This Minnesota Saloon Has Been Open For 165 Years Now

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It's the oldest saloon still operating here in Minnesota, and it's been in operation for over 165 years now!

As it turns out, this way-cool craft brewery isn't just the oldest still-operating saloon in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, it's also the oldest commercial building still in operation in the state too. It's pretty cool.

It's the Waldmann Brewery and Wurstery in St. Paul. It's located right on Smith Avenue North, just off Minnesota State Highway 149, which is just off the High Bridge over the Mississippi River.  And it first opened as a saloon six months before Minnesota was even a state, and four years before the Civil War-- all the way back in 1857!

The Waldmann is the oldest surviving commercial building in the Twin Cities, their website notes. The building was extensively remodeled and re-opened as a craft brewery in 2017 and it currently specializes in German beer and food. And their offerings are as close as they can get, in today's craft beer craze, to the same kind of beer the original owner, Anton Waldmann, would have served when he was behind the bar.

We first stopped at the Waldmann a few years ago. I tried their locally-brewed German-style Pilsner, and, of course, one of their authentic bratwurst, both of which were really good-- and really authentic. But the complete restoration of their historic building, back to the way it might have appeared back in 1857, was what I thought was REALLY cool.

READ MORE: The 'Most Iconic' Building in Minnesota is Now Over 100 Years Old

Their website says the owners took great pains to authentically restore it back to its original appearance, including "wood stoves, virgin pinewood floors, hand-blown window glass, a large collection of 19th-century steamboat chairs, whale oil lamps (burning paraffin), and many period maps, photographs, and other memorabilia," the site says.

If you love history-- and you love some good, German food and beer-- you've GOTTA try the Waldmann in St. Paul. Now while the Waldmann has survived all these years, not everything does. Keep scrolling to check out 15 McDonald's menu items that have been discontinued-- and see how many YOU remember.

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