Breweries opening in Minnesota 2013/2014

The first of two; Urban Growler is mere crawling distance from my house!

 

Looks like an all-woman polygamist brewery.

How did you decide to brand yourself as an all-woman brewery?
Well it's always been an all-woman brewery. We bring together an awful lot of expertise and knowledge, and I got all the technical stuff. One of my spouses is an IT person and she's gonna be VP of operations because she can help troubleshoot things and then we have someone who is extremely good at spreadsheets and organizing things so she's gonna be secretary, and my other spouse is finishing up an accounting degree so she'll be our financial officer. We are calling interns right now so they will learn how to brew when the time comes. A couple of them are friends and one of them is someone I just met and they are all working very hard and getting very excited.

 

Look out, Wasatch!

 

"I'm also Pagan, which is uncommon in the Twin Cities other than in bookstores. We may be the first non-bookstore, non-coffeeshop, non-gathering place that is Pagan, Wiccan specifically in my case."

Oh shit! Too bad Surly has already claimed Pentagram.

 

And here comes another Chaz: http://blogs.citypages.com/food/2014/05/newcomer_zambal.php

 

It's too bad all these new breweries feel like they need some sort of bit to get people interested in them and their beers.

 

Another contract brewery focusing on session beers- they should do just fine in this current market.

 

Agreed, but don't you think the market is so oversaturated right now that you couldn't possibly thrive on great product and word of mouth? I mean, there is so much great beer out there now, who is going to come in with something that is across the board superior? At this point, I think you need competitive product, and beat the other guys with marketing - or die.

 

Well, Lake Monster seems to be hanging around. I find their IPA to be decent enough.

 

True, but I just don't feel even this will help that much. An all women brewery? Great. I don't care who is brewing my beer as much as I care about how good the product is. Fulton is brewed by guys I went to college with, doesn't change my feeling on their beers.

 

Yep, and no doubt there more than a handful of brewing company plans (Lake Monster's Calhoun Claw was not bad, but has anyone seen Tail Slap around?) in the pipeline.

When my P.C. crashed a year back (I don't do the cloud backup thing, and am too intellectually deficient to operate a Mac) I lost a Word doc* with between eighteen and twenty-four plans that I'd categorized as "Maybe." Some of these were gleaned from Manta, others from Brewers Association, others from ProBrewer and various homebrew sites. Some of them (such as Kinney Creek) have materialized while others are still maybes.

A homebrewer friend told me of one, but I can't find the name or contact; My guess is another home brewer goin' pro.

*I've shared the follow-up doc with @Pug, just in case so when my P.C. bites it again...

 

From what I am reading, most of these breweries are production breweries with a tap room, right? How many of these beers are going to stand out and how many will be on tap somewhere? There is only so much retail and tap space and many are late to the game.

I would be happy to see more brew pubs with great food like Northbound, Barley Johns, Town Hall, Great Waters.

 

But, does a taproom really need to distribute? Many could operate much like a brewpub without the headache of having to sell food. Like Dangerous Man for example.

 

Only time will tell I guess. I wouldn't say they are prevalent by any means and most people respond with "it was ok I guess", which would indicate small chances of repeat purchase, especially if they aren't competitive on pricing. My thoughts are if you are going to contract, be a little more creative with the beer lineup. So MANY good sessions beers already from established production breweries. The contract guys don't have to worry about all the capital needed for a facility, so why not take the risk and focus on unique styles and/or packaging.
I think at this point even retail is growing tired of all the new beers every single week. Only so much shelf space and tap lines. I mean is another 6 pack Pale Ale of bottles at $9.99 really going to make a difference at their store other than another sku in their system? I agree with @mjryan, why is their this desire to have to distribute. You could make great beer in a taproom and make great margins.

 

Dangerous Man is a success and I would include them in that list above and Harriet to a lesser extent would be in that category. Harriet now has kegs in the market, but I thought they started out like DM in a round-about way.

I guess Day Block and Fitger's would be in that list. So if someone has time, mind updating who are the brewpubs only?

 

Sure. Here's a note as to the 'Methodology' involved in that Big List:

The list mainly includes new and newer Nano-scale taprooms, brewpubs, and production-scale breweries. This website (Beer Advocate) originally had categories for Cider and Mead -as ratebeer still does- so I didn't initially include Sociable Ciderwerks in Northeast Minneapolis. But seeing as how Sociable also brews beers and since they were added to the database for review, they should included -- and they are definitely new.

