Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Northeast, Near North, Camden, Old St. Anthony, University and surrounding neighborhoods
Didier
Capella Tower
Posts: 2511
Joined: June 3rd, 2012, 10:11 am
Location: MSP

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby Didier » August 24th, 2013, 2:36 pm

That this location is inherently harder to find than any other address in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area is compete and utter nonsense.

User avatar
woofner
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1242
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:04 am

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby woofner » August 24th, 2013, 4:14 pm

So does this mean we're all allowed to just say "Fuck you" to each other now?

I think I gave 3 reasons why this location is difficult to find: 1) off little-known freeway 2) confusing, complex exit 3) unsignalized intersection.

You're just showing what a stupid asshole you are if you post to disagree with me without explaining why.

Mod Note: Chill out.
"Who rescued whom!"

Anondson
IDS Center
Posts: 4645
Joined: July 21st, 2013, 8:57 pm
Location: Where West Minneapolis Once Was

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby Anondson » August 24th, 2013, 4:30 pm

Ultimately, I agree with Didier. It is really fairly straight forward getting there no matter where you come from.

While there might be an even superior site somewhere else in the city, I don't care so much I'll fling f-bombs at strangers in a community forum over it. I can't imagine caring so much I'd want to curse at others for what amounts to a 1st world problem.

User avatar
woofner
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1242
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:04 am

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby woofner » August 24th, 2013, 4:42 pm

Hi you guys, I'm the one who gave reasons for my opinion. Maybe because I went to the trouble of explaining why I think it will be confusing to find, you could take two seconds to explain why it will be "fairly straight forward"? Maybe when you call someone's opinion "complete and utter nonsense" or "ridiculous" you could put down your xbox controller and provide some sort of rationale?

And Nick, I don't see how pointing out that someone is acting like a stupid asshole is any different from calling someone else's opinion "ridiculous" or "complete and utter nonsense". Can you explain?
"Who rescued whom!"

mulad
Moderator
Posts: 2753
Joined: June 4th, 2012, 6:30 pm
Location: Saint Paul
Contact:

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby mulad » August 24th, 2013, 4:56 pm

Turn north at the stoplight by the Witch's Hat water tower.

User avatar
woofner
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1242
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:04 am

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby woofner » August 24th, 2013, 5:15 pm

Is Malcolm signalized now? Sorry I didn't realize that...
"Who rescued whom!"

mulad
Moderator
Posts: 2753
Joined: June 4th, 2012, 6:30 pm
Location: Saint Paul
Contact:

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby mulad » August 24th, 2013, 5:18 pm

It has been for as long as I can remember -- pretty sure it had signals when I lived in U Village back in the 2000-2002 timeframe.

Didier
Capella Tower
Posts: 2511
Joined: June 3rd, 2012, 10:11 am
Location: MSP

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby Didier » August 24th, 2013, 11:03 pm

How is Surly going to be any harder to find than any other location in the entire metro area? Honestly. If you describe the drive to Lake Calhoun in such painfully nuanced language that might as well be a piece of cheese at the end of a labyrinth too. But it's not.

There is nothing about Surly that is any more complicated than any other address in Minneapolis, and given it's location blocks away from two of the metro areas largest freeways (I-94 and 280) as well as one of the most prominent roads in the Twin Cities (University Avenue) it is probably easier to find than Dangerous Man, Indeed or any other taproom in the city.

If you think I-94 and 280 are "little known freeways" then that is a personal problem, because both are major arteries that are literally in the center of the metro area.

widin007
Nicollet Mall
Posts: 139
Joined: November 3rd, 2012, 4:07 pm

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby widin007 » August 25th, 2013, 11:52 am

Its like a block off of University, how could it be hard to find? If 280 is too obscure for some they could get off from 35 then drive a bit extra on University, a huge main street going through both Minneapolis and St.Paul. Also Malcolm didn't used to be signaled but I'm pretty sure it was added with the train.

Wedgeguy
Capella Tower
Posts: 3404
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 6:59 am

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby Wedgeguy » August 25th, 2013, 3:48 pm

I had nothing to refute. I provided 3 reasons why this location would be difficult for people to find, and you just said don't worry about it. You literally wrote "they'll figure it out" without explaining why they'll figure it out. Frankly, your experience with other breweries is not relevant, because a) this location is not those other locations and b) a destination brewery will not be a success if only 26 year old hipsters who grew up with smart phones can find it.

