"Give me breweries or give me death!" or Richmond, VA: Part I

Let me begin this post with a prologue of sorts...

I was going to name this particular blog entry "Drinkin' in River City." Why, you ask? Well, Richmond, VA, is commonly known as The River City. That has a nicer ring to it that its other nickname, RVA (whatever that means). Then I learned that Patrick Henry gave his famous Revolutionary War-era "Give me liberty or give me death" speech in 1775 at St. John's Church in - where else? - Richmond, VA. Although I'm not 100% sure I'd trade my life for the freedom to drink beer (that'd be a tough call), I thought the title had a nice ring to it. OK, please proceed.

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It's amazing how much you can cram into one 48-hour span of time. We'd been wanting to get down to Richmond for the full brewery experience, but simply hadn't had the right opportunity. We'd passed through a few times (typically on days when most breweries are closed or have less than convenient hours) and only had the opportunity to swing by Strangeways on one particular occasion. With a rare free weekend, we took the opportunity to make it happen.

On Friday afternoon, I had some time to kill while waiting for Brewslut to meet me at a predetermined Park & Ride just off Rt. 15 near Gettysburg. I was on a rare "field trip" for work, which took me to a vendor in New Oxford, PA. So rather than driving back to rendezvous with my traveling companions (don't forget about Pleeps), we saved time by meeting at the Park & Ride. (Editor's note: The Park & Ride was kind of sketchy, by the way. Despite being on the Commuter Services of PA's list of official Park & Ride locations, there was no signage at all; it was basically a big gravel lot next to a church and a fire company. Thankfully, we didn't get towed.)

I decided to use my spare time to check out a relatively new brewery in nearby Hanover called Miscreation. Ten years ago, we'd make it to a new brewery within a few months of its grand opening. Well, it took me almost 4 years to get here. Better late than never, I guess.

Outside Hanover's Miscreation Brewing.

Located at Center Square right smack dab in the heart of the Snack Capital of the World, Miscreation is open seven days a week and offers a variety of house brews, a small pub menu featuring panini sandwiches and such, and live music on the weekend. The space has an interesting multi-level layout with an upstairs loft that overlooks the front of the tasting room. They also have outside seating on the sidewalk.

View from my seat at Miscreation.

I decided to head upstairs (since that's actually where the bar is) and joined a few local muggers at the bar. The people were friendly, and the server seems like she was one of the owners. I mentioned it was my first time here, and they welcomed me with enthusiasm. To avoid drinking on an empty stomach, I decided to have some lunch (a tasty Buffalo chicken panini) with my beer. I started with an 8-ounce pour of a pale ale called Severed. This struck me as a pretty standard, bare-bones American pale ale with a mix of floral and citrus hop notes and just a touch of spicy pine sap in the finish. At 6.6% ABV, it's beginning to approach IPA territory.

Waiting for lunch with Severed.

My second choice was a pumpkin cream ale called Booo!!! This one features a smooth, creamy body similar to a nitro pour with a pumpkin spice flair that's heavier on the cinnamon and lighter on the clove with some nutmeg and allspice thrown into the mix. I like smoother beers like cream ales, porters, or stouts as the base beers for "pumpkin" ales rather than amber or Belgian styles just for the creamy texture those styles possess... at least when they're done right. This one had a rich, smooth mouthfeel and didn't overdo it with the spices.

Booo!!!

Overall, the beers are solid and the prices are reasonable. I was hoping to hit another newer brewery called Something Wicked while I was in town, but unfortunately they didn't open until 4 p.m., so it will have to wait for another day. No worries, as I killed my last thirty minutes at a record store around the corner from Miscreation (although I left empty-handed; a rarity for me after spending any amount of time in a record store). And with that, I made the short drive to the designated Park & Ride just off Rt. 15 in rural Gettysburg to meet Brewslut and Pleeps.

As we were driving to our first brewery (which was supposed to be Hardywood), we passed a sign advertising a brewery called 6 Bears & A Goat. "There's no way we aren't stopping there," I said. I mean, come on... goats! We quickly took the next exit to stop in for a quick beer and take a break from the horrendous Virginia traffic. Seriously, this was like Chicago bad. Enter audible #1... and we hadn't even gotten anywhere yet!

Outside 6 Bears & A Goat Brew House.

As we pulled up to the brewery, cars were parked along the roadside leading up to the entrance of the parking lot. "Looks pretty busy," I said. Inside, the place was brimming with customers enjoying dinner and beers. I was surprised not only by how big the place was but also by the sheer number of people there. The greeter said the wait for dinner was about 45 minutes, but we politely mentioned we just stopped in for a quick beer. There was one lone stool available at the very end of the bar near the serving area, so Brewslut snagged it, and I stood.

With such a curious name for a brewery, we obviously wanted to learn of its origin. The name was inspired by its founders and the mascots of their respective military services. The six "bears" represent 20-year retirees from the U.S. Coast Guard, while the "goat" is a retiree from the U.S. Navy.

After perusing the beer list, I opted for the Pilothouse Pumpkin Porter. A variation of its Pilothouse Porter, this variant features the addition of a variety of pumpkin pie spices amid the beer's canvas of chocolate and coffee flavors. Aroma-wise, it hinted of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove as well as a bit of chocolate, and the mouthfeel was actually pretty spot-on. The initial flavor was also pretty pleasant, but unfortunately there was some kind of metallic off-flavor in the finish that just lingered on my palate. Not sure if it was a flaw or a slight infection from equipment, but for lack of a better term it had a "dirty" finish. Otherwise, it was pretty solid.

Pilothouse Pumpkin Porter at 6 Bears & A Goat.

Meanwhile, Brewslut was working on a pour of Passionfruit Goes Ahhh. I had a few sips and this was a straight-up passionfruit bomb. It had a fruity tartness but lacked the complexity of a well-executed gose. Again, it wasn't bad overall but in the grand scheme of the gose world, let's just say it needs some tweaking.

Despite its middle-of-the-road beers, it was nice to see a small, local brewery booming on a Friday night during dinner hours. At the very least, it was worth a stop just to take a break from the grueling start-and-stop traffic we'd experienced since entering the DC Metro area.

Since traffic put us back about forty minutes, we decided to call audible #2 and rather than head to Hardywood, we stopped at the Fredericksburg location of Strangeways. In retrospect, I'm glad we stopped here because we'd already visited the smaller Richmond site on the way home from our last Drinksgiving trip to Virginia Beach. This was a much larger, open space in full sight of the production facility, complete with a stage for live entertainment and plenty of seating options.

We ordered our beers and settled in at a four-person table somewhere near the middle of the room. The place was sparsely attended, but it looked like some kind of show was going to begin shortly, as there was a sound guy twiddling some knobs at the sound console. Turns out Strangeways was hosting some kind of burlesque show later that evening. I saw a few tattooed ladies (one of them with a freshly shorn noggin) getting all decked out in corsets and other Victorian-esque garb. Sounds like burlesque to me. Absinthe and burlesque sounds like a better combo than beer and burlesque. Either way, we'd be gone by the time the show started.

I kicked off our visit with a juicy pale ale called Everything Changes. Part of its "Directional Pale Ale" series, this is a double dry-hopped pale ale featuring copious amounts of Green Bullet and Pacifica hops to elicit flavors of ripe mango, orange marmalade, and pineapple juice.

Pleeps doesn't react well to change.

Meanwhile, I'd been scoping out some of the sour and tart ales on the beer list, as they were plentiful. I was feeling a Berliner Weisse, and they had two base Berliners (a standard and an imperial version) with a variety of flavored syrups. I eventually decided on Imperial Lucky Charms, which was described as an Imperial Marshmallow Berliner Weisse. Turns out it's basically their Fred Zeppelin Imperial Berliner Weisse with traditional German woodruff syrup. Fine by me, as I love woodruff syrup. This green-tinted syrup imparts a sweet marshmallow counterpart to the beer's inherent tartness. Turns out it was a delicious concoction, and I'm glad I went with the imperial version, which had a thicker body and a bit more tartness (I sampled both base beers prior to ordering).

View from our table at Strangeways.

