TwoGuys & Beer
The Two Guys & Beer Podcast is a laid-back conversational show that combines the love of beer with a wide range of topics that pique the hosts' interest. These two guys, use beer as a launching pad for discussions on anything and everything that grabs our attention!
TwoGuys & Beer
Suds and Stories Shaping Invictus's Community Craft
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Ever fantasized about turning your beer-brewing hobby into a full-fledged business? So did Previn Solberg before he made it a reality with Invictus Brewing. As we recount Previn's leap of faith and the growth of a craft beer community in Blaine, Minnesota, you'll get a taste of adventure and the warmth of a shared dream. We're serving up a frothy mix of stories — from the tantalizing hops of Invictus's Hazy Crazy IPA to tips on how to survive the homebrewing jungle.
We've all had that moment when the universe seemed to conspire against us, only to prove that it's leading us to a greater path. After a serendipitous encounter at a kindergarten class, we follow the tale of two budding brewers who embraced the challenge, and we invite you to pull up a chair and join the banter. This episode is not just about clinking glasses; it's about connecting lives. Learn about the innovation behind Invictus, a brewery that champions the pet-friendly movement and tickles your taste buds with the Tipsy Steer's 'local sassy brew food.'
To wrap it all up, we don't shy away from asking the quirky questions you never knew you had, like what if you could plummet through an Earth tunnel? And if that's not enough to quench your curiosity, we share some laugh-worthy anecdotes that are sure to stick with you longer than a lost wallet in the ocean. Remember, we're more than just two guys talking beer—we're a gathering of enthusiasts eager to hear your stories and recommendations. So, raise a glass to the unexpected and join us on this fermented journey that promises more than just a good pint. Cheers to that!
and welcome in sports fans. Sports fans beer fans I'm a sports fan.
Speaker 1There we go that is kind of where it kind of was born out of the sports and moving ahead from sports into something else, I guess to a certain extent. Sports and beer. Welcome in. Beer fans, two Guys and Beer Podcasts Yet another episode here on the airwaves, whether it be on the podcast platform of Buzzsprout or Rumble or YouTube or TikTok or wherever you're consuming it from Spotify, apple, itunes we're all over the place. Exactly, yeah, we appreciate everybody tuning in and helping us grow this, and then we've seen numbers kind of go up lately and it's kind of fun to be able to see that. So we appreciate each and every one of you checking it out and subscribing and apparently me saying tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell your coworkers, tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell your coworkers, tell your neighbors.
Speaker 2It's helping a little bit. It must be working. Check out the YouTube. The YouTube's got all our little shorts that our tech guy's been doing. He's been kicking some ass with the shorts. We're actually recording the video again this time. Maybe you'll see us on YouTube, maybe you won't.
Speaker 1I guess we'll find out. This is kind of a test run here.
Speaker 2We'll still probably put it up on YouTube, if it goes all right, just to kind of show where we started and then someday in the future, when we have our own studio and the Ideas Tower in Minneapolis, then we'll have a real set.
Speaker 1Yep, that'll be one floor above the actual brewery that we have as well. That could be like a mob craft where we're crowdsourcing ideas for brews. So I don't know so many different things I'm sure that we'll have that'll. Spout off from here, spurn off from here.
Speaker 2Never had a bad idea after drinking a couple beers.
Speaker 1Well then, let's get to it. Let's do it. Today's brewery we're going to be talking about Invictus Brewing. It's a Minnesota brew. It's in Blaine I believe it's still technically Blaine at that point in time Just kind of right down the road from where we're located. Even from here it's probably about 45 minutes from where I am here and a little bit less from where Sean is a little bit closer. But it's kind of a cool place. It's a nice, fun little brewery that hangs off of not 109th, maybe it is 109th, it's pretty close to there.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's 105th there we go 105th between 65 and Radisson. It's closer to Radisson Road but it's right by the Blaine Soccer Complex. So if you're coming to the area they have the soccer complex, the Blaine Super Rink. There's a lot of hockey that goes on at the Super Rink but just looking at a map, there's about 30 fields there. They've had national tournaments, they've had international tournaments there for soccer. So lots of stuff kind of going on in that area. Lots of different. You know it's obviously a kind of urban area, so lots of different things to be able to happen in that area as well. There's a Chipotle there, which is always fun. A couple of places to be able to go check out. You know Target. Who doesn't love going to Target? Everybody loves the Target. But also in that area is the Invictus Brewing Company just south of TPC Twin Cities. So if you're also a golfer it's, you know, just a couple blocks away from that. So kind of a fun place to be able to kind of drop a brewery into the middle of a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2You know that's a good place to put it right across from the National Sports Center there, because when you drop the kids off for their hockey practice, their soccer practice, or I don't know if that Thunderdome is still there where they ride the bikes in that dome around the circle there.
Speaker 1I feel like they took that down. I'm not 100% sure, but I thought they did. But it might still be there. I don't know, but it might still be there.
Speaker 2I don't know, I haven't been there for a little while? Yeah, I haven't been. Well, we went to Invictus not too long ago, but I don't recall I wasn't really looking across the street. But after you drop off those Rugrats, you know, you just stop over in Invictus while they're over there running around and you can go to Invictus and grab yourself a beer.
Speaker 1On the Google Maps it appears to be right directly across Lot 1. So if you're dropping somebody off and they're going to be playing, you'll be able to just move your way right across and be able to just go to the brewery. You can park there, you can just cross the street I believe there's walkways in different places Be able to just skip across there and there you go. Now you're into the brewery.