And I'm not saying Surly will be a failure, I'm just saying it might be better for both them and us they find a more creative way to accommodate their out-of-town visitors than paving a quarter of their enormous lot.

As for MN culture, I happen to have 31 years of experience with it and my family has 151 years of experience with it, mostly in the town that has the state's original destination brewery (which is very hard to find, I'll admit, even if your grandparents live just up the hill from it). But the people in that town no longer have informal sausage-making contests on Saturday nights, hardly anyone plays Sheep's Head any more, and one by one the old family shops are closing up Downtown. There's not even a fucking sausage shop left in the whole town! Things are of course even worse in the Cities, most of which never had anything to distinguish it from any other suburb in the country in the first place. Yes it's curmudgeonly, but it's also true and one of the boringest things about the USA that its culture is so heterogeneous. MN is less and less an exception.
Funny how we are on the internet and we can't pull up Google map and mapquest to find our way around the city. If you need a hard copy then print one off before you leave home!! You are just doing all you can to make an ignorant comment stand like a drunk that is falling over. How many signs that say this way to Surly will we have to post for you to find your way there. Being a block or 2 off University, I don't think you can really get lost as the roads will pretty much T with the University bus way limiting north bound traffic. Your suggestion is less in reality, more of a let's see in my mind how hard I can make a simple task difficult.

exiled_antipodean
Landmark Center
Posts: 286
Joined: December 3rd, 2012, 8:20 am

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby exiled_antipodean » August 25th, 2013, 9:36 pm

Also Malcolm didn't used to be signaled but I'm pretty sure it was added with the train.
Not true. Malcolm has been signalled for quite a while.

tab
Metrodome
Posts: 97
Joined: May 9th, 2013, 12:28 pm

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby tab » August 25th, 2013, 10:09 pm

Visited Surly's current taproom for the first time this weekend, and was thankful that others in the group knew how to get there. If the current tap room is the benchmark, the new location will be very easy to find by comparison.
Still, signage visible from University (and 29th Ave LRT Station) would be a savvy move on Surly's part. Sites a few blocks off the beaten path are less valuable/expensive for a reason.

User avatar
woofner
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1242
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:04 am

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby woofner » August 26th, 2013, 12:40 pm

If you think I-94 and 280 are "little known freeways" then that is a personal problem, because both are major arteries that are literally in the center of the metro area.
I have spoken on multiple occasions to Minnesotans who have never heard of 280. I had a job that was basically giving directions to people for a year, so I have some confidence of my understanding the mental map of the average Minnesotan. Probably most metro residents have an idea that there is a short stretch of freeway that somehow connects 94 and 35W somewhere between Minneapolis and St Paul, but I doubt that Bob from Wanamingo who only comes to the Cities once a year to catch a Sun County to Cozumel has ever heard of it. I never said anything about 94, that is of course a well-known freeway (although I've talked to a lot of people from outstate who are fuzzy on where it runs to the northwest of downtown Minneapolis).

Again, I don't think that Surly will go bankrupt if Bob from Wanamingo finds it annoying to get there, but the concept of a destination brewery would imply that they want regional tourists to find them, does it not? Should I feel bad about making a suggestion that would help them in this regard?
If you describe the drive to Lake Calhoun in such painfully nuanced language that might as well be a piece of cheese at the end of a labyrinth too.
I'm sorry if you find nuance painful. I tend to find it necessary for complete understanding of a topic. Lake Calhoun=take Hwy 100 to Excelsior Blvd, turn right and follow for two or three miles until you see the enormous lake on the right side. Surly=take 94 or 35W to Hwy 280, remember that it's a left exit off of of eastbound 94 and that you can't get to it from northbound 35W. Take the University Ave exit but be careful not to turn on Franklin or Territorial. Take a right on well-signed, signalized Malcolm Ave, and continue past the bend in the road, after which point you'll catch your first glimpse of the brewery. Take a right at what appears to be a parking lot but is actually 5th St SE (hopefully they'll fix this in construction). Too nuanced for you?
Funny how we are on the internet and we can't pull up Google map and mapquest to find our way around the city. If you need a hard copy then print one off before you leave home!!
Referencing a print-out isn't going to do you any good if you were expecting a right exit to 280, if you didn't expect there to be a left turn on the University exit that is not University, and if you are sharing a road with a light rail train for the first time. I'm not saying no one will be able to find it, I'm just saying it's going to be out of the comfort zone for a lot of people, and making a suggestion that might help Surly out as well as reduce impervious surface on their lot.

