Madison Beer Blog

Hopalicious - the beer that can make anything palatable!

2011-01-23T18:12:00.002-06:00

Disclosure: I am writing about a concert that took place in October, 2010. It took a while for the wounds to heal .

I have been an "ipod fan" of the Canadian indie band Stars for a while. They seem to sneak onto every playlist I've made in the past year. I saw they were coming to the Barrymore and got excited. I talked it up and made my trusty group of indie music fans buy tickets WAY, WAY in advance. Shockingly it was not a sold out concert. In fact when we arrived it was pretty empty. Should have been a sign.

I'm just not going to mince words here. Stars was the cheesiest rock display I have ever seen. The level of sappiness only usually achieved in parodies of soap operas (e.g. the fake soap opera on Twin Peaks - "Invitation to Love". Stars upped the cheese level by throwing roses and rose petals at the audience and overusing bubble making machines. If I closed my eyes I could hear the music I know and they were good. But when I opened them I just saw a weird little dude on stage playing a mouth organ and a gal who should not wear sequence dresses.

But you know what? It ended up being a really fun concert. And I credit this to the fact that the Barrymore has Hopalicious on tap! At one point my brave friends Amanda & Rachael pushed their way up to the stage taking me in their wake until we were directly below creepy mouth organ guy. Amanda flirted with him and he winked and tossed her a rose (to dismay of the jealous fans who didn't seem to notice what a cheesefest this scene was). It was a beautiful moment to behold. We then danced away through the bubble haze to our friends further back.

Post train wreck concert, I do still listen to them, I just pretend the live band was a Milli Vanilli scenario. That wasn't really Stars, just some bad Canadian lip syncers.

Bottom line - when life throws you rose petals and bubbles, have a Hopalicious and all is right in the world again!

Here's some picture to make you jealous that you were not there:

Another fine Madison beer addition - The Mason Lounge on Park Street

2011-01-09T20:57:00.000-06:00

While there are many things I do NOT like about Wisconsin winters, I do appreciate that cold blustery evenings encourage meeting up with good friends at local pubs for a good chat. Thanks to my friend Deb for persevering to make an evening happen at the Mason Lounge.

The Mason Lounge is a relatively new place on Park Street that has 19 taps - many of which are Wisconsin brews. The big beer winner of the night was the Rush River Amber. Rush River Brewing Co. is located in River Falls, WI. They brew four types of beer, all of which are unfiltered and unpasteurized (and delicious). I'd never had Rush River on tap before and I liked it very much. My only issue was that I am not a huge fan of drinking beverages out of Mason jars. Kind of a kitchy detail.

I liked the ambiance of this bar that felt like a long time neighborhood gathering place. It was cozy and comfortable. There's lots of odd things on the walls - including a fake (but disarmingly real looking) hen under a heating lamp above the bar. I imagine this will be a popular hangout for the Vilas neighborhood people who must be happy to have a nice laid back place to grab a drink after work or on the weekends.

Best Place in Madison to Have a pint of Guinness: The Brocach

2011-01-01T13:36:00.002-06:00

I usually focus on Wisconsin beers, but I am going to make an exception to highlight a fabulous place on the Square to stop in on a cold snowy night and have a pint of Guinness. The Brocach is a great Irish Pub with decent food and great bartenders. And while the Guinness is not as good as Guinness that comes straight form the source (Dublin) they do a great pour. Plus they always have Powers on hand - never a bad thing!
Every time a snowpocalypse hits Madison I have the desire to head to Brocach to spend some nice toasty & cozy time with a pint and good company. So thanks buds for braving the elements with me and lets do it again during the next snowstorm!

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Why aren't there more D-Pubs in Wisconsin? Someone please franchise!

2010-11-15T22:13:00.000-06:00

A little slice of beer heaven in Oshkosh, WI:

Sooooo - I spent about a week recently in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. And a friend of mine, an Oshkosh native, was very insistent that as a beer blogger I simply could NOT leave town without a visit to the D-Pub. (the Distillery Pub) So my very last night there we made it happen. And it really was all that was promised.