Speaker 2Watch out for traffic.
Speaker 1Yes, definitely Like playing Frogger going across that road Safety first there, folks. So make sure you check that out. But yeah, so that's kind of the location. That's what we're doing today. The beer that I've selected is the Hazy Crazy IPAZ. That sounds very tasty-y.
Speaker 1Mostly I just thought the name was fun. That was really kind of what it came down to. It's like this sounds like a fun thing. It's a New England style IPA Citrus, pineapple and mango tasting notes is what it says. It is 16 ounces, so it's a pounder. It's a big guy 6% ABV and 60 IBU and for the camera you'll be able to see it there Invictus. So that's kind of what. Uh, what, we're looking for a black can, which is kind of fun yeah, it's a little different, something different.
Speaker 1All right, so now the best part of the podcast.
Speaker 2Cracker open oh, are you struggling over there?
Speaker 1buddy. I got all sorts of problems, but I got her open, though I overcame.
Speaker 2Problem solving. There we go. Hmm, I think this could solve a lot of problems after a can or two of this.
Speaker 1Absolutely. It's got all sorts of details right here on the can too. The malt is a two-row Munich crystal, 10 oats, wheat and carafoam, and then the hops are Vic Secret, jerry Low and Amarillo, and then the yeast is American Ale. A lot of that is those are English words. You know that. I recognize I do a little bit of home brewing, but I won't lie, a lot of it is just already in prepackaged things. So I don't I'm not quite to exploring opening my own brewery just yet, but it does have all the information there. It actually even for recycling. A lot of breweries do a lot of things like that or whatever. Obviously in aluminum can you can be able to recycle it. But they actually even have a spot on the label here.
Speaker 1Please peel the label to recycle the can, so it actually even lets you be able to take that off of there for easy or easier recycling, I guess, so which is kind of a a fun deal remember the cartoon captain planet I do remember, captain planet.
Speaker 2Yep, that's like some type of label that would be on there at the end of the credits. Peel your labels before you throw your aluminum in the bin.
Speaker 1Absolutely, captain planet. That was such a. So the the shows that happened when we were kids. I actually did a Speaking of brewing and you know, not necessarily Captain Planet, but shows when we were a kid. I did trivia at the 320 Brewery in Pine City just the other day and, yes, we won. We won the trivia once again, so send all the hate, that's because I wasn't there. Send all the hate mail to us. You know like we usually do pretty well with that. But one of the categories was like Saturday morning cartoons.
Speaker 1Oh perfect, and so they would play like either a clip from it or the opening credits, the opening theme, so like there was like Thundercats and Voltron and I guess one of them was Josie and the Pussycats, which I vaguely remember that one or whatever. But I Cats, which I didn't vaguely remember that one or whatever. But I got there moments after that one was displayed and they're like well, we got that one wrong. I'm like, well, what did you guess? And they said Scooby-Doo. And I'm like how do you confuse the two? So I Googled it. If you've ever looked at Josie and the Pussycats thing, it's like Velma and what's the other?
Speaker 2I and what's the other?
Speaker 1I don't remember the two females and then like, basically it's everybody without the dog.
Speaker 1Wilma Velma whatever it is, I just know the blonde headed one and the red headed one and so like it was like the two of them and like Fred, the main dude was there too and I think Shaggy, but he didn't look like Shaggy, but there was no dog, but it looked exactly like and I'm like, oh, I guess I could see. You know where that comes from, so if you ever look up that particular one, but anyway, yeah, so the rest of them duck tales was on there and you know. So like just kind of a little blast from the past. And me personally, voltron was like my all-time favorite cartoon and one of my favorite shows altogether of all times. Judge me if you you will, but that's my jam, that's where I live. That was actually right. When I got there and our group, nobody knew what it was. They're like I have no idea. Andy's going to know what it is, but I have no idea what this is. I'm like, are you guys kidding me? Oh my God, I got the action figure over in my wife's office.
Speaker 2I vaguely remember that cartoon, but Thundercats. I would have been all over Thundercats right away.
Speaker 1Thundercats are gold. Yeah, sing it, andy. You probably don't want me to sing too much. Yeah, you're probably right.
Speaker 2So anyway. At least not yet Give a few more of these Invictus in us, and then Den will definitely Amazing.
Speaker 1Not only are all the good ideas better, or all the ideas are good. Both of those things, but the tone even so you become yeah, yeah. That's when you end up all of a sudden singing. Baby Got Back at a random bar in Carlton.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1It was after a couple of years.
Speaker 2Yeah, thanks a lot, nick, appreciate that one.
Speaker 1Nick, we're going to put that one on you. Then we end up in a dauber fight or something like that. I'm glad I missed out on that part Long story. We'll leave that one out there and we'll let Nick explain that at some point in time. He said he wanted to be on here as well, so we'll get him on. We'll talk about that a little bit. But anyway, bringing it back. We'll hit the rewind button and bring it back about seven topics back to what we were at here. Please be kind and rewind.
Speaker 1Talking about Invictus Brewing out of Blaine, minnesota, set up in let's see here trying to find when they actually opened up, but 2013 is when it kind of started to come together is kind of what happened. So it again like many different times, and it actually even says that on their bio. Like a lot of startup breweries, the idea for Invictus grew out of a home brewing hobby gone rogue Wow, that's really name a brewery that has a. You know like this is something that I want to do. This is a great idea. Or you know, like even Mora Beer Club in Mora, just up the road, is they just were making too much Right, because they were just a group of guys that would get together. It literally was a Mora beer club. It was just like five guys that would just get together and just brew beer and pretty soon they couldn't consume enough. Heck of a problem to have. And one of the guys owned a commercial property and they're just like, well, let's just sell some. And their hours for the first two years were like four to nine on Friday and Saturday. That's all it was, because they didn't care about it, they just wanted to get rid of some of their beer. So they've opened it up a little bit more since then, or whatever, and I think they're having a little bit more success.
