From Herald files: Leinenkugel's at 150 | A history in words and pictures

Leinenkugel’s Brewery will celebrate 150 years with an August 11-12 celebration spanning from the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds to Leinie Lodge.

The Chippewa Falls brewery will host live music, outdoor games and volleyball tournaments, local food vendors, Leinenkugel’s merchandise sales, a fish fry and, of course, beer tastings over the weekend at the fairgrounds and Lodge. The fairgrounds will open to the public from 10:30 a.m. to midnight on both Friday and Saturday.

Leinie’s fans can purchase tickets through the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds website, but families should consider touring Leinie Lodge to celebrate instead: The fairgrounds event is only open to those 21 and older.

If purchased online, a one-day pass costs $18; a two-day pass for the whole weekend is $35. A one-day pass at the gate costs $20. Those who prefer a short walk to the event can purchase fairground parking for $5, but must pay in cash and cannot reserve a parking spot ahead of time.

The fairground’s several stages will host live music throughout the celebration. Leinie’s fans can catch local saxophonist Sue Orfield at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday; country singer-songwriter Jerrod Niemann will grace the new grandstand at 8:30 p.m. on Friday.

Fans of Wisconsin-flavored entertainment will also be pleased. A Kubb tournament is planned for 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning at the fairgrounds; the Chippewa Falls Oktoberfest Glockenspiel act will perform multiple times on Friday and Saturday afternoons.

Attendees might also bump into a Leinenkugel or two at the fairgrounds. Several family members and Leinenkugel’s brewers are expected to attend, according to the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds website.

Dick Leinenkugel is one of the fifth generation of his family to have guided, brewed, packaged, delivered and taste-tested in the Chippewa Falls brewery.

In the midst of a culinary landscape that honors local ingredients and an increasingly vocal cadre of craft- and micro-brew fans, one might think Leinenkugel has cause to worry.

After all, he is president of a beer company that will celebrate its 150th anniversary in August and has enjoyed extensive commercial success for many of those years. When many millennials are clamoring for specialty, small-batch beers brewed in one-room kitchens, Leinenkugel’s produces thousands of barrels per year, with an ever-changing flavor roster and hundreds, if not thousands, of vendors.

Leinenkugel, however, would probably ask the naysayers to first sip a freshly-poured Summer Shandy or a creamy Honey Weiss, then make an informed decision.

“All beer is good beer,” Leinenkugel says. “We have the highest quality equipment, a terrific lab. We’re checking the specs throughout the brewing process. I speak so highly of our beer.” He leans back in his chair and shrugs. “At that point, it’s a matter of choice.”

Six generations of the family business

Leinenkugel’s is not a microbrewery any longer, but visitors to Leinie Lodge in Chippewa Falls might have a hard time reconciling the expansive brewery, its ice-cold taps in hundreds of Midwestern bars, with its humble past.

The Leinenkugel’s beer tradition was born in 1845, several hundred miles south of the Chippewa Valley, along the banks of the Wisconsin River in Sauk City. “Way before the media or brewery associations started to define microbrewing or craft brewing, there were guys that started making beer for their local communities,” Leinenkugel said.

The brewery certainly was local. Sauk City dropped the ingredients for beer into the brewers’ laps: fresh water, hops and malted barley. The only thing missing? A local population of beer drinkers.

Twenty-two years later, Jacob Leinenkugel moved his brewing operations, then known as Spring Brewery, to Chippewa Falls to cater to the enthusiastic tastes of local sawmill employees. Jacob and his business partner and boyhood friend John Miller had first attempted brewing in Eau Claire – but, as Dick Leinenkugel dryly puts it, “You could only take beer as far as a horse could take it in a day.”

The thirsty Germans, Scandinavians and Irish of Chippewa Falls welcomed the brewing duo with open arms. Leinenkugel brewed the beer, Miller sold it, and Spring Brewery produced 400 barrels in 1867.

Each year saw broader commercial success. In 1884, Miller sold his share of the company to Leinenkugel, who built a brewhouse six years later that is still in use today.

Tastings and tours

The product of a proud brewing family, president Dick Leinenkugel spent his childhood immersed in the family business. He describes his father traveling around the state selling beer, bringing home different beers from all four corners of the state. “We were trained to taste beer,” he remembers. “We would sample it blindfolded, smell it and guess which one was Leinie’s.”

The brewery culture followed him into his adolescence. In high school and throughout college he gave tours to guests; delivered beer to Bloomer, Cornell and North Auburn; stapled returnable beer cases and racked kegs.

After opening a Leinenkugel’s presence in the Chicago market, a stint in Wisconsin politics and a turn as the brewery’s marketing director, he’s at home in his office as brewery president, a chair he’s occupied since 2014. “I love being a brewer. I love being in this industry,” he says.

Bringing German heritage to the forefront

This August, Leinenkugel’s will remember its past 150 years, honor its past and present employees, and thank the figures in the beer world who made their journey possible.

But the brewery wanted to go a little deeper, Leinenkugel says.

He contacted an almost-500-year-old German brewery, Hofbräu München, proposing a collaboration celebrating Leinenkugel’s deeply German roots. The German brewers responded enthusiastically, and their alliance produced the forthrightly-named 150th Anniversary Lager. “It’s this Märzen-style, lager-style beer that’s absolutely fabulous,” Leinenkugel says.

The beer was uniquely brewed with German standards in mind – Reinheitsgebot, the ancient German purity law restricting brew ingredients to just water, barley and hops. It’s been available since March of this year, and can be found in six-pack bottles until February 2018. However, Leinenkugel admits that the beer’s popularity has driven further talk between the Chippewa Falls and German breweries about keeping the brew on tap longer.

Shandies freshen up the summer roster

One can’t talk about Leinenkugel’s recent commercial success without mentioning their shandy line. Traditionally a beer mixed with sparkling lemonade – called a radler in Germany, shandy in the U.K. – the light, fizzy beer was originally a limited-time replacement for the seasonal Berry Weiss.

Dick Leinenkugel, head of the brewery’s marketing efforts at the time, knew there was opportunity. “I gathered my team together and asked: What do the Germans do in the summer? They drink lighter beers: wheats, Kölsches, a sour beer called Berliner Weiss. But they also mix beer and lemonade,” he says. “We thought that was intriguing.”

The team experimented with several flavors – orange juice, orange soda, ginger ale, and finally natural lemon flavor added at the very end of the brewing process – before they landed on the bright, clean citrus of the eventual Summer Shandy.

“Our first [iterations] had half the alcohol content of our light beers, and we didn’t like it all that much. Alcohol adds flavor to beer,” Leinenkugel says. “We kept the alcohol content at 4.2 percent and added lemon flavor directly before the filtration step, tested it, sampled it, and our drinkers were wowed.”

The Summer Shandy launched in 2007, and sold out in mid-July – 30,000 barrels in its first year in production. Shandy sales doubled the next year, then doubled again. It now accounts for roughly 70 percent of its production volume. Leinenkugel’s has since offered grapefruit and watermelon iterations, and is planning the release of a pomegranate-flavored shandy come fall of 2017.

Seasonal beer enthusiasts can expect the return of some of Leinie’s past brews. Leinie’s Red Lager is returning in the fall of 2017, Snowdrift Vanilla Porter in the winter of 2017. “We’re always looking at what our drinker wants, via social media or here at the Leinie Lodge,” Leinenkugel says. “We’re trying to meet what they’re asking and also give them variety.”

Leinenkugel’s is celebrating its 150th anniversary Aug. 11-12. The celebration will kick off at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds in Chippewa Falls, featuring live music, entertainment, games and, of course, beer.

“It’s a great time to be brewing beer,” Leinenkugel says.

It’s hard to say just how much Leinenkugel’s Brewery has had on Chippewa Falls, Chippewa County and the Chippewa Valley.

That’s because the brewery and its workers have always been around this area.

Consider that Jacob Leinenkugel founded the brewery in Chippewa Falls in May 1867, just 19 years after Wisconsin became a state and two years before Chippewa Falls was incorporated as a city.

His goal was to quench the thirst of area residents. Since many of them were lumberjacks or worked in the lumber industry, they were quite thirsty.

People trusted Jacob. He became the city of Chippewa Falls’ fourth mayor in 1873. He did so well, citizens decided to give him another round in the job in 1884 and a third round in 1891.

A photo of Jacob Leinenkugel rests today among photos of all of the city’s mayors on the second floor of Chippewa Falls City Hall, within earshot of where the city council meets.

Having a brewery in town wasn’t unusual in Wisconsin. Refrigeration hadn’t been invented, so having a local beer be delivered could be accomplished with a horse-pulled wagon and blocks of ice.

In many communities, drinking a beer was safer than drinking the water. The brewing process killed off impurities in the water.

Chippewa Falls has several advantages for Leinenkugel’s. It has naturally pure water. Hops and grains needed for beer can be grown nearby.

By the 1890s, the Wisconsin Historical Society said there were more than 300 breweries in the state, breweries that were usually established by settlers from Germany. For instance, Bloomer in northern Chippewa County had its own brewery, which started in 1875. Eau Claire served its own brand, Walters.

However, some people had moral reservations not only about drinking beer but any beverage containing alcohol. In 1920, they got their way when Prohibition began across the nation.

It was a dry time for the state and for Leinenkugel’s. The solution? Leinenkugel’s introduced “Leino,” calling it a cereal-based beverage. It was a “near-beer,” a beverage without alcohol. It did not set sales records. However, the company was successful selling soda water. That got it through Prohibition, which ended in 1933.

However, the brewing business could be rough. The brewery in Bloomer, for instance, closed in 1947.

By 1959, there were 32 breweries left in Wisconsin. Ten years later, there were 15.

Among the survivors? The family-owned Stevens Point Brewery. And the family-owned Leinenkugel’s Brewery.

The regional brewery in Chippewa Falls had to fight to survive against national beer giants, Budweiser and Miller.

Eventually, the brewery was purchased by Miller, and is now owned by Molson Coors Brewing Company.

The beer with the strange name that some people thought was hard to pronounced thrived.

Leinenkugel’s Beer now belongs to the nation.

But the Leinenkugel, Mayer and Casper families, who worked together through hard times to keep in business, continue to be part of this community and the Chippewa Valley.

Here’s a toast to them, and to the future of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co.

Editor’s Note: The Chippewa Herald asked its readers share their favorite memories of Leinenkugel’s:

One of my favorites was having a Leinies (original, the best) with my dad when I came home from US Marines Corps boot camp, MCRD San Diego, December 1960. He always had a raw egg in his beer when he came home from work so I tried it. Couldn’t get the white down. He didn’t care though. I went overseas shortly after that and he didn’t live too many more years. So it was great to be able to spend a few hours with him.

There are many more Leinies memories and I still enjoy the beer but not the kind that we can buy in Arizona. The original and Hefeweizen are the best.

Thanks for the memories.

Keith Vogler, Cottonwood, Arizona

As a child my father worked at Leinenkugel’s. That was in the 1950s, and I can remember he always said they did not have coffee breaks but beer breaks. How times have changed.

Ron and Pat Turany

We were living in Pittsburgh when my husband was offered a job transfer to Chippewa Falls. Having never heard of the place, I was unsure of whether or not to consider moving. A week later, while on a business trip in Washington D.C., I was with a colleague and we walked up some steps into a bar — at the top of the stairs was a Leinenkugel’s Red sign. The first thing I noticed was that it said “Chippewa Falls” on the top. I took it as a sign that we were supposed to make the move. 20+ years later, we are still here and we love Leinenkugel’s!

Barb & Mike Tzanakis

This is a photo from 2004 VIC Tikrit, Iraq. Our WIARNG Unit from Chippewa Falls. Jake and the staff at the brewery sent us “CARE” packages while we were deployed. This photo is of some CF folks wearing their Leine’s T’s.

Jim Lewis

Mine was when we could all chip in 25-50 cents and get a case of Leinie’s for about TWO BUCKS!

Yes, it WAS a long time ago!

