Sprecher Brewery is a

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 b ...

Glendale, Wisconsin Glendale is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 13,357 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A suburb north of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. History The Glendale area has ...

, U.S. It was founded in 1985 in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

by Randal Sprecher, and is Milwaukee's first craft brewery since

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

. Sprecher produces an assortment of

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

s, flavored malt beverages, and

craft soda Craft soda is a soft drink that is produced in small quantities from natural ingredients. Craft soda is in most cases made with sweeteners other than sucrose (sugar) or high-fructose corn syrup and contains sparing amounts of preservatives. Craft ...

s, and it is famous for its

root beer Root beer is a North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree '' Sassafras albidum'' or the vine of '' Smilax ornata'' (known as sarsaparilla; also used to make a soft drink called sarsaparilla) as the ...

. Despite producing a full range of award-winning craft beers, the brewery is arguably best known for its Black Bavarian (

schwarzbier () is a dark lager that originated in Germany. It has an opaque, black colour with hints of chocolate or coffee flavours, and is generally around 5% ABV. It is similar to stout in that it is made from roasted malt, which gives it its dark colou ...

) and premium sodas. Sprecher brews more

than all of its alcoholic beers combined.

History

The founder, Randal Sprecher, a California native, earned his first degree in

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

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. Sprecher hand-manufactured and purchased equipment to keep costs down, including a 16-oz. bottling machine from

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

, and some of this equipment remains in use today. The current Sprecher facility was acquired in 1994. In January 2020, a group of local investors acquired Sprecher Brewery, with Sharad Chadha taking the helm as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

and President. The new leadership expanded distribution by 10 states, up to 30 total, and grew production capacity by added a new canning line and warehouse space. Over the course of two years, the company doubled to 110 people and went from running a single shift four days a week to double shifts five days a week with the capacity to expand further. In October 2021, Sprecher acquired six soda brands from Chicago-based WIT Beverage Co., including Green River. In January 2022, Sprecher transitioned all of its beer styles from bottles to cans, and accompanied a brand refresh with new labels. In October 2023, Sprecher acquired Ooh La Lemin Lemonade from Kona Gold Beverages. Also in October 2023, Sprecher acquired a packaging company called Excent, LLC. In January 2024, Sprecher acquired Juvee.

Production

Raw Wisconsin

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

is used as a primary ingredient in its root beer, and Sprecher Ginger Ale uses locally grown

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

. Sprecher's recipe and method for producing its root beer has remained unchanged since its founding. The brewing uses a "fire-brewed" process that brews in a kettle with fire underneath, rather than steam, which caramelizes the sugars and helps blend flavors and create complexity.

Year-round beers

* Special Amber - Vienna Lager * Black Bavarian - Schwarzbier * Hefe Weiss - Bavaria wheat ale * Abbey Triple - Belgian Tripel * Pineapple X-Press - Belgian IPA * Juicy IPA - Juicy India Pale Ale

Seasonal beers

Seasonal beers include: * Mai Bock - Blonde Bock (Spring) * Milwaukee Pils - Bohemian Style Lager(Summer) * Oktoberfest - Märzen (Autumn) * Winter Lager - Bavarian-Style Dunkel (Winter)

Limited release beers

* Czar Brew - Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout * Imperial Stout - Imperial Stout * Framboise - Belgian-Style Lambic

Sodas

Root Beer Root beer is a North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree '' Sassafras albidum'' or the vine of '' Smilax ornata'' (known as sarsaparilla; also used to make a soft drink called sarsaparilla) as the ...

* Lo-Cal Root Beer * Caffeinated Root Beer * Maple Syrup Root Beer *

Cream Soda Cream soda (also known as creme soda) is a sweet soft drink. Generally flavored with vanilla and based on the taste of an ice cream float, a wide range of variations can be found worldwide. History and development A recipe for cream soda written ...

* Lo-Cal Cream Soda * Orange Dream * Lo-Cal Orange Dream *

Cherry Cola Cherry cola, a distinctive soft drink blend of cherry-flavored syrup and cola, traces its roots to the United States, where it gained prominence in the realm of soda beverages. The origins of this concoction can be situated within the nostalgic ...

* Door County Cherry Soda * Grape *

Ginger Ale Ginger ale is a carbonated soft drink flavoured with ginger. It is consumed on its own or used as a mixer, often with spirit-based drinks. There are two main types of ginger ale. The golden style is credited to the Irish doctor Thomas Joseph ...

- Wisconsin Ginger * Puma Kola - Cola with

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

* Caffeinated Citrus Splash * Ginger Beer * Dr Sprecher * Strawberry (Seasonal) * Red Apple (Seasonal) * Raspberry (Seasonal) * Blueberry (Seasonal) * Valencia Orange Sparkling Water * Red Raspberry Sparkling Water * Fresh Cut Mango Sparkling Water * Ripe Strawberry Sparkling Water * Charged Lemonade * Charged Strawberry Lemonade These sodas are fairly rare in the

soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

industry in that they are sweetened with pure

rather than

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

high-fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known as glucose–fructose, isoglucose, and glucose–fructose syrup, is a sweetener made from corn starch. As in the production of conventional corn syrup, the starch is broken down into glucose by enzy ...

, or a newer

artificial sweetener A sugar substitute or artificial sweetener, is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Arti ...

Brewery tour

Sprecher Brewery offers year-round tours of its facility, including the brew house, the

refrigerated Refrigeration is any of various types of cooling of a space, substance, or system to lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient one (while the removed heat is ejected to a place of higher temperature).IIR International Dictionary of ...

cellar, and the bottling line and warehouse. Tours conclude in the indoor beer garden where customers are welcome to sample a wide range of beers and sodas on tap.

Traveling beer garden

Sprecher has two sets of firetrucks and ambulances that serve as Milwaukee County Parks Traveling Beer Gardens from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Each set visits a Milwaukee County Park for ten days, then moves to another location throughout the summer.

Recognition

Sprecher has earned awards for 25 different beer types in prestigious national and international competitions. Awards include: 2004 GABF Small Brewing Company of the Year and 2004 GABF Small Brewing Company Brewmaster of the Year. 2007

Australian International Beer Awards Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA) is an annual brewing competition that commenced in 1992. The AIBA is undertaken by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV). Judging of the awards is conducted at Melbourne Showgrounds, wit ...

, Best of Show & Gold Medal - Russian Imperial Stout; Dopple Bock - Silver; Piper's Scotch Ale - Bronze; 2014 World Beer Cup, Gold - Black Bavarian (Schwarzbier); Bronze - Shakparo (Gluten free); 2004, Bronze - Winter Brew; 2002, Gold - Winter Brew. Several awards annually at both the Los Angeles International Beer Competition and the United States Open Beer Championships. In a 2008, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' taste test, four judges ranked Sprecher's number one among 25 root beers from across the United States for its "wonderfully balanced and complex brew." A review in the October 2009 edition of '' Details'' also praised the root beer as "elegant."

In popular culture

2005: Won "Most Deserving Small Business Office" Makeover from Xerox, Hon Furniture and Entrepreneur magazine. Featured on NBC's ''Today'' show. In November 2006, a contestant on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch '' Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this format is the final round (a ...

'' was offered a life-time supply of Sprecher's Root Beer, his favorite soda.Sprecher on Deal or No Deal
SprecherBrewery.com (2007). Retrieved on 8-07-11.

References

External links

Sprecher Brewery website
{{authority control American soft drinks Beer brewing companies based in Wisconsin American companies established in 1985 Glendale, Wisconsin Companies based in Milwaukee 1985 establishments in Wisconsin