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Brew, a beer bar opens in Perham, MN

From the Fergus Falls Daily Journal:

New Brew opens in downtown Perham

Perham residents have raised their mugs in a toast to local brewing.

On May 6, Britt Nelson and Alex Belquist opened Brew at its new location in the city’s busy business district. The couple previously leased a location behind the Station House, but needed to expand in response to their growing number of customers.

“The community has been awesome,” Nelson said. “It’s been so easy to make friends and work in this community.”

Nelson and Belquist met while working at a bar in Fargo and have spent their careers in the industry. When Belquist finished school at Le Cordon Bleu in Minneapolis, the two decided to move to a smaller community similar to where they were raised.

“We just made the decision that this is what we’re going to do,” Belquist said. “We just didn’t expect it to happen this fast.”

The couple crafted their new bar out of years of experience serving food and drinks. From the menu to the decor, they have mixed their creativity and experience to create a unique atmosphere.

The bar has 24 beers featured on tap, chosen with a focus on local selections. The list includes beers from breweries in the area and across the state, like Third Street Brewery in Cold Spring, Fargo Brewing Company, Summit and Leech Lake Brewing.

Their focus is not only on beer, however. A wide variety of creative cocktails and wines are featured as well.

The bar also utilizes Belquist’s expertise in the kitchen and offers a variety of traditional sandwiches and other unique meals and appetizers that the couple has dubbed “fresh bar food.” Buns are produced by the local D&V’s Bakery and their meats are purchased from the Perham Locker Plant. Belquist also makes their sauces from scratch.

For those in search of a late-night snack, the kitchen offers Belquist’s creations until midnight each night. Brew is open Monday through Thursday, 3 p.m.. to 2 a.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. They will soon open for summer hours seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

In addition to the busy hours, the couple said they hope to offer a variety of fun activities for the community, including a service industry night, live music and an open mic night. Despite the packed schedule, the two said they are glad their passion for service has already been so well received.

“There’s no turning back now. It’s what we signed up for,” Belquist said. “Seeing how everyone reacts, seeing the peoples’ faces, that keeps you going.”

Website: http://www.brewperham.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brewperham

Twitter: https://twitter.com/brewperham

About Dean

I drank my share of pale lagers back in college in the 80's but I always wanted to try more, often drinking the 'dark' versions of beer as that was the only interesting thing on tap. I got into homebrewing in the early 90's meeting a lot of great people and then really started learning about beer and how to judge it. Then into the 00's I started branching out with beer and started to deal with beer education and paring beer with food which I did with some restaurants, even beating out wine in a beer vs. wine dinner. I don't try and push beer on people but if they ask questions and really want to listen, I can talk for hours about the subject. Now we come to today, and beer scene in the Fargo / Moorhead area and North Dakota is starting to boom. FMBeer was created with the help of MNBeer.com so people in the F/M area have a single place where they can find out more about good beer, from a calendar of events to lists of local breweries and bars. FMBeer is also a place to learn more about craft beer for those just branching out and a resource to come back to.