Breweries opening in Minnesota 2015/2016

I'm actually not a big cider or mead fan (although I enjoyed Apis Póltorak Jadwiga mead more than any beer I've ever had). I've started to track Twin Cities area cideries and meaderies because, as you touch on, they occasionally sneak in a graff or a braggot, which I do consider beer (not that I'm a big fan of those hybrid products either). I also count moto-i as a brewpub, simply one that brews rice beer (sake) exclusively, and I have long thought the fact that Minneapolis has the world's only sake brewpub outside of Japan (last I heard) doesn't get enough attention locally.

I believe the logic behind the other site including cider, perry, and mead is that there are few other channels for tracking these products, in contrast to wine (and spirits), or at least there were few other channels at the time of the site's founding, when these products were less popular in America. Sake gets included because it arguably technically is beer, depending on the breadth of one's definition of beer.

 

I heard their will be a new brew pub in New Prague. One of the Amplatz Children's Hospital heirs. Heard this from a person in a tap room last night, so I wouldn't call it the most credible info. Sounds like they are trying to build a German beer hall brewpub. Apparently importing a bar from Germany itself? Again, overheard, not core knowledge.

 

This practice so seems like Robbing Peter to Pay Paul. Plus, what is to say that, even if they DO raise this money, that they have their crap together distribution, marketing and product wise?

 

Agreed, wholeheartedly. I would like to point out that from my experience--and I don't think I'm the only one here--their product tells me they don't have their crap together product wise.

 

I agree....nice people....I'll leave it at that.

 

That plan has indeed been bubbling-under the radar. Here are the City minutes for the changes in their ordinances and zoning, as per the plan (with no name just yet, but I want to imagine it being situated in the revitalized Hotel Broz. Hint.)

New Prague used to have a great Czech / German restaurant in Schumacher's, but that closed a little while back. It'd be great to see them do something beer-related with that site and its heritage. Hint, hint.

 

Hit Maple Island over the Holidays and it was very, very disappointing. Great setting and place but their beer is about as poor as I have had anywhere...tough to find even one that was above average.....a couple were average at best...I suppose it won't matter in their setting but I won't be back....just not a a real clean profile on anything...their Kolsch tasted like a Belgian ale.......just way off...they all were....

 

Urban Moose of Sauk Rapids is looking for a summer opening according to their Facebook page.

 

Wish I had the time to be a more regular contributor, but I do what I can. In that vein, I can report a smattering of things I've not read about in this thread.

First off, I know that there was discussion in this thread regarding Dan Justesen's super-secret brewery plans a few months ago. Then around Thanksgiving(?) on a visit to Lift Bridge I overheard him talking about being closer to having news for general consumption. And today I did a bit more digging on the Utepils Investments LLC that he formed, which led me to discover that there is now even a tich more detail now, in the form of a bare-bones website & a minimal detail Facebook page for what is being called Bryn Mawr Brewing. IMO, that's a pretty good area to drop in a brewery, though the devil will be in the details as to where exactly in Bryn Mawr he's planning to be. Sad that it is a bit of a hike from my St. Paul homelands, but I'm a Field of Dreams beer-drinker, so I will come. I can already imagine a few double-whammy evenings visiting there and Sisyphus.

My second tidbit isn't much to nibble on, but it feels like more than a wisp. Put it in the BIP rumors category? Went out to Merlin's Rest on NYE and my gal & I ended up sharing a table with a fellow named Adam and his new bride; they are pretty decent swing dancers. More germane to this thread, Adam apparently will be the brewer at a BIP planned for Dundas. He says they don't have a finalized name for the venture yet, but that once they do, they will be using social media & such to make sure people are aware of them/their name. He initially told us the brewery was going to be in Northfield, but then clarified that they were actually going to be in Dundas. So that may be the Northfield BIP I've seen on the BA membership rolls?? Or maybe two breweries in that area? My impression was that he thought they'd open this summer -- so set them for next fall/winter?

