By Travis Bridell
Murphy News Service
Metal clanged and tools and chairs were scattered about one recent day as Ilan Klages-Mundt, the self-proclaimed “beer guy,” sat with two of the other three founders to talk about their new undertaking — Insight Brewing Company, located near the intersection of Highway 280 and E Hennepin Ave.
“I started to get passionate about the culture around craft beer,” co-founder Eric Schmidt said. “I liked how it was communal and it just tastes phenomenal,”
Passion for beer and the community around craft brewing comes up a lot listening to the men of Insight talk about their upcoming venture.
Insight’s founders say they hope to make a name for themselves as breweries crop up around the state of Minnesota after the state passed 2011’s “Surly Bill” that allowed Minnesotan breweries to sell beer in their taprooms. The Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild alone has more than 50 members.
Insight is going in a unique direction with its craft beer production, co-founder Brian Berge said. Not only is it larger than most startups, it is also trying a wide range of tastes, calling itself a globally-inspired brewery.
“It’s important for every brewery to bring their own personality to the craft beer scene, I mean we don’t want – nobody wants – in craft beer, more of the same,” Berge said.
Coming together
There are also many homebrewers around the state, which is how the Insight’s founders got their start. The four of them met mostly through Klages-Mundt. He taught Berge in a home-brewing course.
“I wanted to build a consumer packaged goods business and I was passionate about beer,” Berge said. “I wasn’t as good at brewing, it was a good partnership.”
Schmidt said he was attempting a home-brewing recipe in late 2012 that called for toasted coconut and was put in touch with “a guy” via email. A year or so later when Schmidt was looking to get involved in craft beer, he said he came across Insight and contacted Klages-Mundt.
“Ilan was the guy,” Schmidt said, calling it “serendipitous” with an excited grin.
Klages-Mundt, a music major at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisc., only started to drink and understand the idea of craft brewing after he turned 21. He talked about a trip to Denmark in 2007 during which he tasted the best-ranked beer on ratebeer.com — Westvleteren 12, made by Belgian Monks. “It (the trip) opened up my eyes beyond what I possibly could imagine,” Klages-Mundt said, explaining why his interest in beer grew considerably.
“I made it my priority to find out the answers to all these questions,” Klages-Mundt said.
He ended up creating his own fellowship after missing out on the one he wanted. Klages-Mundt said he spent time in England, Denmark and Japan working at different breweries from 2010 to 2011 .
“I kind of refined my brewing techniques and capabilities to a global scale rather than to just Minnesota,” Klages-Mundt said.
The team has varying and complementary types of expertise: Klages-Mundt on the beer side, Berge with business experience at ConAgra and Hasbro, Schmidt in finance and partner Kevin Hilliard in sales.
“Each of us has a different skillset that we can bring to the business and we’ve got a pretty well-rounded team.” Schmidt said.
Starting with great beer
The team members evolved from Klages-Mundt’s plans to start a brewery, which Berge refined, he said.
“We spent a lot of time putting together a plan, researching the market, and finding exactly what the opportunities are in our market here,” Klages-Mundt said. “It happened to be that we’re in the fastest growing market in the country, so good for us, good for everyone here actually. It’s the best place to be I think.”
Many other breweries become a success and need to expand within a few years. Lift Bridge and Fulton breweries have expanded in recent years. That’s why Insight created one of the biggest taprooms in the state, a 3,000-square-foot behemoth of a room. The main door is a repurposed loading dock entrance.
“We’re going to have a lot of extra space,” Klages-Mundt said. “We found a lot of breweries hit their capacity of building size too quickly, within a year, because they’re so successful.”
The brewers see others, such as Summit, Dogfish Head, Fuller’s in London, Bad Weather Brewing, Surly, Dangerous Man, Fulton and others as good examples to emulate, but it isn’t so much about the names for Insight.
“We’re going to look up to anyone that’s focusing on product, focusing on making great beer, focusing on the culture.” Klages-Mundt said. “Good for craft beer, that’s 99 percent of breweries.”
Helpful was the fact that the brewers had a proof of concept in hand as they were looking for investors, which allowed liquor stores and bars to have a taste of their beers, Berge said. No one turned them down.
“[We hope] that our unique personality shines through, that the craft beer community embraces us in a way that we’ve found they have thus far,” Berge said. “It’s been a really solid start and we want to bring something unique to the market and are excited to do that.”
Opening soon
The team promises they aren’t being dodgy by having an opening of “Fall 2014”. They just don’t want to set a date that will just end up getting pushed back as construction and other delays are their biggest fear during the process.
The four are waiting to get all the permits they need from the city before they open. Construction started back on April 1 when they signed the lease on the future home of Insight. They weren’t able to hire others right away, once again due to paperwork.
The team has equipment, flooring and the bar in their brewing area and taproom now that they have been able to get to work.
Back in August, Klages-Mundt made his way up to Victoria, Canada to Specific Mechanical, the company that manufactured Insight’s 5,400-barrel-a-year capacity brewing system, to take a look at what now brews their product.
Insight has begun brewing, at first only kegs, now that the system is in place. “We do have plans to get into both cans and bottles, we just want to make sure we’re making great beer first, then we can start packaging because that’s a whole other beast,” Klages-Mundt said.
Insight gave people one of the first tastes of six of its beers at a Sept. 26 open house in its then half-finished taproom.
“More [people came] than we expected,” Klages-Mundt said. “We expected a few hundred, and I’d say there were about twice that.”
At the event were their new merchandise and exclusive Passport Club. The club is a way to get a bargain on Insight’s beer by purchasing a credit at a reduced rate to be used in the taproom on pints or growlers.
“Anyone in the area, if you’re going to come here anyways, this is our way of saying thank you for welcoming us to the neighborhood,” Klages-Mundt said. “Now welcome to our taproom.”
A nice turnout and backing from all around, including family that volunteered for the event, the co-founders said they are optimistic that they will be successful.
“We’ve had the time to put together the beer and we’ve also had the time to put together a good plan. That’s why we’re here today with a lot of support,” Klages-Mundt said. “It’s not just about making the best beer, it’s also about doing something you love and enjoy.”
Reporter Travis Bridell is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.
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WANT TO GO?
The Insight Brewing Company has yet to set its opening date. It is located at 2821 E Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis. Go to www.insightbrewing.com or find them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media.