Arletta Rud, Eau Claire

Some of my most memorable memories are, of the times each year, when my friend Helen (Pegg’s Mom) would call me and we would go down to the lodge celebration and share a Honey Weiss! She’s the only one who could get me to drink a glass of beer every year! We shared many good times at Leinie’s!

Mickey

My favorite memory is the pre-wedding gathering at Leinie’s Lodge, including brewery tours, that my daughter organized for her “international” wedding in 2011. Guests from the UK, Canada, and Australia, as well as from several states in the U.S., were treated to Chippewa Falls hospitality. For most it was their introduction to the USA and they were amazed at how friendly people were.

Jean Perez

In early 1997, Donna and I enrolled in an Elderhostel program in Alaska: one week in Denali National Park. To see more of Alaska, we extended our trip by one week. We flew from Minneapolis to Seattle (Seatac) and transferred there to Air Alaska for a flight to Fairbanks, Alaska.

Fairbanks is a very modern city; very cold in the winter and warm in the summer. We checked into a very modern motel with an attached restaurant.

We walked across the college campus where students and faculty were having a spring bash after a long winter without sunlight. They invited us to join them. I asked a coed from Maine whether the long winters of darkness were hard to get used to. “Oh no” she said. “dorms and classrooms are very close to each other and you get used to it.”

From there, we walked to the Valdez crude oil pipeline; just a short distance from Fairbanks. An attendant explained, from Fairbanks North, the pipeline is buried under ground; under the permafrost. At Fairbanks it rises 90% and continues South at a height high enough for caribou herds to migrate under.

Back at the restaurant, the menu listed caribou stew. I ordered a bowl of stew and a beer. “We have three kinds of beer” she explained; “Two are well known, big brewery beers, and one nobody here has ever heard of. It’s called Leinenkugels.” Was she surprised when I told her I was from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, where Leinenkugels beer is brewed. I said I’d have a Leinies, please.

Calvin Kraemer

When I turned 18 in 1969, after getting my new ID, I went to Babes (an 18 year old beer bar) on Central Street in Chippewa Falls for a glass of Leinie’s. Ronnie Decker was bartending. He asked me what I wanted and of course I said a glass of Leinie’s, which at that time it was 6 ounce glass and cost a dime. So I gave him a dollar and he came back with my beer and no change. I asked what happened to my change? And Ronnie replied that I had nine more Leinie’s coming.

Tom Smola

Bands also have favorite memories of Leinenkugel’s. Tim, Phil, Pete, Paul, and Steve Danielson perform as the Danielson Brothers from Cadott at Leinie’s Lodge. Here’s the lyrics of one of the songs they perform:

“Oh Leinie’s is the best beer in the whole US of A.

It’s brewed here in Wisconsin, why not drink it what the hey!

You can buy it at the Pick N’ Save, or at your corner store.

Oh Leinenkugel’s beer ain’t just for breakfast anymore!

The band adds: “Congratulations to Leinenkugel’s on 150 years! You have our support!”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The late Ralph Christofferson wrote a column for the then-Chippewa Herald-Telegram for many years. A 1983 member of the Chippewa Falls High School Cardinal Hall of Fame, most of his columns dealt with the outdoors, but in this article from the Herald’s 125th Leinenkugel’s Anniversary issue in 1992, he focused on the local brewery.

Most of my memories of the Leinenkugel’s Brewery were built up between 1910 and 1922 when I was in school in Chippewa Falls.

We trod the Leinenkugel’s path, along the creek and below their hill, on our way to fishing, hunting and trapping expeditions — up the creek and to hunting areas. As newcomers to the United States, we used the path to lead us to (Irvine) Park and Flag hill from our home on North Grove Street.

Leinenkugel’s paid taxes on the land along the creek and on their hill property for over a century. In effect, they saved a wonderful stretch of Duncan Creek and their hill property for the public to use. And use it they did!

The beautiful rapids sing as they merrily play hide and seek with billion-year-old granite boulders on the way to the junction with the mighty Chippewa River. Some folks travel hundreds of miles and more to see wild water of this king. Most of us are unaware of the rare treasure in the center of our city. Leinenkugel’s has helped to make it possible for us to enjoy the beauty provided by our Creator.

Ski jumping

Most of us skied on Leinenkugel’s Hill when we were young. Three ski jumps were located, at one time or another, near the north end of North Grove Street. The best one was situation on the end of North Grove Street. It had a scaffold and a sizeable bump. Many tournaments were held there and some find skiers took part. All the slides or scaffolds were on Leinenkugel’s Hill. Some creditable marks were made there and it was very healthy exercise to take part in.

We in effect were trespassing but I near heard of any complaint from Leinenkugel’s officers. We gave no thought of it then, but now I realized that we were lucky to have such altruistic neighbors. They were kind and generous.

The youth of our day used Leinenkugel’s woods and their hill at will as far as I know. They never complained, even though they had good reason to do so. At times their patience must have been tried!

North Side battles

Mock battles between two sections of Chippewa Falls took place in the woods on top of Leinenkugel’s Hill, between 1910 and 1917. As far as I know no one was seriously hurt, but they could have been. A minister’s son by the name of Stone came back from one battle carrying a big rock. “What are you doing with that stone,” I asked.

“See that big lump on my head? Someone hit me in the head with it. I am keeping it as a souvenir!” he said. I thought that was an odd reply.

Police finally stopped that bad activity when a large window was broken in the saloon across the road from the present beautiful rose garden near Duncan Creek. (I take my hat off to the people who are responsible for the rare beauty which they create. We are lucky to have such fine talent and wonderful people in Chippewa Falls.)

The saloon, now called a tavern, is gone. I presume the property belongs to Leinenkugel’s. (In the early Depression, an old time logger cleaned up the saloon which it was closed and slept in one of the Leinenkugel’s buildings. I felt sorry for the man. Times have changed. How did he keep warm?)

Playground hill

The Forest Hill Cemetery was once confined to the east side of the road which separates the two sections of the local cemetery. The west section of the present cemetery was once our playground. We made good use of it.

My first sighting of a Rose Breasted Grosbeak was in the oak woods on the Columbia Street side of the hill.

When the city needed more space for its cemetery, Leinenkugel’s Hill was purchased for that purpose. Taxes had been paid on that property since the 1870s, but it is my guess that the city got a good “buy” from Leinenkugel’s! (Nothing could have been more convenient!)

During the war years, I was informed that the east end of Leinenkugel’s Hill was used by families of men in the military. Leinenkugel’s always seemed to be on hand when help was needed!

Save shoe leather

As soon as school was out in the spring, we spent much of the time walking around barefoot. The skin on the bottom of our feet became very tough and thick. The supreme test came when we walked across broken glass bottles which had been disposed of by placing them in a gully, leading to what I call Leinenkugel’s Creek. I must say we picked our way very carefully when we walked on broken beer bottles in bare feet. (We were foolish.)

The creek

I loved water of all kinds from a very early age. A neat little creek passed through the northwestern side of Leinenkugel’s property. About 1911, I fished in the creek with makeshift equipment and worms as bait. I had many bites. As I remember, the smaller minnows resembled stickle-back minnows. Maybe they were the last of some species of fish and should have been protected. I have a hunch they no longer are around. Waste water has probably wiped them out if they were alive in recent times.

Money hard to get

No one had to provide activities for us. We created our own fund and playthings. Once, I was given a dollar to buy some skis. If we couldn’t afford skis, we were able to secured discarded barrel staves from Leinenkugel’s. They were from pony-sized beer barrels.

One member of the Leinenkugel family said to me: “Wasn’t that good beer which came out of the pony kegs?” Judging from the way people bought ponies, the answer would have to be “yes!”

William (Bill) Schmidt was the booker who performed minor miracles in assembly kegs for Leinenkugel’s. He was helpful to youngsters. We enjoyed watching him work. He has remained in my memory for a long time.

Prohibition hard

A huge investment which had thrived for about 50 years was rocked on its heels when Prohibition arrived. The buildings and machinery had to be kept up and most of the men were out of work. Ray Mayer kept the ship afloat during those difficult days. The company shifted to soft drinks and soda pop.

Near-beer

Near-beer did not do well but the soft drinks or soda pope were well received. When Prohibition was abolished Bill Casper came back to work with Ray Mayer. The results show that they were a good team.

The Leinenkugel family certainly has been tops in their dealings with our area and their product has been in great demand. Friends and relatives from the south and west, in many cases, load up with Leinenkugel’s when they go home, if they have a car.

(Brewery official) Ray Mayer was a good friend of my dad and brother. He was also our trout fishing partner for many years.

When a fire brick burned out in an oven at the brewery, Ray Mayer called on dad to fix it. Doing so was a very hot sweaty job, but Ray and dad were friends. You can see why I am high on the whole Leinenkugel family and their operation.

The Leinenkugels and their family branches amaze me. The apparently get along well together, run a good shop, and are supportive of one another. Their track record is hard to beat.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally ran in the June 22, 2003, Herald.

Mike and Diane Hanson of Dubuque, Iowa, said there was one drawback about driving a motorcycle to Saturday's opening of the Leinie Lodge in Chippewa Falls.

"The only bad thing is, you can't bring back many souvenirs," Mike Hanson said while standing in the shade from the new 15,000-square-foot Lodge.

The couple drove up to Wisconsin to attend the convention of Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners in Black River Falls. They had toured the Leinenkugel's Brewery once before and decided to see it again Saturday. Then they found about the Lodge opening, where free beer and brats were being served.

"I though the old (Leinie hospitality center) was nice, but this one is really great," Mike Hanson said.

Diane Hanson agreed, adding: "It's a great place to shop."

Angela Zillmer of Appleton said she enjoys drinking a Leinenkugel's. But on Saturday afternoon, she was sipping from a bottled water.

"I drank too much Leinenkugel's last night. It's kind of hard for me today," she admitted. But she enjoyed going through the new lodge, saying it was much larger than she thought it would be.

Zillmer was at the celebration with her brother, Mark, a University of Wisconsin-Stout student, and friend, Mike Woody of Appleton.

"I've been drinking Leinenkugel's for a number of years. I thought I'd check it out. When we saw they were opening a new Lodge, what better time," Woody said.

Mark Zillmer said he's a loyal Leinenkugel's drinker because it's a local beer. He was impressed with the Lodge and its 46-foot sampling bar.

Bob and Sandy Mayer of Fairchild were going to visit their son who lives in the village of Lake Hallie on Friday, but he told them to wait so they could take in the Lodge opening.

"I love it," Bob Mayer said of the Lodge, adding his two favorite beers were Leinenkugel's and Walter's, a beer that was once brewed in Eau Claire.

The event drew an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people, and 5,000 brats were served.

One volunteer, who didn't want her name to be used, said she served 500 people. "Every single person who went through the food line said thank you to me," she said, adding people in Wisconsin are very polite.

Sonia Kotz of Chetek patiently stood at the end of a very long and winding line to be served one of those brats.

She, too, said she's a Leinie's fan, and was impressed by a large brewery kettle top that can been seen by the bar. "(The Lodge) is a lot larger than we thought it would be," she said.

Chetek is a long way to go to visit the Lodge in Chippewa Falls, but not nearly as long Thomas D. Connolly and Randy Mills traveled.

Connolly is an upper school principal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mills, who is spending the summer in the Chippewa Valley, teaches classes at an international school in Yangon, Myanmar, the Asian country once known as Burma.

"We've been coming here for almost 20 years," Mills said. He is a Leinie Lodge member, and was impressed by what he saw of the lodge. "It's fabulous - just beautiful. It's really well done," Mills said.

It's amazing how many people the brewery, and now the Lodge, attracts, he said.

"And (there's) plenty of chances to spend money," he said of the offerings at the Lodge.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally ran in the Oct. 26, 2002, Herald.

Pete Dawson held a cushy job with Miller Brewing in Milwaukee when, in 1988, the company bought a small but strong brewery in Chippewa Falls.

His official title was staff manager to the vice president of brewing operations for America’s number two brewery, a post he held since 1979. As a part of his job, he was part of a transition team to welcome Leinenkugel’s Brewery into Miller’s fold.

