Sprecher Brewery is located at 701 W. Glendale Avenue, Glendale, WI. Reservations are required and tours are offered year round on Fridays at 4pm, Saturdays at 1, 2 3pm and Sundays at 12, 1 and 2pm. During the warmer months they do add mid week tours at 4pm, and some times could change but their tour schedule is posted on their website weekly. Cost is $4.00 for seniors, $5.00 adults and $2.00 under 21.
We arrived a little early and checked out the gift shop, which had quite a lot to offer, then we were called to gather together and we entered the ageing cellar and learned a little about Sprecher's history. The Sprecher Brewery was started in 1985 by Randal Sprecher, a former supervisor at Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee. Randal Sprecher wanted to bring European beer to the United States. The brewery outgrew its first location after 9 years and moved to where it is now. Sprecher is a micro brewery, referring to relative size compared to gigantic national brands. Sprecher is still growing and in the process of purchasing more land so they can brew both beer and soda at the same time. Sprecher has year round, seasonal and some limited release beers.
Beer:
The first beer Sprecher brewed and still one of its most popular is Special Amber, followed by Bavarian.
Water is heated and malted barley added making the mash. Starches are converted into sugar during this first fermentation. These sugars are converted into alcohol after mashing is done. Liquid (wort) is separated from the grain. Wort is pumped back into the brew kettle, heated to 212 degrees for two hours. Hops are added then filtered, chilled and fermented for about a week then transfered to a storage tank.
 |
| Jackie smelling the Hops |
 |
| The bottling line and warehouse |
Soda:
All of Sprecher's sodas are caffeine free and gluten free. Sprecher is widely known for their Root Beer, truly old fashion rich and creamy blend of ingredients. They also offer a LoCal version of their Root Beer. Other flavors include Cream; Orange Dream, orange, honey and vanilla; Ravin Red, cherry and cranberries blended; Ginger Ale; Puma Kola, kola, vanilla, cinnamon and honey; Cheery Cola, cherry juice, honey, cola and spices.
After the tour we were lead to the tasting area.
 |
| Sue was with us, she is just hiding behind Kathy. |
All tour participants (by the way I forgot to mention there were 34 people attending this tour, during a snow storm, wear a plastic bracelet that allows adults over 21 to sample 4 different glasses of beer and unlimited amounts of soda for anyone (because of the soda samples this tour can be enjoyed by children as well as adults).
What we tried and how we liked it (unfortunately I was really the only person that really drinks beer, but as I said earlier, we also were able to taste the sodas!)
Hefe Weiss..yuck, not liked by Kathy or myself
Winter Brew..ok, kind of a licorice taste
Fire Light...good, very similar to Miller Lite
Witty...too spicy, has a strange aftertaste
Redner Red Ale...In my opinion peppery.
Abbey Triple..good, smooth
Cherry Kriek Lambie...suppose to be sour, we didn't think it was sour but didn't really like it either.
Sodas:
Orange Dream...good, sweet
Root Beer...heavy but really good
Cherry Cola...a great blend of cherry and cola
Cream...smooth,
We also split a large soft pretzel.. cost a little extra but yummy.
Overall, it was fun. When it came time to do the tasting I felt it was really hard to decide what to taste. You get one glass (which you keep) and after you taste something, you rinse it out and use it again, but the description of the beers is by the bar and I felt a little rushed to pick a brew, when I really didn't know which one to pick. I believe we sampled a variety and overall I liked the Fire Light and the Cherry Cola the best.
We toured on a Sunday, so nothing was in operation. I am sure it would be cool to view the bottling line when its working but the space is so small, that maybe all tours take place after workers leave, I really don't know. So when you want to sample beer AND soda, this is the place to go!
No comments:
Post a Comment