Schell’s Reopens 19th Century Lagering Caves

NEW ULM, MN – In a nod to its 19^th century brewing traditions, the 155 year-old August Schell Brewing Company has released a limited-edition beer aged in American whiskey barrels stored in the brewery’s original, underground lagering caves.  Located below the historic brewery, the naturally cooled caverns were originally constructed in the 1860’s to facilitate brewing in an era that predated electrical refrigeration.

The specialty cave-aged, barrel-aged lager was created as the ninth installment in Schell’s Stag Series, – a collection of innovative and experimental, limited-edition brews released periodically throughout the year.  Dark brown to black in color, the beer has roasted malt notes of dark chocolate, toffee, light oak, char and a hint of vanilla.

“It was a lot of fun cleaning up the old lagering caves and getting a chance to use them to store beer in wooden barrels like they did over 100 years ago,” notes Jace Marti, Schell’s brew master and sixth generation member of the Schell’s family.

The brewery intends to continue using the historic lagering caves as a laboratory for exploring the use of traditional brewing techniques in the creation of unique new beers.