GTMW Part 3
Posted In Beer
Started the morning checking out the new New Glarus brewery. Phenomenal, I have a million pictures of that place so if I ever get around to loading them, I’ll write more. Then onto Great Dane Brewing for a nice lunch and free bus ride to Olin- Turnville Park for the brewfest.
The fest… whew, there are more people waiting in line than the unemployment offices in Detroit! Amazingly, it took us all about 5 minutes to get through the gate and get our tasting glasses. No order, but no chaos.
The tasting glasses are impressive- nice fluted shape and 4 oz. glasses, which though the guide said don’t request full pours and the tasting size is two ounces, very few pours were that low. Of course, the firkin Real Ale tent was packed at the beginning, and rightfully so.
Lots of interesting brews:
1) America’s Brewing Co Dirty Summer Blonde Chocolate Beer (a seemingly “girl beer”) was surprisingly easy to drink, kinda like one of those Milano cookies.
2) Destihl Restaurant and Brew Works Saison de Ruisseau has a nice ginger and coriander spiciness
3) Fat Heads Headhunter IPA was my favorite IPA of the fest, a dry-hopped West Coast style and kick your ass hoppiness.
4) O’so Brewing Root Beer- yep, you read that right! I had to drink something non-alcoholic too!
5) Short’s Brewing Bloody Mary. Not something I’d choose to drink if I wanted a beer but maybe it’s
a great choice for the morning after, when you’re so hungover that you still don’t think you can keep down solid foods yet. This tastes exactly like a Bloody Mary.
6) South Shore Brewery Bourbon Barrel Coffee Mint Stout, which is a dead ringer for Girl Scouts thin mint cookies disguised as a beer.
7) Surly Ash-Aged Cynic (cask)- Wow, saison aged on toasted white ash. Wood gone Good!
And the most interesting beer at the fest (and one of the ones I actually got another sample of) came from Fitger’s Brewhouse in Duluth, MN. The Wildflower Lager sounds deceptively light but don’t let it fool you. They use six different Hatch chili’s from New Mexico and serrano and habanero peppers in this “hot” lager. It’s awesome. You will completely annihilate your taste buds and punish your tongue for drinking it, but in a good way. Like “ow, that’s spicy… but so good… but my mouth is on fire… but it’s delicious… hurts… good… hurts…” Just get over it and chase your glass with some milk you pussy.
70+ beers sampled with 6,000 of my now closest drinking buddies
Saw a girl somehow manuever removing her bra through the arm holes of her tank top (and sorry guys, she wasn’t a sight for sober eyes…)
Received a marriage proposal from one guy
And a “Holy Cowabunga” from another guy (must be a Midwest pickup line…)
Free shuttle back to the hotel somehow with an entire bachelor party (yep, I was the token girl on the bus) for some dude who knocked his lady up and felt obligated
And still sober! The worst thing about the fest was the sauna-like weather. 3 showers later and I was able to hit up Ale Asylum for some dinner and a pint of beer that would wallow in my glass (I’ve had my fill), then onto Capital Brewing for a beer and a movie (Journey to the Center of the Earth). Both visits were short, but if you have to choose between those two, go to Capital! You can’t eat here but you can bring in your picnic basket and make like Yogi and Boo-Boo. Besides, they do music and movies often.