Indeed debuted the first edition of its bimonthly beat battle series, “Heat Check,” on Thursday, February 26. The battle, hosted by local producer and musician, Griswald, featured four seasoned producers going toe-to-toe in an on-the-spot beat making competition. Each producer was provided sound bites captured at “Ice Out” protests on the streets of Minneapolis, along with a small bank of melodic and harmonic loops, and given 20 minutes to chop it all up into their own original beat. When the 20 minutes was up, the beats were played / performed aloud in the room, and the audience voted on their favorite.

With little creative constraints beyond the requirement of using the provided samples, the four producer each had a very unique approach to this competition. Differences in equipment, from MPCs to to SP404s to DAWs, and differences in styles, from boom bap to EDM, made for a wonderfully eclectic batch of beats for the audience to judge. It was Chandler Jarvis who narrowly came out on top at the end of the two rounds and went home with a Burst Variety 12-pack as his trophy.

Participating Producers:

Chandler Jarvis – @chandlerjarvis123

Indigo Onyxx – @indigo_onyxx

Headtriiip – @headtriiip

Fruit Punch Lover Boy – @fruitpunchloverboy

The next “Heat Check” Beat Battle is scheduled for Thursday, April 23 and will feature a different set of four producers, each bringing their own instrumentalist to help create sound bites for live sampling.

On Saturday, Feb. 7, Indeed hosted local film photographer and developer, Lucas Roberge, for a live demonstration of his craft, but with an exciting twist. Instead of developing film in the typical store-bought developer (Rodinal, Ilfotol, etc.), Roberge harnessed the naturally-occurring film-developing agents in beer, mixed with some household chemicals, to bring his black-and-white photos to life in real time. Film photos conceived in Indeed beer!

Roberge’s beer-developed film is framed and on display (and available for purchase) in the Ox Taproom for the remainder of February. His collection ranges from action shots of local concerts to posed model work to BTS of Indeed’s brewing and packaging line. Stop in and marvel at the product of Roberge’s steady hand and fascinating chemical experimentation, while sipping on the very liquid that brought this art to life!

Indeed continues to stand with our immigrant neighbors. Check out the following donation and community aid opportunites currently offered in the NE Minneapolis taproom:

Buy a Beer for your Neighbor

Anytime you’re checking out, you now have the option to “Buy a beer for your neighbor.” This $8 donation—the typical price of a pint—will go towards a weekly donation of Indeed beer to be distributed (along with other supplies) to folks in our community who are sheltering in place. 

Tuesday Donation Drives in the Ox (5-7pm)

Each Tuesday, Indeed will be hosting a household items donation drive from 5-7pm in the Ox Taproom. All items donated will be dropped off at the Northeast Neighbors Mutual Aid Fund the following day. Check out @nenmaf612 or @indeedbrewing on Instagram to keep up to date on current high-demand donation items.   

Minneapolis Community Aid Resource Window

Looking for more ways to get involved in support of your immediate community? Stop by our Minneapolis Community Aid Resource Window outside the Ox for some hand-selected volunteer and training resources. Grab a whistle, too!

summer’s more fun with this lemon sea salt lager

Whether you’re on a boat or in your backyard, Brightside Sea Salt & Lemon Lager is a perfect companion for wherever the summer takes you.

We want to see what sorta shenanigans you’re getting into it with our favorite summertime sipper. Make sure to tag us on Instagram and fill out the form below to be officially entered to win a round of Brightside crowlers and swag.

Enter the Minneapolis giveaway here.

We will select winners monthly at random. Winners will be required to pick up their prize at either the Northeast Minneapolis taproom or Milwaukee taproom.

Indeed We Can

If brewing top-notch beer for the people around us is the core of who we are at Indeed Brewing Company, then engagement with our community is our backbone. Giving back is as fundamental to us as brewing delicious beer, and we’re always seeking new ways to engage.

Indeed We Can is our charitable initiative, and it puts the power of doing good straight into the hands of the people who make Indeed tick: our employees and guests.

Here’s how it works:

You Give

Every Wednesday and Tuesday in Minneapolis and Milwaukee respectively, guests will have the option to round up their tab. The extra goes to that month’s fundraising partner.

Milwaukee 2025
Organizations

January: The Park People
February: Wisconsin Humane Society – Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
March: Urban Ecology Center
April: Milwaukee Public Library Foundation
May: River Revitalization Foundation
June: Moms Mental Health Initiative
July: Friends of the Domes
August: DreamBikes
September: Sojourner Family Peace Center
October: Women’s Medical Fund
November: Milwaukee Film
December: Ice Age Trail Alliance

the annual music, beer, food, and art festival is may 17-19, 2024 in northeast minneapolis

Despite what the meteorological calendar says, the summer season starts with Whirlygig at Indeed Brewing Company. Mark your 2024 calendars for May 17-19 to take part in the whirlwind that is Whirlygig. Come for the music and beer, stay till your heart’s content of both.

