When do you know your life is right?  

Is it when you are assured by your investments and savings that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel for a safe and secure retirement?  

Is it when your oldest and dearest friend says out of the blue “You’re my hero”?  

Or maybe it is this moment – you’re searching the seemingly endless aisles of amazing and intriguing beers, walking back and forth, comparing ingredients, weighing the seemingly endless options, but as soon as you see the plain looking can of Standard Lager declaring itself “extraordinarily uncomplicated,” it speaks directly to you and you know it is exactly what you’ve been searching for.  

This was my first experience with the Minneapolis brewery, and this delicious lager has certainly captured my attention and made me want to try more of their offerings.   Standard Lager is really only uncomplicated in its ingredients – two-row barley malt, American hops and pilsner yeast. But the result is astounding. It pours a white header, rich amber color, which separates it from your standard American golden macro-lager.

That color means a big malt presence, which a good lager should have. Within that is a subtle but complicated flavor profile that includes a mild and satisfying spicy note.  

The fact is that this beer is about as complicated as life itself. In short, this “uncomplicated” lager is an example of brewing at its finest. Both the art and craft of beer are on display here.  

Fulton Brewing is a fascinating success story that began among a small group of Minneapolis homebrewers in 2006, and grew from the garage of one of the brewers to a 20-barrel brewhouse and the first taproom in Minneapolis in 2011, and the 2013 expansion to a 51,000 square foot 80-barrel brewhouse and office. The original downtown Minneapolis taproom location (416 N. 6th Ave.) remains as the place for experimental brewing and taproom exclusives.   In addition to an amazing array of Fulton beers offered at the taproom (including flagship brews such as Sweet Child of Vine IPA and Lonely Blonde Ale), the brewery offers a variety of hard seltzers and Fulton Hopped Water, a nonalcoholic but hopped sparkling water.  

The thought and attention the brewery puts into Standard Lager tells me that you can’t go wrong with anything this brewery produces. I look forward to a taproom visit.