Back on the Fourth of July, when I was visiting my parents, we had a big hot dog roast for lunch around the fire pit. My mom had seen these root beer brats and got a package cause she knows me well. Man Cave Craft Meats are ironically from Minnesota, even though I got them in Washington. Their founder is on a mission to bring obsessively crafted meat products to markets. As they are premium products, they do cost more. I was excited and roasted my brat to perfection then topped with some onions mustard and horseradish.
It’s a really good juicy brat. The root beer flavor, however, is very subtle, and when combined with sauerkraut and mustard, you can’t tell it’s there at all.
This is a really good brat, but the root beer flavor is rather lacking. I think you’d be better off getting a plain juicy brat with some root beer mustard if you want that root beer brat effect.
After my trip to the flow stone filled Mystery Cave, we had to drive back through Rochester, so I figured we should get another root beer. I wasn’t actually looking for two root beers but when I was searching for the name LTS Brewing Company before we left, Kinney Creek Brewery showed up in the top hits and then I knew there were two (at least) breweries in Rochester with their own root beer so I couldn’t resist trying both. Kinney Creek was started in 2012 and was the first brewery in Rochester since prohibition. Evidently the city still clung to very restrictive alcohol laws which kept breweries out. But the owners wanted to make beer, and they also acknowledged that not everyone wants beer so they made a root beer. And then the brewer visited Hawaii and found that breweries there don’t make root beer for the most part, but do kombucha, so he added that too. Their taproom is full of games and rustic wooden furniture and is quite the fun spot to hang out while you sip your brew. I don’t know why it’s called Rah Rah Root Beer. I didn’t ask. I should have asked.
This past Labor Day weekend I went with the family to Mystery Caves in the southern part of Minnesota. It’s a very cool cave system with lots of flow stone and guided tours. On the way down we passed through Rochester and of course I’d already identified a place (or two) to get some draft root beer. So we stopped at LTS Brewing Company. The LTS stands for Life’s Too Short with the follow up of Drink Good (root) Beer. I agree, that I should only drink the best root beer, and you should too, so I review it for you. Anyhow, it’s a fun tap room with games and popcorn and seasonings for the popcorn like Old Bay and Tabasco. They always have root beer and butter beer on tap and rotate through other flavors of craft soda. Evidently they’re going to have food in the future. They only opened up in 2015 so it takes time to really fully bloom or something. So, is it worth the visit? Yes.
