Fitger's/Duluth Brewhouse

Just from what I read here it is similar but don't think it is the same.

'Beau who is creating a separate company in the Twin Cities called Duluth Brewhouse, which will produce, can and keg the same quality beer found at Fitger’s Brewhouse before distributing'

I would assume it will be packaged and sold under the Duluth Brewhouse label and not under fitger's. Assuming the label's and names don't change most people would identify it as a fitger's beer.

 

I saw label approval at Thanksgiving, but was too darned busy to look into it.

"Duluth Brewhouse, Bold Brewing LLC " -- co-packaged in Cold Spring by Third Street. Looks as if it will be packaged in 4-packs of 16oz cans -- here's a detail of the label artwork:



There's more -- including social media links -- at their website. It's worth remembering the plan to open a second Fitger's brewpub in the North Loop of Minneapolis some years back, before so many changes which have happened since.

Anyhow, today's piece from The Growler has some fun historical background:
https://growlermag.com/fitgers-dist...cross-minnesota-under-brand-duluth-brewhouse/

 

Most beer drinkers in the Twin Cities have never heard of Fitgers, and even fewer will know the connection between Duluth Brewhouse and Fitgers. I hope they'll be able to sell enough beer in stores in the Duluth area to make this work, because I wouldn't count on the over-saturated Twin Cities market working out well. This seems like the wrong time to open a production brewery.

 

This is just a simple separated ownership model, much as Barley John's already is using between the New Brighton, Minnesota "Brew Pub" (owned by Laura Subak) and the New Richmond, Wisconsin "Brewing Company" (owned by Subak's husband, John Moore), albeit without the state split (which never was legally necessary).

I'll speculate from the fact that the article mentions no physical brewing plant that Beau Raymond intends to be a client brewer at a contract brewery. That's a great tactic for packaging (not taproom)-oriented breweries with all the excess capacity out there from recent overexpansion.

This has been a well-known loophole for several years. Good for Fitger's for exploiting it (even though it's very late to the party and has less cachet post-Dave Hoops), but this isn't as innovative of an arrangement as the article implies. I agree with Beau Raymond that it's ridiculous that brewpubs in Minnesota have to go to this trouble to distribute their beer.

Edit: I just read @Chaz's post and the Growler article after I posted presciently about the Barley John's parallel. Good for Barley John's to get itself a client brewer. It's no secret that the New Richmond plant wasn't as big of a hit as Barley John's had hoped. I'm glad to see Fitger's Brewhouse / Bold Brewing / Duluth Brewhouse* isn't making the same mistake.

* The Raymonds apparently attended the Lucid / North Loop / American Sky / Inbound school of branding.

A little free business advice: If you're planning a new brewing venture in 2018 and want to emphasize distribution instead of the taproom experience, you should seriously consider becoming a client brewer or alternating proprietor. There are all too many physical breweries in the area that aren't running close to capacity and would welcome your business.

I do share @KarlHungus doubt about the market appeal of Fitger's beer, especially Fitger's beer that isn't called Fitger's beer, outside of the Duluth area given the huge number of competitors today. I'll also note that, like Barley John's, Fitger's strength never was in its core lineup but rather in certain specialty brews.

 

Quiet, you~!

Nah, I'm only foolin' -- I agree with you.

Also, I don't see a label approval for the Third Street / Barley John's contract, so I wish 'em luck getting that product to the market in time for Memorial Day weekend. Shades of Gluek's from last year!

 

I'm very interested to see if Town Hall Brewery decides to give distribution a shot after seeing how Fitger's can get around the brew pub distribution rules. I'm sure there would be a local brewery that would allow Mike Hoops to contract brew using their equipment if they have excess capacity. I can see Town Hall being successful is they focused distribution locally in the Metro.

 

I like this news

 

The issue isn’t getting around brewpub distribution rules - everyone knows you can just open a production brewery that brews the same recipies. The challenge is associating a brand that is legally “different enough” with the original recipes. Fitgers is going to be a great example of whether or not their beer names and clout can translate into a totally separate brand and package.

 

Any guesses which breweries would have excess capacity for distribution-level production? Summit may now that Finnegan's has a brewery. A Growler article put annual capacity at 10k barrels for Barley John's https://growlermag.com/barley-johns-brew-pub-to-build-production-facility-in-western-wisconsin/

 

There was a time I would have been interested in this as well. At this point though, I'd prefer them to stay with status quo. I feel like now it would just be a law of diminishing returns, especially since they have four different locations around the metro. Like it or not, scarcity does play a part in popularity and it's not a one-to-one match up when you expand availability to sales, especially now with a plethora of other choices on shelves.

 

This is exactly spot on! This is not going to turn out well!

 

How did it work when there were Fitgers 6 packs out there?

It was a red and a pale ale. Definitely Fitgers on the label, not brewed by them. Might have been Lake Superior?

It was a few years ago I bought these.

 

Man, I'd really be surprised if this is true.

Regardless, I wish I was more excited about this news. I'm not normally one to critique breweries for staff changes, but I feel like their stuff has taken a drastic plunge since Hoops left.

 

I just picked up a can of 'Superior Trail', from Duluth Brewhouse (contract brewed at Barley Johns in New Richmond WI).
In order to do a beer review, should I create a new "Place" listing for Duluth Brewhouse, and add the beer there, or, put the review as an addition to the already existing listing for Fitger's 'Superior Trail IPA'?

Because Duluth Brewhouse is a separate legal entity from Fitger's, it makes sense to me to add Duluth Brewhouse as its own "Place" listing. Also the ABV% listed on the Duluth Brewhouse 'Superior Trail' can is slightly different from what is listed on the Fitger's beer listing.

 

O

I'd say it warrants a different company/beer.

I've had both so far and loved them just like I love the originals.

 

Yeah, I grabbed a Superior Trail, and Apricot Wheat a few weeks back. Both were good. I’m not sure how close they are to their Fitgers counterparts as it’s been a bit since I had either of those beers, but I certainly enjoyed them.

 

Thirded re: Duluth Brewhouse Superior Trail IPA. It's a very good, almost quintessential, Midwestern IPA, with great balance and strong contributions from both the West Coast hops and the substantial malt backbone. It's better than I remember the Fitger's version, which I tried in 2010, being, but then again that sort of beer stands out much more in the market in 2018 as a refreshing change of pace.

 

Totally agree. Perfect go to after haze fatigue.