Dawson, 60, started coming to the Chippewa Falls brewery on a regular basis in 1989. As his trips increased, the University of San Francisco graduate realized he enjoyed being in Chippewa Falls more and more. It seemed like a good place to settle down with his wife, Dianne. The couple lives in the town of Eagle Point and have a pair of grown daughters: Laura, of the Twin Cities, and Crista, who lives in Chippewa Falls.

“I knew the company. I knew the management team. I knew (brewery president) Jake (Leinenkugel),” he said.

Two years later, he was ready to change jobs within Miller. He joined Leinenkugel in May 1991, and eventually became its vice president of operations.

“I really feel it’s a culmination of my career,” he said. That career ended with his retirement Aug. 30. His successor is Dan McCabe, who also worked for Miller.

Dawson excelled at juggling duties, said his former boss, brewery president Thomas “Jake” Leinenkugel.

“Pete Dawson was absolutely essential in making some very difficult project come to being,” Leinenkugel said.

For example, while he worked with Miller on a $4 million renovation of the Chippewa Falls brewery’s aged brewhouse, he coordinated the company’s effort to build a Leinie Lodge on the site of the old Woolen Mill in Chippewa Falls.

Leinenkugel said Dawson’s crown jewel is the brew house, which is one of the most modern of any in the United States. It replaced a brew house which had equipment dating back to the end of Prohibition in the 1930s.

The new equipment allowed the brewery at 1 Jefferson Avenue to more than double its capacity, from 110,000 to 250,000 barrels of beer a year.

“It prepared us for a significant capacity addition in the future (too),” Dawson said.

Jake Leinenkugel said while Dawson was doing that, he was also dealing with city officials and architects over the $2 million Leinie Lodge project.

“I don’t think without Pete Dawson, either one of those things would be accomplished,” Leinenkugel said. “He was relentless toward seeing their completion.”

Leinenkugel said Dawson did a great job for the brewery.

“You could just rely on Pete Dawson to get things done,” he said.

Dawson said since Miller bought Leinenkugel’s, the local brewery has never had a down year. Dawson said Miller allowed the local brewery to continue to grow in sales and production.

“I think we’re probably one of the few companies of our size that can say that,” he said.

Dawson said after working in the 35 years in the beer business, he accomplished his goals and it was time to retire. Besides, he said, “My wife has been pestering me.”

Retirement now seems like a vacation, he said. The couple plans to continue living in the Chippewa Valley and volunteer for projects.

But Dawson already enjoys juggling retirement with frequent traveling.

“Don’t look for us in January and February very hard,” he joked.

Note: This article first ran in the Herald’s Leinenkugel 125h Anniversary edition.

Back in the 1930s, the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewery was a small brewer with an advertising budget to match.

It was shortly after the repeal of Prohibition that brewery leaders decided the Leinenkugel label, which would come to be a symbol of the family-owned brewery, must reflect the land from where it came, according to Bill Leinenkugel, retired Leinenkugel president.

In an effort to reflect the personality of the Chippewa Valley and the outline of the Indianhead geography of northwestern Wisconsin, the face of the mystical and lovely Indian maiden was chosen to appear on the bottle. And despite advice from some who thought the familiar logo should be altered or modernized, she appears much as she has looked from the beginning.

“It’s mostly based on legends,” Leinenkugel said. “There were a lot of little breweries all over, about 120 in the state. Our brewery featured a brew called Chippewa Pride, which later evolved into Leinenkugel’s Chippewa Pride and then to just Leinenkugel’s. The Chippewa Pride name was eventually phased out.”

Loyalty and tradition have always been important issues to the Leinenkugel family, however, and the friendly face had become a simple symbol of the mystical spring water and the rich brewing process that produced the beer.

“Originally it was felt that with a name like Chippewa Pride, it wouldn’t mean much without an Indian on our label,” Leinenkugel said. “This is the beer that was coming from the area known as the ‘Indianhead’ part of the state. It seemed appropriate that an Indian’s head should grace the bottles of beer coming from Chippewa Falls.”

The early paintings of the beautiful Indian woman from which the design was taken are done in soft tones of golds and orange.

Two large paintings hanging in the Leinenkugel’s Hospitality Center illustrate the way the Indian woman was first viewed and the kind of aura they hoped she would project when translated later to a simpler line drawing.

In the muted paintings, a feather is stuck in the back of the Indian woman’s dark hair.

Beads drape gracefully across her head and a typical Indian print blanket is provocatively draped across her body. In the second, more conservative rendition, neck jewelry has been added and she’s given a less petulant or sultry expression.

“The face on the label was very appropriate at the time it was designed,” Leinenkugel said. “I have to comment that the Indian woman’s face was kept on the label primarily through the efforts of our distributors, who kept telling us not to change it...not ever. So we never did.”

Leinenkugel said that customers let the distributors know that they liked the old fashioned trademark and felt it reflected the small town, northern Wisconsin image as well as any design might.

“We feel the design still holds the same mystique that it always has,” Leinenkugel said.

Leinenkugel said the simple traditional design with the quixotic and haunting twist is a fitting symbol for the 125-year-old Leinenkugel family brewery steeped in tradition.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared in the Herald on March 12, 2005.

On a June day in 1933 a young John Cooney arrived at the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company for his first day of work filling half-gallon bottles of unpasteurized beer from a keg.

For the next 72 years the brewery would hold a special place in Cooney’s heart.

Cooney, a 43-year Leinenkugel employee who held brewmaster duties for 30 years, died Thursday at age 93.

“We lost a very kind and gentle man and a friend to the Leinenkugel family in the passing of John Cooney,” said Jake Leinenkugel, president of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company.

Cooney was a 1930 graduate of McDonell High School. He attended the University of North Dakota for a few years before returning home to Chippewa Falls in 1932.

Cooney had his first contact with the brewery as a young boy. He grew up a stone’s throw from the brewery and used to play on the brewery grounds.

Longtime brewery president William “Bill” Leinenkugel said he remembers Cooney working every position in the brewery — primarily in the brewhouse.

In the early 1940s, brewmaster Con Schmidt passed away. The brewery was left without a brewmaster and Cooney stepped in to fill the role until Elmer Baesemann was hired away from the Blatz Brewing Company in 1946.

“He took over all the responsibilities of the brewmaster,” Bill Leinenkugel said.

In 1946 Leinenkugel’s sent Cooney to brewing school at the Seibel Institute in Chicago. It’s at the institute that Cooney learned he had a pretty good “taster”, the knack to identify the qualities of a good beer.

Cooney developed a taste for a good beer at an early age. As a boy he was chased from the brewery grounds by a brewmaster after being caught taking beer from an employee tap.

“John was a marvelous beer taster, and continued to come down and test the beers for our brewmasters after his retirement in 1976,” Bill Leinenkugel said.

Cooney was as great of a teacher as he was a brewmaster, Bill Leinenkugel said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally ran in the Feb. 16, 2005, Herald.

Leinie’s Light is all grown up.

The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company announced that the brand grown right here in the Chippewa Valley is ready to leave home.

Previously available only on its home turf in Chippewa and Eau Claire counties, the beer will soon be available through Wisconsin and Minnesota.

“Leinenkugel’s Light is about to play a more prominent role in our portfolio,” said brewery president Jake Leinenkugel, who made the announcement as the brewer rolled out a new packaging design for Light and Leinenkugel’s Original beers.

Leinenkugel said that for the past few years people have been visiting the Leinie Lodge and enjoying Light.

“They’d take home a case to enjoy at home. But now many of those people will be able to buy it at home,” he said.

A regional rollout of Leinenkugel’s Light has its roots in the support for the product from local beer distributor M&L Brands, which the Herald reported Tuesday is moving its Eau Claire-based warehouse to Chippewa Falls in 2006.

“M&L grew the brand 50 percent over the past two years,” Leinenkugel said.

Dick Leinenkugel, vice president of sales and marketing for the brewery, said 50 percent of the beer sold nationwide is either a low-carb or low-calorie beer.

“M&L showed us it’s a segment we need to be in,” he said.

The brewery was ready to kill Leinie’s Light about two years ago. The company had just rolled out Amber Light and saw its future in the specialty brew.

“But M&L came to us and said Leinie’s Light was important to them and wanted an opportunity to grow the label,” Dick Leinenkugel said.

Jake and Dick were surprised by M&L’s efforts.

“Not only did they grow the brand, they blew us away,” Dick Leinenkugel said.

Sales of Light grew 25 percent in 2003 behind the strong marketing of M&L Brands. The product grew another 25 percent in 2004.

“They proved to us that Leinie’s Light is a visible brand that people enjoy,” he said.

“We make beers with a lot more flavor, but realize there is a large segment of people who want to drink a low- calorie, low-carb beer,” Dick Leinenkugel said.

The brewery will expand distribution of Leinenkugel’s Light to all of its Wisconsin and Minnesota distributors beginning in early March.

One of our family’s major moves came in the 1960s. It was just a skip and hop from Mankato, Minnesota, to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. But I had to learn quickly the things that these two border states offered or, to roll up my sleeves and do battle with the local residents who were loyal to the Packers, the Badgers and to a brand of beer commonly called “Leinie’s.”

Not only was I confronted with a pronunciation of the brewing company name, but also the spelling of it. A quick lesson told me to always remember there are three “e’s” in its spelling. And the family named beer had a long history of being brewed, bottled and distributed from a brewery plant located in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Still does.

Not so with some of the smaller breweries in Wisconsin and Minnesota in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Some fell on hard times and closed their doors. But Leinenkugel’s, with water from the Big Eddy Springs, maintained a loyal following and actually began a succession of expansions and an exciting new listing of flavors. Eventually their marketing range showed sizeable increases into areas outside of the Midwest and covering a major share of the United States.

I recall a guy named Gene Brazee. The two of us ended up in Korea in the ‘50s. He often lamented that he could buy Leinenkugel’s from only one outlet in Madison. And such was the case in many communities. Not any longer.

I credit Bill Leinenkugel as being a stalwart when it came to the operation of what was considered back then as a small or community brewery. He and his family members certainly did a top notch job in advancing the popularity of the beer. And when I congratulated Bill on his success of keeping the brewery afloat, he merely related that “he did what he had to do.”

There was a period of time in my life when I often mentioned in phone calls that I lived in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, — the home of Leinenkugel’s beer. More recently, people on the other end of the line would respond, “yes, that’s a good beer.

Maybe CNBC said it best: “Leinenkugel’s beer is easier to drink than to say.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared in the March 22, 2006, Herald.

Dave Mayer remembers those big fishing excursions with his grandfather Ray Mayer.

It was at least 35 years ago, but seems like just yesterday for the great-great grandson of Jacob Leinenkugel.

“I’d be in Grandpa Ray Mayer’s basement cleaning fish, and if we didn’t have enough room we’d turn over that sign and use it as a table,” Mayer said Tuesday, pointing to a large Leinenkugel’s Beer sign hanging on the wall of the Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology.

There was never a day while cleaning fish with his grandfather that Mayer envisioned that the make-shift cleaning table would be one of his favorite pieces in a Leinenkugel’s memorabilia collection that spans generations of local brewing history.

Soon afterwards his grandfather gave him the sign.

“I must have been toting that sign around since I was 16,” Mayer said.

With his family ties to the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, the brewery sales manager had accumulated quite a collection of brewery memorabilia. In addition to family heirlooms, Mayer has bought Leinenkugels items at auctions, garage sales, through trades with other Leinie’s collectors and even eBay. The collection grew and grew until it consumed almost all of Mayer’s basement.

Mayer, a museum board member, loaned his collection to the Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology for at least the next five years, hoping that memories of the city’s oldest industry will draw more people to the struggling museum.

In the past few years the museum has lost both city and county funding and is struggling to hang on.

Last year, the museum’s board started talking about ways to boost attendance and revenue.

“We had a brainstorming and strategic planning session,” said CFMIT director Yvette Flaten.

“From the end of the table Dave mentioned he was a huge Leinie’s collector and offered his collection to us,” Flaten recalled.

Flaten visited Mayers basement museum and was immediately sold on the idea.

“I loved it and was intrigued right from the start,” she said.

