Breweries opening in Minnesota 2015/2016

Now you're just getting technical.

 

I just checked out the website for Urban Moose brewpub in Sauk Rapids. It now says opening 2016. A while back I read somewhere, either on their website or Facebook, that they were planning to be open this fall. They must have hit some unexpected delay.

I'm looking forward to it though. The designs for the building look pretty awesome.

 

Please, someone make this happen. I just bought a house in this neighborhood and have thought the same thing.

 

"Taproom opening early July." It will have a patio.

 

It took a month or so: http://growlermag.com/lucid-brewing-acquires-wisconsin-based-american-sky-brewing/

P.S. Last week there was an update regarding the Lake Monster brewery + taproom, so this week I took a spin over to the Can Can Wonderland and Black Stack site.

In comparing the photographs I took yesterday with the photographs I took a month or so back, they are basically at the same stage, so their brewery hasn't arrived yet. Still, here's a somewhat recent article which mentions the plan among a handful of others.

 

Black Stack. Cool fucking name. Still know virtually nothing about them lol. For what it's worth, and I know it goes against the local BA grain, but I like Lucid (their support of homebrewers is unparalleled in Mn), and American Sky. Went to The Hangar once and enjoyed myself. Interesting turn for sure.

 

Stopped into the Rush River tap room. Small little setup but I enjoyed it. Down the road a bit a couple said they heard Lucette would be opening soon too.

 

You can always count on Lucid for an interesting business strategy. Note that the article makes no mention of Lucid's supposed plan to put a taproom in the Warehouse District. The final paragraph left me with the impression that the American Sky Hangar may have supplanted that plan. Will we soon be seeing Lucid beers at The Hangar? If the Warehouse District taproom still is a go, will we see American Sky beers there? I'll go with the grain as against American Sky beers to this point, but I hope Lucid's team and facility can help improve the product. I think the American Sky brand itself has a lot of potential.

 

I don't think they are putting a tap room in the warehouse district, rather 2 of their employees are part of the Modist Brewing project.

 

This is what I believed it was too.

 

Maybe. @Bravak has been adamant in this thread that, based on the information he received, both Modist and Lucid separately were planning taprooms in the Warehouse District at distinct locations on opposite sides of Fulton. Lucid has been public about its search for a taproom location outside of Minnetonka, so it's a plausible story.

@Chaz, you had the scoop on the American Sky purchase. Now that it's public, do you have any other information that might clarify Lucid's Warehouse District plans or lack thereof?

 

@Chaz, you had the scoop on the American Sky purchase. Now that it's public, do you have any other information that might clarify Lucid's Warehouse District plans or lack thereof?[/QUOTE]
This plan (American Sky/Hudson Brewing Co. -to- Lucid) has been in the works for many months, and that it was such a well-kept secret surprises me considering how many were actually made aware of it. But I can't add more right now -- the founders of Lucid will be doing this soon enough.

However, from all that I've read and heard (and inferred) it sounds very much as if the Lucid plan is a Lucid plan, and that Modist is a distinct at separate plan, both of which have a "near future" timeframe, but a ballpark guess by me as to when either will actually open would be wasted bandwidth.

Besides, considering the manner and tendency by which some plans merge/coalesce (or diverge/mutate) in the contemporary Craft Beer Era, @doner24 may indeed be on to something.

 

@Chaz - Weird and I am only speculating here but I think they may have postponed Black Stack....As someone said that's a great name so that would be a serious shame . I live nearby and there's been a ton of work happening at the Silgan Orton building but have not seen any brewing equipment going in . Can Can Wonderland are supposed to have a beer garden in the same location so maybe that scared them off...Honestly there is room for more than one brewery in this part of St.Paul .

Anyway they were looking for a logo design about two months ago on 99Designs but never selected a winner and basically never completed the design phase.

Take a look at what it could have been , I saved these from the cool designs that people submitted -

http://postimg.org/image/kkmeq0gdz/

 

Take the following missive for what it is worth:

For the past two years I have been in regular contact with a person who is intimately familiar with Black Stack, and have heard a good deal about the plan as it has been developing. The plan has always included a beer garden (or service area) which has transmogrified as "Can Can Wonderland" became a reality.

