Welcome to stop #124 on the Brews and Choos project.
Distillery: Central Standard Crafthouse, 230 E. Clybourn St., Milwaukee
4½ (of 5) stars
Train line: Amtrak, Milwaukee Intermodal Station
Time from Chicago: 89 minutes
Distance from station: 1 km
Welcome to Milwaukee, Chicago's stepchild to the north. A relatively inexpensive trip from Chicago Union Station to Milwaukee Intermodal takes a bit under an hour and a half and drops you a short walk from 11 breweries and distilleries.
My Brews Buddy signed up for the Milwaukee Marathon last Saturday, so last Friday I took half a day of PTO to enjoy the beautiful spring weather trying some beers in Wisconsin. But first: lunch, and gin.
As it happens, Central Standard doesn't ferment on site; they distill at an ugly warehouse on the outskirts of the city. So their downtown tasting room technically doesn't qualify for the Brews & Choos Project. No matter; the food was really good, and so were the Guided Trail Gin and the Founder's Reserve Bourbon.
If the temperature had been a bit warmer, we might have eaten on the roof. The restaurant space worked just fine, though. It was a good first stop in the Brew City.
Beer garden? Rooftop
Dogs OK? No
Televisions? Avoidable
Serves food? Full restaurant
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
I'm absolutely bushed, so no Brews & Choos reviews from Milwaukee yet. If I get enough sleep tonight, and if I'm supremely effective in the morning, I'll start posting them tomorrow. There are four, after all, and only one of them is "eh."
With the bare minimum of planning and no time between all my meetings and the train leaving, I am happy to report that my Brews Buddy and I are on the Borealis heading north. For more on our destination, I recommend this lecture from Prof Cooper.
Tomorrow I have an all-day Euchre tournament, so reviews from Milwaukee will start Sunday.
I may have dodged a virus this week, though I'm not 100% sure yet. I have a lot more confidence in my health than the world has in the OAFPOTUS, however. And the news today doesn't change that at all:
- Radley Balko, tongue firmly in cheek, satirizes the Republican Party in a way I will not spoil for you. (His takedown of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, made me guffaw.)
- Yascha Mounk warns that the OAFPOTUS's irrational and malignantly stupid attack on the very things that made America great in service of his demented ego make it likely he'll do other malignantly stupid things in future.
- Anne Applebaum warns that "this is what arbitrary, absolute power looks like."
- Jennifer Rubin counters with a view of "when autocrats screw up."
- The Dispatch editorial board warns that the MAGA crowd's "foreign policy was ancient when Charlemagne was on the throne, and their economic philosophy was hatched in the 15th century."
- Conservative University of Chicago Law professor Aziz Huq offers up the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection clause as a possible avenue for defeating the OAFPOTUS's personal vendettas.
Tomorrow I'm taking advantage of a ridiculously full PTO bank and cheap train tickets to finally extend the Brews & Choos Project into Wisconsin, so you'll want to watch this space over the weekend for those posts.
Cassie and I found a 20-minute gap in the rain this morning so she could have a (slightly-delayed) walk. Since around 9 am, though, we've had variations on this:
Good thing I have all these heartwarming news stories to warm my heart:
- Dane County, Wis., Judge Susan Crawford beat Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel 55% to 45% for the vacant seat on the Wisconsin state Supreme Court, despite the $25 million the Clown Prince of X donated to Schimel's campaign. The CPOX himself drew laughs from people with IQs above 80 by claiming he didn't really try to buy the seat for the right-wing Schimel.
- Paul Krugman reminds the credulous that "there's no plan, secret or otherwise" behind the OAFPOTUS's tariffs. ("Does he really believe that Canada is a major source of fentanyl? Worse, does he believe that fentanyl smugglers pay tariffs?") Timothy Noah concurs.
- Scholar Larry Diamond lays out the ways we can get through the constitutional crisis the OAFPOTUS has created.
- A Federal judge has dismissed corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Johnson, but enjoined the US Attorney from threatening more charges. It's only a partial win for corruption in the US, but still a win.
- The Times looks at Brightline's success and asks, "What's so hard about building trains?" After pointing out that "in Florida, Brightline has proved that it can operate reliable, well-designed passenger trains that people want to ride," they fail to project that it will probably get bailed out at least once in the next 25 years by state and federal money.
- The Onion imbues the Chicago Transit Authority with "an unconscious fear of success manifesting through self-sabotage." They're not wrong.
Finally, Bruce Schneier and a colleague published a paper yesterday lauding "Rational Astrologies and Security." In the paper, the authors analyze beliefs like "Nobody every got fired for buying IBM" and "It's always been done this way" as rational, and how security professionals can use them. The timing of the paper's publication in no way affects the soundness of these conclusions, of course.
Welcome to a special stop on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: Tennessee Brew Works, 809 Ewing Ave., Nashville, Tenn.
4 stars
Train line: Wego Train, Riverfront Nashville
Time from Chicago: 2 hours
Distance from station: 1.7 km
Neither Tennessee Brew Works nor New Heights Brewing is a particularly pleasant walk from the WeGo station, but I would visit both of them again. TBW decided to give us two drink tokens each instead of worrying about pouring and distributing 40 flights. I chose two of their IPAs, the Hippies & Cowboys (6%, 35 IBU) and the River Drifter (6.2%, 45 IBU). (I didn't notice at the time that they also had a hazy on the menu, but when a bunch of professional drinkers from England are behind you in line, you don't waste time.)