Among some of the items on display are Jacob Leinenkugel’s Parker double-barreled shotgun dating to 1878. It was a gift to Mayer from William Casper, the grandson of the brewery founder.

Also on display are Jacob Leinenkugel’s personal napkin holder inscribed with the words “papa,” and the brewery’s first stock certificate for 996 shares of Leinenkugel’s stock issued in February of 1898.

Mayer’s favorite piece in the collection is a large hand-carved wooden beer stein given to the Leinenkugel family in the 1930s by its malt supplier.

“There were only two made and one disappeared. I now have the only one,” Mayer said.

The collection contains generations of beer glasses produced for the brewery and Mayer’s prized collection of beer steins, many of which were handed down to him. There will also be videos and a written history about the company and the Leinenkugel family.

When Mayer thinks about the history of Chippewa Falls and the role of the museum, he has no doubt that his Leinie’s collection will stand tall alongside displays on the Cray Super Computers and Mason Shoe.

“It’s supposed to be here, and everyone agreed,” Mayer said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared in the Sept. 20, 2003, Herald.

The procession of adults dressed in strange costumes walked by, singing a funny song.

“Roll out the barrel. We’ll have a barrel of fun. Roll out the barrel, we’ve got the blues on the run,” the adults warbled. Their voices strained to be heard over the music of the seven tubas and four Euphoniums played by members of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire “BASSically Brass” group.

It was 12:13 p.m. Friday, and the first Oktoberfest in Chippewa Falls was underway with a mostly on-key vocal rendering of “The Beer Barrel Polka.”

Bill and Nancy Febry of Chippewa Falls led the procession. Their official titles this weekend are festmeister and festmeistern, which means they are in charge of the fun. There are activities planned for both children and adults throughout the weekend at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds.

The Febrys kicked things off by tapping the golden keg, a tradition began in 1950 by the then-mayor of Munich, Germany at its famous Oktoberfest.

Volunteers Jeff Newton and Ian Kopp brought the keg to a stage, and Bill Febry hooked up the tapping device. He pumped and pumped and pumped the device so that liquid would flow into pitchers Nancy Febry held.

“I thought that parade was a lot of work, man,” Febry said.

He continued to pump out the beer until the last drop was drained. Then Febry followed tradition by pronouncing, “O’zapft is!” Or as Febry then put it to a cheering crowd, “The keg is tapped!”

With that, the crowd scurried to all parts of the fairgrounds, enjoying a variety of German and American food.

Newton said at least one of the food vendors will be celebrating at the end of the weekend. Newton and his wife, Lynn, are members of the Oktoberfest food committee. He said the food vendors will be entered into a contest where their decorations are judged as having the best Fall or German theme.

Over at the Holy Ghost Parish stand, volunteer Don Ruhe was putting up a sign advertising a roast pork dinner, an offering called Spanferkel, for $5.50.

Both German and American food were available at the Chippewa Falls Optimist Club, but the most popular item around noon was coffee. Having a high temperature of 56 degrees after a run of days in the 70s and 80s makes people want to warm up.

“Ice cold coffee here!” some jokester bellowed as a new batch was being brewed.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The article was originally published in the Herald on Sept. 9, 2014.

Jake Leinenkugel was born and raised in Chippewa Falls, and he works and lives here. But his future was set more than 6,000 miles away.

“The signifying point was when I was in Korea in 1981. It was about 45 degrees. It was muddy. I was reading this letter from my dad, asking me to come back to the family (business). It was like, ‘Hey, we need you.’ That’s at least the way I felt,” he recalls with a smile.

The letter prompted Jake to make what he called one of the hardest decisions of his life: resigning his commission after six years in the Marine Corps, and returning to Wisconsin in September 1982 to begin working full-time for the family brewery.

In hindsight, it was also one of his best decisions. He has spent the past 32 years working for the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., and the last quarter-century as its president.

On Tuesday, Jake, 62, announced that he will be stepping down as brewery president at the end of the year.

Jake Leinenkugel has presided over the largest growth in the company’s history, taking Leinenkugel’s from a small-town brewery that spilled over into only a couple of other states, to what it is today: a brewery that has become so popular it is a tourist destination, with an extremely loyal customer base and a national following, and an impeccable reputation of producing a large portfolio of top-flight beers.

Measured in any fashion except for geographical distance, he has come a long way from that boy that was raised in a home on Dwight Street on Chippewa Falls’ West Hill.

Taking over for Jake will be another one of those kids raised in that Dwight Street home.

Dick Leinenkugel, 56, brother of Jake and also a great-great-grandson of brewery founder Jacob Leinenkugel, will be the next president of the famed brewing company.

Dick has worked full-time for the brewery in several capacities since 1987, except for a 19-month stint as Wisconsin commerce secretary and a run for U.S. Senate in 2010.

Jake will continue on in various capacities with Leinie’s, and he can’t imagine calling anyplace but Chippewa Falls his home.

“I’ll still be involved in community things here in Chippewa Falls, and I’ll do what I call the Jesus plan,” he said. “I’m going to give 40 days and 40 nights to distributors, doing select market areas, events, being involved in the Chippewa fair, Oktoberfest, as another face of the Leinenkugel family.”

Succession plan

Leinenkugel’s still carries a bit of a reputation as a small-town, family-owned operation. After all, that was its identity for most of the time since it was founded in 1867. But Chippewa Falls’ oldest business was purchased in 1988 by Philip Morris-owned Miller Brewing Co., the second-leading brewer in the nation.

By the 1980s, the industry was changing rapidly. By some accounts up to 90 percent of breweries had gone out of business or were in trouble, including some of the giants. Leinenkugel’s was one of the great success stories, having not only survived but thrived into its second century. But the sale to an industry leader with deep pockets was a way to ensure its survival.

One of the little-known reasons behind the sale, Jake Leinenkugel said this week, was the absence of a succession plan. Then-President Paul Mayer and its previous president, Jake’s father Bill Leinenkugel, were both in their 60s.

“There was never really a directional sense of when the current management is gone, who’s going to run it and what’s the plan,” Jake said. “I first started thinking about it five years ago, and I didn’t want that to happen again.”

He wanted to prepare somebody to take over for him, hoping that it was someone from the Leinenkugel family because that is such a large part of what the brewery represents. Jake is the fifth generation of Leinenkugels to be in charge of the brewery, and it’s doubtful even a handful of other brewers in America can match that.

It’s time

It wasn’t until only a couple of years ago that a plan began to crystallize.

“I turned 60 and I was getting tired,” Jake said. He was still managing operations in Chippewa Falls, yet also presiding over the unprecedented move of turning the brewery into a national player with distribution in all 50 states. He was also the face of Leinenkugel’s, which meant criss-crossing the country making personal appearances for the beer’s adoring public and its distributors. It was all taking its toll.

“There’s been so many changes in my 32 years, and they’ve been going on at a faster rate than I ever thought possible the last five years,” he said. “We now have 4,000 breweries, give or take a couple hundred, that have started up in the United States. There was barely 100 still in existence when I came back in the early ‘80s. That transformation, with people brewing local beers, different styles of beer, that was a major change — for the good, for our business.”

But the complexity of the brewing business was on the move, and Jake thought it was time to get the next generation in place, and find an immediate successor. His four children — Matt, Kirk, C.J. and Ellie — all have various roles with the company. And after stepping away from the company to dab his toe in the political world, Dick Leinenkugel was back in the fold.

All in the family

Jake Leinenkugel informed Tom Long, CEO of MillerCoors, and Tom Cardella, chairman of the board of directors for the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., that he was closing in on retirement, and he said they both thought Dick Leinenkugel was the logical successor.

“It’s good for the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., for our employees (because) they know there’s going to be another Leinenkugel who cares, for our distributors who know the same thing. And MillerCoors is very happy with it.”

There were no guarantees that a Leinenkugel would still be running the brewery 26 years after the sale to Miller. But it is indicative of the way Miller and its latest ownership changes have operated.

“They said it would make a heck of a lot of sense to let a Leinenkugel continue to run the business. They were very astute,” Jake said. “With all of the changes, every one of their management teams has realized the power of it. They get it. These are smart people, and they said, ‘Let’s make sure they have all of the resources and the capabilities to run their brewery from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.’”

For the past 25 years, Jake Leinenkugel has truly enjoyed being in charge of that brewery. In his early days he used to lean on his father for advice. Bill had been brewery president from 1971-86, and knew the operation inside and out. They would get together on a Friday or Saturday over a glass of Leinie’s and discuss the business.

Bill Leinenkugel was 87 when he died in September 2008. What would he think of the place Leinenkugel’s occupies now that his oldest son is stepping away from day-to-day operations?

“He’d probably say, ‘You didn’t (screw) it up,’” Jake answered, adding that is one of the things he often thinks about. “I think he would also be very proud that I kept the family together and involved in the business.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story originally appeared in the Leinenkugel's 125th Anniversary edition in September 1992.

Navigating through the countryside carrying a precious commodity was a way of life for nearly 40 years for a Leinenkugel's truck driver.

Jack O'Donnell, 65, of Chippewa Falls, retired in May from Leinenkugel's after 44 years of service, including 37 years delivering beer as a truck driver.

He began in 1948 after coming home from the Navy. He worked at U.S. Rubber (Uniroyal in Eau Claire) for a year before coming aboard at Leinenkugel's.

"I was sick of getting laid off and working around the clock," said O'Connell of his work at U.S. Rubber. "So I just decided to put in my application at Leinenkugel's. Before I knew it, I was hired."

That's the best decision he could have made, he says now.

For his first five years, O'Connell was a helper or "relief" driver, meaning he would take over for people on vacation, and help out wherever he was needed.

He was then given a city route, which lasted seven years until he accepted a higher paying job as a country driver. He worked this route for 25 years until his knee popped out of joint about eight years ago.

"It was a great job and I met a lot of good people," said O'Connell. "I was always in the fresh air, and I was pretty much my own boss."

He said the people he dealt with became like second family.

"It's like we're related," he said. "Their troubles were my troubles. I'd get to watch their kids grow. It made time go by really fast."

His last seven years he worked in the brewery as a keg filler because his knee couldn't handle the stress of lifting the heavy kegs.

In thinking back to his early days, he remembers how his first trucks could only go 50 mph, with a double clutch and no power steering. How times have changed.

O'Connell said he had his share of close calls, one in particular that takes the cake.

This was back in the days when some of the roads used logs for a foundation, with dirt poured over the top. They were often called "corduroy" or just log roads.

O'Connell found out the hard way that the logs are not always very stable.

"Some of these logs would just rot out, and it would be especially bad in the spring," he said. "You never knew if those logs were there for 20 or 25 years. I guess I found out."

He was en route to a tavern — a transformed railroad station — in a small town named Arnold (in Chippewa County).

Driving along Highway 64 out of Cornell and heading into County M, his truck literally "broke down to the axle." So there he sat, with his truck stuck in the middle of the country.

"I thought I'd be there forever," he remembered. "I was really sunk down in there."

After a quarter-mile walk to the nearest house, O'Connell recalls a man saying he could pull him out with his tractor. But this was no ordinary tractor. It was the steam-driven variety.

O'Connell waited nearly a half hour for the man to get the tractor "steamed up." He was then amazed how easily the tractor with the "big tires" pulled him out of his predicament.

He knew, of course, that he was indebted to this main. He gave him two options: Money or five cases of Leinie's. Obviously, the man though with his taste buds and opted for the Leinie's.

But the shoe has also been on the other foot, O'Connell said.

"I've pulled a lot of people out of ditches," he said. "But never when they were drunk. If they were, I would give them a ride to the nearest tavern to call someone. I'd always find some excuse why I couldn't pull them out."

"We had quite a following," he said. "It was a barrel of fun - no pun intended."

He's enjoyed the family-type operation of the brewery.

"It wasn't like the bigger breweries," he said. "They were good, honest people to work for."

But is he getting a little restless after all those years of service?

"It took me about two hours to adjust to retirement," he said. "But it's the best job I could ever have had."

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally ran in the May 30, 2002 Herald.

Having the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. in Chippewa Falls excites Leinenkugel's President Thomas "Jake" Leinenkugel.

