Falling Into Place with Falling Knife Brewing Company
The Twin Cities love few things more than an independent brewery. Tom Berg, Andy Rutledge, and Dan Herman had the perfect recipe for that special love with Falling Knife Brewing Company in Minneapolis. The entrepreneurial trio brought together their love of beer, music, and basketball, as well as their collective knowledge in brewing and the restaurant industry and talks, commenced. Soon after, Falling Knife Brewing Company was in the works.
Everything Falling into Place
Falling Knife was off to a great start. The brewery’s atmosphere was comfortable. The pinball machines were fun and exciting. The music was eclectic, but not snooty. There really was something for everyone to drink and to play on the jukebox. The curated jukebox was under customer control and things were varied. Tom Berg recalls that one of the favorite plays was Lizzo. Her music was so popular, in fact, that the crew created a drinking game. When one of Lizzo’s songs would ring out, they would go in the hall and take a beer shot. Fun was had and tunes were heard.
There was Sickness, But No One was Down With It
Now that jukebox is on random to keep customer contact down due to Covid-19. Like all bars and restaurants, Falling Knife Brewing Company was forced to close its public seating areas for three months starting in March. It was the entrepreneurial spirit of Tom, Andy, and Dan that helped keep Falling Knife Brewing Company out of the weeds when so many startups and established small businesses had no choice but to close their doors for good. The brewery started selling Crowlers and focused on rolling out their 4-pack cans to liquor stores. It was an idea the guys had been excited about for a long time, but circumstances had to push the idea ahead of schedule just a little bit. Thanks to the Crowler sales, there were no layoffs by the company during the shut-down and their own small business was able to weather the hardest part of the storm
The brewery’s taproom and seating areas are now back open with some changes. A patron will no longer be able to belly up to the bar. Lizzo can no longer be dialed up on the jukebox whenever one feels like giving “Truth Hurts” a spin. Seating must be kept at 50% capacity. Thankfully, the city of Minneapolis has allowed for extended outdoor seating to mitigate capacity issues. No one has to tell Minnesotans to take advantage of decent weather twice.
Anniversary Horizon
Despite the changing world, Falling Knife has exciting things on the horizon. Tom, Andy, and Dan are working hard on getting their beers into liquor stores. Look for some Falling Knife brews in 4-pack cans on the shelves in the near future. The group is also planning their first anniversary while it hopes that things will soon be back to normal. Expect to see some anniversary brews and cans to celebrate a full year and a weathered storm. It takes a solid small business to survive the first year, it takes some great guys, exceptional beer, and a hell of a lot of grit to survive this first year. Falling Knife Brewing Company seems destined to become one of the best, and according to Tom Berg, “instead of coasting, it’s time to press on the gas pedal and become City Pages Best Brewing Company.”
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