My last item is about Wabasha Brewing. The Saturday after Boxing Day we ran into a friend at Town Hall who is doing most of Wabasha's taproom build-out. He was out with, among others, their brewer, Brett Erickson. I haven't been too excited about them, despite their looming opening in my city, because I was not too sure of their/his brewing bona fides. But after chatting with him, I'm much more excited to see what he will be bringing to our local brew scene. Though he is a homebrewer and doesn't have commercial brewing experience (if my memory serves), Brett has been brewing on an unusually large scale with the help of his neighbor, who was the head brewer at a MI craft brewery before he got burned out on the business. Brett & the neighbor created their own huge sculpture in his garage and the neighbor taught Brett about how to brew on a larger scale. I'm expecting to be pleasantly surprised by their beer after our conversation. You can google the brewery to find articles with more about the specifics of their opening plans, initial beers and the double taproom, but they are now brewing and are just working up reserves to meet initial demand, so I expect (and they expect) they'll throw their doors open for a soft opening before January is done. In fact, they may have their final city & state approvals by the end of this week, so they may open next week.

Finally, not a tidbit but a suggestion. This thread is titled "Breweries opening in Minnesota 2013/2014." It is 19 pages long on my laptop. It has been a great thread and I've learned much from it. Yet I'm wondering if it is time to retire it and start a new thread for 2015? I'm no forum moderator, and an irregular contributor at best, but this thread is hard to handle due to its size, so wondering if the PTB would be consider starting up a fresh thread for the new year and closing this one? Looking over my personal spreadsheet, I can see that there's going to continue to be plenty of things to talk about on the topic of MN's newest breweries. I'll be surprised if any new brewery gets to hang onto that title for more than a month in 2015 at the rate they've been coming online. I can hardly wait!

 

As per your suggestion, @morimech beat you to the punch by a week or so:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/breweries-opening-in-minnesota-2015-2016.243513/

 

D'oh!
Chaz - Umm, is it worth cutting & pasting my recent contribution to this thread into the up-to-date one?

 

This update is filled with more qualifiers than I'd like, and is a bit "rough" -- (HEY! It was a hell of a New Year for me... )

Forward
Most of this was extracted from Brewers Association Members and State / Minnesota lists -- see URLs, below.

"Brewers Association Brewery Members"
http://ba.brewersassociation.org/memberlist/members.aspx?memtype=BREW
(The above URL refreshes each day; The date I last checked was Wednesday, January 7, 2015.)

Note: Brewers Association has difficulty culling outdated information. As such, un-named BIP (which are on BA's Members list) are likely counted twice. I noted several other instances of contact info presented in error -- just an F.Y.I.

Also worth noting is that Brewers Association now appears to allow -home brewers- to join and be counted among commercial entities and BIP. This will doubtless lead to confusion for anyone trying to determine accurate counts licensed breweries, Beer Companies, etc (E.g. "Grillen Brewing", listed as a BIP plan for St. Paul, MN, below.)
---

"Breweries In Progress in Minnesota - 2015 onward"

(Un-named plans have city name listed, only, or ZIP code and other information when available.)

Albert Lea
Alexandria
Clear Lake
Duluth (Blacklist, presumably, plan a taproom / brewpub expanding in the former Dubrue space.)
Hamel (Hamel Brewing - Hamel, MN)
Minneapolis
Minneapolis
Minneapolis
Minneapolis

Twelve Down Brewing - Minneapolis, MN (St. Louis Park also listed as location -- unknown status.)

Unmapped Brewing Co. - Minnetonka, MN
https://www.facebook.com/unmappedbrewing
http://unmappedbrewing.com/

Utepils Inv LLC - Minneapolis, MN (d.b.a. Bryn Mawr Brewing Co. - Dan Justesen / Rick Shea)

Northfield ("Union Brewing" -- has a generic Facebook page; May be setting up shop in Dundas.)
( http://www.southernminn.com/northfield_news/news/article_ff345742-5f2a-529f-bce4-90b98405713c.html )

Cottage Grove

Saint Paul
Saint Paul

Wolf Brewery - Saint Paul, MN (Wolf maintains a Stillwater address; Brewers Association has some out-dated data. )

Grillen Brewing - Saint Paul
http://www.grillenbrewing.com/about/
http://www.grillenbrewing.com/our-beers/

Shakopee
Shakopee
Shakopee
---
State of Minnesota
( http://www.brewersassociation.org/directories/breweries/ )

Brewers Association lists 123 total breweries in the state of Minnesota, including everything from Brewpub to Taproom, Beer Marketer to Craft, Regional/Packaging Brewery to BIP -- and now homebrewer members.

