Fitger's Brewhouse

Ragingbull

California

4/5  rDev -7.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

I stopped in here with my wife and two children on the way to Eagle Mountain in the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area. Therefore I will say family friendly. I was most impressed by the fact that the whole "mall" establishment/facility used to be a bigger brewing facility and now has a hotel, shops and the brewpub itself. I enjoy a historical flair in a brewpub. It was a cold and dreary early June day here in Minnesota and the atmosphere provided us a wonderful respite from travel and the elements. I had a sampler with my lunch and went "off the board" with a smoked trout wrap. I love fish but rarely order it at restaurants as I am often disappointed. I must say that I was not disappointed here. The nachos accompanying it made it a lunch, but with some fancier rice, couscous or the like it was dinner quality. Back to the beer. . . I made particular note of the Apricot wheat and Witchtree ESB. It seems more and more brewers are using apricot and this beer justified that move. All of the beers were solid even if some weren't my type. They had more than came in my sampler but I was on a schedule. Great place. I would really like to get back there sooner than later.

07-11-2008 01:56:56 | More by Ragingbull

mnstorm99

Minnesota

4.38/5  rDev +1.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Walking in this place has a small bar with tables all around, unfortunately it is a little stuffy in there, but then wheather at the bar or at a table I have always received good service. Those nice servers then bring me whatever wonderful beer I ordered, some of the best beers you can get at a brewpub. The Hoops brothers know what they are doing (head brewers here and at Minneapolis Town Hall). There is always an IPA to choose from as well as some maltier offerings and sometimes even an extreme beer of some sort. They are not afraid to experiment and for that we win. The food has always been good and worth the money you spend on it.

04-16-2008 18:44:21 | More by mnstorm99

sweetkness

Minnesota

4.53/5  rDev +5.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

I have been a regular here, about once a week for about 4 years now. So my review is a bit biased.

The atmosphere is top notch. It's in the old fitger's brewery building, and there are remnants of that still seen (at least thats what I would guess). Nice woodwork all around, lots of old brewerania (there is a cool Hamm's poster/sign in one of the siderooms). All the pillars throughout the brewpub are covered in stickers, some quite hillarious. One of the siderooms has a view of one of the fermenting areas. There are signs in every room posting the currect beer selections. It can get quite packed in here when there is music, and there is often a wait thursday-saturday night for dining, but I guess this stuff is all common of restaurants/brewpubs.

The beer quality is fantastic. Rarely a disappointing beer.

Service. We (wife, friends) have gotten to know various servers throughout the years, most are very friendly, especially the more you get to know them. A lot of them unfortunatly move on to something else. They are always knowledgable about the beer.

Selection again is fantastic, always about 10 or so various choices, all from the brewpub. You could complain that they rarely have guest beers on tap, but with such a good selection of their own great beer, there is little need.

Food. I am probably the most biased here. Having been going there for so long, I've tried basically everything on the menu. It's hard for me to pick favorites that really stick out, and also hard to pick anything that you shouldn't order. Everything is very good, with a great variety of salads, burgers and sandwiches. That all being said, the main draw is the beer.

The value is about the same as most brewpubs. One complaint is there is no happy hour food specials. Happy hour beer is a decent deal at $3/pint. There is also pitcher nights on Thursdays which I believe is at $9/pitcher now. Great deal with some good music usually going on.

Best brewpub in the north (of Minnesota), hands down! (Although there isn't much around for competition)

02-26-2008 16:36:07 | More by sweetkness

iron78

Wisconsin

4.55/5  rDev +5.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

Great place to hang out and have a good beer.
In the historic Fitgers brewery, the building is huge stone block, beam ceilings.

Beer is some of the best I've had. Big boat oatmeal stout is perhaps my favorite beer. Always a good selection that rotates regularly. Every time in town I'll have a couple of growlers filled. (Big downside... they can't do growlers on Sunday so fill up early in the weekend.)

The people working there are friendly and helpful with selection. Service is quick.

The food is better than average, haven't had anything to complain about. But it's the beer that keeps me coming back.

02-22-2008 17:56:53 | More by iron78

ryantupy

Minnesota

4.22/5  rDev -2.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Fitger's Brewhouse is an essential stop for anyone in the area.

This Brewhouse is a great cozy place to grab a bite to eat and a beer. The nice thing is they always feature qunique beers and constantly rotate offerings. Growlers are affordable but many times they do not offer all the available beers in growlers. Also they pre-fill growlers so some times you will receive a growler that was filled a week ago. Other than that it wonderful place to stop for lunch or diner. The service is good and staf is very knowledable about the beer.

The food is mostly your standard brew pub food offerings. With that said they have some unique menu items and almost all of the food is reasonably priced and tastes good.

02-17-2008 22:35:14 | More by ryantupy

zeff80

Missouri

4.33/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$$

I've visited this place several times during the Christmas holiday. This year I had extra time to make two trips to Fitger's. The beers have always been very good. Here's what they had on their menu this weekend: Bellsnickle Wheat Wine, Big Boat Oatmeal, El Nino IPA, Gale Force Cranberry Ale, Ginger Pale Ale, Heaven or Helles, Lighthouse Golden, Saaquatch, Starfire Pale Ale and the Witchtree ESB. I did not try the Wheat Wine and the Sasquatch was all gone. The food has always been very good. My California Chicken sandwich was okay but they really skimped on the guacamole. The atmosphere is pretty good. They are working on a retail store in the basement. Overall, Fitger's is a place that you shouldn't miss in Duluth.

