Upon continuing my research of the Leinenkugel Brewery, I was able to find a good secondary source that provided me with some key information. On fundinguniverse.com, the article of Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company History makes itself a reliable source by providing key information about the brewery’s long history along with providing a nice overview of the business. The overview informs you on the brewery’s current address, phone number, home website, number of employees and more.  The article is nicely broken up into different time periods that describe Leinenkugel’s history. These sections cover a wide range of the brewery’s history beginning with the startup of Jacob Leinenkugel in 1867, to the information about its current expansion in the 1990s.

This article really helped me answer a few questions that I had been exploring. The source provided me with a great summary of how the brewery got started. The company’s founder Jacob Leinenkugel was an immigrant from Bavaria, and came from a family of brew masters.  Picking the great city of Chippewa Falls was no coincidence though. During the time of Jacob’s move to Chippewa Falls WI, the logging business was in the midst of its peek. This meant man were working manual labor for 12-16 hours a day/ everyday! So what better way to end a long work day than with a “couple” beers? The logging business wasn’t the only factor in making Chippewa Falls the home of Leinenkugel’s beer, the pure water was another key factor in establishing the brewery here.  Pure water was an easy and plentiful ingredient that came from the Chippewa Rivers and the Big Eddy Spring. A family history of brew masters, the logging business, and pure water, made for three great ingredients to establishing the Leinenkugel Brewing Company of Chippewa Falls WI.

Another great aspect I got from this source is that of seeing the progression of the distribution of the beer. Beginning with Jacob’s start up where his partner John Miller delivered the beer in a horse and cart to the local area, to now the wide range of distribution throughout the United States. Having the ability to make the beer more known throughout the U.S. came in 1988, when one of the nation’s biggest breweries (Miller Brewing Company) wanted to team up with the small brewery from Chippewa Falls. The article describes how many of the faithful Leinenkugel customers became nervous after the merger of the two companies. Loyal customers were afraid that Miller being the big company it was, would come in and change everything including the historical recipe. This obviously was not the case, Miller wanted to join with Leinenkugel for its respectable product while at the same time Leinenkugel wanted to join with Miller to help them expand its products distribution.

I was happy to read about this source in another classmate’s blog. After looking up the source myself and skimming over it I found that this source would be very helpful in my research. This article was able to provide me with information on two of my key research topics (how the brewery’s got started, why Miller/ Leinenkugel merged together). Though I got a lot from this article I would still like to explore more sources to find a more in depth story of Jacobs’s startup of the brewery. I am hoping to find some time to go and take to Leinenkugel Brewery tour to find out some facts/story’s that cant be found on the internet, along with getting a look at the inside of the historical brewery.

The first source I decided to use is that of the Leinenkugle’s website (leinie.com). Seeing that my questions pertain to things that happen long ago, it is difficult to find primary sources. I figured this would be the best source to build a base of information off of. I liked the idea of starting with the Leinenkugl’s website as my first source, because it provided a brief yet informative timeline of the brewery. (https://leinie.com/Heritage.aspx#)

The timeline provided key points in the in the brewery’s history, starting back from the beginning all the way till our previous year of 2013. Where the timeline lacks debts in information, it shows the key points and changes the brewery has adapted to in its 147 years of existence. From this I was able to gather some information to answer my question of what changes the Leinenkugel Brewing had to make over its history. One of the key time periods I was most interested in is that of the prohibition era. I found out that in 1919 when the prohibition had passed the Leinenkugel Brewing switched from brewing beer to brewing “Leino,” a non-alcoholic beer.  In 1920 the brewery took on bottling soda water. By the end of the prohibition Leinenkugel had become the largest bottler of soda water in the area. In 1933 when the prohibition came to an end the brewery “quickly” began making beer again. Another key point in the timeline is that of the Miller/ Leinenkugel merger that occurred in 1988.

Though I got one of my key research questions answered I still would like to know more about how Jacob Leinenkugel the founder of the brewery got it all started, along with more details about different periods in the brewery’s long history. A new question I would like to research is, why did the Leinenkugel Brewery decided to merge with the Miller Brewing Company?

I choose to do my research on the history of the Leinenkugel Brewing Company, to see how they have progressed, and what changes they have made over the years.

I am interested in this topic, because I am from Chippewa Falls, WI; home of the Leinenkugel Brewing Company. Being born and raised in Wisconsin I know “beer” is always a great subject for discussion, because everyone knows how much Wisconsinites love their beer! Having a brewery in my home town has made Leinenkugel the choice of beer for my family for generations. My grandfather drank Leinenkugel almost his entire life. This than led to it being my dad’s beer of choice, and has now been my preference for beer for the past few years. Though I grew up in the town, I am still unfamiliar with its long history and the changes it has undergone since its start up in 1867.

I feel this topic is worth exploring, because I see Leinenkugel as more than just a beer. It’s a family tradition, and a company that has had a huge impact on the city of Chippewa Falls and the community I grew up in.  I am really interested in knowing more about how it all started, and what changes they have adapted to over different periods of time (i.e. The Prohibition Era).