The Sand Creek Brewing Company began on a dairy farm in Downing, Wisconsin, about 20 miles northwest of the city of Menomonie. After homebrewing on the family farm for years, homebrewer Cory Schroeder teamed up with Jim Wiesender to found the brewery in 1999. Using equipment scrounged from various industries, such as a converted pudding tank for the brew kettle, the pair launched a successful business, brewing the beer just steps away from the chicken coop and a busy dairy farm. Their Sand Creek Golden Ale and English Style Special Ale, available only on draft and in half-gallon growlers, soon developed a reputation throughout Wisconsin's many brew fests. With a capacity of only about 150 barrels per year, the brewery, now with a third owner on board, quickly outgrew the little farm shed converted into a brewhouse. Hoping to remain in the Dunn/St. Croix counties area, the company looked for a suitable place to relocate, but came up empty handed. Then opportunity knocked in the form of a phone call one evening from their friend in Black River Falls, Pioneer brewing's brewmaster Todd Krueger. The brewery was for sale. In March of 2004 the combined forces of the two breweries officially formed the new Sand Creek Brewing Co. of Black River Falls, Wisconsin.