Yikes! I had the pleasure of visiting an earlier version of this bar back when I turned 21 in 1995. It was a great place then and friends say it was a fun place now… or at least up until Wednesday night when they shut their doors. That’s right, The Great Northern in Fargo has closed it’s doors.

From the Fargo Forum:

The Great Northern Restaurant & Brewery, a budding attraction for live music in downtown Fargo since opening 15 months ago, abruptly closed Monday because of a insurmountable electric bill.
“We’re done – we’re closed,” co-owner Paul Sadosky said.

He spoke sitting at one of his tables Wednesday night, surrounded in the darkened bar by a crowd of employees and their friends who came to give the place a send off with one last call.

Lanterns provided light as about 50 people, many of them in their 20s, drank and talked above the music from large speakers. Occasionally someone took the dark stage to play the house guitar. Wednesday had been open mic night.

Except for the darkness and an unusually sticky floor, it seemed fairly normal inside.

“Basically, after Ralph’s closed, this is our last hope for a music scene,” said Emily Herbranson, a 24-year-old from Fargo and former employee. “It was just getting started.”

The bar and restaurant, which brewed its own beers, became the latest in a line of failed ventures in the Great Northern Depot at 425 Broadway.

The 10,000-square-foot building had served as a passenger terminal until 1986. It’s first run as a bar and restaurant started in 1995 and closed in two years. Another tenant gave it another two-year run before closing in 2001.

Sadosky and business partner Heather Gibb came next.

Xcel Energy cut power to the business about 11 a.m. Wednesday after failed negotiations, Sadosky said.

The immense overhead for such a large building might be fatally crippling for any business there, Sadosky said. Still, he called it a shame that the bar had to stop now, when its reputation was growing.

“Fargo just wasn’t receptive to a brew pub,” he said. “I think we tried everything we could try.”

In-Forum article.

Tip one back for our friends in the Fargo-Moorhead area. We wish the best for Paul Sadosky, his partner and former employees.

Lucan, MN’s The Brauhaus is a last-minute addition to Autumn Brew Review. Poor us. More beer to sample!

One final update on this weekend’s Autumn Brew Review;Sierra Nevada Brewing Company will be joining in on the fun. It may be a little early, but I’m hoping they bring along some of their tasty Celebration Ale.

You can still get tickets for $25. You can’t go wrong at that price. And of course, here are more than thirty reasons that might just convince you to attend Autumn Brew Review.

Congrats to Minneapolis Town Hall for taking home a Bronze medal for their beer, 1800, an English-style IPA. And even though it’s brewed in LaCrosse these days, Pig’s Eye Brewing LLC’s Pig’s Eye Lean Light Beer took Gold in the American-Style Low-Carbohydrate Light Lager category. Personally, I’d rather drink the 1800, but I can’t say that I haven’t had a few Pig’s Eyes in my day!

Oktoberfest officially began at MNBeer.com at midnight at on Friday/Saturday. Of course the folks behind MNBeer didn’t have the good sense to consume any German beer, so you’ll have to forgive us.

Instead, we opted to drink some English beer and automate the Events page. We’re still tweaking things, but it works, so feel free to contact us with any upcoming events.

Next weekend marks a few cool events… our favorite being Autumn Brew Review from 1-7pm on Saturday at Peavy Plaza in Minneapolis. Of course that’s not all… Oktoberfest in New Ulm begins, the Beer Good Bus Tour II is taking place on Saturday and Sunday and Boreal Brewers is having a tasting in downtown Bemidji. Good stuff… good beer.