We decided to share a pour of Apes in the Hammock, a sour ale brewed with a house lactobacillus strain and fresh lemongrass and apricots. Actually, Pleeps pretty much forced us to order this beer because of the name. There were several monkey and ape-themed beers from which to choose, but he liked this one most. It's always good to stay on Pleeps' good side when drinking. He can sometimes go heavy on the imperial stouts, and if he gets agitated - for whatever reason - he might start flinging poop. Generally, he's pretty well-behaved, but it happens to all of us (the going too heavy on beers, not flinging poop; of course, I've been known to crop dust from time to time). But back to the beer. This one's fermented hot with a house Kveik yeast strain (from Scandinavia) for a vinous character, this tasty sour features notes of white grape, apricot, sour candy, and lemon zest. Kveik (pronounced “kwike”) literally translates to “yeast” in a particular Norwegian dialect. We actually started using a few of these Kveik strains at Tröegs for some recent Scratch beers. (You can read more about this fascinating yeast in a recent article from Draft magazine if you care to learn more.)

Pleeps likes Strangeways for obvious reasons.

Once again, we weren't able to connect with the elusive Mike Hiller, one of Strangeways' brewers (he used to own Bavarian Barbarian in Williamsport a decade ago). But we had a good visit and were able to skedaddle in time before the burlesque show started... not that I'm offended or anything. I just prefer to keep nudity and comedy segregated (unless Sarah Silverman or Nikki Glaser want to start a new genre of comedy). While Strangeways seems to get overshadowed by trendier places like The Veil and The Answer, I'd highly recommend including a stop on your itinerary if you ever plan a trip to the Richmond area. Their beers are legit... and, you know, monkeys! 

We still had time to make it to Hardywood before they closed for the evening. We hoped they would have a food truck on-site. Luckily they did, and I was able to get some tasty shrimp tacos just before they closed up shop. I'd enjoyed Hardywood's beers for many years and we'd been to its taproom in Charlottesville during my birthday weekend in March 2017, but this marked our inaugural visit to the production brewery in Richmond.

Hardywood's no-frills tasting room.

Before I dug into the beer, I quickly checked out the bottle selection in the adjacent room. To my surprise, their price points are pretty low! I got a 750mL of the rum barrel-aged pumpkin and a gin-barrel aged peach Tripel for only $12.99 each. Smaller 500mL bottles were only $4.49. Good value for the money, I'd say!

Pleeps posing with my haul from Hardywood.

But back to the task at hand. I knew we only had time for one beer each and maybe a shared third beer, but that was it. I opted for Tropic Like it's Hot, a sour ale brewed in collaboration with Ardent Craft Ales and Center of the Universe Brewing. This one is brewed with passionfruit, pineapple, and butterfly pea flowers. Wait... huh?! I'd never heard of butterfly pea flowers. Turns out the flowers of its vine were thought to have the shape of human female genitalia, hence its Latin name Clitoria ternatea. So this beer was brewed using a flower that looks like a vagina. You learn something new every day. The beer has a lovely magenta hue (courtesy of the vagina flowers) and boasts a fresh, tropical aroma with a slightly tart, dry finish. It even tasted good in a plastic cup.

Brewslut went for the hoppy beer this time with something called But Does it Make Sense? This NE-style Double IPA is hopped with Galaxy and utilizes Mosaic lupulin powder. If you've never heard of lupulin powder before, it's something that's catching on among craft brewers these days. It's kind of like a super-concentrated version of whole-leaf hops containing all the resins and aromatic oils for an added dose of hop power.

For our "shared" beer, we settled on something called Tropication 2.0. Described as "liquid recess," this beer features plenty of Mosaic and Nelson Sauvin hops to impart tropical fruit aromas reminiscent of passionfruit, mango, pineapple, and lime. This one was bright and juicy, and quite enjoyable. Sadly, our time at Hardywood quickly expired as the staff began cleaning up while we finished this tasty beverage. I wish we had a little more time, but at least I've had many Hardywood beers in the past.

Our last stop of the night was one of two reasons I wanted to spend a weekend in Richmond: The Answer (the other being The Veil, but more on that later). When we arrived, we were confused at first because they appeared to be closed. Upon further examination, we soon discovered that entry was in the rear (that's what she said), so we headed out back behind the building to park.

Once we started checking in our beers on Untappd, our Team D(r)INK compadre, Jamberg, caught wind of our shenanigans and, being only a few blocks away at his hotel, decided to surprise us with a visit (even though he had visited for dinner). Turns out he was down in the area with one of his  colleagues, Brandon, for the Phish concert at Hampton Coliseum. (I too had seen Phish there back in November 1998, and the shows were later released as a live album called Hampton Comes Alive.)

Now... onto the beer!

The beer list was pretty ridiculous and encompassed everything from imperial stouts brewed with a laundry list of items found in your grandma's pantry, IPAs, sours, fruit beers, and The Answer's signature "Frozan" concoctions, which are essentially beer slushies dispensed out of a - you guessed it - slushy machine. After a minute or two, I decided to go with a flight of four decadent-sounding dark beers. I really wanted to dig into the beer list, but so many of these just sounded too damn good to ignore. Here's a quick recap:

• Out on Bail: Bondsman's Breakfast - A variant of Out on Bail porter conditioned on Rostov's hazelnut coffee, cacao nibs, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. 
• Deanna Breakfast - Imperial Oatmeal Stout with Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, Dark Vermont maple syrup, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.
• Swiss Chocolate Macaroon - Imperial Chocolate Stout with Swiss Almond coffee, Swiss White and Dark chocolate, and coconut chips.
• Papa Bui - Imperial stout based on an Italian "love cake" with decadent notes of chocolate, hazelnut, and coconut. 

Each successive beer was more impressive than the last, and to be honest, Out on Bail set the bar pretty high. Overall, these are some of the best porters and stouts I've enjoyed in our travels. The mouthfeel was right in my wheelhouse and what I'd call perfection: Smooth and luscious with low carbonation but full-bodied and slick. They all drank like 6% beers with virtually no noticeable alcohol heat; however, three of the four beer were in the 8.5% to 11.5% ABV range.  

Question: Why is Pleeps so happy? Answer: The Answer.

Since our visit turned into a hang with friends, I neglected to snap a decent number of photos as I typically do when visiting a brewery. Such is life. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow of good company and good conversation. That didn't stop us from enjoying more beers, though.

We decided to dip into some of the fruit beers, which all sounded fantastic on paper. Let's see how they translated to the finished product. First up was Virginia Cobbler: Cherry Peach. The Answer describes this beer as a "Cobbler style Gose," so that already sounds delicious. Cobbler is such an underrated dessert, and it's also fun to say out loud. This sweet-tart beer is brewed with Morello cherries, peaches, and a touch of cinnamon and vanilla.

Back to another stout, this time we ordered a pour of Raspberry Fluffernutter, an Imperial Chocolate stout with Jif peanut butter, fresh raspberries, toasted marshmallow, and a touch of vanilla.

Drive Thru Daiquiri: Hurricane - Part of the "Joose/Sips" series and a collaboration with Parish Brewing out of Louisiana. The impetus of this beer was to replicate the famous Hurricane cocktail. Brewed with passionfruit, blood orange, and rum-soaked Morello cherries, this one definitely straddled the line between beer and cocktail.

We arrived at The Veil about ten or fifteen minutes before they opened for the day, so we chilled in the CRV for a bit. We were able to grab a spot in the parking lot, which shares its space with a beer-garden-of-sorts featuring a covered area with outside seating (likely for overflow). About five minutes until, we got out and there was already a small crowd amassed in the parking lot. Inside, the tasting room area is narrow and rectangular. Within thirty minutes, the place was packed with a mostly Millennial crowd of twenty-somethings and hipsters... LOTS of hipsters. Remember my comments about Dangerous Man? Yeah, like that. Hipsters aside, we were surprised by another visit from Lamberg and Brandon. And later, we ran into some of my Tröegs peeps, who were also headed to the Phish show in Hampton later that evening.

Inside the mothership for hipsters.

