Kyle and Connie Sisco, founders and owners of Venn Brewing Company // Photo by Alexios Photography
Connie and Kyle Sisco have signed a lease, and construction has begun on Venn Brewing Company, a brewery and taproom in South Minneapolis that they hope to open around the holidays.
The concept for Venn has been kicked around for a couple of years, with different partners and places considered over time, but the newest iteration is “really a family affair,” according to Connie, Venn’s co-owner and director of marketing.
The husband and wife duo will open their 120-seat brewery and taproom on the bustling transit hub of 46th Street and Hiawatha (3550 East 46th Street), but they’re most excited about serving their immediate neighbors.
“We want to be the neighborhood watering hole,” says Connie.
Noting an appreciation for the size and scale of Northeast Minneapolis’ Dangerous Man, Kyle, Venn’s co-owner, head brewer, and CEO, says they don’t have immediate plans to distribute their beer outside of their own four walls, and “just really want to be a neighborhood taproom.”
An experienced homebrewer and nationally ranked BJCP beer judge, Kyle has been brewing professionally at Robbinsdale’s Wicked Wort Brewing Company since 2015, before leaving last week to start work on the new brewery.
When they open later this year, Venn will be making beer on a relatively small seven-barrel brewhouse, which will allow them to switch up their 16 taps with relative frequency. Pointing to the company’s tagline—“local craft, global flavors”—Kyle says they’re not going to pigeonhole themselves into one particular style of beer. “Variety is key,” says Kyle. “We’ll have Belgian beers, we’ll have sours, we’ll have lagers, we’ll have an American pub ale—you name it.”
But just because they plan to make lots of different styles doesn’t mean the beer will be weird. “We’re not going to be doing super off-the-wall shit,” he says. “It’s just going to be well-made, straightforward beer.”
Architectural rendering courtesy of Venn Brewing // Via RSP Architects
Their space, which sits on the street level of a 102-apartment, mixed-use residential building constructed as part of the city’s 46th and Hiawatha Station Area Master Plan, has remained empty since it was built a few years back. According to Kyle and Connie, the landlord had turned down several retail-centric businesses through the years, hoping a neighborhood amenity like a coffee shop, restaurant, or brewery would make the space home. The building currently houses more than a hundred potential taproom customers, and if all goes according to plan, the corner will be home to hundreds of more residents in the next few years.
Connie and Kyle look forward to welcoming their new neighbors to the block with a beer.
