A family affair: Brewery is a dream come true

Benjamin, Alice, Lillian and Henry Harren enjoy a freshly brewed root beer after a hard day at school. Thousand Lakes Brewing in Parkers Prairie opened on December 21 with close to 500 customers stopping by on their opening weekend. The bar is made from a large tree that fell across the Harren’s 4-wheeler path.

by Karin L. Nauber

karin@inhnews.com

If you are looking for the technical aspects of how a brewery works, you’ll want to look elsewhere. Although this a story about a brewery, it’s more about a family and building a dream.

It is the story of Matt and Amelia Harren and their brother-in-law Kevin Siepker who decided to take a run at something they have enjoyed doing for about 10 years—home brewing beer.

Thousand Lakes Brewing Co. in Parkers Prairie was borne after many hours of planning and labor.

This endeavor is on a much larger scale than the one at their home, but the concept is basically the same.

History

Matt and Amelia Harren and their brother-in-law Kevin Siepker are the owners of their new venture in Parkers Prairie.

Matt, who is a graduate of Eagle Valley High School, is married to Amelia (Blashack), who is a graduate of Bertha-Hewitt High School.

Kevin was raised in the small southwestern Minnesota town of Jackson and is married to Amanda, Amelia’s sister.

“We started out home brewing beer about 10 years ago,” said Matt.

Matt and Kevin, along with a few other brothers-in-law started home brewing 10 years ago and formed the Woodside Brew Bros homebrewing club, according to their website.

“Brew days were often family events with everyone getting together for an afternoon,” said Matt. . . .

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