This past weekend, a few friends and I went on the Inaugural Beer Snob Tour, an event I created that took us to visit three of Wisconsin's fine craft breweries - New Glarus Brewing Company (New Glarus, WI), Minhas Craft Brewery (Monroe, WI), and Great Dane Pub & Brewery (Madison, WI).
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| The Beer Snobs |
There are over 1900 craft breweries operating in the U.S. and that number fluctuates all the time. My now home state of Wisconsin has quite a few of them as well. Wisconsin is home to 7 macrobreweries (those producing 15000+ barrels annually), the largest being MillerCoors, and 30+ microbreweries (those producing less than 15000 barrels annually). Wisconsin is a pretty big state, but many of these fine craft breweries are well within driving distance, so I set up a trip to tour/visit three of them in one day.
First stop was
New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, WI. About an hour and forty-five minute drive from Milwaukee, New Glarus has a strong Swiss heritage that is apparent as soon as you drive into town. The New Glarus Brewing Company situated on top of a hill in the middle of a farming community. The views of the countryside were spectacular. New Glarus is one of Wisconsin's more popular craft breweries and have many outstanding beers to choose from. Spotted Cow seems to be the favorite. The tour was essentially free with a couple of guides on hand to answer questions. Since we were the first group to arrive, we had the privilege of one of the guides taking us around the facility. Now the facility was pristine. It was as clean as a hospital. Very impressive. For just $3.50, we were able to sample five of the beers available in the tasting room. I've tasted most of the beer that New Glarus offers and many of their seasonals, so nothing new here for me. I sampled Fat Squirrel (Brown Ale), Moon Man (American Pale Ale), Cabin Fever Honey Bock (Heller Bock), and Wisconsin Belgian Red (Fruit Beer). The Belgian Red is fantastic. Moon Man and Cabin Fever are favorites as well.
From New Glarus, we drove about twenty minutes to Monroe, WI, home of
Minhas Craft Brewery. The tour guide said this was the second oldest brewery in the U.S. Here are some of the facts I 'borrowed' from the Minhas Craft Brewery website - "The Brewery in Monroe was started 10 years before the Miller Brewery got its start in Milwaukee Wisconsin, 28 years before the Coors Brewery started in Golden, Colorado and 31 years before the Anheuser-Busch Brewery started in St. Louis, Missouri." It's been around a long time.
The tour cost $10, though we had a Groupon so it only cost us $5 each, and included a tour of the facility; a sample pack consisting of four beers, one root beer, and a sampling glass; and unlimited samples. Certainly worth $5, don't you think? They also have a brewery museum showcasing lots of brewery artifacts and memorabilia. The tour was a lot of fun and very informative. I can't remember the number, but they brew more than a dozen different beers and do it all from one kettle. I thought that was pretty amazing. They do quite a bit of contract brewing in addition to their own stuff. I was able to sample quite a few beers - 1845 Pils (Pilsener), Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale (Golden Ale/Blonde Ale), Fighting Billy Bock (American Dark Lager), Chocolate Bunny Stout (Stout), Thumper American IPA (IPA), Imperial Jack Double IPA (Imperial/Double IPA) - and even got behind the taps to pour one of my own.
My favorite was when they added cream soda to the Chocolate Bunny Stout...AMAZING!!
After Minhas, we set course to Madison, WI where we were going to visit the
Great Dane Pub & Brewery. It had been a long day so far, so we were winding down and ready to relax a little. We sat down at this bar/table and ordered some appetizers and some tasty beer. I shared an 8-beer sampler that included Crop Circle Wheat (German Hefeweizen), Devils Lake Red Lager (Premium Lager), Emerald Isle Stout (Dry Stout), Old Glory American Pale Ale (American Pale Ale), Stone of Scone Scott Ale (Scotch Ale), India Pale Ale (IPA), Landmark Lite Lager (Pale Lager), and a special beer called Black Watch Scotch (Scotch Ale).
This was a fun event to plan and even more fun to do. We all had a great time. There is already talk of doing one locally here in Milwaukee (certainly enough breweries to choose from) and even one outside of Wisconsin...Goose Island (Chicago, IL) and Three Floyds (Munster, IN) would be epic! Cheers!
