Breweries opening in Minnesota 2015/2016

Ya know, I'd love a few more East Metro breweries...

 

Do you guys know any new opening brewery with taproom? or breweries in planning? can i have a list?

 

We'll certainly be visiting! And that's closer, but really I want one yet closer. Because I'm lazy.

 

I've combed this thread (and the other tracker sites referenced in this thread) and believe this is one that hasn't yet been mentioned (I look forward to Chaz correcting me once again when it turns out I missed it ). Apparently the owner of Birch's out in Long Lake is planning to move his restaurant down the road to a space that was once called Billy's Lighthouse and add a brewpub element to the new location. It is being called Birch's on the Lake. The head brewer, Brennan Greene, is returning to MN after having worked as the head man at Schlafly in St. Louis. Does anyone familiar with the St. Louis beer scene and their beers know what we can expect from this guy? Looks like he's highly experienced, if nothing else.

Here's an article about it: http://lakerpioneer.com/2015/01/24/billys-lighthouse-could-become-new-birchs-brewhouse/#

Western 'burbs FTW. (And I'll add more grumbling from this east metro guy who is being forced -- forced, I tell ya! -- to drive west to visit these places.)

 

I can't speak directly about the gentleman from Schlafly but they have a great reputation of producing well made and clean beers. I have been to St. Louis quite a bit for past work and always seemed to gravitate to their beers.

 

That thought had occurred to me as well. I suspect a brewery will be successful, but two might be pushing it. Regardless, that success will, perhaps, be at the expense of the existing bars. For now, though, it appears they're being welcomed - at least by The Contented Cow.

 

A couple of updates:

Goat Ridge Brewing (New London) - funding site - Facebook - About half-funded, and making good progress.

Voyageur Brewing (Grand Marais) - Opens next Thursday.

Rush Lake Brewing Company (Stanchfield) - Client (contract) Brewer in Planning

@JeffyMonster, thank you for the head's up on Birch's!

This post from a couple of years back is instructive in that it suggests Brewers Association was having trouble keeping track of BIP back then; There are now twice the number of plans as there were in June of 2012. Can I get a: "Wow!" ?

It's worth linking to the ratebeer lisitings for the sake of comparison to the listings, here at Beer Advocate. For instance, there are at two listings there (for Beer Companies / Client Brewers) which have yet to be added, here.

Likewise, here are a few pages which might also be useful for helping to keep track of breweries and BIP:

Breweries In Planning.com - Wikipedia - Brewing in Minnesota

 

For the work and effort you put into all this, yes.

WOW!

 

I saw Bad Weather updating their progress - looks like they are in full swing.

Anyone heard anything more from F-Town in Faribault? They've been kind of quiet.

Also - anything else on the radar south of the Minnesota River/Metro Area that isn't well known yet? There always seems to be talk of Chaska/Shakopee/Eagan breweries over the last years that fade away (excluding the Badger Hill, Roets, U4IC efforts).

 

Many of these plans are deliberately quiet for various reasons, but in this day and age it's hard to keep progress of this sort entirely quiet, being that all manner of information is easily accessible (especially for a guy that doesn't sleep.)

F-Town's Facebook page and website went offline a while back, but they are making progress:

So far this year I haven't found any new plans which I can attach a name and/or web presence to, down that way.

All of those which have been mentioned in the past are making slow, steady progress. There were potentially three Shakopee plans, including Badger Hill, Shakopee Town Brewery (homebrewer on Facebook and Untappd - not a commercial plan) and another commercial plan. This last plan was scuttled when the city deigned to not sell its old firehouse building to the interested parties, and after all of their initial planning, that plan is now inactive.

As far as Eagan goes, Badger Hill had been interested in a spot there, but that changed. The Cedar Grove plan appears to be caught in the familiar limbo between funding and going full-steam ahead.

 

Thanks Beerparozzi!

 

Haha! I just had a mental image (& I'm sure an inaccurate one since I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him) of Chaz lurking outside the bushes of various half-empty industrial buildings with a Nikon D800 clutched in one hand & a half-empty bottle of Schell's jammed in the snowbank at his feet...

 

Hah! The closest I ever got to that was at the Insight opening, using the trusty iPhone to take blurry pictures of the young ladies behind the bar (and mostly only getting extreme close-ups of my thumb, anyway.)

P.S. Bryn Mawr Brewing Company - Website and Twitter are live; their north Minneapolis taproom is still a year out.

 

Anyone have an update of Opinion Brewing in Newport? I ask as I noticed the owners were in the news again, but for non-beer related reasons.

 

Is hue brew open? or they're planing to have a taproom? not so sure.

 

Isn't that open already?>< I saw the facebook account.

 

He does seem to be a bit of a knucklehead...

 

Do you Have a new list for upcoming brewpubs?

 

I hadn't checked on them in a few months, but did so last night. It looks like they've had their brewing vessels for a while, but I didn't see any mention of house-brewed brands. Maybe a local or city ordinance is holding that end up?

Their new focus on Craft tap handles and a large selection of bottles seems to have been keeping them busy, though.