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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.
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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.
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Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
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Partner Spotlight: Maine Prairie Studio
Maine Prairie Studio | 1,300 Handmade Pieces for Story Feast | Partner Spotlight
JD and Megan Jorgenson of Maine Prarie Studio created 1,300 original ceramic pieces in 13 glazes for our inaugural gathering, transforming the Story Feast table into a ceramic museum. The story behind the artists.
JD and Megan Jorgenson, not only ceramicists of extraordinary talent and generosity, but the best dressed at the Story Feast table, too!
The Ceramicists Behind Every Piece On Our Story Feast Table
When I began planning our inaugural gathering at St. John's Abbey, I knew I wanted the table itself to be extraordinary. Not just the food, not just the venue, but the objects we'd eat from. I wanted to celebrate a local ceramicist whose work could hold the meal in every sense.
I reached out to JD and Megan Jorgenson of Maine Prairie Studio. I knew it was a big ask: 180 guests, a multi-course family-style dinner, custom pieces for an event that had never happened before.
To my astonishment and delight, they said yes.
1,300 Original Pieces
What JD and Megan created for Story Feast was nothing short of extraordinary.
They made 1,300 original pieces in 13 different glazes, fired specifically for this event. They walked through the entire family-style menu with Chefs Mateo and Erin Mackbee, listening carefully to every element of the evening, and then designed original serving vessels for every single dish. Platters, bowls, dishes, hundreds of pieces, each one made by hand. They made original water tumblers and whiskey tumblers, vases, platters. Every single element made with tremendous care by JD and Megan.
It was like having a ceramic museum on the table. It added so much visual depth and warmth to the long tables our guests gathered around.
They kept adding elements to execute the vision, refining and expanding as the event took shape. Their generosity and artistry transformed the gathering into something none of us could have imagined.
A Standing Ovation
On the night of the feast, JD and Megan joined us as guests. During the evening, they shared their story with the room, how they'd built Maine Prairie Studio, their philosophy of craft and community, what it meant to create work for an event like this.
They received a standing ovation.
The night overflowed with appreciation and gratitude for them and their work. Guests understood, viscerally, that they weren't just eating an exquisite meal, but that it was being presented to them on a work of art.
Connections Run Deep
One of the most emotional moments of the evening happened before dinner even began.
I looked over and saw JD embracing Phil Steger, the founder of Brother Justus Whiskey. They knew each other and are old friends. Both are alumni of Saint John's University. JD had apprenticed at The Saint John's Pottery. the very studio we'd toured earlier that day, and Phil had built his distillery on Benedictine values he'd absorbed during his time at Saint John's.
The connections kept revealing themselves: ceramic artist and distiller, both shaped by the same place, reuniting at a table set with JD's work and toasted with Phil's whiskey.
That's what Story Feast is about. The people, the places, the invisible threads that tie us together.
About Maine Prairie Studio
Maine Prairie Studio is the pottery studio and home of Megan and JD Jorgenson, located in Kimball, Minnesota, about thirty minutes from Saint John's Abbey. Their mission is to nurture creativity and elevate the ceramic arts through community education for rural Minnesotans.
JD trained at The Saint John's Pottery, apprenticing under master potter Richard Bresnahan. He brought his infant son along to his shifts in the studio, that baby is now a young man in his twenties who joined us at the Story Feast dinner alongside his father. The lineage of craft, passed down through generations, was present at our table in more ways than one.
Beyond their own work, JD and Megan support artists at every stage through internships, apprenticeships, residencies, and retreats. They offer pottery classes for all skill levels, from introductory "Come Try It" sessions to intensive summer workshops. They host private groups, field trips, and parties.
And they welcome visitors. You can schedule a studio tour and see where the magic happens.
Tell them Story Feast sent you.
One Regret
Two days before the event, JD and Megan invited us to come to the studio for the opening of the kiln, the kiln that held many of the pieces destined for our table. With our task list running long, we couldn't make it.
It's my one regret from the entire event. I would have loved to see those pieces emerge still warm from the fire, to witness the moment when clay becomes art.
Next time.
Visit Maine Prairie Studio
Maine Prairie Studio is located in Kimball, Minnesota.
They offer:
Pottery classes for all levels
Summer intensives
Private group sessions and parties
Apprenticeships, internships, and artist residencies
Studio visits by appointment
Learn more and plan your visit →
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: Lift Bridge Brewery
Lift Bridge Brewery | Story Feast Partner Spotlight | St. John's Abbey
Stillwater's first brewery since Prohibition and Minnesota's first taproom. Lift Bridge Brewery brought craft beer to our dinner and their famous root beer to every goody bag.
