Happy Belated Hop Day! Potosi Snake Hollow 5

Hello fellow hop heads!  I’m a little late in getting this posted, so I hope you all had a fantastic Hop Day and enjoyed a good, cold beer yesterday.  Today’s Hop Day is Potosi Snake Hollow IPA and cheese.  Unlike wine and cheese tasting this has Wisconsin written all over it.

I have chosen six cheeses to try with the Potosi Snake Hollow IPA today:

• Mozzarella
• Swiss
• Parmesan
• Extra Sharp Cheddar
• Feta
• Bleu

The goal was to run the spectrum between mild and strong and to add in a variety of flavors.

Mozzarella:

 

Fresh mozzarella (which should be redundant, but these days isn’t), not shredded for pizza or in sticks for string cheese, but creamy, mild with just a touch of sour

1. Beer first then cheese - The combination added nothing to either the beer or the cheese.  It didn’t detract from either, so I suppose that’s important.
2. Cheese first then beer - This smoothed the flavor of the beer some, reducing the impact of the hop bitterness and making for a clean finish; but it did not do much else for the beer.  It didn’t add anything to the cheese.
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - Not good.  It made the cheese taste almost like sour milk.  I found it very unpleasant, and it really did nothing good for the beer.

Swiss:

 

This was not a classy swiss of any kind:  not a baby Swiss or aged Swiss.  It was your standard block of swiss that you find in the regular cheese aisle (at least what you find in SE Wisconsin.  I can’t speak for anywhere else).  It had a mild, but nutty flavor and was just a touch on the dry side.

1. Beer first then cheese - The IPA was so strong that it masked the flavor of the cheese when I first started chewing, but then after the cheese had been in my mouth a little longer it seemed to act like an eraser, completely eliminating the beer taste from my mouth and leaving only the cheese flavor.
2. Cheese first then beer - Neither overcame the other in this situation.  The cheese flavor faded to the background, but the nutty flavor of the Swiss remained prominent while not diminishing the flavor of the IPA.  The result replaced the floral, slightly sweet flavors of the hops with an emphasis on the malty flavors of the beer, while still retaining the bitterness.
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - This was much the same as leading with the cheese, except the bitterness even seem reduced, and it maintained the full flavor of the cheese throughout.  I enjoyed it.

Parmesan:

 

The cheese was dry, but not overly crumbly.  It was firm, and although the flavor was unobtrusive, it was distinct and pleasant.  I have trouble defining parmesan by any flavor other than to say it is “parmesanish.”  It is rich like butter, salty and tastes just a bit like the day old crust of a very good homemade white bread. But then there is a rich element for which I cannot seem to find a good comparison.

1. Beer first then cheese - This was odd.  I didn’t care for it, but it didn’t go quite so far as to be what I would call “bad”.  The parmesan quickly scrubbed away the flavor of the beer, which helped.
2. Cheese first then beer -  Again, there was an odd overlap that seemed to accentuate the sourness of the beer in a way that I found unpleasant, but not revolting.
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - This did not have the same odd, unpleasant effect.  The tastes flowed from one into the next:  sweet beer, rich cheese, dryness from the cheese, finishing with the bitterness of the beer.  I enjoyed it, but this is a combination that you have to be VERY careful with because it is far too easy to have something that tastes bad.

Extra Sharp Cheddar:

 

Somewhat soft (this was not a 3-5 year cheddar.  It was probably barely 18 months old).  Buttery. Tangy, a little salty and that element to cheddar that makes it “sharp”

1. Beer first then cheese - The beer seemed to sap most of the flavor from the cheddar.  It wasn’t bad by any means.  But it was very disappointing.  The combination didn’t add anything to the beer, but it subtracted a lot from the cheese.
2. Cheese first then beer - It emphasized the sweetness and maltiness of the beer while reducing the bitterness.  There wasn’t much cheese flavor in my mouth except it finished with the tanginess you expect from a sharp cheddar.
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - It was not bad, but it was not good.  I tasted beer and cheese.  The flavors did not mix well, and they each seemed to detract some of the more pleasant elements from the other.

