Ramsey County History – Fall 1981: “Beer Capital of the State—St Paul’s Historic Family Breweries”

Beer Capital of the State—St Paul’s Historic Family Breweries
Author: Gary J. Brueggemann

St. Paul had the largest German population in the state and, by 1887, contained twelve operating breweries. St. Paul had barley and hops-growing regions nearby, plenty of good water, and cool caves for aging. The first brewery was Yoerg’s, established in 1848, and it was run by the family for a century. Three years later, Martin Bruggemann, a Prussian, started his St. Paul brewery not far from Seven Corners in 1872. Bruggemann died in 1897, and the company folded. There were many other breweries, some operating for many years, others that were ephemeral.

Christopher Stahlmann’s Cave Brewery began operations on Fort Road in 1855 and, by the late 1870s, was the largest brewery in the state. North Star Brewery was founded by non-Germans Drewery and Scotten on Dayton’s Bluff in 1855. Andrew Keller, a German, opened a brewery at Swede Hollow in 1860 and sold it in 1864 to Theodore Hamm, who successfully transformed it into one of the largest in the country. The Hamm family ran the business until 1975.
PDF of Brueggmann article