Sherlock's Home, Minnetonka Minnesota CLOSED?? Surely please God no!!~~
For seven or eight years I've been beer-commuting 647 miles from Oklahoma to Minnetonka to drink real ale as often as I can (without being declared clinically insane).
As a Brit who loves everything about the USA except for its beers, Sherlock's offered a hoppy oasis in a changing world. An (only slightly inconvenient) watering hole away from home.
Hey, I just drove the pilgrimage again on Sat Jan25, and believe you me I had *quite* a thirst going by the time I drove into the parking lot at 600pm after 11 hours on the road, mainly I-35.
C-L-O-S-E-D!!!!
Saturday Prime-Time and . . . C-L-O-S-E-D!!!!
Dark as night. And yet just a month on last visit around Xmas, all well and no signs or word of trouble.
A note on the door: "Sherlock's Home is Closed" but no further information offered. I know this was a niche concept on the real ale front, but the food was relatively mainstream and the bar congenial for every drinker, not just brewpub fans. The beers were the finest in the US if you crave authentic English ale taste.
Can someone please tell me (lie to me if necessary!) this is just temporary? Or offer any further information?? This is like losing a family member for me & my wife. You will see several places herein where I have recommended the place as crackerjack AOK. In cities with hideous chain restaurants by the godzillion, all flourishing, I can't believe this has happened.
Nor can I face flying 5500 miles for a decent pint.
Any information please? Is it simply yet "another closed restaurant"? Or can someone hold out any hope for revival or reincarnation . . . or explanation for temporary closure ("kitchen fire" he surmises with optimism)?
Bloody Hell!!!!!! I love the place. I have (I calculate) driven almost twice around the world in terms of mileage solely in order to drink there (it's 1294 miles per trip, and I tally visits as at least 30). I can virtually guarantee I am the recordholder there. Sanity notwithstanding.
Mike
p.s. Bloody Hell!!~~
Mike
Jan 26, 2003 05:45PM
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It is true. They closed permanantly the last week in December. A link to the story is below (but doesn't say much.)
Link: http://www.startribune.com/stories/43...
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~
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Bill Burdick, the brewmaster of Sherlock's Home is now with Granite City Food & Brewery. NASDAQ:GCFBU I'm sure he didn't forget to bring his recipe book. His technique is called Fermentus Interruptus. If someone drives from Oklahoma (where the beer is more like beer flavored water) to Minnesota, I should make the trip from Kansas City. I visit the 75th Street Brewery here for a good ale. I would like to compare to see what I'm missing.
-Charles Hill
Link: http://www.gcfb.net/press.htm
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Whoa them wagons Charles! I have drunk the Granite City brews (at Sioux Falls location). It's not AT ALL like Sherlock's real ales. In fact not much (if at all) better than the slop most brewpubs schlepp up: namely, oversweet, underhopped, far too cold. For a beer like Bishops Bitter you might try Horsham Sussex UK or East Anglia . . . fares are cheap right now. The demise of Sherlock's (PLEASE let it be reincarnated one day) is a national tragedy. It's not to be replaced overnight that's for sure.
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Alas, it's sad but true. When they first opened, there wasn't much around that area - Campiello didn't exist, neither did Woody's, and I'm sure there are other places that have sprung up. And Sherlock's had survived the multiple turnovers of the place across the parking lot (don't even know what it's called now).
I used to work on Blue Circle Drive, and Sherlock's was a great after work place.
Over time, though, the food never really amounted to much, and that place wasn't going to survive the long haul on pints and scotch only. Brit's Pub downtown isn't nearly the same thing.
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Mike,
As you've already learned, Sherlock's does appear to be closed.
If you are up this way, you may want to try Great Waters Brewing in St. Paul. I don't claim any great beer expertise but I am a fan of ales and care enough to have done a little home brewing. Great Waters is my favorite local brew pub. They serve 4 cask conditioned beers via beer engine and at a much more civilized temperature than the US-standard ice cold. There is usually a bitter, a couple stouts (cream & irish) and sometimes a scotch ale. They also serve 4 other beers on regular, forced co2 taps. Probably there are a couple lagers; I never get that far down the menu.
