Driving between Minneapolis and western North Dakota earlier this summer, I stopped off in Fargo to have lunch. I wanted to try a brew pub that wasn't too far off the interstate - Fargo Brewing Company Ale House. I pulled off the highway and found the Fargo Brewing Company Ale House just off the S. 45th St. exit on 17th Ave. S. on the southwest side of Fargo. (see map)
The genesis of the Fargo Brewing Company was the mutual love of craft brews between two friends and two brothers. Jared Hardy was a native of Fargo who had moved out to Portland, OR and immersed himself in the craft brew culture that permeated that community just after the turn of the 21st Century. Hardy saw an opportunity in his hometown to start a craft brewery similar to the ones that he frequented in Portland. He moved back to Fargo in 2009 and met up with an old high school classmate, Aaron Hill, to go over his plans for a local craft brewery.
Hardy - who had been working in marketing in Portland, and Hill - who had a background in sales, soon had the selling and distribution structure worked out. The only thing they lacked was a working knowledge of brewing good beer. Jared Hardy was discussing this dilemma with his brother-in-law who quickly came up with a solution. He set up a meeting between Hardy and Hill with two brothers, John and Chris Anderson.
The Anderson brothers had grown up in the Fargo area, but had moved out to the West Coast after graduating from high school. Chris had worked for a handful of craft breweries, while John had worked in the food and beverage industry. The brothers, too, had a dream of going back home to start their own craft brewery. Chris had the recipes, but they didn't know how to market their beers once they were made. When John Anderson was talking with a high school classmate about his dilemma, his friend - who was Jared Hardy's brother-in-law - suggested that he talk with a couple of local guys who might be able to help the Anderson brothers out.
The group quickly got together and suddenly the plan was coming together. They brewed their first beer in a garage in Fargo, but they knew that they couldn't mass produce the beer for distribution right away as they couldn't get a loan to build a microbrewery in Fargo. They found a craft brewery in Wisconsin who could produce quantities of their beer and the first Fargo Brewing Company beers were sold in Fargo in 2010. Technically, they were the first craft brewery based in North Dakota even if their beers were initially brewed out of state.
The group eventually came up with enough capital to build their own brewing facility and that opened in 2013. It included a somewhat primitive tap room, but they wanted to have another place that would showcase their beers and serve food at the same location. The group eventually found a space in Fargo's Prairie Stone Center shopping complex and opened the Fargo Brewing Company Ale House in early September of last year.
It was around 1 p.m. when I pulled into the parking lot in front of Fargo Brewing Company Ale House. At first, I thought they may be closed as there was only one car in front of the place and I couldn't see any activity inside. However, the door was open and I went inside to find a small spot with a contemporary industrial kind of motif. There were just other people in the place when I walked in.
I walked up to the bar and took a seat. The bartender, a young lady by the name of Natasha, came over to greet me. I asked if they were serving food and she was sort of taken aback and said, "Well, yeah!" And she handed me a food menu. The beers they had available were on a board on the wall behind the bar. Natasha said, "We have a lunch special on our beers. 1/2 price on pints until 2 p.m." I don't know if that's an on-going promotion, but my timing was pretty good. I ordered up an Iron Horse American pale ale that was hoppy, yet very smooth.
The food choices are the Fargo Brewing Company Ale House are pretty limited to a handful of sandwiches and appetizers. They also offer cheese and charcuterie plates at the Ale House. It's obvious from the lack of chicken wings, French fries and other fried food on the menu that they don't have a fryer in their kitchen. Because of the limited menu, I was having a bit of a quandary as what to order. I thought about getting the Cuban sandwich, but I knew that it wouldn't be a true Cuban sandwich like I'd had during previous trips to South Florida.
I ended up getting the muffuletta sandwich - the New Orleans-style sandwich with a combination of cured sopresetta, mortadella, and coppa Italian meats topped with provolone cheese and an olive spread. It was served on a toasted baguette and came with a side of housemade seasoned potato chips.
Quite honestly, I wasn't expecting much from the sandwich. But I was pleasantly surprised with the overall taste and quality of the muffuletta. The baguette bread was spongy, but crispy on the outer shell. The Italian meats they used on the sandwich had a zippy and appealing taste on the tongue. While it may not have been on the level of the muffuletta sandwiches I enjoyed at the Central Grocery in New Orleans a number of years ago, I thought they did a very good job with the muffuletta at the Fargo Brewing Company Ale House.
Don't expect a broad menu of food at the Fargo Brewing Company Ale House, but they do have a number of sharable appetizers, some good sandwiches and above average beers to choose from. It's a nice little spot and the service I had that day was fun and friendly. And you can't beat the half-price pints during lunch. The Fargo Brewing Company Ale House was a nice little pit stop on my way out to western North Dakota that day.
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