Welcome to stop #127 on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: Explorium Brewpub Third Ward, 143 W. St. Paul Ave., Milwaukee
2 (of 5) stars
Train line: Amtrak, Milwaukee Intermodal Station
Time from Chicago: 89 minutes
Distance from station: 150 m
The best thing about Explorium is its proximity to the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, as it took me less than 5 minutes to get to my train home despite taking a couple of photos along the way. Otherwise it's a loud, TV-covered entertainment zone that could be anywhere in the US. It has decent wings though.
We tried another flight, including the Lost in the Sauce VX New England IPA (6.6%, 13 IBU), a fruity, malty, not horrible but too sweet beer that my Brews Buddy acknowledged was "very drinkable." The Wayfinder hazy pale ale (5.2%, 24 IBU) was even sweeter, with distinct banana notes, but also drinkable. Captain Kidd's Lost IPA (7.5%, 60 IBU) was...eh? My notes just say "bog-standard IPA." And the On Time IPA (no information) was...also drinkable.
I might go back, depending on what the outside spaces look like. It has an unbeatable location if you have to catch a train. Then again, Wizard Works is only 5 minutes farther away.
Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Outside
Televisions? Unavoidable
Serves food? Full pub menu
Would hang out with a book? No
Would hang out with friends? Maybe
Would go back? Maybe, but only outside
Welcome to stop #126 on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: Wizard Works Brewing, 231 E. Buffalo St., Milwaukee
4½ (of 5) stars
Train line: Amtrak, Milwaukee Intermodal Station
Time from Chicago: 89 minutes
Distance from station: 900 m
Once you find the door to the 19th-century office building housing this quirky magic-themed brewery, head down the stairs and grab a seat. My Brews Buddy and I enjoyed the place thoroughly, though we would prefer it had fewer TV screens.
We shared a flight and went back for seconds. From left to right, we had: Abracadabra English IPA (5.8%, 50 IBU), very malty with a long finish and good bitter notes; Box Jumper blonde ale (5.5%, 24 IBU), also malty and a little sweet for my palate, with honey, apricot, and banana notes; First Rabbit porter (6.2%, 33 IBU), really nice coffee, toffee, and a long finish; and Smoke & Mirrors hazy New England IPA (5.9%, 41 IBU), my favorite, with big juicy Citra flavors and a nice hazy mouthfeel.
We would definitely come back and hang out with friends or dogs, but not necessarily with a book because of all the TVs. Still, it was our favorite stop of the day.
Beer garden? No
Dogs OK? Yes
Televisions? Unavoidable
Serves food? Snacks
Would hang out with a book? Maybe
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
Before I go through the stories from the last day about how we live in the stupidest timeline, here's a photo of the Milwaukee Intermodal Station I snapped heading to my return train on Friday:
Elsewhere in the stupidest timeline, where maximizing corruption is the defining goal of the Republican Party:
Finally, take a few minutes to read Chuck Marohn's Strong Towns series on how municipalities in the US and Canada routinely hide (or simply don't know) their long-term obligations so as to make building new infrastructure look like a better financial strategy than repairing existing infrastructure. I can tell you that you get no better view of the shitty state of American roads than riding a Divvy down almost any Chicago street, because Americans seem allergic to maintenance spending.
I know we need to put the fire out in Washington before we can fix anything else. But the long-term damage the OAFPOTUS continues to inflict on us will include more failing roads, bridges, and trains. So if you voted for him, you voted for the US becoming a third-world country in our lifetime.
Welcome to stop #125 on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: The Copper Turtle, 330 E. Menomonee St., Milwaukee
4 (of 5) stars
Train line: Amtrak, Milwaukee Intermodal Station
Time from Chicago: 89 minutes
Distance from station: 1.3 km
The Copper Turtle started as a microbrewery, and wants to continue making their three micro beers. That said, they want to be known more as a cocktail bar than as a brewery. Still, they brew on site, and their beers are pretty good.
My Brews Buddy had the Lottie Dottie sour (4.0%), a quirky lactose-fermented ale with guava and lychee. I did not try this beer, which will not surprise anyone who knows me. I had the No Fox Given dark lager (4.7%), which had a lighter mouthfeel than I expected (because it's a lager that looks like a porter), with nice chocolate and malt notes. They were out of the Current Rider hazy IPA (7.2%), so we left having had 125 mL of low-alcohol beer each.
This is the kind of place to pull up with a dog and a book outside. As our second stop on our Milwaukee tour, it worked just fine, knowing we had two other stops to go.
Beer garden? Sidewalk
Dogs OK? Outside
Televisions? None
Serves food? Pizza and pretzels
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
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.
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.
Everyone in the world knows that President Biden had a bad night two weeks ago. Since then, we've heard a steady drumbeat of calls for him to withdraw from the race. But did anyone watch last night's press conference? Here it is; I'll wait:
The convicted-felon rapist XPOTUS could not have done that press conference, because he lacks the knowledge, the focus, the sanity, and frankly the IQ to answer questions for that long.
And still, what did most press outlets report? That he bobbled the name of the Vice President.
Meanwhile, the convicted-felon rapist XPOTUS can't find a coherent thought with two hands and a flashlight on his best days.
Yes, the President is an old man, and he could drop dead before January 2029. But as he said, "I wouldn't have picked Kamala if she weren't qualified to be President."
Until something actually changes in the race, I'm done with the "will he drop out" bullshit. He's the President, and he's crushing it.
Other things happened in the last 24 hours that were more interesting than George Clooney's whining:
- I haven't yet gotten drunk enough to read the Republican Party platform, but Timothy Noah did, and he says it's worse than you thought.
- A Federal judge dismissed Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy petition, citing a "lack of transparency" and other malfeasance by the deranged, disbarred former mayor of New York.
- Andrew Sullivan, a British expatriate who voted Tory when he lived in the UK, wants an American Kier Starmer.
- Want to send your kid to one of the best public high schools in Chicago? I hope you started working on it before your kid's 5th birthday.
- The alleged Foxconn plant in Wisconsin, which got juicy concessions from the Republican legislature and the Republican governor, Scott Walker, will cost Wisconsin taxpayers millions and bring almost nothing to the state.
- RedBox is dead as a parrot.
- Just ahead of its 15th anniversary as one of the best comics on the Internet, The Oatmeal has a new cartoon on Netflix: Exploding Kittens!
Finally, if Google Maps and Waze drive you crazy, you're not alone. Julia Angwin explains why, and suggests alternatives, like Valhalla.
Just doing a quick review of the Brews & Choos-eligible establishments within 2 km of the Milwaukee Amtrak station this morning, I discovered that seven breweries and a distillery have opened since the project started. Accounting for the demise of Milwaukee Ale House, that brings the total to 11 breweries and 2 distilleries. I'll have to make two trips. Now all I have to do is find a weekend...or two...or three...