The D-Pub's thing is $1.00 pints. Now hearing that you probably think you get to choose from Natty Light, Keystone Ice and the Beast. Try again - they offer frosty mugs of Fat Tire, Spotted Cow, Spaten, and several others. Yes - for $1.00! In these tough economic times this is a huge find. I chose Fat Tire - stayed true to my Colorado roots.

Plus they have an awesome Native American Mural and decent jukebox. What more could a gal want? I've gotta say - thank you Andrew - your beer blogging instincts were dead on. Any true beer blogger would embrace this place and spread the word. Hat's off to the D-Pub. When in Oshkosh well worth gathering your car seat change for a delicious frosty beer!

D-Pub in all it's glory:

Beer, Bikes and Blogging. . .the trek to the Mariner's Inn

2010-10-11T22:22:00.002-05:00

Sunday was one of those magical, beautiful Wisconsin fall days. (the kind you wish you could bottle up and crack open when it is -20 below with a windchill) It was 80 degrees, sunny, with beautiful fall colors. Not the kind of day to stay inside. So we beer bloggers decided to take the blog outside. Of course we had to add the component of beer to the plan so we decided to ride our bikes out to the Nau-Ti-Gal. This is a little less than 8 miles away. A beautiful trek through neighborhoods that runs along Lake Mendota.

When we arrived at Nau-Ti-Gal it was sadly closed. They have weird "fall hours" - and it closes on Sunday at 2pm! Super devastating - so we decided to ride a whole block away to the Mariner's Inn. This too was closed. But as we stood in the parking lot trying to figure out where to go there was a beer miracle and they opened it up and let us in early. Yeah for Mariner's Inn!

Unfortunately the Mariner's Inn does not have beer on tap so we had to make do with bottled beer. They do have a good selection of local bottled beer. It was apparently an Ale Asylum kind of day bc Rachael chose Mad Town Nut Brown and the rest of us had Hopalicious. Below is the video beer review with a few super exciting bike tricks in the mix.

In case you haven't been to Mariner's Inn it has a pretty in your face nautical theme. Kitchy with nets, coral, captain motifs and fish tanks all over. Kind of awesome really. It also has a patio in the back near the docks that is perfect for a day like today.

On the way home Amanda entertained us with her interpretative bike dancing. You might recognize her, she is the recipient of this year's Rising Star award. We took a family circus style route home, stopped by the Governor's residence and rode our bikes out on a pier. We even saw some wildlife (see pics below).

A lovely way to end the weekend!

Here's the pics:

Here's the video beer review:

Beer Bloggers get high cholesterol at Baumgartner's in Monroe, Wisconsin

2010-10-03T22:13:00.001-05:00

One day last week, my in-state travels brought me to the town square of Monroe, Wisconsin. And on that town square is quite a Wisconsin beer & cheese treasure: Baumgartner's Cheese Store and Tavern. Baumgartner's has been open since 1931 and holds the title of Wisconsin's oldest cheese store. They also feature locally brewed beer on tap. Most of us sampled the New Glarus' Staghorn Oktoberfest. Which I have to say is excellent this year. We may have to take some beer bloggers out to the newly expanded New Glarus brewery soon just to do a feature on this before this brew is gone for another year! But back to Monroe. . .

As you can see from this photo, one common side effect of going to Baumgartner's is a bad case of giddiness. No - this jubilant fellow has not had too much Staghorn to drink - he's just really, really excited about his cheese slab & ham sandwich (with a side of cheese - I am NOT kidding) and homemade chili.

There is just soooo much to look at in this place. There's the awesome Beer v. Champagne war mural above the bar. Beer is kicking some serious champagne butt - in case you were wondering. There's also money tacked to the ceiling from a fundraiser and a cool push-pin map that shows where people have visited from around the word. I noticed that Laredo, Texas was not marked - come on Laredoans - step it up, stop drinking that swill down there and come wash down a slab of fine Wisconsin cheese with even finer Wisconsin brew!!!!

