Leinenkugel News -- Good and Bad

Good news: article here about a national rollout of Leinenkugel beer.

I know people in craft brewing have mixed feelings about Leinie's, but to me, it's a midwestern brewery run by the same family for decades. And that family has worked hard to make good beer and treat people right. The Leinie-heads are legion. Me? I love Leinie Creamy Dark. That's the good news.

Here's the bad news. When I was writing the beer book, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jake Leinenkugel and his dad, Mr. Bill Leinenkugel. Lovely people. Lovely.

Bill Leinenkugel, who is now 87 and long retired, is one of those brewers who kept the faith during the dark days of the 1960s and 1970s. The beer business is never easy, but it was particularly difficult then for the nation's smallest brewers. Their numbers dwindled dramatically and those who survived did so only by dint of hard work and, well, faith. For the Leinenkugel family, it was all about keeping faith right there in Chippewa Falls. The brewery's survival mattered not just to them, but to their friends and neighbors who worked there.

The Leinenkugels have been criticized since then for selling to Miller in the late 1980s, but the family could see the writing on the wall: There was a good chance the company might not survive and they knew that the people who would be hurt the most were the people down the street and around the corner. So they sold. As a result, people in Chippewa Falls continue to enjoy the benefits of local beer and a good local employer.

Anyway, back to Mr. Leinenkugel: When I finished the initial draft of my manuscript, I sent a copy of the relevant pages to all my interviewees. (I wanted to make sure I hadn't screwed up basic facts or grossly misrepresented what people had told me.)

A few days later, Mr. Leinenkugel called me to thank me. He was obviously please as hell that anyone had taken the time to write a history (albeit short) of his family. He was kind, gracious, and .... thrilled.

I was in tears by the time I hung up

. Last week I learned that he has an inoperable brain tumor. He's dying. He knows he is. But in death as in life, he's keeping the faith. "God has been awfully good to me all of my life," he told an interviewer. "I have no qualms about dying." (*1)

So -- here's to Bill Leinenkugel. I can only hope to live my life with as much kindness and optimism as he has.

Thanks and a tip o' the mug to my pal Jim Arndorfer at the "Brew" Blog for info about the interview and about news about the Leinie rollout.

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*1. The interview is in Beer Business Daily, which is available only by subscription. Thanks to my dear friend Daniel Bradford, publisher of All About Beer magazine, for passing along the interview, and to BBD's owner, Harry Schuhmacher, for not minding that Daniel did so.

Why You Gotta Love Jay Brooks

As anyone who reads this blog (all five of you) knows, I am a fan of Jay Brooks. I can always count on him to come up with The Other Side of The Story.

And he has. Check out his investigation into the "Jurassic Beer" tale, which I blithely bought into with nary a backward glance. While you're at it, take a look at his (brief but cogent) report on Obama-and-Beer.

I'm telling you: The world needs Jay Brooks. Just had another thought: What a great thing he's on the side Reason And All Things Good. Because, ya know, given a slight twist of genetics or fate or whatever, he he could have been -- horrors -- a modern-day version of Wayne Wheeler (my least favorite political operative ever; and really, for Wheeler, it was all about power).

Yikes! Doesn't bear thinking about. I'm gonna go have a beer and toast to Jay, one of the Good Guys.

Iowa Festival of Beers: THANKS!

Thanks to Teresa Albert and the rest of the crew at Millstream Brewing for hosting yesterday's 4th Annual Iowa Festival of Beers. Yes, it's a small festival (don't worry, Oregon; it's not gonna topple you from the throne anytime soon), but fun. The state only has a handful of breweries (even that's overstating the case), and most of the people pouring beer were from the many homebrewing clubs around the state. If I have my choice between something I can drink anytime and something from a homebrewer, the homebrewer wins every time. These people know how to make beer!

I was there because Teresa had invited me to sign copies of Ambitious Brew, so I spent most of my time standing next to a stack of books. I was amazed at how many people came by to tell me they'd already read the book or read my blog (who knew???), and I thank them. And, of course, I thank the people who snapped up every copy of the book Millstream had on sale.

I don't get out and about much (because the only way to write a book is to sit at a desk and not talk to anyone...), so this was a welcome break from my usual routine. The weather was perfect: hot, low humidity, and a steady breeze. We drove home on backroads so we could enjoy the Iowa countryside in all its late summer glory. I ought to be used to it by now, having lived here my whole life, but the land still inspires and reassures me.

In short, a perfect day. Again, thanks to everyone who took time to say hello and ask about my work. I am grateful for your support, your kindness, and your encouragement.

Jurassic Beer

Well, not exactly Jurassic, but close. There's a great article in today's Washington Post about beer made from a truly ancient yeast -- in the vicinity of 25-45 million years old. The Post piece requires registration/sign-in, but I googled around and found some other reports. Here's one, and here's a report from Bill Brands, who had a chance to taste the beer. Still more info here at the site of the company that's brewing up this Ancient Ale.

Washington Post Article About Yuengling

I'm posting this a bit after the fact, but there's a nice piece about Yuengling Brewing in the Washington Post (written by the always readable Greg Kitsock, the paper's man on the beer-beat.)

Historical Tidbits: Beer. One View of "Lager Bier," 1860

The 1850s was a decade of intense conflict in the United States, as Americans argued over slavery, western expansion, prohibition, and immigration. Lager beer, which was new to Americans, became a touchstone for the debate over immigration and the drive for prohibition. Xenophobes railed against lager and the German emigres who had introduced the stuff. Prohibitionists denounced the ocean of lager that threatened (or so they believed) to engulf the nation. (*1) Here's the view of one anonymous anti-lagerite (and witty punster), writing in 1860: "Lager," he lamented,

is one of our most modern institutions. Ten years ago it was only a vulgar German word of unknown import; then it was looked upon as an insipid Dutch beer; but finally, a majority, perhaps will vote that it is 'the people's nectar.'

Thanks to lager,

thousands of people . . . seem[ed] to have quite forgotten the use of plain water as a beverage." At beer gardens on Saturday night, the "flow of lager is incessant -- the voices which call for lager are never still -- lager is king!

Worse yet, many Americans believed the stuff was good for them, an idea this anonymous critic dismissed as "ridiculous." "Lager bier," he explained,

. . . contains less nutritive natter and more alcohol than other beer or ale." Even assuming "malt extract" contained a modicum of food value, a person would have to "drink two or three gallons in order to get from this villainous food" the same nutrition as grain provided when consumed in a "civilized way.

Moreover, "a pint of lager contains as much alcohol as an ordinary glass of brandy." People who claimed otherwise were probably "indulging in lager" to the detriment of their "sober judgment." "Finally, it is claimed that lager is a pleasant bitter tonic . . . ." Not so, wrote the anti-lager man. In his opinion, 'twas more the case that lager bier was "'too-tonic.'"

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*1. For more on that debate, see Chapter One of my book. Source: "What Is Lager Bier?," Scientific American n.s. 3, no. 2 (July 7, 1860), p. 21.