Wisconsin Brewing Co
Lake Louie packaging gets a makeover, while Wisconsin Brewing Company products also come under its brand.
Over the past year Wisconsin Brewing Company has redefined its core brands, launched a pilot brewery in Oconomowoc and expanded its role as a national contract beer maker. Two veteran brewery executives have been leading the company through these changes since last May: company president Paul Verdu, a former executive with Molson Coors, and board chair Jeff Hembrock, a former executive for Miller Brewing Company and SABMiller in a career that spanned 39 years.
For Wisconsin craft beer drinkers, perhaps the most noticeable change is the rebranding of Wisconsin Brewing’s own line of beers under the Lake Louie Brewing banner. The new look to packaging starts phasing in this month with new labels and carton artwork.
Wisconsin Brewing purchased Lake Louie Brewing in 2019, but continued to manage both as separate brands, each with its own distributor agreements. Moving all product under Lake Louie will consolidate how the beer gets from the brewery to stores, and clarify what consumers see on the shelf, says Verdu. Lake Louie founder Tom Porter still serves as an ambassador for Lake Louie at special events.
Among Wisconsin Brewing’s bestsellers has been Badger Club. Verdu isn’t worried about confusing fans of that beer. “People know it by Badger Club. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call it Wisconsin Brewing Company Badger Club. So, if you house it under Lake Louie, it will still be known as Badger Club,” says Verdu. New labeling for that beer should filter into the market by late March.
Lake Louie’s core, year-round beers will remain Warped Speed (Scotch ale), Kiss the Lips (IPA), Rational Haze (hazy IPA) and Tommy’s Porter. Wisconsin Brewing’s Chocolate Lab, Sandy Cheeks and Cupid’s Envy are expected to become seasonal releases for Lake Louie. Eventually the Lake Louie line will also include seltzers.
A new light American-style lager will join the regular lineup — called Li’l Louie Lager. It was developed using the five-barrel brewery that opened last year at Wisconsin Brewing Company Park in Oconomowoc, and when served in the ballpark it goes by the name Walk-Off Light Lager. (The brewery purchased naming rights for the ballpark which is home to the Lake Country DockHounds, an independent professional baseball team.)
This spring Lake Louie will also introduce a new double IPA called Dank Beast. Brewmaster Kirby Nelson has put together an interesting hop bill that includes Altus, Apollo, Eureka! and Sultana hops. Nelson describes it as “dank and beastly, but drinkable and approachable.” Apparently contradictory? Just expect hoppy character — but it will not be an over-the-top palate-wrecker.
Dank Beast is being brought to market in single 19.2-ounce cans. Eventually Warped Speed, Kiss the Lips and Rational Haze will also appear in the large can format aimed at convenience stores where they will sell for around $3 each. Dank Beast is also expected to appear on a limited basis in 4-packs of 16-ounce cans, and on draft at select taphouses.
The rebranding of its beers coincides with a tremendous growth in contract business for Wisconsin Brewing. Verdu says they work with 15 clients at a time. Since 2019, contract work at Wisconsin Brewing has increased four-fold.
Among those clients is Eight Elite light lager, a beer created by former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman, who wore the number eight. The beer is brewed and canned in Verona but sold only in Texas.
Within the next year Verdu expects contracts with other companies to grow to nearly 80 percent of the total packaging output for the brewery. That will include both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. In early January Wisconsin Brewing installed a 480-barrel fermenter, so large that it could not fit inside the brewhouse, so it was set up outside. Plans call for two more fermenters of that size to arrive in spring. If the growth in contract brewing continues, the brewery intends to eventually enclose the fermenters in an expanded brewhouse design that will also add additional storage and warehouse space.
