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For the love of craft beer

Broadway Liquor highlights local breweries with different events

Ashton Gerard/MDN Broadway Liquor features a bar area with a 12-tap line that is great for hosting different events like their Meet the Brewer series and Cask Parties.

Have you ever wanted a liquor store where you could crack open a cold one while looking for cold ones? Ever wanted to sample a bit of that fancy whiskey before buying the bottle? How about meeting the brewer behind making that delicious craft beer you’ve seen popping up around town?

Broadway Liquor has all that and more to offer the people of Minot. On the corner of Broadway and 11th Avenue Northwest across from Minot State University on North Hill, the liquor store strays from the ordinary to give residents a unique experience while also heavily supporting local breweries.

Sheila Goehring, owner of Broadway Liquor, has been in the liquor business for many years. She started with a bar in a bowling alley in Williston and bought a liquor store in 2008. After talking with some friends from Minot, Goehring saw a need for something more on North Hill.

For the region, having a liquor store with a bar is a pretty new concept and one that Goehring feels has been well received by Minot residents.

“There’s no other place in the state like it so people are really liking it,” she said. “The wine and whiskey machines have been very, very popular because people can sample stuff before they purchase an entire bottle.”

With their bar, Broadway Liquor’s resident beer expert Jason Huus has made it an emphasis to highlight local brewers and breweries at the store. If there’s a craft beer brewer in the city, state or neighboring states, Huus plans to meet them and get their product in the door at some point.

Being a local business, Goehring gives Huus the freedom to go after freshly released beers right away without having to wait for tags or approvals. New products are easily added to their system so that they get the first swing at what’s new in craft beer.

“It’s fresh off the truck and I’ve got a price for it in five minutes or less,” Huus said. “It’s always revolving.”

Craft beer wasn’t always the bees knees. Huus and Goehring both thought back to times where there were only a handful of craft beer options in the city.

“Before, it was hard to get craft beer around here, this craft beer wouldn’t have been a subject seven years ago,” Huus said. “New Belgium came to town in 2011 or 2012 and that seemed to bust the doors wide open. It was a big deal to get Fat Tire seven years ago.”

Huus attributes the craft beer craze to the changing of the times. Younger generations are getting their hands dirty, experimenting and coming out with great products that wouldn’t have even been a thought not even a decade ago.

With so many craft beers now out and on the horizon, Broadway Liquor offers a build-your-own six pack so that you can mix and match favorites or try new beers that may turn into favorites. With the growler station, samples are welcome and encouraged before making the half gallon commitment.

“Craft beer is an ascending group and we definitely specialize in that as well as other things,” Huus said.

Giving the brewers a special place at the store helps everyone involved.

“Atypical London Fog has lit up our growler station,” Huus said. “Growler sales have skyrocketed and we’ve also dedicated a line to London Fog, which I never thought was going to happen with a 12-tap line that we’re always rotating.”

The first tap takeover hosted at Broadway Liquor was for Shiner out of Texas, but since it has been mainly North Dakota centric.

“We fill the house every time we (host an event),” Goehring said. “I think Minot loves having a brewery here in Minot and they’re hugely supportive of Atypical.”

It gives Broadway Liquor an opportunity to fill the parking lot with beer lovers and give them a chance to meet the faces behind the bottles and kegs.

“A lot of local home brewers come to these events just to get tips,” Huus said. “We have a huge following in that area of the business and it feels nice to help local people too.”

New breweries especially are a fan of the different events offered at Broadway Liquor as it’s the kind of exposure their looking for when they are first starting out.

“Honestly, I could probably say without these guys we would be struggling,” Atypical co-founder Eric Johnson said. “They have helped us out since day one, I think they took our first keg if I’m not mistaken and anytime we want to do something they are always on board.”

For Atypical, Broadway Liquor is everything they could’ve hoped for and more in a retail partner.

Even when they get their own bar up and running, Atypical plans to continue to maintain a strong presence at Broadway Liquor.

“I think this would be the last place that we would probably try to rein back from,” Johnson said. “They sell a lot of our beer and they’ve been good to us.”

It’s also great for the community and offers just another thing to do in Minot and brings more attention to the north side of town.

“In my travels, those were some of my favorite things to do is visit breweries and distilleries,” Goehring said. “It’s really nice to see them making a really big presence here in North Dakota and even now in Minot.”

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