Stevens Point Brewery
Encyclopedia
Stevens Point Brewery is a regional American
brewery
located in Stevens Point
, Wisconsin
. The brewery is the fifth-oldest privately-owned brewery in the nation.
The company's sales volume places it 50th in the nation among all brewing companies in the nation as of 2009.
to the troops during the American Civil War
. The brewery was subsequently sold to Andrew and Jacob Lutz in 1867. The Lutz family continued operations until it was sold to Gustav Kuenzel in 1897. The company was then organized as the Gustav Kuenzel Brewing Company in 1901. The following year, it was renamed the Stevens Point Brewing Company. Ludwig Korfman purchased a controlling interest in the company in 1924 and reorganized the company as the Stevens Point Beverage Company. The company faced local competition from the mid-1860s through the Prohibition
era of the 1920s, when the remaining competition went out of business. During the 1950s, the brewery began using cans in production. In 1973, Point Special brand beer was rated the top American
beer in a taste test as reported by Mike Royko
, a prominent columnist for the Chicago Daily News
. By the 1970s the company was owned by Felix and Ken Shibilski. In 1990, the company first began selling its product outside Wisconsin, in Illinois
, Indiana
, Michigan
, and Minnesota
. In 1992, the Shibilskis sold the company to Chicago
-based Barton Beers Ltd. The new ownership was unique for Barton in that Point beer was its only domestic product line, with all of its other offerings being imports. The company planned to tie sales to its Mexican
brand, Corona
, but when that brand's sales exploded, the Point brand became a distraction. In 2002, the company was sold back to Wisconsin ownership by Milwaukee-based real estate
developers Joe Martino and Jim Wiechmann. That same year, the company introduced gourmet
sodas to its beverage list. In 2003, Point Special won the gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival
in the premium lager category. That same year, the company bought the Augsburger brand from Stroh Brewery Company
. In 2005, the company bought four beer brands from the James Page Brewing Company
. By 2008, the company's products were distributed to 18 different states. For nearly 20 years, the company brewed and bottled Karl Strauss Brewing Company
brands until production was moved in January, 2009.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
located in Stevens Point
Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Stevens Point is the county seat of Portage County, Wisconsin, United States. Located in the central part of the state, it is the largest city in the county, with a population of 24,551 at the 2000 census...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. The brewery is the fifth-oldest privately-owned brewery in the nation.
The company's sales volume places it 50th in the nation among all brewing companies in the nation as of 2009.
History
The company was founded in 1857 by George Ruder and Frank Wahle. In 1864, the company provided its beerBeer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
to the troops during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The brewery was subsequently sold to Andrew and Jacob Lutz in 1867. The Lutz family continued operations until it was sold to Gustav Kuenzel in 1897. The company was then organized as the Gustav Kuenzel Brewing Company in 1901. The following year, it was renamed the Stevens Point Brewing Company. Ludwig Korfman purchased a controlling interest in the company in 1924 and reorganized the company as the Stevens Point Beverage Company. The company faced local competition from the mid-1860s through the Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
era of the 1920s, when the remaining competition went out of business. During the 1950s, the brewery began using cans in production. In 1973, Point Special brand beer was rated the top American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
beer in a taste test as reported by Mike Royko
Mike Royko
Michael "Mike" Royko was a newspaper columnist in Chicago, who won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary...
, a prominent columnist for the Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
. By the 1970s the company was owned by Felix and Ken Shibilski. In 1990, the company first began selling its product outside Wisconsin, in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, and Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. In 1992, the Shibilskis sold the company to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based Barton Beers Ltd. The new ownership was unique for Barton in that Point beer was its only domestic product line, with all of its other offerings being imports. The company planned to tie sales to its Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
brand, Corona
Corona (beer)
Corona Extra, better known as Corona and labeled as Coronita in Spain, is a brand of pale lager owned and produced by Cerveceria Modelo at a number of breweries in Mexico. It is one of the best-selling beers in Mexico and is one of the top-selling beers worldwide...
, but when that brand's sales exploded, the Point brand became a distraction. In 2002, the company was sold back to Wisconsin ownership by Milwaukee-based real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
developers Joe Martino and Jim Wiechmann. That same year, the company introduced gourmet
Gourmet
Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...
sodas to its beverage list. In 2003, Point Special won the gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival
Great American Beer Festival
The Great American Beer Festival is a three-day annual event hosted by the Brewers Association, held in Denver, Colorado, in mid to late September or early October. This year, 2011, the festival runs from 29 September through 1 October. The GABF brings visitors from around the world to sample more...
in the premium lager category. That same year, the company bought the Augsburger brand from Stroh Brewery Company
Stroh Brewery Company
The Stroh Brewery Company was a beer brewery located in Detroit, Michigan. In addition to their own Stroh's brand, they produced or bought the rights to several other brands including Goebel, Schaefer, Schlitz, Augsburger, Erlanger, Lone Star, Old Milwaukee, Red River, and Signature, as well as...
