I went to Wisconsin last weekend with the primary objective of running a 50 mile ultramarathon which was as successful as I could have hoped for and then spent the rest of the weekend eating and drinking as much local beer and food as I could fit in my fat mouth. From the food side of the fence I got to enjoy some great frozen custard, fried cheese curds, a lot of mediocre but passable pizza and bratwurst. All of which was almost entirely guilt free because I spent 9 hours and 41 minutes running through the trail of Kettle Moraine State Forest. If there was ever a reason to run 50 miles it's so you can eat and drink whatever you want.
More importantly for this post, on top of eating way too much calorie dense food I also had a chance to drink some great beers while I was there. From a truly local perspective I got to drink a few beers from New Glarus including their flagship farmhouse ale Spotted Cow and the Moon Man pale ale. Spotted Cow is by no means the best beer on the planet but it's a really good one and a beer that I would be happy drinking by the six-pack on a regular basis. I also had a chance to visit the 3 Sheeps Brewing taproom while I was staying in Sheboygan. I was able to taste almost 10 different beers while I was there but most notably the gose, apricot saison and rye nitro stout were all delicious. They also bottle their beers so if you're in the general area and see them I would put a strong recommendation on giving them a try.
I was also fortunate enough to drink some beers from the region that were a pleasant surprise to get my hands on without much of an effort. The sports bar we stopped at to grab lunch and watch some football on Sunday afternoon happened to have fresh cans of Surly Brewing's Todd the Axe Man. I had a bit of a beer nerd moment when I saw it on the menu and almost fell off my seat, this beer lived up the hype. Next and despite knowing it wasn't fresh, I still picked up a four-pack of Pseudo Sue from Toppling Goliath at the liquor store near our hotel. It was more malty than hoppy but it was cheap so I figured why not. One day I'll get a chance try the beer that made Citra hops famous when it's at its peak drinkability but I happily settled for it's malty cousin. Lastly at our final stop before going to the airport we grabbed sausages at The Vangaurd where a few tap lines were occupied by Three Floyds. It wasn't my first time trying Alpha King but I couldn't say no to that and also drank the Yum Yum pale ale which was just a fine beer but definitely better than everything else they had on tap.
This trip was more than just a food and beer adventure but I can't say we didn't hit a lot of good stops along the way. The Midwest is great place to drink beer but unless I'm hours from running an ultramarathon I'm probably good to go another 10 years without eating another fried cheese curds.
