The ghosts of brewing past, present and future

Christmas came early.

At least that's what it felt like to the owners of St. Cloud's newest brewery when their DCI stainless steel tanks were delivered on Dec. 12.

"It's like when you were a kid and got to open a Christmas present on Dec. 23," joked Beaver Island Brewing Co. co-owner Nick Barth, who is growing his beard out for the Jan. 22 brewery opening. "We unwrapped them like a kid on Christmas morning,"

On the other side of town that same week, the Lupine Brewing Co. became the first full-scale St. Cloud brewery since 1939.

Across the Mississippi River in Sauk Rapids, the Urban Moose Brewing Co. is planning to start construction on a riverfront brewpub this spring. And a St. Joseph development project is planning a yet-to-be-named family-friendly brewery.

"In today's market, no matter where you are, if you are brewing good beer you can't keep up (with demand)," said Lupine Brewing vice president of operations Eric Sargent. "It's all about flavor. Nobody wants their dad's beer anymore."

While St. Cloud went 75 years without a full-scale brewery, Central Minnesota's brewing history is rich. It includes a New Deal project, Billy Beer (commissioned by president Jimmy Carter's brother), the exclusive rights to Hollywood horror character Elvira's personal brand and the origins of a national brewpub chain.

Breweries previously stood near Lake George and where the current Cathedral High School practice field is. New Munich, a Stearns County city with a current population under 400, once housed Minnesota's third-largest brewery.

Sauk Rapids, St. Joseph, Melrose, Little Falls, Richmond and Sauk Centre also had breweries.

While those establishments have come and gone, there's been one constant in Central Minnesota brewing: the Cold Spring Brewing Co., which in its 140th year of operation is one of two Minnesota breweries — along with August Schell in New Ulm — that's operated for more than 100 years.

"The beer business is one tough business," said former Cold Spring Brewing Co. owner Tom Johnson

"If you would've told anybody 30 to 40 years ago that Cold Spring and Schells would be the only ones left, we would've laughed in your face. Schlitz was No. 1, but now they are out of business. Hamm's was No. 1 and they are out of business. Grain Belt was No. 1 and they are out of business. It goes on and on."

The Cold Spring Brewing Co. — which now brews beer under the Third Street Brewhouse label — has operated continuously since 1874, relying on non-alcoholic beverages during Prohibition and lean years.

And the establishment that battled critics for a new $14 million brewhouse two years ago plans on being a leader in the expanding craft brew industry.

"Wherever the trends are going, we are positioned to follow it," said Third Street Brewhouse general manager Doug DeGeest. "And now with some of the things we are doing, we are ready to set some of those trends."

German immigrant Peter Kraemer is regarded as Central Minnesota's first brewer.

The first tax records for Kraemer's brewery indicate a 500-barrel production (one barrel = 31 gallons) in 1859.

The brewery was on a ravine that fed into the south shore of Lake George, which at the time was considered the outskirts of town.

Kraemer's business partner was a fellow German immigrant named Peter Seberger. His son, Peter Jr., would become the first mayor of a reorganized St. Cloud and has a town park named after him.

The Kraemer Brewery, which brewed a lager beer requiring lengthy fermentation, burned on Nov. 24, 1864. Kraemer became a hotel proprietor.

Fires were common in early breweries.

Doug Hoverson, the author of "Land of Amber Waters: The History of Brewing in Minnesota," said fires were common because of "a perfect storm of combinations." Many of the breweries were built of wood and used wooden equipment as well as using fire to run equipment, for lanterns and for heat. Hoverson also noted that there were many accusations claiming fires were started by Prohibitionists.

A St. Joseph brewery on the Sauk River burned down in 1881. A Little Falls brewery that previously stood at 508 Seventh St. NE burned down in 1884 and was rebuilt shortly after. The Sauk Rapids Brewing Co., which was located near the current Coborn's Superstore at the intersection of Benton Drive and Third Street South and also suffered damage during an 1886 tornado, burned down in 1895. A Sauk Centre brewery, which had a taproom social club called the Wooden Shoe Association and was located where the current Sinclair Lewis Park is on the Sauk Lake, burned down in 1870, was rebuilt before burning down again in 1891. The Melrose Brewing Co., near present day East River Heights Drive, burned down in 1914.

