The mysterious Melanie Brewing Company is headquartered in Gary, Indiana, and was established around 2005. It is unclear when, exactly, because the company has no website and its Facebook page provides little information. But, some things are known: 1.) Melanie Brewing was named after Melanie Sever, one of the private firm's owners, 2.) all brewing for the company is done at City Brewery in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, and 3.) City Brewery and Melanie Brewing are NOT the same company, as some internet websites allege. I know this because I personally contacted City Brewery (LaCrosse branch), and they said that they were a "co-packager" with Melanie Brewing and that they "contract-brewed" their beer brands for them.
Melanie Brewing (according to Beer Advocate) currently owns these 21 brands: Beer 30, Beer 30 Ice, Beer 30 Light (their most widespread and popular offering), Evil Eye, Evil Eye Ice, Evil Eye Sour Green Apple, Four O Ice Malt Liquor, Jack Hammer High Gravity Malt Liquor, Jaguar High Gravity Lager, Jaguar Ice, Lost Lake Ice, Lost Lake Naturally Brewed Pilsner, M-X, M-X Ice, Milwaukee Special Reserve, Milwaukee Special Reserve Ice, Milwaukee Special Reserve Light, Minnesota's Brew Northern Lager, Nighthawk Premium Malt Liquor, Wild Cat Ice, and Wild Cat Malt Liquor. In addition, Melanie Brewing has recently acquired the rights to brew the venerable budget beer, Wiedemann Bohemian Special Fine Beer.
These beers are all positioned at the rock-bottom, budget price point, and one will find these mostly at lower-end gas stations, liquor stores, and supermarkets. This author has only sampled Beer 30 Ice, Beer 30 Light, Nighthawk Premium Malt Liquor, M-X Ice, and Four O. I found all of them to be substandard products. However, some, like the M-X Ice, tended to be much better than one would expect. Although these products exist at the absolute bottom end of the American beer world, they do have their place, and they are apparently successful products for the Melanie Brewing Company.
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