Duluth, MN
2023 brings with it another year of craft beer and cider festivals to plan for. Heidi and I wanted to pick a variety of different festivals to attend. There were several in 2022 that we are happy to return to and we’re looking for unique experiences in the year to come. We decided that we would start with the Cider North cider festival in Duluth, MN on January 21st, 2023. With over a month until the event, we started making plans for other activities we would like to do while in Duluth. We definitely wanted to get out into nature and planned a winter hike at Jay Cooke State Park in Carlton MN. With tickets for the festival, a hotel reservation and a plan, we were looking forward to our weekend on the shore.
January 21st finally came around and it was time to head north and start our much needed get-away. With the event starting at 2pm we decided to head out early that morning so we could make the most of our time in Duluth. Our first stop when we got to Duluth was Canal Park, specifically Canal Brewing for lunch. Duluth in January has its drawbacks like the cold, wind, and slippery conditions but there are some positives that come with visiting Canal Park in the winter. Parking is free, and plentiful, in the winter in Canal Park’s public lots. There are a lot less people walking around and getting a table in a restaurant is much easier than in the summer. We parked a couple blocks away from the Canal Brewing in the free public parking lot. We were seated right away by the windows on the lake side of the restaurant. Heidi ordered the Steak Melt and I had the Canal Park Club. The steak melt was thinly sliced steak, cheddar, swiss and a horseradish ranch sauce on grilled sourdough bread. The club had most of the traditional things a club would have but this version had smoked gouda cheese, lingonberry mayo and was served on grilled sourdough bread. We thought about getting one of their craft beers but decided to go with the mixed berry lemonade, knowing that we would soon be sampling lots of hard ciders later in just a few hours. Our food and lemonade was incredible and the atmosphere was warm and welcoming. We even had a chance to see what appeared to be miniature sled dogs on the patio.
Our next stop was the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) for Cider North. 2023 was the first year of the event and we were excited to go to an exclusively cider event. It was held in the DECC’s HarborSide Convention Center from 2pm to 5pm, unless you purchased the VIP tickets for an extra hour of sampling. Tickets were $40 per person for the regular tickets and $65 for the VIP tickets. We arrived at the DECC around 1:30, got in line and got checked in. The doors opened promptly at 2 and the crowd shuffled in quickly to find their first sample. Heidi and I opted to head upstairs right away to see what was available up there. There were a total of 12 cideries and the majority of them were upstairs. There were also charcuterie platters for sale as well as other food options. We hopped in line and started sampling different ciders and we would pick two different ciders so we could try each others’. The lines were short upstairs at first but quickly filled up as people found their way to the upper level. The lines moved fast and gave us time to drink our cider and talk about them. Over the next hour and a half we bounced between downstairs and upstairs trying as many ciders as we could. By 4:00pm the crowd was about half of what it was when it started. We were able to walk up to most booths without standing in line. Only a couple of cideries ran out of certain ciders but no one ran out completely. Between 4pm and 5pm we took time to stop and talk to the representatives from different cideries and introduce ourselves. We would ask questions about their cideries and mention that we would like to come visit and write something up about them. Almost every cidery took the time to talk to us and seemed to be excited at the idea of us paying them a visit to talk further and tour their businesses. We also spoke with the people from the Minnesota Cider Guild and purchased the Craft Notes Cider Passport. We also enjoyed talking with the person in charge of social media for the DECC and she was excited to see what we will post about the event. The festival was organized and well-run. I would have not guessed it was their first year putting it on. We would like to say thanks to the DECC, Minnesota Cider Guild and everyone who talked to us at the event. We will definitely be adding this one to the list again next year.
The Cider North event ended at 5pm and we took our time strolling over to the Duluth Lakewalk where to walk off a bit of the afternoon's fun. Being that it was after 5pm, in January in Minnesota, it was already dark and the Lakewalk was illuminated by lamp-posts along the Canal Park section creating a really cool atmosphere for us to enjoy. The paved trail was plowed but was quite slippery and the boardwalk was snow covered but was easy walking. The cold evening air was nice and we walked north up the Lakewalk until we ran out of lights and then turned around and headed back toward the lift bridge. When we got to the area around the lift bridge things got slippery and there was a lot of Ice on the sidewalk and surrounding area. We snapped a few pictures and headed back to the car. Our walk was short but it was nice to get some fresh air and have most of the walk to ourselves.
We decided to stay in Superior instead of Duluth, mainly because the cost of a room was about half of the cost of staying in Canal Park. We found our hotel and took some time to relax and find a place for dinner. We chose Thirsty Pagan Brewing for dinner and a drink. We ended up missing a turn on the way to the brewery, my GPS took us a different route and I learned that the city of Superior has a different idea what road maintenance is. We took one turn at an intersection and the Where2 VW bug slammed into a pothole that was about a third of the size of the car. We were only going 10 miles an hour but we hit so hard we heard and felt the car’s frame hit the pavement. The rest of the roads in the area were not in good condition and could leave someone stranded very easily. After doing my best to avoid the pothole landmines, we finally arrived at Thirsty Pagan Brewing. Thirsty Pagan Brewing is located at 1615 Winter Street, Superior, WI 54880 in the Old Soo-LIne Depot. The depot was built in 1908 for the Wisconsin Central RailRoad and then sold to the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie (Soo Line) in 1909. The Depot was designed for passenger service and it served that purpose until 1965. From 1965 -1989 the depot was used as a freight depot and offices for the Soo-Line. In 1993 parts of the movie Iron Will were filmed in and around the depot. The Thirsty Pagan moved into the depot in 2019.
