When Tim Nelson cofounded Fitger’s Brewhouse three decades back, he was coming off a long run working with the U.S. Ski Team. “I moved back to Duluth, and I was interviewing for jobs, trying to figure it out after grad school,” he recalled. “I was like, what’s next?”
On his ski trips, Nelson had discovered brewing in towns like Bend, Oregon, and Boulder, Colorado. “I was like, wow, weird – these small breweries are making beer in really neat little communities,” he said.
Additionally, Nelson was a musician in a community with a burgeoning arts scene, and he thought that a small brewery with a stage for performers could potentially be a successful venture.
“We had Sir Ben’s and Grandma’s Sports Garden and R.T. Quinlan’s and the little coffee-shop scene that was happening.” Before long, he had teamed with partner Rod Raymond to form the company Just Take Action, and Fitger’s Brewhouse was opened in 1995, when Nelson was in his late 20s. “We started the whole thing for $30,000,” he said.
The years rolled by, and Just Take Action became well-established in town. The Brewhouse was a success, and it led to other ventures like the Red Star, Burrito Union, Tycoons, Endion Station and the Rathskeller. Nelson sold his stake in the partnership in 2015.
“I wanted to do something different,” he said of his state of mind at that time. He moved quickly into establishing Earth Rider Brewery, and the business recently celebrated a decade in operation.
Nelson settled on the Superior location after he drove all over the region looking for a place to start something new. “There was a little ‘for sale by owner’ sign on the Cedar Lounge,” he recalled. “And there was all that green space [outside]. I just walked in, and, by the time I left, we had a deal.”
For him, it was a perfect setup – a longtime watering hole with the space to brew beer and a big field in which he could hold outdoor concerts. “It spoke to me,” he said. “It’s the longest-operating tavern in the Twin Ports. It’s such a cool area. I love the industry right next to it.”
“I ran the Cedar Lounge as a bar for a year,” Nelson said. “I remodeled and re-roofed it. Tuckpointed the bricks and stuff, and then ran it as a tavern. I really got to know the neighborhood, which is awesome.”
Soon, he was creating his Earth Rider beer brands and serving them in the Cedar Lounge as well as marketing them across the region. “It’s a center-of-the-fridge beer,” he says of his products. “It’s beer for the people.”
“I’m really proud of what the brewery’s done,” Nelson said. “We’ve won multiple awards at the national and international level. It’s gotten a gold medal twice at the World Beer Cup. We work within the Budweiser network. We do a lot of music, and music brings people to Superior and shines a light on this town.”
Regarding his future, Nelson said he wants to further refine what he’s accomplished in his second act as a brewery magnate: “My goal is to become even more of a destination.”
