Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Maxim.
Hi Sarah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
In 2020 my husband Seth and I decided to purchase a run-down fitness tanning center in Lakeside/Lester Park as well as Lake Superior Brewing (established in 1994) and then spent 2 years working tirelessly to buildout our re-invented and re-inspired version of the business, opening it as a Brew Pub with a full restaurant, bar, and Brewtel.
This is the hardest thing we’ve ever done in our lives, but we did it and are so proud and thrilled to be living our dream of hospitality, delicious food, and beverages and soon to be brewing beer again as Lake Superior Brewing. We plan on brewing the long-time LSB main stays but also brewing some of Seth’s recipes and making them our own while preserving Minnesota’s oldest microbrewery!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Buying a run-down building originally built in 1908 and finding it to need way more work than we hoped, as well as the city of Duluth’s construction services department being very challenging to work with and costing us at least $400,00 in increased costs not to mention huge time delays in our construction process from the city and sub-contractors.
Our bank threatened to foreclose on us and changed our loan terms before we opened, and a subcontractor did all sorts of terrible work. Oh and doing this enormous project all while in the middle of a pandemic with two small children in tow.
We’ve been impressed with Lake Superior Brewing, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a husband-wife team who love creating all things delicious, and love hospitality! I dreamed of one day owning a bed and breakfast and Seth is his own Brewery or restaurant and here we are doing it all! We make all our food from scratch using only the highest and freshest ingredients and are very hands-on in our operations as we believe in quality and consistency and love the art and science of doing so.
Our beer will be in the same model once we start brewing sometime this spring. While LSB was originally a distribution brewery (selling to retail and restaurants/bars only) the state of MN only allows a brewery to either distribute or sell and serve in-house as a brewpub. The brewpub model fit our passions and filled a huge need for something in the neighborhood of East Duluth! Once Brewing our beer can be found on tap and to go in our establishment.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
This was the craziest, hugest risk ever! We’ve poured everything we have into this project, all our savings, the equity on our home, and a whole lot of sweat equity as we General Contracted and mostly designed our buildout layout and look. We’ve worked 18-hour days for 2.5 years to get us to this point and have sacrificed so much of our self care, sanity, precious family/friends time and more, as we had to totally throw ourselves into making this buildout and business a reality.
I like to joke that only crazy people do this sort of thing and once we had committed everything we had to make this project happen there was no going back. We make a good team Seth and I. We are happy to finally be open as of July 2022, and soon to be brewing, but man was it a hard road getting here and at some point, we need to take a really big rest and celebrate!
Contact Info:
- Website: lakesuperiorbrewingduluth.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/lakesuperiorbrewingduluth?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lakesuperiorbrewingco?mibextid=LQQJ4d
