We still like beer

The Madison area adds four new breweries

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Is it even possible? The Madison area is poised to welcome yet another round of small new breweries. For those of you keeping track at home, here’s an update on the latest beermakers and their intended specialties.

Union Corners Brewery — motto, “Let’s make beer” — should be doing just that by early 2019 at 2438 Winnebago St. The brewpub is part of the new Union Corners residential and commercial complex. Interior construction has started and the four-barrel brewing system has been delivered.

Patrons will help determine the beers that will be made, says owner Eric Peterson: “Customers select a style, refine the recipe with us, and then we brew their beer.” They also get to name the beer. The head brewer is John Puchalski, former manager of Brew and Grow, the Willy Street homebrew supply store that closed earlier this year.

This brewpub will have an ambitious tap list of 24 to 36 beers, mostly one-offs but also a half-dozen core beers and guest taps. Puchalski will also oversee brewing classes, tours and tasting events. The brewpub will have a full kitchen.

Union Corners Brewery occupies approximately 5,000 square feet of the Carbon Building, with seating for more than 100 patrons. Plans also include outside seating by summer.

If there’s an area of town still without multiple brewery options, it’s the south side. No longer! Delta Beer Lab is headed to 167 E. Badger Road; construction just started and the brewery should open in early 2019. Owner Tim (Pio) Piotrowski, a native of Stevens Point, honed his beer-making skills with gigs at breweries in Colorado and Minnesota, and was the first brewer at The Freehouse in Minneapolis.

But it was Madison he selected as the site to start his own brewery. “I saw the beer culture here and felt my concept and professional experience fits well in this market,” Piotrowski says. Delta Beer Lab will have a 10-barrel brewing system and canning line. In addition to offering 8 to 12 beers in the taproom, Piotrowski will self-distribute both draft beer and four-packs of 16-ounce cans. He’ll be starting with three year-round beers and also intends to invite patrons and brewery staff to help select future styles. The brewery occupies about 8,000 square feet with high interior ceilings and a large delta-shaped (i.e., triangular) bar in the 125-person capacity taproom. Food will be provided by local food carts. (The name Delta is Piotrowski’s nod to the symbol for change. “I want this to be a place where people can gather, casually talk, gain new ideas and be inspired,” he says. Piotrowski will dedicate part of the revenue to social causes.

Meanwhile in Sun Prairie, the Full Mile Beer Company and Kitchen at 132 Market St. is getting close to making beer. Brewing and restaurant equipment started arriving last month and co-owners C.J. Hall and Nathan Kinderman are hoping to open in November. Skyler Kottwitz, an alum of both Octopi and New Glarus Brewing, has signed on as head brewer. Full Mile’s interior features high ceilings, a large bar, wood-fired oven and a 10-barrel brewing system. The complete tap list hasn’t been set yet, but one brew has already been made in collaboration with Lucky’s 1313 and G5 Brewing Company of Beloit: a Russian imperial stout aged in Driftless Glen Distillery bourbon barrels.

And in Verona, the former Gray’s Tied House at 950 Kimball Lane is now the Boulder Brew Pub. Kara Hulce has been hired as brewmaster; she has been a teaching assistant in UW-Madison’s fermentation science program and involved in research on the yeast strain Saccharomyces eubayanus. She worked with Ashley Kinart of Capital Brewery to make a handful of new beers for the Verona brewpub: a wheat ale, coffee Kölsch and an orange rosemary radler. Hulce says Boulder will keep a few core beers on tap, but she also “wants to get some fun styles out there.” Hulce is still waiting on state permits before firing up its in-house seven-barrel brewing system, which should happen in the next several weeks.