Breweries opening in Minnesota 2015/2016

There was a brewpub in Bemidji (Union Station) which operated for seven or eight, maybe ten years until closing in 2005, and I always get that one confused with a now-defunct beer bar in Grand Rapids.

Here's an (old) article on one plan -- surely it isn't the same plan? Ed Zabinski is not Travis Antilla (that I am aware of): http://www.grandrapidsmn.com/news/c...cle_d99e08a1-20b5-5a77-a7e1-679fbfa0b072.html

A newer article ('Grand Rapids Minnesota Growler's Brewpub' and the two men's names above were among the search criteria): http://www.scenicrangenewsforum.com/residents-question-grand-rapids-city-spending,-brewpub-confl/

 

As per your first link, I can't (yet) find definite names for either of those plans, nor BIP listings at Brewers Association.

But it brings to mind a familiar question: How many breweries can beergeeks and normal public support in that area?

Chaska is near Shakopee, which has Badger Hill and will have Howling Pooch, shortly. Enki is not terribly far from there, Roets in Jordan will eventually open, as well -- now add two more small taproom/meadery/Craft "POP" stands to the mix. Hmm...

There is a listing for "Chubby Brewing" at the 'home brew talk' website, and a few area homebrewers who later went Pro have used that site to ramp-up to Pro status.

 

On another note, Lake Amelia Brewing popped up in my Facebook feed today. I've heard nothing about them, and their page provides zero detail. Anyone have any more info? My impression is that they may just be doing contract brewing, but I also see a South Minneapolis address (W 49th St.) and I'm curious.

https://www.facebook.com/LakeAmeliaBrewingCompany

 

BrewerAbe over at "Brewing In Minnesota" added Lake Amelia recently. I had earlier classified it as home brewer-only (Lake Amelia's page at HomeBrewTalk seems mostly-inactive, also), as I had done with "Broken Classics".

Neither of these seems to exhibit the sort of activity that a commercial brewery in planning (e.g. True Micro, Taproom, Client Brewer) would exhibit prior to launch, so I've regarded them as home brewers-only, up until now.

An yet --as we are aware-- you never can tell until a brewery drops, seemingly fully-formed*, into the business pages.

Meanwhile, over in Willmar Foxhole Brewhouse is getting close to opening, and has added a crowdfunding page.

And Broken Seal has a tasting party coming up next week.

*Also worth mentioning that such was the case for "Last City Brewing" a few years ago. The plan had a website and even local press coverage, but ultimately did not come to fruition. So you never really can tell.

 

I enjoyed a few beers and cigars back at the Union Station in the day...not close to Bemidji Brewing in quality but a little ahead of their times in the day. Not sure when they started their brewing but 1998 for sure. They were up and down and the brewers had nowhere near the expertise as the one at Bemidji Brewing does but hey, back in the day it was a nice option when in the area...

 

I was able to hit up Lupulin yesterday (Sunday) on the way home from the cabin. It wasn't planned, but traffic on 94 was pretty bad so we rolled down 10 instead and the kid needed a break.

The taproom is in a strip mall, but it's a very nice space on the inside. Kid friendly, which helped since we were traveling with a 6 month old. They had 7 beers on tap, I thought everything was very good - though bear in mind that I had been in the car for over 3 hours and a stop with beer sounded divine. I'm not an IPA fan, but I still enjoyed their "session" IPA (in quotes for the 4.8% ABV and their red IPA. The chocolate porter was very nice, but their "Christmas in July" version of the porter was good enough that we grabbed a growler to go (on a Sunday, what?!). We noticed cinnamon and maybe nutmeg in the beer. Whatever it was, it was delicious.

Their "spudfest" cream ale was solid, brewed with local potatoes for last week's spudfest festival. The only one I was really disappointed with was their stout, which was just a touch too bitter for me.

We plan to stop again a time or two this summer.

 

Speaking of "fill any growler" add East Lake Brewing to that list. Interestingly, they don't have growlers of their own, but they do fill others. They do have Bombers ready to sell. Well, actually, they do have growlers if you're willing to drop the $ for their stainless steel one. That's $69 filled (if I remember correctly).

 

As I understand it there will also be a brewery at or next to the recently updated Hotel Broz in New Prague. (Not sure on status or if it's been mentioned so here's a link: http://belleplaineherald.com/Conten...ruction-Next-to-Hotel-in-New-Prague/7/48/4913)

So in my little town of Jordan we'd have a brewery or two in every neighboring town. As weird as it is, right now the beer scene is actually underrepresented, since Badger Hill is the only operating brewery within a 20 minute drive of my house.

I would think that this bubble is definitely going to pop at some point, but who knows when..

 

It's hard to say. I think it can continue to grow as long as craft beer is taking market share from Bud/Mill/Coors. I raised the bubble question to one of the owners of Insight and he stated that craft beer has 51% of the market in Portland. In Minneapolis it's 17%. Assuming these are accurate #s there's a lot of room for growth. Ultimately, though, the big squeeze is on shelf space in liquor stores.

