New Glarus is Hell Bent on Not Taking Over the World: Paste Interview

Because it is so close to Madison we take for granted what a world class operation they have there. There stuff is everywhere, grocery stores gas stations, whatever. Very reasonably priced too. Not a bad place to live.

 

This is why I need to move back to Wisconsin.

 

Way back when there was some thread that had a march-madness type bracket that paired breweries. Great Lakes defeated New Glarus - that level of stupidity is hard to forget.

 

Except Spotted Cow isn't an Amber/Red. It's a Cream Ale.

 

No, it's correct to assume that they mainly do whatever they want, with a focus on European (specifically German) styles. They do four main fruit beers (which are decidedly not lambics) and several specialty releases throughout the year (sometimes sours/lambics, sometimes IIPAs, etc.). Dan is a very diverse brewer that can seemingly do whatever style wonderfully. The only things I have had from him that weren't great were his barleywine and imperial stout. Everything else is good-to-great and, as the packaging says, always spot-on per style.

Also, as already mentioned, Spotted Cow is a cream ale, not an amber.

 

NG Fruits? Shelf turds, lol.

 

A 3.75 is a great score.

 

Great Lakes has a much bigger footprint though. I suppose it depends what your definition of, "bigger" is. I can tell you that here in Ohio, people are just as obsessed with Great Lakes as people in Wisconsin are with NG. I mean, people freak out every year when GLCA comes out and buy as much of it as they can find. I know that when I first moved to Ohio a few years ago, they used to put a 2 six-pack limit on GLCA and people would literally stalk the grocery stores when they knew it was coming out. Its crazy.
Dont get me wrong, I love New Glarus but bigger than Great Lakes? Like I said, not sure about that one...

 

Send as much of it as you want here to Ohio. We had it at our wedding back in June and as soon as people realized what it was (because most of the people there werent from Wisconsin and never heard of NG), the stuff disappeared

 

NG never ceases to amaze me. In recent years I've come to the conclusion that they're my favorite brewer in the US and I don't even think there's a close second.
The Wisconsin folks are lucky to have a brewery that's able to make world class versions of so many totally unrelated styles.

 

I make a trip back to Wisconsin every summer to visit family and I always stock up on NG when Im there.

 

Um, as anoter Ohio-based former-Badger myself, you and me need to talk the next time one of us heads back to WI. It's just as easy to haul back two cases of NG as it is one.

 

That's how impressive it is

 

Guess it depends on what your definition of "bigger" is. The simplest definition I can think of is "brews and sells more beer," which would put NG on top of GL. However, I can get Great Lakes beers in MN, and I have to make the 40 minute drive to Sconny to get NG.

 

I actually didn't know it was a cream ale. Truth be told, it's been a while since I had that beer but I remember it was fantastic when I did have it.Thank you for the heads up.

 

I've only had a few of theirs. I really liked Spotted Cow, but I've come a long ways since then.

There really is a razor thin line between good distribution/bad beer and no distribution/great beer. I can't blame them for being scared of toeing that line. It's probably better to be the big fish in the small pond.

 

But it already did happen, in the past -- and the Careys did-not-like-it. It's easy for me to say "good on 'em," but I live within easy driving distance of New Glarus beer. Nevertheless, good on 'em!

 

I have to disagree with you on this one, if only on purely mathematical grounds. Though of course these 'arguments' are best had over a beer.

I see it this way: Let's say that NG and GL are approximately the same sized breweries. GL is available in over a dozen states, and Ohio proper has a population of almost 12 million. NG is available (as we all know) only in Wisconsin, with a population half that of Ohio's. If New Glarus manages to thrive just by selling within a market of under 6 million people, I'd say that's a strong argument that people in WI are pretty obsessed about NG beers, especially when you look at the dynamic a range of beers NG produces.

 

It's not just the people of Wisconsin that are obsessed with NG. Let's not forget about all the people from Iowa, Minnesota and the FIB's that cross the boarder to get their NG fix.

 

Bigger = "brew more beer" is the logical way to assess brewery size and, as @GreesyFizeek noted, NG was #18 to Great Lakes #20. Not sure why that objective criteria bothers you and you feel the need to some Bill Clinton-esque "definition of 'is'" debate.

We can define "biggest" brewery by all kinds of other odd criteria and come up with other rankings:

- Which brewery has the largest brewer? Any 6'5" guys over three fiddy brewing out there? Biggest brewer must equal biggest brewery, right?
- Which brewery has the most local demand (as you alluded to that being a criteria by saying they put limits on Great Lakes beer). And that would mean SARA or Side Project are the biggest breweries in the country. That certainly makes a lot of sense ...

The definitions of nano brewery and craft have barrels brewed as the critical factor. Saying that New Glarus is bigger isn't an insult; it's a surprising fact and a sign that there are many different models for succeeding making craft beer.