Shakopee gets its first craft brewery

One of Brittany Krekelberg's first dates with her now-husband, Broc, was a tour of St. Paul's Summit Brewing Company. Years later, they run a brewery of their own: Award-winning Badger Hill Brewing Company, which will soon operate Shakopee's first craft beer taproom.

"We kind of wanted to do something a little bit different," Krekelberg said amid taproom construction on a recent weekday afternoon, gesturing toward the wall of glass dividing the bar from the brewery.

It's all part of an effort to open up the process to a city new to the craft beer scene. Patrons standing at the bar will be a few feet away from the brewing equipment. A mural, painted by a local artist, will show the steps of the brewing process.

Badger Hill is set for a soft opening around the holidays and a grand opening in January.

The brewery's move to Shakopee feeds a larger vision for the city — one that includes restaurants and other nightlife. Though big business arrivals like Shutterfly and Emerson have garnered headlines, said Chamber of Commerce President Angie Whitcomb, the city is also home to a strong community of small businesses.

"I think people are realizing Shakopee is not as far away as most of the world thinks we are," she said.

Badger Hill is already taking advantage of the local business community. The grain comes from Rahr Malting Company four miles away. The mash left over at the end of the brewing process will feed pigs belonging to a local farmer. And on the taproom side of things, plans are underway to rent out meeting space to local businesses.

"I think people are looking for just a place to go," Krekelberg said.

A growing community

The Twin Cities craft-beer boom has mostly been concentrated in Minneapolis and St. Paul, though it's trickled outward.

Jason Medvec, who co-owns Big Wood Brewery, said it took a while to settle on a location. A lot of communities were in the running, including Minneapolis and St. Paul. But when Medvec and his fellow co-owners found an early-20th-century building in White Bear Lake — where Medvec lives — they were sold.

The city wanted a brewery of its own, Medvec said, and the downtown community was already hopping.

The same was true in Hopkins, where LTD Brewing opened a taproom this summer. After a potential space in northeast Minneapolis fell through, said co-owner Blake Verdon, the founders took a step back and decided they wanted to be a community-based brewery in a town that didn't necessarily have a craft beer hub yet.

"What's great is the craft beer scene isn't just a Northeast thing anymore," Medvec said. "It kind of obviously starts in the urban areas, but now it's kind of worked its way throughout the entire state, really."

Hopkins' Main Street offers bustling nightlife and opportunities to partner with other local businesses, Verdon said. And now that the town is home to one brewery, more are likely to follow.

"I talk with a fair amount of people who want to start breweries because it is a fairly sexy thing to do," Verdon said.

The Krekelbergs co-run Badger Hill with Broc's brother Brent and head brewer Michael Koppelman. Before there was a brewery to call their own, there was home brewing — something that continues to this day.

"Most brewers are home brewers in the past and the present," said Koppelman, who recently developed Badger Hill's Traitor IPA after first experimenting with the recipe at home.

Badger Hill offers six distinct beers — plus a limited series that includes seasonal offerings — all labeled in bright, quirky Technicolor. All told, Krekelberg said, the brewery produces roughly 10,000 pints per day.

Before landing in Shakopee, Badger Hill shared space with Minnetonka's Lucid Brewing, and still uses the bottling facilities there. Up next? Growlers ­— 64-ounce glass jugs ­­— and cans.

"It'll be a fun playground," Koppelman said.

Emma Nelson • 952-746-3287