The list is in sections, and so there are a few 'beer companies' (contract/client brewing, alternating proprietorships, co-packaging) such as Lake Monster included somewhere in there. For the sake of clarity I didn't add the beer/brewing companies that include other malt and "functional beverages*" (energy drinks, juices, and blends) as a part of their portfolio. This is a broad category which includes cider, Kombucha, and soda blends. Here is an (as yet incomplete, naturally) look at those companies:

Minnesota Beer and Brewing Companies
Owned and operated subsidiaries of other companies or "client brewers", brewed and co-packaged elsewhere.

1. Bank Brewing (Contracts with Brau and Cold Spring -- new taproom/brewery open)
2. Bard's Tale Beer Co. (Contract is with ?)
3. Big Hurt (contract is with City Brewing in Lacrosse)
4. Big Wood (contract is/was with Cold Spring -- Is now brewing and may be packaging in WBL.)
5. Blacklist Brewing (may or may not have purchased Dubrue in toto)
6. Blue Diamond Brewing (c.f. Zeroseven -- website down at present.)
7. Brainerd Lakes Beer Company (contract is with Lake Superior Brewing of Duluth, MN)
8. Chatterbox Pub (NOTE: Chatterbox's labels are re-branded Stevens Point brands; listed here as a beer company.)
9. Finnegans Inc. (Contracts for co-packaging at Cold Spring and Summit Brewing)
10. Fitger's Beer Company (contract is with Lake Superior Brewing of Duluth, MN)
11. Founding Fathers Brewing Company (contract is with City Brewing in Lacrosse)
12. Game On Brewing (contract is with Sprecher Brewing of Glendale, WI)
13. Grain Belt Brewing (subsidiary of August Schell)
14. Joerg's Beer Co. ((Contract is with ?))
15. Lakemaid (subsidiary of Pocket Hercules; contract is with Stevens Point)
16. Lake Monster (contract is with the mighty Sand Creek in Black River Falls, WI)
17. Lost Lake (contract is with City Brewing in Lacrosse)
18. New Ulm Beer and Beverage (1919, Buddy's, Hauenstein)
19. Pig's Eye Beer (may be defunct - again?)
20. Shot Beer / Veritas (contract is with Minhas or City Brewing of Lacrosse)
21. St. Croix Beer ((Contract is with Sand Creek or ? -- Owned by T. Fyten of Mantorville))
22. Tail Slap (contract is with Minhas)
23. Third Street Brewhouse (Family of beers; subsidiary of Cold Spring.)
24. Tonka Beer (contract is with Minhas)
25. Joseph Wolf Brewery (Blacklist brews the Wolf brands via the Dubrue facility)
26. Zambaldi Bros. Brewing
27. Zeroseven Brewing Co. (energy/functional drinks -- C.f. Blue Diamond)

Who can tell? Retail 'real estate' (coldbox, dry shelf, floor space) is an arrangement negotiated between the retailer and wholesaler, as well as the brand managers at national and regional levels, and the same is basically true at on-sale.

Some of these plans may not make it to packaged (retail) form, others may see only limited tap (draught) availability.

I 100% agree with that statement!


* The term is an odd one (I've been doing this years, and am still confused at times) but about fifteen years ago, analysts in the beverage trade began to refer to this category of packaged and branded beverages --not beer, wine, or stronger alcohol (spirits)-- as "new age beverages." It is/was a catch-all category and includes non-beer malt beverages (wine coolers and "Malternatives") as well as cider, low-alcohol and de-alcoholized malt beverages, energy drinks and certain blends of these. It was in keeping with TTB guidelines.

 

@Chaz

I thought I heard a brewery was supposed to open up in St. Paul by the Dubliner. What ever came about with them?

 

There are two breweries by the Dubliner. Bang, which has been open for sometime and Urban Growler, which is opening sometime soonish. Both are just North of the Dubliner, and they are literally right next to each other.

 

There are "plans" for another one in that area too. This is right next to the 94 Cretin/Vandalia exit, just a couple blocks from the Dubliner.

 

^ What mjryan said. Bang is open, Urban Growler is opening later this year.

There was also a potential plan referred to as "Water Tower" and/or Watertower Place, and this post from a few months back offers the most up-to-date information on that one (note: Watertower Place and/or Vandalia Tower is just down the avenue from The Dubliner, at 558 Vandalia.)

I inquired with the leasing agent but never heard back. This only stands to figure: they have no cause to acknowledge inquiries into properties -and least of all, existing or prospective tenants- without serious intent on the part of the individual making the inquiry to sign a lease with them. I'm just an amateur sleuth on the internet, after all.