The Beer Geeks Take Madison: Madison and Great Taste of the Midwest

I went to Madison looking for hookers and meth.

The brewers kept the hookers busy all weekend, so that was a no go.

And I found something worse than meth:

Cheese curds.

Given that I was in Madison for the Great Taste of the Midwest beer festival, you would think I would have gotten sick on the massive consumption of beer that I was destined to participate in. On the contrary, it was the massive amount of cheese that I consumed on Friday that left me in pain Friday night. I warn you, if you plan on making a trip to Madison, beware the squeaky cheese.

(For the record, the best deep fried cheese curds that I had were at the Old Fashioned bar and restaurant. Add some Sriracha sauce on top of them, and you will have a flavor explosion in your mouth.)


If you are able to control your consumption of cheese, the next thing you should be warned of is the massive amount of quality beer that you have available for you. And I’m not just talking about the Great Taste. Our drinking explorations consisted of downtown Madison and the stretch of State Street that connects to the University of Wisconsin.

Every establishment in that area has good beer. EVERY ESTABLISHMENT. You don’t have to search out good beer; good beer finds you. Good beer is the Chuck Norris of Madison.

Breakfast at Marigold Kitchen? Good beer was there!

Late night at a hole in the wall dive bar called Paradise? Good beer was there!


Wasting time in the hotel bar? GOOD BEER WAS THERE!

You would have to look hard in Madison to find a bar that serves nothing but the swill you find at most bars in Indianapolis and the rest of Indiana. To me, that is just impressive.

And many places have beer menus that are longer than their wine lists, which is a nice change. The Old Fashioned, aside from making great old fashioneds, has dozens of taps of Wisconsin beers plus a hundred or more bottled beers. The Coopers Tavern, aside from having an excellent gastropub food menu, also has plenty of beers for your enjoyment. And the Great Dane makes some stellar English-style ales for their four locations.


Madison can definitely be enjoyed on non-Great Taste weekends.

But if you are up for Great Taste, make sure you go out and enjoy the Friday night brewery events. These mini-beer festivals give you the opportunity to try different breweries and the variety of beers they bring. Drinking the bourbon barrel beers from Central Waters and the Key Lime Pie beer from Short's stands out in my mind.

There is a lot to enjoy in and around Madison and I would recommend it to everyone. Even if you don’t have Great Taste tickets, going up that weekend would be entertaining with the pre- and post-festival parties.

Plus, you might find an old Englishman selling tickets right outside the festival gate.



I've been looking forward to the Great Taste for so long. I've tried for three years before this year to get tickets in the online ticket lottery, but I never had any luck. I was just so focused on the beer fest, and I didn't expect anything from the city of Madison. That was a huge mistake on my part.

The city of Madison has such a great vibe. We stayed right on the square overlooking the beautiful state capital building. My first experience was at the Great Dane pub just off of downtown. I've never seen another brewpub brew so many beers. I think they had somewhere near 12-15 of their own beers on tap! I tend to gravitate toward English style ales if I am drinking with friends, and the Great Dane's brews fit the bill perfectly. I loved that they served their beer in 20 oz. pints, they were all 5 bucks, and they were all served at cellar temperature. I probably had four of the Black Earth porters while I was there over two days. It was rich and robust with plenty of roasted malt and a gentle smokiness.


I had a chance to walk around the farmers market on Saturday morning as well. The farmers market completely wrapped around all four sides of the town square. The market just had an amazing feel of community. The prices were fantastic and I was able to grab a cup of coffee and a freshly baked blueberry scone and just wander around for over an hour. I wish I had been able to load up on all that fresh veg, but the car was already packed with beer. We have our priorities straight here at HBG.

The beer fest itself was also a really great experience. As Gina already stated, the feel of the people coming to the festival was something I've never really been able to encounter before. Most patrons of the fest really had a great knowledge of craft beer and styles, and they knew what they wanted. I was floored at all the intelligent questions I was getting when I was pouring for Brugge. I kept waiting for someone to walk up and ask me which beer had the most alcohol content, and then they wanted two of those. It never happened.



