Duluth’s West End neighborhood will soon be home to three breweries. Ursa Minor Brewing expects to open this summer, joining Lake Superior Brewing Company and Bent Paddle Brewing in the burgeoning Lincoln Park Craft District.

The founders of the new brewery are brothers Ben and Mark Hugus.

“We have been working on this for a long time and are finally entering the construction phase of the project,” Ben Hugus announced in a news release today. “Our team is assembled, and we are ready to get down and dirty to make our dreams a reality.”

Ursa Minor Brewing will be a five-barrel brewery built to serve its taproom with rotating styles of beer. A five-barrel operation is typical for startups that are not producing beer to sell off site. Carmody Irish Pub & Brewery and Gunflint Tavern and Brewpub are two other five-barrel brewpubs in the region. Several others use two- or three-barrel setups.

Ursa Minor’s location is 2415 W. Superior St., the former home of Horseshoe Billiards, a drinking establishment and pool hall that closed roughly five years ago. The Hugus’ have partnered with David Marshall of Marshall Construction Services to build the new brewery.

“We appreciate all styles of beer, and we appreciate that every style of beer has unique qualities to be desired.” Hugus wrote in the news release. “Our taproom will also be supplemented by a wood-fired oven which will supply a selection of artisan Napolitano-style pizzas made from the highest quality ingredients possible.”

The Hugus brothers developed their vision during four years planning.

“We chose the name ‘Ursa Minor’ because of the role craft beer has played in our lives,” Hugus wrote. “It is derived from the constellation, Ursa Minor or the Little Dipper, which contains the North Star. Throughout history, people across the world have used the North Star as a guiding light, or an anchor point, in the night sky to navigate their way across our wondrous and mysterious world. Craft beer is our guiding light and has brought us into the amazing craft beer community.”

Andrew Scrignoli will serve as the brewery’s general manager. Ben Hugus will focus on the organizational side of the business as chief of operations, while his brother Mark Hugus will head brewing operations.