Cedarburg Wine and Harvest Festival

Today we went to the Cedarburg Wine and Harvest Festival. It's a lovely event that we try to do every year.

We led off at the Lions Club area where I got a hamburger and a Sprecher Oktoberfest. This is the first time I've had their Oktoberfest and it was a nice rich, dark color with a great full flavor. And it went well with the burger.

While we were walking around I saw a beer booth for a local microbrewery that I hadn't heard of - Silver Creek Brewing Co. They are from right there in Cedarburg. They had an Oktoberfest, a session ESB, a root beer and something else on tap.

I decided to try their ESB. Unfortunately I was so disappointed in it that I only drank half of it. The best thing it had going for it was it's beautiful reddish brown hue. It didn't have much head, it smelled like grape juice and apple cider vinegar - just a touch sweet with alot of sour. It tasted weak and watery, and the most distinct thing I could pick up from the flavor was an unpleasant sourness. I understand a session beer shouldn't be too strong, but I have had light beers that tasted better.

Now, I may have little good to say about it, but I doubt they could be successful and serve their own beer in their brew pub if they didn't bring something to the table. I didn't have time to try their Oktoberfest, so I can't judge the quality of their beers as a whole. I very much want to get my hands on some of the other beers that they brew, and maybe even visit their brew pub. They absolutely deserve a second chance.

I may even give their ESB a second chance. I have a friend who once said to try everything twice. It's good advice, especially since things go wrong sometimes and your first try isn't the typical quality. For example - a couple of years ago I decided that I wanted to try Heineken, so I bought a 4 pack of cans. I hated it. I told some friends of mine and one of them was surprised because he likes it. I mentioned that I had it in cans and he said that draught is best, bottles are good, and although cans aren't bad they are the bottom of the three. This last week Thursday I went out for some drinks after work and had a couple Heinekens in bottles. I enjoyed them. It was nothing like my first experience. Now it may be the three Jack and Coke's I had first, but I don't think they would have made that much of a difference.

Long story short - I am very interested in trying more Silver Creek beer. Hopefully soon. And I want to try the ESB, but I want another beer on hand in case I have the same experience the second time around.

Sprecher Brewery Tour

Yesterday, Amanda and I did the Sprecher Brewery tour with her aunt and cousin.

The tour was fairly short and very fun. Extremely affordable at $4.00 per person ($2.00 for minors, $3.00 for seniors and FREE with a Military ID - gotta love a company that respects those that serve). It was 3 stops and then their indoor beer garden. Sprecher makes 8 types of gourmet soda as well as beer, and in the beer garden, minors can drink as much soda as they want (Well, anyone can). And visitors 21 and older get an 8 ounce glass - which you get to keep - to sample up to 4 of the beers they have on tap - unless you look "receptive" to the other guests. At the start of the tour everyone over 21 is handed 4 beer tickets. While we were drinking after the tour a nice couple next to us gave us all 8 of their beer tickets because they were only drinking the soda. Then another gentleman who told us we looked "receptive" gave us four more. And then another wonderful older gentlemen gave us 2 more! It just kept getting better.

The only unfortunate thing was that we stayed past last call and didn't get a chance to use all of the tickets - which I suppose my brain and liver are thankful for. We could have used them all, but I was enjoying looking and smelling and sipping my beers and didn't want to start chugging them just to keep the tickets from going to waste.



Although not all of their beers were on tap, they had more than we tried. What I found to be fantastic was the selection of beers they had on tap. I've had the Black Bavarian a couple of times and I believe the Special Amber once, they were far surpassed by some of Sprecher's other beers that I've never had. I'm not saying the Black Bavarian and Special Amber are bad - not at all - but I had beers that I'd never seen before and they were amazing. It makes me wonder how little I've really looked at Sprecher beers before. Now, I suppose that part of the reason may be that Sprecher is better known for their root beer than their beer (in fact, they produce and sell more root beer than all of their beer combined). Nonetheless, I'll be keeping an eye out Sprecher when I'm out on a beer run.



So the following are the beers that I had and what I thought of them:

IPA²
I loved this beer. LOVED it. It was my favorite of all the ones I tried. For an IPA it was very sweet but not too sweet. It had a mild floral/fruity scent mixed with a nice tangy-hoppy smell. It had a nice medium amber color and a light mild head. I don't mind sweet beers at all, but I think I lean to bitter beers a bit more. But this was a great combination of the two.

Abbey Triple
It was good, but not my style. It had a light pale color with a mild flavor. It had a slightly sweet maltiness and a finish that I can only compare to a slight biscuity flavor. It also had an element to it that I find in Carlsberg that reminds me of childhood and makes me think of my father.

Germanfest
This beer is brewed specifically for Germanfest here in Milwaukee. It was light like a common macrowbrew but with more flavor and a nice hoppiness. It was too light for my taste, but I liked it better than MGD or Bud Light.