My personal highlights of the day:

Short's: S'mores Stout. I don't know how they do it, but I'll be damned if this beer didn't taste like a s'more. It wasn't cloying or overly sweet, but was really nice.

Short's: Black Cherry Porter. I like my porters and this one was a little smoky with a cherry sweetness.


New Glarus: Gueuze. It was fantastic and one of the best American examples of the style I've ever tasted. I would have guessed it came from Belgium if I didn't know it was from New Glarus.

Brugge: Pooka. It was so freaking hot under the tents pouring beer. The acidity was really what I needed while pouring. It was as refreshing as lemonade on a hot day, but with booze and boysenberries.

Revolution: Gomorrah. This was the small beer runoff of a bigger Russian imperial stout collaboration with Three Floyds. This beer was only 3.4% abv, but had a ton of roasted grain and an earthy hoppiness that I enjoyed.

I just had a fantastic time, and I honestly could go back to Madison without the beer fest and be very happy, but I hope I get to make it back again next year for Madison and the Great Taste.

The Beer Geeks Take Madison: New Glarus Brewing Co.

As soon as you drive into the village of New Glarus, WI you will notice two things - they are proud of their Swiss Heritage and they are proud of their hometown brewery.

The history of the town itself is interesting. It was founded in 1845 by two gentlemen, Nicolas Duerst and Fridolin Streiff, who were sent by Swiss magistrates from Glarus, Switzerland. At that time, the town of Glarus was struggling. Poverty and agricultural turmoil was forcing residents to either endure the suffering or take a loan from the Glarus Emigration Society and take their chances on moving to America to start their lives again. With the promise of free/cheap land, many took the offer and headed to the shores of America. Their travels took them to America and through the Midwest (including Indiana) and finally up to Wisconsin where they found the suitable, though not ideal accommodations, set up by Duerst and Streiff.


Today, the Village of New Glarus boasts Swiss culture and benefits from several tourist destinations, including the New Glarus Brewing Company The original brewing facility opened in 1993, making Deborah Carey the first female in the country to own and operate a brewery. She and her husband, Dan, grew the facility until they broke ground on a new hilltop facility in 2004. The $20-some million dollar facility finally opened in June of 2009 and offers a brewing capacity of 90,000 barrels. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about those 90,000 barrels is that it is ONLY distributed in Wisconsin. Just to put that into perspective, Indiana's second largest brewery is Upland and they are on track to do about 8000 barrels this year (with distribution to three states). In addition to all of that, nearly half of those 90,000 barrels are of their flagship beer, Spotted Cow.


If there was anywhere apart from the Great Taste we had to visit while in Wisconsin, it was New Glarus Brewing. While New Glarus isn't all that far from Indy, the beer is just as desired in our house as anything else we can't easily get our hands on. We've been lucky to know a few folks who were willing to bring some back for us here and there, but we were long overdue to see the place for ourselves.


Entering New Glarus from the north, we thought we had immediately stumbled onto the brewery - a collection of old buildings on the side of the road, and a sign labeled "New Glarus Brewing Company". It looked like a little craft brewery along the lines of those we already know. But after looking around we realized that we were at the wrong end of town.



On the south end of New Glarus, up on a hill, sits a beautiful new facility. This wasn't a craft brewery like we knew it - more so a Utopian vision of craft brewing at its best. The brewery is a collection of buildings, with a self-guided tour that revealed that the inside of New Glarus Brewing Co. looks a lot more like Budweiser than Bee Creek. That's not a bad thing, by any means - the proof is in the product, and New Glarus' lineup is hard to beat.


We all settled in for a round of samples, checked out the extensive giftshop, took the brewery tour, and then made our way downstairs to buy a trunk full of beer for ourselves and those who had been so generous with their New Glarus hauls before.

