USA, ND: Fargo’s Kilstone Brewing announces closure, abandons plans to open new facility

Kilstone Brewing has announced it will close its brewery in north Fargo and abandon plans to establish a production facility and taproom in downtown Fargo, INFORUM reported.

The news came via a Facebook post Monday, Oct. 14:

"With heavy hearts we reluctantly announce our plans to shut down production at our brewery and abandon our move to the heart of downtown Fargo. We will be continuing our taproom operations through the weekend of October 26th and will be using that weekend to say farewell and thank you to those who have supported the brewery since we opened in the spring of 2015."

The post went on to say while there was no one factor that led to the closure, the proposed move downtown had a lot to do with it.

"While there is no single factor that has brought us to this decision, the projected investment of the downtown project along with the logistics of manufacturing downtown made the project untenable. Despite an increase in traffic to our tiny taproom and a growing presence in the local offsale market, the current location is also unsustainable and therefore we are forced to face the facts and walk away knowing we had a hand in growing our local craft beer scene."

Randy Wigen opened Kilstone Brewing at 764 34th St. N. in Fargo in 2015 with the help of his wife, Jan, and sons, Grant and Brock.

In February 2018, The Forum reported Wigen's plans to open a taproom and production facility in the former Absolute Marketing Group location at 1440 4th Ave. N. in downtown Fargo.

The Facebook post went on to thank customers for their patronage and to invite them to help "drain the last of the kegs" Oct. 26:

"As a small, family business with big dreams for the future, this decision was not an easy one to make. We are especially proud of the quality of our beer and our increased market presence, as of late. For those who gave us constant support, we would love to see you a few more times before we say our final goodbyes. To those who haven't visited us in a long time or never found their way to our tucked away taproom, we invite you to come taste our final brews because we believe we have some interesting and tasty things for you to try, including our final beer release: a brand new Russian Imperial Stout conditioned on cacao nibs and vanilla beans that we are calling “Thank You Cake” or “спасибо торт” (pronounced spasibo tort).

Our final day in the taproom will be Saturday, October 26th. Come on in and help us drain the last of the kegs! Thanks again for the patronage."

20 October, 2019