Great Taste Eve 2013 (Madison, WI)

Beer row: Maduro in foreground, The Rigby
and Argus.  Tipsy Cow to right. 

In August of 2007 on the Eve of Great Taste, my first three drafts of the night were Bell's 6000, 7000 and 8000 at Maduro in the heart of downtown Madison. Truly a top ten highlight of beer groupings I've done. Now, the Eve gatherings are all organized at the Great Taste website. In the old days, a beer geek had to hit the BeerAdvocate forums to find out what's where and when. The night before festivities have become legendary; my wife and I have even considered just doing the Friday night and head to Chicago for the weekend.

Sunset reflection on way to Brickhouse

For our first fest in 2001, we didn't go early at all.  For a few years we hit a single pub the night before like JT Whitney's (now closed) and The Great Dane. My database shows 2006 as the first multi-pub Friday night, which I continued each year until 2009 when I took a break from Great Taste. Over the years, a range of Madison bars have made the Friday crawl: Ale Asylum when it first opened, Wonder's for Dark Horse, Dexter's for two beers one year with friends, a vague recollection of late night pizza at Glass Nickel, Brasserie V for Stone's introduction to Wisconsin, Alchemy for two year old Surly Darkness once and a night of Dogfish Head at Jordan's Big Ten Pub, an unremembered stop that exists only in the database.

The Rigby: Lakefront drafts of Wisconinsite
and Maple Vanilla Doppelbock

Of the various bars, Maduro has been the start of nearly every Eve. The aforementioned "Night of 1000s" is partially responsible but also because they start a bit earlier than most of the other parties with their annual Bell's tap takeover. So this year, I brought my wife to Maduro for the first time. The only drawback of Maduro is that it is a cigar bar.  But the Bell's tap takeover rarely disappoints; however, tonight, the big name beers were out by the time we arrived around 4 pm. Maduro definitely isn't a secret anymore and it seems the time one needs to arrive has moved up. Gloria was happy with the Sparkleberry and a Wedding Ale, and I ended with the Deb's Red, which was malty with a strong and sweet caramel background and a floral hop nose that leads into a lingering bite off the back. 

Tipsy Cow

This tiny "Main" Street of Madison is a pub crawl all by itself.  Taking our free shuttle from the Best Western Inntowner, we hit (after Maduro) in the same block The Rigby for Lakefront, Argus for Three Floyd's and dinner, and then to the Tipsy Cow for New Holland. For all being in the same block, each was very different. While Maduro was packed with a friendly group of locals and beer geeks, The Rigby was a quiet bar with a younger crowd and basic bar food. My wife happily sipped on the Maple Vanilla Doppelbock. I enjoyed a Wisconsinite, a summer weiss beer; Wisconsinite is an indigenous Wisconsin beer is made with all in-state ingredients, including locally harvested yeast: head fell immediately over a hazy orange ale; fruity and spice nose with a hint of sour; more sour on the tongue with fruitiness and a dry finish. I found the beer refreshing and an interesting balance of flavor. Looking at the reviews on BeerAdvocate, I seem to like the beer more than most; maybe a testament to drinking at the brewery's party and/or the Rigby's presentation.  

Six oz pour In the Name of Suffering

We had dinner at the Argus because of the more veggie friendly menu but were disappointed by the food, throngs of hopheads, extremely loud music and tiny full price pour of Three Floyd's In the Name of Suffering, a black ale that was excellent on site last June during my Chicago visit. On to a busy Tipsy Cow where the excellent service kept the New Holland taps flowing. Dragon's Milk on cask wasn't as amazing as I  hoped (based on a GT sample at the cask tent in 2007) but still excellent. However, the Barrel Aged Night Tripper was mind blowing: pitch black with no head; very hot alcoholic nose and sophisticated blend of chocolate, molasses, assertive roast and light hop spice to pull it together; nose follows to tongue with a sweetness, oak and hop bite. Sublime until it warms and the alcohol pushes it a bit out of balance. If earlier in the night or at home in the winter, it would be perfect. From here, we walked to Brickhouse BBQ, bumping into Pete and Mike of Town Hall fame on the way. We never made The Beer Spot party in the back of the Brickhouse because we ran into Jeff and Bonnie Luskey, MN homebrewers and Jeff is a brewer at the new U4ic Brewing, so we spent the rest of the evening chatting with drafts of Short's and Central Waters to end the night.

