Wisconsin Brewing Co.

That's a pretty good description of the tasting room at Tighthead Brewing in Mundelein, IL, but the beer makes up for lack of amenities.

 

"Not many breweries in WI are making Saisons ..."

Really???

Lakefront Rendezvous
Door County Biere de Seigle
Door County Pastoral
Hinterland Saison
Titletown Black Moon Risin'
Tyranena Prom Date
Dave's Brew Farm (umm...about 15 of them)
NG Saison
MKE Brewing Booyah

....just to name a few.

 

Agreed....the DC Biere de Siegel is great. Dave's makes nice stuff too. Haven't tried Zenith yet, hopefully better than the rest they produced.

 

I've tried all of Wisconsin Brewings offerings except the Saison and for me, they've all been...meh. Not sure how much effort I'll put in to trying their new stuff. A look at their ratings on here...one beer at 3.94 and then nothing over a 3.52 seems to indicate I'm not the only one thinking that. I wish them luck but they'd better step up their game.

 

As much as I hate to agree with you, I do. I feel the same way. I've tried most of their current offerings and think they're a bit below mediocre. Sad to see as I wish for WI breweries to produce top notch stuff and that just isn't.

 

The newly released #8 appears to be a Wisconsin-forward crisp low abv lager of some sort. Just what we need. Another crisp lager (although it could be a session ale- description doesn't say). C'mon guys, we do not need another one of these.

https://www.facebook.com/wisconsinbrewingcompany

 

My bad. What the Helles?

Seriously though, have you tried the canned WBC beers yet? I'm a big fan of cans, so I think I'm going to see if I can find some singles around MKE.

 

If it's a true Helles, freshly brewed to style, there are none readily available by any craft brewer. A good one would be welcome to those of us who know and enjoy the style.

The only thing low BA ratings prove, anymore, is that a beer isn't barrel aged, a high alcohol hop bomb, or a sour. Every WB beer I've tried so far has been far from "meh." They've been solidly-brewed, well crafted, to-style beers.

 

Whereas I've yet to have one that wasn't a solidly brewed, well crafted continuation of Capital. A fine midrange beer for someone with midrange expectations. The sort of thing you expect an MGD drinker to buy for friends who are into craft beer.

It's a lot like my 2014 Ford Focus. A very well crafted and solid car that does exactly what you expect it to do, but also the most boring car I've ever driven. Every time I drive that car I know it'll get me where I want to go but it also kills me a little bit inside knowing that it will be as interesting a drive as watching paint dry.

 

Have one what? A beer from Wisconsin Brewing? Kirby never made a Porter at Capital. Don't believe he ever made a "session IPA" either, let alone a Saison.

The other thing to take into account with WB is something I mentioned previously -- they haven't been open a year. Imagine a brewery this new making beer as well-crafted as these.

Ain't that the truth. Even Capital's Garten Brau from a few years (decades?) fell a little short of a good Helles -- here's hoping Kirby has taken some good steps to a great German-style recipe.

 

While I do think that WBC's quality is on par or better than Capital already, I don't think that the "open less than a year" argument holds much water.

Karben4 was making superior, more exciting beer at less than 1 year. And they've continued to evolve in their second year. I believe that the stress of building a business plan that relies on distribution (WBC) hurts the breweries overall ability to be adventurous. They were forced from the get-go to brew middle-of-the-road styles that would sell. The only way to do that in the current craft climate is to attack the "new" customer segment- that increasing percentage of macro drinkers who are slowly shifting over to craft.

I give them props for putting out an IPA and a Session IPA, although both fall short of Lakefront's beers of the same style.

I know that Kirby is a talented brewer. But their business plan is as safe as playing for a draw to make the knockout round of the World Cup. We'll just have to wait and see what they do when they get there.

K4, on the other hand, seems to always play on the offensive, and every single beer in their line-up is memorable. And that is with way less brewing experience from their head brewer.

But it's a completely different business plan. K4 only has to make enough to pay rent and keep brewing small batches to put on tap in their tasting room and around town. The food aspect adds a bit of a distraction, but it's good food and it brings some additional people into the tap room. Because the facility was more-or-less ready to go, they have the freedom to put out more exciting styles without committing to bottling/distributing them.

WBC needs to meet their numbers. Their whole business plan is based on distribution and expansion. Theirs is a production facility. It's an ambitious business- you don't see many breweries launch into such large state-wide distribution networks. But that also means that they can't just whip up a batch of a hoppy wheat beer or several barrel-aged versions of a porter without risking their business operations.

There is danger in both approaches, but thankfully WBC & Karben4 both seem to be succeeding admirably. Two very different breweries putting out very different styles of beer, and there is plenty of room for them both.

 

In whose opinion? My idea of exciting is probably far different from yours -- and to tell the truth, I've never even heard of Karben4.

To say that WB is playing it safe at this stage is just my point; these guys have been in the biz a long time and I get the feeling they're testing their water to be sure they have a foundation for the long run. Let's see where they are in a few years, no?.

 

It needent be 1:1 The underlying taste is the same. Just like nearly everything the Great Danes makes - regardless of the style, there's a background that carries thru all of it.

So what if it's new. It's not as if a bunch of young guys decided to make the move from homebrewing to retail. Kirby had what, 25 years at Capital? He's not reinventing the wheel here, he's just changing addresses. Tommie porter summed it up perfectly: "It's buying a race car and having Mario Andretti drive it for you"

An no matter what car you put him in, he'll drive it just like he always has. I don't know why anyone expected his product to be different than what he's done for the last cpl decades.