Beer drinkers will soon be able to drink a glass–brewed right here in Mankato. Mankato Brewery will roll out its first kegs this Thursday.
What started out as a hobby for Tim Tupy and his business partner Tony Feuchtenberger has turned into something much bigger.
Tupy says, "It is kind of surreal...there has been all these momentous points throughout the process of opening the brewery."
The Mankato Brewery has been in the works for two and a half years and this Thursday it will unveil its first beer, "Mankato Original," around the Mankato area.
Tupy says, "It's a style that is really easy to drink, we wanted something coming out of the gate as something that people that were American light lager drinkers could appreciate for the complexity that it brought."
Tupy went from brewing five gallons of beer at a time in his garage to being able to brewing around 500 gallons at a time.
He has brewing in his genes... his great, great, great–grandfather started a brewery in New Prague in 1884.
Tupy says, "That is actually something we didn't find out until about a year and a half ago, so we were already a year into this project and started looking in to our genealogy and history and found that, so it was really quite a surprise."
For now the brewery will only distribute "Mankato Original," but plans to have 4 varieties of beer by the end of the year.
Tupy says, "There is something about beer, it kind of gets people excited, there is a sense of comradely, fellowship with their friends, and it kind of brings people together."
The brewery plans to sell most of its beer in the greater Mankato area but hope to eventually reach out to the 9 surrounding counties.
The beer will be available Thursday at: Big Dog, Blue Bricks, both Buffalo Wild Wings, Buster's, Circle Inn, Hooligans, Jake's Pizza, Number 4, Pagliai's Pizza, Pub 500, Red Sky, Rounder's, Spinner's, Tav on the Ave and Wine Cafe. On Friday night, the beer will be available at Patrick's in St. Peter.
