The Minhas Craft Brewery is located in Monroe,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, owned by brother and sister, Ravinder and

Manjit Minhas Manjit Minhas (born May 31, 1980) is a Canadian entrepreneur, television personality and venture capitalist. She is co-owner of Minhas Breweries & Distillery, manufacturer of beer brands such as Mountain Crest Classic Lager, Boxer Lager, Lazy Mut ...

. It is the Midwest's oldest brewery and the second oldest in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It survived the Great Depression, Prohibition and a fire. It is currently the 18th largest craft

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

in America.

Capabilities

The Minhas Craft Brewery produces a variety of over 233

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

s, spirits, liqueurs and

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

s. Their products are shipped across Canada, the U.S. and 16 other countries worldwide (including:

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, China, Colombia, Costa Rica,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, Japan,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

). The facility offers daily brewery tours and beer tastings. It also houses the largest brewery memorabilia museum in the United States. This brewery is one of the alcohol manufacturing companies owned by the Minhas siblings – collectively designated as Minhas Brewery- that generate more than $155 million in revenue annually. The other companies under the Minhas Brewery umbrella are: Minhas Micro Brewery in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

; Minhas Distillery in

Monroe, WI Monroe, known as "the Swiss Cheese Capital of the USA", is a city in and the county seat of Green County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 10,661 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered by the Town of Monroe to the north and the ...

; and Pizza Brew Restaurant in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

History

Minhas Craft Brewery opened in 1845 as the Monroe Brewing Company under the ownership of Mr. Bissinger. Since opening the brewery and property ownership changed hands ten times until the Minhas Siblings purchased it in 2006. Prior to the Minhas purchase the brewery was known as

Joseph Huber Brewing Company The Joseph Huber Brewing Company was founded in 1845 in Monroe, Wisconsin. Originally called The Blumer Brewery, it adopted the Huber name in 1947. It is the oldest continually operating brewery in the Midwest and second oldest in the United Sta ...

. Upon acquisition Ravinder and Manjit Minhas changed the name to the Minhas Craft Brewery. In 2021, the brewery partnered with the Nelk entertainment group to produce Happy Dad

hard seltzer Hard seltzer, adult seltzer, mature seltzer, spiked seltzer and hard sparkling alcohol water is a type of highball drink containing seltzer (carbonated water), alcohol, and often fruit flavorings. In the US the alcohol is usually made by fermen ...

Beers

Minhas Craft Brewery packages beer, soda and alcopops in 236 mL, 355 mL, 473 mL and 710 mL aluminum cans; 207 mL, 330 mL, 650 mL and 1,183 mL glass bottles, and a variety of polyethylene terephthalate bottles. Among the most well-known beers and malt beverages produced at Minhas Craft Brewery are:

Boxer

Varieties include Lager, Light, Blonde, Gluten Free, Ice, Watermelon, Apple Ale, Bubbly, Moscow Mule, and Hard Root Beer.

Lazy Mutt

Varieties include Farmhouse Ale, Gluten Free, Oktoberfest, Shandy, Alcoholic Ginger, Hefeweizen, Chocolate Cherry, Hazelnut Dark, Pumpkin Ale, Wet Hopped IPA, Winter Bock, Traditional IPA, So Cal IPA, American IPA, Belgian White Ale, and Strong Ale.

Bad Hare

Varieties include Autumn Ale, Blonde Ale, Rum Ale, Rye Ale, Scotch Ale, Bock Light, Oatmeal Stout, Espresso Stout, and White Chocolate.

Uptown Girl

Varieties include Premium Light, Cherry Belgian Red, and Strawberry Blonde. Minhas Craft Brewery also produces Mountain Crest Classic Lager, Kirkland Signature Light, Simpler Times Pilsner, Huber Bock, 1845 Pils, Boatswain H.L.V. Ale, Minhas Swiss Style Amber, Axe Head Malt Liquor and Imperial Jack. Trader Joe's Minhas Craft Brewery Simpler Times Pilsner, Simpler Times Lager, Boatswain series and others are sold at Trader Joe's.

Kirkland

Minhas is the private label bottler of the Costco Brand Beer.

External links

Minhas BreweryMinhas DistilleryMinhas Micro BreweryPizza Brew RestaurantMinhas Private Label & Contract Packaging

References

{{reflist Beer brewing companies based in Wisconsin