FuzzyBrew

Yummy

Back in October, Carrie and I flew up to Wisconsin for a vacation weekend that included a Badgers game with friends a bunch of drinkin’.

Carrie’s folks picked us up from the airport in Milwaukee, and we headed immediately to The Horny Goat Brewing Company for lunch. I had an excellent burger and a couple Hopped Up ‘N Horny, which was delicious.

Horny Goat is brewed and bottled in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, but they’ve expanded and opened the Milwaukee location earlier this year. It’s right on the Milwaukee River, and most of its seating is outside on a deck. There’s a covered and heated patio, and they plan to add an additional tent to protect patrons from the elements. This is important since Wisconsin is cold 10 months out of the year and there’s not a lot of seating indoors. There’s also a massive beach volleyball court for those two warm months of July and August.

Indoors is nice — it’s a narrow, two story building with lots of exposed brick and it reminded me of an old loft apartment I once rented.

Horny Goat Brewery equipment

They hadn’t yet begun brewing on the premises, though most of the equipment was in place. I’m looking forward to visiting again next time we’re in Wisconsin. I’ll definitely be bringing some bottles back, too.

We spent the next coupla days in Madison, bar-hopping Friday night and tailgating Saturday before the game.

We had some excellent brews Friday night.

Madison is a great beer town. We bounced from bar to bar, most of whose names escape me, and there were always good selections and decent prices.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale at our first stop, which put me right as rain for the rest of the evening.

We ended the night at The Old Fashioned Tavern & Restaurant, which was serving Tyranena Brewing Company’s Bitter Woman IPA in pitchers for $9.

It’s safe to say more than a few of these were consumed.

The next day we tailgated in some parking lot next to the cop shop and did a little damage with a different kind of beer.

We’ll be headed back to the great white north this Christmas and you can be sure I’ll be hauling as much Wisconsin beer back to Memphis as will fit.

More details are emerging about plans by D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc., the nation’s oldest beer maker, to buy a former Coors brewery in Memphis.

Yuengling wants to acquire the 1.3 million-square-foot facility at 5151 E. Raines owned and operated by Hardy Bottling Co., officials said last week.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal, quoting owner Dick Yuengling Jr., reported that the purchase price is in “the $20 million range” and the Pennsylvania-based company would make additional investments in machinery.

The purchase could more than double the company’s overall capacity and allow it to expand distribution into states beyond its 13-state eastern U.S. footprint, the Journal reported.

If this deal goes through, we are going to grow very slowly and methodically,” Yuengling told the paper. “We are around for 181 years and we’re in no hurry.”

The Memphis facility would be Yuengling’s fourth brewery and its largest.

According to The Commercial Appeal, the Memphis brewery was opened in 1971 by the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. In 1982, the facility changed hands when Stroh Brewery Inc. acquired Schlitz. Then in 1990, Coors bought the Memphis plant.

Carolyn Hardy and a silent partner bought the brewery in 2006, but instead of brewing beer, Hardy Bottling Co. distributed Coors products and packaged nonalcoholic drinks such as Arizona Iced Tea.