Crafting Community And Beer At 320 Brewing

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_03 (00:10):
And welcome in, everybody, ladies and gentlemen,
boys and girls.
Well, probably not boys andgirls.
Everybody of drinking age.
Well, I guess anybody else couldprobably listen to it.
It doesn't have to even be that.
Uh Andy Beckstrom along withShotfield.
Uh joined uh by Lee Ankram heretoday.
Uh new episode of uh Two Guys inBeer Podcast.
Glad you could join us out herein the beer cast studio, beer

(00:31):
cast studio.
That works.
I like it, but we'll go withthat.
That'll that sounds good enoughfor me.
Uh joined, as I mentioned here,Lee Ankram from uh 320 Brewing
in Pine City.
Glad you could join us today.
Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
Yeah, thanks a lot for coming on.
We appreciate your time as well.

SPEAKER_03 (00:44):
We've uh had been we were kind of joking a little bit
before that we've been uh kindof planning this for quite some
time.
It just you know we had thesnowstorm and then there was a
Vikings game and then the SuperBowl, and it was kind of like
what's the next thing that'sgonna happen?

SPEAKER_00 (00:57):
I think it was like January last year or this year,
I guess, but the last winter.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01):
That was a while ago, yeah.
Priorities, you know, prioritiescome up.

SPEAKER_03 (01:04):
Yep, absolutely.
But you know, hey, we we got itgoing and we got it here, so
we're all set to go.
So we're talking uh 320 brewingin Pine City, Minnesota, and uh
Lee joining us today, kind of tobe able to do that.
Many different kinds of beers.
Uh do you have an idea of kindof what you have here?
If you can kind of take usthrough or give us kind of an
idea of some of the beers, andthen we'll kind of hit the uh
the best part of the uh I guessmy opinion, the best part of the

(01:27):
cracking and drinking them.

SPEAKER_00 (01:29):
Uh sure.
So the first one I see rightthere is called Pontoon Cowboy.
It's kind of like a Belgianwhip, but call it a white ale, a
little bit more Americanized,just uh lighter than blue moon,
is what I've been tellingpeople.
And uh that's kind of been ourlike summertime crusher.
Serves with an orange slice inthe tap room.
Um so yeah, brew the last batchof it.
I think we're almost on like thelast keg of it.

(01:50):
So summer's going away, so isthat beer.
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (01:54):
I was just gonna ask that question.
Is that a seasonal beer for you?
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
Yeah, we just started in the beginning of of
the summer this year, and it'sbeen crushing.
All right.
In the middle there in thatorange can we got Oktoberfest.
Just released that first day ofOktoberfest, which was just last
Saturday.
So yeah, a lot of people like tobring their Oktoberfest out way
too early, in my opinion.
I like to keep a traditional.
Sure.
So that one got released lastSaturday, tasting real good.

(02:18):
Frilly Toothpicks is a pale alethat I opened up with and that
I'm really proud of.
It's got Cascade CGX, which islike just kind of like a
hyperized cascade, and Simcoe,which are just like old school
hop, new school hop, goestogether with like kind of a
classic pale ale.
I say like it's Sierra Nevada onpale on steroids.
All right, nice.

(02:39):
Uh one of the white cans is uh ajuicy IPA that just came out
called Mindburst.
Juicy is this kind of like blackor vague term that's like in
between hazy and west coast.
So it's still got a decentamount of IBUs on it, but it's
not like dry your mouth out kindof bitterness.
It's you know, you're gonna wantanother sip, but you don't need

(03:00):
to, I guess.
In the middle there's I'll needto.

SPEAKER_03 (03:04):
Don't worry about that.

SPEAKER_00 (03:05):
Uh in the middle there, we got a New Zealand
Pilsner.
So it's a dry hop with NewZealand hops.
I worked with a guy out ofMalacca who used to have his own
hop farm and now he's doing likehop selection for people.
So it's kind of like a hopbroker.
So these New Zealand hops I gotto like pick when they were
picked in the harvest, I guess.
So they were both mid-pickMotaweka and Nelson Sabin, which

(03:28):
means means they're like danker,I guess.
So that was a cool collab that Idid with Pantown and St.
Cloud.
So he used a new experimentalWest Coast hop.
And I used some New Zealandhops, but the same exact base,
so you can go there, drink aWest Coast pills, and come to
320 and drink a New Zealandpills.
Different but very similar.

(03:49):
Then we got a porter called uhCoffee Coconut Happy Life
Porter, another beer that Iopened up with that went really
well.
Always like the um the flavorsof coffee and coconut together.
Old ownership used to do a happylife or a happy wife porter.
I am not married.
So I was gonna ask you if therewas a relation to that.

SPEAKER_03 (04:10):
So I guess that kind of makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 (04:12):
I have to change the name up a little bit, otherwise
I'd get confused.

SPEAKER_03 (04:17):
Well, uh Sean, I'll let you pick uh let you pick
first.
I have my mind on a couple acouple of them, but uh I'll let
you pick uh pick first.

SPEAKER_01 (04:24):
I have my mind on two of them too.
I was gonna let you pick andtake the rest, but uh but I'm
really interested in the the thepontoon one and the Oktoberfest,
but I think I'm gonna steal theOktoberfest out of there because
I really like Oktoberfest beer.

SPEAKER_03 (04:36):
So I was gonna take this juicy IPA over here.
So we weren't even close to thestreet.
Yeah, so that actually worksout.
The pontoon cowboy was gonna bekind of my backup on that one.
Ponto and cowboy, yeah.
Generally speaking, I think meand Sean are mostly kind of IPA,
not exclusively, but you know,like that's a lot of what we
tend to drink.
Sure.
So we've I was I'm definitelylooking forward to that.
My brother-in-law, especially,is gonna be looking forward to

(04:57):
it as well.

SPEAKER_01 (04:58):
And last year, Andy and I actually went to
Oktoberfest in Germany.
Oh, sweet.
Oh, that was a blast.
So much fun.
Have you ever had a chance to goout there or any Oktoberfest
festivals that are I went to uhprobably six, seven years ago.

SPEAKER_00 (05:11):
I went to Oktoberfest.
I just went for one day and thengot to kind of travel around
Germany.
Sure.
Uh went to a couple differentplaces, but yeah, blast.

SPEAKER_01 (05:19):
It is so much fun.
Yeah, we I couldn't believe it,but it opened at 10.
And with a 1005, everybody'salready got beer in their hands,
having a good time.
I'm like, this is fun as heck,man.
It was absolutely amazing.
Nobody cares, everybody's justsloshing beer, singing, having a
good time.

SPEAKER_03 (05:35):
Yeah, even by the end of the day, that's the
remote that was a remarkablething.
It in a way, how do I describeit?
In a way, it was almost kind ofreminding me of the biggest
brewery ever.
From the standpoint of there wasI remember you had mentioned
Malacca before at one point theywere talking about putting a
brewery in Malacca, but theyneeded to rezone.
It's it's like one building onthe corner of a block and it's
in the middle of town, and theywould zone for the entire block.

(05:57):
So obviously it'd becomeresidential because this
construction company went out ofbusiness, I don't know, 50 years
ago or something like that.
Really cool looking building,but uh they couldn't get it
rezoned because everybody wouldgo to the council meetings, be
like, no, we don't need anotherbar in town and people driving
like crazy and stuff like that.
And I'm like, Yeah, have youever been to a brewery?
Like, and that's kind of whatlike Oktoberfest did to me a

(06:17):
gigantic, obviously, drinkingbeer party, yeah, but like
nobody's there causing problems,nobody's getting in fights,
they're not doing anything toowild, they're just like, you
know what, let's have some moregood times.

