Dry January is becoming more and more mainstream. It's a time when people take a break from alcohol during the month of January. Whether you're observing a dry or slightly more damp January, the Bluenose Gopher Public House has something ready for you.
The Bluenose is a cooperative tap house in downtown Granite Falls. Louwaina Al-Otaibi is the chief operating officer at Bluenose Gopher Public House. "I'm also a member number eight." Every cooperative member is assigned a number.
Bluenose Gopher Public House opened in February, 2019. "We are a taproom that serves Minnesota-made craft beer, wine, as well as some great n/a beverages," said Al-Otaibi. "There's a lot of breweries popping up left and right here, so there's plenty to choose from, and we really think it's important to highlight what's here in our own state. We also have a food menu where we serve primarily panini sandwiches, wraps, different soups. And we do try and use local ingredients whenever possible as the seasons allow."
The first recommendation that Al-Otaibi made was a non-alcoholic drink called, Switchel Fizz. "It's apple cider vinegar sweetened with honey and we have them in three different flavors, cinnamon, turmeric and cayenne. It's from Hobby Farmer Canning out of St. Paul."
For people choosing to participating in a more damp January, Al-Otaibi highlighted a sour beer. "So my favorite type of beer are sours and here at Bluenose, we always have a sour on tap," she said. "So what I have here is a sour beer from Talking Waters Brewery out of Montevideo, and it's a peach mango smoothie sour. So it's very fruity and kind of a great. It's kind of like sunshine in a glass. Kind of reminds you a little bit of summer and good for those drinkers who might be a little more scared of trying a very bitter, hoppy IPA with the craft beer selection."
The unique thing about the Bluenose Gopher Public House is that it's a cooperative taproom. "We have 335 members right now, and that number continues to grow, and each member has an equal share into the tap room. So there is not one owner that controls everything." she said. "We have a board of directors that represent all of our ... So they're elected, and they represent all of our members. So it's really cool that we are a community space that's literally owned by our community."
And because the Bluenose Gopher Public House is a cooperative taproom, I thought it would be really cool to have some of our members showcase some of their favorite beverages on tap.
Miles Taylor is member number 330 "and I'm the sound tech for Bluenose." Taylor chose a merlot from Round Lake Vineyards & Winery. But his selection came with a twist: ice in the glass. "I call this the 'Woodlake Special' because the Bluenose is very accommodating to most weird requests that you could have," he said. "It's a dry red, and I like to even out with a little ice."
The next selection, made by Paul Drees, member number 331, is a cookies a cream milk stout by Waconia Brewery. "I really like it because it has nice notes of cookies and cream, some dairy, alongside some chocolate and a beer, which is strange, so I kinda like that." Drees said. "I would really recommend this beer because it has a really good balance to it. It's not really dark. You don't have to be like a beer snob to really enjoy it. It's very approachable. I like this beer a lot."
Dress said that he likes to order the weirdest beer, which is how the cookies and cream milk stout was discovered. "And so that's why I picked this cookies and cream milk stout. That's a weird combo. I wanna try it," he said. "That's one of the things I love about the Bluenose, is there's such a good variety of beers here. There's so much good variety of beers from Minnesota that I couldn't get if I went to anywhere else."
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Arie Herfindahl is member number 260 and she also made a wine selection. "This is the Old Red and White from the [Grandview Valley] Winery. I love it because it is sweet, but yet dry," she said. "It's something that anybody can drink, whether you like your dry wine or your sweet wine. This is a rosé. It's very fruity, but yet it's not too overly sweet."
Carrie Speh is member number 288, but she's also the newest member elected to the board of directors. "I'm pretty new, so I haven't been involved in all of it, but we just wrapped up our strategic planning yesterday," she explained. "So we had set some goals for what we want to see here at Bluenose both this year, three years from now, and 10 years from now."
Speh chose a beer for her recommendation. "I have a lime Saison from Goat Ridge in New London. I like this beer because it has a little bit of the vibe of a sour, and then just a little more tart, but not quite as tart as an IPA," she said.
Bluenose Gopher Public House, located in downtown Granite Falls is open Wednesdays from 4 to 8 p.m.; Thursdays from 4 to 8 p.m.; Fridays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sundays from 4 to 8 pm.