Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 31 - New Glarus
123 Plays5 years ago
On this episode we sit down and taste the pride of Wisconsin's craft beer: New Glarus. We sample and discuss Spotted Cow, Two Women, Berliner Apfel and Serendipity.
Theme music provided by Myke Kelli (@mykekelli)
Outro provided by Fluid Minds (@fluidminds)
Check out all our episodes at www.themaltinghour.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'The Molting Hour'
00:00:04
Speaker
What's the haps on the hops, guys, that's peace This the molten hour where we talk about our drink And tell you what we think every other week And if we get drunk, well we might slur our speech Gotta give up, have the friends who wish you had Join us for a drink, join us for a laugh Time is never wasted, way you're getting wasted The molten hour here, people, people taking places People, people taking places People, people taking places
00:00:33
Speaker
One day I'm going to learn how to play piano, just like that intro. Welcome to another episode of The Molting Hour. I am Tony Golic. And I am Brandon Wininger. And we are your hosts for this show about beer, home brewing, and beer. All three of those topics. That's what we discuss every week. And if you don't know that, now you know. I would say an absent fourth would be like local businesses.
00:00:58
Speaker
Yeah, no, you're right. A lot of it ties into breweries, though, but we have friends that have businesses, so we kind of talk about that, too. Yeah, we do talk about a lot of local stuff. We talk about food a lot. We go on rambles about personal things.
00:01:14
Speaker
It's really just a show that you and I record while drinking. Pretty much. Pretty cool. Well, thank you for joining us, everybody. Hey, at least we stay with a style or a particular subject. Yeah, there's a, what's the word I'm looking for? What is it? What's the word? I can't think of it. There's a theme. There's at least a theme, a constant something that is driving this show other than us.
Spotlight on New Glarus Brewery
00:01:41
Speaker
And this episode,
00:01:42
Speaker
The Driving Force is a show or a topic you and I have talked about doing for a little while since we started the show. Yes, totally. Which is Wisconsin's very own New Glares. That was actually the sound of angels singing happy that we're drinking New Glares. I'm happy we're drinking New Glares. I'm always happy to drink New Glares. I'm never not happy drinking New Glares. I don't remember the... Well, no, I do remember the first time I did.
00:02:10
Speaker
Well, for those of you who don't know, New Glares is a brewery in Wisconsin, in New Glares, Wisconsin. You don't say. Man, weird how that works. They opened, oh man, I just, I was doing all my research. I forgot when they opened up. Bottles are all over there, but they are...
00:02:29
Speaker
one of the, I wanna say coolest breweries, craft breweries to ever be imagined. I was listening to the, watching a short video today about Deb and Dan, who own, run, operate New Galaris and how they started, where they started from, and to get to where they're at now, having basically two facilities where they brew, package, and distribute their beer.
00:02:56
Speaker
And you know, it's only available in Wisconsin. They made that decision a long time ago because they tried to come to Chicago and apparently Deb did not care for the way the business was done in Chicago. Did they try to come? Yeah, apparently it was here for a short amount of time and then she yanked it all back. She was like, not
00:03:15
Speaker
Today, losers. And it helped them out because they were able to grow much larger, just distributing Wisconsin and taking care of it there. Well, I feel like doing that, I mean, it creates that cult following. And they haven't even broached Minnesota or Michigan. Nothing. But what's funny about New Glarus is every once in a while, you'll see
00:03:39
Speaker
people will post in the beer groups on Facebook or whatever. Like, hey, this place in West Town of Chicago has New Glarus on their shelf with a price point of double what it normally costs. And I'm like, yeah, it's because it's illegal. And they're trying to pay for the fine they're going to get. Exactly. And especially living in Chicago, how long does it take you to get to the border to buy some of this?
00:04:04
Speaker
Um, so it took me, I guess if you calculated the entire amount of time, it would have been an hour and 10 minutes. Yeah. So it's really not that hard to go and get you glares. Um, Jeff, uh, my neighbor, Jeff and your friend, Jeff is one of our favorite guests. Sorry, Clark. Um, he, uh, and, and his family, they, they have spotted a cow at the house regularly. They have a family that live up in Wisconsin, Dr. Christina.
00:04:34
Speaker
That's her favorite beer, Spotted Cow. And actually, two of the beers that we're drinking today, she purchased for me to drink and I brought them here to drink with you.
The Creation of Spotted Cow
00:04:44
Speaker
But let's talk about the first beer that we're drinking, which as people who are listening to this show, I'm sure you're very well aware of.
00:04:52
Speaker
is their best-selling beer. It's a flagship, probably. Yeah. Well, it's not. It came later. OK. Well, it is. I mean, I would say it's definitely part of their thumbprint series, which is just their regular. Right? Thumbprint's all their regular brewed beer. No. Thumbprint's like their special beer. Oh, you're right. My bad. My bad. Sorry. Yeah.
00:05:15
Speaker
Spotted Cow, when I was watching this documentary, it came out a little later after they had already, they had won a prize and they had to go to London. I forget what beer they won for. Shit, but they won it. And then they, the story is that she saw these sheep running around when they were driving around London, they saw the sheep everywhere. And she's like, you know, I wonder if people come to Wisconsin and come to see the cows all over Wisconsin.
