The Minnesota State Fair is the only place on Earth where you can eat something deep fried on a stick, watch a butter sculpture take shape, admire a 2,000-pound pumpkin, and then genuinely ask yourself, "should I try the ranch beer?" And the answer, every single time, is yes.
The Great Minnesota Get-Together has quietly become one of the best beer release events in the Midwest, because every August the local breweries show up with their weirdest, most "wait... what?" ideas and let two million fairgoers be the judge. The 2026 lineup might be the most chaotic collection yet, and I mean that as the highest possible compliment. We've got traditional hop-forward IPAs, crisp lagers, fruit bombs, dessert beers, a frozen beergarita, and a cream ale with an actual ranch-seasoned rim, which is a sentence I never thought I'd type on this website. Grab your fair map, hydrate accordingly, and let's walk through every new beer hitting the fairgrounds this year, stop by stop.
Aldo's Burgers
Huckleberry West Coast IPA — Pryes Brewing Company | West Coast IPA | 7%
Pryes takes a proper West Coast IPA — citrus-forward hops, crisp dry finish, actual bitterness — and layers juicy huckleberry over the top. What I appreciate here is that the fruit is the twist, not the whole personality. Underneath it all, the IPA still gets to be an IPA, and that restraint is usually the difference between a fruited IPA that works and one that tastes like a melted popsicle.
My Take:
Ball Park Cafe
Find it: East side of Underwood Street between Dan Patch & Carnes avenues, right outside The Garden
Homer Black Pepper IPA — Surly Brewing Co. | IPA | 7%
Piney hops, grapefruit character, and Zanzibar black peppercorn from the crew at Surly. This is the beer on the list most likely to make somebody at your table stop mid-sentence, and historically, those are the beers worth chasing. The question was never whether black pepper belongs in an IPA. The question is whether Surly can pull it off, and if anybody in this state can, it's them.
My Take:
Rare Candy Pink Lemonade Sour — Elm Creek Brewing Co. | Kettle Sour | 5%
A pink lemonade kettle sour built on tartness, fruit, and pure lemonade-stand nostalgia. Somewhere out there, a kid with a card table and a pitcher is owed royalties.
My Take:
Tropic North — Back Channel Brewing Co. | Fruit Wheat Ale | 5%
Pink guava, prickly pear, and tangerine on a wheat base, which is Back Channel's way of booking you a tropical vacation without making you leave Falcon Heights.
My Take:
Coasters
Find it: Southeast corner of Carnes Avenue & Liggett Street
Mango Heat — Indeed Brewing | Mango Lager | 5.1%
A mango lager with a little kick behind it. Fruit lagers live and die on balance — lean too far one way and you're basically drinking juice with a fake ID. The best ones keep the lager crisp and let the fruit ride shotgun, and Indeed has been around long enough to know the difference.
Cody's Take: [Your take here]
Dino's Gyros
Find it: North side of Carnes Avenue between Nelson & Underwood streets
Pink Lemonade Lager — Indeed Brewing | Lager | 5%
Sweet, tart, and clearly engineered for mile three of your fairgrounds death march, when the sun is out and the corn dog is starting to settle.
My Take:
Watermelon Sea Salt Lager — Castle Danger Brewing | Japanese Rice Lager | ABV TBD
Watermelon, lychee, mango, and sea salt on a Japanese rice lager base. On paper it reads like a summer cocktail wearing a beer costume, but rice lagers are so clean and light that they might genuinely be the perfect canvas for it.
My Take:
The Frontier
Find it: South side of Carnes Avenue between Liggett & Chambers streets
Galaxy IPA — Fulton Brewing | American IPA | 6% | 45 IBU
A straightforward American IPA showcasing Galaxy hops, which means tropical fruit and citrus for days. In a lineup this unhinged, "traditional" almost counts as a plot twist, and sometimes that's exactly the reset button your palate needs between the weird ones.
My Take:
The Hangar
Find it: Northeast corner of Underwood Street & Murphy Avenue
Peach Perfect — Boulevard Brewing Co. | American Wheat Beer | 4.4%
Peach and citrus on a light wheat ale at a friendly 4.4%. This is the "I have been walking for four hours and my feet are now a rumor" beer, and every fair lineup needs one.
My Take:
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp — Bad Weather Brewing | Lager | 4.5%
Strawberry and rhubarb in a lager. It's grandma's pie in pint form, and honestly, it's a little surprising it took this long for somebody to brew the most Minnesota dessert in existence.
My Take:
Luther Auto Pit Stop
Find it: East side of Cooper Street between Dan Patch & Judson avenues
Hazy Pineapple Whip — Castle Danger Brewing | Hazy Pale Ale | 5.8%
Pineapple puree and marshmallow turn a hazy pale ale into something dangerously close to Dole Whip with an ABV. The State Fair is undefeated at making beers that sound completely ridiculous and then somehow just... work.
