Sand Creek Brewing Company

In the heart of Black River Country, you’ll find the Sand Creek Brewing Company, one of the best and most respected small breweries in the Midwest. Black River Country has a long history of beer making. The building that houses the Sand Creek Brewing Company began as a brewery in 1856. The Sand Creek Brewing Company, Wisconsin’s third largest brewery, carries on that long tradition. The brewery produces 10 or more beers and hard lemonade.

 The Oderbolz Brewing Co. (1856-1911)

In 1856, Swiss immigrant Ulrich Oderbolz founded the Oderbolz Brewing Company in Black River Falls on the site of the present Sand Creek Brewing Company. Mr. Oderbolz cut his brewery into the side of a hill, as was the practice in those days, and created thick stone foundation walls to make a brew cellar for keeping the beer fresh — in the winter, blocks of ice were cut from nearby Spaulding pond.

Today the Sand Creek Brewing Co. operates in Mr. Oderbolz’s same brewery building, and the beer is stored in the same 19th century beer cellar. (The original building was nearly destroyed in a fire in 1932, in which it lost its second and third floors.)

The Badger Brewing Company (1911-1920)

Two months after the death of Frank Oderbolz, his mother sold the business to a corporation of local businessmen (including one of the men who was in the boat with Frank), and it became known as the Badger Brewing Co.. Most of the new owners were “independent saloon” keepers — that is, they ran saloons not owned by the major breweries. Their new brewery would keep their costs down for their saloons in Black River Falls and along the Omaha railway between there and Eau Claire.

The Badger Brewery only lasted eight years until being closed by Prohibition in 1920. They made a low-alcohol “temperance drink” called “New Style,” but the building was sold to Miller-Rose, a poultry company, in the 1920s. In 1932, a devastating fire struck the building, destroying the second and third floors. It was rebuilt with a new second floor, and was later used as a soft drink bottling plant. The different shades of red brick today show the boundaries of the original brewery and the rebuilt second floor, along with an addition on the east side of the brewery where the loading docks are.

The Pioneer Brewing Company (1995-2004)

In 1995, after an absence of 75 years, brewing returned to Black River Falls and to the old brewery building when the Hellman brothers, Dave and Jim, started the Pioneer Brewing Co. They outfitted the brewery with the latest in brewing technology and hired brewmaster Todd Krueger.  Launching the Pioneer line of brands, they took advantage of the growing surge of interest in craft-brewed, quality beers in Wisconsin.

The Sand Creek Brewing Company, The early years:

Downing, Wisconsin (1999-2004)

The Sand Creek Brewing Company began on a dairy farm in Downing, Wisconsin, about 20 miles northwest of the city of Menomonie. After homebrewing on the family farm for years, brewmaster Cory Schroeder teamed up with Jim Wiesender to found the brewery in 1999.

Using equipment scrounged from various industries, such as a converted pudding tank for the brew kettle, the pair launched a successful business, brewing the beer just steps away from the chicken coop and a busy dairy farm.

Their Sand Creek Golden Ale and English Style Special Ale, available only on draft and in half-gallon growlers, soon developed a reputation throughout Wisconsin’s many brew fests. With a capacity of only about 150 barrels per year, the brewery, now with a third owner on board, quickly outgrew the little farm shed converted into a brewhouse.

Hoping to remain in the Dunn/St. Croix counties area, the company looked for a suitable place to relocate, but came up empty handed. Then opportunity knocked in the form of a phone call one evening from their friend in Black River Falls, Pioneer brewmaster Todd Krueger. The brewery was for sale.

In March of 2004 the combined forces of the two breweries officially formed the new Sand Creek Brewing Company.

Source: Sand Creek Brewing Company website