Craft Beer Hobbyist Overcomes Intimidation
Speaker 1But anyway, that's kind of where so many breweries, that's where it comes from. You know what I mean? Just kind of going rogue and want to be able to make your own beer. A lot of similar stories, yep for sure. So the uh, the president, previn solberg, that's previn with a p, p-r-e-v-i-n. Previn solberg. I'd always been a craft beer fan and, despite his desired homebrew, found the hobby to be intimidating. I know that feeling. I've done it a couple of times I don't know if you've made years.
Speaker 1But uh, you don't always need to drill through the hood to be able to do that at At some point.
Speaker 2We're going to put that picture out on the social media so that you can see that, if you've got one, do you actually have a photo of it? Oh, 100%.
Speaker 1Yeah, I came across it actually even within the last handful of days. Perfect, but we'll get that out there and get a picture of that. But it is kind of intimidating because it's like cooking in a way, but it's very extended, just because you have to heat it up and you have to cool it down and you have to boil it and you have to cool it down and you know there's a lot of steps to go with it and I mean it takes a little bit of commitment and you know people that are really into it really love it and I enjoy doing it the times that I did it. But part of it is I don't have a work chiller and I don't have certain still take like eight hours to be able to do it, you know, just because consuming yeah, depending on you know how you're heating it, if you're doing it like a one gallon batch or a five gallon batch or something like that.
Speaker 1Like it takes a while to be able to get five gallons of water to boil and then it takes another large amount of time to be able to get it to come back down to temperature where you need it, because you can't pitch yeast and you can't do certain things if it's above a certain temperature, otherwise you burn it out and then it doesn't do anything. So a lot of steps and a lot of things. You got to hit just right with that or whatever. So you know, I I know the feeling, you know what I mean Seems to be intimidating. So at 2013, that's when he met Troy Walter, who's also involved in the brewing. Their kids were in the same kindergarten class and found out he had been brewing for years, just brewing, you know, doing his own thing and enjoying that. So Troy invited Previn. He's like hey, come over here, come into my garage, I'll brew a batch for you. We'll just you can, kind of he hadn't done it. Now you can see it, you can see the process, you can see what the intimidating parts are and how to be able to overcome that. So they do that and Previn bam light switch turned. And Previn bam, light switch turned. I'm in. This is great. I need to do a bunch more of that.
Speaker 1They started hanging out a lot more. They started creating their own recipes, started trying to be able to kind of develop their own ideas of different stuff like that or whatever. So several months later he started becoming a little bit of a researcher, researching the craft beer industry. This is Previn again doing that. So he's starting to look at that, talking to other brewers, talking to the industry, talking to people about you know what their thoughts are on it creating, starting to create a business plan. If you will reading articles like doing all sorts of research with this. He's really getting into this thing. He did this all behind his wife's back. Oh boy, she did not know so.
Speaker 2Why would you?
Speaker 1have to do it behind her back, right? So I mean, who hasn't had something where they're like they're probably going to be fine? But I'm just going to kind of do this for now. If it becomes, if I get to a certain point, then I'll loop her in, and you know what I mean. Like I've made decisions like that and sometimes it works out out, and sometimes she just rolls her eyes at me and it's fine.
Speaker 1It's fine, I'm fine, everything's fine, you know like I haven't, you know like she hasn't assaulted me or anything, you know so she hasn't thrown things at me. So you know at least still living under the same roof.
Speaker 2You haven't accidentally fell down the stairs yet. Not lately, not for.
Speaker 1Not lately. So Emily's getting better about the plans, knowing what's going to be okay and what's not. So he's doing this all kind of behind your back and he's kind of getting to a certain point where it's like, all right, we either need to stop dreaming and move on or we need to actually do something about it, and so we need to loop around you know what I mean. And so we say all this, we joke about all this or whatever, but I'm sure there's probably been some ladies that have had some ideas like that at some point in time too, that I'm not going to tell him about it. So, before everybody starts sending me all the hate mail which you certainly can too, if you check out all the social medias Facebook, twitter, x, youtube leave us comments, definitely. Give us some feedback.
Speaker 2Two guys and beer at gmailcom. There we go.
Speaker 1Yeah, go ahead and send that. That's where you can also contact us if you have a beer that you would like us to do or be able to send us beer.
Speaker 2Or if you want to sponsor us you know we get your advertisement on our social media and on the podcast.
Speaker 1It could be right here, right, and you may or may not see this, because it may be just audio for you, but, uh, this is also on potentially video.
Brewery Creation and Sustainability Practices
Speaker 1I don't know, it might not work, you know like. So I'm waving my hand, I'm gesticulating wildly, as they say, looks good. So vanna white is, once he's gotten to this point. Now we're back to, uh, previn, previn solberg. He's uh, all right, we need to, we need to confess. So, uh, the way that this explains it on here. One evening he decided to confess the scheme to his wife. I'm assuming this was probably in the evening and I'm assuming it was probably after a couple of beers, because that's when the courage happens, it has to happen after a couple of beers, for sure.
