40-year-old brewery's day-to-day operations won't be impacted by the lawsuit, according to Bland; no hearings have been scheduled. Since expanding to the tune of $13 million in 2013, a move that doubled production capabilities, Summit has been in retreat mode—layoffs, limited distribution, eroding market share in a crowded craft beer sector.
The long fussed-over craft beer bubble appears to finally be popping in 2026. The amber rush that saw breweries pop up throughout the state in the 2010s appears to be over, and now craft breweries are reckoning with younger generations that don't drink as much (or do they?) and a looming federal ban on THC beverages. According to intel from industry group the Brewers Association, U.S. taproom closures began outpacing openings starting in 2024.
Bang, Bang: Local Sex Workers Talk Guns With Playboy
Enter: A (digital) issue of Playboy you will pick up for the articles. Specifically, this one from labor journalist Kim Kelly about how sex workers around the country are forming self-defense gun clubs.
In Minneapolis, Kelly talks with Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP, as featured in Racket) co-directors Andi Snow and Athena Papagiannopoulos about their org's "bimonthly sex workers-only gun club." SWOP "up[ped] the ante" during Operation Metro Surge by adding gun education, safety, and permit-to-carry classes as federal agents stormed Minnesota.
“We just had a mural painted on our building of Alex Pretti [who was killed by ICE in January], and we were giving the girls an example that, even if a man steps to your defense, if something happens to him, it’s still you, defenseless, so you need to be able to help and protect yourself,” adds Snow. “Alex died protecting women, and our whole shit is protecting women.”
The classes are reportedly a hit, often booked months in advance. Attendees are encouraged to "train how [they] live," which means shooters rock fishnets, bedazzled belts, and mini skirts at the firing range. Call it a "tits out" twist on traditional gun culture.
“We sprinkle magic wherever we go,” Papagiannopoulos tells Kelly. “That’s why we really push for everyone to be authentically yourself, because we’re not hiding that we’re doing this. Just come in closed-toe shoes!”
Winter is Canceled
If you, like me, hated the winterless El Niño winter of 2023-24, get ready for a supercharged encore. Over at Bring Me the News, meteorologist Sven Sundgaard is forecasting a potential "'Super El Niño' for the ages" throughout Minnesota, which would mean Twin Cities temps a full 10 degrees warmer than usual.
After flashing a buncha numbers my feeble brain struggled to process, Sundgaard cuts to the chase: There's a 74% chance, based on new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) modeling, that we'll encounter the warmest El Niño ever, besting the 1982-83 scorcher. "The added difference 44 years later is that we have a lot more heat in the oceans and atmosphere due to human-caused climate change, spiking the ball, so to speak," Sundgaard writes, adding that there've only been two Super El Niños over the past 30 years.
For a rant from yours truly about climate change and media, be sure to check out the intro to the latest episode of RacketCast.
Justin Vernon Writes Meatloaf Dipper Jingle for Howard's Bar in Stillwater
How'd Howard's Bar, the excellent Stillwater establishment Racket once profiled, land a Meatloaf Dipper jingle performed by Grammy-winning musician Justin Vernon of Bon Iver? That's the exact question we posed to chef Adam To, who co-owns Howard's with his musician wife Caroline To (aka Your Smith). Here's the delicious backstory.
Racket: Tell me about the Dippers.
Adam To: The menu item itself is our house-made meatloaf, which sells really well. We get our Peterson Craft Meats ground beef, make up a batch of meatloaf, then we hand-bread it and cut it up into sticks, fry 'em so they're nice and crispy, season 'em out of the fryer, then we serve 'em with three sauces: house-made horsey, au jus that we make, and a ketchup that we make.
Sounds amazing. And how'd a Grammy-winning musician enter the equation?
So Justin is a friend of ours, and I was hanging with another good friend of mine, Ryan Olson, at the studio one night, and he was telling me a story about how after Bon Iver won their Grammy, Culver's approached them to do a jingle or collaborate. So Ryan was like, "You should make a jingle for them, but for a menu item they don't have. Put 'em on the spot." He was telling me this story, and then Ryan came up with the menu item, Meatloaf Dippers—something ridiculous, super hokey, funny. I was like, "Dude, I can probably make those; we should do that."
So it became kind of a challenge between you, Ryan, and Justin?
Exactly. Fast-forward, one Monday when we were closed, I was like, "You guys should come by and we'll try 'em out." [A group of musicians, including recent Racket profile subject Lambchop] came by, and I fired up the kitchen, made a batch of Meatloaf Dippers, and the ones I made that day are the ones on the menu today—one shot!
Justin and Isaac Levy made the jingle in a single night. I wasn't there, and then they sent it to me, and I was like, "Holy fuck, it's crazy!" It's all people who wanted to get in on this fun, stupid, inside joke. But it's cool because the animation is great, the song obviously turned out great, and the dippers are cool. It was fun to do something silly and mix in with my music homies.
How are they selling?
They're selling like crazy. It's like, wow, these are actually pretty good.
