Signs of Beer: Northern Beer

 

My search for this beer first led me to Canada. There was a Northern Breweries that had a presence up in Ontario. I could find nothing about their beers beside a label for an ale. They happened to be the first employee owned brewery in North America. However, after selling to an investment group that intended to revive the brand, Northern Breweries went bankrupt somewhere around 2006 or 2007. However, this Northern Breweries was a dead end for this particular label.

After a little more digging, I found the Northern Brewing Company of Superior, Wisconsin. This is the brewer that produced Northern Beer amongst other labels. Northern had been around since 1890 when it was the Klinkert Brewing Company. Through some reorganization in the years following, Klinkert became Rueping and finally Northern. It was quite the prosperous operation in Superior and NW Wisconsin. They even distributed some batches to Milwaukee.

Unfortunately, their fortune would begin to diminish when a bad batch of Northern Beer was shipped out. Customers returned the beer en masse and Northern Brewing Company's reputation was tarnished. This tale seems a bit legendary as no dates are attached to the recollection. But by 1967 Northern decided to call it quits due to the diminishing demand for their beer. Historically, regional brewers nationwide began to decline at this point as well. 

In another twist to this tale, Cold Spring Brewing Company purchased the Northern Beer label and produced Northern Beer until 1995 using it as a bargain brand. I did not look close enough, but these bottles could have come from the Cold Spring period. I would say I am 80% confident these are from the later Northern Brewing days. 

Oh, Cold Spring formerly produced Gluek's- another popular regional beer in Minnesota which I covered in an earlier Signs of Beer post. And in another turnaround, Gluek's is available again. But this time with a slightly different recipe and brewed in Denver.

So maybe Northern Beer will make a comeback.