Speaker 1It doesn't say that, but I'm just, I'm assuming. I'm reading between lines, I'm assuming things based on my own history of smart plans. It's a good assumption. Usually, what happens is I'll say something about like all right, so I have this idea, and the reaction is exactly what I anticipated, or it's kind of like a oh geez.
Speaker 2Like turning the bar into a brewery. Well, you know, I mean that's similar reactions, that know to happen.
Speaker 1So I'm familiar. I feel, previn, I feel your pain, I'm with you. I understand. You know this could be scary, but it sounds like after long discussion she says let's do it. No, there's no chance to be able to turn back, let's just get after it and go right ahead for it. So that's kind of where it started and that's where you know the kind of things that started kicking off. That was 2013, 2014.
Speaker 1Shortly after that, previn had a name picked out and he was just convinced of an awesome name, but it actually did kind of latch onto everything that they were doing. The word Invictus is actually Latin for unconquerable, so if you look in the beer, it says beer for the unconquerable soul is actually Latin for unconquerable. So if you look in the beer, it says beer for the unconquerable soul. So that's kind of the idea behind what they were trying to do. But some of the partners were just not real hot on the idea. His friend, sam, who was also an investor in it, was driving in the car and he's like I got a name for the brewery Invictus, and lukewarm response was kind of what it was kind of brought back to. He talked more about the history of that particular word and that it's also part of a poem that was written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley. Oh wow, if you go to their website, they have the poem here. Another beer or two?
Speaker 1I might narrate it for you because then my voice sounds way better, at least in my own mind. But Sam also had fond memories of his grandfather referencing that particular poem. Didn't necessarily know that connection, but he's like you know what. I'm starting to get that. And after reading the poem a couple of times, they started to kind of get the idea that you know what? I think that we probably could stick with that and Invictus is going to be a solid name for this brewery. It also became a lot fitting to them because when they were trying to be able to get this thing off the ground lots of delays, lots of challenges and just being able to get ready to put a shovel in the ground, let alone actually be able to build the building and make the beer and have any modicum of success it just was so much to overcome and so it was kind of a you had to be an unconquerable soul, if you will that's a big building they built there oh, it's a pretty good size, absolutely it's not like a repurposed building.
Speaker 2You know that's from a ground up warehouse. Basically it's a big facility, yeah yeah, it's not a, it's not.
Speaker 1There's so many breweries are in like a warehouse kind of thing, like something, something that they've taken over or repurposed. But yeah, this is a new facility which is really really nice. But it sounds like Previn was talking to his father, loren, at one point in time and things weren't looking bright for the brewery's future and just how difficult things are. And Loren says, well, I guess the name is fitting then. And so they decided you know what, we're going to go ahead and stick with that and latch onto that. And so that's kind of where all that started and it just kind of built from there. They chose the Blaine area because they liked the area with all of the activities going on, the sports activities. They like to try to contribute to the economy. They wanted to try to be part of that community.
Speaker 1Brewery is an obvious next step, kind of in that same area as the National Sports Center. Let's see here it lists on here. It's located adjacent to the National Sports Center which we talked about before. It's kind of right just north of that one spot and there's even some stuff even beyond there. It attracts more than 4 million people throughout the year to the National Sports Center Soccer, hockey, lacrosse, baseball, softball, golf, ultimate frisbee rugby, football and more so all baseball, softball, golf, ultimate frisbee rugby, football and more so, all of the things all of the time. You know, it gets most of the notoriety because of soccer, partially because there's a million soccer fields, but also because there was the united that play. Now the, the minnesota professional soccer team, originally were a team.
Speaker 2They played there they played there for a minute.
Speaker 1Yeah, before they got to the mls level they were I don't know what level. It's relegation and you move up and down and things like that. But that was one of the things. That kind of that's what they're known for, but they do so many different things in that area so they wanted to be a part of that. They wanted to try to be able to be part of one of Minnesota's fastest growing cities, which that place has just exploded over the last year.
Speaker 1If you go back to like 2013,. Like there's still a lot of stuff there, but not quite what it is. Now it's sold, built out everywhere. So that's kind of why they chose that area. They kind of really liked that area. Their mission, the way that they describe it here on their website, Invictus Brewing Company's mission is to produce high-quality beers for adults to enjoy, while also being good stewards of our earth and resources. So, like we've talked many times, coming back to brewers tend to, generally speaking, the one in Kansas City. We're going to create Colorado. Yeah, we're going to create recycling. We're going to really push on things like that. You know what I mean Trying to be able to be good stewards as much as they possibly can.
Speaker 2It's kind of ingrained in the craft beer brewery culture, it seems you know, all the sustainability that most of them seem to do All of them that we've ever been to, not just on this podcast those seem to give back in some way, shape or form. You know, I've seen some breweries where they do a different charity every month and they just have it right up on top of their bar. You know, this month we're giving to this charity, next month we're giving to that charity, next month we're giving to that charity. So if they're not fully involved in the sustainability of everything they're giving back to the community through various charities throughout the communities they're in.
Speaker 1Yeah, the brewery in Pine City 320, which we are going to have them on at some point in time. I'm kind of working with the owner to be able to be a part of it, so I've talked about that multiple times. So some free advertising for them but they do.
Speaker 1I believe it's Thursdays, I don't remember which day it is, but they do a Pints for Pine. So the Pine City area, a certain organization, gets portion of the profits on everything that they sell during that course of time. So, yeah, same kind of deal. It's, you know, quite amazing, like the amount that breweries typically aren't I'm going to say typically, because I think that there's probably a couple that are, but they're not just major players that are just like we're just trying to win capitalism. You know what I mean Try to get all of the money and expand to an overwhelmingly large thing. You know a lot of them are. We're okay, just we're going to be this big and that's fine.