 

That link is to a story from September of 2014 -- See also the embedded link that I provided on page 10 of this thread:
http://www.startribune.com/new-prague-pins-hopes-on-hotel-broz/297898111/

Alternately, this link: http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...g-in-minnesota-2015-2016.243513/#post-3129804

I have not heard of the plan being revived since March 28 of this year, but Mankato Free Press offers this from May 17:
http://www.mankatofreepress.com/new...cle_6aba3f5e-f9a3-11e4-b98c-3ba214af7d2a.html

 

There's nothing in those articles about a brewpub or beer - as such I assume the plan has been derailed? It looks like that was your thought on page 10. Anyone have an update? Did the brewpub get built and is now just awaiting an investor? At any rate if you are traveling down Highway 21 through New Prague you could just go an extra 10 miles and hit Montgomery Brewery on our hypothetical little river valley road trip.

 

I'm less inclined to think there is an imminent bubble than there will be a washout of lower tier breweries (with quality, consistency and costing problems). Especially those that are now jumping into the mix with zero, or very little, commercial experience.

 

That's mostly what I think, with some surprises where a high quality / high consistency brewery will fail for no better reason than businesses fail. Some will be "obvious" like Leech Lake or Staples Mills, but a brewery could also overextend and end up with too much debt or there will be that little brewery that everyone loves but not everyone loves enough to keep them in business. It happens everywhere and it'll happen here.

But I don't think there is a bubble, per se, or an oversaturation because if communities support their local breweries like they do with their local bars there is no reason to think that Minnesota can't sustain double or quadruple the number of breweries we currently have. Most every town, even small towns, have a bar or two. Set yourself up right and be part of the community and hopefully brew good beer at a good price and there's no reason why many out-state breweries can't thrive.

 

There were links within those links, but the plan definitely fell-through.

As I said, there were links to the brewpub plan -including architectural renderings- when the Hotel Broz website went live last year, but those pages at that website are no longer present. Caroline Amplatz should probably be pinged for a clarification -- she is the former owner, and is on Facebook.

If the brewpub had been fully built-out, I am certain that we would know by now.

I know that a lot of money went into renovating the historic building, and that the building is effectively being sold at a loss. As such, the brewpub plan did not get anywhere near close to reaching fruition.

Likewise, the architectural design/build firm has removed them from their own website.

 

Talked to a beer buyer at a local store and he said that he already has stopped stocking some of the Wisconsin beers because they were no longer selling (a case every 3 months) and there are many more MN breweries that are not selling as much as you would think.

Portland and Minneapolis are quite different places, while I think there is a ton of room to move higher in percentage, there is a tipping point where you are robbing Peter to pay Paul. While it is great that there will be a "brewery road" to different parts of the state (sw metro, Nordeast), when it is 14 below on a random Saturday, who is getting in their car to drive half an hour? In order to stand out, I think there will need to be food attached (Dayblock, Northbound) or a reason to go - great beer or a party.

 

If Minnesotans can sustain quadruple the present 122 (say, 480 breweries), why couldn't we also sustain 880 breweries?

In other words, why set such seemingly arbitrary mathematical limits on the awesome resplendence that is Craft Beer?

In recent years I've spoken to dozens of people who are 100% ON FIRE believers in Craft Beer -- most of course being males in their Thirties who'd cut their teeth during the span of the present Craft Beer era. I understand that they actually believe that there is no conceivable end to the growth of the segment. In other words, it will overtake non-Craft and summarily begin the process by which beer sales overall see the same growth as Craft has within its segment...

Essentially, the belief is that BMC swill-devotees will inevitably look around, see the momentum of Craft Beer, and think:

"Do I really want to be left out of this wonderful Craft Beer Revolution?"

They will then do the sensible, logical thing and begin purchasing only Craft-brewed Session I.P.A. and Sours (of course), while assiduously turning their noses up at the sight or mention of all non-Craft brands. Conversion Complete!

Folks; I do not wonder about the devotion which so many exhibit with respect to Craft Beer. Truly, the sense of wonder and goo-goo eyes which Craft Beer engenders in the MOST PASSIONATE~! is something to behold, respect -- even FEAR!

But on the other hand I do wonder about the momentum of various market forces coming into play, to say nothing of exactly how quickly it will be before the allure of a 'beercation' for a beer release (think: DLD) or other event -- or even a simple day-trip -- will hold sway over the millions of beer drinkers who are not yet converts to Craft Beer as a lifestyle.

As it is right now, fresh packaged beer from the Minneapolis Brewery District is a rarity at some of my local packies, and I'm only just over the border in St. Paul: I pause to think about people up in the Arrowhead clamoring for Northgate cans.

And yet: Omni plans to be a packaging brewery. Voyageur plans to be a packaging brewery...

And there are still a few new plans I had intended to add today before I got side-tracked by my day job.

 

Fairstate, 612, F-town, Bent Paddle, Bent (cans), Badger Hill (cans), Flat Earth (Cans), Fulton (cans), Castle Danger, Bauhaus, Enki...

These are some of the new packages that have came to the cities, there may be more, but this is what I cam up with off the top of my head. That is 11 new ones and I am sure by this time next year the will be 24 new breweries, or at least expanded lines (2 already named above, Barley Johns PLUS new entrants into MN from other states) How many coolers and shelves are they gonna build to keep up? This will be hard to keep up with. From my standpoint, I buy bombers once and a while; fingers are crossed to Steel Toe cans. I tend to stick with 6 or 7 breweries and if someone has something I want, I grab it on tap first, been burned enough by bad 6 backs

 

Short of the NE which is a little brewery crowded, I think breweries could end up being closely tied to their local community. Just like the "public houses" of old.