This post is going to hit on a lot of different communities. Is it a beer post? Yes. A food post? Yes. A travel post. Yep, it's got some of that too. After about ten hours on the road, @a4xjeeper and I rolled into Chippewa Falls, WI. If you are a beer lover, you are likely familiar with that town.
Chippewa Falls is the home of Leinenkugel's beer. Oddly enough, that isn't the beer that you see in the opening shot of this post. In fact, I drank zero "Leinie" when I was in Wisconsin. If there had been more time, I likely would have talked my friend into taking a tour of the brewery, but we were on a tight scheudle.
No sooner had we gotten checked in to our hotel on the outskirts of Chippewa Falls and we were already thinking about dinner. Sure, there were a ton of chains near the hotel, but we were looking for something a little different.
I honestly think it is sacrilege to go to a chain when you are traveling.
If I can eat there when I am home, what's the point. There are so many great independently owned places in this world. It's only natural that you should go out exploring when you are traveling. Step off the beaten path and try something new!
That's what led us to The Thirsty Badger. We had asked the receptionist at the hotel if there was any place she recommended. She said that a lot of hotel visitors go to The Thirsty Badger and they seem to like it.
It didn't hurt that the hotel had a coupon for $3 off our meal. We were sold!
It was just a short drive away from the hotel. It's actually nestled in a residential area and you might miss it if you blinked.
It looked like they have a really awesome outdoor area, but it was much too cold and rainy for us to take advantage of that on this Sunday night. Being a Sunday night, there were a number of people in the bar watching a football game, but other than that, it really wasn't that busy.
@a4xjeeper and I walked past the slot machines as the front of the bar and found a table.
That's right, I said slot machines. If you look over my shoulder, you can see a couple people playing them. I tried to login to my sports betting app, but that doesn't seem to be legal in Wisconsin. What is legal in Wisconsin is slot machines in every bar, gas station, and party store in every big and little town you should happen upon.
My buddy isn't a beer drinker, so he ended up getting a amaretto sour. I got the beer that you see in the opening picture.
When the waiter came to take our drink order, I was still on the fence about whether I wanted beer or whiskey. I figured since we were in Wisconsin, I should probably go with beer. I asked what they had on tap and he stared going through the list.
Pretty much your regular stuff (Bud, Bud Light, Miller) and then he said the magic words "Spotted Cow". It didn't register with me right away, so I asked him more about the Spotted Cow. He said it was from a local favorite from a brewery in Wisconsin.
That's when it clicked.
I asked if the brewery was New Glarus and he said yes. I was sold! "Bring me a tall one!".
If I had been a bit more astute, I would have noticed that these signs were on the wall literally right next to me! It shouldn't have taken me that long to figure it out.
I've only had New Glarus beer once before in my life. It was a flavor called "Two Sisters" that my brother in law had given me for Christmas. You see, Wisconsin residents are very proud of their beer. They value New Glarus like a state treasure.
If you do a Google search you will see at least one story about a bar owner in Minnesota that got in trouble for selling New Glarus beer in his establishment. My brother in law had a friend that tried to bring home six plus cases of the beer and the person at the checkout wouldn't sell it to him when he checked his ID and saw he was from Michigan.
They are very protective of their beer.
I sent that opening photo to my brother in law and captioned it with "New Glarus on tap!". He was jealous to say the least!
Since we were in Wisconsin (the land of beer, brats, and cheese), it only felt natural that we should get an order of deep fried cheese curds to start our meal!
They were quite delicious, though I don't know as though they were any better or worse than the deep fried cheese curds you can get around where I live. I had heard there is a place that has all different flavors of cheese that you can order. Perhaps we should have went there. They may not have had Spotted Cow on tap though.
As I sat enjoying my Spotted Cow, I took some photos of The Thirsty Badger interior.
For the sake of @detlev and this being a #beersaturday post, Spotted Cow is an unfiltered beer. Which means they leave the brewers yeast in it. It is a creamy light and delicious beer that clocks in at 4.8% ABV. If you go back and look at the opening shot, you can see it has a light golden color with a very minimal head.
By some odd coincidence, my friend and I both got wings. I got traditional wings (with the bone), he got boneless wings. Honestly, the menu at the Thirsty Badger wasn't that big and if we hadn't already had a killer burger at lunch, we might have gotten one of those.
I went with the spicy garlic and it was actually a bit spicier than I would have expected. Unlike some people I don't have a stomach of iron and knowing I had a 10 hour ride/drive ahead of me the next day I didn't eat all of my wings. The fries were amazing though and I finished those completely.
@a4xjeeper when with the garlic parmesan boneless wings and he agreed that the fries were probably the best part of the meal. While I super glad that I was able to get some New Glarus on tap, I don't know as though I would find myself going back to the Thirsty Badger.
The service was great as well as the beer, but the food was just okay (except for the fries). It is a cool place and I can understand why people would want to hang out here during a sporting event or a Friday night.
I'm curious to hear from @cryptictruth if he has ever had any of the New Glarus flavors and what he thinks of them. Just before we crossed the border back into Michigan, I stopped at a Kwik Trip gas station and hopped out to see if they had some New Glarus I could buy for myself and my brother in law.
I half expected to get carded and denied, but being so close to the border, they likely have people from Michigan in the store all the time buying beer.
The guy behind the counter simply said "15 dole-ars a piece for a twelver, that's some pretty expensive beer Eh!" in the the most stereotypical "Yooper accent" you can imagine.
I've got one more food post to share from this trip and then I will be done. I promise! I hope you have enjoyed the journey so far and I apologize if I have you jones'ing for some New Glarus beer now!
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