Brewery Updates in Minnesota (2019)

The former 12welve Eyes brewery in St. Paul is for sale for just $8,000, but it appears that the new owner would have to enter into a lease at the Pioneer Endicott building, and that's where the real expense would lie. The post suggests the space could be operated as a taproom (as it was by 12welve Eyes) or as a brewpub.

A few blocks away, Birch's Lowertown remains for sale, now listed for a price of $1,000,000. "Need someone to take over remaining 3.5 years on lease and operate brewery under any name... Currently licensed as a brewpub, changing license to production brewery will increase profitability considerably."

In other news, The Growler has "Now Open (Or Damn Close)" articles for three breweries:

1. Mineral Spring Brewery in Owatonna
2. Forgotten Star Brewing Co. in Fridley
3. Fat Pants Brewing Co. in Eden Prairie

 

ONE Fermentary & Taproom will be open for business Tuesday, November 12 in the North Loop in Minneapolis.

Grand Opening celebration is scheduled for Saturday, November 16

 

Also, it's holding an "Industry Soft Open" on Monday, November 11. But will ONE be serving house-brewed beer, or will it be pulling a Yoerg / Bus Stop / Pig Ate My Pizza* / Inver Grove and opening as a bar and restaurant long before any brewing is completed?

* Which, amusingly, was promoting its candidacy in The Growler's Kind-of-a-Big-Deal Awards for Best Brewpub, Best New Brewery, and Best Brewery Kitchen, the voting for which closed weeks prior to PAMP ever releasing a house-brewed beer (which, to be clear, still hasn't actually happened six months after it opened, although it does finally seem to be close).

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1586238798167369

 

Yes I believe they are all brewed in house , except the Collab beer with Bad Weather, that was brewed on their system in Saint Paul .

Tap list as of now looks to be :

• Wry logger- 5% a dry, crisp, and robust Rye Lager brewed with Bad Weather .

• Tomorrow night 5%- Bohemian Pilsner with Saaz hope.

• Eau De Vie - 10.2% Imperial Blonde Ale aged on Cognac barrels.

• Rising Hope - 6.2% American Ipa .

I’m looking forward to trying this place out , it seems like there is a big push now we’re in November for new breweries to open their doors . Seems like a busy month for openings .

 

They had their own beers on tap at PAMP on Friday.

 

City Pages covers the soon-to-open Forgotten Star Brewing Co. in Fridley.

The Growler covers the soon-to-open (supposedly by the end if 2019) Iron Exchange Tavern & Brewery, a brewpub, in Maple Plain.

 

Maybe, but you should know that the last three times I shopped at an Aldi grocery store here in Chicago, 4-packs of 16-oz. cans of 'Third Street' beers, including a savory Oktoberfest, were on sale for $6.99. Maybe Cold Spring is ramping up beer production to have a dedicated brand line at Aldi stores across the U.S.A.

 

Wow are those the prices at One Fermentary only 5&6 bucks? Thats how to do it. Not this $7.41 crap.

 

Thousand Lakes Brewing in Parkers Prairie has scheduled an opening date of December 21.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=741522649663336

Sleepy Eye Brewing Co. in Sleepy Eye is brewing now and hiring staff, according to its Facebook page.

KEYC interviews Nik Proehl, owner of Minn'Ohana Brewery, a brewpub-in-planning in Mankato.

 

Pig Ate My Pizza Kitchen + Brewery in Robbinsdale is now serving their in-house brewed beers. I had the NE IPA and thought it was quite good. Be aware they add on a mandatory 21% Surcharge. 18% tip and 3% Wellness somethng or another.

 

How the hell is that?!

 

“Fair Wage and Wellness Surcharge
Please note that a fair wage and wellness surcharge will be included in your bill. This fee is collected and shared across the company to help provide a livable wage and benefits, like health insurance, for all employees.”

I wish they’d just include it in the price and not accept tips then. When I found this out it made me less likely to go. The idea of needing a surcharge to pay a livable wage just irks me. Just pay a livable wage and price it out. Don’t add it backdoor after the fact.

 

I suspect the purposes of making it a surcharge are 1) to keep down advertised prices (which already are very high at Pig Ate My Pizza, especially given its suburban setting) and 2) to shame customers who might object to it / to prey on their sense of charity ("You wouldn't want to deny our hard workers who just served you fair wages and wellness, would you?"). The fact that they do little to discourage tipping on top of the mandatory gratuity, surely knowing full well that many inattentive customers will effectively double tip, is a very shady business practice. I'll also note that standard custom is to tip by percentage on food but in dollar terms on drink (usually one dollar per beer), so the universal gratuity jacks up the tip that most customers are paying on those $7 (or should I say $7.21 with the fair wage and wellness charge?) pours. And of course it denies the customer the right to withhold or reduce the tip for bad service. I don't care how cool the Pig Ate My Pizza / Travail team is thought to be in the Minnesota foodie world; they deserve a lot of pushback for this exploitative business practice.

 

Are we really feigning outrage about 3%? For fucks sake.

 

"Feigning?" No. And "outrage" is a strong word. We're delivering legitimate criticism to a beer-related business that very much deserves it and giving a heads up to fellow beer consumers, thus serving the purpose of this forum.

 

Disagreeing with their practice isn't outrage. And it's not just about 3%. If all they need is 3% to provide a livable wage then just add one dollar to each item and let me decide how much tip I think they deserve. Or as I said, just do away with tipping all together, raise the prices to match what they claim they need to pay a living wage and be done. Instead, they want to draw attention to how socially conscious they are. I enjoy their food and glad a place like that exists in the area, but this is not something I will support.

 

What’s this we shit?

 

Yeah I practically always tip >20% and am happy to support health insurance for the staff. I might prefer all-inclusive prices but I'm just smart enough to do the math either way, so I don't see a problem here.