12/15/2014
St Louis,
I am sorry. For the past 7 months since I quit Schlafly I have been working very diligently to start a brewery in University City. Unfortunately I was unable to work out a deal. Two different Chinese Landlords did not seem motivated to sell or lease their space, despite the fact that both places had been empty for more then four years. I tried to explain to them that having a brewery in U-City would make the whole area better, much in the same way Schlafly Bottleworks has helped make Maplewood a better neighborhood. They just didn’t care.
After the latest lease negotiations fell through I decided to regroup and reexamine my entire business strategy. My family and I took a trip back to my hometown of Orono, Minnesota, located about 20 minutes west of Minneapolis, where my parents still live in the house I grew up in. My parents have been begging me since I quit to consider opening a brewery around there, and I kept telling them no, I want to do it in St Louis, I want to make my city a better place. On this latest trip, however, I told them that I might consider starting my brewery in Minneapolis if the right situation presented itself. They immediately introduced me to a family friend of theirs who has been running a very successful restaurant for the past six years in the neighboring town of Long Lake. We hit it off right away, it seemed that all of our ideas for a brewpub lined up perfectly. We decided that he would run the kitchen and restaurant, which he is good at, and that I would work only on the beer, which is what I’m good at. We also went to look at an old restaurant overlooking Long Lake that had closed a few years ago. The space was perfect, beautiful view, unique old building, great atmosphere and in a promising location. The allure of help with the restaurant side of things, as well as a great building combined with the fact that my parents could help take care of my 11 month old daughter was too much to pass up.
We began negotiations with the landlord, and unlike my experience in U-City, the landlord loved the idea and was willing to contribute a significant amount of money to build out the brewpub. Sometimes life can be funny and take you in a completely different direction at any given time. I have always believed that we should all embrace change and listen to what the universe is trying to tell us. At the beginning of 2015 I will be moving back to Long Lake, Minnesota to fulfill my life long dream of opening my own brewpub. I regret not being able to make it work in St Louis, but this seems to be too good of a situation to pass up. I will always fondly remember my adoptive city of St Louis as being a great city, much better then it gets credit for. Between Forest Park, Tower Grove Park, the Central West End, Delmar, and South Grand, St Louis really does have a lot going for it. I do intend to keep Missouri Oak as an operating business, but it will be a contract brewery that only makes sour beers at other breweries around St Louis. We will certainly come back for visits on occasion, and I invite any of you to Birch’s on the Lake for a pint if you ever come up that way. I’m sorry things turned out this way, thank you for all the great memories. Goodbye.
-Brennan Greene