00:05:41
Speaker
You know like what's the spot of the cow and they actually came she came up with that name first before dan actually brewed it and he was trying to just keep going back and forth but what kind of years that they want what do you want to do and then he decided you know to to go with the rustic roots of
00:05:56
Speaker
you know, back in 1850, how would beer be brewed? Like, you know, they would... That's an interesting concept. Yeah, it was really cool. And that's how they came up because it's a farmhouse beer. So it's, you know, basically, it's got the makeup. Well, not basically, but I believe
00:06:12
Speaker
the makeup of this, the Grainville, is very straightforward. It's like a lager, but not. You know what I mean? By no means does it taste like a lager, but it's very clean. And if you were to brew, try to copy that style back in 1850, where you can't do a Pilsner, because you're not going to be able to move.
00:06:30
Speaker
Farmers aren't loggering. They have no way to keep it cold. So this is the best thing that they could do. Yeah. So I was going to say, so according to their site, they classify it as a farmhouse ale. And I taste. It means it was made in a farmhouse. Yeah, exactly. Cows and everything. Fermented on hay. The first time I ever had it. Oh, it's got a straw color. The first time I ever had it, it reminded me of a cream ale almost. When I think of farmhouse ales, it's not what I think of.
00:07:00
Speaker
But in the video also, by the way, the video is on New Glares' web page. If you guys want to know, it's the tale of the spotted cow. It's like 40 minutes long. It's also a DVD they sell. It was really good. It was a really good thing to watch. And it's a very simple, as Dan said, it's a very simple beer that's also very complex, like the grains and the hops that they use.
Spotted Cow's Appeal and Cultural Impact
00:07:23
Speaker
You said very expensive hops. He didn't give away what it was that he used. Smart.
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah, everybody that I know that drinks craft beer, or even who doesn't drink craft beer, just a beer person wanting to try something new.
00:07:36
Speaker
has had spotted cow and likes spotted cow. My wife likes spotted cow. And she's someone who's grown further away from beer as I've grown closer. It's funny how that worked out. Thanks, Laura. But yeah, what's your first experience with spotted cow or a new glaris, actually? Well, let's do new glaris and if it's spotted cow. I don't see. So I'm trying to think back.
00:08:04
Speaker
I think I was just at a party and some people from Wisconsin had come in and they brought, you know, new Galera stuff. And I think it kind of was a combo of like, Hey, try this. It was, which was spotted cow.
00:08:19
Speaker
And here's this brewery from Wisconsin. I'm like, what? Whatever. So I tried it, and it was like, holy cow. It's a solid beer. Holy cow. And it was like a party where you're drinking Miller Lite or domestic crap, domestic stuff. I almost said crap.
00:08:35
Speaker
But then I would say it was a combination of craft and crap. But anyways, domestic craft beer, which is a thing. It's just craft beer. Yeah. Yeah. So that was kind of my experience was somebody brought it and I tried it and I was like, well, this is solid. And then I'm trying to think the next one that I had,
00:08:58
Speaker
Uh, it was another, like I had, uh, I was dating somebody at the time that had lived near, like closer to Wisconsin border. And they have friends that would go there all the time and just kind of bring stuff back. And it might've been the first time, I think it was, I think it's called Blacktop. I think I talked about this before, but yeah, Blacktop was like the coffee IPA.
00:09:17
Speaker
Or the black IPA, I think is what it is, right? Oh, yeah. I think so. It was a black IPA, but it may have been... No, no, it was a black IPA. So I had that and I was like, oh man, that's tasty.
00:09:29
Speaker
And then I had made a trip to Wisconsin and I got into the thumbprint series And I there's there was like a double IPA and I can't remember the name of it now because I haven't seen it in a while But then I got into like all the you know Yeah, there actually I was when I was on their web page today looking at their our beer selection they
00:09:57
Speaker
I had a section where you could vote for your favorite beers, and I don't know where it's at, and I was looking through all these beers that I had no idea they had ever made. There was an Irish stout, a chocolate stout, a cherry stout, an Imperial Cezanne, which I vaguely remember, but I'd never tried it. But an Imperial Heffewise, in which I think maybe I tried with Mike sometime. Mike, you'll have to confirm that with me.
00:10:26
Speaker
But yeah, there's just so many beers. I remember...
00:10:30
Speaker
My first experience with New Glarus, I was living with some friends and I'm not going to, the friends I can say their names, but I'm not going to name the bar because I don't want anyone to get in trouble. But I went to, we lived above a bar. And when we went to go downstairs to hang out, they informed us that the name of this beer was the name of the bar, but beer. We said, okay, they're like, actually,
00:10:57
Speaker
spotted a cow and we drive up to Wisconsin and by kegs of it we just put it on tap and call it this beer which is the name of the bar. So we actually had access to it on tap below our apartment for a while while we lived there for about a year which was super cool but I'm pretty sure that was my first experience with
00:11:19
Speaker
spotted cow and then as far as the other beers go I want to say the second one that I ever tried was probably the Belgian Red
00:11:30
Speaker
or one of the other fruited beers, serendipity, or I forget what other ones they got. Then I started, anytime you go up to Wisconsin, I remember getting Scream, the triple IPA. I think it rains right? Screaming IPA or something like that? Scream is the triple IPA. That was the thumbprint one that I got into.
00:11:51
Speaker
That one's really good. And then we went to the Brewfest up at the Great Lakes Brewfest. Got to try Staghorn. Two women. Their Oktoberfest. All their beers. I've still yet to have a bad beer from New Glaris and I don't think I ever will.
