Beer is gay. I know this may come as a surprise to many, but it needs to be said.
For as much as beer has developed a masculine and almost overwhelmingly heterosexual image, at the end of the day, beer is neither of those things. Beer is fermented barley tea flavored with flowers. And, while I believe anyone can and should drink anything they want—gendering stuff is weird—fermented barley tea flavored with flowers doesn’t exactly scream “masculine” or “heterosexual” as we tend to think of those concepts today. Further, some of beer’s most famous brewers are men who have vowed to never have sex with women. Pretty frickin’ gay, IMHO.
But wait, there’s more! Until relatively recently in the historical record, beer was almost exclusively brewed by women, and brewing itself was “women’s work.” So, in that sense, all men involved in brewing today—including those who are sadly cursed with cisgenderism and heterosexuality—are partaking in a certain degree of gender-bending. And you know what? I’m for it. More gender-bending, please.
This month, in celebration of Pride and the queer nature of brewing, I’ve scoured the great state of Minnesota (or at least the Twin Cities Metro area) to give you five Minnesota beers that are queer as hell.
Ostrichized: All Sunshine IPA
NA juicy IPA / <0.5% ABV / ?? IBU
I’ve done two NA beer roundups for Racket: this past January and January 2024. I’ve never actually covered an NA beer outside of those roundups. However, that’s changing with Ostrichized’s All Sunshine IPA. I somehow missed this newish Minnesota-based NA brewery back in January and discovered it by chance at a friend’s party through a conversation with Whitney, its founder, who plays in a queer softball league—which is pretty gay if you ask me. I bemoaned the relative lack of NA beers that were truly flavorful (in a good way, and not a “whoa, uhh… huh…” way), and she suggested I try hers. Wouldn’t you know it, I loved it so much I bought some more at Marigold a couple days later.
A lot of NA beers end up feeling like they’ve been hollowed out. Alcohol provides so much of the background flavor we associate with even “light” beers that removing it has a major impact. But All Sunshine adds in mango and peach puree in a way that plays into the hop notes and fills out the flavor resulting in something very similar to what you’d find in a particularly “juicy” IPA. Its aroma is predominantly mango and peach overlaid with hops, and its flavor is light and crisp with grassy hops cutting through a seltzer-adjacent mango/peach vibe (but with more flavor than a seltzer). Think “house-made veggie burger” rather than “Impossible burger” when it comes to its approach to making an NA beer, which is definitely my preference.
Little Thistle Brewing Co.: Slay All Day
Hazy IPA / 6.5% ABV / ?? IBU
Rochester’s Little Thistle strikes again with this Hazy IPA brewed for Rochester Pride. Little Thistle is quickly becoming one of my favorite breweries outside the metro based on their significant range and ability to deliver on wildly different vibes—much like a drag queen half made-up as Dolly Parton and half as Kenny Rogers lip syncing "Islands in the Stream." (Local queens, if one of you has already done this, please send me the video; I thought this was such a great idea that I searched the internet for it convinced that someone had done it already and sadly came up empty-handed.)
While slaying all day sounds exhausting (I’m not even sure I could slay for a full minute) Slay All Day the beer is anything but. It smells like bright floral citrus, skewing lemon. Its flavor is mildly sweet lemon with an interesting grainy edge, which I think might be attributable to the kernza used in brewing it. It finishes clean, but not overly dry. The result is a very drinkable hazy that’s not too sweet.
Moose Lake Brewing Co.: Bear Den
Vanilla porter / 5.1% ABV / 31 IBU
So imagine you’re writing a column about gay beers for Pride, and you’re standing at the liquor store, scouring the shelves for something that just screams homosexuality. And then, what do your eyes spy but a beer that's exactly what you’re looking for? Do you half-shout, “Oh fuck yes, take me to the Bear Den”? You do if you’re me. You do if you’re a red-blooded American. Is this what Moose Lake Brewing Co. intended? Probably not. I’m not well-versed on the queer scene in Moose Lake, population 2,789, but it seems unlikely that it’s large enough to generate a strong statement of support of large hairy gay men and their dwellings. But you can’t go around naming a beer “Bear Den” in a state where the only monthly beer columnist is just abysmally juvenile and not expect her to comment on it. So, even if it wasn’t intentional, I’m calling this one in favor of the gays. Checkmate, hets.
Bear Den has a strong, intoxicating aroma of roasted barley with an almost smoky edge. This aroma is a little deceptive because the flavor is relatively light with vanilla sweetness fading to moderate roast. It’s incredibly light-bodied as well, which makes it a pretty good early summer option. Whether you imagine a room full of burly gay men while drinking it or not is option (though recommended).
Urban Growler Brewing Co.: Beaver Fever
Golden ale / 4.0% ABV / 20 IBU
We have two options when interpreting the name of this beer. Option 1: a reference to giardia (a parasitic infection of the digestive system that makes you poo hot lava). Option 2: unrepentant lesbianism. Given that the beaver featured on the can is the single dykiest beaver I have ever seen in my life, and the fact that Urban Growler’s existence is at least partly attributable to the powers of lesbianism, I’m going to go with Option 2, and claim this beer in the name of all woman-loving-woman kind. I think we can allow some men to respectfully engage with it as well, provided they don’t get weird about it. Getting weird about women is best left in the very capable hands of queer women, thanks.
When it comes to the beer itself, what can I say except that it’s very refreshing. It smells like light grainy malt, and tastes like crispy malt with a light sweetness and the barest hint of hops to balance it out. You can guess from the 4% ABV that it’s very light-bodied, and with that comes an effervescence that’s really nice when sitting on your porch respectfully day dreaming about dam-building rodents and their various and sundry related concepts.
Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative: Fear the Fox
Hazy IPA / 6.7% ABV / 48 IBU
Women’s sports have long been an obsession for a certain sort of queer woman, and while that’s never really been me, I can’t imagine much that’s gayer than women strapping on shoulder pads and helmets and running each other into the ground. It’s just one of those things. That said, I must admit my ardor for all things “women smashing women” and its application to our local women’s football team, the Minnesota Vixen, has been dampened by the Women’s Football Alliance's decision to ban trans athletes last year after years of inclusion without issue. Whether or not some women can participate is now down to which state the game is being played in and whether it has protections for trans athletes. Here in Minnesota that participation is protected, and I have it on good authority that the Vixen have pushed back on the league’s change of policy. However, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Fewer women tackling other women is an unequivocal loss.
The good news is that Fear the Fox, brewed by Northeast's Broken Clock in collaboration with the Minnesota Vixen, does not leave a bad taste in my mouth. Its aroma is vaguely tropical with hints of citrus, and the flavor brings in notes of melon and peach. It finishes dry with a mild lingering bitterness—which isn’t as typical of hazies, but makes for an interesting change of pace. I have to imagine being tackled by a woman in football gear would leave me feeling similarly.
