Kyle Nabilcy
Another second Saturday in August has come and gone, and in its wake, hefty pint glasses, beer-stained paper programs and more than a few hangovers remain.
The Great Taste of the Midwest always takes place this time of the year, drawing 6,000-some beer fans and brewers alike to Olin Park on the shores of Lake Monona. I struggle to think of a better way to waste a summer Saturday afternoon.
Instead of providing a chronological recounting of my favorite beers, I’d like to tell you about my Great Taste through what a friend called “my ministry.” The ministry of the limburger sandwich.
Seems like a total tangent, I realize, but what you need to know is this. Baumgartner’s, the legendary tavern and cheese shop in Monroe, Wisconsin, used to come to the Great Taste and sell its famous limburger sandwiches (added salami, optional). Five years ago was the last time they came. Four years ago, I picked up the slack because I feel like a good limburger/salami/onion/mustard sandwich is maybe the perfect beer festival food.
Rather than just making one for me, or a couple for me and my crew, I started making a bunch. More than a dozen. To share the wealth, I’d give them away to anyone who could find me and hit me up with a quotation from a pre-determined movie. I’ve done Tombstone and Ghostbusters. This year was The Princess Bride, and I heard a lot of “Inconceivable!”
People are usually a little dubious at first, but then they have their first bite, and they know. They believe.
I feel strongly about the limburger sandwich. Its simplicity and sweetness works with classic beers like the chocolatey, amazing American Brown Ale from St. Louis’ Civil Life Brewing Company. Checking Civil Life off my to-do list has been a mission for a while now, and I drank a lot of their unfussy European-style ales and lagers this weekend.
Bitter beers mirror the sharp raw onions and contrast with the nutty pumpernickel of the bread. While I didn’t drink a lot of pale ales on Saturday, I really loved Fat Head’s Brewery’s dank and juicy Head Hunter IPA. This Cleveland, Ohio, area brewer doesn’t regularly appear here and has earned a reputation for its use of hops.
There’s more than enough strong and potent flavor to the limburger and salami sandwich to stand up to the biggest barrel-aged beers. I tried to not overdo it with this category because high ABV and long lines are not the best strategy for the Great Taste. But two stand out: Temperance Beer Company’s Double Rye Barrel-Aged Might Meets Right Stout and Odd Side Ales’ Rye Sweet Potato Soufflé Strong Ale. The former is all potent imperial stout and heavily coconutty barrel notes, and the latter is as sweet as you’d expect, but balanced with loads of spicy rye both in the malt bill and from the wood.
The bulk of my favorite beers are in the broad category of wild, sour, tart, and funky beers, and their characteristics cut through the fat of both the cheese and the sausage, and complement limburger’s stank. Two notable ones came from St. Louis, both made by Perennial Artisan Ales. The Foeder Saison, a light, mixed fermentation beer, has a funky, gristy body and is utterly refreshing. Von Pampelmuse, an aggressively tart Berliner weisse-style beer made with grapefruit and mandarin oranges, could be the best fruited beer I’ve had from this brewery.
Minneapolis delivers another two. The Strawberry Fields kettle-soured ale comes from Indeed Brewing Company’s collaboration with New Belgium Brewing, and it is straight up a glass full of jam. (Limburger sandwiches are often served with grape jelly, for the record.) Dangerous Man poured a lot of its Sour Delores series beers at the Great Taste, and the seventh one called Righteous Babe is made with watermelons. It has a funky, almost cheesy nose, but the palate is all tartness — a liquid watermelon Jolly Rancher.
If you liked Chicago’s Atlas Brewing Company, you’ll love Burnt City Brewing, because they’re the same thing. Legal issues necessitated a name change, and Burnt City ran with it and created a great new brand. Its Pearadise City tart pear saison highlights the need for more pear beers, with its ton of fluffy carbonation and big, pure pear flavor.
Now I may have convinced you that the limburger sandwich has a deserved place at the Great Taste, with both its deliciousness and its flexibility in pairing with many beers, but let it not be forgotten: I’m also kind of a goober and the limburger sandwich thing is just my brand of dorky humor. So with that in mind, my limburger sermon closes with a giggle.
It came from the real ale tent, where all the beers are gravity-poured (as opposed to propelled via carbonation). In this old-school environment, Wausau’s Red Eye Brewing Company served three variations on its improbably fun Meezy's Jam malt liquor. The one called Summer Hot Mess is infused with cucumber and kaffir lime, and it may not pair with limburger and salami sandwiches particularly well. But if you can’t have a laugh and a good time at the Great Taste of the Midwest, though, I’m pretty sure you’re doing it wrong.