"It just drives the complete focus on beer," Leinenkugel said of South African Breweries PLC agreeing to buy Leinenkugel's parent company, Miller Brewing. "It's a big change."

The $3.6 billion stock deal announced this morning will form the world's second-largest brewer.

"Nothing of this transaction should impact Leinenkugel's at all," Leinenkugel said this morning. The brewery is located at 1 Jefferson Avenue.

Miller likes how Leinenkugel's brews its beers and its brands, Leinenkugel said. "It's always been looked on as one of the gems of the Miller organization," he said.

Miller, which bought the Leinenkugel's brewery in 1988, is currently owned by Philip Morris Cos., Inc.

Miller's corporate headquarters will remain in Milwaukee and it will act as a subsidiary of the new London-based company, to be named SABMiller, said Michael Brophy, a Miller spokesman. The company will not cut jobs at its local brewery or its six others across the country, he said.

"The bottom line is Miller is now part of a global beer company that is 100 percent focused on brewing and selling beer," Brophy said.

Philip Morris Cos. said the deal is expected to close in July, pending regulatory approval.

South African Breweries will also assume $2 billion in debt, bringing the transaction to $5.6 billion. Miller Brewing will become a 100 percent, fully owned subsidiary of SABMiller, said Scott Bussen, Miller spokesman.

Philip Morris will assume a 36 percent stake in SABMiller and have three seats on SABMiller's board of directors, Philip Morris chief executive Louis C. Camilleri said during a conference call Thursday. Philip Morris will have an option to sell its stake in 2005, he said.

South African Breweries is the world's fourth-largest brewer by volume, after St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, Belgium's Interbrew and Heineken NV of the Netherlands, according to data from 2000 compiled by British beverage consultancy Canadean.

Miller ranks sixth in the world.

"This transaction pole vaults Miller into a different league," Camilleri said.

Brophy said both companies saw industry leaders merging and felt the move was the best way to stay competitive.

"In this day in the brewing industry where consolidation is occurring, this is a very important move for both companies, and that's why people at Miller are very enthusiastic," he said.

SAB runs brewing operations in 23 countries. The deal provides SAB a major operations center in the United States and reduces the company's dependency on earnings made in the rand, the weak South African currency.

Miller's beer production will not change but it may begin selling imported Pilsner Urquell in the United States while SABMiller promotes Miller Genuine Draft internationally, Brophy said.

"Scale is important in the brewing industry, and the market rewards scale," Camilleri said.

Miller chief executive John D. Bowlin will lead SABMiller's American operations.

Miller's local signatures will remain the same, including its sponsorship of Miller Park, home to baseball's Milwaukee Brewers, and its brand name on beer cans and advertising.

"It will be basically business as usual, but I think that translates well for the city of Milwaukee," he said.

Philip Morris has wanted to sell its beer business because Miller Brewing has started losing market share over the past decade, analysts say.

Camilleri told industry analysts last fall the tobacco-food giant's beer business has continued to face challenges. Profits have dropped as sales declined and advertising costs increased.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally ran in the June 21, 2003, Herald.

Five generations of Leinenkugels have played huge roles in the continued success of the Chippewa Falls brewery. But it was someone outside of the family who came up with the idea to tie Leinie's with its natural setting, in the northwoods.

Thirteen years ago J.J. Schields of Miller Brewing Company, Leinie's parent company, suggested that Leinenkugel's capitalize on its location.

"He had a feel for where we were as a brewery, and where are roots are, as the gateway to the northwoods," said Jake Leinenkugel, the brewery president.

"He said, 'Wouldn't it be neat to start the concept of a Leinie Lodge?' " Jake recalls. "It could be any place where people gather to enjoy good company, good food and good beer with friends. It could be your cabin."

That abstract idea worked its magic for many years, but Jake and others have been pummeled with questions of, "Where's the Lodge?"

Leinenkugel employees now have an answer to that constant question, and what an answer it is.

A new 15,000-square-foot Lodge made its public debut Thursday night, as brewery employees, their families and other invited guests gathered for their first look inside the $2 million project.

The grand opening week kicks off today, when the Lodge is expected to play host to thousands of Leinie Lodge members. (Anyone who's not already a Lodge member can sign up on their way in.)

The celebration runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Jake, Dick and John Leinenkugel helping cook brats in the afternoon. Each visitor will be entitled to three beers, and there will be music and prizes. 

Invitations were sent to 106,000 Leinie Lodge members, the city's hotels are full this weekend, and no one would be surprised if as many as 5,000 -- or more -- showed up today. Parking alternatives include the county lot, Irvine Park, the Marshall Field lot and the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds.

"It will be fun, it will be exciting, and it will be hectic," Jake said.

Built on the old Woolen Mill site, on the other side of Duncan Creek from the brewery, the Leinie Lodge towers over Jefferson Avenue. It is three times as large as the hospitality center, which previously housed the gift shop and sampling bar, and it received nothing but raves Thursday.

"(The Lodge) is fantastic," said Pete Dawson, former head of operations at the brewery. "It's everything I've ever dreamed of."

"It's hard for me to describe," Jake said of seeing the finishing touches put on the structure. "It's beyond my expectations."

It all started with Bill

Jake's predecessor as brewery president was his dad, Bill Leinenkugel, who was on hand Thursday.

"It's so nice he's able to be with us and see the brothers transform to this side of the business," Jake said.

He says his dad was the one who came up with the idea of selling Leinie's merchandise, and creating the hospitality center and gift shop.

"Twenty-five years ago he had a vision, and all of this really started with his vision," Jake said. "If anybody should get credit for making such a risky, bold move, it is him."

Back then, not that many people walked around wearing clothing promoting a business. But Bill had a feeling more than a few Leinie's drinkers would want to show others their preference in beers.

"He saw a need for a place where they could come and buy a T-shirt," Jake said.

At Thursday's ceremony, Jake told the story of a man who came to the brewery one day in the 1970s and introduced himself as someone who created and sold T-shirts. The man told Bill that he would make them for $1.

"My dad said OK, and he probably ordered about 50, and he sold them for a buck and a quarter," Jake said. "Everybody thought he was crazy, but he understood that was a way to expand this great brand of beer, through a T-shirt. With his vision came the first Leinenkugel's Hospitality Center."

The idea wasn't a sure bet, but Bill Leinenkugel thought it was important to create a place where people could gather to celebrate the brewing of their favorite beer. He also knew the importance of the visibility that would come with people wearing clothing items bearing Leinie's logo.

While there's no telling how many articles of Leinie's clothing have been sold, there is a tally of how many people have signed up to be Leinie Lodge members: 106,000. Membership entitles them to a card, puts them on the mailing list for the Leinie Legend newsletter, and got them a special invitation to this week's festivities.

"The last piece was the actual lodge," Jake said, noting the hospitality center that was making do did not look or feel like a lodge. It also couldn't handle the demand that had grown over the years.

"Three years ago we were completely out of room in the hospitality center, and we started turning away people from tours," Jake said. "That was simply unacceptable."

Apart from this weekend — how do you fit 5,000 people in a Lodge, anyway? — Leinenkugel's doesn't plan on turning anyone away from its new Lodge.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared in the Herald on July 26, 2007.

When Jane Fenno was diagnosed with kidney cancer on April 6 it came as a shock to the Chippewa Falls woman.

“I had no pain. I felt cold and I was tired, but that was it,” she said. “It was really a fluke that I even found out I had it.”

A simple routine surgery led doctors to take a closer look at her blood levels, which pointed to cancer.

But Fenno is no stranger to cancer and its effect on people’s lives. She’s been a volunteer with the American Cancer Society for 20 years, and has been involved with the Chippewa Falls Relay for Life for 12 years.

And now, she’s a member of another club. But this one’s not looking for any new members.

“We call ourselves ‘Team Leinie’ — Me, Vern (Pellin) and Gary (Burger),” Jane said. “We have a common bond, and we stick together.”

The three all have cancer and work at Leinenkugel’s Brewery. The friends have supported each other during their battles against cancer.

Vern was diagnosed with brain cancer a couple years ago. Gary was diagnosed last September, just a month after getting married and returning from his honeymoon.

“They say the first year of marriage is the hardest, but this was unimaginable,” Gary said.

His wife Michelle stayed by his side during the surgery to remove the brain tumor, as well as recovery.

“She’s truly my strength,” he said.

The support of family and friends made it possible for Michelle to be there as much as she wanted to be.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared in the June 17, 2006, Herald.

You would have thought Saturday that Jennifer and Sally Sudmeier were standing in line to buy concert tickets for their favorite rock and roll band.

How else could one explain why the Janesville sisters were walking down Elm Street a little past 4 a.m. Saturday morning in search of a line at the Leinie Lodge.

But the truth of the matter is, they weren’t seeking out an opportunity to see the Pearl Jam, the Rolling Stones, or American Idol Live.

It was the Brothers Leinenkugel that the women stood in line 7½ hours to meet. And when arrived at the brewery to find only a giant party tent, they started their own line.

For Jennifer and Sally the opportunity to meet Jake, Dick and John Leinenkugel at the legendary Leinie Lodge began Friday night in Hudson.

They weathered a medical emergency that occurred while Jennifer severely cut herself shaving her legs, but a trip to the emergency room might have cost the women a place in line at the lodge.

“I probably needed stitches, but my sister got me some sani-strips and we stitched it up ourselves,” she said.

They arrived in Chippewa Falls at 9:30 p.m. and caught a few hours of sleep at the Wheaton Street home of Sally’s boyfriend before the alarm clock started blaring at 4 a.m.

“We quick got ready and left the house at 4:20 a.m.,” Sally said. “We were at the lodge by 4:30 a.m.”

The question is: Why?

“We wanted to be one of the first 100 people so we could get the free prizes,” Jennifer said of the pint glasses and six packs of Berry Weiss beer that Leinenkugels presented to the first visitors of the 3rd Annual Leinenkugels Family Reunion.

Because they were first in line, they also received free t-shirts hours before the doors of the lodge opened. Minutes before the doors opened the women were excited when they were given tubes of Leinenkugels Sunset Wheat flavored lip gloss by none other than Dick Leinenkugel himself.

“A Northwoods girl’s dream,” Jennifer said.

The women said they were thrilled to be greeted as the first through the line at the family reunion.

And don’t think Jennifer and Sally claimed their free gifts and headed home.

“What are we going to do the rest of the day?” Jennifer asked.

“Drink beer and make a day of it,” Sally answered.

Hundreds of other Leinies enthusiasts had a similar plan as the 11-hour party rocked the banks of Duncan Creek with live music, bratwurst, and free-flowing Leinenkugels beer. Chefs from the upper midwest competed in the backyard barbeque battle, brewery tours were offered and Leinies fans competed in games such as the now infamous keg-bike races.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article from Associated Press originally appeared in the June 3, 2007 Herald.

MILWAUKEE — The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. turns 140 this year and never has the small-town brewer with the Northwoods charm been so big.

Most of its beers are sold primarily in the Upper Midwest, but one of its newest brews, Sunset Wheat, is now in 42 states a year after its introduction. The beer — a wheat and pale malt with coriander — caught on faster than Leinenkugel anticipated.

That’s a plus as the nation’s fourth-largest craft brewer faces increased pressure from parent SABMiller PLC to help rescue domestic sales from their industrywide slump.

SABMiller, which owns Miller Brewing Co., has said it will push beers like Leinenkugel’s to attract more customers who might be willing to pay extra for craft brews. Two more brews sold mainly in the Upper Midwest, Honey Weiss and Berry Weiss, are set to be rolled out on a larger scale though it’s not clear when.

Eldest brother Jake Leinenkugel, 55 has been president of the Chippewa Falls, Wis.-based company since 1989, while middle brother Dick, 49, is vice president of sales and marketing out of Milwaukee.

The youngest brother, John, 38, is a sales representative in Minnesota.

The two older brothers talked this week about how their brand has grown and what the future holds for this fifth-generation run business.

How has it been taking Sunset Wheat around the country and why do people love it?