SPEAKER_00 (06:28):
So did you guys do any of the rides when you were
there?
I just learned about all thesebecause like I didn't see them
when I was there, I was justthere for one day.
But yeah, there's like a wheelbasically like on like this, but
a little bit bigger, and itstarts spinning and it goes
faster and faster.
Yeah, and the last person onlike wins, I guess.

(06:49):
We've seen some of those.

SPEAKER_03 (06:50):
There was and there's one, isn't it like a
like a on the conveyor belt?

SPEAKER_01 (06:55):
On this conveyor belt that's spinning like this,
yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (06:57):
And isn't there one that like goes uphill too or
something like that?
Like there's we've seen some ofthose too, and we're like, oh,
we're gonna do those.
And I don't think we found them.
And by the time we thought of itat the end of the night, it
would have been a terrible idea.
We would have been some of theTikTok videos.

SPEAKER_01 (07:10):
There were too many leaders in at that point, but
yeah, yeah.
No, we didn't uh we didn't evenfind them or look for them.
But yeah, we saw the videos ofthem, and that was the whole
plan.
Oh, let's go do that, it'll begreat times.
Yeah, we never got that far.

SPEAKER_03 (07:22):
If you ever see the short that we had done, we did a
live uh short uh out there, anduh you know, at the time in my
mind, it seemed like no, thiswent really well.
I thought this was really good.
And it came out a little bitlater, and I rewatched it back,
and I'm kind of like it was wewere a few liters in at that
point.

SPEAKER_01 (07:41):
So it was a good time.
Well, let's get this and crackit open and try it.

SPEAKER_03 (07:44):
So the uh best part, I guess, in in our opinion, we
like to crack fresh on air.
Oh it's probably a lot of uhbeer in the uh probably mics,
but it's okay, it's fine.
It's not worse things to be inthere.

SPEAKER_02 (07:58):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (08:00):
Oh, that is good.
I like that a lot.
Definitely get the hops withthat.
It's not you know like superoverwhelming, you know, like a
huge IPA, but it's it's got theright, I feel like it's got the
right amount of hops.
I can definitely tell whatyou're saying that it's kind of
that juicy where it's kind of inbetween, yeah.
You know, a little bit of thatdown flavor, a little bit on
each side.
That's really good.
I like that a lot.

SPEAKER_01 (08:20):
Yeah, I really like this Oktoberfest too, and I'm
not just saying that becauseyou're sitting in our chair with
us.
Kind of critical of Oktoberfestbeer because they can change
such a crazy amount ofdifference between them.
I'll tell you, my favoriteOktoberfest is Shells.
Oh, yeah.
I think I would match this withShells.
Not like the same flavor, but asa number one favorite choice of

(08:41):
all the Oktoberfest beer I'vehad.
This would be my number one tiedwith shells, in my opinion.
I want to be super goodly.
I'm really freaking good.
Like I want a bunch more.
I know we're gonna be stoppingin soon before you stop brewing
this for sure.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 (08:57):
Very good.
Yeah, it turned out really goodlast year.
I'm like also critical.
Like a lot of Oktoberfests Idon't even like.
So I researched the shit out ofit and came up with this this
recipe.
Turned out really well lastyear.
And I was like, well, the exactsame thing, not changing, not
changing a thing.

SPEAKER_01 (09:14):
So is this the only time you brewed it?
Was this year and last year?
Because we know you've beenbrewing and brewmasters and
other breweries before youpurchase 320.
Is this the first your own?

SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
Uh I think I took like a couple things, but like I
think the biggest driver in thatbeer is the yeast.
Um so I used Bach Yeast, whichI've had.
Like a couple friends have usedBach Yeast in Oktoberfest, and I
was like, I like that betterthan some of the more
traditional yeast choices.
So yeah, I did that, and yeah.
So I kind of borrowed fromthings that I have done.

(09:45):
Sure.
That was probably the biggestchange.

SPEAKER_01 (09:47):
Right.
Super good.
Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (09:50):
So uh we talked a little bit, uh, John just
mentioning that you had beensome other places, and it's you
had purchased 320, how long agowas it?
What do we a couple years now?
Uh closing date was May 1st oflast year.
So geez, I feel like it waslonger than it feels like it's
not in a bad way.
I suppose for you, it's probablylike, oh my goodness.
Well, what was kind of thattransition like?

(10:11):
Just that, you know, we got abunch more stuff we'll get to,
but just that you know, when youmade the decision, when you seen
it, you get into it and you signthe paperwork now to make your
vision kind of come to fruition,I guess.

SPEAKER_00 (10:24):
Yeah, I guess I didn't think it was ever gonna
actually happen.
I just kind of kept saying yesto everything, and like there
was like there was a every daywhen I after I said like I think
I'm gonna do it to like I knowI'm gonna do it, it was like
there was another hurdle of likeeither financing or like laws or
like whatever.
Yeah, it was just like every daythere was something I had to do

(10:45):
for this business that I don'tknow how long it took me to
purchase, but it was basicallysince Deer Opener in Minnesota
to May 1st.
So like it took that long tolike figure all the stuff out.

SPEAKER_03 (10:58):
I remember the like the kind of the announcement of
the decision to do that, yeah.
And I was like, oh, okay, cool,you know, like you know, keep
going and you know, whatever.
And and it seemed like, okay, isthis is it still happening?
Like, is it actually and thenall of a sudden there's an
announcement, you guys are gonnabe, it was like a month you were
closed or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 (11:14):
Yeah, for a change of ownership, there had had to
be, I don't know, governmenttakes a while.

SPEAKER_03 (11:18):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
I was gonna ask if that was like a mandated kind of
specifically because it's beerand a brewery and alcohol that
it uh so I like started my ownLLC.

SPEAKER_00 (11:26):
I didn't like buy the LLC.
Okay, got it.
So I couldn't just like use uhNicholson's license.
I had to like get my own.
So okay.

SPEAKER_01 (11:35):
So it was like starting all over from square
one and you agreed to that madethe decision.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (11:41):
Cool.
So you know you get into that,and uh let's kind of take it
back first.
We'll go back a little bit.
So when did you kind of get theI don't know if inspiration is
the right way to put it, butwhen you decided, you know what,
you know what, I'm gonnaactually not just brew beer in
my garage or wherever it may be,you know, in the kitchen stove
like I've done in the past, youknow.

(12:02):
And we'll show you the pictureof the mixer at some point.
You know, like when did youdecide, you know what, I'm gonna
apply it a place, I'm gonna makethis into a career, like kind of
that whole process.
Yeah.
So keep drinking, keep talking,I'm gonna keep drinking.

SPEAKER_00 (12:14):
All right.
Uh my said my process, I guess,was a little bit differently.
I never really was a homebrewer.
I like hung out with friendsthat were homebrewers.
And so when they were doingthat, I was really interested in
like going out and snowboardingevery winter.
So I would go do that, come backin the summer.
My friends would be homebrewing, I would just get
another Joe job or whatever.

(12:36):
And after about four years ofgoing out, snowboard
instruction, then coming back toMinnesota, one of the friends
that was doing home brewingbrought it to one of his rich
uncles for Christmas party.
And they're like, you know what?
Maybe we should start a brewery.
And I guess they talked to Omarat Surle of like, I don't know,
finances, and they got likereally like jazzed about this

(12:58):
idea of like retiring early.
So basically didn't happen.
Uh but basically it was like myfriend that was home brewing,
his rich uncle financed what isnow known as Linlake Brewery.
Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 (13:12):
So gotcha.
And I I've been there a coupleof times in the past too.

SPEAKER_00 (13:17):
Yeah.
So I just got a job there forrenovation construction, and
then they're like, you work yourass off.
You should probably like cleansome tanks and stuff.
So I did that.
I just kind of like I don'tknow, kind of just found me, I
guess.
I didn't really apply foranything.