. In 2005, the company bought four beer brands from the James Page Brewing Company
James Page Brewing Company
James Page Brewing Company was one the earliest craft breweries to come out of the late-1980s American micro-brewing explosion. The brand is currently produced at the Stevens Point Brewing Company in Stevens Point, Wisconsin and remains popular in the Twin Cities area.-History:The brewery was...
. By 2008, the company's products were distributed to 18 different states. For nearly 20 years, the company brewed and bottled Karl Strauss Brewing Company
Karl Strauss Brewing Company
Karl Strauss Brewing Company is a San Diego, California-based beer business with a microbrewery and a chain of brewpub restaurants.In 1988, Chris Cramer and Matt Rattner asked Cramer’s cousin, the late Karl Strauss, to help them develop a brewpub...
brands until production was moved in January, 2009.
Current production
- Point Special LagerLagerLager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager...
- Point Classic Amber
- Point Cascade Pale AlePale alePale ale is a beer which uses a warm fermentation and predominantly pale malt. It is one of the world's major beer styles.The higher proportion of pale malts results in a lighter colour. The term "pale ale" was being applied around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with coke, which resulted in a...
- Point Belgian White Wheat Ale
- Point Horizon WheatWheatWheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
- Point 20122012 phenomenonThe 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012. This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar...
Black Ale - Point Einbock
- Point Nude Beach
- Point OktoberfestOktoberfestOktoberfest, or Wiesn, is a 16–18 day beer festival held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and is the world's largest fair, with more than 5 million people attending every year. The...
- Point St. Benedict's Winter Ale
- Whole Hog RaspberryRaspberryThe raspberry or hindberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus; the name also applies to these plants themselves...
SaisonSaisonSaison is the name originally given to low-alcohol pale ales brewed seasonally in farmhouses in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium, for farm workers during harvest season... - Whole Hog RussianRussiansThe Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
Imperial Stout - Whole Hog Six Hop India Pale AleIndia Pale AleIndia Pale Ale or IPA is a style of beer within the broader category of pale ale. It was first brewed in England in the 19th century.The first known use of the expression "India pale ale" comes from an advertisement in the Liverpool Mercury newspaper published January 30, 1835...
- Whole Hog Imperial Pilsner
- Whole Hog PumpkinPumpkinA pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
Ale
- James Page Iron Range Amber
- James Page Burly Brown
- James Page Voyageur Extra Pale Ale
- James Page White Ox Wheat Ale
Former production
- Point Holiday Beer (1935–1940)
- Prize Beer (1935–1940)
- Big Charlie Beer (1937–1944)
- Amber Prize Beer (1939–1950)
- Karl Strauss Brewing CompanyKarl Strauss Brewing CompanyKarl Strauss Brewing Company is a San Diego, California-based beer business with a microbrewery and a chain of brewpub restaurants.In 1988, Chris Cramer and Matt Rattner asked Cramer’s cousin, the late Karl Strauss, to help them develop a brewpub...
brands (1989–2009)
Gourmet sodas
- Point Premium Root BeerRoot beerRoot beer is a carbonated, sweetened beverage, originally made using the root of a sassafras plant as the primary flavor. Root beer, popularized in North America, comes in two forms: alcoholic and soft drink. The historical root beer was analogous to small beer in that the process provided a drink...
- Point Premium DietDiet foodDiet food refers to any food or drink whose recipe has been altered in some way to make it part of a body modification diet...
Root Beer - Point Premium VanillaVanillaVanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...
Cream SodaCream sodaCream soda is a sweet carbonated soft drink, often flavored with vanilla.-History and development:A recipe for cream soda—written by E.M. Sheldon and published in Michigan Farmer in 1852—called for water, cream of tartar, Epsom salts, sugar, tartaric acid, egg, and milk, to be mixed together, then... - Point Premium Black Cherry Cream Soda
- Point Premium OrangeOrange (fruit)An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
Cream Soda
Cultural Exposure
- Point Beer and signs can be found in the movie The Great OutdoorsThe Great Outdoors (1988 film)The Great Outdoors is a 1988 American comedy film starring Dan Aykroyd and John Candy. Annette Bening and Stephanie Faracy co-star. Robert Prosky and Lewis Arquette have supporting roles...
.
- In the song by WeezerWeezerWeezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
titled "Say It Ain't SoSay It Ain't So"Say It Ain't So" is a song by the American rock band Weezer. It was released as the third single from their self-titled 1994 debut album.Written by frontman Rivers Cuomo, the song came to be after he had all the music finished and one line, "Say it ain't so"...
," the lyrics reference a "bottle of Steven's." It's believed that this is a reference to Stevens Point Brewery.