Breweries Opening/Closing in Minnesota 2018

Discussion in 'Great Lakes' started by KarlHungus, Dec 5, 2017.

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  1. Chaz

    Chaz Grand Pooh-Bah (3,544) Feb 3, 2002 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Didn't the Fyten family buy them? I'm beginning to lose track. @islay . . . ?
     
  2. mkhartnett

    mkhartnett Savant (1,086) Oct 27, 2010 Minnesota
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    Purely gossip, so hopefully someone knows for sure, but someone I know was there last week talking to someone from the brewery and sounded like a sale fell th rough and they were trying to find another buyer but weren't having luck.
     
  3. Chaz

    Chaz Grand Pooh-Bah (3,544) Feb 3, 2002 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Maybe all the talk on this here message board disrupted the deal? :thinking_face: Nah . . .

    I was at a fundraising event (actually a seminar) last week and this particular deal was the topic of at least one conversation, but there was no indication among any of the participants (brewery owners, BIP owners, and so forth) that the deal was off.
     
  4. Seamus_McGuire

    Seamus_McGuire Devotee (353) Aug 11, 2014 Minnesota

    I just saw Northgate's announcement that they've closed on Facebook, they posted it at about 8 this morning. I was hoping someone here might have more info, but apparently not. I must admit, I hadn't been there in a while. It's close to me, but not as close as Insight.
     
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  5. cnelson

    cnelson Aspirant (205) Feb 1, 2008 Minnesota

    I was last there in early January. The new owners were working behind the bar and talking up their plans for the future. The guy working the food truck also said something about all the previous taproom workers being let go by the new owners. Not sure how they could take possession of the place if the sale hadn't finalized yet.
     
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  6. Chaz

    Chaz Grand Pooh-Bah (3,544) Feb 3, 2002 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Isn't Sporty's even closer? :grin:

    (Seriously though, haven't been back to that 'ol hole in the wall in a few years.)
     
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  7. islay

    islay Savant (1,187) Jan 6, 2008 Minnesota

    Yes (or at least the sale was pending and Fyten had already taken on management duties), and I'm told many of the employees weren't thrilled about the new ownership situation, although I don't know their specific objections. I do know there was a staff exodus upon the announcement of the sale, and my understanding is that brewing operations largely or completely halted and the taproom was down to just a few beers on tap, but I had assumed that was temporary.

    Fyten is nothing if not an interesting character in the Minnesotan beer scene, and this is hardly his first ballyhooed endeavor to fail to come to fruition. I don't necessarily mean that as a knock; business is tough, and the entrepreneurial mentality is inherently at least a little foolhardy.

    I for one thought NorthGate was an above-average brewery on a beer-for-beer basis. It could've benefited from more variety and less stubborness, but it filled a nice niche with its commitment to the English brewing and pub traditions, a niche previously occupied locally by the late, great Sherlock's Home.
     
  8. islay

    islay Savant (1,187) Jan 6, 2008 Minnesota

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  9. Chaz

    Chaz Grand Pooh-Bah (3,544) Feb 3, 2002 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    This update on behalf of Tod Fyten, courtesy the fast typists (textists?) at City Pages:
     
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  10. igor

    igor Crusader (413) Nov 7, 2009 Minnesota

    Good news on the Cannon Falls deal! I get down there quite a bit during the summer with bicycle and it’ll be nice to stop in for a post ride beer.
     
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  11. Xanthophhyll

    Xanthophhyll Initiate (147) Sep 25, 2017 Minnesota

    Anybody have any news on Bobbing Bobbers Brewing Company in Hutchinson? Last I heard, I recall it was supposed to open in February 2018....
     
  12. Chaz

    Chaz Grand Pooh-Bah (3,544) Feb 3, 2002 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

  13. islay

    islay Savant (1,187) Jan 6, 2008 Minnesota

    In "It's Not A Brewery, But..." news, Royal Foundry Craft Spirits plans a "May-ish" opening of its distillery and cocktail room near Utepils in Minneapolis, with a future focus on single malt whisky. The article also contains news-to-me that "Doña Cervecería" (I'm guessing that's Doña Chela Cervecería, a Minneapolis-based client brewing company for which Sand Creek Brewing Company in Black River Falls, Wisconsin does contract brewing) apparently is planning a physical brewery next to Royal Foundry.
     
  14. JMN44

    JMN44 Pundit (775) Sep 19, 2013 Minnesota

    I can't believe that Northgate would allow Fyten to come in and manage the tap room & get rid of some employees without an agreement on the purchase price. I'm guessing that Fyten must have had some financing issues or didn't have the resources to close the sale.
     
  15. MNAle

    MNAle Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2011 Minnesota

    I can't believe they allowed that before closing the sale!
     
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  16. surfninja

    surfninja Aspirant (281) Oct 21, 2015 Minnesota

    Tod Fyten was at the Northgate booth at the Beer Dabbler. I talked to him for a minute (if you can believe that it was only a minute). It sounded like Tod was the new owner and he was going on about the new plans.

    The guy doesn't stop talking so I may have tuned out some of the details.
     
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  17. maximum12

    maximum12 Grand Pooh-Bah (4,662) Jan 21, 2008 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Swung by Wooden Hill this afternoon after work, but only had time for two samplers. Chose the kolsch (Kold Shoulder) & IPA (Batch #1). The kolsch was good, not great, with an odd stickiness at the end, but fairly clean. The IPA was similar, good, not great. Beer-wise, I think the place is good right out of the gate, which gives them a leg up on some places that have opened over the past few years.

    The place was a zoo. I arrived before 4PM & there was a ten minute wait to get up to the bar & grab beer. There was little if any parking. I saw people parking in lots across the street, & in the narrow 'alley' next to the building. I'd be surprised if the brewery doesn't have some issues with neighbors and/or the city fairly quickly.
     
  18. eggsurplus

    eggsurplus Devotee (396) Nov 30, 2015 Minnesota
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    So, ummm, how was the lighting and art?
     
  19. Rajaholick

    Rajaholick Zealot (666) Jan 9, 2011 Ohio
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    What does "wooden hill" even mean?
     
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  20. dbhammel

    dbhammel Initiate (0) Oct 24, 2016 Minnesota

    Wooden Hill is an old school reference to a staircase that the owners grandfather used to always say when telling them it was time to get to bed, at least according to their website. So yeah, it doesn't really have any relevance to brewing but I guess its a nod to their family and something that's stuck with them since they were kids. I'm cool with that.
     
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