Thirsty Pagan Brewery, Superior, WI

Thirsty Pagan is a quaint hole in the wall brew pub in the wasteland us native Duluthians call Superior. Starting out as Twin Ports Brewery when it changed owners back in 2006 new owners Steve and Susan Knauss changed the name and expanded the place. Not only is it a nice brew pub but it also serves as a pretty nice pizza joint. I wish I could tell you more about that but I did not have any of the pizza but looking around there seemed to be no wimpy pies on the tables and from what I heard they do a very good job so next time I am going to give that a shot as well.

I swung by this place after I had a few pints at Fitgers and upon entering it was not like the usual brew pub. It seemed more industrial and not as cozy as the other ones. It resides in an old creamery building and the walls are tiled with off center floors and strange divisions that separate the bar area from the rest of it. It is littered with old beer signs that are on loan from a local beer memorabilia collector who happened to be in the bar that night and strangely enough who I already met when he did a Summit tour. When I first entered I was sort of skeptical about this place, it just didn’t feel right. As I said I am used to a more cozier style but this just seemed like a dive. And I don’t mind dives so it’s not like I found the place offensive, just different. Stepping up to the bar however I was welcomed with open arms. I decided to go straight to the heavy stuff and ordered the Sir-Hops-Alot, a hop bomb that more sweet than it was hoppy but none the less a fine brew. I mentioned to the bartender how I was a beer blogger and was curious about this place for some time and not 10 minutes after that she introduced me to the owner who was very outgoing and proceeded to give me and impromptu tour.

And let me tell you the tour did not take long at all. It is small, really small. Most brew pubs are but this one was almost shockingly small. As you can see in the picture in only houses two small kettles and six small fermenters which run none stop and they do constant keging. However they are expanding so that is a good sign for the place. The brewery portion and the kitchen share the same room so if you can see in the picture there is a structure being built and this will be a “cooler” so to say. It’s going to be a place for the fermenters to and such to go to keep it separate from the heat the permeates from the kitchen.

Going back to the bar I decided to delve deeper into the beers. Next up for me was the Setan Elap Ela which is not a chant but Nate’s Pale Ale in reverse. Hoped with Cascades its a decent beer that neither turned me off nor made me jump out of my chair. After that I went for the Fog Horn Stout which  is loaded with 7 pounds of Alakef Espresso. This one I really liked. Beautifully roasted malts with the espresso beans made this one the hit of the pub. I liked it so much I got a growler of it but then paid the price the next day. When I got home I knew I had to drink this tonight because it was a straight from the tap pour and when that is done it’s usually only good for that day or the day after. So at around 5:00 I flipped on the grill poured a glass, had two while grilling some chicken. Now I do not drink coffee let alone much caffeine so when I was done I had this trembling feeling and I thought I should stop drinking this. But like a fool I didn’t. Had the last two glasses while watching the Vikings loose to the Cardinals and I realized that the trembling did not come back so I thought I was cool. But when I tried to go to bed I noticed that it wasn’t that easy. Then at around 4 am. BAM! Wide awake and not only that, trembling caffeine feelings. I felt this way till about 10 am, then I felt much better. So while this beer was the best I had there for a non caffeine drinker I suggest only one pint.

But that mistake on my part should not discourage you from visiting the Thirsty Pagan in glorious Superior, Wisconsin. I highly recommend getting some pizza and I plan on doing the same. It may not be the fabulous place that Fitgers or Town Hall is but none the less it deserves our patronage. The beer list may be small but they are brewed locally and with the passion that we look for as a beer geek. And get some merchandise too. They have the perfect logo, a pentagram, and the bumper sticker really fits my personality.