Gluek beer will be no more

[image]

I'm not sure I've ever had a Gluek beer. But I was sad to see the story about the brand going away.

WJON radio reported that Cold Spring Brewing, which took over the Gluek name in the 1990s, will phase out the brand by September.

According to the station, Cold Spring Vice President Doug Degeest called it a business decision to stop making Gluek. Degeest said the brewery was having trouble keeping up with production on multiple brands and chose to discontinue Gluek, WJON reported.

Create a More Connected Minnesota

MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.

For me, Gluek beer always will stir memories of collecting beer cans as a kid. My friends and I used to find cans the old-fashioned way -- by hunting through the woods and scrounging around ditches.

One of the jewels of can collecting was the ever-vanishing "cone top" can. If you pulled a rusty cone top Gluek's from a pile of leaves along the Mississippi River, that was a great day.

Today you can buy a good condition Gluek's cone top for $200 ... like this one for sale at Breweriana.com.

(Photo used with permission from Dan Morean at Breweriana.com)

The Gluek name has been part of Minnesota brewing history for more than 150 years. Gottlieb Gluek, a German immigrant, founded a brewery in Minneapolis in 1855. The empire he and his family built left a big mark in the city, with a brewing complex, office buildings and ornate homes.

One of the Gluek buildings keeps the name alive today. Gluek's Restaurant & Bar in downtown Minneapolis is housed in a Gluek building that went up in 1902.

The former Gluek's Brewing Company brewery at 2000 Marshall Street in Minneapolis. The building was torn down in 1966. (Photo from the Minnesota Historical Society)

A customer with the first case of beer purchased at Gluek's Brewery after the repeal of Prohibition, 1933 (Photo from the Minnesota Historical Society)