Minnesota’s Premier American Single Malt Whiskey.
Brother Justus Whiskey is crafted with conviction. A product of hard work, innovation, and love for the land. It honors Minnesota’s rebellious, bootlegging monk who believed that good whiskey – expertly made – is a blessing.
Business not as usual.
Some of the hot, new whiskey out there was born out of boredom. Or, by jumping on the bandwagon of a fleeting trend, something new that’s been designed to appear old-timey and authentic. Not ours.
Ours is a story of conviction. Our product is a result of years of hard work to master the craft. From a founder who lived in a monastery, served the homeless and desperate migrant workers, smuggled medical supplies into war zones and helped preserve ancient manuscripts in some of the world’s most dangerous places. Ours is a brand that embodies belief. Which, in our humble opinion, makes pretty good business sense.
Our Namesake
Founder and CEO Phil Steger was inspired by the real-life bootlegging Minnesota monk whose copper stills and teaching of the craft of making good whiskey lifted families out of poverty and made Minnesota whiskey world-famous. He believed that while whiskey was illegal, it wasn’t immoral. He also believed that they had a responsibility to make it right. As a result of his help, 1,600 family-operated distilleries were making the only branded whiskey of Prohibition: Minnesota 13.
Learn more about Brother Justus and the history of whiskey making in Minnesota on VinePair!
Made From Minnesota™
Our product is made with reverence for the natural resources of our home state. Minnesota is the only place in the world where three distinctive biomes converge perfectly for making whiskey
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The Mighty Mississippi
Sourced <1 Mile from Brother Justus Whiskey Co.
The Mississippi River cascades over 640 miles of limestone bedrock between its headwaters in Lake Itasca and our distillery in Minneapolis. The water's flow over the limestone helps it acquire an ideal pH and mineral balance for distilling the purest whiskey.
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The Great Plains
Sourced 29.5 Miles from Brother Justus Whiskey Co.
With the deepest topsoil on earth, the tallgrass prairies of the eastern great Plains are ideal for cultivating barley. With a generally flat terrain, dark soil, and good moisture, grasses grow tall and strong. Once harvested, our barley is malted in Minnesota at the Western Hemisphere’s largest malt house, Rahr Malting in Shakopee.
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The Eastern Hardwood Forest
Sourced 81 Miles from Brother Justus Whiskey Co.
A dense, broadleaf forest, Minnesota’s is the largest American White Oak forest outside of Missouri, home to the world's coldest white oak. Our harsh winters and short but sweltering summers create the seasonal extremes that pack the oak with rich and full vanillin, tannin, and sugar, so our barrels can mature whiskey with unmatched flavor.
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The Boreal Forest
Sourced 125 Miles from Brother Justus Whiskey Co.
Minnesota has over 6,000,000 acres of bogs rich with ancient peat, more than both Scotland and Ireland. These vast stretches of land, some of which were never harvested, host a diverse and constantly evolving ecosystem. Millennia in the making, Minnesota peat contains flavors that began forming at the end of the Ice Age 10,000 years ago, as glaciers traveled southward.
Our Founder & CEO
Phil Steger
For Phil Steger, creating whiskey and building a distillery has always been about more than a flashy bottle and and an incredible product — it’s about conviction, belief, and possibility.
Award-Winning American Single Malt Whiskey
No Fake Flavors.
No Shortcuts.
Our American Single Malt Whiskeys showcase the depth of flavor possible in malted barley.