I can't suggest that you make a special trip for Great Waters - I've got no idea if it would be an acceptable replacement for Sherlock's Home for you. Still, you sound pretty crazy; it may be worth a try.
Kevin
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Maybe these guys can help you find another decent pint (perhaps even closer to home!):
Link: http://www.beeradvocate.com/
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This is deeply sad.
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I've only just discovered this place has closed. I used to live in Minneapolis. Being mad about brewpubs, this was my favorite. I used to go there often and it was always busy. The food was good as well, but the hand-pulled ale was the big attraction for me, as for you.
I now live in England and have plenty of good beer surrounding me, in fact I work at a brewery (Greene King)but I am gutted that this place has closed. Was planning a trip there this May or June.
Did you ever find out why it closed?
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I used to live in Hopkins 12 years ago.
Last week I flew in on business and drove a friend over to Sherlock's to show off.
It was dark when I pulled up, and the lights were off. I sat there in the parking lot and just about cried.
How was this possible?
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It remains a mystery to me why it closed. I never did hear from anyone who truly knew. Obviously it wasn't paying its way I suppose. I still feel the loss today almost at the end of 2006, and, in fact, have never since returned to Minneapolis St. Paul. You used the right word "gutted". For those of us who loved the place something is perpetually now "missing". Never to be replaced. When I visit big cities I do sometimes try to track down "real ale" (ha!!!! "real" in WHAT SENSE exactly? real ****!) but it's like inflicting pain on one's self for the most part.
Incidentally, might we know each other by sight. I am the large short-red-haired guy who periodically showed up with wife and/or friends to drink lots of pints (from Oklahoma). Were you one of the fabled "regulars" who frequented the "south side" of the bar? :-)
Also one wonders what became of Phil, the excellent and legendary bespectacled bartender. One struggles to think of him in alternate venues of imbibement.
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Well...as long as this thread got dug up, there's a new place in there called Jimmy's Food & Cocktails. Got a writeup in this month's issue of MSP Magazine.
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Coincidently, Phil is one of the bartenders at Jimmy's, the restaurant mentioned above. He's still the same old great bartender. The Beer Hunter used to say "Phil had eyes in the back of his head. I never waited more than a moment for another beer" RIP MJ
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Thanks for that snippet of info. Are the 2 sets of 4 beer engines still in situ as well? Maybe Phil has a cask or 2 of "old stock" he can draw upon for ex SH regulars . . . . nah I am dreaming and fantasizing again.
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Still have never found (except in Toronto) any beer (real ale) in the US to replace Sherlock's.
Last "venture" was Milwaukee Ale House. They can make real ale, only they had made a porter so cloying and sweet that only an inebriate 5-year-old could love it.
Maybe if they ever venture into a hoppy bitter style . . . . . [dreams contemplatively]
It's May 14, 2008. 5 years and 4 months since Minnetonka's Darkest Saturday Night.
Only trips to the UK (rather pricey these days) seem left.
I have heard rumors of the Granite city in St Cloud having cask. But at this stage I feel like I am on the same sort of endless quest as Messrs Greenstreet & Lorre for the Malt(pun)ese bird.
It's hard not be be (bishops) bitter. But must look at the plethora of pints of pure pleasure prior to Dec 2002.
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Don't be bitter. I swear (but my memory is very sketchy) someone was mentioning something about bitters to me recently. At Merlin's Rest on Lake Street in Minneapolis? I don't recall the details, but maybe that person will chime in. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, you could just go check it out. Or, if you don't want to face the same bitter(s) disappointment as the OP, you could call ahead.