Root Beer from Stillwater-based Lift Bridge Brewery was included in our well-stocked goody bag!
A Story Feast Partner at Our Inaugural Gathering
When we set out to find beverage partners for our first gathering, beer was an essential. This is the Midwest, after all! We wanted a brewery that understood what we were trying to create: a company rooted in place, committed to quality, and proud of where they come from.
Lift Bridge Brewery checked every box.
Stillwater's First Brewery Since Prohibition
Lift Bridge Brewing Company was founded in 2008 by a group of friends, neighbors, and homebrewers in Stillwater, Minnesota. It was the first brewery to operate in Stillwater since Prohibition… and 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.
That pioneering spirit runs through everything they do.
Named after Stillwater's historic lift bridge over the St. Croix River, the brewery has grown into one of Minnesota's largest craft beer producers. But they've never lost their connection to the community that raised them. Through every can, bottle, and tap pull, Lift Bridge wants drinkers to taste the history of Stillwater: the pride, the fun, and the uncompromising natural ingredients that go into every batch.
At St. John's Abbey
During our gathering, we served a selection of Lift Bridge beers throughout the dinner to give guests a taste of Minnesota craft brewing alongside the harvest feast.
And in every goody bag, guests took home a can of Lift Bridge Root Beer.
Lift Bridge became one of the first breweries in Minnesota to craft nonalcoholic root beer back in 2014, originally available only in their taproom. It's made with the same care and attention as their beer; no shortcuts, no artificial anything. Just a delicious, old-fashioned root beer that feels like a celebration in itself.
Why We Partnered
Story Feast is about place. It's about celebrating the people and producers who make a region extraordinary. Lift Bridge embodies that spirit: a brewery built by friends who believed Stillwater deserved great beer, and who've spent nearly two decades proving them right.
We're grateful they said yes.
Learn more about Lift Bridge Brewery →
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: Milk & Honey Cider At St. John’s Abbey
Milk & Honey Ciders at Story Feast’s Inaugural Event
We picked up kegs, Pommeau, and tulip glasses… and stayed for a cider tasting by the bonfire. A spotlight on Milk & Honey Ciders, our partner at St. John's Abbey.
A cider tasting at Milk & Honey Cider, photo: Jody Eddy
Some partnerships begin with an email. This one began with a bonfire.
A few days before our gathering at St. John's Abbey, we drove out to Milk & Honey Ciders, which is just down the road from the abbey, to pick up their contribution to the evening: kegs of their Estate Cider, bottles of their Pommeau, and, at their insistence, the proper tulip glasses to serve it in. They care about how their cider is experienced right down to the shape of the glass.
What I didn't expect was to stay for a tasting by the bonfire.
The Cidery
Milk & Honey sits in the rolling hills of Stearns County, just north of St. Joseph, Minnesota. The taproom overlooks their orchard, rows and rows of heirloom and traditional cider apple trees stretching toward open fields. It's the kind of place where you're invited to walk the grounds, watch the pressing operation, and settle in with a flight while the afternoon disappears.
Founded by Peter Gillitzer and partners, Milk & Honey focuses on dry, tannic, highly aromatic ciders made with minimal intervention. They source heirloom varieties from across the country, apples with names like Calville Blanc d'Hiver, Arkansas Black, and Kingston Black, and blend across multiple years of production. The result is cider that tastes like wine: complex, layered, meant to be savored.
Their motto: Let the apples shine.
That Afternoon
We arrived to pick up the kegs and ended up by the bonfire, tasting few of their crisp, refreshing ciders as the sun dropped behind the orchard. We talked about cider, about community, about what it means to make something by hand in a world that rewards speed.
The next day, they'd be pressing apples in the production room, fruit already harvested, the whole space fragrant with the aroma of bright, fresh apples. I wished I could stay for that. Next time.
Milk & Honey Cider, photo: Jody Eddy
What We Served
At St. John's Abbey, guests enjoyed Milk & Honey's Estate Cider throughout the evening. It’s dry, aromatic, and a perfect counterpoint to the richness of the meal. 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.
Visit Milk & Honey
The taproom is open Thursday through Sunday, year-round. Bring your own food, order a flight, and settle in. Each season offers something different: cozy winters by the fire, fall harvest energy, summer evenings on the patio. It's worth the drive.
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 →