E-Malt.com News article: USA, ND: Laughing Sun Brewing to open in downtown Bismarck

Mike Frohlich and his business partner Todd Sattler are planning to open Laughing Sun Brewing in downtown Bismarck in September, Great Plains Examiner reported on July, 17.

They have already purchased the brewing equipment and leased space on Fifth Street north of Main Avenue for the brewpub. The City Commission approved a liquor license in late May.

“Everyone’s dying for this pub to open, people are really waiting,” Frohlich said. “We’re going to get there. It’s close now, it’s real.”

The last step is getting a permit from the U.S. government to begin brewing and selling beer. Frohlich said he expects to receive the federal permit by mid-July.

Federal approval has proved problematic for others who have attempted to begin marketing North Dakota’s first commercially available microbrew – Edwinton Brewing Company was set to launch in Mandan last year but was stymied by federal regulations. So far, there is no fully operational brewery in North Dakota.

At first, beer made by Laughing Sun Brewing will be available only at Frohlich’s brewpub. The brewery will have the capacity to produce about 400 barrels of beer per year, which isn’t enough to distribute on a wide scale. At some point, Frohlich said, the operation might grow large enough to begin selling beer through a distributor at other locations.

But customers will be able to buy half-gallon growlers of beer to take home with them, Frohlich said.

“If we can’t make enough beer to keep up with demand, that would be a good problem to have,” he said. “But we want to see how it goes before investing in more brewing equipment.”

Right now, Frohlich’s garage is packed full of stainless steel beer tanks – some so large that he had to flip them on their sides to fit them through the garage door. He has had some of the equipment for years while brewing beer for family and friends, and the rest he purchased recently to prepare for the brewpub’s launch.

Laughing Sun will have five regular beers on tap, with one seasonal beer in the rotation. Frohlich believes he’s perfected his beers and has won numerous awards to prove it. He says his friends and family like it so much that he can hardly keep enough for himself.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” he said. “A lot of people think they can brew beer, but brewing good beer consistently is a lot more difficult than it might seem.”

Renovations will begin after installation of the brewing equipment. Frohlich said he thinks the new brewpub will fit in with the development happening in Downtown Bismarck.


18 July, 2012