Eau Claire middle schooler is state’s queen Civics Bee
A corn-fusing experience that’s a-maze-ing
March 17, 2025
WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN – With its recent move into the Eau Claire/Hudson markets, Marketing and Events Director Jen Radloff said Green Bay-based Badger State Brewing Company’s beer is now available in 70 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.
“With now being available in western Wisconsin, we’re only missing Douglas and Bayfield counties (in northwestern Wisconsin),” she said. “We just launched into the Eau Claire/Hudson markets with (distributor) Lee Beverage in February.”
Radloff said the plan is to eventually hit all 72 Wisconsin counties.
“I was just recently chatting with my sales team about that,” she said. “I was gauging their thoughts and getting feedback about those areas. I know it’s something we’re working on, but I think it all just depends on distribution partners. It requires us to get different sorts of relationships kicked off, but my assumption and knowledge from everybody is we want to eventually be available statewide – totally.”
The move west
With Badger State getting its start about a dozen years ago, Radloff said the company’s growth has been strategic and intentional in nature.
Though it’s possible Badger State could have gone statewide right off the bat, she said she doesn’t think that would have been a good idea.
“There are several factors (involved in expansion), and one of those is the ability to produce enough product,” she said. “Unless you’re self-distributing, you have to work with a distribution partner and need to have a certain amount of product to realistically expand.”
Right out the gate, Badger State probably could have tried to get into all of Wisconsin, but Radloff said “it wouldn’t have been able to satisfy orders to sustain that growth.”
“It probably would have ended up killing our opportunity with a lot of those accounts,” she said.
When opening up in a new area, Radloff said you need to have a presence – both before and after opening.
“You need to have somebody – not only your distribution partner – in the area,” she said. “We want to also make sure we have somebody directly on our team from Badger State who can make it out to western Wisconsin. Because we’re so far away, it’s not an area we can drive to on a Tuesday night to have a beverage.”
Radloff said because Eau Claire is about a three-hour drive from Green Bay, oftentimes, other business was planned in the area at the same time.
“We wanted to make sure we had people who could take the time to go out there and kickstart everything – you have to start relationships with those accounts, and a lot of that starts by frequenting them and giving them business,” she said.
In its 12 years of operation, Radloff said Badger State has upgraded its facilities several times, making the move out west possible.
“With our brewing equipment, we’ve upgraded and got additional tanks three different times,” she said. “Now I feel like we finally have the capacity to expand throughout the whole state.”
Radloff said Badger State beer is in various markets in the Eau Claire/Hudson area.
“Not every account, not every bar or not every restaurant is going to bring in our product,” she said. “That’s the same for any brewery out there. In a perfect world, they would, but establishments only have so many draft lines, and the capacity to bring in so many different canned products in their coolers.”
Radloff said it depends on what the clientele in a particular area wants.
“We’re in a mixture of bars, restaurants and grocery stores,” she said. “We always tell people who are in Wisconsin if they don’t see us at their favorite liquor store, bar or restaurant, to let those establishments know so they can talk to their distribution representative. Bars and restaurants work closely with the distribution companies in those areas, and they can request to get our product in.”
Radloff said so far, the feedback they’ve gotten from the area in regard to expanding distribution to Wisconsin’s West Coast has been positive.
“We sent a few members of our team to Eau Claire for about a week last month, and it was great,” she said. “It’s a great area and market, and we’ve heard things are going really well.”
Though the brewery covers almost the entire state, Radloff said that doesn’t mean Badger State will be expanding outside of state lines anytime soon.
“We always used to say we wanted to be a destination brewery – kind of like what New Glarus did for the longest time when it was only available in Wisconsin,” she said. “Let’s get people to come to Wisconsin. We’ve got a lot of great experiences for people, whether it’s hiking, seeing the landscape and natural resources or coming to visit our major cities.”
Radloff said the goal – “at least for now” – is to keep Badger State beer strictly in Wisconsin.
“I suppose that could change in the future, but it has not been in talks for anytime soon,” she said. “If people (out of state) want our beer, we simply encourage them to check us out when (they) are in Wisconsin.”
A bit of history
Like many breweries, Radloff said Badger State started small and grew from there.
“I’d say 99% of breweries start with someone homebrewing their own beer, and we are no exception,” she said.
According to its website (badgerstatebrewing.com), since opening in 2013, Badger State has churned out hundreds of varieties of beer and now offers hard seltzers, ciders and more.
The facilities have grown over the years, too.
Radloff said Badger State currently has a tap room, real grass beer garden, wedding and event hall, production facility and barrel aging warehouse.
According to its website, Badger State was the first brewery to open in the Lambeau Field Stadium District in early 2013 and includes 15,000 square feet of brewing space, as well as an event hall capable of hosting up to 750 visitors.
Radloff said Andrew Fabry (co-founder, president/CEO), Sam Yanda (co-founder) and Mike Servi (co-founder) were the brains behind the beginning of the business.
“I think all three have done a fabulous job with the brewery and building it to where it is today,” she said.
2025 NFL Draft
With the 2025 NFL Draft just around the corner, Radloff said Badger State is “honored to host a special collaborative beer being produced for the draft.”
“We’re the brewery that is brewing and canning the collaborative beer,” she said. “We partnered with nine local breweries. We got approached by the City of Green Bay because they are putting on a two-day music festival downtown at Leicht Memorial Park during the draft, and they wanted to have a limited edition beer showcasing what the craft beer scene in Green Bay has to offer.”
Radloff said the limited edition beer, 8th Round Downtown, is a pale ale.
She said the artwork on the can was created by Wade Marks with Printed Productions and adapted to a can by her.
“I do work with our can art a bit, whether it’s just voicing different things that are needed or designing cans myself,” she said. “Wade was the brains behind it from printed productions, and I just helped convert the elements into an actual template that would work for a can label.”
