The Wisconsin Brewing Company will not be up and running until fall, but you can get a taste of Kirby Nelson’s first brew at his new location. The Great Dane Brew Pubs will all have the new brew on tap for a limited time starting on April 3rd.
Here are some more details from the brewery:
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Friends of WBC, |
I wish I live a hundred miles closer, so I could have a taste.
Cheers!
Jesse
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Friends of WBC, |
I think of this Intel commercial sometimes when we’re meeting with brewmasters. We’re incredibly nerdy in our own way I guess. Beer geeks on parade.
Update: Due to the huge building project going on at the Stevens Point Brewery, there won’t be any public tours for about another month, but here is my take on the tour experience from 2011:
If there is one constant in the eleven years of The Great Brew Tour, it is that we always visit the Stevens Point Brewery. Even back in 2001 when Mark and I were just a couple of guys out drinking beer and driving around aimlessly, we still found ourselves at Point.
Brewmaster John Zappa with The Great Brew Tour 2004
The Point Brewery is the only location that we have visited every year of our tours. The main reason for this is that Point has the best public brewery tour in the state of Wisconsin. In a lot of ways, the Point tour is your run-of-the-mill brewery tour: You have a college kid showing you around reciting lines
from a prepared script, you learn a bit about the history of the brewery, you get to see the warehouse filled with what seems like millions of beers, and you get some free samples to taste at the end. What’s different about the Point Brewery tour is the access that you get. Do you want to stick your head in the brew kettle? Go for it! Do you want to go in the room where the kegs are filled? Here it is! Do you want to touch the tanks holding the fermenting beer? Be my guest! I don’t know how many times complete strangers have asked me how Point can give such a comprehensive tour. You hear lots of comments about lawsuits and liability and insurance. I don’t know how they do it, but I’m sure glad that they do. Hot rooms, cold rooms, wet floors, staircases, the bottling and canning lines; Point Brewery patrons get to see it all.
Our tour in 2007 with our guide, Matt
When I look at the right way to do a brewery tour, Stevens Point Brewery would be a great example; lots of access, good sized tour groups, and great beer to sample at the end of the tour. When I think of a poor way to give a tour, I’m reminded of our last trip to Miller Brewing in Milwaukee. On that tour, we basically got to look at all the beer in the warehouse through plexiglas and were forced to drink Miller High Life before we could sample something that would be a bit more palatable. Given, the size of that facility was impressive, but you’re not allowed to see the working parts of the brewery on the public tour.
If you haven’t experienced the tour at the Stevens Point Brewery, I whole-heartedly recommend you do. I would also recommend that you call a few days ahead and make a reservation. The word is out, and the word is good!
You can reach the Point Brewery for a reservation at this number: 1-800-369-4911 and make sure to tell them that The Great Brew Tour sent you. (sorry.. my inner radio announcer just slipped out there for a moment.)
Cheers!
Jesse
The Star Tribune Steals has a great starter kit from my favorite homebrew shop today. They’ll even ship it to you if you don’t live in the Twin Cities.
Here’s some of the info from the deal:
This equipment kit has everything you need to start brewing beer at home except for bottles and a brewing kettle. Our starter kit includes all of the essential equipment needed to start homebrewing and is an economical way to get started. If you are worried that brewing beer at home is complicated and difficult, don’t be. When you get your equipment and ingredients, just load up the DVD and press play. Just follow along as we boil it, bucket it, and bottle it. After 2 hours you’ll be surprised how easy brewing is. Plus, each kit yields over 50 bottles of beer.
Or if you’re a wine enthusiast, Midwest Supplies has a kit for you as well. It includes everything you need to create your own varietal of wine to enjoy with good company, or by yourself on a quiet evening.
•$25 Discount Coupon for next purchase
•6.5 Gallon Fermenter and Lid
•6.5 Gallon Bottling Bucket with Spigot
•4 Oz. of Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser
•Airlock (Keeps air out of the fermenter)
•Hydrometer (Determines alcohol content)
•Bottle Brush
•Twin Lever Black Bottle Capper (color may vary)
•Bottle Caps
•Bottle Filler
•Racking Tube with Bucket Clip
•Siphon Tubing
Here is the link to get the deal.
