Today is the birthday of Frank Yoerg (July 10, 1867-July 13, 1941). He was the third oldest son of Anthony Yoerg, who founded Minnesota’s first brewery in 1848. He “attended MIT (Massachusetts School of Technology) in Boston and worked as an architect for four years before he joined the family trade where he was a ‘collector’ from 1893-1896, the bookkeeper from 1899-1904, Vice President from 1904-1905, President from 1905-1934 and secretary from 1934 until his death in 1941.”
A Yoerg’s Cave Aged Beer label from 1933, when Frank was still president.
Frank and Anthony Yoerg Jr. with their wives at the St. Paul Winter Carnival in 1915
Cool label w/a mystery; sans umlaut for a clue, we whose Scandanavian exposure is 0-minimal must guess the correct “Yoerg” pronunciation:
a) “Yorg”;
b) “Yurg”
c) “Yorge”
d) “Yurge”
e) “Yo-erg” (accented “Yo”)
I’m sure one of Jay’s many loyal followers will enlighten us.
Lifelong Minnesotan (and St. Paul local), here.
Thought I’d chime in seeing as the newly-revived Yoerg’s Beer has just hit retail.
As beerman49 asked, I’ll answer: A.
Yoerg is pronounced as the name Jörg, where the j is spoken (pronounced) as a y — imagine the English language word “your” appended with a hard g. : )
For what it’s worth, the Yoerg family was of German extraction, and Minnesota was once understood as home to more German than Scandinavian immigrants.
Popular culture of the mid-to-late 20th century changed national understanding of our state’s heritage, thus the impression today that we’re mostly* of Scandinavian extract. I credit Betty White (among others) for the altered impression. 😀
*Note: Of those of European extract, German heritage is still greater than Scandinavian — or Irish. Just don’t ask me why there are so many Irish Pubs!