If you are lucky enough to get tickets for Great Taste, pony up for the extra night of hotel and plan your way around the heart of a very pretty downtown Madison. The bus system can be difficult to navigate but Google Maps gives pretty good directions from place to place on public transit.  Waiting for a bus the next morning, a college student said there are apps to help but, evidently, harder to find and for more local use at the moment compared to cities like Chicago and San Francisco that have readily downloadable metro apps. Usually, I've taken the bus from the hotel to downtown and then walk or take cabs from there. Cabs tend to be easy to get, fast and relatively cheap, especially with a group. Or, just stop in on Friday night before the fest and have fun—ticket or no. Great Taste Eve is easily one of the best beer parties on the planet.

Chicago 2013 Day 2

Urine Trouble collaboration
at Northdown

6/11/13

Chicago 2013 Day 1

To start Day 2, we were on the hunt for a Surly collaboration ale with Three Floyds called Urine Trouble that Al read about that morning.  We found it online at Northdown and decided to head out before it opened.  We were happily rewarded with it still on tap:

Three Floyd/Surly Urine Trouble: Heather liked the hoppy funk of the smell but the grassy taste put her off. Lemon and orange without the grapefruit integrated well with the clean and bright brett. Burnt orange ale with a delicate white film after the tightly bubbled head fell. Very fun and interesting beer from two of the industry's best hoppy breweries.

To follow up the first pint, I recognized a brewery that I liked from my Denmark trip: To Øl.  Brewmance, an Imperial bourbon Barrel Aged Wild Honey Stout is a collaboration with a brewery new to me, Omnipollo.  Brewmance has a deep black body with a dark head in the tiny pour of this 12% stout to start the day. Alcohol in the nose without being overly hot and plenty of barrel, fig and a hint of dark cherry chocolate. Sweet and winey on the tongue and then the stout, wood and liquorice hits on the back of the tongue to counter point the sweetness.

Northdown is a nice local with a small but well curated selection of very cool beers. Unfortunately I will have to leave the 't Gaverhopke Quad for another day since we're planning to have lunch at the Local Option with a friend a mine, a former debater from my days teaching in LA.

Mural at Local Option

Local Option feels a lot like Triple Rock in Minneapolis—a pissed off punker vibe except that the beer selection is much stronger.  Unfortunately, the kitchen didn't open until 3 p m, so we were only able to drink but not get any food.  Looking at the website later, it doesn't it make it clear on the menu or the front page that food and operating hours differ, so I feel a little better that it wasn't my research that left us starving through a few beers.

Local Option brews its own beers at other breweries.  Today, we sampled the La Petit Mort brewed at Central Waters and Militiagan brewed at Dark Horse.  At one time this would have stigmatized this very good beer, but Local Option categorizes itself (rightfully) as a brewery since they brew their beer themselves on someone else's equipment because. Since I believe the art is in the brewer and not the equipment being on site, I praise them and wish more places would follow their example and make use of brewing capacity that already exists.  We followed this up with an excellent Dark Horse draft of Old Man aged in Templeton Rye barrels and shared a bottle of Iron Throne by Brewery Ommegang, the latter brewed in connection with the show Game of Thrones. While not a watcher of the show, maybe I should if it's half as good as the beer.

Half Acre brewery front

Hungry, we headed off to find food and add local friends from the speech world.  En route, we happily stumbled upon a pizza by the slice place called Chicago's Pizza, a micro-local chain of three restaurants in this part of town. I had just said I wish I was in New York and could just grab a slice and there appeared our salvation. Since it was thick slice, they asked if we wanted to sit for our slice; odd, but it sounded nice so we did.  I ordered a Metropolitan Krankshaft Kolsch and Al got a Finch's Golden Wing. Both are Chicago breweries I haven't had yet; Al won this one, picking the better of the two.  Pizza was good, but not a slice I would go out of my way for in the competitive deep dish pizza market of Chicago.

