Smoky treats

I found some tasty, smoky brews at Steve's on Junction Road over the weekend.

Oh no! There goes Chicago!

That poor Brown line train!

Coming Soon: 11 February

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spam, Eggs, Gotländsdricka, and Spam: Visby by Old Irving Brewing Co.

Last month I spent a few days in Chicago attending some performances of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival. And of course a polar vortex descended upon the city as I was driving south and held the city in its icy tendrils as it blew frigid blasts of wind through Chicago's street grid the whole time I was there. My walks to the theaters were quite brisk, I can tell you. Luckily one was only about 3 blocks away. While I was bundled up with all 13' of my Doctor Who scarf, gaggles of young women walked out of smart restaurants on Halsted dressed for a pleasant autumn evening and then observed with a whine, "It's so cold out!"

I returned to Madison on the day the vortex began to lift but not before stopping to meet a cousin for a fine Polish lunch at Opolska Restaurant in Schaumburg. She informed me that right across the street from the restaurant was a Polish grocery store, Deli 4 You. I was pleasantly surprised to see shelves of Polish goodies and bought more sweets than I perhaps should have. And, since it was close, I also went to the local Binny's outpost.

Not surprisingly, there was a decent selection of Polish beers and I bought a couple. Unfortunately, they were both skunk and I have vowed to only buy Polish beer at Polish stores. Well, except for pale lagers as I think that Okacim and its ilk sell alright. But craft brews, nope.

My eyes became strained and I grew bored scanning the shelves for non-IPAs when I saw a label that read "Smoke * Kviek * Spruce Tips * Juniper".

They had me at smoke.

The style was listed as "Gotländsdricka" which was somehow familiar to me. It took me about halfway to Madison to recall that New Glarus had brewed a beer with a similar name. When I finally got home, I looked it up and found that it was Gotlandic, one of their R&D brews from several years back that I recall enjoying.

This brew was called Visby, named after a port on the island of Gotland which is out in the middle of the Baltic Sea east of Sweden. And it was brewed by Old Irving Brewing back in my old neighborhood. I enjoyed their bock, Lifeblood, and was happy to find another of their brews that held appeal for me. Another mark in the beer's favor was diacritical - that umlaut. The ingredient list plus that umlaut surely meant that this was a Nordic style. And Nordic peoples live near the Arctic Circle (most do, anyway) where they must get polar vortices daily so this stuff had to be suitable for winter, if not entirely appropriate.

I think I can count the number of times I've drunk a beer fermented with kviek yeast on one finger so I figured this would be interesting.

My pour produced a nice, big, frothy head of just off-white foam that sat atop a brew that was a slightly hazy gold. For some reason I thought it would be darker. Firstly, I seemed to recall that New Glarus' take on the style was dark and, besides, if this was what the Vikings drank, shouldn't it be Stygian? I mean, wasn't Viking society all dark, grey, and sooty? Didn't these people see The Northman?

Inside I saw a smattering of bubbles.

As expected a sniff revealed a healthy dose of pine. Unexpected, however, was an even healthier dose of pineapple aroma.

"Well, that's kviek for ya," I reasoned.

Taking a sip, I found that it had a medium-light body - not as heavy as I thought it would be - and had a very nice fizziness. That kvieky pineapple was right up front and was accented by a hint of citrus. And there was that resiny/piney flavor. Missing was any smokiness. Even after I let the beer warm I still failed to discern much smoke. As best I could taste, any fuliginous goodness was mellow to begin with and was overshadowed by the resiny one-two punch of spruce tips and juniper.

The pineapple taste lingered on the finish for a spell before being overcome by all that pine flavor which boosted the dryness and let a little bitterness through.

Despite the absence/paucity of smokiness, I really enjoyed this brew. There is just something about how my tongue tasted the pineapple first and then made the shift over to pine that I found intriguing and delicious. Maybe it's because both flavors have "pine". There didn't seem to be a lot of malty sweetness which I appreciated. The grain flavors and what I suspect is a modicum of hops weren't readily tasted and instead seemed to be keeping the more prominent flavors from becoming overwhelming.

Despite a fairly light body, Visby is 6.5% A.B.V. so it definitely helped keep the cold at bay on a recent night as the mercury was taking a dive to below 0.

Junk food pairing: Pair your Visby with a big bag of Crunchy Cheddar Jalapeño Cheetos. The jalapeño adds another sharp taste to complement all that pine. And who doesn't like cheese?