Cheers!
Jesse
In what has become an annual rite of spring for The Great Brew Tour, the boys loaded up the Brewtourmobile last weekend and headed to one of our favorite places on earth. Stevens Point, Wisconsin has become like a home away from home for us. The friendly faces we encounter there each time we visit make each trip more enjoyable than the last.
The official purpose of our visit is to run the 5-mile route of the Point Bock Run. Some of us run and some of us volunteer in the tent pouring beer for thirsty runners and spectators.
This year, as usual, the 2,000 runner cap was reached after only one day of registrations. 2,000 runners and who knows how many thousand spectators came out on a chilly March morning to celebrate running and celebrate great craft beer.
Here’s a picture taken by our friend and Point Gift Shop and Hospitality Manager, Kristine. It’s hard to get a sense for just how many people show up for this event. What you see in the photo is basically just the runners preparing for the race.
We had a great time, as we always do. We also feel blessed to have so many people to meet and visit with when we come to Stevens Point. The crew at Point Brewery and the friends we have met at other place around town are always so friendly and welcoming. We can’t wait to get back there soon.
Minnesota Craft Beer lovers, it time to get your tickets to the St. Paul Summer Beer Fest.
Tickets are $50 for VIP, $40 for General Admission, and $10 for Designated Driver. This event will sell out, so get your tickets now.
Please join us on Monday, October 22nd at Republic – Seven Corners for a night of celebrating great Wisconsin craft beer. We will begin the evening at 7PM with tastings and a Q&A with brewers from Capital Brewery and Lucette Brewing Company. We’ll follow up the tasting with a free screening of “Comeback: The Wisconsin Beer Movie”; a documentary chronicling the rise, fall and rise of craft brewing in Wisconsin. We are also hoping to be joined by Tim Tynan, the creator of “Comeback”.
A big thanks to Republic – Seven Corners, Capital Brewery, Lucette Brewing Company, and Tim Tynan for making this free event possible.
Any questions? Email Jesse
Cheers!
Our first day of Brew Tour 2012 was one for the record books. We had our earliest start to the day ever (7AM), The most miles traveled in one day (300), visited with 3 top-notch brewmasters, (Randy Hughes, Tom Porter, and Kirby Nelson), and had one of the most fun days of touring ever in our 12-year history of doing this. (I wanted to quantify the level of fun, but it was above all the charts I could find.)
That day was too fun and exciting for one blog post, so here, I’m just going to write about our visit at Capital Brewery in Middleton, Wisconsin. We arrived at the brewery around 4PM, after visiting Randy in Lacrosse, and Tom in Arena. We had scheduled time to meet with Brewmaster Kirby, Alex Tuuri (Capital’s Minnesota and Iowa beer rep), and Brewer John Abernathy, who is pound-for-pound one of the most skilled and hardworking brewers I’ve ever met.
Kirby Nelson working in the lab
We had a wonderful visit with these guys, and gained lots of insight into what’s going on at Capital and how they make the fantastic beers that they sell.
Alex getting us a taste of Autumnal Fire
In my opinion, Capital makes the best lager beer on planet earth. Lagers take more time, money, effort, and skill than ales to get them just right. Nobody gets them more right than Capital Brewery! Kirby and John are dialed in at Capital making some really fantastic stuff like Autumnal Fire, Blonde Doppelbock, Wisconsin Amber, and Oktoberfest.
In addition to the world-class beers at Capital are two other reasons why all Wisconsin beer lovers need to make the pilgrimage to Middleton; the people and the atmosphere.
The hospitality we receive here is always something special. No matter how busy that they may be on a given day, we are always treated as special guests by everybody at Capital. There are a handful of places we visit in Wisconsin where we feel like we are visiting old friends; Capital is definitely one of those places.
The atmosphere at Capital, especially the beer garden, is almost magical. I’ve written about the beer garden before, but the way that the brewery brings the community together in Middleton on summer evenings is truly something to behold. It’s incredible and inspiring. It makes a homebrewer like me dream of someday having an outdoor taproom here in Minnesota that could capture even a fraction of what the Capital Beer Garden is able to do every afternoon and evening; all summer long.