Next stop was the taproom of Half Acre Beer Co.  We've seen a lot of Half Acre around town and they seem to be the up and coming brewery of Chicago.  While I like the beers I sampled and all were well brewed, my initial evaluation was that the beers were all of the same mold with little variation. From what I tasted, Half Acre seems like a one trick pony that happens to have a very good trick. Next time I see Half Acre on tap, I will start with their draft early to give them a better shot.

The Bad Apple draft and bottle lists

The Bad Apple Bar is just down the block from Half Acre. Very cool local bar with a wide selection to drink.  We were in full social mode at this point, so my lone note besides my drafts was that the beer battered cheese curds are light and fluffy. For dinner, I remember having a Strange Famous, a mushroom and seiten veggie burger that was tasty and unique. On the stop, I finally added Spiteful Brewing to my database with their Bitter Biker and expanded my sampling from Solemn Oath with the Snaggletooth Bandana, both very good brews and well served.

With the help of some local friends, we took the 50 Bus to the famous Hopleaf, avoiding a longer trip toward downtown on the L and back out on another line.  An altercation between the bus driver and a rider (not us!) cut into our drinking time as we filled out incident reports so the driver could prove that he was in the right.  Not what we expected but an interesting story for the weekend.

Back bar at Hopleaf

Walking into Hopleaf, I found it impossible to resist starting with Atomium by Brouwerij van Steenbergh because I visited the incredibly over hyped namesake of the beer last summer (Atomium in Brussels created for the 1958 World Fair ). The beer disappointed nearly as much as the tourist trap. Al then bought bottles of De Cam Oude Geueze 2000, a decade older version of the extremely excellent beer I tasted for the first time last last summer at the Lambic Discovery Center, which was absolutely sublime when aged, and De Ranke XX Bitter, also excellent. My local friend Ben and I responded with two bottles of Founders from the "special" case: Doom and Bolt Cutter, each living up to Founders' fine reputation. I ended the evening with a Ballast Point Sculpin, a legendary IPA that I've never been able to taste before.  To top off the evening, a former student who was training downtown for her job was able to meet up with us at the stop as well. Overall, Hopleaf provides the beer geek (for a price) with the option for a truly transcendent experience and I look forward to spending more time there in the future.

On the day, two of my former students, one from LA and one from Minnesota, plus speechie slash beer friends from Minnesota and Chicago, all gathered together for various parts of the day to hit some excellent beery spots without a single clunker. In short, a near perfect pub crawl with friends old and new.

Chicago 2013 Day 3

Chicago 2013 Day 1

Feloniousmonk and his FFF beer haul

6/10/13

Because Three Floyds is a short trek from Chicago in Munster, IN, Al and I picked up our friend Heather and headed to FFF first with the car before parking for the weekend.  Plus, it was Al's top choice on the weekend.

FFF is becoming a regular stop, so I will just add the highlights. I started with In the Name of Suffering, a black IPA, that was super smooth and hoppy.  Tiberian Inquisitor, a golden Belgian, and Toxic Revolution, a stout porter, were also positives of the stop.

Before each trip to FFF, I check the every changing menu online because it's not always very veggie friendly.  However, they took the bacon out of the White Cheddar Mac n Cheese for me and it was delicious.  Heather and I shared the smoked octopus (I'm pescetarian now) with "ramp pesto, cherry tomatoes, pickled ramps, arugula, mint and grilled bread." Quite amazingly good for eating tentacles.

FFF White Cheddar Mac n Cheese 

While en route to Chicago, Al received word via the social network that a former Minnesota beer friend Adam Schulte, who now works for Artisanal Imports in Chicago, said we should head to Headquarter's Beercade for a special Meantime tapping.

Walking in, the Beercade is eerily similar to Barcade in Brooklyn. The bartender quickly confirmed that Beercade was inspired by Barcade.  The two main differences is that Beercade is less sketchy of a place and neighborhood, and the games can be played for FREE!  While pumping a few quarters is no big deal, it was a lot of fun to just hit restart on Asteroids a few times because of my rusty play (200 points from making the top ten!). While the games aren't as classic as at Barcade, many are from the 80s plus newer ones from the 90s that I don't know how to play.




