Todd Hubler
I didn’t want to jinx them. I specifically said, to the Universe, that I didn’t want to jinx them. That should have been enough, right? Enough to discuss a friendly wager over the Brewers winning the National League Central without jeopardizing the five-game lead the team had over the Chicago Cubs at the All-Star break?
Real cute, Universe.
The Brewers, after a three-game series with the Cubs in Milwaukee, sit at two and a half games back in the division standings. The team has gone 5-11 since the break, while the Cubs have sprinted out into the season’s second half with a record of 13-3. And me with a custom-curated six pack on the line with Josh Noel, beer writer at the Chicago Tribune.
Josh and I made our bet back on July 11; he (obviously) picked the Cubs to win the division, while I proudly backed the boys from Milwaukee to continue their unlikely success all the way to a division pennant. It was a homer bet for sure, but one that I felt had at least a respectable degree of possibility, if not probability. I’m not feeling so sure of that now.
The problem is that asking Twitter for their mixed Wisconsin sixer recommendations was as sure-fire a jinx as I could have come up with, short of, I don’t know, dropping a beer brat directly into a bonfire and spitting. I feared such a jinx at the time, but tried to ward it off as best I could.
Jinx aside, I did get quite a few good answers as well as some frankly ridiculous ones.
@MadBeerAndy agreed that it would be wise to keep in mind that we should be looking at October beers unless I started setting beers aside now (which seemed like courting the jinx big-time.) “We're dealing with October availability,” he wrote. “Good City Motto, New Glarus Staghorn, Lakefront Brandy Barrel Pumpkin, O'so Night (t)Rain, Central Waters Rift, annnnnnd.....something from Brewing Projekt or Oliphant as the AAA prospect (sticking with the baseball theme).” Andy, I’m not running a charity here. If he wins, Josh gets six, and that’s it.
I received a northern tier-centric list from @wine_walsh, who provided only five recommendations before running out of tweet room. Walsh recommended Angry Minnow Rye IPA (Hayward), South Shore Nut Brown Ale (Ashland), Fox River Brewing Marble Eye Rye (Appleton), Lakefront Fixed Gear and Ale Asylum Hopalicious.
From @jmsymes came a diverse but not quite as remote a list. “Potosi Hopsmith, Pearl City Linalool, Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Stout, Karben4 Fantasy Factory, 3 Sheeps Cashmere Hammer, and something sour from O'so.” There’s only one sour in a 12-ounce format from O’so (Infectious Groove), but he’s not the first to nudge me toward a sixer mixed in size as well as source. (He also added, “I feel like I definitely missed by not including a Door County seasonal saison.”)
Clearly thinking that I’d be able to expense this to Isthmus’ coffers (I won’t), @Hoffman_82 suggested a mostly hop-focused list. He put forward Good City Motto, Third Space Happy Place, New Glarus Moon Man, Karben4 Fantasy Factory, and Ale Asylum Hopalicious. His sixth was a beer both oversized for a sixer as well as much more expensive and hard to get: Central Waters Black Gold. A fine beer, but I won’t be in the mood to reward a Cubs fan quite that much.
Good City showed up on another seven-beer list, this one from @Ri0: “Good City Reward, Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Stout and Bourbon Barrel Barleywine, New Glarus Totally Naked, 3 Sheeps Pils, Karben4 Tokyo Sauna, (+1) Tyranena Shaggin in [the] Wood.”
@CellaredKatie shouted out from St. Louis, offering a semi-tongue-in-cheek list of “Fantasy Factory. Fantasy Factory. Fantasy Factory. Fantasy Factory. Fantasy Factory. CW Summarillo.” Knowing how she crushes on specific beers from time to time, I do believe she’s at least a little serious.
Personally, I’m thinking about keeping a bottle of The Wolf from 3 Sheeps just in case, and may unload one of my small stash of New Glarus Wild Sour from 2013 as well. A poorer sport than I might try to sneak in a good beer with an infection problem, but I promise I won’t disrespect the spirit of the bet that way.
Similarly, neither my buddy @popwilleatme nor fellow Madison beer writer @WSJbeerbaron messed around, each providing solid and slightly overlapped recommendations. From the Beer Baron, Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Stout, Lake Louie Warped Speed, Ale Asylum Bedlam, Karben4 Dragon Flute, New Glarus Enigma, and either Sprecher Black Bavarian or Lakefront Riverwest Stein. Classics, although Dragon Flute over Fantasy Factory is a minor surprise.
And from Elliot: “Whatever Thumbprint is on shelves, Bedlam, Fantasy Factory, Moon Man, Night (t)Rain, and if there's an Untitled/Mikerphone collab on shelves I'd include that in the spirit of coming together.”
I mean, sure, I guess, if I have to.