Brewery Updates in Minnesota (2020)

Discussion in 'Great Lakes' started by islay, Jan 2, 2020.

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  1. pearceweb

    pearceweb Initiate (0) Nov 4, 2009 Minnesota

    Curious how one doesn’t either perfect their beer after 30 years of Homebrewing or get feedback their beer needs work and do something about it. His friends aren’t doing him any favors by not telling him he needs a head brewer or consultant with chops to turn this ship around... It’s a bummer as I’d LOVE to hang out there, fantastic space and location. A couple of nice people behind the counter that I know through mutual friends. Crazy!
     
  2. ZAP

    ZAP Grand Pooh-Bah (3,964) Dec 1, 2001 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I agree with your thoughts. Why has no-one told them after 30 years the beer is no good. Or better yet how do they not know themselves. I could brew a batch and try it and objectively say this is bad. I need to talk to someone on how to do this right.

    Now this is not a knock all home brewers. Some do great stuff and transition nicely into the business but I've had more than my share of bad experiences with places whose brewer is a long time home brewer who really has no clue. To have that kind of guy running a place with that kind of value to it is absurd.
     
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  3. jstroner

    jstroner Initiate (191) May 1, 2010 Minnesota

    Naked Viking Brewing is in development in Glenwood. Plan is June 2020 opening.
     
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  4. islay

    islay Savant (1,187) Jan 6, 2008 Minnesota

    I visited 3rd Act again recently, and I came away with the same impression I did the other couple of times I've been there: It's a roughly 30 or 40 percentile brewery. All of the beer is a little rough around the edges and some of it flawed (Guess what? That's pretty darn common.), but there are some enjoyable elements present in many of them. I'd say there are dozens of worse breweries in the Twin Cities area alone, and it wouldn't (quite) make my bottom 10 in the city if it were in Minneapolis proper. Call that damning with faint praise if you will, but I don't think it merits being singled out as outstandingly terrible.

    Let me give plugs to the many pretty good to very good breweries of the Twin Cities suburbs and exurbs, breweries that frankly are better than they need to be to satisfy craft beer cravings in their home towns. Okay, this isn't as impressive as the combined Minneapolis / St. Paul proper best breweries list would be, but there are some gems nonetheless:
    • Back Channel, Spring Park
    • Badger Hill, Shakopee
    • Barley John's, New Brighton
    • Birch's on the Lake, Long Lake
    • Bobtown, Roberts WI
    • Boom Island, Minnetonka
    • HammerHeart, Lino Lakes
    • Hop & Barrel, Hudson WI
    • Inver Grove, Inver Grove Heights
    • Iron Exchange, Maple Plain
    • Lift Bridge, Stillwater
    • Lupine, Delano
    • Lupulin, Big Lake
    • Montgomery, Montgomery
    • Oliphant, Somerset WI
    • Pig Ate My Pizza, Robbinsdale
    • Schram, Waconia and Chaska
    • Shakopee, Shakopee
    • Tilion, Cannon Falls
    • Uncommon Loon, Chisago City
    • Unmapped, Minnetonka
     
  5. mjryan

    mjryan Maven (1,485) Dec 22, 2007 Minnesota

    In your opinion. All of what you wrote is your opinion, and your opinion alone. It’s awesome you like the beers, and breweries you like. Keep liking them. I like some of them as well. It’s awesome we live in a country where we can let other people know how we feel about the beer that other citizens make, and then post about it on the internet. Keep it up bud, you are doing it.
     
    HammsMeASAP likes this.
  6. mjryan

    mjryan Maven (1,485) Dec 22, 2007 Minnesota

    I noticed on social media that LynLake is now serving wine in their taproom. It’s my understanding that they are a taproom, as opposed to being a brewpub. Is this the case? I asked them about it, but I haven’t received a response.
     
  7. MoPar

    MoPar Initiate (0) Oct 28, 2006 Minnesota

    Some taprooms are now allowing you to bring you own wine and pay a corking fee. Maybe that's what they are doing.
     
