Madison, WI (23rd February)

After already drinking and eating with a few brewers on Friday, on Saturday I went on a brewery tour to the capital Madison with two colleagues. Our first two stops were in the suburb Verona, about 30 minutes away from New Glarus.

Wisonsin Brewing Co.

Average craft brewery.

Hop Haus Brewing Co.

Small 5hl pub brewery. The Plaid Panther, a Scotch Ale with 8% ABV, was very good.

Then we went to Madison:

Ale Asylum

Consistently solid beers.

Karben4

Very good IPA 'Fantasy Factory'. Well-balanced saison with floral malt body and hops. We also did a brewery tour there. The cleanliness leaves something to be desired and the brewhouse is poorly constructed. But they have an expensive GEA centrifuge. - Typical Ami-Craftbrewer..

Working Draft Beer Company

There was a very authentic smoked beer. It could have come from Bamberg!

Funk Factory Geuzeria

We drank extremely good sour beers here. The Meerts (4%), a beer that is brewed from the runoff of a Lambic and then sour fermented for at least 3 months, was very interesting and drinkable. There were exciting variations of it (4.5%) with honey, cherry, blueberry, or peach(!). My favorite was the Biére de Coupage (6.5%), a very intense but well-balanced sour beer (blend of hoppy saison and 2-3 year old Lambic).