I meet Alesia Miller. She's into mangos too.: Ginger Mango Peach by Soul Brew Kombucha

Having been suitably impressed by Soul Brew's BLM, I returned to the Willy Street Co-op to grab another of their flavors. While scanning the cooler I noticed that they also carried Rude Brew Kombucha, a brand from here in Madison. I knew there was another kombuchaery in town! They're next. Probably.

As I noted previously, the Co-op - at least the northside branch - has three flavors from Soul Brew. I stood there staring at the cooler trying to decide which one to try next when I had the bright idea of just buying both of the flavors I'd not yet had. This time around I chose Ginger Mango Peach because it was the only one of the three that wasn't red/purple. Alesia Miller must be a fan of the mango as this was the second of her brews to feature it.

I thought that BLM was brewed with real fruit and so was surprised to see that there is none here. Instead fruit flavored teas are used. This doesn't mean that, say, dried fruits weren't used in those teas but that vision of fresh fruit bathing in Miller's kombucha with ginger bath balls is just a fantasy.

This tea was a hazy yellow and it looked like there were bits of pulp inside. But since fruit isn't a part of the recipe, what did I see? Speaking of seeing, I saw the SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) inside the bottle and wondered how kombucha brewers get a perfectly portioned bit of SCOBY in every bottle. And why is the glob of fermenting goodness always round?

Lastly, I'll note that there was a fair number of bubbles inside.

A vinegar tang was prominent on the nose while the fruity aromas seemed to be mainly of mango and peach.

Unsurprisingly I got a healthy dose of fizz on my first sip. Not as much as with the BLM but more than other brands of kombucha I've tasted. Beneath that I could taste the herbal goodness of the black and green teas followed by mango, ginger, and peach. My tongue got a little bite of tannin when I swallowed along with lemon, green tea, and a hint of mint.

As with BLM, this stuff should be consumed after warming up a tad. This allows the lemon and mint to come out on the zesty finish and gives the fruity flavors their chance to become more prominent overall. I really enjoyed this kombucha and adored how the herbal tea flavors melded with the fruity ones. Plus the sweetness was nicely restrained.

While I'm on the topic of sweetness, the bottle says "no added sugar" while cane sugar is the fourth ingredient. I mean, the SCOBY needs something to eat, right? So I am unsure what the "no added sugar" is supposed to convey here. Is this stuff highly attenuated with all the sugar getting gobbled up and no sugar is added after fermentation?

Regardless, another winner here from Soul Brew. A nice tang, generally balanced fruit flavors, and just the perfect amount of fizz. Plus the lemon-mint on the finish was icing on the cake. I loved that little zip at the end.

On the Stereo, February 2025

I've been listening to some tunes by Chicago's Horsegirl. They play what I suppose would be called indie rock with its lo-fi aesthetics that are gussied up a bit with some great melodic vocals. Their latest album, Phonetics On and On, came out a few days ago and I find that I really like "Switch Over". It has a vague Pavement vibe and reminds me a bit of "Box Elder".

They play in Madison at the High Noon Saloon on 4 August.

Also from Chicago are Cabeza De Chivo and their tropical psychedelia. I cannot find any studio recordings but check out this live set from the Cactus Club in Milwaukee from last spring.

To complete the Chicago trifecta, there's The Claudettes who should have a new album out soon. Or soonish, anyway. They'll be at the North Street Cabaret on 1 March.

 

 

From a bit farther afield, Tuva, comes the Alash Ensemble. And yes they do that funky Tuvan throat singing. They'll be at The Bur Oak on 29 March.

 

Valerie June has a new album out or coming out soon called Owls, Omens, and Oracles (Look at that serial comma!) and she'll be here in Madison on 30 May which means my Frau and I won't have to go to Iowa to see her.

 

Just listen to her new tune "Joy! Joy!"!

 

Last weekend some friends and I went to see the Faroese superstar Eivør. We weren't particularly familiar with her work but we're suckers for Nordic music and just anything that sounds interesting. It was a great show! I really loved "Enn" which, if I recall correctly means still or yet. The drumming was very powerful live.

 

Opening for Eivør was Sylvaine, a.k.a. a solo project of Kathrine Shepard. For the opening slot it was Shepard alone. Very ethereal music with guitar, lots of triggered sounds, and her wonderful, powerful vocals. Both she and Eivør have amazing sets of pipes.

 

 

 

Also coming to town soon are North Mississippi Allstars on 9 March and Southern Culture on the Skids on 24 May, both shows at the High Noon Saloon.

 

Don't forget to listen to my friend Eric the Driftless Cowboy host Classic Country Corner on 98.7 WMVO on Saturday mornings at 8.

