Breweries Opening/Closing in Minnesota 2018

I agree that Venn is doing impressive work. It probably has ascended into my top 20 breweries in the state after just a year of operation.

Finnegans and La Doña Cervecería, both in Minneapolis, are my favorite 2018 openings based on beer alone as of this writing. Both were client brewers previously but have successfully extended their lineups in their own facilities. Among fully new brewing companies, Tilion in Cannon Falls is my favorite, unless I'm forgetting something.

Added: Sisyphus / La Doña / Utepils quietly is one of the best brewery groupings in the state.

 

What newer breweries might you be interested in? I’m sure you’ve visited at least some of the newish ones around town. Lowertown St Paul has Barrel Theory, Birch’s (incredible burger), and 12welve Eyes. Black Stack is another fun spot that’s newer. Venn over in South is quality, and while not even newish anymore, Wild Mind is incredible. I stopped at La Doña their opening weekend, and liked the space, but I’m going to give them a couple more months, as I felt the quality of their beer upon opening was dubious at best. I’d say the same about the brand new Stacked Deck in Downtown St Paul.

 

Yeah we made it out there last year. Thought it was pretty solid.

 

I've hit all those except Birch's (lowertown, been to the other one) Stacked Deck and La Doña.

 

I wouldn’t not go to either Stacked Deck, or La Doña. I didn’t hate the beer at either place, just felt like a few more batches under their belts would do them some good. La Doña is right next to that new distillery/cocktail room, so that might be a fun option. I’ve never been to Bich’s in Longlake, but I do enjoy their Lowertown location. Beers, and food are both good there.

 

Short list of the ten new 2018 breweries that I checked out -

Spiral

3rd Act Craft

Stacked Deck Brewing

La Doña Cervecería

Ursa Minor Brewing in Duluth

Clutch Brewing

Little Thistle Brewing Co.

Wooden Hill

Birchs lowertown

Dual Citizen

A lot of this pack are at the same level in terms of beer quality , some have really nice taprooms and deserve credit for opening but there was no Utepils or Barrel Theory level brewery his year .

Whenever anyone starts a 2019 thread could they list all the upcoming breweries at the start of the thread so they can be checked for progress and don’t forget to add Fat Pants Brewing - Eden Prarie , MN - YES that’s right.



Thesis Brewing , Rochester MN



Brass Foundry ————why would a contract brewer buy a bunch of their own tanks???

 

I do fundamentally disagree on La Doña. I've visited twice, including on opening weekend, and every beer I had was notably well-executed and without flaw, as far as my usually sensitive palate could tell. Veteran professional brewer Dicky Lopez (Surly, NorthGate, Fulton) is doing impressive work, in my opinion, and, based on beer alone, I'd've thought the place had been open for years if I didn't know better. I've tried only maybe four of the beers, however, so perhaps there were problems in the ones that escaped my review.

Stacked Deck, on the other hand, I agree, is not ready for prime time. I actually did vehemently dislike the beer there. Birch's Lowertown, if you count it as a new brewery, is to me the best of The Class of 2018.

I'll also note AEGIR, Wooden Hill, Spiral, and BeerClub, in approximately that order, as breweries showing some promise (in addition to the previously mentioned Finnegans and Tilion).

 

I’d say that the only flawed beer I had at La Doña was a session ipa that tastes like bandaids, and Lysol. Otherwise I felt like the other beers I had needed dialing in, which presumably I would expect once they push some batches through their fermentors. I think Stacked Deck will benefit from the same thing as well.

 

Its looks like Fat Pants Brewery in Eden Prairie is going into the old Panino Brothers Italian restaurant in the Eden Prairie Mall area next to Punch Pizza. Their Facebook originally said opening Fall 2018 and now says May 1, 2019 so I'm guessing next summer.

Fat Pants is not the brewery name I would have chosen.

 

We were tossing around the idea of going to Clutch at the old Schmidt brewery. Mainly to see what they did to the facility but also to have a couple there. Anybody have any thoughts on that one?

 

Nor would I have chosen that location. Like a gas station you can see from a highway, you can see that building while driving by but good luck trying to figure out how to get to it, never mind the string of failed businesses that have inhabited it. The smarter play would have been locating up the road a bit in the old FedEx Office & Papa John's strip mall building. At least then it would be within walking distance of the eventual light rail stop, but then again that's assuming the business could last for the next 6+ years before that opens up.

Regardless, I wish them well. As a former EP resident, they could use a brewery option but that town is a fickle bunch. With a few exceptions, the locals seem to stick to safe chain options. Unless they can "wow" right out of the gate, a solid middle-of-the-road local brewery in that town might be a couple of years too late.

 

Clutch is definitely one of the better breweries to open this year and the space is super nice. They are very busy, so they struggle to keep a lot on tap, but everything I’ve had there is good. Order food at Revival’s smoked meat place and eat it upstairs at the taproom.

 

The beers for me were hit or miss, at least in its early days. I consider it roughly average for a new brewery but with higher variance than most. The venue is what sets it apart, for better or for worse. I'm not a huge fan of Keg and Case or Clutch's space in particular (too small of a bar area, too spread out, and too much distracting ambient aromas from the businesses below), but it is unique (at least for Minnesota) and interesting.

 

The beers I've tried so far have been decent. The space is very different, linear, spread out. I wish the bar area were larger, but they didn't have much choice. There are also a variety of table and comfy chair/sofa settings.

Even if you skip Clutch, you show go there just for Revival's BBQ.

 

Yeah, the name seems like a poor choice. Maybe Hot Pants would have been a better name (and while completely un-PC, would be apropos for the area).
If they can produce a decent product I think they have a chance of surviving. Despite the common stereotypes of the EP area, there is a thirst for entertainment options that aren't so cookie-cutter. I think Unmapped balances it well by being unique and neighborhood-focused but not totally out there. They opened with only two beers on tap, one which was an astringent IPA, and they've basically been a full house since. Granted, they corrected the flaws almost immediately, but the trail Unmapped took is a recipe for success in the area, IMO.

 

Zap Clutch is worth a visit moreso for the Historic Building than for the brew or shops within. Worth a visit 4 sure. Then right up Shepard Rd or Smith Ave. you have Waldmann and Bad Weather same lot.

 

Love Waldman and Bad Weather is very good too....not a bad idea.

Last time I was at Schmidt brewery was for a tour in 1990 when we were in college. It was the day they found out they were closing (before Minnesota Brewing restarted things). Needless to say the tour guide was less than enthused during the tour and then just left us to help ourselves in that cool basement bar area. He said have as much as we want. Tour was around 9 am...finished around 9:15 probably and we drank by ourselves for about three hours before we emerged into the sun half hammered at noon. Luckily, we had a driver.

 

Clutch ain’t bad. Good food option with Revival, so there ya go.

 

Whats BeerClub ?