Hopslam in SE-WI?

None of those listed are brewing beer up to the caliber

Milwaukee needs more brewpubs brewing better beer.

 

No Hopslam yet. I won't make it down to Whole Foods today, but it seems like we'll be waiting on the Wed shipment to Discount, Rays, Otto's etc. for our fix.

 

Opinions are like... well, you know how the saying goes.

Remember, if everyone is "World Class" then nobody is.

 

The only Milwaukee brewery I buy regularly is Lakefront. I've discussed Milwaukee beers with plenty of friends and family, and I think that the room for improvement is so high that Milwaukee could easily become a big craft beer town very quickly. There are some good lagers, sure. I'll drink Sprecher's Black Bavarian or Lakefront Riverwest any day. But when it comes to American Ales, Milwaukee is sorely lacking. Lakefront is world-class with their IPA, but no other breweries have been able to take that platform to the next level. That's what Milwaukee needs- a community of brewers challenging each other to make their beer better. When a brewery like Horny Goat or Chameleon or Big Bay can make a buck bottling and distributing sub-par beers, why would they want to spend the time and energy improving? Even MKE Brewing needs a lot of work on their hoppy beers.

It's going to get there, because there are plenty of passionate craft beer fans and homebrewers in Milwaukee. I applaud Madison- Karben4 is brewing much better beer (not quite World-Class, but they might be shortly) than every Milwaukee brewery short of Lakefront.

This is all just my opinion, based on tasting and observing. Feel free to give me suggestions (I haven't tried every beer from every brewery). This is more of a friendly thing coming for a newly-transplanted West Coaster.

I really like Silver Creek Brewing up in Cedarburg, and Delafield as well.

 

Not sure about hopslam yet, but whole foods still has about 20+ cases of Sucks left !

 

I was going to call whole foods after work. If someone goes there or calls please update.

 

I agree that Big Bay and Horny Goat make pretty mediocre beer. Chameleon is not very good either, but really, it's just Sprecher's attempt at making American Style beer (which they are not good at). Sprecher is pretty good at making European Style Beer, which is what Randy Sprecher knew in 1985. They just haven't been able to evolve.

Similar story with Lakefront, circa 1987, although I'd say Lakefront has evolved better than Sprecher.

I would argue that Milwaukee is already a pretty big craft beer town. You want breweries/brewpubs in Milwaukee that cater to your tastes, which are different than what's currently being brewed in Milwaukee. Your tastes line up with the BeerAdvocate notion of what's good, so you think that is what everyone should be striving for.

The reality is that Milwaukee is pretty crowded, even more so when you add in the likes of New Glarus, Oso, Central Waters, Black Husky, Hinterland, and the list of other WI breweries goes on. None of which are particularly brewing what you are looking for. But all of the breweries are doing very well financially, and all of them are growing at a very rapid clip. So somebody is buying their "mediocre" (as you would put it) beer.

That's not to say there isn't room for another brewery, especially one brewing something different from the existing breweries, like a solid west coast style IPA/DIPA (which, I would agree that no brewery in WI has been able to figure out). But I don't think the sky is the limit.

 

whole foods - "try back tomorrow, at the absolute latest Friday, it is not to the warehouse yet"

 

So it will be Friday at Whole Foods. Downer Wine and Spirits said sometime next week. Hopefully Ottos receives their shipment tomorrow!

 

I will be in Madison Saturday, does Karben4 sell beers to go (bottles or growlers)?

 

Their beer is now available in various liquor stores around town, and yes, they do fill growlers at the brewery.

Edit: Not sure if they sell bottles at the brewery though.

 

5 cases left at Trixies this afternoon

 

and the slam I bought at Steve's on UAve was bottled 1/2/14. Yay for old beer...

 

Karben4 has yet to bottle any of their beer, so it is not for sale at any liquor store. You may buy growlers at the brewery.

 

My mistake. I read that they were supposed to have bottled by the end of 2013 and could have sworn I'd seen it in stores. Sorry about the confusion.

 

Any updates for Milwaukee area?

 

Has anyone spotted Hopslam on draft in the Madison area? Malt House says they will tap theirs...sometime.

 

Nothing on Milwaukee yet. But there are various dates for batches out there, so there is definitely still hope that we'll get some that isn't more than a week old

 

Showboat Saloon in Wisconsin Dells tapped it yesterday. They will even fill you a growler

 

Love Showboat. TG growlers, too, quite often.