Breweries Opening/Closing in Minnesota 2018

Venn opens in Minneapolis next Saturday.

 

As to Disgruntled closing, I had heard this from a few in the industry, so I wanted to hear what someone at the brewery would be willing to say. At least we can confirm that Brett is no longer brewing at Disgruntled. Do the recipes stay with the brewery? If we get new production runs of 'Stupid Good' and 'Damn Good', we will have a better idea.

 

Yeah. All the time. Modist makes some tasty stuff.

 

All the recipes that Brett had before they opened are his, and anything developed while at Disgruntled belong to the brewery. Couldn't tell you what beers fall into what category though.

 

You should call and tell them you are from Minneapolis and would like to know which are which

 

Is this known for sure? I've never personally heard of a brewer taking their recipes with them if they happen to leave. Either way, it's more about the process than the actual recipe. If there are brewers at Disgruntled who have the process down, all they really have to do is change a recipe one tiny bit, and it's a different recipe at that point.

 

F-Town in Faribault is closing/relocating to St. Paul and changing its model to a brewery/restaurant. It's unclear if they'll have a liquor license or a distribution model. According to this article, they "formally" changed their name to M.O.E. Craft Co.

P.S. -- On desktop, click the stop button as soon as the page loads to get by the paywall.

 

Fingers crossed they open with a flaming beverage!

 

What I was told is that he had those recipes before Disgruntled got started, so he keeps them. Confident in the info. Agreed though, once they're being brewed at the brewery, can't imagine the brewery doesn't have the recipes somewhere and nothing to stop them from using it. Not like it's patented or anything.

 

Wow. Was just on a tour their Saturday. Hope they don't stop making Moon Boots.

 

Too bad about Disgruntled. Often the creative mind thinks things will fall apart when they leave but often, after they have developed the recipes, a less creative type can keep things going. How successful they are will depend on how many recipes they get to keep and how diligent the less creative types are.

 

I would rather drink Hamm’s just down the street at the Spot Bar.

 

Yikes. How do you know that Disgruntled doesn't have brewers every bit as talented as the guy who left still on staff?

 

Now we're talkin'......

 

Name checks out.

 

Could be wrong, but I had heard Brett was the only one that even knew how to brew. Doesn't mean that can't find someone to relocate to Perham......

 

I checked Google Maps and Perham has both a McDonald’s and a DQ. I don’t think they will have any issue at all getting someone to relocate.

 

That would seem to me to be highly irregular in the brewing business. Making beer is hard work, and most breweries would have at least one assistant brewer. But, I really have no clue.

 

Most breweries have an assistant brewer from the start, but it’s not as uncommon as you would think to not have one. Wild Mind didn’t have an assistant brewer for almost the entirety of their first year and they may have the most complex brewing operation amongst small breweries in the state due to how big their barrel program is. For rural breweries, it is even harder to justify the additionial headcount, since they have a much smaller consumer base (even with No Rules). I don’t have a clue if Disgruntled had an assistant brewer, but when they first opened, Brett handled all brewing along with the taproom operation.

Someone from Disgruntled said on Facebook that they are still open and are waiting to make an announcement when they figured things out. That makes me think that they don’t currently have a backup plan and are potentially more screwed than they want people to believe.

 

It's not unusual at all for a nanobrewery or near-nanobrewery, especially in its first couple of years, to be a one-man show on the brewing operations side. Even on a 7 to 10-barrel system that would be far from unheard of.

So, how big is Disgruntled? Before it opened, a local article wrote, "The 5,000 square-foot building, located in Perham’s northeast industrial park, will feature a 1,000 square-foot taproom in addition to 4,000 square feet of brewery space. The space will allow Doebbeling to have seven 31-gallon barrels brewing at any given time." 1 barrel = 31.5 gallons. I can't tell if the article is saying Disgruntled would have a 1-barrel system (with seven kettles) or a 7-barrel system, but either way it's plausible that Doebbeling was the sole brewer. I wasn't able to find any mention of any brewers besides Doebbeling or any mention of expansion actually happening (there was mention that quick expansion was a goal). The Growler wrote of Doebbeling, "His co-owners are Andy Pettow and Craig Salmela, though he’ll be the one behind the bar and operating the taproom, as well as the one manning the brew kettles and fermenters in back." The building was "brand new and custom-built," and that sounds like a large fixed cost from which to walk away, but it's a sunk cost.

I'm getting the strong impression that Doebbeling was the heart, mind, and soul of Disgruntled. He was a homebrewer with no professional experience before it opened; he wasn't brought on by investors to execute a trendy business plan. It was his dream and his passion, and, while he didn't provide all of the money to fund it, he provided the bulk of the elbow grease. That doesn't mean that the remaining owners can't pivot, but it would be a fundamental pivot.

I know some members of the Minnesota news media follow the breweries opening threads. How 'bout a little professional research on this one? The head brewer acrimoniously leaving a highly regarded brewery certainly counts as news within this little world, but I haven't seen a single article about it.

http://www.perhamfocus.com/news/3769402-disgruntled-brewing-patiently-awaits-licensure
https://growlermag.com/now-open-or-damn-close-disgruntled-brewing/
https://www.disgruntledbeer.com/3085-2/
http://www.inforum.com/business/3942923-new-perham-brewery-opens-after-months-anticipation
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/02/23/tap-talk-disgruntled-brewing-where-grumpy-is-good/