World's Largest Six Pack, and the King of Beer (In Transition)

La Crosse, Wisconsin

In 1969 the G. Heileman Brewery built six 54-foot-tall storage tanks at its plant in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Whether by design or a bolt of inspiration, the tanks were painted a year later to resemble cans of Heileman's Old Style Lager beer, and the sextet was proclaimed the "World's Largest Six Pack." Images of the sixer traveled the globe on postcards sold in the Heileman gift shop, which was part of the brewery tour.

Thirty years later, however, the brewery was sold. The tanks were painted white -- a poor job, with the Old Style Lager labels still visible underneath. It took three years for the new owners to realize that a six pack of giant cans was a superior architectural gag. So in 2003 they brought back the World's Largest Six Pack, with a new brand of giant beer -- La Crosse Lager -- to advertise.

It's an imperfect sequel, as sequels often are. The new labels are wallpapered on, not painted, which makes it a somewhat lazy claim to fame (although certainly better than an inflatable). And the brewery now makes tea, soda, and energy drinks as well as beer. The World's Largest Six Pack might not even be filled with suds on the day that you visit.

Still, it definitely looks like a giant six pack of beer, and a helpful sign in front says that it would fill over 7 million twelve-ounce cans, which "would provide one person a six-pack a day for 3,351 years."

Old Style sixer, 1985.

Adding to the atmosphere is a colorful statue of Gambrinus, "King of Beer," who stands across the street hoisting a golden goblet of ale. An accompanying plaque, green with age (and still bearing the logo of Heileman's Old Style Lager), calls Gambrinus, "a valiant soldier of the 15th century" and credits him with inventing beer. Gambrinus stands 15 feet tall, with one foot propped on a keg, his eyes goggled in awe of his towering neighbor.

The King was built by unknown beer craftsmen in 1890 and moved here in 1939 from a brewery in New Orleans that went out of business during Prohibition. In March 2015 his sword arm was unintentionally torn off by three unbalanced drunks posing for a late-night photo -- the horror was captured on CCTV footage. The old King, who was made of cement and weighed a ton, was removed in April 2015, and his body parts were used to create an exact fiberglass replica. The new Gambrinus was returned to his original spot in July 2017.

While the King makes a worthy photo-op, the real reason to come here has always been the Six Pack, once again a source of pride for La Crosse, and a mandatory stop for any college road trip through Wisconsin.