00:12:11
Speaker
So don't try to prove me wrong. So it sounds like just perusing the website quick that they're the black cap that I love is no longer in production. Oh, it's under the beers we have known and loved section. Oh, boy. Yeah, there's a lot in that area. Yeah, unfortunately, more that's in more than that's in the other areas of like stuff we're currently making.
00:12:35
Speaker
Well, and I like that some of these other beers that are available now, I'm not mistaken again, I think like the Wisconsin Cherry.
00:12:45
Speaker
I don't think that was a year-round beer and they finally made a year-round beer or they graduated into a year. The Belgian Red. Yeah, the Wisconsin Belgian Red. That to me is like cherry Jolly Ranchers, like liquid cherry Jolly Ranchers. It's so good. It's one of my favorite beers and I'm really happy that it's
00:13:09
Speaker
in the 12 ounce format instead of those big 750 milliliter bottles, which is cool, you know, to share. But it's nice, you know, just to crack one of those. And I normally split those with somebody just because it's a sweet beer. And it really does taste like John Ranchers. I love it. But the cherry turd's good, too.
00:13:29
Speaker
Am I out of the cherry jar? I don't think so. Maybe. That's one thing I'm going to miss about the Great Lakes Brew Fest this year, is drinking all that new Glarus beer and coming back home with some new Glarus beer. Because I still got a coffee stout from this year in my refrigerator. Nice. Yeah. That was a fun fest. I was like, but I was in my head. I was thinking, I was like, well.
00:13:53
Speaker
We weren't going to get to pour this year anyway. So I'm like, oh, it's sad. It's all around sad. It is. We didn't get to pour last year either. We had our one year. One and done. It sucks. We were so close to just making it a regular thing for the first year. We were so close to just dominating that event every year. Oh, it was so good. Just getting bigger and better, better equipment, which I think we have a jockey box sitting around somewhere in a member's house.
00:14:25
Speaker
Yeah, so Spotted Cow is, you know, if you know someone who is maybe on the fence about craft beer or not trying, you know, not even craft beer, but trying new beer and you have the opportunity to introduce them to something new and something that is easy to drink, Spotted Cow to me has always been that type of beer. It's a good beer to introduce to someone who might not be. I agree.
00:14:47
Speaker
But anyway, I digress.
00:14:53
Speaker
very much into craft beer. But anyway. I agree 100%. Oh man, I'm so belchy. So our next beer up to bat is the two women lager.
00:15:06
Speaker
I don't think there's anything really written on the last one, but there's a whole description on the side of this one. There probably is something on the Spotted Cow. I'll grant it in case I need to read it. Is there? Yeah. Well, we didn't read it, so should we read it? Yeah. Okay. About this. I'll do Spotted Cow first, since that's what we just had.
00:15:24
Speaker
So, every job of Wisconsin's original farmhouse sale is artisan-brewed and bottled by the hard-working employee owners of New Glarus Brewing Company, right here in Little New Glarus, Wisconsin. A spotted cow adheres to the German purity law, using only four hand-selected and natural ingredients, yeast, hops, water, and malted barley. We allow yeast to remain in the bottle to enhance the fullness of flavor so it's naturally cloudy.
00:15:52
Speaker
Expect this ale to be fun, fruity, and satisfying. You know you're in Wisconsin when you see the Spotted Cow, only in Wisconsin, Daniel and Deborah Carey. Which, by the way, we should start cultivating the yeast from the bottle if we can. You will be mine. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yeah, so that was the Spotted Cow bottle label.
Exploring Two Women Lager and Craft Lagers
00:16:14
Speaker
So we're transitioning now into the two women lager, ladies.
00:16:20
Speaker
No, two women, not two ladies. I know what I said. I know that. So the thing about, anyways, so what's happening to this show? You got a lot of editing to do. So for this one, start the sentence again. We get in my reading voice.
00:16:47
Speaker
4,000 years before Christ, Sumerian women created the divine drink of beer. Viking women brewed in Norse society. European allies were so successful as cottage brewers they were taxed. How dare they? Artisanal women lost their domination of the daily ritual of brewing during the Industrial Revolution. Today's brewing trade is controlled by men. Jerks.
00:17:12
Speaker
The collaboration of two craft companies, both led by women, New Glarus Brewing, and Wireman Malting is unique. You hold the result to women. A classic country lager brewed with Wireman's floor malted, bohemian malt, and holler toe, mittlefrow tops. Attempting and graceful classic lager found only in Wisconsin. Daniel and Debra Carey.
00:17:47
Speaker
I remember when I tried this for the first time, I was not very much into loggers at that point.
