"Get yer hop juice here and leave a testimonial"

The wicked wiles of the Hop Whore were on full display last weekend for the 22nd Annual Great Taste of the Midwest. My new best friend Page managed to score two tickets for The Dulcinea and me and we were able to hand M off to his father early which meant we were would not be accompanied by a nine-year old who would have no doubt been interminably bored.

Arriving a bit after 1, we found ourselves very far back in the line. But what can one do if folks arrive at nine in the morning for a prime spot?



Ahead of us in line was one of the guys from Star Liquor and his thirsty party. I got word from him that the resurrected 1960s formula for Schlitz would be coming to the shelves of Madison's purveyors of beer in the first week of September. (If memory serves.) Why this was deemed necessary has me buffaloed. Presumably this is about trying to find the next retro cheap brew to appeal to the next generation of hipsters who improbably haven't taken to Pabst.

It wasn't too long before the line started moving and soon we were in amongst the thirsty hordes.



The adventure began at Tent 400, for some reason I cannot recall, with a Norwegian Wit from The Grumpy Troll. Next up was Viking. The D went with one of her faves, the Hot Chocolate, while I gave the Mjød a go. Mjød is one of their bracketts and I've never seen either of them for sale down here in Madison so it was a no-brainer. It was a great summer drink as it was fairly dry and a bit tart, unlike the sweeter varieties I've had from White Winter Winery. Our initial sortie at Tent 400 ended with samples from Detroit Rivertown Brewing Company. I had the Vanilla Java while The D started her trend of drinking any beer she saw with double-digit alcohol content by going with their Voodoo Doublebock.

While standing around & drinking was the main attraction, there were other things happening to complement all the quaffing. For instance, there was plenty of music including this pulchritudinous pair from The Pints.



If there was actually anyone who didn't have at least a cursory knowledge of how beer is made, then the folks from Zymurgy Outfitters were there to demonstrate the magical, mystical art of brewing.



One tent was, as far as I could tell, dedicated to the art of pairing food with beer. I happened to walk by when local chocolatier Gail Ambrosius was matching various brews to her tender nuggets of chocolate goodness.



Moving onwards through the teeming masses, we noticed that there were a couple gentlemen hovering over grills so I presume the next seminar was going to pair beer with BBQ or grilled meat of some ilk.

I was getting a bit peckish and so wandered up the hill to the Baumgartners tent for a cheese sandwich. One could choose from 3 or 4 cheeses and have a slice of large diameter beef sausage thrown on for good measure. I opted for the sausage and topped it all off with a generous squirt or two of mustard. A perfect mid-fest snack.

After chowing down, The D and I continued our walk and happened upon the Real Ale tent.



Page had said that he would be working there and I'd hoped to say hi to him but, alas, there was no sign of him. I didn't let this get me down though, as John Barleycorn beckoned. The D tried out Rock Bottom's Peanut Butter Brown Ale which was smooth and very tasty while I gave Surly's Teabagged Furous a go. I enjoyed it greatly.

At the far side of the tent were a couple local breweries, Esser's Best and Fauerbach. Admittedly, Esser's Special isn't particularly special, but the crisp lager made for a nice change of pace and was refreshing on a hot summer day. At the Fauerbach table I had my first taste of their CB Bock with which I was mightily impressed. It had a nice grainy base with caramel overtones which melded well but was not heavy. A great summertime bock.

The D and I then headed back to the other side of the festival grounds where we eventually met up with her friend, Jennifer. Jen tends bar at Tyranena and her shift at the brewery's table had ended. And so she joined us, clad in her stylish pretzel necklace.



The three of us wandered around and I ran into my ex-boss, Amy. It was good to see her as I hadn't in ages. Along the way, we sampled some good beers. The D loved the tripel from Gottberg Brewpub while I became enamored of Short's Nicie Spicie. Nicie Spicie is a wheat ale "spiced with fresh zest of lemon and orange rind, coriander, and black peppercorns". Local brewers, Furthermore, have Knot Stock which is also brewed with pepper but this stuff was quite different. The pepper in Knot Stock tends to sneak up on your palate from underneath. With Nicie Spicie, the bold, aromatic flavor of the pepper is right up front, yet it wasn't particularly hot. This stuff would make a great autumn brew – something to wind down with after a day of apple picking and corn maze wandering.



Another brew that impressed me was from Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery. Their Smoked Helles was a wonderful surprise and would have gone well with my sandwich. Most rauchbiers I've had are on the heavy side but this stuff was not. Light and with a medium of amount of smoke flavor, the beer was refreshing in a simple way yet it also had heft for the tongue.

The event also provided the opportunity to try some Wisconsin products that don't get distributed down here in Madison. The first on this list was Duzy Piwo from O'So Brewing. It was a nice, big pilsener. Rush River was also there. I asked the guy behind the table if they were ever going to be distributed here in Madison and he said "Next month!" Hopefully the first week of September.

Towards the end of the fest, I made sure to hit White Winter Winery and try some mead. They had a plum mead which I'd never seen for sale anywhere previously so I had to give it a go. I loved it. Not too sweet, not too dry – just perfect.



I told the gentleman behind the counter how much I enjoyed it and he pointed me to Jon Hamilton, the man behind the honeyed fermentation. I gushed like a school girl and told him how much I loved his mead as well as his bracketts, especially the oak variety. Inquiring about its availability here in Madison, he replied, "That would be none." He continued, "I can't ship it either because it's a malt beverage. I learned that the hard way."

The D had wandered over and found me. She sampled the plum mead as well before we decided to check out the ciders of AEppelTreow. In my mirthful drunkenness, I accidentally stumbled into the wrong area and got a smack in the face. That'll learn me for walking into the path of the bean bag game. Despite this setback, we made it to the AEppelTreow line just fine. The Berry-Apple & Cran-Apple ciders were incredibly tasty and refreshing. They were lighter-bodied than I had expected and not overly sweet, both big pluses in my book. Spiced cider was also on tap which was heavy on the clove. Good but not quite the right season.

This was my first Taste in probably 11 years. I began attending when I became of age and went a few years in a row. Back in the day, tickets didn't sell out in a matter of hours. Then it started to be held on moving day and I was moving every year. Ergo it was quite a treat to be able to make it this year. A hearty thanks to Page for scoring us the tickets.