Breweries Opening in the Minnesota 2016/2017

But I've homebrewed for 10 years and my friends like my beer. That seems like enough to open a full brewery.

Someone needs to "sell" a powerpoint or quick guide for new breweries.
1) Hire a real brewer
2) Don't serve bad beer
3) etc.

 

Certainly seems worth the money to me. So many breweries open with a poor business plan or beer that isn't ready and the negative feedback from the initial launch has to be tough to overcome. Look at Nutmeg or u4ic for example.

Compare the feedback on those two to a place like Wild Mind who seems to know what they are doing and the difference is night and day. If you open with decent beer and a nice taproom people start talking about you and you get a buzz going. In a market as competitive as craft beer right now I wouldn't want to get started on the wrong foot.

 

I work in the economic development field, and I have heard that some folks from Wyoming or Montana (can't remember which) were visiting Wadena over the weekend to explore a potential site for a new brewery. I don't have any more info than that, but I figured I'd pass it along.

 

I agree...not saying a small minority can't make it work right out of the gate. It seems to be a definite minority however and some of these places are so far off the mark (See Tavern Brewery Detroit Lakes) you wonder just how much background anyone has.

I mean I brewed an american lager kit back in the mid 90's (complete with ale yeast) once that tasted very poor to poor. Does that make me qualified to run a brew house? With a place like Tavern I would guess yes.

Places like that need to bring in someone who knows what they are doing.

 

I'm not sure about him offering his services in general but I did see he was at Moose Lake recently.

 

Broken Clock Brewery Collective -- Tasting party August 27 at Schmidt Artist Lofts.

In related news, Eat Street restaurants will have a presence at the Keg & Case Market (Schmidt's keg warehouse) on West 7th -- story at the Minneapolis Star and Tribune



*P.S. No news about the long-rumored 'brewpub' plan for the Rathskeller.

 

Wild Mind just announced they now do growler fills, but they don't have growlers of their own. It doesn't say what sizes they can fill. Additionally, they are open on Thursdays again.

 

I should add. I do think a quality homebrewer who has a good track record home brewing and who is willing to spend extensive time learning from bigger brewers/breweries can make it work on their own. I've seen several examples of this. More of the exception than the norm though.

 

I've gone down to the Rathskeller during the past few Germanfests--they may never get that dank basement smell out of there.

 

You mean http://www.brewerspublications.com/...ociations-guide-to-starting-your-own-brewery/ ?

 

Hey Folks,


Peter here from 12welve Eyes Brewing. We are most certainly opening up in downtown St. Paul in the Pioneer Endicott building. The building is historic, and we'll tell you right now, no matter how hard we hustle the approval process is vague, arbitrary, and very lengthy. We'll let you know more about our opening time frame when we do.


If you are headed down to the Dabbler tonight looks like the weather should dry up. Make sure to stop by and say hi, we'll be giving away some free merch and other goodies.

 

I tried to go to Birch's today, but they wouldn't serve me on the patio because it had rained earlier in the day (I had my dog). I did what any passive aggressive Minnesotan would do and went to Wayzata Brew Works. The beer is still terrible and expensive. The flight pours were $3 each, so it added up fast. Of the 5 beers I ordered, the only one that didn't have blatant off flavors was a shandy that was basically strawberry lemonade with a splash of lager. Their menu actually highlights how sweet their IPA is. The only redeeming qualities were the view from the patio and really good service. Looking at their brewhouse, they have a 20BBL system with 40BBL fermenters. That is weirdly ambitious for a brewery with zero concern for quality. The distillery is still shiny and unused.

I also went to Back Channel Brewing's tasting event today. I don't like judging breweries based on homebrew, but the beer was pretty comparable to what you would find at a place like Excelsior. They are still ripping stuff out of their building, so it will be a bit before they can start building. If all goes well with licensing, they are now aiming for an April/May 2017 opening. They acknowledged that target opening dates are not particularly meaningful this far out.

 

Can confirm, got 2 growlers filled on friday. Great place, love that they are so close to home! Rumor has it they'll have Vikes games on, but no TVs on site yet.
$15 a growler fill.

 

I stopped into Carmody Pub in Duluth this past weekend. Clearly, they've been open for a while, but it's worth mentioning that they have a new head brewer. The beers have improved. It's still not the goto place in Duluth by a longshot, but their IPA and their Pub Ale are both passable.

It was the guest taps that shined. One was the Blacklist Brewing Belgian Tripel. Absolutely wonderful. Sadly, the keg blew on us before we left so they're out.

I'm sure it's not news that Blacklist is opening their taproom soon in Duluth (in the former Last Place on Earth storefront on Superiour St), but based on that Belgian Tripel I'd say they'll be very much deserving of a visit.

 

any idea of a date on that?

 

Went to Excelsior last night. The beer is a heck of a lot better than I remember it being in the past.

 

Went to Modist on Monday night, the beer is still not very good.

 

They have really improved things over there by leaps and bounds. Nice to see a brewery able to turn the corner

 

Might have to try them again. The last time I got their beers, they were terrible to average.

 

Interesting. I was there this summer (three months ago?) & I noted that they'd improved from terrible to stunningly mediocre. Certainly leaps & bounds better, but I won't personally be trying Excelsior again for a long time. Too much superior stuff out there.