Can You Say Leinenkugel's???

Question: What is your favorite Leinenkugel's beer?
Answer: Any one that's cold and free

After a quick family meeting during lunch on Sunday, we decided to head on down through Wisconsin instead of going through Minneapolis. Neither of us was particularly excited about seeing a Twins game, and we didn't want to fight the traffic in the Twin Cities. The one thing we did want to do was to tour the Leinenkugel's brewery in Chippewa Falls WI. We have passed it every year coming and going to the BWCAW, but have never stopped. It was on our way, so my navigator plotted a course to Chippewa Falls, about three hours due south. We have a coupon for one night free camping at any Good Sam park, so Dorcas went onto the web and found O'Neil Creek Campground, just outside Chippewa Falls. A quick call revealed they had plenty of room for us. O'Neil Creek turned out to be a very nice park. It is very large, with over 400 sites. Most are seasonal sites, with semi-permanent structures, but they are tasteful, modern, clean and well-decorated. O'Neil Creek meanders through the park and provides water access to the Chippewa River and Lake Wissota. If we had stayed longer, we might have launched the canoe. We were assigned a pull-though site with water and 50A electric. The staff was very friendly, and the park was very quiet on this Sunday evening.

On Monday we checked out at O'Neil Creek and drove into Chippewa Falls and parked at Leine Lodge, the visitor and reception center for Leinenkugel's brewery. I confess that I was not very familiar with the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company or their products prior to our visit. What I did know is that the brewery tour was free, and they offered free beer samples. Nuff said? We learned that Leinenkugel's is an award winning "craft" brewery. A craft brewery is larger than a microbrewery, and smaller than a major conventional brewery, but still uses some manual processes. Almost all of their ingredients are produced in eastern Wisconsin. The brewery was founded in 1867 by Jacob Leinenkugel, a German immigrant whose father was a brewmiester. The company was family owned and operated until 1988, when it was acquired by Miller Brewing Company (now MillerCoors). At that time there was concern that that Miller would insert their own company people into the business and ruin it. That never happened, and today the company is still run by Leinenkugel family members and enjoys a great deal of independence from MillerCoors. The company especially benefits from the MillerCoors' distribution system and, consequently, is available in at least part of most of the 50 states. The tour was very enjoyable, although photos were not allowed inside the brewery. One of Leinenkugels trademark symbols is the canoe, which, of course, appealed to me. After the tour we went to town and bought two 12-pack Explorers (a sampler pack that includes four different beers.) With the two Explorers, our two growlers, a 24-pack Michelob craft pack and our back-up emergency Budweiser supply on board, I hope we don't get busted for bootlegging!