Frank Funk became St. Cloud's second brewer with a seven-barrel batch in 1864. The brewery was located at 519 Eighth Ave. N and operated under multiple ownerships until 1897.

Swiss immigrant Lorenz Enderle also opened a St. Cloud brewery in 1864 at 409 Sixth Ave. S — now the Cathedral High School practice field. The brewery, later renamed Empire Brewing, closed in 1916. The practice field was built in 1921.

A fourth St. Cloud brewery was opened by Fritz Herberger in 1867 at 600 Ninth Ave. N. It was later run by German immigrant and veteran brewer Andrew Preiss and former St. Cloud City Council member John Wimmer.

The Preiss & Wimmer Brewing Co. held a 1909 beer naming contest. Joseph Martini had the winning submission of 3,029 entries with "Old Heidelberger," a reference to a German castle that won him a $25 reward.

The number of breweries in Minnesota peaked in 1880 at 132 locations. That year St. Cloud was fourth in state beer production, trailing only St. Paul, Minneapolis and Stillwater. Tax records indicate Central Minnesota collectively produced more than 6,000 barrels.

"A lot of German-Catholic towns here had breweries," said Stearns History Museum archivist John Decker. "If they had good water available, they had the opportunity to tap into that and brew beer."

Added Hoverson: "Where you get Germans, you get breweries."

Hungarian immigrant Mathew Pitzl bought a New Munich Brewery in 1900 at the current intersection of Main Street and Seventh Avenue. for $5,500. Thanks to Pitzl's renovations and branding of Weiner Lager Beer, the Pitzl Brewing Co. became Minnesota third-largest beer producer by 1910.

The Cold Spring Brewing Co. started in 1874 when Michael Sargl brewed "Bright Beer in an outdoor kettle at the current site of the brewing operation, 277 Red River Ave. N. Sargl sold the operation after about a decade.

John Oster became an owner in 1890, converting a steam engine threshing machine to grind grains. Grinding was previously completed by horses pulling a mill.

The Cold Spring Brewery was incorporated in 1900. When Prohibition was enforced in 1919, federal agents came to dump the remaining Cold Spring Brewery products in a local creek.

And the brewery would be one of few in Central Minnesota to survive Prohibition and the after-effects of the temperance movement.

During Prohibition, Central Minnesota would become known for producing a moonshine whiskey that double-distilled a corn variety. It was called Minnesota 13.

St. Cloud State University professor Elaine Davis chronicled this era in her book "Minnesota 13: Stearns County's Wet Wild Prohibition Days." Davis' research found nearly 100 percent of residents in certain areas were involved in the illegal liquor trade.

"There wasn't much illegal beer production because beer was bulky and the moonshine was more compact," explains Davis, who is in the process of filming a Minnesota 13 documentary. "To go illegal, they went with the more concentrated product that would make more money."

During Prohibition, Cold Spring Brewing Co. and St. Cloud Brewing Co. brewed "near beer" that had less than a half-percent of alcohol.

Also during Prohibition the Cold Spring Brewing Co. relied on income from a mineral water, the St. Cloud Brewing Co. on soft drinks, and the Kiewel Brewery of Little Falls became a creamery.

The Pitzl Brewery of New Munich was charged with illegally selling beer in 1924. The remaining products were destroyed but during one of the raids federal prohibition agent Albert Whitney suffered a fractured skull. Owner Mathew Pitzl moved the brewery equipment to Estevan, Saskatchewan in Canada via a 14-car Soo Line train.

Pitzl died in Canada in 1931. His remains were returned to New Munich for a funeral. An attempt to resurrect the brewery in 1933 failed.

And in February 2008, an old cistern well from the brewery —"The most dangerous cistern well I've ever seen," said inspector Keith Donabauer in a press release — was sealed in a Minnesota Department of Health project that cost more than $6,000. The brewery has since been torn down.

After Congress passed legislation to repeal Prohibition in February 1933, local breweries resumed beer production in preparation for the 36th state ratification that amended the constitution.

And a brewery construction project billed as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal started in Melrose.

