Breweries Opening/Closing in Minnesota 2018

Perhaps, but the New Brighton, Minnesota brewpub and the New Richmond, Wisconsin brewery are separate legal entities. Laura Subak (the wife) owns the New Brighton brewpub and John Moore (the husband) owns the New Richmond brewery. That separated ownership was a workaround to Minnesota's prohibition on distribution by a brewpub. The upcoming Yoerg pub will operate on the same model with its associated client brewery, as does, I suspect, Lazy Loon / Lazy Loon Lanes. The upcoming Oakhold may do it too so it can have a production facility in Midway Township and a tasting room (technically a brewpub) in Minneapolis [Edit: Or not. See the previous post.].

That's why I'd love to see Minnesota eliminate its outdated distinction between brewpubs and breweries. Barley John's never needed a large, built-from-the-ground-up production facility but rather a little extra space, some bigger equipment, and the legal ability to distribute out of the brewpub to get its name out there more and generate a little extra revenue. Similarly, Sisyphus should be able to apply for a liquor license and have a full bar or at least guest taps and wine to broaden its clientele as well as be able to add additional taprooms and not be chased across the border to do so. I wouldn't be surprised if Surly's Brewer's Table were still open today if only Surly could sell wine, because a lot of "finer diners" demand wine with their meals. These restrictions really do limit business models at the expense of both producers and consumers. I'd also love to see, in addition to the MSP site, the Brooklyn Center taproom reopen for those looking for the classic Surly experience (or, for the non-Surly fans, a taproom in the Nordeast Minneapolis Fulton brewery or the St. Paul Fair State brewery).

By the way, can anyone actually confirm the "Barley John's New Richmond has closed" report or provide more details?

 

Maybe they are not in a position to do this but was hoping they'd consider contract brewing...then again if they aren't selling what they want it might be a moot point....not sure on the specifics of why they are closing that facility. It is nice. We biked there from St. Paul this summer and thought it was really impressive.

 

Good points. Do you know what the Brewers association is pushing for this legislative session? Still seems to be some work to be done although great strides have been made in recent years by that group.

 

Curious.... Northgate, F-Town and Barley Johns. I could be wrong, but as I understand it, they all signed with and received money from the same distributor. And now they are either out of business, selling off, moving or whatever.

Is that coincidence?

It would be interesting to hear how other breweries at the same distributor are doing. Especially the ones that built for pretty large volumes.

I think we are going to see the result of a large amount of bad business decisions rear it's nasty head over the next 18 months.

 

Based on what I see at my regular liquor store, their cooler shelves are full of a huge variety of MN brewers' beers.

Nothing from any of them stands out for the casual buyer - all of similar or same styles, all (or most) in cans, all lined up next to each other. I will occasionally check the dates on some, and many have been there awhile.

Shelf space has been squeezed down for Summit, Surly, Sierra Nevada, and the like to make room for all of these different MN brewers' products.

This is just one store, and just my observations - I haven't talked with the owner or anything.

But, IMO the distribution and shelf-space battle for craft beer is getting to be a lot riskier business model. And this is all from "friendly fire"... can't blame the macros for this.

 

The Brewery in New Richmond is NOT closed. John Moore here - you should really check your facts before going so far as proclaiming "news" in print. "Dewey Defeats Truman" WTF

I'll be happy to get to all of the your statements in time.

 

Barley John’s employee here. Sorry to hear some of you aren’t fans. However, the brewery is not closed.
The taproom is open this weekend:
Thursday 4-10pm (Open Mic Night)
Friday 4-10pm
Saturday 4-10pm

 

Good to know. I do grab a Barely John's from time to time.

 

Old 8 is about as good as it gets. Brunette Wild Rice is pretty good too. Boggan I didn't care much for.

 

Out of curiosity, where did you source this fake news from?

 

Crap. I wish I could unread that and just go back to happily waiting for them to open. :-(

 

GIven that all of their social media sites are now unavailable, can anyone share the reason why Oakhold is no more?

 

Who the hell started this BS?

 

Who the hell are you to say this? HeadRetenrion? You have a name? The New Richmond plant is not closed.

 

Blue Wolf Brewing Company in Brooklyn Park will open its taproom on Thursday, February 22, according to the Growler.

 

SMH at the incorrect Barley John's "news"......

 

Word.

 

Plus: "but fuck New Richmond" ???? punklet talk???

 

Now that we have that little miss understanding taking care of I'd like to say there are a lot of points brought up that should be continued.

The brewery in New Richmond was built for future growth and I would be the first to admit - much to optimistic growth than can be obtained in the presently oversaturated market place. MN is the 5th hottest market in the USA. We do offer contract brewing to help meet the gap that exits in production as well as AP placements.

Part of the problem can be pitched at the distributors. Their business model is one of moving beer. In years past they also helped sell the beer. With portfolios stuffed with brands the sales person goes to what is easy to sell, which usually is what people are asking for. The pull side of marketing. Whether the beer is any good or not - it's what is "popular". The retailer is also in the mix, stuck in a market place that is logged jammed. This is a soap box I could really go off on.

Is the brewery hurting for capital? Yes, is it closed no. Do we need capital investment? yes. I don't know the exact number, but there are few craft beer makers that are not very tight right now, living pay check to pay check. Breweries to brewpubs, Sierra Nevada, Summit, us, etc. Some have made partnerships with chains to keep capital coming in or sold off distributions rights to keep a float. Business & politics, right - we are trying not to be "one of those"

There is so much more to say & so many good question here. I'll try to get back to this asap. Out of time today. Thank you for your support. Feel free to add to the thread, I'll do my best to answer what I can.

Cheers,
John Moore
Barley John's Brewing Co.
New Richmond, WI

 

It was a former employee there. I didn't catch a name but they went on talking about there was no raw materials there on a recent visit (no bags of grains), tap line offerings was limited. I apologize for the misinformation and miswording of my post (import "Boo this Man" meme/gif here).