Case study: Richlite adds warm, industrial ambience to new Surly Beer Hall
Surly Brewery
Surly Brewery Co., known as the brewery that started the craft-beer boom in Minnesota, recently opened a new Destination Brewery in southeast Minneapolis.
Formerly a potato processing plant, the $30 million, 5,000 square-foot facility includes a 220-seat Beer Hall & Restaurant, which features Black Diamond paneling from Richlite’s Northwest Collection. This sustainable material was used for Surly’s custom drink rails, hand rails, standing side bars and elevator cab interior.
Richlite at Surly
The drink rail along the window that looks into the brew house is functional, yet adds a nice contrast to all of the stainless steel equipment, the black argelith tiles and burnished concrete walls.
Why Richlite?
Linda Haug, Surly’s hospitality operations director, says Richlite was chosen for a variety of reasons:
Aesthetically, the look of Richlite is appealing for a beer hall – warm yet industrial.
Richlite absorbs sound well. Glasses set on Richlite make a softer sound than those set on a stone product or stainless steel.
Richlite is a sustainable material.
Richlite is unique – you don’t see it everywhere.
Haug says the Richlite also garners a nice patina. “We were hoping that we would have a lot of guests visit our space (thankfully we have), and we knew we needed a material that would look great after it has been ‘well loved.’ The Richlite that we have installed certainly does. We needed to install products that would not be delicate or precious, while still being welcoming.”
In addition to the Beer Hall, Surly’s new facility includes a 90-seat fine-dining restaurant upstairs called Brewer’s Table, a 130-seat event center, and a 1.5-acre outdoor beer garden that features customs tables and benches from our sister company Loll Designs.