Stories From Story Feast Collective
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Drinks: Every Beverage We Served at Our Inaugural Story Feast Gathering
The Drinks Table: Every Beverage We Served at Our Inaugural Story Feast Gathering
From Brother Justus whiskey to Northstar Kombucha, every beverage at our inaugural Story Feast gathering at St. John's Abbey was local, artisan, and chosen to celebrate Minnesota's makers. Alcoholic and nonalcoholic options, no formal pairings, just great drinks for everyone.
Hibiscus Raspberry Kombucha from Northstar Kombucha
At a Story Feast gathering, the drinks matter just as much as the food. Not because we fuss over formal pairings or tell you what to drink with each course. It’s because every bottle, tumbler, and glass on the table tells a story about the place where you're sitting.
At our inaugural gathering at St. John's Abbey, we wanted the beverage table to feel like a tour of Minnesota's best craft and artisan producers. Whiskey built on Benedictine values. Kombucha brewed in small batches in Minneapolis. Cider pressed from heirloom apples grown just down the road. Wine donated by the monks themselves. A sparkling nonalcoholic beverage developed with Michelin-starred chefs. Craft beer from the Stillwater’s very first taproom.
All of it local or independent. All of it made by people who care deeply about what goes into the bottle.
And all of it available to you, however you wanted it.
There was an open bar throughout the entire Story Feast event
Your Table, Your Way
Here's something we believe in strongly at Story Feast: we don't do formal beverage pairings.
There's no sommelier telling you which glass to reach for with each course. No card at your place setting suggesting the "correct" combination. No pressure to drink alcohol at all.
Instead, we set the table with a generous spread of extraordinary options and let you choose what feels right. Maybe that's a whiskey cocktail during the cocktail hour and kombucha with dinner. Maybe it's cider all night. Maybe it's TÖST from start to finish. Maybe you start with a beer, switch to wine, and end with a Pommeau from Milk & Honey.
We trust you to know what you like. Our job is to make sure every option on the table is worth reaching for, whether it contains alcohol or not. Nonalcoholic beverages aren't an afterthought at Story Feast. They're given the same care, the same quality, and the same prominence as everything else.
Because hospitality means everyone at the table feels celebrated.
The Brother Justus cocktail being prepared
The Beverages
Brother Justus Whiskey
Brother Justus is Minneapolis-based and Minnesota's first legal whiskey distillery since Prohibition. Founded by Phil Steger, it's built on Benedictine values of community, craftsmanship, and hospitality. These are values that run deep at St. John's, where Phil himself is an alumnus.
Phil didn't just donate whiskey for our gathering. He showed up in person, poured for guests throughout the evening, and created an original cocktail for the occasion: Vespers, a contemplative mix of Brother Justus American Whiskey, Benedictine liqueur, cream sherry, and mole bitters. The name comes from the evening prayer service observed in monasteries around the world. It was fitting for a meal shared by candlelight in a monastic dining hall. Phil described it as velvety and smooth, with black coffee colour and ruby red refractions in the light.
During dinner, Brother Justus whiskey was poured neat into handmade ceramic tumblers crafted specifically for the event by JD and Megan Jorgenson of Maine Prairie Studio. Phil and JD embraced when they saw each other at the gathering. They were old friends, both St. John's alumni, reuniting at a table set with JD's pottery and toasted with Phil's whiskey.
That's the kind of moment that makes Story Feast what it is.
Milk & Honey Ciders
Milk & Honey Ciders sits in the rolling hills of Stearns County, just down the road from St. John's Abbey. Founded by Peter Gillitzer and partners, they make dry, tannic, highly aromatic ciders from heirloom apple varieties with names like Calville Blanc d'Hiver, Arkansas Black, and Kingston Black. Their motto: Let the apples shine.
A few days before the gathering, we drove out to pick up the kegs and ended up staying for a bonfire tasting as the sun dropped behind their orchard. They insisted we take the proper tulip glasses for service, because they care about how their cider is experienced right down to the shape of the glass.
Throughout dinner, guests enjoyed their Estate Cider: dry, aromatic, and a perfect counterpoint to the richness of the harvest menu. After dinner, we poured their Pommeau: a blend of apple brandy and fresh-pressed juice aged two years in barrels. Warm, spiritous, with notes of caramel, oak, and dried fruit. Served neat, in those tulip glasses, exactly as intended.
Northstar Kombucha was served throughout the Story Feast dinner and also found its way into the goody bag
Northstar Kombucha
Northstar Kombucha is brewed in small batches in Minneapolis using organic ingredients and live cultures. Their flavors are creative but balanced. It’s the kind of kombucha you actually want to drink, not just tolerate for the health benefits.