SPEAKER_03 (13:31):
Oh, interesting.
Yeah, I suppose you know there'ssomething to be had for hard
work and just effort.

SPEAKER_02 (13:36):
I guess you're yeah.

unknown (13:39):
Cool.

SPEAKER_03 (13:39):
So uh Lin Lake, and then you spend some time with uh
Is it Dangerous Man?
Yep.
Which is really too bad.
We can talk about that whole indifferent conversation on that
one.
But uh episode, yeah.
What was uh that kind ofexperience like then going from
one brewery to another?
Because you'd kind of I don'tknow if grown up in that was
maybe a way to be able to putit, but then transition to like
a whole different uh atmosphereand different deal.

SPEAKER_00 (14:01):
Yeah, so like the the head brewer of Linlife, the
one that started at Joel Carlsontaught me everything, and we
were both kind of we wereactually trying to start a
brewery together before I wentto Dangerous Man.
We were actually talking to theowners of Blue Door.
We were gonna start it's calledEat Street, it's on Nicolet in
like Minneapolis.
We were actually gonna start abrewery there, but their

(14:21):
financing like fell through.
So we were actually about tolike jump from Lin Lake to start
our own thing, and then thatdidn't happen.
So we kind of started lookingfor jobs.
So I got a job at Dangerous Man,he went to Fair State, and then
yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (14:35):
Cool.
And then how did you find outthat 320?
I guess that's a kind of anintriguing question, you know,
if from my standpoint.
Like I didn't even know thatthey were looking at that, but
is that just something thatthrew the grapevine or like how
did that even come about?

SPEAKER_00 (14:48):
I think it was the day after like Dangerous Man's
last day that Nick texted my oldboss, the owner of Dangerous
Man, Sarah, and she texted me.
So I basically woke up with apretty bad hangover and uh, do
you want to buy a brewer?
And I was like, I thought I wasjust done with this.

(15:09):
Okay, I guess.
I was kind of looking for adifferent career path.
Sure.

SPEAKER_01 (15:13):
So what did you do at Dangerous Man?
Were you like the headbrewermaster?
Did you create beer there too?

SPEAKER_00 (15:18):
Or yep, yep.
So I was there for seven years,probably the first few.
It was very much like likecollaborative.
No one really ever had brewertitle there um until the last
few years I held that title,mostly because one of my
friends, John Lying, startedNine Mile down in Bloomington,
and then they were also startingthis like production area.

(15:39):
So like I was the head brewer ofMinneapolis, I guess.
Oh, cool.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (15:44):
So you you talk about you know, this person and
that person, everything likethat.
It really is just kind of asmall community, really overall,
especially in the metro area,because there's not that many
people they supposed to do it.

SPEAKER_00 (15:55):
Yep.
Yeah, I don't know.
You know, like it's for somepeople like job retention isn't
as crazy as it was at DangerousMan.
I feel like everyone atDangerous Man stayed there as
long as they could, buteverywhere else it seemed like
there was always changing stuff.
So you meet everybody somewhereor other.
Also, there's beer fests.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 (16:14):
Yeah, I think Brandon's talked a little bit
about that.
We have a friend that does somehome brewing.
He's not at a brewery anywhere,but we've been trying to kind of
talk to him about the same kindof thing.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (16:23):
Yeah, I think he actually has got he won
something, so a local brewery inMinnesota is putting his stuff
on tap there.
I forget the name of the brewerynow, but he posted.
But his is Olive Street brewing,his home brew stuff.
I don't know if you ever heardof that or not, but he's got his
own tappers and his own stuff.
Oh, cool.
He's won what's four or fivefirst place in the state four

(16:44):
this year and last year, andhe's won some ribbons in other
states.
So we're trying to get him on.
We just haven't had to work thelogistics out for that yet.

SPEAKER_03 (16:53):
Where's he out of?
So he lives in uh is it CoonRapids there?
I don't know.
Kind of just by 10.
Okay.
Kind of up 10 a little bit.
So yeah.
Yeah, he's you know, like justhe likes just tinkering with it
you know more than anything.
So he does a good job too.
So now you've purchased 320 andyou were getting into that, and

(17:14):
uh you know, you're kind ofgoing through that that
month-long process.
Did you have kind of a vision ofwhat you wanted it to look like?
Did you have an idea of what youwanted the beers to be?
Like, or is it just kind of likea I so Sean made uh reference to
like that?
I had a bar at one point intime, and I think for me it was
I had kind of a big picture, butas soon as like I signed on the
dotted line, I went and I wokeup with the hangover the next

(17:35):
day after celebrating havingpurchased this thing or
whatever.
Now it was kind of like a wellnow what?
Kind of like now I gottaactually make it into something.
Right.
Like what was kind of thattransition, I guess, before you
know.

SPEAKER_00 (17:47):
Yeah, so like we went, I went there a couple
times with a few differentfriends up there when it was
still open before I purchasedit, and bounced ideas off of
them of like, you know, justlike interior design stuff.
And the main thing was like thelights and the ceiling and the
walls, like, and uh to put someof my own stuff on there.
So like all like the I don'tknow, there's a bunch of deer

(18:09):
skulls and plants in there, andlike all that's from my house.
So yeah, and like other littlethings that I found.
But yeah, I don't know.
I stressed over about paintcolor a lot.
So I went to like Sherman andWilliams probably like every
day.
I was just like, get a coffee,stop in, look at different
paints, and then go to work.

(18:31):
I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 (18:32):
And what is the how do you balance because obviously
since it's an existing brewery,there were people that were
there before.

SPEAKER_00 (18:39):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (18:40):
And you kind of want to have some of those people to
be able to come in, I wouldassume.
Yeah, 100%.
But at the same time, it's nowyours with your ideas, with your
kind of vision.

SPEAKER_02 (18:49):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (18:50):
How do you balance?
I mean, I know that there'sstill the blood, orange, blonde,
we still have the porter, eventhough we've renamed it now.
Yeah, we've gotten no no longera wife.
The less wife.
Yeah.
Um, but how do you kind ofbalance?
Is it just a sales thing, or wasit was there certain things that
like this is what I want to do,and these are the less
performing, or what is that kindof um that process like?

SPEAKER_00 (19:13):
When I took like when I took over, there was only
like three or four beers left ontap.
And so like there was like onekeg of everything.
So I think I like kept those on.
And the idea was for me to justlike oh take over like
everything.
Like Anti Interest Man, we hadflagships, but I don't even like
flagships.
I would like to just brew adifferent beer every time I

(19:35):
brew.
Like I I'm not a productionperson.
If I was, I would buy a biggerplace.
Like the brewery is the size ofthis studio.
Right.
Like so for when people likecomplain about like a flagship
being out, it's like sorry, buyme a bigger place.
I don't know.
Right.
What do you want me to do?

SPEAKER_02 (19:53):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (19:54):
But yeah, I don't know, it just kind of like
evolved.
I had like the beers that Iwanted to do.
I know I like I wanted a a fulltap list or like tab everything
full.
So I just filled the spots thatwere open and uh yeah, kept on
Blood Runge Blonde and did myown like light stuff, but
pontoon cowboys been was betterthan like when they made like an
ecentral light.

(20:15):
So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (20:16):
How's the like feedback from the community been
since you've been there?
Any negative stuff?
Oh, you changed our brewery?
Because 320 was pretty wellknown in the area and people
really liked it, you know.
Yeah, you had any issues withcommunity being a pain in your
butt or anything?

