by

St. Paul’s oldest brewpub, Great Waters Brewing Company, will pour its last pint on November 18.

The brewpub, which opened in 1997, issued a public announcement on its Facebook page on Saturday afternoon that it would be closing its doors for good.

Great Waters’ location in downtown St. Paul at the corner of St. Peter Street and West 7th Place made it a go-to establishment for the business crowd and for Wild fans. When it opened, it was one of the few breweries in operation in the state, but as the company noted in its message, competition is at an all-time high today. The passage of the taproom bill in 2011 led to a boom in the number of craft breweries in the state, which is now at over 150. In downtown St. Paul alone, four breweries and brewpubs have opened in the last six years.

Great Waters set itself apart from most other Minnesota breweries with its cask beer program, a style of beer that is naturally carbonated in casks and typically served slightly warmer than American styles of beer. During the course of its 21 years in business, the brewpub served over 3 million pints of beer. Patrons thirsty for one more hand-pulled pint can stop in this next week to wish the brewpub a fond farewell.