Welcome to

The Research & Development Department of
Glewwe Castle Brewery, 
Prior Lake, Minnesota USA

Home Made Root Beer since 1994


We  have been making home brewed beverages since 1994.  In the Spring of 2004, we were approached by the Prior Lake Farmers Market to sell our Root Beer.  Our product has also been available at various craft fairs.  Ask to be on our distribution list and we will gladly keep you informed of future sales.
 

Current Products

Root Beer

Our flagship product is root beer.  It is a creamy blend made from 2 different concentrated extracts (root beer and birch beer).  After a few years of experimentation, this recipe was settled upon in 1998.

Cream Soda

Many folks have liked the creaminess of our root beer and wondered how we would do with cream soda.  We solicited feedback on several recipes during the winter of 2005 and have settled on one.  It is available now, but will have its grand introduction in May 2005 with the opening of the Prior Lake Farmer's Market.

Ginger Ale

The head brewer is also fond of Ginger Ale (but likes to taste the ginger).  Made up primarily of lemons, limes, and ginger, the aroma has tended to overwhelm the rest of the family - and makes a very strong ginger flavor.  We refined the recipe to our satisfaction in 2010.  And also have two variations to satisfy others: Raspberry Ginger Ale (to hide the strong ginger aspect) and Ginger Beer for those that want even more ginger kick.

Black Cherry

The apprentice has put in his preference to perfect a Black Cherry soda.  A blend of Black and Sweet Cherry, with a touch a citric acid to accentuate the sweetness.  Introduced in 2012 and quite nice.

Pry-off bottles

Historically, we like glass for containers.  Yes, it is prone to breakage, but environmentally and health/taste concerns, it works great. 
Generally, we have used pry-off crown caps because we found a 10% failure rate with twist-off caps.  So, we have used 6oz (pony), 12oz, and 22oz bottles.   Recently, we have backed off much of these bottles because the cost has become excessive (e.g., $10/case for 12oz bottles adds 45 cents to each bottle).

Swing-Top bottles ("Growlers")

Besides the classic long neck beer bottles, we bottle in half-liter and liter swing-top glass bottles.  Originally, it was for folk that want larger resealable containers or the ability to control the portion size.  Inspired by Grolsh beer and French cider and the old milk bottle return policies of our parents, we have proudly done this since 2007 at the farmers markets.  At this time, most sales at farmer markets are in these swing-top bottles. 

Current Development

Please Note:  The original recipe took four years to perfect,
so don't look for immediate results from our laid back development process.

Low Calorie/Carb Root Beer

The head brewer was diagnosed in October of 2003 as being diabetic, so he is slightly motivated to find a low calorie (if not diet) root beer that closely meets the satisfying nature of our root beer.  The first taste tests were held on early July of 2004.  Research continues.  Low calorie sweeteners leave much to be desired.

Chocolate Soda

Our good friends from Lititz Chocolate Walk have asked us to work on a chocolate soda.  Sounds kind of different, eh?  But some research tells us that Chocolate Soda was popular during the dark days of Prohibition.  So at least there is some hope.  So far, we have tried several options, but have not found anything that seems promising.  And the annual walk is coming up in October.  Yikes!!

Mango Ginger Ale

The head brewer again is contemplating what else would go well with ginger.  He was recently drinking Mango-Orange juice and thought "Ooh - Mango ginger should be good".  So, in Spring of 2019 you can expect some experimentation.   

Future Development

Bottle Carriers

We are looking for a plain white bottle carrier for our large bottles. Or if we win the lottery, maybe carriers with our own logo on it.  Then again, we would need to develop a logo.

Promotional Items

We are always looking at items like bottle openers, aprons, shirts, and glassware.

Discontinued Products

Orange Soda

The household matron and son are fond of Orange Soda.  We experimented during the winters of 2005 and 2006.  Erik eventually overcame our quality control problems and we have another hit and have sold it regularly beginning with the 2007 farmers market.  As with the other flavors, this is special with vanilla ice cream.  Unfortunately, due to low sales and some difficulty with securing ingredients and short shelf life, we agreed to discontinue this flavor for the foreseeable future.


Contact us with your suggestions and let us see if we can help.


Sales Page for Glewwe's Castle Brewery of Prior Lake, Minnesota USA
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Last modified March, 2019
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