Leinenkugel's Brewery Tour!

Amanda and I had a very busy weekend, and we capped it off by taking today off of work and stopping by Leinenkugel's Brewery for their brewery tour this morning before we came home.

It was fantastic! First off, it's free, second off, we got vouchers for 3 beer samples each. Not 3 full glasses, but 3 small sample glasses - the size you usually get for a beer chaser with a bloody mary. But still - free is my favorite price!

We had the dogs with us, so we dropped them off at a dog daycare in Eau Claire, we drove 15 minutes to the brewery in Chippewa Falls.

We started in the gift shop - which was HUGE and filled with Leinenkugel's swag. We grabbed the 10 AM tour so there was just the two of us and a family of four. It wasn't a long tour (45-60 minutes-ish) and there were parts of the brewery that we couldn't go into because it was a tour of the operational brewery. I'm fairly new to brewery tours, and this is the first where we were in the areas where they were actually doing the production. It was really cool!

Then we headed back to the gift shop and spent a bunch of money. It helps that I like several of their beers, you can find them all over the place, and that the only beer Amanda drinks is their Berry Weiss. I "joined the leinie lodge" which I believe means I get a newsletter. Amanda picked up a Berry Weiss pint glass and we got some clothes.

Highlights from the tour - found out they use corn in more than just a couple of their beers, which I didn't know. Their beer takes about 28 days from the beginning of production until it gets shipped out. Their kegs have a shorter shelf life than cans or bottles. They have distribution to 48 states (which has been helped since they became associated with Miller Brewing Company). They're still run by the Leinenkugel family. Leinenkugel's no longer makes their Apple Spice. Berry Weiss is no longer a seasonal beer.

I wish I'd asked it on the tour, but I didn't think of it until afterward, but I want to know why the cans and bottles have a longer shelf life than the kegs. Is that true of all beer?

When we got back to the gift shop, I started out with their Red, which I like, and Amanda had Berry Weiss (no surprise). I followed with their Oktoberfest (which I also like), and Amanda had a "pink lemonade" which was a mix of Summer Shandy and Berry Weiss. I had a sip and it was good - but not very beer-like. It tasted more like a wine cooler. I finished with a "black bear" - which was their Creamy Dark and Berry Weiss. I liked it - better than either of those two beers alone. Amanda finished with another Berry Weiss.

On the way home Amanda said we need a kegerator. I love her.

Wisconsin State Fair

Every year, Amanda and I try to take a night after work to go to the Wisconsin State Fair for a couple beers and some fatty fair food - the kind that will give you a heart attack just by being within 10 feet of it. I always get the smelt boat from the Door County Fish Boil (because I love fried smelt, and I don't find it very often anywhere else), and I try to have one of the unique and possibly disgusting sounding new fair foods. This year it was the Krispy Kreme cheese burger. It was okay. Not as gross as I suspected but not great.

Before I got my burger, I grabbed a Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale from the World Cafe area near the westside marketplace (Amanda likes window shopping random fair swag). It was the only craft beer they had at that location (although there are others sold at a couple other locations).

I've never had it before. I liked it. It was a beautiful golden color with a smooth, slightly tart taste. I really liked it.

Unfortunately after my burger, I just wasn't interested in beer any more. Which was disappointing (although it saved me money).

Amanda on the other hand found the Leinie Lodge and they were serving the cheapest beer on site - she got a 20 ounce Berry Weiss for $6.00. It was such a great price (for the size, compared to the rest of the site) that I would have overcome my post-burger disinterest if they'd been serving something I was interested in drinking.

I'll get another chance this Saturday, when we go back with friends.

Fruity Beer

The last week of July (Monday or Tuesday, I don't remember which) we went to lunch at Waterstreet Brewery. There was a convention in town, and it didn't work out to our advantage because they were B U S Y. While we were waiting for a table, one of my co-workers bought me the Raspberry Weiss - Well, I ordered it and he insisted on paying for it. Gotta love a free beer - I ordered the Raspberry Weiss because it was a warm, sunny day and I was expecting a nice light beer with mild sweet tartness.

Or so I had hoped.

I had never had it before and as it turns out, I didn't care for it. It was too sweet and too fruity. Drinkable, but not something I'm interested in trying again. It reminded me too much of Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss, which I'm not really a fan of. At the Brewfest we attended on 7/31 I had amanda try the Waterstreet Brewery Raspberry Weiss because I wanted to see what she thought of it since Leinie's Berry Weiss is her favorite beer. She said the Raspberry Weiss isn't as sweet and fruity, but it was "okay".

In retrospect, I might be willing to use it as a beer mixer. In my opinion, there are two good ways to mix beers - at least two good ways that I've tried. One is the layered approach, like you get in black and tans, and the other is just to pour two beers together, like the Honey Bear (a mix of Leinie's Honey Weiss and Berry Weiss which had some limited popularity a couple of years ago. I've never tried it).

I'm a big fan of the half and half layered style drinks. I've done it with Murphy's Stout and Hardcore Cider. Guiness Draft and Harp. Guiness Draft and Bass. Guiness Draft and Berry Weiss (which was only "okay" in my opinion).

But I also tried a mix of Guiness Draft and Lindemans Framboise Lambic - which I rather enjoyed. It was suggested by a friend of ours who was bartending when Amanda and I went out a couple of years ago. She asked if they had Berry Weiss. He said they didn't, but that they had Framboise. He said that he liked it mixed with Guiness. I tried it and had to agree with him! New Glarus Brewing Co. also has a nice raspberry framboise ale - Raspberry Tart - that works well.

The Raspberry Weiss doesn't have quite the same kind of flavor as the framboise, but it might work in a similar mix, so I might try it sometime.