Esser's Best

During my recent trips to Wisconsin and Minnesota, I did a lot of "beer hunting" trying to find beers to fill up my beer fridge for the summer.  I was talking with one of my dealers in Madison about some of the Wisconsin beers and he said, "Actually, pound for pound, dollar for dollar, I think Esser's Best is the best beer made in Wisconsin."

Esser's Best is a product of the Cross Plains Brewery in nearby Cross Plains, WI.  It's a traditional German lager with an amber color and hints of caramel flavoring.  I'd had Esser's Best on a couple of prior occasions and thought it was a pretty good beer. 

I was meeting a guy for dinner at The Avenue Bar in Madison later that evening and while waiting for him to show up, I had an Esser's Best on tap.  The first sip reminded me of how much I liked the beer.  The full-bodied taste of Esser's Best, along with the smooth finish make it a very good beer.  I thought, "Man, I've got to pick up some of this stuff for the beer fridge."    

The history of Esser's Best is rather interesting.  George Esser (right) emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in the early 1850's.  A mason by trade, Esser settled in Madison and began to ply his trade on a number of small breweries being built in the area.  Seeing the brewery business in southern Wisconsin was a growing concern, Esser bought into a small brewery in Monroe, WI.  The partnership didn't last long and Esser left in a dispute with his partner.

However, Esser had his eye on an acreage in Cross Plains - the same acreage Jacob Leinenkugel of the rival Leinenkugel family of brewers was looking at to build a brewery.  In 1863, Esser bought 2 1/2 acres in Cross Plains and began to build his brewery, which he named Cross Plains Brewery.  In October of that year the first Esser's Best beer was brewed in the plant. 

In later years, George Esser's son, Jacob, and Jacob's sons, Werner and Peter, joined the family business.  However, faced with mounting pressure from larger breweries, Werner Esser was forced to shut the Cross Plains Brewery in 1910.  He became a beer distributor and distributed Hausmann and Blatz beer up to Prohibition, and Blatz "near-beer" during Prohibition. 

However, during Prohibition, Werner would fire up the brewing vats at the old brewery at night and brew beer.  He sold the real beer on the black market all through Prohibition. 

When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, Werner Esser went back to distributing full beer.  In 1937, his son, Roman, joined him in the business.  And the same year, Esser landed the distributorship of the highly popular Old Style beer. 

Wayne Esser joined the family distributorship in 1958.  In the 60's, Roman and Wayne Esser came upon the original Esser's Best recipe made by George Esser 100 years before.  But since no one was really drinking heavier German-style beers at the time, plus the fact the Cross Plains Brewery had been long gone for a number of years, they put the recipe away for posterity.

Wayne Esser eventually took over the business in 1988 after the death of Roman Esser.  And two years later, Wayne's son, Larry, joined the business marking six generations of Esser's in the family business. 

With the growth and interest in microbreweries and brew pubs in the 90's, the Esser's dusted off the old Esser's Best recipe and approached the G. Heileman Brewery to see if they'd be interested in brewing the beer.  Heileman wasn't interested in the beer, but since the Esser's distributed Heileman products, the company helped them in their quest to get the beer brewed again. 

In the meantime, Heileman re-opened a small brewery they'd shut in Milwaukee a number of years prior and the Esser's contracted with the brewery to brew Esser's Best again in 1995.  The first year was slow - only 240 barrels were brewed.  And a handful of bars and restaurants in the greater Madison area offered the beer on tap.

As the demand for Esser's Best began to grow, Wayne and Larry Esser knew they'd need to begin to bottle and distribute the beer.  But they also knew the start up costs for bottling a beer would be substantial.

In 1998, the Esser's sold their distributorship to Frank Beer Distributing of Middleton, WI.  With part of the money from the sale, the Esser's used it to help with the cost of bottling the Esser's Best beer. 

They eventually contracted with Stevens Point Brewery - the same people who brewed Point Special beer, and who now also brew and bottle the Capital Brewery beers - to brew and bottle Esser's Best.  The Esser's then contracted with Frank Beer to distribute the beer in southern Wisconsin.

Cross Plains Brewery also markets a German-style Pilsner - Cross Plains Special - that is similar in taste to Capital's Special Pilsner.  I don't think it's as good as Capital's Special Pilsner, but it's good, nonetheless. 

I picked up a case of Esser's Best before I left Madison the next day.  I wish now that I'd picked up more of the stuff.  I find myself grabbing an Esser's Best more than any other beer that I've been pulling out of the beer fridge lately. 

Esser's Best is still only available in select bars and restaurants on tap, and in grocery and liquor stores in southern Wisconsin.  (For a list of places that offer Esser's Best, click here.)  I have to agree with my dealer in Madison - for the price, Esser's Best may be the best beer brewed in Wisconsin.  I don't know if it's the best overall, but it's damn good beer.  I strongly encourage you to pick some up or try some Esser's Best on your next trip to Madison.   

Comments

[Peter Lawrence]

Are you going to do another entry on your beer refrigerator? It must be full of beer for the summer. That was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

[Will]

Working on it, Pete. May have it up this week.