Fresh is the word at La Crosse's best-kept secret: The Pearl Street Brewery! Located ninety minutes west of Madison on the Wisconsin bank of the Mighty Mississippi; Pearl Street's brewers are working day and night creating a keen variety of distinctive traditional and unique seasonal beers in the seven-barrel, subterranean brewhouse. Having their beer on tap at local pubs and restaurants within days, even hours, of it being finished is what fresh beer is all about! Using locally grown hops and healthy amounts of Wisconsin-malted grains seems to be what gives Pearl Street beers their distinctive character. It's the La Crosse-style zip that keeps the locals light-hearted and smiling! ;)

"We put not only such ingredients as barley and hops into our recipes, but we also believe that the addition of our pride, our wit and our integrity bestow our beers with the qualities we wish to be most notable" - Joseph Katchever, PSB Brewmaster.

Anticipation rose over the fourteen months it took for the design, building and construction of the Pearl Street Brewery. Downtown La Crosse was eager to boast it's own craft brewery! The brewkettle was finally fired up for the first time at the end of '99. Friends, family and brewers came from across the state and around the country to join in the celebration during PSB'S Grand Opening Party. La Crosse Mayor John Medinger tapped the inaugural keg in front of TV and newspaper reporters while the rest of the partygoers all toasted in their new Brewery!

After a little rest and rehabilitation, brewmaster Joe was back at work milling, mashing and fermenting night and day. Legend has it that the hairless brewer survived during this time only on Pearl Street's Pale Ale! Now, well over a year later, the barrels are a-rollin' out and the beer is beginning to make La Crosse famous!

*Just the Facts:*
Pearl Street Brewery is a seven-barrel brewery, each batch yielding about 220 gallons, or 14 kegs of beer. Each batch is meticulously handcrafted; meaning that no automation is used at the brewery, allowing the brewmaster to pay particular attention to each step of the brewing process. Each batch has to meet dozens of quality control parameters. This also means that a lot of hard work goes into each barrel we make. You may find our brewers hand-mixing a five-hundred gallon barley mash in the early morning hours or hand-filling kegs late into the night. Pearl Street Brewery uses only the finest malt and hops and purest yeast to produce beer; by hand, one batch at a time. No corn, rice, sugar or other cheap adjuncts are used to supplement these fresh ingredients.

Wisconsin malted barley and European specialty grains are milled and mashed at the brewery to start each new batch. After mashing, the spent grain is donated to a local farmer who uses it as nutritious animal feed at his organic cattle ranch. Farmer Rich says his cows love a hot meal!

Hops from many areas throughout the world are selected for their superior qualities and are used to give PSB beers their distinctive balance and character. Some of these hop varieties are farmed locally in Tomah and are grown exclusively for the Pearl Street Brewery. Only pure yeast strains have been chosen for fermentation. Used and surplus yeast, high in nutritional content, is often mixed with the spent grain to increase its nutritional value (you can find brewer's yeast at your local health-food store in the nutritional-supplement section).The Pearl Street Brewery produces no other significant byproducts. PSB beers are not pasteurized and contain no artificial colors or additives or preservatives. We don't use any non-biodegradable chemicals here.

"Furthermore, I view La Crosse, with all it's neighboring towns and villages, as a self-sustainable community and continue to support my area businesses."