Grain Belt Beer Sign Hennepin Avenue Bridge

The iconic and blinking Grain Belt Beer sign in downtown Minneapolis, adjacent to the Hennepin Avenue bridge, glows in the night sky and reflects on the Mississippi River. I made some small enhancements and used a Dramatic Tone filter to give this image a little more pop. Grain Belt is a brand of beer brewed in the American state of Minnesota, by the August Schell Brewing Company. The beer has been produced in a number of varieties. Grain Belt Golden was the original style introduced in 1893.[1] The current offerings are: Grain Belt Premium, first introduced in 1947; Grain Belt Premium Light; Grain Belt Nordeast, introduced on April 7, 2010; and the newest offering, Grain Belt Lock & Dam, introduced in 2016. It was originally produced by the Minneapolis Brewing Company which formed with the merger of four smaller brewers in 1891. Soon after introduction, Grain Belt became the company's flagship product. It was brewed at the original Grain Belt brewery in Minneapolis, Minnesota until 1976. A series of other owners followed, and Schell took over the product line in 2002. Wikipedia Arguably the most beloved, most mysterious, and most written about sign in Minneapolis, the Grain Belt Beer sign on Nicollet Island, has a rich history. It is name checked by the nationally-recognized band The Hold Steady in their song “Party Pit,” and is likely the only sign in Minneapolis that has a Twitter and Foursquare account. Built in 1941 for $5,000, the Grain Belt Beer bottle cap sign is one of the largest freestanding neon signs in the region. The sign is approximately 50 feet wide and 40 feet tall. According to the Schell’s Brewing website, the sign’s bottle cap design with a red diamond background dates back to 1938, reflecting the company’s dominance of package beer sales. Even when it is not lit, the porcelain-faced sign is a striking addition to the river landscape, displaying the beer’s signature color combination of red, yellow, and black. The “M” inside a circle above “Grain Belt Beer” is the logo for the original brewing company, Minneapolis Brewing. When lit, the sign elicits glowing accolades. Former Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commissioner Tom Hollman stated, “It just doesn’t flash at you; it presents a show.” 1,400 incandescent light bulbs spell out the beer’s name one letter at a time—G-R-A-I-N B-E-L-T—followed shortly after by a flashing “BEER.” According to the sign contractor that completed the 1989 restoration work, the lighting sequence after the restoration may have varied from the original sequence. The sign also displays more than 800 feet of exposed neon. The bottle cap and the diamond are lined with red neon, while the Minneapolis Brewing Company’s “M” circular logo and border are outlined in green.