Breweries Opening in the Minnesota 2016/2017

To quote @BeerBoy: "Everyone should open a brewery. It's easy and its fun!"

 

I get it, it's a lot of work. Heck, I want them to succeed, the brewery is like two blocks from my house. But since the time they've announced their plan I feel comfortable saying that we've seen dozens of breweries go from in-planning to open and brewing. So it's certainly doable. Sisyphus for example just had their 2nd anniversary. Roets was announced before Sisyphus. I realize they encountered a setback with their initial building, but the town stepped up and found them a new space immediately.

This article details how it went down.

They have the support of the community, the support of the city council, and the support of the county. They wanted to be open in 2014 and here we are rapidly approaching the close of 2016 with no beer in sight. Jordan Heimatfest is less than a month away. It would almost make too much sense if they were pouring German style beer during the town German celebration, right?

 

Thank you for providing the link / quote, and for your perspective as a local.

I specifically "quoted" Farmer Dave, as his own journey was long and well-documented:

Aside from sharing Dave's insight, clearly, it's never been easier to criticize the efforts of a brewery in planning. To expand upon that:

Back when Dave's Brewfarm* first got underway there was much less of the back-and-forth that we see on today's message boards, and to know about a plan like his you had to have very big ears: You either knew someone in brewing or wholesale, or you knew a homebrewer with even bigger ears than yourself.

But: "What's taking so long to open?" was nowhere near as common as it is today.

I mentioned the ease of today's criticism, and want to qualify that by adding that some criticism is much more understandable in the overall scheme of things, especially when web and/or social media (along with swag and/or homebrew adorned with branding at festivals) is implemented months in advance of licensing and approval.

On the other hand, I've seen plans happen which some who considered themselves in-the-know thought would "never" happen, so I take a long view almost all such plans.

At any rate, I'm sure that Roet's will open "when it's ready", and as a local I expect that you'll be among the first in line.

*The breweries that opened between 1996 and 2006 likely benefited from their plan being under-the-radar; It's far more difficult to be so "stealthy" in today's Craft Beer scene.

 

I'm always appreciative of your insights. I'm sure you've seen the frustrations of us locals (@mnbearsfan, @holzwama, and myself) play out on these boards. Ultimately of course, if it never happens we'll continue drinking great packaged and homebrewed beer just like we do now so we really have no skin in the game. It's been a running joke now for over a year in our group of friends.

"Hey I heard Roets is opening up 'in a few weeks'"
"Yeah, 'any day now' is what I've heard"

The above said thoroughly tongue-in-cheek. At some point the good-natured ribbing became actual frustration over the lack of progress. And like you say, social media definitely played a role in the frustration. Over a year ago there were posts saying that the brewery was finishing up licensing and ready to brew. I took a tour during Heimatfest last year with Tim himself and he was confident they'd be operational within a couple months - they already had the brew system in at that point. I ran into Tim's son at the bar 6 months ago and he said they were brewing "next week".

I guess the biggest part of it was just the constant kicking the can down the road that we've experienced and they would have been better served (at least from my solely selfish consumer standpoint) in not giving a timeframe or never getting our hopes up with those remarks in the first place.

 

Agree from both sides.
My other concern is he hasn't started brewing. I hope he has calibrated and practiced with his system. I'd hate to just take the first batch out because it's done and not "ready".
With the long wait, I think we have raised our expectations of the beer because we want it to be good, but I also think we realize that his more than likely not the case.

Also, they won't be the first one brewing in Jordan since 1949 or 59, I just brewed beer there last night!

 

Thats a really cool building down town that will house 12welve Eyes. Been checking FB for progress.

 

Drum roll please...

Bald Man Brewing Co. (Eagan) will open August 27 at just a hair before Noon...

 

Please let them be good. I can walk (maybe crawl) home from there.

 

Tavern Brewery in Detroit Lakes supposedly has a new brewer and focus. I was there this spring and it was terrible. I was just there again and it is terrible. I gave their IPA a 0.1 score. Betting their product would finish last in a beginner home brewer competition limited to first time brewers using extract recipes. Amazing they put that out to sell. We'll have a new bottom brewery in my August rankings.

 

I know bad weather has been around for a while but I was wondering what people thought of the place. It's close-ish to where I live and on the way home from work which is perfect. Will probably stop in sometime next week.

 

I've enjoyed Bad Weather every time I have been there. Some beer is better than others, but the place is cool and people are nice. Windvane is a delicious Red IPA! Definitely recommend checking it out.

 

Finally made it out to wild mind today. Definitely a fan of their beer and space. My only complaint would be one of of the wait staff. I think his name was Taylor, but came off super rude and acted a little better than everyone else. Also saw him yelling at the staff. Remove him and the place is perfect.

 

Tall thicker guy with a trim beard?

 

It's not really new anymore, but Wabasha is opening their new taproom on Wednesday. It looks a lot nicer than the uninviting cramped dungeon they currently have.

 

Haven't been to the original, nor have I tried the beer. Are they planning on keeping both taprooms then?

 

No, it is in the same building. The current taproom is in the basement. The new taproom will be upstairs. I think they are using the old taproom space for more fermenters and an expanded cooler. I am pretty sure they always intended on the original taproom to be temporary.

 

On a positive note...hit Big Axe today once again and I am seeing definite improvement. Nothing off, beers scored from low 3's to low 4's....pretty nice DIPA with a lot of juicy peach, apricot flavor without a ton of bitterness despite being 100 IBU apparently....they will be moving up my rankings..good to see. The owner there seems like a good dude who wants to do well. Looks like he made some changes to do just that.

 

Nothing worse than a Dick staff member! Hope they take care of that soon so I can visit!

 

I went there, too...http://thebitternib.blogspot.com/2016/08/minnesota-breweries-one-by-one-59.html

 

Maybe Sundays are Taylor-free days? I was there a few weeks ago and love the place:
http://thebitternib.blogspot.com/2016/08/minnesota-breweries-one-by-one-62-wild.html