“Eli Awada helped with booking the music this year, and we were lucky to work with him; he’ll be a name y’all hear a lot about in the music scene for a long time. Look at this damn lineup! I can say with certainty that every single band is worth seeing. I wouldn’t blame anyone that hung out at the stage for the whole weekend,” says Ryan Bandy, Chief Business Officer, Indeed Brewing Company. “You’ll see the wide world of Minneapolis music, bouncing between guitar-driven rock and roll to hip hop; from physical performance to performances by a congresswoman. From badass women born in the 21st century to Cornbread Harris who is nearly a centenarian (97 years old!). Kevin Washington is a local legend who plays with some of the best players in the city while Carnage creates one of the best individual performances I’ve ever seen. We’re lucky to be able to highlight these artists. Whirlygig 2024 will be epic.”

FRIDAY, MAY 17 (3-11pm)
9pm: Gully Boys
8pm: XINA
7pm: iLLism
6pm: Lighter Co.

RSVP on Facebook here.

SATURDAY, MAY 18 (11am-11pm)
8:45pm: Marijuana Deathsquads
7:30pm: María Isa
6:30pm: Why Not
5:30pm: Scrunchies
4:30pm: Carnage, The Executioner
3:30pm: Derecho Rhythm Section
2:30pm: Goon Tribune
1:30pm: Beemer

RSVP on Facebook here.

SUNDAY, MAY 19 (11am-10pm)
5pm: Kevin Washington & RA Spirit
4pm: LAAMAR
3pm: Dilly Dally Alley
2pm: Cornbread Harris
1pm: Molly Maher & Her Disbelievers
12pm: Nelson Devereaux

RSVP on Facebook here.

In addition to a weekend full of music, there will be L.S.D (the beer!), Brightside Sea Salt & Lemon Lager, Flavorwave IPA and lots more beer among a selection of great food vendors including Revival, iPierogi, KCM Eggrolls, The Donut Trap, Aki’s Pretzels, and Red Cow (with Que Tal, Hopper’s Mini Donuts, World Street Kitchen at 14th Ave & Quincy St).

Chuck U, Legacy Glassworks and Flavor World will be returning this year, with Cool Trash and Better Together joining the party. The Carefree Zone in the Biergarten will have the Baron of Bubbles on Saturday from 1-4pm and Mondo will be doing juggling lessons on Saturday and Sunday from 12-4pm.

“We’ve got a really fun collaboration release happening this year with Marijuana Deathsquads, who have consistently pushed the boundaries of art and we’re stoked to be doing some weird stuff with them,” says Bandy. MDS Sports, inspired by the lemon-lime sports drink that had a short run in the early ‘90s, boasts 10mg of THC beverage along with electrolytes and caffeine. It will be available first at Whirlygig weekend and online after. Shop the MDS Sports collection here.

Entry to this event is free and open to all ages (must be 21+ to drink beer and THC beverages). Whirlygig will go on rain or shine. The event is cash only, both inside and outside, with ATMs on-site.

Whirlygig coincides with Art-a-Whirl presented by NEMAA, the largest open studio tour in the country. There will be artwork from nearly 1,300 artists in every medium at more than 100 locations, including the Solar Arts Building.

our new ipa variety pack features flavorwave, modern age, blue dream, and let it ride

Pull up a lawn chair and enjoy the spectacle of our most colorful IPAs together in one pack. A promenade of lush and dank hops, Hop Parade Variety Pack puts Flavorwave, Modern Age, Blue Dream, and Let It Ride on full display.

“Enjoy the full spectrum of hop flavors in this pack, from lush to dank, fruity to herbal,” says Ryan Bandy, Director of Experience at Indeed Brewing Company. “This pack was curated for hop lovers of all kinds.”

A parade, at its heart, is a celebration. With something for every IPA lover, this baton-twirling, trumpet-sounding variety pack is perfect for bringing to your next celebratory gathering. In the pack, find the following:

Flavorwave IPA (6.2% ABV): Brewed with fruity, juicy Centennial, Mosaic & Citra hops. Flavorwave IPA is the Grand Marshall of this parade.

Modern Age Session IPA (3.8% ABV): Big on flavor, low in alcohol. This session IPA marches to the beat of its own drum with flavors of Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy and Strata hops.

Blue Dream Honey IPA (6.4% ABV): Brewed with honey and Simcoe, Altus and Mosaic hops, Blue Dream Hazy IPA invites you to float along with dreamy clouds of dank hop aroma and flavor.

Let it Ride India Pale Ale (6.8% ABV): Let it Ride all the way down the parade route. Indeed’s original IPA is brewed with an unfettered blend of Mosaic, Calypso and El Dorado hops.

Find the Hop Parade IPA Variety Pack in your favorite craft beer aisle in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.

there’s a new and improved hard kombucha on tap!

