Lakes & Legends Brewing Co. started as a family affair, with brothers-in-law Ethan Applen and Derrick Taylor founding the brewery in 2014 and officially launching it on the ground floor of a then-shiny and new Loring Park apartment building in late 2015.

From the jump, the duo’s mission with Lakes & Legends was to produce more approachable, palatable brews than the bitter West Coast IPAs that dominated the craft beer industry at the time, as well as to create a comfortable place where people could gather for whatever reason.

In mid-2017, Lakes & Legends became the first brewery in the state to legally allow dogs in its taproom. They worked closely with officials from the City of Minneapolis – outgoing Ward 7 Councilmember Lisa Goodman, in particular – and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to make it happen, Applen said.

From there, the Lakes & Legends family continued to grow, as the taproom became a popular destination for dog owners and their furry friends.

That led to Lakes & Legends hosting dog adoption events benefitting numerous rescue organizations around the metro.

‍Healing Hearts Rescue has held roughly one weekend adoption event per month for the past couple years at Lakes & Legends. Those events have helped the four-year-old organization get its name out there, so it’s ultimately able to help more animals.

Healing Hearts volunteer Chris Boulton runs that part of the program, and several of her foster dogs have been adopted through events at Lakes & Legends, including Zeke, who found his forever home earlier this month.

“We really appreciated their partnership, we loved going there and we’re very sad to see them go,” Boulton said.

Supporting the community goes hand-in-hand with being part of the community, Applen said, and offering space to any group that needs it has been a great use of the sizable taproom.

Over the past eight years, Lakes & Legends has hosted countless fundraisers, markets, animal adoptions, pinball tournaments, trivia and bingo nights, yoga classes, and other events, often organized by outside groups.

One of Lakes & Legends’ very first partners was Minneapolis Craft Market, which also launched in 2015, as an incubator for local makers and artists.

Minneapolis Craft Market founder Hayley Matthews-Jones estimates that she’s held more than 60 events at Lakes & Legends since about 2016.

The two businesses “kind of grew and grew up together,” Applen said.

Matthews-Jones agrees. “We were both really finding our footing together,” she said, adding that they’ve supported each other along the way.

Their partnership has also benefited all of the Minneapolis Craft Market vendors who have sold their wares at Lakes & Legends over the years. Matthews-Jones said those events were “a cornerstone” of many makers’ businesses.

It’s a tough time to run a small business, Matthew-Jones said, and she couldn’t stress enough how crucial it is to patronize them right now.

Lakes & Legends was well-loved and meant a lot to the community,  Matthews-Jones said. Even so, it's not immune from the pressures felt by many small business owners. “It’s important to support small businesses so we don’t risk losing them," she said.

Closing a business is the second-hardest thing Applen has ever done. Opening a business was the hardest thing.

Rather than point the finger at a specific reason for closing – like the state of the craft brewing industry or downtown Minneapolis’ slow rebound – Applen prefers to focus on all of the positives from the last eight years.

Applen said Lakes & Legends has received an outpouring of support since the closure announcement, with people sharing stories of what it’s meant to them, including couples who met in the taproom and later got married there.

“That’s the stuff that I like to remember,” Applen said.

An anniversary party last Saturday ended up being somewhat of a sendoff for Lakes & Legends. The brewery doesn’t have any other public parties planned as a goodbye, but it will still be open for a couple more weeks.

These are the final events on Lakes & Legends’ calendar:

• Friday, Dec. 15: Lakes & Legends Music Series – The Daily Norm + John-O from 7-9 p.m.
• Saturday, Dec. 16: A Handmade Holiday Market from 12-5 p.m.
• Sunday, Dec. 17: A (special dog-themed) Handmade Holiday Market from 12-5 p.m., with adoptable Save-a-Bull Rescue dogs and a fundraiser for Healing Hearts Rescue from 2-4 p.m.
• Tuesday, Dec. 19: Trivia with Trivia Mafia from 7-9 p.m.
• Wednesday, Dec. 20: Bingo with Firefighters for Healing from 7-10 p.m.
• Friday, Dec. 22: The final show in the Lakes & Legends Music Series – xLCR + A Sunken Ship Irony from 7-9 p.m.
• Tuesday, Dec. 26: Final trivia with Trivia Mafia from 7-9 p.m.
• Wednesday, Dec. 27: Final bingo with Firefighters for Healing from 7-10 p.m.

Last call is Saturday, Dec. 30, the day before New Year’s Eve. 

Lakes & Legends is located at 1368 La Salle Ave.