I started with Young & Pure, an IPA hopped with Citra, Galaxy, and Simcoe. The Veil is known for its juicy, hazy IPAs with minimal bitterness and malt presence. This is one of them. I don't know. It seems to me it's as if these newer, hip breweries are trying to cater to the haze craze and the fact that young beer drinkers constantly want something different so that they can get another Untappd check-in. While I like using Untappd as much as the next beer geek, it makes me wonder if a brewery like The Veil (and I'm only using it as an example because I happen to be writing about this brewery at this precise moment) brews the same IPA with a different name so people will continually line up for a can release and buy whatever is new at the time. They all look the same and taste pretty much identical. ***cough***Trillium***cough. Some are better than others, but there's not much deviation from the formula, which might be something like this: 1. Does it look like something you'd drink for breakfast? 2. Is it double dry-hopped? 3. Does it smell better than it tastes? 4. Is is juicy or dank, brah? If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, then you have yourself a NE-style IPA. The trend now, it seems to me, is that appearance trumps flavor. And to me, that's absurd. I'm not buying a beer to look at it. I'm buying a beer to drink it. I'm not trying to single out The Veil by any means. I've just reached the point of critical mass with hazy IPAs and decided to write about it. This was a fine beer, but I just feel that hazy IPAs lack the complexity and depth of flavor as, say a West Coast style IPA. There. I said it. Let's move on.

Up next was a beer named Salted Caramel & Oreo Hornswoggler, which I must admit sounded amazing on paper. Described as a chocolate milk stout conditioned on salted caramel and Oreo cookies, it indeed sounded decadent and inviting. Lamberg ordered a pour of this sickeningly sweet, muddy-looking brownish stout to share with the group. It resembled liquid stool that comes out of a baby whose diet consists of nothing but breast milk. I'm talkin' straight from the teet. I mean, I've produced excrement that was prettier than this beer. Everyone HATED it; I thought it was OK, but after about three sips, I'd had enough. So it sat on our table for the duration of our visit... like dookie in the street.

Things picked up with my next beer, Crucial Taunt, The Veil's house Double IPA. It's also named after the band fronted by Wayne's girlfriend Cassandra in the movie Wayne's World. Brewslut got the reference immediately. I did not. I should have, but I didn't. This one was soft and tropical with virtually no bitterness and a big smack of fruit in the aroma; certainly all hallmarks of the NE style.

Since I enjoyed Crucial Taunt, I decided to give another DIPA a spin, so I opted for Nice Nice Relationship Relationship. This double dry-hopped DIPA features a blend of Galaxy, Mosaic, and Ekuanot, and honestly wasn't that much different than Crucial Taunt, at least to my palate. By the way, the name of the beer isn't a typo. It seems all of its "double" or "imperial" beers have similar names that sound like a kid with a stuttering problem (Master Master Shredder Shredder, Never Never Forever Forever, etc.). I guess that's kind of cool; or at least a bit off-kilter.

While I enjoyed the three hoppy beers I tried, I felt they all kind of blurred together. Henceforth, I shall refer to this phenomenon as the "Trillium Effect." By the way, check this shit out...

Taking a break on the set of the upcoming remake of Heathers.

These four stuffy young ladies look like they came straight from the golf course (or perhaps the croquet court). I didn't notice any white wine spritzers on the menu at The Veil, but I could be mistaken. At first, we thought they were wearing Halloween costumes, but then we realized it was a little too early for that nonsense. Rich kids? Maybe. But in all actuality, the quartet was likely a group of pretentious wannabes trying to gain some street cred by hanging at the "hip brewery." The only reason I bring this up is because they were in such stark comparison to the rest of the patrons (especially me, but even the hipsters) that they stood out like a turd in the punchbowl. Perhaps I should offer kudos to The Veil for bringing together a truly eclectic clientele into its circle of fans. Brewslut, on the other hand, wanted to punch each of them in the solar plexus. (I had to laugh at this, because I'm typically the one in "angry old man" mode when we come across people like this.)

So we left the cast of Heathers and continued onward to our next destination.

Right around the corner from The Veil is Väsen, a brewery that's making its mark with forward-thinking sours, fruit beers, and Belgian-inspired ales. Taking its name from the Swedish word “väsen” (which translates to "inner essence" or "way of being"), it pays tribute to the founders' Scandinavian heritage. Gotta love them vikings!

Outside Väsen.

I was immediately drawn to the Smoked Blood Peach Sour. Although they had me at "smoked," I must admit that "peach" sealed the deal. I'd never heard of blood peaches before (blood oranges, yes) so I was intrigued. I won't bore you with the history of this fruit, but here's a link to some more information in the event you are curious. Obviously, a lot can go wrong with a beer like this. Smoked malt. Fruit. Sour fermentation. This beer, however, was a home run! The smokiness was minimal but apparent up front, eliciting a hint of beechwood. The flavor followed through with tart peach gummy candy and a nice bit of pucker in the finish. Overall, a well-executed beer that could have easily gone wrong. Nicely done, Väsen!

View from our bar stools at Väsen.  

Brewslut opted for Everything Floats on Passionfruit, a double-dry-hopped sour conditioned on (according to Väsen) "nearly half a ton" of passionfruit and generous additions of Vic Secret, Mandarina Bavaria, and Citra hops. Passionfruit dominates the flavor (obviously), but there's also hints of grapefruit, pineapple, and tangerine present.

Pleeps + passionfruit = a winning combo!

We definitely got reeled in by our first choices. My Smoked Blood Peach Sour was one of the highlights of the weekend, so we felt obliged to stick around for a second round. I decided to switch gears and go with The Wired Walrus, a stout cold-steeped with Blanchard's coffee beans from Ethiopia and Guatemala. Actually, it should come as no surprise that I ordered a coffee beer. This lighter bodied stout features hints of mocha and strawberry with a hint of chocolate.

Surprisingly, Brewslut went with a pour of Barrel Aged Grapefruit Tripel, an Abbey-style ale aged for 4 months in Chardonnay barrels with grapefruit to impart intense flavors of citrus zest, oak, and vanilla. Nelson Sauvin hops provide subtle fruitiness and enhances the white wine character with notes of white grape. Belgian yeast provides additional nuances of spice akin to clove and black pepper as well as dark fruit. This one had a lot going on, and I enjoyed the peppery grapefruit rind flavor that came through in the finish.

Pretty sweet large mural painting at Väsen.

Looking back, this place really stood out from the pack. It was one of the most memorable visits of the trip, and it's a place I will definitely visit again next time we're galavanting around Richmond.

When we arrived at Ardent, the Tasting Room and adjacent beer garden area (despite being rather windy and chilly outside) were both pretty full. The beer menu looked varied and inspired with a few IPAs, saisons and pilsners. However, we were smack dab in the middle of our day and starting to get a bit fatigued, so we opted for a one-and-done visit. After getting our beers and searching for somewhere to sit, we gave up and went around back where we set up shop on a cement walkway near the food truck.

Beer board at Ardent.

I decided to throw caution to the wind with my one-and-done beer here: Sweet Potato & Sage Saison, a dry, farmhouse-style saison. This one was quite earthy with an herbal bite. It was also quite fragrant thanks to the addition of fresh, local sage. But it sounded interesting, so I ordered it. It was... ok. I mean, it had a lot going on: prickly carbonation; an earthy (almost starchy) character courtesy of the sweet potatoes; a sharp herbal bite; and a lingering dry, spicy finish. I don't know what I was hoping for, but I just don't think I was in the mood for this beer at this precise moment. Perhaps it was a well-executed beer; it just didn't sit well with me for the duration of the imbibement (is that a word)?

Sweet potato & sage saison.

Brewslut went with the Pineapple & Passionfruit American Sour Ale. I guess beer names are really hard to come up with these days. Anyway, this beer is a blend of sour blonde and sour wheat ales aged in oak barrels with pineapple and passionfruit. Needless to say, there's a heavy-handed tropical fruit presence (especially passionfruit) in both aroma and flavor, but it finishes on the sweet-tart side of the spectrum.

We tried to get comfy here but it just didn't pan out. The place was packed (inside and out), and it was too windy and cold to really camp out on a concrete sidewalk for more than the duration of a single beer. Plus, the beer didn't inspire us to stay for seconds. So, onward and upward.