I liked them both. More I cannot say, as my boss and I were discussing what we need to do in April for the two teams I run and I thought it would have been a bit suspect if I took detailed notes on my beer at the same time.
I liked the beers, though, and would have gone back for more if I'd had time. Between our leisurely time at New Heights, our lunch at Puckett's BBQ, and Nashville traffic, we got about 35 minutes to quaff our two pints before heading back to the hotel to clean up before our off-site dinner. (Wednesdays are always a hoot at this conference; Thursdays I always feel bad for the people who have to present at 8:30 am.)
Like I said yesterday, if I ever spend time in Nashville again, I'll come back to both of these places, plus three others I found. Meanwhile, I still have about 25 more breweries to visit in Chicago...
Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Outside
Televisions? Avoidable
Serves food? Full menu
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
Welcome to a special stop on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: New Heights Brewing, 928 Rep. John Lewis Way S., Nashville, Tenn.
4 stars
Train line: Wego Train, Riverfront Nashville
Time from Chicago: 2 hours
Distance from station: 2 km
I had the option to go to two breweries and get some good ol' Southern BBQ as the team-building activity during my work conference this past week. We started with New Heights Brewing, which I had already identified as a possible Brews & Choos destination before I knew which breweries the field trip would visit.
Because the tour included 40 or so technology professionals (plus our head of HR), and because many of those people were English and thus born with two livers, the brewery created a standard flight for all of us. We started with the Nothing Fancy blonde ale (5.6%, 20 IBU), then the Coffee & Cream "coffee and vanilla cream ale with Crema coffee" (5.6%, 20 IBU), then the house IPA (6.9%, 101 IBU), and finished with the Navel Gazer Imperial stout (9.2%, 65 IBU).
I took notes in a draft email that I apparently deleted before copying. Dammit.
I did like all four of them, though I have to say, 101 IBUs really gets your attention. The Navel Gazer has a particularly inspired name, because after two pints, you will be gazing at your navel.
I went more than half a century without spending the night in Nashville, so it's not likely I'll be back. But if you visit Nashville, New Heights is worth a stop.
Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Yes
Televisions? Avoidable
Serves food? BYO
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
I completed two surveys related to my work conference this week. The first one included the question, "To confirm that you are still reading this, please select 'Disagree.'" The second one assigned point values to the multiple-choice questions, so that the three items I answered "Somewhat OK" instead of "Excellent" brought my grade down to a B-minus.
These are the kinds of things that make one wonder how valuable the survey data really is.
Meanwhile, I've got a ton of things to do today, including getting Cassie her lunchtime walk before a line of storms comes through around noon.
More later, including two Brews & Choos reviews from Nashville.
Having the morning free, and having a lot of cool air and sun, I took a quick stroll around Nashville. I'll have more later, but for now, here's the Tennessee State Capitol, apparently under construction:
Of course, since the Tennessee General Assembly has a well-Gerrymandered 75-24 Republican majority, I would expect they're actually deconstructing the Capitol. But whatever.
I also passed by Riverfront Station, the downtown terminus of Nashville's adorable little 6-times-a-day toy commuter train:
It may be a really sad attempt to have real public transportation, but it's also a train station, meaning there are Brews & Choos-qualified breweries right by my hotel. I'm planning to visit one today. You'll have to wait until at least Friday for the reviews, though. And also for better photo editing.
Welcome to stop #123 on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: Duneyrr Fermenta, 2237 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago
3 (of 5) stars
Train line: CTA Green Line, Cermak-McCormick Place
Time from Chicago: 10 minutes
Distance from station: 600 m
After five hours, four kilometers of walking, three pints of beer, two Lyfts, and an invitation to my Brews & Choos buddy's husband to meet us three blocks from his office, we made it to Duneyrr Fermenta in Chicago's historic Motor Row. If only we hadn't had a mound of cheese curds at Alulu, we might have enjoyed the BBQ pop-up. Instead, we each tried a small glass of beer (or wine, in one case), and decided to get dinner closer to home.
Duneyrr definitely has a point of view on fermenting. They seem only to use wild yeast in their beers and wines, which I appreciate but do not like. I tried a 150 mL sample of the Riwaka Raccoon New Zealand IPA (6.3%), which had a super-dank nose and even danker flavor, with massive fruit flavors from the Riwaka and Rakau hops that the wild yeast completely obliterated. My buddy tried the Wild Buri farmhouse ale (5%), which she liked enough, calling it "less like a farmhouse and more like a göze or a lambic. Quite sour." As one who appreciates but does not like any of those styles, I will accept what she said. Her husband had a glass of the Melodic Mosaic semi-sparkling red wine, and said "Actually, that's interesting. Maybe just don't think of it as a wine." I also found it...interesting.
The space is cool, though, and they do allow dogs. Their snacks looked pretty good too. So it's worth a second look, especially if I want to entertain friends who really dig wild yeast fermentation.
Beer garden? No
Dogs OK? Yes
Televisions? Avoidable
Serves food? Usually snacks, weekend pop-ups
Would hang out with a book? Maybe
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Maybe