On Saturday, February 24th, Invictus Brewing Co. hosted its first ever special event exclusively for our Members. The event was a sneak peek look at our construction progress and a meet and greet with our Head Brewer, Bradley Zimmerman. Bradley talked about how he grew up near Indianapolis, IN, got a degree in Anthropology and decided that grad school would have to wait and moved to the Pacific Northwest to brew beer. He landed a job at Elysian Brewing alongside industry legends where he won a bronze medal at the GABF in 2013 for his English Pale Ale. He most recently held the Head Brewer position at Big Time Brewing in Seattle and is currently in the process of packing up and moving to Minnesota. We can’t wait to get him here and to start brewing.
At the event, our President, Previn Solberg talked about how they looked all over for a building to refurbish within Blaine, but nothing was available. Either the buildings were beyond repair, inaccessible, or had parking issues. That’s when they found the current site and decided to build there.
While new construction certainly has its advantages, it lacks the unique look and story that comes with an old refurbished building like the ones you frequently see breweries take over. So, they decided to build their own story into the new building. The taproom will feature barn wood from Kiri Solberg’s (Previn’s wife) parents’ farm in Reeder, ND. The bathroom ceiling will also be made out of a galvanized metal grain silo that also came from the family farm.
Previn’s brother and business partner, John Solberg along with his wife Bobbi are building some of the table tops from wood that their son Bryce and his friends hauled out of Prairie Lake a few years ago. Previn and John’s parents, Joan and Loren (also investors), own a cabin on the lake, which is located about 5 miles north of Grand Rapids, MN. The lake is now a dammed up river that was used as a logging river from the 1870’s to the 1930’s when the dam was constructed. The logs have been at the bottom of the river since, perfectly preserved just waiting for an opportunity like this to come along. Surely those loggers had no idea those logs would end up being used in a brewery someday.
Now, Bradley and the investors at Invictus will come together and write the next chapter in their stories together for what we hope is a very long time. To those of you who have taken a chance on us already and become a part of that story through your Membership, we are glad you have chosen to be a part of the journey and hope you enjoy this wild ride we are calling Invictus. It was great to meet some of you we hadn’t met before and hope you enjoyed the tour despite the dust. You are truly helping us make this place special and the beer great.
To those of you who have already become part of our story, THANK YOU. If you are still considering a Membership and becoming part of the Invictus family, you can do so by following this link.
https://invictusbrewingco.com/membership/
Cheers!
The Invictus Family