E-Malt.com News article: USA, MN: Bent Paddle Brewing Co. opens in Duluth

Duluth’s growing reputation as a craft beer hub is about to get another boost, Duluth News Tribune reported on May, 15.

Bent Paddle Brewing Co., the city’s latest microbrewery, will open for business on May, 16 in Lincoln Park.

Experienced brewmasters Colin Mullen and Bryon Tonnis are behind the venture, along with their wives. The two couples chose Duluth to start their brewery because they felt there was more room for growth in Duluth and, they say, Lake Superior water is better for brewing.

After nearly three years of planning and preparation, six months of construction and a solid business plan, they are launching their business with their first two flagship beers: Bent Paddle Black, an oat-infused black ale, and Bent Hop, a golden India pale ale. Two more flagship beers, an extra special bitter called 14 degree ESB, and a craft lager called Venture Pils, will be added this summer. A changing line-up of seasonal offerings will follow.

“It’s a surreal feeling being on the cusp of opening the doors,” Tonnis said. “There’s so much work that went into this. It just doesn’t feel real sometimes. But it sure is.”

Bent Paddle beer will be sold by the keg and six-packs of 12-ounce cans in area bars, liquor stores, restaurants and event facilities.

Bent Paddle is the latest in a growing number of microbreweries and brewpubs in the Twin Ports that are turning Duluth into a craft beer destination for beer lovers.

Don Hoag, a founder and co-owner of Lake Superior Brewing Co., a production brewery just eight blocks from Bent Paddle, hopes the new brewery will bring more attention to beers produced in Duluth.

“On a certain level we will be competitors,” Hoag said. “There are a limited number of tap lines in bars and limited room on store shelves. But the vast majority of beer consumed in Duluth isn’t brewed here.”

He noted the competition from large, highly promoted craft breweries in places like Alaska and Colorado that are selling their beers in Duluth.

“Our challenge is to get more people in Duluth drinking beer made in Duluth,” he said. “First, we have to make a good product, which we do. If we continue to brew good products in town, and people like them, we’re all better off. So I see it as a good opportunity.”

Bent Paddle owners aim to produce 1,800 to 2,000 barrels the first year, but they have the equipment to increase that to 4,500 barrels. At 10,600 square feet, the warehouse is big enough to accommodate two more rows of fermenters that could increase production to 20,000 barrels a year if the demand is there, the owners say.

That’s ambitious.

It has taken Lake Superior Brewing Co., the largest of the two other production breweries in Duluth, 19 years to approach 2,000 barrels a year.

Lake Superior Brewing also is creating a taproom, but at 400 square feet, it will be one-third the size of Bent Paddle’s taproom. Lake Superior Brewing’s taproom will be open only for brewery tours and not as a source of revenue.

Until the Minnesota Legislature passed the Surly bill in 2011, production breweries couldn’t sell pints or glasses of their beer on site. In Duluth, Lake Superior Brewing Co. was the first to get a license to do so, but Bent Paddle’s will be the first to open.

Hoag noted that a lot of breweries are opening up with taprooms as a source of needed income, especially in the Twin Cities area.

“A taproom makes a new brewery a lot more viable,” he said. “We’re fundamentally different. We’re based on partnerships with our retailers. So although we will have a taproom, it’s really for people who take tours. Our business model doesn’t depend on that. We’re brewers, we’re not in the bar business.”

Bent Paddle’s beers will sell for $3 to $5 a glass and refills of previously purchased 64-ounce growlers will be $10.


15 May, 2013