Robin Shepard
Brewmaster at a tap with a dark beer.
Tanner Brethorst of Capital Brewery in Middleton pouring his new incredibly smooth imperial stout.
Beyond the biggest beer day of the year — March 17 — there’s plenty to look for this March from area brewers.
Bocks, barleywines, and big imperials
March is a great month to find an assortment of seasonal bock beers. The style is often at its height around Easter. Strong bocks, like the doppelbock, historically were associated with providing sustenance for fasting monks during Lent. Maibocks are lighter in color than the standard bock and finish dryer. Don’t miss Third Space Brewing’s impressive Maibock, made with pilsner, Vienna and Munich malts and Tettnang hops. It’s well-balanced and clean, finishing at 6.8% ABV. Look for it in six-packs of 12-ounce cans ($10).
If you’re looking for a traditional seasonal Wisconsin bock, it doesn’t get much more old-school than Point Bock or Huber Bock. Both can be found for a limited time in Madison stores, but call ahead. Huber Bock ($10.50/12-pack), made by Minhas Craft Brewery in Monroe, has been a seasonal beer for more than 65 years. Stevens Point Brewery Bock ($9.50/six-pack) goes back even further to the 1930s. Those beers have seen an increased following recently, for a couple of reasons.The faithful from before the current craft beer resurgence are still around. And young drinkers are often curious about retro brands enjoyed by their parents and grandparents. Of these two beers, I’m partial to Point Bock — it has more body and flavor.
Tanner Brethorst, hired by Capital Brewery in July 2021 as brewmaster, has been getting to know the brewery’s smaller seven-barrel system, often used for in-house releases. In January he offered his first barleywine. His latest is an imperial stout that should be on tap by mid-March in the brewery’s Bier Stube ($8/12-ounce glass). It is full of malt flavor and subtle hints of chocolate and caramel sweetness. Brethorst upped the amount of chocolate malts while downplaying heavily roasted barley that can leave a beer with harsh burnt flavors, somewhat common in imperial stouts. I found Brethorst’s beer incredibly smooth and balanced. It drinks more like a robust porter than an assertively roasted imperial stout. Certainly inviting, even seductive. Be wary of its strength at 9.3% ABV.
Giant Jones Brewing will be cracking open some of its best vintages for its annual Barleywine Fest from noon to 10 p.m. on March 25. The event will feature at least 10 big beers from Giant Jones, including different vintages of its American and British barleywines. Brewer Jessica Jones is even planning to pull out a keg of the very first batch of barleywine that was made for the brewery’s grand opening back in 2018. A number of guest barleywines from other Madison breweries — Vintage, Karben4, The Great Dane, Capital, Starkweather, Delta Beer Lab — will be on hand, as well as from Sahale Ale Works of Grafton.
The latest installment in Raised Grain Brewing Company’s series using former Bulleit bourbon barrels is Driftwood porter. The remnants of spirit sweetness and wood complement the chocolate and vanilla notes of the porter to make a nice late-season winter warmer. The third beer in the Bulleit series is a version of Paradocs Red, the brewery’s imperial IPA that won a gold medal in the 2016 Great American Beer Festival. It was aged more than a year in the barrels and should be in local stores by the end of the month. Both beers are packaged in 16-ounce cans ($13-$17/four-pack).
Smooth pilsners and lagers
Working Draft Beer Company celebrated its fifth anniversary over the first weekend in March. To mark the occasion Clint Lohman brewed Pilsner Fünf (five). It’s made with five malts and five hops. This golden lager finishes at 4.8% ABV ($6/pint in taproom or $14-$16/four-packs).
Lohman also teamed up with Wisconsin Brewing’s Kirby Nelson to make a lager with Japanese sweet potatoes. Lohman and Nelson brewed it using the new five-barrel pilot brewing system at Wisconsin Brewing Company Park in Oconomowoc. The biggest challenge, says Lohman, was “peeling and chopping 80 pounds of sweet potatoes.” The beer is draft-only and is available in both brewery taprooms ($6/pint).
On the lighter side
Robin Shepard
Golden beer in a glass on the bar at Alt Brew.
Alt Brew's Berliner Weisse.
Alt Brew has brought back its gluten-free Berliner Weisse ($10/bomber). The beer was first introduced last summer. It is light, crisp and just 4% ABV. It features rice, millet and oats that give it body and should appeal to a range of sour fans. While tart, it avoids the intense sourness from lactobacillus that can get out of hand with kettle sours. Brewer John Puchalski split the batch of Berliner Weisse into two, and right now in the Alt Brew taproom there’s a version infused with blood orange puree, which adds inviting fruitiness ($6/12-ounce glass).
The interest in low-alcohol beers hasn’t gone unnoticed at Potosi Brewing Company. It’s introducing its first non-alcohol beer. Golden Brew N.A. comes in at just under 0.5% ABV. Brewmaster Jonathan Gentry gave it a bit of IPA character by using Bravo, Centennial and Mosaic hops. Gentry expects this beer to be a big hit in the summer for those traveling the Great River Road. The Potosi Brewery is one of the interpretative centers along the route. “We see a huge number of motorcyclists in the summer and a lot of them have been asking us for non-alcoholic beer. This makes sense to a growing segment of drinkers,” says Gentry.
Not on the lighter side, but out this month from Potosi: its first New England IPA, Hazy Bluff. It has a burst of topical fruitiness with Mosaic, Citra and Incognito hops. The beer finishes at 7.5% ABV and 45 IBUs. Both beers are available in six-packs of 12-ounce cans ($8-$10).
