By Tim Cigelske

The gas station in unincorporated Paoli, Wisconsin, is like any small town gas station.

Inside, you can take your pick of frozen pizza, various junk foods, and an entire wall of Budweiser, Bud Light, Bud Lime, Miller Light, Miller High Life, MGD and… Oh, wait– what’s this? New Glarus Brewing Co.?

One of these beers is not like the other.

Make way, Miller. Watch out, Bud. And memo to Wisconsin’s gas stations, liquor stores, and beer vendors: Start clearing more room for the upstart craft brewer from south central Wisconsin.

“We’ve been growing 20 percent per year,” says brewmaster Dan Carey, which includes a production of about 75,000 barrels last year. Its 2008 sales volume ranked 21st in the nation among craft brewers (just ahead of Dogfish Head), according to the Brewers Association.

OK, OK. So New Glarus is not out to single-handedly battle the major brewers. For starters, you can
still only find its signature Spotted Cow and its terrific full line of craft brews in Wisconsin (hence the proud slogan “Drink Indigenous”).

But make no mistake, its thumbprint just got a little bigger. June 13, 2009, is a bit of a historic day in Wisconsin brewing history, for this is the day New Glarus hosts the seven-hour grand opening party for its new, second brewery complex.

And holy (spotted) cow, do they know how to celebrate. A live band encouraged crowds to dance, long lines formed for souvenir pint glasses of beers on tap, and crowds backed up their vehicles to the gift shop to stock up on crates of beer.

The $20 million, 75,000 square foot, 100,000 barrel-capacity (with ability to expand) Hilltop facility looks like an Old World village, complete with towering stone walls and mini waterfalls. It appears like a castle rising up over the countryside, maybe no coincidence since Carey served his apprenticeship in Munich.

Founded in 1993, the brewery reached a point by 2005 where they would soon run out of room for their operations in an old warehouse, so they built a second complex in a cornfield on the outskirts of the quaint Swiss-influenced town. They broke ground in 2006 while running at capacity at their original brewery.

The expansion didn’t come without a steep price.

 
 Dan Carey 
 
 

“It was like waging a war,” Carey said. “You win some battles, you lose some battles. And it nearly killed us.”

There were no utilities, no electricity, no roads. They had no legal department, no marketing department and no accounting department. The herculean task of building a brewery from scratch fell squarely on the shoulders of Dan and his wife, Deb.

The job would be difficult enough under the best of circumstances, but then prices in construction materials went haywire. Dan and Deb worked seven days a week to deal with problem contractors and government regulation while continuing production at their original brewery.

“There were points we were dubious it was even going to happen,” Dan says wearily. “There were so many obstacles.”

The growing pains may have left a few scars on the Careys. But for Wisconsin beer drinkers, it’s a welcome new era for New Glarus.

 

– Tim Cigelske writes DRAFTMag.com’s Beer Runner blog.