Madison Craft Beer Week will again be jam-packed with dinners, special releases, tap takeovers, and brewer appearances. I’m zeroing in on not-to-miss beers for my can’t-miss list. The fest runs April 26-May 5.
Of course, I must start with Common Thread. Each year, a special collaborative beer is brewed to celebrate beer week; about two dozen breweries took part in the brew day back in March, held at Vintage in Sauk City. This year’s Common Thread is a cranberry witbier made with Wisconsin cranberries. Common Thread 2019 will be on tap at most participating bars throughout Madison starting April 26. Uncommon Thread, a gluten-free take on the beer made with millet and oats instead of barley and wheat, will go on tap at ALT Brew on April 26 at 3 p.m.
Also, look out for a brand new brewery that hopes to open in Madison during Craft Beer Week.
Union Corners Brewery is nearly complete in the Carbon Building at 2438 Winnebago St. and brewer John Puchalski recently brewed with Rockhound Brewing Company to make a porter and a Belgian single. He also teamed up with Capital Brewery on a Kentucky common ale. Dates for a soft and permanent opening have changed; check the brewery’s Facebook page for updates.
The “Staff Draughts” tapping at Funk Factory Geuzeria is a not-to-miss event for sour beer lovers. Owner Levi Funk asked his employees to come up with their own recipes for a variety of special sours. The beers will be on draft at Funk Factory starting at 3 p.m. on April 26. On April 27, some of those special releases will be offered for sale in bottles.
BarleyPop Live is another new venue, brought to us by the folks who started BarleyPop Tap & Shop. The music/beer site at 121 W. Main St. opened April 13 and will be featuring Ctrl+Alt+Wheat, a wheat lager brewed for BarleyPop by Working Draft and made in collaboration with the band Help Desk, which will perform and release its new EP Straight Cache, Homie, April 27 at 6 p.m.
Wisconsin natives know there’s something special about a traditional German weisswurst. Pairing one with a traditional German hefeweizen is a treat. The beer features a wonderfully smooth mixture of clove, bubblegum and banana due to fermentation with a strain of yeast used by Weihenstephaner, the world’s oldest continuously operating brewery well known for its yeast. This pairing is the star at Full Mile Beer Company in Sun Prairie on April 27, beginning at 11 a.m.
The grisette is an old Belgian beer style similar to a saison, but usually even lighter. There are two collaboration grisettes on tap this week. One is from The Lone Girl and Working Draft that will be available at Lone Girl April 26 and Working Draft beginning April 29. The second is a joint project of Sunshine Brewing Company and One Barrel Brewing; that goes on tap at One Barrel on April 30 at 2 p.m.
Hacienda Beer Co. brewmaster Danny McMahon will be on hand with at least five of his beers for an event at Merchant. Among them will be Hollywood Kid, a new IIPA that showcases Simcoe, Centennial and Amarillo hops. The event starts at 3 p.m. on May 2.
The Malt House celebrates with cerveza all day on May 2 with traditional Negra Modelo alongside Third Space Brewing’s La Cocina, Odd Side Ales’ Imperial Mayan Mocha Stout, and New Belgium Brewing’s Mural Agua Fresca Cerveza. A mezcal sampling with three small village mezcals and three agave spirits runs from 5:30-8 p.m.
Welcome, Whiner! The Whiner Beer Co. of Chicago will take over the taps at Rockhound Brewing Company in its first official tasting here. The brewery’s been getting a lot of attention for its barrel-aging, its Belgians and its sours. Meet LeTub, a barrel-aged wild saison made with Centennial and Amarillo hops; Miaou, a barrel-aged and dry-hopped Belgian wheat; and Elevator, a saison brewed with lemon and orange peels, then dry-hopped with Citra, Loral and Equinox. Rockhound owner and brewmaster Nate Warnke met Whiner owners Brian Taylor and Ria Neri while touring breweries in the Windy City and was favorably impressed. Whine and dine on May 3 starting at 4 p.m.
Milwaukee’s Eagle Park Brewing has been generating plenty of buzz, especially known for its IPAs. There will be several newly released beers at this May 4 event at BarleyPop Live that also will feature the band Eagle Trace, which includes brewery owners and brothers Max and Jackson Borgardt. Beer fun starts at 5 p.m.
On May 5 from 5-7 p.m., Wisconsin Brewing Company debuts its cherry-lime version of its radler at the Edgewater Hotel-Boathouse. It uses Door County tart cherry concentrate from Cherryland’s Best of Appleton blended with lime juice, organic cane sugar and a helles lager. Tickets ($18) include hors d’oeuvres and samples of beer cocktails made with the radler in this benefit for the Clean Lakes Alliance.
[This article has been edited to reflect the correct street number of the Union Corners Brewery.]