SPEAKER_00 (20:30):
No, not at all.
Uh I feel like we do like abunch of things for the
community and with thecommunity.
Like, yeah, I'm trying to likethrow events to get people
together like all the time.
Sure.
So yeah, they've treated mewell.
I try to treat them well.
And I have heard like thecustomer base has changed, but I
don't know.
Like there's nothing I could doabout that.
Yeah, well that's yeah, that'sthat's a natural evolution.

(20:52):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (20:52):
And when you want to be creative and brew your own
stuff, like that's the reasonwhy you're doing it.
So people's both change just onwhat they like to drink.

SPEAKER_00 (20:59):
So yeah, no, and all the uh past employees stayed on
for a while and then wished methe best when the slower time
came.
So I think it's been good.
Nice good cool.

SPEAKER_03 (21:09):
You talked about being part of the community.
Um, and one of the notes we havehere, we've talked numerous
different times on on thepodcast about you know, so many
different breweries come up withdifferent ways to give back.
Uh, whether it be, was it theone in Chicago that I think they
like, or no, uh Kansas City,they created like an own whole
recycling uh deal with that.

SPEAKER_01 (21:27):
Yeah, I was there this week in Boulevard Brewery.

SPEAKER_03 (21:29):
Yeah, boulevard, like things like that.
You know, like it seems likereally the greater community
tends to want to give back quitea bit.
You guys do pints for pine.
Kind of talk me through thatprocess and you know what that's
been like.

SPEAKER_00 (21:42):
Yeah.
So uh we just kind of did theexact same thing that old
ownership did uh last year, andwe didn't really see that great
of like give back, I guess.
It's like I don't know.
We were giving a dollar fromeach pint to a certain
organization, and the idea wasthat they would come there on
the first Friday or firstThursday of every month and like
showcase what they had going.

(22:03):
And some are good, some are bad.
Yeah, some people like have theclassic, I don't like beer.
So we funneled it down a lotthis year, and we just picked
four different organizationsthat we wanted to work with that
we knew would like throw a coolevent, and we knew it was going
to a good cause.
So that's what we did this year,and we're we're actually brewing
a beer with them.
Um so inviting them in, and thenthe entire length of the beer, a

(22:27):
dollar from each pint goes.
So that's really cool.
Yeah.
So far, the most fun one hasbeen I don't know if you guys
have heard of fishing for all.
It's a local fishing guide, justone guy, and he'll have like uh
part-time guys come up in theweekend, but they take people
out on the St.
Croix fish or whatever, teachthem how to fish or just take
them fishing if they're from outof town.

(22:49):
But then sometimes on theweekends they'll go down with
the bus and grab kids from thecity that don't ever know how to
fish, and they'll bring them uphere and they'll teach them how
to like hook a line.
Oh, nice.
Teach them how to like, youknow, fish.
That's cool.
Um yeah, he was at like themoney that we're giving to him
is for that pro bono work.
So he doesn't charge anythingfor it, obviously.

(23:10):
Oh, nice.
Yeah.
Evan, solid dude.
Awesome.
That's really cool.

SPEAKER_03 (23:15):
One of the things I will say that I've also been
very impressed with, you know,over the course of the last you
know year plus, that uh not thatthere wasn't any events before,
but at the same time, it doesfeel like you're kind of like if
you come to me with the idea ofan event and it sounds fun,
let's try it out.
Yeah, is that kind of theattitude?
Because there's some things thathave been like, oh, we're gonna

(23:36):
do like the box car racers, theother create the car races, and
you know, we had the out thespelling B.
I think I finished third inthat, by the way.
I think I did pretty good.
There was a lot of people there,that one.

SPEAKER_00 (23:48):
Yeah, the the first I first year was like, let's
create some hype, let's justthrow some stuff at the wall and
see what sticks.
We're just gonna try this stuff,and a lot of those things like
don't break the bank.
Like if it's not successful,we're just paying one of our
employees to like help host itor whatever.
So it didn't seem like that bigof a risk, I guess.

(24:08):
And we're still coming up withthe new crazy ideas, so yeah.
Some we've had it canceled justbecause we didn't want anyone
like to not come to the tap roombecause they think we're there,
and then there was only like afew people signed up.
Like we just canceled the talentshow, which I think just
September people are prettynon-committal.

SPEAKER_03 (24:25):
So and so now you also have food there.
Uh, there is the Tiki Tim'sthat's uh involved.
Yep.
Um, and then I have also uh beenI have attended a couple of
times now the either uh burgersand tots or the dogs and tots
events.
Uh is that you cooking backthere?
Or is it okay?
I thought that that's what I hadheard, but I wasn't sure.
Like it's been a lot of fun tobe able to we'll do that.

(24:47):
We'll get grab a group andOctober.

SPEAKER_00 (24:49):
It's gonna be uh Bratz or uh Burgers, Bratz and
Tots.
Brats and oh there we go.
Love it.
October the Octoberfest uhsausage plate.

SPEAKER_03 (24:57):
There we go.
I'm loving it.

SPEAKER_00 (25:00):
It's awesome.
Yeah, so before I got intosnowboarding, before I got into
brewing, I was going to culinaryschool and working in
restaurants.
So um that's kinda I don't know,there was a kitchen back there,
and I was like kind of drones into get back there.
So nice.
It's been fun.

SPEAKER_01 (25:17):
That's cool.
Yeah, the food's good too.
When we ran through Ragnarearlier this year and had the
tacos there, and they were good.

SPEAKER_03 (25:25):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it was it's a lot of fun.
Really cool place to be able togo.
Yeah.
So trying to kind of go throughkind of some of the list here,
try to keep myself on track alittle bit.
Take me through.
Do you know uh like a lot of thehistory, like prior history,
like the name 320 is I'massuming it's just a nod to the
zip code or area code, not zipcode, that'd be a code is what

(25:46):
I'm saying.
Yeah, there we go.
Okay, and then some of the otherthoughts, or do you what is your
kind of your philosophy movingforward from you know what it
was?

SPEAKER_00 (25:55):
Yeah, moving forward.
320, I so the reason I guessthat uh my former boss Sarah
texted me right away was becauseI almost bought a brewery down
in Minneapolis called BrokenClock.
Well, it was not Broken Clock,it was their old location.
They just recently moved.

SPEAKER_03 (26:14):
Yep.
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (26:15):
It was like kind of back in this corner and had a
huge parking lot, and I wasgoing to have that like a
motorcycle themed brewery,kinda, with like a bunch of live
music and motorcycle rallies andstuff.
But that like fell through in ahorrible fashion, and that was
kind of right before all this,so I totally forget the
question.
But keeping the name 320 was ehlike hard for me because I had

(26:39):
this vision of like thiscompletely other brand, but at
the same time, I was like, well,I don't want to scare away any
of the locals like coming inwith like you know a different
type of party than they werelooking for.

SPEAKER_03 (26:50):
So the broken clock is that the uh the cooperative
is that does that still exist inor is that yeah, 100%.
Okay.
I guess I there's only been tothe one that was just north of
5'6 brewing or 56 brewing.

SPEAKER_00 (27:03):
56?
Yeah.
So that was their old that wastheir old location.
Now they're south of 56 onMarshall, like on the main drag,
just south of wherePsychosusie's was.
Oh, okay.
Okay, yep.

SPEAKER_03 (27:15):
So Gotcha.
Okay.
Yeah, I'm fairly familiar with,you know, I usually remember
bits and pieces from when I'm inthat area.

SPEAKER_01 (27:21):
Yeah.
So we're talking about 320, andwe talked a little bit about
some of your past brewing atthose those other companies,
Dangerous Man and whatnot.
Is there anything lessons thatyou learned from those days that
you're able to carry with youinto your ownership of this new
brewery and the kind of thingsyou wanted to execute?

