Ursa Minor Brewing | Duluth, MN
Beer Trip: Ursa Minor Brewing in Duluth, Minnesota
While most people think of the star constellation consisting of the Little Dipper when they hear Ursa Minor, we will forever think of this brewery moving forward. This place has a hip facility, friendly staff, and one of the best kids’ areas we’ve encountered.
The Brewery
Ursa Minor occupies an old brick building with plenty of street parking surrounding it. They have a large indoor space, with more tables than we could count, across two separate seating areas. Each area has its own bar for the times they get truly busy. Only one bar was open during our stop, but they had plenty of staff to keep the lines moving. We brought our two young children with us, and this place had a fantastic kids corner separated by a half wall to keep them contained and isolated from the rest of the bar area. They have all kinds of toys and games, which kept our son entertained for the evening.
More board games than we’ve ever seen!
The kids’ corner was so cool!
Duluth in the summer typically has some great weather, so they have a large outdoor space with 30+ tables. There are multiple fire pits and a literal pontoon boat against the back that is utilized as a stage for live music. Part of the area sits below a covered pergola, so sides could easily be added to utilize during the winter months. Unfortunately for us, we visited during a heat wave - so we opted to sit inside and beat the heat.
The Beer
The bar sits front and center the moment you walk through the door, so you will find their 20+ taps listed out on hanging chalkboards. The options during our visit included 5 sours, 7 IPAs and pale ales, a couple Belgian-style brews, and several others. We were told that only 3 or 4 beers are Ursa Minor flagships and that most of the menu continually changes out. In fact, their website says that they churn out over 100 new beers a year!
We were able to stay here for a few hours to enjoy a decent portion of the draft selections, and were rather impressed by the beer’s quality. Our favorite happened to be their most popular, the Galactic Face Slap. This New England Style IPA has the perfect citrus profile and is rather thick, both in the glass and in the mouth… one of the better hazys we’ve had in a while! Another of note is the Ursa Harbor Kolsch. This brew provides a nice, grainy taste and is light as you might imagine, making it the perfect summer beer. We can’t leave the beer section without mentioning the sours. Each one we tried was great in its own way, and you couldn’t go wrong with ordering any of them (perhaps why Morgan had multiple flights)!
The can feature wall was something we’d never seen before!
Food, Merch, & More
Ursa Minor has a limited food menu, but it’s intentional so that they perfect what they make. This menu includes soft pretzels, a variety of wood-fired pizzas, and multiple salads, all of which feature ingredients sourced by local vendors. We ordered a Wize Yker pizza, and it was awesome!
The wood-fired pizza was delicious
So many dog toys in the merch section
Their merchandise section sits down the hall from the bar and has a wide variety of items including shirts, hats, socks, and glassware, along with more unique finds such as frisbees and hammocks.
Warren made friends with a little boy named Will and they had a blast together
