Sprecher Brewery

Sprecher Brewery
Industry Alcoholic beverage
Founded 1985
Headquarters Glendale, Wisconsin
United States
Products Beer, Soda

Sprecher Brewery is a brewery in Glendale, Wisconsin, USA. It was founded in 1985 in Milwaukee by Randal Sprecher. Sprecher produces an assortment of beers and sodas.

Despite producing a full range of micro-brewed craft beers, the brewery is arguably best known for its premium sodas. Sprecher brews more root beer than all of its alcoholic beers combined. Sprecher Root Beer and Orange Dream can be found on tap or from a soda fountain at area restaurants (e.g., Kopp's Frozen Custard). Raw Wisconsin honey is used as a primary ingredient in its root beer and Sprecher Ginger Ale uses real, locally-grown ginger. Several flavors of Sprecher sodas can be purchased at Menards stores in northern Indiana.

History

Founder Randal Sprecher, a California native, earned his first degree in oceanography and his second in brewing. He was employed by Pabst in Milwaukee. After just over four years at Pabst, he founded his own brewery in 1985. The new brewery was started on a budget of $40,000. Sprecher purchased equipment to keep costs down, including a 16-oz. bottling machine from Coca-Cola and some of this equipment remains in use today.[1] The current Sprecher facility was acquired in 1994.

Production

The brewery has started hop production, along with several others Wisconsin craft breweries, and has been producing small batches of fresh "green" hop brews.

Year-round beers

Seasonal beers

Seasonal beers include:

Limited release beers

Sodas

Sprecher root beer

Brewery tour

Sprecher Brewery offers year-round tours of its facility, including the brew house, the refrigerated cellar, and the bottling line and warehouse.

Recognition

Sprecher has earned awards for 25 different beer types in national competitions.

In a 2008 The New York Times taste test, four judges ranked Sprecher's #1 among 25 root beers from across the United States for its "wonderfully balanced and complex brew."[2] A review in the October 2009 edition of Details also praised the root beer as "elegant."[3]

In 2014, Sprecher Brewing tied for 4th in the best brewery competition at the U.S. Open Beer Championship that was held in Atlanta, Georgia.[4]

In popular culture

In November 2006, a contestant on NBC's Deal or No Deal was offered a life-time supply Sprecher's Root Beer, his favorite soda.[5]

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ "Sprecher Brewery, Milwaukee, WI Revised". Good Beer Hunting. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
  2. ↑ Asimov, Eric A Drink in Search of a Frosty Mug The New York Times (June 25, 2008). Retrieved on 8-07-11.
  3. ↑ Details Magazine Proclaims Sprecher Root Beer “Elegant” SprecherBrewery.com (September 2009). Retrieved on 8-07-11.
  4. ↑ U.S. Open Beer Championship Announces Medal Winners; Wormtown Brewing Takes Top Honors.
  5. ↑ Sprecher on Deal or No Deal SprecherBrewery.com (2007). Retrieved on 8-07-11.

External links

Coordinates: 43°05′59″N 87°55′10″W / 43.09971°N 87.919566°W