For some reason, Three Notch'd wasn't even on our initial itinerary. However, once we arrived and I realized it too was situated in Richmond, we squeezed it in. I'd had one of its beers not too long ago at the Mellow Mushroom when we last drove through the area, but that was my only other encounter with the brewery until now.

Since we hadn't planned to visit, we opted for another one-and-done stop. I was ready for a West Coast IPA, so I was drawn to 40 Mile. Brewed with an abundance of American hop varieties for a tropical and citrus-forward hop experience, this beer is heavy on grapefruit and tangerine with hints of peach and pineapple. This beer's name refers to the number of miles Jack Jouett raced to warn Thomas Jefferson that General Cornwallis had ordered their capture. Jack Jouett’s ride is legendary in Virginia and put Three Notch’d Road on the map as a central story in the fight for our country's independence. And there's some more colonial-era trivia for you.

Brewslut went with As You Are, a pineapple mango gose. I've been getting kind of gose'd out lately. Every once in awhile, I like to throw one in to clear off the old palate, but honestly all of the various fruited versions just mask the flavor of the base beer, which to me is quite simple and refreshing. Some of the fruited versions are subtle, but so many turn out to be fruit bombs. Just an observation.

I didn't really feel much of a connection with this place unfortunately, so we split after one drink.

Never fear! There's still more to come as we explore River City. Stay tuned for the conclusion of our romp through Richmond, coming soon to your friendly neighborhood Pour Travelers blog soon. Until next time...

The Great Taste Caper 2018 - Days 9, 10 & 11: With every caper comes its conclusion

On the morning of the festival, we discussed our game plan and decided to park near Funk Factory, which is a short mile-or-so walk to the festival grounds. It was actually a nice, leisurely stroll along a creek. Since Funk Factory opened pretty early, we decided to pre-game and grab a quick beer before heading over to drink for five hours. Nothing like prolonging an already lengthy beer drinking session, right? I was happy to see Peach Meerts on tap when we arrived. Actually, strike that. I wasn't happy to see it, because I'd decided not to get a beer. But saying "no" to a peach beer is a tough thing for me to do. It's like that last piece of pizza sitting on the plate, looking up at you as if to say, "Go ahead. What's another few hundred calories?" So I was sucked into the vortex of Peach Meerts. After one or two sips, I realized I'd made a sound decision. Plus these beers are only around 4% ABV, so it's kind of like drinking flavored water anyway.

After our beers, it was time to hightail it over to the festival grounds. We were blessed with some pretty amazing weather, I must say. It was sunny and warm; maybe even a little too warm, depending on who you ask. It was perhaps a little sweatilicious (even I had my button-down shirt completely open for some sweet convertible-like breeze action). Pleeps chilled out in my breast pocket for the duration of the festival, which kind of turned into having a little devil on my shoulder for the entire day. Readers of our blog most certainly are well aware of Pleeps' penchant for imperial stouts. Every time we rolled up to a tent and saw a barrel-aged stout, it was almost as if he used some kind of telekinetic monkey mojo and placed the beer into my hands.

Great Taste of the Midwest!

If you happen to follow me on Untappd, then you were probably pretty jealous if you saw some of my check-ins during the festival. Brewslut signed out an internet hotspot (which we lovingly refer to as the "Wi-fi Machine"), so we had no issues whatsoever logging our beers, save for the occasional "user error" of forgetting to check something in. I'd say I checked in 75% of the beers I sampled. Typically, I won't check in beers at a festival, but with the hot spot in our possession, it was relatively an easy task to accomplish.

Some brewery highlights included personal favorites Short's, Odd Side, Right Brain, New Holland, and The Livery mixed in with new discoveries from this trip such as Steel Toe and Dangerous Man. One of the stand-out beers of the festival was Church Salad, a 7% ABV sour ale brewed with lactose from Pulpit Rock, a brewery out of and Iowa new find for us. Meant to mimic a dessert some folks call "ambrosia" (I grew up calling it "heaven"), this liquid marshmallow salad like grandma used to make also includes toasted walnuts, coconut, and freshly-pressed pineapple juice. This was a staple dessert at my house (it still is), and this beer was a home run! Kudos to Pulpit Rock for bringing this treat to life in beer form!

Last time was Santa... this time, it's the King!

We were all pretty much in agreement that Iowa's Big Grove Brewing Company was the find of the festival. Their beers were top-notch, their reps were true brewery ambassadors and catered to the beer geek demographic. You could tell they are the hungry, new kids on the block. Between Pulpit Rock and Big Grove, it seems a trip to Iowa in the near future is in order!

I'd normally go into much more detail about our drinking escapades, but as you can probably imagine beer festivals of this magnitude are virtual whirlwinds that encapsulate your mind and body and whisk you away to a distant land where hops grow on trees, rivers flow deep and wide with IPAs, and mountains of malted barley scrape the green-tinted sky. Damn, that was pretty poetic. Thanks Penn State English program. Who am I kidding? I was a B student. In all honesty, you simply have to attend Great Taste and soak everything in to understand what it's all about.

As if we needed anything else to drink after the fest, we felt obliged to stop in at Funk Factory again for a post-festival beer. And again, it was another variation on a common theme for the win: Lemongrass Ginger Kombucha Meerts. Suffice to say, I don't really have much of a recollection of our post-festival visit to Funk Factory. I was experiencing the aforementioned "post-Great Taste haze." With that said, this was easily the best shape I've ever been in after the festival. Instead of going back to our room to take a nap (only to wake up at 1:30 a.m. in dire need of sustenance), we actually walked back to the car, had our postscript beer, and went back to the homestead for dinner and - believe it or not - more beers! Once we got back to the house, we decided to stay in for the evening. We ordered Chinese food and cracked open a few of the beers we'd picked up along the trip. Here's a quick recap of what we enjoyed after our Asian delicacies: 

• Grain Belt Nordeast by August Schell Brewing Company 
• Citronic Pale Ale by Bare Hands Brewery
• Fresh Coast by 3 Sheeps Brewing Company 
• Cherry Gose by The Sour Note Brewing 
• Banshee Cutter by Insight Brewing Company 

With the exception of Grain Belt Nordeast, we had already tried all four of the other beers earlier on the trip. This particular beer was actually left in the refrigerator (perhaps by a previous guest), so we decided to have a go. Being an American light amber lager in a clear bottle, I didn't have very high expectations. Despite the beer being lackluster as anticipated, I did learn that August Schell was established in 1860 and late beer critic Michael Jackson once called its brewery in New Ulm, NM, the "most beautiful brewery in America." So they have that going for them, as well as a long brewing history. They might want to reconsider the clear bottles, though.

After that lot, it was time for some well-deserved slumber.

The next morning, we packed up and had our last meal in Madison before making the short southward drive to New Glarus, WI for our requisite stop at one of my personal favorite breweries in the United States - New Glarus. But first, breakfast! We opted to call an audible and rather than paying a visit to our beloved Glarner Stube, we decided to eat at the equally awesome New Glarus Hotel for a true, authentic Swiss breakfast.

New Glarus, WI... it's like visiting Switzerland.

Although it is renowned for its amazing brunch buffet, the majority of the items were not Ffejetarian-friendly, so Brewslut and I each opted for a traditional Swiss dish called a Rösti. This starchy, carb-heavy dish consists mainly of potatoes and cheese and can best be described as a large fritter. Originally a breakfast dish commonly eaten by farmers, it is now extremely popular throughout Switzerland and other parts of the world, namely New Glarus, WI. If your looking for something with which to adequately line your gut prior to drinking beer, then look no further than the Rösti. After this filling breakfast treat, it was off to the brewery.

