Tap into Luxembourg heritage with brews
Thousands of Luxembourgers can’t be wrong. That’s the theory behind Kate Ansay’s beer adventure. With no experience in beer distribution or selling, Ansay began importing Bofferding beer to Wisconsin, where a groundswell of residents have ties to the small European country.
“There are more Luxembourg-Americans than there are Luxembourgers in Luxembourg,” said Ansay, whose full-time job is commercial and residential development but is also international operations director of Ansay International.
In the 1800s, an estimated 87,000 Luxembourg residents left their small country — tucked between Belgium, Germany and France — to settle in America, said Sara Jacoby, executive director of the Luxembourg American Culture Society in Belgium, Wis.
Thousands remain rooted in Wisconsin around Belgium, Fredonia, Port Washington and Random Lake.
Ansay’s family built a relationship with the country — with a current population hovering just over 500,000 — partly because of their Luxembourg heritage but also because of the annual Luxembourg Fest, held in Belgium. George Lentz, chief executive officer of the family-owned Bofferding Brewery flew his beer to the site.
“That started it,” said Ansay, a glass of the brewery’s Pilsner in front of her, while sitting at Cafe Benelux, a Third Ward restaurant specializing in food and beer from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
“They were the very first (to sell Bofferding),” Ansay said of the Lowlands Group, which owns Cafe Benelux. Glasses of the Bofferding Triple Ale made their way to the table
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A TASTE OF LUXEMBOURG
The Luxembourg American Cultural Society & Center, 100 Peter Thein Ave., Belgium, will hold a tasting of Bofferding brews from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday. It will pour samples of the brewery’s Pilsner, Triple Ale and Fruit Ale.
as she talked.
Ansay was already knee-deep in Bofferding when she brought Lentz to the restaurant when he visited Milwaukee last summer. Bofferding began providing the beer on draft and in bottles.
The Benelux visit was followed by one to Draft & Vessel, 4417 N. Oakland Ave., Shorewood.
The process of bringing the beer to the United States started with small shipments and a big learning curve.
For instance, Miami University in Ohio has the largest student exchange program with the country of Luxembourg. It was natural to get Bofferding into retailers around the campus. Except that required details that Ansay perhaps hadn’t considered, such as permits to cross state lines, access to refrigerated trucks and import licenses.
“We got kicked in the teeth a few times,” she said.
Ansay now works with a family-run distribution company in Sheboygan to get Bofferding to the masses. She also works with Beer Capitol Distributing in Sussex.
Ansay and her team show up at craft beer festivals, special tastings and other events to get the word out about the beer. But that won’t be the only thing she plans to import from the affluent country.
She hopes to expand her portfolio of Luxembourg beverages and is working with Vinsmoselle wines. Look for those in spring.