Sprecher's Top 22 Moments of 2022

Sprecher's Top 22 Moments of 2022

It was a banner year for fans of Sprecher craft beer and craft soda. You now have more variety of Sprecher and more locations to find our beverages than ever before. Thank you for making 2022 an exciting year. 

Sprecher Root Beer featured on The Bear

The Bear

The FX and Hulu show The Bear burst on the scene to overwhelming critical acclaim this year, featuring a Chicago restaurant that also happens to serve local Green River Soda and a certain fire-brewed root beer. “The Bear is also unusually on point about Chicago," wrote The New Yorker. "It is peppered with local references and shibboleths: Green River soda and Sprecher Root Beer, Vienna Beef, Bill Murray, the hockey legend Denis Savard." Heard! 

Sprecher Root Beer named best in the nation 

Sprecher Root Beer ranking

This year, Sprecher Root Beer added to its accolades, which has included taking home top honors from The New York Times as "a wonderfully balanced and complex brew." Most recently, Tasting Table named Sprecher Root Beer the best in the nation, calling it "honey-sweetened and malted root beer nectar of the gods."

Green River goes viral on TikTok

Green River goes viral on TikTok

It started with an 89-year-old grandpa reminiscing about a lime-flavored soda he enjoyed as a kid. He couldn't remember the soda's name, so his granddaughter started investigating through Google. It led her to find and order Green River soda on the Sprecher website. The granddaughter then documented his surprised reaction on TikTok –– and his delight went viral. To date, it has more than 3.3 million views on TikTok alone. 

SODA LAB™️ opens in Sprecher Taproom 

Soda lab

When Sprecher Brewery was founded in 1985, it was Wisconsin's original craft brewery. By definition, all the batches were hand-crafted and each ingredient was thoughtfully and individually selected, like raw honey. We honored the Sprecher tradition by launching the new Sprecher SODA LAB™️ in the brewery taproom to feature small-batch innovative new soda flavors. Sprecher craft soda fans can look forward to rare and distinctive flavor combinations available only in the Sprecher Taproom, with seasonal fall flavors including Pumpkin Cream and Pumpkin Spice Root Beer.   

Sprecher launches charcuterie sodas... on April 1st 

Charcuterie soda

Some people were repulsed and others were strangely excited when we announced our new line of charcuterie craft sodas: Available in the flavors Garlic Salami, Sharp Cheddar, and Stuffed Olive. Sorry, this was just an April Fool's joke... for now. 

Releasing the Dragon 

Sprecher 12 Dragons

Sprecher returned with a special beer release in 2022 –– and it was a big one. After aging in Kentucky bourbon barrels for a year, our Belgian quad 12 Dragons emerged to become a beautiful beast. 12 Dragons is a massive mouthful of malty goodness balanced by bourbon warming and playful spice: perfect for cooler weather or late evenings. Fire-brewed for bold flavors that include caramelized sugar, toffee, and complex fruit flavors of raisins, dates, and figs. It's now available in our gift shop and taproom. 

Sprecher Root Beer Bash brings together community 

Sprecher Root Beer Bash

Held at Bayshore for the first time, the Welcome to Glendale Root Beer Bash gave out 5,135 free root beer floats to complement live music, dancing and giveaways. For each of the 5,135 root beer floats served, Sprecher donated a meal to Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin. 

Sprecher named to the Honey 20

Sprecher Cream Soda at Indian Farm

In 2022, the National Honey Board featured Sprecher as one of the spotlight brands in their Honey 20 list and Honey Saves Hives program, alongside brands like Honey Bunches of Oats and Honey Stinger. Sprecher is committed to sourcing high-quality raw honey to sweeten our sodas. With a focus on sustainability and bee conservation, Sprecher is dedicated to supporting beekeepers and bee health. As part of the Honey 20, Sprecher is looking forward to exploring new ways to support the honey industry and the environment.

New recipe blog features Sprecher mixed drinks 

Sprecher hard root beer float

We know that Sprecher sodas are delicious as a treat all on their own. But have you tried them as mixers or pairings? On our website we have lots of recipes for you to try with your favorite Sprecher soda, including a hard root beer float, a Door County cherry cocktail and oh so much more

Sprecher sponsors Wisconsin's Offensive Line 

Sprecher craft athlete

This fall football season, Wisconsin's 10 offensive linemen served as brand ambassadors and shared their favorite Sprecher craft soda with the hashtag #SprecherCraftAthlete on social media. The sponsorship comes as part of a NCAA name image likeness (NIL) agreement with student athletes.

Sprecher Ginger Ale named "totally elite" by Sporked 

Sprecher ginger ale

Food and beverage website Sporked named Sprecher Ginger Ale one of the six best in the category, calling it a totally elite ginger ale: "It has a good ginger burn (the flames on the label forewarn you) without getting into ginger beer territory, but its best quality is its subdued sweetness and light fizz (the website describes it as being like a dry sparkling Chardonnay, and that’s pretty spot on). Sprecher is sweetened with honey and that flavor really marries well with the flavor of ginger. These bottles are big, but the sipping experience is so pleasant, we bet you can make it through the whole thing."

