Fulton Beer - Chill City

This golden lager from Fulton presents a bright golden straw color with good clarity, topped with a bright white cap of foam. On the nose this brew is simple and inviting, with the hop character taking center stage as it offers some floral, herbal, and citrus zest notes, joined by a true-to-style wisp of sulfur to remind us this is a lager. Look for the malt undertone to deliver a straightforward crackery, mildly bready character, as the aroma comes together with a dry overall impression. That malt character continues on the palate, forming a tasty central core. A hint of residual sweetness is easily countered by the hop presence which hits upfront with some drying acidity and bitterness which merges into the zesty citrus character. That crisp hop contribution finds a friend in the bright, lifting carbonation, making for a very crisp and refreshing overall quality that’s perfect for warmer weather. With its crispness and low ABV, this brew is about as sessionable as it gets, and it’s easy to down a few all by themselves. But, pairing options abound. Grilled chicken, fish & chips, pizzas & calzones, summer salads with citrus vinaigrettes, seared scallops or whitefish, and fish tacos spring to mind. Cheers!

The story of Fulton Beer begins in 2006 with the four folks behind Fulton Beer—Ryan Petz, Brian Hoffman, Peter Grande, and Jim Diley—starting to homebrew together in Jim’s piddly (and cold) one-car garage. Rest assured, Minnesota gets cold. But that homebrewing inlet, like so many unexpected and fiscally questionable paths into professional brewing, led them in 2009 to start Fulton Beer together. As the story goes: Ryan and Jim were in debt from grad school, Pete and his wife were expecting, everyone else was newly or about to get married... The four had no savings, no cache of brewing connections, and no real industry experience. The circumstances, in other words, were perfect.

In the time since, we’ve been able to watch Fulton Beer grow from a small, contracting brewery into something much more established—and all in spite of the less-than-super-great chances for the whole endeavor. The first keg of Fulton Beer was served at The Happy Gnome out in St. Paul; this was back in late October of 2009. The intrepid four signed a lease for their first brewery in September 2010, which became the first brewery taproom in the Twin Cities. And, having quickly exhausted that production space, they began building a second brewery in late 2013.

Today, the majority of Fulton Beer’s production takes place at their second location: a 51,000-square-foot facility in northeast Minneapolis, about five minutes from their original spot. Today, they brew several year-round brews in addition to a wide array of limited "Garage Series" brews, barrel-aged beers, and sour mixed culture beers, plus a line of increasingly popular hard seltzers. To learn more, visit www.fultonbeer.com.