Great Taste Trip 2003

 

PLANNING

 

A little over a year ago, Doug Sershen came up with a plan that we would get a group from NC and make the trek to the Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison, WI.  We then booked rooms at the Memorial Union on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.  They have 6 rooms in the Memorial Union, most of which overlook the lake, and then some additional rooms at Union South.  Then in May we sent off for tickets for the festival and waited (and waited).  Finally, they arrived.  We ended up with 12 people from NC making the trip.

 

AGENDA

 

Doug Sershen, Keith Klemp and Chuck Cook set about making up an agenda.  Doug came up with ideas, and Keith and Chuck implemented them.  Many thanks to all three gentlemen!

(Our agenda is on the page you linked here from.)

 

THE TRIP

 

Ok, so enough of planning, let’s get to some of the trip.

 

Thursday - August 7th

We departed bright and early on August 7th.  Actually, I picked up Mike Wallace at 4 am, and we met Dave Buning and Mitch Hayes at the airport.  We were all on the same United flight to Chicago, and then on to Madison.  Once we arrived, Dave picked up the rental car and we headed off in search of Cedar Grove Cheese Factory in Plain, WI where Dave had set us up for an 11 am tour.  Once the guide found out we were homebrewers, he gave us a more detailed explanation of the process.  While he talked, the guys inside the plant were making cheddar.  There are better pictures of what we saw on their website.  We learned the process for making Cheddar and bought some Artisanal cheese made from Organic Unpasteurized Milk and then cured in a Salt Brine.  We snapped a couple of photographs at their Milk Tanks.

 

 

 

Mike Wallace had bought some other cheese and we needed some ice, so we stopped.  While in the store he bought a sixer of New Glarus Spotted Cow (God Bless Him!).  That was just the ticket to accompany the cheese.

 

We had seen a store on the way to Cedar Grove named The Firm Worm.  We had decided to stop and take a photograph of the sign.  How often do you see a Bait-n-Liquor store rolled into one?

 

 

While in there we noticed some Growlers with the name Lake Louie Brewery.  We asked the owner of the Firm Wirm about the brewery since it said Arena, WI on the growler, and we were in Arena, WI!  He said the owner, Tom, had just come in for a sandwich, and we should call him.  So the owner dialed the number and I talked with Tom Porter, the owner.  He gave us directions, basically, turn at the Milk Jug outside of town.  After we found the place down a dirt road, we walked in and met Tim Wauters, the assistance brewer.

 

 

He showed us the new Brewhouse they had gotten.  Tom came around the corner and gave us the grand tour, explaining how they had started in his garage with a 3 bbl system, and just purchased a 15 bbl system from a defunct Oregon brewpub.  He only bottles in Growlers or 22oz bombers, and he does each bottle by hand.  It was an interesting setup, and Tom (blue shirt) is of course, my new hero.

 

 

We thanked Tom and Tim and departed to Tyranena Brewing Company for our 3:00 pm tour.  When we got there, most everyone else had arrived but Amy and Jason who were to be in late that night.  So we met up with Chuck, Keith, Garland, Brian, Doug, and Andy in the tasting room.  Oh what a tasting it was.  I tasted every single beer, and the pints kept flowing. 

 

 

Finally we took the tour, and then we returned for more pints.  It is an impeccably clean brewery and is in excellent shape.  All their beers were well done, and pretty tasty. 

 

From there we went to check in to the Memorial Union and checked in.  The room had a spectacular view of the Memorial Terrace and the lake.

 

 

 

Then with Doug skipping ahead of us, we all took the walk or death (for Mitch that is) to the Great Dane Pub for dinner.  The beers were pretty good, but there were some exceptions that were pretty bad.  Luckily I had ordered a sample of each, so if it wasn’t good, no large amount of beer went to waste.  Mike Wallace got a tough lamb dish, but my andouille and alligator dish was pretty darn tasty.  Amy and Jason finally arrived as we were leaving the Great Dane.

 

We decided to stop in at Angelic Brewing on the way back.  That was a bad idea.  None of the beers were very good, and we left only after a sip or two.  They do make a pretty sampler however…

 

 

Anyway, Mitch and Hammer didn’t seem to care much…of course Mitch was still trying to recover from the walk to the Great Dane!

 

 

Friday - August 8th

We rolled out of bed and made our way down to the Rathskeller for breakfast.  Not long after we started on our journey to New Glarus Brewing Co in New Glarus, WI.