  8. TrailsandAles

    TrailsandAles Aspirant (253) Sep 10, 2014 Minnesota

    Their website lists the wine you can buy in the taproom.

    https://www.lynlakebrewery.com/drinks

    Maybe they got a special license to serve wine in their taproom?
     
    Chaz likes this.
  9. gatornation

    gatornation Grand High Pooh-Bah (9,502) Apr 18, 2007 Arizona
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    They also built a small kitchen on premise,with rotating chefs and pop ups,would that not allow them somehow to serve wine @islay
     
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  10. islay

    islay Savant (1,187) Jan 6, 2008 Minnesota

    I'm doing some research on this matter. I could speculate in a few different directions, but I'm going to see if I can track down the actual facts. Whatever the explanation, it's a very interesting development.
     
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  11. gatornation

    gatornation Grand High Pooh-Bah (9,502) Apr 18, 2007 Arizona
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    And if the wine sales are legit why no go with spirits like all the restaurants have done recently on Nicollet and Lyndale,it has defiantly helped foot traffic.
     
  12. pandera

    pandera Initiate (0) Jul 10, 2011 Minnesota

    Maybe they switched to a brewpub license?
     
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  13. Chaz

    Chaz Grand Pooh-Bah (3,544) Feb 3, 2002 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Could be they have a “catering license”, or one which allows outside vendors to bring in beverage alcohol. Wasn’t a brewery in Rochester doing something similar at one point some years back?
     
  14. HammsMeASAP

    HammsMeASAP Pundit (907) Jun 14, 2012 Minnesota

    Doesn't Forager have a "catering license"? They'll have beers at Ansari's in Eagan occasionally.
     
  15. BeerDrinkinGuy

    BeerDrinkinGuy Initiate (0) Nov 2, 2018 Minnesota

    It was kind of like that scene in Falling Down where the cop tells Micheal Douglas to get back in his car because its dangerous while its dead stop on the road.
     
  16. JakeJohnson

    JakeJohnson Pundit (873) Jan 30, 2015 Minnesota
    Trader

    I don’t think they have any plans for a physical location, but Amanogawa Brewing is contract brewing at The Lab. They had planned to distribute kegs, but the shutdowns happened. They only have a hazy IPA. I’m curious if more homebrewers will take advantage of The Lab in the future.
     
    maximum12 likes this.
  17. AmanogawaBrewCo

    AmanogawaBrewCo Initiate (0) Apr 5, 2020

    Jake - appreciate the mention! Exactly, our kegs were about to go on at bars in Minneapolis and St. Paul after so much planning when all of this went down. We are doing our best with Kiwami IPA Crowlers via The Lab for now. My co-founder and I are both physicians, so the current situation is difficult on multiple fronts. We have a stout, double IPA and imperial stout all in the works to complete our planned core lineup and basis for future iterations. A physical location is definitely not out of the question down the line. However, with somewhere on the order of 8,000 craft breweries now, the contract brewing model allows us to purely focus on our foundation of commercial recipe perfection and brand development for the time being, in an otherwise extremely tight, financially precarious market. The Lab has been instrumental in providing us homebrewers with a critical stepping stone. I would STRONGLY recommend working with them to any homebrewer looking to take the next steps. They are absolutely wonderful people, extremely capable and patient involving you in every step of the process. We'd be more than happy to chat further with anyone regarding our experience.
     
  18. Chaz

    Chaz Grand Pooh-Bah (3,544) Feb 3, 2002 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

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  19. Crazytrain83

    Crazytrain83 Devotee (317) Feb 19, 2017 Minnesota

    I'm sure I would love ALL of the new beers they would produce with this additional space, but I sure would miss the old Starkeller. I think it's one of the cooler looking breweries. I love how it looks like a generic industrial complex on the outside, then when you step inside it's like a time portal.
     
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  20. Grave252

    Grave252 Initiate (0) Mar 12, 2017 Minnesota
    Trader

    Agreed. My wife and I have been to 150 breweries around the US and I can’t think of another that is so unassuming on the outside, yet so beautiful on the inside. It’s unfortunate it’s such a haul from the city, because it’s one of the cooler breweries in the state, and certainly has some of the finest beer. I wish more people could experience it.
     
    Victory_Sabre1973 likes this.
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