Dick: “It has really been, I think, one of the most exciting things that I’ve been involved in my 20 years in the beer business. We are having tremendous success with Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat in our expansion markets. … We have found terrific success on draft in some major markets that I never imagined … Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, the D.C. area.’’

Jake: “I think that both Dick and I knew we were on to something because we really took our time developing the taste profile and the aroma profile. … We noticed over the last couple of years that there was a large surge of consumers behind this style of beer. So we said, ‘You know, we think we can do that and maybe even make it bigger and bolder, if you will.’ … We wanted it to have more of a citrus aroma, and also the notes, in particular coriander.’’

How has the flat market for mainstream brews affected Leinenkugel?

Jake: “It’s really validated what the consumer has been asking for the last several years and that is differentiation, different styles of beers, just like wines happened 15 to 20 years ago and still continue. Just like distilled spirits started 5 to 10 years ago and still continue. … So we’re just a little bit behind wine and spirits but coming on real fast to the new group of consumers out there that really are demanding something different.’’

What trends do you see in the beer industry?

Dick: “What’s happening out there with consumers, I think, is they really want products that are truly differentiated and “worth more’’ so to speak, but come from a real place, come from a real family. Products that are authentic.

!“I think, secondly, differentiated, refreshing styles of beers. That certainly is being played out in a new summer seasonal, Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy. … A shandy is a beer that’s flavored with lemonade. We believe we’re the first to bring this style to the U.S. There are shandies in the United Kingdom and Caribbean. In Germany.

“The other trend I’m seeing within the craft segment: … The true beer aficionados, they’re looking for even more in those different styles of beers. You could call them extreme beers. You could call them high gravity beers. … We are actually in test in Milwaukee and Madison right now with an Imperial IPA style of beer. We call it Big Eddy. It’s available on draft only. This Big Eddy is a very robust beer. It’s all malt. … Four different varieties of hops and the alcohol percentage is 8.9 percent alcohol by volume. So these are big beers. They’re robust, very flavorful and enjoyed by beer aficionados who truly want a beer, that Jake and I say, you could almost chew.’’

How is Leinenkugel’s responding to the increased attention from SABMiller?

Jake: “First of all, it’s flattering. Second of all, it creates a lot of fun pressure as I call it, to really step up and perform. … We feel we’re up to being the leaders for innovation and new styles within Miller Brewing Co., which is a huge task because on the whole we’re a very small component of SABMiller. But when you get the chairman of SABMiller talking about us and about what we have available and where potentially we can go, it’s very exciting and I think the entire team is up to that challenge.’’

What are your favorite Leinenkugel’s?

Dick: “My dad told me this joke once. He said his two favorite kinds of beer were Leinenkugel’s and free beer. … My number one is Sunset Wheat, of course served with a little slice of orange. Number two is our Oktoberfest when it’s in season.’’

Jake: “My favorite has been the favorite since we first brewed it as summer seasonal in 1995. That was Honey Weiss. To me it just has that real quenching, clean, no-lingering-aftertaste wheat style of beer.’’

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally appeared in the Sept. 20, 2004, Herald.

Ein prosit, ein prosit der Gumutlichkeit!

If you hung around the tents at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds during Oktoberfest this past weekend, you probably heard those German words sung more than once, always accompanied by those who understand raising a glass of beer in a toast.

It is, after all, a traditional German toast, and particularly the traditional Oktoberfest toast. Translation is difficult, for there are no exact equivalent words in English.

"Prost" is a common German toast, the way we may say "Cheers!" It is a shortened version of the word "Prosit," which a German/English dictionary may translate as simply "good." But that's not good enough. "Prosit" in its Latin root literally means "May it benefit you."

Figuring out what "Gumutlichkeit" means is easier. You just have to hang around Oktoberfest in Chippewa Falls, or its grandfather, the huge German Fest held in Milwaukee every July.

Gumutlichkeit is the official motto of sorts of German Fest, and it would make a good one for our own Oktoberfest, too.

German Fest is the largest celebration of German heritage in the world, outside of Germany. It features several stages, sponsored by Miller, Harley-Davidson, Sprecher, and, yes, Leinenkugel's.

Bands and dance groups, some from Germany, perform traditional German folk music and dance continuously. People of all ages -- mostly families out together -- dance, have a beer or two, and fill up on dishes like sauerbraten (roast beef), rouladen (rolled up beef), schnitzl (pork cutlets) or kartoffel pfannkuchen (potato pancakes).

Sound familiar? Well, I don't think our celebration included rouladen, and German Fest does have the big Mercedes-Benz tent, but the family-oriented concepts are the same.

German Fest is German heritage offered on a family-friendly platter, says Reinhold Ellerman, the official ambassador for German Fest. But when asked what makes the event so successful, he quickly answers, "Our volunteers! We have over 3,000 volunteers."

Put the same questions to the festmeisteren who have reigned over the two local Oktoberfest celebrations and the answers come out the same.

"We have over 500 volunteers. Without volunteers we couldn't park cars or pour beer," said Bill Febry, the 2003 festmeister.

Those volunteers earn money for their organizations, which also take in a lot of direct cash through concession sales.

"People like the idea that they're giving their money to someone like the Optimists, who are going to put it to work in the community," said this year's festmeister, Jerry Jacobson.

Both Febry and Jacobson have heard nothing but good comments from people enjoying Oktoberfest.

"I've had so many people come up to me and say, 'keep it the same -- keep it the same style, family-oriented,' " said Jacobson. "Everyone can walk around and converse with people they haven't seen in a while, and just enjoy themselves."

It's done by design, said Febry.

"It all goes back to a great committee and great sponsorship," Febry said.

Chippewa Falls' Oktoberfest is modeled on the highly successful event German Fest, and gives all appearances of retaining those elements that make the Milwaukee event such a success.

And so the local fest-goers walked around on a beautiful Sunday, listening to Alta Kamaraden (who played at the German Fest opening ceremony) at the Chippewa Valley Newspapers stage, or to the Justman Band in the Northwestern Bank tent. Those who wanted more of a country flavor or northern Wisconsin twist could catch Warren Nelson and the Big Top Chautauqua Band at the Leinie Lodge Biergarten.

People danced away the afternoons and evenings this weekend, filled themselves full of bratwurst and red cabbage, and learned about the area's heritage along the way.

Once again, there was hardly a speck of trouble to be found anywhere.

One could call Oktoberfest a success, but that sounds too commercial. One could call it fun, but not in the same way that the summer fair is fun.

There is only one word to describe Oktoberfest.

Just how do you translate Gumutlichkeit into English, anyway?

The translation dictionary calls it "congeniality." The German Fest brochure calls it "warm friendliness." It is all of that or part of that or something like that.

It is community leaders planning, private companies backing, volunteers working, musicians playing, people dancing, bratwurst cooking, lederhosen wearing, heritage loving and so much more.

"Eins, zwei, drei, g'suffa; Zicke-Zacke-Zicke-Zacke Hoy, Hoy, Hoy!"

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally ran in the April 19, 2005, Herald.

Good things sometimes take a long time, according to Jake Leinenkugel.

That can be the case with the brewing of a good regional beer, or the Leinenkugel Brewing Company’s pending acquisition of a longtime auto service at 104 E. Elm St., a longtime business located adjacent to the brewery’s Leinie Lodge.

“As of right now, we have an agreement for the sale of the property,” Leinenkugel said.

While there are legalities to work out with the land’s owner, there is a “good, strong, tentative agreement,” he said.

The auto shop has been closed and the next step is to turn over the property, Leinenkugel said.

Brewery officials had been seeking the property since they began making plans for the lodge three years ago, Leinenkugel said.

“It was part of the long-term vision for the Leinie Lodge, and the way it is positioned at that corner, we tried to do something at that time,” he said.

Leinenkugel wouldn’t disclose the sale price, but the property was assessed in 2004 at $46,600. Taxes of $1,463 were levied on the property in 2004.

“We have a couple of ideas to consider,” Leinenkugel said.

While the corner wasn’t incorporated into the lodge’s original design, it will play a significant role in its future.

“Honestly, this may have turned out for the better,” Leinenkugel said.

Leinenkugel’s Brewery will celebrate 150 years with an August 11-12 celebration spanning from the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds to Leinie Lodge.

The Chippewa Falls brewery will host live music, outdoor games and volleyball tournaments, local food vendors, Leinenkugel’s merchandise sales, a fish fry and, of course, beer tastings over the weekend at the fairgrounds and Lodge. The fairgrounds will open to the public from 10:30 a.m. to midnight on both Friday and Saturday.

Leinie’s fans can purchase tickets through the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds website, but families should consider touring Leinie Lodge to celebrate instead: The fairgrounds event is only open to those 21 and older.

If purchased online, a one-day pass costs $18; a two-day pass for the whole weekend is $35. A one-day pass at the gate costs $20. Those who prefer a short walk to the event can purchase fairground parking for $5, but must pay in cash and cannot reserve a parking spot ahead of time.

The fairground’s several stages will host live music throughout the celebration. Leinie’s fans can catch local saxophonist Sue Orfield at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday; country singer-songwriter Jerrod Niemann will grace the new grandstand at 8:30 p.m. on Friday.

Fans of Wisconsin-flavored entertainment will also be pleased. A Kubb tournament is planned for 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning at the fairgrounds; the Chippewa Falls Oktoberfest Glockenspiel act will perform multiple times on Friday and Saturday afternoons.

Attendees might also bump into a Leinenkugel or two at the fairgrounds. Several family members and Leinenkugel’s brewers are expected to attend, according to the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds website.

Looking back at my beer-drinking career, though it is somewhat limited, I am amused to what has passed my taste buds. I am from Marshfield, which, like Chippewa Falls, is the home of a large German Catholic-Lutheran population. To live in either city is not for the faint of heart. You had better drink beer, and you had better be loyal to your hometown brew.

I moved to Hallie in 1976 and stepped into the world of Leinenkugel’s. At that time I knew Leinie’s as the tap beer of the area. It competed with Walter’s. I did not have much time for Walter’s as it always gave me a headache. So Leinie’s it was. My fire department, as well as many others, had beer in our station. Many a night after a fire or meeting or training, the firefighters would gather around the counter, and Leine’s would be the beer of choice. Often till the dawn’s early light.

When I began working for the State of Wisconsin, my office was downtown on E. Spruce Street. Every so often coming to work in the morning the brewery gave off the smell of yeast and brewing. Marshfield used to smell like that once in a while, so Leine’s reminded me of home.

After work on Fridays, our office would go across the street to the Town Pump and wind down with a few Leinie’s. It was fun, and it brought us all a bit closer together. JoAnn, the OSHA consultant, went with us, and at the time she was just off chemo, so we shared our Leinie’s with her. When JoAnn died, we went across the street to have what else but a Leinie’s in her honor. She would have liked that.

When Miller Brewing bought out Leinenkugel’s, many people thought that was the end of Leinenkugel’s. I thought that, just like Walter’s in Eau Claire and Marshfield Brewing, the equipment would be taken away, the building would be sold and that would be that. If it didn’t happen right away it would within 3 to 5 years.

As we all know, that did not happen. A renaissance occurred. The buildings took on a new but respectable look, the grounds were cleaned up and of course the Leinie’s Lodge came about. I truly believe the best marketing decision I have ever been lucky enough to see was the sale of Leinenkugel’s shirts, coats and t-shirts, and the brewery tours. It gave purpose and a feeling of fun to the brewery and to Chippewa Falls.

Our girls have grown and moved out to distant places now, yet Leinenkugel’s items have become part of every Christmas and birthday list. I also would like the Leinenkugel family to know that in Seattle, Rhode Island, Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles, Leinie’s is well known as a craft beer; our girls are the only ones that can pronounce Leinenkugels with the first try much to the astonishment of the locals.

I am a traditionalist. Sometimes I don’t know quite what to think about the various types of beer now brewed by Leinenkugel’s. With all the Shandys, the Paddlers, the Dark, the Light, the Honey Weiss, Sunset Wheat, Grapefruit and Watermelon it leaves one at a loss. Leinenkugel’s has more than a niche; they have a tradition so I remain happy with the original.

