Longtime family-held company sold to JJ Taylor-Minn. Distributing

J.J. Taylor Minnesota, a subsidiary of a Florida based company of the same name, and the largest distributor in Minnesota, has purchased Chisago Lakes Distributing.

The family owned beverage distribution operation was based in Chisago City since 1924. Carl Lundquist, a local pharmacist, started Lundquist Distributing. buying directly from Schmidt Brewery. Barton Lundquist joined his father in 1931. In 1966 the business was sold to Carl’s granddaughter Donna and her husband Dale Colberg sr.

Their son Dale junior, who had been managing since about 1994, purchased Chisago Lakes Distributing in 2007. At a warehouse sale of excess promotional and beverage advertising items earlier this month, at the facility in the industrial park, Colberg family members approached by the County Press declined to be interviewed.

According to industry publications and the website BeerPulse.com J.J. Taylor moved into the Minnesota distribution market when it acquired East Side Beverage in Minneapolis in 1985. The company delivers 26 million cases of beer annually in the U.S., according to an on-line story last month by Twin Cities Business.