00:17:58
Speaker
I drink craft beer now so I only drink IPAs and and stouts and that's it and and anything else that's not that it sucks yep because you know that's how a lot of us kind of started we got away from yellow fizzy beer and wanted to try something different when we found it we didn't want to go back to the loggers yeah now fucking love this beer yeah that was so I said yep like a couple times but anyways it was I was trying to interject but that is a big thing is like you associate a logger with
00:18:28
Speaker
you know, the traditional domestic big beer. And it's hard for me, it is hard to separate it. Like if I go somewhere and I'm looking for a craft beer and I see lager, like I traditionally will shy away from that. I will look for something different, you know, and I mean, like IPAs aren't different. But like if it's an IP I've never had or double IPA or triple IPA or like a stout, you know, I'll go that route. But
00:18:58
Speaker
I always forget that these craft loggers, as much as they're similar, they're completely different. Yeah, correct. I may have told this story in this show already, but I've had a conversation before about why would I buy craft loggers when I can get
00:19:20
Speaker
mass-produced loggers that I already enjoy over a cheaper price. Quantity over quality, unfortunately, is mainly where that goes. So it really takes, and maybe that's shitty of me, but I'm just being honest. I remember I had Bell's Logger of the Lakes, and I liked it. It was good. You can tell it was different. There's a hot bite to it, and then someone gave me some other mass-produced logger, and I was doing side by side, and I'm like, yeah, there's a difference,
00:19:51
Speaker
At the end of the day, I didn't really prefer one over the other, and I feel like lager is just kind of straightforward for me, the flavors that I get. Maybe that's my dumb palate, but there's other types of lager type beers that I really like, but just like a regular American lager.
00:20:10
Speaker
It doesn't really matter but this this one in particular And I'm trying to think who oh, you know any I've had some loggers recently from Metropolitan and dovetail which not American loggers dovetail obviously, but Those types of loggers. I really like those out those while I will seek out as well as this but you know, give me some highlight, baby
00:20:35
Speaker
Well, and that's that's a big thing, though, is like if you're going to do a lager, you have to do it well. Yeah. And they have done it well. Yeah, there's there's no there's no like skunky after taste in my mouth from drinking. No, and it's not it's not even it's not bitter. It's not it's not overly sweet.
00:20:56
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it's kind of a nice balance of, you know, getting that kind of multi flavor and a hint of sweetness and the fruitiness from the yeast and everything. It's really nice. I could drink this.
00:21:13
Speaker
A lot. Yeah, and if this was regularly available in Chicago, sorry, I feel like I've cut you off 20 times in a row now. If this was readily available in Chicago, I live just a little bit closer to Wisconsin, even though I know we just said in our 15 minutes. I almost, almost prefer this overspotted cow. Even after my giant rant of how much I don't want to pay for craft loggers. No, if I had a choice, I would, this overspotted cow. Yeah.
00:21:42
Speaker
just because to me it's a little more full bodied. Yes, exactly. And I feel like, so with Spotted Cow, like don't get me wrong, I feel like I could just drink that all day. Like if it was a hot day, I get to there, I could just drink Spotted Cow all day.
00:21:59
Speaker
Spotted cows like Simon Cowell. I don't want to say I'll feel like crap at the end of the day, but I drink a crap ton of beer and it's just because I wanted to drink it. This I can drink and continually enjoy. Yeah, I agree. And I think that with, I'm looking it up right now, which maybe, do they put their ABBs in their bottle? I don't think they do.
00:22:29
Speaker
Nope, I found it. Uh, let's see. Yeah. It's a pale lager. It's 5% ABV. So it's really quite, I mean, it's, it's not, it's not crazy. I am sorry. I'm looking at all my friends that have checked it in and everybody's really giving it a high praise. Yeah. A pale lager is something I haven't tried to do yet. I tried to, you know, do American light lager. Um, Mike's done his lager, which is very tasty. I think it ended up being more of a, ooh,
00:22:56
Speaker
I won't break this chair, I promise. I think Mike ended up just doing, not a light lager, but a standard American lager. But at 5%, so it's a little higher than your standard American lager that you'd be drinking, but I agree with you. There is a nice body to it. Hot day, ice cold, slamming these all day long. I could do that with spotty cow, but I think it would feel much more full.
00:23:22
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I feel like I would enjoy this and drink less of it. Like I would, you know, drink it longer, like sip it longer versus Spotted Cow. I feel like I can just kick those back. Ah, interesting. The mouthfeel on Spotted Cow is not as heavy. Yeah.
00:23:39
Speaker
It goes down a lot easier, I would say. And again, it's, we're talking, it's very, a very minuscule difference, but I feel like with Spotted Cow, like I could just throw that back. There's more, you know, there's more floralness and it's not even a lot, but there's, I get a lot more floralness in the, in the taste of this. Even in the, that slows me down. Give me aroma. But slow me down just a little bit. I could see that.
00:24:06
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I feel like for me, I'd be... Now I wish I would have saved some spot of the cow. Next time, we gotta remember if we ever... I can open another one. But we still got some beer to drink. I mean, there are two completely different types of styles of beer. It's just...
00:24:22
Speaker
Obviously we're you and I are comparing them because they're both easy to drink and where would you end up? You know, I I think I don't know We'll do a drinking contest one day between you and I of which how many we're gonna knock back in one sitting and who feels more Full and bloated at the end remember one was also made in a farm
00:24:43
Speaker
Mm, you're right. Ooh, interesting. This one doesn't have the hay and cowtapes to it. But the color is beautiful, just like straw. And obviously with this one being a lager, it's nice and clear. Looking at it, I can see all the way to the little bit of head that's left on it. Now, is this unfiltered? No. Spotted cow is unfiltered. Correct. Because I was like, this one's super clear.