Nice mix of local and regional brews in the tap list.   I started with the Solemn Oath Mythological Wonder, which was ok. In researching to put it on the list, I saw that it was a collaboration with Sun King, not a favored brewery by me.  To be nostalgic, I ordered a can of Olympia. As a kid, my dad drank Olympia for years until he changed over to Miller Lite.  I see why he changed now.  The Meantime beers came on and I had samples of the barleywine and the scotch ale.  The scotch ale on draft was every bit the beer I had tried in bottles from the Rare Beer Club in 2007. Maybe the best scotch ale anywhere.  My draft of the barleywine fell victim to high expectations. Still a very good beer, but not what I hoped for.

Like Barcade, there's no food service at Beercade.  Our bartender kindly recommended his favorite pizza place and we ordered Giordano's for delivery.  I gave the doorman my name and he nicely watched for our pizza and directed it to us. Very excellent, full meal after the lighter fare I had at Three Floyds.

At Beercade, I was chatting with Chris, who was the owner of a local business called Bee's Knees, which makes bar snacks. Later in the weekend, we were able to find them at the Map Room, and can report that the Chipotle Lime were assertively hot and tasty.

Sheffield's 

Again, based on a recommendation from someone at the bar, we ended the night at Sheffield's, which was in walking distance down the street.  Natural cut fries with aioli sauce appeared at the table (not sure who ordered them)—very good.  I ended the night with a Green Flash Imperial Rye IPA and happy that Green Flash is almost always a good bet.  Al ordered a bottle of 2007 Bigfoot Barleywine, which was solid but past its prime with a bit too much oxidation. We sat in the small bar up front, but from walking around and the website, there's a lot more to Sheffield's than meets the eye.  The aged bottle list, a portion of which we saw in a cooler, was the main reason for the recom. While Beercade has cool beer and is full of hipsters, Sheffield's down the street has an older crowd and the bar seems to cater more to the beer geek. We clearly shortchanged Sheffield's as the last stop of the night, but can't drink every place first, especially when it was unplanned.

Great first day in Chicago.  In the future, I would like to go back for an extended time at Beercade for playing the games until I had my fill while sipping on local beers—slowly, so as not to interfere with the game play. This also should be done alone, to relieve any guilt or pressure to play less or draw focus from the transporting back in time. Or, possibly, the day could be done with a geek of similar passion or old arcade games and beer. When sated on nostalgia with my name in the top ten of a few games, I'd head to Sheffield's for a bottle of something special to end the night.

Chicago 2013 Day 2

Amon Amarth-Ragnarok (Three Floyd's Brewing, Munster, IN)

Brought a bottle back from FFF in October, and finally got around to drinking it up.  Couldn't find a description online, but remember that it was a dedication to a local band. For a comparative beer point of view, check out Al's review at The Bitter Nib.  If interested in Amon-Amarth, here's their website

From the side of the bottle:
A beer for the end of ages brewed with our friends in the band Amon Amarth. This Aesir Porter is a robust and hearty beer brewed with local honey and a small portion of smoked malt. When Heimdall sounds the Giallar-horn this is the beer to be hoisted by the gods in anticipation of the coming battle.

A brief search says Aesir is the principal race of Norse gods, and I'll admit a lack of knowledge of Norse mythology and the band Amon Amarth, so didn't follow it much from there.

On to the beer:  Light brown head pours thin, tiny bubbled layer that falls with a nice lace.  Seemingly black opaque body, but a closer look makes it a dark chocolate brown.  Clear roast nose with light grassy and pine hop on top.  Intriguing nose that builds some anticipation for the taste, but the taste is similar but muddled.  Roast is a bit acrid in the mouth, and the hop bite is a standard FFF bite but doesn't blend well with the taste.  Irish stout finish.  Nice beer, but doesn't quite pull together one hundred percent.  Perfectly fine with the bottle, and might even try it on tap if it ever appeared again.  

Warmed up, the beer does a bit better.  Hop nose increases and subdues the roast in the nose.  Pine and an earthy note increase.  Balance improves measurably but still not complete.  A nitro push or just a tap taking the rough edges off would be interesting, but I didn't get that chance (and don't know if it was ever on tap).  Good beer that improves with a bit of time and conversation.

