Welcome to stop #127 on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: Explorium Brewpub Third Ward, 143 W. St. Paul Ave., Milwaukee
2 (of 5) stars
Train line: Amtrak, Milwaukee Intermodal Station
Time from Chicago: 89 minutes
Distance from station: 150 m
The best thing about Explorium is its proximity to the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, as it took me less than 5 minutes to get to my train home despite taking a couple of photos along the way. Otherwise it's a loud, TV-covered entertainment zone that could be anywhere in the US. It has decent wings though.
We tried another flight, including the Lost in the Sauce VX New England IPA (6.6%, 13 IBU), a fruity, malty, not horrible but too sweet beer that my Brews Buddy acknowledged was "very drinkable." The Wayfinder hazy pale ale (5.2%, 24 IBU) was even sweeter, with distinct banana notes, but also drinkable. Captain Kidd's Lost IPA (7.5%, 60 IBU) was...eh? My notes just say "bog-standard IPA." And the On Time IPA (no information) was...also drinkable.
I might go back, depending on what the outside spaces look like. It has an unbeatable location if you have to catch a train. Then again, Wizard Works is only 5 minutes farther away.
Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Outside
Televisions? Unavoidable
Serves food? Full pub menu
Would hang out with a book? No
Would hang out with friends? Maybe
Would go back? Maybe, but only outside
Welcome to stop #126 on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: Wizard Works Brewing, 231 E. Buffalo St., Milwaukee
4½ (of 5) stars
Train line: Amtrak, Milwaukee Intermodal Station
Time from Chicago: 89 minutes
Distance from station: 900 m
Once you find the door to the 19th-century office building housing this quirky magic-themed brewery, head down the stairs and grab a seat. My Brews Buddy and I enjoyed the place thoroughly, though we would prefer it had fewer TV screens.
We shared a flight and went back for seconds. From left to right, we had: Abracadabra English IPA (5.8%, 50 IBU), very malty with a long finish and good bitter notes; Box Jumper blonde ale (5.5%, 24 IBU), also malty and a little sweet for my palate, with honey, apricot, and banana notes; First Rabbit porter (6.2%, 33 IBU), really nice coffee, toffee, and a long finish; and Smoke & Mirrors hazy New England IPA (5.9%, 41 IBU), my favorite, with big juicy Citra flavors and a nice hazy mouthfeel.
We would definitely come back and hang out with friends or dogs, but not necessarily with a book because of all the TVs. Still, it was our favorite stop of the day.
Beer garden? No
Dogs OK? Yes
Televisions? Unavoidable
Serves food? Snacks
Would hang out with a book? Maybe
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
Welcome to stop #125 on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: The Copper Turtle, 330 E. Menomonee St., Milwaukee
4 (of 5) stars
Train line: Amtrak, Milwaukee Intermodal Station
Time from Chicago: 89 minutes
Distance from station: 1.3 km
The Copper Turtle started as a microbrewery, and wants to continue making their three micro beers. That said, they want to be known more as a cocktail bar than as a brewery. Still, they brew on site, and their beers are pretty good.
My Brews Buddy had the Lottie Dottie sour (4.0%), a quirky lactose-fermented ale with guava and lychee. I did not try this beer, which will not surprise anyone who knows me. I had the No Fox Given dark lager (4.7%), which had a lighter mouthfeel than I expected (because it's a lager that looks like a porter), with nice chocolate and malt notes. They were out of the Current Rider hazy IPA (7.2%), so we left having had 125 mL of low-alcohol beer each.
This is the kind of place to pull up with a dog and a book outside. As our second stop on our Milwaukee tour, it worked just fine, knowing we had two other stops to go.
Beer garden? Sidewalk
Dogs OK? Outside
Televisions? None
Serves food? Pizza and pretzels
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
Welcome to stop #124 on the Brews and Choos project.
Distillery: Central Standard Crafthouse, 230 E. Clybourn St., Milwaukee
4½ (of 5) stars
Train line: Amtrak, Milwaukee Intermodal Station
Time from Chicago: 89 minutes
Distance from station: 1 km
Welcome to Milwaukee, Chicago's stepchild to the north. A relatively inexpensive trip from Chicago Union Station to Milwaukee Intermodal takes a bit under an hour and a half and drops you a short walk from 11 breweries and distilleries.
My Brews Buddy signed up for the Milwaukee Marathon last Saturday, so last Friday I took half a day of PTO to enjoy the beautiful spring weather trying some beers in Wisconsin. But first: lunch, and gin.
As it happens, Central Standard doesn't ferment on site; they distill at an ugly warehouse on the outskirts of the city. So their downtown tasting room technically doesn't qualify for the Brews & Choos Project. No matter; the food was really good, and so were the Guided Trail Gin and the Founder's Reserve Bourbon.
If the temperature had been a bit warmer, we might have eaten on the roof. The restaurant space worked just fine, though. It was a good first stop in the Brew City.
