Kyle Nabilcy
Milwaukee has the Brewers, and we beer fans benefit from the city’s brewing history while we cheer for the team. Green Bay has the Packers, and while I wouldn’t mind a good can of corned beef hash or locally produced spam, I’m just as fine with Green Bay developing its own brewing scene regardless of the football team’s nickname heritage.
I grew up just south of Green Bay and watch the greater Fox River Valley area’s brewing growth with a certain sense of familial pride. (Hi, Lion’s Tail! Hi, Appleton Beer Factory!) Short of making a trip back to the homeland, I would for years only encounter northeast Wisconsin beers when they appeared at Isthmus’ Beer and Cheese Fest. Now we have a small handful to choose from on our retail shelves on a regular basis.
This last weekend was one of those road trips north on Highway 151, and at the end of that road was a rare pilgrimage to Lambeau Field to take in the Packers’ game against the Buffalo Bills. It was only my wife’s second Packers gameday experience, and our first since the sparkly new Titletown District opened for business on Lombardi Avenue just across from the stadium.
Everybody knows Green Bay is synonymous with Titletown — Boston, Pittsburgh, do not @ me — so seeing “Titletown” plastered all over a mile radius around Lambeau Field is no surprise. A mile radius is in fact far too conservative; it’s all over Green Bay, including the Titletown Brewery a couple miles into town from Lambeau.
This makes the presence of a big new Hinterland Brewing taproom and restaurant in the Titletown District just a little awkward. Seems to me it’s like opening a Burger King on McDonald Street. (Side note: there is one in California! Awkwaaard.) But I think the two breweries are probably used to being twinsies of a sort; they used to be neighbors, in sight of each other across Dousman Street.
Hinterland is confidently owning its place in the sprawling entertainment complex. The shiny black grain silo operates as a beacon on the skyline, and — on game days, at least — a couple fellows sit at the door checking IDs and handing out wristbands so the beer-ordering process inside can proceed more smoothly. There’s also a covered patio, complete with radiant heaters, that looks out over the bustling Titletown plaza.
I had visited Hinterland’s previous location (a former meat packing plant, coincidentally) once before and found the food menu aggressively international, a little all-over-the-place but clearly designed with beer pairing flexibility in mind. That has not changed, even as the restaurant atmosphere has shifted from a more chic version of “reclaimed industrial” to a slightly more Northwoods-meets-Winterfell vibe. See for example: the taxidermy, the twin roaring fireplaces, the matte black ironwork.
Many of the tapped beers will be familiar to Madison palates: Cherry Wheat, Packerland Pilsner, Luna Stout. I tried the Citra Pale Ale, brewed with orange peel for extra citrusiness. Maybe it was a bit of a cheat, but the beer delivered strong fruity hop notes and finished clean, which is all you can ask for in a pale ale. A success. So too was the Oktoberfest, no tricks all treat.
Both did a fine job of either sweetly balancing (the Oktoberfest) or sweeping clean (the pale ale) the funky, salty and rich flavors of the nuoc cham-dressed fried Brussels sprout leaves and the goat cheese French onion dip with smoked porcini and mustard kettle chips my wife and I shared as the game was wrapping up. Yes, I admit it, we left Lambeau a couple minutes early to beat the rush at Hinterland. I regret nothing.
Okay, I might regret the slightly head-scratching Bourbon Barrel Framboise, a barrel-aged saison blended with a kettle sour blended with a whole bunch of raspberries. The combination was more medicinal than boozy, with a back end of the sip that fell right off a cliff, as kettle sours are wont to do. Stick to the classics, either continental or American, and you’ll be much happier with your Hinterland drinking.
If you’re fortunate enough to attend a game across the street, you can do a lot worse for your $10 (ouch, stadium prices) than a tallboy can of Third Space’s excellent Happy Place Midwest pale ale, straight outta Milwaukee. Even without the helping hand from the home of the Brewers, though, Green Bay’s young Titletown District experience is already providing plenty more reasons than just the Packers to visit.
