Sherlock's Home

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ftrplt

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Question for any BoB's living around Minn-St. Paul, Minn. area.
Years ago (1990's mostly) while working for the FAA, I spent a lot of time at Northwest Airlines. & other local pilot-training centers doing training and/or inspections. Found this great pub on the west side of town called "Sherlock's Home." It was an actual British pub/restaurant that had been disassembled, shipped to "Minnynoplace," then put back together!!! I absolutely adored it because they had real "engine-pulled" beer machines just like in the Mother Country!! Food was good, lots of whiskey/whisky on the glass shelves behind the bar! I'm pretty sure it's been gone for a while. Just wondering if anyone remembers the place or maybe even frequented it??? FTRPLT
 
I visited it once sometime around '97/'98 while on assignment with Pyramid Breweries Inc in downtown Minneapolis. Met the owner and had a nice chat. Had fish & chips and a few pints. Frankly I wasn't all that impressed with the ales. FWIW.


Cheers,

RR
 
Without any prior announcement, it suddenly closed at the end of December, 2002. It was the brainchild of Bill and Carol Burdick. Bill reportedly closed Sherlock's Home just after his 65th birthday. Instead of retiring, he and his wife, Carol, founded a chain called Granite City, still in operation, but I believe Bill sold his interest in Granite City. The following is from an article about craft brewing that appeared in 2019 in the Mpls. Star-Tribune.
"After spending time in England, Sherlock's Home owner,Bill Burdick, sought to bring the hand-pulled, cask-conditioned ales he had enjoyed there back to Minnesota. Sherlock’s quickly became a center of the Twin Cities beer community, hosting home-brewing competitions, beer tastings and appearances by renowned beer writers. Sherlock’s was important in creating a beer culture. Not just different recipes and different styles, but the way it’s consumed, the way it’s respected."
 
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Thanx, guys!!! Wow, closed 18 years ago!!! Damn, I'm gettin' old!!!!!!!!!!!!! FTRPLT
Here's the real "gettin old!" My cellphone was ringing. I recognized the ring was from my younger daughter.
Where the hell did I set my phone? Laundry room? Kitchen? Upstairs in one of the bedrooms? Down in the basement? One level down in the family/dining room?
I went to the master bedroom, where I have my other cellphone, and immediately called my daughter. She was just checking in, but while we're talking Ring...ring...and I confessed I'd misplaced my main cellphone. "Dad, I can hear it ringing. Could you have put it in your pocket? Um, yup. That's gettin' old.
 
Without any prior announcement, Sherlock's Home suddenly closed at the end of December, 2002. It was the brainchild of Bill and Carol Burdick. Bill reportedly closed Sherlock's Home just after his 65th birthday.
I did some internet searching and as of August, 2020, Bill and Carol were both alive and kickin'.
 
Here's the real "gettin old!" My cellphone was ringing. I recognized the ring was from my younger daughter.
Where the hell did I set my phone? Laundry room? Kitchen? Upstairs in one of the bedrooms? Down in the basement? One level down in the family/dining room?
I went to the master bedroom, where I have my other cellphone, and immediately called my daughter. She was just checking in, but while we're talking Ring...ring...and I confessed I'd misplaced my main cellphone. "Dad, I can hear it ringing. Could you have put it in your pocket? Um, yup. That's gettin' old.
Don't sweat it man. Went out to start up the Harley this afternoon and could not figure out why the thing wouldn't start. Finally realized I didn't have the damn fob in my pocket. Boy do I long for the old days.
 
Truly regret that Sherlock's closed; I always enjoyed my time there! Small pipe story involving the place. Went I first visited back in the 90's, smoking was allowed; cigs, cigars, and pipes!! There were black silhouette cutouts adorning the walls displaying Sherlock smoking his calabash with smoke wafting from the bowl/s. I'd sit at the bar, enjoying a fine pint of machine-pulled bitter along with a good briar of tobacco! Revisited some years later, went to light up my pipe, bar tender says no-can-do!! I pointed out that the ciggy smokers were fired up and cookin', how come no pipes?? He allowed that the ventilation system couldn't handle the cigar & pipe smoke!!!! I fired back that (pointing to the silhouettes on the wall) perhaps if they banned cig smoking while allowing pipes & cigars, the total smoke volume would be greatly decreased!!! Of course his reply was that there were many more cig-smoking customers than pipe/cigar ones!! They win; we lose!! On my next trip, obviously in 2003; the place was gone. FTRPLT
 
Think I might have gone there in 83 when I worked for the airlines. There was also a place called Bogey's that catered to cigar smokers where you could smoke a pipe.
 
Until the general restaurant/bar smoking ban in MN, there were several MN bars where only cigars were allowed. I think pre-pandemic J.D. Hoyt's in downtown Mpls. kept their cigar smoking patio open 12 months a year, with large heaters strategically placed during the winter months.
 
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