On our little mini vacation earlier this week we stopped at the Leinenkugel’s brewery in Chippewa Falls and actually took the tour. We have been stopping at the Leinie Lodge off and on for years, well before they built the new one across the river, but never had the time to set aside for the tour.

Usually when I take a brewery tour I have to purposely keep my mouth closed so I don’t pepper the tour guide with questions they probably can’t answer. I learned that working at an aquarium. Rare is the front end staff that have deeper information past the curiosities.

I toured the Sam Adam’s brewery a few years ago. Some of my tougher ones actually were answered there! Yeast propogation, how they verify strain performance and the like… anyway, this isn’t about Sam Adams.

It was interesting to see a larger scale facility. The bottling and canning area was a hoot. They were canning that day, and case after case of Leinies original was rolling down the line being stacked for shipping.

Some of the more interesting tidbits I was able to walk away with include the fact they brew on demand. They get the order and then brew up the beer rather than having a bunch on hand. They also “hibernate” the beer styles that are no longer offered rather than stop it all together. Apparently last year they ran a month of Northwoods because of the requests for bringing it back!

I did ask about the hop shortage and if it affected their production and got a “not that I’m aware” answer. Here is the best part and actually had me laugh a little. She was talking about hops and told the tour group this little novel tidbit: “You don’t want to eat the hops because they will turn your mouth green for a week, and even a month later when you have a beer you will taste that hop.”

After she said that I literally bit my tongue to keep from speaking up. I couldn’t let my brother leave there with that misinformation though. Come on! How many home brewers haven’t popped a hop pellet in their mouth? You want a kick butt IPA? Brew it, keg it, chill it, pour it, then walk to your hop bines and drop a couple cones in the glass! I may not have a Randall, but I DO have Cascades growing in my back yard. Grow your own hop, grab a cone and eat it. Its a great way to connect with your beer!

Anyway, all in all, it was a great tour. I learned some stuff about Leinies that I hadn’t known and picked up some fun souvenirs just because.

Cheers!
Tony