Minnesota Breweries History: Hauenstein Brewing Company The Hauenstein Brewing Company started in 1864 as the Hauenstein and Betz brewery. In 1867 it changed to the Hauenstein & Toberer brewery. In 1869 it became John Hauenstein and in 1900 the John Hauenstein Brewing Company. The John Hauenstein brewery closed its doors in 1972 and sold its name to Grain Belt, which continued to brew Hauenstein in St. Paul. G. Heileman Brewing Company of LaCrosse, WI acquired the label when it bought Grain Belt. Al and Rae Ann Arneson in 1996, after years of trying, bought the Hauenstein label from Heileman Brewing. "We did it for two reasons," Al said. One was to protect the Hauenstein recipes they'd found at the flavor house. "The other was because Hauenstein always was a good beer. It had a good following. I said we should preserve it, we should bring it back to New Ulm," he said. Hauenstein beers are now contract brewed by the Minnesota Brewing Company.