Bottom line - Monroe is a cute town with a real Town square (just like Stars Hollow). Baumgartner's is an awesome place to stop and eat your weight worth of cheese and have a couple local beers. Did I mention it is shockingly affordable? Look at those prices!

Baumgartner's Awesome mural:

More Pics:

I think we're totally going to win! (Madison Urban Assault)

2010-09-26T22:50:00.005-05:00

4 "casual" bikers decided to sign up for Urban Assault Ride in Madison. Basically, this is a "race" where teams of 2 bike to 7 locations around town and do various challenges. You have 3 hours to do this race. While we jokingly decided we could "totally win this" race we really just thought we'd get it done in the time limit.

Things started out great. You start out by running en masse to your bike. We had figured out the 1st mystery checkpoint (by Blue Moon on Atwood), rode over & got our 1st bead and the clue to the 2nd mystery checkpoint. 2nd checkpoint ended up being the children's museum (clue was a cow picture) so we rode over, got the next bead and headed to checkpoint 3 near campus. Here we had to do our first challenge - put together a shape puzzle. Because we are super brilliant we finished this really quick and then started the trek out to the West side. And this is where is all went a little awry.

We had this brilliant plan of riding in a circle and knocking out all the west side checkpoints one by one and returning to Olin park victorious to enjoy our Roman Candle pizza and New Belgium beer. Now I know the is the Madison Beer Blog but aside from Wisconsin I think Colorado has great microbreweries. So I don't mind celebrating them here especially since I just got back from a Colorado trip and Fat Tire makes me nostalgic.

Anyway - back to the tale. We sort of knew the general area where we were supposed to go to reach Saris (in Fitchburgh) - but none of us felt super secure so we collectively took many wrong turns. We ended up getting lost in the Allied Drive neighborhood, called each other "Magellan" repeatedly, had to backtrack then took the wrong bike path, were saved by a nice lady who shook her head at our ability to get lost on a bike trail - but finally made it to Saris.

There we had to do a "paperboy" challenge where one person rides and throws newspapers and the other catches them in a box. We really stunk at this so we got sent to the penalty box and lost more time. Finally we were back on the road, hit REI where the human wheelbarrow challenge claimed a victim (Amanda's Ray Bans and her back suffered from a tremendous spill). Realizing there was no way we could make out last 2 checkpoints we knocked out one more and were so late getting back that they were cleaning up the big wheel challenge at the end.

We are not so sure what happened. We think there was a time warp out there on the west side. This why I generally choose to stay on the Isthmus. West side = confusing and scary and time warpy. But it was a beautiful day to ride around Madison, we had a blast and despite not finishing in the time allotment, they still gave us our beer at the end.

What we learned from this experience:

- Plan ahead (having a general directional idea not good enough)
- Maybe ditch the cruisers - as loyal as I am to Pee-Wee Herman bike it just didn't cut it for speed
- Costumes and head to toe Lycra suits seem to help
- Practice riding tiny bikes, walking on cans, being a human bowling ball - or bring $ for bribes!
- Get more than 2.5 hours of sleep
- It is super important to be with awesome friends in case you do get lost or caught in a time warp
- Amanda should grow a moustache

New Belgium Beer options at the finish:

Fat Tire - I love this Amber Beer and it was served nice and cold - great drink after a race. (Amy liked this one too)

Ranger IPA - super hoppy. Good but only if you like hoppy beers. (I prefer Hopalicious)

1554 - A dark, rich ale that Rachael liked.

Photo collection:

Beer Bloggers bag a peak!

2010-09-17T20:41:00.001-05:00

A nice cold beer tastes pretty good after a grueling 9 hour hike up a BIG mountain. . .

