Monday 3rd of October 2011 11:18:07 AM

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I'm revising my original review, based on a more recent trip and better experience:

The brewpub is situated in a somewhat industrial area (I know, so is the whole city of Superior) in an old creamery building. The bar itself is fairly small, with old fashioned pizza joint table and booth seating within the bar room proper. Around this central room is an L shaped accessory seating area for busier times (this is where we sat last time we were here) with pink tiled walls left over from the creamery days. The walls abound with interesting old beer signs (metal, neon, etc.)


We arrived there just at 11 AM, the place just starting to fill with the early lunch crowd. Our server was very attentive and we promptly got our beers and then food. The beer sampler contained all of their tap beers (8-10 if I remember correctly) and came out on a cool holder made of an old barrel stave. Miraculously, all the beers but one were of very good to excellent quality. The Lawn Chair was less than stellar, having a smoky phenolic character that was not meant to be there! Sj ordered the auxiliary sampler of three sour beers--a new series in the last year. The sours were very good, and I was wishing she would share more! We actually bought a growler of the sour brown (really a Flanders Red style) to take home with us to crack at the JAB lambic barrel fill event later that week. A growler of sour beer has to be a first for me!


We ordered a special pizza made with a pureed white bean and garlic sauce and olive oil and spinach atop it. This was remarkable and worth a trip just for the pizza--a perfect counterpoint to the varied beers I was sampling! By the time we finished with our meal and samples the place was packed, filling the bar side and spilling into the outer ring of seating. I would certainly go back to Thirsty Pagan and was pleasantly surprised at the change in beer quality!

Sunday 19th of July 2009 06:37:42 PM

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Thirsty Pagan is located in Superior, WI. Superior is an old yet still active port city. They still ship taconite (iron ore), grain, lumber, etc. & still receive steel and a few other commodities. Downtown Superior seems to have been built to accommodate the merchant sailors. Coming from the north end via 53, every place is either a bar or a strip joint. It is gritty and not very pretty. By contrast, Duluth, located across the bay, is nestled into the hills and filled with old Victorians, steep streets, a touristy waterfront and has a semi-vibrant downtown. Some folks call Duluth the San Francisco of the Midwest, but that is a bit of a stretch for me.

The Pagan is located in a fairly attractive two-story brick building and is located next to a thrift store.

You walk into L shaped dining room, the smaller bar area is in an interior room. The dining room has mix of various sized tables that look your aunt’s kitchenette set. There are worn brick floors. I like it!

The whole place is non-smoking which is a huge plus.


The bar room has a totally well worn bar that seats about 10. There is table seating for 25 or so more. Great old beer signs on display (Old Style, Fitgers, Grain Belt, Rex, etc.). There is a small stage in the bar room and Sunday is open mic night. In addition, there is faded paint on the concrete floor. Nice WXRT type rock on the sound system.

8 house beers + a hand pump. Pretty wide range of styles. Nice to see a smaller brewpub tackle lagers and pilsners in addition to the usual stouts, ales. They also had a regular and a dunkel weis.

The service was prompt and business like. They are free with samples.

The crowd was a mix of folks.

I did not try the food, but they are known for their pizzas which looked and smelled terrific.

I would recommend a stop by if you find yourself at the “Head of the Lakes” region.