A Visit to Minhas (Craft?) Brewery

The boy and I went to Monroe a couple weeks ago for Cheese Days and while we were there, we took a tour of the Minhas Brewery. Minhas was formerly the Joseph Huber Brewing Company which was bought in 2006 by Mountain Crest, owned by Manjit & Ravinder Minhas – both Canadians. Unfortunately most of my photos didn't turn out but let me offer a few things.

You begin in the bottling area by watching a video that features both of the Minhases and a brewer e talk about the company, extol the virtue of their beers, etc. Since being bought out, the brewery now churns out a lot more beer than it used to. Two times more. (Heck, maybe even a greater amount than that – I can't recall the exact figures.) Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale is their best seller although some of the beers they produce are for the Canadian market so I can't say if Lazy Mutt sells the most overall or just in the States. Why this is I don't understand because beer I've had with the Minhas label is total crap. I bought one of their sampler packs which had, if memory serves, Minhas 1845 Pils, Fighting Billy Bock, Lazy Mutt, Swiss Amber, and perhaps a couple others. I couldn't tell the beers apart because they all tasted like watery, adjunct-laden piss water. One was advertised as being an all-malt and it too tasted for shite. They all tasted the same and none would even make a good lawnmower beer.

I want to say that I like Berghoff and I am raking on only those brews that actually have the Minhas label. Berghoff is a good middle-range brew like Leinenkugel's. It's cheaper than your top of the line craft brews but is more expensive than most swill.

Not surprisingly, they also make soda (Blumer's and Berghoff Root Beer) as well as energy drinks, none of which I'd ever heard of. Plus there were other beers I'd never heard of – Clear Creek Ice, Boxer Lager, and Rani Lager, a supposed Indian-style beer brewed here in Wisconsin and apparently only sold in Canada. That's globalism for ya. And I had no idea there was a Berghoff Artisan Collection. Anyone know what beers comprise it? The brewery has also introduced Minhas IPA. Not sure if it's been distributed yet or not as I've never seen it on store shelves. But there were cases of it in the warehouse.

While I think Minhas brews mostly total crap, they're doing well and keeping Cheeseheads employed. More power to 'em.

At the end of the tour we retired to the tasting room. I had a Minhas Oktoberfest while the kid went with root beer. The Oktoberfest was probably the best beer I've tasted with a Minhas label. While it was pretty watery, it actually had a bit of a malt backbone and something resembling a malt-hops balance. This was a good lawnmower beer.

Outside the tasting area was a gift shop and a beer museum with lots of memorabilia. One room was full of old bottles and also had an old Capital poster back from the days when the brewery was still named Garten Bräu. It reads: "A family of award winning beers from Wisconsin's finest lager brewery". In addition to a photo of a couple bottles and a glass, it also listed the brewery's offerings.





There have certainly been some changes over the years, not the least of which is the name change. The Lager (a.k.a. – Bavarian Lager) is gone. Weizen was brewed for the first time in a while this year but wasn't bottled. And oh for the days when Wild Rice was a seasonal! In college we drank Maibock every spring and Wild Rice every summer. I never knew I had it so good.

Despite the changes, it's heartening to see just how much of their line-up has remained the same. (Plus you've got all the new brews.) Capital certainly hasn't abandoned the lager though I hear that both the Dark and Special Pilsner aren't selling too well so I expect that one or both of them will be put into hibernation anon. That would truly be a sad day. But if it happens, might I suggest Mr. Kirby, a roggenbier or a zwickel as replacements?

Actually, I think my bitching in favor of lagers (and/or German styles) is paying off. At dinner recently, a friend of mine ordered a Capital Oktoberfest and told me that Capital was his favorite brewery and "I'm really a lager man at heart." Another friend related to me today that he had a Lakefront Riverwest Stein beer earlier this week and found it to be very tasty. And this is coming from someone who has been mainly sticking to IPAs and Belgians for a while, although he enjoyed many kölsches this past summer.

Love your lager!