Twin Cities Area Brewpubs and Taprooms plus Minnesota Breweries-in-Planning 2017

Reads 13364 • Replies 116 • Started Monday, January 16, 2017 5:49:23 PM CT

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Message JK beers 7296 º places 442 º 13:00 Mon 4/10/2017 I hope this one happens. http://www.citypages.com/restaurants/a-pre-civil-war-brewery-and-wurstery-is-coming-to-st-paul/418680303
Message islay beers 3622 º places 18 º 12:38 Tue 4/11/2017 Sam from Sisyphus has divulged his scuttled plan to buy Dave’s BrewFarm last year. It was a very exciting possible merger of two of the best breweries in the Upper Midwest that unfortunately fell through. Edit: Sam’s post suggests that it may still be a possibility down the road. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/breweries-opening-in-the-minnesota-2017-2018.479445/page-13#post-5386389 The BizQuest brewery-for-sale post has been taken down. More info on HeadFlyer, which has a grand opening for its Nordeast Minneapolis taproom on 4-22-17: http://growlermag.com/now-open-or-damn-close-headflyer-brewing/
Message MatSciGuy beers 924 º 12:23 Wed 4/12/2017 Not a brewery-in-planning post, but South Fork brewing in Delano has closed and rumors swirling that Borealis is closing up shop as well.

Message deyholla P beers 21617 º places 849 º 14:10 Wed 4/12/2017 Originally posted by MatSciGuy Not a brewery-in-planning post, but South Fork brewing in Delano has closed and rumors swirling that Borealis is closing up shop as well. Can’t say I am surprised on South Fork at all. Stopped in once and place was empty. Did not enjoy the beer particularly.
Message JK beers 7296 º places 442 º 14:58 Wed 4/12/2017 Borealis made a lot of beers that sounded good, on paper, but they never turned out very well. Derek do you remember their Berliner at APN last year? I gave it a .5. I think you liked the dank cheese flavor and were generous with 1.0.
Message islay beers 3622 º places 18 º 16:56 Wed 4/12/2017 Originally posted by MatSciGuy Not a brewery-in-planning post, but South Fork brewing in Delano has closed and rumors swirling that Borealis is closing up shop as well. Do you know if South Fork is temporarily or permanently closed? There’s been talk that it’s temporarily shuttered pending a sale, but I don’t know if that’s the latest news. South Fork seemed to struggle from the beginning with brewing flaws, an uninspired taproom setting, and vastly superior competition (Lupine) mere feet away. South Fork also lost its original head brewer, who is working on The Lincoln Brewery, in planning for Eyota. I believe that one of the owners, who had limited or no previous brewing experience, took over after the original head brewer left.
Message sthlm beers 790 º places 147 º 21:13 Wed 4/12/2017 Originally posted by MatSciGuy ...rumors swirling that Borealis is closing up shop as well. Sad to see a local place go under, but doesn’t surprise me at all. I haven’t bought their stuff in a long time--as others stated, the beers often sounded interesting, but they just weren’t that enjoyable.

Message islay beers 3622 º places 18 º 10:06 Thu 4/13/2017 Forager, the Rochester brewpub that has generated a lot of buzz in Minnesota, on April 20 is bringing some of its beers and food to Ansari’s in Eagan, which quietly has turned itself into a pretty good beer spot. Why am I posting this information here rather than in "Twin Cities Beer About Town?" I’m glad you asked. You see, Forager is a brewpub, and, as such, under Minnesota law, it’s not allowed to distribute its beers outside of restaurants under the same ownership. So how is Forager able to do a tap takeover elsewhere? I don’t know, but my guess is that it’s counting as a pop-up restaurant that is renting out the Ansari’s space for the evening. I can’t remember another brewpub doing anything like this. If this indeed is legal, it’s an exciting development that chips away at the outdated and unnecessary brewery/brewpub separation to which this state stubbornly clings. Hat tip to JakeJohnson at the other site. https://www.facebook.com/events/289135114841030/
Message Stine beers 1810 º places 259 º 12:41 Thu 4/13/2017 Islay, your guess re: Forager and Ansari’s is correct. The same arrangement made possible the Forager beer dinner held at Borough last month. There’ll be a pop-up of this variety at the Bachelor Farmer sometime this summer.
Message Steasy66 beers 1156 º places 10 º 13:50 Thu 4/13/2017 I spoke to the Forager guys the last time they did this at Ansari’s. They said they were able to do this because they have a catering license and were catering the event. I have no idea if there is a legal difference between catering and pop-up restaurant, mostly because I have no idea what the second thing is.