Dick Leinenkugel, who led his family-founded Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. to an audience of drinkers across the country via the massive hit Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, will retire at the end of 2022 after serving eight years as president of the brewery.
Leinenkugel, 64, will pass the baton to his nephew and sixth-generation Leinenkugel, Tony Bugher, who will be charged with steering the 155-year-old Chippewa Falls, Wis., brewery into its next chapter.
Bugher, 45, joined Molson Coors at his uncle’s urging in 2014 and has progressed through several roles in the company, including craft and import manager, field marketing manager and senior distributor sales executive. He recently took over as associate marketing manager for Leinenkugel’s, where he works on sales and distributor engagement and branded partnerships and is overseeing the installation of a new pilot brewery in Chippewa Falls that’s slated to come online this spring.