Badger Hill Brewing Appoints Chris Hamman Head Brewer
March 9, 2020
Badger Hill Brewing, LLC, Shakopee, Minn., is announcing both new ownership and new executive structures.
Badger Hill is a craft brewery founded in 2012 by wife/husband team Brittany and Broc Krekelberg along with Broc’s brother Brent. In 2014, Michael Koppelman joined as co-owner and head brewer. As of January 2019, Koppelman has assumed majority ownership of Badger Hill and is currently acting as Chief Executive. Broc, Brittany and Brent Krekelberg have remained minority shareholders who are not active in the operations of the company. Badger Hill has retained Chris Cole as acting CFO. Chris also helps manage affairs at Excelsior Brewing in Excelsior, Minn. Beer operations continue to be headed by Tim Johnson, who assumed the role of head brewer one year ago. Badger Hill has a taproom near Valley Fair theme park and is just blocks from Canterbury Downs race track. Mystic Lake Casino is also nearby, filling out an entertainment district coined “River South”.
The company’s re-branding efforts have allowed for a fresh look and a new and simplified logo, which in turn has created a new brand identity “It’s always good for brands to stay fresh, to stay relevant…and I think a new look and feel certainly helps with that.” Says Johnson. “But we’ve gone through a lot of change in the past year, and I think that the new brand certainly reflects that beyond something fresh and something new. We’re changing who we are as a company as well.”
Establishing an entirely new persona for the company is a large undertaking, but Badger Hill and their well-established customer base is excited for the future of the brewery in 2020 and beyond. The re-brand has the potential to reach more craft beer consumers and continue to spread the word about Badger Hill in general.
Koppelman is hazily optimistic, stating: “We have been consistently improving in every beer quality metric we can measure. We have to be just as smart with our equity, financing and cash flow to stay on the offense in this wild and crazy market. The owners all agree these recent changes align us for that.”
The taproom is open Tuesday through Sunday and features exclusive beer and merchandise. Badger Hill also distributes in the eastern half of Minnesota and has received some of the highest honors at the Great America Beer Festival and the US Beer Open.
Comments and questions should be directed to info@badgerhillbrewing.com.
About Badger Hill:
Badger Hill Brewing Company is “a group of nice, hard-working, smart, honest and fun individuals, brewing uniquely approachable beers. Mostly American ales, but we consider ourselves adaptable, so you never know what you may find in the taproom.”