An October celebration was held for the concrete pouring of the Schatz Brau (Sweetheart Beer) Brewery at the Sauk River Dam.

Melrose Beacon newspaper archives reveal the event included a free movie and had more than 1,500 attendees. There was also a German band, a boxing bout, an evening dance with a 10-cent cover charge and speeches from politicians including Congressman Harold Knutson — a former majority House whip of Roosevelt's rival Republican Party who urged citizens to follow the president's vision.

The building, however, never ended up brewing beer. It was eventually converted into a cheese factory.

The St. Cloud Brewing Co. resumed production of Old Heidelberger Beer in April 1933. But the brewery struggled and went into receivership in 1937, was closed in 1939 and the building became the Purity Milk Co.

At midnight on April 7, 1933, a federal agent unlocked a padlock at the Cold Spring Brewing Co. Guns were fired in the air, truck horns and sirens went off and church bells rang as a 34-truck convoy carrying post-Prohibition beer was delivered. By 12:35 a.m., St. Cloud bars were back to serving beer.

"It was like Christmas, New Year's Eve and everybody's birthday all rolled into one," recalled longtime Cold Spring Brewery employee Roman DeWenter for a past Stearns History Museum exhibit.

And the Cold Spring Brewery, which used some form of horse-drawn beer delivery until 1938, would require renovation to survive in the post-Prohibition world.

Days after the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7, 1941, Minneapolis Coca-Cola employee Myron Johnson was asked to run the Cold Spring Brewing Co. The previous brewmaster Ferdinand Peters Jr., who grew up across the street from the brewery, was headed to fight in World War II.

"The first thing he did was close it to clean it up," said Myron's son Tom Johnson. "It was not Coca-Cola clean, and that's where he was from and that's how it was going to be."

Myron Johnson frequently traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby the World War II ration board. In 1944, he bought an ownership stake in the brewery.

"It was his cup of tea and it was profitable," Tom Johnson said.

Myron constantly renovated the facility, often buying used equipment from other breweries.

By 1966, production surpassed 35,000 barrels a year. By 1971, production surpassed 52,000 barrels a year. By 1976, the brewery was one of only four left in the state along with August Schell in New Ulm, and Schmidt Brewing and Stroh Brewing Co. of St. Paul. Beer production in Cold Spring peaked in 1978 at about 145,000 barrels.

"In this industry you either get larger or you die," said Tom Johnson. "It's the quick and the dead. If you're static, you are losing ground."

In 1977 Cold Spring Brewing Co. was contracted to brew president Jimmy Carter's brother's personal brand, called "Billy Beer." Cold Spring was one of four Billy Beer production sites.

The production of Billy Beer was unsuccessfully fought by Republican state Rep. Gary Laidig, who argued against celebrity endorsements of alcohol.

The first delivery of Billy Beer was marked by a 52-truck convoy. Tom Johnson said the brewery initially sold 100,000 Billy Beer cases. A six-pack cost $2.

"It was planned to be a flash in the pan kind of thing and it was," said Tom Johnson. "In Billy Carter's defense, because he was an odd guy, Billy did have a discerning palate when it came to beer. Practice makes perfect because he liked to drink."

On July 11, 1978, Cold Spring Brewing Co. workers started a 10-day strike. It was resolved when workers were given a $1.10 raise, accounting for a 27-30 percent increase for the full-time staff of 30 employees.

"A strike is never pleasant," Johnson said. "You have outside factions coming in and stirring people up who you would like to think are your friends. It can be pretty tough."

Also in 1978, Cold Spring Export was introduced and modeled after Heineken and Beck malt beers. Mineral water was also reintroduced and marketed as having less sodium than the established Perrier brand.

During the 1980s, Myron Johnson lobbied for small brewery tax credits as large commercial breweries dominated the industry. Cold Spring stopped making wort from 1984 to 1990, only fermenting beer on site.

"Years ago you weren't competing on flavor," Tom Johnson said. "Price was the biggest factor. If you didn't have money for television advertising you were relegated to a small regional brewery that couldn't jump into the same tennis court as a Budweiser or Miller."

