Brewing Success: Craft Beer Industry Booming in F-M

Something is brewing in Fargo-Moorhead.

It’s beer.
 
A wide variety of flavors and styles of beer can be found right here, with more on the way.

Five short years ago, you couldn’t get a beer brewed in Fargo-Moorhead.

But now, crowds are flocking to breweries on both sides of the river.

How did this bubbly drink rise to prominence on the area?

Sit back, pour a cold one if you’re old enough, and find out.
 
The party is bumping at Fargo’s original brewery, a concert celebrating the release of a new brew.
 
“We’re not just making and selling beer, we’re also trying to provide some unique experiences in the community,” says Fargo Brewing Co-Founder Aaron Hill.
 
Even with all these people, for regulars, it’s a place where everybody knows your name.

Fargo Brewing fan Rich Hamm says just call him Norm.
 
Fargo Brewery started selling beer in 2011.

Four friends saw the burgeoning craft beer movement on the west coast.
 
Hill explains, “We sort of wanted to take some of that “beervana” is what it’s called, and bring it to North Dakota.”
 
This was the only game in town until Junkyard Brewing opened in Moorhead in 2013, selling kegs out of the corner of a warehouse.
 
“Thought this will probably never happen,” says Junkyard Co-Founder Aaron Juhnke. “It’s just a crazy dream that will probably never come true.”
 
Junkyard opened this taproom a year later, and business exploded.
 
“We thought it was awesome at the time when we opened the tap room, but looking back it was way, way less busy than it is now,” Juhnke adds.
 
The beer bug hit the region hard after that.

Drekker opened to an eager audience in October of 2014.
 
“The interest in what we were doing was bigger than we realized,” says Co-Founder Jesse Feigum.
 
Kilstone joined the party in March of 2015.

A family project, even the dog gets in on the fun.
 
Owner Randy Wigen says, “It’s been really great working with both my sons.”
 
All four breweries share a similar backstory, starting brewing for fun.
 
Drekker’s Feigum admits they, “got really into home brewing. It’s a hobby that got way out of control.”
 
But why is beer?

Why Fargo-Moorhead?
 
“Besides the fact we’re one of the biggest drinking cities in America,” asks Drekker fan Scott Motschenbacher.
 
Fiegum thinks, “it’s part of a bigger movement that’s popping up all over the country.”
 
“It’s a lot of fun for us beer drinkers to go out and check it out,” says Kilstone customer Wyatt Kram.
 
“I think it’s really exciting,” says Junkyard aficionado Kevin Carollo. “I think it’s really important for Fargo and Moorhead.”
 
You might think that local breweries are at each other’s throats, trying to one-up each other to bring in the most customers, but you’d be wrong. Every brewer in Fargo-Moorhead says that if you bring a quality beer to the table, they’ll welcome you.
 
Hill at Fargo Brewing claims, “If the person down the street makes good beer, we all kind of win.”
 
These guys just love beer, and the brewing process.

And they were willing to sacrifice at first to bring it to the area.
 
Juhnke says at first, “we didn’t bring home any paychecks.”
 
And each brewery offers unique flair.
 
“We’ve made it feel a little bit more like a tavern,” Wigen says. “We’ve put in a nice bar and tables and stuff.”
 
Juhnke says Junkyars is, “really focusing on the experimental brewing aspect of always coming up with new styles. We’ve kind of found out niche.”
 
But will Fargo-Moorhead remain one big happy beer family?

Opinions are divided whether or not more breweries can fit in.
 
Juhnke explains, “I think we’re getting to the point where the breweries are gonna start taking business away from each other, not necessarily because they want to, but because they’re starting to run out of customers.”
 
Motschenbacher has another theory while enjoying his Drekker offerings. “Could this be like the boy band thing? Could it, like, explode and everybody’s crazy about it, and then all of a sudden Justin Timberlake goes off and does his own thing? I don’t think that the Fargo brewing scene is gonna go anywhere.”
 
Another brewery is slated to join the party.

Flatland brewing is expected to open this summer, the first brewery in West Fargo.
 
“The local brewery is what people want,” says Flatland Co-Foudner Frank Clemens.
 
Wigen predicts, “They’ll be probably a few more breweries yet before it plateaus and then we’ll see how it goes from there.”
 
But that’s a problem for another day, something these people aren’t worrying about, as long as their glasses are full.

Drekker Brewing did a study before they opened, which showed that the Metro could support at least ten breweries.

They expect that number is higher now.

And the beer boom is spreading beyond Fargo-Moorhead.

Rhombus Guys brewing opened last year in Grand Forks.

There’s Union Pizza and Brewing in Fergus Falls.

Cheers!