What's On Tap, Minneapolis - Stub & Herbs

Image: stubandherbsbar.com

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.

The passing of Labor Day means back-to-school season is officially here. Many college students have already landed on campus. Hopefully, they have a bar like Stub & Herbs to help them lament the end of their summer vacation.

Located at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Stub & Herbs is a campus icon, opened way back in 1939 with the plan to serve great burgers and drinks. Though their cheeseburgers are still a staple, a lot has changed in the drinks department, especially recently.

"Over the last two years, I got creative freedom to pick whatever we wanted," says general manager Jon Landers. "Our taps are now 100 percent all-American craft beer." He pushed college standbys like Coors Light and Bud Light onto the bottles list and began using their 32 taps to focus on independent breweries, especially local and "blossoming" ones. "The Midwest has a reason to be proud," Landers continues. "They're turning out some great stuff."

Have a great beer bar at your school or alma mater? Fill us in in the comments! And see Stub & Herbs' complete draft list, as of Tuesday, after the jump. ...
Minnesota, specifically, has seen a beer boom. Stub & Herbs has been working very closely with Surly Brewing Co. from Brooklyn Center, Minn.: "Two weeks into them becoming a brewery, we had their beers on tap."

With five Surlys on today's list, that relationship doesn't appear to be slowing down, even as they continue to try to embrace local brewers that seem to open all the time -- including another new Minneapolis brewery next month!

How has the student body reacted?

"Younger students have embraced it. Every week we get a 21-year-old in here who wants a craft beer," Landers responds, before adding with a chuckle, "and a lot of the grad students said, 'Thank goodness there's a place for us now!'"

The result: Business has gone up 30 percent since Landers took over, with profits no longer so dependent on football-game crowds. Still, patrons probably wouldn't complain if -- beyond having a bevy of beers to choose from -- the Golden Gophers won more games than they lost this season.

Even as Stub & Herbs gains national attention for their distinct draft list, it will always be a University of Minnesota bar at heart.

• Lift Bridge Minnesota Tan
• Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree IPA
• Great Divide Hercules Double IPA
• Sierra Nevada Belgian Tripel
• Bell's Oberon Ale
• Summit Kolsch Unchained
• Grand Teton Brewing Lost Continent DIPA
• Surly Brewing Cynic Ale
• Magic Hat #9
• Tyranena Bitter Woman in the Rye
• Boulevard Zon Witbier
• Furthermore Oscura
• Dark Horse Plead the 5th Imperial Stout
• Steamworks Steam Engine Lager
• Surly Brewing Coffee Bender
• Surly Brewing Bender
• Surly Bitter Brewer
• Schell's Light
• Founders Breakfast Stout
• Flying Dog Dogtoberfest
• Left Hand Oktoberfest
• Lift Bridge Farm Girl Saison
• Southern Tier Pumking
• Surly Furious
• Summit Brewing Oatmeal Stout
• Avery 16th Saison Anniversary Ale
• Dark Horse Raspberry Ale
• Flat Earth Sunburst Apricot Belgian Ale
• Two Brothers Moaten
• Lift Bridge Crosscut Pale Ale
• Ommegang Rouge
• Goose Island Fleur Belgian Ale
• Left Hand Sawtooth Ale (cask-conditioned)