The grounds on which the Potosi Beer Festival were held are really pretty. There’s a creek running through it, a grassy area with a gazebo, and what appears to be a former silo retrofitted to look like an old steel Potosi beer bottle. Not a bad spot to drink great brews at all.
Perusing the program, I noticed some beers that I definitely wanted to try. I should note that there wasn’t much in way of rare beers. Brewers apparently reserve that stuff for the Great Taste. But I would be presented with the opportunity to sample beers that I don’t normally buy at the store or eschew at the Great Taste in favor of those from the far flung corners of the Midwest. I was looking forward to Eau Claire’s Northwoods Brewpub and to see what Woodman would have on tap. O’so’s O-Toberfest was in the program as was Pearl Street’s Rubber Mills Pils. Plus a handful of area homebrew clubs would be pouring as well.
Unfortunately, neither Northwoods nor Woodman showed up. Their empty tables made me sad. The guys from O’so imporbably forgot the O-Toberfest and the Rubber Mills Pils sample was a disaster, as you‘ll read later. On the other hand, Moosejaw from the Dells was a last-minute addition.
My first beer was from this lady:
That’s Jamie Baertsch from Moosejaw and this is her apricot ale:
This stuff was great. Nice fruity aroma and a good apricot flavor that was not too sweet. Just the right amount of hop bitterness. Fantastic summer brew. I asked her if they were going to bottle another beer besides the Rustic Red and she said yes. I believe it's going to be the Honey Ale.
A stall or two down was Potosi and I sampled a couple of their beers that they don’t bottle. The black ale was good. Bitter yet with toasted malt goodness. The Belgian abbey wasn’t as successful. Lots of banana but not much else. My notes read “weird blandness”. We then sampled Sand Creek’s Pomegranate Hard Lemonade. Another good summer drink. The lemon was forward with the pomegranate complementing it from the rear.
Galena Brewing Company’s rye ale was my first rye beer of the day and was good. Their blueberry abbey ale was a tasty mix of fruity flavors without being cloying. To complete the trifecta, I also sampled their nut brown which I really liked. As you can see from the picture below, it looks more like a stout or porter and it tasted that way too with lots of roasted coffee on the tongue. I highly suspect it was a mispour but a very pleasant one. Here’s the “nut brown” with the blueberry abbey.
More fruit came in the form of wine as at least a couple wineries were representin’. We tried Weggy Winery’s Blue and Black Currant and both were fantastic. The former was a semi-sweet with a nice dry finish and the latter had a great spiciness to it. Crispin was there lest the event be without cider. Their Ginger and Black Currant cider was, according to my notes, “fantastic”. Just sweet enough with good ginger flavor and a hint of currant. Not to be outdone, by a bunch of pure zymurgists, Yahara Bay Distillery was also present. The coffee liqueur was excellent. Not thick like Kaluha. All that was needed was a meadery.
One nice thing about the festival is that there is free food. Various dairies and meat processors shared tent space with the breweries so you could walk up and grab some beef sticks or cheese to go with your beer.
I can’t recall what beer that is in the bottom photo but it went really well with that cheese sample. Some kind of creamy white cheese sprinkled with crumbled bleu. I went back for seconds, thirds, &c.
I am not a big pumpkin beer fan as most emphasize spices like clove and nutmeg that go into pumpkin pie instead of the gourd itself. (But, if you think about it, they're just gruits.) But I’m always open. Having had good luck with my first Moosejaw brew, I returned to try the pumpkin ale. Taking a whiff, I was prepared to be disappointed because it was the spices that shone through. Taking a taste, however, was a whole ‘nother story. Although the spices were present, the flavor was more about the pumpkin. Now this stuff I could definitely drink come the fall.
I cleansed my palate with a Capital Oktoberfest (my tasting notes read “What need be said?“) before trying a Lakefront Pumpkin Lager to continue the autumnal motif. Whilst I appreciate going with a lager instead of an ale here and enjoyed the crispness, the emphasis was firmly on the spices. I also sampled Horny Goat’s pumpkin ale and found it the least impressive of the three. A slight clove aroma was replicated on the palate with a bitter finish.
Having had enough of pumpkin beers, I mosey to the Pearl Street booth and ordered a Rubber Mills Pils. I was really looking forward to it so you can imagine my disappointment to discover that it was tepid. Why were they serving a pilsner warm? I think there’s a good beer in there if served at the proper temperature.
Some final tasting notes: Much to their credit, Tallgrass humped it over all the way from Kansas. I tried their Buffalo Sweat, an oatmeal stout. While it was served a bit warm, I really liked it. Most of the homebrews I tried weren’t very good but the Platteville Spigot Spinners had a rye bock that I enjoyed. It tasted watery to me but that could have been my tongue.
Leinenkugel’s Lemon Berry Shandy was disgusting. It tasted like a Jolly Rancher and have no doubt that it will be a big seller. (Hey, if it does well, it can subsidize the Big Eddy series.) Leine’s does deserve credit, though, because it was not syrupy sweet like the normal shandy.
I discovered that The Grumpy Troll’s Grätzer pairs well with bratwurst. Being so close to Iowa I figured there’d be more breweries from across the river but the only one I recall was Brew Haus in Dubuque who had a middling alt. Speaking of Iowa, I chatted with a group of guys in their late-20s from Iowa. I felt like an elder statesman of craft beer. “Yeah, I’ve been drinking New Glarus since it came out and you were in kindergarten.” Very nice fellows. I got the impression that Iowa needs more craft beer so hopefully someone will take up the cause.
Lastly, I’ll cop to trying a Rhinelander Chocolate Bunny Stout. Whoever it is that owns the label has taken it beyond the swilly pale lager with an IPA, a double IPA, a "traditional" ale, and this stout. I’ve seen them in bombers at the store and laughed but I’ll be damned if Chocolate Bunny wasn’t a good little beer.
Despite a couple breweries and an Oktoberfest having gone MIA and a warm pils, the brewfest was a success. The free cheese and sausage was a plus (there was food for sale as well) as was the presence of wineries. A bluegrass band played in the gazebo for revelers relaxing on the lawn. Since the brewery was across the street, it was easy to walk across the street and grab a non-burger/beef stick meal or just simply take a break from the action. We did so and I got some Buffalo wings from the brewery’s outdoor food stand. They were fit for Norwegians to eat. And, very importantly, there were no lines for the porta-potties.
Bob Paolino from Great Lakes Brewing News was on our bus and he had gathered some beer for the trip home. He passed around 2-liter soda bottles full of brew donated to the cause. It was a happy crew on the ride home.
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