Is that the one that had a fountain where people could fill their jugs, bottles, whatever with good water?

Got crowded once when I was there, because the "city" water smelled pretty bad.

It seems that craft brewing is serious business these days. So I don't see why small brewers don't have a shot. It helps to have a restaurant to serve it in though, and popular chains like Rock Bottom and Granite City are going the Applebee's "neighborhood bar & grill" route, hoping to market their restaurants with a supposed local vibe, making it more difficult for local competition to sprout.

to try and keep the lines down, they instituted a 2 gallon limit.

frequently when I drove by Schmidt, young hooligans would have clambered up the fire escapes, run across the tanks atop the building onto the catwalks, and unplugged the large neon letters c, m, and d. showed up well at night from a couple miles out.

Neoalec,

The reason Rock Bottom and Granite City don't serve other brewer's beers is that they are local brewers. Both are brewpubs which brew all their own beers. Other outstanding examples of this in the Twin Cities include Great Waters Brewing in St. Paul, Townhall Brewing at 7 corners, The Herkimer on Eat Street, and Barley John's in New Brighton.

Great places to get the local crafts include The Happy Gnome, the Muddy Pig, and Groveland Tap in St. Paul and several of the bars on Nicollet and Hennepin in South Minneapolis (names are escaping me, that's not my hood).

John, I understand that Rock Bottom and Granite City don't serve others' local craft beer, that's not my point. However, they are chains, making them by nature less local. I'm not making an assessment of the quality of their brew, only uniqueness of the establishments and their products.