I stopped in the other night at Blackbird, 3800 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis for a late-night bite — they now serve till midnight Monday through Saturday — and ordered this grass-fed hamburger from their Happy Hour snack menu. Since it was priced at $3, and listed as a snack, I expected a little amuse-bouche-sized slider. But this was actually a pretty substantial and very tasty burger, served on a homemade bun with fresh or fried onions. 

Other items on the $3 snack menu include a cheeseburger, crispy duck roll, hand cut fries, candied harissa almonds and more. Tap beers and wines by the glass are $3 off, wines by the bottle are $5 off, and canned beers are $1 off. That drops the price of a lot of the tap beers to $3, including the Boulder Brewing Company Mojo IPA, a delightfully hoppy brew served via a nitrogen system, which makes for a less gassy pint with a more creamy, more English head.

Happy hours are Monday to Saturday 2-5 p.m., and Monday to Thursday 9 p.m. to close. 

Starting Saturday, August 4, Blackbird will offer a Sünner Fest from 2 to 5 p.m. every Saturday in August, featuring $3 glasses of draft beer from the oldest kölsch brewery in the world, served in the traditional beer garden way. (Kölsch is a traditional top-fermented beer from Cologne, Germany). As they explain on their website, “we replace your empty beer until you place your kölsch coaster on top to signal “I’m done.” They mark notches in your coaster to track how many rounds you have had. 

Author: Jeremy Iggers

Jeremy Iggers is a journalist, university instructor and social entrepreneur with interests that include food, philosophy and global-local connections. Previously, he was a staff writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and publisher of the Twin Cities Daily Planet. He lives in south Minneapolis with his wife Carol and two cats.