Between the festival and the great selection we experienced at Off Broadway, we'd already had our share of New Glarus beers. Regardless, it's always a true pleasure to witness the grandeur of this elegant brewery. Reminiscent of a Swiss castle nestled in a quaint small town amid the Alpine mountains, the brewery is truly a sight to behold. The beer is world class, too. If you've never had a beer from New Glarus, well, they pretty much do justice to every style. A fresh, lively, hop-forward pale ale? Check. That'd be Moon Man. Fruit beers? Can't go wrong with any of 'em. Wisconsin Belgian Red. Raspberry Tart. Serendipity. Strawberry Rhubarb. They are all works of art bursting with the most amazing, authentic fruit flavor you will ever experience. It's R&D sour and barrel-aged beers are some of the best I've ever tasted. As a matter of fact, at a Team D(r)INK tasting shortly after we returned from this very trip, we opened a R&D Kriek as well as a 2015 Cantillon Kriek 100% Lambic Bio and I (as well as my man Jamberg) liked the New Glarus more. The Thumbprint Series has produced dozens of experimental batches (some more memorable than others) including everything from smoked beers and sour brown ales to beers that defy categorization (Enigma, anyone?) to one of the best Berliner Weissbiers I've ever had. Even its Spotted Cow, a light farmhouse-style table beer, is the best-selling draft beer in all of Wisconsin (or at least is was from 2007 to 2012). Not craft beer, either. I'm talking beer PERIOD. More than any Bud-Miller-Coors product. Now that's a testament to the quality of New Glarus' beers... as well as the drinking temperament of Wisconsinites.

OK, enough gushing. I love New Glarus. You get the picture. Let's move on, shall we?

Obviously, the brewery was beginning to fill up quickly with folks in town for the festival. We arrived a few minutes after official opening time and had to park in the overflow lot. A constant string of cars were filing into the lot as we made our way to the brewery's entrance. Here are a few pics of the main entrance. 

Impressive, right? We headed up the stairs to the patio area where they sell beer tokens. You can opt for a flight and keep the glass, or pay for a large pour of a single beer in either a standard or upgraded glass. Since we already have about four or five of the taster glasses, we decided to splurge on a single pour of two more limited beers and share them: R&D Kriek and Strawberry Rhubarb. We've already discussed these two beers in previous "Great Taste Caper" episodes, so I'll spare you further praise. I will say that the R&D Kriek direct from the source was one of the highlights of the entire trip. So there you have it.

Pleeps wore his wristband like a sash.

With beer in hand, we basically just enjoyed the surroundings and each others' company. Below are some additional photographs that illustrate the impressive facility. The first three shots are of the "ruins," which are meant to mimic fallen turrets and eroded castle walls. There is a separate bar in this area where you can sample some of the rare beers offered by New Glarus.  

Since we don't get to visit too often (the last time was six years ago), we took a quick stroll around the self-guided tour path. Here are some additional photos from inside the brewing facility:

After finishing our beers, we headed to the beer store on the ground level to claim each of our respective hauls to tote back to PA. At our house, we're not allowed to drink the last Tart or Red bottle until we know we're going to be visiting the brewery again. So we made sure to stock up adequately. I was pleased to see they are now canning Moon Man and Spotted Cow, and we made sure to snag a 12-pack of the former. They also now bottle Tart and Red in 12-ounce bottles, which is decidedly more convenient than the previous 750mL, wax-dipped bottles (and cheaper too). I also picked up a sixer of the Coffee Stout, which I'd never had before. Oh, and some Berliner Weisse. And a few of the R&D sours. And Cran-bic. And Serendipity. And Strawberry Rhubarb. We probably bought way too much, but you never know how long it will be until we return. One thing is for sure... it won't be another six years! 

Just two women hanging out at New Glarus.

We said farewell to New Glarus and hit the rocky road. The destination? Nearby Monroe, WI, for a visit to a tiny new brewery called Bullquarian Brewhouse. D&C decided they wanted to do some exploring, so we decided to tag along. Might as well add a few more breweries to the list, I thought. We were planning to meet Nathan and his wife, Tiffany, later that evening, and had a pretty lengthy drive to Illinois, so these would be relatively quick stops in the grand scheme of things. 

Described as a "nano brewery," Bullquarian employs a 2-bbl brewhouse and serves up homemade pizza for eats. We were just drinking today, but I did partake in some free popcorn (I usually like something small to nosh on while enjoying beer). They also feature live music, as the owner/brewer is a drummer in a local blues band. He was a nice guy, and we talked a bit about music and our travels. He also does a Sunday vinyl day, and another older guy was in there spinning the first Van Halen record. So they get bonus points for embracing one of my other passions (two, actually, if you count live music).

The beer here was pretty much as I'd expected: decent local beer. Still, it was nice to see a Rauchbier on tap, which was the first beer I sampled. Smoke Ryeder is brewed with three different varieties of smoked malt, flaked rye, and Belgian sugar to elicit a smokey flavor with a faint sweetness and hint of spicy jerky. It wasn't bad; maybe a tad sweet for the style, but otherwise enjoyable. Brewslut ordered a small pour of Anser, a kettle-soured gose with a hint of coriander, citrus fruit, and a pinch of salt.

We were also passing around a pour of a German-style schwarzbier, or dark lager, called Erv's Dark. Both Deuane and I enjoyed this one, which features hints of chocolate, sweet malt, and roast. Brewslut isn't a huge fan of the style, so Deuane and I had the lion's share. Carolyn was working on a sampler flight while we hung out at a round table and poked around the small tasting room.

Some interesting tap handles at Bullquarian. I like the giraffe!

Since we were in town and only about a block away from Minhas, the second oldest brewery in the United States, we felt obliged to stop in for a quick visit. Oddly enough, the oldest brewery in the country is like 30 miles from my hometown and I've never been there. At least we made it to the second oldest one. To be honest, this place was pretty much what I expected it to be - an old school brewery with antiquated recipes whose claim to fame is the fact that they remained open for so long. Still, it's worth a visit, right?

We didn't really have time for a full brewery tour, so opted for a sampler flight, which included as many samples as you can drink in twenty minutes. There were 40-odd beers available. Do the math. I interpreted this as a challenge. While I of course didn't get near to trying all of them, I did some damage. It was kind of like speed dating, only with beer. Here's the low-down:

• 1845 Pils - "old world" pilsner style beer with thin mouthfeel and very mild floral hop character. 
• Over the Barrel Apple Ale - Easily my favorite of the lot. Tasted like a sweet apple cider with a faint dryness in the finish. 
• Imperial Jack DIPA - contract brewed for Rhinelander Brewing. Old school malty DIPA with floral and herbal notes. 
• Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale - unfiltered, light-bodied farmhouse ale brewed with Minhas' proprietary ale yeast strain. 
• Thirsty Miner American IPA - another contract brewed IPA that touts "big hop flavors and aromas." Kind of generic, as expected. 
• Huber Bock - sweet, malty German-style bock with lots of caramel a faint floral note. 
• Rhinelander - a pretty non-descript export lager (think light pilsner style)

Overall, nothing was what I would describe as great craft beer. But it was a cool experience, the people were nice, and in addition to the 20-minute "speed drinking" session, the $10 price tag also  included a take-home glass, a mixed 6-pack of beer, and some small swag items. Of course, they had a few beer brands that carried a price tag of around $7.00 per case! That's cheaper than Lionshead! Since we had a time limit, I wasn't able to snap any pictures here. And again, quantity trumps quality. We secured our parting gifts, said goodbye to D&C and shipped off to meet up with Nathan in Illinois once again; only this time, his new wife Tiffany would be joining us.

We were extremely hungry when we arrived at our first stop, 350 Brewing in Tinley Park, IL. We were hoping to only hit Hailstorm (a favorite of ours from a previous Drinksgiving trip) but it turns out they weren't hosting a food truck on this particular Sunday. In light of this, Nathan suggested this newish brewery about a mile away from Hailstorm. Fine by me! 

Outside 350 Brewing Co. in Tinley Park, IL.

On the outside, the brewery is reminiscent of any number of breweries we've encountered in shopping plazas situated next to Chinese take-out restaurants, nail salons, and pharmacies. Inside, the place is pretty punk rock and immediately reminded me of Fall Brewing Co. in San Diego, another brewery with a DIY vibe. When we arrived, Nathan and Tiffany had already secured a table and were enjoying some beers and appetizers. Nathan is a recent newlywed, so this was the first time meeting Tiffany. She's new to the whole "beer thing" (especially to the extent in which the rest of us are ensconced), but she's eager and willing to try anything put in front of her.

