‘Brewing up a storm on the lakeshore’

Rich Palzewic

Staff

August 11, 2025

KEWAUNEE – Chris Schroeder said he can thank a business trip to England 25 years ago for the roots of his love of homebrewing craft beer.

Schroeder, the owner of Kewaunee’s Lake Whispers Brewing, said he always wanted to start his own brewery, and his dream has finally come to fruition.

“It’s never going to be anything huge, but homebrewing has always been a passion of mine,” he said. “When I was in England on that business trip 25 years ago, there wasn’t much of a craft beer scene in the United States at the time. When I returned home from that trip, I decided I should start brewing some of my own beer.”

During the last 25 years, Schroeder said he’s brewed up all kinds of different types.

“I also had the opportunity to volunteer at Badger State Brewing for five years, making some of their pilot brews,” he said. “After I stopped doing that in 2020, I knew I wanted to make this a full-time gig [myself].”

After recently retiring from Paper Converting, Schroeder said there was no better time than the present to start Lake Whispers Brewing.

“Lake Whispers Brewing is strictly going to be small batches,” he said. “I’m contracting through Noble Roots Brewing Company in Green Bay for some help in manufacturing and packaging. I don’t see us ever getting very big – this is my hobby, my passion and my retirement gig.”

A little help along the way

Schroeder said so far, he has brewed three Lake Whispers Brewing beers with Noble Roots’ help.

He said several Northeast Wisconsin breweries got their start with the help of bigger craft breweries in the area – much like Noble Roots is doing for him.

“I’m trying to follow their business guidelines, as well and learn from them,” Schroeder said.

As far as beer recipes go, Schroeder said he’s probably created more than 20.

“The first beer we brewed [at Noble Roots] was called Feisty Waters Witbier, which is very similar to Blue Moon, except we Americanized it by taking out their Belgian yeast and replacing it with a hazy IPA (India Pale Ale) yeast,” he said. “That made for a very flavorful, fruity beer.”

Schroeder said they brewed up 10 barrels of Feisty Waters, and it’s currently sold out.

“There are maybe a few customers or clients who still have it on tap yet, but it was a very successful opener for us,” he said.

The second of Lake Whispers Brewing’s brews, Schroeder said, is called BB-64.

“It’s a traditional English India Pale Ale,” he said. “It was brewed to honor the USS Wisconsin. India Pale Ales originated in the 18th and 19th centuries when the British transported them across the seas to their colonies. Like the India Pale Ales back then, BB-64 was brewed with bold hop bitterness of 64 International Bittering Units [IBUs], starting with Warrior boil hops in honor of our United States military.”

Schroeder said there is also a splash of sea salt in the BB-64.

“It’s a very drinkable, smooth IPA,” he said. “The BB-64 is selling very well, and all of our customers who have it on tap are doing a great job with it. Not everybody likes an IPA, but we’ve even had customers who are not IPA fans let us know they like it.”

The third beer in Lake Whispers Brewing’s collection – It’s a Wisconsin Thing – Schroeder said, was released at the end of July.

“We’re hoping It’s a Wisconsin Thing will be what I call our sustainable beer, where we can produce it continuously,” he said. “We brewed 15 barrels of that, and 10 of those are getting canned. The remaining five barrels are already sold out. I think we’re gaining in popularity now.”

Schroeder said It’s a Wisconsin Thing is Lake Whispers Brewing’s spin on an American wheat beer.

“We added an ample dose of honey malt for some sweetness, late kettle orange/tangerine forward hops and brewed it as a low ABV (alcohol by volume) lager, creating a nice, flavorful, crisp, easy drinking wheat beer,” he said. “You can find It’s a Wisconsin Thing at many of our regular locations where our beer is on tap.”

Schroeder said he also has plans to release an Oktoberfest beer this fall.

“We are mostly just on tap right now,” he said. “The only thing we canned was one barrel of BB-64 and the 10 barrels of It’s a Wisconsin Thing. In some of the smaller establishments that only have three or four taps, they currently don’t have an opening to put one of our beers on tap. We’re going to reach out to those folks and see if they’re interested in selling our canned beer.”

A man with a ‘business’ plan

Though brewing has always been an interest of his, Schroeder said his main goal in starting Lake Whispers Brewing was to give back to the City of Kewaunee.

“My goal is not to make a huge income off of this,” he said. “We want to help the community of Kewaunee, so if we’re making a big profit on things, it’s going to go back to the community. We’ve already got things targeted, including helping our local veteran’s group from the BB-64.”

Schroeder said the BB-64 is a “very special beer to him” for another reason.

“My folks recently passed away, within days of each other,” he said. “My dad was a U.S. Navy veteran of the Korean War, and he happened to pass away the day we brewed the BB-64. He passed away in the morning, and I knew my dad would want me to continue with this, so we brewed the BB-64 batch in the evening that same day.”

Schroeder said the examples of community give back won’t stop there.

“Other examples might include the athletic booster club and the lighthouse project,” he said. “Eventually, I still want to create our own little brewery, but it will not have capital – we want our customers to be the capital. We want businesses in Kewaunee to benefit from it and sell our beer. We’re hoping businesses jump in and join us with this.”

Schroeder said he calls the effort “brewing up a storm on the lakeshore.”

“Kewaunee has lagged a bit in the economy as far as the lakeshore goes,” he said. “If you look up and down the lakeshore, you can see Kewaunee is lagging. We’re seeing sparks and some recent growth, we’re seeing more visitors and we’re seeing people who enjoy the charm. We want to add to that component. I’m fulfilling my passion for brewing, and I’m fulfilling a passion for helping out the community.”

For more information on Lake Whispers Brewing, find it on Facebook.