During my recent trips to many liquor stores and wine shops in Minnesota and Wisconsin, my main focus was to find some of the Leinenkugel Northwoods Lager. It had been quite some time since I'd found any and I was sort of wondering what the deal was. After all, it was - by far - my most favorite Leinenkugel beer.
Leinenkugel Northwoods Lager was first brewed in 1986 and it was initially known as Leinenkugel Limited. It won the gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 1993 for the best American Lager category after having garnered a silver medal in 1991.
Leinie's Northwoods Lager has a rich taste for a Lager with a hint of caramel and pale malts added to give it a great smooth finish. There was nothing even close to the taste of it. It was especially great on a hot summer afternoon.
When I could find it, I used to buy cases of the stuff at a time. But it began to become increasingly difficult to find late last year. I know the guy who works in sales for the Miller distributor here locally and I asked him why I was having trouble finding it locally. He said he didn't know, but would let me know. Well, he never let me know.
I bought my last couple cases of the Northwoods Lager in Milwaukee in the springtime. Little did I know at that time that Leinenkugel was on the verge of discontinuing the beer.
I was at a liquor store in Madison recently and I asked a lady working there if they had any of the Northwoods Lager. She said, "I believe they discontinued that beer in the summer time. You may want to check their web site."
I went to the frequently asked questions section of the Leinenkugel web site to see if I could find out what the deal was. The very first question had to do with the brewery discontinuing the Northwoods Lager.
Basically, it came down to the fact that Leinenkugel doesn't have the barrel capacity to continue to brew their Northwoods Lager and Amber Light beers. With the increased popularity of Leinie's Honey Weiss and Berry Weiss beers, they had to make a decision as to what to do as they don't have the room to expand their facility.
They're leaving the door open for a possible return of the Northwoods Lager at a later time. I absolutely hope so. I've been nursing my last six pack of the beer over the past couple of months. I have one left in the beer fridge that I'm saving for a special occasion.
Such as tomorrow night at 5:30...
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