A fantastic brewery in a tiny town with friendly local ownThe hazy ipa is really great, they have a cool tap room in a refurbished mechanics garage, and a really cute courtyard with lots of nice seating. We happened to catch a killer Mexican food truck (Espadin) and it made it just a perfect stop on the way to Decorah. Open only may-sept!!! read more

Karst Brewing - 1/3 of the buildings in this brewery compound - Breweries Near Me - Fountain, Minnesota

Driving through town, we stopped at this cute little brewery. It's little but it has plenty of seating both indoors and outdoors. And clean bathrooms! It's a good stop for bikers as it's near a trailhead. The bartender was friendly and helpful, really liked her! She also let us sample anything we wanted and it was hard to choose a beer, because every one I tried was so good! Finally settled on the smooth and delicious porter although the orange saison was really good. They have snacky food like pretzels, cheese and meat sticks and you can order food in from a nearby restaurant. We opted for the cheese, made locally, and were happy we were given a small charcuterie board to use. Overall, if you're driving through, it's a fun, cool place to stop by! read more

Karst Brewing - Karst - a German word to describe the Driftless - Breweries Near Me - Fountain, Minnesota

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Delightful location, great beers, a food truck with tacos to kill for. What's not to love? read more

Karst Brewing - Outdoor patio seating - Breweries Near Me - Fountain, Minnesota

romantic little spot to stop....unless you're all sweaty from biking on the nearby Root River Trail. Honestly didn't know this lil gem was here until we saw it on the MN Sips app. Worth a stop! Next time, Karst Brewing will be our biking destination on the bicycle ride! read more

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Next up in the Southern MN visits with the dog was Fountain, MN for Karst Brewing. Good patio space right off the main drag with beverage options ranging from beers, to house alcoholic teas, to mixed drink options. The flight board is hefty at 7 beers, but seeing that they had Samurai Teppanyaki as the food truck I had some a false level of confidence on being able to finish it (spoiler: was not able to finish the entire flight). Maggie's Farm: A Cream Ale with a light body and something that you can drink after mowing the lawn. Thirst-quenching, a mouthfeel with a very slight creaminess, and a low dough malt flavors.  Sugar Creek: A Saison brewed with Belgian yeast which brings a celebration of aromatics and flavors from the black pepper to citrus-spice. Refreshing, hint of hops, and just a good traditional saison. My favorite of the bunch. Currantly: A Sour brewed with Black Currant. Medium-low tartness, low acidity, and black currant being front and center. Refreshing and not overly tart. Hibiscus Tea: A Tea with Hibiscus added to the mix. Not something I would usually order, but I was intrigued in the warmer weather. This expressed hibiscus, tangerine, and cinnamon and sat right around 3.5%. For an alcoholic tea, this was a great one! Cheers to Cherries: A Kettle Sour with Cherries that reminds me a lot of a Belgian Kriek actually. Bright and delicious cherry flavor with enough acidity and tartness to remind you that this isn't maraschino cherry from a jar. My second favorite of the seven I tried. North Country: A Sour with Blueberry and Wild Rice that is actually gluten reduced! Strong grainy wild rice flavor (if from MN, you know what I'm talking about) with medium blueberry sweetness and flavor. A dynamic duo that makes a super interesting sour! Sunday Funday: A Hazy IPA with medium bitterness, medium-low tangerine and pineapple juice flavors, citrus aromatics, and a white bread malt flavor. A traditional Hazy IPA that hit the spot with some pleasant bitterness in comparison to the other delicious and varied beers (and tea) I tried. _____________________ read more

My wife and I decided to try Karst Brewing as we were driving around that part of Minnesota. We drove into Fountain, MN, a town of a few hundred people and only a handful of streets. As we drove by the brewery, it started to pour. The throngs of people on the patio ran for cover indoors. After a quick nap in the nearby park to wait for the rain to finish, we drove back to Karst. We got a flight of beers and enjoyed them outside. I'm not sure if they make all their beer in the main building, but they have a refurbished small building near the street filled with nice brewing equipment. It was a fun backdrop while enjoyed our beers on the sidewalk. The beers were outstanding quality. They were the type of beers where after each sip you savor the magnificence. In terms of beer quality, Karst is one of the highest quality breweries in the Midwest. They should be on any destination brewery list. Karst is in a tiny town 35 minutes away from Rochester and it was packed on a rainy day. It shows that if you make good beer, people will come, no matter where you are. read more

Karst Brewing - Breweries Near Me - Fountain, Minnesota

Great place serving great beer. Owner is super friendly. Ambiance is top notch. Highly recommend.

En route to Lanesboro I made the stop in on Saturday. Purple haired beertender Rachel was lovely. She was friendly as we discussed Karst offerings and I told her I was from the cities, asking if she ever gets to any breweries? She said she wanted to get to a newly opened one. In excitement I said "yes!!! I was there opening day last month, GO!!" As she was pouring my North Country and Coconut-A-Nilla I was perusing the brewery directional sign @ the end of the bar as I exclaimed "wait! We;re near Trout City?!" Rachel "it's about five miles down the road". I liked that the tap room had a lot of standard height tables. Parking was easy, here is a small lot outside the door or it's just street parking. Today was a marathon, not a sprint as I would be hitting four breweries in my travels so I opted for the low ABV cream ale and the intriguing wild rice sour. Rachel had sold me on the sour as "tart", she wasn't wrong. Karst is a great little stop if you find yourself in the area. Thanks for a delicious and fun beery discussions afternoon Karst! read more