Throughout the evening, guests sipped their Raspberry Hibiscus kombucha, bright and refreshing alongside the rich courses coming out of the kitchen. And every goody bag included a bottle in one of their gorgeous flavors: Grapefruit Basil, Lavender Ginger, Strawberry Rose, Cherry Elderberry, Honey Ginger, Blueberry Maple, and more.
Northstar is based in a shared maker space that houses a small community of independent producers, each one crafting something by hand. When I drove over a few days before the event to pick up the kegs and bottles myself, I loved walking through that building. It's what Minnesota's food and beverage scene looks like at its best: collaborative, community-rooted, and absolutely extraordinary.
TÖST being poured during the Story Feast dinner
TÖST
TÖST is a premium nonalcoholic sparkling beverage crafted with white tea, white cranberry, and ginger. It's dry, not sweet and was developed in collaboration with Michelin-starred chefs and James Beard Award winners to pair beautifully with food, just like fine wine.
TÖST was available throughout the cocktail hour and dinner. It gave guests who weren't drinking alcohol something genuinely celebratory to raise. It looked elegant in the glass, tasted wonderful, and offered everyone something special and festive.
Every guest also took home a bottle in their goody bag: a little reminder of the evening and an invitation to recreate that feeling of celebration at their own table.
Lift Bridge Root Beer was served during dinner (along with a selection of Lift Bridge beers) and the root beer also went home with guests in their goody bags
Lift Bridge Brewery
Lift Bridge Brewing Company was founded in 2008 in Stillwater, Minnesota. It’s the first brewery to operate there since Prohibition. When Minnesota changed its laws in 2011 to allow craft breweries to sell pints on-site, Lift Bridge opened the state's very first taproom.
We served a selection of their craft beers throughout the dinner, because this is the Midwest, after all, and great beer belongs at the table. And in every goody bag, guests took home a can of Lift Bridge Root Beer, crafted with the same care as their beer: no shortcuts, no artificial anything, just a delicious old-fashioned root beer that feels like a celebration in itself.
The stained glass honeycomb in the church of St. John’s Abbey
Wine From the Monks of St. John's Abbey
And then there was the wine.
The monks of St. John's Abbey generously donated wine for the gathering. It was a gift that felt deeply meaningful given the setting. Benedictine monasteries have a centuries-long relationship with wine, from the vineyards I visited at Cistercian abbeys in Spain for Elysian Kitchens to the sacramental role wine plays in monastic life around the world.
To have the monks' own wine on the table alongside the harvest feast, in a hall where they've gathered for generations, was a subtle but powerful reminder of where we were and who had welcomed us in.
Why Local and Artisan Matters
Every beverage at our St. John's gathering came from Minnesota or from an independent producer who shares our values. That wasn't a coincidence. It's central to what Story Feast is about.
When we host a gathering, we want the drinks on the table to celebrate the sense of place. We want you to taste where you are. We want to introduce you to makers you might not have discovered otherwise, and to support the small producers who are doing extraordinary work in every region we visit.
At St. John's, that meant whiskey from a distillery built on Benedictine principles, cider pressed from heirloom apples grown a few miles away, kombucha brewed in a Minneapolis maker space, beer from the state's first taproom, and wine from the monks themselves.
At our next gathering, the producers will be different because the place will be different. But the philosophy stays the same: local, artisan, chosen with care, and always with options for everyone at the table.
Because the best drink at a Story Feast gathering is the one you want to be drinking.
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Brother Aelred Senna: A Years-Long Collaboration
Brother Aelred Senna | The Collaboration Behind Story Feast at St. John's Abbey
A years-long collaboration with Brother Aelred Senna, from Elysian Kitchens to The Splendid Table, culminated in our inaugural Story Feast gathering.
Brother Aelred Senna
The Monk Behind the Recipes and The Story Feast Gathering at St. John's Abbey
When I sat down to write Elysian Kitchens, the cookbook that inspired the Story Feast Collective, I knew I wanted to include Saint John's Abbey. It was a place I'd grown up visiting, a place that held deep meaning for my family, and a place where food played in integral role, just like I’d witnessed at so many monasteries in other parts of the world.
What I didn't know was that including Saint John's would lead to a collaboration, and a friendship, that would span years and eventually culminate in our inaugural Story Feast gathering.
Meeting Brother Aelred
I first met Brother Aelred Senna in 2018. I'd come to Saint John's to interview monks for the book, and Brother Aelred was the obvious choice for the kitchen. He's the monastery's resident cook and baker, making breads, cookies, desserts for special occasions, and even wedding cakes for couples married in the Abbey Church.
But Brother Aelred isn't just skilled. He's thoughtful about what cooking means: the way a meal can bring a community together, the way a recipe can carry memory across generations, the way feeding people is itself a form of prayer.
