What’s this – I’m taking pictures of something not in the wilderness?! When in Rome (or Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin) if you are presented the opportunity for a brewery tour you take it goshdarnit dontchaknow. So today I’m killing a few hours and maybe a couple brewskis at the Leinenkugels Brewery & Leine Lodge store.
Inside the Leine Lodge you can find all the Leinenkugels merchandise you ever wanted. Not shows is the huge bar off to the right where you can sample any of their standard & seasonal brews.
Another look at some merch, a collection of tap handles, and some artistically-presented brewery and taproom equipment to spice up the displays.
I took the full brewery tour which starts at the far end of the Leine Lodge near the awards display case full of medals from the World Beer Cup.
From the Leine Lodge the tour goes outside first through a nice brick patio area with some informational signs. I think you can still visit here without paying for the tour but not much further.
Inside the brewery perimeter we go inside the main brewhouse, a large and old 4 story building. If I remember correctly this is the place where the brewery originally started and has operated ever since. Of course with the volume they do nowadays I’m sure some is done offsite at other plants.
Just before going indoors you can see a small bricked-off area that doesn’t look like much but is labeled “SPRING BREWERY EST 1867”. I believe inside that little red door is where they tapped the natural spring water. Good beer, of course, must begin with good water.
Inside the brewery there aren’t many photos allowed to protect their proprietary processes, but here you can see some large mash tuns and various industrial piping that makes it all work. Stainless steel and shiny things make you go “ooooooohhhhh”.
Down in the lowest floor is where the beer ends up in large fermentation and cooling containers. Really gives some scale to the whole operation. From here the tour circles back to the bar for some complimentary tasting which by itself is worth the $10 admission.
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