Robin Shepard
A can of Copper Turtle beer on its bar in Milwaukee.
Copper Turtle is a neighborood cocktail bar as well as a small brewery.
If you’re heading to Milwaukee anytime soon, perhaps for Summerfest, the Copper Turtle Brewery and Taverne is walking distance from the festival grounds. The Copper Turtle, at 330 East Menomonee St., is a small brewery that is perhaps just as well known in the neighborhood for its cocktails and rapid infusions, where customers build their own mixed drink. Describing it as a microbrewery makes it sound much larger than it is. Beers are dispersed from copper-clad serving tanks stacked behind the bar, each one only about 130 gallons. Typically, the Copper Turtle offers three or four beers. Batch sizes are small and can run out quickly. On a recent visit the Lottie Dottie, a guava lychee lactose sour, was more sweet than sour. It’s candy/fruity, with lots of body from the lactose — much like big malty-strong beer — however, it is very approachable at just 4% ABV ($8.50/glass and $16/crowler). Another standout, Zero Fox Given, is a light-bodied Czech dark lager that finishes at 4.8% ABV. It’s malty with hints of roasted chocolate and coffee ($8/glass and $15/crowler). This place is a gem in the Third Ward, and Summerfest or not, it’s worth checking out.
The G5 Brewing Company is marking its sixth anniversary with a big hazy IPA that finishes at 10.6% ABV. The beer uses four hops and two malts, a nod to the brewery’s age. Brewer Tim Goers made six fermenters worth of it — the 6-6-6 pileup led to the name Devilish Delight. Goers quips that the devil is in the details when it comes to surviving in such a competitive industry for six years. The beer is full of tropical citrus flavors, including orange, pineapple and sweet mango ($22/four-pack).
G5 also is out with a new addition to its barrel-aged series of stouts. These single 16-ounce bottles turn up on roughly a quarterly schedule ($20). The latest one is aged for nearly three years in wood, with the first 12 months in Driftless Glen Distillery barrels, followed by another 23 months in barrels from Whiskey Acres Distilling Company of DeKalb, Illinois. G5, located in Beloit, makes a habit of getting its barrels from distilleries that are as close to home as possible. The beer’s name “On+Ree” (the phonetic pronunciation of “Henry” in French) pays tribute to the French pastry chef Henri Le Roux, credited with inventing salted caramel — and this bourbon-laced pastry stout has huge caramel flavor. Goers attributes that to the time in the Whiskey Acres barrels. This is a thick and rich malty stout with lots of warmth from 15% ABV. It is best treated as an evening dessert. It is a beer that will cellar well, should you want to see what it is like for the brewery’s 12th anniversary.
Two saisons are worthy of a shout-out. Sunshine Brewing in Lake Mills has a hoppy version that falls between an earthy farmhouse ale and a piney IPA. It’s called Split Decision and has a bit of piney West Coast personality, while the accent of saison yeast provides a musty, dry, spicy finish. It ends up at 5.9% ABV with 81 IBUs ($5/glass and $14/crowler).
My other pick among local farmhouse ales is Tangerine Saison from Flix Brewhouse. Brewmaster Dave Hanson likes to offer a springtime take on the style and has made a great choice with tangerine. It is a modest 5.8% ABV, very effervescent, with juicy dryness. It is lightly hopped with Liberty and Czech Saaz hops, which add to the light spiciness of the saison yeast. Be advised because of the release of the new Mission: Impossible movie, this beer should be sought out sooner rather than later ($8/glass).
Just in time for beer garden season, Wisconsin Brewing Company’s head brewer, Luke Foth, is behind a new hoppy pilsner. Lake Louie Pier Pressure is dry-hopped with German Spalt hops. It is light bodied and very easy drinking at just 4.5% ABV. The dry hopping makes this pilsner stand out among light lagers because of its crisp spicy-herbal finish. The beer is available only in the taproom ($6/glass), but it could become a new packaged product for the Lake Louie brands. It is a great beer to sip in the sun in the brewery’s beer garden, or on a dock somewhere looking out over the water.