Myron Johnson stayed involved in the Cold Spring Brewing Co. until he died on March 25, 1993. The Johnson family sold the business to California-based Beverage International in 1995 after sales plummeted 51 percent over the previous five years.

The business continued to struggle and 45 workers were laid off on Dec. 12 1996.

A new approach in 1997 saw the company packaging Gluek beer, a product that dated back to 1857 in Minneapolis and was acquired by Cold Spring in 1971.

The brewery also partnered with Cassandra Peterson, the actress who plays Elvira.

Peterson had previously portrayed Elvira in national Coors television ads. But after being dropped as a spokesperson, Cold Spring Brewery was commissioned to make "Elvira's Night Brew."

"It was a magnificent beer," recalls Third Street Brewhouse general manager Doug DeGeest, who compares it to Surly Darkness. "It was this big, wonderful malty beer. It was on the cutting edge on that time. If it existed now, it would probably be something popular."

Peterson remembers coming to Cold Spring in Elvira character to promote the beer.

"Cold Spring was fantastic," Peterson said. "I remember coming when it was warm in the summer months. It was such a cool old brewery. I was really impressed with it. It had this old spooky vibe, which I love."

The beer grabbed national headlines at the 1997 Great American Beer Festival in Denver when Peterson wasn't allowed into the event.

"I remember standing at the door in the Elvira costume but the police barred me from coming in because they claimed it was too revealing," Peterson said. "Let alone it was an alcohol convention and there was Miller volleyball girls in bikinis.

"I heard later it was Peter Coors who had ordered them to keep me from entering. I was furious. I called every news station in Denver from my car."

The publicity wasn't enough to fix the Cold Spring Brewing Co.'s financial issues. Assets were liquidated in 1997 after the brewery defaulted on a $300,000 loan.

First National Bank of Cold Spring seized ownership. And with the craft beer movement beginning to form, a new approach needed to be formulated.

When Third Street Brewhouse employees debuted products at trade shows, they purposely didn't acknowledge that they were brewed by the Cold Spring Brewing Co.

"We were really concerned about that stigma associated with the Cold Spring Brewing Co.," said Third Street Brewhouse general manager Doug DeGeest. "The reputation for so long had been cheap, bad beers."

The brewery had unsuccessfully debuted four craft brews under the Cold Spring Brewing Co. label in 2008.

"The craft beers were actually decent beers because they were bigger, maltier and hoppier. But the the marketing wasn't there."

That experience inspired DeGeest to rebrand the brewing operation as Third Street Brewhouse.

John Lenore, who bought the brewery in 2000, used profits from energy drink production to invest in a new $14 million brewhouse on Third Street North.

But getting the new brewhouse built wasn't easy. Critics delayed the project by about six months after raising concerns over added noise and odors.

"We ended up going through a process of proving we met every federal and state requirement when it comes to noise and it delayed receiving our permit from the city by several months," DeGeest said.

"I think the few naysayers that still exist, you don't hear about them anymore because we did what we promised to do. We're not louder and we're not smellier."

Third Street Brewhouse, which opened in 2012, jokingly commemorates the building struggle in the name of its black IPA beer "Bitter Neighbor."

Third Street Brewhouse products are on tap in more than 400 bars, increased from the five taps that featured Cold Spring Brewing Co. products.

"Before we had to ask people to carry our products; now people are asking us for our beer," DeGeest said. "It's a whole different shoe we are walking in than we were three years ago. And it's a lot nicer pair of shoes.

"Our promise is we are never going to be mediocre again."

Craft beer booms

The craft beer movement initially gained traction in the 1990s.

The Cloudy Town Brewers, a local organization of home brewers, formed in 1995. The group meets monthly and currently has about 40 members.

Home brewing was deregulated during the Carter administration and has significantly increased in popularity recently.

"We wanted to get together with other brewers, network with each other and improve our own work," said Bruce LeBlanc, a Cloudy Town Brewers founding member. "We take notes on different techniques and try to learn how to make better beer."

A pair of microbreweries also emerged around the same time as the group's formation.

O'Hara's Brewpub and Restaurant opened in 1996 at 3320 Third St. N, the current site of Lupine Brewing Co.