Speaker 2We could grow more, but we're okay being right in here, you know that's the craft beer culture, though, too, there really isn't any massive, massive craft brewers.
Speaker 1I mean there's a couple here and there, but most of them are more locally centric you know what I think that part of that is also like you get, you almost get too big, you know. I mean you start losing some of your quality because you're starting to like, get into like minutia on such a large level that now we're not making five gallons and making it taste just so, now we're making thousand gallon batches and trying to like you know what I mean Like, oh, do I put five buckets or six buckets of this hop?
Speaker 2in.
Speaker 1You know, like certain things, like that.
Speaker 2Then to get distribution and all that. You know that's another step in the process where if you don't really do that, then it cuts down on your overhead and then you can just serve locally, you know.
Speaker 1And a lot of the people that I know that have done it and been involved in it or whatever they like to be, they like to be a part of it. You know, and you get too big Now all of a sudden. Now you're just in a boardroom, you're just in a office, you're.
Speaker 2You know, I mean they you start losing some of that. Oh exactly, the whole point is to enjoy the process of brewing and, of course, drinking with people around you yeah, yeah, so that's, I don't know that's.
Speaker 1I think that it's just. The culture is amazing, but I think that that's not breaking news at this point in time. So quick hitters on their. Tap room features a meeting room that can seat up to 50 people. Total seating is about 200 people, with six fermenters as a focal point. So you know you're in a brewery. So you come in nice tables, long benches, lots of chairs, lots of seating, and then you can see everything through the glass off of the other side, so the production facility right there on site.
Speaker 1They're not sending anything you know too crazy all over the place. One really cool thing that I do like about that they have kind of a patio that wraps around the outside of the building and they actually have an area where there's like a bar that you can pull a chair right up to the bar like you would on the inside, but there's like a garage door that opens looking in to the brewery just sitting on the patio. So they got kind of that inner indoor outdoor area. That kind of works kind of nice with that. So kind of fun to be able to check that out. I definitely recommend it.
Speaker 1They do say just on their website, just as a word of note to anybody or whatever. As far as pet policy, we've talked a little bit about pets on the podcast before a few times, a few times. They have some opinions there, but they they have some opinions there but they do welcome pets but they do prefer them just to be on the patio only. So that is not something they don't that's where they want them you don't want them pooping inside.
Speaker 1Yeah, they do say service dogs are welcome, but they have to be service dogs that are working, as we've talked about before. That doesn't say that on here, but that just says service dogs. But they do a lot of dogs so they are dog-friendly to a certain extent on the patio outside. So it's a nice little patio area. It's kind of a little bit thin on the one side but if you get to the back part it opens up to a nice yard area and you can play bags or just hang out back there. They also do yoga at the brewery one Sunday per month at 10 am and then they also on the last Monday of every month at 6pm. They also do paint your own pet class where you get a picture, you submit a photo and then you actually paint your animal.
Speaker 2Well, it might be a little funner to bring the animal and paint the animal?
Speaker 1I would think so. I don't think that I'd be able to do that with my dog, though, because he wouldn't sit still long enough for me to be able to A little spray paint. Well, I mean, he's Dalmatian, so you just kind of like draw an outline and then you know, hey, take the black spray paint.
Speaker 2He's kind of already painted. Now he's got dots.
Speaker 1That's kind of you know what it is. I will also say one other thing about the brewery. That is really cool. That's a lot of fun. So they have the full brewery, all the different selections. If you go onto their website they have tons and tons of different beers, different kinds. That's something for pretty much every kind of palate, whatever you're kind of looking for. They do distribute a little bit, mostly kind of upper Midwest Minnesota. They don't go nationwide necessarily, but they do distribute pretty decent.
Speaker 1I was able to get this down in St Paul, but I've seen it in Bram and Mora and Alaka. You see it kind of around pretty good. But if you go to their location they do have a full-time kitchen there. It is not the invictus kitchen or anything, it is called the tipsy steer and I think there's a couple of locations. But it is a locally owned and managed kitchen that has a permanent spot within the brewery. So they do what they call it is local sassy brew food. So it's a lot of like barbecue and things like that. So they do have brick oven pizza, hand-panty burgers, but things like that. So a really, really good food.
Speaker 2It is really good, very, very good. Had it there a few times too, and it is really good food. And what's nice is it's unique that there's actually a full restaurant in a brewery? Yeah, it's not. It doesn't happen very often. Yeah, food truck out front or a pizza or or your favorite pretzel, but uh, yeah it's, it's pretty nice place. You're gonna bring up those pretzels again. I said your favorite pretzel and what's the thing about this too, I don't know if you're gonna bring this up, but when it comes to that restaurant, and even you're ordering beer, when they see your table, you can literally order whatever beer and food you want from your phone and they bring it to you. If you need another beer, you just couple clicks on your phone and a few minutes later, another beer is coming right at you.
Speaker 2So it's hard to beat that so that technology is pretty nice, so you're not. If you're ready for your beer and they're busy, you're not waiting on the waiter or waitress to come to you. You just pick up your phone and click, click and next thing you know, a couple of minutes later, you got a beer in your face.
Speaker 1Yeah, usually I just raise my hand and give the international signal, for I need another one.
Speaker 1But yeah, it's a great place, cool place, a lot of different stuff, a lot of information on their website. That's one of the things that I also really like about them too A lot of information there. You can find out just about anything. They do have a frequently asked question that talks about kid-friendly, wheelchair-accessible smoking on the patio, things like that. It does talk about a lot of that stuff. They do have a section on their website that also is a place where they show where they distribute and where it's on tap. I have not seen it necessarily on tap, but it is at different times.
