The Driftless Area and New Glarus-Wisconsin

Well this past weekend we took an impromptu trip up into our neighbor to the north-Wisconsin. The plan was simple, get out of the city for a few days, enjoy some wilderness (journal writing for Euni, and fly fishing the driftless area for myself), and don't plan much more than 1/2 day in advance..

If your unfamiliar with the driftless area of SE Wisconsin I encourage you to take a quick look at this description on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driftless_area . For a self-proclaimed "outdoorsy" couple this area is a refreshing break from Chicago, and a great excuse to get out and go exploring.

So after a slow start on Saturday morning we were off heading towards Madison and then east to Dodgeville where I had planned on exploring Otter Creek. On the way to our destination we had noticed that our Wisconsin guide book had not only great maps of the area creeks and rivers but also included points of interest such as breweries! This revelation came almost at the same instant as Euni was looking at the list of local breweries and I was passing a sign that said "20 miles to New Glarus", I quickly exclaimed that this was a brewery that I had heard much about, and Euni quickly said "that's it, we're staying there tonight, it's also little Swiss!".

So with our lodgings figured out for the evening (well the unicorporated township where our lodgings would likely be anyway). We went into exploring some of the driftless area alongside Otter Creek, which is approx an 8 mile long stretch running North-South. After 3 hours of attempting to trick German Browns with all the tricks I had up my sleeve, and chatting with a kindly older and much wiser Fly Fisherman by the name of Bill (who I will be emailing back and forth with) I sat down and enjoyed a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale while talking with Euni and considering just how lucky of a guy I am, I ended up putting on the chest waders and giving those Trout another hours worth of effort......well somewhere in there the sun started to set so we packed up and set our destination to New Glarus, WI (AKA "Little Switzerland").

So 20 miles later we passed a sign stating that we were welcome here and shortly after the New Glarus Brewery off to our left..which at this point had become a major point of interest for me on this trip. Pulling into our hotel-the Chalet Landhaus (http://www.chaletlandhaus.com/) we could not help but to notice that this place had a "good feel" to it, I don't know how to explain it past the obvious that is we witnessed no crimes heading it of course, but on the same token this place simply did not feel like a tourist trap, instead it felt very authentic and welcome..which was punctuated at every turn by the towns residents.

After a amazing meal at the hotels restaurant (this hotel actually sends their chefs off to Switzerland to train for a year..which is just cool, and I think Euni and I really appreciate when compared to the trek of Sushi Chefs we know). I happily went next door and picked up a six pack of New Glavus brew, the "Fat Squirrel Ale" which is a Brown Ale of extreme body. My initial thought of this brew was that it was the IPA of Brown Ales, by that I mean the malt bill was nicely balanced , but huge, and a selection of milder hops had rounded it off with a nice flavor..simply amazing..and this is coming from a guy was under the impression that Brown Ales were boring!

Once back to our room I commenced planning out the next days plan of attack on the local streams, which I'll save you the details of, but in the off-chance your interested I went north to Mt. Vernon Creek and did some exploring while Euni chilled back at our hotel and checking out the local shops and enjoying even more good nature from the local folks.

Once returning after a 3 hour waist deep hike through the Mt. Vernon creek system I quickly checked in with Euni, showered, and we were off like a herd of turtles to the New Glarus Brewery for our "self guided audio tour", and brew tasting! Well the tour was fascinating in terms of how the business was started and the background of the founders Dan and Deborah, which can be found here: http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/brewmaster.html , and the tasting okay with the Coffee Stout, "Stone Soup" (Abbey Style Ale), and their Lager..just okay due to that it was served at the cash register of the gift shop by a under age girl amongst other customers :) but hey this just adds to the experience!

So upon returning to Chicago 1.75 days later we now have an assortment of brews to taste as well as memories to keep forever. I'll be sure to post some reviews of the brews we have on hand now, which are (very thankful for the mix and match 6 pack right about now!)

-Belgium Quad (cant wait!)

-IPA
-Enigma (special brew masters choice), this brew is a "Sour Brown Ale" and after just finishing one I can tell you this may be one of my favorite brews of all time..more to come later!

-Rye Bock (labeled: "Uff-Dah!")

-Coffee Stout

Well that's about all I have for now. My apologies for the loose structure of this entry, but I would greatly appreciate any feedback those of you reading (email or comments) could give me!