 

And listen to his pal DJ Shotski host Polka Time on that same spot on the radio dial every Saturday and Sunday at 7 P.M.

Supper's Ready (Co-Starring the Delicious Talents of Léane Baril)

This is so hoopy!

Antoine Baril is a Canadian drummer who played with The Musical Box amongst many other bands and he's recorded a cover of "Supper's Ready" by Genesis with his young daughter, Léane, who does a fine Peter Gabriel. And she wears the costumes! The crown of thorns, the flower mask, the face paint, etc.

I love how she raises her arm and sings "Waiting for battle!" (She then looks at the camera and smiles.) Man, "Ikhnaton and Itsacon and Their Band of Merry Men" is one of the best things Genesis ever did. And she is positively menacing with the Magog outfit on. Great editing. Listen to her voice crack singing "He's getting out..." Very Gabrielesque.

Antoine is no slouch either as he seems to be able to play anything. I am happy he included the cello in "Lover's Leap" as I adore it and sometimes miss it in live versions.

What a great performance!

A boreal Rorschach test

The snow and wind made for a Rorschach test on a friend's skylight a couple days ago.

An oasis of flavor: Seven Select Salt & Vinegar Kettle Chips

Just when I think I've tasted every brand of salt & vinegar chips on store shelves in my world, I stumble upon another one.

My most recent sample comes courtesy of 7-Eleven. I found it at the Belvidere Oasis last month when I was driving home from Chicago. To be honest, I am not sure if we have 7-Eleven's here in Madison anymore or not.

Checking the internet...

Well, we do have one. Just one, apparently, and it's on University Avenue. You'd think that I would have known this since my bus goes right by it. My brain was struggling to recall if there was ever one of their convenient stores on Regent or Park Street and it slipped my mind.

Anyway, as I was grabbing the bag, I questioned whether or not I had eaten these before. Was I having a kind of flashback to discovering salt & vinegar chips at the most prominent convenience store in Madison, Kwik Trip? A quick search of the blog revealed no evidence of ever having sampled 7-Eleven's chips and so here we are.

We have had Piper for nearly 12 years and it's only been in the past couple months that she has taken to hopping onto the dining room table and poking around. Sampling people chow is also a recent phenomenon for her and, in this case, she got a lick in before I scolded her for being naughty and shooed her away.

The chips were a medium dark yellow with the occasional brown spot. Oil was the most prominent aroma but I also caught a little spud and a hint of vinegar.

Being kettle chips, they had a mighty big crunch. I tasted salt first. These had a fair bit more than your normal chip, though they weren't quite at a Dead Sea level of salinity. The vinegar too was at an elevated dosage. Much tangier than most salt & vinegar chips and those at the bottom of the bag were at Vitner's strength. Impressive. Beneath it all was some earthy potato flavor. Even when I chewed a mouthful into a paste and let the glob sit on my tongue, I tasted very little spud sweetness.

These were some very tasty chips. They were plenty salty and had a really nice vinegar tang. Stronger than most even if not of Xenomorph blood strength.

Almost forgot. I scanned the shelves for a non-kettle version of these chips but didn't find one.

Quest for Pączki '25

I was reminded that Fat Tuesday approaches as I was grocery shopping last weekend at Woodman's when I saw pączki for sale.

They were from Clyde's Donuts which is in Addison, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago.

Believe you me, I was sorely tempted to buy a box but didn't. I am unfamiliar with Clyde's and, though they may have been made by a Polish baker, I wasn't impressed by the flavor selection. Bavarian Cream? Really? And why do you need to add artificial flavor to a raspberry paczek? Besides, I am fan of the more traditional flavors: prune and rose hip.

The odds of me finding these flavors here in Madison are slim. Maybe prune.

I have heard various people from Poland lament the pączki in these parts as being "Americanized" and little more than a jelly doughnut instead of a proper paczek. Although some of these people have turned their noses up at some less than traditional fillings, I think these folks are referring to the dough. It's just not authentic. But I am unable to figure out what about the dough they're referring to.

Somebody at the Polish Heritage Club here in Madison must be able to explain this to me. Otherwise I'll just have to take a pre-Lent trip to Poland.

So, if you're not going to Poland for Fat Thursday, where can a Madisonian get something almost, but not quite entirely unlike pączki?

Bloom Bake Shop is offering strawberry and Bavarian cream for pickup on Fat Tuesday.

Festival Foods has carried them in the past, including prune, if I recall correctly, but a search at their website came up empty.

I've read that Greenbush Bakery has made them in the past but their website and Facebook page don't mention them.

