The Blog

Time flies when you’re having fun, working hard, and brewing beer (especially when you’re also drinking some of that beer). It’s hard to believe, but we’re about to clock our fifth spin around the sun. We’re so grateful to be part of the Minnesota craft beer culture, and we couldn’t have done it without the support of our customers, staff, and community. We sold our inaugural beer on August 10, 2012, and were the first brewery and taproom to open in Northeast Minneapolis since James Page Brewing closed in the early 2000s. Cut to flashback music.

When Indeed opened for business in 2012, our Co-Founder Tom Whisenand imagined the taproom to be like a living room for the brewery, a place where people could get to know our beer. Back then, Indeed had just two beer offerings: Day Tripper Pale Ale and Midnight Ryder Black IPA. But with a company launch party at Icehouse Minneapolis later that August, and the release of cans in October, we wasted no time getting that beer out of the living room and into the market. Forming an early partnership with local artist Chuck U, our eye-catching cans helped early consumers discover our beer. In the first six months of business, we doubled our brewing capacity due to demand. Co-Founder Tom Whisenand explained at the time, “This is a dream come true for all of us, it seems like just yesterday we were sitting around the kitchen table discussing our business plan and now we are doubling capacity... hopefully sleep will come after that.”

However, Indeed (and its employees) didn’t see much rest in our second year, hiring a full-time quality manager, adding distribution in the surrounding metro area and creating Indeed We Can, our charitable giving program. “Indeed is only as strong as the community that surrounds it. It was important to us to find an authentic way to build relationships with our neighbors,” says Co-Founder Nathan Berndt. Through this program, taproom proceeds each Wednesday are donated to local nonprofits selected by employees. By August 2014, our taproom was rocking four days a week, and with five packaged beers in the market, Indeed continued to gain momentum.

The next few years turned out to be a pretty wild ride. In 2014, Mexican Honey Imperial Lager brought home a Silver Medal from the Great American Beer Fest, giving the brewery national recognition. That same year, we began the aging process for our Wooden Soul series of wild, sour and barrel-aged beer, led by brewer Adam Theis. By fall 2015, Indeed had greatly expanded its brewing capacity, staff, and number of packaged beers. 2016 saw the first packaged offering from Wooden Soul and the creation of two collaboration beers with New Belgium Brewing (Hello, Strawberry Fields), one of the largest craft breweries in the country. In that year, we also achieved a longtime goal of statewide distribution in Minnesota, grew industry relationships through our Flock Together collaboration series, and worked to maintain our integrity, pulling beer kits from Northern Brewer after the homebrew supply store was acquired by AB-InBev.

Indeed is proud to share that since opening day in 2012, we have:

• Grown our staff from eight to 56 employees and ranked as a Top 150 Workplace

• Increased our barrel production capacity by over 400%

• Expanded our number of packaged beer offerings from two to 15, with all cans featuring designs from local artist Chuck U

• Increased our number of on- and off-premise accounts from 170 to 1,440

• Widened distribution from the Twin Cities area to statewide in Minnesota and North Dakota, as well as parts of Wisconsin

• Began exporting beer internationally to Spain

• Donated more than $300,000 to over 100 nonprofits through Indeed We Can

We are so incredibly grateful for the support of the craft beer community over the past five years. We truly could not have done it without you. Now, as the fourth largest production brewery in Minnesota (we can't quite believe it), and the 250th largest brewery in the country (still can't believe it), we plan on sticking to our core values of quality, community, originality, having fun and most importantly making good beer, for the foreseeable future.

When asked what they are most proud of about Indeed, our Co-Founders agree that at the end of the day, it comes down to people. “I am so proud of our people that work so hard, and give so much time to ensuring Indeed is not only a great place to work, but well known for high quality and consistent beer,” says Nate. “We are a company that is successful and profitable without taking ourselves too seriously. Work days can be long and hard, but knowing there is a great group of people here to help makes all the difference.”

So what's next? In the immediate future, Indeed will prioritize building our presence and reputation in the craft brewing community, both regionally and nationally. Tom explains, “Five years from now I don’t think our accomplishments will be measured in size or growth rate. Rather, I hope people will be talking about how they still love drinking our beer, and can feel good about our company and what we stand for.”

Let's get this party started already! We're celebrating our five year anniversary twofold on August 19, 2017. At the brewery from 12pm to 6pm, come on over for an Indeed open house with self-guided tours, a shuttled tour to our offsite barrel-aging facility (usually closed to the public), happy hour pricing on Day Tripper, Midnight Ryder and Shenanigans, food trucks, cake, and an extended patio. That same day, we're throwing down where it all began, kicking off our fifth year of business at Icehouse Minneapolis. From 6pm to close, join us for a banger featuring food, beer, giveaways, raffles, and live music from Ayvah, PaviElle, and Black Market Brass. Tickets to the Icehouse event are five dollars and include a free pint of Day Tripper and super special commemorative pint glass. We hope you can come party with us, it just wouldn't be the same without all you thirsty creatures.