We two beer bloggers took a trip to lovely Colorado. We have a sordid history with Mt. Harvard (due to late starts and bad scary weather I've been ejected 2 times from the mountain). But the mountain gods finally smiled upon us and gave us a beautiful day with blue skies. The hike was pretty grueling but we made it up and back and decided we earned a good meal with ice cold beer

Luckily for us there is a new Brewpub in the little town of Buena Vista near the trail head. The Eddyline Restaurant and Brewery is a nice addition to this little Colorado town in Chaffee County nestled in a valley below the Sawatch Range Collegiate Peaks. The beer was a little hit or miss (not huge fans of the Pilsner or Amber) but we did like the Colorado Pale Ale, the Midland Trail Pale Ale.

Oh and if you want to stay in Buena vista you MUST stay at Los Manos Bed & Breakfast. There's no better place to go home to after a long day on the trails!!!!

If you make your way to Buena Vista - the Eddyline is a must stop for good beer, yummy pizza and grass-fed burgers!

More Colorado Beer blogs to come!

Beer Bloggers weekend road trip to Door County

2010-09-06T22:57:00.000-05:00

Although this is named the Madison Beer Blog - sometimes we beer bloggers have to head out of town and expand our horizon. This past weekend 4 of us (us and the Hamms - who have made prior appearances on the blog) headed up north to Door County. The Hamms brilliantly chose a place called Gordon Lodge for our home base.

Gordon Lodge is a great place to stay, it is the kind of place where your feel yourself start to REALLY relax. It is tucked away from all the kitchy shops on a peninsula on North Bay looking out toward Lake Michigan. There are miles of trails, beautiful views, a mid-century flair and 6 bars. Yes, you heard me right, 6 bars (pretty high quota for a place that holds about 105 people).

Our favorite place to grab a beer on this tripe was at the Top Deck at Gordon Lodge. This is a great bar and restaurant that overlooks the water. There was good (and unexpected) Wisconsin Beer on tap including Lakefront Riverwest Stein (a smooth drinking Amber) and O'so Night Train (a yummy chocolaty Porter). It was agreed while not a huge selection they made made smart choices for their taps. We had a couple beers and watched the sunset set over the water here. Just beautiful.

Another great place we visited was Sister Bay Bowl. This is a bar/supper club/bowling alley. And they do all 3 extremely well. It was at Sister Bay Bowl that we came to the conclusion that PBR may be the best bowling alley beer. Not sure why, but when PBR is served is near some lanes it is everything you want in a beer. We also discovered here that none of us will likely become pro bowlers in this lifetime (esp. me with my sad 70!).

Here's some more pics:

REACH Ride: Figure 8 the Lakes - for beer lovers!

2010-08-29T21:59:00.002-05:00

So I will start by saying that I am not really a biker. I don't own an expensive bike, clip on shoes, or an "official" Team Radioshack jersey. And I am certainly not a big fan of how I look in biker shorts. But living here in Madison it seemed like a shame not to take advantage of how bike friendly a place it is. So last year I bought a bike - a 7 speed cruiser I refer to as my Pee-Wee Herman bike (although it is not as tricked out - see video below).

My friend Erik recently told me about his organization's event, REACH Ride: Figure 8 the Lakes. REACH a child is a great organization that helps children in crises through the power of books, so since it was for such a good cause - we (me and my hubby Matt) signed up.

This was my first organized ride and the longest distance I've ever ridden so I was kind of nervous. When we arrived at the starting line most people had proper biking attire on and were on sweet road bikes. We headed out onto the roads and within a couple of miles were in Dane County farmland. Let me just say that when you are in a car it is all pretty and green and rolling. When you are on a bike those are some ridiculously air sucking ginormous hills. But we gasped our way over them and made it to rest stop #1. breakfast at Captain Bill's. I must have looked sort of pathetic bc some dude told me don't worry all the big hills are over with. The dude's a liar.