Feta:

 

Very dry, very salty, a bit of sour cream flavor, but otherwise mild

1. Beer first then cheese - The feta completely overpowered the beer immediately
2. Cheese first then beer - There was a momentary sweetness and bitterness that was suddenly swallowed by the saltiness and tanginess of the cheese
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - it was like there was a ghost of beer in my mouth, but again, the cheese completely overpowered the beer.

Bleu:

 

Creamy, crumbly, salty, sour in a way that makes the back of your mouth pucker, rich and tangy.

1. Beer first then cheese - The beer was overcome by the cheese, but the cheese only had the “feet” flavor associated with bleu cheese.  Not a good combination.
2. Cheese first then beer - This was very rich, very salty, sweet, a little malty and just a hint of bitter.  This tasted good.
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - The same as cheese first, but more so

One bottle of beer with six cheeses and 3 ways to combine them each - it’s a bit tricky to get enough beer and not run out.

Honestly, I don’t know the best way to match cheese and beer because they seemed to pair differently depending on how I ate them and what cheese I was using.  It varied.  What I can say for sure:

 

Good Combinations:

• Swiss and IPA
• Parmesan and IPA (if done right)
• Blue cheese and IPA (again if done right)
• Cheddar and IPA (If done right)

 

Real bad combination:

• Blue cheese and IPA (if done wrong)

 

The rest weren’t great, but they weren’t bad enough to matter.  I wonder if doing them as a grilled cheese sandwich would make a difference?

I suspect that there may be other cheeses that pair better with IPA.  I’d be willing to give it a try.  It could also be that IPA is just one of those styles that you have to pair carefully with cheese.  Or maybe I just don’t know what I’m doing - but if it’s that hard, then who’s going to take the time to sit through a lot of bad combinations just to find the good ones?  Well, other than me . . .

 

Hop Day! Potosi Snake Hollow IPA 4

This week drinking my Potosi Snake Hollow IPA was not just something I enjoyed while writing up this post.  Instead it was half of the material.  The other half was chocolate.  That’s right, I decided to try a beer and food pairing with and IPA and chocolate!

I wanted to try the effects against different kinds of chocolate, so I picked up three to taste with my beer.  I wanted to see how the experience would be different with different kinds of chocolate, so I used a milk chocolate, a dark chocolate and what I think of as a novelty chocolate (in this case dark chocolate with orange and almonds): 

• The first chocolate that I sampled was Dove “silky smooth” milk chocolate.  Since I love chocolate, I’ll eat just about any kind; but I have to admit that I prefer dark chocolate.  Nonetheless, I wanted to do this right so I chose Dove because I prefer their milk chocolate to the old classic, Hershey’s.
• The second beer that I paired with my beer was Ghirardelli Intense Dark Midnight Reverie.  I chose it because it was 86% cacao, and I tend to like my dark chocolate VERY dark.  Honestly, it was a little less sweet than I generally like, so although it is a chocolate that is still right up my alley, I believe I would have been happier with a 70% cacao dark chocolate.
• The third and final chocolate for my pairing was Lindt Excellence “Intense Orange” dark  chocolate with pieces of orange and almond slivers.  I chose this as my novelty item because I wanted a very distinct flavor coming from the chocolate, and for the sake of my attempt at pairing, I was willing to risk a bad combination.

Honestly, I didn’t know what I was doing, so it took me some trial and error to figure out how to maximize the experience from combining of chocolate and beer.  I wasn’t sure if it would make any difference or if, like eating cranberry sauce and drinking milk, there would be an order of consumption that would end up being a very bad idea.  Fortunately for me, I found that there is no wrong way to eat chocolate and drink beer; but that doesn’t mean that every way is equal.

I started by eating a piece of chocolate and then washing it down with beer.  To me, at least, It tasted like I was just eating a piece of chocolate and then washing it down with beer.  Not bad, but neither element seemed to bring anything special to the combination.

Armed with a trusty glass of water and some saltines I cleansed my palate and tried again.  I took a sip of my beer, swallowed it and then, while the aftertaste of the beer was still strong, ate a piece of chocolate.  This seemed to amplify flavors a little, but not in a way that I could define very well (I’m not a professional by any means, so my average-joe senses just weren’t up to the task).