If you find yourself in Madison - don't miss New Glarus.


http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/
http://www.swisstown.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Glarus,_Wisconsin

The Beer Geeks Take Madison: Indiana Breweries at the Great Taste of the Midwest

Six of eight of the HBG Knights of the Beer Roundtable were fortunate enough to get to visit Madison, WI for the 24th annual Great Taste of the Midwest last weekend (8/12 - 8/15). Through our efforts putting together both Brewers of Indiana Guild events, we knew that the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild's event is considered the gold standard for beer festivals by those breweries who make the trip. Their enthusiasm is shared, as over 120 breweries from across the midwest joined them in an effort to show midwestern drinkers just how lucky they are.

We've got a lot to say about the experience, but we'll start by highlighting the Indiana breweries who served their beer to an audience of eager craft beer fans from across 34 states along with Puerto Rico, Italy, and Ireland.

Upland brought a few beer from their regular lineup as well as some big guns: Wheat, Helios Pale, Double Dragonfly, Oktoberfest, Ard Ri, and Cherry Bourbon Barrel Teddy Bear Kisses

Brugge (seen here with Sun King brewing's Clay Robinson) poured Triple de Ripple, Erasmus, Pooka, and Spider (with a secret password of "Squirreling Dervishes")

Shoreline featured baby-assisted pouring (Wisconsin's laws are the best!) of their Stella Blue, Sesh Wheat, Sum Nug IPA, Three Sum IPA, Rillo Rye, Beltaine Scottish, Seven Red on Red, and Lost Sailor Imperial Stout

New Albanian served up their Beak's Best, Bonfire of the Valkyries, Burning Away the Hours 'Til Ragnarok, Elector, Elsa Von Horizon, Hoptimus, and Thunderfoot along with a few other surprises

Mad Anthony brought their Ol' Woody Pale, Ruby Raspberry Wheat, Summer Daze Wheat, Good Kharma IPA, and a dry hopped cask conditioned IPA

The fine people at People's Brewing Co. featured their People's Pilsner, Aberant Amber, Mound Builder IPA, and Fiddlin' Willie Scottish

Three Floyd's brought out their purple shoes along with Alpha King, Robert the Bruce, Dreadnaught, Ice Grille, Sand Pebbles Brown, and Infinitas Mild along with hourly releases of Arctic Panzer Wolf, 3F/Mikkeller Ruggoop, OWD Engwish Barleywine, 2008 Dark Lord, and 2007 Dark Lord

Lafayette Brewing Co. poured their Tippecanoe Common, Black Angus Oatmeal Stout, and Frozen Cajones Sour Brown

Barley Island brought their Barfly IPA, Dirty Helen Brown, New Harmony Naked Dunkel, Goldilocks Belgian, and 80 Shilling Scotch Ale

Broad Ripple Brewpub celebrated their 20th year at the Great Taste and brought selections from their usual lineup of tasty beer.

36 Hours in Madison

Hoosier Beer Geek has been fortunate to establish relationships with people who are just as geeked about craft beer as we are. These other geeks come from both within and outside of Indiana. Two of those non-Hoosier beer geeks are Mike from STLHops and Jeffrey from Madison Beer Review.

The three cities are in relatively close proximity and can easily serve as weekend getaways for the craft beer geek. With Memorial Day Weekend coming up, and it being one of the biggest travel weekend of the year, it was decided that each of us would write a guide on what to do if you have 36 hours in their city.

Yesterday, we had a guide for 36 hours in St. Louis. Tomorrow, we will have a guide for 36 hours in Indianapolis, created by HBG's Mike. But today, though, it is Madison Beer Review's Jeffery and his recommendation of what to do if you only have 36 hours in Madison...

Welcome to lovely Madison, WI (photo by Luiz Castro) You’ve successfully braved the traffic in Chicago, construction in Rockford, and you now find yourself in the capital of Wisconsin, where you can Live Like You Mean It (alternate state slogan: “Illinois’ Largest State Park”). Hold on to your hats, because there’s more beer here per capita than any other place East of the Rockies and West of Michigan. In the immediate area around Madison are 10 breweries and brewpubs, and countless more beer bars and gastropubs. We will assume for the moment that you are not here for The Great Taste of The Midwest (if you were, this article would be very short: “Go to Great Taste.”).

