Wisconsin beer trek by way of Illinois
Sue and I took a mini trip to Dekalb , Illinois to visit her sister . Our first nights stay was at Galena , IL . It is just east of Dubuque , and what a beautiful town it is . If you have never been to Galena , it is worth a look . Its main street sits along a river and they have built a berm and also have two huge metal doors to close when there is a flood to protect the town . In fact I was so impressed with the city that I bought 4 bottles of wine from the local winery . One negative on the city is there are no brewpubs .
The next day we were off to Dekalb and when we got into town we found a hotel that was 3 doors from a Moose lodge . So you know where I was going to spend the evening . After visiting Sue ’ s sister and going out for dinner , I suggested that the three of us should have an after dinner drink at the Moose . It was real quiet when we got there and everyone was real friendly . Being that I was an out of town visitor , we all got a free drink . Not much to choose from for a beer but they did have Old Style in the bottle . Like I said earlier it was real quiet , but by 7:30 p . m . people where showing up in droves . We found out that the club plays a game called “ lightning ”. I never heard of it before but it is similar to bar bingo , but in goes much faster . You buy a ticket with three numbers on it for a dollar . They spin a wheel and call out a number and when they have called all three numbers on your ticket you win 75 % of the pot and the rest goes to the club . They play for only two hours , buy like I said these games fast and so does your dollars . I was playing every game and had not won and it was coming up to the last game for the night and darn if I didn ’ t win . I won enough money to pay for all the drinks and the all of the tickets that I bought and still was able to pocket $ 50.00 .
Next day we said goodbye to Sue ’ s sister and now it was time to see some breweries in Wisconsin . The first stop was at Monroe , WI to visit the Huber Brewery . Well it is not the Huber Brewery anymore , but the new owners were remodeling and the gift shop would not be open until some time this summer . That was disappointing but I took a few pictures on the out side of the buildings . I don ’ t know if the original building was brick , but now it has that metal siding much like the Gluek Brewery in Cold Springs , MN . The next stop was just up the road to New Glarus . The brewery sits just on the edge of town and it looks
guided tour and it was kind of neat because you took a cell phone like piece of equipment and when you come to a number station you press that number on the phone and a recording comes on . They had a very small gift shop about the size of Schell ’ s old one . The only thing I bought was a six pack of my choice for $ 8.00 . We hit the road again to go 40 miles west to Mineral Point , WI to the Brewery Creek . This place really looked promising because it looked like a brewery building that was made of out stone . It was an old warehouse that they made into a brewery and a bed & breakfast . What a neat combination but they also serve lunches and dinners . It was lunch time for us and we got seated at the back of the room . The bartender & waitress were the owners of the place and it took forever to get waited on . They were taking care of the locals first before they came around to take our order . I ordered a beer , sandwich and a bowl of soup and Sue ordered chicken strips & fries . Well , I would not recommend eating here . The beer and food was OK but not for the portions you got and the price you had to pay . The only thing this place had going for it was the bar & the back bar . They found this beautiful bar in Minneapolis and had it shipped down . While we were waiting for our meal , I was reading a local ad about an old brewery that housed a pottery business . I just had to check this place out which was on the other side of town . It was a neat old building and it did not look like it was open so I took a few pictures of the outside . Our last stop was at Potosi . The only thing I ’ ve got to say about the World Class National Brewery Museum is it is going to be the greatest thing this side of Austin . I made a donation at the Legion Club and I can ’ t wait for the scheduled opening in June of 2008 .
This ends my little brewery search with some highs & lows but overall it was a lot of fun . I ’ m always gamed to find a new brewpub or an Old brewery . As Always , remember to support your local brewery .
Murray – The Legend