Finally I tried something inspired by an old trick that I used to do as a kid - and which I’m sure many of you have done too.  As a child, I would pour chololate syrup into my mouth, take a drink of milk and shake my head.  When I was a bit older, it was sloe gin and orange juice.  Now, minus the head shaking, I tried it with the chocolate bar and beer.  I placed a piece of chocolate in my mouth, chewed and then took a sip of beer so that the two mingled in my mouth.  Victory!  The flavors of the two together worked to emphasize some elements while diminishing others.

1. Milk Chocolate - The flavors came in a specific order: malty - sweet richness - chocolatey - sweet hoppiness - bitter - just a touch of sour
2. Dark - This combination was defined by the flavor of sweet, floral hops with just a little bit of bitterness.  The maltiness seemed to take a back seat, becoming almost unnoticeable.  There was a slightly bitter finish, but it wasn’t strong.  I enjoyed this combination quite a bit, but if you are looking for the beer to add something to your chocolate experience, then you might be disappointed:  The flavors of the chocolate seemed to fade to the background while the beer was the star of the show.  The beer, on the other hand, greatly benefitted from the chocolate.
3. Orange Dark - The flavor of the chocolate alone was strong, orange not being a mild flavor.  Much like the milk chocolate, the flavors seemed to come in stages.  The leading flavor was the orange, fading into a floral hoppiness and then giving way to a bready finish.  In my opinion, this was the best combination of the three because not only did the chocolate cut the bitterness of the hops, but the sweet of the chocolate enhanced the inherent sweetness of the beer (rather than over shadowing it).  The citrus of the fruit paired well with the beer to amplify the floral notes of the hops so that the shining stars of the flavor were the fruit of the chocoloate and the hops of the beer, while the chocolate and maltiness acted as a choir of joy supporting the two stars of the flavor performance in my mouth.  Okay, so maybe that’s a little corny, but it was really good.

Hop Day! Potosi Snake Hollow IPA 3

Drinking this week’s Potosi Snake Hollow IPA has locked it in at 3.5 stars for me. It’s growing on me, but I don’t think it’s going to get rated higher than this for me. Today we’re going to look at this style of beer, from a historical standpoint.

History of India Pale Ale

Hodgson and the Bow Brewery

In the early 1780s, a London brewer named George Hodgson of the Bow Brewery on the Middlesex-Essex border started exporting casks of a strong, amber, highly-hopped October beer. The strength of the beer suited the six-month sea voyage (and the hops didn’t hurt), and it arrived in superb condition. It became popular among East India Company traders and was apparently well received in India. After forty years of success, Hodgson’s sons came into control of the Bow Brewery and they eventually alienated the East India Company, bringing an end to Bow Brewery’s success in the India market.

Allsop Brewery

The Allsop Brewery in Burton-on-Trent was known for strong ales that were possible by the hard local water. They had been doing big business shipping a dark, sweet beer up the Baltic Sea and into Russia until a high tariff in 1822 caused them to lose their European market. In the void left by the failure of Bow Brewery, Allsop and other Burton breweries such as Bass and Salt looked to take advantage of the open Indian market. The paler, hoppy beer that Bow Brewery had been producer was very different from the dark, sweet Burton beers, so the Burton breweries developed a paler, crisper beer to replace the Bow beers. As it turned out, the hard, gypsum-laden water of Burton was better suited than London water for pale, hoppy beer. Burton India Pale Ale became preferred by merchants and their customers in India.

Popular with the Public

At some point, India Pale Ale caught on with the public, and the new beer’s popularity spread like that of porter before it. By the mid-nineteenth century, Pale Ales and India Pale Ales replaced porter as THE fashionable beer.

Myths
- Myth 1: IPAs were much stronger than other beers of the time.
- Myth 2: IPAs were developed to survive the voyage to India. Porter shipped to India at the same time survived the voyage without a problem.
- Myth 3: Barrels of India Pale Ale were recovered from a foundered ship, and the beer found wild popularity with the English drinking public.

