Monday, November 12, 2012

Bottoms Up Pilgrimage Update


Travalon and I continue our pilgrimage to visit every tavern and brewery featured in Bottoms Up. (There will be a TV show based on the book showing tonight at 8:00 on PBS.) Friday we went to the Cardinal Bar and had a lovely chat with the couple next to us and the two bartenders. The Cardinal used to be open on Sundays with live Latin jazz, but just a month ago this stopped because they were having to pay the band more than they took in. The Cardinal spent Prohibition posing as a restaurant.

Then Saturday we took a road trip out to Potosi to their historic brewery. Potosi is a very pretty town, and the beer is wonderful there, but to our surprise two people came in and one ordered a Bud Light while the other ordered a Miller Light. What?? There is a History of Beer museum located in the brewery complex, and we enjoyed looking at century-old memorabilia and watching decades-old TV ads. Then we drove to Platteville to another historic tavern with jars full of candy behind the lovely wooden bar, adding to the old-fashioned feel. We ended the night at Dot’s Tavern in the town of Bosco, down in the basement of a house. The jukebox had lots of Elvis and Johnny Cash on it, and the bartenders and regulars were highly entertaining. The author of Bottoms Up is right – every tavern in this book is a pleasure to visit!

Famous Hat

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