LAX to MKE or bust the Bierlady traveled to the mothership of beer. The beer state. Well I guess technically its the Badger state, but I didn’t see any badgers.

I just spent the last 4 days in Milwaukee Wisconsin, in for a family reunion, but also there for research. Now I won’t lie coming from So Cal and being a beer person I’m a bit of a beer snob. I like good beer. And I went into my travels with a nose up. But Wisconsin you set me straight. Not only were you one of the first beer producing states in the U.S. But you’re still going strong. And your craft brews were awesome.

In full disclosure my husband said we’d checked into 35 new beers on Untappd in those 4 days.

Mic drop our job is done.

So I have to do a running blog here of our trip. This entry, I’m going to start out with the beers we found and loved. Then do individual blogs for two of our favorite Breweries we went to: Lakefront Brewery and Sprecher both OUTSTANDING beers and tours and people, then blog about our Tour of the vast small city of Miller. My Uncle works for Miller Coors so it was amazing to see beer brewed at that capacity. More on that later.

Upon arrival in Wisconsin we were greeted in our room by beers left for us from my cousin Julie. (Love you Jules) it was our first beer in my homeland and ended up being from a brewery that was for sure in our top 3. New Glarus. http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/ We were told prior to our trip about their magical brews and wanted to visit them but alas we were only there a short while and it was a few hours away. But that didn’t stop us from enjoying many of their Beers. We had a 6 pk of Moon Man (abv 5%) waiting for us in our room and I gotta say that remained in my top favorites. A No Coast Pale Ale (being west coaster I laughed aloud). Great beer exactly what you want from a pale ale. Not overly hoppy and full of flavor slightly citrusy but don’t let that sway you away, you pilsner drinkers. This is a great beer.

That night we met up with my cousins Dale and Melissa (our beer buddies for the weekend,) and we visited the Safe House http://safe-house.com/mainmenu.html a super fun bar restaurant where you have to know the secret location and password to get in. Or they may make your family act like cheerleaders in front of a secret camera that projects to everyone inside the bar (I tried the password of beer didn’t work) there we tried the infamous Spotted Cow also from New Glarus. We heard if you’re in Wisconsin you must try that beer from more than a dozen people. They were right. Spotted Cow is that beer I search for. Now their website calls it a “Naturally Cloudy Farmhouse Ale” but I put it on par with a great session (meaning low alcohol, this one is 4.8%) beer packed with flavor. And that great bread finish that says beer to me.

After the Safehouse, as responsible parents do, we dropped our boys off with another cousin to babysit as my cousin Julie, remember her, she left beer in my room, well she took us to Delafield Brewhaus http://www.delafield-brewhaus.com/ where we had our first tasting of many Wisconsin beers. They brew their own and of the ones I had and Mr Beerman I can were great!
We tried, the Naga-Wicked Pale Ale, the Pewaukee Porter, Bengal Bay IPA, and their Oats and Barley Stout. I wont talk too much on this topic, as they are a brewhaus and as far as I know don’t bottle so unless you are headed to Milwaukee..but none the less wanted to mention them.

On Friday we were lucky enough that the party my aunt through for us (love you Aunt Karen) had some of New Glarus’s Black Top a black IPA this has a slightly higher Abv (6.9%) but again just a super drinkable beer.

Saturday we headed to my family reunion and picked up a 6 pk of their Totally Naked.

This is one of their seasonal beers so guessing if you can get it, get it now, its described as a Wisconsin Lager. And that it is! That’s the beer I think my folks drank but with FAR more flavor. That perfectly balanced malt, hop with a bread finish. So good.

We heard about their Two Ladies beer (Note my cousins think it’s funny when my Uncle has a Totally Naked, and Two Ladies, a lager in hand. Well played brewers and namers) we have not tried it but brought some home to LA along with their Yokel another seasonal Lager. I’m sure they will be great.

New Glarus I can see by your website and Beer Advocate I have barely scratched the surface of what you brew. Sorry we couldn’t make it up to try you in person. Next trip for SURE!

Some other beers we had to take note of because they were super tasty were:
Capital Brewery’s Amber, http://capitalbrewery.com/beer-type/wisconsin-amber/,
Point from Stevens Point Brewery, thanks to my cousin Jason who lives near there, http://www.pointbeer.com/point-amber-classic/ and
Oktoberfest from Water Street Brewery, https://www.waterstreetbrewery.com/.

Special shout out to this brewery because of its memorabilia wall. Walls and walls of vintage beer cans. So cool. And taps as well. I wish we were not on our way to another brewery tour and had to eat and drink fast. Or we would have sampled more of their beers. But I did have this one twice, once at the brewery and I found it again at Summerfest http://summerfest.com/ .

This was just the tip of the beer iceberg for our trip. Friday day we took a tour of Lakefront Brewery and sampled all of it. And did that Miller Tour I spoke of. Sunday we thought we were going to spend an hour at Sprecher Brewery, well, 4 hours later, and several 6pks to bring home…means these breweries deserve their own blogs.

Stay tuned for more LAX TO MKE or BUST!

The Bierlady reserves the right to update the blog should her husband or any cousin remember a beer she liked and forgot to mention. 4 days, 35 beers, things are slightly blurry.