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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Leinie’s Light is all grown up.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Ein prosit, ein prosit der Gumutlichkeit!

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.