Artic Panzer Wolf (Three Floyd's Brewing, Munster, IN)

From the bottle

Straw gold ale that looks deceptively light in the glass with a fluffy pure white head.  Clearly the head is the snow covered Artic portion of the name of this Imperial IPA.  Two ways to go big with hops--extremely big on top of extremely big, and big on top of lighter; this beer is the latter.  Gives the beer a massive hop nose--bigger than most Imperial India Pale Ales.  Very clean and singular grapefruit in the nose with a subordinate malt base, a bit of pepper, pine and hotness from the 9% alcohol.  Soft bready malt on the tongue--and--there's the bite.  Feeds the hop beast extremely well.  Hops linger nicely and burns out the palate.  From the website, FFF says "Scorched earth is our brewery policy".  This beer proves it.

Brought this bottle back from the FFF brewpub in Munster on our now yearly trek to see our Boilermaker niece Amanda at Purdue.  Very glad to have Three Floyds en route to a regular destination.  Another bottle of APW made its way to my friend Al, so check out his review of the bottle as well.

Below is the review from the tap when we visited last October.  While still the beer I remember, the review below definitely points to a change in the bottle compared to the glass on tap.

From the tap
9% sunset gold DIPA with very little head or lace in the snifter. Not a big nose for all of the 100 IBU hype, but pleasant with a clean pine, orange, grapefruit, light pepper and malt. Resin and oily pine coat the tongue with a sharp, slightly fruity hop bite. Dry, grassy finish to let you know how many hops were sacrificed to the hop god for this one. Flavor warms nicely and the alcohol becomes much more apparent.

Broo Doo (Three Floyd's Brewing, Munster, IN)

3F, one of the kings (like alpha king!) of hops, has a harvest ale and I finally have been able to get a bottle by happenstance on a trip to Purdue. Thanks for Village Bottle Shop in West Lafayette for having some left. Golden IPA with a beautiful sheen, and a dirty white, fluffy, rocky head. Super clean and bright pine, lemon, and citrus nose that invites thoughts of summer with a deep whiff. Grass and spice hop bite that lingers and builds. Caramely, slightly sweet base the gives a solid base to let the hops shine. I'm a sucker for all harvest ales, but this is one of the cleanest fresh hop ales I've had in recent years. 3F rocks.


Serving type: bottle


Reviewed on: 11-05-2011 02:25:04

Spazzerack! (Three Floyd's Brewing, Munster, IN)

Blood red to brown combo of Alpha King and Robert the Bruce aged in bourbon barrels. Star anise is evidently cheap, or just very potent, because its abundantly clear in the nose. With the sweet malt added, smells just like anise candy that can be found around Christmas in Dutch bakeries. If you pay attention, the orange of the description can be found tucked away in the side of the anise. Syrupy sweet base with more anise, but the AK hop taste--grassy and grapefruit--pops in the middle. Add to that some peat and bourbon, and this is one interesting beer. I don't think I'll take this one home, but it is one incredible beer that I'm honored to try; the type of beer that's a testament to the art and creatively of brewing that those in the club seek out. Those reading this review can ponder the difference between my rating and those on BeerAdvocate that were much harsher. In part, I'm guessing the anise is a tough mistress when so strong.  But, if you're looking for the beer frontier--this is it.

Serving type: on-tap

Reviewed on: 10-26-2011 02:33:33

Behemoth Blonde Barleywine (Three Floyd's Brewing, Munster, IN)

Amber barleywine with a golden glow backlit by the kung fu movie on the plasma TV over the brewery window. Slightly off white head falls to a nice lace in the snifter. Big, hoppy citrus nose like a west coast IPA. Cool and reminds me a bit of Stone Old Guardian, but a bit more rough around the edges. Dark cherry, chocolate and caramel underneath the commanding hop. Sweet malt backbone that mellows the hop but by no means subdues it.  Lingering Quad resin with more dark fruit and caramel on the tongue, and a bitter finish from the hop. Classic FFF hop interpretation of a standard style. Get it, drink it and live life.  Going to find a clone of this one, and try to brew it at home.

11/4/11 Just drank the bottle of Behemoth that I brought home from 3F and love it even more. Really has moved to the top of my list for favorite barleywines along with Stone OG. Great beer and a must try if you get a chance.