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. All beer lovers, especially lovers of great lagers, need to make the trip to Middleton to see first-hand what I’m talking about. Belly up to the bar, order a pizza and pitcher of Hop Cream, and enjoy the best that life has to offer!
Cheers!
Jesse
Our second stop on this year’s brew tour took us to Arena, Wisconsin. We traveled across the state, visiting various Tavern League approved watering holes between LaCrosse and Madison. We finally arrived in the small village of Arena, searching for the laboratory of the mad scientist, Tommy Porter.
We’ve never met Tom Porter before this year’s tour. Much like tours of the past, a well-respected brewmaster; namely, Kirby Nelson, told us that a Great Brew Tour is not great if it doesn’t include this guy. Kirby could not have been more correct. We rely on these legends of craft brewing to let us know which guys we need to meet, and help 
us to get in to meet these really busy guys.
Our visit to Lake Louie was great. Tommy couldn’t have been a more gracious host to us. He introduced us to his staff, showed us his brewing setup, and gave us some of the best craft beer in Wisconsin! We sampled Tommy’s porter, IPA, and scotch ale. All of them were excellent. We also picked up a 6-pack of Mosquito Beach before we left Wisconsin which was awesome. Tommy’s biggest problem in the years to come is going to make his beer fast enough. He is dialed in and making excellent stuff.
Thanks, Tom, for making time in your busy schedule to meet with us. You have 5 new fans who will make the drive to Wisconsin to get your great craft beer!
Cheers!
Jesse
Here we are, 1 day before the 12th annual Great Brew Tour. I was thinking this morning about another Great Brew Tour Eve that led to one of our best days ever.
It was back in 2004, the day before we leave for LaCrosse, Wisconsin and kick off the 4th annual tour. I had dropped off my kids out at the farm to stay with their grandparents for the week. I was driving back, about 30 minutes from home, when my cell phone rang. It was Randy Hughes, the brewmaster at City Brewery in LaCrosse. He asked me if we still planned at touring at 11am on Wednesday morning. I said yes, and he asked if we’d be interested in a behind-the-scenes tour led by him. I was floored. I couldn’t say yes fast enough. He said to be there by 10 and make sure that the crew all had hats and closed-toe shoes.
I was so pumped. What a great way to start the tour; with the brewmaster himself showing us around one of the largest breweries in the country. I had no idea what Randy had in store for us.
We had been on the tour at City before and knew the drill. We’d seen the beer traffic control room, and the brew kettles, and the bottling and canning lines, and the 
warehouse, and the World’s largest 6-pack. Randy brought us places in that brewery that we never knew existed.
We also got a crash course in energy drink and clear malt production. We saw rail cars filled with corn syrup, 55 gallon drums of anhydrous caffeine, and cases of Mike’s Hard Lemonade coming down the line. There are lots of different products in addition to beer keeping the facility going.
We traveled to the roof of the brewhouse where we got an incredible view of the surrounding area and the layout of the brewery buildings. I couldn’t help but think that very few people have ever been on that roof to take in the sights. You can see Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota from that rooftop.
We also traveled to the depths of the brewery. Down to the Government Cellar, and down to the brite tanks. Randy even brought out a pigtail so we could be some of the first people to try the 2004 vintage of City Fest Bier. As the first beer we tasted on 
that brew tour, it was the best beers I’ve ever had.
One of the highlights for me was seeing the giant fermenters and lagering tanks. The hype over there is to see the World’s largest 6-Pack, but the tanks inside the buildings are more than twice as big. Impressive to say the least. Randy showed us one tank that had been drained years ago without the venting being properly set. The force of the vacuum in the tank collapsed it onto itself. The tank still sit there because it’s too big to remove and replace. Talk about having a bad day at work!
Randy brought us everywhere in the City brewery that day. All in all, we spent over 2 hours on our tour before we headed back to the gift shop and the hospitality room for a little more visiting and some autographs.
Even though this tour happened almost 10 years ago, it’s still fresh in my memory. It stands as one of my top 3 moments in Great Brew Tour history, and we have our good friend, Randy to thank for it all. Randy, thanks for giving us your time and a fantastic tour that day, and thanks for the time and the friendship all these years we’ve been visiting you, your brewery, and your state.
Cheers!
Jesse
