Chippewa Falls - Leinenkugel (Tuesday)

We left Milwaukee very early this morning and found ourselves in the midst of peak hour traffic. Not the most fun to have early in the morning, but we managed!

Had a four hour drive north, past Madison to Chippewa Falls. What a pretty town! It is the home of the Leinenkugel Brewery, the 7th largest in the USA.

Leinenkugel is mainly distributed in the Upper Midwest, but is available in limited quantities throughout the United States. The products are colloquially known as 'Leinies'.

The brewery was founded in Chippewa Falls in May 1867 by Jacob Leinenkugel and John Miller (Miller sold his stake in the company in 1884).

During Prohibition, this company produced near beer known as "Leino" as well as soda water. The company expanded from its local roots in the 1970s, introducing a light beer. Miller Brewing Company, (now a subsidiary of SABMiller), bought the company in 1988.

In 2006, the company introduced Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat which is brewed with wheat, hops, and coriander. Soon after its introduction, it was made available throughout much of the US. In 2007, Leinenkugel introduced Summer Shandy as the new seasonal beer, which is wheat beer mixed with lemonade. The latest seasonal beer is the reintroduced 1888 Bock.

All the beers are good but my (David's) favourite is still Sunset Wheat. It has an orange and coriander finish. Sounds odd but very nice. Scarlet likes the Sunset Wheat but also tried the 'Summer Shandy' - it has a twist of lemonade in it - and I was surprised, it wasn't sweet. Just a hint of lemonade. Looks like I'll be on the hunt for a 6-pack!

Drove into Minneapolis/St Paul. They are mad drivers up here or maybe it was just rush hour. No - Scarlet agrees - they're insane. But it is full moon.... We found the Mall of America and had a very quick look but more importantly we located some directory pamphlets which we will study tonight for the 'big shop' tomorrow. (as always, time is of the essence... we have heard that some tourists reckon you need to allocate a day per level of shops to see it all - OMG - there are 4 levels!!!!)

After a bit of a search we located another "Cheesecake Factory" restaurant and had dinner. Very nice as always. Dave sampled the grilled salmon ' blackened'.... which means covered in Cajun spices. He rates it as a 9 out of 10!

Back to the room with a piece of the said cheesecake (Linda's Chocolate Fudge Cake.. yes that is it's name...) red wine and bed. But I want it noted on the record that we only bought 1 slice and we shared it!!!!! (Scarlet)