Trefzger’s Bakery in Peoria Heights is one of Peoria’s oldest and most beloved local businesses. They’ve been selling their homemade baked goods since 1861 and now in 2019 there’s a reason to love Trefzger’s even more.

This reason can be summed up in one four letter word: Beer.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that Trefzger’s now has beer! Let’s get over there and see if there’s any truth to this foamy rumor!

Here we are at Trefzger’s in Peoria Heights, they’ve been in this location for a while now, but I still love what they’ve done with this building! Let’s go in and take a look around and see if we can find any beer in there!

It’s always a wonderful view walking in here. It’s quite a spectacular front room and all the wood in here gives the bakery a rustic and welcoming atmosphere!

There’s some of the made from scratch baked goods wrapped up on the shelves and tables and ready to go out the door!

These cases hold a wondrous inventory of homemade sweet treats!

Everything looks so delicious and tasty! I think I put on a couple pounds just taking these photos!

There’s a nice dining area up front to enjoy your treats and some coffee…but what about the beer? I don’t see it anywhere and now I’m scared it was just a hollow rumor!

Luckily I ran into my friend Kayla while wandering around aimlessly in the bakery.

Kayla is not only a friend, but she’s also the official MBIP Cake Baker and Artist for our “Let Them Eat Cake” episodes and she always does a beautiful job! At first I didn’t recognize her because she has a brand new blonde hairstyle and she certainly looks fabulous!

I asked her about the beer and she pointed to a sign that she said will lead the way to frosty pleasure!

I like what that sign has to say and directly behind it is…

The beer at Trefzger’s! The beer is specially brewed by Bearded Owl Brewing, a local brewery and bar located in downtown Peoria on State Street.

There’s a whole story behind this beer and we’ll hear it soon, but first, let’s get a beer!

I took a number and it was “69.” Please insert your own sexual mathematical joke right here.

Daniel poured and served up my first beer. I hadn’t eaten anything and you really shouldn’t drink on an empty stomach, so I also got a glazed doughnut from Amber!

I met my friends Tim and Jeanette Brickner for this hearty festival of beer at Trefzger’s and they got one of the pizzas that Trefzger’s makes in-house. You can get the pizza to go or they can heat it up and you can eat it inside, which is what Tim and Jeanette did.

They offered me some of their pizza, but I stuck with the glazed doughnut and had a David Lee Roth styled lunch!

Check out this trio that stopped by our table, they are from left: Chris Bennett and Jeff and Martha Huebner.

Jeff and Martha own Trefzger’s and Chris has been a baker at Trefzger’s for over two decades! He’s also a musician and plays guitar in a psychedelic heavy metal band called, Minsk.

All the band members are into craft beer and one evening the idea was hatched to combine the love of music, beer and fresh-baked bread. They teamed up with Bearded Owl and the beer is called, Quintessence. It’s a kvass styled brew, which is a traditional Eastern European low-alcohol beer that’s made with bread.

This is where Trefzger’s comes in, the beer is made with 100 pounds of sourdough rye bread baked by Chris right here at Trefzger’s. You can read more about this by clicking right here to an article by Nick Vlahos at the PJ Star.