ST. CLOUD -- The St. Cloud area's newest brewery is paying homage to its historic past. The Pantown Brewing Company will open later this year on the city's north side.

Co-owners Noel Johnson and Marty Czech have wanted to open a brewery for a few years now, and have been working on renovating their space for the past several months.

Czech says they are both connected to the historic Pantown Neighborhood.

We're familiar with the Pan houses and Pantown, so we love the local tie-in.  I think that's one of the great things about your local craft breweries, they try really hard to forge local community relationships.  Nothing can say more about that particular part of town than to name it Pantown.

The Pan Motor Company -- owned by Sam Pandolfo -- produced cars from 1917 through 1921. Pandolfo built over 50 homes for his workers, which we now know as Pantown.

Czech says they originally wanted to open the Pantown Brewing Company in the former O'Hara Brothers building, but financially it didn't work. So they pulled the beer making equipment out of the building and moved it.

The Pantown Brewing Company will be located at 408 37th Avenue North, which Czech says is just north of Xcel Energy and Shortstop Custom Catering.

Czech says they've crossed a big hurdle recently, hiring a brewmaster.

I wanted to right combination of someone that's younger and not necessarily been in the industry for a long time, but I definitely wanted that professional experience.  Somebody that has that homebrewer mentality and wants try new things and experiment and be creative.  I just found the total package in Nick I think he's going to be fantastic.

Nick Flies is currently working as an assistant brewmaster at a brewery in the Twin Cities.

Czech says when they open in August they'll have four beers available, and he hopes to eventually have up to 12 beers on tap. They'll produce about 350 barrels annually.

The St. Cloud City Council is expected to hold a public hearing on June 4th for their taproom and brewer license.

The St. Cloud Metro area breweries include: Third Street Brewhouse in Cold Spring, Bad Habit Brewing in St. Joseph, Urban Lodge Brewery and Restaurant in Sauk Rapids, Granite City Food and Brewery in St. Cloud, and Beaver Island Brewing Company in St. Cloud.

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