The Blog

Happy New Year! We thought we’d ring in 2017 by taking a look back on what we’ve been up to this year, and sharing our plans for the future. We celebrated four years of business last August and we look forward to continuing to help grow Minnesota’s craft beer scene in 2017.

In the brewery

The brewery was buzzing all year long, ending out 2016 by adding two new 210 barrel fermenter tanks. When filled with beer each of these tanks could provide you with two pints a day for the next 71 years. These tanks will grow our brewing capacity to 29,000 barrels in 2017. In 2016, we sold almost 13,500 barrels, which is equivalent to roughly 183,000 cases - well over four million cans! We saw an overall sales increase of 20%, with improvements in off-premise and on-premise sales, as well as for our flagship beer, Day Tripper Pale Ale. Day Tripper continued its reign as Best Pale Ale in The Growler’s Kind of a Big Deal Awards for a fourth year in a row.

In 2016 we were happy to complete a long-time objective of statewide distribution in Minnesota, with the addition of three distributors: Sunny Hill Distributors in the Iron Range, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of International Falls and Dick Distributing in Grand Rapids. “Expanding our distribution to every part of Minnesota has always been a goal for our company,” says our Co-Founder Nathan Berndt. “We have a focus on building our brand in the places we call home.” Indeed Brewing is now distributed throughout the North Star state, as well at North Dakota and parts of Wisconsin.

On the horizon

We’re gearing up for a big year and want to share our plans for 2017 and announce several additions to our canned beer lineup. Look out this year for B-Side Pils - a German-style Pilsner, Lucy - a Session Sour, Let’s Go IPA - an India Pale Ale with Mosaic, Citra, Amarillo and Centennial hops, and a yet to be named tallboy iteration of our fresh hop ale, made with just harvested Mosaic hops. Of course, each can will feature original artwork from Minneapolis’ own Chuck U. Let’s Go will be included in a new hop variety pack along with Let It Roll IPA, Let It Ride IPA and Day Tripper Pale Ale. These additions will increase our canned offerings to 15, after we released Rum King Imperial Stout and Old Friend Winter Warmer in cans for the first time last year. Follow our social media for details and release events.

The last year brought good tidings to our barrel-aged beer offerings, and we moved hundreds of barrels to an offsite warehouse in 2016. Our wild, sour and barrel-aged beer program, Wooden Soul, has grown immensely in the last year, expanding its aging capacity by 180 barrels. We accomplished this goal with the help of two new 60-barrel foeders, large wooden vats used to age beer and wine. We also released the first bottle run of Wooden Soul: Heliotropic in 2016. Keep an eye out for our next release - a limited bottle run of Wooden Soul #10: Cherry Dust, later this year. Additionally, the new year will bring a Wooden Soul collaboration brew with California’s Gamling & McDuck Winery. Keep up with everything Wooden Soul on Instagram. Rum King, Whiskey Queen and Mexican Cousin fans - we got you covered, with more rum and tequila barrels acquired to extend our capacity for your best-loved barrel-aged beverages.

Growing the crew

To support our development in 2016, we added seven new employees to our hardworking and hardy team, bringing our staff total to 53, up from just eight staff members when we opened in 2012. We had the opportunity to hire talented individuals to round out several departments, from sales and bookkeeping to event and taproom staff. We are currently in the process of hiring a brewer, brand & sales ambassador, sales relief, and brand & event ambassador. Keep up to date about our job offerings on our website.

Investing in the community

Giving back to the community has always been important to us at Indeed. We were able to continue to support the local community in 2016 through our Indeed We Can charitable giving program, which puts the power of doing good directly into the hands of our employees. Each Wednesday, taproom profits are donated to a nonprofit chosen by an Indeed staff member. In the past year we’ve made a total of $98,000 in donations to a broad range of nonprofit organizations in the Twin Cities. Since beginning the program in 2014, we’ve donated almost $250,000. Come into the taproom any Wednesday to help us raise a glass to a good cause in 2017!

Keeping quality a priority

In 2017, we’re adding an Esau & Hueber carbonation system to the brewery. We’ll use this system after the centrifuge process to chill beer to packaging temperature and instantly carbonate it. This high-tech equipment will save time and should provide a higher quality carbonation. Quality and consistency in its beer continues to remain an important bottom line for us, we’ve had a full-time Quality Manager on the job since 2014.

Continuing to lead the industry

Our Co-founder Tom Whisenand is the president of the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Guild and has enjoyed taking an active leadership role in the local craft beer industry. After AB-Inbev’s acquisition of Northern Brewer, Indeed made the tough decision to pull its beer kits from the store. We decided to post our recipes for Day Tripper and Midnight Ryder on our website, and we continue to encourage home brewers to support their local home brewing store in an effort to keep craft brewing honest, accessible and fun.

Indeed Brewing Company is grateful to be a part of the vibrant craft brewing community in the Twin Cities and Minnesota. We look forward to working with our fellow brewers, industry members and accounts in 2017, as well as serving up our customers more quality craft beer. We hope to see you in the taproom soon. Cheers!

About Indeed Brewing Company, 711 15th Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413

At Indeed Brewing Company, we’re cultivating an artfully eclectic line-up of distinctive flagship beers, well-loved seasonal releases, and adventurous specialty brews from the heart of Northeast Minneapolis. We’re not just brewing beer, we’re crafting experiences. We are thirsty creatures, Indeed. There’s more to explore at www.indeedbrewing.com.