I've been searching out more and more brewpubs on my visits to cities across the Midwest - there's nary a dearth of brewpubs it seems like anymore. It's almost like the market is getting oversaturated by brewpubs, but they all seem to be pretty profitable. One brewpub that I found in Minneapolis had a unique financial strategy in getting started - offering "members" free beer for life if they invested a minimum of $1000 up front. This is the story of how that happened - along with my visit - to Northbound Smokehouse and Brewpub.
Jamie Robinson was a young entrepreneur who owned his own limousine company in the Twin Cities, but his passion was brewing his own beer at home. He loved brewing beer so much that he ended up selling his limo company in 2006 and went to work as an assistant manager at Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis. Robinson honed his brewing skills while at Town Hall Brewery and also attended the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago to gain more in-depth knowledge of brewing techniques.
While at Town Hall Brewery, Robinson worked with a young chef by the name of Bryce Strickler. Strickler grew up in Virginia, MN in the heart of Minnesota's Iron Range and attended the prestigious Johnson and Wales culinary school before ending up as the chef at Town Hall Brewery. Robinson wanted to own his own brewpub and he talked Strickler into joining him in his dream. The two then partnered with Amy Johnson who was working in finance, but had a background in restaurants. Each of the partners put in $15,000 to lease a building at the corner of E. 38th St. and S. 28th Ave. in the heart of a neighborhood that was popular to young professionals. (see map)
They group had a building and a business plan, but the one thing they didn't have was start up money. Banks and investment groups were still a little skittish on start-up ventures after the Great Recession of 2008, but Robinson was able to find one bank that said if they were able to come up with $160,000 on their own, they would lend them the other $160,000 needed to get their brewpub started. That's when the group came up with an ingenious idea to raise the capital to get the doors open.
Their plan consisted of raising the money by offering people free beer for life at the brewpub with an investment of around $1000. Legally, they couldn't call the people who invested "partners", but they were called "members" who would be eligible to receive beer for free as long as the brewpub was in business. Robinson and Strickler had already experienced something similar at Town Hall Brewery where the brewpub had a "pint club" that gave members who paid a fee to have free beer on Saturdays.
The plan to raise money worked - and worked tremendously. About 150 "members" invested money into the brewpub - initially called Smokehouse Brewpub because of Bryce Strickler's acquisition of a smoker that he wanted to use in the restaurant. By September of 2012, the newly named Northbound Smokehouse and Brewpub opened. A couple years later, the group built an outdoor beer patio on the side of the brewpub.
At first, all three partners were somewhat autonomous in their positions in the brewpub - Robinson ran the brewing operation, Strickler ran the kitchen and smoker, and Johnson ran the front of house. But by 2016, Jamie Robinson was the lone owner of Northbound Smokehouse. Bryce Strickler sold his shares in the place in 2013 and moved to Denver to work in restaurants there; and Amy Johnson also sold out, but continues to live in the Twin Cities and works as a board member for a non-profit organization that works with city parks in the area. Jason Foster, a native of Texas, but who has worked for a number of restaurants around the Midwest, took over the kitchen and smokehouse after Stickler left in 2013.
After Northbound Smokehouse and Brewpub opened five years ago, a young guy by the name of Joel Scott joined the brewpub as an apprentice. Scott had grown up in a family that featured a number of home brewers and he was fascinated by the process of brewing and chemistry. In 2013, Scott earned a scholarship to the Siebel Institute through the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild and has taken over as the head brewer at Northbound Smokehouse and Brewpub.
Northbound Smokehouse is located at the corner of E. 38th St. and S. 28th Ave. southeast of downtown Minneapolis. (see map) It's mainly on-street parking at Northbound and I was able to find a spot across the street and down the block from the brewpub. It was a nice late summer day and there were a few people seated in the outdoor patio that was built a couple years after Northbound Smokehouse opened.
Inside Northbound Smokehouse, I found a nice little space that was well lit and featured a nice L-shaped bar. The brewing tanks were located in a room directly behind the bar were I bellied up and took a seat. Brian was the bartender that day and he was very busy with a lunchtime crowd that was beginning to thin out when I got there.
They feature four year-round and a half-dozen seasonal beers at Northbound. I got one of the regular beers - the Light Rail IPA, named after the Metro Blue Line light rail system that runs between downtown Minneapolis and the Mall of America. There's a stop that's less than a five minute walk from Northbound Smokehouse.
The food menu had a number of interesting items to choose from. Their MN Bangers and Mash featured an elk bratwurst and a wild rice sausage were made in house. They had a smoked brisket sandwich topped with cheddar cheese and sautéed onions that caught my eye. The open-faced turkey sandwich featured in-house smoked turkey with mashed potatoes, then topped with a turkey gravy and a cranberry-horseradish sauce, all served on a waffle made out of turkey stuffing. Yow! That sounded great, but I wasn't looking for anything real heavy.
But I couldn't resist looking hard at the house-smoked all-beef hot dogs topped with Smokehouse's house-made chili and cheddar cheese. The house-smoked corned beef reuben also looked good, as did the Italian sandwich they had a special that day. I told Brian that I was in somewhat of a quandary between the chili dogs and the reuben. "I like the chili dogs, myself," he told me. "But it's tough to go wrong with the reuben, too."
And that's what I ended up getting. The reuben was literally made from scratch in Northbound Smokehouse's kitchen. It featured thick cuts of in-house smoked corned beef and it was topped with smoked Swiss cheese, house-made sauerkraut, and house-made Thousand Island dressing and then grilled on marble-rye bread. It was outstanding. The corned beef had a great smoky taste to it, the sauerkraut and Swiss cheese had their own distinctive tastes to add to the sandwich, and the Thousand Island dressing basically tied all the taste sensations together. The toasted marble-rye held together very well with what was a messy sandwich. The sandwich came with a side of house-made potato chips that were crispy and slightly overcooked. French fries were available for a $2 buck upcharge, but I knew that I wouldn't be eating many of those so I got the chips.
Northbound Smokehouse and Brewpub had an interesting food menu that piqued my interest in a half-dozen items. The reuben was outstanding made with in-house smoked corned beef along with a house-made sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing. Their beer selection was also very good - the Light Rail IPA was exceptional - and it was a great setting for a little neighborhood brewpub on Minneapolis' southeast side. Now that I've found it, this will be on a regular rotation of places that I'll go on my trips to the Twin Cities.
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