In order to get to Hailstorm in time, we were limited to a single beer. After quickly perusing the menu, I opted for Shake City - Peaches & Cream, a milkshake IPA presumably brewed with lactose and peaches. Yes, again with the peaches, I'm afraid. This was pretty tasty overall, although I find some milkshake IPAs to be a bit chalky in the mouthfeel. I don't mind the viscosity or chewiness, but sometimes the grittiness pushes the bitterness over the edge. Still, this was pretty well balanced with hops and sweetness, and the peach flavor was apparent. And with that, it was time to move on. 

Inside 350 Brewing.

We first visited Hailstorm on our Drinksgiving 2015 jaunt. Unfortunately, you can't read about it because it was during my hiatus. Coincidentally, Nathan was in tow with us back then too. I recall being wowed by not only the quality of their barrel-aged beers, but also the sheer number of these beers available on tap and in bottles. Seemed like a pretty mature barrel-aging program for a brewery who'd only been open a year-and-a-half when we visited. It seems like they're still focusing on barrel-aged beers, but have also jumped on the IPA bandwagon, as this time they had a few hazy IPAs and a new style I've seen gaining some traction: Brut IPA.

Wall of wood at Hailstorm Brewing.

We planted ourselves at the corner of the bar. The bartender was attentive and chatty, and came across as a bona fide beer geek. It's always nice to have a server who knows what they're talking about. I ordered a pour of Blast!, a NE-style pale ale brewed in collaboration with The Open Bottle, a craft brew shop and taproom in Tinley Park. Yes, I know... another hazy, hoppy beer. This one features Mosaic and Citra hops, and additions of lactose, vanilla, and blueberries sweetens the pot. According to Hailstorm, this one "pairs well with barbecues, bald eagles, and freedom." I think that pairing would be more appropriate with a light American adjunct lager, but what do I know. 'Murica!

Brewslut opted for the Guava Gose, which we shared. At least I think we did. I have no recollection of this beer, unfortunately. Meanwhile, I noticed a beer on the chalkboard called Hopsecco, so I inquired about it. Turns out it's one of those newfangled Brut IPAs that have been popping up. Based on current trends, I anticipate this becoming the trendy style in 2019. We'll see. At any rate, this beer is a collaboration with Arrowhead Ales Brewing Company based in New Lenox, IL. Ultra-dry and low on bitterness, this double dry-hopped IPA boasts a white wine-like hop character by way of Hallertau Blanc, Callista (a new one for me), and Vic Secret hops. A massive amount of Sauvignon Blanc grape juice lends to the ambiance. I wasn't too jazzed about this one, unfortunately. I was expecting a much more highly carbonated beer akin to Champagne, which it didn't deliver. The white grape flavor was apparent, but I didn't feel it was overly dry either. Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing how this infant style progresses over the next year or so. You can likely expect to see Brut IPAs popping up at breweries across the country in 2019.

It's fitting to end a meal with dessert, and sometimes it's appropriate to conclude a drinking session with a liquid dessert. Enter Awesome Brownie. Yet another collaboration (this one with Flesk Brewing out of Barrington, IL), this is a lower ABV stout brewed with chocolate and vanilla. This was probably my favorite of the four beers, but none of them matched the memory of our first experience at Hailstorm. Still, it was good to get back after a few years to catch up. Hopefully next time they will have more barrel-aged beers ripe for the pickings!

Nathan twisted our collective arm into going to one final brewery about 20 miles away in nearby Lansing, IL. Since we were already going that way, we figured why not? The brewery, One Trick Pony, may have been the unsung hero of the trip, in all honesty. With a name like One Trick Pony, I wasn't expecting much. I mean, the name itself implies that you can really do only one thing well. Naturally, I was thinking in beer styles. Turns out they do justice to all kinds of beer!

First off, I love their little no-nonsense elevator pitch:

Our beer won't make you strong or handsome, but if you appreciate craft beer and want to meet some guys that are happy to make it, serve it, and probably drink it with you.

OK, so grammatically it's a sentence fragment. But the sentiment promises no pretenses. This place was a perfect example of a no-frills brewery with rag-tag regulars and straight-up awesome beer. (Sorry for all the hyphenated phrases in that last sentence.) The vibe of the place reminded me immediately of Marshall, MI's roadhouse-style Dark Horse Brewing, one of our favorites.

It took every ounce of restraint not to bust out some Rush!

Things got off to a very nice start with my first beer, Georgia Grande. Brewed with pilsner malt and  White Wheat (the latter for a hint of haze) this Hefeweizen-style ale is infused with fresh ginger root and peaches. Overall, this was a refreshingly tart, light wheat beer rounded out by juicy peach flesh and a hint of spicy clove. Ginger can be a finicky ingredient to use in brewing, but the ginger character was just right and played off the juiciness of the peaches nicely. Well done!

Up next was Leathercoated Mind, an IPA hopped with El Dorado and Mosaic. Heavy dry-hopping draws out lots of tropical fruit and a bit of summer melon. Again, this was another winner and I soon found myself wanting to stay longer despite the grueling 9-hour drive we had in store for us the following day. Well, I'm glad I decided to get one more beer, because I saved the best for last.

One trick pony? More like MANY tricks pony!

I spotted a delicious sounding barrel-aged stout on the menu called Cocoa Butter Kisses. I simply had to have it. People, let me tell you: I've had a lot of stouts over the years. A LOT. This one was right up my alley. There was absolutely no way an Imperial Stout aged in Buffalo Trace barrels clocking in at 11.8% ABV brewed with cinnamon, vanilla, and cocoa wasn't going into my belly. Fucking hell, this beer was amazing! It was one of the most well-executed imperial stouts I've ever had in my life. The ingredients were perfectly balanced. The bourbon warmth was present but not boozy or overbearing. Velvety. Luscious. Bursting with flavor. So insanely drinkable, I wanted to bathe in it. I can go on and on, but you get the picture. After that amazing beer, it was time to say goodbye to our friends and start the long journey home. (Actually, a relatively short drive to our hotel followed by a long journey home the following day.)

Finishing up at One Trick Pony.

Monday serves as a sort of postscript to the trip. We did manage to fit in one last stop at one of my personal favorite spots: The Beer Engine. We decided at the 11th hour to skip brunch after spending the night in Cleveland on our first official day of the trip because it was about 10 miles or so in the opposite direction as where we were headed. So, it served instead as our lunch destination for Monday.

Since we still had a solid six-hour drive ahead of us, we decided to limit ourselves to one beer each and share them. Turns out the Beer Engine (historically Buckeye Brewing's de facto tap room) has pretty much ceased all brewing activity, unfortunately. I always enjoyed at least one of Buckeye's beers on tap during our visits to the Beer Engine. Sadly, there weren't any Buckeye beers on tap save for an anniversary barleywine that had been on for quite some time. As disappointing as this was to me, I was pleased to find a beer from Jackie O's on tap, something called Who Cooks for You. Turns out it is a double dry-hopped hazy Pale Ale. Brewslut opted for LazerSnake by Three Floyds, described as an "old-fashioned" IPA. In my opinion, the Jackie O's beer was much better. I'm not sure what hop combo FFF used in this beer, but I wasn't digging it. Over the last few years, I kind of fell off the FFF train. Eight years ago, I thought they were the best thing ever. Fast forward to present day, and I'm not sure. It's kind of like they don't give a shit anymore. Our last visit was so forgettable that we decided to skip it this time around. Since I hate to end on a downer, I'll go on record and say that this Jackie O's beer has piqued my interest in visiting the brewery again. It's simply been far too long since we were there. Plus Brad (the head brewer) is awesome!

In case you weren't keeping track, I've decided to include some statistics from the trip. Perhaps I'll continue to do this for all of our trips. We'll see. 

Total # Days: 11

Total # Beer Bars: 8

Total # breweries: 44

Total # beers (minus GTOTM samples): 197

So there you have it. All in all, it was a pretty memorable trip. We finally got to Minneapolis. It was a blast. Not sure there is much left to say about this epic beer trip. One thing's for sure... it won't take me another six years to get back to Great Taste of the Midwest. That you can count on! Until next time... 

The Great Taste Caper 2018 - Day 8: Shit's about to get real!

