Ballast Point in Wisconsin

What I'm most looking forward to is Ballast Point on tap and on for growler fills.

 

Wisco is a bit behind on growler fills. I think this is mainly because most breweries (New Glarus and Lakefront included) don't offer them, or don't advertise that they offer them. Most other beer towns have dozens of small breweries that rely on them for their main source of income.

MKE is starting to come around, first with Riverwest Filling Station, then with Ray's, and now with Craft & Vessel which should open in Shorewood sometime this year. Stubby's & Whole Foods both offer them but I rarely see people taking advantage of that.

Showboat Saloon in the Dells is my favorite Wisconsin growler-filling bar.

Some areas still don't allow bars to fill growlers, so maybe Madison has some laws against it?

 

Also- it's important to note that Ray's still can't serve full pints, just 3 1-oz tasters per person in the Growler Gallery.

 

Thanks for the response! That's why my buddies in NYC keep saying "What, you don't get Kuhnhenn out there?". Can't wait to try at GToM.

I'm a big fan of one-state-only distribution (being from Wisco, of course) so I like your business plan. I'll happily take a trip to MI to taste your beer (and all the others across the lake).

 

With Big Eye & Sculpin, they need to be had fresh. Most of my BP drinking experience is straight from their tasting room- the mainline stuff is alright, BP Pale Ale (used to be Yellowtail) is very good, and Calico is a nice amber. Where they'll really pick up sales is, of course, Sculpin cans (hopefully we get Big Eye cans, too), Dorado, and Victory @ Sea. They also might be able to do well on tap with Sculpin (although some places will undoubtedly jack up the price).

I enjoy their flagship brews more than I do Coronado, Deschutes, and even Alesmith.

 

Given the choice of all breweries currently distributed in Wisco (and the addition of Ballast Point & Surly later this year) here are my favorite beers in each style- basically, if I'm in the mood for a certain style, there are usually my choices:

Lagers:
1. Lazy Monk (Bohemian Pils & Bohemian Dark
2. Great Lakes Eliot Ness
3. New Glarus Yokel

Wheat beers:
1. New Glarus Dancing Man
2. Weihenstephaner Hefeweiss
3. Ale Asylum Unshadowed

Red Ales:
1. Founders Reds Rye
2. Lakefront Fixed Gear
3. Ballast Point Calico

Scotch Ales:
1. Lake Louie Louie's Reserve
2. Lake Louie Warped Speed
3. Central Waters Slainte

Brown Ales:
1. New Glarus Fat Squirrel
2. Alesmith Nut Brown
3. Tyranena Rocky's Revenge

Session Ales:
1. New Glarus Moon Man
2. Central Waters Hop Rise
3. Founders All Day IPA

Pale Ales:
1. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
2. Lake Louie Pale Ale
3. Ballast Point Pale Ale

APAs:
1. Black Husky Pale Ale
2. Lake Louie Pale Ale
3. Zombie Dust/pseudoSue (these are must-by's when available, ranked #3 due to scarcity)

IPAs:
1. Lake Louie Bunny Green Toe
2. Bells Two Hearted (cans only, when fresh)
3. Alesmith IPA (when fresh, which is apparently never)
*I'll often buy Lakefront IPA when I find bottles that are less than a month old. It's a great beer when fresh, turns a bit malty when over a month old, which it often is at local stores.

"Other" Pale Ales:
1. Zombie Dust/pseudoSue (These are both must-buy beers whenever I see them on the shelf)
2. Ballast Point Sculpin
3. Black Husky Howler Imperial Pale Ale (I slightly prefer the Equinox version to the Simcoe version)

Imperial IPAs:
1. New Glarus Scream
2. Founders Double Trouble
3. Ballast Point Dorado
* I'll always buy FFF Permanent Funeral when I see it on shelves. Awesome IIIPA

Porters:
1. Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald
2. Founders Porter
3. Deschutes Black Butte Porter

Imperial Porters:
1. Ballast Point Victory @ Sea
2. Tyranena Devil Over a Barrel
3. Tyranena Devil Made me Do It
* I know the two Tyranena's are partial-barrel-aged, but I felt like they fit best in this category.

Stouts:
1. Founders Breakfast Stout
2. Tyranena Down 'n Dirty
3. New Glarus Coffee Stout

Imperial Stouts:
1. Founders Imperial Stout
2. Bell's Expedition
3. Central Waters Brewhouse Coffee Stout

BA Imperial Stouts:
1. Central Waters 16
2. Alesmith BBA Speedway (pricey)
3. KBS

Barleywines (my personal favorite):
1. Central Waters Y2K
2. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
3. Alesmith Numbskull

BA Barleywines:
1. Central Waters BBA Barleywine
2. BCBBW
3. Alesmith BA Numbskull

Sours:
1. New Glarus Wild Sour Ale (still have a few left)
2. Rodenbach Caractere Rouge (another pricey one)
3. New Glarus Oud Bruin (as soon as we get it on the shelves here)

Breweries I avoid at (nearly) all costs:
1. Horny Goat
2. Berghoff
3. Anything brewed in Monroe, WI (Minhas)

I think I caught most of the major styles. Looking over the list I'm impressed by how many Wisco brews I'll often choose over out-of-state beers. We still have some work to do on Barleywines, Porters, and single Stouts, and we can always improve our IPA's and IIPA's (but we took a huge step forward this year). If anyone has any style-specific recommendations, please pass them on!

 

I think it will always stay fluid in Wisconsin. For instance, no way Green Flash can maintain the distribution here for all 5-6 of their year-round beers. Most shops have already dropped down to 2-3 styles.

Alesmith doesn't seem to be selling at all, but apparently they shipped us a pallet of BBA Speedway as a thank you for buying so much beer. That being said, I think the market was flooded and now it's just sitting on the shelves.

BP will be a slightly different story. First of all, it has fish on it, and people from Wisconsin love fish. I'm only partially kidding about this. They are basically the Bell's/Founders of the West Coast, and both of those breweries do just fine here. They brew a different level of hoppy beers, as does Surly.

 

Ohio? Chicago gets BP, Stone, Maine, Great Divide, and a handful of others we don't have here. Ohio does have Fat Head's, though, which is worth the trip.