The Signs of Beer: Schell's

It is the dead of winter and what should one do?
Grab a fine winter ale while they are to be had (such as Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale.) and read a bit about what signs of beer I have found in my varied travels.
The entry today takes us back to late summer and the Minnesota State Fair.
O'Gara's has quite the setup now at the fairgrounds. What used to be the St. Bernard's dining hall has been transformed into pub-like beer hall with plenty of wood trimmings and signage.
While on my stop there I had breakfast and not beer. Not sure what Phil would say about that.

Our sign however is not of the Smithwicks or Guinness or eve the Finegan's kind. Instead it comes from the brewery known as Schell's- that claims to be the 2nd oldest family owned brewery and is the largest brewery in Minnesota. You can read the details here. Over a 150 years of brewing- surviving prohibition and the big beer aquisition era.
I have sampled some Schell's but have not really settled on which one I like the best. However, they do produce Grain Belt Nordeast, and that is a favorite of mine and my friends.

Our sign is a more modern neon one of the traditional stag head emblem that you see on the labels. This sign is targetting the seasonal Oktoberfest brew. Schell's Oktoberfest is ok. I've had better- such as Sam Adams and Summit's brews of the Oktoberfest. It is regional so I'd drink it again if I had the opportunity. 

 Not entirely sure why they use the stag head but my guess is that it is representative of the deer park they had open on the brewery grounds many years ago. This blog post states that the brewery founder, August Schell, loved deer.

Cheers until we imbibe again!