We spent hours talking. He cooked recipe after recipe. And he shared stories, about teaching himself to cook as a kid in Texas using the Betty Crocker Cookbook, about his years as a teacher in New Mexico, about the winding path that brought him to Saint John's after nearly two decades away from religious life.
"The Holy Spirit came snooping around," he told me, "and I told her she needed to go away and mind her own business."
She didn't.
The Recipes
Several of Brother Aelred's recipes appear in Elysian Kitchens, including his charred tomatillo salsa, a recipe rooted in his years teaching in New Mexico. He makes a big batch every year when the tomatillos and chiles come into season in the monastic garden, canning most of it as "a welcome reminder of summer during the unrelenting Minnesota winter."
The salsa is served alongside Honey-Glazed Turkey Tinga, a dish introduced to the monks by Brother Pedro Alvarez, a young monk from Mexico. The tinga reflects its journey: Mexican in origin, adapted to Minnesota with local wild turkey donated by hunters and honey from the monastery's own hives.
"Take it slowly," Brother Pedro advises. "Let the house fill with the smoky aroma. It will bring everyone to the table."
Brother Aelred on the grounds of St. John’s Abbey on the day of the Story Feast gathering when fall was in all its Minnesota glory
From Book to Table
After Elysian Kitchens was published in November 2024, an idea that had been quietly forming finally took shape: What if I brought the book to life? What if I gathered people at monasteries and other unique, often hidden places around the world, and created the kind of gatherings the book celebrates?
Brother Aelred was instrumental in making it happen at St. John’s. He helped coordinate with the abbey and connected me with the chefs for our inaugural event, Mateo and Erin Mackbee of Krewe and Flour & Flower Bakery. He advised on the flow of the evening, and embodied the Benedictine hospitality that defines Saint John's.
On November 1, 2025, 180 guests gathered in the Great Hall for our inaugural Story Feast. It was everything we'd hoped… and everything the book had been building toward.
Listen & Learn More
In November 2024, The Splendid Table featured Elysian Kitchens and Saint John's Abbey. You can hear me discuss the book, Brother Aelred, and Minnesota in the interview below.
Listen to the Splendid Table episode →
Read more about Brother Aelred in The Central Minnesota Catholic →
Get the Turkey Tinga and Charred Tomatillo Salsa recipe from Elysian Kitchens →
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Partner Spotlight: TÖST Sparkling NonAlcoholic Beverage
TÖST Nonalcoholic Beverage | Story Feast Partner Spotlight | St. John's Abbey
Nonalcoholic options shouldn't be an afterthought. TÖST, a sparkling beverage made with white tea, cranberry, and ginger, helped us create a table where everyone felt celebrated. Plus we sent the celebration home in every goody bag!
TÖST was served throughout the evening and a bottle was also sent home with every guest in their goody bag
At every Story Feast gathering, we want everyone at the table to feel celebrated, including those who aren't drinking alcohol. Nonalcoholic options shouldn't be an afterthought. They should be just as thoughtful, just as delicious, and just as beautiful in the glass.
That's why we were thrilled to partner with TÖST for our inaugural event at St. John's Abbey.
What Is TÖST?
TÖST is a premium nonalcoholic sparkling beverage crafted with white tea, white cranberry, and ginger. It's dry, not sweet, developed in collaboration with Michelin-starred chefs and James Beard Award winners to pair beautifully with food, just like fine wine.
All-natural ingredients. No artificial flavors. Low sugar, low calorie, and sophisticated enough to hold its own at any table.
It's the kind of drink you actually want in your glass, whether you're driving, sober-curious, abstain from alcohol, or simply choosing not to drink that evening.
TÖST not only tastes fantastic, it paired so well with the colors at our Story Feast dinner!
At St. John's Abbey
Throughout the cocktail hour and dinner, guests sipped TÖST alongside the other beverages we served. It looked elegant, tasted wonderful, and gave everyone something celebratory to raise.
And when guests headed home, each goody bag included a bottle of TÖST to enjoy later… a little reminder of the evening and an invitation to recreate that feeling of celebration at their own table.
Why It Mattered
Hospitality means making everyone feel included. At Story Feast, we believe the drink in your hand shouldn't determine whether you feel part of the toast. Partnering with TÖST helped us create a table where everyone belonged.
We're so grateful they said yes.
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Partner Spotlight: Northstar Kombucha at St. John’s Abbey
Northstar Kombucha at Story Feast’s Inaugural Event
Northstar Kombucha partnered with Story Feast at our inaugural gathering at St. John's Abbey. Small-batch, organic kombucha brewed in Minnesota.
A bottle of Northstar Kombucha was sent home with every guest in their Story Feast goody bag.
