A little history, a little beer, a little travel and a little lake

Today started off in the town of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. After breakfast, we headed off to Leinenkugel Brewery, makers of Leinenkugel Beer, and one of the few American owned beers.

Leinenkugel has been making beer since 1867 when Jacob Leinenkugel came to Wisconsin from Germany. His father had been a beer maker so he and a partner, John Miller, founded Leinenkugel brewery. Miller sold his shares to Jacob, and despite a sale to Coors in 1989, a Leinenkugel still sits as President of the Company.

The tour was excellent even if you aren’t a beer drinker. They have tried to keep and restore all of the original buildings

They admitted they were really excited about this tour but it turn out pretty cool

Beer is made from grains that are soaked in very hot water becoming an oatmeal type texture – floor 4… originally gravity moved the product along, but with technology and the renovation the process jumps a bit now with tubes and pipes from floor 4 to floor 2 to floor 3 to floor 1 to bottling/canning

We thought the safety glasses were pretty cool

150 years of beer… including a few years of “near beer” during Prohibition

Originally Leinenkugel was only available in Wisconsin and surrounding areas, but now it is sold in all 50 states, although not every kind is available everywhere. Not too bad for a little brewery.

We really enjoyed and used our beer tasting tickets (for Mike and I only) to try some beer not available in North Carolina. (If you get the chance to try the Juicy Peach or Beer Weiss, absolutely do!)

So glad we added this to our itinerary. It was definitely worth the stop and fun to see it go from grains and hops to beer🍺

After the tour and tasting, we headed into Chippewa Falls for lunch. It is a really neat town with gorgeous flowers decorating each corner in these old bikes. Local business sponsor each, and they look really pretty as you look downtown.

We grabbed lunch at Lucy’s (recommended by Teagan our tour guide at the brewery – side note, tour guides and drivers know the BEST places to eat), and then walked through Chippewa Falls to explore. We spent some money in a great candy shop, and found the perfect sign for Brian Maness!

Off we went with full bellies and sugary hands, and headed off to the land of 10,000 lakes Minnesota!

Along the way, we passed Lake Superior

And about a hundred other little lakes.

We are headed to Lows Lake in Emily, Minnesota. I have learned one thing on this trip, we should be very grateful for the ability to just scoot to a nearby grocery store… those suckers are few and far between out here! Final found one in McGregor, Minnesota and stocked up on groceries for next few days where we have a kitchen