Before we get started, you'll want to know two things about getting around Madison. First, the public transport is terrible, so you'll have to drive or walk - this means that one of you will need to remain sober. Second, this town is impossible to drive in - you can print out directions, you can ask for directions, you can know exactly where you're going and you will still get turned around and diverted by one-way streets, streets that change names three times in five blocks, and roads that never run the same direction for more than half a mile. Just suck it up and do what I do: swear very loudly at the steering wheel.

While it's highly unlikely that you've gotten into town at 5pm on a Friday (Chicago traffic at 3pm on a Friday!? HA!), we'll pretend that you did:

Friday 5 p.m.
UW Memorial Union Terrace - While it's on-campus, it is open to the public and is a great place to start your evening. A large, diverse taplist of everything from a house amber to local offerings from Capital and New Glarus to more typical college fare like Labatt's and Miller. During the summer, you can sit on an iconic John Deere Green Sunburst Chair looking over Lake Mendota (one of four lakes in the Madison area) and plan your evening. This location makes for great people-watching and the bandstand is typically active. There are two things you'll need to know about the Terrace: 1) parking can be a challenge, during the summer the school ramps are typically open to the public and available and there is one right near the Terrace, though it can fill up quickly on nice evenings; 2) you need to be a member to buy a pitcher of beer (secret note: on busy Friday evenings, or really most evenings, it's rare that they ever check for your Membership ID).

Friday 8 p.m.
Friday Night Fish Fry - a Wisconsin tradition, fried cod and hash browns (with melted cheese and onions) is your number one bet. From the Terrace you have a number of options: 1) Walk up State Street to State Street Brats; 2) Walk all the way up State Street to the Capitol; 3) head over to the near-East Side. State Street Brats is a University landmark bar, with a decent taplist of macros and Leinenkugels, it's definitely more atmosphere than beer-geek friendly. Don't worry, if you want to hit Brats but want to front-load your evening with good beer, it's open late and you'll probably end your night on State Street anyway. Capitol - you have two options for Good Beer and Fish Fry on the Capitol. The Old Fashioned is a local quasi-gastropub with a phenomenal taplist of only Wisconsin beers; this summer they are featuring beer from every single brewery and brewpub in the state, so there is beer here that you can't get anywhere else in the state, let alone the world. You can also head over to The Great Dane Pub. The Great Dane is a world-renowned brewpub and this location is the original (there are three others). The food is great, the beer is better. East Side - if you're me, though, you get in your car and you head over to Madison's near-East Side, which is quietly turning into a beer mecca in the city. Get your fish on at Alchemy Cafe or Dexter's Pub - both terrific dive bars with great food and amazing taplists.

Friday 10 p.m.
(photo by ibm4381) Hit A Beer Bar - There are four in the area that are all phenomenal. On the East Side and an easy walk from Dexters or Alchemy is The Malt House. The Malt House has a great taplist divided evenly between Belgian, Wisconsin, and "Pub Choice". The bottle list is extensive, and the scotch, bourbon and whiskey lists are equally compelling (it is the Malt House, after all). Maduro is downtown on the square. While the taplist at Maduro is usually Bells-heavy, it does feature a number of great selections from all over the world, in addition to a great wine selection and cocktails. One thing to beware of at Maduro: it is a cigar bar - if you like cigars, it has a pretty decent selection (though there are better cigar bars in town like Drackenburg's, also on the East Side and has a decent beer selection, and Hemingways, on the West Side, conveniently located near the Great Dane Fitchburg); if you don't like cigars or like smelling like cigars, it may not be your place. Two other beer bars worth heading to are Brasserie V and Monroe Street Bistro on the Near West Side. Both have excellent food, so you can grab a bite to eat there as well. Brasserie V has a selection that focuses on Belgian and American Belgian-like beer. You can find some great beer on tap here that you can't get anywhere else on tap. The staff at the Brasserie is probably the most knowledgeable in the city about great beer. Monroe Street Bistro is an unauthorized "spin-off" of Brasserie V and has a slightly more populist taplist as well as cocktails.