 

 

We were lucky and since Chuck and Hammer had arranged a special tour, we were taken around by Deb Carey instead of the normal self-guided tour.  The brew house is a site to behold.  It was brought back by Dan from Germany.

 

 

The fermenters are also quite huge.  I had always thought of NG as a small Mom-N-Pop operation, but in reality it is a sizable brewery.

 

 

It was an exceptionally clean operation.  Deb gave us a special tasting of all the beers (with the exception of Uff-Da which they were out of).  It was quite an experience, of course the fruit beers stole the show, and many of us picked up unlabeled bottles of Enigma that has yet to be released.

 

 

From NG we headed toward Horeb, WI and the Grumpy Troll Brewpub.  They stuck us in the alley at the restaurant, and were slightly unorganized.

 

 

The main two things that stood out were the sign out front, and the trolls lining the main street in town.

 

 

Well, after lunch and a few more beers, we headed to Capital Brewery in Middleton, WI for our late afternoon tour.  Kirby Nelson, the brewmaster, gave us the tour.  It was about as exciting as watching paint dry.

 

 

Capitals beers they served after the tour were all fairly similar, the little tasting mug they give you looks like a toothpick holder, but their Bier Garten is a wonderful place for a mild Wisconsin afternoon.

 

 

Later, Kirby brought out Autumnal Fire straight from the fermenter, now that was a treat.

 

Well, all would not be well with the world if we did not visit a beer store, so we took off to Steve’s Wine Market to peruse the selections.  Came away with a few morsels, and wished we had room for more.

 

From there we headed back to the Union, and then hiked our way to Olin-Turville Park for a pre-festival party.  We got there quite a bit late, and so we got the sloppy seconds of sausages and beer.  We did score programs for the Great Taste, so we all headed off for The Essen Haus for a beer…

 

I got a beer they had on special that was infected.  It was only two bucks, but I ended up not being able to drink it.  We found that the Essen Haus has another bar attached called The Come Back In.  I got a fresh beer there and we settled in for a pint or two.  About that time, Hammer asked if the guy at the bar was Larry Bell (Kalamazoo Brewing Co).  Dave said he had only seen him with a hat on, so I took it upon myself to yell, “LARRYYYYY!!!”  It was him, so he came over and we talked to him for a half hour or more.

 

Of course we got thirsty on the walk back to the Union, so we stopped in downstairs for a quick beer at the Terrace, after a few pitchers, we called it a night.

 

 

Saturday - August 9th

Once again, we rolled out of bed and made our way down to the Rathskeller for breakfast.  Hammer had come in raving about the Farmer’s Market at the Capital, so we headed down there to get ready for the festival.  I snapped a quick pic of Doug, Hammer and Mitch at the Capital.

 

 

Mitch and I toured the inside of the Capital.  It is quite a site to behold.  Dave took a couple of photos, one during the day, and the other at night.

 

 

After a morning at the market, Dave, Doug and myself walked on over to the Park for the Great Taste.  I did not get a picture of the line.  Kinda wild to see 5,000-6,000 folks in a line running from the gates, all around the park.

 

We did have a couple of photos from the festival, one from the night before, and the other on the day of the festival.

 

 

We tasted lots of great beer and had a pretty good system going.  Dave and myself had met up during the day with one of the people in front of us in the line, and another from behind us.  Tom and Christine went around with us most of the day, but later Mitch dropped by.  Anyway, the four of us would all get a beer, then exit the tent, pass them around and taste them, and decide the best and either get more or move on.  It worked well, allowed quite a bit of tasting, and was a great time.  Unfortunately, we did not get a picture with Tom, but here is one with our crew.

 

After the festivities died down, we went back to the Union, Doug and I met up with Amy and Jason. We ended up at a Afghanistan restaurant and they had Uff-da.  It was a great meal.  As we were leaving dinner, we walked outside, and at the same restaurant were Mike and Dave.

 

From there we strolled back to the Terrace for a few pitchers and took in the Youngblood Brass Band.  They were excellent and a great way to end a great day.

 

 

 

Sunday - August 10th

Savior’s Breakfast on the Terrace.

 

 

From there we departed.  When we signed in for our flight, the desk agent asked if we minded being rerouted for a free flight.  It took a bit of time and legwork, but the four guys from CARBOY ended up with free plane tickets.  We only arrived 20 minutes later than our original flight, so it was a great way to end an excellent trip.

 

I must say I have never tried to cram so many activities into a single trip.  It was a blast….

 

(Updated 9-6-03)