Fulton Beer - Sweet Child of Vine

This “northern” IPA, as Fulton has dubbed this creation, presents a gorgeous amber hue in the glass, capped by a crop of off-white foam that sticks around nicely before eventually dropping to a persistent collar. The nose on this one intrigued us; look for notes of pine and fresh-cut wood to evoke a certain northern forest-like quality, backed up by fragrant floral tones and soft citrus with just a touch of underlying toasty malt. That toasty quality comes through prominently on the palate along with moderate caramel to form a sturdy malt backbone with just a touch of residual sweetness. The hops seem to angle towards earthy, herbal, and woody, with fruity citric notes around the edges. We really liked the balance here, as the caramelized malt with a touch of sweetness rises up as a counterpoint to the moderate hop bitterness, though the hops win out in the end as it finishes nicely dry with a lingering earthy note. For pairing options, we're inclined to go with roasted meats or pan-seared meats with a fruity reduction sauce. Don't be shy with the seasoning, as the dish must stand up to the bold beer. 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.