MN Beer Day 2026: breweries and taps to visit

Minnesota Beer Day is back this Sunday, November 1, and the Twin Cities are right in the middle of it. Organized by the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild, the day has grown into one of the state's most celebrated craft beer events, with breweries across the region rolling out special releases, tastings and deals for the occasion. This year's theme is "beer nostalgia," and it comes with a commemorative pint label designed by Corinne McNielly, which leans into vintage design with Minnesota iconography: water, grains and people gathered around a pint. If you're posting your pours, the guild asks you to use #MNBeerDay.

For a lot of the breweries, the day is built around a commemorative glass. Nine Mile Brewing is selling its MN Beer Day glass for $7, or $12 for the glass plus a beer, which covers select draft pours that would normally be a 16-ounce pour and excludes sours, seltzers and Tam O'Shanter. If you're heading out of town, Little Thistle in Rochester, Mineral Springs in Owatonna and Chapel Brewing in Dundas are all running a $12 glass-and-fill deal, with Chapel knocking another dollar off every fill after that. Imminent Brewing in Northfield is selling its glass for $6 with no fill included, and pairing it with a round of MN Beer Day trivia.

That trivia is actually a good way to plan your afternoon. Trivia Mafia is hosting MN Beer Day 2026 questions at participating breweries across the state, and several are within easy reach of the Twin Cities. In Minneapolis, Dual Citizen Brewing Co. kicks things off at 3 p.m. and Insight Brewing follows at 6 p.m. Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul holds its round at noon, while Lakeville Brewing Co. is at 4:30 p.m., Lupulin Brewing Company in Big Lake at 3 p.m., Paddlefish Brewing Co. in St. Peter at 2 p.m., Spiral Brewery in Hastings at 6 p.m. and Unmapped Brewing Co. in Minnetonka at 4 p.m. Buck's Mill Brewing Co. in Detroit Lakes and Uncommon Loon Brewing Co. in Chisago City are also on the list.

The date itself is no accident. November 1 was chosen to tie early beer history to the present: on November 1, 1850, John Orth founded the John Orth Brewing Company, the second brewery in Minnesota territory, at 1228 Marshall. Orth later joined the Heinrich Brewing Association, Frederick Norenburg Brewery and Germania Brewing Association to form the Minneapolis Brewing and Malting Company, and on November 1, 1895, that business announced the winner of its "name-our-new-beer" contest in the Minneapolis Tribune: "Grain Belt." The brand eventually became the 18th largest brewery in America by the end of the 1960s, and today it's brewed by August Schell Brewing Company in New Ulm. The original Richardsonian Romanesque brewhouse, built between 1891 and 1892 at Marshall Street and 13th Avenue Northeast, was designated a Minneapolis Historic Landmark in 1977 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. The 48-foot Grain Belt sign, first placed over the Marigold Ballroom in 1941, was restored and relit in 2017 after a 15-year campaign. It's a nice bit of history to keep in mind while you're working your way through the day's taps.