"I think it helped put craft brewing in the area on the radar," said former O'Hara's brewmaster Chris Laumb, now brewmaster at Beaver Island Brewing Co. "It was even a little ahead of its time. I'm not sure the town was quite ready for yet."

O'Hara's closed in 2007. It was bought that same year by Little Falls resident Nick McCann and Sartell resident Wendel Clark, and renamed McCann's Food & Brew after a $600,000 renovation. McCann's closed in 2012.

A national chain

Another brewpub — Granite City Food & Brewery — opened in 1999 at 3945 Second St. S. The project was the brainchild of former Champps restaurant executive Steve Wagenheim and brewmaster Bill Burdick, who initially intended to create a microbrewery at the old Lahr building on St. Germain Street and resurrect the St. Cloud Brewing Co.'s old name.

Instead, they chose St. Cloud's "Granite City" nickname and turned the business into 13-state corporate chain. Granite City Food & Brewery vice president of operations Jeff Dean said the corporation plans to have 35 restaurants by the end of 2015.

While today only the fermentation is done at each Granite City location — the wort of each beer is mashed at a regional brewery off Interstate Highway 35 in Ellsworth, Iowa — St. Cloud's location has the equipment for the full brewing process.

The brewpub offers a different monthly seasonal beer. Next month's specialty beer features cocoa nibs and is called "John's Mom's Cookies."

"We are getting into some unique recipes we haven't used in the past," said Denise Lenaghan, the current general manager of the St. Cloud Granite City Food & Brewery. "We used to do bigger batches every couple months, now we are doing smaller batches more frequently."

Lenaghan is constantly training her staff on the brews and shares the same story to all the trainees about how a Bud Light-drinking couple fell in love with a stout after it was mispoured and given to them for free.

"They said that had they tried it before they ordered the Bud Light, they would've ordered the stout," Lengahan said. "It was a huge eye-opener for me. You just need to get people to taste it."

And it's that same belief that breweries are banking on in the future.

In 2011 wine educator Nick Barth was called to testify in front of Minnesota's Legislature for the Surly bill. While most of the bill's laws pertained to deregulating the brewing industry, the longtime sommelier argued for a smaller portion of the bill that impacted the wine industry.

"I had no idea at the time that two years later I would be opening a brewery," Barth said. "The Surly law made it so much easier for us."

According to Scott Wasserman of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, there were 13 breweries before the bill. There are now 67 breweries, including 25 that opened in 2014.

Before the Surly bill passed, breweries were allowed to offer only samples on site. Breweries can now sell their products on site.

"It basically allows breweries to have a taproom," explains Beaver Island Brewing Co. co-owner Matt Studer. "It benefits any small brewery starting up. The biggest thing for any new business is to have operating capital to stay afloat. This way you can make money selling beer in your own taproom."

And the places selling beer are popping up.

Beaver Island Brewing Co.

The Beaver Island Brewing Co., which opens on Jan. 22, will have a 78-seat tap room at the old downtown Bo Diddley's Deli and Mr. Nice Guy stores at 216 Sixth Ave. S. The tap room's bar top was made out of old bowling lanes from Granite Bowl South.

They'll have an additional 24-seat patio. The brewing operation is set up in the old Pickard Motor Co. auto shop. And the building they're located at was built in 1939, the same year the the St. Cloud Brewing Co. shut down.

The brewery is run by Barth, Studer and head brewmaster Chris Laumb, who previously brewed at O'Hara's Brewpub and Restaurant, McCann's Food & Brew and Third Street Brewhouse. All three grew up in St. Cloud.

They initially considered resurrecting the St. Cloud Brewing Co. name but chose Beaver Island Brewing Co. instead because it was a local name that had broader marketing appeal. Laumb also grew up near the Beaver Island Trail.

"I take a culinary approach to brewing," Laumb said. "I like to blend flavors. I try to think of how flavors are going to combine."

Lupine Brewing Co.

Meanwhile, a trio of brewers from Hanover is using equipment at the old O'Hara's and McCann's to open Lupine Brewing Co. Their IPA debuted on tap earlier this month at Boulder Tap House in St. Cloud.

President James Anderle opened Lupine with his childhood next-door neighbor Eric Sargent and his current neighbor Mike Dumas.

