Some of you may remember the Hamm’s Beer Commercials with Sascha the bear and trainer Earl Hammond. What you may not know is many of the commercials were filmed at the end of the Gunflint Trail.
It’s difficult to get a dog to behave in a canoe so imagine getting a fully grown bear to ride around in a canoe. That is exactly what the red canoe hanging above the retail area in the taproom was used for. Sascha stood on the gunwales in the bow of the canoe as Earl motored at the stern.
Ralph and Bea Griffis, owners of Chik-Wauk Lodge at the end of the Gunflint Trail, hosted Earl and Sascha at the lodge during the filming of the commercials. The canoe hung in their lodge until 2000 when the USFS took over ownership of the property. We were good friends with the Griffis and when we had an opportunity to purchase the canoe we couldn’t pass it up. It hung in our lodge at Voyageur Canoe Outfitters until 2015 when we moved it to the taproom where more folks could enjoy it’s beauty.
Today you can visit Chik-Wauk during the summer months, it’s a great museum and nature center at the end of the Trail. If you’re up there, stop by Voyageur Canoe Outffiters and enjoy a Voyageur beer!
Are you curious about what’s inside the mysterious building on Highway 61? Here is a time-lapse video of the installation of the hot liquor tank at Voyageur Brewing Company in Grand Marais, Minnesota. The footage was edited and compiled by Matthew Logan.Continue Reading
It won’t be long until everyone will be able to enjoy craft beer and the beautiful taproom at Voyageur Brewing Company. The interior looks amazing thanks to the time and talent of local carpenters, painters and craftspeople. We knew it was going to be nice when we started but IContinue Reading
Something is brewing in Grand Marais, Minnesota and it’s our craft beer! With all of our equipment and licenses in place we’ve been able to brew. The beer will need a couple of weeks to ferment but after that we’ll be able to open our doors to all of theContinue Reading
We wish we could tell you the special date we will open Voyageur Brewing Company. We’re super excited to open our doors and begin this adventure in Grand Marais, Minnesota. When we started this endeavor we planned for there to be delays, setbacks and issues but we certainly didn’t planContinue Reading
Voyageur Brewing Company hopes Santa brought you everything you wanted this year. Here’s a map of best-selling beers around the world. It would be presumptuous to imagine Voyageur’s logo spanning continents, but we aspire to join the ranks of fine breweries in our state and beyond. We in Grand MaraisContinue Reading
It has been nonstop excitement at Voyageur Brewing since our consultants from TurnKey arrived Saturday night, and our equipment arrived the next day from Marks. The view above is from our taproom window. Today the tanks and grain arrived. Here are some photos of what’s been happening. It is aContinue Reading
All the way from Marks Equipment in Vancouver, Washington, our new brewhouse will arrive in Grand Marais tomorrow morning. In case you are wondering what is coming off the truck, it’s a 20-barrel steam jacketed mash/lauter tun with mixer, a 20-barrel steam jacketed brew kettle, and a 40-barrel steam jacketedContinue Reading
Even though our doors aren’t open yet, we at Voyageur Brewing Company have much to be thankful for, including, but not limited to: The fine people at the IRRRB and the National Bank of Commerce; Virginia Palmer, our excellent realtor; Rich Palmer of COMO LP; Baiers Herren, our outstanding businessContinue Reading
Voyageur Brewing Company is home to a new 10-ton KRP chiller. It doesn’t feel like we need it this week, but this mighty beauty is a vital component in our brewhouse. Its features include insulated copper piping, washable condenser filters, a stainless steel heat exchanger, a compressor crankcase heater, andContinue Reading