One of life’s great pleasures is having a cold beer on a hot summer afternoon. It was the custom of the time if my fire department was out on a barn or shed fire, the farmer would bring a case of beer or two maybe three out for the fire crews. That feeling of cold beer, sitting under a blue sky and just talking is something our younger firefighters will never experience. The beer, Leinenkugel’s of course. Thanks for the memories Leinenkugel’s! Here’s to another 150 years!

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally ran in the Herald on Sept. 23, 2008.

Bill Leinenkugel’s life was full of battles. He approached them with a good sense of humor and dignity.

As a U.S. Marine serving in World War II, John William Leinenkugel fought in the Pacific islands in Saipan and Tinian.

As the president of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company of Chippewa Falls, he fought for the survival of his family’s brewery in an era when other small breweries were falling by the wayside.

And he fought for his own health, recovering from a heart attack and fending off prostate and lung cancer.

It was a recurrence this year of cancer in the form of a brain tumor that finally took his life Monday. Leinenkugel, the man who created what is now called the Leinie Lodge, was 87.

His wife of 57 years, the former Mary Louise Larson, died in 2004.

Through his life, Bill Leinenkugel displayed a sense of grace and dignity, along with a good sense of humor about himself. It’s those qualities that led to his success.

“I’m just a beer salesman who had a good product to sell,” he told The Chippewa Herald in an interview Aug. 1.

Perhaps, but Bill Leinenkugel knew how to do that job very well during his 39 years of selling beer.

Early life

Bill Leinenkugel was born in Washington, D.C., the son of a U.S. government attorney. The family moved to Tucson, Ariz. after his father became ill. His father died when he was only 13.

He was attending the University of Arizona when World War II broke out in December 1941.

Leinenkugel recalled in a June 2002 interview with the Herald that he was undisciplined. So he challenged himself by joining the U.S. Marines Corps. His sons and later a grandson would later serve in the Marines, a fact that made him extremely proud.

His artillery battery was battered in fighting in the Pacific.

“We had 25 to 27 percent casualties, including our colonel, our sergeant major and our communications chief,” he recalled.

He was honorably discharged in 1946 as a Master Sergeant.

He would think of his time in the Marines even after returning stateside and, at age 26, taking a job as a salesman for the family business.

“This is tough,” he say of the job’s demands. “But I’ve been through worse than this.”

He would never lose his appreciation for the Marines or the military, said Louis Rineck, commander of American Legion Post 77 in Chippewa Falls.

Rineck said Leinenkugel belonged to the Legion post for 64 years, serving for over 20 years as its finance officer. He was very instrumental in getting the current building for the Legion hall on Spring Street.

“He used to play cards with us all the time,” Rineck said.

“One time he had a four of a kind and someone else had a higher four of a kind. That didn’t go over very well.”

Outside of that one instance, he was always cheerful, Rineck recalls. “Every time he sees you, he always says something good about you.”

A new life

Taking a new job was not the only good thing to happen to Bill Leinenkugel in 1947.

He would also meet and marry Mary Lou Larson, a Chippewa Falls girl who loved to play cards.

Bill took his new job seriously.

He would keep scrapbooks of the tavern owners he was working with and their families.

He would be appointed vice president of sales and advertising in 1965 and as executive vice president in 1970.

A year later the brewery’s president an sales manager suffered a stroke, and Bill Leinenkugel was needed to lead the company founded by his great-grandfather, Jacob.

“All of a sudden, I was in a leadership role. It was on-the-job training,” he told the Herald in 2002.

He would eventually become the brewery’s sales manager, ad manager, public relations manager, credit manager and governmental affairs manager.

“You were a jack of all trades and really, you were a master of none,” he said.

Under his guidance, the company expanded the beer’s markets to the Twin Cities and Chicago.

He would go on to serve as a director and president of the Brewers Association of America, and director and secretary of the Wisconsin State Brewers Association.

He also created the concept of the Leinie Lodge by coming up with the idea to open the Leinenkugel’s Hospitality and Tour Center in 1979.

By 1986, he was 65, and had been in the business for 40 years. “I was kind of burned out and I couldn’t take the travel like I used to,” he said in 2002.

So his son Thomas “Jake” Leinenkugel would become the family’s fifth generation to head the company when Bill Leinenkugel retired as president and vice chairman of the board of directors.

The brewery — the oldest business in Chippewa Falls — merged with Milwaukee’s Miller Brewing in 1988. It is now a staple for SABMiller’s U.S. unit, which is now part of MillerCoors, a joint venture with Molson Coors Brewing Co.

Leinenkugel’s sells its 11 brands, four of them seasonal, in 38 states. It operates breweries in Chippewa Falls and Milwaukee.

“The entire MillerCoors organization is grateful for everything Bill did for the beer industry,’’ MillerCoors spokesman Peter Marino said in a statement Tuesday. “Bill was a great leader, visionary and entrepreneur. He had a way of personally connecting to his customers and we will toast a Leinenkugel’s beer in his honor.’’

MillerCoors has established the Bill Leinenkugel Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, which will be presented to an employee each spring to honor “prolific contributions’’ to the beer industry, Marino said.

Other projects

Bill Leinenkugel’s life included work outside of the brewery, too.

He served on numerous boards in the community. He was a co-founder of the Northern District Marine Corps League; served as president of the Chippewa Falls Industrial Development Corporation and on the advisory board of St.Joseph’s Hospital. He was president of the Chippewa Falls Library Board and served on the board when the current Chippewa Falls Public Library was built in 1969.

The Civil War fascinated him, and he loved trains, having a toy train collection and service on the West Wisconsin Rail Coalition.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared in the Aug. 15, 2003, Herald.

Bill and Nancy Febry of Chippewa Falls are being honored as the Festmeister and Festmeistern of first Oktoberfest celebration in Chippewa Falls next month.

The celebration will be at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds Friday, Sept. 19, Saturday, Sept. 20 and Sunday, Sept. 21.

Bill Febry is the sales development manager with the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company. Nancy Febry is an assistant reference librarian with the Chippewa Falls Public Library.

The couple has lived in Chippewa Falls since 1994, and both are University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire graduates. They have three daughters: Erin, Ellen and Carling.

“We are delighted and honored to be a part of the first annual Oktoberfest in Chippewa Falls,” Bill Febry said.

Each year a Festmeister and Festmeisterin will be chosen to serve as the ambassador for Oktoberfest. The pair will promote Oktoberfest before and after event and spread good cheer during its three days.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally ran in the April 26, 2000, Herald.

Equipment dating back to Prohibition’s end will be replaced and the 110-year-old brewhouse of Leinenkugel’s Brewery in Chippewa Falls expanded this year.

“We’re not taking out the existing brewhouse,” said Pete Dawson, vice president of operations for the brewery at 1 Jefferson Avenue. Instead, the brewery plans a 22-by-28-foot addition for the brewhouse, built in 1890 by brewery founder Jacob Leinenkugel.

Six large tanks or pieces of equipment will be replaced, brewmaster John Buhrow said.

“It’s extremely hard to maintain,” Buhrow said, adding repairs have to be done on site.

An archway will connect the current brewhouse and the addition on the second floor. “The facility will have, on the top floor, a cereal cooker and a mash mixer. Directly beneath it will be a water tank,” Buhrow said.

Dawson said the new equipment will not affect the brewery’s overall capacity. He said it’s not sure if the new equipment will have any impact on the brewery’s employment.

The brewery is negotiating with its vendors and hasn’t let out a contract for the equipment, he said. He added the majority of the work will be done this fall.

“We’re going to save this old equipment and put it in a museum,” or a display somewhere, he said.

Eighty percent of its beer production comes from its Chippewa Falls brewery. The remainder comes from a small Leinenkugel’s brewery in Milwaukee and its brewpub at the Leinenkugel’s Ballyard Brewery in Phoenix, Ariz.

Leinenkugel’s Brewing Co. is a part of Miller Brewing, and they are subsidiaries of Philip Morris.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was originally published in the Chippewa Herald on Sept. 14, 2014.

The day before it was announced that Dick Leinenkugel would become the eighth president of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., he was digging through some old files to see what he could find.

Among all of the correspondence was a letter written more than 25 years ago by his father, Bill Leinenkugel, past president of the brewery and at that time still very much involved in the business that he had devoted his life. The letter was mailed to his son in Chicago, where Dick’s regional sales job was to make inroads in the northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin territory.

The letter began: “A little birdie told me that there’s still no shortage of beer in the marketplace. And within a week you have proven it to be true.”

In other words, there’s work to be done.

“My dad had a great sense of humor, and a love of this business and his family,” Dick said. What his father wrote “was just really special for me. I always remembered that. It was sort of his subtle way of saying, ‘Get out there and work harder.’ He always told us that because we are Leinenkugels, we have to work twice as hard as anybody else, because everybody’s going to be watching you.”

That is truer than ever now.

President in the making

Since that first sales job in 1987 Dick Leinenkugel has worked in many capacities for Leinenkugel’s and its parent company, now MillerCoors. That includes a decade as vice president of marketing.

“When I came back to Leinenkugel’s in 1994 (after serving as chain account manager in Chicago for Miller), I never really thought what I would doing 20 years from then,” he said. “I always knew there was this age gap between Jake and myself, and if he wanted to retire at 60 or 62 or 65, hopefully I would have prepared myself to be next in line.”

That preparation included a couple of years away from the beer business. He served in state politics as Wisconsin’s commerce secretary under Gov. Jim Doyle, and made a brief run for national office as a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate before returning to the Leinenkugel’s fold in 2010.

“Politics was something I always wanted to try. This was an opportunity for me to give back to the state that has so richly blessed our business and enabled us to do great things here in Wisconsin. So this was an opportunity for me to learn, to grow, to be in public service. It was a great experience,” Dick said.

“I knew beer and I knew marketing, but I had a tremendous opportunity to round out my managerial experience not only by leading a 400-person department, but by being able to travel the state and meet so many different business people. It was tough leaving the beer business,” he said, calling it at the time bittersweet. “It was a risk that I took. Looking back I was really happy I did it.”

Every job Dick Leinenkugel has held, including that time in state government, has prepared him for this day. It also made him the obvious choice to lead Leinenkugel’s into the future.

“I couldn’t think of a better person to assume the role of president of Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company,” said Tom Cardella, president and CEO of Tenth and Blake, the division of MillerCoors that oversees craft and imports.

“Dick has spent a lifetime working with his family to run this historic craft brewery and was chiefly responsible for introducing the U.S. drinker to the Shandy style,” Cardella continued. “Now, Leinenkugel Summer Shandy is the craft industry’s number one craft summer seasonal.”

Coming full circle

Dick Leinenkugel grew up at the brewery. He was its one and only tour guide one summer, before he was old enough to work in the brewery itself, something he did through the summers of his college years.

He left Chippewa Falls when he was 18 years old for Marquette University, and joined the Marine Corps, following a path taken by his father (a World War II Marine) and his brother Jake. He’s lived in several places since then, primarily in the Milwaukee area, but never back in his hometown — until now.

He is looking forward to it.

“It’s important to have a Leinenkugel family member leading this business, and it’s really important to become part of not only the business community here, but the community in general. Jean and I are really excited about coming here to Chippewa Falls and fulfilling that role as well,” Dick said.

The couple will be celebrating its 30th wedding anniversary in November. They have three children: Jeffrey, 27, who is a high school teacher in Dallas, Texas; and 25-year-old twin daughters Katie and Lindsay. Katie is also in Dallas, where she is a director at a charter school, and Lindsay lives in Wauwatosa and works as an art director in Milwaukee for Jacobson Rost, Leinenkugel’s advertising agency.

Dick said that the role of his younger brother, John, is expanding. He works out of Minneapolis on the marketing side, and also on special projects, including helping oversee the company’s Big Eddy line of beers.

The brewery’s new president admires the job that Jake did in the role, particularly being the lead spokesman for the brewery, for spending so much time on the road meeting with distributors across the country and the public at special events, and for all of the building and technology improvements that has been done in Chippewa Falls. “That can’t be understated,” he said.

They share some traits, such as an affinity for the outdoors, but are different in many ways as well.

