Create New Wish ListIt was a couple weekends ago that my fiancee and I were planning a trip into Wisconsin. Some friends and friends of friends were having a little get-together at a cabin up there somewhere and we were invited. We figured that while we were in the neighborhood, we might as well hit up a brewery or two. And as a possible counterpoint to Kyle’s recent trip to Anheuser-Busch, we planned our drive with stops at the Minhas and New Glarus breweries.
Minhas Craft Brewery
The first stop of the day was the Minhas Craft Brewery, which boasts being the oldest working brewery in the Midwest, and second oldest in the nation (10 beer cred points to the first to name the oldest in the comments, and no Googling). The brewery complex sprawls across a block and a half of Monroe, Wisconsin. Along with their line of Minhas craft beers (mostly exported to Canada), they also own the Huber label, local brews like Mountain Creek and Rhinelander, and Blumer’s soda. Minhas also does a lot of contract brewing for Berghoff and others.
Despite the word Craft being in the name, I’d place Minhas somewhere between a craft brewery and a big production facility. They’re not at the output level of the big breweries, but from what we tasted at the finish of the tour, a lot of their products seem to be inexpensive mass-produced beers for the local market and export to Canada (70% is exported).
The Minhas Billy Bock, 1845 Pils and Lazy Mutt were highlights, mostly in comparison to the other beers. The Lazy Mutt, a Farmhouse Ale, seemed very popular. I had never had a Farmhouse Ale before light, fruity, and easy to drink (and a little boring) apparently the style is big in Wisconsin. Tour highlights included a massive brew kettle, bottling line, Pasteurization oven and storage warehouse, and of course the tour ends in a big tasting room and gift shop with plenty of beers to taste and chotchkies to buy. They sent us off with a 5-pack of beer and a souvenir glass.
New Glarus Brewing Co.
The next stop was the New Glarus Brewery’s brand new Hilltop location, right outside of New Glarus, Wisconsin, which just opened in June. The whole facility is as brand new, clean and modern as a brewery can get. Already running late for the party at the cabin, we decided to skip the free self-guided brewery tour (everyday, 10-4) and headed straight for the tasting room.
As we tasted, the long room filled up with a line of people leading to a tasting counter. A tip for anybody heading to New Glarus: The best strategy seems to be to get a sample of beer, carry it the back of the line, and enjoy it while waiting in line for your next sample. This will minimize the amount of time spent beerless. It got pretty busy on that Saturday afternoon.
These people know how to make beer. Personal highlights included: the Coffee Stout, heavy and deep and dark; the Dancing Man Wheat, a lightly spiced and refreshing weizen; the Fat Squirrel Nut Brown Ale, with wonderfully balanced Hazelnut and baking spice notes. The Wisconsin Belgian Red is a decent cherry wheat but was simply too sweet for my tastes. New Glarus’s most well known beer is the Spotted Cow, another Farmhouse Ale. This one, like the Lazy Dog from Minhas, is light, vaguely fruity, and easy to drink, but pales in comparison to the other fantastic, much deeper and more intense beers on hand. None of the New Glarus beers are available outside of Wisconsin, but if you’re heading to the neighborhood, it’s worth a visit.
Our view of the concert itself was less than ideal all we could see was the back of the enclosed stage so our attention drifted until we were talking to the folks around us. A young couple sitting behind us joked that the next time we got up for drinks, we should grab them some beers too. I promised I would, and they promised they would, and before I realized it, one of them handed me a glass of wine.
Keep in mind: the one thing I’d always like to avoid is the dreaded label of wine snob. I suspect that appearing detached and unreasonable isn’t a good trait for a guy in the wine business.
The second stop on our tour was the historic brew house, which is perhaps the most technologically advanced of its kind. Everything is electronically monitored to ensure quality and consistency. For example, a large state of the art plasma screen keeps track of what hops have been added to a batch already, and lets the brewmasters know when they have to add another load of hops. A computer houses all the hop recipes used for every AB product. Comparing the hop recipes used for Bud Light with that of 94 IBU rye IPA that AB brewed for a local fair shows that an incredible amount of money, time, and effort goes into the hopping of beers.
