Bottling brothers

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Jan 18, 1999

BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. --At the site where Ulrich Oderbolz opened a brewery in 1856, the Pioneer Brewing added another family of beers and expanded in 1856, the Pioneer Brewing Co. in Black River Falls has there family of beers and its distribution network.

Dave and Jim Hellman of Black River Falls and their father, Gene, of Sparta bought the Wisconsin Brewing Co. brands last fall and moved production from Wauwatosa to the Pioneer brewery at 320 Pierce St. The Wauwatosa brewery was along the Menomonee River and was flooded last summer and the summer before, the brothers said.

"They were going to close the business," Dave said. "We bought their name, their labels and their recipes, and hired one of their brewers, Mike Suchara."

"We had good distribution in this part of the state, while Wisconsin Brewing was strong in Madison and Milwaukee," Jim said.

Pioneer Brewing now distributes its beer throughout most of Wisconsin. And the Hellmans hope to begin distributing in the Minneapolis St. Paul area in the next month or two. But they don't plan to expand much beyond that.

"The farthest I can see us ever getting is between Chicago and Twin Cities," Jim said. A number of micro-breweries have run into trouble by trying to expand too fast, he said. "Part of the appeal (of a microbrewed beer) is that it's made locally."

The Hellmans, whose beer is sold in kegs and bottles, also have no plans to set up their own retail store or brew-pub. "We don't want to compete with our customers," which, Jim said, are mostly grocery stores, restaurants and taverns.

Pioneer started brewing beer in May 1997 and began selling it the next month. In 1998, the first complete year, it made about 700 barrels of beer. There are 31 gallons in a barrel.

This year, with the addition of the Wisconsin Brewing brands, the Hellman brothers hope to make 2,000 to 3,000 barrels of beer. They also hope to do some contract brewing for other micro-breweries that don't have bottling capabilities.

Pioneer's current capacity is 5,000 barrels a year, and that could be increased by installing more equipment.

"If we could get to capacity two to three years from now, it would be fantastic. I'd be happy," Jim said.

"There have been some bumps in the road," Jim said. Pioneer beer didn't get into as many establishments as quickly as the Hellmans had hoped. That has picked up with changes they've made to their distribution network.

Jim, 34, and Dave, 31, were lawyers but now work full time at Pioneer. Their father owns a Miller beer distributorship in Sparta and spends less time at the brewery.

The brothers don't miss practicing law. "I liked the trial part," Jim said. "But you're dealing with other people's problems.

I've had more fun doing this."

And they've learned a lot about the history of their building and Ulrich Oderbolz.

The brothers bought the brick building, which was being used for storage, in December 1996 and renovated it and installed a new brewing system. Faded black letters that spell out "Trask Turkey Farms" and "Black River Falls Produce Co." still show on the north exterior wall. Across the street is the brick house where Oderbolz and his family lived.

Oderbolz came to the United States from Switzerland in the 1840s. After working as a brewer in Ohio and Texas, he moved to La Crosse and later to Black River Falls where he opened his brewery in 1856.