Phil Steger

About Phil Steger

For Phil Steger, creating whiskey and building a distillery has always been about more than a flashy bottle and and an incredible product — it’s about conviction, belief, and possibility. His awe-filled experiences of farmlands, prairies, and trudging through bogs cultivated deep curiosity and reverence for Minnesota\'s land and what it produces. His experiences of smuggling humanitarian aid into war zones, transporting letters between religious leaders in the East and West, and helping preserve endangered manuscripts in some of the world’s most volatile places deepened his commitment to creating ways when there didn’t seem to be any…and when making whiskey, that means finding new ways in a booming marketplace. His many years of theological studies, living in a monastery, managing a homeless shelter, and fully understanding Benedictine values produced a warmth for humanity and community — a cornerstone for who the company is and how it operates. Under Steger\'s direction, the company has invented new methods of creating whiskey (global patent pending on Cold-Peated(TM) whiskey), created the first unaged single malt whiskey in the world, challenged industry norms to produce whiskey faster, and successfully raised enough money from investors to build and open a distillery (during a pandemic!) and bottle three unique whiskies found in most states online and in stores and restaurants all over Minnesota and Chicagoland. Brother Justus is Steger’s way of distilling all he’s learned into a legacy producing joy beyond his lifetime — packaging a story of a people, of his life, and of beliefs in a bottle to be shared and savored. Steger earned his law degree from the University of St. Thomas and worked (as a lawyer) helping companies diversify and decarbonize the energy supply and represented asylum seekers from Syria and Iraq after working for some of Minnesota’s most admired judges. He earned his bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University.

Experience

1. Founder CEO

   Brother Justus Whiskey Co

   Aug 2014 — Present · Minneapolis, MN, US

   It began with a question: Minnesota has everything it needs to have a world-class whiskey tradition - grain, oak, water, craft tradition, commitment to quality, supportive community - so why doesn\'t it? It became a mission: To make a world-class, uniquely Minnesotan whiskey that tells a uniquely Minnesotan story. And in so doing help put Minnesota on the world whiskey map. We found an underground warehouse beneath the streets of Minneapolis where we set up a licensed still so we could work through the combinations of getting from a grain of barley to a glass of whiskey in secret, with no one banging on the glass asking when we will be open. You can only tell people \"when it\'s perfect\" so many times. We were producing a pleasant prototype whiskey when we got a pallet of barrels made from Minnesota-grown oak. We put our whiskey in one of them. When we pulled it out again, the bold flavors of the barrel had backed our whiskey into corner where it begged the barrel to let it go. That\'s when we knew: we had to start over and make a whiskey that would take those flavors and forge them into something bold and beautiful. We started with new Minnesota malt - the richest we could work with. We revamped our brewing and fermentation techniques, coaxing the yeast to produce flavors and textures in our beer we could distill into a smooth, full-bodied, full-flavored, well-balanced whiskey before it ever touched oak. When we drew that whiskey from the Minnesota barrel and let it wash across our palates, we knew we had it: a whiskey that tastes like no other, but that tastes like your deepest instincts tell you whiskey should taste. Smooth, rich, deep, and delicious.Now all we needed was a name. That\'s when Providence acted (not for the first time), and we discovered the true history of a Minnesota monk who rescued farmers from poverty by building stills for them and teaching them to make whiskey. That\'s when we discovered the story of Brother Justus.

Education

• University of St. Thomas School of Law

  JD, Law

  2010 — 2013

• College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Theology

• Hopwood Hall College

  Visual and Performing Arts

Skills

• Organizational Development
• Leadership Development
• Strategic Thinking
• Coalitions
• Community Organizing
• Program Development
• Politics
• Social Justice
• Volunteer Management
• Public Policy
• Employee Training
• Legal Research
• Political Campaigns
• Policy
• Grassroots Organizing
• Research
• Community Outreach
• Volunteer Recruiting
• Nonprofits
• Team Leadership
• Legal Writing
• Community Building