COVID-19 and MN Taprooms

Roets Jordan has closed for the rest of March.

 

Bang Brewery is closed until further notice.

 

I understand if they feel the need to close but I would think stepping up offerings in crowlers would be a good option.

 

Add Fair State to the list:

 

My standing until state ordered at least offer to go offers. This dilemma will shutter more than a few brewery/taprooms in MN.

 

Sure would be nice if all breweries could offer growler sales...
Surly's Beer Hall and Pizza are still open for business, but capacity has been drastically cut to allow for appropriate distancing. Traffic has been (understandably) slow.
For the first time ever, we're offering online ordering and curbside pick-up. We'll see how this goes.

 

On the Wild Mind Facebook page:


Wild Mind Artisan Ales
13 mins ·
It is finally at our doorsteps, Wild Mind is going dark effectively immediately for all taproom draft sales. Any weekly events are cancelled until further notice along with this weekend's Northern Discomfort. Employee and customer health is of the most important during this time and having a small Tasting Room that always feels like it is overflowing is not an effective way to curb community spread and flatten the curve. The CDC released new guidance yesterday evening advising no gatherings over 50 people for the next 8 weeks which led us to this decision voluntarily.

To be clear, we will not be halting production of beer that has currently been in planning and we will be selling off-sale bottles and crowlers directly. Our staff will work to get any beers on draft that we don't currently have into crowlers. We will be changing our hours for off-sale pickups from 12pm to 8pm every day and reassessing the situation daily. You can buy directly from store.wildmindales.com which includes 750ml bottles, crowlers, merchandise and E-gift cards. We can ship all merchandise, beer must be picked-up in person with valid ID and credit card used for the purchase. Send a message to 612-286-1777 with your order number if you purchase online and will bring it out to your vehicle.

We are currently researching ways to deliver beer direct but current MN laws might forbid that and we'll have an update for everyone as soon as we know more on deliveries.

For a business that relies on 95% of sales at the Tasting Room, this is a very hard decision for us and the impact will be hard. Please continue to support ALL local businesses during this difficult time.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support and we'll see everyone again when this is all done.


-Wild Mind

 

Yeah. Growler of BA Darkness would be great right about now.

 

You could still find that on the shelves a couple of days ago when I was at my local. Probably still can.

 

Yeah, but that's only 750ml. I want the economy of scale by getting larger format

 

There is no doubt that the goofy MN alcohol laws will hit brewers in this state unevenly during this time. Given the current laws, your online/pick-up business is limited to food and NA beverages. Worth a try, but it has to hit hard.

It seems to me (at least at this instant in time) that those brewers who depend on traditional distribution to retail stores are in better shape than the non-distributing brewpub operations ... at least unless/until the liquor stores start closing. Yes, customers can go to their favorite small brewer and buy growlers/crowlers/750s, but how many will compared with those who go to their taprooms?

Is that off base? (May very well be since I have no insider knowledge ...)

 

From St. Paul Brewing, via their Facebook page:


Saint Paul Brewing
31 mins ·
For the health and safety of our staff and community, we have decided to close our taproom until further notice. Growlers of our hand-crafted brews will still be available for purchase from 12-6pm daily. We wish you all the best of health and well-being during this time, and we look forward to welcoming you back into our space for a cold pint or two in the near future. Stay safe! -Saint Paul Brewing Team

 

And also Enki Brewing:


ENKI Brewing
55 mins ·
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ON ENKI TAPROOM OPERATIONS

Last week our taproom sales were surprisingly robust, actually higher than the prior week. Frankly, I expected to see a significant drop as the public heeded the recommendations of local and national health officials to avoid crowds and practice stringent personal hygiene measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus. I want to thank all of you for supporting ENKI Brewing and other small businesses during this difficult time.

While I appreciate your support, I cannot in good conscience put the economic interest of ENKI Brewing ahead of the well-being of our community. I am particularly concerned that people who gather to socialize in bars and restaurants will eventually come into contact with someone that is infected with the coronavirus. Even if a person exposed to the virus is healthy and suffers minimal or even no symptoms from the disease, that person is then one more pathway for spreading the disease to a vulnerable person who will not fare so well.

It is for this reason I have decided to limit sales to curbside pick-up of ENKI Big Cans and Food to-go. This change is going into effect immediately through March 31st. The ENKI Taproom will be closed to the public during this period. As March 31st approaches we will re-evaluate the closure based on public health guidance for community safety.

We will provide information on how to place online orders for ENKI Big Cans and Food to-go in subsequent communications.

Please take good care of yourselves and those around you by avoiding all unnecessary public contact to the extent that you can.

Sincerely,
John Hayes
Co-Founder
ENKI Brewing Co.

 

And, now, Bad Habit:


Bad Habit Brewing Company
17 mins ·
Thank you all for allowing me a few minutes of your time to share an update regarding COVID-19 and what it means for Bad Habit Brewing.

First off, I would like to express a heartfelt thank you to all our friends and family who visited us this week. It’s truly a blessing to see so many wonderful faces and loving support. Bad Habit has always prided itself on being first and foremost, a taproom driven business. We have over the last 4 years worked diligently to hire the best and most knowledgeable staff and our greatest concern is the health and safety of the employees, their families and our customers.

Last week we implemented increased cleaning and sanitizing of shared surfaces, as well as several other changes to limit the risk for our employees and customers. With new developments this last weekend from the CDC we feel as though we weren’t doing enough to limit the close proximity of our taproom and interactions between our employees and customers. We have been busier than normal and that makes those interactions more difficult to control.

After many discussions the last 24 hours we felt the responsibility to make an educated decision about our taproom business. This decision has not been an easy one. There is much pain in knowing we have incredible beer that is waiting to be shared with friends, family and customers in our taproom.

The Bad Habit taproom will be closing to the public starting Wednesday March 18th. We will reassess this decision on a continuous basis as it relates to the health,
safety, and risk to our staff, their families, & our customers.
Starting Wednesday March 18th we will be shifting our business to off-sale (drive up crowlers and growlers) only for limited hours each day. We will be utilizing our parking lot (West entrance door) as a pick-up spot for our customers. *Details coming soon*

We know that there are many people reading this that are in much more difficult situations than us – and our hearts are with you. Things will get better and the Bad Habit taproom will rock again! We love you all and please feel free to reach out to Aaron or Eric at any time.

Aaron Rieland
[email protected]
Eric Geier
[email protected]


5252

 

Indeed Brewing just shut it down. I suspect in the coming days most bars ,restaurants will follow or be mandated to.

 

As someone who owns a restaurant, that's what I'm worried about.

 

Mayor Frey just declared a local public health emergency.

 

As did the mayor of St. Cloud.

https://knsiradio.com/news/local-news/st-cloud-mayor-declares-local-emergency?sc_ref=facebook

EDIT:

Junkyard is also take out only now. Good thing I went there yesterday:


Junkyard Brewing Company
8 mins ·
We will be open for OFF SALE only starting tonight, Monday, March 16th. You all know what's going on out there so we hope you understand why we are making this adjustment. Our cooler is stocked up with plenty of varieties ready to take home.
Best wishes, -the Junkyard Crew.