Friday Late Night
Most of the beer bars mentioned above, except Brasserie, are open until bar time (1am or so). Though, really, the action after about 11 pm is all on State Street. Hit up Paul's Bar, The Irish, and State Street wouldn't be complete with at least walking into the Kollege Klub. You can end your night with a brat at State Street Brats or a gyro or pizza from any number of local purveyors of drunk food. Saturday - I hope you're up early and not too hung over, it's going to be a long day and you'll probably drink a fair amount of beer.

Saturday 7 a.m.
Start your day with a good breakfast and some coffee. It's not a Saturday morning in Madison without the Dane County Farmer's Market. One of the largest producer-only farmers markets in the country, the breadth of food available is astounding. Get there early, grab some coffee from any number of local roasters (Ancora on the square and Michaelangelo's just off the square on State are my preferred haunts), and cruise the baked goods and cheese or vegetables or meats (buffalo jerky anyone?). Grab a 6oz block of goat cheese from Fantome Farms or a 5-year aged block of Cheddar from Hook's and some fresh-baked bread or muffins and take your coffee down to Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Monona Terrace and relax for a minute or two to start your day off right.

Saturday
(photo courtesy of Eating in Madison A to Z) - Ready for some brewery tours? You have plenty of options, not to mention brewpubs to stop and grab some lunch. Breweries within an easy drive include: Tyranena in Lake Mills, New Glarus in New Glarus, Capital in Middleton, and Ale Asylum on the Near East Side of Madison. If you're looking for an itinerary, let me suggest the following: 10am - New Glarus Brewing Company - it's a self-guided tour and quick, the tasting at the end of the tour is reasonable ($4, I think?); the new brewery should be open by mid-summer and they'll have beer available for purchase at the brewery that isn't available anywhere else. 12pm - Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI - a trip to Madison isn't complete without a beer at the traditional biergarten here. Known for its dopplebocks, Capital is a Madison institution. 3pm - Tyranena, Lake Mills, WI - it's a forty-five minute trip from Capital to the far east side Madison suburbs; make sure you check what time the tour is on Saturdays (usually held in the early afternoon). Tyranena's tours are fun, and the beer is amazing; they typically have some stuff on tap at the taproom that is not available anywhere else. 6pm - Ale Asylum, Madison, WI - last stop, Ale Asylum. Tours are by appointment only, but the taproom has plenty of beer that you can't buy around town including a full line of Belgian blondes, dubbels, tripels, and quads. [ed note: an alternate itinerary would be to start at Tyranena and skip the tour there, but keep heading East to Milwaukee and check out some of the breweries there or hit up a Brewers game] Want a brewpub for lunch or dinner? Check out The Grumpy Troll in Mount Horeb, Gray's Tiedhouse in Verona, the former-JT Whitneys on Madison's West Side (should be open mid-June), or The Great Dane in Madison (two locations - downtown and West Side) and Fitchburg. Head a little farther West to tourist-friendly Mineral Point for Brewery Creek, or head into Milwaukee (only an hour away) and stop at Delafield Brewhaus, Water Street Brewpub, Stonefly, or Milwaukee Ale House.

Saturday Night
For dinner take the twenty minute drive to Mount Horeb, WI and visit the award-winning Grumpy Troll. A pizza joint upstairs, a more formal dining experience downstairs, the beer is equally awesome both places. Head brewer Mark Duchow mixes up the taplines frequently with everything from an authentic, stone-heated steinbier to a flanders-style red. The Baltic Porter and IPA have won numerous awards.

Sunday
(photo courtesy of Eating in Madison A to Z) As you're dragging yourself awake, drive or walk over to Mickie's Dairy Bar near UW's Camp Randall. The breakfast-only diner serves a ton of pancakes, waffles, corned beef hash, and milkshakes. The menu is on the wall, and it's cash only. Oh, it's also a seat-yourself situation, so if all of the tables are full just hang around for a minute; servers may or may not point you in the right direction, but you'll get a table soon enough. I hope you've found this tour of Madison interesting. Madison has more good food and good beer than anyone could ever possibly consume. If you're going to be in the area, please let Madison Beer Review know and we can always get you pointed in the right direction.