Minnesota

Hey there! We recently resumed our hunt for America’s oldest taverns. We began our trip by catching a Southwest (we always fly SWA) flight to Minneapolis. After landing….or were we shot down…following a turbulent flight, we picked up our sweet ride from Dollar Rental, a 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage G4. The G4 was spartan in comfort with the get up and go of a three legged turtle, but it got great mileage, which was important on this trip. Before heading for the oldest bar in Minnesota we followed up on a tip from my good friend, Billy, to check out Matt’s Bar & Grill, a Minneapolis landmark and the originator of the “Jucy Lucy”, a stuffed cheeseburger with the cheese melted inside the meat instead of on top. The burgers were hot and juicy, and paired well with an ice cold Hamm’s Beer. Matt’s Bar was a real dive, and quite a busy dive, too, with folks streaming in for their Jucy Lucys. Of note, was that our burgers were proudly served on a piece of wax paper vice a plate. The last time that happened to me was thirty years ago at a dusty desolate dive in Jordan near the Dead Sea.

With our bellies filled with Jucy Lucys and Hamm’s we made the short drive over to North St. Paul to experience Neumann’s Bar. Neumann’s has a lot of interesting things about it. The bartender, Toni, filled us in on the bar’s cool stuff in between making us great drinks. Neumann’s had it all, from huge frogs living in their window pond, to loads of stuffed animal head trophies, to nudie portraits in the bathrooms, and loads of great stories captured for posterity on their walls. Neumann’s was our 36th state’s oldest bar and it was a real keeper. Many thanks to our bar tending historian, Toni, for her hospitality, a great old fashioned, and for making our visit a memorable one.

BONUS: We wanted to wish Irv Koch a very happy 101st birthday! Irv is still serving up drinks and regaling patrons daily in his basement bar in Pasadena, MD. All the best, Irv, and here’s to many more years drinking at your bar! Check this out from his birthday last year! www.wmar2news.com/local/mr-irv-the-legend-of-pasadena. Thank you to Bridgett at www.beeprbuzz.com for use of the photo.