La Crosse, Wisconsin -
World's Largest Six Pack and Gambrinus, King of Beer

You can't keep a good roadside attraction down! The World's Largest Six-Pack has risen anew. Once painted in the colors of Heileman's "Old Style Lager" beer, the six aging tanks that make up the six pack were painted over following the closure of the brewery back in 2001.

Since then, the brewery was reopened by a group of investors/entrepreneurs and renamed the "City Brewing Company." Sleeves, painted to look like the label of City Brewing Company's "La Crosse Lager" beer, have been placed on four of the six aging tanks that make up the "six-pack". So now you have not only the World's Largest Six-pack, but also the World's Largest Koozies!

Oh, yeah. The statue of Gambrinus still stands at the brewery, across the street from the six-pack. And free tours of the brewery (including sampling of the finished product) leave from the hospitality center, 1/2 block south of the six-pack. [Bill Scheitzach, 03/10/2009]

Since the Heileman Brewery, La Crosse, Wisconsin, was sold in 1999, the half-dozen adjacent whitewashed storage tanks could hardly be called a tourist attraction, though for three previous decades they had been known as the World's Largest Six Pack. On Friday, Sept.... [09/23/2003] Complete News Story

Yes, sadly, the Heileman's plant in La Crosse closed in 1999. However, after the purchase of the name by Stroh's and then Miller, the disused plant was purchased by the city of La Crosse... and now the city is in charge of brewing the beer. They have resurrected the original name of the Brewery - "City Brewery" - and continue to produce hand-crafted beers. As of yet the Six-Pack stands white... but maybe soon it will be "City Lager" or "La Crosse Lager"... two beers which taste suspiciously like Old Style and Special Export.

And now the City Brewery is the main sponsor of La Crosse's Oktoberfest... September 28th through October 6th, at the South Side and North Side Festival Grounds. Live music, games (Olympic Beer Games and the Keg Toss are my favourites), lots of fried cheese... a good time for all. [James L. Williamson, 10/06/2001]

Since G. Heileman (which was a subsidiary of Stroh's Brewing) was closed about a year or so ago, the tanks which made up the Sixpack have been repainted. They are now a non-descript white, although the job was incomplete and there are still signs of their former glory showing through. But for all practical purposes, another roadside attraction has bitten the dust. [Bill Scheitzach, 04/03/2001]

[RA: We have a report from "Andy" that the statue of Gambrinus, beer god, still stands. ]