Names of commercial brewers, BIP, and homebrewer members (below) needs to be compared with the list above.

Cloquet ("St. Louis River Brewing" has been listed on the BA rolls for over a year, now.)
Cottage Grove, MN 55016
Eden Prairie, MN 55347
Eden Prairie, MN 55347
Fisher, MN 56723 (218) 280-1524 (This listing may not have been intended to become a commercial brewery.)
Hermantown Duluth, MN 55811-9770

MPLS, MN 55410-1420
MPLS, MN 55419
MPLS, MN 55407
MPLS, MN 55417
MPLS, MN 55XXX
MPLS, MN 55XXX
MPLS, MN 55437

MPLS (Gray Fox Beer Co. , "55441" stated ZIP; See below.)

Note: Brewers Association is volunteer-staffed, and those volunteers become confused from time to time. Compare the above listing for "Gray Fox" with Grey Fox Pottery, with a commercial location in Minneapolis (and a ZIP code of 55414) as well as a longstanding reputation as a crafter of customized beer mugs:

http://www.greyfoxpottery.com/ and http://www.greyfoxpottery.com/beerpage.html

The original Grey Fox location is on Grey Fox Road in St. Paul, 55112 -- not far from "East Side Beverage."

Goat Ridge Brewing
17 Central Avenue West
New London, MN 56273
https://www.facebook.com/goatridgebrewing
http://goatridgebrewing.com/
Goat Ridge Brewing New London, MN 56273
C.f. http://mnbeeractivists.com/newsfeed/autumn-brew-review-2013-must-try-beers
http://beerme.com/brewery.php?17240

New Ulm, MN (No ZIP given)

St. Paul, MN (55105)
St. Paul, MN (55102)

Shakopee, MN (ZIP not stated)

Watertown, MN 55388

 

This is one currently in the middle of buildout in Annandale that I don't think has been mentioned yet, but I may have missed it as the list is increasing exponentially every day.

http://www.spilledgrainbrewhouse.com/

 

It was mentioned on page 11 of the old thread (hattip to @Mplsmetro57 and later @doner24.) Likewise, there are a few other plans that have been lost in the shuffle of new brewery openings, and are not mentioned in the "Brewers Association" update (above), either -- I'll have a more organized update soon enough.

Lupine Brewing has beer out now, and will be re-opening in the old McCann's / O'hara's spot -- here's a related article:
http://www.sctimes.com/story/entertainment/dining/2015/01/08/drink-week-lupine-ipa/21381757/

 

I don't think this will ever die.

"IPA beers are known for their hops, as they were added in an attempt to preserve beers exported by boat to India."

 

56 Brewing, vaguely mentioned in the former thread has some more information available. Looks like they are targeting spring of 2015 for the start of their brewing, and also likely doing a kickstarter.

http://56brewing.com/index.php/kickstarter-2015/

 

Not beer, but it's interesting to note that the first distillery Cocktail Room opens today. Du Nord Distillery - 2610 E 32nd St, Minneapolis. Their ribbon cutting ceremony is at 4 PM.

http://heavytable.com/du-nord-spirits-cocktail-room/#.VK1WiZRAOh4.facebook

 

According to the Pioneer Press, Wabasha Brewing in St. Paul is aiming for an end of the month opening.

http://www.twincities.com/minnesotabeer/ci_27289721/wabasha-brewing-aiming-end-month-opening

 

J. Carver distillery had their tasting room built before they even started distilling. Not sure why they decided to build it so soon. They even said it would be months before they could open it. Good to see one open, though. It probably means others will have to follow suit sooner than later.