A draught after work

Yesterday I met a friend over at Working Draft Beer. As we approached the front door it opened and my downstairs neighbor, who works there, emerged. He was looking towards the street as he held the door open but I waved and we received a hearty greeting.

We cozied up to the bar, ordered beers, and got down to chatting. I hadn't seen her in a while so it was nice to catch up. She is the keeper of the recipes from the late lamented Mildred's Sandwich Shop and is planning on getting them all printed up in a book. I used to eat there semi-regularly back in the late 1990s when I lived in Tenney Lapham and my favorite sandwich was the Leadbedder.

Now I need to find an ex-employee of Pavlov's Pizza to do a tell-all recipe book. I grant you memory fades over time and older folks like me love to romanticize our youth but I still think their pizza was the best in Madison and has never been bested. My opinion on this matter was bolstered a couple weeks ago when I ordered a pizza pie from Ian's at Garver and it was not good. I think their sauce had a negative amount of seasoning and it absorbed flavors from the other ingredients and sucked them down into a black hole never to be tasted again.

My friend is also an encyclopedia of Madison's rock music scene of the days of yore. And so I asked her the name of Cathy Dethmers' new band of which I'd heard good things and she instantly knew it - Hottt Probs.

I started with Working Draft's collaboration with Dovetail, a Swedish-style lager.

Although I have no idea just how the Swedes prefer their lagers to taste, this was a fine pale lager. A dash of honeyed malt sweetness and just the perfect amount of hops for balance.

Next up was a Blue Plume.

I don't know if it was my tongue or this year's batch, but it tasted less smokey than in years past. D'oh! But it had that wonderful blueberry-nutty wild rice flava.

Finally I had Pint Puller, an English-style bitter.

It was excellent! Clint and Co. do some fine English-style beers and they get really close to the brews I have had in England. The maltiness nearly replicates the gentle, doughiness of what I've quaffed across the Pond and I think they do a fine job with the herbal, tea-like hoppiness. I wonder if they soften the water. Madison has extraordinarily hard water while the water in England that I've had was incredibly soft.

Last night was a true joy with some fine brews and great company.