Co-authors Jim Draeger and Mark Speltz were on hand as was photographer Mark Fay. Also there was a gentleman whose name I cannot recall but he was a Wisconsin Public Television producer(?). WPT has produced an accompanying documentary which airs on 12 November. It was a rather informal night with the co-authors speaking for short time and an excerpt from the doc being shown.
The first floor of the museum featured half of the exhibit - the part about breweries. Up on the fourth floor was the other half on focusing on bars but I reserved that for another time. There was a smattering of breweriana with some photos blown up wall-sized, bottles, and so on. A crew from Sand Creek Brewing were there as well pouring beer.
Among the items on display was a real church key. All of my attempts to photograph the ones at the museum in Potosi failed miserably so it was nice to get a decent snap of one.
Draeger gave a brief (for him) speech before introducing an excerpt from the documentary. At fifteen minutes or so, it was more than enough to whet the appetites of the beer aficionados which included the esteemed Jerry Apps, chronicler of rural Wisconsin’s days gone by, owners of a few of the taverns featured in the book, the head of the Wisconsin Tavern League, plus my buddy Ronaldo who, like me, enjoys craft beer.
The excerpt we saw briefly covered early Wisconsin taverns such as the one at Wade House up in Greenbush which served stagecoach travelers as well as locals. Then it was off to the hallowed taverns of old where men went to be men while their wives stayed at home tending to the family. (Here I thought of “Behind the Swinging Door” by The Goose Island Ramblers.) Draeger would elaborate that there were women in taverns - mostly prostitutes. However, German taverns often had a back room dubbed the “Ladies’ Lounge” where women and children would gather.
We also saw profiles of three bars that are featured in the book: the Safe House in Milwaukee, Puempel's Olde Tavern in New Glarus, and The Joynt in Eau Claire. (I’ve been to all three.) The Safe House had the Cold War espionage theme, Puempel’s was old-timey and had no televisions or jukebox. It was a regular hangout of New Glarus’ old timers who gathered to play cards. The Joynt was notable for all the famous musicians that improbably made Eau Claire a tour stop. Who’d have though John Lee Hooker would have played there? In addition, New Glarus brewmaster Dan Carey explained how he came up with the idea for Spotted Cow.
After the video was done Draeger took to the stage once again. Being an architectural historian, he talked about how he and Speltz were keen on finding taverns which retained their old look both inside and outside. He also explained the lovely dividers shown in the video adorned with beautiful lead glass. They were to shield the passersby on the street from the sight of all the immorality happening at the bar. We also learned that early Wisconsin taverns had no chairs or stools. Draeger also covered the decline of Wisconsin taverns a little bit. Suburbanization helped drive them out of business as did the major breweries who encouraged drinking at home.
On a side note, the exhibit directly credited the drinking culture of our fair state to German immigrants and their pursuit of Gemütlichkeit. We can also attribute our state’s love of bratwurst to them as well as the popularity of sheepshead. And a friend of mine who lives in Stevens Point told me that there’s a bar there where you can play Hammerschlagen. I think there’s one in Milwaukee as well. Anyone know of others?
While Bottoms Up celebrates Wisconsin’s drinking culture, there is a growing ambivalence about it. On the one hand, no public function seems to happen in this state without alcohol. On the other, Wisconsin is always near or at the top of surveys which rank binge drinking and drunk driving. What to do?
Luckily Bottoms Up in all its guises need not be consumed in moderation. It’s too bad the book didn’t come out a month or so earlier as I think it would have been nice to have had it and exhibit around for the Great Taste of the Midwest. The museum could have gotten hordes of beer lovers from out of town to come in their doors. Oh well. Next book, I guess.
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