Background
Yoerg Brewing has been around for a long time – in fact, as Minnesota’s first commercial brewery it opened 10 years before Minnesota even became a state. Their old-school website is a trove of historical information and photos befitting this St. Paul institution.
In 2016, business partners Thomas Keim and Carole Minogue revived the historic Yoerg brand and its recipes. The brewery still brews the four core beers from their founding, and only those beers: a flagship lager, a dark bock, a double bock, and a crisp golden lager.
Experience
The sun was shining when the crew visited and enjoyed the flagship lager and the summer golden lager. Both were solid brews, enhanced by the history and tradition. These simple, unfussy beers may not take home a craft beer award, but they pair perfectly with one of the German staples from the menu (we got a hot, soft pretzel and currywurst). However, a uniquely wonderful addition to this brewery is their extensive list of hard to find European beers.
Thomas Keim, one of the owners of Yoerg Brewing , manned the bar and his encyclopedic and passionate knowledge of the beers was a delight. We went with an Oude Geuze from Oud Beersel, although we were tempted by the selection of Lithuanian beers. Tom explained they were unique in their process of chopping the grain, making it into bread, and then adding the bread to make the beer in lieu of the traditional malt. And they were getting a shipment of Cantillon the following day.
So definitely put this on your to-do list when in St. Paul. There are many places to stay in town, the crew stayed at Celeste, a boutique hotel styled as an old convent, which was a 5min drive or easy 15min bus ride from Yoerg’s.
When in the area also check out Arbeiter Brewing.
