Hinterland Brewery returns to the Madison beer market

Tressler launched Hinterland in Denmark, Wis., in 1995, originally licensed as the Green Bay Brewing Company. In 1999, he moved the brewery into a building that was once part of the Swift Meat Packing Company, and launched a restaurant, just a stone's throw from the Fox River in downtown Green Bay.

Hinterland beers originally appeared in the Madison market about 10 years ago. Shortly thereafter, though, Tressler started focusing more on the culinary side of the business, earning high praise for the food at the restaurant alongside his line of hand-crafted beer. His operations grew to include the Hinterland Erie Street Gastropub in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward, and the

Hinterland's fall seasonal, Oktoberfest, was bottled last week and is already headed to Madison. Similar to a Vienna Lager, with a deep reddish-amber color and assertive maltiness, it finishes around 5.8% ABV. Another seasonal, Maple Bock, despite its early springtime release, can still be found in limited quantities around town, particularly in stores that dedicate coolers to mix-and-match six-packs. (Riley's Wines of the World still had a small supply when checked recently.) Tressler harvests maple sap from his family farm to make this beer. The maple flavor is rather subtle, while the caramel and chocolate tones of the malt dominate. The maple syrup gives fermentation a little boost, and the beer finishes at over 7% ABV.