This Family-Owned Midwest Brewery Has Been Making Beer Since Before The Civil War

Food and drink companies come and go, with brands that seemed iconic in one decade nearly forgotten by the next. However, some companies buck this trend and stick around for generations, whether through high-quality products, innovative thinking, clever marketing, or simply luck. It's likely a little of each played a role in helping the family-owned August Schell Brewing Company survive more than 165 years since its pre-Civil War founding. 

The brewery got its start in 1860 in the small town of New Ulm, Minnesota, about 100 miles southwest of Minneapolis. It was founded by August Schell, a German immigrant who came to America a little over a decade earlier. This combination of Old-World heritage and immigrant entrepreneurship underpinned the new beer producer. Schell had little brewing experience himself and initially partnered with an experienced local brewmaster to develop its beers. Successive generations of Schells helped establish the brand as a popular regional brewery, even shepherding the company through Prohibition by switching over to producing soft drinks and near beer.

The company continued to grow and experiment in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, as well. It played an important role in helping Minnesota's craft brewing scene develop in the 1980s and 1990s, later purchasing historic brewer Grain Belt Beer in 2002.

Today, August Schell Brewing Company produces a half dozen regular brews, along with a similar number of seasonal varieties. Among the core beers in the company's collection is Deer Brand, which the company describes as a pre-Prohibition lager, an award-winning, grain-forward nod to August Schell's long history. Others include a more modern light lager, a German-style pilsner, and Vienna-style amber lager. (What's the difference between lager and pilsner?) Along with seasonal options, such as a toasty winter lager and Kölsch-style ale, it's easy to see the brewery's focus on lighter, refreshing beers.

Beer lovers who'd like to get an up-close look at this historic company can head to Schell's Bierhalle in New Ulm, a bar and gathering space where visitors can also hop on tours of the brewery. It's an ideal way to sample the company's many offerings, including 1919 Draft Root Beer, a Prohibition-era recipe revived by Schell as a nod to its soft drink past.

August Schell Brewing Company may not be America's oldest brewery; that honor goes to Yuengling, which began brewing in Pennsylvania 31 years before Schell. In addition, Schell mainly distributes its beer in Minnesota, along with limited availability in states like Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, and the Dakotas, making it less widely available than other old-school beers. Still, it sits in a rare class of historic brewers and distillers that have kept their products on the market through recessions, wars, changing consumer tastes, and, of course, Prohibition, making it a name worth remembering.