Breweries opening in Minnesota 2015/2016

Stillwater, MN.

The St. Croix Brewing Company is a long-established, local beer company*, but there is a new plan to have their brewery working and with a taproom and beer garden open to the public by early summer of 2015.

*It's worth noting that -and as Mr. Fyten himself has pointed out to me on one or two occasions- there is a legal (licensing and taxation) distinction to be made between a brewing company and a brick and mortar brewery which brews its own beer (and which may or may not have a self-distribution arrangement vice a set of dedicated wholesale distributors.)

I am not perfectly versed on the various distinctions.

 

Any idea about whatever happened to those plans for Wolff Brewing in Stillwater?

 

The Wolf sisters are presently working with a new brewery (other than Blacklist) to get their brands out to the market. I expect that we'll see new packages and new draught some time later this spring.

The status of the Wolf Brewery complex plan is presently unknown, but that one was said to be a very long-term plan.

 

More on the St. Croix Brewery's plans...

http://www.twincities.com/localnews...ers-oldest-home-house-new-brewery-and-taproom

 

Angry Inch Brewing plans for downtown Lakeville are moving forward and they are planning a June opening according to their Facebook page.

 

Angry Inch - Lakeville

-- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Angry-Inch-Brewing/632502360094820

 

@jera1350, looks like we nearly simul-posted!

 

Has anyone heard of any business plans that will focus entirely on German Lagers, hefe's, etc for any of these new breweries?

Seems to be a real void there. Bauhaus does some but they tweak the styles or Americanize them I guess you could say. They are tasty but not true german beers. Schells of course hits the mark with several offerings but wondering if any new places have plans to devote entirely to german style beers...Personally it would be at the top of my list but I may be in the minority here.

 

The Stone Saloon in St. Paul will brew only traditional German-American lagers of the sort produced in the mid-19th century.

Das Bierhaus (open now) in Menomonie, WI (about an hour east of St. Paul) has a German brewer and brews only traditional German styles.

 

Of all the breweries opening I have to say The Stone Saloon is the one I most look forwards to. They're sure taking they're time, though.

 

Don't hold your breath. Their main focus is restoring the building in a historically accurate way. Then, they would "someday" like to brew and serve lager there. But I think that's at least a couple years out.

 

Yeah, I know. I love the work they're doing on the restoration, though. It'll be a neat place - especially if/when they serve beer. I noticed recently that they're right near where the new Bad Weather Brewery is opening. I'll probably at least visit the building whenever I first make it there.

 

I exchanged emails with Thomas Schroeder one year ago this week, and being open for business in the sort of timeframe that we've grown accustomed to with so many of the new Craft Brewery startups simply isn't his focus. I'm looking at that email right now and -- let's just say: "save the date - 2016!", at the earliest.

In one sense what he's doing is sort of a "hobby" like homebrewing, but historical retrofitting is more costly than homebrewing. Worth noting that he has been a homebrewer for over twenty years, so his beer will be good once that aspect of his plan can be actualized, but back to the issue of funding the rebuild. It's a concern for him just as finding extra money at the end of the month for some homebrewing supplies can be an issue for some of us who brew for fun.

We'll just have to learn to be patient with this one, I guess.

 

I'm not saying it won't happen, but it's easy to understand why it isn't more common. It's more expensive to build a lager brewery. If we were to switch to ales, we would virtually double our capacity.

 

That's too bad about Leech Lake, for all the reasons mentioned.

My wife's family has a cabin about halfway between Walker and Brainerd - so I think of the "Brainerd side" or the "Walker side." The Brainerd side now has Gull Dam is Nisswa and Jack Pine in Baxter. Walker could really use a brewery / taproom in town. Leech Lake was a bit out of town on a side road, so they'd never get the sort of traffic that something closer to the lake and the downtown area of Walker would.

 

That didn't seem to be an issue with Lazy Loon. I never saw TTB COLAs for his brands, and evidently there's no need for such if the brewery's packaged beers are not crossing state lines. I wish I could prove my math on that, but the dog ate my homework.

 

I was at a tap room back in WA this week and they said they got in trouble for something similar last year. That stuck in my head but maybe it's a WA thing. The bartender was telling me it delayed their opening.

On another note...never heard of Lazy Loon. Worth finding?

 

From the reviews his beers ( 5 out of 6 are lagers -- attention @ZAP ) are worth a try, at least if you find yourself in the western suburbs where he distributes. His is the epitome of a small operation, with very little distribution just yet.

Jack of All Brews has a profile, here: http://jackofallbrews.blogspot.com/2014/10/lazy-loon-brewing-victoria-mn.html

 

Roet's in Jordan is getting their equipment. Yay.

 

I've had 2 of the Lazy Loon beers and enjoyed them both. I think they're still available at Vintage in Chanhassen and MGM in Waconia (where I got them).