Kegs, Keepsakes and Conversations

If the brick and steel walls of Keg and Case West 7th Market could talk, they’d probably sound a lot like Phil Gagné. As the last brewmaster at the old Schmidt Brewery, which closed in 2002 after a 150-year run, he’s made it his business to know everything about a place that shaped a neighborhood and America’s beer history.

Since 1979, when he started working on-site as a brewer, Phil's story has been the story of the brewery. He’s made it his business to know everything about the place — from the original Cave Brewery in 1855 (which explains the underground tunnels beneath the campus) to the Stahlmann Brothers and Jacob Schmidt years all the way to the end, when it closed as Minnesota Brewing Company.

When brewing operations ceased, Phil stayed on to help developers as the brewhouse and bottlehouse were transformed into artist lofts. He oversaw the restoration of Keg and Case Market, a former keg house built in 1937. Then he helped overhaul and revive the Rathskeller, a 1935 building known for its ornate German-style basement beer hall that has reopened as an event space on the historic Schmidt Brewery grounds. be the go-to guy for all things Schmidt and anyone who likes a good story.

On any given day, you’re likely to run into him chatting up merchants selling everything from coffee and halva to fresh spun cotton candy, baked goods and beyond. With more than two dozen artisans on site, everyone knows him. He’s the historian, unofficial “mayor” and, more officially, Keg and Case director of operations.

The objects he saved from demolition or dumpsters are now on display throughout the building. Stroll through the former keg house turned 33,000-square-foot food hall and you’ll see Phil’s imprint on surfaces at every turn.

Photos he kept were enlarged and given cheeky placement in the bathrooms. A hops scale, which was used to weigh more than 19 million pounds of hops in its 50 years of service, stands proudly by the entrance. Upstairs on the mezzanine, there are “cradle benches” that Phil fabricated from old beer tank supports and planks of douglas fir. There are giant valve handles he turned into end tables. A 100-year-old sculpture of King Lineas, the patron saint of beer, stands in front of windows gazing over the couches and chill spaces of the natural-light-bathed warehouse. He loaned these items to Clutch Brewing Co., whose taproom overlooks the market. One of their best-selling brews, “Phil’s Pils,” is a co-creation featuring an old recipe he’d been saving. Another, “Lil Philly” summer pilsner, features a 1962 photo of Phil at age 3.

“There’s a nice brotherhood among brewers,” he says. It’s why he loves supporting the young, beer-savvy owners of Clutch, as well as friends down the street at Waldmann Brewery & Wurstery, the oldest surviving commercial building in the Twin Cities. “That place is a great mix of history and beer: two of my favorite topics.”

You can find that conversation at Keg and Case, too, by grabbing a seat at the Brewer’s Table upstairs at Clutch. It is perhaps the mother of all of Phil’s shared artifacts. One of the hundreds of items he pulled from Schmidt when it closed, the former lunchroom table was built in 1910 from the wood of 1860s brew tanks. He put 200-plus hours into restoring it. So he understandably likes to talk about it.

Want a conversation starter? See if you can find Phil’s initials carved into the table. The walls, as they say, are definitely talking.

This food hall features chef-driven restaurants, craft brewing and a curated marketplace of eclectic regional products, pop-up shops and outdoor events. It’s also a building steeped in Saint Paul history that’s helping a neighborhood buzz with new life. 928 W. Seventh St., St. Paul KegandCase.com Best New Food Hall in U.S. –USA Today/10Best Readers’ Choice 2019