My bad on Malcolm, I must have had it confused with Clarence somehow, because I doubt I've ever come down it from the north. It will certainly help to have a street sign in the field of vision rather than off to the side of the street.
"Who rescued whom!"

David Greene
IDS Center
Posts: 4617
Joined: December 4th, 2012, 11:41 am

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby David Greene » August 26th, 2013, 1:01 pm

Minnesota/The Twin Cities, is chalk full of culture.
Sure, Don Shelby and cat videos, culture, whatever. Plus I'm pretty sure hip hop was invented here.
This is an amazingly ignorant statement. If you, who claim to "have 31 years of experience with it," do not know about the amazing institutions and heritage we have here, you have been missing out on a LOT for those 31 years.

User avatar
woofner
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1242
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:04 am

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby woofner » August 26th, 2013, 1:32 pm

This is an amazingly ignorant statement. If you, who claim to "have 31 years of experience with it," do not know about the amazing institutions and heritage we have here, you have been missing out on a LOT for those 31 years.
This is an amazingly unhelpful comment. Personal insults are pervasive, not the slightest attempt is made to support your assertions, and the most tangential relation to the topic at hand. Yet if I say "Fuck you", Nick will give me a mod warning. How is your comment any better than saying "Fuck you"?
"Who rescued whom!"

User avatar
Nathan
Capella Tower
Posts: 3695
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:42 am

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby Nathan » August 26th, 2013, 1:45 pm

"ya know dat one highway there off 94, with da goofy left exit, ya know, dat one ya only take for da state fair..." is a loose translation to "hwy 280" for the average Minnesotan...

User avatar
FISHMANPET
IDS Center
Posts: 4241
Joined: June 6th, 2012, 2:19 pm
Location: Corcoran

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby FISHMANPET » August 26th, 2013, 1:48 pm

How many people in this day and age don't have a smart phone or an in car GPS system? Especially the people that would be the target demographic for a brewery like this?

User avatar
trkaiser
Landmark Center
Posts: 259
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 9:05 am
Location: Northeast Minneapolis
Contact:

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby trkaiser » August 26th, 2013, 1:49 pm

This unnecessary rant about "Is the new Surly going to be hard to find" has run its course - and you getting all upset, and staying that way, isn't doing this thread any favors.

GPS. Google. Trial and error. People will be able to find it even though it's not on a main intersection. Move on.
This is an amazingly ignorant statement. If you, who claim to "have 31 years of experience with it," do not know about the amazing institutions and heritage we have here, you have been missing out on a LOT for those 31 years.
This is an amazingly unhelpful comment. Personal insults are pervasive, not the slightest attempt is made to support your assertions, and the most tangential relation to the topic at hand. Yet if I say "Fuck you", Nick will give me a mod warning. How is your comment any better than saying "Fuck you"?

seanrichardryan
IDS Center
Posts: 4092
Joined: June 3rd, 2012, 9:33 pm
Location: Merriam Park, St. Paul

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby seanrichardryan » August 26th, 2013, 2:01 pm

I can't believe I just wasted 3 minutes catching up on this thread.

So, when are they breaking ground?
Q. What, what? A. In da butt.

User avatar
woofner
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1242
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:04 am

Re: Surly Brewery - (Malcolm Avenue & 5th Street SE)

Postby woofner » August 26th, 2013, 2:18 pm

This unnecessary rant about "Is the new Surly going to be hard to find" has run its course - and you getting all upset, and staying that way, isn't doing this thread any favors.

GPS. Google. Trial and error. People will be able to find it even though it's not on a main intersection. Move on.
This is ignorant, ridiculous, complete and utter nonsense.
How many people in this day and age don't have a smart phone or an in car GPS system? Especially the people that would be the target demographic for a brewery like this?
Look, I could be wrong, but based on my experience at other upper midwestern destination breweries like Schell's and New Glarus, I wouldn't count on the entire customer base having smart phones or GPS, or knowing how to use them anyway. I'd be happy to let it go, since obviously I can't tell the future, but I keep getting all these unsupported, patronizing, insulting comments like the one quoted above and it's not putting me out to take half a minute to respond to them.
"Who rescued whom!"


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 22 guests