Bent Paddle Brewing Company plans to relocate its taproom to a larger, revitalized space in the former Enger & Olson Furniture store building at 1832 W. Michigan St. This new location is directly adjacent to its main production brewery and current taproom in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

The new, larger taproom will open in early 2018 and will feature a 7bbl pilot brewing system for experimental and smaller craft beer batches. New additions will also include an event space for up to 70 people, bar games, a fireplace gathering area, small performance area, an enhanced retail shop, kids nook area and pet-friendly outdoor patio. It will also be a showcase of local partners, artists and artisans.

Bent Paddle purchased its production facility at 1912 W. Michigan St. in June 2017 in order to move forward with its expansion plans to double its production space from 10,000 sq. ft. to 20,000 sq. ft. by 2020.

Bent Paddle has housed its offices in the 1909 brick and timber-frame Enger & Olson building since July of 2016.

The current taproom at 1912 W. Michigan St. will close once the new space is open. A brewery can only operate one taproom at a time according to Minnesota law.

The taproom license for production breweries was created in 2011 with the adoption of the “Surly Bill.” A taproom is an on-sale space where a brewer can serve only the beer products it makes, with no wine, spirits or other beer brand sales allowed. Minnesota breweries producing a combined total of fewer than 20,000 bbls of beer per year across all sales platforms are also allowed to sell 64 oz. re-sealable “growlers” of fresh beer from their taprooms. Bent Paddle expects to still be under this 20,000 bbl cap for one to two more years, given current sales projections, and will continue to sell and refill beer growlers at the new taproom location until that cap is reached.

Continuing with the traditions of the current taproom, there will be no restaurant on site. Food trucks and mobile food vendors as well as neighboring restaurants will continue to provide food options for patrons.

Bent Paddle Brewing has been working with local architecture firm Wagner Zaun, interior designers from Shelter Architecture out of Minneapolis, and Gardner Builders, which recently opened a location in Duluth.

Construction began in November and will continue into early 2018 with an official opening date to be announced as the project nears completion.