Robin Shepard
Dan (left) and Mike Schey with their Crawfish River porter.
“It’s an adventure for most folks to find us,” says Mike Schey of the Hubbleton Brewing Company. He and his father, Dan, run this small farmstead brewery about 25 miles east of Madison, off Highway 19 between Waterloo and Watertown. There are no signs for it — yet. The Scheys plan to place signage where their long driveway hits Hubbleton Road, but it’ll be after the ground thaws this spring. Note to first-time visitors: The brewhouse can’t be seen from the main road.
The three-barrel brewery also boasts three bar stools and a couple of high tables in the “tasting area” — not a separate taproom. It’s all housed in a 1,000-square-foot metal shed on the Schey’s 40-acre farm. It’s the kind of place that only locals know about. Few outsiders have discovered it — yet.
The brewery gets its name from the unincorporated town of Hubbleton, a few miles away at the intersection of 19 and County Road G. The town was named for its most infamous resident, Judge Levi Hubbell (1808-1876). Hubbell was impeached, but later acquitted by the Wisconsin Legislature, on charges of corruption associated with not turning in taxes and fees from citizens. The legend lives on in the name of the brewery’s “Crooked Judge” IPA.
Robin Shepard
Dan Schey created the brewhouse himself, utilizing a 120-gallon dairy bulk tank for the brew kettle. There’s a single-head bottle filler that’s operated by hand. “It’s almost all handmade equipment — we really can’t afford anything else,” Dan says.
In the early 1990s Dan started homebrewing using a small half-barrel brewing system. Since his recent retirement from Hammerhead Trenchless Equipment in Lake Mills, he’s let his hobby become more of a business, jumping into the role of nearly full-time brewmaster. Mike is taking a lead role in sales and Dan’s wife, Lori, is handling the brewery’s accounting and record keeping.
Dan has three acres of hops growing on his farm for use in his beer; he also sells them through a cooperative to other brewers under the name Arrowhead Hops. (Dan was the founder and first president of the Wisconsin Hop Exchange that manages the hops of more than 65 growers in southern and central Wisconsin.)
He likes “the basic styles” and doesn’t get crazy with his recipes. Hubbleton currently has four core beers: a porter, a pale ale, an IPA and a double IPA. Dan’s Crawfish River porter is a sweet yet clean take on the style — medium- to full-bodied with rich malty notes of chocolate and toffee. Cattail pale ale is a mild version of the style, with light hoppiness a faint dry finish. Crooked Judge IPA features Chinook hops and falls into the piney/bitter side of the style. And Fred the Moose double IPA was designed to mimic New Belgium’s Ranger IPA, a favorite of Dan’s. Seasonal brews include Huntsman breakfast stout and an Oktoberfest in the fall. A hefeweizen is planned for summer.
Hubbleton has been introducing 12-ounce bottles of its main beers in grocery stores in Waterloo and Watertown. It also has several tap accounts at local taverns. Production in 2018 is likely to be 800 to 900 barrels. Finding bottles of Hubbleton in Madison is unlikely for the next few months, though the Scheys would like to be here by summer.
While the brewery is still under the radar, it has been attracting more visitors from Madison and Milwaukee, even northern Illinois. That’s added to Hubbleton’s difficulty in making enough beer to meet demand.
Hubbleton Brewing is at W10445 Hubbleton Road; it’s best to check the brewery’s Facebook page for specific hours. The Scheys hope to expand this summer to Thursday and Friday evenings, Saturdays, and Sunday afternoons, with more outdoor seating, horseshoe pits and grills.
