Breweries opening in Minnesota 2015/2016

Grand Marais is set to approve Sunday growler sales in about a week which will go into effect immediately following approval.

 

Shakopee approved Sunday growler sales yesterday. Badger Hill announced their first Sunday sales will be on May 31st.

 

South Fork Brewing Company in Delano has announced a May 29 opening date for its taproom.

 

Does anyone have.any updates on U4ic, Roots, F-Town or Bad Weather? It seemed like all where expecting to be open this summer, but there really isn't any updates out there that I can find which speaks to when. It's almost June and the way things seem to go I doubt any will hit the summer window at this point unless they are farther along than what is public. Being idle/stalled must be hard and I am guessing must burn through cash. Especially if any of them are paying salaries. It would be nice to see some openings after all the PR

 

I check daily, and of those four plans, Bad Weather is closet to opening to the public -- maybe two weeks at the earliest.
The others look much closer to opening mid-July.

Note: It's mainly of interest to history knerds, but it's worth mentioning that F-Town will not bring back "Fleck's Beer", as had originally been a part of their plan.

 

I stopped by u4ic the other day, I know the guy. They are moving right along and have a ton of stuff complete but still a ways to go. I think Roets is in the same boat but I saw people working today in there.

 

I can speak to Bad Weather's new brewery on west 7th St in St. Paul .According to Andy the new head brewer at Bad Weather , their tanks and equipment arrives in 3 weeks time and then they have to set it up and do some pilot batches so you can add another 3 weeks to that so realistically earliest would be end of June assuming there are no issues and hold ups.

Whats exciting is they will be adding some new beers to their output and taproom exclusives. They have a new double ipa , a hefeweizen and a mild piloted that should all be available when they open along with their other great seasonals !

Anyone got any scoops on other St.Paul ones ? Lake Monster and Black Stack are so under the radar its hard to believe they are going to open in 2015 but there is activity at their sites so makes me hopeful .

 

Yep. A month back I saw work being done at Black Stack, and the brewing equipment was scheduled to arrive by now.

Lake Monster's social media doesn't offer very much, but the Vandalia Tower space is being built-out -- there's an image of the process (from a few months ago) at their Twitter account:
https://twitter.com/LakeMonsterBrew/status/573868964658413568

 

They probably couldn't track down the recipe. Or a cereal cooker.

 

It was mainly a problem with the family who owns (or believes they still own) the rights to the name; as I understand -perhaps incorrectly- trademarks / wordmarks expire unless they are renewed after ten years. And besides, anyone brewing a lager recipe from the pre-Prohibition era would need to have a visit from Jack Horzempa for approval.

Two updates:

"Jive Turkey" is now JT Brewing Company, LLC; Jive Turkey will remain as a brand name.

Big Axe Brewing Compay up is Nisswa is open, and has the youngest bartenders, ever:

 

Some people at the Saints game, they said they were in the local beer industry, were talking about two groups from Lucid opening up new breweries within 2 blocks from Fulton in MSP. if I heard correct: Lucid bought an old system from someplace in WI and is opening a tap room 2 blocks away from Fulton, and their brewery employees are opening their own brewery and tap room in another location 2 blocks on the other side of Fulton.

As an aside, they also said Bad Weather is not getting their brewhouse until perhaps August. Just their fermenters are coming in early? That would put a Sept opening at the earliest.

 

That corresponds with what @doner24 added here while adding a unique twist: two distinct plans.

I tried matching BIP names with unknown plans for the approximate north loop location (c.f. April Big List & updates) but couldn't find suitable, unaccounted for* names. There are four un-named plans circulating between the twin downtown ballpark areas (can ya feel it?), which tells me two more downtown plans are out there, aside from these two. Wowza.

It's too bad to hear that the Bad Weather taproom plan is taking so long.

*E.g. Lakes & Legends = Origin Brewing, Able Seedhouse = Common Craft Group, LLC, etc.

 

Chaz.... great info as always! They said Lucid has already hired a contractor but the building needs work. I asked if they are moving all together and they really didn't know. Didn't sound like it though. I'm surprised they don't open a tap room where they are. They are the only ones in that area.....now they are part of a herd in MSP with more to come. Doesn't make much sense to me unless you are heads and tails above everyone else.

They also said the name of the brewery that Lucid employees are opening is Most/Modern/Modest....one of those three.

The Bad Weather thing sure sounds like it sucks for them. Thats too bad and hopefully something will change. I guess the equipment supplier can't get the main brewhouse any earlier from what I heard, and they still have quite a bit of licensing and inspections left. I was told they are already paying themselves salaries and hired and are paying a Lucid person to be their head brewer, so I'm sure they aren't happy, especially if they have to pay rent and loan payments. Yikes... and this is a scary part - there could be delays and shutdowns in govt that could delay further. I have no idea about that...just relaying the conversation.

Interesting what you learn when you talk to folks who've had a few too many.

I really like Bad Weather brews and can't wait for them to open.

 

I didn't make it to the Saints game yesterday but saw that Bad Weather were down there . It's a pain hearing the news about the equipment delays but they are just 5 months in to the build-out of the St. Paul taproom. Bad Weather have had to be vague when it comes to giving a solid date as naturally people will expect them to hit that date. With so many craft brewers buying up equipment all the timelines on deliveries getting pushed further and further out. Their brewhouse will be nearly identical to the Badger Hill one so they are piloting beers at Badger Hill for the past month .

I have no doubt that when they do open its going to be worth the wait as all their beers are top notch .

 

Incorrect

 

hpn44- http://www.badweatherbrewery.com/news-marquee/

 

My guess is they mean they're assisting them in brewing Badger Hill beers on the system. It's not clear on that though so I see the confusion.

 

Apologies for the confusion! I totally misread that while on my tiny phone. You are correct (said while slapping forehead). Thought you were saying they were contracting out of the brewery.

 

I just heard today that Keigan from Dangerous Man will be involved with this.........