Hallock Council grants liquor licenses for entity

By Anna Jauhola
A group of individuals have formed an entity called Craft Brew House to take over the local brewery. While operations will be different, they will continue to operate under Revelation Ale Works.
During a special Hallock City Council meeting on Monday, Oct. 21, three members of the council approved liquor licenses for the entity to continue operating the taproom. Mayor Dave Treumer, and Councilors Mike Totleben and Jen Peterson were present.
“As you know, Revelation Ale Works is closing,” said Britt Slusar, one of the invested individuals. “Because licensing takes so long, and we’re not even prepared to take that route. It’s three to six months to even be a brewery again.”
Revelation Ale Works, which has been in business in Hallock for the last eight years, announced its impending closure on Saturday, Oct. 12 via a Facebook post, with its last day as Saturday, Nov. 2. The post states the business cannot keep up financially as their distribution connections “have dried up.”
With this news, local citizens, C&M Ford and Johnson Oil Company, and the Hallock Mainstreet organization gathered to find a solution. Slusar said at the meeting the immediate plan is to offer craft beers created around the region to keep the taproom open Wednesday through Monday.
“The biggest thing is we didn’t want the building to go into foreclosure and close because it could take months, years to even get back into operating in that building. By that time, so many things could go wrong,” Slusar said.
She added Craft Brew House was able to acquire the Revelation Ale Works name so they can retain that recognition.
The point of the meeting was to obtain a prorated liquor license to serve craft beer, which has a much stronger alcohol content than 3.2 beer like Busch.
The council discussed its current liquor licenses, and finally settled on charging for on/off sale, 3.2 beer, on sale private liquor Sunday and wine licenses. The city does not have a specific license in line with the state’s “strong wine and beer” license, so this is a compromise for November and December of this year. When the council sets its fee schedule for 2025, they will re-evaluate and update the liquor licenses.
The council approved charging Craft Brew House for the $50 wine license, the $275 on/off sale 3.2 beer license, and the $200 on sale private liquor Sunday license. A two-month prorated cost is $88.
In other business, the council:
• Approved a building permit for Robert Carr, who requested to build a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in the city’s south addition. It will be east of the home already under construction in that addition.
• Heard brief request from Brian Johnson, regarding Revelation Ale Works, for assistance from the city to alleviate unpaid utility bills. He said the total runs near $6,000. The council did not consider or act on the request as that was not a part of the special meeting.
The council will hold a workshop meeting Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the completed compensation study.
The next regular meeting is Monday, Nov. 4 at 5:30 p.m.