Myth or no myth, I’ll probably perpetuate these just because I think they’re awesome!

Names

According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia, this style of beer was originally known by a variety of names:
- Pale ale as prepared for India
- India Ale
- Pale India Ale
- Pale Export India Ale
- The first known use of the name “India Pale Ale” comes from an advertisement in the Liverpool Mercury newspaper on January 30, 1835.

Hop Day! Potosi 2

Let me start by saying that while drinking this week’s Potosi Snake Hollow IPA, I enjoyed it more than I had last week. I think the problem is that it doesn’t meet my expectations for that style. Aside from that, it’s not a bad beer. I’d consider upgrading its rating - I’m not sure I’m ready to say four stars, but we’ll say I’d seriously consider it.

Today is more about the Potosi Brewing Company itself.

Potosi Brewing Company (http://www.potosibrewery.com/) is located in (Surprise!) Potosi, Wisconsin at 209 South Main Street, Potosi, WI 53820. It is a short 22 minutes from Dubuque, IA. More importantly, for you bored Platteville students with a means of transportation it is a short 17 mile drive to the brewery. If you’re elsewhere in the state of Wisconsin, it is an hour and forty-five minutes from Madison.



It is home to the National Brewery Museum and Research Library and to the Potosi Brewing Company Transportation Museum.

The National Brewery Museum and Research Library was established as a joint venture between the Potosi Brewery Foundation and the American Breweriana Association to preserve the history of American breweries through the preservation of brewery memorabilia.

The Potosi Brewing Company Transportation Museum has exhibits that tell the history of the Potosi Brewery through various modes of transportation, from horse drawn wagons for delivering beer on forward, to show the role transportation played in the brewing. Admission is free.

Potosi Brewing Company advertises having been established in 1852, but like many breweries with a heritage that old, this was not an unbroken history of production. Prohibition aside, the Potosi Brewery was completely closed between 1972 and 1995.

1852 - The Potosi Brewery was founded by Gabriel Hail and John Albrecht
1886 - The brewery was purchased by Adam Schumacher.
1906 - The Potosi Brewing Company was founded by Adam, Nicholas and Henry Schumacher.
1972 - The brewery was closed.

1995 - Gary David bought the Potosi Brewery bottling buildings and began restoration.
1998 - the restoration of the brewery itself began
1999-2000 - a community meeting in 1999 led to the formation of the Potosi Brewery Foundation in February 2000
2004 - The Potosi Brewery Foundation was selected to be the home of the American Breweriana Association’s national museum.

The following are Potosi’s beers and the descriptions provided by the brewery itself. Not all of these beers are available in bottles, and some of them are seasonal. Fortunately, Potosi Brewing Company also sports a Brew Pub where you can get their beers on draft, and maybe take home a half gallon growler!

Potosi Brown Ale
IBU: 30 ABV: 5%
"Medium to high malty flavor (often with caramel, toasty and/or chocolate flavors), with medium to medium-high bitterness. The medium to medium-dry finish provides an aftertaste having both malt and hops. Hop flavor can be light to moderate, and may optionally have a citrusy character."

Potosi ESB
IBU: 35 ABV: 7%
"This brew is Cave Ale's bigger brother. Nice caramel and malty flavors at the beginning and finish with a nice earthy bitterness."

Potosi Fiddler Oatmeal stout
ABV: 8%
"The Potosi Oatmeal Stout is made with 10% oats and tends to be sweeter than other Stouts due to the amount of malt and use of a special yeast strain that doesn’t consume too much of the sugars. What you’re left with is a great balance between the roasted characters of the malts while the oats add a silky smoothness."

Potosi Gandy Dancer Porter
ABV: 6%
"A bit bigger, hoppier, and or roastier than their European predecessors. This dry beer is medium to full bodied, moderately malty, and features a lightly burnt taste with chocolate or coffee flavors."

Good Old Potosi
IBU: 14 ABV: 5%
"This light bodied and refreshing ale is made with traditional brewing Ingredients. This brew will be a cut above the mass market brews having a mild flavor profile and a soft effervescent character. This beer, like the original will appeal to a wide range of palates."

