Brewery Updates in Minnesota (2019)

First news story I could find on it:
https://lptv.org/portage-brewing-in-walker-suffers-severe-damage-in-fire/

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10161350768820578

 

How horrible! Hope they can rebound, glad nobody was hurt!

 

I'm hearing that Accidental and Thesis might be one in the same.

 

They posted in Facebook about an hour ago they will clean up the pieces, and they will be back!

Wish them the best of luck

 

Lake of the Woods Brewing company is eyeballing a March brewing start.

Brewing equipment hopes to arrive late Jan/early February

 

This Pioneer Press article (linked) was published in September, but I stumbled across it recently. Apparently the University of Minnesota is considering starting a brewpub (or possibly a taproom; I don't trust the media to know the difference) on its St. Paul campus: "To the south, the U wants to someday replace its Commonwealth Terrace Cooperative, an aging housing complex aimed at students with families and those pursuing advanced degrees. Such a project could include a hotel and retail space along Como Avenue, which President Eric Kaler suggested might include a pub selling student-brewed beer."

 

New St. Paul brewery will be a first-of-its-kind drink sampling wonderland



BevSource - Pilot Brewery (opening end of April)

Saint Paul- 767 N Eustis St, St Paul, MN 55114

Former Lift Bridge brewmaster and Great American Beer Festival World Beer Cup medal winner Matt Hall will be in charge.

https://www.bevsource.com/news/lab-new-category-creating-tasting-room-serve-next-beverages

http://www.citypages.com/restaurant...-its-kind-drink-sampling-wonderland/504046211

 

Linked is an article on Prime Stein Brewery in Rochester. The article doesn't exactly leave me brimming with confidence about the project ("I’ve been thinking of a way to be my own boss and own my own business for a long time" and "eventually land[ed] on brewing;" fifteen homebrew recipes including a "solid amber beer;" beer to "contain less intrusive flavors;" no lease; "We aim to be serving our very first beer by December 31st of 2019;" "The ten-year plan is to have several breweries opened under the Prime Stein name"). Good look to them regardless.

 

The first thing that came to mind was Luke Skywalker saying “This is not going to go the way you think.”

 

An update on the eagerly anticipated Drastic Measures Brewing in Wadena: "Doebbeling is aiming for the third or fourth weekend of February for his opening." My "Double It" rule says early April.

 

I heard an interview with a couple of the principals of Brass Foundry last night on the radio (sorry, didn't get their names or positions...)

Anyway, they said they are planning on opening their own brewery in Long Lake.

They have started with only 2 beers, a blonde ale and an IPA, and according to the reviews on this site (overall 3.8), the IPA does not even seem to be a NEIPA!

A startup with only 2 beers and not going for the orange juice? Amazing!

 

Brass Foundry also sold the old South Fork brewing equipment some time ago.

 

Brass Foundry claims to be aiming for a spring opening for that Long Lake brewery and taproom.

As to its Question 63 IPA, it's a classic Midwest IPA, with high bitterness (by the low standards of 2019 IPAs), piney West Coast hops, and a substantial malt backbone but low in residual sugars. I consider it easily one of the best Minnesota-brewed IPAs in liquor stores today, not that that's saying much in the "juicy" IPA era. It's an IPA for IPA fans around here who didn't just really get into IPAs in the last three years. It actually reminds me somewhat of the original Fair State IPA (later known as Fair State IPA Classique), and I wonder how much influence Brass Foundry's contract brewery Fair State had on the recipe (not a bad brewery by which to be influenced, especially when they don't feel pressured to be trendy).

 

This will be actually very interesting. I'm not sure if other places like this exist or not but it should appeal to everyone. Hopefully they get that road marked better because everyone thinks its a two lane street the entire way haha

 

I’m really intrigued by the concept. They have a more than experienced brewer at the helm, so I’m not worried about quality at least. Could be really interesting.

 

So how is this different then BrewHub like Toppling Goliath went to?

 

As I understand it, BrewHub is a contract brewing facility (or facilities - they own and operate several regional-scale breweries as I recall), whereas BevSource has until now always and only been an outfit that arranges a match between a “beer company” (proprietor) without and a brewery of its own. and a host, contract brewery of brewing facility.

For instance, BevSource May have helped a company like Yoerg’s Beer find a contract brewer like Octopi to brew their flagship and seasonal brands, whereas Yoerg’s did not initially own their own brewery, taproom or pilot facility. By contrast, a brewery like Toppling Goliath may have sought out the services of BrewHub independently of an intermediary such as BevSource.

Does that make sense?

As I understand it, BevSource did not until now own its own brewery, Taproom, or pilot brewing facility, which makes this is a new addition to their existing area of expertise.

 

In addition to Chaz's explanation, I'll note that, to my knowledge, no brewery in Minnesota that contract-brews for a client brewing company, or that permits other brewing companies to brew on site as part of an alternating proprietorship relationship, serves the beers of that client brewing company or alternating proprietor at its taproom. For instance, Badger Hill's taproom doesn't feature any Finnegans beer on tap despite the fact that the bulk of Finnegans beer is brewed at Badger Hill in Shakopee as part of an alternating proprietorship relationship. (If anybody has any counterexamples, I'd be interested in hearing them.) I don't want to say that it would be illegal to do so under Minnesota law, because I don't know if that's a clear and settled legal matter, but I do believe the reason this doesn't happen is because breweries fear it would be a violation of the law. My point is that a purely contract-brewing operation like BrewHub may be legally prohibited from selling in its own taproom any beer the rights to which belong to one of its client breweries.

Also, my understanding is that any alcoholic beverage BevSource might make, if it is to have only a brewing license, would have to be majority malted-grain-based. But perhaps it could obtain additional licenses (winery or distilling) to broaden its alcoholic beverage portfolio. Even then, selling non-malt-based beverages on site would be at best legally complicated (and selling distilled beverages legally prohibited since a beverage-maker can't operate both a taproom and cocktail room under Minnesota law).

 

My usual reliable source tells me that there will be no taproom, just a production brewery in Long Lake.

 

According to its Facebook page, as of this writing, Yoerg in St. Paul remains unapproved by regulators to start brewing, so expect no house-brewed beer at the brewpub until February at the earliest (and, for Yoerg, the rule is double it, and double it, and double it, and...).

Another brewpub delayed by waiting for regulatory approval (in this case due to the partial federal government shutdown) is Minn'ohana in Mankato. The owner now is planning to open, like Yoerg, without house-brewed beer on tap initially.