00:25:12
Speaker
For a craft beer, being this clear is pretty awesome. Yeah, I've come across a lot of those lately. And maybe I'm just noticing it more because of all the hazy beers that I buy, like those big orange juice looking double dry hot beers, which I love. But some of the other ones that I bought recently, I'm like. Cemented with flour. Ooh, the old Clark Fettridge move. Give me your secret again. Some of these other beers,
00:25:40
Speaker
Double IPA that I got from 18th Street King Reaper, I think is what it's called. That one is pretty clear from what I remember. And same thing with the Your Wishes Granted from Hot Butcher. That is also pretty clear. So I think I'm noticing clear beers looking a little bit more clear, perspective-wise, because of all the hazy beers I drink. I can see that. Well, Brandon, I already know. I'm not going to ask. I think it's time to take a break.
00:26:09
Speaker
Am I right? How close am I? How close am I? How close am I this time? I don't even know what's gonna play, but we're right back.
00:26:53
Speaker
Chugga, belt, aye, brat, whoop, whoop, whoop, aye, that's right!
00:27:32
Speaker
you can really smell the apple on this yeah it's kind of smells like apple juice not in a off aroma or off flavor no to the point where like if somebody gave this to me and told me it was a cider I wouldn't I think yeah like that's not it's not dry like a cider though no
00:27:57
Speaker
No, it's... The body to it's sweet. Juicy, almost like, it's almost got like an IPA mouthfeel, but like... Sure, I can see that. And it's unfiltered.
00:28:12
Speaker
And we're back with another episode that is continuing from the break. And if you're just joining us on the second half,
00:28:29
Speaker
Welcome. You might want to go back and listen to the first half because we've been talking about new Glarus beers. We started with Spotted Cow and two women's lager and Brandon, what have we made our way to? We are now into the Berliner Appful. I want you to tell the folks what that's all about. Like I would love to clone this fucking like to do this would be awesome.
00:28:53
Speaker
But anyways, if we're going to reading the description of the bottle. Yeah, by the way, this will be not a quick conversation on this beer, but I'm almost done with what I poured. Yeah, well, I mean. I should have brought two bottles. So yeah, so the previous two bottles we had, we had one each. And then this bottle we split. So reading the bottle, some people paint, some sing. Others write, I brew Daniel Carey.
00:29:23
Speaker
A few times a year we cut Dan loose to brew whatever he chooses. Always handcrafted. The bottle you hold is brewed for the adventurous soul. This is a very limited edition and we make no promises to ever brew this style again.
00:29:47
Speaker
Inspired by Berliner, Berliner fairies. Dan source, Wisconsin, fresh apples from the Kickapoo Valley. Kickapoo. He crushed the 2018 harvest and nurtured a spontaneous fermentation for one year to create this enchanted Berliner apple. Jesus. Sparkling bubbles, prance with effervescent notes of green apples and pear. Yeah.
00:30:10
Speaker
That's right. That is 100% accurate. That is like the description. This is a delicate creation to delight the senses. A brewer's alchemy of barley and apples magically creates the palace golden beer imaginable to sparkle as sunlight dances.
Tasting Notes: Berliner Apfel and Serendipity
00:30:27
Speaker
Thank you for supporting the arts.
00:30:30
Speaker
Daniel and Debra Craig. Daniel and Debra Craig. Daniel and Debra Craig.
00:30:44
Speaker
Only in Wisconsin. It doesn't say that, though. Son of a bitch. This bottle does not say only in Wisconsin. Well, I'm going to look for that at Jewel when I go shopping. Yeah, this one I had never had before. Jeff's daughter, Christina, brought some of these back a couple weeks ago. And she just brought me some again today, which is very awesome. So Brandon, just know that there's another bottle with your name on it, buddy. Sweet.
00:31:11
Speaker
This is delicious. Yeah. And speaking of which, I still have that Dino Smores coffee for us. Oh, yeah. I haven't forgotten. But yeah, this beer, when I, so I tried two beers with her, Nectar and this one, they both have this apple-y type flavor. This one clearly, with it being an apple beer, basically, it's, man, it's, the description really sums it up. Like the apple, the pear, and like you were saying,
00:31:41
Speaker
It's kind of got like an IPA mouthfeel to it. And they said sparkling bubbles, but I'm gonna go back in here real quick. A little bit. Yeah, and I think maybe that's... See, that's weird. Like you were saying, when you said IPA mouthfeel, I think I knew what you meant. There was like a good body to it. But those little bubbles now that I'm trying it, it's...
00:32:05
Speaker
It's still kind of there. I mean, that's because the juice, like from the apples in there, but I mean, it just tastes like apple and pear. Yeah. That's what I love about New Glares is the New Glares fruit beers. All of them are like what they say they are. It is like straight up, if you're expecting fruit, you are going to get fruit.
00:32:29
Speaker
Every single one of them they're just they're just so good and they're really refreshing and I feel like I get more pear than anything Yeah, I get the apple like it's the first like kind of hit and then it's just straight pear like the rest Yeah, it's like, you know in the smell I smell apple the first taste is apple then there's the pear that's kind of like like full taste but now the aftertaste in my mouth is like
00:32:54
Speaker
after you've eaten a Granny Smith apple, like a green apple, it's just kind of lingering in my mouth right now. No, I completely agree. Now, let's see. Let's go to my untapped app.
00:33:06
Speaker
double check this as well. Not double check, but actually look at it because I'm not sure what the ABV on this is. I'm always surprised when I try these beers from them that like, oh, that's, that's it. Or, wow, that's a lot. Yeah. Berliner Apfel. Yeah, this is 4.2%. Apparently I've never checked this in. Interesting. But Brandon, you have three seconds to go. I just did. Yeah, this is, uh,
00:33:31
Speaker
It's still good and it is available right now. I know that much because I was able to get some and if I get a chance to go up to Wisconsin or decide to take a trip up to Wisconsin, I think I'm going to grab some more of these to hold on to.
