Minnesota's Biggest Breweries Ranked

Very similar to last year's results.

P.S. A subscription is worth it for some of us, I'm sure.

 

Fulton at 8,500? Not bad for a contract brewery.

 

Schells grainbelt probably is the best selling beer in our state.

 

Summits Distro is interesting more states than i thought

 

Anyone else surprised 3rd St was ranked so high? I didn't realize they were so popular.

And does Summit's Union series make it out of the state? I throw them in as extras for trades sometimes...

 

Thanks for the link. Interesting to see a few of those on the list.

 

I think 3rd street also counts the contracts they brew...

Can someone post the whole list somehow...

 

Does 3rd Street do contract brewing? I thought they were just the craft brewing face of Cold Spring, and Cold Spring was where the contract brews were brewed. I could be completely wrong though.

 

I think you are more right than me. Looked at the website and they are different. 3rd street could be that big. They are all over. And they brew good beer at a good price point.

 

The number for Third Street/Cold Spring almost definitely includes their own line plus those beers that they brew and co-package (21st Amendment). The total for the Third Street family of beer is almost certainily under 30 thousand barrels.

 

If they're counting the contract in the numbers then I'd look for them to drop in the ranking. 21st Amendment announced not to long ago that they're breaking ground on their own brewing system to bring it in house. Probably better for everyone in the long run, especially considering the water issues I keep hearing about in Cold Spring.

 

Correct.

Cold Spring provides Brewers Association with a figure for total barrels of beer brewed per year. They have been dues-paying members of Brewers Association since way back, and Brewers Association effectively inflates their numbers (or -rather- conflates all of their beer as Craft Beer, despite some of it being brewed with adjunct or under contract. Hey, don't ask me how it works! Uncle Charlie makes his own rules, dammit~!)

Cold Spring's water issues are various, but the focus has mainly been due to the wastewater treatment aspect. I did a bit off research on all of that a while ago.

 

Not me -- I'm too cheap to pay for that site! But there's a "Top Ten List" at this link -- scroll down a bit:

 

I'm not sure how the Cold Spring name is used these days. I do know that the old Cold Spring brewhouse is no longer used however. All of the beer produced for contract and their house brands is brewed on Third St's state of the art multi million dollar equipment.

 

What are these water issues in Cold Spring you keep hearing about?

 

I don't believe this forum is the proper place to discuss details, but this recent article comes to mind:
http://tcbmag.com/News/Recent-News/2014/March/State-Wants-Growing-Brewery-To-Find-New-Water-Sour

 

In all seriousness, the DNR does not fuck around when it comes to trout streams.

Water use will become more of an issue in the next few decades and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out with the brewing industry.