We then made our way to the Bevo packaging facility and took several escalators up to one of the many bottling floors, where we had the pleasure of seeing 24 pack bottles of Bud Select flying at seemingly astronomical speeds down the bottling line. On this floor the beer is pasteurized, bottled, labled, and set to rest in its final package before making its way to Binnys. Sound waves are sent throughout the facility in an effort to locate bad or under filled bottles, while a camera rotates hundreds of bottles a minute to ensure that every label is lined up the same way on every bottle. AB would be unable to produce the vast amount of beer needed please the masses without the advanced technological processes implemented at the brewery.
Next up was the iconic Clydesdale stables. These were outside and open to the public, and groups gathered and marveled at these beautiful horses. A Dalmatian freely milled around with his horse friends, almost reminiscent of a live commercial. While we oohed and aahed at the wondrous beasts, our tour guide filled us in on some history of the stallions. After prohibition was repealed, in which AB sold things like bakers yeast and soda to keep the brewery afloat, the Clydesdales burst through the front doors of the brewery on a cross country quest to deliver a case of Budweiser to every politician who helped abolish prohibition, even stopping at the white house and presenting then president Franklin Roosevelt with a case beer. It is historical moments like this that make people think of AB when they see or hear about Clydesdales. The implementation of Clydesdales as the face of Budweiser by Adolphus Busch was nothing short of marketing genius. 
The last stop and perhaps the most memorable was in a immense 34 degree cold room with more of the above mentioned colossal stainless steel vessels holding Bud Light which was waiting to be pumped to the bottling line. Our tour guide attached a beer thief to a nearby tank and Bud Light proceeded to fill our tasting glasses. I dont know if it was the atmosphere or the fact that this was the freshest beer I had ever tasted, but at that particular moment the Bud Light that was just about freezing my hand off tasted like one of the better beers that I have yet to consume. Even a non beer drinker in our tour group was enjoying the fresh brew. We were immersed in the moment, lost in the American history of the momentous brewery, and enjoying our visit to much for the beer to be anything less than fantastic.
I urge anyone to visit this historic brewery. You know you will be in for a treat when you first lay eyes on the buildings, which are reminiscent of a college town or small city instead of a brewery. I honestly can say that none of the previous brewery tours I have partaken in can really compare to that of Anheuser-Busch. What is the greatest brewery tour you have been on?
First up in the Sherwood Forest Brewers line is Maidens Blueberry Ale. If fruity beers are your style, then this one is for you! Big blueberry essences and flavors on the nose and palate coincide with pale malts. This one is not overly sweet and overboard like a number of fruit beers, and has a pleasant dry finish. If your are a fan of beers like Wild Blue or Seadog Blueberry Ale, then Maidens Blueberry Ale should be all over your radar.
The next beer in the Sherwood Forest line is for the hop heads. Sheriffs India Pale Ale, named for the “devious fellow with a certain affinity for women and hops,” is obviously named for the Sheriff of Nottingham. Perhaps on the sweeter side for an IPA (due to its decisive malt backbone), Sheriff India Pale Ale still contains tangy and citrusy hop flavors. A definite must try if you are an IPA junky.
Friars Belgian-Style White Ale is the next offering served up from Sherwood Forest. If you are a fan of wheat, cloves, coriander, Belgian yeast, citrus, etc. then this one is for you. Beers like Allagash White, Blue Moon, and Hoegaarden can be classified alongside this light Belgian style beer. Now is the perfect season for this easy to drink summer sipper.
Last but not least is Archers Ale, obviously named for Robin Hood. The Flagship beer of Sherwood Forest Brewers is an English Style Pale Ale. Plenty of sweet and caramel malts dominate this brew, but it does have enough hops to result in a finely balanced beer. This full bodied local favorite is another relatively easy drinker, and an admirable example of the style.
Binnys is excited to announce that another new brewery is hitting our shelves. Fort Collins Brewery, which shares the town of Fort Collins, Colorado, with New Belgium Brewing, is bringing a portfolio of seven beers along with them to Illinois. We had a chance to try a few of their beers, and cant wait to try the others. Without further ado, we would like to give you a look into the seven new beers that will be hitting our shelves.