Leinenkugel's Brewery - Chippewa Falls, WI
by R. Karl
 Every year – actually twice per
summer – I pass the sign for Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin but never
have had a reason or the time to stop. After all, I am on my way to
go fishing. This year however, was different. I found out that there
was another brewery that I could tour. And since I was planning to
stay overnight in nearby Rice Lake, I realized that this was one
detour that was not really out of my way.
Chippewa
Falls is just a few minutes north of Eau Claire, Wisconsin on Route
124 and the Leinenkugel’s brewery is located right on Route 124 at
the north end of town. There was ample parking in a large lot and I
actually arrived over an hour before my scheduled tour time.
Reservations are required but tours leave the
Leinie Lodge Gift
Shop
every half hour. It was a Friday afternoon at about 2:00 when I
walked through the doors. The place was packed with people! I
checked in and asked if I could take an earlier tour and was told
that that would be fine. One very important note to make here is that,
without exception, every person I met that day from Leinenkugel’s
was genuinely friendly, courteous and helpful.
 As
I left Leinie Lodge, I couldn’t help but wonder if this tour would
be any different from the one I took at the
Huber Brewing Company in Monroe, Wisconsin. I guess I had the
“seen one brewery, seen 'em all" attitude. There were a few things
that were the same but it was immediately obvious that Leinenkugel’s
was very different. The whole place seemed to almost shout its intent to
maintain a niche in the very competitive beer business. Although it
has to be one of the oldest breweries in the country (dating back to
1867), they have recently
built a new addition to the brewery and installed all new equipment
– including a sophisticated computer monitoring system – to insure absolute
quality control and to maintain consistency from one batch to the
next. The brewing building was filled with a lot of highly polished
stainless steel. For a relatively small brewery, this place was
high-tech and ultra-clean!
 One
very interesting fact that we were told about – our collective jaws
hit the floor together – was what happened to any bottle of beer
that was improperly filled, either with too little or too much beer.
A laser beam detects the ‘bad’ bottle; it is removed from the line …
and
smashed, to bits! I assume that it doesn’t happen too
terribly often, but the thought of any beer being “wasted” just kind
of makes me want to cry. It was very cool watching the bottles being
filled, capped, sent to the pasteurizing machine and then put in
cases and sent to the warehouse. Here they patiently await delivery
to your favorite store or tavern. They probably do not have to wait
long.
 After
the tour we were taken back to the Leinie Lodge Gift Shop. In the
back was a small bar where we were allowed to sample several of the
varieties of the handcrafted beer about which we had just been
informed. Although I liked all the samples I tasted, my favorites
were the Amber Light and the Honey Weiss, which by the way, is
Leinenkugel’s hottest seller right now. Coming soon is a beer that
several on the tour claimed as their personal favorite. Called ‘Big
Butt’, it is a dark Bock-type beer that is apparently not made on a
regular basis. I should also mention that the gift shop is
stocked to the ceiling with every imaginable kind of souvenir from
your visit. I opted for some beer glasses and a T-shirt.
The
experience was one well worth repeating, if for no other reason than
to see if the employees are always that nice. I suspect that they
are, and I thank them for a great tour and a great time. The whole
‘detour’ took about an hour and a half and I still made it to Rice
Lake before 5:00pm. This is an excursion well worth taking –
especially if you are within an hour’s drive from Chippewa Falls. Or
make it a trip unto itself and take some time to see the rest of
what the area has to offer.
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