There’s a new hard kombucha on tap at Indeed Brewing Company! We said “so long” to Boon Hard Kombucha and “hey!” to J’s Hard Kombucha. In collaboration with J’s Kombucha, our new and improved hard kombucha features a new kombucha flavor courtesy of J’s (hibiscus-sage-blackberry) and ABV (5%).

We chatted with Jason Wagner, owner and founder of J’s Kombucha, about their kombucha and the collaboration hard kombucha on tap at Indeed’s Northeast taproom.

When and why did you start J’s Kombucha?
J’s Kombucha opened its doors in the summer of 2021, but the reason why it all started traces back to 2013 when I was searching for a way to alleviate my oldest son’s severe allergies and was drawn to kombucha as a non-dairy source of probiotics. My son was allergic to nearly all foods, and experiencing allergic reactions daily, so I was compelled to do something more than respond with medication after the fact and thought our best bet would be to strengthen his immune system so that we didn’t need to rely on medication as much. My thinking was if allergic reactions begin in the immune system, and over 70% of the immune system lives in the gut, then a stronger gut should lead to less severe allergic reactions. To strengthen his gut, we needed to improve its microbiome by populating it with good microbiota while expelling the bad, and kombucha was central to this strategy.

Gradually my son’s allergies became more manageable, and I’ve brewed kombucha ever since. While I don’t consider kombucha to be a cure for allergies or a replacement for allergy meds, it is a tool that played an important role in improving his gut health when few options were available. We feel lucky to have learned about kombucha when we did and it’s satisfying to now be sharing it with others and hoping that it can bring something positive to their lives as well. This summer, my son began working part-time at J’s Kombucha, which has been meaningful for both of us.

What sets J’s Kombucha apart from other kombuchas?
J’s Kombucha is an approachable, mellow kombucha that’s less sour or tart than a lot of the kombucha brands on the market. In part, this is because we use kombucha-specific symbiosis fermenters, which are shallow open-air fermenters resembling a Koelschip. The shape and depth provide a balanced environment for the yeast and bacteria so that ethanol is converted to gluconic and acetic acids as fast as it’s being produced while also promoting a faster, more complete fermentation. The result is a crisper, cleaner ferment, which we flavor with fresh herbs and organic fruit that’s cold pressed on-site.

What’s your process for making kombucha?
Kombucha is made by first steeping tea (we use a blend of black and green) and then mixing in sugar to fuel the ferment. Once the sweetened tea has cooled, it’s combined with filtered water and inoculated with our kombucha culture, which provides the necessary populations of bacteria and yeast. Finally, a cellulose biofilm called a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) is added and then everything is left to ferment for about a week with the thermostat set around 73°.

Once the primary ferment is complete, we flavor it with a secondary ferment. This is when we add our cold-pressed juice along with herbs and allow it to continue fermenting for 1-2 days. This creates a complex flavor profile as flavors are broken down and blended with nuance and depth.

How do you experiment with flavors? What have some unique flavor combos been?
Our flavor experiments usually begin with a conversation where our team determines what kind of flavor we’re looking for and what sort of ingredient combinations we want to try. Once we have a list of flavors several test batches are made. When these are finished, we reconvene as a tasting panel to select the best options, which then go on to a second and possibly third round of tests where ingredient ratios are adjusted until everyone is happy.

While experimenting for the Indeed collab we thought fresh basil would be fun, especially because it was an ingredient in Indeed’s original Boon Hard Kombucha. I think it was a blackberry-basil-sage flavor combo that somehow ended up tasting like a pizza, or a caprese, which was kind of amazing, but not exactly what we were looking for.

How did the partnership with Indeed come about?
Some of the core members of the J’s Kombucha team have a lot of experience in the craft brewery world, and a recurring topic of conversation has been hard kombucha, and how we would approach making it. We aren’t licensed to manufacture alcohol and don’t want to be, so the idea of collaboration had been on our wish list for a while. Since Indeed already made Boon, and we were all big fans, it seemed like a natural fit for us. One of our brewers went to the Indeed taproom to introduce J’s Kombucha and let our interest in collaboration be known, and it turned out the feeling was mutual.

How did you develop the first flavor combination? What other flavors are on deck?
The first flavor combination, Blackberry-Hibiscus-Sage, was developed as a nod to the original Boon. We know how popular it was and appreciate that it blazed the trail for Minnesota-made hard kombucha, so we wanted to make something that resonated with it and are eager to hear what long-time Boon fans think.

For the next flavor, we’re looking at some options in response to the onset of cold weather, so something that brings a bit of spice or warmth will be next. Right now, we’re experimenting with ingredients like cascara, bourbon chips, and a few other things we can’t wait to share, stay tuned!

What else is brewing at J’s?
This year we also launched a THC-infused kombucha brand called Purple J’s. We currently have 2 flavors available: Raspberry Island and Blackberry Hill, which are first among their kind.