Potosi Czech Style Pilsener
IBU: 27 ABV: 5.75%
"The birth of Pilsener beer can be traced back to its namesake, the ancient city of Pilzen which is situated in the western half of the Czech Republic. The Czech Pilsener is light straw to golden color and crystal clear. Hops are very prevalent with a spicy bitterness and or a spicy floral flavor and aroma, notably one of the defining characteristics of the Saaz hop. Smooth and crisp with a clean malty palate, many are grassy. Some will show some archaic yeast characteristics similar to very mild buttery flavors and aromas."

Potosi Pumpkin Ale
IBU: 15 ABV: 6.5%
"The Potosi Pumpkin Ale is back on tap in the Potosi Brewery Restaurant and Brew Pub. This ale will be spiced with pumpkin pie spices, like: ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice. Pumpkin Ales are typically mild, with little to no bitterness, a malty backbone, with some spice often taking the lead."

Potosi Pure Malt Cave Ale
IBU: 10 ABV: 6.5%
"A long time favorite during Potosi’s heyday, this is an amber, pure malt and hop ale that has distinct malt character and a bit more assertive flavor profile, comparable to an English pale ale. This is a medium bodied beer that is not too over the top in any respect."

Potosi Snake Hollow India Pale Ale
IBU: 70 ABV: 7%
"Snake Hollow was the original name of the Potosi Hollow and is a brew with real character. According to tradition, an India Pale Ale requires a plentiful addition of hops during the kettle boil. Subsequently during the aging process, additional hops flavorings are introduced, providing fine aromatic hop character. This sturdy ale will satisfy the many hopheads among the new age of beer aficionados."

Potosi Steamboat Shandy
IBU: 14 ABV: 5%
"This refreshing beer is our Good Old Potosi blended with pure cane sugar and 100% natural lemon juice."

Potosi Tangerine IPA
IBU: 70 ABV: 7%
"This flavorful brew is our Snake Hollow IPA infused with 100% natural Tangerine juice. The addition of the Tangerine juice enhances the citrus flavors of our original Snake Hollow IPA."

Screwed

I prefer pry-off caps to screw tops on my beer bottles. There are two reasons, really. The most obvious is that I use pry-off bottles for my home brewed beer. But since I’m only a fledgling home-brewer, this isn’t the primary reason. For me, the main reason that I prefer pry-offs is because there is something that I find extremely pleasant and comforting about prying the cap off of my beer before I drink it. I don’t get that with twist offs. This was brought to my attention yet again because the Potosi Snake Hollow that I recently drank was a twist off. I was disappointed.

I have decided to point out why screw offs are unnecessary (at least in my house)

When am I left without the ability to open a bottle? Never.

When I get home from work, I can use the bottle opener key ring to pop open my favorite brew. Amanda can too, although she typically drinks twist offs.


When I step into the kitchen, I have three ways to open a bottle. We have an opener/pen combo magnet on the fridge. Our rotary can opener has a bottle opener on the side. In the drawer with our utensils, we have a church key


If I go down into the basement (where most of our beer is kept) we have a wall mount bottle opener attached to the end of our “bar.”


If we’re painting the house, our paint can openers can be used to pop the top off of a cold one.


If I’m grilling outside, my grill spatula has a cut-out made for prying off of a bottle opener. If I’ve used it to flip burgers, I have a soft-sided tub cooler with an attached bottle opener.


If I dress appropriately, I have a belt buckle with a bottle opener built in.


At home, I am never without the means to access my beer. Away from home, I will at least have my keys on me. So, do I need a twist off? Like I said - Never.

Hop Day!

It has been some time since I blogged, at least regularly. I have decided to try doing a short six-week bit on Wednesdays. Rather than Hump Day, I declare Wednesday to be Hop Day. I am starting with a Potosi Snake Hollow India Pale Ale. My goal is to drink one bottle of this six pack every Wednesday until it’s gone. I think I can manage that!

