MANKATO — It may have been last call in 2024 for the Mankato Craft Beer Expo at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center, but the tap is still open for a January 2026 event downtown.
Sip City Social is planned for Jan. 31, promising to have craft beers, special wines, unique mocktails and more.
Radio Mankato and the civic center collaborated on the new event after no tasting expo in 2025, said Jordan Yess, general manager of Radio Mankato, and Eric Jones, co-director of the event center. The decades-long event is being reimagined for couples and friends looking for a fun social tasting event.
“We’re just trying to bring it back and have a new twist on it. Same type of concept. We’ll have local vendors come and showcase their beer, but we also want to incorporate seltzers, some wines and then also (non-alcoholic offerings),” Yess said.
The new, updated version of the event will fill the void, Jones said.
“And we are excited for the opportunity to work with them on the inaugural Sip City Social,” he said.
In addition to drink sampling, a few food vendors will offer snacks and small bites for purchase, and local musician Nate Boots will provide background music.
“I think our thing was we just wanted to, you know, elevate this event, kind of make it a bit more intimate for people to come in and enjoy their favorite beverages across Minnesota and the surrounding area,” Yess said.
A comfortable capacity for the event center’s Grand Hall is about 1,500, and in the past the craft beer expo exceeded 1,000. They’re hoping to continue an event that has been fun and successful in the past, Yess said.
“We are just compiling our list (of vendors) now. Ideally we’d like to have more local vendors, distributors, local breweries. We’re looking forward to some very local Mankato support,” he said.
In 2024, the Mankato Craft Beer Expo had nearly 50 breweries represented, from such popular local favorites as Schell’s of New Ulm and Madelia’s Lost Sanity to distant breweries like Alaska Brewing Co. of Juneau, Alaska, and New Belgium Brewing of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Yess encourages those interested in attending to keep checking the website, where breweries will be listed.
“So, you can just go around, vendor to vendor, try whatever you like, your favorite, or expand your horizons,” Yess said.
All beer samples will be included in the cost of admission: $57.80 for the 3-6 p.m. event, with early admission at 2 p.m. for $76.25; a designated driver admission is $36.25. Tickets are available at the Radio Mankato website and Ticketmaster. Title sponsors are Hilton Garden Inn and Aquarius Home Services.