Speaker 2Let's hear McGregor north of there, up in Duluth, see some places down in the city, but you think it'd be closer to the cities and have it up in Duluth, mcgregor, that's quite a ways away from Invictus yeah, there's a handful of them that are up kind of in the Brainerd Lakes area, up by a black duck and Alwood and things like that.
Speaker 1So yeah, a lot of good places to be able to find Invictus and I don't know. I really recommend it because it's a solid brewery. They've got some really good beers. You know that they've had. This one is pretty solid, pretty good, pretty smooth, easy drinking. You know it's not super hoppy. It is definitely a hazy IPA, though it does have that. So my brother-in-law, alan, probably won't like it because he's not in the hazy world, but that's fine.
Speaker 1That's fine, we'll find another one for him. We'll go there. He used to live next to it, so he's familiar. We'll find a beer for him. We'll be all right.
Speaker 2Hazy, crazy IPA-zy Yep Good, I'd recommend anybody try it. If you ever get a chance to get some Invictus beer, definitely give it a shot. It is pretty good, pretty tasty beer.
Speaker 1And just informationally. I mean, obviously you can Google it, you can look them up, you can find their website, but yeah, 2025, 105th Avenue in Blaine, so, as I mentioned, on 105th, right between 65 and Radisson Road. So really easy to find, although super easy to find. But one tip if you can come in on Radisson road, because if you come in from 65 and you're going East, you can't turn left, so you have to go past it and loop around, which isn't that big a thing.
Speaker 1But if we want to get into like the very small minutia of inconveniences, it's a pretty small inconvenience, it's really not that big a deal. But there isn't just because there's so many roundabouts and other things and it's a split road there. Through there it you gotta go down to like the next road or whatever and and turn around, so but it's pretty easy to find. You know like hundred and fifth and then just go kind of between there and Radisson road. You know, google it put, put it on Google Maps, put it on Waze, put it on what's the Apple version? I don't even know.
Speaker 2Apple Maps? Okay, yeah, we'll do that. Apple's terrible. If you have an iPhone, I'm sorry it's terrible. But when you go to Invictus on your Android, tell them the two guys in beer, andy and Sean, and see if they say anything. Maybe you'll get a free beer or something.
Speaker 1There you.
Speaker 2So yeah, I don't think so, but we do have a couple of our cards posted there with our QR code. So while you're there if you want, you can scan the QR code and listen to this fantastic podcast.
Speaker 1Yeah, and even you know whether it be Invictus or any of the other breweries that we've had on the podcast to this point. We're pushing our way closer to 20 here, pretty soon, we're getting up there.
Speaker 1You know like definitely mention. You know if you go to a brewery make sure you mention that you heard about it from. You know the podcast, you know just to let them know that people are talking about it. You know we want to make sure that the business really we want to make sure the business gets in a way they're due you and discussing the various beers I like drinking it, absolutely.
Speaker 1That's the best part of the entire thing. So, yeah, again, like we said before, if you have any beers that you're looking to be able to have or anything like that, definitely reach us out, reach us out. Reach out to us is probably the English way to be able to put that. Reach out to us on our social media platforms Facebook, twitter, X, youtube, rumble, instagram, tiktok we're everywhere.
Speaker 2Yeah, iheartradio Pandora PodAddict.
Speaker 1Wherever you want it, it's there Spotify, it's all the things, all the things. So yeah, but if you get a chance, definitely give us some feedback, give us some thoughts. Recommend a beer, maybe in your hometown, because we got some people that have checked in from Texas. We got some people that have checked in from Washington, we've got. I think you said at one point we had some people that checked in from, like England or something there's.
Speaker 2England, there's Australia or pretty much everywhere.
Speaker 1So yeah, if there's something that you have there or whatever, definitely recommend something If we can source it. That's the one challenge, I guess. To a certain extent we can get some good Canadian beers from where we're at, but Australian beer might be a little tricky to be able to get a hold of. We'll definitely give it our shot. If you recommend something that we'll absolutely try to be able to do what we can to be able to do that. So if you want to hear the kind of background of a certain place, just let us know.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1So that's kind of my story. That's my portion of the podcast here with Invictus Brewing, so I will continue drinking. Now, sean, what do you got Some fun and fantastic info.
Various Achievements and Records
Speaker 2I do. I got a couple interesting stories I kind of came across this weekend Kind of interesting. I'll tell you the fact that I found Actually, I found it a while ago, but we'll share it now. So if you were to drill a tunnel from one side of the earth to the other straight through the core, drill here, come out on the other side, wherever that is, which I don't think has been done.
Speaker 1I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think it has been done, not yet. We should probably try Actually.
Speaker 2I think Russia has the longest bored tunnel. And then they heard noises and they filled it with cement.
Speaker 1Well, you know.
Speaker 2I mean that sounds right. That's kind of how that happened.
Speaker 1But if you were to dig a tunnel? From one side of the earth to the all the way through to the other and jumped in it. Guess how?
Speaker 2long it would take you to reach the other side forever, because gravity do you keep you in the middle?
Speaker 1I don't know, I feel like I've maybe heard this at one point in time fall, let's say, two hours 42 minutes and 16 seconds wow I mean that fall, I mean that's a I don't know how fast a free fall is.
Speaker 2I probably should have looked that up. Right, I mean don't you hit like terminal velocity at some point in time.