P.S. Don't let the Canadians know you just said Toronto was in the U.S. ;-).
http://merlinsrest.com/
~TDQ
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Nothing so spectacular as Sherlock's Home, but the aformentioned Merlin's Rest pub has Fuller's ESB (Extra Special Bitter) on draft. Very tasty if you happen to live in Minneapolis anyway, but not worth driving from Texas. You can find it in bottles in some large liquor stores (such as MGM Liquor Warehouse here in the Twin Cities).
http://www.fullers.co.uk/
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The following bars/pubs have cask conditioned ales on occasion or always:
Town Hall (their own, hand-drawn)
Bulldog NE (cask conditioned Bells or Rush River ales on Wednesdays I believe)
The Muddy Pig (cask-conditioned (US) imports, not sure if it is a regular thing, but I've found them there)
If you've been up here again and not been to Barley John's, you are speaking out of turn regarding the state of beer in the Twin Cities. The Little Barley Bitter is a first rate bitter with all the great malt but not the over-hoppiness of an IPA.
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Thanks for these tips. After visiting 8 times (or more) a year for many years I've never been back after the heartbreak of 2003. But it might be time to once again set myself up for major disappointment . . . (must be the most likely based on what's gone before) or perhaps Salvation.
Barley John's is a new one on me. Is Bulldog NE (as in Northeast (TCs) or Nebraska?) I assume the former.
Yes, it stands to reason that all the folks who developed the taste for cc ale at Sherlock's either emigrated, took monastic orders, or found some place to go instead.
But the problem does come if the beer is not quaffable in mass quanities (ref the well-made but ultra sweet (not in a bad beer-making way just over sweet) porter in Milwaukee.
I think it is fair to say that the place serving well-kept cc ale and expecting its patrons to know the difference (many apparently don't expect this and let things slide owing to lack of apparent perception by the punters I think) between ale in tip-top condition and slops, is the exception and not the rule.
I have had an urge to go to the airfare sites and see what's on for MSP. So thank you for that.
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Sorry, yes the Bulldog Northeast (there is a sister Bulldog in Uptown, hence the distinction).
As I am sure you know CC ales have a VERY short shelf life, and all but Town hall, are not drawn, but rather a 1/4 barrel is tapped on the bar and drawn by gravity. In this case, you see when it is tapped and when it runs out so hopefully this alleviates the slop-factor.
As for airfare, Sun Country has a gate at DFW and Houston I believe, get on their maling list, last minute round-trip fares $200.
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The 1/4 barrel is essentially the MO Sherlock's used for its Winter Warmer (gets into yet another slough of despond of recollection of Ghosts of Sherlock's Past). I have no problem with that concept at all except perhaps that minus a friss thru the aerator may leave it a bit more like a sipping drink than a quaffing one. With Winter Warmer this was the whole point but anyway. I must research Town Hall and BJs BDog.
Also Great Waters (St Paul) I have not heard referenced. I have never been there but had heard that cc'd was part of their line-up? True/false? Closed??
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Great Waters is still alive and well. http://www.greatwatersbc.com/
I wish "Mike" were still here to read these latest developments.
~TDQ
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But DQ this ***IS*** the OP, Mike!
Alive, well, . . . and still :-( depressed :-)
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HA! I didn't realize that! I hope we find a solution for you!
~TDQ
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"Properly cellared, conditioned, and then served at cellar temperature (52°). Hand pulled from our four English beer engines."
From Great Waters web site. Their ales look a bit strong for an all-day session but who's caring. So long as one can stagger/crawl or otherwise quasi-perambulate along the Skyway to the Radisson . . .
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Mike (aka bishopsbitter) here.
I have to admit that I feel deep down if I just keep periodically updating this thread for a decade or two, one day someone will post "Sherlock's Is Reopening!!!!!!!!"
I suppose I still hold out for a Beatles comeback as well, even though 2 have passed away.
Simply have not (cannot) reached the "acceptance" phase.
Sherlock's got me through a really tough time personally, not with the booze, but by providing a place (how few are these?!) GUARANTEED to provide spiritual & emotional uplift upon entry (albeit after a 647 mile, 12-hour, drive).
Happily those poor times are behind and in fact just were when Sherlock's upstaked. So I should be grateful for that.
It would be good to hear from any other ex regulars about their Post-Sherlock's-World experiences. However, do monasteries HAVE email? I suppose so in Minnesota they will.
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If you are looking for cask conditioned ales, great waters in st paul usually has a couple on tap.
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