Brewery thief walks away with hundreds of Dungeons & Dragons game pieces
Just after 6 a.m. on April 28, a thief was caught on camera after breaking into Brühaven Craft Co. brewery in Minneapolis' Loring Park neighborhood.
"Unfortunately, I think our lock was not as strong as we had hoped it would be," said co-owner Alex Doering.
After stealing some change from the cash drawer, Doering said they took a speaker and a rolling toolbox.
But what was actually inside that box probably wasn't worth much at the pawn shop.
"I got a text from the owner saying that someone had broken into Brühaven and stolen everything we owned," said Renee Devereux, founder of Dragons, Dungeons and Drinks.
Once a month, the group gathers at the brewery to play the tabletop game.
"On a good night, we'll have between 50 and 75 players," said Devereux.
After a game night, Devereux had left a rolling toolbox at the brewery full of essential game pieces: More than 500 hand-laminated binders of character info, along with tokens and dice.
Devereux valued the loss at over $1,000. Hundreds of hours of work, gone in an instant.
"It was a big loss because a lot of the items they took were beyond monetary losses," said Doering.
Once word of the theft spread, an outpouring of support came. An online fundraiser has now raised more than $5,000 for the group.
"Within one hour, we were able to replace the minimum base cost, so that we could become operational again this month," said Devereux.
Brühaven has pitched in too, donating a portion of sales of their Third Space Pale Ale to help pay for the losses.
"I honestly have never felt more loved and supported than I do in this moment," said Devereux.