The restaurant was busy but we were seated right away and the host put us right in front of the 3 musicians playing live music that evening. We decided we would get a couple of the appetizers instead of pizza. We started with the loaded pretzel and Heidi went with the margarita TPB bread and I went with the original TPB bread. The loaded pretzel was a soft pretzel cut up and topped with mozzarella, cheddar, and bacon. The TPB bread was kind of their version of the garlic bread, but it was more like a small pizza. The margarita has fresh garlic, fresh tomatoes, basil & mozzarella cheese on it and the original has fresh garlic, mozzarella cheese & some spices with warm red sauce on the side. With dinner, Heidi had a black ale called Burntwood Black and I had the cream ale named Lawnchair. The building is very interesting because you can imagine what it looked like with people waiting for their trains and most of the building looked to be original. We enjoyed the music and ate our dinner and were very pleased with the food and the beer. The good music, food and beer mixed with historic atmosphere made for a great experience. Thirsty Pagan Brewing is a place you should put on your list of places to visit when you are in the Duluth and Superior area. Just watch out for the potholes!
After leaving Thirsty Pagan Brewing we were not ready to call it a night and decided that we would run over and check out Earth Rider Brewing. Earth Rider Brewing is less than a mile from Thirsty Pagan Brewing and is located just up the street from the Anchor Bar and Grill, another Superior must-visit stop. We were surprised that Earth Rider’s taproom looked more like a bar than the taprooms we were familiar with. Actually the taproom is a lounge; a very historic lounge and part of Superior's history. Still called the Cedar Lounge, it is located at 1715 N 3rd Street #1617, Superior, WI and according to Earth Rider’s website the building was built in 1912 for the Northern Brewing Company. Earth Rider owner, Tim Nelson, purchased the building in 2016 and 2017 Earth Rider Brewing took over the space as their taproom. When we walked in, the place was pretty full and there was live music on the stage. We found a table at the back of the room and ordered a couple of pints of Earth Riders’s North Tower stout. The stout was good with a lot of flavor but wasn’t overly rich. We sat and talked and enjoyed our beer and then called it a night after a long and enjoyable day.
The next morning we found a really cool coffee shop named Empire Coffee. Empire Coffee is located at 1204 Tower Ave in an 1890’s building that used to be one of the Jewels of Downtown Superior. The coffee shop is not your typical coffee shop and that is why we had to stop there.. The building has gone through a complete renovation and shows off its turn of the century beauty. The high ceilings, warm colors and big windows made it feel warm even on a chilly January morning. There was a big display of photos from Joe Polecheck and art from other local artists. We sat and enjoyed our coffee and took in the splendor of the Coffee shop. After finishing our coffee we headed to Jay Cooke State Park in Carlton, MN.
Even before heading to Duluth we knew that we wanted to do some winter hiking in the area. We decided that we would stop at Jay Cooke State Park on our way home from Superior. When we left the coffee shop I figured we would stay on the Wisconsin side and then cross over to Minnesota when we got closer to the park. Now rethinking the situation I should have crossed back to the Minnesota side right away. The drive wasn’t bad but the first part through Superior was once again a game of dodging potholes. The cool part about the way we went was that it brought us through some scenic areas that we wouldn’t have seen from the freeway. When we got to the park we checked in at the park office and got ideas about where to hike from the park ranger. Before we headed out on our hike we wanted to take a few pictures of the swinging bridge that crosses the St. Louis River. We headed down to the bridge and snapped a couple of pictures. I was amazed how different it looked in the winter. We then headed to the visitor center to look at the map before we headed out on our hike. The River Inn visitor area is an impressive building built by the Civilian Conservation Corps between the years of 1939 and 1942. Most of the materials used in the building was from the local area. The main area of the building is a large room with a huge fireplace at one end. There was a roaring fire that warmed the whole room. I kept thinking to myself that this would make an incredible house. We warmed up and looked at the map and decided what path we would hike.
The park ranger had pointed out a trail that went around the campground and started in the main parking area. The trail is designed for snowshoeing and winter hiking and has variable terrain. The trail wound through the woods and was no wider than the track of a snowshoer. It was more of a hiking trail than a walking path. I believe the hike was about two miles and made a big loop through heavily forested areas. You could see how the trees were affected by the heavy snow and ice that had accumulated earlier in the season. We took our time and the trail led us back to where we started and we headed back towards the parking lot.
This trip to Duluth & Superior was for only about a day and half. Even though time was limited, we were able to do many different things and created some great memories. The Duluth area never lets us down and we are always excited for our next visit. If you're in the Duluth area check out a few of these places and if you know about someplace we missed in our adventures please let us know.
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