Katie Leinenkugel’s first job with her family’s eponymous, 159-years-old beer business was selling t-shirts at Summerfest’s Leinie Lodge when she was a teenager. Nearly 20 years later, the sixth-generation family member and daughter of Dick Leinenkugel is the company’s president. The 36-year-old was named to the position in January after a career that has included valuable experience in both education and at Molson Coors (which now owns the brand; Miller Brewing bought Leinenkugel’s in 1988).
Katie talked with Milwaukee Magazine about her vision for the company, what Leinenkugel’s means to the state of Wisconsin, and what it was like growing up in Chippewa Falls with that famous last name.
Was being named president a goal for you when you started at Molson Coors?
I maybe always had a feeling that I’d end up in the family business. But truly, I wanted to pave my own way.
After I graduated from the college, I worked with Teach for America, and taught first grade in Dallas. I then became an assistant principal and then a principal of an elementary school down there. That’s really my first experience with leadership. It obviously shaped who I am and what I stand for today when it comes to leading an organization. For me it’s about putting a huge emphasis and focus on people, helping grow teams that can accomplish anything and then developing people to become leaders themselves.
I’ve had a long career. I call education my past life and beer my current life, but I’ve worked in a variety of roles at Molson Coors. I started with marketing, and then moved into distributor sales, and most recently, a role with sales learning and development. I recognize the importance of building a strong team and developing others. Both are at the core of what I want my leadership to look like.
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What was it like growing up in the Milwaukee area with your last name?
I don’t think I really knew how special it was until later in life, but I do remember growing up and seeing our name on, you know, delivery trucks.
A distinct memory I have is anytime our family would go to a Brewers game or State Fair or Summerfest, my dad played this game where the first person to spot a Leinenkugel’s shirt or hat got $5. I think we were indoctrinated to love seeing (our name) out there.
As an adult, it’s even more amazing to me. Having been in this role now for five months, I’m learning and understanding fully how important Leinenkugel’s is and how many people throughout the state and the country have their own memories around Leinenkugel’s. I just think that’s really amazing and really special.
What was it like having the Leinenkugel name when you started working for Molson Coors?
It certainly catches people. It made me a popular person initially to get a beer with. I think people are curious to know like what it was like growing up in the family or whatever, but a lot of them have also worked with my family.
I love to hear stories about when my dad [Leinenkugel’s president from 2014-22] worked in the business or my uncle or even my grandpa [longtime company president Bill Leinenkugel]. I have colleagues that knew my grandpa really well. This role comes with a lot of pride and obviously responsibility, but I’ve spent a lot of years at Molson Coors learning a lot of facets of the organization.
I assume it’s important to you to have leadership stay in the Leinenkugel family?
Absolutely. We’ve been leading the brewery and the brand for six generations. It’s been almost 160 years. So it’s been a privilege for sure getting it to where it is today. I don’t take it lightly. I just feel like every generation has stepped in when the time was right and they’ve built their own legacy as president. Hopefully I’ll get to leave my legacy as well the same way my uncle Jake did with some of our early craft beers and my dad did with Summer Shandy. I don’t know what beer that’s going to be for me yet, but I’m excited to be part of it.
In November 2024, Molson Coors announced it was moving large-scale brewing operations away from the historic Leinenkugel’s brewery in Chippewa Falls. How did the family handle those changes? I’m sure it was disappointing.
It was a difficult moment for our family and anybody who cares about Leinenkugel’s in general, including the Chippewa Falls community. That includes people from across the state and in the country who love Leinenkugel’s.
I think it’s important to note that we still have a really strong presence in Chippewa Falls, where there’s still a Leinie Lodge open every day. That’s our hub. That’s our mecca for welcoming people and getting Leinie’s fans together. It’s also important to note that we are still brewing beer in Chippewa Falls. We have an amazing pilot brewer in Jeff Rogers. He’s bringing new and exciting innovation beers to our drinkers every day, and some of the hibernated recipes that everybody continues to ask for.
We were also just named USA Today‘s No. 3 brewery tour in the nation. So a lot of great things are still happening in Chippewa Falls that I’m personally really proud of.
Where do you plan to take the brand?
There are two parts that are really important to me. It’s making sure that our loyal fans who have always loved Leinenkugel’s can still enjoy the beers that they know us for, like Leinenkugel’s Original. Leinenkugel’s Light, Northwoods Amber, Creamy Dark [now called Dark Lager] and Honey Weiss. I want them to enjoy those beers, but I also want to make sure that we continue to innovate. Innovation really is at the core of what we do. It’s in our DNA all the way back to my great-great-great-grandpa. You can see that at the Barrel Yard at American Family Field and the Leinie Lodge in Chippewa Falls where we’re brewing every day and getting direct feedback from our customers telling us what they want, what they love and what they’re looking for.
We’re excited to bring back fan favorites like Orange Shandy and introduce new beers like High Shore Shandy. I think innovation is so important. We need to stay true to loyal fans while also bringing in new ones with innovation.
What kind of obstacles do you need to overcome? The beer industry is not the easiest place to be right now, so what are the things that you need to address?
I think it’s the same challenge and maybe opportunity that any brewery has right now, staying relevant in a very crowded and dynamic landscape. This is certainly not the beverage industry that my grandpa Bill dealt, with and it’s not even the same dynamic that it was even three years ago. We know that drinkers are always exploring new beers and trying new things and wanting new flavors, and our job is just to make sure Leinenkugel’s continues to be part of those trends, approachable and fun, but also staying true to who we are.
How has Leinenkugel’s maintained its very distinct brand identity?
I think because Leinenkugel’s has always been about Wisconsin. That’s always been our brand identity. It’s always been at the core of who and what we are even six generations later. Our tagline right now is “To the Lake”, and it means everything. It means something different for everybody. It’s a mentality that is grounded in Wisconsin culture. So, I think it’s been really easy for us to remain who we are and be really authentic because we were literally born and raised in Wisconsin and haven’t strayed from that.
