alcoholic beverage founded 1857 headquarters stevens point wisconsin united states products beer website http www.pointbeer.com stevens point brewery is a regional american brewery located in stevens point wisconsin . the brewery is the fifth oldest privately owned brewery in the nation . 1 the company s sales volume places it 50th in the nation among all brewing companies in the nation as of 2009 . 2 contents 1 history 2 brands 2.1 alcoholic beverages 2.2 gourmet sodas 3 references 4 external links history edit the company was founded in 1857 by george ruder and frank wahle . in 1864 the company provided its beer to the troops during the american civil war . the brewery was subsequently sold to andrew and jacob lutz in 1867 . the lutz family continued operations until it was sold to gustav kuenzel in 1897 . the company was then organized as the gustav kuenzel brewing company in 1901 . the following year it was renamed the stevens point brewing company . ludwig korfman purchased a controlling interest in the company in 1924 and reorganized the company as the stevens point beverage company . the company faced local competition from the mid 1860s through the prohibition era of the 1920s when the remaining competition went out of business . 3 during the 1950s the brewery began using cans in production . in 1973 point special brand beer was rated the top american beer in a taste test as reported by mike royko a prominent columnist for the chicago daily news . by the 1970s the company was owned by felix and ken shibilski . in 1990 the company first began selling its product outside wisconsin in illinois indiana michigan and minnesota . in 1992 the shibilskis sold the company to chicago based barton beers ltd. the new ownership was unique for barton in that point beer was its only domestic product line with all of its other offerings being imports . the company planned to tie sales to its mexican brand corona but when that brand s sales exploded the point brand became a distraction . in 2002 the company was sold back to wisconsin ownership by milwaukee based real estate developers joe martino and jim wiechmann . 1 that same year the company introduced gourmet sodas to its beverage list . 4 in 2003 point special won the gold medal at the great american beer festival in the premium lager category . 4 that same year the company bought the augsburger brand from stroh brewery company . in 2005 the company bought four beer brands from the james page brewing company . 5 by 2008 the company s products were distributed to 18 different states . 4 for nearly 20 years the company brewed and bottled karl strauss brewing company brands until production was moved in january 2009 . 6 brands edit 7 alcoholic beverages edit point special lager point classic amber point cascade pale ale point belgian white wheat ale point onyx black ale point three kings kolsh style ale point nude beach summer wheat point oktoberfest point st. benedict s winter ale point drop dead blonde point beyond the pale ipa whole hog raspberry saison whole hog russian imperial stout whole hog six hop india pale ale ipa whole hog scotch ale whole hog barley wine style ale whole hog pumpkin ale jp casper white stout jp yabba dhabba chai tea porter jp ould sod irish red india pale ale ipa jp accapella gluten free pale ale ciderboys first press ciderboys magic apple ciderboys peach county ciderboys raspberry smash ciderboys cranberry road ciderboys mad bark baraboo brewing company brand beers produced for hy vee supermarkets . 8 woodpecker wheat lumberjack ipa red granite lager snow drift black ipa bonfire m rzen former production point bock occasionally brought back into production temporarily point holiday beer 1935 1940 prize beer 1935 1940 big charlie beer 1937 1944 amber prize beer 1939 1950 karl strauss brewing company brands 1989 2009 6 gourmet sodas edit point premium root beer point premium diet root beer point premium vanilla cream soda point premium black cherry cream soda point premium orange cream soda point premium kitty cocktail soda references edit a b point beverage sale part of brand strategy . biztimes.com . march 15 2002 . retrieved 2009 05 03 . brewers association announces the top 50 breweries . draft magazine . april 14 2010 . archived from the original on june 23 2010 . retrieved 2010 07 20 . stevens point brewers of the past . malcolm rosholt online archives . retrieved 2010 07 20 . a b c history . pointbeer.com . retrieved 2010 07 20 . stevens point buys james page brands . highbeam.com . retrieved 2010 07 20 . a b for karl strauss it s all home brew . signon san diego . retrieved 2010 07 20 . brews . stevens point brewery . retrieved 2009 05 03 . nason adam . hy vee gets its own private label brand baraboo brewing co. . beerpulse . retrieved 24 october 2014 . external links edit stevens point brewery website coordinates 44 30 37.65 n 89 34 32.78 w 44.5104583 n 89.5757722 w 44.5104583 ; 89.5757722 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title stevens point brewery & oldid 737603854 categories stevens point wisconsincompanies based in wisconsinbeer brewing companies based in wisconsinbeer in wisconsinbottling companiesamerican soft drinkshidden categories coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 3 september 2016 at 22 31 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view