Bockfest returns to Schell's as Minnesota's oldest brewery proudly eschews trends

Growing up in the family behind the second-oldest family-owned brewery in America, Kyle Marti attended some of the earliest Bockfests at Schell's Brewery as a grade-school kid.

Sounds cool, right? It was, except for one regular occurrence.

"I'd often see one of my teachers at it, and it'd be kind of awkward for both of us," remembered Marti, a sixth-generation Schells family member and now vice president of what's still Minnesota's top-selling brewery.

Celebrating Bockfest again Saturday at its scenic brewery in New Ulm (95 miles southwest of Minneapolis), the August Schell Brewing Co. itself has been a teacher on what an independent brewery can be like for more than a century and a half.

With a lot of hard lessons happening in the craft beer industry right now — including the recent shuttering of kindred Wisconsin legacy brewery Leinenkugel's — Schell's is sticking to what it knows leading up to its 165th anniversary in 2025.

Gone are the seltzers Schell's added to its menu in recent years, like almost every other brewery keeping up with the times. In are a new, juicy-style pilsner (Notorious P.I.L.S.) and a new canning line for a very, very old beer, Schell's Deer Brand — brewed since before Prohibition.

Schell's will also launch new promotional campaigns for Grain Belt Premium and Grain Belt Nordeast, varieties it began brewing after buying rights to the old Minneapolis beer brand in 2002. Grain Belt Premium remains the bestselling beer made in Minnesota.

"The past couple years, we've been focusing more on the things we know we do well," Marti said. "We were spending too much energy trying to do whatever the flash-in-the-pan thing was at the time."

"We know we're not the newest, trendiest brewery in Minnesota, and we're OK with that. We're still here because of the things we've done right for so many years."

Bockfest is a prime example of the history — and Minnesotanness! — being emphasized more than ever at Schell's, along with the brewery's reputation for making good lagers. See also: Schell's Firebrick (Vienna-style lager), Shell's Dark (dark American lager) and Schell's No Frills (German-style pilsner).

Being held for the 37th time, Bockfest is based around the German tradition of bock beer (a malty, amber-hue lager) fermenting over the winter with fall-harvest grains. The popular one-day outdoor festival is meant to usher in spring, though some years it has ushered in frostbite instead.

Last year's Bockfest was held on an unusually warm 60-degree day and drew an overflow crowd of around 6,500 people. After not seeing visitors at the brewery for over a year during the pandemic, Marti said, the sight of the crowd "made it extra fun."

"COVID was really tough on Schell's," Marti admitted. "We've been clawing our way back."

One thing Schell's never considered for financial gain, he said: Selling the brewery and its brands to a corporate brewery like Budweiser or Molson Coors. The latter bought Leinenkugel's in 1998 and shut down its historic Chippewa Falls, Wis., brewery site in January.

"Ted always hung up anytime he got one of those calls," Marti said of longtime Schell's president Ted Marti (his dad). "We are and always will be a family brewery."

"We feel terrible for them, and for the whole town," he added. "We have such a close relationship with our town, same as Leinenkugel's."

Schell's also is not planning to cash in on THC drinks, which have become a financial boon for many struggling Minnesota breweries since marijuana was legalized here in 2023. Said Marti, "I just don't think it's something our core consumers want."

One popular craft-beer sales tactic that Schell's did tap into, albeit belatedly: The brewery finally opened its own taproom in 2021, taking advantage of the lull from the pandemic as time for construction.

Dubbed the Schell's Bierhalle, it's open seven days a week with a large hilltop patio in the warm months and the look of an old-world German beer hall inside. The new setup will allow for live music on weekends this summer and another big Oktoberfest celebration this fall, all happening with the added buzz of the brewery's 165th anniversary.

So what took so long for the taproom?

"We didn't want to take away customers from all the bars and restaurants in [New Ulm] that had been serving our beer for so many years," Marti said. "Hopefully, though, we're helping bring more people to town now."

Schells Bockfest

When: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.

Where: August Schell Brewing Co., 1860 Schell Road, New Ulm, Minn.

Tickets: $10, schellsbrewery.com.