Madison Craft Beer Week Begins!

I hope my readers had a good weekend. This was the kickoff weekend for Madison Craft Beer Week, so Travalon and I had an excellent time. After cleaning on Friday morning, we went to Rock Hound Brewery for their Beer Lunch: a $3 pint of one of their beers with any entrée. We both chose the macaroni and cheese, which was excellent. (It has beer in it!) We went downtown and walked up to the Square to have beer bread pudding at the Old Fashioned, then we met OK Cap at Tex Tubb’s Taco Palace. They had an hour wait, so we walked a few doors down to Barley Pop and had some sours, and when we got seated at Tex Tubb’s, the food was worth the wait! I had shrimp tacos and a Star Wars-themed beer, Darth something, because it was May the Fourth (as in, “May the Fourth be with you”).

Saturday Travalon and I hiked behind Madison Country Day School, then I had a two-hour gig at the general store in Spring Green and got $3 in tips. Of course it was such a beautiful day, who was going to come in and listen to us? We had a tiny audience: a couple here, another person there, but at least every time one left, someone else came to replace them. Then Travalon and I went to Mr. Brews for their Kentucky Derby party and had Kentucky bourbon barrel-aged beer as we watched the Derby. The horse who was favored to win did come in first – how boring. OK Cap joined us, then we went to the Parched Eagle for their third anniversary party with a Mexican-themed beer release, so that took care of the Cinco de Mayo part of the day for us. We had some dinner at Athens Gyros, then we went to the Malt House and Barley Pop as well because both of them were having Sour Nights for MCBW. I love sour beer! One odd moment was when we walked to McDonalds from the Malt House so Travalon could get something to eat, but they were closed even though their sign clearly stated they should be open until 11 at night. The drive-thru was open so I yelled, “What the heck?” to them, and they yelled back, “There are only two of us here!” Yeah, I get that, but put a note on the door or something!

Yesterday after Mass I went to the Lutheran Cathedral of the West to hear my old choir sing a Gabrieli Mass, then Travalon and I went to Rock Hound Brewery for their Crushed Velvet brunch. The food was delicious, and the Crushed Velvet is a cocktail made of their coffee porter and champagne. We wanted to go to a talk at Funk Factory Geuzeria on lambics they made using fruit from the Arboretum, but you had to buy tickets online, and they were sold out. We went to the Arboretum and the zoo, then we hung out on the deck at the Lakeside Café until Funk Factory’s taproom reopened after the talk. I LOVE this place – they do nothing but lambics! And you can get small pours, so you can try several flavors. I asked what a Geuzeria was, and the bartender told me they don’t really brew, they blend, but Blenderia sounds silly so they decided on the Spanish word for a place that blends lambics. Anyway, we saved a fortune just trying the lambics they made from Osage oranges and persimmons from the Arboretum rather than hearing a talk about them. Then we went to Natt Spil for their fundraiser for a summer camp for children who are burn victims, and we had a pizza there. I think it may be the best pizza in town! So MCBW is off to a great start, and I already have nine stamps in my passport.

Famous Hat