Enki Brewing

So far I have only had the sampler — asked for their 4 most popular. Liked all 4 even the Tailfeather IPA. I Don’t always like an IPA but this one presents as a lighter smoother IPA but ends with the classic hoppy bitter taste. My favorite hands down is the Cacao Porter. I love porters and this chocolate porter is one of the best I have ever had! Looking forward to a pint.

Beautiful, old, brick building set a few hundred feet from the shore.
The Cacao Porter, wow. Just wow.

Loved this brewery! We didn’t get the chance to take a tour but enjoyed our the tap room. The staff was very friendly and the tap room was perfect size for a fun afternoon. I tried alot of different brews before going with the warming house brown ale. Walked away with a growler and looking forward to going back for more! They do have food you can order from a restaurant so that is very convenient. We did not eat but the server recommended it. The small town and small brewery feel is what I loved most. Definitely worth stopping in to enjoy.

Great beer. Great Location. Great staff.
Most underrated brewery in town.

100% awesome brewery! I had a flight (and can’t remember what I tried outside of the porter and the Victoria Gold) but know I enjoyed all four of the beers. We took home a growler, which is fun and am looking forward to swapping it out in the near future.

If you look «hipster» you’ll be made fun of. Not if you’re a «redneck» drunk. The beer itself has not improved since opening. I’ll think twice before visiting this Brewery, this experience has been less than sub par.

3 buddies and I took the trip near Lake Minnetonka to the small town of Victoria and we entered the smallish brewery in town. Enki has wonderful service and we sat at one of the picnic tables inside and I ordered the Tail Feather IPA. Very solid.
We had lots of laughs and I ordered for a Cacao porter for my second beer. Lots of chocolaty notes, Full body and dark colors.
Great company and good fun, it was a wonderful couple of hours with friends.

I figure it’s time to give my local brewery the kudos they deserve in writing after giving them props in person. Besides, as any Song of Ice and Fire fan knows, «Words are wind».
First, the brewery is in quaint «downtown» Victoria and easy to find. Once inside, you are greeted by a cozy taproom with some high tops, a small bar, and some picnic tables with a television on the wall to catch the game. There are also low tops spread around the brewery which makes one feel as they aren’t always on top of their neighbor — you can try to do that after your 4^th Tailfeather.
The beers that suit my taste are all delicious. I’m not a Kolsch fan in general, so it was no surprise that I didn’t particularly care for the Auburn Kolsch, but it’s just good enough to finish a glass (that’s a big deal to me). Getting that out of the way, the Tailfeather IPA and the Journey Pale Ale are my go-​to brews when I’m there. During the winter, you can’t go wrong with the Mocha or the Cacao Porters. Neither is overpowering in the added flavors, but hit the mark like William Tell. The Warming Hut Brown Ale was a nice surprise. Some brown ales can be a little malty, but this is one damn fine pint of suds.
Service here is really what one would hope for in a small town: inviting, friendly, and helpful. The brewers are always willing and excited to talk about the recent batch, brewery news (expansion coming?!), process, or just shoot the sheet with other beer fans. While I may not be named Norm, when I come in I find it quite nice that they remember a local.
Weekend nights during the winter can be a little cramped, but come summer, the beer garden is a perfect for those Victoria nights and the breeze coming off Steiger Lake. I like trying to catch a Gopher football game on Saturday afternoons when it’s less crowded, but there is a draw to the weekend clientele as you may just make some new beer fanatic chums.

What a place :). Beer– Delicious. Customer Service– Awesome. Atmosphere– Cozy & Authentic. My friend and I stopped impromptu on a Saturday afternoon. Tailfeather IPA was great as was their porter. Also. I was impressed by the nice touches in the ladies bathroom– good lotion, hairspray, puffs tissues, and actual quality toilet paper (lol well seriously, these are all nice things to appreciate!).

This place is outside my typical zone of entertainment, but I found the town to be very inviting. I had a Groupon to use here, and it was pretty easy to find. Right away staff greeted us and told us about their beer options. Initially, I will always try the flight. This had all of their year round beers (4). I would have to say that the 2 Porter beers were the best. Normally, the mocha porter is not something I would even try, but after a sample, I was hooked. It was not an overload of coffee or chocolate flavor. The brewer said there was only 1 gallon of coffee in the entire batch. As I looked around the place, the Porters also seemed to be the most popular (at least that night!).
After having a few drinks here, one of the brewers came over to talk to our table. Jason was very humble, friendly and thanked us for traveling to visit. We asked him more about the brewery. He gave us some info on where the name ENKI came from. I don’t remember all of it, but it was interesting.
There are a few parts of the building you can sit and sip a cold one. There was a small room with games and barreled beer. I loved the giant Jenga game! There were chairs amongst the brewing area. Lastly, the main area with comfortable wooden picnic tables, stools and and a few spots at the bar. Apparently, in the summer they have an awesome patio, with more outdoor games.