SPEAKER_00 (27:40):
Yeah, I mean, like besides just like the brewing
stuff, because obviously thatwas like every day.
But I don't know.
Like they really like there wasa reason that they had employee
retention.
So kinda like taking their modeland uh like putting the
employees first kind of thing.
I guess yeah, they had a lot ofcommunity involvement too, but

(28:03):
this place did before me, so I'mjust gonna kind of carrying the
torch of both of those.
So cool.

SPEAKER_03 (28:09):
So having been a uh a new owner of a business
myself, it's always kind of aninteresting question that a
couple of questions asked.
Yeah.
Uh what was probably the biggestthing that surprised you, uh,
either good or bad?
Like now you've purchased it,you own it, you've opened up,
and now it's fully you, and thisis whatever it is.
Here is my idea, and well,that's not at all what I thought

(28:31):
it was gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 (28:33):
Yeah, I don't know.
I guess the the clientele, notfor better or for worse or
whatever, but um when I firstlearned of this brewery, the
brewery that I was about tocreate with a friend was from
Rush City.
So I don't I asked, obviously, Iwas like, I know you're like
going off and doing differentthings, but I'm thinking about
still starting a brewery.
Do you know anyone in that area?

(28:54):
And he ran me to a friend thathe went to college with.
So I met up with her.
She kind of like showed mearound the town and like
introduced me to other people,and they were all like younger
than me or whatever.
And so now looking around in mylike regular crowd, it's people
much older than me.
So yeah.
I guess like the maybe I shouldhave done my research, but the

(29:17):
the age and the uh what peopleare into in Pine City was
misrepresented the first fewtimes I came to Pine City.

SPEAKER_03 (29:23):
Oh fair enough.
I suppose.
I suppose you get kind of anidea just on you know a couple
meetings.
Yeah, yeah.
Interesting.
And then it kind of timbled tothat.
If you could, now that you're alittle more than a year in, if
there's one thing that you couldmaybe redo right from the
get-go, is there anything thatcomes to your mind?
Uh, you know, maybe an event orjust anything, maybe that color
that you chose from ShermanWilliams that I'm gonna judge

(29:45):
you on later.

SPEAKER_00 (29:46):
Oh no, pewter green.
Pewter green is great.
Let's see, I'd probably startcooking food immediately.
I probably would have done lesstime trying to like partner with
people.
And trying to make it work andthen just like doing my own
thing for finding a chef?
Because yeah, I think that'slike down to the future.

SPEAKER_03 (30:07):
True.
Absolutely.
What's been you said kind of thefuture?
So you obviously you're doingwell and it kind of have a
vision for the future.
What has it been kind of likenow for you with the way the
industry has changed probably inthe last three, four years?
I mean, you're seeing probablymore closing in the metro area
than you are outstate, but atthe same time, it's probably

(30:27):
some people that you know andDangerous Man, one of them.
Like, what's that been kind oflike getting, you know, kind of
realizing what's happening, buttrying to overcome that, I
guess?

SPEAKER_00 (30:37):
Yeah.
I don't know.
Me and Travis were just talkingabout this like yesterday,
Travis, pizza pub guy.
And he was like, I don't know,it takes like five years for
anything from the city to get uphere.
So I figure I got like three.
I feel like I got three more.
Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 (30:53):
So talking about that, the challenges and
breweries have been closing alot lately, you know, maybe
because they're oversaturated.
Like 15 years ago, there wasbarely a brewery, you know, a
craft brewery.
And it was like a fun, oh, let'sgo to a brewery now.
They're here, here, here, andhere.
Um, so we're we're seeing somelosses there.
And I'm curious on the businessexpense side of it, with the

(31:14):
past couple years of cost ofrising goods, how's that been
affecting what you're able toproduce and output?

SPEAKER_00 (31:22):
Uh, I don't think it's like affecting what I can
produce.
It's affecting probably my wayof living more than anything,
because I'm like the first oneto fall on that sort.

SPEAKER_03 (31:29):
So you're not just getting rich and retiring early,
like you like the guy wastalking about before.

SPEAKER_00 (31:35):
I'm living in a fifth-wheel camper right now,
dude.

SPEAKER_01 (31:40):
Has it been pretty drastic, like price increases
though, on the business side forall the ingredients that you
need?

SPEAKER_00 (31:46):
I mean, it's been a like up and down, but since like
the war in re Ukraine, likeeverything's like kind of
skyrocketed.
Yeah, yeah.
It's like, I don't know, they'rethe biggest producers of wheat
or something like that.
Sure.
Um, so yeah, ever since then itwas like I just remember getting
like the emails when thatstarted of like price increase,
price increase.
Now everything's kind of likeplateaued.

SPEAKER_02 (32:05):
Oh god.

SPEAKER_00 (32:06):
And now everyone's like trying to give you a deal
or whatever, because like allthese places are closing.
There's like smaller, so now allthese suppliers are trying to
get you a better deal.
Sure, because there are surplusof stuff as well.
Oh, there's yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
No, when I did that New Zealandpills, like there was like a
quantity minimum, and then Icalled about it, and they're

(32:27):
like, oh yeah, well, whatever.
Are you buying hops?
Sweet.
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (32:31):
So let's go, let's get it going.
So do you get a chance?
You already said you bought somelocally some hops from Malacca
or a farmer out there.

SPEAKER_00 (32:38):
Are you able to get any other locally sourced
ingredients or uh when I was atI wanted to do a fresh hops beer
this year because I did one whenI was at Tangersman from a guy
right across the border, notlike dress or whatever, right
past there.
I think it's like Deer ValleyFarms.
I don't know.
I partnered with him for a beerand that turned out amazing.
And I want to do that again thisyear, but I have not had the

(33:01):
opportunity.

SPEAKER_03 (33:02):
Um, somebody that's got a lot of acreage, don't tell
my father-in-law.

SPEAKER_00 (33:09):
For hops, you say?
You know what?

SPEAKER_03 (33:13):
Me and my brother-in-law have been talking
about, you know, like hops andyou know, just all the greens,
like all the different stuff orwhatever.
So Dean keeps wanting to do hayand stuff like that.
And I'm like, well, hay'sselling for like 10 cents a bale
at this point.
So it's fine.

SPEAKER_01 (33:26):
Well, why not?
You have little hops growing onyour silo out there.

SPEAKER_03 (33:28):
Yeah, we got some out there.
I did a beer at one point intime.
Brandon did that, or whatever.
It's uh what are the three?
Cascades, Chinook, and somethingelse that starts with a C.
Centennial.
There we go.
Nailed it.
See, that's the trueprofessional right there.
Yeah.
It's all in there.
Good.
Yeah, so basically I was makingmy own beer.
So we can I got I gotta it onlywill fill up wet hop, maybe not

(33:51):
quite a five one of those uhwhat is it, the 30 quart totes,
like the rubber made total?
Might be able to get afive-gallon batch out of it.

SPEAKER_01 (33:59):
From the silo to the can.
There you go.
So when you're coming up withnew recipes, um, is there like a
research and development phaseyou do?
Do you just make a little andtry it and give it to some
people to try, or do you justboom, it's on tap for the whole
public?
Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 (34:14):
Yeah, I don't know.
I've never we pilot bashed atLin Light when we were like
still building the place, butthen we never used it after we
opened.
Oh, no.
So it was like it was tenbarrels or nothing.
Um so yeah, I don't know.
I've never like I said, I didn'treally homebrew too much.
Sure.
And I barely pilot brewed.
So like everything's kind ofbeen like this is the smallest

(34:36):
uh bur that I've you know workedin, sure.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (34:40):
All right, that's kind of neat.
So it's an idea.
Here it is, everybody have it.

SPEAKER_03 (34:45):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
What is kind of that a processlike you do you take suggestions
from people, or is it just whatkind of you want to do, or is
it, you know, like where do thewhere do the ideas come from?
Do you have like a suggestionbox?