We got back on our bikes and rode around Lake Mendota through Shorewood Hills. Shorewood turned out to be a huge ego booster for us on non-road bikes. They apparently threw down a ton of gravel the night before the race so the poor road bikers had to go through very cautiously. Pee-Wee cruiser bike and Matt's mountain bike allowed us to just blow past the real bikers and leave them in our dust - for about 5 blocks anyway.

The next stop was at the Terrace (UW Union). Our friends Molly & Dave were volunteering and stationed there. Had a nice chat and then I left to ride around Lake Monona solo. (Matt had to save his legs for his 15 mile run the next day). I rode Monona and then met Matt back up on the Isthmus and we rode the last 8 or so miles back to where we started at the Nau-ti-gal.

And that is where I got my reward for riding almost 37 miles:

Yes that is right - a free Supper Club (Capital Brewery)

Jerseys:

Along the way I took a couple pictures of the beer themed jerseys I saw. I also couldn't resist a pick of the Twinkies jersey. Twinkies told me he had to eat 12 Twinkies to get his jersey. There was one other jersey I wish I'd gotten a good pic of - Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Awesome!!!

Here's some other assorted pics form the ride and after party:

A roundabout path to the Missouri Tavern!

2010-08-25T23:26:00.001-05:00

I am pleased to devote this blog to the Missouri Tavern. This beer blogger is a Mizzou Alum (Go Tigers) - so I have always been curious about the Missouri Tavern located right off of Highway 12 in Springfield, Wisconsin. I've driven past this place soooo many times to and from Devil's Lake but never stopped in. So here is our story about how we ended up at the Missouri Tavern.

Well, last Sunday after a nice hike at nearby Indian Lake with our friends (the Hamms) we stopped by Wollersheim Winery. I had never been there and it is a really pretty place. I'll throw in a few pic just bc of the scenery.

After some too sweet wine and cheese we decided to just keep on Wisconsin adventuring and stop on in and see what this place is all about.

Walking in I had no idea what to expect. (um - we did have the only Honda Fit in the parking lot.) We were greeted at the door by the friendly bar dog Pumpkin who led us to the bar. As you can see from the photos the Hamms really liked Pumpkin - we had to prevent bar dog theft when we left. (and Molly pretends to not be a dog person!)

I have to say that this was a pretty interesting bar. Matt & Dave have been on a continual dive bar quest and they both agreed that this does not fall into the category of dive bars. It was pretty sunny and surprisingly crowded for a Sunday afternoon. I liked the fact that they had local beer on tap - and had myself a nice cold Supper Club (Capitol Brewery).

Their claim to fame is apparently pie flavored liquor. I didn't fess up to having Missouri connections bc I was afraid of the pie shots - but I thought it was a fun place to stop in.

You can learn more about the Missouri Tavern's history at http://www.missouritavern.net/

Dave and Molly loved this place so much it led to impromptu happy dancing:

Heart Rock Farm Barn Dance

2010-08-10T18:20:00.020-05:00

Soooo - I have been looking forward to this blog for quite a while. This one is going to be a little longer than usual bc it deserves to be. On Saturday, August 7th a bunch of us beer imbibers drove from Madison to Scandinavia, Wisconsin for the Heart Rock Farm Barn Dance. It was my first barn dance - and it was fabulous!!!!!

This is an annual event (sort of annual) hosted by the Peterson family. It takes place on their beautiful organic beef farm nestled in the rolling hills near Stevens Point, WI. They invite tons of friends, hire a great band, and serve yummy beverages

It is a little hard to describe how much fun this event was, but it was kind of like being at the best laid-back wedding possible. At one point the skies just opened up and it was thundering and lightning and just pouring torrential rain. Solution? Get the band playing and then this magical moment happened where all the guests, every single one of them, is in the barn dancing up a frenzy. The band (Baba Ganooj and guests from Waupaca) played covers of songs that ranged from R.E.M., John Cougar Mellencamp, Lady Gaga and Neil Young.
Beer:

It is a "Beer Blog" so I better talk some about the beer. There were 3 kegs from Central Waters Brewery (Amhearst, Wisconsin): Shine On, Mudpuppy Porter, and my favorite, the Brewhouse Coffee Stout.