Great craft brew, and a fun setting!
I like a good craft beer, and have a diverse palate from lighter to dark. My beer drinking itch is easy to scratch here at Enki.
More than that the owners are great folks who answer your questions, make suggestions, and are not snooty beer nerds who want to impress you with meaningless information.
Go here, drink here, you will be happy you did.

Island Boy and I snagged a Groupon/​LivingSocial deal and visited Enki for the first time on a Sunday afternoon last month. The deal provided us with 2 flights of their 4 flagship beers, 2 pints of any brew on tap, and 2 Enki pint glasses to take home.
The 4 flagship beers we sampled as part of the flight were Victoria’s Gold, Journey, Auburn Kolsch, and Tailfeather IPA. Golden ales (or lighter beers in general) aren’t typically my favorites, but Victoria’s Gold was actually decent for a beer of that style – it was easy drinking, mild in flavor, and didn’t have any skunky taste that can be a turnoff with other goldens (especially wheats). I’d give it 3 out of 5. Journey is an American Pale Ale style beer, but is apparently a London dry ale – it has a mild bitterness and slight floral and citrus flavors. It was also decent… drinkable as I say. I give it 3.5 out of 5. The Auburn Kolsch had an unusual caramel/​reddish tone, and lacked much of a head. It was a little earthy, and a bit harsh at first sip, but it smoothed out with a slightly sweet finish. This was probably my least favorite of the flight, but would still give it 3 out of 5. The last brew of the flight was the Tail Feather IPA – the highest in ABV at 8%. It’s an American style IPA (which often means a little more hoppiness than a British IPA) with a mix of grapefruit and floral flavors, just the right amount of bitterness. It was also a little harsh at first, but it went down easy after the first sip. I give it 3.5 out of 5.
For our 2 pints, we decided to try the Cacao Porter and the Mocha Porter. Island Boy isn’t a huge coffee fan, so I got the mocha and couldn’t have been happier. Let me first say that both porters are good, but the mocha just has much more depth of flavor. It’s smooth, creamy, sweet and refreshing. Did I just call a porter refreshing? Sure did! It actually didn’t have a distinctive coffee flavor, so I think my other half was kicking himself a bit, but since I’m a generous girlfriend, I decided to share :) It was really delicious – one of the best porters I’ve had, and easily the best beer we tried that day – so I would definitely get it again. Verdict: 4.5 out of 5.
So that’s all she wrote for the beer… as for the taproom itself, it’s nothing fancy, but it’s spacious for a small town brewhouse and has a couple TVs if you want to watch the game. We sat at the bar, so we got served easily and were able to chat with the bartender about the history of the brewery and details on the beers. They offer a few small bites of food, although nothing substantial. They’re really easy to find, but kind of tucked away all the way out in Victoria. I must say though, if they have the mocha porter on tap, it’s worth the drive!

Somehow I missed putting this place on my list of 10,000 breweries of MN. Luckily for me I love a deal and one of those deal sites had just the right one for me. Got 2 beer tastings (4 of their usual beers on tap), 2 pints (of any choosing) and 2 take home pint glasses. i’ll take that as a win! It was out of the way but worth the drive for the deal and to try a new brewery. The typical year round beers (Victoria’s Gold, Journey Pale Ale, Auburn Kolsch and Tail Feather IPA) on tap were pretty decent. I was actually shocked at the fuller taste that their lighter beer had, typically expect a light beer to not be the best tasting beers in the world (tend to stick away from them). The IPA was great and if it wasn’t for the 2 cask porters which they had, I would have decided on getting the IPA as my pint. I tried the CACAO Porter since it sounded better than the one with coffee (sorry can’t recall the name of that one). I was very pleased with the taste of my final beer choice but extremely jealous of the gfs option, she opted for the coffee one so we can try everything they had on the list. I’m not a coffee person so beers that have coffee in them aren’t the best tasting to me. My mind was totally blown by this coffee porter they had. All I can say was if you are in that area you need to stop by and try that beer.
It’s a smaller brewery nestled in what seems like a very old fashion tiny town. The bar area is small but welcoming and so was the staff on hand. They have a TV within the bar area that everyone seemed to huddle around since the game was going on. It does get colder than what I expected in there during the winter time due to the wind tunnel (due to the layout of the place) caused by the coldness that creeps through the doors so dress appropriately.