My Take:
Mancini's al Fresco
Find it: North side of Carnes Avenue between Nelson & Underwood streets, around the corner from the Giant Slide
Pomelo Pils — Indeed Brewing | Pilsner | 5.1%
Sleeper pick alert. A crisp pilsner brightened with pomelo might be the least flashy beer on this entire list and the one I'd end up drinking the most of, because when Minnesota decides late August should feel like the surface of the sun, nothing beats a well-made pils. You know how the Collective feels about our crispy boys.
My Take:
O'Gara's at the Fair
Find it: Southwest corner of Dan Patch Avenue & Cosgrove Street
Lemon Agua Fresca Lager — Castle Danger Brewing | Lager | 4.5%
A bright, refreshing lager inspired by agua fresca flavors. Simple idea, executed by a brewery that knows its way around clean lager. No notes.
My Take:
Miraculum Old Fashioned IPA — Pryes Brewing Company | IPA | 6.4%
Orange and cherry riffing on Wisconsin's beloved brandy Old Fashioned, in IPA form. "Old Fashioned IPA" is exactly the kind of phrase that makes beer people stop mid-sip and say "okay, explain," and I fully intend to make Pryes explain.
My Take:
Pryes Brewing Pavilion
Find it: West End Market, south of Schilling Amphitheater
Soft Serve Royal Peach Beer — Pryes Brewing Company | Fruited Sour | 4.8%
Peach soft serve reimagined as a fruited sour. The State Fair has officially entered its "why not?" era, and I, for one, fully support it.
My Take:
RC's BBQ
Find it: North side of West Dan Patch Avenue between Liggett & Chambers streets
Juicy Apricot Tangerine Hazy IPA — Pryes Brewing Company | Hazy IPA | 6.5%
Stone fruit and citrus in a hazy, poured at a barbecue joint. Apricot and smoked meat is a genuinely elite pairing, and I will not be taking questions at this time.
My Take:
Limapeño Kölsch — Rush River Brewing Company | Kölsch | 4.2%
Lime, jalapeño, and habanero dropped into one of Germany's cleanest, most delicate styles. This one is either going to be the most refreshing beer at the fair or an absolute crime against the city of Cologne. There is no middle ground, and that is exactly why I'm ordering it.
My Take:
Rooted & Wild by Snack House
Find it: Inside the Lee & Rose Warner Coliseum (also pouring at Sabino's Pizza Pies)
Old Ranch Hand — Dual Citizen Brewing Company | Cream Ale | 5%
Here it is. The headliner. A cream ale brewed with buttermilk, herbs, and spices, finished with a ranch-seasoned rim. Somebody at Dual Citizen looked at this country's unconditional love affair with ranch dressing and said "hold my beer," except the beer is literally ranch. I have absolutely no idea if this works. I know only that I HAVE to find out.
My Take:
Shanghai Henri's
Find it: International Bazaar, north section
Midway Sparkling Ale — Summit Brewing Company | Sparkling Ale | 4.9%
A crisp sparkling ale with lemon-lime character from the elder statesmen at Summit. This is the beer you carry through the Midway while pretending you're not about to spend forty dollars failing to win a stuffed banana.
My Take:
Tejas Express
Find it: Inside The Garden, north wall
Watermelon Sour — Pryes Brewing Company | Sour Ale | 4.8%
Fresh watermelon with a bright, tart finish. Sometimes a beer doesn't need a bit. Watermelon sour, hot day, done.
My Take:
Mango Habanero Beergarita — Leinenkugel Brewing Co. | Beer Cocktail | 4.9%
Mango, citrus, habanero, and honey wheat beer, served frozen, margarita style. Is it a beer? Is it a slushie? Should it exist? The answers are "technically," "basically," and "the people have already decided yes."
My Take:
Ragin Cajun
Find it: In The Garden, southeast corner of Dan Patch Avenue & Underwood Street
Blue on the Bayou — Boston Beer Company | Fruit Beer | 5%
Blue raspberry meets beer meets Twisted Tea. This is either going to be a nostalgic masterpiece or taste like a gas station slushie with a college degree, and considering that description, it'll probably sell out by Labor Day either way.
My Take:
The Final Fair Beer Question
If the 2026 lineup proves anything, it's that fair beer has become its own genre. Some of these breweries are chasing tradition, some are chasing nostalgia, and some are just standing in the brewhouse asking, "okay, but CAN we put ranch in it?" That range is exactly what makes the beer crawl the best ride at the fair.
Not every one of these is going to become your new favorite, and that's fine. Some beers exist purely to hand you a story to tell on the Sky Glider, and the 2026 State Fair has plenty of those on draft. See you in the ranch beer line. Cheers!
