Stevens Point Brewery

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Stevens Point Brewery
Location	Stevens Point, Wisconsin United States
Active beers
Name Type Cascade Pale Ale Pale ale Honey Light Light lager Point Amber Märzen Point Special American lager Point Light Light Lager White Bier Belgian Nude Beach Summer Wheat Wheat Horizon Wheat Wheat Augsburger Dark American lager Augsburger Golden Blonde ale Augsburger Oktoberfest Amber ale James Page Iron Range Amber Amber ale James Page Burly Brown Brown ale James Page Voyageur Extra Pale Ale Pale ale James Page White Ox Wheat Ale Wheat ale

Stevens Point Brewery is a regional American brewery located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. The company states that its Point Special beer was one of the first lager beers produced in America.^{[citation needed]} The brewery is the fifth-oldest privately-owned brewery in the nation.^[1]

Sales volume for the company's Point beer brands was about 40,000 barrels in 2007, which made it the third-largest craft brewer in the state, behind Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, a subsidiary of MillerCoors LLC, with sales of 465,000 barrels, and New Glarus Brewing Company, with sales of 65,000 barrels.^[2]

Contents 1 History 2 Beer brands 2.1 Current production[5] 2.2 Former production 3 Gourmet sodas 4 External links 5 References

[edit] History

The company was founded in 1857 by George Ruder and Frank Wahle. In 1864, the company provided its beer to the troops during the 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.^[3] 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.^[1] That same year, the company introduced gourmet sodas to its beverage list.^[4] 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. In 2007, the company was listed in the top fifty craft brewers list by the Brewers Association.^[2]

[edit] Beer brands

[edit] Current production^[5]

• Point Special Lager
• Point Classic Amber
• Point Cascade Pale Ale
• Point Belgian White Wheat Ale
• Point Horizon Wheat
• Point Einbock
• Point Nude Beach
• Point Oktoberfest
• Point St. Benedict's Winter Ale

• James Page Iron Range Amber
• James Page Burly Brown
• James Page Voyageur Extra Pale Ale
• James Page White Ox Wheat Ale
• Karl Strauss Brewing Company brands

[edit] Former production

• Point Holiday Beer (1935-1940)
• Prize Beer (1935-1940)
• Big Charlie Beer (1937-1944)
• Amber Prize Beer (1939-1950)

[edit] Gourmet sodas

• Point Premium Root Beer
• Point Premium Diet Root Beer
• Point Premium Vanilla Cream Soda
• Point Premium Black Cherry Cream Soda
• Point Premium Orange Cream Soda

[edit] External links

• Stevens Point Brewery website

[edit] References