Sprecher Brewery

Sprecher Brewery
Sprecher Brewery at night
Location	Glendale, Wisconsin United States
Year opened	1985
Active beers
Name Type Special Amber Lager Black Bavarian Lager Hefe Weiss Wheat ale Pub Ale Brown ale Abbey Triple Belgian Tripel Root Beer Root Beer

Sprecher Brewery is a brewery founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by Randal Sprecher in 1985. Sprecher produces an assortment of beers and sodas. The brewery has since moved to the neighboring city of Glendale in Milwaukee County.

Despite producing a full range of micro-brewed craft beers, the brewery is arguably best known for its premium sodas. Sprecher Root Beer and Orange Dream are Milwaukee staples, and kegs of the root beer are ubiquitous at special events throughout Milwaukee and can be found on tap or from a soda fountain at area restaurants (e.g., Kopp's Frozen Custard). Sprecher sodas are renowned for their taste, non-alcoholic qualities, and quality ingredients (for instance: Sprecher Ginger Ale is a golden ginger ale that uses real, locally-grown ginger). Sprecher brews more root beer than all of their alcoholic beers combined. One of the most unusual aspects of their root beer is that raw Wisconsin honey is used as a primary ingredient.

History

Founder Randal Sprecher, a California native, earned his first degree in oceanography, but found himself unable to continue in this profession due to an unfortunate tendency toward seasickness. Sprecher earned a second degree in brewing and was employed by Pabst in Milwaukee. After a brief time at Pabst, he founded his own brewery in 1985. The new brewery was founded on a budget of $40,000; Sprecher was forced to purchase antiquated or repurposed equipment to keep costs down, including a 16-oz. bottling machine from Coca-Cola and tanks from the dairy industry. Some of this equipment remains in use today. The current Sprecher facility was acquired in 1994.

Sprecher's Root Beer, arguably the brand's most popular beverage, has gained substantial media exposure considering its microbrewery roots. In November 2006, a contestant on NBC's Deal of No Deal was offered a life-time supply Sprecher's Root Beer, his favorite soda.^[1] An article published in The New York Times in 2008 had four judges taste 25 different root beers from across the US. They ranked Sprecher's #1 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]

Production

Year-round beers

• Special Amber
• Black Bavarian
• Hefe Weiss
• Pub Ale
• Abbey Triple
• Micro-Light

Seasonal beers

• Irish Stout (Spring)
• Mai Bock (Spring)
• India Pale Ale (Summer)
• Oktoberfest (Autumn)
• Dopple Bock (Autumn)
• Imperial Stout (Winter)
• Winter Brew (Winter)
• Piper's Scotch Ale (Autumn)

Limited release beers

• Barley Wine Ale
• Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine
• Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale
• Generation Porter
• Mbege Ale (gluten free)
• Shakparo Ale (gluten free)
• IPA² Double India Pale Ale

Sodas

• Root Beer
• Cream Soda
• Puma Kola
• Cherry Cola
• Orange Dream (orange soft drink + honey + vanilla)
• Ginger Ale
• Lo-Cal Root Beer
• Ravin' Red (cherry + cranberry + honey + ginseng)
• Strawberry (Seasonal, Summer 2010, only available locally)
• Red Apple (Seasonal, Fall 2010, only available locally)

Coming soon

• Bourbon Barrel Dopple Bock
• Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout

Brewery tour

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

Gallery

• 

  Sprecher Brewery Logo Originally designed by cartoonist Jim Hawley

• 

  Root beer 16 oz. bottle

• 

  Black Bavarian 16 oz. bottle

References

1. ^ Sprecher on Deal or No Deal SprecherBrewery.com (2007). Retrieved on 8-07-11.
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.

External links

• http://www.sprecherbrewery.com – Sprecher Brewery website

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