Northwest Wisconsin Regional Business Fund, Inc. (NWRED) and Northwest Regional Planning Commission (NWRPC) SBA Micro Loan program awarded loan funding for Earth Rider Brewing, LLC to purchase additional brewing equipment to expand their canning efforts.
Tim Nelson, the founder, and
Earth Rider Brewing staff have decades of beer and brewing-industry experience and understand what an outstanding opportunity to serve Northwestern Wisconsin region at the forefront of the emerging reputation as a craft brewing mecca.
“Superior hasn’t been home to a production brewery for 50 years, when Northern Brewing Company closed in 1967 and we thought why not bring back that time honored tradition to a city rich with industry, innovation and inspiration,” Tim Nelson stated.
Inspired by Lake Superior,
Earth Rider beers are brewed to be as bold and fresh as the greatest lake. Paying homage to tradition while embodying unconstrained passion for innovation, Earth Rider is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of traditional craft made beer and devoted to a vision of flavorful beer as the norm everywhere on the planet.
The Earth Rider Brewing Company will be Superior’s only production brewery and prideful gathering place for the Twin Port’s community. Earth Rider Brewing Company, LLC is poised to become among the premier craft breweries with taproom at the head of the Great Lakes.
Earth Rider’s brewery is established in a premium location, as it is nestled in the heart of the Twin Ports harbor, underneath monolithic grain elevators loading international sea freighters, reveals the authenticity of Superior as a distant port of call.
The Earth Rider brewing campus, comprised of the former Leamon Merchantile building and the Cedar Lounge, allows for the development into a destination brewery with taproom and outdoor beer-garden. The Leamon Merchantile is a repurposed multigenerational beer wholesale building that has slab-on-grade construction, large warehouses and coolers, loading docks, and large overhead doors, all attached to an historic building. The facility allows space to increase production, add a second taproom, a retail store, and expand office space.
“The community support has been overwhelming to this point, and we look forward to continue revitalizing this entry way into the heart of [Superior],” Nelson said.
NWRED’s revolving loan funding and the NWRPC’s SBA Micro Loan Fund in partnership with the lead lender, Superior Choice Credit Union, and other public finance organizations such as The Development Association and the Northland Foundation , has helped Earth Rider obtain the ability to hold fast and create 11 FTE jobs in Superior, Wisconsin.
To see if your business would qualify for a startup, transition or expansion loan product at NWRPC, contact loan fund manager
Ken Pearson at (715) 635-2197.