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We caught the beer tender on a busy day. I think it was just the customers all came in at the same time with an already busy day. Although the server was very cordial it took some time for our first brew. It was on the bike trail and I heard a lot about it. Had high expectations about the place but was not impressed. I will try it again when we're in town. read more

This is the perfect place to spend 1 or several hours. We happened by on a rainy Saturday and had heard they'd have live music. We tried some beer and kombucha, played a cut throat game of Scrabble, and tried the food from their Bleu Duck Kitchen. I recommend the Sturdy Girl Apple Cinnamon Kombucha (not made on-site) and my husband really loved the Driftless Sunrise saison. The food from Bleu Duck was awesome! And the music with lazy pace and games made for a really good time. I'd definitely stop again if passing by! read more

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This place is INCREDIBLE!! Amazing tap room!! Amazing service!! Amazing beer!! I get to drink this beer about once a month when we make the trek from the Cities out here. Sandy was super sweet and helpful! She told us all about the beers and had it not been a pandemic I probably would have tried some of them. EVERY BEER I've had from here has been incredible!! I love that they have both growlers and crowlers. The tap room is huge and I can't wait to be able to hang out on the patio! I'm so happy to have been able to come and can't wait to come back! read more

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Phenomenal brewery! Happened to stumble across their sign on highway 52. Hooked a quick u-turn and pulled in to check out this roadside gem. Tried three beers (amongst three people) and every single one was a home run. We left slightly disappointed when we couldn't buy a few crowlers (due to a can shortage nationwide)....I guess a growler to go will have to do. We had the cream ale, the brown ale and the coconut nilla blonde. All were amazing! read more

Karst Brewing - Breweries Near Me - Fountain, Minnesota

It's a nice, very well maintained brewery. Quite a few brews to choose from. It's cool that they welcome you to bring your own food. I didn't find a must-have beer, but we enjoyed our visit. read more

Really nice atmosphere. Had the trout run and loved it. Very nice person working behind the bar. Stopped after fishing, next time will plan on staying longer. Worth your time to visit. Wish it was closer to the cities. read more

Karst is the ideal blend of a small-town, friendly, community environment serving hip and trendy, big-city, high-quality beer. They had a vast variety of beers and non-alcoholic options that would satisfy any drinker's palate. I started with the Fresh Hop IPA that had a well-balanced profile. The bitterness was prominent, but also mild enough that even non-hopheads would enjoy. Thanks to my wife the 'sampler queen', I was able to taste many other styles as well. The oatmeal stout was probably my favorite. It was crisp, roasty, and drinkable without getting full. The kettle sour had a distinguishable cherry flavor that was complimented, but not overpowered by the tartness. The only beer that left me wanting more was the blood-orange saison that had a good flavor, but had a bit too much of a bite for my taste (maybe too much carbonation?). We enjoyed our beers on a beautiful and chilly fall night on the patio seated aside the fire table. Despite running out of propane and almost making the decision to move inside, the staff promptly noticed and swapped out the propane tank keeping us there for another round. So my little man decided to grab another game off the game wall and a glass of water in their 'old-school' (retro or remake) water glasses, giving us a conversation piece rooted in a trip down memory lane. We opted for an extremely average wood-fired pizza from the guest food truck rather than something from their wide variety of snacks. It was fine, but after all, we were there for the beer. We stopped at Karst on the way back to the Twin Cities after visiting Niagara Cave. I am not sure the next time I will be down in this area (so we grabbed a crowler to go), but would definitely put this on the list of places to stop when cruising highway 52 through southeastern Minnesota! read more

We had an amazing time there on memorial day. My first visit. The staff is friendly and very efficient. The beer is great. There is plenty of seating inside and out. The food trucks very from day today I am told. Live music! Really a swell place! read more

Karst Brewing - The Remains playing at Karst Brewery. - Breweries Near Me - Fountain, Minnesota

I absolutely love when my brewery journey takes me to a place that blows my expectations out of the water. Karst is a small brewery located in a small town, and named after Karst County and its limestone region. What an amazing spot! I was blown away by the beer. Between two of us we got every beer to share and there was not one bad one. They were all extremely solid and true to style. My personal favorite was the Trout Run Pale Ale and the Wry IPA. We had a great time speaking with owner and brewer about his brewery and how far they have come. You can also grab some Kombucha from Big river, and various other drinks in their side fridge. I will definitely return next time I am in the area. read more

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Love this little gem in Fountain, Minnesota. I love the ambience of the outdoor patio and the beer was great. Very nice people that run this establishment.! read more

Excellent place to frequent especially on Saturday nights when they have music outside on their patio! Outside patio space is comfortable and inviting! Beer is great too! read more

Absolutely love this place, attention to detail is phenomenal and the beer is amazing. Definitely a fun spot to get a quick home made brew! Prices are extremely cheap especially for the quality. Travel the country for a living and that's one of the top 5 brewed beers I've easily ever had! read more

Excellent beer!! Sandy and the staff are great people. They have a lot of games to play, a fire pit, great atmosphere, and - did I mention? - excellent beer!! read more

Just stopped by today, what a sweet place, beer was great and the people were too! Will go again when we are near fountain!

This place is a hidden gem! My husband is a big fan of craft beer, and has enjoyed each beer he has tried at Karst. I enjoy the beer as well but am equally impressed with the atmosphere; cozy and charming inside and out, always with great music playing (recorded, not live). I especially love its proximity to the Root River bike trail network. It is a wonderful place to stop for a treat during a day of biking. Highly recommended! read more