One of the joys of hosting Story Feast gatherings is connecting guests with the makers behind what they're eating and drinking. At St. John's Abbey, that included Northstar Kombucha, a small-batch kombucha company based locally in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Throughout the evening, guests enjoyed Northstar's Raspberry Hibiscus kombucha, bright, refreshing, and a perfect complement to the rich courses coming out of the kitchen. And when they headed home, each guest left with a goody bag with one of the Northstar flavors: Grapefruit Basil, Lavender Ginger, Raspberry Hibiscus, White Peach, Strawberry Rose, Cherry Elderberry, Honey Ginger, and Blueberry Maple.
A Building Full of Makers
A few days before the event, I drove to pick up the kegs and goody bag bottles myself, and love where Northstar calls home.
They're based in a shared maker space that houses a small community of independent producers, each one crafting something by hand. It's the kind of building where you walk in for kombucha and leave with a deeper appreciation for the people doing the slow, careful work of building something real. This is what Minnesota's food and beverage scene looks like at its best: collaborative, community-rooted, and absolutely extraordinary.
About Northstar Kombucha
Northstar Kombucha is brewed in small batches using organic ingredients and live cultures. Their flavors are creative but balanced, the kind of kombucha you actually want to drink, not just tolerate for the health benefits. Full disclosure, it’s one of my all-time favorite kombucha brands so when they said yes to partnering with us for our inaugural event, I was over the moon!
You can find Northstar at co-ops and specialty grocers across Minnesota, or order directly from their website.
Northstar Kombucha’s ginger hibiscus kombucha being served at our Story Feast event at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota.
A Note on the Founder
We always invite our partners to join us at gatherings and we love when they can share their story directly with guests. One of Northstar's founders, Dan Fischer, couldn't make it to St. John's that night. When I invited him he explained that he was on dad duty with his kids. And honestly? That's exactly the kind of person we want to partner with!
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Recipe: Vespers: A Story Feast Signature Cocktail from Brother Justus Whiskey Founder, Phil Steger
Vespers Cocktail Recipes
A Story Feast signature cocktail recipe by Phil Steger, founder of Brother Justus Whiskey in Minneapolis and host of our cocktail hour at St. John’s Abbey.
Vespers cocktail creation during the Story Feast cocktail hour at our St. John’s Abbey gathering.
Phil Steger founded Brother Justus Whiskey with a simple belief: spirits should bring people together. Based in Minneapolis, Brother Justus is Minnesota's first legal whiskey distillery since Prohibition, and it's built on Benedictine values of community, craftsmanship, and hospitality.
Phil created this cocktail for the inaugural Story Feast gathering at St. John's Abbey in November 2025. The name "Vespers" refers to the evening prayer service observed in monasteries around the world, a moment of pause and reflection as day turns to night. It felt fitting for a meal shared by candlelight in a monastic dining hall.
From Phil: “This is an original cocktail called “Vespers.” It feels fitting for the occasion and the time of day, given that Vespers is the communal divine office prayed by monks in the evening. The build has monastic references too. In addition to Brother Justus, it is also made with Benedictine liqueur, as well as cream sherry and mole bitters. It’s a boozy cocktail, with a lot of richness, but is velvety and smooth, with black coffee color with ruby red refractions in the light. Perfect for end of day reflection and reverie.”
Brother Justus founder Phil Steger during the Story Feast cocktail hour. Phil not only created a signature cocktail for the event, he poured Brother Justus whiskey for our guests throughout the event.
When Megan and JD Jorgenson, founders of Maine Prairie Studio, found out about the whiskey pouring during dunner, they handcrafted a whiskey tumbler for every place setting (it’s the small one on the left). Megan and JD threw every single piece of pottery for our Story Feast event at St. John’s Abbey. It totaled over 1300 pieces of original place settings, serving vessels, water and whiskey tumblers and vases for the table. It was extraordinary.
Not only did Megan and JD craft a whiskey tumbler for every place setting, they also created enough of them to send a tumbler home with every guest in our Story Feast goody bag.
Vespers
Makes 1 cocktail
Preparation time: 5 minutes
The recipe combines American whiskey with Benedictine (a French herbal liqueur originally created by monks) and cream sherry, finished with mole bitters for warmth and depth. It's smooth, contemplative, and best enjoyed slowly, at sunset, with good company.
Ingredients
2 oz Brother Justus American Whiskey
½ oz Benedictine
½ oz Cream Sherry
2 dashes mole bitters
Ice
Method
Add whiskey, Benedictine, cream sherry, and bitters to a mixing glass.
Fill with ice and stir until well chilled, about 30 seconds.
Strain into a coupe or rocks glass.
Serve without garnish, or with a single orange twist if you like.
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →