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Two years and seven months ago, HammerHeart Brewery announced they would be moving their business from Lino Lakes to Ely.
After trials and tribulations, and many revisions to their plan, HammerHeart Brewery has finally begun producing their famed smoked beer in town.
There were limited options for HammerHeart to house their operation in Ely, but eventually found their home behind Spirit of the Wilderness Outfitters.
“There were not a ton of options for a commercial-level building in Ely where we could build a brewery. It needs to be industrial,” said Nathanial Chapman, co-owner of the brewery.
To accommodate their equipment, Chapman looked for a building in town with at least 15-foot-tall ceilings, which is rare.
They originally put an offer in for the building where the Ely Area Ambulance Service is located, but it fell through.
“When you need the ceilings to be 15 feet high, it makes it difficult and limits what you can buy,” he said.
They eventually found the property behind Spirit of the Wilderness and decided it was the right fit for their brewery.
The space needed lots of work, however.
“The building was kind of just a raw space. There was a lot of demolition we had to do,” said Chapman. “We probably spent a month and a half, two months doing demo, just getting the foundation ready to build on.”
There was a lot of underground piping work that needed to be done, as there wasn’t full-fledged plumbing in the space.
They also needed to outfit the brewery with new electric wiring, as the old panel was not adequate for their power requirements.
Additionally, they needed to ensure a sterile environment to brew their product.
“A brewery needs a sterile environment,” Chapman said. “Think of it like a hospital almost. Everything needs to be sterile. You can’t have porous surfaces all over the place because they can capture bacteria.”
Although the new building needed a lot of work, it had one big advantage in that it had sloped floors, which will help with any drainage that needs to be done.
“That part of the building must have been part of the Ford dealership or something,” said Chapman. “They had a floor drain, probably for oil or something, but that’s a huge plus for us.”
Unfortunately, the drains had been sealed up long ago, so Chapman, along with his business partner and co-owner Austin Lunn, had to “bust it up” to get a functional drain in the floor.
Before they were in Ely, HammerHeart operated in Lino Lakes, MN (about 25 minutes outside Minneapolis- St. Paul).
“We had a bigger brewery in Lino Lakes than we do now,” said Chapman. “Through Covid, and just 10 years of operating, we decided we kind of wanted something different.”
The other co-owner, Lunn, built a cabin up in Ely a few years ago and decided if they were going to move their brewery to a new location, Ely seemed like a perfect spot.
HammerHeart Brewery is famous for its smoked beer, which they will be brewing and distributing plenty of in their new Ely location.
“We took a lot of inspiration from very traditional English beers, German beers, and a lot of the Old World beers,” Chapman said. “We smoke our beer. The grain is smoked. It’s one of the more unique things about us.”
Chapman and Lunn also plan to release a beer specifically with Ely in mind once they begin operation.
“We haven’t registered it or anything yet, but it’s called Northland Lager, and it was kind of inspired by Ely,” said Chapman. “We’ll probably do a couple of beers that we did for the last 10 years to start including that one, and then we’ll probably introduce a couple of new ones every once in a while.”
At their last location in Lino Lakes, HammerHeart had a taproom where people could come and hang out and get a beer, but Chapman and Lunn decided they wanted their Ely operation to be strictly a production plant.
“We were open six days a week. It was a full operating bar,” said Chapman. “This place, we didn’t want to do that. It will be just strictly production.”
An issue Chapman and Lunn have encountered is what to do with their spent grain, the byproduct of their beer production.
“Most breweries have a farmer that when they brew, the farmer shows up, and it’s a free exchange. The farmer gets spent grain to help feed their animals, and the brewer gets free trash pickup,” said Chapman.
In Lino Lakes, they were able to find a farmer to take their spent grain off their hands. They haven’t had any luck in Ely yet, however.
“Large cattle or hog farms don’t really exist in Ely or the surrounding area. So if anyone is looking for free spent grain, hit us up,” said Chapman.
Many of the liquor stores and restaurants in Ely have already reached out to Chapman and Lunn to receive their beer once they are operational.
“Many places have already reached out to us. One of the things that’s hard when you come in from outside of a tight-knit community is feeling a part of it,” said Chapman. “I would definitely say Ely has made us feel a part of their world, and that’s important to me, and we are very grateful for that.”
Chapman said Hammer-Heart should be operational and producing beer sometime in May, but he didn’t want to make any promises.
