The Crawl: Surly Beerplex tabs local architect

Surly Beerplex tabs local architect

Surly Brewing Co. hasn't selected a location yet for its highly anticipated "Destination Brewery," but it knows who will design it.

The company announced Tuesday that it has enlisted HGA, which designed General Mills' headquarters and the Lakewood Cemetery Garden Mausoleum, as its architect. HGA is based in Minneapolis, but has offices around the country.

The "Destination Brewery" was made possible after state law was changed via the "Surly Bill" to allow breweries to serve pints of their own beer on the premises. Surly is planning a $20 million facility that includes a bar, restaurant, event center and beer garden.

"I have had a picture of what our Destination Brewery will look like in my head for more than a year now, and we're sure HGA can make that vision a reality," said Surly owner Omar Ansari.

Surly's search for a location was recently narrowed to three cities in the metro area, including two sites in Minneapolis. One possible site is a former food processing plant near the University of Minnesota.

The company also said that ROLEC, a brewhouse manufacturer, is "building Surly's custom brewhouse system in Munich, Germany."ERIC ROPER

Cat fest goes viral

In the wake of international media going absolutely bonkers for the Walker Art Center's Internet Cat Video Film Festival, we have some important updates to report. The museum has tallied a whopping 7,000 nominations since online voting began in early July. The winners, picked by staff and public voting, will play on the Walker's Open Field Aug. 30.

Walker staff members are taking full advantage of this surprising fervor. For one, they've created cat fest merchandise in the form of three T-shirts (available on the website). They've also designed a signature cat cocktail called "The Cat's Meow" (Prairie Organic Vodka with cherry, pomegranate and ginger). OK, let's say you're too busy on Aug. 30 to watch cat videos on the side of a building with a thousand other people. Don't worry, the whole festival will be viewable on the Walker's YouTube page. TOM HORGEN

Gold medal viewing at Brit's

Trust me, Olympic synchronized swimming is much more fun when you watch it at a bar -- preferably with a drink in your hand.

There's no better place to watch the London Olympics (and all its sports -- yay for race walking!) than at Brit's Pub. The downtown bar is showing the games all day and night on a jumbo screen on its rooftop lawn. While the evening viewing consists of NBC's tape-delayed broadcast, Brit's daytime access includes the Olympic soccer and basketball channels.

Like London itself, Brit's is having a bloody good month. The bar is packed with events, even beyond the Olympic viewing parties. On Monday the bar's 15th annual outdoor summer movie series returns. It's only appropriate that they kick off the series with "Chariots of Fire." Sorry, no Mr. Bean cameo as far as I know. The weekly series continues each Monday with (in order) "My Week With Marilyn," "The Iron Lady" and "Sherlock Holmes 2." Then on Aug. 12 -- the last day of the Olympics -- Brit's is sending off the Summer Games with live Golden Gloves boxing matches on the rooftop.

The best part? It's all free.T.H.

Those Darlins was robbed

After losing their gig at the canceled SoundTown fest, Tennessee's Those Darlins then lost some of their gear when their van was broken into after the July 28 makeup show at the Cedar. An online campaign was started to try to retrieve the gear. The band is cool enough to not hold it against us and already booked another local gig Nov. 3 in the Entry. CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

A venue Gotye used to know