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sprecher

Sprecher Brewery

Location Glendale, Wisconsin United States Year opened 1985 Active beers 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.

**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)

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 Orange Dream (orange soft drink + honey + vanilla) Ginger Ale Lo-Cal Root Beer Ravin' Red (cherry + cranberry + honey + ginseng)

Coming soon Bourbon Barrel Dopple Bock Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout

**Tour**

Sprecher Brewery offers year-round tours of their facility with tour times varying depending on season, production runs, and holidays. The tour costs differently by age (as of fall 2006):

$3 for adults $2 for senior citizens $1 for those under 21 years of age The tour starts in the brew house where all of Sprecher's beers are brewed and sodas are produced. After an explanation of the brewing process the tour proceeds through the refrigerated cellar where the beer/soda is stored until bottled. Through the cellar is the bottling line and warehouse.

The tour ends with 4 samples of beer for adults (an 8 fluid ounce sampler glass can be purchased for $1 as part of the tour package, additional glasses for $3.95 in the gift shop) and unlimited soda samples for all at the indoor beer tent. The bar in the indoor tent also sells packages of local wisconsin cheeses and Usinger's sausages for snacking during tasting.

sprecher.txt · Last modified: 2020/12/07 16:49 (external edit)