More than 70 craft breweries and roughly 1,200 beer aficionados gathered at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis on Saturday for the Autumn Brew Review. Organizers described the festival as a 25-year celebration of craft beer and its customers. Beer, cider, seltzer, THC beverages and nonalcoholic drinks were available from booths across the riverside park, reflecting the range of Minnesota’s craft-beverage scene.
The Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild calls the Autumn Brew Review its oldest event, according to MPR News. Accounts differ on the anniversary count: Humanitix billed this as the 25th annual festival, while a CBS Minnesota video described it as the 24th. The event has raised money for the guild since its founding in 2000, supporting advocacy, training and resources for the state’s craft-brewing industry, according to the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild.
Minnesota breweries and brewpubs offered unlimited samples, with nonalcoholic drinks available both in a designated N/A tent and at individual brewery booths, according to the guild’s event page. The festival was open only to guests 21 and older and also featured live music, food trucks, shops, artists and community groups, per the Humanitix listing. Third Street Brewhouse of Maple Plain and Spiral Brewery were among the breweries pouring; MPR News identified Spiral staffers Jojo Augesen and Mark Scherr at the booth.
Industry pressures and peer connections
For brewers, the festival offered a chance to step away from their taprooms and meet peers. Matt Holton, co-owner of Wandering Leaf Brewing in St. Paul, said attendance felt solid and described the value of getting out of their usual settings: “We don't often get out of our own tap rooms,” he told MPR News. He also said he had noticed a return to the collaborative spirit breweries showed around the COVID-19 pandemic.
Holton also described a difficult business climate, saying closures are outpacing openings as consumer preferences change and expensive debt and tightening brewery resources add pressure, MPR News reported.
How breweries are adapting
Jeff Zierdt, co-founder and president of Lupulin Brewing Company in Big Lake and a Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild board member, said pandemic-era changes in habits have continued to affect the industry. He pointed to lower demand from restaurants and liquor stores and said some breweries are exploring THC products or sharing operations through collectives. One example is True North Beverage, formed by Fulton, Finnegans, Bemidji and N*RC Sparkling THC. Zierdt said customer support at taprooms, liquor stores, bars and restaurants will be important to breweries’ prospects, according to MPR News.
Industry scale and THC rules
A pre-pandemic benchmark comes from University of Minnesota Extension, which estimated that Minnesota’s craft brewing industry generated $1.0 billion in economic activity and supported 8,435 workers in 2019. That snapshot provides context for the industry’s scale, but the figures available here do not establish how Minnesota brewery counts, production or employment have changed since then or how those measures compare with national trends. Hemp-derived THC products have been legal and regulated in Minnesota since 2022. The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that state law allows up to 10 milligrams of THC per beverage serving.
Recent business figures underscore the pressure. In 2025, 481 U.S. breweries closed and 300 opened; more Minnesota craft breweries also closed than opened that year, according to Twin Cities Business. Nationwide, 219 taprooms closed and 151 opened in 2025, the worst year for closures since the trade group began tracking the data in 2018, MPR News reported in an earlier story. Brewery taproom visits in Minnesota fell by roughly 40% in 2024, Little Thistle co-owner Dawn Finnie told the Post Bulletin. Rising ingredient and rent costs, along with market saturation, have added to the squeeze, Twin Cities Business has reported.
Local support, despite the headwinds
Some festivalgoers saw the industry as correcting after a period of rapid growth rather than collapsing. Tim Engelstad of New Brighton, who attended with Mandee Lewandowski of Minneapolis, told MPR News he believes craft beer’s peak was probably between 2012 and 2016 and that the scene is still thriving overall.
Lewandowski said she now tries to keep less alcohol at home but still prioritizes local breweries when buying beer. She cited their community contributions and said partnerships among local organizations, businesses and brewers can help raise money for good causes, MPR News reported.
Guild-affiliated Bob Galligan said weather often affects the event. This year’s summerlike conditions meant attendees skipped some traditional fall fare, including s'mores and bonfires, MPR News reported. A lighter moment came when Lance Krzyzaniak stood with a llama from Happy Jolly Llamas near the festival grounds.