The broader plan for this old site includes a performance space (live theater/acoustic music), a Michelin-rated restaurant, and a couple of client brewers -- including Yoerg Beer, as we already know.

As such, there is a fair amount of money ($2x4 million) tied up in it that I am aware of, and that it a lot of money to leave half-way through. So to my knowledge the larger and more ambitious plan (probably the most ambitious such plan in the Sity of St, Paul) isn't postponed as such.

It's also worth mentioning that (if you are in the industry, you already know this) existing orders for newly-fabricated brewery equipment are now back-ordered in the hundreds. Word of this has been filtering-down for some time now, but basically, there are many suppliers who were busy filling the rush of new orders from BIPs circa mid-2014 to now, but it's just been a bottleneck. And so there have been delays.

 

Chaz - Well you clearly have an "in" so that is great news to hear and I really hope it comes together....If they truly pull off that plan mentioned its clearly a game changer for St.Paul ! Your right about equipment delays ! Bad Weather were supposed to get their equipment last week and they are still waiting ....Should get there any day now !

 

Famous last words for so many different plans now, that it has at long-last become a Craft Beer Industry mantra.

 

This plan (American Sky/Hudson Brewing Co. -to- Lucid) has been in the works for many months, and that it was such a well-kept secret surprises me considering how many were actually made aware of it. But I can't add more right now -- the founders of Lucid will be doing this soon enough.

However, from all that I've read and heard (and inferred) it sounds very much as if the Lucid plan is a Lucid plan, and that Modist is a distinct at separate plan, both of which have a "near future" timeframe, but a ballpark guess by me as to when either will actually open would be wasted bandwidth.

Besides, considering the manner and tendency by which some plans merge/coalesce (or diverge/mutate) in the contemporary Craft Beer Era, @doner24 may indeed be on to something. [/QUOTE]

Per usual, I'm either on to something or on something. I'm just speculating due to the article below that points out that two Lucid employees are a part of the Modist operation, and the fact that someone mentioned the Lucid plan being 2 blocks from Fulton (same as Modist), which would be quite the coincidence if the plan is real.

http://www.citypages.com/restaurants/modist-brewing-will-open-brewery-in-the-north-loop-7395064

 

*confused by reading last few posts, will try and read again later*

 

I'm very positive these are 2 separate efforts. I have seen the building. I also believe there is some evidence in the article in the business journal which gives a hint at what's going on. It stated that the purchase is for assets, not real estate. Simply stated.....the brewhouse and related equipment. As @Chaz stated, lead times from manufacturing are quite long, up to 12 months in many cases. I would believe Lucid would want to open a tap room much more quickly than that.

Also, think about what they really bought in the American Sky transaction. There is zero value to them in the American Sky brand. It would be cheaper to launch a new beer under the Lucid brand than to expect growth by bringing
AS packaged products to MN. Much much cheaper. American Sky has zero brand equity in MN.

Cash flow from the tap room is also not in play. Businesses sell for a multiple of the cash they generate, often at multiples of 4 or 5 times their positive cash flows that they produce in a year. So theoretically it would take Lucid 4 or 5 years to gain anything positive from the Hudson location. Plus, the owners live in MSP.....I doubt they are going to commute. On top, one of the owners saying tap rooms are not in their wheel house is smoke and mirrors. Really? Tap rooms generate revenue per barrel at a rate 5 times that of retail sales, with profitability 15 times greater.

My guess is that they will be bringing the equipment over to the MSP location sometime later this year. This would speed up their build out significantly.

One other very interesting thing that I learned in talking with people a few weeks ago and saw for myself....check out Lucid's new packaging. It does not say Lucid. It does not say brewed in Minnetonka. And business buyouts negate many contracts, even if it's a holding company with much of the same name in place.........just saying.

 

@Chaz An indoor mini golf course and a bier garten? Is the beer going to be supplied by Black Stack (I really do love the name lol)?