Brewery Updates in Minnesota (2019)

Once businesses are built up and established operating under a known set of rules, there is great reluctance to changes in the rules from those comfortable with the way things are. We saw that in abundance, and from many sides, in the Sunday sales debate. As you say, it really has little to do with capitalism principles or theory.

 

LOL, sure dude.

 

You should visit CA some time. While the rules/laws are clearly different, the amount of brewpubs there is insane, & many breweries have multiple locations (Stone, Alesmith, etc.). There is no down side.

Sounds like right-wing Hannity BS. Government regulates every business. Full stop. The fact that many regulations are necessary doesn't mean that others aren't silly, stupid, &/or outdated. We can have both!

 

In regards to Lupulin Brewing and Hydra.

https://www.argusleader.com/story/n...-co-buy-hydra-beer-co-sioux-falls/1368464001/

"Petit told the Sioux Falls Business Journal in May that Hydra had stopped brewing beer in recent months as both he and Murphy moved on to different careers. Petit said then he hoped the entire business would sell as a whole and continue operations."

Things must have been pretty bad at Hydra for them to stop brewing beer

 

Hydra was able to find a buyer when its owners wanted out. Of course we don't know what kind of, if any, loss they took.

Small breweries certainly are a labor of love and rarely a path to riches, especially since most of the growth in craft beer lies in the past and there's so much more competition than there used to be, such that small breweries are a lot less likely to turn into not-so-small breweries than they used to be. Psychic returns matter at least as much as financial ones to investors and operators in many cases; if they didn't, frankly, those investors are foolish because larger risk-adjusted rates of financial return lie in less glamorous industries.

I still think the small operations generally are less likely to fail spectacularly than the large ones that depend on distribution (which is even more competitive than taproom sales), have enormous (often debt-financed) fixed costs, and require either broad growth or being on the winning end of cutthroat competition in order to be profitable. Sure, the upside possibilities to large breweries are higher, but I'd say the downsides are higher and likelier still.

That said, and I know people don't want to talk about it, but the coming $15 minimum wage with no tip credit in Minneapolis and St. Paul proper is going to be a real challenge for a lot of these breweries (of all sizes) and is likely to take a substantial chunk out of their already meager profits. We're talking a minimum of tens of thousands of dollars per year shaved off of the respective bottom lines if the breweries didn't adjust their practices. Sure, they'll cut worker hours and raise prices to compensate in part and perhaps take actions like eliminating tipping and installing expensive self-pour systems. Customers having to pay more for worse service, however, doesn't exactly help pack the taprooms, especially when better staffed competition with lower prices lies just a few miles away in the suburbs. The Minneapolis and St. Paul breweries are going to take a hit no matter what. Just for that reason, I could foresee a shakeout in those two cities, as well as more breweries pulling a Boom Island and fleeing to the suburbs.

These are general comments, not necessarily related to 12welve Eyes in particular.

 

Try reading
this post
out

loud and

*not*

doing it

in a bad beat poetry
voice.

With. All. The dumb.

Pauses.

It's just not possible.

 

Gull Dam still hasn't been sold. Those who have been there know it is a nice facility. Previous owners wanted to cut corners on the brewing side and turned out bad beer for the most part. They had a talented brewer when they opened and he left once he got the drift of the plan. I think the place has potential for someone serious about putting out quality beer.

BUT, what I'm hearing is they not only want to sell the facility but whoever buys it must buy the Gull Dam trademark/name or whatever and keep it Gull Dam. I guess that is making it a hard sell as I would imagine. It's not like someone would be buying into the Surly name or something like that.

 

I read it in my best Christopher Walken voice, and it sounded better that way.

Not sure if he was kidding about that last part, though.

 

You blame red tape, at least in part, for the closing of a brewery that was open nearly two years? All those hurdles, that countless other businesses in St Paul had to jump through to open finally caught up with them I guess? Only a matter of time until every business in St Paul closes do to gov’t overreach.

 

That's a shame. It's a beautiful facility and I would stop by there on my trips north (along with a stop at Big Axe). Sometimes I'd walk into Gull Dam and be the only person there, while down the road Big Axe was standing room only. I've walked out of Big Axe before because there was no place to sit. I love Big Axe's nice and cozy taproom, but sometimes it's a little too cozy when busy. Jack Pine can be the same way.

Too bad the owners of Gull Dam are being stubborn about the name.

 

Have you been to the new Jack Pine facility? Very impressive. A lot of space too. Big change from where they started. It's right on the left side of 371 as you go north pretty much just behind Boulder Taphouse.

 

At the risk of taking this thread even further off-topic, it’s worth mentioning that businesses in the vicinity of the Green Line were eligible for certain financial remuneration during the build-out.

Discussion of the central corridor / Green Line goes back many years (some of the background is archived), and is worth looking into if you are curious about intersectionality of governmental, non-governmental, and private development.

In the past, other Minnesota businesses have been affected by similar intersectionality; It is possible that Minnesota breweries were likewise affected.

As has recently become customary in discussion of the now-closed 12welve Eyes, I doubt that their original planning had any such connection to the Green Line / Central Corridor. On the other hand, governmental / non-governmental efforts may have been involved in rehabilitating the historically significant Pioneer-Endicott buildings in which the brewery would later take up their lease.

 

Yes, I have. It's very nice!... ....but man, oh man...that place can get a bit crowded too, but there's always room. I'm very glad to see they are doing good business.

Everytime I drive past Gull Dam, I ask myself "Why in the hell hasn't this place sold yet?" Now i know....thanks for the info. A shame it's going to sit empty all summer.

 

Regarding 12 eyes closing, why is nobody commenting on the quality and styles of beer they were putting out?

Every time I checked there taplist or was mostly hazy IPAs and fruited ales both of which barrel theory a few blocks away makes and with much better results (imo) and to much more fan fare (undebatable). I went to 12 eyes once and never again because of this. Also the growlers of hazies and other IPAs that land weekly from junkyard are better as well. I really think that these other breweries ate 12eyes lunch/drank their milkshake and this is the reason the had no choice but to close.

 

Tastes differ, but the handful of times I visited, the beer was fine. Not good, not bad, but fine. But if taste & quality were the only driver of a tap room's success, Tin Whiskers would have gone under within days of opening. I've visited their tap room (bad beer & bad service) as well as tried their packaged options (appallingly bad). Perhaps they've improved since my experiences, but I'm not going to shell out cash to find out.

We'll probably never know for sure, but I've read theories in various places about conflict between the owners, location, etc. I haven't seen anyone with any knowledge of the situation blame it on the quality or style of beers they were putting out.

 

I appreciate the strong take/opinion and for the most part agree. I thought 12eyes was middling. I visited there three times and bought several crowlers off sale from Haskells WBL. They were good enough were I was not afraid to buy them and did not have bad experiences but it was rare I was extremely impressed. The were ok but not in the same league as Junkyard in any regard .....and Barrel Theory for that matter for those types of beers.

 

Well put. I should have read this before posting as this is about my exact thoughts..

 

On June 22nd Barrel Theory will be celebrating their 2nd anniversary. In St Paul Mn. Guess they figured out the red tape.

 

Minn'Ohana Brewing in Mankato had its federal brewer's notice approved but still sounds like it's quite a ways from opening:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=839513119775048