The Potosi Snake Hollow has a pleasant medium golden color and a nice head. The head faded, leaving a nice lace on the glass. It smells like fresh bread and bananas, and the taste is bready, like an English muffin. The hops add a bitterness to the beer without adding either floral or fruity notes. As a fan of hoppy beer, I would say that this one is okay, but not great. I give it three stars, but it is definitely drinkable.

It is a 7% beer with 70 IBU’s

Brew and Birthday

Craft Table and Tap - Saturday 3/17/12

On Saturday, I visited my sister and brother-in-law in Middleton, WI for the day as something of a joint celebration of my and my wife’s birthdays. For Dinner, we went to a place that was within walking distance of their apartment that had only been open a few months, but which they had said had gotten good reviews. They hadn’t been there before, but they said they’d heard the food was good, and that the beer selection was big.

The decor included high booth backs, a combination of low square tables, raised bar-like tables and booths that were somewhere in between. It all flowed very well. They had a number of antique tools on the walls that I felt were very out of place, but Amanda pointed out that they went well with the tin bucket that our fry-appetizer came out in, and the stoppered bottle that they gave us as a water carafe. My wife really liked the appetizers. We’d ordered fries which were thin-cut, crispy and lightly seasoned. They were okay. She also liked the buffalo wings which only had a hint of heat, but had a very good flavor – very garlicy. Andrew, my brother-in-law was disappointed by the wings because they were “buffalo,” but didn’t bring any heat to bear. He’s a big fan of HOT hot wings, but he’s also got good taste – he also likes them to have good flavor as well as heat. I liked the wings.

My sandwich was very good. I had a mushroom burger. They brag about locally sourced ingredients, and you can tell by the quality of their food. Although I’ll admit that I’ve had better burgers (Sobleman’s for instance) this was still a very good burger. I would definitely recommend it.

When we walked in, Wisconsin was playing (March Madness, of course), so one of the specials (aside from their St. Paddy’s day specials) was that that that there was a discount on Wisconsin draft beers. Well, lucky for me, they had good beer on tap. I started out with an Ale Asylum Hopalicious – a personal favorite beer of mine. It’s an American Pale Ale with 5.8% ABV by Ale Asylum in Madison, WI that brings a lot of hop flavor to bear without overpowering bitterness.

After dinner, but before desert, I tried a Lake Louie Warped Speed. I hadn’t heard of Lake Louie Louie Brewing Co. (from Arena, WI), but according to Andrew, it has a following in the Madison Area. Warped Speed is a Scotch Ale. Scotch ales that I’ve had in the past have been smoky, and although smoky can be done well, I don’t think it should be over-done. If their scotch ale was intended to be smoky, they missed the mark; but the beer didn’t suffer from it. It had a mild floral scent, and the flavor was bready and mildly sweet with a bit of hop bitterness. There was not much of a head and no lace on the glass. It was a beautiful cranberry red with a crisp mouth-feel and a flavor that covered your mouth during the sip and then sat on the center of your mouth afterward. Quite frankly, I thought it was an excellent beer.

Miller Brewing Company Brewery Tour - Monday, 3/19/12
When possible, I believe in taking my birthday off from work and celebrating all things me. This year, I was able to accomplish that. While trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my day, I decided to do the Miller Brewery Tour. It was one of two local breweries I wanted to tour, and it was the one with the most flexible tour schedule for my day. I started in the area that doubles as guest relations and their gift shop. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised, but the gift shop was very big and the prices were pretty good on most items. Unfortunately, I’m not a big Miller drinker. Granted, I could have bought a number of items that represent beers under the MillerCoors family of brands: Leinenkugel’s, Blue Moon, Mickey’s, Old English. But quite frankly I wasn’t interested. I was at Miller, so I wanted Miller swag. (For the record, this was the first time that I realized that Blue Moon was a MillerCoors brand). So I bought myself a nice metal pin of the girl in the moon that is pictured on the Miller High Life bottles. It now holds a place of prominence on my bag.

