“NE Brew District” Expands

The taps at 612Brew will include four beers, with one,  a black ale called Zero Hour, available exclusively at the  612Brew taproom, Broadway Street and Central Avenue NE.  The first batches of beer were being brewed Saturday,  Jan. 12, 2013 at the space which is still under construction,  but will open next month. (MPR Photo/Jennifer Simonson) Two new breweries have opened in the the First Ward, in a major expansion of what is being popularly termed the “Northeast Brew District”. Northgate Brewing, which is located at 3134 California Street NE in the Marshall Terrace neighborhood, introduced their flagship beer, Wall’s End Brown, at Grumpy’s NE at the end of January. Northgate specializes in English sessions beers, which feature an alcohol content below 5%, and they plan to introduce a variety of seasonal brews. Northgate’s brewers don’t intend to open a taproom in the near future, but they do offer growler sales at their location. Visit http://www.northgatebrew.com/ for more information. 612Brew opened their brewery to the public in February. They are an anchor tenant of the newly renovated Broadway Building at 945 Broadway Street NE and their brewery includes a 43-seat taproom. 612Brew has initially introduced four beers, with plans to release a ginger lager in the spring. The taproom also features regular visits from a variety of food trucks. A change in City of Minneapolis ordinance in 2011 to allow taprooms in breweries has spurred significant growth in the craft beer industry, growth that has borne fruit in a number of new businesses for the First Ward. In addition, investment interest continues and the next project could break soon.