They were originally going to name the brewery the Fish Bone Brewing Co., but an Australian brewery owns the U.S. trademark. They then decided on Lupine, a Latin phrase meaning "resembling the wolf." Lupine's logo features a paw print.

"We love the community aspect of craft brewing," Anderle said. "We love being around people. It's fascinating talking to people and having that interaction."

The group explored a number of different brewery locations, including Hanover, northeast Minneapolis and Twin Cities suburbs, settling on the building with a ready-to-use brewery operation. They took ownership of the building in August.

Since the bar and restaurant area has been gutted from its McCann's days, Lupine doesn't currently have a tap room but the owners plan to eventually open one.

"I really think the next tier of breweries is going to be out (of the Twin Cities) a little bit," Anderle said. "Our immediate goal is to get a few more kegs out."

Lupine's next batch will be a brown ale.

Urban Moose Brewing Co.

Across the Mississippi River in Sauk Rapids, Flying Pig Pizza Co. owner Roy Dodds is planning on opening a riverfront brewpub called the Urban Moose Brewing Co. near the intersection of River Avenue and First Street South. Dodds said construction is slated to begin this spring.

When Dodds opened the downtown Sauk Rapids pizza shop, he sent an email ballot of potential names to family and friends. Flying Pig took first by one vote over Urban Moose.

Dodds said Urban Moose Brewing Co. will also serve pizza.

"But it will be a different type of pizza than Flying Pig," said Dodds, who previously helped run a Sedona, Arizona, brewpub. "It will be wood-fired Neapolitan pizza. But pizza will be only 60 percent of the menu.

"We're aiming to create a broad appeal so people can come multiple days of the week and never have the same experience."

That includes the microbrew selection. Dodds said he's in the process of hiring a brewmaster.

"People are experiencing the world of craft beer and how creative and how unique it can be," Dodds said. "I really believe people today are more interested in the experience they have more than anything."

St. Joseph taproom

A downtown St. Joseph development is planning to create a family-friendly taproom run by Aaron Rieland.

The project at 24 College Ave. N has been approved by the St. Joseph City Council. Colleen Hollinger Petters of Collegeville Companies said construction of the complex, which will include rental units, is awaiting a restaurant to get involved with the project.

"I don't want a bar scene but I want it to be a family-friendly place that people can come relax and hang out at for awhile," said Rieland, who started as a homebrewer.

Rieland said he's close to finalizing a brewery name.

And like the other new breweries, he's hoping to become a part of Central Minnesota's storied brewing history.

About the author

Jake Laxen is the Food, Dining and Beer reporter at the St. Cloud Times.

In addition to the multiple interviews conducted for this story, the St. Cloud State University graduate consulted files at the Stearns History Museum, the Benton County Historical Society, the Morrison County Historical Society and the 2007 book "Land of Amber Waters' by Doug Hoverson that chronicles Minnesota's brewing history.

You can follow Laxen and his daily #Beer fact of the day on Twitter @jacoblaxen. Find him on Facebook too: https://www.facebook.com/jacob.laxen

By the numbers

67 The number of Minnesota breweries now.

The number of Minnesota breweries now. 4 The number of Minnesota breweries in 1976 and most of the 1980s.

The number of Minnesota breweries in 1976 and most of the 1980s. 132 The peak number of Minnesota breweries, in 1880.

The peak number of Minnesota breweries, in 1880. 500 The number of barrels produced in 1859 by St. Cloud's first brewer, Peter Kraemer.

The number of barrels produced in 1859 by St. Cloud's first brewer, Peter Kraemer. 7 The number of Central Minnesota breweries that burned down (Sauk Centre burned down twice) before Prohibition.

The number of Central Minnesota breweries that burned down (Sauk Centre burned down twice) before Prohibition. 5 cents The cost of a Preiss & Wimmer Brewing Co. 16-ounce beer in 1900.

The cost of a Preiss & Wimmer Brewing Co. 16-ounce beer in 1900. $6,151.60 The cost of a 2008 Minnesota Department of Health project to seal an old New Munich brewery well .

Do you have beer memorabilia?

Post a picture of your collectible can or other beer memorabilia with this story on the Times Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stcloudtimes