Jacob Leinenkugel Brewery Company

The Lumberjacks Were Thirsty


Designing a Better Brewery Tour Experience

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Challenge
Accepted.

It’s a 6,000-year-old process but many visitors don’t understand how beer is made. ZEBRADOG demystified the process and celebrated the stories of six generations of a single German family dedicated to making the best beer in American history.

A carefully designed system of informative and interactive storytelling experiences reinvigorated the 150-year-old campus, giving visitors a more in-depth, memorable, and exciting tour. All the while ramping up a national brand at its epicenter.

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Working with your team has been terrific.

The work we have completed together will continue to strengthen this great brand as we continue to delight when they visit us in Chippewa Falls.
Richard J. Leinenkugel
President and Chief Beer Merchant, Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company

THE DETAILS


EXPERTISE

Exhibit Design
Tour Design
Experiential Design
Facilities/Campus Branding
Interactive Media Design / Development

MARKET

Food & Beverage
Retail

In 1867, Jacob Leinenkugel learned of the magic waters from the Big Eddy Springs. To the delight of the mighty, thirsty lumberjacks of Northern Wisconsin, Jacob built his brewery in Chippewa Falls. 150 years and six generations later, the fresh spring water is still the bedrock of the world-famous Jacob Leinenkugel’s Brewery Company.

This classic American immigrant story continues to inspire, educate, and delight visitors who come to sample original German recipes. And the Leinenkugel family, along with their partners at Molson Coors, know that story loyalty is brand loyalty.

ZEBRADOG’s experiential design team—equipped with digital technology and a love of beer—set out to show the world what Leinie’s is about.

  • The Legacy Circle provides a ceremonial bridge to the past as you learn origin stories and literally walk back in time to tour one of America’s oldest operating brewhouses.
  • A campus-wide signing system designed with meticulous authenticity weaves the story thread from building to building, room to room, bottle to bottle.
  • An easy-to-understand interpretive art program immerses visitors in each step of the brewing process from the water, grain, and hops, to the keg, bottle, and can.
  • Six generations of family history transform into an interactive media family album to clarify which Leinenkugel belongs to each generation.
  • An invigorated retail experience engages with a seasonal beer tutorial and interactive quiz to personalize the perfect six-pack to take home.

No trip is complete without sampling ice-cold beer at the Leinie Lodge and capturing pictures. Visitors are considered family and invited to share the love with a social media-integrated Family Photo Album to commemorate the day.

Special places have special stories to share.

HUZZAH!

Top 10 Brewery Tours by USA Today