Badger Hill to Move to New Brewery in Shakopee

By Brian Kaufenberg

New brewery to be located near Valleyfair, Canterbury Park, and Mystic Lake

Badger Hill Beers // Photo courtesy of Badger Hill Brewing

Badger Hill Brewing will soon be moving out of the Minnetonka brewery they’ve shared with Lucid and Bad Weather, and into their very own 13,000 square foot brewing facility in Shakopee, Minnesota. Nestled between Valleyfair and Canterbury Park, the new location is in the high traffic Metro suburb that sees an estimated 3.5 million people travel through each year.

Founded in 2011, Badger Hill started with a unique brewing partnership with Lucid Brewing called an alternating proprietorship, in which two or more individual breweries operate out of the same brewery and share equipment. By pooling their assets, the two breweries were able to invest in higher quality infrastructure for the shared brewhouse space.

It’s always been in the plans for Badger Hill to move into their own brewery, and the alternating proprietorship with Lucid allowed them to establish and their brand while they searched for the perfect place to call home. That opportunity came in the form of a 13,000 square foot industrial warehouse with an adjoining 2,500 square foot building, which will serve as the brewery’s taproom.

The City of Shakopee cleared the way for Badger Hill in December 2013 when it passed legislation to allow breweries and taprooms in commercial zones. The chance to open a brewery close to home and expand the craft beer scene in the Southwest Metro area made Shakopee an ideal location for Badger Hill’s owners Broc Krekelberg, his wife Britt Krekelberg, and his brother Brent Krekelberg. “We want to be known as ‘the Shakopee brewery,'” Broc Krekelberg stated.

Badger Hill took possession of the building—located at 4571 Valley Industrial Blvd. S.—this spring and will begin the buildout process immediately. The team is excited to bring the concepts they’ve been developing for the brewery to life and give Badger Hill a true identity in the community.

“The [new] brewery allows people to meet us. It allows us to exemplify our philosophy,” explained Broc. “We’re looking forward to showing people who we are.”

Badger Hill's New Brewery in Shakopee // Imagery ©2014 Google Map Data

The Badger Hill brewery intends to wow visitors with a 1,000 square foot outdoor patio and a taproom separated into smaller artist-designed rooms to create a “warm and inviting atmosphere” according to Krekelberg. The taproom will have a large glass wall overlooking the production facility and patrons will be able to take tours to see the brewery up close, including a brand new canning line and a state of the art lab they plan to build to bring “absolute, critical, quality control” to the brewing operations.

Krekelberg also touched on future plans for a barrel-aging program, expanding the distribution of their beer beer to Fargo, Duluth, and Wisconsin, and mentioned the possibility of a distillery down the road—all possible thanks to the large footprint of the new facility, which should be fully up and running by Labor Day 2014. In the meantime, they will continue to brew their award winning MSB, Foundation Stout, and their new Traitor IPA at the Lucid facility as a part of the same alternating proprietorship got them started.

Badger Hill’s partnership with Lucid and Bad Weather will continue at Badger Hill’s new brewery in Shakopee, where both Lucid and Bad Weather will have an opportunity to can their beers on Badger Hill’s new canning line. What’s more, the spirit of the original partnership will live on as Badger Hill looks to “pay it forward” by offering other start-up breweries the same kind of alternating proprietorship they had with Lucid.

“We want to help other breweries any way we can,” said Krekelberg. It’s a philosophy that got them to where they are today, and one they hope will serve them well for years to come in their new home.

UPDATE (May 1, 2014): Photos of Badger Hill’s new brewery space