Ditto for Rolling Pink Bake Shop.

Ditto for Metcalfe's.

The Ugly Apple Cafe makes them as well but they're not open on weekends. However, you can order a batch to pick up at Pasture and Plenty. Unfortunately, they mostly come in fancy flavors: Dark Chocolate Custard, Bourbon Vanilla Bean Custard, Raspberry Rosehip and Brandied Plum. Well, at least there's rose hip and plum, even if the latter is brandied.

Beyond Woodman's, I haven't actively sought any pączki out this year but perhaps I will stop by a bakery or two this weekend to seek out the elusive prune paczek.

Public transit flashback

My R bus didn't show yesterday morning so I instead endeavored to catch an A or F. Standing on the bus platform as cars zipped past gave me flashbacks to my youth in Chicago when I waited for trains on El platforms as traffic on the expressway roared past me and the biting winds tore through my coat and bit the tender, unwrinkled skin of my face.

At least the traffic on University Avenue is quieter than the Kennedy.

The Tipu House

Jethro Tull have released another tune from their forthcoming album, Curious Ruminant, called "The Tipu House". So far, I am enjoying it. Uptempo with the usual catchy flute lines. And is that a mandolin I hear?

Piper's peepers

Poor Piper had to get her peepers checked out recently. Thankfully they're doing alright, unlike Pipey when she's at the vet's office.

As you can tell, I am still getting to know my new phone's camera. Can't AI make it focus on the cat instead of the carrier door? You'd think it was a no-brainer.

Jeff Bezos' minions do kołaczki

I have fallen into the habit of occasionally grabbing lunch at Whole Foods and have noticed kołaczki in the bulk cookie case just across from the pre-made salads. They've tempted me for a couple months now but I've always figured that there's no way Amazon could make good kołaczki and resolutely walked past them with my nose in the air. But I finally gave in to my curiosity last week and bought some as I had neglected to do so when I was at the Deli 4 You in Schaumburg last month. There were apricot and raspberry on offer.

They weren't bad. But they didn't taste like there was any cream cheese in the dough. It tasted very wheaty instead of having that rich, dairy backbone. Still, I am not above eating them even with the limited flavors available.

This brew's got soul and it's super bad

Having finished sampling NessAlla's regular flavors, i.e. - non-mocktail kombuchas, I wasn't sure where to turn next. While I suspect that there is at least one other brand of the tasty tea fermented here in Madison, I did not see it at Woodman's. However, on a stop at the Willy Street Co-op, I noticed Soul Brew in their cooler and remembered seeing their stand at the South Shore Farmers' Market back in 2022. My Frau bought some back then and I recalled finding it tasty.

I am not sure if it was Soul Brew's founder, Alesia Miller, was at the stand that morning or not. Miller is the first black woman in Wisconsin to found a kombuchaery and likely one of the first in the country. She founded Soul Brew in 2019 about a year after making her first batch at home. In an interview from 2022 in Milwaukee's alt-weekly(?), Shepherd Express, Miller said "My initial target was Black and brown people, to help them understand how kombucha can help with issues like diabetes and gut health." Miller's targeting of minority communities was a common theme in the articles I found.

In a profile by a local Milwaukee TV station:

She admits kombucha is sometimes a hard sell in the black community.

"With Soul Brew, I am like how can I mix the worlds, make it delicious, make it approachable and try and educate individuals that would never do it... I think I represent the community in a way that they are able to see somebody that looks like them," Miller says.

Hopefully she had made inroads with black and brown communities but I haven't found any articles where this is addressed. Best of luck to her.

The first Soul Brew flavor I sampled, to review, that is, was BLM - Blackberry Lemon Mango.

I think this is also my first review to feature a photo taken with my new phone. Just look at all those extra megapixels!

The tea was light red and a tad hazy. There were plenty of bubbles inside. A sniff caught a strong tanginess with a nebulous fruitiness just behind. I think my nose also sniffed a bit of tea too.

My first sip revealed some hefty fizz followed by a lovely dose of tanginess. The fruit flavor was rather mild initially but grew as the brew warmed. I tasted mostly blackberry and lemon. This stuff had a real zip to it and my tongue was left with tangy bite marks on it. The lemon really came through on the finish.

This was excellent kombucha! If I had a gripe, it would be that it was just a bit overly fizzy. Still, I appreciated that the sweetness was kept in check even as it warmed to cellar temperature. It occurs to me that Miller takes a different approach from NessAlla. Most of the NessAlla brews I sampled had a sweet taste to them even if they didn't have a lot of added sugars. I think this is because they temper the tang and forego a lot of fizz.