Speaker 1Yeah, you can only fall so fast. Yeah, you can only get so much faster.
Speaker 2School was a long time ago so I just don't remember all that. But I do remember something about velocity. Everything Remember something about velocity. Everything will hit a certain speed and that's as fast as it'll go. I'd assume through this tunnel that would be about as fast as you go.
Speaker 1Sounds right. Yeah, uh-huh. So 42 minutes, 42 minutes, that's a little bit quicker than what we were talking about previously about going to the Oktoberfest. It's going to take a little bit more than 42 minutes for me to get from MSP to Berlin. A little bit more than 42 minutes for me to get from MSP to Berlin. A little bit longer. I don't know about your flight, if you've got something else going on, but it's going to take me a few more minutes than 42.
Speaker 2About 10 to 15 hours is what I've been seeing on there. I'm close to booking, but we just haven't quite booked yet.
Speaker 1Yeah, I almost booked it actually earlier today. We've got a couple of details we're just making sure are set to another, but otherwise, you know, I think we're going to have that booked on our side. So the one I'm actually doing is actually going to have ironically, it's going to give me a little second little mini vacation, because the layover is about a nine to 10 hour layover in Dublin.
Speaker 2Oh, I was looking at one of those so. I was like well, I mean, why not? Yeah, we haven't booked yet I yeah, we haven't booked. Yet I haven't decided if we're going to fly into Berlin or Munich, because you can fly into either one of them. It's actually cheaper to fly into.
Speaker 1Berlin as opposed to Munich, but we'll see. It's like a $100 train ride or something like that. I think we're going to rent a car and drive down, but to be determined. Lots of details, logistics to get two guys and beer to Octoberfest in Munich. Yeah.
Speaker 2Back to the stories here. Have you ever lost your wallet?
Speaker 1I have. It is an awful feeling. I'm not sure what's worse you lose your phone or you lose your wallet. I understand that there's a significant difference on how much stuff you Overall. It might be worse for you to lose your wallet, but panic-wise I think you're losing your phone.
Speaker 2But yes, I have lost my wallet. Everything on your wallet you can access on your phone Right Electronically.
Speaker 1Yeah, but yes, I have done that and it's not a great thing, it's not fun.
Speaker 2So I can say I've never lost my wallet, but it seems like every two years I manage to wash it through the washer Because apparently I feel the need to wash it with my jeans.
Speaker 1Laundry money. You're laundering money. That's what you're saying. It's pretty good. Yeah, all right, if anybody's listening on the podcast, do not tell the feds, don't alert anybody, it's fine.
Speaker 2And you open the washer and of course there's dollar bills all over and your license and your credit cards and your wallet shrunk up this and that Well cards and your wallet shrunk up this and that. Well, this lady's wallet really would have shrunk up. So this lady in british columbia lost her wallet as she was getting off a dock and getting into a boat. She had her wallet in this backpack that she's carrying with her over. It fell out. She had the zipper open. It fell out, fell in the ocean, went down and she didn't know. She lost her wallet to get that on yeah no idea she had lost her wallet right away.
Speaker 2But she come to realize she lost it. And then she realized the splashing she heard when she's getting to the boat was her wallet falling in the ocean, right. Well, she paid a diver. Once they got back, she paid a diver to go down there and try to find it. You think it wouldn't be too hard to find when you're on a dock, you would just be lying right there.
Speaker 1Yeah, five, ten feet, I guess I don't know how you know however deep it is right there or whatever.
Speaker 2But to no avail. They couldn't find her wallet. Fast forward, about a year and a half later, she's walking out along the beach with her dog and what does she come across? That washed up ashore a message to mama, dollar bills in her wallet. Her wallet had washed ashore a year and a half later, on the same beach she was walking along. How about that? Opened it up. All her money was in there her license, her credit card, everything was in there wow, that is.
Speaker 1It's fun to hear stories like that you know, like the randomness of like how you know, just stuff just works out, like how does that even happen?
Speaker 2right, she said, everything was in relatively good condition except for the metal zipper, and the zipper was corroded a little bit from the salt water. But otherwise, what are the odds?
Speaker 1yeah, well, you had to be in the exact same spot or the same area. You know, but then, like you know, like that's what I could find, because they washed it like, where would it even have gone?
Speaker 2did it actually like get carried out to sea, or was it just kind of there the whole time?
Speaker 1probably got buried in a little bit of silt and we got moved around with the uh, the motion of the ocean, or the tide, or you would think so, whatever it be yeah, that's uh, huh, yeah, that's uh, yeah. So she recovered, she recovered, she found it, but yeah she recovered everything there.
Speaker 2So that's the first story. That was kind of interesting, I like that, just the odds.
Speaker 1Do you know that sign language has tongue twisters?
Speaker 2Really.
Speaker 1Yeah, I don't know what they are, but they are certain sequences that I can't do much for signing.
Speaker 2Thank you, yes, I can Thank you.
Speaker 1Thank you. You got to make sure you stay over the top, though Don't get the chin, because that's a very different sign language. That's more Italian there.
Speaker 2Guinness Book of World Records. You've read that book Multiple times I've read that book. They come out once a year, if I recall.
Speaker 1Yeah, typically there's a couple people that are in there that they like that's all they do. I don't know if they do that as a job, but they're in there all the time they have like Just trying to break any random record.
Speaker 2Yeah, they're just trying to.
Speaker 1Because really all it has to do. What did I read somewhere that it's reasonable means.
Speaker 2I wonder if we can get in there for drinking beer on a podcast. How many beers can you drink on a podcast? I wonder if that would be a category.