Serving type: on-tap

Reviewed on: 10-26-2011 02:53:10

Zombie Dust (Three Floyd's Brewing, Munster, IN)

Gold to amber APA with a full head that falls to a rounded lace in an imperial pint glass.  Menu says 50 IBUs, but it packs a much bigger punch. Grassy, earthy nose that sings of hops, light fruit, and bitterness up front on top of caramel sweetness. Not a big beer, but doesn't taste light or watery at all--just not heavy. Smallish beer that showcases the hop bite for those with a zombie like craving for hops.


Serving type: on-tap


Reviewed on: 10-26-2011 02:58:50

Three Floyds Brewing (Munster, IN)

Was able to finally return to Three Floyds on a trip through Chicago to Purdue. While the review below clearly shows my love of FFF, this trip made it it one of my very favorite spots. It helped that my wife was along to DD this time, so the tasting was a more intense, but it was also the fall line up of beers compared to the summer brews that I had last time. Drinking Behemoth, Artic Panzer Wolf, Zombie Dust and Spazzerack! took all of my energy so that I didn't even get to Dreadnaught--one of my favorites. 

But what really put it over the top was the food. I had pizza last time, which was very good. Maybe it's improved as well--didn't have a chance to try this trip. We really liked that they offered small plates so the meal was a more appropriate size. We started with the butternut squash soup--amazing--black truffles, hazelnut yogurt and pickled squash made this a soup to remember. After that, I had the mac n cheese. Doesn't sound too adventuresome, but the old fashioned comfort food with American cheese was spiced up with pickled onions and bread crumbs. I know--onions in mac n cheese? Just have to try it. 

The basic format of the bar hasn't changed in the last few years, but they seem to have settled in with more beer paraphernalia and other decorations on the walls. The big screen TV with a kung fu movie playing was a nice touch--and nice to watch with dinner over the brew house. Not sure how, but it adds to the attitude of the place. Not fancy--just good. Fits my personality exactly. I feel lucky that FFF is directly on my route to visit my alma mater, and hope to make this a much more regular stop in the future to one of my very favorite brewpubs anywhere in the world. 

8/1/07 review from my first visit: Three Floyds is an Indiana legend with Alpha King, as they should be. Lots of attitude, unique, and surviving by just brewing beer too good not to drink, similar to Stone of CA and Surly of MN. This was such a good stop, I simply drove home to Minnesota instead of hitting the rest of my planned stops. 

Needed lunch, and ordered the five cheese pizza as the main veggie option. It was very good--and big. Two or three people at least to eat. It was also good cold for dinner half way through Wisconsin. 

Jumped in with a half pint (thanks FFF for pouring halfs) of Remus: Bravo. This was a paired brew with Remulus: Apollo. They beers were idential APAs except for the Bravo and Apollo hops. Remus the better beer for me--cleaner and smoother compared to the Remulus that had a bit of a grassy taste, unusual for FFF beers in spite of the very large hops bill that must have annually. Next was a draft of the famous Dreadnaught IPA, an Imperial IPA that is worth the travel. The bottle I took home was just as good though the bite was a bit different and lacked the balance of the draft for me. The final beer (so I thought) was the Fantabulous Resplendence (aka X), FFFs tenth anniversary ale. Not really sure what the style should be labelled but it was 100 IBUs, so a DIPA range, but lots of Belgain characteristics, probably from the yeast. Very easy drink with lots of kick. In spite of eating most of the pizza and sitting for three hours, the accumulation of the beers forced the long wait before hitting the road again. 

And, then, a FFF worker tapped a new beer--Gorch Fock Helles--and handed me the test glass to make sure the tap was working properly--then dumped it and repoured another for me because it didn't look quite right to him. To me, this emphasized FFFs commitment to quality at all levels and it is easily seen in the beer. 

Hoping to return for an evening to check it out as well. The only downside of the pub (not for me but for others maybe going there) is that it's basically a thrown together in a corner of the brewery. And, the whole place is in a warehouse district south of Chicago that's a bit out of the way and I found to be hard to find that day. Personally, I like the comfortable college dorm furniture feel that concentrates on beer or form, but maybe not everybody will like that. If you're there to drink good beer--go; if you want a pretty place, head downtown.

Reviewed on: 10-26-2011 03:17:30