Soul Brew, on the other hand, lets the acetic acid flow and offers bubbles aplenty. This kombucha leaned more towards the tangy and so had a better balance of tea and fruit.

Great tea but I've only seen it at the Co-op and they have only three flavors. Maybe these are all that Soul Brew offers in the bowels of winter.

My gut stirs just thinking about this stuff

I saw this stuff recently:

It inspired repulsion because Hormel chili is rather disgusting yet also a morbid curiosity of just how spicy a big company would dare make their product. Did they really make a niche product? Or is all that hyperbolic imagery on the label disguising that fact that it's not deadly hot and, in fact, aimed at your average consumer of Hormel chili who is perhaps looking for a little variety?

Rhiannon Giddens gets together with Justin Robinson once more

Rhiannon Giddens has reunited with former Carolina Chocolate Drops bandmate Justin Robinson for a new album called What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow that comes out in April. Giddens' website describes it as "an album of North Carolina fiddle and banjo music" and one of the album's songs, "Hook and Line" is out now.

Sounds mighty fine to my ears.

Jethro Tull does Tommy Dorsey?!

Today I learned that Jethro Tull's 1969 otune "Singing All Day" (a Benefit outtake?) uses the melody from "Swingin' On Nothin'", a song by jazz maestro Sy Oliver. Oliver appears on a version by Tommy Dorsey. Now, whether Ian Anderson was familiar with this version or another, I dunno.

 

Is Wisconsin particularly haunted?

I have been catching up on the last few issues of County Highway, "America’s Only Newspaper". As I noted previously, it's a very interesting paper but it generally avoids the Upper Midwest. That changed 3 issues ago with an article about Wisconsin supper clubs by Meaghan Garvey.

Read the opening line:

"It's been said that Wisconsin has more ghosts per square mile than any state in America..."

Who has said this? I have lived in Wisconsin for over 37 years and don't recall ever hearing this claim. Anyone ever heard this?

Regardless, it's a fine way to open a piece.

I appreciate the reference to the Rouse Simmons a couple sentences later, though. The article was illustrated with a few ads including a couple for Lehman's Supper Club and, upon seeing them, I immediately said to myself, "I know that one! I've been there!"

New bus service to the burbs

Madison Metro Transit (or should that be Madison's Metro Transit?) recently announced new bus service to Monona and Verona.

The service to Monona sees routes G and L losing their no stop zones along Monona Drive and Broadway while an hourly route 38 will go through the town's Civic Campus before heading to its eastern terminus, the Dutch Mill Park & Ride. Along the way it will pass by the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Edna Taylor Conversation Park. Hopefully some folks can take advantage of the new service and go do some hiking and those lovely parks. Unfortunately, the 38 only run during the week so, if I want to take a hike at either of them, I'll still be biking or driving.

On the other hand, I can now take a bus to Viet Hoa to get my tom yum soup paste or grab an ice cream in Paradise or a loaf of Pan de Muerto at Monona Bakery and Eatery.

The new service to Verona is also, sadly, weekday only. The D2 route will continue on to Verona instead of terminating on McKee Road at Maple Grove. The article I have read, which seems to be an edited version of the Wisconsin State Journal one, which is paywalled, says: "Route D2, which currently provides peak hour service in the early morning and late afternoon, will expand to regular daytime service."

But this is not true - just look at the D2 schedule. It runs every 30 minutes all day, not just at peak hours. It would be nice to be able to take the bus to downtown Verona on the weekends but this extension of the D2 is for Epic employees, in the main.

A couple other Madison public transit items.

First, Steven Vance of Streetsblog Chicago took a ride on our BRT and wrote about it: "Taking a ride on Madison’s new (and quick) bus rapid transit line". Overall, he gained a positive view of our BRT system.

Finally, the city has released ridership data showing that it has increased over numbers from late 2023.

Madison screening for Separated

WUD Film down on campus will be screening UW-Madison alumnus Errol Morris' latest movie, Separated, later this month on the 27th as part of a series called "Social Cinema". It documents the first Trump administration's horrible policy of separating migrant families.

New IQ soon!

IQ has announced the release date for their latest album, Dominion. 

I went poking around Youtube for the teaser video and discovered that someone had posted an early mix of the song "No Dominion" a month ago.

It definitely sounds very IQ-y and also like it's missing some guitar overdubs. Between this and the teaser, I am wondering if Mike Holmes had eased back on the really heavy guitar sound. We shall find out on 28 March when the album is released.