Summit's State Fair IPA

Summit Brewing Company will be releasing State Fair IPA, a specially-brewed beer made exclusively with Minnesota ingredients, at the upcoming Minnesota State Fair.This beer echoes a major goal of the fair—and many of America’s craft brewers—to support local businesses and farmers.

State Fair IPA features locally-grown Cascade hops from Hippity Hop Farms in Hugo, Wild Rice hand cultivated from McGregor, and as brewer Jeff Williamson likes to call it, “Honey from the hood,” from Bare Honey in the brewery’s hometown of St. Paul.

State Fair IPA has a reddish color attributed to the wild rice, with a nice, crisp hoppy finish thanks to the local Cascade hops. Williamson decided to add corn to the brew because of the crop’s connection to state fair tradition, and as an accompaniment to the classic state fair corn dog, calling his IPA and corn dogs, “brothers from a different mother.”

Williamson will be in attendance on the first day of the fair, spreading his knowledge and passion to fair-goers on this special beer and other Summit brews. A half-barrel keg of State Fair IPA will be tapped each day at 1 pm at the Summit booth in the International Bazaar.

Thomas Appel’s love for craft beer began after visiting a micro brewery at the end of the world in the Chilean Patagonia. He currently lives in the center of the beer world in Boulder, Colorado, where he is the intern for the craft beer program and a recent graduate from the University of Colorado. A native of the Sunshine State, Thomas can be found enjoying craft beer while getting lost on the beautiful rivers of Colorado!

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