Sprecher Brewery is a brewery in Glendale, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, USA. It was founded in 1985 in Milwaukee by Randal Sprecher. Sprecher produces an assortment of beers and sodas.
 | |
| Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1985 |
| Headquarters | Glendale, Wisconsin United States |
| Products | Beer |
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.
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.[citation needed] 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
- Special Amber - Vienna Lager
- Black Bavarian - Kulmbacher
- Hefe Weiss - Bavaria wheat ale
- Pub Ale - British Brown
- Abbey Triple - Belgian Triple
- Micro-Light - Light lager
- Shakparo (gluten free)
- Piper's Scotch Ale - (smokey)Scotch Ale
- IPA-2 (Double or Imperial) IPA
Seasonal beers
- Irish stout - (Spring)
- Mai Bock - (Spring Bock)
- Summer Pils - Czech Pilsener (Summer)
- Oktoberfest - Marzen (Autumn)
- Dopple Bock - (Winter)
- Imperial stout - (Winter)
- Winter Brew - Munich Dunkel Bock(Winter)
Limited release beers
- Barley Wine Ale
- Czar Brew - Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
- Commando - Bourbon Barrel Aged Scotch Ale
- Generation Porter (Porter with cocoa and tart raspberry)
- Hop Fuzion - very limited(WI Co-op hop yard)Amber Ale
Sodas
[[File:Sprecher-Root-Beer.jpg|thumb|right|Sprecher root beer
- Root Beer
- Cream Soda
- Puma Kola - Cola with vanilla + Cinnamon
- Cherry Cola
- Orange Dream - orange + honey + vanilla
- Ginger Ale - (Wisconsin Ginger)
- Lo-Cal Root Beer
- Ravin' Red (cherry + cranberry + honey +WI ginseng)
- Gorilla Grape
- Strawberry (Seasonal)
- Red Apple (Seasonal)
- Red Raspberry (Seasonal)
- Raspberry (Seasonal)
- Blueberry (Seasonal)
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 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.[4]
Gallery
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Sprecher Brewery Logo Originally designed by cartoonist Jim Hawley
References
- ^ "Sprecher Brewery, Milwaukee, WI Revised". Good Beer Hunting. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
- ^ Asimov, Eric A Drink in Search of a Frosty Mug The New York Times (June 25, 2008). Retrieved on 8-07-11.
- ^ Details Magazine Proclaims Sprecher Root Beer “Elegant” SprecherBrewery.com (September 2009). Retrieved on 8-07-11.
- ^ Sprecher on Deal or No Deal SprecherBrewery.com (2007). Retrieved on 8-07-11.
External links
43°05′59″N 87°55′10″W / 43.09971°N 87.919566°W