00:33:47
Speaker
Nectar, which I didn't bring, which you and I can share that another time as well. I'm just holding onto a whole bunch of beers for you right now in the side door of my beer fridge. Good. It's pretty cool. Welcome to my house. Yeah, that one is also equally as good. It has an apple taste to it, but that one also has some honey. I think it's orange blossom honey or something like that.
00:34:09
Speaker
That sweetness from honey isn't there, but we're not talking about that. We're talking about this Apfel Berliner Weiss, or Berliner Apfel. So, man, yeah, it would be nice to figure out a way to brew something like this, to have that spontaneous fermentation from the apples for a year, man. Berliners take a long time to do anyway. Yeah, and I think that's probably the key, is juicing the apples and doing this whole thing.
00:34:38
Speaker
getting that spontaneous fermentation off of that yeah I'd be curious to know like if that fermentation then played a part into like they brewed a base beer toss that in there and like yeah what exactly happened when why'd you do it this way
00:34:59
Speaker
Why are you so good like this? I think like my wife would love this like totally. Yeah, I've got I've got Five of these left I think now so they come in four packs just like the serendipity the rhubarb the scream IPA the
00:35:21
Speaker
Wisconsin Belgian Cherry, all those fun beers that they make. And your wife likes cider, so. Yeah. I believe she took a sip of this one as well, and she really liked it. She thought it was really good. So if we can just figure that out, or if we can just go up there and be like, hey, can you show us how you did this? That'd be really cool. How many apples do we need for a five gallon batch? Yeah. And by the way, if you have not been up there,
00:35:45
Speaker
and I think they've won awards for this like being like one of the most sanitary breweries and I've you know I've gone in there and just like walk through and just how clean it is everything like the tour areas like you know you walk through you go to see the brewery and it's just like it's a production that is like set in stone and they are like
00:36:06
Speaker
There isn't shit all over the place. It's like they know what they're doing and they're doing it well. Yeah. Doing it, doing it, doing it. Yeah. That was also part of that documentary. He talked about like the sanitary clean, uh, Dan when he was a kid, when he would go on road trips with his family and they'd stop at breweries and he was just impressed by that. He's a science and engineering guy. Um, so that's his, his mind frame. Uh, so all that stuff is, is very important to them.
00:36:34
Speaker
Yeah, man, it's a great beer. I'm glad that you got a chance to have this. I'm glad I got a chance to try it. Thanks to Jeff's daughter, Christina. Totally delicious. Yeah. That's a good one. And at 4.2%, I mean, that is a beer I can drink on its own. Normally the fruited beers, I'm like, nah, I don't really want a whole lot except for my fruited sour because it's only 2%.
00:36:54
Speaker
This and the Belgian cherry this this one is when I can have one or two of them before I'm like, okay I'm don't need a trigger. Yeah, you know I was gonna say like if I was ranking them like as a like flavor profile wise This is probably my favorite so far. Yeah, but like drinkability
00:37:12
Speaker
I'm kind of in the same camp. Like after about two of these. I don't know if I want to know. It's the sweetness gets to you. Yeah. It would be a lot after a while. I think, what was it, like five episodes ago? We said we were going to do a ranking of up to 212 or something. This is the third time I'm mentioning it. Maybe one day we'll remember it. But this isn't a show about ranking. It's more just about the beers themselves and drinking.
00:37:40
Speaker
And I was talking about it. And you listening. Thanks for listening, everybody. We really do appreciate it. And Brandon, thank you for revamping and actually creating the maltinghour.com now instead of it just going to SoundCloud. I finally checked it out on an actual computer instead of on my phone. And it was way more user friendly, only because we're still transitioning and figuring that out. Actually, why don't you start with the poor there? He just, I'll read the bottle on this one. I haven't had this
00:38:10
Speaker
beer in a while. This one, oh man, that is nice looking. This one, last time I had it, friends of ours brought it over for our housewarming and it was already aged for a couple years and then I sat on it for at least two more years. So I think it was like a four or five year bottle of Serendipity from New Glarus. It's the Happy Accident Fruit Ale.
00:38:38
Speaker
So here we go. Wow, this is a lot more to read. I should have given this one to you. Here we go. It starts off with the same thing. Some people paint. Some sing. Others write. I brew. Daniel Craig. James Bond. I mean Daniel Carey. New glares.
00:38:58
Speaker
Ah, same thing, a few times a year. Let's get down to the bottom. Here we go. Severe drought, we shared the farmer's horror as Wisconsin's cherry crop failed. Dan bought what cherries he could. The apple crop farmer's... Man, I need glasses, I think. Faired better. Thank you. Oh, are you reading the same thing? Yep. Okay, thanks. Faired better.
00:39:24
Speaker
Then joy. Okay. Maybe you should just read it. Wisconsin cranberry harvest. What will Dan brew with apples, cranberries and cherries? Oh my you hold happy accident of Wisconsin's favorite fruit age in an, in an, in Oak with an almost magical wild fermentation. Serendipity is a wondrous celebration that sparkles your senses and dances across your palette.