Speaker 1I think I've had two on certain ones, maybe three on the one where we had the Mobcraft. Yeah, the Advent Calendar one. I think we maybe got up to that. That was fun. Those are pretty good. From what?
Speaker 2I remember the last one. I those are pretty good. From what I remember. The last one I had was pretty good, that juicy one Right that Amanda didn't like.
Speaker 1Yeah Well, she's kind of judgy Aren't they all Don't?
Speaker 2tell her. I said that Aren't they all Don't?
Speaker 1tell her. I said that.
Speaker 2So Guinness Book of World Records. I don't know where they come up with these, these things. You know, we just kind of just talked about how random people just try to get in there for stuff. But a danish man earned an unusual guinness world records title and he managed to stuff 68 matchsticks into his nostrils. It comes up with this you just grab some matchsticks and just shove them up, and each you have to like pull it open and shove them in there 68. Uh-huh.
Speaker 1Peter von tangent buscoff he is 39 years old was awarded the title for most matches held in the nose when he surpassed guinness world records goal of 45 match sticks I mean that is a really random one, but I mean how many times, if you wait, have you, because I know how you routinely thumb through the old Guinness book in your spare time how many times have you come across?
Speaker 1something and you just look at it and you're like, well, I could do that there's been a couple of times where I'm like, oh, I could do that, and then I try to do like part of something like that and you're like, oh, I absolutely can't do that, it's almost immediately. You're like, oh, I absolutely can't do that, it's almost immediately. You know like this was regretted. Yeah, it's. I mean, you'd still give it a shot. I wonder how many I could fit in my mouth, my mouth, not my mouth, my nose.
Speaker 2Try it. Try it in the break here and find out.
Speaker 1Yeah, I don't think my nostrils are especially large. I mean, I guess I've never really thought about it. But how many did he get to get 68. 68. He shoved up in his nostrils. Now I wonder what the qualifications are for that. Are they like? Because technically isn't like those. You know that matchbook, you know little flat cardboard ones. Technically that's kind of a matchstick, isn't it?
Speaker 2So I mean I think it would have to be like those square wooden ones.
Speaker 1You know what I mean. I think it would have to be like those square wooden ones.
Speaker 2You know what I mean. Like the standard matchstick, but that's what the photo of them showed. Was the standard Cause those flat cardboard ones?
Speaker 1I could probably be fit. You know like 85 of them or something. Try it. I mean they're pretty flat. You should try it. I'm like somebody light the end on fire on me.
Speaker 2That's actually the first thing I thought when I saw the picture. I'd be like I'd like to just hold the lighter up just light something towards it. Oh yeah, mr buskoff. Surprisingly he said it didn't really hurt. He said he has fairly large nostrils and quite stretchy skin he must moisturize he thinks that helped him a lot.
Speaker 2He says he chose the matchstick challenge after researching different world records he could attempt. He said he didn't think he can currently beat his own record, but he hasn't ruled out trying again in the future. In quotes, this is what he says. For me, an increase in capacity would require some training, or perhaps my nose will grow as I get older. How do you train for that?
Speaker 1So is it kind of like you've seen, you know like the kids that gauge their ears.
Speaker 2you know what I mean. Slowly, but surely that's what I'm saying Like pumped it up, or something.
Speaker 1Yeah, blast it out pretty soon. You look like Nat Geo nose, you know, like that'd be really big nostrils.
Speaker 2That's a lot of big nostrils, that's a lot of that's all I got for stupid news.
Speaker 1Did you know that Minnie Mouse, her name, is actually not Minnie, it's Minerva.
Speaker 2Oh, wow, yeah.
Speaker 1Just random facts we're just throwing things out there at this point in time.
Speaker 2I'm going to take another drink of beer.
Speaker 1There we go. I like it. It's a good beer. It is a solid one, invictus out of Blaine. I recommend it. The one we did today, the Hazy Crazy IPAZ New England Style IPA.
Speaker 2That's good stuff. Go out and get yourself some Invictus, if you have it available in your area for sure.
Speaker 1Absolutely. I think that pretty much is the long and the short of our episode today.
Speaker 2Long and the short of the matchstick, there we go.
Speaker 1Yeah, and if you're looking to try, to try, you know the matchstick thing or whatever, let us know.
Speaker 2Maybe we'll do it on, send us some photos.
Speaker 1Yeah, maybe we'll even have you on the podcast or something. Why not Podcast challenge? Or if you have, maybe you have a world record. If you have, oh, there you go, let's get you on there. Let's see if you can beat it. Beat your own world record or just talk about it. You know that's fun too, Especially if it's beer related.
Invictus Brewery Episode Wrap-Up
Speaker 1That'd be even better, so we'll try to maybe see if we can't get something figured out with that. So I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Speaking of Invictus Brewery, we talked about the Hazy, crazy IPAZ, and I hope you're going to get a chance to be able to check out all the rest of our episodes, like share, subscribe all of the things, follow us on everything and make sure you share it and tell all your friends and loved ones, and even your not loved ones. Tell everybody about it, get it out there as much as we can and definitely give us feedback. Recommend something. If you want to be able to talk about something in particular, or if you want us to try a certain beer or just be able to do some research with the history of one, we're happy to be able to do it. That's part of why we're here. So, sean, what else have you got today?
Speaker 2That's about it. Thanks a lot everybody. Appreciate everybody listening.
Speaker 1God bless all of you out there and cheers and we'll talk to you next time here on Two Guys and a Beer Cheers.
