If you’ve ever driven through La Crosse, Wisconsin, and caught a whiff of fermenting hops in the air, you’ve probably also spotted the reason: six enormous steel tanks towering 54 feet over 3rd Street, painted to look exactly like a giant six-pack of beer cans. Welcome to the World’s Largest Six-Pack — one of the Midwest’s most delightfully absurd (and totally real) roadside attractions.
How Six Beer Tanks Became a Global Icon
Back in 1969, the G. Heileman Brewing Company was cranking out so much Old Style Lager that it needed somewhere to put it all. The solution: six massive 54-foot storage tanks built right across the street from the brewery. That alone wouldn’t have made headlines — but in 1970, someone at Heileman had a stroke of marketing genius (or maybe just one too many taste tests) and decided to paint the tanks to look like giant cans of Old Style.
The result was an instant classic. Postcards of the World’s Largest Six-Pack circulated far beyond Wisconsin, and the attraction became a must-see stop for road-trippers, college students, and beer lovers passing through the Driftless region.
Just How Big Is It?
These aren’t just tall — they’re functional. Unlike some novelty landmarks that are purely decorative, this six-pack actually holds beer. Collectively, the tanks can store roughly 688,000 gallons of beer. To put that in perspective, that’s enough suds for one very committed person to enjoy a proper six-pack every single day for over 3,300 years. Bottoms up, indeed.
A Six-Pack With a Few Costume Changes
Like any good icon, the World’s Largest Six-Pack has been through some rebrands:
1970–1999: Proudly wore its original Old Style Lager labels.
2000: After Heileman closed and City Brewing Company took over, the tanks were whitewashed — a sad, blank chapter in six-pack history.
2003: City Brewing wrapped four of the six tanks in vinyl “La Crosse Lager” labels, giving the landmark a fresh (if slightly less iconic) look.
2023: In a beer-lover’s dream comeback, Pabst Brewing announced Old Style production was returning to La Crosse — and the tanks got a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate their return to the original Old Style look.
Old Style, as it turns out, isn’t just “Chicago’s beer” — it was actually born in La Crosse.
Wait — Isn’t There One in Buffalo Too?
Beer trivia fans, don’t @ us — yes, Buffalo, New York has its own giant Labatt six-pack, and technically those “cans” are even taller (100 feet vs. La Crosse’s 54 feet). But here’s the catch: Buffalo’s version is made of decorated grain silos that don’t hold a drop of liquid. La Crosse’s six-pack is the real deal — actual tanks, actually full of actual beer. Size isn’t everything, folks.
Planning Your Visit
You’ll find the World’s Largest Six-Pack at 1106 3rd Street S., La Crosse, WI, right across from City Brewing Company’s facility. It’s free to view, always Instagram-ready, and conveniently located near another only-in-Wisconsin landmark: a 15-foot statue of Gambrinus, the mythical “King of Beer,” hoisting a golden goblet across the street.
Pro tip: if you’re planning your trip around Oktoberfest season, La Crosse throws a legendary celebration every fall — the perfect excuse to toast the world’s most drinkable landmark.
The Bottom Line
Whether you’re a beer history nerd, a roadside attraction collector, or just someone who appreciates a good pun-worthy photo op, the World’s Largest Six-Pack is peak Americana: equal parts absurd, impressive, and genuinely beloved by the city it calls home. Next time you’re cruising through western Wisconsin, pull over, crack a metaphorical cold one, and pay your respects to the six-pack that’s been quietly outdrinking us all since 1969.
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