I am starting off the reviews, but will be adding reviews as they come in from the numerous Madison folk that made the trek to barn dance nirvana.

Brewhouse Coffee Stout:

Me: This one had the nice warm flavor of espresso beans in a mellow stout. I think it would be hard to drink more than a pint of this, as it was a pretty heavy and flavorful beer. But it was delicious! 4 mug rating

Shine On:

Me: Shine on is an easy drinking amber. Not terribly memorable but a good keg beer. Has kind of flowery flavor that lingers. 2.5 mug rating

Mudpuppy Porter: (hmmm 2 people used phrase "not too shabby" Interesting!)

Me: smoky chocolate and it is creamy. Not bad but not great 2.5 mug rating

Rach: Sooooooo malty and dark. I love it. 5 mug rating

Fortney: Straightforward Porter. Not my style by not too shabby. Better from keg at barn dance than from a tap in Madison 3 mug rating

Safar: Chocolaty - all I can taste. 1.5 mug rating

McKinny: Not a dark beer drinker but not too shabby 3 mug rating

more pics:

The Great Dane's Hop Jack Pale Ale

2010-08-02T19:36:00.015-05:00

In full disclosure we Beer Bloggers were in a snarky mood - so we went to the Great Dane Pub (downtown Madison) with the intent to trash their brew. Amongst the three tasters - the Great Dane is not high on our favorite beer lists. The location is great, menu pretty good, but the beer tends to taste like home brew. Is it the yeast they use? I LOVE the taps (Great Dane dog heads - super cute) and the staff is always very helpful and fun to hang out with.

I must admit that we were kind of surprised that the specialty cask conditioned beer was pretty good! Taster #3 (me) abstained from a review bc I choose to drink a pint of the Old Glory APA. I like my beer cold (except for fresh from the source Guinness) so the cask conditioned was just not going to be the beer for me. Old Glory is pretty drinkable. It is my GD beer of choice - but I'm not going to rave about it because other Wisconsin APAs kick its butt. I was also given a sample of the Cream Ale - which I liked. But we will focus on the Hop Jack Pale Ale today.

Beer = Hop Jack Pale Ale (The Great Dane)

Taster #1: "One of the better beers from the typically lackluster lineup from the Great Dane. Typical problem for the 'cask conditioned' specialty beers - not cold enough. If you are at the Great Dane it is definitely a top pick, although there are plenty of better beers out there." Rating = 3 mugs

Taster #2: "Hoppy but not bitter. Easy drinking for an IPA, although I would have liked it to be served a bit cooler than it was. Not as heavy as the Imperial IPA. A good summertime pale ale (especially for the Great Dane). Hoppier than the APA but not as sharp."Rating = 3 mugs

Bottom line: we will still go to the Great Dane bc it is downtown, like their menu, it has a cool beer garden & awesome staff. We were happily surprised by a decent (if warmish) beer. But seriously GD - can't you step it up a little? You are soooo close - just take it one step further and we'll sing your praises and be there ALL the time!

The wise words of Lance Armstrong

2010-07-26T08:56:00.009-05:00

So you ride you 13th Tour de France for a total of 2263 miles in 20 days over cobblestones, through the Pyrenees and Alps and crash a few times. When the race is over what is the first thing on your mind?

"I need a cold beer," said Lance Armstrong

Cheers to Lance & cold beer!!!!!

(Yes I am well aware this post is gratuitous - but it is my blog so too bad)

Beer Bloggers' "Tour De Dane" to Dylan Day

2010-07-25T21:14:00.011-05:00

We Beer Bloggers took a little road trip today from the Isthmus to Middleton to the Capital Brewery. As you can see (from the awesome gear Fortney is sporting) it was a SERIOUS ride. .

It was Dylan Day at the Beer garden. We sat outside, had some fresh from the source Supper Club and listened to some good (and some not good) music. I even met a nice fellow from Uruguay who liked my shirt. He promised to say hi to Diego Forlan for me next time he is home.

