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Surly Brewing Building Its New 'Destination Brewery'

Surly Brewering Breaking Ground
(credit: CBS)

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Surly Brewing Company is kicking off the development of its new "Destination Brewery."

Founder Omar Ansari said the 8.3-acre site will feature a 50,000 square foot building with a brewery, a beer garden, and restaurant.

But the path to making it happen wasn't easy, he said.

Surly Brewing Building Its New 'Destination Brewery'

"A restaurant, a beer hall, a beer garden wasn't legal in Minnesota," he said. "And it was obvious what we had to do, and it wasn't move to Wisconsin."

After some hard work, the 75-year-old Prohibition Era law was changed.

"So mission accomplished right? Building the brewery was going to be no problem," he said.

Surly looked at 80 sites before deciding on a parcel of land near the University of Minnesota and Malcolm Avenue and Fifth Street in Minneapolis.

Ansari thanked everyone for helping to make it happen, including his father, an immigrant who moved to this country to start his own business.

His father gave him a golden shovel, the same one he used to break ground on his own building decades ago.

The brewery is expected to open next year.

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