Surly Brewing Company recently unveiled renderings of its planned $20 million “destination brewery,” providing a new glimpse of the company’s plans, which were first announced in early 2011.
Surly officials joined representatives from Minneapolis-based HGA Architects, the project’s designer, in unveiling the images Sunday night at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis, where Surly was celebrating its seventh anniversary.
Surly’s multi-year quest to build its brewery has involved changing state liquor laws and purchasing 8.3 acres of brownfield land in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis, for which it has received grants to assist in the land's cleanup.
Minneapolis-based Barr Engineering is leading the environmental remediation process, while St. Paul-based McGough Construction has been tapped to build the brewery after environmental cleanup is complete. McGough has built notable Twin Cities landmarks including the Guthrie Theater and the Ordway Center. The project includes a bar, restaurant, beer garden, and event center.
Above is an image of Surly's planned "beer hall." Below are more images released Sunday by Surly and HGA:
An external view of the facility from Surly's beer garden.
A view from what HGA called the "Entrance Chamber" looking into the fermentation cellar
Surly has not released a specific project timeline. When recently asked when the new facility is expected to be up and running, Tom Hauschild, a partner at Tegra Group, which assisted Surly in its site selection, replied: “If we are brewing beer in the new facility by the end of 2014, we’ll be happy.”
After announcing plans for its new brewery, Surly helped spearhead a change in state liquor laws to allow “taproom licenses” to permit Minnesota breweries that produce less than 250,000 barrels of beer to sell pints of their own beer on their premises.
While the law paved the way for Surly’s new $20 million brewery, the company isn’t waiting until its new project is complete to take advantage of the change; it also plans to open a taproom at its existing Brooklyn Center facility.