Edit: Dec. 2008 - Retail store is done. Fridges have filled growlers and 750ml corked bottles.

12-30-2007 19:32:55 | More by zeff80

uwmgdman

Wisconsin

4.63/5  rDev +7.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

In my second trip to duluth in as many years, I made sure I came back to Fitger's.

Beer: Great selection, about 10 or so brews on tap. I sampled every offering in two trips on my recent visit. Nearly every beer was an above average sample of the style they were brewing, with some individual flare.

Food: A large selection, great burgers, good lunch specials.

Service: Polite and very knowledgeable. Appropriate amount of attention and the food was served quickly and hot. Pretty much something on the menu for everyone.

I would like to enjoy some live music there on my next visit to Duluth. If you're in Duluth this is MUST visit...trust me you stop by and end up staying for quite a while.

11-02-2007 18:06:05 | More by uwmgdman

shadow1961

Minnesota

4.38/5  rDev +1.6%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

I dropped by the Brewhouse, located in the historic Fitgers building yesterday for a drink and a bite to eat. I had last tried the place way back in the early 90's but somehow never made it back for another taste until this tuesday.

The first thing you need to know about the place is that Fitgers is a retail, hospitality, and hotel complex located in what was Fitgers, a gone-but not forgotten Minnesota brewery that went out of business in the late 70's. The sprawling building, located on the shore of Lake Superior, has long since been renovated and it is gorgeous. On the outside the familiar silhouette of the building is preserved- the smokestack with FITGERS painted on the side, and the bright red watertower that used to feed the copper brew kettles (one of which is preserved in the museum on-premises). The exterior is the dark brick typical of local architecture of that vintage, covered in engelman ivy, which is just now coming into it's fall colors. Inside, the building is of lighter red brick and dark old wood. It can be a little daunting getting around, but luckily there are "you are here" map kiosks located throughout the complex. As I said, there are many retail and other shops within, but my interest was the Brewhouse, which happens to be just inside the main entrance and to the right. There are large glass windows set into the hallway, where you can look at the stainless steel kettles and tanks. I was pleased to see that there were also wooden aging tanks. The brewmasters were hard at work within (there are several other clubs in the complex that use their beer as well). I think it's always a plus to be able to drink absolutely fresh beer and to see the actual people who made it. To the side of the brewhouse was the Brewhouse Bar. The decor is all dark wood and brick, very much like I imagine an English pub might be like- wooden columns all covered in placards and booths and tables off to the side in the restaurant side of the pub.
If you sit at the bar, as I chose to do, you can see into the kitchen area and watch the cooks at work. As it happens, one of them (Hi Jessy!) was an old acquaintance from Brainerd, so we visited a bit between orders.

The Brewhouse has 12 beers on tap at any one time- I imagine there are others that rotate in and out as well, but the active ones are displayed on several chalk boards- you can also get growlers of most of them as well, just ask your barman. I had the Big Boat Oatmeal Stout (6.6%), the Hair O' the Monk triple (10%), and the El Nino Double-Hopped IPA (7%). All were good and fit into their respective styles, though I was particularly taken by the wonderful apricot and grapefruit nose of the IPA. Also, even though they were all just 10 oz pours, I was slightly bent- but that's what a lack of sleep an an empty stomach will do for you. Luckily, the Brewhouse has a big menu- with a bewildering selection of the usual bar food and appetizers, as well as a surprisingly large veggie menu. Jessy made me a chicken sandwich with chutney and blue chips. Tasty. All told, with 3 pours, dinner, a growler, and a ten dollar tip, it came out to about forty bucks- a bargain.

To really get the most out of the Brewhouse, plan on getting a room there as well. As it happens, there are several big music festivals and other events in Duluth- it seems like just the place for a short vacation.

09-05-2007 23:27:07 | More by shadow1961

tempest

Pennsylvania

4.2/5  rDev -2.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Stopped by for a birthday dinner as its the best beer place I've found in the Duluth area. They have a fairly high number of house brews available, around 10 including cask, and they're pretty much all delicious.

The service and food was pretty good, though at some times our food and drinks came really quickly and other times they didn't. I enjoyed the black bean burrito with tuna. I recommend that or the wild rice burger.

Overall, this place reminds of Town Hall Brewery of Minneapolis. I've heard the brewer is Mike Hoops's (of TH) brother. The El Nino IPA is the one must-have for hop heads. Everything else is an excellent example of their style for the most part.

05-30-2007 00:14:28 | More by tempest

citrusjim

Massachusetts

4.13/5  rDev -4.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

This place was a nice find in Duluth. I was there on business and staying down the road at the Raddison. On a Wednesday night, it was busy which is a good sign. The barroom is loud but there were families there. The beer selection was great with 8 or so taps going and one cask. I had the porter, the ESB and the oatmeal stout. All were excellent example of their style. My friend had a pale which was also good. I had a burger which was pretty good and had great fries. The service was great wich seems to be the vibe in Minnesotta. I will go back if I ever make it back to Duluth.

04-29-2007 12:29:28 | More by citrusjim