00:39:51
Speaker
A kaleidoscope of flavor discovered by accident in a sour ale. OK. I'm getting old. My eyes are not what they used to be for very small letters that are far away. Man, I was not very nice about my first check-in about this beer. Really? Interesting. Let's see, when did I check this in? Ooh, six years ago, October 1, 2014.
00:40:19
Speaker
I said reminds me of Welch's sparkling grape juice. And I gave it a 2.5. What a dick. Now it's time to rectify that shit. Kind of smells like Welch's sparkling grape. I don't mean that in a negative. Actually it doesn't. I smell cherries. Yeah.
00:40:46
Speaker
Whoa. That tastes more cherry than anything. Yep. It reminds me of the cherry red. They're Belgian cherry red. Yeah, so it is apples, cranberries, and cherries. But yeah, man, those cherries just power through. Wow. I don't remember it tasting like this. And I am going to read. Well, I'm not going to change that check-in. But checking it in this time. Yeah. Gosh, hold on.
00:41:16
Speaker
This is the grossest part of the episode of the shows. Listen to a sip. Yeah, and swish around in our mouths and it's all... It's cherry, Jolly Rancher, cranberry. I don't get apple. I do get cranberry in the end, but that cherry, Jolly Rancher, like I was talking about from the Wisconsin Belgian Red, is it called Wisconsin Belgian Red or just the Belgian Red?
00:41:45
Speaker
Well, I think it says Belgian Red. No, it's Wisconsin Belgian Red. OK, that's what I thought. I was going to check my untapped app and see what I had checked it in. Yeah, Wisconsin Belgian Red, which I think I gave. No, it's got a bottle somewhere. Yeah, man, I checked this. The first time I had that was July 18, 2014. So, whoa, almost six years to the day. It was the last time I had the cherry red.
00:42:10
Speaker
Should've had it. And the picture is me drinking it on Vito's backyard. Yeah, this does not, I don't remember it tasting like this, and I am very happy with the way this tastes. There's a lot of cherry, a bit of cranberry, maybe underlying apple somewhere in there. I'm gonna go back in.
00:42:38
Speaker
I mean, I think cherry and cranberry are so dominant flavors. Yeah. Maybe the sweetness from apples, I guess? Probably. I'm thinking of, or maybe we can't taste the apple so well because we had the apple. Well, I'm saying cranberries and cherries can be tart. Yeah. So the sweetness I think we're getting is from apple. I feel a little burn in my chest that I get sometimes from cranberry juice from years of not taking care of acid reflux and drinking double IPAs for three years straight.
00:43:08
Speaker
Yeah, that is... I love this. Man, I'm happy. Ooh, we should have... Man, all this mixing of beers and stuff. We could have taken some of that... Boner and Affel with the serendipity, mixed a little of that together.
00:43:22
Speaker
Well, we know what we're doing next time. Next time. There's always a next time. There's always another after the final pour. Hey, where we take all the new glorious beers and mix it into one glass and see who pukes first. None of us. It would be a delicious, delicious treat. It's about the 45 minute mark. Perfect. That's the 45 minute burp. So Brandon.
00:43:49
Speaker
We basically discussed, one of the things I also wanted to, those things mentioned on one of the bottles is that they're focused at Nuglaris with it being employee owned. And they were offered numerous times to be bought out by AB and Bev. And please, if you get the chance, watch the Tail of Spotted Cow on YouTube or on their website or buy the DVD for 15 bucks. It is pretty interesting. They got offered like two or three times by Ann Heiserbush to be bought out. And she basically just like,
00:44:20
Speaker
She brought them to the tour and everything, and then showed them the door, kicked their butts out, and went back to work. Because where they come from, they didn't have money, and they started this. And so they really are employee-focused, and that's an employee-owned company. And they're doing really good things. And they even got, I think it was 1.6 or $1.7 million for being so crazy, energy efficient.
00:44:49
Speaker
which is amazing. So not only are they providing for, you know, having this business where they're providing for themselves and taking care of their employees, they compare it to like an upside down pyramid, you know, where at the top is actually the bottom. So the owners are at the bottom.
00:45:04
Speaker
and you work your way up to the top where, you know, that's where all your employees are. You take care of your employees, you end up with a great product and people who are willing to put in that extra time, people who actually care about what they're doing. And at the end of the day, when you're making beer and you got people who care about you, well you pretty much hit the jackpot as far as a career goes, so.
00:45:23
Speaker
That has always been one of the things I've also really enjoyed about New Glares. So how do we go work for New Glares? There's a thing online where I think we can apply. So we can quit this stupid podcast that we do. Just joking. I love this podcast. We keep doing it. We could just apply, man. Let's see what happens. All right. But yeah, any final impressions on either New Glares or the beers or all of it? So just in New Glares in general, the experience
00:45:49
Speaker
of going there is pretty awesome. And I know they have said, despite Wisconsin standards at this point, they're locked down. I don't think they're doing tours right now. They're not. They're just focusing on producing amazing beer, and they do that well.
00:46:07
Speaker
Um, but when things get better and open up and they loosen their restrictions, like it is totally a place you need to check out. Cause it looks, you drive up there, it looks like a castle, like it's like driving up to a castle and the town itself is pretty awesome.