Sprecher sponsors ARCA race series 

Sprecher arca

Sprecher became the official craft soda of the ARCA Menards Series in 2022, which included 20 races and the series’ 59th visit to Daytona International Speedway. “Sprecher craft sodas are a great fit for the ARCA Menards Series,” said ARCA president Ron Drager. The ARCA race series came to the Milwaukee Mile located on the grounds of State Fair Park. 

Sprecher launches lemonades 

Sprecher lemonade

Let's take a moment to dream of summer. Sprecher launched craft lemonade with six different varieties, as well as a mixed variety pack"Usually bottled or canned lemonades are WAY too sweet," wrote one reviewer. "The Sprecher ones aren't, hallelujah! They're tart & just sweet enough that it doesn't overpower the lemon. I just finished my last bottle (which was from my first order) and I've got more in my cart!" 

Nearly a decade of the Traveling Beer Garden 

Traveling Beer Gardne

Sprecher Brewery and the Milwaukee County Parks teamed up again for the summer 2022 Traveling Beer Garden, with a partnership of nearly a decade that has raised more than a quarter-million dollars for park improvements. “We want everyone we reach throughout the country to know that we take pride in our roots and our home here in Milwaukee,” said Sprecher Brewery CEO Sharad Chadha. “This partnership with the County Parks helps contribute to a vibrant community.”

Green River, redesigned 

Green River cans
You may know the famous lime Green River Soda (or pop) from Chicago St. Patrick's Day celebrations or seen go viral on TikTok. Green River started out in 1919 as a prohibition-era treat, but it has stuck around for over 100 years because it is a darned good soda. And this year, it got an updated yet nostalgic redesign in a 16 ounce can, though you can still get Green River in bottles, too.

Subscription orders now available 

Getting automatic Sprecher deliveries is now super easy. When you're buying your favorite craft soda, lemonade, or sparkling water, all you have to do is hit "subscribe and save" at checkout. Then, you decide whether you want an automatic delivery every month or every three months. All set? Check out like usual, and you're subscribed.

Sprecher gets active 

Sprecher Ice Age Trail

There were a lot of ways that Sprecher supported activities in 2022, including hiking, cycling and running sponsorships. We teamed up with the Ice Age Trail Alliance to support the Mammoth Hike Challenge, stashing cans of Sprecher Root Beer hidden in coolers along the Ice Age Trail to surprise hikers. Sprecher also hopped on the Tour of America’s Dairyland to provide Sprecher Root Beer for the popular series of road cycling races returning to southeastern Wisconsin. 

Sprecher expands nationally 

Sprecher expanded distribution of craft soda to new stores and shelves across the new states, including hundreds of new Wal-Marts. “We have taken several important steps to become a national craft beverage company, and this new expansion with Wal-Mart will accelerate our growth,” said Sharad Chadha, CEO of Sprecher Brewery. “The addition of these new markets helps further fuel Sprecher's already fast-moving growth trajectory.” Find the newest Sprecher to you with our new store locator tool

Sprecher brings back Black Bear 

Black Bear soda

Black Bear Soda is a Wisconsin brand with nearly a century of tradition. But after the Oak Creek bottling plant shut down in 2017, its future looked uncertain. However, Sprecher acquired the rights to the soda in 2021 and brought back its most popular flavors in 2022, to the delight of nostalgic soda drinkers throughout the state.  

Expanding to cans 

Orange Dream

Sprecher came in new packages this year, including 16 ounce cans for soda and 12 ounce cans for beer, as well as crowlers for both in our taproom. Cans have many advantages over bottles when it comes to packaging beer. Cans preserve taste better than bottles, they are more convenient, and they are easy to recycle over and over. Whatever container your beer comes in, we recommend pouring it out into an ice-cold frosted glass. Cheers!

Sprecher Cherry Cola knocks off Coke, Cheerwine in taste test 

Cherry Cola

In a blind taste test, Sprecher Cherry Cola came out on top in a ranking of 12 popular brands, according to national culture magazine Uproxx. Tasting notes for Sprecher Cherry Cola included "an intoxicating cherry smell that came across as very natural" along with "a strong fizzy bite with a balance of natural cherry notes, vanilla, a hint of citrus, and some cinnamon on the backend." "Truly the best marriage of cherry and cola flavors," wrote Dane Rivera in his top ranking summary. "It has a bite, a zesty zing, and a juicy sweet floral sweetness that comes across as natural, while still delivering the sweetness." 

Sprecher launches NEW Black Cherry flavor 

Sprecher Black Cherry

This is also a preview of 2023 because it's still being rolled out to new markets, but as of December Sprecher now produces a new Black Cherry flavor in 16 ounce cans. Black Cherry made its debut in the SODA LAB, where it met with rave reviews from taproom visitors. Black Cherry is now available for online order

 

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