I must confess a certain vice: end of year lists.
I love ‘em. Can't get enough of ‘em. I love it when I agree with someone else’s “best [blanks] of the year,” and I love it even more when I disagree. But then, I’m a disagreeable person. Everybody knows that.
Regardless, there’s something about year end lists that draws me in—specifically, the idea that some things are just *better* than others in some objective artistic or aesthetic sense. Some people might call that “elitism,” or worse, “snobbery.” I call it *having taste*. But you know what a lot of these year end lists don’t have? The best type of taste, the one where you put things in your mouth, touch them with your tongue, and maybe smell them a little.
As of my writing this, Racket has published The Best Albums of 2025 (note: Keith didn’t mention my favorite album of 2025—SPRINTS’ All That is Over—and this is a grudge I will hold forever), The Best Minnesota Albums of 2025, a list of 28 Favorite Racket Stories of 2025, and a list of 2025 Books by MN Authors to Gift the Reader on Your List. Not even one of these shows any evidence that the authors put the things they rated in their mouths. I don’t even think they smelled them. Mouthfeel? Not mentioned once. I will not stand by and allow this oversight to stand. So here they are, the five tastiest Minnesota Beers of 2025, according to me, my mouth, and I.
5. Invictus Brewing: Black as the Pit
Black IPA / 8% ABV / 73 IBU
Black as the Pit was featured in my March column. Maybe it’s the fact that black IPAs are so rare these days, or maybe it’s just that it made me believe that good things could come from Blaine, but something about Black as the Pit has stuck with me. None of the beers in this year-end roundup are available year-round or even on a consistent seasonal schedule. But with Invictus Brewing cashing out on their location in Blaine and subsequent closure on December 21st, I can say with even greater certainty than with the others that I will never have this beer again—and likewise will never have anything positive to say about Blaine ever again. Sorry, not sorry, Blainites. I think you know your suburb’s existence goes against nature.
Without the hope of a revival, I will have to simply hold onto the memory of this beer’s pine and orange peel rindiness and hope that someday another brewery will take up the task of communing with the old gods to make another black IPA. I await that day with baited breath, kneeling at an altar with various offerings to the old gods: my favorite pair of skinny jeans, a ticket stub from a Tame Impala concert, an empty bottle of Stone IPA, and a framed picture of a woman with a mustache tattoo on her index finger—which she has cleverly placed over her top lip so it looks like she has a mustache (the old gods reside extra-dimensionally in the year 2010).
4. Wooden Ship Brewing Co.: Whatever’s Saisonal
Saison / 5.8% ABV / N/A IBU
Wooden Ship is my favorite taproom in Minneapolis. It’s the perfect size. Though they recently moved their brewing equipment to make more room for seating, it’s still pretty cozy. The lighting is good (at least on the “original” seating side—we’ll see what they do with the other side now that it’s not a production area), they keep a couple dope flags up on the wall, and there’s almost always at least one dog in attendance for everyone to gush over. Unlike many of the breweries downtown, or out in the suburbs, it feels like a distinctly *neighborhood* space. And, not to go off on too much of a tangent, that’s what every taproom should aspire to be.
Whatever’s Saisonal first appeared, according to Untappd, in August of 2022. After a brief run, it went away until being revived this year. Does this mean they’re considering making it a more routine seasonal saisonal release??? In June, I described Whatever's Saisonal (in the spirit of pride, and in honor of a friend) as “much like a skinny trans woman who plays bass in an indie rock band, has been to almost as many art museums as bars, wears loud-patterned button ups, and seems to have a new girlfriend every 3-4 months.” Effervescent, complex, and hard to reduce to one thing, I sincerely hope Whatever’s Saisonal will be back again in 2026.
3. Pryes Brewing Company: Mexican Fruit Cup
“Fruit Beer” / 4.8% ABV / ?? IBU
Pryes had the biggest presence of any brewery when it came to “new beers” at the State Fair this year. While not all of their offerings stood out as much as, say, Royal Raspberry Soft-Serve, Mexican Fruit Cup was my favorite beer overall. This is a huge deal given that I’m not actually a huge fan of fruit beers! Mexican Fruit Cup was full of watermelon and fruit punch flavors, and the Tajin on the rim added in some tart lime and spice notes. Based on how Pryes described the beer, it wasn’t a sour, but it definitely had a tart kick to it and it lives in that general area of my mind.
Also, it seems Pryes made more Mexican Fruit Cup than they could go through at the fair, because its Untappd page continued getting activity from their taproom through October, and it even has an entry from the start of this month from a restaurant in Woodbury. If I had known it was still around, I would have gone over to Pryes taproom. C’est la vie. Maybe it will return at next year’s fair? Pretty please? I won’t review it again, but I will drink it.
2. Hammerheart Brewing Company: Åttebeint Hest
“Northern” IPA / 6.5% ABV / ?? IBU
I think I’m doing a crime by saying that one of Hammerheart’s not-smoked beers was my favorite beer from them this year, but… here I am. I mentioned in my review in September that Åttebeint Hest was a revival of one of Hammerheart’s classics from the beforetimes, and I’m optimistic that means we’ll get to see more of it. I could do with more of its toasted bread and earthy pine in my life. It tastes like cabins feel, if that makes any sense.
And, at the risk of advocating for conditions that would make my job as Minnesota’s sole monthly beer reviewer harder, I think breweries (especially Hammerheart, which rotates through so many different things) could do with more mainstays and consistent seasonals. Brewing the same beers over and over probably isn’t very interesting from a creative standpoint, but even as a beer nerd, the constant stream of one-offs can be hard to track. Maybe I’m just getting old? Am I… losing my edge? Should I… get blunt bangs???
1. Modist Brewing Co.: Folklor
Oak-aged Bock / 6.3% ABV / ?? IBU
In my initial review of this delicious little sheepy-boi (in March, the same month I reviewed Black as the Pit) I said that Modist should “just go ahead and call itself the foremost purveyor of wood-flavored malt beverages in the state—perhaps even the upper midwest more broadly.” I stand by this. Folklor was close to perfect as far as malty lagers go, and the way the oak intermingled with the malt character was just amazing. It’s very easy for a beer like this to go too sweet or too dry, but Modist threaded the needle just right. Sadly, it was only around for a little while.
I know I’m a bit of a sicko for wood-aged lagers, but if I had my druthers, this would be a year-round beer, and wood-aged lagers would be the dominant national craft beer craze. Then I could say that I liked wood-aged lagers before they were cool, and feel like I was better than everyone else. Alas, I will have to settle for the knowledge that everyone else is missing out.