SPEAKER_00 (34:58):
Like if I did, I would never look at it.
Uh but yeah, I don't know.
Um it inspiration comes fromeverywhere, right?
It's like the depends on youknow what people say they like
to drink.
So Pontium Cowboy, there's abrewery in Iceland called
Einstock, and they make a whiteale that I I had that.

(35:19):
I don't remember where he hadit.
Pizza Pub has an on tap all thetime for me.

SPEAKER_03 (35:22):
That might have been okay.
That might have been it mighthave been where I had it.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (35:26):
So I like that beer, but my brother-in-law really
like all he'll drink is eithersummer shandy or uh blue moon.
So it's like, how do I, youknow, kind of because like I
feel like he's like one of myconsumers, you know?

SPEAKER_01 (35:40):
True.

SPEAKER_00 (35:40):
And you had a shandy.
Made the shandy with um thefishing for all people.
Okay, gotcha.
That's what that's like.

SPEAKER_01 (35:47):
And we had those this summer when we were there
for a right stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (35:51):
Yeah, that's super good.
Yeah, super good.
Absolutely.
Well, cool.
Let's talk water.
We talked ingredients and waterbeing one of the biggest things.
Being in a city, do you run intowater profile issues, or it do
you have like a process forthat, or is it just you tasted
it and you're like, oh, this isgonna be fantastic and it's
great.

SPEAKER_00 (36:10):
No, so all the all the water at the brewery is RO.
So it's all stripped out throughan RO filter, like triple filter
process.
And so that water is great.
It doesn't have anything in it.
Right.
It's all stripped out, but it'sdelicious.
And actually, I canned somewater this summer, and that was
selling faster than beer.
It's wild.
I don't know if I made any moneyon it.

SPEAKER_02 (36:36):
There you go.

SPEAKER_03 (36:37):
Whatever it takes, you know.
Yeah.
That's the ultra NA.
That's that's fair.

SPEAKER_02 (36:42):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (36:44):
That's the beer zero.

unknown (36:46):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (36:47):
No, so uh when I I'm really caught up on beer right
now, I probably am gonna canmore water, do some sparkling
water, and some hot water.
And maybe some THC water.
We'll see.
There we go.

SPEAKER_03 (37:00):
I feel like there's been more and more that have
gone that direction.
Is there a lot of overhead or alot of oversight, I guess, with
that, or is it kind of thissimilar with other beers, just
run it through the uh get thelabel through the state?

SPEAKER_00 (37:12):
Are you talking THC?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Um, I feel like something a lotof things have changed like over
the summer.
I made some last winter, butit's kind of like it's such a
fluctuating market that likeeverything's changing, including
the laws.
So like right now, I don'treally know what's going on.
So I'm gonna like pause on itfor a little bit.
Everybody's making it, it's verysaturated.

(37:34):
So unless like it's the onlyexclusive thing in the brewery,
there's not really much money tobe made, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 (37:41):
Okay.
Makes sense.
I feel like I like I mentioned,I think I've seen it uh so many
places now.
But yeah, yeah.
Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 (37:49):
Yeah, it's been in quite a few spots.

SPEAKER_03 (37:51):
Uh so uh kind of with that, uh you know, talking
about uh the THC kind of ideasfor the future.
What are do you have some ideasor some uh let us peer into the
future here with the crystalball in front of you?
Like uh maybe give us someinsight.
You don't have to tell us allthe secrets, it's a very
exclusive community, sure, andthey won't tell.
It's fine.
So, what kind of ideas do yougot?

(38:11):
Brewing Brewin.
Uh uh.
I know, I'll see myself up.

SPEAKER_00 (38:16):
Uh so next year we're gonna do a little bit more
distribution, probably see a lotmore tap handles, hopefully, in
the area.
I don't know how far we're gonnago, but that's an idea for next
year.
This, like in the dead ofwinter, you know, trying to set
up some beer dinners.
Me and Travis just offered up abeer dinner at this gala for a
place for you, the homelessshelter in Pine City, and it

(38:38):
went for almost five thousanddollars.
Oh wow.
Yeah.
Four course meal for uh eightpeople.
Pretty crazy.
We did it last year, it wassuper fun.
So it's kind of like a funwinter activity.
Kind of like combines bothworlds.
Also, like kind of looks intothe future, like you were
saying, because like, yeah, Ithink that place food is the
future.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (38:59):
So we have the cans here in the past.
I I I had mentioned, I think,before we went on air, that I
have a growler from over there,and you still fill growlers, but
you're doing more cans now.
You don't have a canning line.

SPEAKER_00 (39:09):
We don't have a canning line.
We have this uh machine fromit's called October Seamers.
They make seamers for alldifferent things and sizes, and
they have it so I can do I cancan twelve, uh sixteen, or
nineteen point twos in this onelittle machine that's about as
big as just mic stand.
Um so it's pretty convenient.
The shelf stability is, youknow, maybe a little bit less

(39:32):
than if you were running acanning line, but like that
takes up you know bigger than mymore more room than I think.

SPEAKER_03 (39:39):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (39:39):
So you mentioned like some tap handles, is
canning something you're lookingat too, or is that mostly
getting to just an in-housecanning right now, like so the
cost of aluminum is if you don'tbuy like a pallet or a
truckload, you're paying a lotfor cans.
And that's just how it is rightnow.
Same with like labels.
If you're not like buying abunch of them, you are paying a

(40:02):
pretty penny.
So right now I'm trying to getlike my cast my cost down on
cans and labels just for to sellthem out of the tap room before
I even think about selling themto liquor store.

SPEAKER_03 (40:13):
Would it help if I saved all of the cans of water?
Of water, all the cans that Ihave.
Would that help at all?
Can't reuse them, unfortunately.
It's worth a shot.
You never really know.

SPEAKER_01 (40:26):
So what's your what's the annual barrel
capacity of your brewery 320?
How many barrels can you brew ayear there?

SPEAKER_00 (40:32):
I've been going off this number that it's a it's a
batch a week.
The brewery could probably pushmore.

SPEAKER_01 (40:38):
Sure.
How much is a batch a week?
Gallon wise or barrel size?
Seven barrels.

SPEAKER_00 (40:44):
Seven seven times thirty-one is should probably
know this.
200.

SPEAKER_01 (40:50):
Yeah, closer.
Yeah.
Sounds like sounds right.
Okay.
I don't know, make it a number.
Just throwing over something.
Yeah.
So you're not quite maxed outthough.
And folks, you you couldprobably push more, you said if
you had to or wanted to.

SPEAKER_00 (41:02):
Yeah, yeah.
Definitely.
But yeah, the problem that I runinto all the time is I think I'm
like two people when in realityI'm like one person.
I don't know what that's like atall.
So I'm like, oh yeah, I canbartend at night.
Well, we have you in the kitchenthat night.
Oh, you're cool.
Oh, yeah.
Well, maybe I can bartend themorning and then hop back in the
kitchen.
It's like, dude, you're gonnalike run yourself dry.

SPEAKER_01 (41:22):
Well, that's a small business owner, though.
My wife owns a small businessand it's 24-7, 365, you know.
Yeah, it's never turn it off.
Never ends.
Absolutely.
Nope.
So is there any metrics that youwatch on a PL by month if you do
your own PL or how manydifferent ingredients you buy
every week, or any anythingspecific that you watch on a

(41:44):
weekly basis or a monthly basisas far as metrics goes, numbers
wise, or you're just uh letterrip?

SPEAKER_00 (41:49):
Uh last year I was having a letter rip, but this
year the taper manager Ipromoted the general manager,
and he really likes spreadsheetsand numbers and all that stuff.
Um so Nick Sebak does all that.