The streets of Madison were crawling with beer geeks from all across the country on the eve of Great Taste. Fans donned shirts and caps showing off small or obscure breweries they'd visited in the past, while some just waived the flag of their favorite local brewery by way of T-shirts and baseball caps emblazoned with its logo. It seemed like every beer bar worth anything in the downtown area had an event happening. It was like a pop-up beer festival in its own right. Tap takeovers boasted dozens of rarely seen beers on draft while brewery reps a'plenty chatted with zealous fans and handed out free swag to the masses. For the next 48-hours, Madison would reign as beer capital of the world.

I dropped off the gang at Maduro Cigar Bar for an insanely huge 30th anniversary party in honor of Bell's Brewing Company, Kalamazoo, MI's pride and joy, because I had ulterior motives. I was heading a few miles down the road to check out Strictly Discs, the record store the guy we'd met a few days ago in Minneapolis told me about. I'm glad I did because I came home with a pretty decent haul of stuff for which I'd been searching for quite some time (like a nice copy of the debut Styx album on the Wooden Nickel label and a pair of older Blue Oyster Cult records absent from my collection). With a stack of records in hand, I regrouped with the gang over at Maduro. Since they'd been there for a while already, I went big with my one-and-done selection: 30th Anniversary Cherry Stout Reserve. One of Bell's most anticipated beers of the year, Cherry Stout was originally brewed back in 1998 as a tribute to a local Michigan-based homebrew club. Thirty years later, they released this commemorative batch with whole cherries and oak chips. This 9% big guy owns its lush mouthfeel and its pop of sweet-tart cherry pie filling. If there's one thing that Bell's has learned over the years, it's how to brew a great stout. Expedition Stout has always been a benchmark stout for me. Cheers to Bell's for 30 years of brewing excellence!

Our seating at Maduro (photo courtesy of Facebook).

Just down the block, Lucille was hosting a pretty sick Central Waters tap takeover and event featuring a metric shit-ton of amazing beers. Since we couldn't squeeze in a trip to the brewery proper in Amherst, WI, this was a nice silver medal for us. I'd been a fan of Central Waters for the last decade or so, which was around the time that I was beginning to discover all of these great mid-west breweries (mostly by way of Deuane). They boast an exceptional barrel-aging program, and Peruvian Morning has always been a favorite of mine from them. Lucille, like every other bar in the vicinity, was elbow to asshole. But it was a beautiful summer's day and folks were occupying every inch of patio space and chilling outside. We snagged three seats at the bar, and Deuane volunteered to stand. The first beer to jump out at me (at least from a whale's point of view) was the Brewer's Reserve Rum Barrel Coconut Porter. I ordered a big snifter of this beer. Let me preface this by saying if you are on the fence about rum, then keep your distance from this beer. Yo ho... holy shit snacks! Drinking this beer was like getting sodomized by a train of drunk pirates on the walking plank. Seriously, this was THE most rum-forward beer I'd ever had or will likely ever have. It was almost too much rum, especially as the beer warmed up to room temperature. At over 12% ABV, there was plenty of boozy burn going down. However, the coconut presence quelled the alcohol warmth a bit (I mean, barely!) but it was detectable. I'm glad I was able to try this, but hot damn was this one a chore to finish.

Lucille... minus all the people (photo courtesy of Google).

Meanwhile, Brewslut was working on a pour of Brewhouse Coffee Stout, one of the best coffee stouts out there, in my opinion. One of Central Waters' specialty releases, this robust stout is infused with coffee roasted especially for the brewery by Emy J's in Stevens Point, WI. I would have liked another pour of something else from Central Waters, but that rum barrel porter took a big chunk out of my day, unfortunately. Good thing I was parked in a spot with a 30-minute meter. It was time to skedaddle! 

By now, it was time to hit up a few breweries. First order of business? One Barrel. Although we enjoyed our beer on draft, I took note of the brewery's simple, whimsical black and white drawings that grace their beer labels. Given our collective mid-afternoon buzz, this turned out to be a really fun visit. The bartender was friendly and patient (the latter because we were getting kind of silly at times). The beers here were pretty legit, too. Nothing mind-blowing; just solid, small-batch beers made with care. What else can you ask for?

One Barrel... Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Up first was a beer called Fanny Pack. The name alone transported me back to the mid-1990s when I was in college. Coincidentally, this beer is an old school IPA that hearkens back to the kinds of hoppy beers brewed a decade or so ago. Fanny Pack's simple hop bill includes Chinook and Simcoe (both considered "old school" hop varieties) to impart more of a pine resin character in lieu of citrus and tropical fruit flavors. In a way, the name of this beer fits perfectly in that fanny packs were once a popular accessory item (not for this guy) that, like old school IPAs, are perhaps making a comeback. This kind of IPA can come back. Fanny packs, on the other hand? Let's all just leave them for the demographic that includes un-bathed bald dudes who wear sweatpants and cling to what little hair they have left by rocking a tiny rat tail in the back. Otherwise, there's no room in modern life for such a travesty.

No fanny pack for Pleeps, but he'll drink one!

Teleporting back to 2018, my next selection was Hypercolor, a NE-style IPA hopped with Centennial, Citra, and Mosaic... you know, the trendy hops. Well, Centennial is still kind of a tried-and-true old school varietal. This one had a citrus/melon thing going on, but I'd still give the nod to Fanny Pack overall. I'm definitely reverting to my old-school tendencies when it comes to IPAs. I was on the haze bandwagon for a while (and I'll still try them from time to time), but I've been burned more than a few times by NE-style IPAs that sound awesome on paper but are less than stellar when translated to the tastebuds. Not saying this was one of them, but I'd still take Fanny Pack over Hypercolor.

Then I spotted something that I couldn't resist trying: a beer called No ReGerdts. At first, I thought they incorrectly spelled the word "regrets;" then I read its description. Described as a "barrel-aged strong ale with cherries," this sucker weighs in at around 20 - yes, TWENTY - percent ABV... you know, give or take. Then the name of the beer sunk in. I'd imagine anyone who consumed an entire glass of this would begin to slur his or her speech. Was it boozy? Of course. But it also boasted an enormous cherry flavor with lots of oak and a pinch of vanilla. It kind of reminded me of fortified port wine. It goes without saying that we shared a taster size of this one. 

My next beer, a DIPA called Behemoth, was a mere 9.5% ABV compared to the twice-as-potent No ReGerdts. Hopped with Centennial, Cascade, Warrior, and Simcoe, this comes across as another old school IPA with a chewy caramel malt backbone, slick mouthfeel, and spicy, resiny hop profile with a moderate amount of alcohol burn. Perhaps it was a bit too strong on the herbal end of the hop spectrum for my personal tastes, but it was a solid effort nevertheless. Plus the bottle label depicts a fun-looking elephant, so they get bonus points for that.

Last on my laundry list of One Barrel beers was 5th Element, a rye IPA hopped with Amarillo, Calypso, and Simcoe. This one was in line with the other hoppy beers I sampled during our visit, in that it was drinkable but not life-changing. Overall, I'd say the Fanny Pack was probably my favorite of the bunch, although No ReGerdts was easily the most interesting.

Pleeps has no regerdts... hiccup!

As it would happen, on our way to BarleyPop, I walked right past a record store, so naturally I had to stop in. The crew carried on without me, and I blasted through the used A-Z section as well as the new releases. Of course, I unearthed a few more gems for my collection, including a copy of the rarely seen Queen album, A Kind of Magic.

But let's get back on track... the beer track!

There was a long-ass line outside BarleyPop when I arrived, which took me back to the days when I actually went to beer releases. It was a short-lived phenomenon for me that got old really fast. The crew had already secured a table outside on the sidewalk, which was equally as packed as the inside of the establishment. I had to sneak in to use the bathroom due to all of the people waiting in line to get in for a beer. The tap selection was top-notch and included a few offerings from Toppling Goliath as well as plenty of local Wisconsin brews.

Carolyn shared her pour of King Sue from the aforementioned Toppling Goliath out of Decorah, Iowa. Um, where?! Of course, if you haven't heard of TG, then you're likely living in a cave because over the last few years this brewery seems to have secured Iowa a pretty decent spot on craft beer map. King Sue is an imperial version of its flagship Pseudo Sue, an assertively hopped pale ale reminiscent of FFF Zombie Dust, only better (IMHO, of course). This beefed-up version reeks of pineapple, mango and orange courtesy of copious amounts of Citra hops. I actually prefer the standard version over this, but King Sue is tough to come by, so it was a pleasure to have had the opportunity to try it on draft.

