As craft beer aficionados, we’re long-time fans of Surly Brewery Co., often hailed as the brewery that started the Minnesota craft beer boom. So, in 2011, when Surly announced plans to open a new Destination Brewery in southeast Minneapolis, we were eager to get involved. After all, lollygagging + beer go hand in hand. After four years of planning and construction, the new beer hall opened in December 2014. Formerly a potato-processing plant, the $30 million, 5,000 square-foot facility includes a 220-seat Beer Hall & Restaurant, featuring custom Loll tables and benches on the patio. The brewery also 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 – bigger than a football field! The outdoor beer garden accommodates up to 1,000 beer drinkers and features Loll tables as well as benches surrounded by gas-filled fire pits. Aside from the amazing atmosphere and phenomenal beer, we have to say, the food is nothing short of amazing. The Surly culinary team has put together a bold menu, which has approachable items like burgers and fried chicken, but also some more exciting, upscale items, like bone marrow, beef cheek birria, house-made charcuterie, foie gras and much more. Best of all, the offerings are a perfect partner to their beer.

So why Loll?

Linda Haug, Surly’s hospitality operations director, says they choose Loll for several reasons:

1. The Surly leadership team had seen Loll furniture at Room & Board and liked it – or, in Linda’s case, “coveted it.”
2. Surly’s architecture firm HGA Architects suggested Loll.
3. Surly was impressed by the Loll furniture at Duluth-based Canal Park Brewing Company, including how the black Loll furniture stood out against the white of the snow.
4. The Surly team liked the idea of an up-cycled and Minnesota-made product
5. Surly was looking for durability – they wanted to be able to leave pieces out during the winter.

With the furniture now on site, Haug says the Loll furniture fits in with the eclectic atheistic that they are trying to create. “With the deck furniture, we wanted it to be a weather-resistant extension of our Beer Hall. Loll worked with us to make the tables look as much in size as the tables inside. With the Loll furniture in the Beer Garden, we wanted to make more of a statement. The black tables look great on the pavers and crushed gravel. The black benches around the fire pits look cozy – it almost makes you look forward to winter.”

A little lollygagging. A little beer. A little Loll – Life is good.