SPEAKER_03 (42:01):
Oh, okay.
Uh Nick, Nick's a good guy.

SPEAKER_00 (42:04):
Yeah.
But I have a very like veryloose rule, I guess, is the bank
told me that if I can match 2022numbers, then I'm gonna make it.

SPEAKER_02 (42:12):
Perfect.

SPEAKER_00 (42:14):
That's what we're shooting for.
So I have like a poster of that.
And then if at the end of themonth I come in over that, I'm
like feeling pretty good aboutmyself.

SPEAKER_03 (42:21):
Do we have like a thermometer in the back room
somewhere?

SPEAKER_00 (42:24):
Tensions were pretty high last week.
I bet.
Yeah.
September kind of sucked untilthis last weekend was great.
Nice.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (42:32):
Really glad to hear it.
So I mean, we got some otherquestions here, but I guess
probably one of the lastquestions that I have.
You know, we can get into this,that, and the other thing, but
I'll give you kind of a littleplatform, a little soapbox, if
you will.
Oh, sure.
Um, what is something thateither we haven't asked or just
something that you want to talkabout of the brewery that uh
people either may not know orthat you just really want to get

(42:54):
out there?

SPEAKER_00 (42:55):
Uh I don't know.
I think like from like past, Idon't know if like what past
customers like have thought orwhatever, but like there's a lot
of people I feel like in thePine City area that haven't like
stopped in and checked out thenew thing, um, or like had the
food, had the tacos, anything.
So they're amazing, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 (43:15):
The tots are amazing, the tacos are amazing,
the dogs are amazing, theburgers are amazing.
Yeah, the beers it's beer, soit's good.
It's very good.
This IPA is fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 (43:26):
Yeah, I don't know, I don't know like if there's a
like a conception that likewe're too bougie or like I don't
I don't know.
I just like would like everyoneto like give it another try if
they like haven't been in heresince I took over.
Because I think I win everybodyover eventually.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (43:44):
I like it.
Well, if nobody has tried 320beer, uh just one sip of any of
it should win them over.
I I think this beer is reallygood, definitely above average
from most of the breweries yougo to.
You know, it's it's super goodbeer.
Thank you.
There's a very good job with it.

SPEAKER_03 (43:59):
A lot of places have good variety, but this is
definitely the whole gamut ofeverything, too.
A lot of really good options.
So I don't know if you werethere the day.
Well, you were there the day,the uh the the three the beer
run that uh you guys had donethere, the uh brewery running
series uh group that had comein.
That was when the frillytoothpicks had first come out.
Yeah.
Sean, I don't know if you knowthis story, if Amanda had told

(44:21):
you this story, but uh I hadcome in to just kind of check on
things and I don't know how Iwas doing or whatever, but I had
asked Krista, I'm like, Do youneed anything?
Because I like want to try toyou know help because yeah,
there's a group that we've donea lot of stuff with a brewery
running series, actually, rightthere.
Um, and we were like, Oh, wegotta get him here to Pine City.
And I'm like, I want to try tohelp anywhere that I can.
And so she's like, Well, we justhave this new beer.

(44:43):
Can you write the name on here?
Because she was nervous to dothat or didn't want to, she was
busy or whatever it was.
And I'm like, I've seen myhandwriting, absolutely not.
So I had Amanda, I was like,Hey, come in here, can you write
this or whatever?
And she's like, Absolutely.
And she was like, she said shewas so nervous to make sure that
she wrote it cleanly enough thatpeople could read it, yeah, that

(45:04):
she forgot to spell it right.
Yeah.
So instead of frilly toothpicks,it was frilly toothpicks.
So, but then it stayed there forlike I don't know, a couple
months or something.
Oh, we left it for that entirebatch.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So people got to get on that.
Like to make fun of her aboutthat.
It was kind of funny.
She, you know, rolls her eyes atme, but she does that all the

(45:24):
time anyway.

SPEAKER_00 (45:24):
So also the funny thing about that story is like I
am severely dyslexic, so I spellthings wrong all of the time.
And so like I get made fun ofall the time.
Uh the original batch of likeflight cards.
You know, if you get a flight,you can like fill out your own
things.
It was uh fight cards.

SPEAKER_02 (45:41):
Oh there we go.

SPEAKER_00 (45:43):
Perfect.
Let's hear uh Krista and It wasmonths before anyone found out.
It was AL flight cards.

SPEAKER_03 (45:53):
That's excellent.
I suppose that could be the nextround of the next next event,
yeah.
The main event, yeah, if youwill, coming up.

SPEAKER_01 (46:01):
Sure could be.

SPEAKER_03 (46:02):
Sean, what else you got going on?

SPEAKER_01 (46:04):
Well, as I was doing some digging on the local Pine
City, I don't know if you knewthis, I didn't know this, and
I've worked in Pine City now forI don't know how many years,
six, seven years now.
But on my notes here, there'sbeen a brewery in Pine City
prior that I found out, but ofcourse it closed in according to
the good old interweb, it closedin 1915 uh due to prohibition.

(46:25):
So I didn't make it to that one.
That was kind of interesting.
Um so you clearly knew about it.
Um started in 1882, and I'mprobably gonna butcher the name,
but Bullsmeyer Brewery in PineCity, if I'm saying that
correctly.
And according to this, itproduced about four thousand
barrels a year.

(46:46):
And this guy had his house rightnext to it and put a pipe from
his house into his brewery tohave beer run right into his
house.

SPEAKER_03 (46:52):
Dang it's a brilliant move in my mind.
That's absolutely a brilliantmove.

SPEAKER_01 (46:57):
But I don't know if that's all true, but according
to the interweb, that's whatcame up.
So I thought that was kind ofinteresting.

SPEAKER_00 (47:03):
Yeah, I haven't like looked into it too much.
I found a bunch of old photoswhen I took over, like down in
the basement of like framedphotos, and a lot of it is like
from probably that time in PineCity.
Oh, nice.
Um, so there's a kid's room inthe back uh for there's big
screen TV and a switch, and likekids can just like hang out and
whatever, but I put a lot ofthose old photos up there.

SPEAKER_01 (47:26):
I haven't been back in that room.
I'm gonna have to go back andcheck that out.

SPEAKER_03 (47:28):
Yeah, you weren't going back there to play sorry.

SPEAKER_01 (47:30):
No, I I wasn't, or Pine Cityopoly, you know.
Right.

unknown (47:35):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (47:35):
So do you have is that uh those photos you have?
Are they from the tap room thatwas in town or the actual
brewery that was just a littleout of town?

SPEAKER_00 (47:42):
Uh it I've seen a couple from that brewery.
Oh, okay.
And I think like it's just likea picture of a sign.
And I don't know, I haven't likedug too deep into it.
Um, but there's like a bunch ofphotos of like just old guys
hanging by what looks likebrewing equipment.

SPEAKER_01 (47:58):
Sure.
I don't really know about it.
Uh I didn't find any photosonline.
I was trying to search quick,but I didn't go down the rabbit
hole too far.

SPEAKER_03 (48:05):
I wonder if it's just a collection of pictures.
That can't be the same location,would it?
No, no, no.
More downtown or something.
No.
Interesting.
That'd be kind of wild if it wasthe same place.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (48:17):
No, that that location was like uh I forget if
it was an auto body place or ifit was just a storage for an
auto body place, but the mufflershop behind me used to own like
that whole lot, that wholeblock.

SPEAKER_02 (48:29):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (48:29):
So yeah.
It used to be that, and thenPizza Pub's original location
was there.

SPEAKER_01 (48:34):
Oh, nice.
Okay.
Yeah, according to this, thesaloon, the Tide House saloon,
was 255 Main Street South.
It was supposedly where theirsaloon was.
If this is accurate, I have noclue, but it was on the
internet.

