I have been offered an internship at Schell's Brewing company in New Ulm, MN. Which is about an hour and a half South-West of the twin cities. This is the second oldest family-owned brewery in the U.S. and quite an opportunity for me! I'm pretty excited.
So, anybody living or who has lived in that area? Thoughts? Suggestions? Things to do? Opinions on Schell's beer?
The twin cities area is pretty cool - like Portland Oregon but with seasons.
How addicted are you to the sunshine and warmth of CA? And, rust free cars?
It has been a few decades since I was in that area, but I remember liking the aquarium in the twin cities area.
Lots of sunshine in MN - no worries about that.
It's the warmth and the rust free cars. You'll need a winter beater.
I spent a couple weeks there doing some work in both the summer and winter. Try to be there between May and October if you have a weak tolerance for the cold. The state bird is the mosquito so buy DEET in a 55 gallon drum if you are an outdoor sort. Speaking of which - they have a lot of great hiking/biking/boating.
pretty damn cold in the winter up that way. so winter beater sno drift extravaganza.
like GPS, in the land of 10,000 lakes, there are about 10,000,000,000,000 mosquitos.
but with so many lakes, summertime is grassroots watersports time.
Also, I think you have to get a vikings tattoo before they let you cross the state line on your way in.
Hell no he doesn't need a Vikings tattoo... I'm busy trying to get rid of those idiots and their crying for a stadium.
As far as the Cities....myself, Stuart in MN, Basil Exposition, and at least one other member here is from the area. As far as Schells- I haven't had beerz in a loooong time, so I don't remember. However, It's gotta be ok if it's around for as long as it is.
Schell's makes some great beer and New Ulm is a charming little town, I think you'll enjoy it. They also brew Grain Belt these days, their Nordeast brand is my current favorite.
In July they have a big celebration called Bavarian Blast: http://www.bavarianblast.com/Bavarian/Home.html Big beer tents, German bands, the whole nine yards. It's a good time.
New Ulm is also home to Herman the German: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Heights_Monument 
There are a bunch of microbreweries in Minneapolis and St. Paul you should probably check out in your free time, it's about a two hour drive.
edit: mosquitos aren't very bad at all in that part of the state, they're mostly in the north woods. Summers are usually hot and muggy so you won't need your snowshoes.
Except for when it decided\s to snow on the opening weekend of autocross, like it did last year.
We're working out when the internship will be. I'm pretty sure it's only going to be three months from August to November. I need to discuss with the guys about how long they actually want to do it for. Three months is what I need, but I don't think I'd mind spending a few more learning the trade. I'll probably be done just before Thanksgiving. So weather won't be too bad for me. I'm hoping to get a permanent position on the West Coast when I'm done.
August>October is primo time in MN. You've got the State Fair, good weather, lots of nature to check out with the leaves changing and whatnot... it's a good time to be here.
What is the situation like for motorsports? Should I tow my racecar out?
Erm....maybe? There's one major autox group in MN that runs roughly monthly.
http://www.mnautox.com/forums/
They're pretty well organized and run a ton of events. I know there's a lot of other smaller groups that run pretty regular events as well. Nearest road course is either Brainerd (which will be about 3 hours from you, maybe less) or Road America. There's a couple of roundy round tracks in the area that run on a weekly basis, but I'm guessing you're not towing a late model out here.
i'm just gonna guess that they have no affiliation with Grain Belt Premium? 
FWIW, a bottle of Premium is what got me back to drinking Old Milwaukee
Are you a football fan at all? Great college football going on up there around that time. Specifically St. Johns (2-3 hours north), Bethel, St. Thomas, and St. Olaf (all near or in the Twin Cities).
St. Johns has easily the best stadium in all of football, pro or not.
AngryCorvair wrote: i'm just gonna guess that they have no affiliation with Grain Belt Premium?
OH yeah, Nordeast is related to Grain Belt Premium. Though if you were to say GB got you back to drinkin' Old Milwaukee... you'd probably get punched a lot around here. Minnesotans take Grain Belt quite seriously.
mndsm wrote:AngryCorvair wrote: i'm just gonna guess that they have no affiliation with Grain Belt Premium?OH yeah, Nordeast is related to Grain Belt Premium. Though if you were to say GB got you back to drinkin' Old Milwaukee... you'd probably get punched a lot around here. Minnesotans take Grain Belt quite seriously.
i spent most of the winter in Baudette, so i had several Premium and Nordeast. in fact, it was really the lack of a bottle of Premium that made me order the OM. so you and brock lesnar don't have to come kick my ass.
Brock is a pansy. He gets mangled once real good and retires from MMA. He can go back to North Dakota or whatever. Also, I wouldn't fight over beer anyhow.
There are a ton of car related events during the summer months, but most of them are hot rod / street rod related. About the only sporty car thing I can think of that happens late summer/early fall is the Wheels of Italy car show, which is pretty good - all the exotics come out of the closet for one day of the year, more Ferraris and Lamborghinis than you can shake a stick at.
We do also have a Cars & Coffee that takes place once a month. ALL THE GERMANS show up there. See a handful of ferraris/lambos etc- but if you want to see any VAG cars... they're all there.
mndsm wrote: August>October is primo time in MN. You've got the State Fair.........
State Fair = Hilarious.
They force my coworkers (near Maple Grove) to sign up as they only allow a few folks each day to take vacation days for the State Fair. We can't have the entire staff off the same day as they all take this State Fair seriously!
State Fair around here is an EVENT. I go at least once a year, get my fat on, and people watch. You will never see a better cross section of MN hilarity as you will at the State Fair. Plus- cheese curds are DELICIOUS.
I keep suggesting this at work for a morale booster......
http://www.pedalpub.com/twincities/index.html
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