Speaking of Toppling Goliath, we also enjoyed a pour of Dragon Fandango, a crimson-hued kettle sour blended with dragon fruit, mango, and passionfruit puree. This one was intensely fruity with a tart finish. It was almost like alcoholic Kool-Aid or Hawaiian Punch. Oh yeaaaaaah!

I also had a bit of something called Twang of Futility by The Brewing Projekt. We'd already sampled (and enjoyed) both the Citra and Mosaic variants of Dare Mighty Things, so this was something a bit different. You can't get much further away on the spectrum from a hazy IPA than with a cucumber Berliner Weisse, which is what this puppy is. This was cool, crisp and refreshing on a hot summer day. Everyone really dug this one quite a bit. And with that, it was time to pack up and head to the next place.

We must have arrived at Next Door Brewing right before some kind of special event, because they were removing a good deal of their own beers in lieu of two other small breweries' beers. Needless to say, the chalkboard was a work in progress, the beer menu wasn't up-to-date, and some of the new beers weren't even hooked up yet. Add to this our silly demeanor and you get a slight irritated bartender who tried desperately to explain what beers were (and would be) available on tap.

The first of the two guest breweries was Stock House Brewing, another Wisconsin brewery based out of Wauwatosa. With the catch phrase (and promise) of "we will never make the same beer twice," it sounds like this brewery caters to beer drinkers looking to constantly try something new rather than find a go-to "fridge beer." Fair enough. The beer I went with was a rum barrel-aged Berliner Weisse called Midwest Funk Fest.

Cool miniature diorama of Next Door Brewing Company!

By the time I'd finished my first beer, Next Door had gotten its shit together and managed to cobble together a final beer list for the day. I decided to give Hyperbolic Imperial IPA a shot. Brewed with flaked oats and a new hop variety called Skyrocket (grown locally by Gorst Valley Hops), this DIPA features soft, juicy notes of mango, papaya, and mandarin orange.

My final beer of our visit was the aptly named New England IPA by Component Brewing, the second of the two guest breweries. This was a brewery we missed in Milwaukee, although I don't even think it was on my radar, to be honest. No worries, though, as Next Door brought them to us instead of the other way around. I don't have much of a recollection of these beers, unfortunately. Not only was I thinking about food, we were also enjoying chatting with some people at the bar about beer travels. As such, I was too preoccupied to appreciate the beer, and it was relegated to second fiddle.

The Main Monkey Business.

By now, we'd worked up quite a hunger and were ready for dinner. Enter "Fish Fry Friday" at Off Broadway Drafthouse! It seems as though Wisconsin folks love them a good fish fry (especially Walleye, a favorite of mine since childhood, when my family used to bring home a huge bounty from Canada after their fishing excursions). It didn't hurt that they were having a New Glarus tap takeover in addition to a stellar line-up of local Wisconsin beers. Yeah, we were gonna be here for a while!

The tap selection was rife with beers from New Glarus' R&D Series, plus a 25th Anniversary Ale and a few others I hadn't yet had the opportunity to try. Check out this sick flight of rarities:

• R&D Gotlandic Ale - A traditional brew enjoyed by vikings, this dark beer is hearty, spicy, and - best of all - smoky. New Glarus brewed this in the traditional method using foraged Juniper and a blend of Wisconsin, German, and Scandinavian malts. The malt was hand-smoked with Colorado birch and Wisconsin cherry wood.
• R&D Vintage 2016 - American sour blonde ale cellared for a year in the bottle. Citrusy and funky with traces of oak courtesy of the barrel-aged fermentation process.
• R&D Pommier Sauvage - Sour blonde ale spontaneously fermented with varietal apples from Wisconsin’s Kikapoo Valley. The sourness is a result of fermenting the beer in a Coolship vessel, which resides in New Glarus' "wild fruit cave." This sucker is very apple-forward, as you can imagine, with a dry, funky-fruit finish. Not many American breweries have a Coolship. (I actually got to check out the one at Allagash on a few different occasions.) 
• 25th Anniversary Ale - Belgian Quad featuring a bold combination of German and English malted barley for a rich, luxurious caramel and raisin character. Aussie hops and Belgian yeast rested in brandy barrels coax subtle nuances of cinnamon and clove. The combination of Wisconsin maple syrup from Maple Sweet Dairy and Belgian candy sugar sweetens the pot and adds a depth of complexity that is mind-boggling. 

Bar at Off Broadway (photo courtesy of Google).

That might have been one of the most amazing beer flights I've ever had. Where do you go from there? How about back to the drawing board. Hand me that beer menu, Deuane!

Operation Griswold: Clark by O'So Brewing out of Plover, WI. Sounds like what a drunk cop yells to an even more inebriated driver: "Pl'over!!!" At any rate, This beer is one in four of a series of hazy NE-style IPAs from O'So. I wasn't overly thrilled with it, but it served its purpose. At the very least, I made sure to include the following comment with my Untappd check-in: "We're 15 hours from the fuckin' fun park and you wanna bail out!" Don't even get me started...

More beers from New Glarus followed, with the amazing (and limited) Cherry Stout up first. Aged in oak barrels to promote spontaneous fermentation, this decadent stout utilizes eight Wisconsin-grown malted barley varieties and sour Montmorency cherries (also from Wisconsin) to produce a sublimely complex flavor reminiscent of another New Glarus favorite - Wisconsin Belgian Red. Damn, does Dan know how to brew with fruit! Simply stunning!

Scream was next, which I'd never had before, apparently. This DIPA blends New Glarus-grown hops from the brewery's estate with Wisconsin-grown hops in both the kettle and dry-hopping process. Wisconsin-grown malted barley paired with English Maris Otter malt is the backbone of this slightly dry, English-style strong IPA. It's not a favorite of mine from New Glarus, but it's hard to stand out among so many truly superior beers. I guess that's a good problem to have.

I finished up this epic visit with a pour of Minnesconsin Lager from Hop & Barrel Brewing out of Hudson, WI. Brewed with Saphir hops and a house lager yeast strain, this Helles Lager has the unique distinction of being the only beer of this visit I completed forgot I drank. I guess those statistics aren't too shabby, eh?

We ended the night at Vintage after multiple attempts to convince Brewslut and D&C that it was a good idea. I really wanted to go because the only time we'd ever been there was to pick up a bowling shirt for Deuane. This was six years ago. We couldn't even get a beer because only the gift shop was open. So, I may or may not have whined a bit. Can you blame me? I just wanted prolong our evening a little bit. Of course, I got my way. You know, I'm seldom wrong on these types of occasions, too.  However, this night was one of those occasions.

Vintage (photo courtesy of Google).

We set up camp in a nice lounge area, and some sporting event was in progress on the televisions scattered about the establishment (already not a good sign for me). At least we were comfortable. We perused the beer list, and I settled on the evocatively named ThingamaJuicy, a cask-conditioned IPA with strawberry and blood orange. Man, was this a berry-forward beer! It didn't even really taste like an IPA. It was all strawberry, which made it taste like a fruited wheat beer.

I wasn't ready for our next beer, which we decided to share because nobody else wanted to be there anyway. This beer came in the form of Revenant Dedication '14, described as such: 

This super-rare and nearly forgotten variant of our Dedication abbey Dubbel was brewed in 2014 and tucked away in bourbon barrels gracefully slumbering a full 3 years in the haunted cellars of the Woodshed Ale House.

Perhaps "gracefully slumbering" isn't the term I'd use to describe this beer. Something more like "Power nap gone wrong" would be more appropriate here. You know, the kind where you wake up in a cold sweat with a damp crotch and the vague memory of having sex with who you originally thought was beautiful woman but turned out to be Abraham Lincoln. Man, this beer was all kinds of terrible. And that's all I have to say about that.

With that said, it does make for a fun story, doesn't it? See... I was right! There's always room for one more brewery visit.

See you next time when we check in at Great Taste for five hours of imbibing at its finest! Until then, here's what I believe to be an antelope head made of wicker.