And then - we realized our terrible mistake - that we still had to get on our bikes and ride a long way home in the hot sun. We sat a little longer and mustered the will to get back in the saddle.

We thought we may have been hallucinating this - but nope it was on my camera. A table away was a dude impersonating a professional tennis player.

2010-07-22T21:21:00.002-05:00

I just stole this picture from my friend Dave's blog (yep poaching already - ran out of original ideas in my 1st month of blogging?). But I thought it needed to be here because it embodies exactly how one is supposed to drink a cold can of Supper Club. Cold can + beach = complete summer package. Sigh - wish I was sitting in the chair next to him with one in my hand too. hats off to Dr. Dave. The man lives the good life.

La Fete de Marquette

2010-07-11T20:17:00.007-05:00

This weekend marked the second of the Madison summer music festivals on the Isthmus, La Fete de Marquette. This is now a pretty big festival - with plenty of Wisconsin beer flowing and lots of yummy food options.

The beer tents were servinc Capital Brewery (and New Belgium form Colorado). While the testers (aka our friends) were noy big fans of the U.S. Pale Ale, they determined that Supper Club, Amber and Island Wheat were all good festival beer choices. (All 3 went well with the delish food from Jamerica and Lao Laan-Xaang)

Here's some pics to make you jealous if you didn't join us. (we even rode the rickity ferris wheel)

Moon Man - the Official Beer of Matt's B-day 2010!!!

2010-07-08T21:19:00.006-05:00

July 7th was Mr. Fortney's Birthday, so a bunch of friends got together to celebrate by watching Spain beat Germany! The official beverage was Fortney's favorite new Wisconsin brew, New Glarus' Moon Man.

Fortney's review:

New Glarus' Moon Man (No Coast Pale Ale)

"Nice hoppy fruity aroma. Even bodied and hoppy with a slight bite to the finish. On the lighter side. Easy drinking. Perfect to take the edge off a muggy summer day!"

5 mug rating from Fortney (he may be a little generous - but it was his birthday)

We don't understand the name with the paw print logo (see pic). But - whatever - it's a good beer. It should also be noted that Moon Man ranked consistently high amongst the participants of July 3rd's Snit Night.

Bottom line: Moon Man is a good New Glarus addition - hope it sticks around!!!!

Here's some pics from the festivities:

The Inaugural Snit Night was a success!!!

2010-07-04T13:04:00.012-05:00

5 of the 8 contenders completed the challenge and sampled all 27 Wisconsin taps at the Old Fashioned and 3 finished with a Schlitz!!!!

The beer ratings have not been tallied yet - but Hopalicious, Big Slick Stout, Lakefront IPA and Moon Man were clear favorites. There was also consensus that the Knotstock & Leinenkugal's Summer Shandy were - um - not so great... Quantity-wise - we determined 5 snits = 1 pint.

Best Sash award - goes to Tony Gibart. Clear winner - looked like a sling. . .would come in handy if you took a spill after too many snits.

Snit Master Award - officially me - but I'm going to share with Matt & Tony who were right there with me until the end!!!

Best negative comment - Matt Fortney said Summer Shandy tastes like "country time lemonade powder in a glass of well water".

Welcome to the Madison Beer Blog

2010-07-02T22:39:00.000-05:00

A couple of us Madisonians decided that the many Wisconsin beers obtainable in the city of Madison should be regularly tasted and rated. We have a ridiculous # of Wisconsin beers to choose from - made by the 72 active Wisconsin breweries. So we will be regularly trying out old favorites and new contenders and giving you our opinions.

The rankings will range from 1 to 5 mugs rating. 5 mugs being a truly awesome pint of beer!

And to kick it off tomorrow we are hosting the Inaugural Snit Night at the Old Fashioned to see how many of their 29 Wisconsin taps we can sample in one sitting. Hold tight and we will report back soon!