Departments

Brewer tour

By Kyle Hebert

Tod Fyten, owner and brewer of the Mantorville Brewing Company, is a living history of beer brewing in Minnesota. His 25 years of experience in all corners of the beer industry have culminated in his ownership of MBC, a craft brewery located in Mantorville. “Extending the brewing history of Mantorville is a big reason I’m here,” Fyten says.

And, on most Saturdays, visitors to MBC can take a tour that walks them through 150 years of Mantorville’s beer brewing history, which began when John Hirchi built his brewery there in 1858. That brewery was sold to Charles Ginsberg, who after much success built a larger brewery constructed entirely of stone quarried from the bluff into which it was built. In his book “Amber Waters,” Doug Hoverson called the Ginsberg brewery “one of the finest in the region.” That brewery changed hands several times, and at one point during Prohibition became a pop factory. The doors were closed for the final time in 1939. In 1942, a hole was punctured in the side of the building in order to retrieve its copper brew kettle as scrap for the war; the rest of the building crumbled over time.

The current incarnation of MBC was founded in 1996, when six home brewers started producing their flagship beer, Stagecoach Amber Ale, in a new brewery across from the Hubbell House. Fyten purchased MBC in 2002. By 2008, he began bottling Stagecoach Ale, which had previously been sold only in kegs.

The brewery stays true to its Midwest roots by using converted dairy equipment at several stages of the brewing process. “It’s not uncommon in many of these prairie breweries to find dairy equipment in use,” Fyten says. The Stagecoach brand is another nod to Mantorville’s historic connections to the old stagecoach lines that used to pass through town.

Tours of the brewery are offered most Saturdays between 2-4 p.m. Fyten suggests calling ahead to make sure tours will be held. Each tour lasts about fifteen minutes—“longer when other craft brewers show up,” Fyten says—and includes a tasting of each of the brewery’s beers. Tours are currently free, but by late summer the price will be $2, and will include a sampling glass featuring the brewery’s logo.