On
a recent road trip through Wisconsin (which between heading to the shack,
driving to shows for my band, or heading to a beer event seems to be every
weekend with me) we made a pit stop at Sand Creek Brewing Company. Sand Creek
Brewing Company is Wisconsin’s third largest microbrewery! That is pretty
impressive anywhere, but is even more impressive in the relatively small town
of Black River Falls.
The
brewery was built in the mid 1800’s for The Oderbolz Brewing Company. It’s a
pretty cool old building with tons of history. After becoming several different
businesses during and after prohibition, the building was hit by a fire that
destroyed a couple of the top floors. You can even see the different bricks
used to rebuild the damaged floors of the building. I love a brewery with some
history to it!
The
taproom itself was fairly small. But while it may not be the right size for a
big city brewery, it was perfect for a smaller town. We had no problem getting
a beer right away nor did we have any problems finding a place to sit down and
take a load off while enjoying our beer.
And
ohhhhhh the beer! Well I should say the beer and the hard lemonade. That is a
fairly unique thing at a craft brewery, a craft hard lemonade. And actually
they make two. They have a regular hard lemonade and a hard pomegranate
lemonade. Vicky started with the pomegranate lemonade. It is great stuff!
Fruity, tart, and refreshing, and tastes nothing like its corporate mass
produced counterparts. It makes me think they
could pour a mean shandy using one of their craft beers and their craft hard
lemonades!
I
started with a Noir. You beer snobs out there may get on me about this... I
know, light to dark – light to dark... But I have a soft spot for barley wines.
I love em. I must have them when I find them. And this time of year they can be
hard to find, so I couldn’t help myself! Noir is a barrel aged barley wine. It
was dark, sweet ‘n malty, with a nice hop presence. Good and drinkable for a
big beer. I. Want. More!
Next
up, a Wild Ride! Wild ride is an IPA made with Chinook and Cascade hops. It has
a big hoppy taste paired with a nice smooth finish to it. It’s a nicely done
IPA that I could drink all day!
After
a couple beers we headed out as we had some ground to cover. It was then that
we discovered the best part of this brewery. No,
it wasn’t the shiny tanks or the popcorn machine with free popcorn... An old
school Donkey Kong arcade game! And it was rigged up for free play!
Sand
Creek Brewing Co. was a great stop. The building, the history, the great beer,
the Donkey Kong game... I’ll for sure be back during my summer Wisconsin
travels. It’s a great stop!
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