What I found at Great Taste that’s heading our way

The big beer fest is often a trial run for new beers

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The annual Great Taste of the Midwest is an opportunity for Wisconsin brewers to preview new releases headed for Madison, beer we’ll all have a chance to try whether we scored a ticket or not.

O’So Brewing of Plover, Wisconsin, used the Great Taste — held at Madison’s Olin Turville park on Aug. 10 — to showcase its new line of gluten-free beers that it sells under the Meaningful Brewing Company label (to separate them from its other brands). These include a dark mild, a hazy IPA and and a pink guava sour. All three are under 4% ABV and found in 12-ounce cans ($10-$12/four-pack). Dark Mild is made with millet and is similar to an English mild, only a little lighter in body and flavor. The hazy is crisp, with light citrus and nice beer flavor, yet a little tame in hops for most hazy lovers. The real surprise among the trio is the sour, made with guava, millet and a touch of buckwheat, which softens some of the tartness found in many kettle-soured brews. Sour gluten-free beers remain rare, and this one is good enough to bring attention to Meaningful Brewing beers.

Products from Earth Rider Brewing of Superior are not new to Madison shelves. But the brewery is expected to soon expand its distro to Madison with a handful of its sour and mixed-fermentation beers. Sales manager Jeff Gray and brewer Steve Markgren offered samples of Cedar Sour Red, Brett IPA and Peche at the Great Taste. My pick is the red, an amber ale aged for nine months in French oak barrels and then bottle conditioned. There’s light acidic sourness alongside warm woodiness from the aging. Earth Rider’s sour series is sold in single 375 mL bottles ($10-$14).

The small farmhouse-oriented brewery The Rookery continues to grow a passionate following of fans, including me. The Rookery is known for its Belgian-inspired beers, barrel-aging, and blending in fruits from the owners’ backyard orchard. Kiel and Ashley McGuinness of Wauwatosa started the company in 2019 and have been making their beer with the help of contract brewing by MobCraft of Milwaukee. The Rookery’s fall lineup will include a bourbon barrel-aged Belgian strong called Honey Creeper, the imperial stout Jaguar Warrior, and the oak-aged saison Bird in the Clouds. The Honey Creek was among my favorites during sampling at the Great Taste. It’s a barrel-aged beer/mead hybrid made with Wisconsin honey and Montmorency cherries from the McGuinness’ orchard. It finishes at 11.3% ABV and is sold in 12-ounce cans ($15/four-pack).

Milwaukee’s Gathering Place Brewing Company plans to offer Limb Shaker, a Belgian tripel made with Door County cherries, to the Madison market this fall. It’s a very nice dry Belgian-style tripel, with solid fruity sweetness and finishing at 8.7% ABV. Head brewer Matt Cisz says to watch for it on draft at your favorite craft beer venue beginning in October. A small number of bottles may find their way here too. Gathering Place also makes a bourbon barrel-aged Limb Shaker, aged on wood for six months before it’s sold. Watch for that one next spring.

Badger State Brewing plans to send its Golden Ale to Madison for the first time, and just in time for football season. The beer is a collaboration between Badger State of Green Bay and the Lakefront Brewery of Milwaukee. Cans are just starting to be distributed. This is a tailgating beer with a light grain bill of pale, Munich and honey malts, accented with Mount Hood and Cashmere hops. It finishes at 5.6% ABV. It’s sold in 16-ounce cans ($12-$14/four-packs)

An unexpected find was a past vintage of Lake Louie Brewing’s bourbon barrel-aged Depth Charge. Brewmaster Kirby Nelson joked that he didn’t know he had any left and only recently discovered a few kegs back in the brewhouse cooler from 2017. The scotch ale is full of caramel malt and sweet booziness. Nelson estimates the ABV in the double digits (around 11%). Watch the brewery’s Verona taproom tap list for possible appearances of this beer.