Today we’d like to introduce you to Annie Henderson.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
We started working on our visions of Forager Brewery in December of 2014. We signed a long term lease for a ten thousand square foot, one story building near downtown Rochester. We began construction, utilizing several items that were foraged from buildings that have been torn down in Rochester from historian John Kruesel. We opened the doors in September of 2015. We have been operating over six years. We have been so fortunate to employee hundreds of staff members that have become our family.
We are excited to see what the future holds and plan to continue to be a destination brewery for people near and far.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Covid-19 was challenging for all restaurants. Pivoting our business plan within hours to strictly to-go food and beer was challenging for our business and staff. We were very fortunate to continue to employee all our full time staff members throughout the pandemic with beer releases, delivery, curated meal kits and to-go food. We were very fortunate to not loose any staff members and are so thankful to be operating again in a more “normal” capacity.
As you know, we’re big fans of Forager Brewery. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a brewpub in Rochester, MN. We have a scratch kitchen, source ingredients locally from local farmers, and specialize in a rotating, seasonal menu. Our beer program is world-class. We focus on barrel aged beer, saison, lambic and traditional style beer. We have made over a thousand different beers in our six years of operation. We use locally sourced ingredients whenever possible and focus on small batch brews. We also operate a cafe with the space that serves craft coffee drinks, house-made juices, smoothies and breakfast items. Our outdoor patio seats over one hundred guests and we have live music 5 nights a week.
What’s next?
We are focusing on beer dinners that showcase our scratch kitchen in 2022. Our beer program has always been our highest priority and we are excited to create a deeper bond with our kitchen to showcase the amazing ingredients our region provides us. These experiences will be offered six times a year and will be coursed dinners pairing beer with small plates of locally sourced ingredients.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: foragerbrewery.com
- Instagram: @foragerbrewery
- Facebook: @foragerbrewery
- Twitter: @foragerbrewery
