Thirsty hordes descended upon Madison last weekend to spread the carpet of merrymaking and tread the path of excess. The occasion was the 34th Great Taste of the Midwest where brewers from throughout the greatest region of this country assemble to slake thirsts and showcase their mad fermenting skillz. My Frau lucked out and won the ticket lottery and so we went for the first time in a few years.
Covid forced the cancellation of the festival in 2020 and I believe last year's edition was smaller and abbreviated. So this year marked a return to normality for the festival.
I felt a moment of sadness on the way there as the shuttle bus passed by the new apartments going up at Lakeside and Sayle. The VFW post that they displaced was the site of many fun after-Great Taste festivities back in the late 1990s. One time the bartender - for reasons lost in the mists of time - decided it would be fine if we assumed phone answering duties on her behalf. Things turned out OK, I guess. No one died, anyway.
When we arrived at Olin Park I was surprised to see that there was a cluster of tents in the grassy promenade area where everyone impatiently waits for the gates to open. This arrangement seemed new to me but my memory may be faulty. There were grey clouds to the west and, although I could count the number of raindrops I noticed all day on one hand, the sun only made the occasional appearance while we were there.
For my past several Great Tastes, I set out to sample all of the Rauchbiers/smoke beers and, upon completing that task, it became a free for all where I tasted whatever caught my eye. Sometimes it was an obscure style that had been dusted off while at others a common one flavored with an uncommon spice fit the bill. I am not immune to the lure of the cleavage of a buxom woman clad in a dirndl either.
My strategy was much the same this year and I had marked up my map with the plans: I would start with a beer near the entrance before performing a series of lateral obliques whereby we'd make our way to the various tents and pick off the Rauchbiers one by one. Then, in a pincer movement, we'd take care of the meads.
I kicked off the festivities with a Gose from Obscurity Brewing and Mead. Not only were they near the entrance but, unlike most Goses being poured there, theirs was unfruited. Why do brewers not want me to taste coriander? What do they have against its linalool goodness?
So how was my first taste of the fest? It was great! A pleasant tartness and a little salinity was a fine way to start the drinking day. I resolved to return as they had not one but two braggots on offer and I never pass up the chance to try the toothsome hybrid of mead and ale.
The program noted that Virtue Cider would be pouring multiple meads that day but there were none to be had when we stopped by. However, my disappointment was replaced by temptation when I noticed a lavender/bee pollen cider on the menu. Flowers and floral tastes are woefully underappreciated in the world of food and drink, in my opinion. Like Eve at the Tree of Knowledge, both my Frau and I surrendered to the allure of an apple...cider laced with lavender. The cider was purple and had a fantastic aroma full of floral goodness. As far as the taste went, the lavender wasn't as prominent as I'd hoped. And ooh it was tart! Good stuff but I wish it tasted a bit more floral.
My first smoke beer of the day was to have been a "Grodziskie style Lager" from Falls City Beer but I guess their plans fell through (ahem) as their spot was occupied by a forlorn table instead of smiling faces eager to pull a draught. I dropped to my knees in despair and screamed unto the heavens, "Gambrinus, why hast thou forsaken me?!" A hand came into view and it helped me to my feet once more as a voice said, "I think you're ready now, Skip" and led me to the table next door where the Blue Heron Brewpub had an English mild. What a treat! It was low alcohol with a little caramel and a leathery flavor plus some herbal hops. Simply delicious.
We wandered over to visit Indy's Broad Ripple Brewpub hoping that A) they had showed up and B) had their Grodziskie in tow. Thankfully they had and they did. Although it rather looked like a hazy IPA, there was no tropical fruit to be found and instead it had a lovely smoky aroma. Curiously enough, there was also an odd creamy scent in there. Otherwise it was very good with a stronger hop taste than I have encountered in the piwo previously. Broad Ripple needs a spot on Georgia Street during GenCon so I can grab a pint of this salubrious stuff after having lost my sanity during a round of Call of Cthulhu.
Next we tried Sketchbook Brewing's take on the style. It was smokier and fizzier than Broad Ripple's brew but less hoppy. Ron Pattinson once offered me his sagacious advice that Grodziskie should be smoky, hoppy, and fizzy. Therefore, if I combined these 2 beers I'd have the ideal brew.
The final Grodziskie that I sampled was from Final Gravity Brewing out of Decatur, Michigan. It tasted like a different style of beer altogether as I couldn't discern any smoke but a lot of fruit. My tongue? Mispour? Something was amiss.
At some point my Frau and I parted ways briefly. She made a, uh, beeline for B. Nektar Meadery. Now, I've been drinking mead lately but I couldn't bring myself to follow in her footsteps after I found that she had procured some of their Strawberry Cream Delight. While she rather liked it, I didn't go for a taste after smelling it and finding the aroma to be like every strawberries & cream junk food I've ever encountered. Don't get me wrong, B. Nektar makes some fine meads. Indeed, we have a bottle in our refrigerator as I type. Maybe I simply wanted something less potent or just wasn't in the mood for gimmickry.
I stopped in at Half Acre who were pouring the only other unfruited Gose I saw in the program. While it had a nice sourness to it, the beer was imbued with wholly unexpected musky overtones. Weird.
Against the Grain's Rauchbier was very tasty as was the Smoked Kölsch from Chicago's Burnt City Brewing. My Frau commented pithily, "It's smoky and Kölschy." ÆppelTreow's sparkling perry was wonderful. It reminded me of just how tasty pears are and made for an ebullient palate cleanser between Rauchbiers. Back on the mead front, Square One out of St. Louis had a grapefruit melomel which was really tasty with a bit of citrus tartness and a fine honey flavor.
On the way out we paid Obscurity another visit as I was keen on sampling their braggots. First up was Tow City, a braggot hefeweizen. The honey flavor accented a hefeweizen that led with that style's banana taste. I prefer banana over clove and bubblegum when it comes to weissbier so this was a nice surprise.
Good Kiss is their braggot IPA. I guess it was a West Coast braggot IPA because I tasted that piney hop flavor along with a tropical fruit mélange where pineapple stood out for me. The mead had taken the place of the malt here providing a light, fairly dry pillow for the hoppy flavors to lounge upon. That contrast of the honeyed dryness (as opposed to a sweet malt backbone) with the fruity hop flavors was simply delectable.
For me, the braggot IPA takes the prize for best overall taste of the Great Taste. It's a novel brew, to me, anyway, and I loved what the meady elements did to the venerable piney-fruity hop combo.
As beers go, Blue Heron's English Mild and Broad Ripples Grodziskie were the highlights for me and my palate. I liked the leathery/herbal taste of the former while the latter's smoke and firm Noble hoppiness made it stand out.
I also tasted some mediocre to poor lagers. If someone with better math skills than me were to extrapolate out from the showing last weekend, I'd bet they'd find that there are thousands of craft breweries in this country making sub-optimal lagers. I tried a dark lager at the fest that tasted like chocolate wort while an imperial Rauchbier was watery. Uff da! These experiences make me appreciate breweries such as Sprecher, New Glarus, and Working Draft who brew lagers well.
One thing that stood out for me was how wonderful low alcohol brews can be. That mild, the Grodziskies, and the Goses were all 3.5%-4%ish A.B.V. and provided nice counterpoints to maltier, fuller-bodied brews and some 10%+ meads. Plus, they were especially welcome in the warm weather.
Some lack of lagering skills aside, my Frau and I tried some fine adult beverages at the Taste and look forward to next year's.
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