Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company

Kirin-owned New Belgium Brewing – including the Voodoo Ranger-powered New Belgium brand and Bell’s Brewery – now ranks as the largest non-Brewers Association craft beer family, overtaking Molson Coors’ craft brands, according to data released in the trade organization’s May/June edition of the New Brewer magazine.

After three years, Leinenkugel’s will once again be led by someone with the Leinenkugel surname. Leinenkugel’s president Tony Bugher is stepping down from his leadership role, passing the baton to his cousin, Katie Leinenkugel

Volume at craft breweries outside of the Brewers Association’s (BA) definition of small and independent declined 4% on a comparable basis, to 6.752 million barrels, in 2024, the trade group reported in the May/June edition of The New Brewer magazine.

Dick and Jake Leinenkugel have gone public with their efforts to buy back their family’s namesake brewery in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, from Molson Coors, which plans to cease operations at the facility on Friday, January 17, and lay off 56 workers.

Molson Coors will cease operations at the Leinenkugel’s Chippewa Falls brewery and the company’s Tenth Street Brewery in Milwaukee, effective January 17.

Molson Coors-owned Leinenkugel’s is making its flagship Summer Shandy a year-round offering. Leinenkugel’s president Tony Bugher and John Leinenkugel discuss why the move represents the company getting out of its own way, how big the brand is for its business and how they plan to support the brand in the colder months.

Leinenkugel’s long-gone cult-favorite beer – Sunset Wheat – is officially BACK for a limited time!

Dick Leinenkugel will retire from the brewery that bears his family’s name at the end of 2022, Molson Coors announced today. Tony Bugher, associate marketing manager for the brand and Leinenkugel’s nephew, will take the reins of the Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin-based Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company on January 1, 2023.

Boosted by an earlier-than-expected seasonal transition and the return of the on-premise channel, sales of Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy have increased 13% year-to-date, according to the Molson Coors Beverage Company blog. “As we continued to excel with distribution and sales and the off-premise, we were able to quickly transition into Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy,” Dick Leinenkugel, president and chief beer merchant of Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, told Brewbound.

The seasonal beer segment hasn’t received the same double-digit bump that skyrocketing off-premise sales have delivered for the overall craft beer segment, according to market research firm Nielsen.

The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company introduces its new trio of beers with a splash of seltzer, Leinenkugel’s Spritzen, available nationwide. Spritzen marks the brewer’s first new national release in three years and will be available in three refreshing flavors: Grapefruit, Raspberry Lemon and Pineapple Strawberry.

Total U.S. beer dollar sales grew to more than $35 billion in 2018, according to retail data provider IRI. The Chicago-based market research firm, which tracks category-wide sales at major off-premise retailers, reported a 1.8 percent increase in beer dollar sales, despite a 0.3 percent decline in volume sales at multi-outlet and convenience (MULC) stores (grocery, drug, club, dollar, mass-merchandiser and military) through December 30.

The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company is creating a limited-edition Leinenkugel’s Anniversary Lager with Munich-based Hofbräu München to celebrate its 150th anniversary this year.

Last Call: Michelob Ultra Release Super Bowl Spot; BA Appoints Neil Witte as Quality Ambassador; AleSmith to Expand Tasting Room; MillerCoors Spending $50 Million to Expand Leinenkugel’s Operations; Empire Brewing and 1911 Established Ciders Merge Sales Teams.