Brewers vs. Twins Game in Minnesota 2006

The nearby river and the pine trees really made me want to drink a beer. I'm serious. The atmosphere and serenity of this location made me feel at ease and comfortable. I could easily sit back in a nice lawn chair or at a picnic table and down a pitcher of 5 Seasons of Leinie's. It's basically a combination of all of their beers. It is without a doubt the greatest beer in the world.

The Leinenkugel Brewery is really in the middle of nowhere, which made me wonder how they were able to be a successful business back in 1867. Thankfully they give you loads of information during the tour. Like most breweries, Leinenkugel's started out as a local brewery, serving exclusively to the local areas. As time went by and the transportation industry grew, it was easier to get their beer out to the rest of the Midwest. The advancement of technology usually dictates how much a business will thrive, which definitely was the case with this brewery. One thing that I found was odd is even though it is 2007, they still cater almost exclusively to the Midwest, and 90% of their beer is sold in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota. They are spreading out towards the East coast, although they only offer limited brands. That means that people on the West Coast of America have never tasted the World's greatest beer for themselves.

Most Breweries (with the exception of the Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee) only let you have a limited amount of samples of their beer. Leinenkugal's was no different. They did however, allow me to mix their beers in my sample glass. I had heard before that their Honey Weiss and Berry Weiss taste very good when mixed together, as did Creamy Dark and Honey Weiss, and Creamy Dark and Berry Weiss. This was the birthplace of the greatest beer known to mankind - The 5 Seasons of Leine's. The sample glass is on 8 oz, so I was only able to mix Honey, Berry and Sunset Wheat in the glass, but it tasted good enough to make me want to continue this trend. I was waiting for the right moment to come to fruition, but I spent so much time thinking about it that I "accidentally" put my sampling glass in my pocket and took it out to Mike's car. It's funny how you loose track of the present and do something stupid while in deep thought thinking about the future.

When we woke up in the morning, we had a choice to make - go to the finale of the 3 game series, or go home early and stop in Chippewa Falls to see the Leinenkugel's Brewery. The Twins had already won the first two games, and they had rookie sensation Francisco Liriano pitching against Ben Sheets' replacement, rookie Zach Jackson. We knew that this game was a surefire loss for the Brewers, so we chose to head home early. I'm glad that we did, because the Brewers got whooped, losing game 3 by a score of 8-0.

The Leine's Lodge is exactly as you would picture it. Located in the picturesque Northwoods of Wisconsin, alongside a flowing river, this brewery and it's beer really does capture the spirit of small town Wisconsin. The taste, location and small town values makes me proud to say that Leinenkugal's is my favorite beer.