Boathouse Brothers Brewing continues work on Prior Lake location

Prior Lake American

When he was 11, Emmett Swartout helped his dad with a Mr. Beer craft brewing kit, though he didn't realize it wasn't the root beer he could drink.

"I got a little disgruntled for a decade or so but after college was when I got into craft beer and appreciating the nuances and differences in it," Swartout said.

The Mr. Beer kit was Swartout's first taste of home brewing — metaphorically, as he was only 11. When he was of the legal drinking age, he tried a brew-your-own company in Saint Paul, Vine Park Brewing, which turned into buying grain kits and brewing in his garage.

A business venture was born. Swartout and business partner Kevin Lethert are co-owners of Boathouse Brothers Brewing Company, a craft brewing site not yet open in downtown Prior Lake.

About the name

Swartout and his brother lived in his grandparent's boathouse in north Minnesota during the summers, hence the name.

"I'd been dreaming up the name Boathouse Brothers either brewing or bar for the better part of a decade," he said. "After I got into craft brewing I was like, 'Nope, it's definitely a brewery.'"

For those who know Swartout, him opening a brewery is not a surprise — Swartout used to go all out and decorate his apartment in college for parties when he was procrastinating.

"The only surprise is that I didn't try to do it sooner for some of them," he said. "A lot of people that know me ... even if they didn't know that I should have been doing this, when they find out I am doing this they say, 'That makes sense.' It's great to have that support." 

Swartout met Lethert while he was bartending at the Dockside Bar and Grill in Breezy Point. Lethert's family had a cabin in the area. The pair began seriously looking into creating a microbrewery about three or four years ago.

"I asked Kevin if he was on board with it and he thought about it for half a second and he's like, 'Yup, I'm in,'" Swartout said. "So I was like, 'Alright, here we go.'"

Two years ago the duo started looking into properties and applying for loans and doing everything necessary to start to get a business up and running.

"We didn't want to go too big too fast or anything like that," Swartout said. "These days, all the big players or the mid-level players already have a lot of the shelf space."

Location, location, location

Bouthouse Brothers Brewing Company finally found its place in downtown Prior Lake, in a building that had been a hodge podge of other establishments in the past.

The previous owners had left their mark on the building, which means the location is currently being stripped to the roots.

"When we're peeling stuff up or taking out the center bar, we'd pull off the front face and think we're taking it off, but nope, we're taking off the log siding," Swartout said. "Then there was more carpet on the wall and then we'd pull the carpet tiles off the wall and it was more plywood back there and then there was another layer that was just painted over. So it was layers and layers of the past few establishments."

The building is now down to sheet rock walls, brick walls and wood siding. The owners are hoping to turn it into a boathouse, nautical aesthetic without getting too "gimmicky," Swartout said. This includes being able to open up the windows to the outside and making things like counters, tap handles and tap towers out of boat parts.

They're sticking to the boathouse theme, but a boathouse can be anything.

"You can go here on Prior Lake or up on Minnetonka and there's million dollar boathouses that are worth more than my full cabin up north and you can go up north or even 10 properties down from that boathouse and there's one that's 8 feet by 6 feet and it's just enough to hold a little canoe or kayak and that's all you need on the property," Swartout said.

The company has received their federal brewer's notice and city sale and growler license, but is still waiting on state manufacturing approval. Swartout said they're hoping to have an idea in December of when they'd be able to open.

"My wife (is) super excited for this place to open because it means she gets a lot of space back from her laundry room and her garage is no longer the brew hall," Swartout said. "About half our house will be going back to its normal use instead of brewing related everything."

They'll need the space — the couple have a toddler.

Once the company gets state approval after all the brewing and safety equipment are in place, the company will need time to stockpile what it's all about — the beer.

Tale as old as time, brewery and the beer

With craft breweries popping up around the Twin Cities metro, Boathouse Brothers Brewing Company will be "tapping" into an exploding market.

"Everybody's loving local craft beer and that's what I fell in love with with all the breweries in northeast Minneapolis where I currently work," he said. "I'd say there's 15 breweries within five blocks of me."

With breweries in Minneapolis or Saint Paul, however, the brewing can get down to the niche, such as only brewing Indian Pale Ales or ciders. That's not the vision for Boathouse Brothers, Swartout said.

"Our goal here is to brew a little something for everyone," he said. "I don't want eight people to have to walk out because one person couldn't find something they were at least willing to try — a gateway beer for anybody who is not into the craft scene but is still excited to have it nearby and not have to go out of town to try."

The company will keep at least four or five on a permanent basis with multiple other brews on rotation — for instance, Irish ales for St. Paddy's Day or a Mexican lager for Cinco de Mayo, Swartout said.

"I'm a sucker for a theme and I love a good party," he said.

There's also a tendency for Swartout and Lethert to name the beers first and then try to brew something that matches.

"Just for fun because we like the name or we are three pints deep and come up with some goofy stuff and having fun with it," Swartout said.

The pair are trying to create plenty of opportunities to get residents out and try any new or consistent flavors. Boathouse Brothers Brewing Company will have a growler club, where members can receive one to two growler fills a month as well as first dibs on special brews.

The company is hoping to attract people from the surrounding areas, but mostly to be another reason to bring Prior Lake residents downtown.

"There's a lot of local pride in Prior Lake," Swartout said. "My wife and I moved here almost five years ago and we've definitely noticed that Prior Lake loves Prior Lake and we're definitely glad we moved here too, because it's a cool, small, big community."

Even for those who aren't into beer, as long as someone can identify what they do or don't like about a drink, Swartout said he could find a beer for them that they'd at least try.

Downtown draw

The brewery won't serve food, but they're hoping to partner with local establishments to set up a delivery or ordering system so people can bring food into the brew hall, much like the Shakopee Brew Hall that opened this year.

"I don't care if someone walks in with a giant bowl of potato salad from the family reunion the weekend before," Swartout said. "As long as it's not going to waste — if I'm hungry and you have enough to share, you might get a free pint out of it, who knows?"

Swartout said he's also hoping people who visit the establishment will then shop or eat at other local places in downtown.

"Whether people are able to just stop in once because they're on their way through and like the idea or they're close enough, they like our beer and they want to come back to it, hopefully that's a reason for people to come down here and maybe go shopping down here," he said. "Our goal is to not compete with any of the other establishments but just to be another reason people will come down."

If there's one thing people don't know about brewing, it's that it's mostly cleaning and "way less drinking," Swartout said.

"Not that there's any shortage of drinking, but it's less than expected if you were to hear about someone opening a brewery."

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article spelled the partner's name as Lether. It's Lethert. It also said Swartout and his wife were expecting a baby. They have a toddler and are not expecting again. We regret the errors.