A part of a 150-year-old Minnesota brewery that closed its doors in June will live on in the state.

August Schell Brewing of New Ulm has bought the recipe and brand name of Grain Belt beers from Minnesota Brewing Co., which shut its doors for good in late June after filing for bankruptcy in February.

Word of Schell's expected bid surfaced late last week, and Monday, Schell President Ted Marti confirmed that his brewery had submitted the winning bid.

"Tentatively we have it. We got the deal," Marti said two hours after hearing the news from the receiver in charge of selling Minnesota Brewing's assets.

The fit of Grain Belt and Schell seems natural. Both have been in operation in the state for nearly a century-and-a-half, and Schell was already bottling Grain Belt's beer after it was brewed.

Matri told the New Ulm Journal that the acquisition should double the production of Schell's plant in the west-central Minnesota city where Grain Belt would now be brewed, prompting some hiring and expansion of shifts.

The most valuable label purchased is Grain Belt Premium, a widely distributed beer in the state that Marti said is the largest-selling homegrown beer in Minnesota.

Marti said he didn't know what became of Minnesota Brewing's other brands, including Pig's Eye Lager and Yellow Belly malt beverage. Schell limited its bid to the grouping of Grain Belt Premium, Premium Light and Golden, and the Grain Belt "Archive Series" of beers.

Distributors of Grain Belt were hoping it would continue to be made in Minnesota. More than one bidder for Grain Belt would have moved production outside state borders.

Marti declined to say how much Schell paid for the Grain Belt name, and a spokesman for Bremer Bank, the largest creditor of Minnesota Brewing, would not comment on the results of the auction.