SPEAKER_03 (48:47):
It's it's got to be true.
Everything's true.
Why would you even question it?

SPEAKER_01 (48:52):
Everything's super true.
Uh that was kind of neat, and Inever knew it existed prior.
So I'm like, oh well, that'scool.
And if you have some photos, I'mgonna go back in the kid room
and check it out.
Hell yeah.
I'll be able to see it backthere.

SPEAKER_03 (49:03):
Where's Sean?
We're out here playing trivia.

SPEAKER_01 (49:07):
Check it out, yeah.
So I have one more question foryou.
Uh we anybody looking for theviewers out there, listeners out
there, whomever, anybody lookingto get started in brewing or
owning a brewery, uh, is thereany advice you can give to them
that to get into the industry orhow they should start, or what
do you think?
Because you have a differentpath of getting into it than

(49:28):
yeah stories we've heard.

SPEAKER_00 (49:29):
So yeah, it's always been a job.
Yeah.
So yeah.
It's always been a job that likehas to work.
I don't know why, but yeah, Idon't know.
There's been a couple peoplethat have asked me if like they
found a brewery or they wantedto start a brewery, and like I
kind of like ask them all thequestions and pretty much say,
like, should you?
Like, do you really want toright now?

(49:51):
Because like, I don't know,there's brewery closing left and
right.
If you want to like buy one ofthose for cheap, like go ahead,
but like you're not gonna pullmoney from it for a while.
So gotta figure that out first.

SPEAKER_03 (50:03):
Cool.
Trying to re read through mynotes here.
But I don't know that I got muchmore, Sean.
No, I don't think.
Sean just got back fromvacation, so he's kind of fried
here.

SPEAKER_01 (50:14):
Pretty much covered everything.
I went down to St.
Not at St.
Louis.

SPEAKER_03 (50:18):
It's Kansas City.
Kansas City.
We were talking about St.
Louis on that same trip.

SPEAKER_01 (50:22):
So I went down there for a NASCAR race where we
stopped at uh um BoulevardBrewing Company when we were
down there.
I went to the tap house.
The tours were sold out, but Iwas trying to ask Annie.
We did an episode on one oftheir beers, and I couldn't
remember.
I think it was the NutcrackerBeer.
That sounds really good.
I swear it's the Nutcracker Beerfor Christmas that we did, but
where was it again?
Boulevard Brewing in.

SPEAKER_00 (50:43):
No, where was the race?
Kansas.
It was Kansas Speedway thisweekend.
Oh, really?
Uh if you have to go back, finda place called Earthbound
Brewing.
Okay.
About the size of 320, but it'slike really, really old
building, and they have likecaves in the basement.
And so like they do their toursare awesome.
There's like a river down in thecave, like, and it's all like

(51:03):
lit by these like old Edisonbulbs.
It's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 (51:06):
Oh, that'll be fun.
It's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 (51:08):
Yeah, and the owners there are just like the best
people.
So you talked me into it.

SPEAKER_01 (51:14):
Yeah, I'm sure I'll go to another race there again
at some point.
I'm gonna keep that in myearthbound brewing.

SPEAKER_03 (51:19):
Yeah, tell us tell Stuart hi for me.
All right, absolutely we'll do.
We'll reach out, maybe we'll getuh some beer for the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 (51:26):
Maybe he can come on the podcast.
There we go.
Maybe we can travel for once.

SPEAKER_03 (51:29):
We'll take that out when we do our we have this plan
that we're gonna do a wholenationwide roadshow and go to
all the different places we'vetalked about before and go and
meet him there.
So we haven't quite figured outthe logistics of going places
yet, but you know.
That's fine.
The cozy confines of the studiohere, just great.
We'll get there.
Well, cool.
Yeah, I don't know.

(51:49):
I don't have a whole lot elsegoing on.
Twins fired their manager todaybecause it, you know, obviously
it was coaching that had to dowith uh you know poor
performance, but they did?
Yeah, just this afternoon.
I uh had nothing to do withownership or lack of spending
money at all, but you know,yeah, have my own opinions about
that.
So Sean, what else you got?

(52:10):
Anything else?

SPEAKER_01 (52:11):
I don't have anything.

SPEAKER_03 (52:12):
All right.

SPEAKER_00 (52:12):
Lee, anything else you'd like to add at all?
Uh I don't think so.
No.
All right.
Uh come up for Oktoberfest.
I don't know when this is gonnago out, but uh couple weeks.

SPEAKER_01 (52:22):
It'll be probably about two weeks.

SPEAKER_00 (52:23):
All right, well then you too come up for Octoberfest
Saturday, get some cheapOktoberfest in a Stein.

SPEAKER_03 (52:30):
If nothing else, come out and have the
Oktoberfest.
Yeah, there you go.
Go look for that Oktoberfest.
And then of course this one too,the juicy pale ale.
The Mind Burst.
Yep.
I like that.
This is very good.
Like Alan, you're gonna likethis too.
Yeah, brother in law.
I'll message him in about threeminutes.
Yeah.
Tell him about that.

SPEAKER_00 (52:46):
So I made that with uh Kvike yeast.
I don't know if you knowanything about Kvike yeast, uh,
but it's Norwegian yeast.
It's technically an ale, but itferments at like really high
temperatures uh that canwithstand it and it puts it out
like it gives it that kind ofjuicy character that goes along
with the hops, but it was itwasn't mind burst, but I read it
as mine burst because I'mdyslexic.

(53:07):
Fair enough.
So every time I was like, oh, ifyou use this mine, I was talking
to my other brewer friends and Iwas like, oh, if you use this
mind burst uh yeast, yeah.
And they're like, what are youtalking about?
It's a special yeast.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Exclusive.

SPEAKER_03 (53:21):
Exclusive.
Here we go.
Yeah.
Perfect.
It's almost like being achemist, then, really, with all
the uh the profiles of you knowhow it mixes together and
different the way it creates theflavors.

SPEAKER_00 (53:34):
Yeah, yeah.
People say it's science.
I don't know.
Fair enough.

SPEAKER_01 (53:37):
I was reading a description, I'm like, that
sounds good.
I like it.
So another question just poppedinto my mind here because you
went to culinary school, yeah.
Have a culinary background.
Did anything from that transferinto brewing beer or any ideas,
creativity coming from culinarybackground into Oh, like 100%,
yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (53:56):
Okay.
Yeah, just like the the likenatural, like trying to balance
things always and or trying tobe like aggressively one way or
the other.
So yeah, and uses the flavors.
I don't know.
So when I started at Lin Lake, Iwas just doing infusions and
cast beer or whatever.
That was like how I started.
So like taking just like a basebeer, like just that, and mixing

(54:18):
it with something else to likecreate a whole different beer.
Um so that was kind of like mylike playground, I guess.
Like didn't really have anyrestraints.
I was just like go to thegrocery store with a credit card
and like buy some stuff toinfuse with.
So that's like I don't know,that's kind of how I learned to
make beer.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (54:39):
I think a lot actually.
So nice.
I like the idea of it just beingkind of um this is the idea
we're gonna have, and we're justgonna do it.
You know that's kind of uh aninteresting thing.
So very cool.
Well, Lee, we appreciate youjoining us.
Thank you.
It was a lot of fun to have youover here and be able to
obviously drink the beer.
You know, that's always myfavorite part of the thing.
So uh well, Sean, uh thanks foruh being here once again and uh

(55:03):
another episode in the books.
There we go.
So 320 brewing, Pine City,Minnesota.
Like, share, subscribe, all thethings, tell your friends, tell
everybody about it, and untilnext time.

SPEAKER_01 (55:12):
Cheers.