From the ‘burbs of Milwaukee, Chicago to Wisconsin’s Northwoods

Rich Palzewic

Staff

July 7, 2025

WOODRUFF – Taking a leap of faith 10 years ago, Christie and Tyler Smith said, has paid off.

Though the owners of Rocky Reef Brewing Company – (1101 1st Ave.) in the Town of Woodruff – said it hasn’t always been easy, they are happy with how things are progressing at the North Central Wisconsin brewery.

“Looking back on things, it has been quite the journey,” Christie said. “No, it hasn’t always been easy, but when you think about being around for a decade, that’s a big deal. We celebrated our 10th anniversary [at the end of June] with a big celebration.”

With her growing up in the suburbs of Milwaukee and Tyler in the Chicago area, Christie said their tie to Woodruff is through her grandparents.

“My grandma and grandpa had a cottage on Trout Lake [north of Woodruff], so every summer growing up, we’d come up to the area,” she said. “The cabin was on Rocky Reef Lane, hence the name of the brewery. Right before we opened the brewery, my grandpa passed away, so the name is sentimental to us and fitting.”

From the ‘burbs to Woodruff

Christie said she and Tyler both graduated from the University of Iowa – where she studied business entrepreneurship – before “traveling all over the country.”

“I always knew I wanted to start my own business, but starting a brewery wasn’t quite on my radar at that point,” she laughed. “I took a bunch of different sales jobs, including in Newport Beach, California.”

Christie said that’s where they stumbled upon the craft beer scene.

From there, she said they bought a homebrewing kit to make their own beer.

“We aren’t unlike others in that way,” she said. “Whereas some people nowadays take brewing classes, that wasn’t us. After we made some of our own beer, we thought, ‘Dang, this is pretty good.’ One day after that, my husband said, ‘Do you want to start a brewery?’ As crazy as I thought my husband was, I was all in.”

But, there was one issue, Christie said.

“We quit our jobs and moved back home to Chicago and lived with Tyler’s parents,” she said. “We moved there because we wanted to save money – we had no money for anything. We worked on our business plan and our recipes.”

Christie said they ended up staying with Tyler’s parents for about three months.

“We had exhausted all of our resources, so then I approached my grandma,” she said. “That’s where the cabin came in – we lived there while we continued to work on our business plans and tried to figure out what was next.”

Christie said that’s when they stumbled across the building that currently houses Rocky Reef.

“We ended up moving forward with the building,” she said. “We were lucky enough that my dad bought the building. He said to us, ‘I’m not going to give you money, but I’ll invest in a property, and you can pay me rent.’”

From there, Christie said they spent all winter fixing up the property.

“The building had several uses before we remodeled it,” she said. “It was an auto repair shop in the 1980s, a mattress store and then a Snap Fitness right before we moved in.”

In the beginning, Christie said she and Tyler worked other jobs to help finance renovations.

“My husband worked part-time at UPS doing deliveries, because we were still trying to make [ends meet],” she said. “I bartended, and in 2015, we were ready to rumble.”

Christie said she also sold her car to help finance Rocky Reef’s first brewing system.

“It was called the Sabco Brew Magic, and it only brewed 15 gallons at a time,” she laughed. “We were brewing basically nonstop. We started with the Brew Magic, and we slowly started making money. We read every book on the market, and we found out you can actually get used dairy equipment and convert it into brewing equipment for a lot cheaper.”

Christie said a trip to Green Bay accomplished that mission.

“We bought some bigger, newer equipment, and that turned into us eventually buying new, state-of-the-art, nice stuff,” she said. “It was a slow stepping stone to get to where we are today. We had to make do with what was available at the time and slowly grow. We can now brew 450 gallons at a time.”

Christie said sometimes entrepreneurs need a few breaks along the way – “we’ve gotten a few.”

“I can’t thank our parents and my grandparents enough,” she said. “Without their help and support, I’m not sure Rocky Reef would have started or lasted this long.”

Though an adjustment at first, Christie said she and Tyler have come to love the slice of Wisconsin they call home.

“We are loving it,” she said. “I would say at first it was an adjustment, because when I came up in the summer for vacation, I would see Minocqua most of the time. When we brought our business to Woodruff, we didn’t really know what Woodruff was like.”

Christie said the people in Woodruff love the fact that they chose to plant roots in the town.

“We’re embracing it,” she said. “We love to go fishing, ice fishing, snowmobiling and hiking. Everybody is so friendly, and we love raising our family here.”

10 years in business

From humble beginnings and brewing 15 gallons at a time, Christie said, today, things are going well.

She said she and Tyler are fortunate to have a great staff, which has contributed to the brewery’s success.

“The staff has been extremely supportive because I like to be a part-time, stay-at-home mom, too,” she said. “We have really good employees and a great customer base. I think we’re [selling our beer] in seven Kwik Trips now – that’s mind-blowing to think about. We just signed on with a new distributor, so now we’re in about 350 locations across the State of Wisconsin.”

A trademark of craft breweries, Christie said, is having unique names and artwork for its brews – and Rocky Reef is no exception to that.

“Our flagship beer is Musky Bite – [which is] super unique because it was the first beer we brewed up here,” she said. “Ironically, it was our first brew, and now it’s our flagship – everybody wants it. It’s a West Coast IPA, and we use a lot of New Zealand hops in that one, so mosaic and Simcoe hops. It gives you that fruity floral taste but also a nice bitter bite – a musky bite – at the end.”

According to Rocky Reef’s website (rockyreefbrewing.com), other popular beers include Cloud Snacks, A Big Red Hen, Staycation, A Northwoods 10 and Smash Barn.

As for the brewery’s space, Christie said it’s more than just beer at Rocky Reef.

“We have a large beer garden in front of the building, and we have live music every Friday and Saturday,” she said. “We have a food truck every Friday and Saturday, as well. This time of the year, we have live music all week because… it’s a tourist town. Guests are welcome to bring their own food, and we’re dog- and kid-friendly.”

Christie said for now, it’s status quo for Rocky Reef.

“Things change over time, so we have to adjust and adapt somewhat,” she said. “We will always stay true to our roots and brew beer, but we’re looking at possibly doing some sort of CBD nonalcoholic seltzer or maybe mushroom-infused stuff. It’s definitely something to keep an eye on. There is a fine balance between chasing a trend but staying true to your roots – finding that balance is the key.”

Now that the Smiths have bought the building from Christie’s parents, she said it’s a full-circle moment.

“My parents come up all the time,” she said. “It’s a cool thing to say we now own the brewery all by ourselves.”

Check out Rocky Reef Brewing Company’s website or Facebook page for more details.