Pipers Scotch-Style Ale
It had a creamy, light tan head and an orange-red-brown color. It was very mild, with an almost imperceptible floral scent. It was sweet and smokey - not bitter at all. Despite my preference for bitter, I really liked this beer - with some reservations. I would not drink more than one at any given time, and if I were to drink it again, I want to be eating meat and/or cheese. It would go well with a nice gouda, a pulled pork sandwich and a kielbasa. I think it's because the smokiness was stronger than I would normally want in a beer, but not enough to keep me from coming back to drink it again. I think this would also probably make a fantastic marinade base for beef, pork or chicken. I'd also like to try using it for stew and in homemade BBQ sauce.

Belgian Dubble
This had the unfortunate role as my final beer before we had to clear out, so I didn't give it nearly same the attention as my other beers. It was good. Not much head. Sweet and savory with a hint of bitter and a clean bready finish. I want to try it again to get a better idea of what I think of it.

One that I didn't get to try for myself was their Russian Imperial Stout. Marsha (my wife's aunt) had one before the keg ran out, but I didn't. I had a sip of hers, but that's all I got because after it ran dry, they replaced it with their Hefe Weiss. From the sip I had I think I may really like it, but I'd like to give it a real try.

Afterward, Amanda suggested we all go to the Old German Beer Hall for giant soft pretzels and a couple more beers. She really has the best ideas.

Needless to say, I absolutely want to go back to the Sprecher Brewery, but I think that next time I'll go for one of their Reserve Tastings. They are done in smaller groups than the regular tour, and feature premier and limited edition items. You get ten samples paired with cheese, and it only costs $15.00 per person. I'd willingly pay that price. It still includes the glass you can keep and the tour.

Hoffbräu at the Grocery Store

I stopped at our local Pick'n'Save (grocery store) to pick up a few things and I stopped in the liquor department to grab a six pack of Oktoberfest - since it's that time of year. And to my surprise they had Hoffbräu Oktoberfest in bottles. I don't know that I've ever seen Hoffbräu at the grocery store, so I grabbed it. It didn't ring up right, so I may have been overcharged a little, but I'm happy to have it at home.

I wonder if I can get it from the Old German Beer Hall to take home for a better price? I'll have to check next time I'm there.

Northern Brewer Homebrew Supply

I've been toying around with the idea of homebrewing. Amanda told me there was a homebrew store near our house, and yesterday some friends suggested I to the Northern Brewer store. As it turns out, these were the one and the same!

We dropped the dogs off to get groomed, grabbed some breakfast, window shopped furniture, and then went to the Northern Brewer store. It was great! And extremely close to our house! Hooray for proximity!

We were the first ones in the store and a gentleman working there greeted us. I told him that I was thinking of getting into brewing so he showed me their starter kits, gave me their class schedule and catalogue, suggested some reading material to get started and told me to look around. He was helpful, friendly, open, funny and not pushy at all. If anyone is thinking of picking up homebrewing and is in the Milwaukee, WI area, I strongly suggest they stop by the retail store at 1306 S 108th St.

They have a lot of equipment, kits, individual ingredients (including both malt extracts and grain malts) and bottles. They also have equipment for making homemade soda and wine. They also have classes there for prices that I think are reasonable. I walked into their grain malts room and it smelled fantastic! I'm not saying I'm going to buy a starter kit for equipment from them, but when I get up and running, I'm definately going to them for recipe kits. And when I decide to break away from kits, I'll go to them for individual ingredients. I love buying stuff in store and going home with it, so this is perfect for me!

Granted all of this assumes that I actually follow through and try homebrewing. I think I've already made up my mind. Now I just need to set aside money to get started. I'm saving non-screw top bottles now so I can save some money on bottles at least.

Beer Day Off

Well, not a day off of beer. But I have a day off work today, and although I got up real early today, I'm just now thinking of "starting my day" and I popped open a Sierra Nevada Summerfest lager to celebrate the day.

It's the first time I've had this beer and with my first sip the words, "Oh. That's good." came out of my mouth. It would have been less wierd if there was someone else home besides the dogs.

It has a real pleasant sweetness that reminds me of something floral followed by an even earthy flavor that is gentle on the palate, but sticks around in a nice way. I really like it. Wish I had more than one in the house...

Local Acre Lager

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a 1 pt. 6 fl. oz bottle of Lakefront Brewery's Local Acre Lager. Tonight I decided to drink it.

From the back of the bottle: "...Lakefront set out to try something new, or old as it were - using all locally grown ingredients to create a distinctly Wisconsin beer." It's an unfiltered beer with a sweetness - a malty sweet, not a fruity sweet - a solid body and a rich, but not overpowering finish. I really like it!