“We both get our energy by being in the beer business. We enjoy it,” Dick said. But he also gets energy from more solitary pursuits such as walking his dogs, biking and fishing.

The differences in the three brothers were appreciated by their father. In an Associated Press story, Dick quotes Bill Leinenkugel as saying, “The other brothers compliment Jake and bring other things to the business. If all three of them thought the same, two of them wouldn’t be necessary.”

Look to the future

Leinenkugel’s once was part of a David vs. Goliath story, surviving against the giants at a time when small breweries were folding and only a few dozen breweries in the U.S. remained. In the ensuing years Leinenkugel’s has grown to the point that some consider it too large to be considered a craft brewer.

But that is exactly what Leinenkugel’s does. It’s just that the landscape has entirely changed, and now Leinie’s has plenty of company. More people are drinking beer, but their choices have exploded. By the end of 2014 the number of breweries and brew pubs is expected to swell to 4,000.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Dick said, noting that craft brewers are sparking the renewed interest in beer and all of the various options. “As brewers we are giving them what they want, more flavor, more taste, more experiences within beer.”

He pointed out that’s not only happening with beer, but with coffee and foods. “I think that bodes well for us because of the category that we’re in, which is craft.”

That leaves Dick Leinenkugel optimistic, despite all of the competition.

“I’m tremendously excited to take over the company at a time when I feel it’s at a tipping point where we can accelerate the growth of our business. When I spoke to the employees at our brewery Tuesday, I told them one of my goals is doubling our business by the year 2020. We have a terrific team in Chippewa Falls, our partners at Tenth and Blake and our distributor partners are absolutely terrific, our brands are delighting our beer drinkers each and every day, and I have no doubt that goal is reachable.”

That’s an aggressive benchmark, considering Leinenkugel’s has nearly doubled its beer production twice since roughly 2008. But its tremendous growth is also indicative of how many things the beer company is doing right.

Back where he belongs

In the spring of 2010 when Dick was making his run for U.S. Senate, a reporter asked Jake about his younger brother.

“He is extremely bright, a great communicator, very creative and decisive,” Jake said of Dick. “As I told him, beer is beer and politics is politics — I prefer beer.”

This past week, while sitting in a meeting room in what used to be the Leinie Lodge/gift shop on the brewery grounds, the new president of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. was asked if his preference was also beer.

“Without question,” was his emphatic and immediate reply. “Yes, without question.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally ran in the Herald in 2006.

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq — In a far corner of the most violent province in Iraq, a small, unassuming office holds the inner workings of a Marine logistics battalion. And a Chippewa Falls native is helping to make it work.

Ensuring Marines of Combat Logistics Battalion 7 have what they need to get the job done falls on the shoulders of what’s called the S4 section. This critical section for the battalion is run by three junior enlisted leaders -- noncommissioned officers — with very different but equally important missions.

“I have never had a doubt that the corporals would not take the initiative and step up to fill this gap. The Marines have all learned new skills they never perceived themselves as acquiring in combat,” said Capt. Arturo Manzanedo, S4 officer-in-charge and Headquarters and Service Company commander.

One of those noncommissioned officers, Corporal Christopher J. Leinenkugel, feels that Marines should not shy away from greater responsibilities found in a combat zone.

“For Marines to grow as leaders, they need to be given the chance to step up and be entrusted with more responsibility,” said the 22-year-old Chippewa Falls native.

The battalion is responsible for providing logistical support to Marine infantry units operating in the unforgiving northwest section of the Al Anbar province, arguably one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq.

Delivering supplies like food and ammunition, repairing highways damaged by roadside bombs and constructing housing for forward-operating infantry units are just some of the jobs this support unit provides.

Leinenkugel is the embark chief for the battalion and is responsible for major movement coordination, such as the battalion’s deployment to Iraq earlier this year. He ensured all of the battalion’s assets from office supplies to generators were ready for shipment, weighed and organized for the journey while maintaining total accountability of the equipment.

Now that the battalion and all of its property are in Iraq, Leinenkugel continues to account for everything and is planning the shipment for the unit’s return to the United States later this summer. He tracks down shipping containers the Marine Corps has leased from civilian companies for return to their owners.

Leinenkugel has the Marines he directs organize the battalion’s return while he handles the administrative side of the job, but he says he is not afraid of old-fashioned manual labor.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally published in the Herald’s Leinenkugel’s 125 anniversary edition.

Without Bill Casper, say insiders, the Leinenkugel Brewing Company might not exist today.

Casper, the only living grandson of the company’s founder, Jacob Leinenkugel, is credited with teaming with Ray Mayer, another Leinenkugel grandson, to rebuild the brewery after Prohibition came to an end.

A spry 90-years-old, Casper still travels from his West Hill home to his corner officer at the brewery every day to conduct business, even though he officially “retired” some 21 years ago after some 41 years in the brewery business.

Casper says he never met his famous grandfather, who died July 21, 1899, three years before Casper was born. But being related to the famous Jacob Leinenkugel meant the brewery business always had a firm hold on him even when it appeared his future was headed in other directions.

Casper fondly remembers working at the brewery during summers when he came back to Chippewa Falls from college.

“I graduate from college during Prohibition,” said Casper, who got his degree in business. “At the time, there was nothing here for me.”

Prohibition forced the once-busy brewery to bottle pop, soda water and “near beer” (non-alcoholic beer). So the young Casper went to work in Chicago for the 1st National Bank. He stayed there for 9 ½ years, until President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the bill that ended Prohibition.

“I always looked forward to the day when I could come back here,” Casper said. “The day Roosevelt repealed Prohibition — it was in 1933 — I gave my notice and came back to Chippewa. And I’ve been here ever since.”

Talk to some long-time Leinenkugel’s employees, and you can appreciate the task that awaited Casper and his cousin, Ray Mayer.

“If anyone deserves credit for keeping this place going, it’s Bill Casper and Ray Mayer,” said William Leinenkugel, whose son, Jake, now serves as company president. “They took it over after Prohibition, and started right from scratch right at the height of the Depression.”

“My cousin, Raymond Mayer,” had been here all during Prohibition,” Casper said. “He and I put the place back together again.”

Was it difficult?

“Yes,” Casper said, after taking a moment to reflect. “There was so much to do, and our finances were a little limited. We couldn’t do the whole job without considering the finances.”

Not only was money tight, but some of the people who had been an integral part of the brewery operation prior to Prohibition were gone.

“Quite a few of the old employees were available, but we did have to go out and hire some new ones,” Casper said.

“When I was in Chicago, I met Raymond Siebel, whose family had the Siebel Beer Institute where they taught men to become brewmasters. It was through them that we selected our first brewmaster, whose name was Conrad Schmidt.”

Besides finding employees to staff the brewery, Casper and Mayer had to find the right equipment to brew beer. It had to be reassembled and brought up to working condition in the shortest possible time, as small breweries were popping up throughout Wisconsin, each eager to capture the lion’s share of the waiting market.

Because beer takes several weeks between the time it is brewed and ready for drinking, Leinenkugel Brewing Company hurried to assemble its staff and equipment to meet the demand of the thirsty citizens.

“There was a celebration planned in town of the completion of a new bridge,” Casper said. “I remember we were striving to make that (deadline). And we did. We had beer then.”

Ray Mayer took care of sales and advertising, and Casper concentrated on manufacturing.

Asked to recall what he liked most about his job, Casper replied without missing a beat. “Oh, my association with the employees. I always had good men under me.

“It was kind of a personal relationship between the office and the employees. We got along pretty well.”

Running the brewery was made easier when the problems could be shared by many shoulders. If a decision had to be made, it almost always included Mayer, Casper and the brewmaster.

“We relied heavily on a good brewmaster,” Casper said. “I’d meet with the brewmaster on a daily basis.”

Casper saw many changes in the brewing industry during his years with Leinenkugel’s. He still remembers the two teams of horses that belonged to the brewery, hitched up every day to deliver kegs of beer to taverns in an 8-10 mile radius of Chippewa Falls.

And he remembers when the horses were replaced with trucks, and the subsequent expansion of Leinenkugel’s distribution area.

While the average beer drinker may not have paid much attention, he saw beer containers undergo a revolution. During Casper’s early days, Leinenkugel Brewing Company used wooden kegs. Later it switched to steel kegs, then to aluminum kegs and finally to stainless steel kegs.

And don’t forget bottles. Casper has seen bottles go from the standard 12 ounce size to seven-ounce “shorties” to a generous half-gallon bottle.

Why did Leinenkugel’s thrive when many other operations withered and eventually died?

“I think our operation was more of a personal contact with the customer,” Casper said. “When fair time came around, we’d invite the tavern owners in to see our plant. Then we’d go up and see the fairgrounds and have a good time.

“We got to know them pretty well and they got to know us. That’s one of the big reasons.”

And don’t forget the company’s interest in the community.

“We’ve always been here,” Casper said. “We’ve always taken a great interest in the community and in the charities.”

Does he ever regret leaving banking for the brewing business?

“No,” he said with a smile. “I’ve enjoyed it here. I have enjoyed banking too, but I like Chippewa Falls.”

Looking back at my beer-drinking career, though it is somewhat limited, I am amused to what has passed my taste buds. I am from Marshfield, which, like Chippewa Falls, is the home of a large German Catholic-Lutheran population. To live in either city is not for the faint of heart. You had better drink beer, and you had better be loyal to your hometown brew.

I moved to Hallie in 1976 and stepped into the world of Leinenkugel’s. At that time I knew Leinie’s as the tap beer of the area. It competed with Walter’s. I did not have much time for Walter’s as it always gave me a headache. So Leinie’s it was. My fire department, as well as many others, had beer in our station. Many a night after a fire or meeting or training, the firefighters would gather around the counter, and Leine’s would be the beer of choice. Often till the dawn’s early light.

When I began working for the State of Wisconsin, my office was downtown on E. Spruce Street. Every so often coming to work in the morning the brewery gave off the smell of yeast and brewing. Marshfield used to smell like that once in a while, so Leine’s reminded me of home.

After work on Fridays, our office would go across the street to the Town Pump and wind down with a few Leinie’s. It was fun, and it brought us all a bit closer together. JoAnn, the OSHA consultant, went with us, and at the time she was just off chemo, so we shared our Leinie’s with her. When JoAnn died, we went across the street to have what else but a Leinie’s in her honor. She would have liked that.

When Miller Brewing bought out Leinenkugel’s, many people thought that was the end of Leinenkugel’s. I thought that, just like Walter’s in Eau Claire and Marshfield Brewing, the equipment would be taken away, the building would be sold and that would be that. If it didn’t happen right away it would within 3 to 5 years.

As we all know, that did not happen. A renaissance occurred. The buildings took on a new but respectable look, the grounds were cleaned up and of course the Leinie’s Lodge came about. I truly believe the best marketing decision I have ever been lucky enough to see was the sale of Leinenkugel’s shirts, coats and t-shirts, and the brewery tours. It gave purpose and a feeling of fun to the brewery and to Chippewa Falls.

Our girls have grown and moved out to distant places now, yet Leinenkugel’s items have become part of every Christmas and birthday list. I also would like the Leinenkugel family to know that in Seattle, Rhode Island, Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles, Leinie’s is well known as a craft beer; our girls are the only ones that can pronounce Leinenkugels with the first try much to the astonishment of the locals.

I am a traditionalist. Sometimes I don’t know quite what to think about the various types of beer now brewed by Leinenkugel’s. With all the Shandys, the Paddlers, the Dark, the Light, the Honey Weiss, Sunset Wheat, Grapefruit and Watermelon it leaves one at a loss. Leinenkugel’s has more than a niche; they have a tradition so I remain happy with the original.

One of life’s great pleasures is having a cold beer on a hot summer afternoon. It was the custom of the time if my fire department was out on a barn or shed fire, the farmer would bring a case of beer or two maybe three out for the fire crews. That feeling of cold beer, sitting under a blue sky and just talking is something our younger firefighters will never experience. The beer, Leinenkugel’s of course. Thanks for the memories Leinenkugel’s! Here’s to another 150 years!