Beer garden? Rooftop
Dogs OK? No
Televisions? Avoidable
Serves food? Full restaurant
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
Cassie and I are taking a moment after a visit to Horner Park, where she met a bunch of new friends:
Note that the woman in the photo is not the beagle's human, which the beagle finds irrelevant if she can get her snoot deeper into that bag.
We have stopped for a moment to enjoy a beer (Hazy Sunday IPA) and crack-soaked popcorn at Burning Bush near the park. I feel no urgency about anything at the moment. It's a good day.
I'm absolutely bushed, so no Brews & Choos reviews from Milwaukee yet. If I get enough sleep tonight, and if I'm supremely effective in the morning, I'll start posting them tomorrow. There are four, after all, and only one of them is "eh."
With the bare minimum of planning and no time between all my meetings and the train leaving, I am happy to report that my Brews Buddy and I are on the Borealis heading north. For more on our destination, I recommend this lecture from Prof Cooper.
Tomorrow I have an all-day Euchre tournament, so reviews from Milwaukee will start Sunday.
I may have dodged a virus this week, though I'm not 100% sure yet. I have a lot more confidence in my health than the world has in the OAFPOTUS, however. And the news today doesn't change that at all:
- Radley Balko, tongue firmly in cheek, satirizes the Republican Party in a way I will not spoil for you. (His takedown of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, made me guffaw.)
- Yascha Mounk warns that the OAFPOTUS's irrational and malignantly stupid attack on the very things that made America great in service of his demented ego make it likely he'll do other malignantly stupid things in future.
- Anne Applebaum warns that "this is what arbitrary, absolute power looks like."
- Jennifer Rubin counters with a view of "when autocrats screw up."
- The Dispatch editorial board warns that the MAGA crowd's "foreign policy was ancient when Charlemagne was on the throne, and their economic philosophy was hatched in the 15th century."
- Conservative University of Chicago Law professor Aziz Huq offers up the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection clause as a possible avenue for defeating the OAFPOTUS's personal vendettas.
Tomorrow I'm taking advantage of a ridiculously full PTO bank and cheap train tickets to finally extend the Brews & Choos Project into Wisconsin, so you'll want to watch this space over the weekend for those posts.
Welcome to a special stop on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: Tennessee Brew Works, 809 Ewing Ave., Nashville, Tenn.
4 stars
Train line: Wego Train, Riverfront Nashville
Time from Chicago: 2 hours
Distance from station: 1.7 km
Neither Tennessee Brew Works nor New Heights Brewing is a particularly pleasant walk from the WeGo station, but I would visit both of them again. TBW decided to give us two drink tokens each instead of worrying about pouring and distributing 40 flights. I chose two of their IPAs, the Hippies & Cowboys (6%, 35 IBU) and the River Drifter (6.2%, 45 IBU). (I didn't notice at the time that they also had a hazy on the menu, but when a bunch of professional drinkers from England are behind you in line, you don't waste time.)
I liked them both. More I cannot say, as my boss and I were discussing what we need to do in April for the two teams I run and I thought it would have been a bit suspect if I took detailed notes on my beer at the same time.
I liked the beers, though, and would have gone back for more if I'd had time. Between our leisurely time at New Heights, our lunch at Puckett's BBQ, and Nashville traffic, we got about 35 minutes to quaff our two pints before heading back to the hotel to clean up before our off-site dinner. (Wednesdays are always a hoot at this conference; Thursdays I always feel bad for the people who have to present at 8:30 am.)
Like I said yesterday, if I ever spend time in Nashville again, I'll come back to both of these places, plus three others I found. Meanwhile, I still have about 25 more breweries to visit in Chicago...
Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Outside
Televisions? Avoidable
Serves food? Full menu
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
Welcome to a special stop on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: New Heights Brewing, 928 Rep. John Lewis Way S., Nashville, Tenn.
4 stars
Train line: Wego Train, Riverfront Nashville
Time from Chicago: 2 hours
Distance from station: 2 km
I had the option to go to two breweries and get some good ol' Southern BBQ as the team-building activity during my work conference this past week. We started with New Heights Brewing, which I had already identified as a possible Brews & Choos destination before I knew which breweries the field trip would visit.
Because the tour included 40 or so technology professionals (plus our head of HR), and because many of those people were English and thus born with two livers, the brewery created a standard flight for all of us. We started with the Nothing Fancy blonde ale (5.6%, 20 IBU), then the Coffee & Cream "coffee and vanilla cream ale with Crema coffee" (5.6%, 20 IBU), then the house IPA (6.9%, 101 IBU), and finished with the Navel Gazer Imperial stout (9.2%, 65 IBU).
I took notes in a draft email that I apparently deleted before copying. Dammit.
I did like all four of them, though I have to say, 101 IBUs really gets your attention. The Navel Gazer has a particularly inspired name, because after two pints, you will be gazing at your navel.
I went more than half a century without spending the night in Nashville, so it's not likely I'll be back. But if you visit Nashville, New Heights is worth a stop.
Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Yes
Televisions? Avoidable
Serves food? BYO
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes