MillerCoors names Dick Leinenkugel to head ‘craft’ division
Dick Leinenkugel has been named business development manager for Tenth and Blake Beer Co., the “craft” brewing unit of MillerCoors.
Leinenkugel previously served as an executive with Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee, and the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., a Chippewa Falls-based beer brewer founded by his family and purchased by Miller in 1988.
But most recently, Leinenkugel has been in the political arena, serving as secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Commerce from 2008 until resigning from the post in April. He made a brief run for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate before dropping out.
Leinenkugel will work out of Tenth and Blake’s Milwaukee office. Chicago-based MillerCoors created Tenth and Blake earlier this year to manage its craft beer brands like Leinenkugel’s and Blue Moon. The name refers to the company’s Milwaukee brewery at 1515 N. 10th St., where some Leinenkugel craft beers are made, and to Blake Street in Denver, where MillerCoors’ Blue Moon Brewing Co. is located.