- [Narrator] This is the town

of Chippewa Falls, nestled along the Chippewa River

in the beautiful Northwoods of Wisconsin.

It's home to the Leinenkugel family

and the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company.

Brewer of Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy

and one of the oldest breweries in America.

So what's it take for one family to keep the beer flowing

for over 150 years?

It's harder than you'd think.

Our story begins in 1867, with a young German immigrant,

a brewer named Jacob Leinenkugel.

- I like to refer to my great-great-grandfather

as No-Neck Leinie.

- [Narrator] For centuries his family had been brewing beer

in Germany, now he was looking to make his mark in America.

In Chippewa Falls, Jacob discovered a source

of pure spring water.

- Which makes for a great lager-style beer.

- [Narrator] He also discovered--

- Twenty five hundred thirsty lumberjacks.

- [Narrator] So he built a brewery.

But brewing was hard work.

To make ends meet, he enlisted his family.

- I think the hardest worker out of that family was probably

his wife Josephine.

- My great, great, great grandmother.

- [Narrator] Every day she woke up at three a.m.

to cook four meals for the 20 brewery workers,

all while raising four children.

- Lotta credit goes to Josephine.

- [Narrator] The little brewery prospered,

but then Jacob's partner quit,

and Josephine died of pneumonia, aged 44.

With a family to support, Jacob had no choice

but to keep brewing and the people of Chippewa Falls

loved the beer so much they elected Jacob mayor, twice.

- They continued to brew great beer, all the way up until

the Federal government put us out of business.

- [Narrator] In 1920 the United States banned

the manufacture and sale of alcohol.

The dark days of prohibition descended upon America

and hundreds of breweries vanished.

- We had stay in business and we had to stay together

as a family.

- [Narrator] To survive prohibition,

they turned to Jacob's daughter Susan,

electing her president just six years after women

won the right to vote.

- Third cousin twice removed.

You have to go back through a family lineage

to find that out.

- [Narrator] She saved Leinenkugels by brewing

soda pop and mixers.

- [Dick] I gotta believe that the mixers were being mixed

with something else.

- [Narrator] When prohibition came to a close,

two other Leinenkugel women.

- [Dick] Katherine Leinenkugel and Rose Casper--

- [Narrator] Came to the rescue.

- [Dick] They actually mortgaged their homes to get the

brewing equipment back up and operating.

- Not a lot of breweries came out of prohibition.

Leinenkugels was fortunate.

- [Narrator] The reinvigorated brewery was soon joined

by Bill Leinenkugel, a Marine returned from war.

- Bill, my dad, was really the guy that expanded

the brewery's footprint into the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

- [Narrator] Bill had five children, and they helped

out around the brewery as Bill hit the road,

spreading the gospel of Leinenkugels across the Northwoods.

He just went out and met the people.

Put a nice cold Leinies in their hands and they loved

the guy and that's what they stuck with.

- [Narrator] Soon, he had transformed Leinenkugels

into a major Midwest brewery.

But it wasn't enough.

Small brewers were being priced out of business

by big brewers who had invaded their turf.

- Economics 101, folks.

- [Narrator] Back when Leinenkugels got started,

there were nearly 4,000 breweries spread across America.

By the late 70s, only 89 remained.

As Leinenkugels became engulfed in the price wars,

- Ask for Leinenkugels.

- [Narrator] It received help from a

fellow Wisconsin brewery.

- It was in 1987 that my dad received a letter from

Miller Brewing Company.

My dad says I think they want us to buy them.

Well, it was obviously the other way around.

- [Narrator] Leinenkugels kept its family roots,

and Bill's three sons built upon their father's legacy.

- After partnering with Miller Brewing Company,

we began to develop different styles of beers

that we probably wouldn't have been able to do on our own.

- [Mahala] Can you list all the Leinenkugels beers?

- There are quite a few, so you'll have to have

some more film.

- Leinenkugel Original.

- Honey Weiss.

- Berry Weiss.

- Canoe Paddler.

- Sunset Wheat.

- Creamy Dark.

- Big Butt Doppelbock.

- What else? (laughs)

- Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy.

- It wasn't until the development of Leinenkugel's

Summer Shandy that we decided to take Leinenkugels

to the rest of the country.

- Whether it's the island of Manhattan, New York

or all the way up to the great frontier of Alaska,

that's pretty cool.

- Okay everybody, here we go!

♪ When we're gone from here ♪

♪ The gang will be drinkin' all the beer. ♪

- [Narrator] In 2017 Leinenkugels celebrated 150 years

as the pride of the Northwoods.

And with time, comes tradition.

- Leinenkugels and Chippewa Falls are synonymous.

When you see a Leinenkugels,

you think Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

When you say Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin,

you think Leinenkugel beer.

- There's generations of Leinenkugels that have worked

here at the brewery, but there's also been generations

of other families that have worked here and continue

to work here to this day.

- Our hats off go to them as well.

It's a legacy that was started in 1867 and we're gonna

work really hard to ensure that that legacy continues.