The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. in Chippewa Falls ranked in USA Today's top 10 brewery tours in America. The brewery, known for the popular Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy beer, ranked No. 8.
The ranking highlighted the two options for brewery tours — the Legacy Tour, which is an hour-long tour of the modern facilities and visit to the Leinie Lodge, and the Behind the Scenes with the Family tour, which is a more personalized experience led by a Leinenkugel family member.
John Leinenkugel, who happens to be a fifth generation of the Leinenkugel family and a brand ambassador, said he told the Leinie Lodge team that the company's goal should be to get into the top five breweries next year and look at what to improve in the tour experience even more to accomplish this goal.
The Leinie Lodge is at 124 E. Elm St. in Chippewa Falls. The location opened in 2003. In March of this year, the brewery opened its new pilot brewing system within the lodge.
The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. tour was the only Wisconsin brewery tour to make the top 10 list.
Following is the list of top 10 winners.
- Tröegs Independent Brewing - Hershey, Pennsylvania
- Yards Brewing Co. - Philadelphia
- Bell's Brewery - Comstock, Michigan
- Guinness Open Gate Brewery - Baltimore
- Samuel Adams - Boston
- Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Milton, Delaware
- New Belgium Brewing - Multiple locations
- Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. - Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
- Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Multiple locations
- Spoetzl Brewery - Shiner, Texas
The Sugar Maple will host Black and Brown brewery festival
Local craft beer bar The Sugar Maple will host the inaugural Brown and Black Beer Fest, which will feature breweries from Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. This is the first of its kind in Wisconsin, created by Radio Milwaukee's program director Tarik Moody.
Admission is $10. Proceeds will benefit the local nonprofit organization TRUE Skool.
Opened in April 2008, The Sugar Maple is at 441 E. Lincoln Ave. in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood.
The festival, called "Brown, Black and Brews: The Fifth Ingredient," will run Dec. 3 from 2-6 p.m. The participating brewers that will attend and pour samples include 18th Street Brewery of Indiana, Moors Brewing Co. of Illinois, Funkytown Brewery of Illinois, Brewer's Kitchen of Illinois, Azadi Brewing of Illinois and Soul Brew Kombucha of Wisconsin.
Several of those breweries are housed in Pilot Project, the brewery incubator opening in the former Milwaukee Brewing Co. production facility in downtown Milwaukee.
Tarik Moody said his goal is to inspire Black and Brown home brewers who may be looking to expand from home brewing into a professional business. Another goal is to expand the festival to include wine and liquor, he said.
"The goal is to be the premiere Black and Brown wine, beer and liquor festival. That’s my vision, a real festival that brings in people from around the country," Moody said.