Brewery Visit: The New Glarus Brewery-Home of the Spotted Cow

I finally made it up to New Glarus, Wisconsin, which is a must see for those of us who have been enjoying the delicious Spotted Cow and Moon Man and Staghorn, etc. for so long. Unfortunately it is kind of off the beaten path, especially if you are traveling from Chicago, it is a little more west than I was expecting, Still it was only a couple hours away.

"Indigenous" is their motto, and this is reflected throughout with all the logos and items sold in the gift shop. It is a very clean and sparse place, and they give you a self-guided tour, which just pretty much allows you to walk around not exactly sure what you are seeing-very little descriptions anywhere.

So, basically, you can tour the building and look in the windows, go to the gift shop, and sample the beers in a couple different ways. I chose the small sampling glasses, which include three fill ups and keep the glass. The other choice was the large pilsner glass, which is also nice, plus one fill-up. Since I wanted to try a few I chose the little sampler.
The tasting room is long and well lighted and you can also choose to step off into a nice little beer garden. There was a lot of construction going on to expand the place, maybe put in a restaurant ?  Also there was a beer shop with their normal beers plus others right off the parking lot, which was convenient.


The choices we were given were the standards and a few extras:
1. Spotted Cow
2. Fat Squirrel
3. Two Women
4. Moon Man
5. Hometown Blond
6. Raspberry Tart

Although I have already tasted them all plus a few more I chose the Fat Squirrel, the Moon Man and Hometown. The Fat was a little sharp and unexpectedly crisp, not what I was expecting in a heavy malt beer. In fact, I may say I was a little disappointed there. I went next with a hoppier Moon Man, which I really enjoyed, as usual, and finally an old favorite, Hometown Blonde. I really enjoyed that one too. I guess I was expecting more out of the first one or maybe I could have gone the other way.

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Now for a little editorial about New Glarus Beer: For me, I think they could spend more time looking at what the marketplace is doing to see if they are successful. Then again, maybe it is some of the flavors that appeal to me and those that don't that have formed this opinion for me.  New Glarus likes to push the envelope a little in some ways, but then doesn't go too crazy like most craft brewers do in others. Plus, they choose to lock in on other things that I wouldn't do. For example, they always have a sour (or vinegary, as I like to describe it) beer available, as a specialty beer (look at Enigma and other sour browns). I don't like these and will never buy one (I have tasted a few and I don't like them, Sam I Am.) But, they only have 1 stout as a seasonal (Road Slush), no regulars. The black Top and Moon Man are the hoppier offerings but the black top is heavily malty so it puts neither anywhere near an IPA, which is what every micro-brewer is producing these days. I appreciate their efforts into lagers and pilsners, plus Spotted Cow is lighter and refreshing, but it is also along the lines of a fruity kind of idea, which this brewery seems to do a lot more often.

It is interesting too that they have locked in on Black Top and Two Women, which have appeared out of nowhere and are now year round regulars, yet I can't see they are that popular. Plus it also seems that the Dancing Man is like the only decent wheat offering yet I can never get it either.

I am glad I went up there, but overall I must say that it is a place to stop on your way somewhere and not really a destination, no food, nothing else to do. Plusm the local town has a few bars that offer a ton of their beers and all on tap too. My wife, who had never had a SC, is now hooked on them.