Minnesota and beer. Beer and Minnesota. These two things just go hand and hand. Minnesotans like their drinks and they definitely like their beer. So one needs to tread lightly on a topic like this as there is no doubt in my mind that no one is going to agree on which is the best Minnesota brewery.

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Everyone has their own opinion and likes different flavors then the next person. Plus, who isn't going to be a little biased about a brewery that is near them or right in their home town. So don't hurt the messenger, just be glad that we have this many fantastic breweries in our state that we have even a list of

Top 20 Minnesota Breweries:

These results come from Brewery Stars, who last updated the results on December 26, 2022. Their ranking process is specified on the page, saying;

What's the best local brewery? When you're visiting a brewery, you want good beer and you want a good atmosphere/experience. We take publicly beer ratings and venue ratings and consolidate them into a Brewery Stars Meta-Rating. If guests consistently like a brewery's beer and enjoy the experience of visiting the taproom, the brewery will do well in our rankings.

They also give the stats that there are a total of 214 breweries in Minnesota and 210 of them have enough ratings to be ranked with their system. Yes they rank all of them, but lets focus on the top 20 and see which brewery from Central Minnesota made the list. Can you guess which brewery and at what spot? How about we just get to it starting at #20 and work our way to #1. Each is based off a five star rating.

Located in Walker receiving a 4.0814 star rating

Image Credit: Portage Brewing Company via Facebook
Image Credit: Portage Brewing Company via Facebook
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Located in Minneapolis receiving a 4.0893 star rating

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Image Credit: Surly Brewing Co. via Facebook
Image Credit: Surly Brewing Co. via Facebook
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(Representing Central Minnesota Proudly) Located in St. Joseph receiving a 4.0968 star rating

Image Credit: Bad Habit Brewing Company via Facebook
Image Credit: Bad Habit Brewing Company via Facebook
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Located in Duluth receiving a 4.0990 star rating

Image Credit: Bent Paddle Brewing Co.
Image Credit: Bent Paddle Brewing Co. via Facebook
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Located in Burnsville receiving a 4.1004 star rating

Image Credit: Bricksworth Beer Co.
Image Credit: Bricksworth Beer Co. via Facebook
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Located in Rochester receiving a 4.1060 star rating

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Image Credit: Thesis Beer Project via Facebook
Image Credit: Thesis Beer Project via Facebook
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Located in Minneapolis receiving a 4.1097 star rating

Image Credit: Modist Brewing Co. via Facebook
Image Credit: Modist Brewing Co. via Facebook
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Located in New Ulm receiving a 4.1132 star rating

Image Credit: The Starkeller via Facebook
Image Credit: The Starkeller via Facebook
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Located in St. Louis Park receiving a 4.1132 star rating

Image Credit: Steel Toe Brewing via Facebook
Image Credit: Steel Toe Brewing via Facebook
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Located in Minneapolis receiving a 4.1221 star rating

Image Credit: Fair State Brewing Cooperative via Facebook
Image Credit: Fair State Brewing Cooperative via Facebook
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Located in Minneapolis receiving a 4.1302 star rating

Image Credit: Wild Mind Ales via Facebook
Image Credit: Wild Mind Ales via Facebook
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Located in Minneapolis receiving a 4.1389 star rating

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Image Credit: Dangerous Mind Brewing Company via Facebook
Image Credit: Dangerous Mind Brewing Company via Facebook
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Located in Minneapolis receiving a 4.1683 star rating

Image Credit: Falling Knife Brewing Company via Facebook
Image Credit: Falling Knife Brewing Company via Facebook
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(Another Central Minnesota representative on the list) Located in Wadena receiving a 4.1728 star rating

Image Credit: Drastic Measures Brewing via Facebook
Image Credit: Drastic Measures Brewing via Facebook
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Located in Big Lake receiving a 4.1910 star rating

Image Credit: Lupulin Brewing via Facebook
Image Credit: Lupulin Brewing via Facebook
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Located in Spring Park receiving a 4.2010 star rating

Image Credit: Back Channel Brewing Co. via Facebook
Image Credit: Back Channel Brewing Co. via Facebook
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Located in St. Paul receiving a 4.2277 star rating

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Image Credit: BlackStack Brewing via Facebook
Image Credit: BlackStack Brewing via Facebook
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Located in Moorhead receiving a 4.2363 star rating (note - this is the only brewery at this time on this top 20 list I've actually been to and I really enjoy the atmosphere and their patio in the summer and highly recommend checking it out if you are ever in the area.)

Image Credit: Junkyard Brewing Company via Facebook
Image Credit: Junkyard Brewing Company via Facebook
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Located in Rochester receiving a 4.2384 star rating

Image Credit: Forager Brewery and Café via Facebook
Image Credit: Forager Brewery and Café via Facebook
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Located in St. Paul receiving a 4.3061 star rating

Image Credit: Barrel Theory Beer Company via Facebook
Image Credit: Barrel Theory Beer Company via Facebook
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A few Central Minnesota breweries that made it before 100 include:

Image Credit: Pantown Brewing Company via Facebook
Image Credit: Pantown Brewing Company via Facebook
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The Pantown Brewing Company in St. Cloud landed on the list at #28. Jack Pine Brewery in Baxter is at #40. Back Shed Brewing in Waite Park is at #59. Sunken Ship Brewing in Princeton is #83.

By all means check it all out HERE and if your brewery isn't as high as you think it should be, start sharing reviews and help get it up there. But at the end of the day keep enjoying what you love and maybe this will help you the way it did me. A great list of breweries I know I need to visit now. Now to begin a check list and begin checking them off one-by-one.

If there is a favorite on this list you love or can't stand, let me know which one and why on our app!

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LOOK: Best Beers From Every State

To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.

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