The tour is free (my favorite price) and includes three samples and a small bag of pretzels at the end. There are no take-aways like commemorative glasses or anything, unless you want to purchase them, but I was more than happy with the price. There were twelve of us on the tour and it was a fairly quiet group. We toured the packaging plant, the brewery (we didn’t get to see the mash tun), the old caves and then ended at the “Miller Inn” for the sampling. Quite honestly, I would have liked to have seen more of the plant, but I enjoyed the tour nonetheless. On the old brewery, was a brewer’s star, which looks similar to the Star of David and represents purity. The six elements being water, hops, grain, malt, yeast and the brewmaster.

At the Miller Inn, we were given three beers:
Miller Lite – What’s to describe? It’s drinkable but it’s a lite beer.
Peroni – A common Italian beer distributed by Millercoors. It looks similar to a Miller Lite, but has a thicker mouth feel and, although not sweet, is “sweeter” than a Miller Lite.
Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy – Two of the people I was seated with described it as “limey,” and I let them know that it is intended to come across as lemonade-infused.
They told us where to sit. Being there by myself, I was seated with a mother-daughter pair and another gentleman who was there by himself. At first the table was all too quiet for my liking, so I hoped the social lubricant would do its job, and I started talking to my fellow tour-mates. Fortunately, they willing joined in and I had a good time. As it turns out, I was the only Milwaukee-area native at the table, so it made for some good conversation.

All-in-all, it was a very good time. But for other visitors, there are a couple of things to keep in mind – It is not wheelchair accessible, and to get the most from the tour, you should be willing to climb a few stairs. As long as that’s fine, then I’d definitely recommend it. The preceding video and the tour take about an hour or so. I milked my samples and talked a lot, so I was there for closer to an hour and forty-five minutes, but I think the social aspect is important (if you can get others on the tour to talk with you.)

The Wicked Hop - Monday 3/19/12

For lunch I headed to the Third ward and ate at The Wicked Hop. There is a decent amount of Cream City brick, and the décor is something you’d expect from an establishment in the Third Ward. Don’t know what I mean? Artsy, eclectic, somewhat modern, but blended with the old. I don’t think that does it justice. Come to Milwaukee and go to 2 places in the Third Ward; then you’ll know what I mean.

I asked the woman who was serving me what beer they had -It wasn’t on the menu and they didn’t give me a beer menu. From their website, I knew they had a good selection. She said, “We have everything,” and started naming styles. I asked what IPA they had and she told me they had Lakefront Poison Arrow on tap. Since I’d never had it, I ordered it. It was a dark amber with a hint of red. There wasn’t much malt flavor, so the focus was clearly on the hops. Nonetheless, it didn’t come across as poorly balanced. It had a floral sweetness with a bitter finish that rested somewhere between the center and the tip of the tongue. It had a medium bodied mouth-feel, and not much head to speak of. The scent was mild with similar floral notes to what were in the flavor.

After my meal, I had a Lakefront Big Easy (imperial maibock.) It was a medium-dark golden amber color with a nice head that faded fairly quickly but which left a little bit of lace on the glass. I sipped it and my first thought was that it tasted like honey. Not in the way that Leinie’s Honey Weiss tastes like honey. But in the way that Berenjager honey liqueur tastes like honey. Its scent was mild, sweet and malty – reminiscent of banana-nut muffins. Although there was a little hop-bitterness in the front of the mouth, it had a predominantly malty flavor. It had a syrupy mouth feel that only hit the back of the throat on the second swallow. The mild bitterness lingered on the tip of the tongue while the maltiness rested toward the center-rear of the tongue long after the sip. For an imperial, the alcohol wasn’t really noticeable in the flavor, making it easy to drink.

I had a turkey-swiss sandwich on rye with fries. Not a good pair for the maibock (which I think would have paired with a salty, garlicy feta dish better), but it was a nice subtle complement to the IPA. My food came out very fast and it was very tasty. Service was prompt, attentive and friendly. If I’d been in a hurry, I could have been in and out in a very short period of time (granted, I was after the lunch rush), but they also didn’t try to rush me. They were more than happy to let me sit here and type up notes while I sipped my beer.

So far, it has been a very pleasant birthday-weekend!