00:46:24
Speaker
The one time I, you know, I had gone to the, I think I've been there like twice. Um, but the one time I stayed in the town for awhile, I went and I was like, Oh, let's hit some of the local bars. We, I did a little bar hop. Did they have any new glare spears on? Every bar, it was like only new glares. Um, but the other thing is everything, they all have beer to go to. Like you sit at the bar and there's like a rack behind you of just like six packs that you can just pick up and go. That's awesome. Like.
00:46:54
Speaker
The experience there is just phenomenal and I'd gone for The beer bacon and cheese festival, I think that's what it is I've gone there for that one. You and I were really considering going this year. Yeah, and it was a it's an amazing fest There's hotels out there that are
00:47:16
Speaker
kind of our throwbacks, the old Swiss days. I stayed at one before and they do all like, like you stay at the hotel, you can add on like you get the buffet every night and they do just like this spread of like just Swiss style food. I'm so sad. I'm so awesome. And then just the scenery is beautiful. And I think what the last time I was there, Nucleus had two locations and it was their original location, which is like a tiny like,
00:47:45
Speaker
looks like a garage almost like a really big garage with some add-ons in a parking lot and then their new place which is just like you know
00:47:58
Speaker
It's almost, I don't want to say a mountain top, but you drive up a little bit and then it's like just this huge spread up there and it's, it's pretty awesome. And it's definitely worth a visit. So that's my experience with New Glarus. Um, they provide an overall like great experience. You know, if you go there, um, and their beer you take away is just flipping awesome, man.
00:48:20
Speaker
Yeah. Like we said earlier about going to the Great Lakes Brew Fest, I looked forward to going up there because I would always bring back beer. Even though we drank a bunch of beer and then normally we'd go and drink more beer after the fest and then wake up and regret nothing. But on our way back, I'd always grab a bunch of beer and cheese to bring back home. And I'm sad. I'm not going to
00:48:44
Speaker
be able to go to that fest this year, but I think I am gonna make the trip up there because that's where I can get the October fest, and I think Staghorn comes out around that time, and all the other beers that they release in the fall is, to me, that fest was like the end of summer for me. You know, like- Well, no, that beer fest was, the beer, bacon, whatever fest happens in June every year. Yeah, so that being like the beginning, that would've been great to do, do that, and then go to Great Lakes beer fest, Great Lakes beer fest. Great Lakes beer fest, yep. That was always the end of summer for me.
00:49:14
Speaker
So I think I'll make my way back up there and grab some beer. I've been talking about wanting to go to New Glares for a while. Mike, who's finally on an episode, I'm an everyone fan. Thanks, Mike. He got engaged there. So New Glares has a, even though they do not distribute here in Chicago, most people that I know have a very close relationship with that beer and the brand.
00:49:37
Speaker
And we all look forward to drinking it when we have it. And I will say this, I have aged the Wisconsin, Belgian, cherry, and serendipity. They taste great. It does not, I mean, it's not a beer to be aged, I guess, but I kind of treated it like wine, but every time, I mean, talking like, I think I said like five years, it was for the serendipity. And then that was the one that tasted like Welch's grape juice, by the way. I didn't check that one in, but the, uh,
00:50:05
Speaker
Belgian cherries I've held on to for a couple years. You still have a big format bottle. Now they're in the 12 ounces. I think Mike even has some 12 ounce for a couple years ago. So yeah, new glares. Keep doing what you guys do. You rule. We love you. We can't wait for Brandon and I can come up there together, hold hands, and skip through the brewery. And maybe do an episode up there. That would be great. I would absolutely love that. Speaking of which,
00:50:32
Speaker
There's a couple of breweries in mind that we're trying to get in touch with that we'll be doing. So the Holes Logger episode was so much fun that we started reaching out to some other breweries. And I just expected a couple more of those in the way sooner than later. Totally. I think we're going to forego the Christmas in July because, well, by the time this episode's done, July is going to be ending. Yep. So we'll save Christmas for Christmas this year. Yep. Well, you got anything else to say, buddy?
00:51:00
Speaker
Yeah, thanks everyone for listening. We definitely appreciate it. And again, I'm just going to push, if you get a chance when New Glarus reopens, that's the place to go, man. If you live in the city, I know a lot of our listeners are in the city, but if you get a chance, man, and you haven't been there,
00:51:39
Speaker
Check it out.
00:51:41
Speaker
to women in there and then, you know, last time I got the coffee stout in there as well. And Moonman. Ooh, didn't even touch on Moonman. One of the greatest pale ales ever made. I put it up there with Sierra Nevada's pale ale. So you know what, like, that was available and I passed on that.
00:52:00
Speaker
I saved those for my last beers, except for the coffee stout that I left in the mix bag. No, I take that back. They were the first beers that I drank because I love them so much. It's like it's a pale ale. It's great. Well, Brandon, I love you, buddy. Love you too, Tony. Always a good time. I love doing this show with you. And thank you to everybody who listens and continues to support us. We appreciate it. And we're going to continue to keep bringing you some sweet, sweet shows. Yeah.
00:52:26
Speaker
That's it. That's all we can offer you right now. Maybe one day those stickers and coasters we have will be available. We'll see. We're still working on that.
00:52:33
Speaker
Or just hit us up. If you're nice enough, we'll send this up to you. That's true. And if you have any recommendations for breweries, beers, shows, ideas, please email us at themaltinghour at gmail.com. Or hit us up on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all the malting hour at the malting hour. We're everywhere, man. We are the malting hour. That is us. So that's it. Till next time. Bye, guys.