Yes, Virginia, there is a Dallas, Wisconsin. Barron County was originally Dallas County, having been named after George Dallas, Vice President under James Polk. The county's name was changed in 1869 to Barron and Dallas adopted the former name when it was incorporated in 1903. Today it has less than 400 inhabitants and is home to Viking Brewery.
Started in 1994 by Randy and Ann Lee, it remains a mom & pop operation as it is run by the Lees along with their son who works there part time. The brewery is in an old creamery. When you wander in the front door, you're greeted by a shop. There's a cooler to your right with the brewery's beer with shelves all around featuring vegetables, pies, woodwork, et al from local farms and artisans. The gentleman at the root beer counter informed us that, if we wanted the tour, we'd have to go around to the side door. Honestly, I wasn't sure if there'd be a tour that day since The Great Taste of the Midwest was due to start the same time.
We went outside and around the building before entering a side door. Turning a corner, we found Randy at the end of a hall talking with an early bird tourist. Lee was in his work clothes – t-shirt with jeans held up with stylish suspenders and tall rubber boots. He was sporting what my friends and I refer to as a 70s porno moustache. What he lacked in haute couture he made up in humor and a passion for his craft. And there's always his beers. We would go on to have the best brewery tour I've ever been on.
He brought us into a room full of metal vats & tanks and gave us the usual explanations of what gets boiled how and when. I appreciated how he would explain things in a language for beer geeks followed by the brewing for dummies version. Not only is the brewery in an old creamery, but Lee uses old dairy equipment. Nothing fancy here. He noted how there was no special cooling equipment so he had to brew according to the weather. Lee also told us that he had a preference for the Saaz hops of the Czech Republic over Cascade and other West Coast hops. Lastly, he related his trials and tribulations in acquiring the foils that adorn each bottle which included a phone conversation with a Canuck who spoke only French.
The tour went on until we found ourselves in the bottling room. As Lee spoke, I was on the wrong side of the bottling line because, on the other side, were the samples.
We would get to sample all nine beers that they currently had available as well as their barleywine and both bracketts. Not only were we to have the chance to taste all of them, but we also were privileged to have the brewmaster pour and introduce his beers. After we'd sampled the first brew – the new LES beer, a retro pilsner - I remembered that I had my voice recorder with me. Ergo, you can hear Lee talk about his creations right at this very blog.
The Dulcinea really loved the Honey Moon brackett which Lee described as being like a honey champagne. For my part, I was impressed with Queen Victoria's Secret, the IPA. Like myself, Lee is not fond of the Hop Wars and has no interest making an entry into the hoppiest beer you can brew category. As he said earlier, he eschews the Cascade hops and their grapefruit overtones. For his IPA, he used strictly English hops – East Kent Golding and Fuggle. Lee is old skool.
We had a chance to talk with him after the tour. The Dulcinea gushed like a little school girl and told him that she absolutely loves his Hot Chocolate, the December seasonal which is a chocolate stout brewed with cocoa and cayenne pepper. I told him that we were from Madison and he replied that he was originally from there but that he had roots in the Dallas area and so he had returned here. Lee said that they are currently brewing about 300 barrels a year and hope to expand. Indeed, he already had some equipment on hand to increase capacity but was waiting for demand to grow larger. Viking also hopes to distribute in the Chicago area soon. One thing about small operations is that, if you have a complaint, you can go right to the owner and so I did. I told him that distribution of his seasonals in Madison was terrible. Lee knew all about this and had heard it before. Giving the distributor a good talking-to was on his list of things to do. I asked him why they were at The Great Taste and he told me that it's just a pain in the ass with such a small crew. Besides, he said, you spend all your time pouring beer and you don't get a chance to talk to anyone.
Both Randy and Ann were extremely cordial hosts. It was great to get a chance to speak with them instead of being herded from room to room. I appreciate that Randy brews lots of lagers, is kickin' it old skool on the IPA front, and has two bracketts. He has definitely earned my respect for not following craft beer trends. I hope that more of their brews become available here in Madison and that they are able to expand soon. Being such a small operation is a lot of hard work and must be like being a farmer – you never get to go on vacation. We bought a couple six packs, a t-shirt, and bid farewell to Viking. However, we didn't go too far - just across the street to a tavern called The Office where Viking was available.
It was a typical northwoods bar and quite empty when we stepped inside, although more patrons eventually made their way to the place. The Dulcinea reports that the women's bathroom came replete with can of hairspray for that perfect northwoods coiffure. It was nice to be able to smoke in a tavern for a change. It was rather funny to find that their Viking taps were empty. And so we ordered a couple Viking brews in bottles, fried cheese curds, and enjoyed the air conditioning. Living large on vacation.
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