I like this place. The brewery is located in an old creamery in a small town southwest of Minneapolis. They seem to have a pretty steady stream of patrons and the beer is pretty good.
However, if you bring in a growler you purchased from the brewery, they won’t fill it for you right there. They tell you they will swap out for another growler that is in a cooler. My experience has been that the beer is been four days since it has been poued to the growler (the date poured is stamped on the cap and it is sealed). This is inconsistent with what other craft breweries do. The reason I bring a growler to a craft brewery is to get fresh beer. That means they fill it right there while I am in the brewery.
One way to get around this is probably to bring in a growler you purchased from another brewery. I have not tried this, but I don’t expect they would deny filling your growler for you.
To date, I have been happy with Enki beer that I opened on the day I purchased the growler (4 days old). But not happy with beer that is left over the next day. From other breweries, I am always satisfied with day-​old beer from the opened growler.
I realize this practice is more convenient for the employees, but Enki needs to correct this inconsistency. It is poor customer service.
Aside from my review on growler fills above, I quite enjoy Enki’s beer and ALWAYS stop in when I an in Victoria, MN.

We went last week for a group tasting and enjoyed the beer and company.
Different beer options for all of us and a great tour. Just off the bike trail and a wonderful building with a patio for warm weather imbibing.

Nice patio with gorgeous view and lots of beers and a root beer on tap.

It’s been almost one year since my last review, so I thought I’d update it. Enki continues to produce top quality flavorful brews. I was there recently and had their Hootenanny Hefe. There is not a more perfect beer out there! If Yoda had this beer he’d say «the banana esters are strong with this one!». It was absoltely a delight to drink. Thanks you Enki for brewing something so wonderfully excellent. I did buy a growler of it too. That 40 minute drive from my house is well worth the beer.

I was so excited when I heard there was a brewery opening in Victoria, my little town of all places! I went with friends to check it out. They only had two beers on tap when we were there. They were both very good EPA’s I believe. They don’t have food but you can order from any of the area restaurants and bring it in or they may deliver as well. They provide menu’s inside.
It’s located in a gorgeous historic building in downtown Victoria, so cool. Great place to grab a beer. They have a cute patio for summer as well

ENKI Brewing…
Me and the Gal were going to grab a bite to eat at Floyd’s in Victoria, and then head over to ENKI to try out their brews. The City was experiencing a power outage, so we could get drinks but no food at Floyd’s. We walked over to ENKI and I was impress by the building they did a nice job of keeping the character of the building intact. I love the rolling Barn door. What are the odds the My Gal and some of the Harem had been there all ready? Answer is… Of course they have.
My gal had been introduced at her last visit to John (one of the owners). She made a quick introduction and we had a personal tour of the brewery by him. Even though the power was out the beer was still flowing. I must say I love the three beers they have. Now I’m not a big fan of hoppy beer but the Citric Journey has a ton of subtle flavors and the hops don’t overpower other flavors. After the Citric Journey the beer only got better. We sat down with John (the owner) at one of the patio tables to enjoy each other’s company and of course the beer.
Next we found a seat at the Tap room Bar and tried the Auburn Kolsch and the Vitoria Gold. I am a fan of both! The Beer Tender was personable and knowledgeable.
I am going to get on my Soap Box for a bit. If you want to support small businesses go to your nearest Tap house. They are your neighbors and they brew what beer should taste like. I hope to someday see a locally owned brew house in every town from coast to coast. We are living in a Renaissance of Beer. For those of you still drinking Light Beer in a can, let me give you a suggestion. Guys cut your mullet, ladies stop feathering your Farrah hair and Drink Real Beer.
Stepping off the Soap Box.
I plan on visiting often and bringing more of my enlightened friends with me.
The beer gets 5 stars and so does the Tap house.

I’m so excited about this place. Awesome building, good beer (only one so far but it’s fantastic).
Welcome to the Twin Cities Brew Scene Enki!