A Popular Central MN Brewery Closing Taproom & Moving To Offsale

I hate to hear this kind of news, especially as we are getting ready to enter into the holiday season. A Minnesota small business and Monticello brewery, Rustech Brewing, announced yesterday on social media that they would be closing their taproom to the public, and moving to a strictly off-sale business model. Your last chance for an in-house beer? This Sunday.

This post is one of the hardest posts we've had to write. We have made the difficult decision to stop on-site sales in the Taproom starting Monday 10/23. This will be the last weekend to sit down and have a beer in the Taproom.

We will be switching our business model over to "off-sale only". Like the way it was during the Covid shutdown. Penny and I will be brewing and filling Crowlers to go with your favorite beers and new beers. Stayed tuned for the online ordering website to go live again. And what hours we will be open for Crowler pickup.

With this being said, please stop in over the weekend and say Hi to our amazing employees who have been there through the ups and downs. Penny and I can’t thank them enough for all their hard work over the past 5 years. They have become family to us.

All of this has stemmed from Covid, Post Covid, and Inflation issues which have caused financial stress on our business.

Thank you for your support over the years. Please continue to support us by picking up your favorite beers. Watch as Sniper, Blue Polar, Sweet Inferno, Javamel and Five Furlough come back into the lineup along with other new favorites.

Bill & Penny

The announcement was somewhat startling to me, as I had thought many local breweries that made it through the pandemic were seeing somewhat of a rebound, but that must not have been the case with Rustech Brewing. Just look at some of the reasons they gave for the change.

Covid, Post Covid, and Inflation issues

Rustech Brewing initially posted about some of their troubles back in September.

Hello to all of our amazing customers. Unfortunately, this post is not an easy one for us to make. Due to financial issues that have stemmed from Covid, post Covid, inflation issues, and a power outage issue that caused us to lose the ability to use our chiller for an entire month, Rustech Brewings profit line isn’t where it needs to be in order to have a business that runs successfully.

We have taken steps backwards in order to try and help the situation. In the past two weeks, we have chosen to lease out the other side of our building to a new company in order to make ends meet, but with the sale of beer being down 60% in the past year, this makes it very difficult for a business to remain stable.

We will keep trying as we always have to make Rustech successful. Starting Wednesday October 4th we will be dropping back on our hours, we will only be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Also starting immediately the Brewhall space will be closing in order for the new company to come in.

Taproom side will remain open.

We need to put our families financial issues, our families happiness, and our families safety first.

Business was amazing at the beginning, business was OK when COVID issues arose, business is scary with inflation, and now business is at the point where, unfortunately we need to make some very tough decisions on the future of Rustech.

We could use your support now more than ever. Please stop in on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. We are working extremely hard on our end to make Rustech Brewing shine once again. Thank you for all your support. We greatly appreciate it.

Peoples journeys may not always be easy, but you always have to keep stepping forward in order to find the pot of gold, even if that means walking backwards sometimes. And if we never find our pot of gold, at least we can say we did everything we could to find it.

It also doesn't help as much of the country is seeing a resurgence in non-alcoholic/mocktail beverages. According to Statista:

Revenue in the Non-Alcoholic Drinks market amounts to US$496.50bn in 2023. The market is expected to grow annually by 3.90% (CAGR 2023-2027). The market's largest segment is the segment Soft Drinks with a market volume of US$328.10bn in 2023.

So if you get a chance to head down to Monticello this weekend, enjoy the vibe and atmosphere of Rustech's interior and taproom.

Rustech Brewing is located at 105 W 3rd St in Monticello, and is open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.